9 Interlude

As a man of science, Tony had always believed in cold hard facts and logic over anything else. Of course, nothing that had happened during the last few days could be explained by Logic. He had teamed up with a man who had been frozen in I've for 7 decades, a man who can turn into a green rage monster if he becomes too angry, a couple of super spies and a literal demigod to stop the aforementioned demigod's brother from summoning an army of aliens using a cube made of cosmic energy. As such, when an honest-to-God alien princess arrived to assist them it didn't even make it to the top ten strangest things he had experienced during that week.

The alien princess in question would have looked no different than a normal human if it weren't for her hair which looked like was on fire, her eyes that were glowing green and the fact that she was flying without the help of anything. Oh and the fact that she could shoot energy projectiles from her hands and eyes.

And despite her being an unknown factor, Tony was not one to refuse help especially since lives were at stake. And good thing he did as the princess instrumental in taking down the Chitauri. Not to mention the fact she had most likely saved Tony by taking the nuke through the portal in his place.

As such Tony felt comfortable, inviting her with the rest of the team to the Shwarma place he found when he was fighting. Though an issue did arise as they were leaving and were confronted by STRIKE and Pierce demanded that the Princess be placed in their custody. Not that they had any grounds to do so of course considering her contribution to saving the city. And he was being honest, he was still peeved at them launching a Nuke at Manhattan. Suffice it to say that they had no choice but to let them leave.

They eventually reached the Shwarma place and Thor placed Loki at a corner of the store before we took our seats and ordered our food. And just to make sure Loki wasn't going to try anything, we made Hulk take a seat right next to Loki who was trying his best to make as much distance between him and the Hulk as possible with fear in his eyes.

The moment they settled down, Thor managed to beat Tony to the punch as he began asking Melizandr questions about her homeworld. The conversation carried on even after the food was brought to the table and the Avengers witnessed the Tamaranean Princess squeal in delight as she took a bite of the Shwarma. Tony and many other Avengers found it adorable, like a toddler tasting ice cream for the first time.

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Steve felt a headache about to arrive as he glanced at the alien Princess once more. She was currently in a heated debate with Thor comparing their respective civilisation. As much as he appreciated her help, her sudden appearance was worrying to him. And from the looks of it, both Barton and Romanov agreed as they never seemed to leave the girl. Housing alien royalty seemed like a recipe for disaster. Especially after what happened with STRIKE.

They had tried to arrest her citing that she could be a danger to others but Steve knew the real reason. They wanted to run tests on her, see what makes her tick and perhaps harness her powers for themselves. And considering the havoc she caused to the Chitauri, that's not something that Steve was keen on seeing. For one thing, if she was a princess, performing such experiments would definitely cause Tamaran to declare war on Earth. And most importantly, it was no way to treat someone who went out of their way to save the city.

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Natasha couldn't help but keep staring at the girl seated a few feet from her left, scarfing down enough food to feed three people. Unlike the rest of her impromptu teammates, she and Barton were secretly assessing her every word, her every action and her every behaviour, building a profile in our heads for our eventual debriefing. Though if she was being honest, her interest in the alien 'princess' also involved personal reasons.

The princess may seem cheery now that the battle was over but she had seen the look on her face when in the middle of a battle or more specifically her eyes, that were of a killer and of someone who had gone through severe suffering and trauma. She knew more than most as it was the same kind of eyes she sees when she looks in the mirror every day. Her mannerisms may seem relaxed but with her decades of experience in cold reading, Natasha saw how her legs and hands were placed, there was a sort of tension there as if she was ready to defend herself at a moment's notice. All this filled her with fear for some reason, like she was staring at her reflection in a way.

Barton himself had also noticed the girl's behaviour and his mind went to the day he found Natasha. And despite his ingrained training, Barton couldn't help but feel that the girl needed a hug more than anyone else here.

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Thor had always been a warrior and an adventurer at heart. As such when he was younger, he liked to travel across the nine realms, vanishing monsters saving damsels have a hearty feast to celebrate his feats and adventures. Though his adventures got lesser and lesser as he grew up and had to train himself to take the throne, his thirst for adventuring never fully faded.

So when he found someone from a planet he had never even heard of before, he was excited, to say the least. Especially since the girl belonged to royalty. Suffice it to say he couldn't help but keep asking her about her home while sharing stories about Asgard as well. And the girl seemed equally excited to do the same. Yet he couldn't help but notice a look of sadness as she talked about her home. Perhaps she was homesick, the Asgardian God thought while continuing their conversation.

Meanwhile, Hulk took a bite out of his Shwarma as one of his eyes rested on Loki's figure. The latter was sweat-dropping profusely. And then, Hulk leaned to the side away from Loki with a malicious smirk and let out a silent fart. And despite the muzzle, Loki found himself inhaling it causing him to begin hacking and coughing. The smell eventually reached the avengers whose reactions were instantaneous.

"What the hell?"

"Oh, that's nasty!!"

"Ugh. What have you been eating banner?"

'Hahaha. Nice. Good one Hulk."

"I think I'm going to be sick."

The Avengers began fanning themselves as the Princess couldn't help but giggle at their antics.

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In Knowhere, a man watched the footage of the Battle of New York on a high-tech screen. His attention was on a humanoid female who was flying around through concentrated projectiles made of solar energy.

"Karina. Release a bounty for the girl. She will make an excellent addition to my..... collection." he spoke to a pink-skinned alien girl who was looking at the picture of her master's new target with pity as she knew that the girl was about to suffer the same fate as her.