Knock Knock.
Aeries grumbled awake. Who was knocking on her door? She growled and got up. Where was she? This wasn't the world of cold she knew.
Oh, right. She was on Earth now. She shook her hand and yawned, her pointed teeth flashing in the dim light.
She walks to the door and opens it. She was rubbing her eyes when Nick voiced his appearance.
"You are meeting some of the other avengers today. Follow me."
She growled but followed anyways. He led her to a room filled with nothing but tables and chairs. In the middle, there was a large group of people. They all wore clothes similar to hers, and she suddenly wanted her sword. Where was it?
There was a woman with bright brick-orange hair and black clothes smiling at her and Nick. She instantly like this woman. She found herself smiling back at the red head.
"Hi," the woman started, "I am Natasha. Also known as Black Widow."
Aeries sniffed. "I am Aeries. I smell no power on you." She cocked her head.
Natasha barked out a laugh at Aeries crass words. "No, I am not 'magical.' I am but a mortal." She smiled at Aeries again. Natasha turned to a man with blonde hair. He also wore black clothes. "This is Clint, also known as Hawk-Eye."
Clint held out his hand and she eyed it. What is he doing? He took his hand back and rubbed his neck. Another blonde with a grey shirt laughed at Clint.
"That is Steve, A.K.A. Captain America." Natasha turned to a man with black curly hair and green eyes. "This is Bruce, A.K.A. Hulk." He waved. She turned to someone with dark brown hair and a mustache. "This is Tony, A.K.A. Ironman. I am sure you two have met already."
Aeries growled at Tony. She remembered. Tony just put his hands up in surrender.
Natasha pointed to a muscular man with long blonde hair who was wearing a black shirt and blue jeans. She decided she liked this man.
"This is Thor. God of Thunder." Natasha gave a sympathetic look to Thor.
Aeries couldn't help but speak up. "So, who was that tall dude with black, shoulder length hair? He was wearing green and gold."
Natasha and Clint sucked in a breath and Thor visibly winced.
"Did I hit a nerve?" She cocked her head, questioning.
"You did." Steve said this. She turned to him and arched a brow. Steve glanced at Thor and sighed. "His name is Loki, God of mischief."
She nodded and sat next to Natasha.
"He is my brother." Thor sighed and braced his head on the table with his large hand. When a confused expression graced her face, Thor told her what had happened. She grimaced while he told her.
"So, is he an enemy?" She growled softly but didn't let her anger show.
"Not... necessarily..." Steve drawled.
"But he's locked up in the... 'prison...'" She growled low in her throat.
"Think of it like a time out, Aeries." Natasha told her. Aeries glanced at Natasha with a small smile. "He will just be in her for a couple of days, at most."
A thought came to her mind. "So, if he is a god, why did he let himself get caught?"
"That would be Thor's doing, actually." Bruce said. He had his arms braced on the table in front of him.
"So, what does that have to do with you guys?"
Natasha clapped her hands together. "How about we get some food, Aeries. I have been dying to hang out with another woman." She was distracting her from the questioning.
"Woman?" Aeries cocked her head. "What is that?"
Clint sighed. "A woman is a female."
"Oh." Natasha laughed softly and hauled Aeries to her feet. "One last question, how old are you guys?"
"I am 35, Clint is 53, Bruce is 54, Steve is 108, Thor is 1059, and Tony is 53. How old are you?" Natasha supplied.
"230 years old." Everyone looked taken aback by her statement. To this, she replied, "What?"
"You don't look 230 years old, Aeries." Thor said.
"And you don't look a day over 30, Thor." She scowled. Natasha sighed. "Anyways, how long is Loki supposed to be in this white prison for?"
"A few days, three at most." She sighed at Tony's statement. Looks like she has three days of thinking to do. Aeries looked around.
"Where did Nick go?"
* * *
"So, why are you so interested in Loki?" Natasha asked. They were a little ice cream shop in town.
"Um, I am?" Aeries drawled. She had hoped she wasn't too obvious.
"You are. I mean, you asked a lot of questions about him, and you seem to be thinking a lot. About him, most likely."
"Natasha-"
"Nat. Call me Nat, Aeries." Nat smiled. Aeries smiled back.
"I don't know. I seen him that first time, we passed each other in the hallway, and its like he is just engraved in my head." She walked up to the ice cream shops counter. "You pick for me."
"Two vanilla cones, please." Nat told the register. She took out two pieces of green paper and gave them to the person. She turned to Aeries. "Oh you poor thing."
"I am not poor, Nat."
"You're down bad, Aeries." Natasha starts. "Does this mean you love him?"
"I..." The person interrupts their conversation by giving them their cones.
"Thank you."
"I don't know…" Aeries rubs the back of her neck. "I do not know what it means, Natasha…"
Aeries brought the ice cream to her mouth and licked it. Oh. My. God. This was the most divine thing Aeries has ever tasted!
She bit her lip to hold back the moan of delight. "This is delicious, Natasha." She licked her ice cream again.
Natasha laughed at her actions and smiled. "I told you this place was the best. Anyways, we call that love at first sight. It happens all the time on Earth. Did it happen on your realm?"
She shook her head. "The only thing we have like that are fated mates. But they are extremely rare to find in my realm."
"Oh."
They sat there for a few more minutes, idly eating their ice cream. When Aeries finished her cone, she had wanted another but decided not to.
Natasha got up and held her hand out to Aeries. She took her hand. "We should get back to the others, Aeries." Aeries nodded and allowed Nat to lead her back to the group of heroes, in a tall tower that was called Stark Enterprises. She liked the building. At least it wasn't all white and prison looking.
"I have a question, Nat." Nat nodded her head to Aeries, signaling her to continue. "How many heroes are in the Avengers?"
"Um, I am not entirely sure. I think around seventeen."
Aeries whistled. "That's a lot."
"Yeah. Everyone else is stationed all throughout the galaxy or on missions. So, you won't see everyone here all at once."
Aeries nodded.
She didn't know why, but that thought soothed her.