One of Us

Hi, it's Elsa again! I'm back and ready to blog the self-named Pocket-Sized Avengers. By the time Loki released his first ever Pocket-Sized Avengers post to the somewhat mass public in early January, all of the other dolls were anxious to meet their new roommates, including Nessa. Especially Nessa. And, on one day where Loki wasn't running off with his same-species friends, Nessa thought it would be the perfect day to go see them. 

***

"Oh, come on! We just found out you have powers, and now you have a secret group of Avengers All Stars dolls that we don't know about? What else are you hiding from us?" Nessa teased, trailing Loki as he paced around the Room She Lives In, obviously ticked but unable to stop her.
"Do they have powers, too? I'm sure they do. So you've known they were here for how long and never told any of us? Why not?"
"We're busy." Loki muttered.
Nessa was in shock. "Busy? With what?"
"I can't tell you."
All of this pestering was stressing me out, too. I had been trying to type on the bed, but obviously I had trouble concentrating. "Nessa, could you-" I began, but I was ignored as she pressed on.
"Ooh, classified information, now, huh? I live in this house, too, you know, same as the rest of them. I ought to have the right to know," she started poking his back, and the curled tips of her boots nearly grazing the back of his with how close they were. "So what is it? A search-and-rescue mission? A stolen artifact? A journey to some place we didn't know existed?"
Loki didn't answer the way that she liked. "Why are you so curious?"
She stuck out her chin and seized a hold of his arm to stop him from walking any further. "And why are you so secretive? I just want to meet them! To see what they do!" Nessa cried.
Loki's tone softened. "No, no, you wouldn't like it."
"Oh, come on, please? I at least want to see what they do."
"No, Nessa, you-" Loki shrugged off Nessa's grip on his arm and grabbed her hand. "You wouldn't fit in."
Nessa stuck out her lower lip indignantly. "Since when have I ever cared about fitting in?"
Loki sighed, finding the ground a safer place to look than Nessa's eyes. "I just don't want you to feel overwhelmed."

"If I do, then I'll leave. Simple as that," Nessa pulled on her cape, not for necessity, but for nerves. "So can I go? Can you take me to them?"
"Fine. Come with me."
Nessa yelped in her throat, skipping along to catch up with Loki, who was already starting for the stairs. She thought to look behind her, for one second, to flash me a wink. I felt it safe to follow at a distance. Aside from Steve, I had little interest in superheroes, but an entire collection of new dolls in the house was tempting to meet.
You could hear them even before you saw them. There was a beat disturbance in the air like Bell's wings were right next to your ear, and then the soft occasional rumble in the floor. It felt like they, whoever they were, were trying to get an audience revved up for some sort of epic concert.
And yeah, it was kind of like that. Blurs of red, black, gold, and blue zoomed through the air and across the kitchen tile, firing arrows and blasts of energy to and fro. Thanks to our Marvel Movie Marathon all those years ago, I was able to pick out a few Avengers. There was a Captain America, and Iron Man, a Thor... and then the others were unfamiliar. A woman with long hair and a man with colors unusual enough to make him a bug. Nessa saw the bug-man, too.
Her aqua eyes glazed over, and her lips parted in an expression of shock, and something else. She suddenly lurched forward, somewhat against her own will. That's never happened before.
"Nessa? You okay?" Loki had the decency to ask.
"Woah." Was all she could say. Once she got her balance back, Loki felt it was safe to interrupt training to introduce us to the new group of heroes. He whistled, and they all congregated around us like it was rehearsed. Maybe it was in their nature to stand in dramatic team poses.
"Nessa, Elsa, allow me to introduce the three inch heroes," Loki began, and he went down the line, giving each new character a name. Mini-Steve was Chris Rodgers, Iron Man was Tony Stark, Thor Odinson was obviously Thor and Hawkeye obviously Hawkeye (apparently he was too professional to use the name Clint Barton), the woman was Wanda Maximoff, and the bug-man was Vision.

He had peaceful, intelligent eyes, eyes that looked with humble pride upon his fellow heroes before falling on Nessa, who was returning her shocked stare. Then Vision, strangely enough, made a similar move, appearing to trip on his long yellow cape as he fell forward. But Thor reached over to pull him back.
"Careful, my friend. Balance is important."
"I know." Vision replied, still watching Nessa as he regained his stance. He had a British voice, like Loki's accent, only softer. Like a lullaby.
I looked back and forth to both of them, meanwhile thinking quietly to myself, "Uh oh."
"So what do you guys normally do?" I asked. Nessa finally looked away and up at me in surprise. I guess she'd forgotten I was also here.
"For now, we protect the household and all within it," Hawkeye explained, his purple-glasses focusing on me. He was a little scary. "This includes all objects, dolls, and humans."
"What is there to protect us from?"
It was the Captain America doll, Chris, that spoke up. "Well, right now, luckily, nothing. Instead, we're on a quest for the..."
But he was interrupted when Tony elbowed him in the ribs. "Ow! Hey! What was that for?"
"We're on a quest for something classified." Tony finished. He as well had an irregular way of speaking, one that made him sound like a smooth-talking entrepreneur that knew everything.
I could tell when somebody didn't want to be intruded upon. "A secret mission! I see. I'll leave you to it. Nice meeting you all. Come on, Nessa."
But Nessa was reluctant to come back. I shrugged, figuring they would kick her out when need be, and turned away to walk to the staircase.
"Wait!" Somebody called out desperately. It was Vision, who had now stepped away from the line and now seemed unsure whether or not he wanted to approach us. "There are other dolls like you?" He expects an answer from Nessa.

"Yeah... upstairs," Nessa pointed a wary finger to the ceiling, lost for words for the first time in forever. "We have all sorts."
"I'd like to meet them if I can," he looks back at Hawkeye. Clearly this one was the leader. "Can I?"
As soon as Hawkeye opened his mouth, Tony interrupted again. Apparently he had a knack for doing that. "Why do you need his permission? You're a strong, independent android, are you not?"
Vision's face drops to the floor. He doesn't look all too happy to be called an android. "If you say so."
"Then go! It's not like we got anything important to do, right, Cap?" Tony elbows his partner again, this time twice.
"Yeah." Chris wheezed.
Vision fixed on Nessa again. "Would you mind..."
"No! No! I mean, no, I don't mind. Not at all." Ah, the old, rambling, Nessa was back.
He took a cautious step forward. "So could I follow you then, or...?"
"Yeah! Yeah. Of course. Yeah. Follow me, sure."
Nessa, now an odd mixture of enthusiastic and timid, waited for Vision to get beside her so they could talk up to She's room together... about a half-foot away from each-other.
I knew better than to follow them immediately. Strange how the world works, isn't it? One minute I'm rushing back to the Room She Lives In, the next, I'm more than happy to stay behind a little while.
At this moment, the Scarlet Witch was muttering to herself. She had conjured up these hot pink swirls that were webbing their way around her fingers and passing over to Hawkeye, where they vanished near his head. Though I could not tell if I was seeing something real or not, it seemed like she was up to something. "Hawkeye, since we don't have anything important to do, maybe we could go, too?" She asked, sugar in her voice.
"Later," Hawkeye ordered, though he was showing some strain against the pink magic. "Vision went his own way, we can work without him."
Chris was on the same page Wanda was. "But he has- Ow! Seriously, Tony, again?"
"Are they always like this?" I whispered to Loki.
He shrugged like this didn't bother him. "Usually they're worse."
"So are you forced into helping them in this classified mission, or what?"
"No. I pretty much to come and go as I please. Nobody's really sure if they trust me yet or not."
"That's awful."
"You might think so. But I am the mediator. It's my job to go back between your world and theirs. It's something to be proud of."

Seeing him now, Loki looks contented, the complete opposite of how he was when it was uncertain whether the new dolls were friendly or hostile.
"If you say so," I said. "I think it's safe to go back upstairs now."
"What, avoiding Nessa and Vision?"
I started on my way back to the staircase, Loki leaving his group without a goodbye, but no matter. They were all already going their separate ways like they'd been waiting to get kicked back into action.
"I just wanted to give them some space. Nessa seemed to be acting pretty weird."
Loki studies the floor with a crumpled brow. "Vision, too. He may be the quiet, compassionate type as far as I know, but he's certainly not as dim-witted as he was acting."
I pause, unsure if I should address such a thing. Too late. The words were already coming out. "Do you think this means...?"
"Maybe. But nobody can be sure but themselves."
I laughed halfheartedly. If Nessa and Vision really had fallen in love, it was a little ironic that I was discussing this with the person she'd had her sights set on for so long. "It's funny, because I never expected that Nessa would get over the crush that she had on you." I regretted saying that immediately after, as I had broken Nessa's trust. But maybe I hadn't broken it, if she had moved on?
"Yeah," Loki said. Was he sad about that? "Me neither."
We had now stopped outside She's door, listening in on all the commotion that was going on inside. It sounded like everyone was happy to welcome a new doll to the family, as always. I felt obligated to mend Loki's potential wounds.
"But maybe she's not completely over you yet. The two just met, after all. And if there's one thing I know, you can't marry a man you just met."
"Right. Let's go inside." Loki is done with the conversation, and I am thankful to be relieved of the awkward tension in the air.

What we saw inside, though, wasn't completely what I had expected. Some dolls, like Steve and Elphaba, had taken to Vision immediately, while other dolls, like Anelle and Kristoff, stayed back,   turned off by Vision's unusual appearance or status. Vision, too, seemed to know that he didn't exactly fit in with the others in She's room, so he stood closer to Nessa for a small shred of comfort in such an alien place. She didn't seem to mind at all.
"He looks like he's getting along." Loki stated.
"Yeah..." I breathed. Was this a new chapter in the life of Nessarose Thropp? "Hey, Nessa had some good points earlier. Why didn't you bring us down to meet the Avengers earlier?"
Loki himself even looked uncertain. "Well, we're in the middle of something right now. Hawkeye sees it as crucial, but others of us, like Vision, for example, do not. For the time being, Hawkeye doesn't want much interference with anyone else until we find what we're looking for. He claims that someone new might mess things up, but I'm not quite sure how. I think he's just paranoid."
I lowered my voice. "Then... what is it you're looking for?"
Loki looked up at me with sympathy. "Like I told Nessa, I'm afraid I can't say. Maybe when we do, I'll be able to talk about it."
I turned away, disappointed but understanding. "I see." Maybe one day.
There's a moment of pause. We watch embrace after embrace from the sidelines. Vision looks contented here, and Nessa is proud of that. "You know what I can tell you, though?" Loki said.
"Hm?"
"There's some noises coming from the room across the hallway. The one She's sister lives in. I used to think that it was the Avengers, but..." he waved a hand around. "But it's obvious that's not the case any longer. Perhaps it's what we're looking for, or perhaps... it's something else," He raised his eyebrows my way. "Do you catch my drift?"
"I do..." I replied. I saw Moana look over my way, as if she heard us speaking of a new mystery to be solved. And then, at once, the both of us smiled. "Yeah. I do."

Welcoming the Pocket-Sized Avengers,

Queen Elsa