As Thor slowly stood from his chair, he still had not fully absorbed it all. Much had been said, after all, and there remained several in the rebel crowd he did not know. Events were moving swiftly, but was that not always the case on the eve of war? He did not relish the violence to come, nor did he dread it. He had stood on the brink of too many battles to count, and that sensation preceding the clash, that expectant crackle in the air, was always the same. There was no use worrying for tomorrow, only use in preparing. The thunder god let his eyes slowly travel the faces around him, gauging resolve. He did not see a single set of eyes that looked shaken with fret, only different shades of determined. These were warriors, all. As driven as any warrior in Asgard. 

As such, there was one certain thing warriors should do to prepare on the night before an ill-advised assault against a powerful, established force. A warrior should drink. Drink in honor of those who had fallen, and those who would fall. Drink for the love of life. For on the morrow, a warrior may find himself in Valhalla, and he should not have made the journey regretting how he had spent his last mortal night.

“I go now to liberally … [i]toast[/i] this adventure,” Thor announced in grim, business-like tones. “Any and all are [url=http://titanpad.com/1B5LbC5jLc]welcome to join.[/url]” With no other word, the Asgardian turned to depart the meeting room.

[center]***(Collab between Thor, Stark, Domino, Steve)***[/center]

Thor found his way to the ... tavern in this gigantic, luxurious dwelling. Naturally, it was like few taverns that he had ever darkened the door, but the purpose of such a place was the same as any other. There were those that danced and those that tittered in slurred seduction, those that doused their lips with copious ale. Thor marched through the heaving throng of merry-makers, ignoring the offensively blaring bass beat that thrummed the floor, some sort of awful music. 

At the bar, he thumped his hand until he got the attention of the keep, a young dark skinned woman. "Your finest mead, tavern wench," Thor called over the noise.

Neena had to raise an eyebrow to the brute blonde as he was the first to stand up from the meeting, though she couldn't blame him for wanting a stiff one after all this information, hell [i]she[/i] couldn't even process this all...not right now. And if they weren't to meet up again for another twelve or so hours, then she might as well make the most of it.

She followed Thor, though discreetly until he made it to the bar where he asked the bar maid for 'her finest mead.' A soft smile played across her lips as she took the seat next to the Asgardian.

"He means a pitcher of Heinekin...two cups, and two shots of tequila." She instructed the rather distraught looking woman, at having no idea what the bohemoth of a man was actually asking her. Never-the-less, with the new instruction, the bar maid left to go and fetch their order.

"I don't think we've properly met. You can call me Domino, Merc for hire mostly...something that I think you of all people would understand." She said giving him a slight wink.

Thor slid the dappled woman a sideward glance. She was different, this one. But more than one of Stark’s companions were not typical in appearance… such as the blue troll that Thor had not yet figured out. The god of thunder gave the woman a welcoming smile of his own. He was no stranger to formidable women, and he liked to believe he could recognize one on sight. He decided he was looking at one now. 

“Thank you,” he said graciously, “for whatever it is that you just ordered. It will all drink the same, I hope.”

Thor extended his hand.

“I am Thor Odinson, Domino of Merc, and I do not hire myself. While I am unsure how often Stark pays for attractive women, surely he has not paid you to join this particular venture. As I understand it, this danger threatens you all.”

The Asgardian nodded in approval as the tavern wench began arranging drinks on the bartop in front of them.

"Better." Neena promised as the drinks were laid out in front of them. She instead outstretched her hand to shake the firm grip of the Thunder God before moving the same hand to the pitcher of beer and poured the frosted glasses herself, handing Thor one of the cups before raising her own.

"Oh?" She asked when Thor explained that he didn't hire himself, but the smirk from her face never deminished. "And what makes you think I'm only for hire for...professional jobs?" The tone in her voice could have passed for teasing, though with the rather smug look on her face one couldn't be too sure. She then took her glass of beer and drank the beverage down until there was nothing but foam left, and then poured herself another.

Thor raised his own glass and tipped it to his lips. He was just staring to deeply gulp, admiring the taste, when the one called Domino finished her comment. Naturally, the god of thunder choked a little bit and ended up spraying Heineken all over the bartop. Several sputters and throat-clearing coughs later, Thor wiped the remains off his bearded lips and looked over at Domino incredulously. "What other sorts of jobs do you hire for, woman?" he demanded.

[i]'Back in black I hit the sack
I been too long I'm glad to be back
Yes I am
Let loose from the noose
That's kept me hanging about'[/i]

The rather more low key music of the bar, sitting somewhere between traditional Cuban and more modern works, suddenly cut out, momentarily replaced by the blaring lyrics of ACDC, an all too familiar trend for any who knew one particular Stark. For most of the bar's occupants however, it was a moment of confusion, before a few whoops and cheers arose near the entrance as Tony stepped through the fairly elegant, if oppulant, double doors to the bar. 

The cut of his suit was tailored, of course, white, in somewhat of a cutting edge style in the world of fashion, combined with a black shirt. His tie, thin as it was, a slightly darked shade of the Iron Man red hardly clashed, at least he told himself, in the effort to be distinctive. No matter what he was wearing however, the cheer would have been the same at the next few words he uttered.

"The next round's on me, ladies, if you would." The billionaire was followed by a line of attractive, scantily clad Cuban women, each carrying trays with a varied selection of drinks upon them, working their way through those at tables and booths, as well as heading to the practically distant dance floor. 

"Something [i]he[/i] would be more familair with." Neena smirked, ignoring the spray of beer coming from Thor.

With the stunt over, Tony moving to the bar. Rather than sit either side of the two familiar faces, he instead slid over the top, standing and leaning on the bar opposite them, pouring himself a whiskey and coke, before grinning at them both.

"I thought all my drinks were on you?" Neena said putting her second glass of beer back down on the bar, unable to help that her eyes scanned Tony's attire with a look of interest. "You wear black and white well."

"I don't know what you're looking for Thor-buddy o' pal, but I imagine there are less...murderous women to hire for that." He laughed slightly, having caught the end of their conversation, in the moments before he had begun his little procession.

Neena's brow quirked at Tony's response, the corner of her lip flitted up into a smile. 

"I pegged you for the dangerous type there Tony. And here I was about to give you my twenty-percent off deal for buying all my drinks." She teased, moving her hand from the beer glass to the shot glass of tequila and drained the contents.

Thor looked up when the music changed, then over his shoulder. He was nary too surprised to see the grand entrance of Stark followed by a harem of pleasure slaves. That man was opulent, if nothing else, but even Thor could not prevent himself from admiring a few of the beauties. He glanced to Domino when she spoke again, then grunted to himself quietly, musing upon the likelihood that this woman had bedded Stark for money. There was a reasonable chance of that, he supposed. It was not the Asgardian’s place to judge, though.

When Tony had finally planted himself, Thor gave the human a rakish grin, white teeth splitting his blonde beard. 

“But I always favor a little edge of danger, Stark,” Thor jested. Then the Asgardian shook his head slightly. “Truthfully, though, I seek nothing more than honoring my ancestors tonight through much drink. Asgard has been dismal dreary of late, and even in the midst of such dire circumstances here on Midgard, a moment of levity is well sought.”

"Boring..." Muttered Neena as she helped herself to her already poured glass of beer once more.

Thor raised his mug, then drank -- managing not to choke this time as he drained it. He thumped the empty mug back on the counter. “More!”

"Mhm, Avengers and....temporary Avengers, drink for free. But, well, that isn't the same for everyone." Having waited to answer Domino's question, Tony used the opportunity to provide Thor with an empty glass, putting his own drink to the side, he to found himself another empty glass, before turning back to the shelf of drinks behind him.

"Right...not that I want to find myself in a drinking contest with an Asgardian, but I think we should both be able to manage something particularly horrific." Despite nursing various drinks throughout the day, Tony had finished very few, a number of mutants having prevented his alcoholic desires over the course of the day, so he was fairly sure of his ability to handle at least one terrible drink before feeling the influence too strongly.

Locating a bottle of Everclear, the Cubans having little in the way of the US' legal problems with the stuff, he proceeded to provide both Thor and his own glass with a reasonable helping of the spirit.

"I believe this is more." Stark smirked as he raised his glass to the Asgardian, "To a moment, or two, of levity then."

Thor watched with patient interest as Tony provided further liquid sustenance. The clear liquid looked basically the same as water, and Thor doubted it could match some of the ales and mead Asgard adored. He was willing to try near anything, though. With a shrug of his mighty shoulders, he scooped up the glass and raised it. 

“To levity,” Thor agreed gravely.

He tipped back the glass and swallowed it down. Even the Asgardian’s eyes watered, and he felt the fire scar his throat on the way down. He sucked noisily at his teeth, then sputtered a lone cough that also mingled with a rough chuckle. The night was already taking a turn for the better in his reckoning.

“As you said, Stark… particularly horrific.”

Thor thumped down the glass. “More,” he chuckled.

Neena watched the spectacle with an amused smile, finishing off her second beer casually before it too was empty. Pushing the glass aside, the bent her torso over the bar so that she was closer to Tony, the black corset she adorned hardly leaving much to the imagination as far as cleavege went. Keeping her eyes fixed on him though, she swooped her hand to the side, grabbing her empty shot glass and then slid it over to Tony, craning her neck a bit.

"I'm game."

"Careful now. You'll have me wasted. And you won't like me when I'm wasted." Tony smirked, once his eyes had drawn themselves back up from the view offered by the leaning woman. As opposed to the embarresed rush of someone caught in the act, Tony Stark was deliberately slow in meeting her eyes. He was always going to look, don't let her think the timing of such was all up to her.

Once his fairly terrible impersonation of that 'other' Avenger was complete, Tony poured them all another round, slightly more generous than the last, the alcohol driving him to be a little less smart then he should have been, even still, it wasn't quite enough to kill them.

Raising the glass again, he mimicked Thor, a little more accurately than his modified version of Banner; "More."

Thor chuckled and drank his fill, but he did not interrupt. He didn't want to deter the woman if she was... working. The banter reminded him of Jane, and then the Asgardian went mostly quiet, fighting brooding thoughts while he idly observed the antics and nursed whatever was put in front of him. 

"I doubt your 'wasted' self will be enough to scare me away." Neena stood up on the bar stool and hoisted herself so that she was sitting on top of the bar itself, her eyes still locking with Tony. Whether or not it was with a flirtatious purpose, or simply the fact that he had posed somewhat of a drinking challenge, her expression stayed unwavered as she took the full shot glass and downed the contents, trying to hold her eye contact with the billionaire until the water streaming from them forced her eyes to shut as she coughed and sputtered a bit as the tonic fluid burned down her throat. She laughed at her own efforts a bit, breaking the 'bad girl' front she had been putting up the entire time she had been in Cuba but only for a moment as she held up her empty glass for Tony to fill up once more.

"By my count, I'm still behind a glass."

The spirit was in her glass just as she finished speaking, although Tony was quick to slide the bottle away from himself, nearly sending it off the counter as his aim was more than a little off. Even if he'd just run a detox module on one of his suits the moment he left the bar, he hardly needed to kill himself before then.

"Ah...everyone thinks a wasted Thor, or Cap might be worse...It's the powers you see, but they'd be wrong. A drunk Stark? Only a Banner is scarier." He smirked, the influence of the alcohol only slowing his words slightly, although he did rest a little more of his weight on the bar as the spirit began to tip his balance slightly.

"Right, time for you to catch up then."

"I seem to recall a drunk Stark once..." Neena said as she raised the glass to her lips, but didn't drink quite yet, still trying to stomach the drink she had just downed moments before. "Your house, a few years back. I recall you showing off those lasers or whatever it is you have in your suit, having your guests throw random objects from your home into the air for you to blow up." She shook her head slightly and laughed a bit, finally drinking her second glass of the Everclear, feeling hot tears stream to the corner of her eyes once more.

"It was kind of cute actually, the way you have total disreguard of objects. Must be nice, not having to worry for a split second about money." Neena slipped off of the bar counter, onto Tony's side and started rummaging through a drawer until she found exactly what she was looking for. However when she stood back up, she teetered slightly as the alcohol had finally caught up to her brain, but managed to keep her balance by extending out her hand and holding onto the bar.

Tony's hand moved, on instinct, to catch her, although it returned to his side once she caught herself, the moment of concern passing from his features as the smirk returned; "I never worried about money, I simply made it. Now I don't even have to do that...unless I want to buy the Moon or something....might be a plan."

Once she felt she was stable enough, she closed the few feet she had put in between Tony and herself, getting a lot closer to him than initially thought 'appropriate' as they were practically chest to chest. She uncapped the black sharpie marker she had pulled out of the drawer earlier, and quickly colored in the white suit pocket into a big, black spot matching the tattoo that covered her eye. She stood back a bit, admiring her work and then tossed the marker aside.

"Much better. Cute...to downright sexy..."

"That...was...well, original." Another man might have mentioned the expense of the suit, but they'd just talked about how little he cared about money, so he avoided the subject. Instead, his eyebrow raised at her comment, before with a grin, he slid back across the bar, managing to remain entirely smooth until his landing, which required a few more steps to balance himself, before turning back to her, 'saluting' Thor first.

Neena in turn faced Thor and gave him a flirtatious wink. "I'll catch up with you later big boy." She purred and blew him a kiss before dissappearing with Tony.

Thor chuckled distractedly and absently saluted them both, then tapped his mug in a silent command for a refill. As the barmaid filled his glass with amber, another figure slid in next to the Asgardian.

"Well that was...oddly expected..." Steve Rogers took the now empty seat beside Thor and plainly asked for a drink of water, getting the same look of confusion from the bar maid that had been given to Thor by the request of mead and being called a tavern wench. Steve ignored the look though, as he was used to it by now. There was no point in ordering anything stronger than maybe orange juice, as he couldn't get drunk no matter how hard he tried, but that wasn't going to keep him from keeping Thor company.

Thor nodded gravely. "Indeed it was, my friend," he agreed. "The woman has been offering Stark her services since the moment he arrived. He must pay her well." Thor thanked the barwench with a smile that somehow failed to alleviate her awkwardness with him and now the Captain. Although, she did offer a small quick smile back and go to retrieve Steve his water.

"I cannot say I blame him," Thor asserted thoughtfully as he raised his mug for a swallow. "She had a respectable set of teats, that one."

Steve felt a muscle in his jaw clench tightly at the words of 'pay' in reguards to a woman. Steve knew better, Stark never paid a woman for any kind of service, except for maybe an official maid. He had to stop to think about just how many girls he had in his home running around in maid outfits. Upon his drink arriving, Steve took a good long drink, shaking his head lightly to Thor's later comment.

"Really? I hadn't noticed." He said sounding rather unenthused, and then pushed to change the subject. "So where do you think you'll be heading tomorrow?"

Thor frowned in puzzlement and glanced over to the Captain. "How could you not notice?" he asked. "They were..." Thor cupped his hands over his own mighty pectorals, trying his best to paint a picture. "...about so..." He gauged with gestures. 

The Asgardian ended the speculation with a chuckle and scooped up his drink yet again. "You've been too long on the battlefield, Captain. Even on the eve of war, a man should not overlook certain things. But to answer your query, I believe I will be taking to the skies tomorrow, as is fitting." The Thunder God's voice took a turn toward the grim there at the end.

Steve had to sigh inwardly in relief that Thor took the bait for the topic change. He wasn't about to explain to an alien just how his morals stood right then. He simply nodded and then finished off his glass of water, immediately asking the woman behind the bar politely for a refill.

"My thoughts are the same. It would be familiar territory to say the least, a great advantage for this...suicide mission." He winced a bit, hating the term he used right away, finding that it tasted bitter in his mouth.

Thor reached over to squeeze the Captain's shoulder firmly ... without breaking it, of course. "Suicide, my friend," he said, "is an endeavor for those that have nothing left to live for. We have much left. Much left, indeed. I fully intend to see the morrow through, and I have confidence the glory of victory will be ours. We will fight because we have everything to live for, and that is all that matters. We shall make our ancestors proud, eh?"

Thor tossed back the remains of his mug and thumped it loudly on the counter to wordlessly ask for more. The barwench glanced down the bar in barely concealed irritation at the noise, but she dutifully came over to refill, forcing a smile. 

Steve meerly nodded, keeping his gaze forward. His friend was right, in a round-about sort of way. "Then if any of us shall die, then it will be for a purpose. For freedom, and that is something I will gladly die for." He said, finally turning his neck to look at the bohemoth of a man sitting next to him. "Thanks Thor." He acknowledged his friend and got off of the bar stool, putting his own hand on the Asguardian's shoulder. "I'm going to step out and take a walk for a bit. Drink another for my ancestors too will ya?" He gently jibbed.

Thor nodded, watching the Midgardian hero rise. "I will," the Thunder God vowed. "And Captain, make your peace tonight!" he called as the First Avenger walked off. "For tomorrow, we wage war!"