Chapter 6
Hayley woke up to the sound of distant yelling and found herself in her old room of the Tower. The negative energy hit her like a car as she stumbled out of bed and rubbed her groggy eyes in an attempt to wake up. She followed the noise, as she got closer to the living room, she could discern what they were saying.
“Psychos made….cry….stay away!”
“We had noth….it!”
She arrived to see the six heroes fighting with Strange and Loki, everyone looking very irritated and annoyed.
“Hayley just teleports in here sobbing and cries about a vision and you’re telling me you have nothing with to it!? The two best sorcerers on the planet,” Tony exclaimed loudly.
“We can explain everything if you-” Strange cut off as he saw her standing outside the living the room, “Hayley!”
Both Loki and Stephen looked immensely relieved at the sight of her not being dead or hurt. They attempted to come over to her, but the sorcerers were immediately blocked by the group, which caused more yelling to ensue.
“It’s alright… They didn’t hurt me…,” she told them.
The team was skeptical and still suspicious of the two men. Steve walked over to Hayley and knelt down to match her height. Why is everyone here so freakishly tall?
“Hayley, what happened last night? Did they hurt you? Don’t lie to us,” Steve said gently.
“I will rip both of your heads off if she says yes,” Tony growled at the sorcerers.
Hayley rolled her eyes at Tony and looked down at Steve.
“It’s nothing like that. Th-th-they were only trying to help…”
Loki and Strange became impatient as they didn’t allow the others to get any more questions, too concerned about their apprentices’ health to care about anything else.
“See? We didn’t do anything? May we talk to her now, please,” Stephen asked before Loki could say something unreasonable and possibly threatening.
While the others were still on edge, they allowed the sorcerers to check on their apprentice. Both of them expressed their deep concern and sorrow, wanting to talk about what happened, but they didn’t want to expose anything she didn’t want the Avengers to hear yet. Hayley immediately jumped into their arms, enveloping the men in a big group hug.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m so, so, so sorry,” she repeated like a mantra or broken record.
“It’s alright little dove… It’s alright,” Loki soothed.
They pulled away to look at her.
“Are you alright,” Stephen asked.
She nodded, and now the team was very curious as to what happened last night.
“Can the three of you please share with the class as to what happened last night,” Clint questioned.
‘Are you OK with this darling,’ Loki asked her telepathically.
‘I’ll be OK…’
‘We’re here for you. We won’t say anything that you don’t want us to. If it gets to be too much, just leave and we’ll handle the rest. I promise,’ Stephen assured.
With that, she gave a small nod the two sorcerers and walked over to sit on the couch. Loki and Stephen were beside her while the others crowded around, eager to listen and hear her story of why she showed up crying. It made her feel better knowing that they had her back and that was her huge saving grace of why she wasn’t running away from the situation. Hayley took a deep breath to calm her nerves and collect her thoughts and words as she debated on what she wanted to tell them. She decided to leave out the backstory and only talk about the vision as it was the only thing relevant to them.
“I was training with Loki and Strange and then my head started to hurt… It was just a slight pain at first, but it slowly got worse and worse and then I began to see flashes of images and I... I had a vision..”
“Of,” Clint pressed.
Hayley explained how she saw her getting kidnapped, the red gem-looking device, and her killing the Avengers and two sorcerers. Stephen had taken her hand in his and squeezed lightly, while Loki placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. Tony cursed under his breath and paced around the room, while the others simply contemplated her words.
‘D-d-did I say something wrong,’ she asked her two mentors, curious by the team’s reactions.
No love. You did great. I promise,’ Loki responded, making Hayley feel better about herself.
Tony and the team, however, looked very distressed and upset by what she had said.
“What the fuck….Was there anything else?”
“T-this man… He took me and there was this device and then it just showed me killing you,” she explained.
“And what does that mean for us?! Is she gonna kill us all,” Tony shouted.
“It could mean nothing at all! Some visions happen exactly the same, some have minor changes, and some don’t happen at all,” Strange told them, jumping to her defense.
Hayley whimpered and Loki took her hand in his.
‘Go on little one. The sorcerer and I will handle this. You don’t need to be here…’ he told her.
‘What happened to second-rate sorcerer,’ Stephen asked.
‘It appears you’re not as horrible as I once thought….’
‘Thank you both…’
With that, Hayley teleported away to her room to cry alone.
Eventually, the heroes came to the conclusion that Hayley should remain in the Tower under their supervision again. She didn’t mind, but she did ask if she could see Strange again. They told her she could, but he would have to come to the Tower. Essentially, she was going to be on lockdown for the time being while this vision stuff would get worked out.
She had to go to a meeting and explain what she saw to a bunch of weird people, but the team had accompanied her the whole time. Her description of the Bad Man was much too vague for their liking, but they had to settle with what she gave them because part of the way through, Hayley had a panic attack remembering everything that happened.
Nonetheless, the team had been supportive and said she did good, which did well to soothe her nerves. Hayley had been spending most of her time with Loki or the team when they weren’t out on missions, and sometimes Strange would come by the Tower and hang out with her and Loki. The two sorcerers still had her heart, and she didn’t know how much longer she could fight her feelings. She also didn’t know how long they could ignore theirs as they still flirted and fought over her at times. She had told them both individually that she did, in fact, love them, but was still unsure of her feelings. Eventually, the two sorcerers had approached her and told her that they didn’t want to pressure Hayley into a relationship and that when she was ready, to let the winner of her heart know.
At the moment, she was currently in the living room watching her favorite Dr. Pimple Popper as she lay on the couch. She was so enveloped in the video that she didn’t notice Tony walking by and looking over her shoulder. She was currently watching the doctor remove a ten-year-old cyst.
“What the hell are you watching,” Tony shouted.
She jumped, startled by his sudden appearance before blushing profusely.
“It’s ummm...Well uhh… It’s educational,” she blurted out, throwing her arms in the air dramatically, “Are you denying me an education?”
He shook his head and scoffed, but ended up getting captivated by the video and watching it with her on a laptop. One by one, the team slowly joined them. Steve was the second victim of this as he saw Tony and Hayley closely watching something on the computer and curiously looked over to see them watching blackheads getting popped.
“What is this,” he asked.
“It’s educational! You can’t deny Hayley education,” Tony exclaimed.
And then Steve was in, which prompted them to put it on the TV. Clint was next and just asked why, Bruce who was genuinely interested and asked to watch, Nat who said nothing, just made herself comfortable, Thor who thought it was awesome, and finally Loki who put up some resistance before he too gave in. Even Stephen had decided to drop by and ended up joining them. It felt good to do something with them as a group.
“I like the blackheads,” Nat said casually.
“What? They huge cyst removals are the best,” Clint and Tony fought back.
“Why do humans allow things to impair their bodies like that,” Thor asked, very interested and amused.
Hayley just chuckled, snuggling close to Stephen and Loki who looked down at her with happy smiles. She beamed back up at them, getting lost in their eyes and then her own thoughts. She realized multiple things in that moment: one is that she couldn’t keep holding on to the past as she was able to get lost in their eyes much like she did with Lex, and two, she loved them and wanted to feel their hands on her skin, running through her hair as they pulled hard on the strands and forced her to her knees. She shut her eyes to calm herself and silence her dirty thoughts and got up slowly.
“You alright, Hayley,” Strange asked.
“Yea...I think that’s enough videos for me today. I think I might go chill in my room for a while. You’re welcome to join,” she offered the two sorcerers, but secretly, she telepathically said, ‘Can the two of you come with me? I have something to tell you…”
Strange and Loki agreed, but the others were too enveloped in the pimple popping videos to respond. Hayley only shook her head and the three sorcerers made their way to her room. She was panicking on the inside, terrified of what to tell them, and having to admit her feelings. As soon as they were inside and the door was closed, Hayley thought she might just die on the spot, wishing for a black hole to swallow her.
“Is everything ok little dove? You seem upset,” Loki asked her, his voice full of concern.
It was now or never. She had to tell them before she let her nerves get the best of her and she darted out of the room.
“I know I’ve been pushing the two of you away, but...I like both of you...I love you… And I don’t want one without the other….,” she admitted, daring to glance a peek at the two men.
“My, my, my….The more I learn about your interests, the more fun you become. Tell me, what else might you be interested in, my little minx,” Loki purred happily.
Strange rolled his eyes at the Trickster before taking a deep breath.
“I believe we can put our differences aside… I know I can… It’s up to this idiot if he can get over being with a ‘second-rate sorcerer’,” Strange said, quoting the sorcerer part.
Loki sighed dramatically and rolled his eyes.
“Yes, I can play nice. You might actually have more skill than I give you credit for… As long as you know who’s stronger,” Loki declared.
Hayley, on the other hand, was bursting with joy that they agreed. She jumped at them, pulling them into a group hug, before solidifying their relationship with a kiss. Their lips were soft and felt like heaven against hers, but it allowed Hayley to get a clear and up-close view of Stephen’s face.
“There’s a pimple on your cheek. Let me pop it.”