Upside-Down

Chapter 23

Loki sits on his padded cushion, red haired witch lying on her back next to him, holding a book at arm's length above her face.

"Guys," Pietro barks, standing at the front of the room, "Pay attention. The next attack is very important. Fish isn't even paying attention." He waves his pointer, a foot long rod with a hand pointing it's index finger attached to the end (it had once been florescent pink but had recently been spray painted black and gold), at the white board taking up half of the wall next to them, a rough battle plan sketched out in dry erase marker.

"Tony hasn't even gotten a chance to reply yet," his twin grumbles. "He's been off with Peter for most of the day."

Loki mews, rising lazily to eat from a bowl of tuna (next to a dish of milk). Pietro takes this as his chance to explain, darting forward and snatching the book out of Wanda's hand. "We have to be ready. Knowing Stark he's going to have a plan, he'll strike fast and hard." He flips the book over to look at the cover. "What is this? Some cheesy romance novel?"

"Hey!" his sister protests, trying to snatch it away from him with out getting off the ground. Pietro just darts back to the board, and when Loki realizes he doesn't have the book with him he meows, twisting around to see where it went.

The boys powers kept surprising him, and he accidently spills some tuna out of the bowl when he sees the book teetering in the rafters above them.

When Peter had left earlier, Pietro had snatched Loki and brought him here, where the god expected the Twins lived. It was a room that seemed to be tailored to them, perhaps Tony's offering to appease them. The floor was made of real wood, covered in scattered bean bags and bookshelves, and now a practical shrine for Loki. The ceilings converged above them, forming a triangle, with rafters running parallel to the ground crisscrossing every where.

There were several windows, though the curtains had been closed or blocked with bookshelves to keep their schemes and plots safe and secret. The door had been locked so you had to be allowed to enter, something Wanda had been able to rig with her mental magic.

"Now the plan," Pietro says, "we're going to hit something to hurt his pride, I have several ideas," he smacks the pointer against the board, which at the top, reads: TEAM FISH! FOR THE KING! "Number one, that huge poster of his face in the lobby." The pointer moves to a rough sketch of a face, now given a mustache and devil horns. "We 'stache it."

Wanda grudgingly rolls onto her stomach, resting her face in her hands. "That's so simple though... he's bound to expect it."

"We could do it in broad daylight," Pietro strategizes, "something he won't expect."

"The cameras will show who we are, there's no way to do this will still being somewhat mysterious."

"Get Vis to teach you how to hack the feed. Make it play a video of Fish dancing over and over again."

"Why can't you get Vis to teach you?"

"Because," Pietro darts to grab a bag of gummi bears, then whirls behind his sister. "Vision doesn't like me," he teases.

"I couldn't help but hear my name--"

Loki leaps a foot into the air, landing with one paw on the edge of his milk bowl, spilling it every where. The man with plastic skin just walked through the wall. He should've noticed the presence of the mind stone sooner, but he'd been distracted by the twins.

"No-- King Fish!" Pietro dashes over, a roll of paper towels suddenly appearing in his hand. He quickly sops up the puddle, stopping only to pet Loki's head quickly, then dashing to a fridge located deep inside the room, suddenly reappearing with a gallon of milk.

Before Loki can mew, the bowl has been refilled and his paw dried. After allowing the midgaurdian to stroke his head a few more times, he took a quick sip of milk and lumbered back to his cushion. He could get used to this life.

"Vis!" Wanda says, slowly getting off the floor. "Walking through walls-- look what you did to poor little King Fish."

Yes, King Fish was his name. Of course the god would prefer King Loki, but King Fish was second best.

"I'm sorry," the android said. "But the door was locked and I heard my name--"

"Ooh, he heard us talking, Wanda." Pietro teases, sitting in a bean bag, munching on the gummi bears. The white board had also been rotated so that Vision was unable to see their plans. Pietro was fast, Loki had to give him that.

"How much did you hear Vis?" The young witch sounds semi concerned, which amuses Loki, though he's grown more attached to her. Even if she's dangerous.

The android doesn't answer, he just walks over to the white board and spins it around, mind stone glinting in the light. "I'm afraid I won't be able to help with the attacks," the Vision says, arms crossed, in all seriousness. Pietro nods solemnly when Vision looks at him, as though he expected Vis to do this the whole time. "Yes... I'll have to stay neutral in this war."

When Vision turns back to Wanda, Loki sees Pietro double over, struggling to hold in a laugh. He shoves a handful of gummi bears in his mouth.

Vision turns back toward Loki, who tenses, digging his claws into his cushion. The android walks closer, bending down to pick Loki up, holding him by his armpits. Loki meows in discomfort, then he sees the mind stone, now near eye level. He accidently mesmerizes his poor cat brain with the thing, batting at it with his paws.

"So this is the Team Mascot," The Vision says, knocking Loki out of his daze. He mews, offended. He was more then a mascot.

"He's more then a mascot," Pietro darts foreword, voicing Loki's thoughts and snatching him away from Vis. "He's our inspiration. Right from the start we could tell he also hated-- disliked Stark," Pietro repairs, cradling the cat and then tucking him under his arm. "With him on our side, there's no doubt we'll win this war..."

There's a moment of majestic silence, then Wanda bursts out laughing. "Oh shut up," Pietro groans as he sets Loki down.

I really loved writing this chapter.

I hope your having a good day! I'll post another one next Sunday!