![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
batsutousaiTitle: Rough Edges
Chapter: 2 of 7
Fandom: Marvel (movie 'verse)
Author: Batsutousai
Beta: Shara Lunison
Rating: T
Pairings: Tony Stark/Loki Odinson(Laufeyson), Clint Barton/Phil Coulson, Natasha Romanoff/Clint Barton, Thor Odinson/Jane Foster
Warnings: Spoilers for The Avengers (2012) and prequel films, angst
Summary: Sequel to Like So Much Shattered Glass. Loki has found a place amongst the Avengers as a member of their team, but he's made a great many enemies in the process and life is never easy.
-2-
Half an hour was about enough time for them to get to the part where the Bifröst picked Loki up, working at double the speed of the actual events, and the group of three human scientists and Loki made their way up to the common floor, discussing the grey haze that marked the Midgardian variation of a power source for magic, which was in every part of the playback so far. Stark was still interested in learning to harness the energy towards powering the human race, and now that they'd seen how prevalent it was, Banner and Jane agreed with him. Which just left them discussing ways to harness it, and for that, they needed Loki.
"I really don't know how to describe it," Loki was saying for the third time as they stepped off the lift together. "If you had none of your images, I would not know of it any more than I did of the energy on Asgard. It is there, I use it."
"Is it in the wording of the spells–"
"Stark!" Loki snapped, in equal turns amused and irritated. "I. Do. Not. Know."
"We can run a couple tests," Banner soothed, ignoring Stark's ridiculous pout. "We know what it looks like – or, well, as much as we'll ever be able to see it – and the Detector – shut up, Tony, I'm not calling it 'gay' anything – seems to be able to project it fairly well. We'll take a couple hours tomorrow, run through some spells and see if we can't pinpoint a trigger."
"It may need a biological component," Jane pointed out as they stepped into the dining room, where the others had gathered. The table had been lengthened somehow, to accommodate the four new arrivals, who were piled to one side of Thor, where Jane usually sat. "I mean, it would make some sort of sense, right? This energy has almost certainly existed for some centuries, and the only way anyone's found to harness it so far has been through spells cast by a human. Or Jötun," she added as she dropped into Loki's usual spot at Thor's side and dragged the younger god down to sit next to her. Stark took the seat on Loki's other side while Banner took his usual spot between Rogers and where Pepper would sit at Stark's side, were she in residence.
"I can't tell if you're talking real science, or finger waving," Barton complained.
"It's the same thing," Jane and Banner chorused.
"For the most part," Stark added, grinning. "Don't worry, Abu, you don't need to get it."
"Fuck you, Stark," Barton snarled in return.
"Ooh, I'm on, but I get to top," Stark returned with a sweet smile.
"Behave," Coulson ordered, smacking the back of Stark's head on his way to his seat, a large dish balanced in one hand. He handed it off to Barton once he'd taken his seat, saying, "Macaroni and cheese, since we had the ingredients for a large serving. I understand that in Asgard there's always a large deal of meat at meals, but we don't tend to keep large stores of it here, especially as Bruce doesn't eat much, and you rather caught us off guard with your arrival, so this will have to do for tonight." He nodded at Lady Sif and the Warriors Three, and Loki pointedly looked away to hide his amusement at Volstagg's disappointed expression. "Also, please refrain from emptying the entire dish onto your plate; there is another in the oven, but it won't be ready for another ten minutes, so this dish needs to make it all the way around the table."
Volstagg moaned a little bit. When the dish reached the rotund Æsir, Thor grabbed it from Hogun and served Volstagg, then himself, saying, "Moderation, my friend."
"But Thor–" Volstagg complained.
"You'll survive," Thor assured him, handing the dish off to Jane. "I have, have I not?"
"You have," Volstagg agreed sadly. Then he glanced around Thor at where Loki was serving himself. "Loki might share, mightn't he?"
"Certainly," Loki agreed pleasantly and Volstagg's expression lightened. "I'll even digest it for you first, to make it all the easier."
There was a beat, then Stark and Barton both burst out laughing. Romanoff, Banner, Coulson, and Jane hid smiles while the Warriors Three and Sif all glowered. Thor and Rogers both appeared torn over how to react, and it was Rogers who said, "Loki, please keep the bathroom humour away from the table," while Thor continued to war between amusement at Loki's response, and insult on behalf of his friend.
"You nast–" Fandral started.
"Ah!" Stark called, still grinning, and leaned around Loki to point a finger at the Æsir. "Nope, nuh-uh. Shut up, or get out. Also, learn to take a joke."
For a moment, Fandral looked as though he might dispute that, because Loki had started the rudeness, but then he glanced at Thor, who shook his head, and subsided. Loki wanted to goad him, to hear his insults and watch Stark kick him out, but then Thor caught his eye, his frown saying, 'I know what you're thinking, Brother; you've won this victory, let it lay,' and Loki turned to his food without speaking.
Dinner was made up of smatterings of conversation that died nearly as soon as they'd begun, as though everyone could sense the tense air between Loki and their guests and was afraid to set it off. Coulson did collect the second dish of food and passed it around as their current servings were waning. It was still less in a meal than any of the Warriors Three were used to, but there were no further complaints about portions.
Loki was the first up from the table, unwilling to stretch out the discomfort of the humans and Thor; he had no doubt that talk would flow smoothly without his presence.
"Right, sciency-magicy things!" Stark declared, jumping up from his seat. "Astro, Shrek, we've got a date with a necklace-projector-thing. Full of gayness."
"The only gay one here is you," Barton called as Jane and Banner both rose to join in putting their dishes in the kitchen and then heading to the lab.
"My eyes–" Stark pointed two fingers to his eyes, then up at the ceiling, "–see everything, my little blue jay. And Agent Agent is, in fact, not as skilled at erasing things off my mainframe as he'd like to think." He flashed Coulson a slightly terrifying grin. "I know things."
"I know where you sleep, Stark," Coulson returned without any apparent concern while, next to him, Barton had a hint of pink dusting across his nose and cheeks.
"I'm terrified," Stark replied, still grinning.
"I know where you sleep," Romanoff intoned.
Stark paused, eyes flickering from Coulson to Romanoff for a long moment, then he pulled his fingers across his lips and winked very slowly.
"Hm," Loki pondered as he made for the hallway to the lift, "it seems as though Stark, Banner, and I aren't the only threesome in this tower."
"Oh, Christ," Banner muttered, rolling his eyes, while most of the humans chuckled and the four newcomers looked scandalised. Thor and Rogers both looked rather resigned.
"Loki," Stark whined, running to catch up with the god and looping his arm around Loki's waist, "you're not supposed to tell them that! You know how Brucy feels about his private life!"
"Apologies," Loki replied drily. "I promise not to tell them about that thing he does with–"
Stark covered Loki's mouth and peeked back at where Banner was supporting a helplessly laughing Jane. "Shh. If you keep telling all his secrets, he might get mad. And then we'll all have to sleep on the street while they repair my tower. Again."
"Come on, Jane," Banner said, amusement creeping through his voice. "Let's go before Loki makes any more of my non-existent sex life public."
Jane covered her mouth and shook her head. "Sorry, no, wait." She snorted and took a moment to catch her breath, still shaking her head. "Okay, sorry. Did sleeping arrangements get discussed?" she asked the room in general. "Because Loki offered to let me crash on his floor for the night, so Sif can take my room and you guys can catch up while I sleep," she added, looking at Thor.
"If you truly do not mind, Brother," Thor said, glancing towards Loki.
Loki shook his head. "I would not have offered, had I any concern with the arrangement."
"And, hey, we'll all just spend the whole night in the lab, cracking out on coffee and hot chocolate while we build weapons capable of wiping out all life on the planet," Stark added cheerfully.
"Tony!" Rogers snapped.
"Recall that you're in the saving the world business, now," Banner said. "Steve, really, we're not making weapons."
"Despite SHIELD's wishes," Stark added, dark humour glinting in his eyes.
"I think you mean to spite SHIELD's wishes," Barton returned and Stark let out a bark of laughter.
"Don't blow up the tower, and recall that tomorrow is Monday," Coulson said, dabbing at the corner of his mouth with his napkin before standing with his plate.
"Damn the whole world," Stark muttered, finally letting go of Loki and motioning that they should continue towards the lift.
"I am uncertain as to your reactions to Mondays," Loki commented as Banner and Jane caught up with them while they waited for the lift.
"I'm pretty sure that it's written in the Villain Handbook that someone has to attack on Mondays. Even if it's really just annoying and causes minimal property damage, something always happens on a Monday. You happened on a Monday, in fact."
"You came through the Tesseract on a Monday," Banner clarified at Loki's raised eyebrow.
"Fridays tend to suck a bit, too, if they've been good during the week," Stark added. "Hence, the weapons brought to the party."
"Also, days when someone is out of commission," Jane said. "Do you boys mind if I borrow Loki long enough to move some things to his room?" she added as the lift doors opened on the lab floor.
"Go for it," Stark agreed as he and Banner stepped out of the lift. "We promise not to start without you."
The lift doors closed between them and Loki said, "Would you mind if I changed, rather than continuing down with you? If you need assistance..."
"Oh, no, I should be okay on my own!" Jane replied with a laugh. "Go on; I can't imagine it's comfortable to have to wear leather all the time."
"It is familiar to me," Loki said with a shrug. "But there is a certain lack of comfort in wearing Asgardian dress when all but the Warriors Three and Lady Sif are dressed as Midgardians. Humans," he corrected, and Jane's smile turned fond.
"And we all know which you'd prefer to be dressed more like right now," Jane agreed and Loki didn't bother hiding his reply smile.
On his floor, Loki quickly changed into the freer dress of Midgard, waving his Asgardian clothing into his magical space and recalling his mobile to drop into one of his trouser pockets; he doubted he would have need to hear it ring, but the weight was a comfort, a reminder of his heavier leathers.
Changed, he considered sleeping arrangements; he had only the one bed, and nothing else one could think to sleep on, but he had some extra pillows and blankets stored in the back of his bedroom wardrobe, and he had camped on hard ground often enough over the centuries that he saw nothing wrong in doing so on the plush carpet. So he set up a small nest in the main room of his floor and, when Jane stepped out of the lift, directed her to the bedroom.
"Really, I can sleep on the floor–" she started.
"This is familiar to me," Loki insisted, motioning towards the pile of blankets and pillows he'd made. "I have often spent weeks and months on a hunt or campaign with my brother and the others, sleeping on all manner of sticks and rocks; I am the prince of a warrior realm, Lady Jane, not one inclined overmuch towards pampering."
"I just... I feel bad taking your bed," Jane admitted, nibbling on her lower lip.
"If this is to last more than one night," Loki commented, and he thought it might, unless Jane was more willing to room with the Warriors Three than he, "I will see about ordering a second bed. Were it not so late, I would see to doing so now. For tonight, this arrangement suits me."
"Just– Tell me you're not doing this to get on Thor's good side, or something?"
Loki snorted. "There is little I would do solely to please Thor, Lady Jane, and offering my bed to his favoured companion is not one of them."
"I'm not sure I like that term, 'favoured companion'," Jane complained as she took her things into the bedroom.
"I would think it less offensive than calling you my brother's woman," Loki returned with a shrug.
Jane grimaced. "Okay, yeah." She shook her head. "On Earth, when two people are dating – or courting, or whatever Thor's calling our relationship today –, we call them 'boyfriend' and 'girlfriend'."
Loki considered the terms and nodded. "I will endeavour to remember that," he announced and Jane smiled at him. "You are ready to return to the lab?"
"Yeah, let's go," Jane agreed and they took the lift up, rather than teleporting into the constant mess that was the main lab. Banner passed fresh coffee to Jane and hot chocolate to Loki as they returned to their previous positions and Stark started the playback again.
There was little new of real interest to the three humans and Loki during the rest of the playback. They didn't see any more of the grey haze of Midgardian magic, though there was a pale brown haze on Asgard that they all agreed was the energy that the Æsir used, rather than drawing it from the buildings, as they'd originally thought. Loki was surprised and pleased to find that his eldest son was as magical as Loki was, glowing with a sparkling black, not unlike the Allfather.
"Your kid, right?" Stark asked when the horse came into view. "Sleepy?"
"Sleipnir," Loki corrected absently, drinking in the sight of his son's magic. "Yes, that's him."
"Cool," Stark decided.
"You have a son?" Jane asked. "Those myths are true?"
"I have three sons and a daughter," Loki replied. "Your myths are often rife with lies, but there is some truth in them."
"More truth than you'd like, I should think," Banner said, and when Loki glanced at him, he had the smile of a man who had discovered himself a monster after too long thinking he was anything but. Loki managed a grimace of a smile back.
Once the images had played out completely, the four remained in their seats, sipping at the last of their drinks.
"It's too late to play with magic tonight, isn't it?" Stark asked at last, setting his mug heavily against the stone table-top. There was a sort of resignation in his voice and Loki recalled, with a hint of guilt, that Stark had been made to sleep through most of the day by him.
"Had I not travelled today to Asgard, I would remain for your play," he said by way of apology.
Stark flashed him a smile. "Nah, don't worry about it. I should get some extra work done on the suit before shit goes down, anyway."
That seemed to be the signal for them to depart, as they all moved to rise as one, Banner saying, "Try to get a couple hours, though, okay? I know you're high on caffeine and eight hours sleep, but it'll be just our luck that the attack happens in the evening, when you're starting to crash."
"Hey, I only crash when you refuse me coffee," Stark retorted, walking with them to the lift, their mugs left on the table to be cleaned later. "I can stay running for days if you give me coffee."
"Remember the last time you decided to try that?" Banner returned drily.
"Uh–"
"Steve intervened. Do you want Steve to intervene again?"
"Jesus, no," Stark swore, waving his hands in refusal. "Scarred for life. Ask Bruce when I'm not around," he added to Loki's curiously amused glance.
"It's a great story when you need a laugh," Jane added as they made their way down the floors, stopping first to let Stark off, then Banner, then Loki and Jane. "Only Steve, Bruce, and Mr Stark were around, though, since Natasha and Clint were on a mission and Phil was still in the hospital. And Thor was on Asgard."
"And Lady Pepper?"
"She...wasn't living here, then," Jane said with care.
And Loki wondered at the story there, wondered at all that had come to pass between his invasion and his return, what had turned that ragtag pile of humans from different corners of their world into friends living together under the same roof. It wasn't the first time he'd wondered, but it was the first time he'd honestly considered asking.
But he didn't, not then, not of Jane, who would only know pieces, the parts that had filtered down through jokes and quiet conversations over meals. Instead, he said, "Pleasant sleep, Lady Jane," and turned to his nest in the corner of the room.
"Good night, Loki," Jane replied and vanished into the bedroom.
-0-
Loki woke and set about his morning routine in silence, so as to not wake his guest.
When he stepped into the common kitchen, he found Stark and Pepper with a pile of papers at one end of the breakfast bar, Hogun and Sif at the other. "Good morning," he offered neutrally as he made for the refrigerator to find something to make.
"Morning, Puff," Stark called around a pen he was chewing on.
"Good morning, Loki," Pepper offered with a smile.
"You seem oddly comfortable in Midgardian clothing," Sif commented with a hint of poorly hidden malice. She looked away from the sharp look Stark shot her, but didn't apologise.
"They are surprisingly comfortable, for all their inferiority," Loki replied drily.
"That's a good brand!" Stark insisted, waving his pen at Loki. "Best money can buy! Don't you go all superior god on me."
"I am a god," Loki replied, amused. "And superior." He picked at the shirt, letting his magic handle his breakfast while he focussed on the human. "I would not trust this clothing in a battle."
"Well, yeah, but most humans don't go around getting into fights," Stark replied with a roll of his eyes. "And when they do, they go out in something more durable, like denim or leather. Or they're Captain America or Black Widow and looking more for mobility than durability."
"Natasha moves fast enough that it's to her benefit, and Steve is durable enough to not need the extra protection," Pepper commented. "Mr Stark, I need to get these back to the office this morning."
"Yeah, sorry," Stark muttered, turning back to his papers.
Loki finished making his food and settled in next to Stark to eat. After the human went through a couple more papers, Loki picked one up off the stack and glanced it over.
"They're really boring," Stark commented absently as he glanced over the one he had in front of him.
"Do you even bother to read them?" Loki wondered as he handed his paper over to Stark's reaching hand.
"Sometimes," he said as Pepper muttered, "No."
Stark flashed her a shit-eating grin, then admitted, "Okay, not really. I sort of look them over for key words and then read them if something catches my eye; I trust Pep to make me focus on anything important that I actually need to read. Most of these are requests to work on some new project or another, or transfers from one building to another, things like that. And that, I leave to Pepper to sort through and decide if whatever shouldn't be approved. Because she's way better at this than I am." He smiled at her and she rolled her eyes, but smiled back.
Loki likened Stark's position to Odin's; how it was his duty to approve the requests of his people and oversee his kingdom, but he left many of the smaller duties to the Council, Frigga, Thor, and Loki, as he was but one person and there were only so many hours in a day. During his brief hold over the throne, Loki had experienced some of that strain, some of that demand of an entire realm looking to him for wisdom and guidance, for protection against Asgard's many enemies.
Loki didn't want to be king, didn't want that throne heavy on his shoulders, only truly knowing what his advisors wished him to know. Thor would be the better king, was more suited to dull smiles and brash promises of security. Give Loki his shadows and his knowledge of the people, let him remain an advisor to his brother, whispering the pains of the people, which the Council would never pass on; that was where he was happiest.
Loki did not begrudge Stark his position at the top, but it suited the man, with his urge to create and his duties to his entire world, beyond the reach of his tiny kingdom. And if Pepper was his Loki – was the one advisor that tried to connect king and people – Loki thought Stark Industries well cared for.
And Loki really needed to stop making connections between himself and these mortals, lest he become even more fond of them and weep at their eventual passing. (He liked to think it was yet possible for him to leave without feeling sorrow, and he was the god of lies, was he not?)
Barton and Coulson entered the kitchen as Stark's paper pile dwindled, Barton looking tired and Coulson as calm and prepared as ever. Barton made to reach for a box of cereal, then he paused and looked suspiciously towards Loki's innocent smile. "No," he decided and grabbed a package of Pop-Tarts.
"Those will rot your teeth," Coulson commented as he pulled out a bowl for cereal.
"Yeah, but they haven't turned into cockroaches on me yet," Barton returned, detouring along the breakfast bar to shove at Loki, who evaded him, and steal Stark's coffee mug.
"Hey! Magic Fingers, your pet magpie is stealing my ambrosia!" Stark immediately shouted, grabbing for Barton and missing so badly he almost fell off his stool. Loki flicked a glimmer of green magic to keep him upright and Stark flashed him a grateful grin.
"Barton," Coulson sighed, but he was already approaching Stark with a new mug of coffee, fresh from the machine, almost seeming to have expected the theft.
Barton grinned from behind his mug and dropped onto the stool next to Pepper. "How's business, Pep?"
"Less dangerous without Tony around, making suggestions to impressionable scientists who think he's some sort of god," Pepper replied drily.
"I am a god," Stark insisted.
"No," Loki said, raising an eyebrow imperiously, "I am a god. You, Stark, are capable of creating impressive devices, yet remain, forevermore, mortal."
Stark grinned at him. "I can shoot laser beams out of my hands."
"Gloves, actually," Pepper corrected, gathering the finished paperwork into her briefcase. "You don't get to claim god status until you survive Hulk smashing you around like a doll."
"Still the most awesome home video ever," Stark swore, then grabbed for the edge of the breakfast bar and shot a mildly concerned look towards Loki. "You're my favourite? Don't knock over my stool, please."
"You're expecting it," Loki replied and Stark let out a nervous chuckle.
Pepper gave up her spot for Coulson. "Let me know when the inevitable call comes?" she asked him as he set down his mug and bowl.
"Certainly," Coulson agreed. Then he leaned around Stark to look at Loki and asked, "Would you be willing to continue acting as my ride to the nearest base?"
Loki shrugged and nodded. "It is simple enough, and less draining now I am aware of the problem." He glanced at Stark, who grinned. "I would not much care to be the first to arrive, especially without knowing what to expect."
"Good. Stark, get Loki fitted out with a proper earpiece sometime today?"
"Sure thing."
Coulson turned to Sif and Hogun. "I am aware that you are technically acting as guests, but Thor seems to believe you would be interested in assisting with any problems the Avengers are called out to face?"
"We would be interested in such, yes," Sif agreed.
Coulson nodded and looked back at Loki. "Thor had some trouble with the earpieces when we first started using them; how difficult will it be to provide the others with them?"
Loki blinked in surprise at being asked the question, then realised that it only made sense, given his knowledge of both the technology and people in question. He took a moment to consider, then shrugged. "Lady Sif and Hogun will adapt well enough with only minimal explanation, Volstagg will likely have trouble only in that he cannot modulate his voice, and Fandral will need to be coached, much as I imagine Thor was."
"I can modify something for Sir Falstaff, and we can see if Thor can coach Narcissus. Alternately, wasn't Steve the one who managed last time?"
"We'll figure something out," Coulson agreed drily as Barton cackled next to him.
Stark flashed him a grin, then leaned over towards Loki and said, "Let's go make magic." Then, quieter, "And get away from Xena and Karate Kid; why do they look like they'd like to push me out a window?"
"The Æsir are familiar with your Greek myths," Loki replied. "They are aware that you're insulting them."
"I'm an equal-opportunity insulter," Stark said loudly as he got off his stool. "Aren't I, Abu?"
"A quick death is too good for you, Carpet," Barton replied.
Stark flashed him a grin. "Come on, Rudolph," he called to Loki, who followed him out of the kitchen with a great deal of amusement. Sif and Hogun were glaring at Stark like they would see him dead, but Barton's irritation was all for show.
They spent the entire morning in the lab, Banner and Jane joining them within the first couple hours. After Loki had cast some spells using the Midgardian energy for Stark, he found a stool that was mostly out of the way and watched Stark work on the earpiece for Volstagg and a couple other little things, chattering nonsense the whole time. When Banner and Jane joined them, they got around to discussing attempts to harness the magical energy, as well as possible lessons in some basic spells, to see if the magic reacted differently depending on the person or species and other such concerns.
Banner made them break for lunch, and they ended up getting sidetracked by the television, which had some game show on. The humans made a game of calling out their answers before the contestants, JARVIS keeping score over the television, while Loki – the only non-human on the common floor, as Thor and the other four were on his floor – watched them, bemused, and soaked up the culture lesson they were unknowingly providing.
The credits were just running, and the three scientists and Loki were moving to return to the lab, when Fury's voice rang out, "Avengers, assemble."
The Avengers scrambled for the lift while Jane relaxed back against the couch and Coulson stood calmly, taking a moment to straighten his tie.
Loki stood up, changing genders while moving so that, by the time she was standing straight, she was female. A motion with her hand and a sparkle of green replaced her Midgardian clothing with her Asgardian clothing and armour.
"That is a cool trick," Jane decided. "I would kill to be able to just sort of wave my hand and be dressed."
Loki smiled down at her. "It only works with this clothing because I have spelled it to; I will have to change back into human clothing the normal way."
"Still cool," Jane insisted. "Also, maybe more green and less black?"
Loki glanced down at her clothing, noting that it appeared very similar to what she wore when she called down the Chitauri, female cut or otherwise. She'd always preferred black, to hide any bloodstains, but most of the Avengers chose to dress in more colourful outfits, beyond the two SHIELD agents. She saw nothing wrong with switching the green and the black and doing away with her cape.
Without the cape and helmet, her clothing more green than black, and the fall of the gold plating on her female form, she looked very unlike the Loki that had come to rule Midgard over a year ago. Jane gave her a thumbs up when she glanced to her for approval, and she smiled gratefully before turning to Coulson.
"It should work," he decided and held out his hand to her. "The helicarrier, please; I'll give you further specifics once we're on base and I know exactly where the danger is. Also, Dr Foster? Call Ms Potts."
"Sure thing," Jane agreed and reached into her pocket for her mobile.
Fury was waiting for them when Loki teleported them onto the bridge, and his single eye looked her up and down once before he turned away. "We've got a handful of Doombots and some ridiculous skeleton things running around Manhattan," he said as Coulson stepped up next to him, his voice echoing in the earpiece Loki wore.
"I can take out the Iagos with the AMF Mark II," Stark's voice announced.
"What the blazing fuck is an 'AMF Mark II'?" Fury demanded.
"Anti-Magic Field," Loki translated drily as she glanced over the screens to sort out the destination for her next teleportation.
"Iron Man, if you drop those Bots out of the sky, they're going to cause a lot of damage," Rogers said.
"Emerald Frost, could you catch them and lower them safely?" Romanoff chimed in, and Rogers made a surprised 'oh'.
"I believe so," Loki agreed and teleported to a skyscraper she'd vaguely recognised that was within range of the Doombots. A twist of her wrist had one of her staffs appearing in her hand – she would be unable to use Midgardian spells, and she was yet too uncertain with her skills in Jötun magic to try catching them that way. "Whenever you're ready, Iron Man," she said, eyes flickering to the side to watch Thor come streaking in, aiming for the skeletons.
"Totally ready to stick this to Jafar," Stark replied, coming to hover at Loki's side. "Dear anyone who's magic-sensitive, this might tickle."
Loki felt her ears pop as the Anti-Magic Field Mark II activated somewhere in Stark's suit, but she'd tested with the technology enough times to be familiar with the sensation and allowed no more than a faint grimace before she was reaching out to smooth the landings of the Doombots as the effects radiated outwards.
"That's awesome," Stark decided as the last two Doombots dropped gently onto roofs some distance away.
"Not half bad," Fury allowed, a hint of irritation in his voice. "Now, will they wake right back up again when you turn your toy off?"
"Uh..."
"I can disable them," Loki said. "Or they can be crushed in whatever manner you usually use to subdue them. They cannot fight back for the moment."
"Iron Man, Emerald Frost, see what you can do about neutralising the Doombots permanently," Coulson directed. "The others have their hands full with the skeletons, which don't seem to use any form of magic. Or, at least, not one the AMF affects."
Loki and Stark both glanced down at the mess in the streets and Loki grimaced at the sight of the white bones surging around the group of Avengers, Warriors Three, and Sif. "It is, perhaps, for the best that we added to our numbers for the day," she commented drily.
"No kidding," Stark replied before turning back towards the fallen Doombots arrayed over the roofs below them. "Right, let's see to the Iago Band, then lend a hand. Do you need me to help you to the buil–" Stark fell silent when Loki teleported to the nearest fallen Doombot. "Right. Fucking magic."
Loki smiled to herself and settled in to destroy any connections to Dr Doom that may have survived the Anti-Magic Field. Seeing as how they were part technology, Loki couldn't be completely certain that there was still a connection, but Doom helpfully solved her uncertainty by speaking through the Doombot she was leaning over, "You're new. Are the Avengers recruiting now?"
"We're always recruiting," Loki purred in response, "but we prefer our agents to be both beautiful, and in ownership of a sparkling wit, so you need not apply." Then she lashed out with daggers of ice, aiming at the spots she believed to be the most important, and allowing the element to freeze out the rest of the robot just in case.
Stark was laughing over the comms. "Christ, I love you so much right now."
"Stop acting like fucking teenagers on a picnic and kill the rest of those fucking bots," Fury snapped. "You two can fuck each other brainless later, but I ain't fucking listening to it."
Loki joined Stark in cackling over the comms as she teleported to the next bot and dealt with it in the same way as she had the first. With Stark so familiar with the technology and Loki freezing anything she couldn't properly destroy, they managed to neutralise the rest of the bots in only a few minutes.
Done there, they joined the humans and Æsir among the skeletons, Stark taking the Anti-Magic Field offline and allowing Loki to banish her staff and use a mix of Midgardian magic and Jötun ice to cut through a lump of the skeletons.
Which then got right back up.
"Jesus fucking Christ," Stark swore. "I was wondering why you were having so much trouble."
"They're disinclined to stay down," Rogers replied drily.
"And let's not even talk about how much fun it is to find a way to take them apart for Hawkeye and me," Romanoff added, irritation making her voice sharp. "We're on civilian duty."
"I think you got the better end of the deal," Stark replied as the Hulk let out an angry scream and ripped a skeleton in two over his head before bashing both halves against the roadway.
"Si– Emerald Frost," Thor said, "can you think of any spells?"
"Anything," Sif agreed tightly, and Loki caught sight of the warrior maiden cutting at a group with her spear, only for them to reform as soon as her swing was complete. Arrayed between Sif and Thor were the Warriors Three, struggling against the tide with varying degrees of success, and it was like Loki had stepped back in time, fighting shoulder-to-shoulder with these Æsir as a friend, trusting them to cut through foes while she wove complicated spells at their backs.
Spells, she thought, icing another skeleton as it got close enough to grab at her jacket. The ice was stopping them, but she couldn't say how long it would hold, and it would eventually melt, leaving them active again. "Thor, how is your lightning affecting them?" she asked.
"They develop scorch marks, but it doesn't slow them down," he reported.
Loki narrowed her eyes. "You're not using your full power, though?"
"It's too dangerous," he insisted, and she knew he meant that the humans would be in danger of getting hit.
"Burning them should work," Stark said, following her train of thought. "Get them hot enough that they turn to ash."
"Will they reform from that, though?" Rogers asked. "It doesn't seem to matter if we cut the bone in half or knock it out of a joint, they just get right back up."
"Only one way to know," Loki replied and cast a hastily translated fire spell. The three skeletons coming at her burst into flames, burning hot enough for them all to feel. Loki winced at the pain from the heat, her Jötun self too close to the surface after using so much ice. If this worked, she would very likely regret it later, but she had no other choice.
The skeletons fell to ash and everyone froze for a moment – skeletons and Avengers alike – to see if the fire had done its job.
The ash stirred weakly before falling still.
"Do it," Rogers ordered and Loki prepared another spell, widening her target area. "Thor, can you get a similar reaction from lightning?"
"I can, Captain, but with the close quarters..."
"Understood. Widow, Hawkeye, I need you both to move the Hulk off the street; Iron Man, you and I are going up and out of the way; Asgardians, you know how much lightning you can handle."
The Hulk roared as he was herded away and Iron Man's jets sounded loud in Loki's ears as her fire raged amongst the skeletons. She didn't startle at feeling Sif suddenly next to her, only joined hands and teleported them out of the way, casting more fire as Thor swung Mjölnir to call up a true storm.
Lightning slammed into the street, shaking everything and destroying the skeletons that it came in contact with. Thor directed it with narrowed eyes, leaving stragglers for the occasional flare of fire woven by Loki.
And then it was over, everything oddly still as the piles of ash got caught up in a gust of wind.
"Holy fuck," Stark said. "Thor, buddy, I'm glad you're on our side."
"So am I, Man of Iron," Thor replied, exhaustion in his voice, and Loki knew her brother would likely look to eat two or three times normal that night, then sleep like a log and awaken ridiculously cheerful tomorrow afternoon.
"Loki?" Sif whispered and Loki realised she was swaying, pain running along her exposed skin, and Thor wasn't the only exhausted one. "You're burned!" Sif realised, and she was supporting Loki with the ease of familiarity, holding her up when Loki might well have fallen.
Loki smiled at her, teeth too bright against her burned face, and said, "Jötun."
Sif looked for a moment like she'd been struck, reminded of the truth of what Loki was, but she didn't pull away and her expression set after a moment, ever the warrior. "Can you heal yourself?" she asked, and her voice sounded odd, mixing concern and an ancient hatred.
Loki motioned to summon one of her staffs, reminding herself that she needed to translate more healing spells into Midgardian magic; she'd focussed most of her attention on the fighting spells, and those for her tricks, and she was regretting it now. At least she still knew the spell to heal burns, after Banner's wounds, and it flowed easily over her skin, soothing the pain just as Iron Man's jets sounded above them.
"Nice work with the fire," he said as he landed, concern poorly hidden in his voice. "You okay?"
Loki waved her staff away and turned the motion into waving negligently at him. "Of course I'm okay," she said with her familiar arrogance. No longer in pain, she trusted her legs to hold her and pulled away from Sif, flashing Stark an easy smile. "Should I not be?"
Stark tapped the side of his helmet. "Comms are still open," he reminded her drily and it took an act of extreme will to keep from grimacing.
"I am perfectly capable of seeing to my own wounds, Iron Man," Loki told him, unamused, "and I should like that you not concern yourself, first, with my wellbeing."
"Couple scrapes, Thor listing like a drunken bum, a lot of super-awesome property damage that I'm not touching...that's about it. Oh, and then there's you, burned and leaning on Xena," Stark snarled, and, okay, so Loki had forgotten that Stark could see things at an extreme distance because of his suit.
"I have survived plenty long without you looking after me. Don't you dare think me some helpless maiden!" Loki snarled back, taking a step forward that wasn't quite as steady as she would have liked and shoving a finger against the glow of his chest.
Stark's visor popped up and he glared at her without his technology in the way. "You are a part of a team, Loki. I don't know what that means in your fucked up head, but in this world, that means you worry about each other. That means I'm gonna worry about you, we all are."
"What would you know about teamwork, Stark?" Loki snapped.
Stark flinched, then his eyes hardened and he grabbed Loki's shoulder, as if to keep her from running away. "What do I know about teamwork?" he replied, voice low and cold with controlled anger. "I know that I can trust someone to be at my back, even when I don't think I need it. I know that when my suit breaks and I get metal fucking shoved through my arm, someone's gonna be there to pull the damn thing out and ask how many fucking fingers they're holding up. I know that when I go on another fucking drinking binge, or when I haven't slept for forty hours, someone's gonna be there to stop me, to get me sober or shove me into bed. I know there's people I can laugh with at home; that'll stand with me in the field, come hell or high water; that'll see me at my worst and ask 'how can we help'; that won't turn away from me when I'm being an ass.
"But enough about me," he said, voice suddenly too cheerful and eyes still hard as steel. "What do you know about teamwork, Loki Friggadottir? You, who likes to hide in the shadows? You, with your lies and your smiles? Brushing away thanks and concern in equal measure, refusing your brother for years because your dad fucking lied to you. You turned on your people, on your family and friends. You came here to fucking kill us – I know revenge, I've seen it in the mirror, don't you dare lie to me – and then...what? You think you can like us, but we can't like you? You think Thor's the only one who could possibly decide he likes you – loves you, even – because you're some kind of monster to a bunch of people who are morons anyway?
"You healed my best friend, you gave your brother's girlfriend a place to crash, you knock me out when I won't go to bed, you save the life of a guy who fucking hates you, and you suffer burns to deal with a threat when you're more than capable of leaving. You think that only goes one way? Because it doesn't. We're the fucking Avengers, babe, and once we call you our own, once you get your membership into the club, that's it. We don't turn you away for anything, we worry about you when you're hurt, and when your ex-friends come knocking, we tell them to shut their fucking traps, because you're one of us, and we protect our own."
"Someone has to," Banner said through the comms, voice tired but kind.
"Although," Coulson said drily, "there will be a long discussion if you decide to take out any cities."
"Way to ruin the mood, Coulson," Barton returned.
"Let me ruin it further, you bunch of fucking girls," Fury snapped, "go home, paint your nails or whatever you idiots do in that tower when I'm not breathing down your sorry necks, and let the clean-up crews do their work, or you'll be doing it for them. Am I clear?"
"Clear," Rogers, Barton, and Romanoff chorused.
"Crystal," Stark muttered, removing his hand from Loki's shoulder.
For a moment, Loki felt as though she were falling through the Void again, as if every support had slipped out from under her, but she shook herself, grabbed at Stark's suit when the world tilted slightly, and took a breath.
"Hey, Genie?" Stark said, and it sounded like he wanted to ask if she was okay, but thought better of it.
"Tired," she admitted, and the truth was like a burn, but it was true that she cared for these stupid, breakable humans, that she liked being a part of their team, that she wasn't trying. She was pushing them away even as she pulled them closer, because it had hurt, ruling alone and falling alone and being despised by everyone she'd once trusted, once called friend, because she was no longer the odd son, but the monster in the form of an Áss.
But what was Loki here? She was as alien as the Æsir, as monstrous as these humans she'd fallen in with, and just broken enough to care, to let them in just enough, too much. She didn't want to trust them, didn't know that they were capable of keeping her sane in her darker moments...but maybe it was too late. She hadn't killed them when she'd had the chance.
"Let's get you home," Stark said. Then, "You got her? You're not going to drop her out of spite?"
Sif's arms were at Loki's shoulders, reassuring in spite of all that had fallen between them over the centuries. "How little you think of me, Man of Iron," Sif said.
"You've given me a lot of reason to think poorly of you, and not a whole hell of a lot of reason to trust you," Stark replied, and his visor fell shut. "If I thought I could get her back, I would, but I need at least one hand for direction, and I don't trust her to hold on." Loki scowled, but admitted, if only to herself, that she wasn't too certain of her grip right now, either.
"She fought well and bravely," Sif retorted, voice stiff. "She did more than I, and that is worth more to me than anything else. I will see her safely to the metal contraption."
"Quinjet," Loki corrected, and Stark's laughter buzzed in her ear.
Sif and Loki made it to the quinjet with minimal trouble and Rogers smiled as he reached down to help them aboard. "So, how about some ice cream when we get home?"
Loki perked up, feeling significantly less tired at the sound of her favourite Midgardian food. "Yes? Please?"
Rogers' grin widened and Banner and Thor both let out tired laughs while Volstagg asked, "What is 'ice cream'?"
"It's food," Barton called back from the pilot's seat as the engines whirred to life. Romanoff was looking back towards Loki and Sif from next to him, gaze coolly assessing, looking for any damage, and Loki was torn between irritation and an odd warmth.
"I like it already," Volstagg decided.
"You will find," Thor warned with humour as Loki settled into the seat next to him, comfortable with the arm he wrapped around her, "that Loki is as fond of ice cream as you are of everything else, my friend. Guard your container well, lest she steal it."
The Warriors Three and Sif all gave Loki uncertain looks, unused to the younger prince looking for more food than was her share – and often not even finishing that share, hence Volstagg's request for her dinner last night – and Loki smirked at them, always cheered to throw someone off guard.
The ice cream was there when they trooped into the kitchen, Pepper having gone out as soon as she heard the suggestion and buying more than enough for three times the number of people who found spots in the kitchen. Loki ate more than her fair share, and Volstagg managed a portion of the rest. The Æsir all agreed that it was delicious, and were surprised and amused by Loki's ability to eat twice as much as Volstagg.
"You have never cared to eat so much before," Fandral commented, enthralled. (He was often enthralled when Loki was female, and she'd more than once given him a bloody nose for standing too close. Judging by the flash of Romanoff's eyes any time he glanced her way, she, too, had fallen prey to his attentions. And seeing as how he was only using his eyes on her, Loki assumed she had deterred him to great effect.)
Loki considered punching him just for the amusement of it, but figured it would be far more useful to point out, "I'm Jötun; what do you think my kin eat?" Then she smiled as Fandral back-peddled, bumping into Hogun, who frowned up at him.
Jane shook her head and bumped her arm against Loki's. "Let's steal away with the rest of the ice cream and put it in your freezer; we can binge on it tonight or something."
"I like this plan," Loki decided and the two of them collected the last of the ice cream and left with it, Loki still eating out of her current quart. Laughter followed after them, the humans and Thor too used to Loki's love of the frozen treat to be anything but amused by her actions.
Loki changed while she was in her rooms, and she and Jane moved the bed that had arrived while they were in the lab earlier into a better position in the main room, then made it up with Loki's extra sheets and had a quiet debate about who would sleep in which bed – Jane won and took the new bed. When they had nothing else to do, they rejoined everyone upstairs for a film or two, and when Stark started asking for suggestions for ordering dinner, Loki said, "Whatever you order, order a lot."
Stark looked over the four newest Æsir and, when Loki pointed at him, Thor, then sighed. "Yeah, I figured as much."
They ended up with Chinese food, because rice was filling, and there was something for everyone on the menu. Also, Thor was ridiculously fond of moo shu pork.
When they eventually broke for bed, Fandral and Volstagg dragging an extremely sleepy Thor along with them, Loki and Jane settled in on the new bed with some of the stolen ice cream and Loki told stories about Thor being stupid until she fell asleep.
-0-
Loki woke curled up with Jane on the guest bed. The ice cream containers they'd been eating from when she fell asleep sat on the floor, mostly empty and completely melted. She grimaced and flicked a spell at them to freeze them, then disentangled herself from Jane and collected them to put the leftovers back in the freezer.
Somewhere between showering and picking out her clothing for the day, Loki decided to be male again, and so when he stepped out of his room to find Jane stretching, shirt angled indecently, she let out a surprised shout and pulled the covers over her.
Loki laughed and shook his head. "You humans make little sense," he informed her. "It is well, then, that I might watch you change as a woman, but I may not see you poorly dressed as a man?"
Jane let out an embarrassed laugh, but still fixed her shirt before letting the blanket drop. "It's not a problem we usually face," she pointed out. "But, yeah, it's sort of ingrained that the only males that should see you indecent are those you're sleeping with, or that you're related to. And even the last has something of an age limit on it."
Loki shrugged. "Æsir have similar thoughts," he admitted, "though it is more that you must be decent outside the bedroom." He waved around the room. "This is, for the moment, your bedroom. You have allowed me within it and, as such, you have no cause for shame at my seeing you indecent." He sighed. "This is, perhaps, an unusual situation, however, by Æsir standards."
"I'm getting used to unusual, living with the Avengers," Jane said drily and Loki laughed. "Shoo, go get some food upstairs while I make use of your bathroom."
"As you please," he agreed, glancing towards the lift. "JARVIS, are any in the kitchen?"
"Only Lady Sif and Hogun," JARVIS replied.
Loki nodded and teleported, smirking when the two Æsir flashed him irritated looks. Not bothering to trade pleasantries, Loki set about getting himself some cereal, disinclined towards cooking.
"The Midgardians are oddly fond of you," Hogun said, making Loki twitch at the break in the silence. That it came from the little-spoken Hogun only added to his surprise.
"And?" he returned, turning and leaning against the worktop to eat his cereal while watching the two Æsir.
"I see none of your spells woven around them."
Loki let out a bark of laughter. "You think me capable of fostering fondness only through magic?" he asked, but he knew what answer the warrior would give.
And, indeed, "Jötun have no friends."
"I am raised Æsir," Loki countered. He was Jötun, yes, and he would always be a monster, but that didn't make him incapable of social interactions. Hogun and Loki had once been friends – closer than Loki had been to Fandral or Volstagg, and as close as he'd been to Sif, before he'd played that one prank on her that ruined them forever – after all, which was all the evidence he might need to present to him.
Hogun inclined his head, allowing him that truth, and so it was Sif who said, "An Áss would never think to claim a throne to which they have no claim."
Loki narrowed his eyes. "Then it is well I am not of the Æsir. I might lay claim to a throne–"
"You have sworn that claim away!" Sif snapped, standing.
Loki smiled as if to put her at ease, knowing it would only make her tense further. "Have I indeed?" he wondered quietly. "I wouldn't," he added as she reached for the hidden daggers she always kept along her belt, holding up a hand covered in ice. "I have sworn not to kill anyone, Sif, and I should hate to break my word to the Allfather."
"Would you?" Sif snarled, but she didn't draw a dagger and Loki allowed the ice to fall away, vanishing before it hit the floor.
"He toys with you," Hogun pointed out quietly. "You give him too much power over your emotions, Lady Sif."
Loki smiled into his breakfast as Sif turned to look at Hogun with surprise. She turned back towards Loki and looked him over, assessing him as a warrior, rather than a woman, and her eyes narrowed. "Speak the truth, Silvertongue," she ordered.
"Now what fun would I find in that?" Loki wondered. He laughed when her fingers twitched, looking for a weapon to use against him, and said, "What truths would you have me twist?"
"None," Sif spat. "I would have you speak without your tricks, without your little jokes and taunts."
"Why does it matter so?" Loki wondered, a smile pulling at the corners of his mouth and laughter loud in his eyes. "What interest have you in the Asgardian throne? Beyond that of a warrior interested in following the orders of her king?" he added, a reminder to the treason she had committed in going against Loki's will while he had the throne.
"My interest is only in that I would see an Áss seated in it, not a Jötun," she spat. "I am sworn to a civilised king, not one born of rage and ice."
"And of what was the Allfather born?" Loki wondered. Before she could respond with the anger flaring in her eyes, he continued with no trace of his teasings, "I have no wish for the Asgardian throne, Lady Sif. I have sat upon it, and it is not to my liking." He smiled then, more than a little bitter, and added, "You may report that truth to Odin."
Sif jerked as if struck and demanded, "You think–"
"He would not have allowed you had he not wished answers as you do," Loki pointed out drily. "That he thought you capable of discovering them is laughable, but perhaps he expected you to get them from Thor. Or to be more subtle. Though, you and subtle do not a well-matched pair make." He smiled at her, cruelty in the flash of his teeth, in the gleam of his eyes, and added, "One might believe he had learned that lesson three centuries back, as did the rest of us."
Sif flushed a bright red, anger and embarrassment stilling her tongue.
"Brother," Thor called as he stepped into the kitchen. "Apologise." Stark, Jane, Romanoff, and Barton crept in behind him, and Loki was left wondering how long they'd had the audience before his brother had thought it prudent to intervene, lest violence occurred.
Loki considered Sif for a moment before shrugging. "Lady Sif, my apologies for reminding you of so...trying an experience," he offered insincerely.
"I would see your silver tongue burned from your lying mouth," Sif snarled before turning and stalking from the room, brushing past Thor with an impressive amount of force, given their differing statures.
"Loki," Thor said, turning disappointed eyes on the younger prince.
"Yeah, I can see where she's not subtle," Stark said, eyes following after Sif's retreating form.
"An excellent distraction, however," Romanoff commented and looked towards where Hogun watched everything with sharp eyes.
Loki tensed, then relaxed with a smile and moved to the breakfast bar with the last of his cereal, leaving the way free for those who'd just arrived. "Well played," he murmured to Hogun as he settled into the seat next to the silent warrior.
"Lady Sif is not the only one who allows too much freedom when you trade words," Hogun commented quietly, a familiar smile in his dark eyes.
"Quite," Loki agreed.
Then Thor was there, Pop-Tarts packaging crinkling silver in one hand. "You should not tease Lady Sif so," he said, still frowning even as he hugged Loki around the shoulders, which the younger allowed with a roll of his eyes. "You once were friends."
Loki shot Thor an unimpressed look. "Have you been blind and dumb for the past five hundred years?"
"You might apologise," Thor returned stubbornly. "With honesty, she might yet see to a friendship again."
"Lady Sif would never make friends with a Jötun," Loki returned, his species acid on his tongue.
Thor flinched, then set his expression. "Race should have no stake in this. You were as siblings once; you would be so again."
Loki touched Thor's shoulder, smiling bitterly, and said, "Not everyone is you, Brother." He looked away from Thor's broken expression to finish the last of his milk and pushed away from the breakfast bar. "I have spells to weave. If you will excuse me?" He turned to leave the kitchen, his bowl floating idly around the humans to settle quietly in the sink.
"Hey, Frosty!" Stark called and Loki glanced back at him from the doorway. "Mojo lessons?"
Loki glanced towards Jane's hopeful smile and shrugged. "You know where to find me." Then he left them, teleporting before he was fully around the corner. In his rooms, he pulled out his book of healing magic and some fresh paper and pens, then settled in to translate Asgardian spells into the Midgardian equivalent.
Jane led Stark and Banner in nearly an hour later, Stark wearing the Gay Detector and all three appearing excited. Looking them over, Loki felt himself growing excited to teach them his craft, as they had been teaching him theirs, and he traded his mess of healing spells for his notes on simpler spells that he'd translated and they settled in to see what they might.
-0-0-0-
A/N: Someone's going to comment on this: Áss is the singular form of Æsir. (Apparently an acute turns a behind – or a donkey – into a god. XD)
~Bats ^.^x
The Shattered Glass Series:
Whatever Lies Beyond This Morning
Like So Much Shattered Glass Chapters:
One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven
Rough Edges Chapters:
One |Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven
Christmas Tunes
..
Chapter: 2 of 7
Fandom: Marvel (movie 'verse)
Author: Batsutousai
Beta: Shara Lunison
Rating: T
Pairings: Tony Stark/Loki Odinson(Laufeyson), Clint Barton/Phil Coulson, Natasha Romanoff/Clint Barton, Thor Odinson/Jane Foster
Warnings: Spoilers for The Avengers (2012) and prequel films, angst
Summary: Sequel to Like So Much Shattered Glass. Loki has found a place amongst the Avengers as a member of their team, but he's made a great many enemies in the process and life is never easy.
Half an hour was about enough time for them to get to the part where the Bifröst picked Loki up, working at double the speed of the actual events, and the group of three human scientists and Loki made their way up to the common floor, discussing the grey haze that marked the Midgardian variation of a power source for magic, which was in every part of the playback so far. Stark was still interested in learning to harness the energy towards powering the human race, and now that they'd seen how prevalent it was, Banner and Jane agreed with him. Which just left them discussing ways to harness it, and for that, they needed Loki.
"I really don't know how to describe it," Loki was saying for the third time as they stepped off the lift together. "If you had none of your images, I would not know of it any more than I did of the energy on Asgard. It is there, I use it."
"Is it in the wording of the spells–"
"Stark!" Loki snapped, in equal turns amused and irritated. "I. Do. Not. Know."
"We can run a couple tests," Banner soothed, ignoring Stark's ridiculous pout. "We know what it looks like – or, well, as much as we'll ever be able to see it – and the Detector – shut up, Tony, I'm not calling it 'gay' anything – seems to be able to project it fairly well. We'll take a couple hours tomorrow, run through some spells and see if we can't pinpoint a trigger."
"It may need a biological component," Jane pointed out as they stepped into the dining room, where the others had gathered. The table had been lengthened somehow, to accommodate the four new arrivals, who were piled to one side of Thor, where Jane usually sat. "I mean, it would make some sort of sense, right? This energy has almost certainly existed for some centuries, and the only way anyone's found to harness it so far has been through spells cast by a human. Or Jötun," she added as she dropped into Loki's usual spot at Thor's side and dragged the younger god down to sit next to her. Stark took the seat on Loki's other side while Banner took his usual spot between Rogers and where Pepper would sit at Stark's side, were she in residence.
"I can't tell if you're talking real science, or finger waving," Barton complained.
"It's the same thing," Jane and Banner chorused.
"For the most part," Stark added, grinning. "Don't worry, Abu, you don't need to get it."
"Fuck you, Stark," Barton snarled in return.
"Ooh, I'm on, but I get to top," Stark returned with a sweet smile.
"Behave," Coulson ordered, smacking the back of Stark's head on his way to his seat, a large dish balanced in one hand. He handed it off to Barton once he'd taken his seat, saying, "Macaroni and cheese, since we had the ingredients for a large serving. I understand that in Asgard there's always a large deal of meat at meals, but we don't tend to keep large stores of it here, especially as Bruce doesn't eat much, and you rather caught us off guard with your arrival, so this will have to do for tonight." He nodded at Lady Sif and the Warriors Three, and Loki pointedly looked away to hide his amusement at Volstagg's disappointed expression. "Also, please refrain from emptying the entire dish onto your plate; there is another in the oven, but it won't be ready for another ten minutes, so this dish needs to make it all the way around the table."
Volstagg moaned a little bit. When the dish reached the rotund Æsir, Thor grabbed it from Hogun and served Volstagg, then himself, saying, "Moderation, my friend."
"But Thor–" Volstagg complained.
"You'll survive," Thor assured him, handing the dish off to Jane. "I have, have I not?"
"You have," Volstagg agreed sadly. Then he glanced around Thor at where Loki was serving himself. "Loki might share, mightn't he?"
"Certainly," Loki agreed pleasantly and Volstagg's expression lightened. "I'll even digest it for you first, to make it all the easier."
There was a beat, then Stark and Barton both burst out laughing. Romanoff, Banner, Coulson, and Jane hid smiles while the Warriors Three and Sif all glowered. Thor and Rogers both appeared torn over how to react, and it was Rogers who said, "Loki, please keep the bathroom humour away from the table," while Thor continued to war between amusement at Loki's response, and insult on behalf of his friend.
"You nast–" Fandral started.
"Ah!" Stark called, still grinning, and leaned around Loki to point a finger at the Æsir. "Nope, nuh-uh. Shut up, or get out. Also, learn to take a joke."
For a moment, Fandral looked as though he might dispute that, because Loki had started the rudeness, but then he glanced at Thor, who shook his head, and subsided. Loki wanted to goad him, to hear his insults and watch Stark kick him out, but then Thor caught his eye, his frown saying, 'I know what you're thinking, Brother; you've won this victory, let it lay,' and Loki turned to his food without speaking.
Dinner was made up of smatterings of conversation that died nearly as soon as they'd begun, as though everyone could sense the tense air between Loki and their guests and was afraid to set it off. Coulson did collect the second dish of food and passed it around as their current servings were waning. It was still less in a meal than any of the Warriors Three were used to, but there were no further complaints about portions.
Loki was the first up from the table, unwilling to stretch out the discomfort of the humans and Thor; he had no doubt that talk would flow smoothly without his presence.
"Right, sciency-magicy things!" Stark declared, jumping up from his seat. "Astro, Shrek, we've got a date with a necklace-projector-thing. Full of gayness."
"The only gay one here is you," Barton called as Jane and Banner both rose to join in putting their dishes in the kitchen and then heading to the lab.
"My eyes–" Stark pointed two fingers to his eyes, then up at the ceiling, "–see everything, my little blue jay. And Agent Agent is, in fact, not as skilled at erasing things off my mainframe as he'd like to think." He flashed Coulson a slightly terrifying grin. "I know things."
"I know where you sleep, Stark," Coulson returned without any apparent concern while, next to him, Barton had a hint of pink dusting across his nose and cheeks.
"I'm terrified," Stark replied, still grinning.
"I know where you sleep," Romanoff intoned.
Stark paused, eyes flickering from Coulson to Romanoff for a long moment, then he pulled his fingers across his lips and winked very slowly.
"Hm," Loki pondered as he made for the hallway to the lift, "it seems as though Stark, Banner, and I aren't the only threesome in this tower."
"Oh, Christ," Banner muttered, rolling his eyes, while most of the humans chuckled and the four newcomers looked scandalised. Thor and Rogers both looked rather resigned.
"Loki," Stark whined, running to catch up with the god and looping his arm around Loki's waist, "you're not supposed to tell them that! You know how Brucy feels about his private life!"
"Apologies," Loki replied drily. "I promise not to tell them about that thing he does with–"
Stark covered Loki's mouth and peeked back at where Banner was supporting a helplessly laughing Jane. "Shh. If you keep telling all his secrets, he might get mad. And then we'll all have to sleep on the street while they repair my tower. Again."
"Come on, Jane," Banner said, amusement creeping through his voice. "Let's go before Loki makes any more of my non-existent sex life public."
Jane covered her mouth and shook her head. "Sorry, no, wait." She snorted and took a moment to catch her breath, still shaking her head. "Okay, sorry. Did sleeping arrangements get discussed?" she asked the room in general. "Because Loki offered to let me crash on his floor for the night, so Sif can take my room and you guys can catch up while I sleep," she added, looking at Thor.
"If you truly do not mind, Brother," Thor said, glancing towards Loki.
Loki shook his head. "I would not have offered, had I any concern with the arrangement."
"And, hey, we'll all just spend the whole night in the lab, cracking out on coffee and hot chocolate while we build weapons capable of wiping out all life on the planet," Stark added cheerfully.
"Tony!" Rogers snapped.
"Recall that you're in the saving the world business, now," Banner said. "Steve, really, we're not making weapons."
"Despite SHIELD's wishes," Stark added, dark humour glinting in his eyes.
"I think you mean to spite SHIELD's wishes," Barton returned and Stark let out a bark of laughter.
"Don't blow up the tower, and recall that tomorrow is Monday," Coulson said, dabbing at the corner of his mouth with his napkin before standing with his plate.
"Damn the whole world," Stark muttered, finally letting go of Loki and motioning that they should continue towards the lift.
"I am uncertain as to your reactions to Mondays," Loki commented as Banner and Jane caught up with them while they waited for the lift.
"I'm pretty sure that it's written in the Villain Handbook that someone has to attack on Mondays. Even if it's really just annoying and causes minimal property damage, something always happens on a Monday. You happened on a Monday, in fact."
"You came through the Tesseract on a Monday," Banner clarified at Loki's raised eyebrow.
"Fridays tend to suck a bit, too, if they've been good during the week," Stark added. "Hence, the weapons brought to the party."
"Also, days when someone is out of commission," Jane said. "Do you boys mind if I borrow Loki long enough to move some things to his room?" she added as the lift doors opened on the lab floor.
"Go for it," Stark agreed as he and Banner stepped out of the lift. "We promise not to start without you."
The lift doors closed between them and Loki said, "Would you mind if I changed, rather than continuing down with you? If you need assistance..."
"Oh, no, I should be okay on my own!" Jane replied with a laugh. "Go on; I can't imagine it's comfortable to have to wear leather all the time."
"It is familiar to me," Loki said with a shrug. "But there is a certain lack of comfort in wearing Asgardian dress when all but the Warriors Three and Lady Sif are dressed as Midgardians. Humans," he corrected, and Jane's smile turned fond.
"And we all know which you'd prefer to be dressed more like right now," Jane agreed and Loki didn't bother hiding his reply smile.
On his floor, Loki quickly changed into the freer dress of Midgard, waving his Asgardian clothing into his magical space and recalling his mobile to drop into one of his trouser pockets; he doubted he would have need to hear it ring, but the weight was a comfort, a reminder of his heavier leathers.
Changed, he considered sleeping arrangements; he had only the one bed, and nothing else one could think to sleep on, but he had some extra pillows and blankets stored in the back of his bedroom wardrobe, and he had camped on hard ground often enough over the centuries that he saw nothing wrong in doing so on the plush carpet. So he set up a small nest in the main room of his floor and, when Jane stepped out of the lift, directed her to the bedroom.
"Really, I can sleep on the floor–" she started.
"This is familiar to me," Loki insisted, motioning towards the pile of blankets and pillows he'd made. "I have often spent weeks and months on a hunt or campaign with my brother and the others, sleeping on all manner of sticks and rocks; I am the prince of a warrior realm, Lady Jane, not one inclined overmuch towards pampering."
"I just... I feel bad taking your bed," Jane admitted, nibbling on her lower lip.
"If this is to last more than one night," Loki commented, and he thought it might, unless Jane was more willing to room with the Warriors Three than he, "I will see about ordering a second bed. Were it not so late, I would see to doing so now. For tonight, this arrangement suits me."
"Just– Tell me you're not doing this to get on Thor's good side, or something?"
Loki snorted. "There is little I would do solely to please Thor, Lady Jane, and offering my bed to his favoured companion is not one of them."
"I'm not sure I like that term, 'favoured companion'," Jane complained as she took her things into the bedroom.
"I would think it less offensive than calling you my brother's woman," Loki returned with a shrug.
Jane grimaced. "Okay, yeah." She shook her head. "On Earth, when two people are dating – or courting, or whatever Thor's calling our relationship today –, we call them 'boyfriend' and 'girlfriend'."
Loki considered the terms and nodded. "I will endeavour to remember that," he announced and Jane smiled at him. "You are ready to return to the lab?"
"Yeah, let's go," Jane agreed and they took the lift up, rather than teleporting into the constant mess that was the main lab. Banner passed fresh coffee to Jane and hot chocolate to Loki as they returned to their previous positions and Stark started the playback again.
There was little new of real interest to the three humans and Loki during the rest of the playback. They didn't see any more of the grey haze of Midgardian magic, though there was a pale brown haze on Asgard that they all agreed was the energy that the Æsir used, rather than drawing it from the buildings, as they'd originally thought. Loki was surprised and pleased to find that his eldest son was as magical as Loki was, glowing with a sparkling black, not unlike the Allfather.
"Your kid, right?" Stark asked when the horse came into view. "Sleepy?"
"Sleipnir," Loki corrected absently, drinking in the sight of his son's magic. "Yes, that's him."
"Cool," Stark decided.
"You have a son?" Jane asked. "Those myths are true?"
"I have three sons and a daughter," Loki replied. "Your myths are often rife with lies, but there is some truth in them."
"More truth than you'd like, I should think," Banner said, and when Loki glanced at him, he had the smile of a man who had discovered himself a monster after too long thinking he was anything but. Loki managed a grimace of a smile back.
Once the images had played out completely, the four remained in their seats, sipping at the last of their drinks.
"It's too late to play with magic tonight, isn't it?" Stark asked at last, setting his mug heavily against the stone table-top. There was a sort of resignation in his voice and Loki recalled, with a hint of guilt, that Stark had been made to sleep through most of the day by him.
"Had I not travelled today to Asgard, I would remain for your play," he said by way of apology.
Stark flashed him a smile. "Nah, don't worry about it. I should get some extra work done on the suit before shit goes down, anyway."
That seemed to be the signal for them to depart, as they all moved to rise as one, Banner saying, "Try to get a couple hours, though, okay? I know you're high on caffeine and eight hours sleep, but it'll be just our luck that the attack happens in the evening, when you're starting to crash."
"Hey, I only crash when you refuse me coffee," Stark retorted, walking with them to the lift, their mugs left on the table to be cleaned later. "I can stay running for days if you give me coffee."
"Remember the last time you decided to try that?" Banner returned drily.
"Uh–"
"Steve intervened. Do you want Steve to intervene again?"
"Jesus, no," Stark swore, waving his hands in refusal. "Scarred for life. Ask Bruce when I'm not around," he added to Loki's curiously amused glance.
"It's a great story when you need a laugh," Jane added as they made their way down the floors, stopping first to let Stark off, then Banner, then Loki and Jane. "Only Steve, Bruce, and Mr Stark were around, though, since Natasha and Clint were on a mission and Phil was still in the hospital. And Thor was on Asgard."
"And Lady Pepper?"
"She...wasn't living here, then," Jane said with care.
And Loki wondered at the story there, wondered at all that had come to pass between his invasion and his return, what had turned that ragtag pile of humans from different corners of their world into friends living together under the same roof. It wasn't the first time he'd wondered, but it was the first time he'd honestly considered asking.
But he didn't, not then, not of Jane, who would only know pieces, the parts that had filtered down through jokes and quiet conversations over meals. Instead, he said, "Pleasant sleep, Lady Jane," and turned to his nest in the corner of the room.
"Good night, Loki," Jane replied and vanished into the bedroom.
Loki woke and set about his morning routine in silence, so as to not wake his guest.
When he stepped into the common kitchen, he found Stark and Pepper with a pile of papers at one end of the breakfast bar, Hogun and Sif at the other. "Good morning," he offered neutrally as he made for the refrigerator to find something to make.
"Morning, Puff," Stark called around a pen he was chewing on.
"Good morning, Loki," Pepper offered with a smile.
"You seem oddly comfortable in Midgardian clothing," Sif commented with a hint of poorly hidden malice. She looked away from the sharp look Stark shot her, but didn't apologise.
"They are surprisingly comfortable, for all their inferiority," Loki replied drily.
"That's a good brand!" Stark insisted, waving his pen at Loki. "Best money can buy! Don't you go all superior god on me."
"I am a god," Loki replied, amused. "And superior." He picked at the shirt, letting his magic handle his breakfast while he focussed on the human. "I would not trust this clothing in a battle."
"Well, yeah, but most humans don't go around getting into fights," Stark replied with a roll of his eyes. "And when they do, they go out in something more durable, like denim or leather. Or they're Captain America or Black Widow and looking more for mobility than durability."
"Natasha moves fast enough that it's to her benefit, and Steve is durable enough to not need the extra protection," Pepper commented. "Mr Stark, I need to get these back to the office this morning."
"Yeah, sorry," Stark muttered, turning back to his papers.
Loki finished making his food and settled in next to Stark to eat. After the human went through a couple more papers, Loki picked one up off the stack and glanced it over.
"They're really boring," Stark commented absently as he glanced over the one he had in front of him.
"Do you even bother to read them?" Loki wondered as he handed his paper over to Stark's reaching hand.
"Sometimes," he said as Pepper muttered, "No."
Stark flashed her a shit-eating grin, then admitted, "Okay, not really. I sort of look them over for key words and then read them if something catches my eye; I trust Pep to make me focus on anything important that I actually need to read. Most of these are requests to work on some new project or another, or transfers from one building to another, things like that. And that, I leave to Pepper to sort through and decide if whatever shouldn't be approved. Because she's way better at this than I am." He smiled at her and she rolled her eyes, but smiled back.
Loki likened Stark's position to Odin's; how it was his duty to approve the requests of his people and oversee his kingdom, but he left many of the smaller duties to the Council, Frigga, Thor, and Loki, as he was but one person and there were only so many hours in a day. During his brief hold over the throne, Loki had experienced some of that strain, some of that demand of an entire realm looking to him for wisdom and guidance, for protection against Asgard's many enemies.
Loki didn't want to be king, didn't want that throne heavy on his shoulders, only truly knowing what his advisors wished him to know. Thor would be the better king, was more suited to dull smiles and brash promises of security. Give Loki his shadows and his knowledge of the people, let him remain an advisor to his brother, whispering the pains of the people, which the Council would never pass on; that was where he was happiest.
Loki did not begrudge Stark his position at the top, but it suited the man, with his urge to create and his duties to his entire world, beyond the reach of his tiny kingdom. And if Pepper was his Loki – was the one advisor that tried to connect king and people – Loki thought Stark Industries well cared for.
And Loki really needed to stop making connections between himself and these mortals, lest he become even more fond of them and weep at their eventual passing. (He liked to think it was yet possible for him to leave without feeling sorrow, and he was the god of lies, was he not?)
Barton and Coulson entered the kitchen as Stark's paper pile dwindled, Barton looking tired and Coulson as calm and prepared as ever. Barton made to reach for a box of cereal, then he paused and looked suspiciously towards Loki's innocent smile. "No," he decided and grabbed a package of Pop-Tarts.
"Those will rot your teeth," Coulson commented as he pulled out a bowl for cereal.
"Yeah, but they haven't turned into cockroaches on me yet," Barton returned, detouring along the breakfast bar to shove at Loki, who evaded him, and steal Stark's coffee mug.
"Hey! Magic Fingers, your pet magpie is stealing my ambrosia!" Stark immediately shouted, grabbing for Barton and missing so badly he almost fell off his stool. Loki flicked a glimmer of green magic to keep him upright and Stark flashed him a grateful grin.
"Barton," Coulson sighed, but he was already approaching Stark with a new mug of coffee, fresh from the machine, almost seeming to have expected the theft.
Barton grinned from behind his mug and dropped onto the stool next to Pepper. "How's business, Pep?"
"Less dangerous without Tony around, making suggestions to impressionable scientists who think he's some sort of god," Pepper replied drily.
"I am a god," Stark insisted.
"No," Loki said, raising an eyebrow imperiously, "I am a god. You, Stark, are capable of creating impressive devices, yet remain, forevermore, mortal."
Stark grinned at him. "I can shoot laser beams out of my hands."
"Gloves, actually," Pepper corrected, gathering the finished paperwork into her briefcase. "You don't get to claim god status until you survive Hulk smashing you around like a doll."
"Still the most awesome home video ever," Stark swore, then grabbed for the edge of the breakfast bar and shot a mildly concerned look towards Loki. "You're my favourite? Don't knock over my stool, please."
"You're expecting it," Loki replied and Stark let out a nervous chuckle.
Pepper gave up her spot for Coulson. "Let me know when the inevitable call comes?" she asked him as he set down his mug and bowl.
"Certainly," Coulson agreed. Then he leaned around Stark to look at Loki and asked, "Would you be willing to continue acting as my ride to the nearest base?"
Loki shrugged and nodded. "It is simple enough, and less draining now I am aware of the problem." He glanced at Stark, who grinned. "I would not much care to be the first to arrive, especially without knowing what to expect."
"Good. Stark, get Loki fitted out with a proper earpiece sometime today?"
"Sure thing."
Coulson turned to Sif and Hogun. "I am aware that you are technically acting as guests, but Thor seems to believe you would be interested in assisting with any problems the Avengers are called out to face?"
"We would be interested in such, yes," Sif agreed.
Coulson nodded and looked back at Loki. "Thor had some trouble with the earpieces when we first started using them; how difficult will it be to provide the others with them?"
Loki blinked in surprise at being asked the question, then realised that it only made sense, given his knowledge of both the technology and people in question. He took a moment to consider, then shrugged. "Lady Sif and Hogun will adapt well enough with only minimal explanation, Volstagg will likely have trouble only in that he cannot modulate his voice, and Fandral will need to be coached, much as I imagine Thor was."
"I can modify something for Sir Falstaff, and we can see if Thor can coach Narcissus. Alternately, wasn't Steve the one who managed last time?"
"We'll figure something out," Coulson agreed drily as Barton cackled next to him.
Stark flashed him a grin, then leaned over towards Loki and said, "Let's go make magic." Then, quieter, "And get away from Xena and Karate Kid; why do they look like they'd like to push me out a window?"
"The Æsir are familiar with your Greek myths," Loki replied. "They are aware that you're insulting them."
"I'm an equal-opportunity insulter," Stark said loudly as he got off his stool. "Aren't I, Abu?"
"A quick death is too good for you, Carpet," Barton replied.
Stark flashed him a grin. "Come on, Rudolph," he called to Loki, who followed him out of the kitchen with a great deal of amusement. Sif and Hogun were glaring at Stark like they would see him dead, but Barton's irritation was all for show.
They spent the entire morning in the lab, Banner and Jane joining them within the first couple hours. After Loki had cast some spells using the Midgardian energy for Stark, he found a stool that was mostly out of the way and watched Stark work on the earpiece for Volstagg and a couple other little things, chattering nonsense the whole time. When Banner and Jane joined them, they got around to discussing attempts to harness the magical energy, as well as possible lessons in some basic spells, to see if the magic reacted differently depending on the person or species and other such concerns.
Banner made them break for lunch, and they ended up getting sidetracked by the television, which had some game show on. The humans made a game of calling out their answers before the contestants, JARVIS keeping score over the television, while Loki – the only non-human on the common floor, as Thor and the other four were on his floor – watched them, bemused, and soaked up the culture lesson they were unknowingly providing.
The credits were just running, and the three scientists and Loki were moving to return to the lab, when Fury's voice rang out, "Avengers, assemble."
The Avengers scrambled for the lift while Jane relaxed back against the couch and Coulson stood calmly, taking a moment to straighten his tie.
Loki stood up, changing genders while moving so that, by the time she was standing straight, she was female. A motion with her hand and a sparkle of green replaced her Midgardian clothing with her Asgardian clothing and armour.
"That is a cool trick," Jane decided. "I would kill to be able to just sort of wave my hand and be dressed."
Loki smiled down at her. "It only works with this clothing because I have spelled it to; I will have to change back into human clothing the normal way."
"Still cool," Jane insisted. "Also, maybe more green and less black?"
Loki glanced down at her clothing, noting that it appeared very similar to what she wore when she called down the Chitauri, female cut or otherwise. She'd always preferred black, to hide any bloodstains, but most of the Avengers chose to dress in more colourful outfits, beyond the two SHIELD agents. She saw nothing wrong with switching the green and the black and doing away with her cape.
Without the cape and helmet, her clothing more green than black, and the fall of the gold plating on her female form, she looked very unlike the Loki that had come to rule Midgard over a year ago. Jane gave her a thumbs up when she glanced to her for approval, and she smiled gratefully before turning to Coulson.
"It should work," he decided and held out his hand to her. "The helicarrier, please; I'll give you further specifics once we're on base and I know exactly where the danger is. Also, Dr Foster? Call Ms Potts."
"Sure thing," Jane agreed and reached into her pocket for her mobile.
Fury was waiting for them when Loki teleported them onto the bridge, and his single eye looked her up and down once before he turned away. "We've got a handful of Doombots and some ridiculous skeleton things running around Manhattan," he said as Coulson stepped up next to him, his voice echoing in the earpiece Loki wore.
"I can take out the Iagos with the AMF Mark II," Stark's voice announced.
"What the blazing fuck is an 'AMF Mark II'?" Fury demanded.
"Anti-Magic Field," Loki translated drily as she glanced over the screens to sort out the destination for her next teleportation.
"Iron Man, if you drop those Bots out of the sky, they're going to cause a lot of damage," Rogers said.
"Emerald Frost, could you catch them and lower them safely?" Romanoff chimed in, and Rogers made a surprised 'oh'.
"I believe so," Loki agreed and teleported to a skyscraper she'd vaguely recognised that was within range of the Doombots. A twist of her wrist had one of her staffs appearing in her hand – she would be unable to use Midgardian spells, and she was yet too uncertain with her skills in Jötun magic to try catching them that way. "Whenever you're ready, Iron Man," she said, eyes flickering to the side to watch Thor come streaking in, aiming for the skeletons.
"Totally ready to stick this to Jafar," Stark replied, coming to hover at Loki's side. "Dear anyone who's magic-sensitive, this might tickle."
Loki felt her ears pop as the Anti-Magic Field Mark II activated somewhere in Stark's suit, but she'd tested with the technology enough times to be familiar with the sensation and allowed no more than a faint grimace before she was reaching out to smooth the landings of the Doombots as the effects radiated outwards.
"That's awesome," Stark decided as the last two Doombots dropped gently onto roofs some distance away.
"Not half bad," Fury allowed, a hint of irritation in his voice. "Now, will they wake right back up again when you turn your toy off?"
"Uh..."
"I can disable them," Loki said. "Or they can be crushed in whatever manner you usually use to subdue them. They cannot fight back for the moment."
"Iron Man, Emerald Frost, see what you can do about neutralising the Doombots permanently," Coulson directed. "The others have their hands full with the skeletons, which don't seem to use any form of magic. Or, at least, not one the AMF affects."
Loki and Stark both glanced down at the mess in the streets and Loki grimaced at the sight of the white bones surging around the group of Avengers, Warriors Three, and Sif. "It is, perhaps, for the best that we added to our numbers for the day," she commented drily.
"No kidding," Stark replied before turning back towards the fallen Doombots arrayed over the roofs below them. "Right, let's see to the Iago Band, then lend a hand. Do you need me to help you to the buil–" Stark fell silent when Loki teleported to the nearest fallen Doombot. "Right. Fucking magic."
Loki smiled to herself and settled in to destroy any connections to Dr Doom that may have survived the Anti-Magic Field. Seeing as how they were part technology, Loki couldn't be completely certain that there was still a connection, but Doom helpfully solved her uncertainty by speaking through the Doombot she was leaning over, "You're new. Are the Avengers recruiting now?"
"We're always recruiting," Loki purred in response, "but we prefer our agents to be both beautiful, and in ownership of a sparkling wit, so you need not apply." Then she lashed out with daggers of ice, aiming at the spots she believed to be the most important, and allowing the element to freeze out the rest of the robot just in case.
Stark was laughing over the comms. "Christ, I love you so much right now."
"Stop acting like fucking teenagers on a picnic and kill the rest of those fucking bots," Fury snapped. "You two can fuck each other brainless later, but I ain't fucking listening to it."
Loki joined Stark in cackling over the comms as she teleported to the next bot and dealt with it in the same way as she had the first. With Stark so familiar with the technology and Loki freezing anything she couldn't properly destroy, they managed to neutralise the rest of the bots in only a few minutes.
Done there, they joined the humans and Æsir among the skeletons, Stark taking the Anti-Magic Field offline and allowing Loki to banish her staff and use a mix of Midgardian magic and Jötun ice to cut through a lump of the skeletons.
Which then got right back up.
"Jesus fucking Christ," Stark swore. "I was wondering why you were having so much trouble."
"They're disinclined to stay down," Rogers replied drily.
"And let's not even talk about how much fun it is to find a way to take them apart for Hawkeye and me," Romanoff added, irritation making her voice sharp. "We're on civilian duty."
"I think you got the better end of the deal," Stark replied as the Hulk let out an angry scream and ripped a skeleton in two over his head before bashing both halves against the roadway.
"Si– Emerald Frost," Thor said, "can you think of any spells?"
"Anything," Sif agreed tightly, and Loki caught sight of the warrior maiden cutting at a group with her spear, only for them to reform as soon as her swing was complete. Arrayed between Sif and Thor were the Warriors Three, struggling against the tide with varying degrees of success, and it was like Loki had stepped back in time, fighting shoulder-to-shoulder with these Æsir as a friend, trusting them to cut through foes while she wove complicated spells at their backs.
Spells, she thought, icing another skeleton as it got close enough to grab at her jacket. The ice was stopping them, but she couldn't say how long it would hold, and it would eventually melt, leaving them active again. "Thor, how is your lightning affecting them?" she asked.
"They develop scorch marks, but it doesn't slow them down," he reported.
Loki narrowed her eyes. "You're not using your full power, though?"
"It's too dangerous," he insisted, and she knew he meant that the humans would be in danger of getting hit.
"Burning them should work," Stark said, following her train of thought. "Get them hot enough that they turn to ash."
"Will they reform from that, though?" Rogers asked. "It doesn't seem to matter if we cut the bone in half or knock it out of a joint, they just get right back up."
"Only one way to know," Loki replied and cast a hastily translated fire spell. The three skeletons coming at her burst into flames, burning hot enough for them all to feel. Loki winced at the pain from the heat, her Jötun self too close to the surface after using so much ice. If this worked, she would very likely regret it later, but she had no other choice.
The skeletons fell to ash and everyone froze for a moment – skeletons and Avengers alike – to see if the fire had done its job.
The ash stirred weakly before falling still.
"Do it," Rogers ordered and Loki prepared another spell, widening her target area. "Thor, can you get a similar reaction from lightning?"
"I can, Captain, but with the close quarters..."
"Understood. Widow, Hawkeye, I need you both to move the Hulk off the street; Iron Man, you and I are going up and out of the way; Asgardians, you know how much lightning you can handle."
The Hulk roared as he was herded away and Iron Man's jets sounded loud in Loki's ears as her fire raged amongst the skeletons. She didn't startle at feeling Sif suddenly next to her, only joined hands and teleported them out of the way, casting more fire as Thor swung Mjölnir to call up a true storm.
Lightning slammed into the street, shaking everything and destroying the skeletons that it came in contact with. Thor directed it with narrowed eyes, leaving stragglers for the occasional flare of fire woven by Loki.
And then it was over, everything oddly still as the piles of ash got caught up in a gust of wind.
"Holy fuck," Stark said. "Thor, buddy, I'm glad you're on our side."
"So am I, Man of Iron," Thor replied, exhaustion in his voice, and Loki knew her brother would likely look to eat two or three times normal that night, then sleep like a log and awaken ridiculously cheerful tomorrow afternoon.
"Loki?" Sif whispered and Loki realised she was swaying, pain running along her exposed skin, and Thor wasn't the only exhausted one. "You're burned!" Sif realised, and she was supporting Loki with the ease of familiarity, holding her up when Loki might well have fallen.
Loki smiled at her, teeth too bright against her burned face, and said, "Jötun."
Sif looked for a moment like she'd been struck, reminded of the truth of what Loki was, but she didn't pull away and her expression set after a moment, ever the warrior. "Can you heal yourself?" she asked, and her voice sounded odd, mixing concern and an ancient hatred.
Loki motioned to summon one of her staffs, reminding herself that she needed to translate more healing spells into Midgardian magic; she'd focussed most of her attention on the fighting spells, and those for her tricks, and she was regretting it now. At least she still knew the spell to heal burns, after Banner's wounds, and it flowed easily over her skin, soothing the pain just as Iron Man's jets sounded above them.
"Nice work with the fire," he said as he landed, concern poorly hidden in his voice. "You okay?"
Loki waved her staff away and turned the motion into waving negligently at him. "Of course I'm okay," she said with her familiar arrogance. No longer in pain, she trusted her legs to hold her and pulled away from Sif, flashing Stark an easy smile. "Should I not be?"
Stark tapped the side of his helmet. "Comms are still open," he reminded her drily and it took an act of extreme will to keep from grimacing.
"I am perfectly capable of seeing to my own wounds, Iron Man," Loki told him, unamused, "and I should like that you not concern yourself, first, with my wellbeing."
"Couple scrapes, Thor listing like a drunken bum, a lot of super-awesome property damage that I'm not touching...that's about it. Oh, and then there's you, burned and leaning on Xena," Stark snarled, and, okay, so Loki had forgotten that Stark could see things at an extreme distance because of his suit.
"I have survived plenty long without you looking after me. Don't you dare think me some helpless maiden!" Loki snarled back, taking a step forward that wasn't quite as steady as she would have liked and shoving a finger against the glow of his chest.
Stark's visor popped up and he glared at her without his technology in the way. "You are a part of a team, Loki. I don't know what that means in your fucked up head, but in this world, that means you worry about each other. That means I'm gonna worry about you, we all are."
"What would you know about teamwork, Stark?" Loki snapped.
Stark flinched, then his eyes hardened and he grabbed Loki's shoulder, as if to keep her from running away. "What do I know about teamwork?" he replied, voice low and cold with controlled anger. "I know that I can trust someone to be at my back, even when I don't think I need it. I know that when my suit breaks and I get metal fucking shoved through my arm, someone's gonna be there to pull the damn thing out and ask how many fucking fingers they're holding up. I know that when I go on another fucking drinking binge, or when I haven't slept for forty hours, someone's gonna be there to stop me, to get me sober or shove me into bed. I know there's people I can laugh with at home; that'll stand with me in the field, come hell or high water; that'll see me at my worst and ask 'how can we help'; that won't turn away from me when I'm being an ass.
"But enough about me," he said, voice suddenly too cheerful and eyes still hard as steel. "What do you know about teamwork, Loki Friggadottir? You, who likes to hide in the shadows? You, with your lies and your smiles? Brushing away thanks and concern in equal measure, refusing your brother for years because your dad fucking lied to you. You turned on your people, on your family and friends. You came here to fucking kill us – I know revenge, I've seen it in the mirror, don't you dare lie to me – and then...what? You think you can like us, but we can't like you? You think Thor's the only one who could possibly decide he likes you – loves you, even – because you're some kind of monster to a bunch of people who are morons anyway?
"You healed my best friend, you gave your brother's girlfriend a place to crash, you knock me out when I won't go to bed, you save the life of a guy who fucking hates you, and you suffer burns to deal with a threat when you're more than capable of leaving. You think that only goes one way? Because it doesn't. We're the fucking Avengers, babe, and once we call you our own, once you get your membership into the club, that's it. We don't turn you away for anything, we worry about you when you're hurt, and when your ex-friends come knocking, we tell them to shut their fucking traps, because you're one of us, and we protect our own."
"Someone has to," Banner said through the comms, voice tired but kind.
"Although," Coulson said drily, "there will be a long discussion if you decide to take out any cities."
"Way to ruin the mood, Coulson," Barton returned.
"Let me ruin it further, you bunch of fucking girls," Fury snapped, "go home, paint your nails or whatever you idiots do in that tower when I'm not breathing down your sorry necks, and let the clean-up crews do their work, or you'll be doing it for them. Am I clear?"
"Clear," Rogers, Barton, and Romanoff chorused.
"Crystal," Stark muttered, removing his hand from Loki's shoulder.
For a moment, Loki felt as though she were falling through the Void again, as if every support had slipped out from under her, but she shook herself, grabbed at Stark's suit when the world tilted slightly, and took a breath.
"Hey, Genie?" Stark said, and it sounded like he wanted to ask if she was okay, but thought better of it.
"Tired," she admitted, and the truth was like a burn, but it was true that she cared for these stupid, breakable humans, that she liked being a part of their team, that she wasn't trying. She was pushing them away even as she pulled them closer, because it had hurt, ruling alone and falling alone and being despised by everyone she'd once trusted, once called friend, because she was no longer the odd son, but the monster in the form of an Áss.
But what was Loki here? She was as alien as the Æsir, as monstrous as these humans she'd fallen in with, and just broken enough to care, to let them in just enough, too much. She didn't want to trust them, didn't know that they were capable of keeping her sane in her darker moments...but maybe it was too late. She hadn't killed them when she'd had the chance.
"Let's get you home," Stark said. Then, "You got her? You're not going to drop her out of spite?"
Sif's arms were at Loki's shoulders, reassuring in spite of all that had fallen between them over the centuries. "How little you think of me, Man of Iron," Sif said.
"You've given me a lot of reason to think poorly of you, and not a whole hell of a lot of reason to trust you," Stark replied, and his visor fell shut. "If I thought I could get her back, I would, but I need at least one hand for direction, and I don't trust her to hold on." Loki scowled, but admitted, if only to herself, that she wasn't too certain of her grip right now, either.
"She fought well and bravely," Sif retorted, voice stiff. "She did more than I, and that is worth more to me than anything else. I will see her safely to the metal contraption."
"Quinjet," Loki corrected, and Stark's laughter buzzed in her ear.
Sif and Loki made it to the quinjet with minimal trouble and Rogers smiled as he reached down to help them aboard. "So, how about some ice cream when we get home?"
Loki perked up, feeling significantly less tired at the sound of her favourite Midgardian food. "Yes? Please?"
Rogers' grin widened and Banner and Thor both let out tired laughs while Volstagg asked, "What is 'ice cream'?"
"It's food," Barton called back from the pilot's seat as the engines whirred to life. Romanoff was looking back towards Loki and Sif from next to him, gaze coolly assessing, looking for any damage, and Loki was torn between irritation and an odd warmth.
"I like it already," Volstagg decided.
"You will find," Thor warned with humour as Loki settled into the seat next to him, comfortable with the arm he wrapped around her, "that Loki is as fond of ice cream as you are of everything else, my friend. Guard your container well, lest she steal it."
The Warriors Three and Sif all gave Loki uncertain looks, unused to the younger prince looking for more food than was her share – and often not even finishing that share, hence Volstagg's request for her dinner last night – and Loki smirked at them, always cheered to throw someone off guard.
The ice cream was there when they trooped into the kitchen, Pepper having gone out as soon as she heard the suggestion and buying more than enough for three times the number of people who found spots in the kitchen. Loki ate more than her fair share, and Volstagg managed a portion of the rest. The Æsir all agreed that it was delicious, and were surprised and amused by Loki's ability to eat twice as much as Volstagg.
"You have never cared to eat so much before," Fandral commented, enthralled. (He was often enthralled when Loki was female, and she'd more than once given him a bloody nose for standing too close. Judging by the flash of Romanoff's eyes any time he glanced her way, she, too, had fallen prey to his attentions. And seeing as how he was only using his eyes on her, Loki assumed she had deterred him to great effect.)
Loki considered punching him just for the amusement of it, but figured it would be far more useful to point out, "I'm Jötun; what do you think my kin eat?" Then she smiled as Fandral back-peddled, bumping into Hogun, who frowned up at him.
Jane shook her head and bumped her arm against Loki's. "Let's steal away with the rest of the ice cream and put it in your freezer; we can binge on it tonight or something."
"I like this plan," Loki decided and the two of them collected the last of the ice cream and left with it, Loki still eating out of her current quart. Laughter followed after them, the humans and Thor too used to Loki's love of the frozen treat to be anything but amused by her actions.
Loki changed while she was in her rooms, and she and Jane moved the bed that had arrived while they were in the lab earlier into a better position in the main room, then made it up with Loki's extra sheets and had a quiet debate about who would sleep in which bed – Jane won and took the new bed. When they had nothing else to do, they rejoined everyone upstairs for a film or two, and when Stark started asking for suggestions for ordering dinner, Loki said, "Whatever you order, order a lot."
Stark looked over the four newest Æsir and, when Loki pointed at him, Thor, then sighed. "Yeah, I figured as much."
They ended up with Chinese food, because rice was filling, and there was something for everyone on the menu. Also, Thor was ridiculously fond of moo shu pork.
When they eventually broke for bed, Fandral and Volstagg dragging an extremely sleepy Thor along with them, Loki and Jane settled in on the new bed with some of the stolen ice cream and Loki told stories about Thor being stupid until she fell asleep.
Loki woke curled up with Jane on the guest bed. The ice cream containers they'd been eating from when she fell asleep sat on the floor, mostly empty and completely melted. She grimaced and flicked a spell at them to freeze them, then disentangled herself from Jane and collected them to put the leftovers back in the freezer.
Somewhere between showering and picking out her clothing for the day, Loki decided to be male again, and so when he stepped out of his room to find Jane stretching, shirt angled indecently, she let out a surprised shout and pulled the covers over her.
Loki laughed and shook his head. "You humans make little sense," he informed her. "It is well, then, that I might watch you change as a woman, but I may not see you poorly dressed as a man?"
Jane let out an embarrassed laugh, but still fixed her shirt before letting the blanket drop. "It's not a problem we usually face," she pointed out. "But, yeah, it's sort of ingrained that the only males that should see you indecent are those you're sleeping with, or that you're related to. And even the last has something of an age limit on it."
Loki shrugged. "Æsir have similar thoughts," he admitted, "though it is more that you must be decent outside the bedroom." He waved around the room. "This is, for the moment, your bedroom. You have allowed me within it and, as such, you have no cause for shame at my seeing you indecent." He sighed. "This is, perhaps, an unusual situation, however, by Æsir standards."
"I'm getting used to unusual, living with the Avengers," Jane said drily and Loki laughed. "Shoo, go get some food upstairs while I make use of your bathroom."
"As you please," he agreed, glancing towards the lift. "JARVIS, are any in the kitchen?"
"Only Lady Sif and Hogun," JARVIS replied.
Loki nodded and teleported, smirking when the two Æsir flashed him irritated looks. Not bothering to trade pleasantries, Loki set about getting himself some cereal, disinclined towards cooking.
"The Midgardians are oddly fond of you," Hogun said, making Loki twitch at the break in the silence. That it came from the little-spoken Hogun only added to his surprise.
"And?" he returned, turning and leaning against the worktop to eat his cereal while watching the two Æsir.
"I see none of your spells woven around them."
Loki let out a bark of laughter. "You think me capable of fostering fondness only through magic?" he asked, but he knew what answer the warrior would give.
And, indeed, "Jötun have no friends."
"I am raised Æsir," Loki countered. He was Jötun, yes, and he would always be a monster, but that didn't make him incapable of social interactions. Hogun and Loki had once been friends – closer than Loki had been to Fandral or Volstagg, and as close as he'd been to Sif, before he'd played that one prank on her that ruined them forever – after all, which was all the evidence he might need to present to him.
Hogun inclined his head, allowing him that truth, and so it was Sif who said, "An Áss would never think to claim a throne to which they have no claim."
Loki narrowed his eyes. "Then it is well I am not of the Æsir. I might lay claim to a throne–"
"You have sworn that claim away!" Sif snapped, standing.
Loki smiled as if to put her at ease, knowing it would only make her tense further. "Have I indeed?" he wondered quietly. "I wouldn't," he added as she reached for the hidden daggers she always kept along her belt, holding up a hand covered in ice. "I have sworn not to kill anyone, Sif, and I should hate to break my word to the Allfather."
"Would you?" Sif snarled, but she didn't draw a dagger and Loki allowed the ice to fall away, vanishing before it hit the floor.
"He toys with you," Hogun pointed out quietly. "You give him too much power over your emotions, Lady Sif."
Loki smiled into his breakfast as Sif turned to look at Hogun with surprise. She turned back towards Loki and looked him over, assessing him as a warrior, rather than a woman, and her eyes narrowed. "Speak the truth, Silvertongue," she ordered.
"Now what fun would I find in that?" Loki wondered. He laughed when her fingers twitched, looking for a weapon to use against him, and said, "What truths would you have me twist?"
"None," Sif spat. "I would have you speak without your tricks, without your little jokes and taunts."
"Why does it matter so?" Loki wondered, a smile pulling at the corners of his mouth and laughter loud in his eyes. "What interest have you in the Asgardian throne? Beyond that of a warrior interested in following the orders of her king?" he added, a reminder to the treason she had committed in going against Loki's will while he had the throne.
"My interest is only in that I would see an Áss seated in it, not a Jötun," she spat. "I am sworn to a civilised king, not one born of rage and ice."
"And of what was the Allfather born?" Loki wondered. Before she could respond with the anger flaring in her eyes, he continued with no trace of his teasings, "I have no wish for the Asgardian throne, Lady Sif. I have sat upon it, and it is not to my liking." He smiled then, more than a little bitter, and added, "You may report that truth to Odin."
Sif jerked as if struck and demanded, "You think–"
"He would not have allowed you had he not wished answers as you do," Loki pointed out drily. "That he thought you capable of discovering them is laughable, but perhaps he expected you to get them from Thor. Or to be more subtle. Though, you and subtle do not a well-matched pair make." He smiled at her, cruelty in the flash of his teeth, in the gleam of his eyes, and added, "One might believe he had learned that lesson three centuries back, as did the rest of us."
Sif flushed a bright red, anger and embarrassment stilling her tongue.
"Brother," Thor called as he stepped into the kitchen. "Apologise." Stark, Jane, Romanoff, and Barton crept in behind him, and Loki was left wondering how long they'd had the audience before his brother had thought it prudent to intervene, lest violence occurred.
Loki considered Sif for a moment before shrugging. "Lady Sif, my apologies for reminding you of so...trying an experience," he offered insincerely.
"I would see your silver tongue burned from your lying mouth," Sif snarled before turning and stalking from the room, brushing past Thor with an impressive amount of force, given their differing statures.
"Loki," Thor said, turning disappointed eyes on the younger prince.
"Yeah, I can see where she's not subtle," Stark said, eyes following after Sif's retreating form.
"An excellent distraction, however," Romanoff commented and looked towards where Hogun watched everything with sharp eyes.
Loki tensed, then relaxed with a smile and moved to the breakfast bar with the last of his cereal, leaving the way free for those who'd just arrived. "Well played," he murmured to Hogun as he settled into the seat next to the silent warrior.
"Lady Sif is not the only one who allows too much freedom when you trade words," Hogun commented quietly, a familiar smile in his dark eyes.
"Quite," Loki agreed.
Then Thor was there, Pop-Tarts packaging crinkling silver in one hand. "You should not tease Lady Sif so," he said, still frowning even as he hugged Loki around the shoulders, which the younger allowed with a roll of his eyes. "You once were friends."
Loki shot Thor an unimpressed look. "Have you been blind and dumb for the past five hundred years?"
"You might apologise," Thor returned stubbornly. "With honesty, she might yet see to a friendship again."
"Lady Sif would never make friends with a Jötun," Loki returned, his species acid on his tongue.
Thor flinched, then set his expression. "Race should have no stake in this. You were as siblings once; you would be so again."
Loki touched Thor's shoulder, smiling bitterly, and said, "Not everyone is you, Brother." He looked away from Thor's broken expression to finish the last of his milk and pushed away from the breakfast bar. "I have spells to weave. If you will excuse me?" He turned to leave the kitchen, his bowl floating idly around the humans to settle quietly in the sink.
"Hey, Frosty!" Stark called and Loki glanced back at him from the doorway. "Mojo lessons?"
Loki glanced towards Jane's hopeful smile and shrugged. "You know where to find me." Then he left them, teleporting before he was fully around the corner. In his rooms, he pulled out his book of healing magic and some fresh paper and pens, then settled in to translate Asgardian spells into the Midgardian equivalent.
Jane led Stark and Banner in nearly an hour later, Stark wearing the Gay Detector and all three appearing excited. Looking them over, Loki felt himself growing excited to teach them his craft, as they had been teaching him theirs, and he traded his mess of healing spells for his notes on simpler spells that he'd translated and they settled in to see what they might.
A/N: Someone's going to comment on this: Áss is the singular form of Æsir. (Apparently an acute turns a behind – or a donkey – into a god. XD)
~Bats ^.^x
Whatever Lies Beyond This Morning
Like So Much Shattered Glass Chapters:
One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven
Rough Edges Chapters:
One |
Christmas Tunes
..
no subject
Date: 13/9/12 11:50 (UTC)And I love the 'playful' banter between Lady Sif and Loki...even if it is in a mean way. It's kinda amusing really lol
Ah well...
Can't wait to see what happens in the next chapter now! :D
no subject
Date: 17/9/12 19:24 (UTC)Oh, Loki. Stop taunting the poor warrior maiden. XD