"Lloyd! Will you please stop fiddling with stuff?" she snapped, calling me from my thoughts. I found I had been absentmindedly playing with the touch-sensitive holographic items on one of S.H.I.E.L.D's computers, and tossing the information around like crazy. Instead of correcting myself when I realized what I was doing, I became more intent on my fiddling and tried to figure out if I could access the internet from it.
Lavender quickly snatched the computer from my hands and glared at me.
"I'm bored! Why doesn't S.H.I.E.L.D have an activity center or something?" I asked, slumping to the ground.
"Because it's S.H.I.E.L.D. A super secret C.I.A.." Lavender replied, turning back to whatever-on-earth she was working on. "If you're so bored, why don't you go shake hands with Captain America again- You seemed pretty happy to do that. Or how about matching wits with that Iron Man/Tony Stark fellow? You know, I think you two would hit it off: He's annoying and talkative and so are you."
With this she flashed me a playful smile.
"Oh boo. His jokes aren't nearly as funny as mine." I said, smiling a little. "How about a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors?"
"Seriously Lloyd?.. I'm working." Lavender replied.
I suddenly realized then that Lavender seemed to be enjoying this whole S.H.I.E.L.D operation thing. "Do you like working for S.H.I.E.L.D, Lav?" I asked cautiously.
"I've admired their work for a long time, yeah." Lavender admitted, "But I didn't tell you because your opinion on them was obviously very low."
"Admire their work? For how long?.. Even when you were a villain? ...Wow.. I had no idea." I said, feeling a little awkward. I shuffled my feet on the metal floor for a moment, then suddenly noticed a large host of escorts heading down the hall. Glancing up, I noticed they had captured Loki! In unison, Lavender and I let our jaws drop and looked at each other.
"They caught him already?" I asked.
"So, does that mean we're going home now?" Lavender asked uncertainly. I shrugged; but for some reason I highly doubted it- Heroes instinct or whatever you want to call it, I had a feeling this was far from over. Heroes instinct did not come into play a short time later, however. The fact that I really can't die, I had just eaten 5 doughnuts from the catering table, and that Loki was currently neutralized in a fish-bowl, all sent my heroes instinct on vacation and let childish giddy take over. But we'll get to that in a minute..
First, I abandoned toying with the computer and went to toy with something more dangerous.. Something a kin to playing with fire or poking a hand in the lions cage- Don't know why the temptation to do so is so strong, but it never fails. So out I went, into the hall and down to the room I knew Fury would be.
"Whach'ya doin'? Is it interesting? .. Because I'm bored." I said to him with a heavy sigh.
Nick kinda looked at me as though he were shocked to hear I was in desire for entertainment, but brushed it off with a simple and dismissive; "Then go entertain yourself.".
"With what?" I asked earnestly.
Suddenly I felt two fingers poke me on the shoulder. I turned and found a tall agent looking down at me with a smile. He addressed himself as agent Phil Coulson, then quietly asked if I liked doughnuts-- Yes, I love doughnuts! They are my favorite food next to pizza and ice cream. Phil led me to the mess hall where there were as many expensive, ultra-delicious doughnuts as one could ever hope to see in their lifetime! My face was literally like this:
...I know, I know.. But I love doughnuts and Phil told me I could have as many as I wanted. Any that weren't eaten would be thrown out.
Needless to say, within the hour I was very giddy and incredibly hyped up on the sugar of 7 very expensive doughnuts. I happily took Nick Fury's advice, but I won't give you the full detailed account of what I did to, quote on quote; "Entertain myself"... Mostly because I was so intoxicated with chocolate and rainbow sprinkles that I can hardly remember.
I believe in the long and short of everything, I made a nuisance of myself by (As the witnesses claim):
Shouting "BOING! BOING! BOING!" as I lept one bunny hop after the other down the hall.
Spinning in speeding circles singing 'Lemon Tree' repeatedly.
Making polish-angels on the hard steel ground.
and eventually ironing Tony Stark's arm while cheering: "Iron Man- Doin' it wrong!" (Seriously though, not even I know where I got the iron.)
It was after that incident that Tony lost his mind and demanded why I had to be there. Lavender insisted they could throw me off the ship, and that I'd be okay so long as we weren't over water- Considering I can't swim. Thor wondered aloud if I was mentally unstable and referenced to some weird Asgaurdian creature who reacts the way I was before dying. Phil seemed to be the only one who still had patience for me, but he was suddenly in doubt as to my age.
"Common guys, she's only, what- 15?....12... 8?"
"Dude! You're going the wrong way.. I'm 19!" I vaguely remember saying.
"5." Either Lavender or Bruce corrected- Probably both at the same time.
"Alright buster!" I said, rolling up my sleeves in a tough motion.
Lavender shifted her weight to one leg and folded her arms. "What are you gonna do? Heal us to death?"
"No. I have another power-" Then with a hand beside my mouth as though I was revealing a secret, I whispered hoarsely: "It's annoying." And proceeded to poke a random agent's forehead and laughing rhythmically as though I were sending a coded message. THAT was when Nick lost it. He seized me by the back of my neck and dragged my toward the prison room.
"AH! Let me go, Nick! You fun-nazi!!" I shouted. Then I saw Captain America, and proceeded to blush crimson and fall very silent. Apparently, I'd been annoying enough to warrant execution-- I mean, termination-- I mean, interrogation..
Yes, interrogation. I was to interrogate Loki to find out what his favorite color was.
Where was the harm in it? I couldn't die, and Nick figured the worst I could do was click the big red 'drop-the-jerk' button.
Now, after he tossed me in and blocked the hallway behind him, I pathetically pounded on the wall for a few minutes... And then:
I realized I was not alone. But worse than not alone, I was not alone with the worst person to not be alone with! Even if he was in a giant glass mixing dish, smirking evily!
I turned my back against the door and tapped it twice more, then chanced a stiff: "...Helloooooo."
"Hello."
"AH! Don't talk to me!"
In case you're wondering, yes, I have been more stupid then letting this loon know I was intimidated right off the bat-- Can't think of any references at the given time, but I'm sure I'll remember shortly, then I'll get back to you. Anyway, it would've been an awkward stare down if Loki hadn't decided to milk my terrified state by, oh you guessed it, speaking to me.
I'm not quite sure what he said, but I think he was trying to coax me closer to the glass. "Nooooo." I replied, slightly humored. Then he threw me for a loop.
"Might I know the rules of that little game with the X's and O's that you play?"
"What?"
"The game."
"You mean Tic-Tac-Toe?...."
"Yes, that's the one."
"...Wait a minute. Tic. Tac. To-- You want to know how to play TIC. TAC. TOE.. The game?"
He nodded.
"...I thought Fury said you could have a magazine if you were bored-- Which goes to show how hard-core that guy is. I would've offered a video game console or something. You know, beep! beep! beep! Boom!" and I settled down right beside the glass to teach him Tic-Tac-Toe.
... What can I say?.. The doughnuts hadn't worn off yet.
He advanced a pace- like a snake with two legs, at which time I instantly felt intimidated again. I spoke the first thing on my mind. "Alright, you're tall and scary. Sit down if you wanna learn the game."
Oh the adrenaline rush when he did. Directly in front of me- Inches away with only the glass to separate us. 'The game, the game, the game.' I told myself in my head, 'Aw man! I just lost the game...'
And you did too... Just now. MUHAHAHAHA!! But that's beside the point.
I taught him Tic-Tac-Toe in the most effective way of teaching- By example. I exhaled on the glass and drew out the familiar # pattern. Before he could do anything though, I put up my index finger and declared: "Inferior goes first.".. He didn't argue with that, and seemed rather pleased as I quickly marked an X. I won 6 times before he started looking bored and a little impatient as he kept glancing at the door behind me expectantly like he was hoping something would happen..
And then it did dflvb;jhub'
BOOM?
Lloyd out!
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