Have we considered an AU yet where Pepper, helpless and angry and furious and afraid after her best friend disappears in Afghanistan, stumbles across an old summoning ritual and she doesnβt believe in this stuff, she honestly doesnβt, but at this point what can it really hurt to try? If anything can find Tony, some ancient divine god should do the trick. Itβs not like she expected it to work.
Because I really think we should consider it
Okay but sheβs mostly not expecting it to work but if it does work sheβs kind of expecting a demon with classic demonic features and instead she gets Loki and yeah his helmet has thorns but heβs wearing a cape and has a British accent and she wasnβt expecting this at all.
Okay but what if Pepper isnβt the only one being surprised? Loki hasnβt been summoned in ages β and he honestly wouldnβt have bothered answering if he wasnβt currently off to sulk because Thor and his friends were unbearable again β so he thought heβd check it out, but he didnβt really expect anything interesting. Just the usual, I want this, I want that, blood sacrifice, kneeling before their god messiness.
Instead thereβs this really sharp, attractive woman staring at him with narrowed eyes saying perfectly politeΒ βThank you for appearing on such short notice, please have a seat,β and Loki isnβt gonna lie, heβs intrigued.
Heβs even more intrigued when this woman starts negotiating a deal with him, going over all the loopholes and different meanings and generally giving him the biggest challenge since Thor last tried to destroy the universe and Loki had to clean it up, and it takes them some twenty hours but they do eventually agree on their terms and Loki hasnβt enjoyed himself this much in ages.
Although he is a little confused by this mortalβs insistence that she will not in any shape or form sell her soul to him as payment. But then, mortals have always been odd.
Then he goes search for this Anthony Stark person and finds a mortal with a star in his chest and well, you turn your back on Earth for a couple of centuries and suddenly these mortals get fascinating
