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batsutousaiTitle: Rough Edges
Chapter: 3 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.
A/N: Mythology, I mutilate you. With pleasure.
Also, during the game show bit, I didn't feel like researching questions and answers, so I just left it all unclear. Sorry if that bugs people – I know, 'show, don't tell' – but I was feeling lazy. And this chapter gave me more than enough trouble. :/
-3-
"It's just not fair," Stark was complaining some hours later, when the four took a break for lunch, as directed by Banner. "I'm a genius."
"Maybe you just haven't practised enough yet," Banner soothed as they stepped into the kitchen, Loki smiling silently behind them at the continued complaints.
"Practice? Practise what?" Barton demanded, looking more than a little worried. His gaze settled on Loki, whose smiled widened and hinted at mischief. "Oh, shit. This cannot be good."
"Loki's teaching us magic!" Jane announced.
"We're doomed," Barton moaned, crouching down and covering his head with his hands.
Loki let out a cackle.
Banner sighed and walked over to help Barton back to his feet. "You are not. And it's really not as easy as it looks." He glanced towards the glum Stark and the smirking Loki. "Jane has the best handle on it, but she's still nowhere near capable of any of Loki's tricks."
"How 'nowhere near'?" Barton demanded, looking at the female.
Jane furrowed her brow and stared at an outstretched hand. She mumbled the fire spell under her breath for a good minute, repeating it over and over, before a flicker of flame appeared, dancing steadily.
Barton looked towards Banner then, one eyebrow raised. "That's pretty 'nowhere near'," he announced. "So, why's Metal Head whining like a spoiled kid?"
"Tony hasn't managed anything," Banner explained. "I can get a flame after a fair bit longer than Jane, but Tony can sit there, trying, until he's blue in the face and not even get a flicker."
"Poor baby," Barton cooed.
Stark flashed him a glare. "I'll booby-trap your arrows, you damn crow," he threatened.
"Uh-huh," Barton replied, unbothered, and walked past the irritated billionaire, whistling.
The four still in the kitchen set about making sandwiches, Stark slamming everything he could get his hands on to show how displeased he was. Banner twitched a few times before, finally, calling, "Tony."
Stark slammed the pickle jar.
"Tony."
"Mr Stark," Jane added, inching away from Banner.
Stark pulled open the fridge and grabbed a can of soda. He made to slam it on the counter, but Loki grabbed his wrist just before it could connect. "Are you a child throwing a tantrum?" he enquired icily. "This solves nothing, only chances more trouble. Control yourself, or I will refuse to teach you at all."
"What's the point when I can't do it," Stark snarled, letting go of the can and letting it hit the worktop with an unsteady bang, toppling sideways, and rolling to the floor with a crash. Banner flinched again, but seemed more in control of himself with the promise of Loki's intervention.
"You are inclined towards giving up after but a handful of hours?" Loki returned, lips curling with a mocking smile. "Why, then, should we think you capable of protecting this realm? Perhaps you are best to simply leave now, return to your cold machines and let the true heroes protect the helpless."
Stark reached up with his free hand to hit Loki, but the god grabbed it and held him fast, not moving a centimetre when Stark pulled in an attempt to free himself.
"Lok–" Jane started before Banner shushed her.
"What would you know about giving up?" Stark snarled. "Magic is easy for you! I'll bet you've never struggled with it a day in your life!"
"As you have never struggled with your machines, I've little doubt," Loki returned, unbothered. Magic was natural to him, as natural as breathing. Which only made sense, given that his very being was made up of nothing but pale blue energy.
"I don't struggle with science," Stark agreed, voice quieter, but just as violent as when he'd been near-yelling. "I have never struggled with science. I fucking made myself a heart. With scraps! So why the fuck can't I use you magic, your science!" he finished, voice rising and spitting the last word like it was a curse.
Loki blinked, his mind catching on to Stark's words – translating his meaning – and his eyes lit on the dim glow in the centre of the human's shirt. He let go of one of Stark's hands, not flinching when the human landed a hit against his arm, and tapped the arc reactor. "This. It is of magic."
"It's science," Stark snarled, tugging at his still captive hand and hitting Loki again with the free one. "Real science."
"No, wait," Jane interrupted, stepping forward and ignoring Banner's hushed attempt to pull her back away from the altercation. "Mr Stark, think. It glowed on the Gay Detector. Just like Loki."
The anger bled from Stark's eyes as his intelligence came into play, and Loki finally released his other hand, taking a half-step back. The human looked down at the glow in his chest, touching a hand to it, then the Gay Detector around his throat, hanging just above the arc reactor. "JARVIS," he called, pulling the Detector over his head, "can you connect to this and find an image of me trying to cast magic?"
"Found," JARVIS replied after a beat, and a holographic screen lit up over the worktop, showing the group sitting on Loki's floor. Jane and Banner were dark shapes against the grey haze of Midgard's magic, fingers glowing as they gathered the energy, slowly, for a spell. Loki was a bright figure of blue between the dark shapes.
Stark's blue triangle sat across from Loki, flickering at the edges with sparks of red as he tried and tried again to cast a spell.
The real Stark's lips curled with a bitter smile as he said, "My terrible privilege."
"Tony..." Banner breathed and touched the other's shoulder.
Stark waved a hand at the image and it vanished. "Cool. That–that's cool. Whatever." He took Banner's hand off his shoulder and pressed the Gay Detector into it. "Have fun. Let me know if you figure anything out," he said before grabbing his plate and the fallen can, then leaving the kitchen.
"Oh my God," Jane breathed, one hand held to her mouth and eyes bright with unshed tears.
Banner clenched his hand around the Gay Detector as he turned to Loki, who was staring at the empty space where the image had been playing, brow furrowed. "Loki." The god glanced over, thoughts flickering lightning-quick behind his eyes. "Could he still cast magic? Despite the arc reactor? Could–?"
"I am...uncertain," Loki murmured, motioning for his plate to float over to him. "And I would not know how to test it, not without chancing damage to the arc reactor." And didn't that sting? Loki, who had spent nearly two millennia learning all he could about magic, had come across something he couldn't know, couldn't even test.
"Doesn't Mr Stark have a replacement?" Jane asked.
"Not of that sort," Banner replied, shaking his head. "He's got his older model, the one that almost killed him–" he grimaced and Loki's eyes narrowed, "–but not this one. Says he'd rather not make another one unless he absolutely has to, to keep it out of the wrong hands."
Jane rubbed a hand over her eyes. "I see," she whispered.
They made their way out to the common area, in silent agreement that they wouldn't return to practising magic for the moment. Everyone else was arrayed around the television, the Warriors Three balanced on stools dragged over from the bar and Sif in Loki's usual spot at Thor's side. When Jane settled in at Thor's other side, the elder prince looked up at the younger, silently asking if he needed to ask Sif to move, but Loki shook his head and balanced on the arm of Stark's chair; when Stark had wanted to offer comfort or an apology, he had shoved his way onto the couch, and Loki thought it was a reasonable way to offer his own support for something none of them could change.
Stark glanced up in surprise and Loki raised an eyebrow at him, a silent challenge to try making Loki move. Stark's lips quirked at one side and he returned his attention to the idiotic programme on the screen, shifting slightly to lean against Loki's side, accepting and grateful for Loki's presence.
Loki, Banner, and Jane remained long after their lunches were finished, ostensibly to finish watching the 'soap opera' that was on when they came in, then because Jane and Banner wanted to join in on the competition to beat out everyone else in the game show that Coulson determinately turned it to before the next episode of the first programme could continue. Sif and the Warriors Three seemed sad to see the change in venue, and then disbelieving at the sudden influx of shouted answers and the heckling of the contestants on the screen by the Avengers and Jane. Even Thor made a couple tries at answers, usually getting them wrong and getting teased by his fellow Avengers for it. Loki allowed an occasional derisive comment about one of the contestants, which Barton then usually expounded on, much to everyone's amusement.
Stark remained uncommonly silent through the first half hour of the programme, lips twitching with a faint smile from behind the tablet he'd pulled out of the cushions of his chair to work on. The other humans occasionally shot him concerned looks, but seemed calmed to see him working; only Loki, leaning against Stark's shoulder, could see how the human was flicking uselessly between screens on his tablet, as though nothing could hold his attention.
A question eventually popped up that would normally have been left for Stark to answer – some technology-based query that Banner or Jane could make guesses about, and that Coulson frowned over, but Stark called the answer out without even seeming to think about it – and everyone glanced towards Stark before looking back at each other and giving their own, uncertain responses.
Loki glanced down when he realised the tablet screen wasn't flickering out of the corner of his eye and blinked to see an answer there. Stark stared at it for a moment before closing out of the screen and returning to his idle flicking. Loki blinked, then said the answer out loud. After a beat, the answer was given in the programme, the same one Loki had given, and everyone turned to look disbelievingly at the Trickster.
Loki smirked at them. "Yes?"
"You can't possibly have known that answer," Barton insisted.
"You would do well to not underestimate my knowledge," Loki returned, amused.
"Looking it up on your phone is cheating," Romanoff pointed out.
"I did no such thing."
"Yeah? Hand it over," Barton challenged, holding out his hand for Loki's mobile. "Let's see your genius a second time."
Loki raised an eyebrow, then handed his mobile over to Jane, since he didn't trust Barton with it. "Perhaps you will," Loki commented neutrally, "perhaps you won't."
Stark continued flicking through screens mindlessly for another three questions before he typed out another answer. Which Loki then gave, earning him a disbelieving look from Barton. When everyone looked over at Jane, she held up Loki's mobile in evidence of his innocence.
"I vote for removing Loki's access to all knowledge," Barton insisted.
"SHIELD wants Loki's cover standing up under scrutiny in public," Rogers was quick to point out. "That means him learning random facts about Earth is good."
"When he decides to take over the world with his knowledge, I reserve the right to say 'I told you so'."
"Loki's not in the 'taking over the world' business anymore," Jane insisted even as Thor swore, "My brother would do nothing of the sort!"
Loki laughed at all of them and caught the answer to the current question – which they'd all missed to argue about Loki's knowledge – out of the corner of his eye on Stark's tablet. He called it out and they all sort of looked towards him in disbelief for a quiet moment before it was said on the television.
"Okay, no. You're going down," Barton swore and turned back to the programme with a single-minded determination.
Stark's shoulder against Loki's side quivered with suppressed laughter and he shifted so his tablet was more visible to the god. Banner and Coulson caught on to what Stark and Loki were doing after only one more question, and Jane, Romanoff, and Rogers didn't take much longer. Thor found the whole thing too funny to care how Loki was keeping up with the programme so well, the other Æsir weren't familiar enough with Midgardian technology to understand what was happening, and Barton was too busy failing to beat Loki to notice how the god's eyes would glance down at the tablet held against Stark's knee at every question.
"Dr Banner won this round," JARVIS announced as the credits rolled, "and Loki came in second."
"Technically, Tony came in second," Banner was quick to point out as Loki leaned over to accept his mobile back from Jane.
"So he did," Loki agreed easily, finding no reason to claim a victory which wasn't his; his victory had been in keeping Barton in the dark for the entire programme, watching the archer get more and more desperately irritated.
"Wait, what?" Barton looked up, blinking, and Stark held his tablet up a bit more, smirking. "Oh, fucking Christ. I'm using both of you for target practise next time I've got new arrows to test."
"You will not," Rogers snapped, scowling.
Coulson calmly hit the back of Barton's head. "He won't," he promised and Barton hunched down on the couch, arms crossed over his chest.
When the next game show came on, Stark jumped in with his own loud answers, back to his usual good humour.
One of the last questions involved serpents and Stark sort of jerked in surprise, then glanced up at Loki. "You were gonna visit Jordan," he reminded the god.
Loki glanced down at Stark, lips curling with amusement. "I know of no one by the name of 'Jordan'."
Stark rolled his eyes. "Don't play stupid with me," he ordered before peeking around Loki towards Thor. "Hey, Pikachu! Your brother wants to see his kid."
Thor blinked in surprise and looked up at Loki. "Jörmungand?"
Sif and the Warriors Three shifted uncomfortably in their varied seats and Loki smiled easily even as he looked them over with sharp eyes. "We are on Earth with him, are we not?"
"You've got a kid," Barton intoned. "On Earth."
"Shouldn't have slept through the Norse mythology class," Romanoff commented and Barton just sort of stared at her. "That's the World Serpent, right?" she asked of Loki.
"That is your name for him, yes," Loki agreed, glancing towards her, but keeping most of his attention on where the Warriors Three and Sif were trading looks; he had a feeling that they would see him kept from his son.
"This is going to go over so well with Fury," Banner muttered and Stark flashed him a shit-eating grin.
"Loki has the right to visit with his children, no matter how big they are," Rogers cut in, glancing at Coulson long enough to see the man nod. "I would think the director would be glad to have Jor– Sorry, Loki, say it for me again?"
"Call him Jordan, Cap," Stark suggested.
"Jörmungand," Loki offered.
"Thank you." Rogers nodded. "The director should prefer to have Jörmungand on our side, I would think, and the only way I can see that happening is if Loki gets a chance to talk to him."
"Sort of a, 'Hey, kiddo, I'm working for the humans now, so don't eat any of them'?" Stark said. " 'Oh, and if you happen to see a man in a metal mask, munch away'."
"And chance breaking his teeth?" Barton cut in, amused. "Naw, squeeze him to death. Drown him a bit, maybe."
"He might have an air tank," Romanoff was quick to point out.
"Squeeze him, then drown him," Stark decided. "Or squeeze while drowning, I'm not picky. Hey, Puff? You okay up there?" he added, nudging Loki's side. Then he seemed to realise who Loki was looking at and his expression darkened. "Okay, no. Fury doesn't get to dictate who sees their kids, and neither do you four."
"It's not us that would think to refuse Loki or Jörmungand a visit," Fandral said with a smile that was just a touch too wide.
"My nephew was banished to Midgard to remove him from Loki's side," Thor intoned grimly. "This is the will of the Asgardian Council and the Allfather."
"Remov– The fuck," Stark snarled, leaning forward so he could better see the five Æsir. "Someone explain this to me. Someone unbiased," he added as Sif opened her mouth. "Thor? Loki?"
"And they're unbiased?" Barton muttered, but he too was looking between the brothers, clearly interested in hearing more from them than the other non-humans.
"Jörmungand's mother is a Jötun," Loki explained quietly, "as is Fenrir's. Angrboda was murdered for bearing the children of an Æsir, and my sons were sent to Asgard shortly after Jörmungand was born. Fenrir was..." Loki frowned, trying to think how best to describe his middle son after losing his mother and meeting his father for only the second time.
"Feral," Sif suggested coldly, rubbing at her calf, where Fenrir had bitten her at least twice.
"Hey!" Stark called.
"Feral is accurate," Loki said, grimacing in dislike of the word. "He was disinclined to listen to myself or any other in Asgard, and the Council had him banished after he mauled one of their sons." Loki suppressed a smile, because he'd never liked the man his son had mauled, and he'd found the event hilarious until they decreed Fenrir would be banished for his crimes. "I managed to argue for Jörmungand to remain with me, for he was but a snakelet, and while he is much better behaved, he also grew quite large. When they demanded his banishment, I was...not well pleased."
"You brought down half the palace," Thor commented drily, but there was a glint of amusement in his eyes that hadn't been there in the past, and Loki thought his brother was finally beginning to understand his sense of humour. That, or Thor was remembering the girlish shrieking the various Council members had let out when the roof rained down around them, only kept safe by Odin's protective barrier.
"I thought you said there are spells on all the buildings to keep them from falling apart during an attack," Jane said to Loki.
"There are."
Stark laughed. "That's kind of awesome." He glanced up at Loki's tired smile and his own amusement faded. "They banished him anyway," he recognised.
"Loki's actions led the Council to believe him unstable, too unstable to raise so dangerous an offspring," Thor said in Loki's stead. "Father was disinclined to argue with them." He looked away, ashamed. "As was I."
"You and Jörmungand were not friends," Loki commented drily.
"He is my nephew; it was as much my duty as yours to stand for him," Thor insisted, then shook his head. "It matters little now. If you would visit Jörmungand, Brother, I would go with you. Though we may all be best served were I to remain at a distance," he added and Loki laughed.
"The Allfather–" Volstagg started.
"Father is not such a fool as to not recognise what realm both Loki and Jörmungand reside in," Thor interrupted. "If he finds disapproval with Loki visiting his son, he would have spoken against it sooner."
"And the Council?" Sif asked, dark eyes sharp as she looked between the brothers.
"What the Council doesn't know can't hurt them," Loki commented with an icy smile.
"The Council never said Loki couldn't visit with Jörmungand, only that he couldn't raise him," Thor pointed out, shooting Loki a silencing look. "If they find fault with this, let them come to Midgard and debate it with me."
"With all of us," Rogers insisted. When the Warriors Three and Sif shot him disbelieving looks, he said, "We're a team; that means we all stand up for each other."
"I do not think Loki would say the same," Fandral returned, glancing towards the younger prince, who shot him a cool smile to hide fear beating against his rib cage. Because he was walking a fine line, remaining a member of the Avengers, and while Stark may have forbidden name-calling, he couldn't stop the occasional truths, like this one.
"It's not about whether he would say anything," Rogers replied firmly. "It's about what he'd do. And if there's one thing I know Loki will do – beyond causing as much trouble for Clint as he can – it's that when it comes to it, when we need him to be there, he will be. He's earned my trust – all our trust – or he wouldn't be part of this team."
"Can't say the same for you four, though," Stark added with an over-bright smile as he leaned comfortably back against Loki, a position he'd left when he'd leaned forward at the start of the discussion.
"Was our assistance in your last battle not sufficient evidence as to our good intentions, Man of Iron?" Sif asked stiffly.
Stark let out a sharp laugh, but it was Barton – surprisingly – who said, "You'll go to war with us, yeah, but I bet you don't care about us. We're just mortals to you people."
"You are but mortals," Volstagg insisted. "Things that would leave us wounded for but a day would see you dead, and your days are short, compared to ours. You think Loki and Thor think any differently?"
"I'm saying Loki and Thor don't say 'just mortals'," Barton clarified. "We've got names and personalities beyond being good fighters. They've come to know us, to figure out what we like and what we hate." He looked between the two princes. "Tell me I'm wrong."
"I cannot," Thor admitted.
Loki met Barton's stare for a long moment in silence before his lips twitched. "I should have turned that cereal to vegetables."
"Fuck. You," Barton snarled and the humans and Thor all grinned.
"By this time next week," Banner said quietly to the Warriors Three and Sif, "you're going to be back in Asgard. But Loki and Thor will still be here, watching Disney movies and fighting battles on our planet. And maybe Thor stays for a promise, maybe Loki came for questionable reasons, but they can still leave whenever they want, nothing we do could stop them. They stay because they want to, because this is as much their home as your planet – more than, perhaps," he added, nodding to Loki, who nodded back. Banner looked the four over. "Would you stay?"
"We have a duty to our king–" Sif started.
"We wouldn't," Hogun interrupted. "If we remained long, if we cared to see you as beings beyond your short lives, we might, too, wish to remain. But we will not; it is not our way to become interested in those that will sooner die. And had events gone differently, had Thor not been banished and Loki fallen to the Void, they would not either. There is a chance for all of us, but it is not one we would wish to take." He shook his head. "We have collected what we came for; tomorrow we will return to the Bifröst site and Asgard."
"I'll see to it that transport is waiting in the morning," Coulson returned evenly into the following silence, the Avengers and Jane trading surprised looks.
"That's...good. I guess..." Stark decided, glancing helplessly up at Loki. When the god raised a wordless eyebrow in response, Stark grimaced, then said, "Bruce said Disney. I need Disney. I need..."
"Don't say WALL-E," Barton ordered.
Stark flashed him a smirk. "Excellent choice, Cupid. JARVIS, WALL-E."
"I hate you. Possibly more than Loki," Barton swore.
"You don't hate Loki," Romanoff said to her nails, which she was cleaning under with the tip of a knife. "You have a mutual pact of dislike and the urge to torment each other incessantly." She slid him a glance as the television lit with the film menu. "I've seen you hate people, Clint."
Barton huffed and made no further comment.
The film wasn't bad, Loki decided, and he thought he understood why Stark liked it so much, as his 'children' were all robots.
They took a break after the film to get their pizza, which Rogers left part-way through to order, then settled in to watch a couple Bond films, as demanded by Barton and backed by Coulson. When Coulson told JARVIS to shut down the television, everyone groaned a bit, but made for bed all the same.
-0-
Loki woke in time to see the Warriors Three and Sif off, but didn't bother doing more than sitting in the kitchen and listening to the helicopter take off. Once Jane and Banner had risen, they all retired to Loki's floor to work on magic while Stark hid in his lab and the other humans and Thor watched pointless programmes or destroyed each other in the gym.
About an hour before lunch, they were interrupted by Fury calling, "Avengers, assemble." There was a small army of giant spiders running amok through Central Park, which they decimated quickly enough to return to the tower and eat lunch at the time Banner had scheduled for them.
Over lunch in the common, Thor asked, "Brother, when did you have wish to see Jörmungand?"
"This would be a good time to do it," Stark was quick to chime in. "The likelihood of there being another attack today is something like point zero zero two percent."
Loki flashed an amused smile at the human before nodding to his brother. "If now is acceptable to you, we may as well."
Thor nodded and stood. "Let us do so, then. Shall I collect Mjölnir, or will you manage?"
"Best not to take your weapon," Loki suggested drily and Thor grimaced in understanding before holding out his hand for Loki to take.
Loki had scryed for his son's whereabouts last night, and JARVIS had helpfully provided him with a satellite image of the area. There was a chain of islands near to Jörmungand's head which seemed largely unpopulated. It was to one of these islands that Loki teleported them.
Thor immediately began to shiver in his thin Midgardian clothing. "Brother, if you would?" he requested.
Loki smirked and considered leaving Thor to suffer for a bit longer, but he didn't wish to speak with Jörmungand with an irritated Thor at his back, so he twisted a spell to keep his brother warm. "Sufficient?" he asked as Thor ceased shivering.
"Yes, thank you," Thor replied with a smile. Then, because he was Thor and didn't always think, added, "At least now we know why the cold never bothered you."
Loki shook his head at the elder and walked some paces to the cliff overlooking the water's edge. "Jörmungand!" he called, magic lending strength and distance to his voice.
A great wave crested against the cliffs and Loki thought he could see a large shape in the distance, moving closer. Behind him, Loki heard Thor shifting uncertainly and he smiled a bit cruelly; Thor had often been Jörmungand's favourite victim when he played a prank, and Thor's irritated speeches on the proper behaviour of a prince just made Jörmungand wish to torment him further. (Jörmungand and Loki both had found bitter humour in Thor's words, then, as they both knew that Loki's children would never see any closer to the Asgardian throne than the bottom of the steps before it; it was only now that Loki could see how truly far from Loki and his children's reach the throne was.)
Jörmungand's voice reached them first, a hissing cry that translated to, "Papa! Papa came! Papa's here! Papa's come to visit! Pa~pa!"
Freezing water splashed high over the cliff as Jörmungand reached Loki, nosing his large head against his father's stomach, and Loki hugged him with a laugh, uncaring at his soaked state. "Jör, Jör, my sweet Jörmungand," he murmured and his son hissed in pleasure.
They remained in their embrace for a long moment – centuries of separation leaving them desperate for contact – until Jörmungand recognised the taste of the Æsir behind Loki. "Uncle Thor!" he called, peering around his father with a wicked gleam to his eyes.
"Nephew," Thor returned, shuffling back another step.
Loki laughed and scratched at a dull scale just under Jörmungand's left eye. "Let your uncle be, child."
"Yes, Papa," Jörmungand agreed, holding still so Loki could finish removing the dead skin. "Papa, why have you come to visit? Can I come home?"
Thor let out a pained noise behind them and Loki's smile turned sad as he brushed his hands against the newly uncovered scale. "No, I'm afraid not," he murmured. "Uncle Thor and I are residing on Midgard for the moment and I had wish to see you."
Jörmungand drooped and he rubbed his head gently against Loki. "I understand," he said, sounding so pained and lonely.
Thor hurried forward and ran a hand over Jörmungand's nose. "Were it my choice, Nephew, I would see you in Asgard again."
"I am too big for Asgard," Jörmungand acknowledged, and there was gratitude in his eyes as he flicked his tongue against Thor's side. "Where do you reside here?"
"In the new city of York!" Thor declared.
"It lies against the other large ocean that divides the land," Loki clarified. "We live with some of the Midgardians and do battle against those that would see them come to harm."
"Midgardians are strange creatures," Jörmungand informed his father and uncle, as though imparting great wisdom.
"Indeed they are," Loki agreed. "Would you tell me of them?"
Jörmungand's eyes lit up. "I can tell Papa a story?"
"You can tell Papa as many stories as you wish," Loki promised.
Thor chuckled. "Not quite so many, Brother, Nephew. If we remain over-long, the others will come looking for us, likely with SHIELD in the lead."
"We may have to break the telling up over many days," Loki allowed and Jörmungand hissed out a laugh.
They remained with Jörmungand until late in the evening. Stark eventually rang them through Loki's mobile, asking, "You still alive out there?"
"We are alive and well," Loki promised. "Jörmungand is telling us of his adventures."
"And pranks," Thor added loudly and Jörmungand hissed a loud laugh.
Stark chuckled. "Good. We're about to sit down for dinner and Steve ordered I call you. Are you intending to come back to eat, or should we dig in without you?"
Loki glanced towards Thor. "They are to begin eating," he explained to his brother.
"I can catch you food!" Jörmungand hurried to say. "And then Papa and Uncle Thor can stay a bit more?"
Thor smiled towards his nephew. "It has been many weeks since last I had fish," he commented.
Jörmungand let out a happy sound. "I'll be right back!" he hissed before diving out of sight and sending up a spout of water, which fell against the green shield Loki had thrown up over them.
"We'll eat here," he told Stark. "We'll attempt to return before morning, but I should like to again visit with Jörmungand before my return to Asgard in three days."
"We can work something out, no problem," Stark promised. "Hang out with your kid. And remember to tell him not to eat any humans, right?"
"I shall do so," Loki agreed and ended the call.
By the time Thor and Loki returned to New York, the sun was just rising in the east.
"Before morning," Romanoff said from in front of the television, lips curled with amusement. "You're about ten minutes late."
"I said 'attempt'," Loki returned. "And it is not yet morning where Jörmungand resides."
"I suppose we can forgive you," Romanoff decided, "on account of time zones."
Loki chuckled and motioned for some tea to begin brewing in the kitchen. "Take care not to sleep over-long, Brother," he cautioned Thor as the elder stumbled towards the lift and his bedroom.
"Get some sleep eventually, Loki," Thor returned with a tired smile.
"Perhaps," Loki replied as he joined the female spy in sitting before the television. "Is there anything of interest?"
Romanoff glanced towards the television, which had the sound particularly low and subtitles turned on. "Cartoons," she allowed as the advertisements ended and animated characters returned to the screen. "Or infomercials, which are actually more mind numbing than this."
Loki smiled and settled in to watch with her as his tea floated out of the kitchen into his hands. Romanoff's eyes glinted with amusement, but she didn't say anything and they remained in peaceful silence until Tony stepped from the lift.
"Morning!" he called with a ridiculous grin stretching his face and a mug in one hand. He made a stop in the kitchen, where they heard him knocking things around and muttering too low for them to hear – likely about the lack of coffee – before coming out with a freshly brewed mug and dropping onto the couch with Loki. "Hi. How'd your visit with Junior go?"
"It was well," Loki replied with amusement. "He and Thor only made three attempts on each other, and Jörmungand finds amusement in tormenting your seafarers."
"Definitely your kid, then," Stark commented.
"Very much so, yes," Loki agreed.
Stark glanced towards the quiet television, then back at Loki. "So? Stories. Tortured seafarers. Go."
Loki chuckled and settled in to tell a few of his favoured stories of his son's; Jörmungand was not inclined towards eating boats or seeing mortals drown, but he enjoyed popping up beside ships in the night and scaring their lookouts. He'd also scared more than one ship away from danger and rescued at least a dozen humans that might have drowned. He tormented people who came within his reach, yes, but he was not the monster the Asgardian Council had believed, and Loki was proud of his son for not falling to the darkness as Loki had, had made sure that Jörmungand knew just how proud he was.
Banner, Rogers, Jane, and Pepper all came in and settled in around the couches during differing parts in the retellings, and they all seemed to enjoy it, more entertained by Jörmungand's fun than bothered.
The lift had just opened to let out Barton and Coulson when Fury's voice called, "Avengers, assemble."
"Fuck no. Two days in a row?" Barton complained. "This is so wrong. Also, breakfast?" He looked hopefully at Coulson as the Avengers that had been on the couches made for the lift and Loki stood to change.
"Stop whining, Barton, and get things done," Fury snapped, uncaring. "The world isn't going to stop for your stomach."
"You can stop for doughnuts on the way," Stark suggested as they all piled onto the lift. "I vote for jelly-filled."
"We're not making a stop for food," Rogers replied, sounding simultaneously apologetic and irritated.
Coulson joined Loki for the transport to base as the lift doors closed. "Where are we headed, sir?" he asked Fury.
"Niagara Falls, Canada side. We're too far out, so you'll have to sit in their base and deal with the Northerners," Fury replied and JARVIS immediately pulled up schematics for Loki. "All I know is there's a boat straddling the damn border with civilians and some sort of monstrous fish. Loki, if this is one of your fucking kids–"
"I have only one child in this realm, Director," Loki replied stiffly, "and he is neither small enough to fit that area of water, nor inclined towards violence against your race."
"Jörmungand is peaceful, Director," Rogers insisted, his voice echoing both over JARVIS' speakers and the earpiece Loki wore. "And in Alaska, from what Loki was saying."
"Whatever. Get moving," Fury ordered.
Loki took Coulson's offered hand and transported them to the control room JARVIS' images had directed them to. Guns were immediately cocked at them, but Coulson brushed right past them to the woman standing at the head of the room. "Status, Agent Laws."
"Interesting mode of transport," the woman returned, eyeing Loki and motioning for her men to lower their guns.
"Emerald Frost, our newest addition to the team. She's a magic-user," Coulson said as he took over one of the computer screens Laws had been standing in front of. Loki followed him closer to the screens, looking between them at the images of the Falls. "Status."
Laws shook her head and pointed at the boat in the middle of one of the screen. Water frothed white around it and little dark things moved against the hull, as if climbing or jumping towards the deck. "One of our scientists has been working with some of the sludge that was left over from the Chitauri invasion last year, as you know." She shot Coulson a glare.
"The British government is still in talks for us to hand pieces of tech over," Coulson returned smoothly.
Laws snorted. "Because that actually makes me feel better about your tight asses."
"Get to the point," Stark called over the comms. "I've got an ETA of about two minutes, Laws, and I'd like to know what sticky mess your group of incompetents made this time before I go getting it into the gears of my suit."
Laughter from the other Avengers came through the comms following Stark's demand and Loki had to cover a smile at the constipated grimace that took over Laws' face. Coulson's lips twitched and he said, "You've been working with the sludge and it escaped containment."
"In a nutshell, yes," Laws agreed. "Our head scientist had been testing it on varied fish, especially after that accident your people reported about rodents getting into a batch and some of them dying, while others...changed."
"Became more resilient and grew in size," Coulson agreed, both agents ignoring Stark's cackling.
"Our team wanted to see if they could anticipate which species it killed and which ones survived it, so they've been testing on fish. One of the tanks cracked overnight and the whole batch got out into the river. No one knew what had happened until the reports came in from the boat about man-eating fish."
Coulson nodded, expression grim, and he turned to Loki. "Emerald Frost, Iron Man, Thor, let's worry about civilian extraction first, unless you have a quick way to take out the fish?"
"A death spell?" Loki replied. "Not one that would target only those fish dosed with this 'sludge'."
"Could you ice over the area?" Rogers asked.
Loki shook her head, looking at the tumbling water. "Not as strong as that water is, not without chancing damage to the entire area and the boat."
"Let's avoid that," Rogers decided. "As Coulson said, then: Emerald Frost, Iron Man, Thor, transport the civilians to safety. When we arrive, Hulk and Widow will stay on the jet and continue transporting civilians while the rest of us deal with the fish."
"Understood," they all chorused and Loki transported to the boat, appearing next to Stark as he hovered just above the deck.
"Nice landing," he said to her and Loki flashed him a smirk. "Right, friendly neighbourhood superheroes here to get you off this boat," he said to the terrified people who were shying away from the railing. "Kids first please."
Thor landed behind them as Loki stepped forward to where a mother stood with three children. "I'll get them to safety," she promised.
"Thank you," the mother whispered, pressing the children towards Loki. When one of them clung at her hand, she shook her head and passed him to the eldest. "Listen to your sister. Mommy will see you again soon."
Loki made sure she was touching skin on all three children and warned, "This will feel a bit odd," then transported them to the receiving area she'd seen on the screens while she'd been in the control room.
Loki was gratified to find not a single parent who did not push their children to be rescued first, though both she and Stark did come across adults who thought they deserved to be saved more than the children. After the children were saved, they saw to the parents, keeping on at a steady pace until the quinjet showed up, then trading off and focussing on the fish.
"Any bright ideas?" Stark asked as he fired on one of the fish and it flailed a bit before dropping back into the water. A moment later, a fish with a black singe mark jumped against the hull.
"From where did this 'sludge' come?" Loki asked as Rogers beat a particularly high jumper away from a cowering man down the deck a ways and Barton stuck a couple fish with arrows.
"The large ships," Rogers replied.
"Leviathans," Thor and Loki chorused.
"All right, geniuses, know what the shit is?" Stark returned, amused.
"It depends on where, in the Leviathan, it came from," Loki offered, freezing a group of fish and tossing them away from the ship for Thor to decimate with Mjölnir a bit out. "If it comes from along the spine, it's very likely a product of its own body, laced with drugs to strengthen it. If it came from the ports along its sides, where the Chitauri rest during flight, it is more likely the nutrient mix that the Chitauri require for flight through the Void. If it came from the cybernetic implants, it will be a violent, mind-less sort of drug, which they use to control the Leviathans."
"Those things were alive?" Rogers demanded, sounding sick.
"They are of a species from the same world as the Chitauri," Thor offered sombrely. "When the Chitauri were brought to control under one leader, the Leviathans were turned from beasts of burden – much like a horse – to ships of burden. Their magic and technology was not advanced enough to build ships from nothing, so they used what they'd always used."
"Always nice to know we're not the most fucked up creatures in this universe," Barton muttered.
"Sounds like this is the cyber-goo," Stark commented as he blasted another couple fish. "Though, I have to say, their habit of getting back up with a burn in their sides is disconcerting..."
"It may be a mix," Coulson suggested. "Parts of the Leviathans were damaged when they crashed–"
"Or were smashed," Stark helpfully added.
"–and some of the lines of sludge may have mixed. The rodents that got a dose from our stores didn't turn violent, but these salmon are violent, and salmon usually aren't."
"Yeah, no kidding," Stark muttered.
"Any ideas, though?" Rogers asked. "They're both violent and resilient, and there are other fish in the area to worry about, too. How's the evac going?"
"We're nearly done," Romanoff reported. "One more trip and the last of the crew should be off."
"Thor," Laws cut in, "how well is smashing them while frozen going?"
"It seems well," Thor allowed.
"Can we freeze the area around the boat, then let the Hulk smash the ice to his heart's content?"
"He'd love it," Stark replied.
"What about the other fish?" Rogers asked.
"Considering how violent these salmon are, I don't think there will be many – if any – alive in the area to be effected by the ice," Banner offered. "If someone's willing to keep him from sinking, I think the Other Guy could be a good solution to this."
"Do it," Coulson ordered.
"Hawkeye, you and I are on the quinjet with the last group," Rogers ordered as the quinjet came back for the last group. "Iron Man, keep Hulk off the boat until the ice is secure, then you and Thor need to keep him above water, if you can. Emerald Frost, we'll leave you to make things a little cold."
"Only a little, Captain?" Loki purred and Rogers choked on a laugh.
"Hey, you're supposed to save the sexual innuendoes for the bedroom," Stark complained with a laugh.
"Was that an offer, Iron Man?" Loki returned, shooting the human a sultry look.
"Oh, Jesus, both of you need to stop flirting on the comms. Actually, just stop flirting entirely," Barton complained. "Seriously. The colour Cap's face is turning completely clashes with his suit."
"We'll let the designers know next time they have to make a new one," Stark returned.
"Shut up. Both of you," Rogers ordered over the team's laughter.
"We're clear, Emerald Frost," Romanoff announced.
Loki checked to make sure Banner, Stark, and Thor were out of her range, then motioned for the Casket of Ancient Winters to appear in her hands, knowing she would need its full power to ice over so much water. Thor made a surprised sound over the comms, but said nothing about her access to the artefact, so she closed her eyes and let her Jötun magic spread out from the boat, catching at those fish with the taint of the Void in their blood.
"Have I mentioned lately that I'm glad you're on our side?" Stark asked as Loki motioned the Casket away and he landed with Banner. "Also, shiny toy; can I play with it?"
"Maybe if you're very, very good," Loki returned, her voice rasping with the cold of her Jötun form. She eyed where Banner was turning green and growing in size. "We may wish to move back."
"Hulk is pretty good about not smashing the team while he has something else to smash," Stark replied as Thor landed at Loki's side.
Loki stepped closer to her brother, using his natural warmth to speed along her change from Jötun to Æsir; there was definitely a temperature component involved in the magic of her birth. Once she was fully Æsir-coloured again, she teleported to the receiving area, next to the quinjet.
Rogers smiled at her from where he crouched with a family. "Good work," he said over the comms and Loki inclined her head in understanding. She saw Barton and Romanoff assisting with the civilians – passing out blankets, food, and drinks – and went to join them; an Avengers' work was never done, she was finding. And, looking at the huddled families – the relieved parents and the terrified and excited children – she found she didn't much mind this part.
-0-
The rest of the day following the attack on Niagara Falls was spent teasing Stark with the Casket, giving Thor the cold shoulder after he mentioned that Loki should return the artefact to Odin, and teaching Jane and Banner more magic. Loki spent the next day with Jörmungand, still irritated enough with Thor that he didn't even stop to ask if his brother wanted to visit. Jörmungand had been confused by Thor's lack, but well-used to Loki and Thor's spats to be unbothered by his uncle not having come along.
On Saturday morning, Loki was woken about an hour before he would have risen to leave for Asgard by an explosion in the city. He hurried to his window as Fury called, "Avengers, assemble."
"Can we talk about the morning attacks?" Barton complained.
"Get up," Romanoff snapped in reply, and it sounded like they were in the same room.
"What the fuck," Stark swore. "Is that–?"
Loki's eyes widened as he recognised the flash of pale green magic just before another building exploded beneath them. "Amora," he/she spat as his/her form shifted.
"What?" Thor called and something crashed nearby him. "By the Norns. What is she doing here?"
"Friend of yours?" Stark asked drily.
" 'Friend' is, perhaps, not the word I would use," Loki returned acidly as she finished forming her armour around her and slipped her earpiece in. "Coulson, you're on your own."
"Try to get her to stop destroying public property," Coulson requested before Loki teleported.
"Loki!" Amora crowed in glee as Loki appeared next to her. Then she shot out a streak of pale magic, which Loki reflected harmlessly towards the sky.
"Always a pleasure, Amora," Loki returned silkily.
"Old flame?" Stark asked in her ear.
"They were students of magic together," Thor explained as Loki blocked a few more of Amora's taunting flashes of violent magic, trying to keep them away from the buildings. "Loki was by far the better, and there was jealousy. Not long after word got out that Loki had lain with a Jötun, Amora exploded in violence. Loki faced her down and she was imprisoned for three centuries under Loki's magic before being banished."
"What brings you to Midgard?" Loki asked her opponent as she heard Stark rocketing out of the tower behind her.
"You did, in fact," Amora replied with an over-bright smile. "I had heard of your treason, monster, and your fleeing to Mid–"
A blast from Stark's repulsors slammed the Æsir into the side of a nearby building. "I thought we were avoiding property damage," Loki commented drily.
"Sorry," Stark replied, sounding anything but. "The whole 'monster' thing just rubs me wrong."
"So you have friends!" Amora shrieked as she pulled herself from the building. "Well, so have I!" She pointed to the street far below them, where a large form in blue was trashing everything in his path, including people. Amora let out a scream as an arrow bloomed in her right shoulder and she fell back into the hole she'd created when Stark had blasted her.
"What the hell is going on down there?" Rogers demanded.
"Skurge," Thor recognised.
"You would call him a minion," Loki suggested. "Very destructive, and hardy as any Æsir."
"Great." Rogers let out an irritated sound. "Thor, Black Widow, Hulk, you three are with me on the ground. Hawkeye, Iron Man, provide support to Emerald Frost if she needs it. Let's get these two rounded and locked up."
Thor went flying between where Loki and Stark stood or hovered and Amora hid. The enchantress ducked out of hiding, eyes wide, and called, "Thor! Thor, my gentle pri–!" She fell back behind her hiding spot with a scream as an arrow, repulsors blast, and sparkle of emerald green magic hit her outstretched arm.
"Amora may or may not have a crush on Thor," Loki mentioned with a smirk.
"Have I mentioned how little sense you people make?" Stark complained. "Seriously."
"Shut up, Iron Man," Barton ordered. "Emerald Frost, can you get her out into the open? I'm not much for a Mexican standoff today."
"Especially on no breakfast," Stark agreed.
"I, too, have other things to see done today," Loki commented to the two humans before calling out, "Amora! Are you so afraid of these mortals that you would hide from them? How the mighty Enchantress has fallen!"
"Say that to my face, Jötun scum!" Amora snarled as she launched herself from the building and towards – unexpectedly – Barton.
Loki recognised the glint of the spell at Amora's fingertips, knew her strength lay in mind-control magics, and felt panic flare cold against her heart. "Hawkeye, move!" she shouted.
Barton didn't stop to think, just jumped off the ledge of the building, avoiding the streak of pale green by a slim margin. Stark dove to catch him, leaving Loki to defend herself against Amora's furious onslaught of violence at the loss of her target.
"Mortals are beneath us!" Amora snarled as one of her spells got through Loki's defence, splashing pale green against the gold armour on her shoulders. "It's their duty to do our bidding!"
Loki grit her teeth. "Not against their will," she spat as she wove a nasty spell that would enclose Amora in ice. "Not when they have my protection!" She released the spell and it bloomed bright blue against the pinks and oranges of dawn.
Amora managed to dodge most of the spell, but it caught her left leg up to her hip and her left hand. She struggled with it for a moment before an arrow slammed into her stomach from a grim archer and a repulsor blast singed her hair, sending her to fall like a stone to the street below.
Loki teleported down to the street to catch her before any further damage could be done to the surrounding buildings or the civilians who were fleeing from where Skurge was struggling against Thor and Hulk, Rogers and Romanoff running crowd control and trying to keep the property damage to a minimum.
Just before Amora got in range for the spell Loki was weaving, the Enchantress managed to twist and send down a violent blast that tore up the ground around Loki.
"Loki!" Stark shouted over the comms, shortly followed by Barton's own concerned call.
Loki shoved against the rubble that had pinned her, her unfinished spell washing painfully against her skin, and only just managed to push it away and roll to the side before Amora and the attached ice smashed against where Loki had been laying. The ice shattered and Loki chanced a wound to the side to protect a crying child that had fallen next to where her mother was crushed under part of the destroyed street.
"Loki, Loki, Loki," Amora tutted as she sauntered over. She ducked the dagger that Loki flung at her and slammed her with magic, sending both the Jötun and the human child she was curled protectively around into a nearby shop front.
"Iron Man," Loki gasped over the comms, "get the AMF."
"It'll affect you too!" Stark called back.
"What's this?" Amora taunted as she stepped through the hole in the broken glass. "I'm sorry, did I cause a magical backlash?"
"Just do it," Loki hissed as she left the child sobbing under a half-destroyed counter and ran towards Amora, intending to get her away from the civilian and hold her attention long enough for Stark to neutralise her.
Amora had no skills in physical fighting, unlike Loki, and the Jötun was too close for her to chance another explosive spell, so she turned and ran back out into the street, giving them both room to manoeuvre. They traded blows – Amora's magic to Loki's daggers and the occasional shattered ice she found at hand – both ducking behind rubble to avoid return fire. Loki's connection to magic finally returned at the same moment that Barton found a perch above them and started raining arrows down on Amora.
"Get out of there before Iron Man gets back," Barton suggested. "I've got–" He was cut off as a streak of pale green magic caused the concrete under his feet to give out from under him.
Loki called on her magic and formed a hasty ice slide under the falling archer – helping him to a safe landing on the street – then called up all the broken ice that still lay on the pavement to target her opponent. "Thanks for the offer," she breathed to Barton as Amora refocused her attentions on Loki, "but I think I'll stay here for the moment."
"Yeah, I tried," Barton grunted and fired another couple arrows at Amora from behind the slide before running behind a building as she turned towards the construct to blast it apart.
Loki felt the world darkening suddenly, the Void closing in, and she knew the AMF was in effect. But even knowing what caused the terror didn't protect her from it and the horror was crawling over her skin, forcing through her nose and ears. She closed her eyes against it – there was nothing to see anyway – and clenched her jaw against the slime over her lips. And her magic was gone, was no longer the hot/cold comfort held against her skin and the panic was setting in, couldn't be held back even though she knew this was nothing, this didn't exist, it was just a lack of magic, just Stark's technology, that it would end if she held out just a little bit longer, just a breath more and was she even breathing?
"I've got you," Stark's mechanized voice cut through the dark haze. "I've got you, and the others have got Amora and her giant buddy and I'm getting you out of here, okay? Loki?"
The horrors were fading away, but the blackness remained and Loki sank into it, let it carry her away to nothing.
-0-
-0-
A/N: THIS CHAPTER SUCKED HAIRY MONKEY BALLS.
That's all.
~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: 3 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.
A/N: Mythology, I mutilate you. With pleasure.
Also, during the game show bit, I didn't feel like researching questions and answers, so I just left it all unclear. Sorry if that bugs people – I know, 'show, don't tell' – but I was feeling lazy. And this chapter gave me more than enough trouble. :/
"It's just not fair," Stark was complaining some hours later, when the four took a break for lunch, as directed by Banner. "I'm a genius."
"Maybe you just haven't practised enough yet," Banner soothed as they stepped into the kitchen, Loki smiling silently behind them at the continued complaints.
"Practice? Practise what?" Barton demanded, looking more than a little worried. His gaze settled on Loki, whose smiled widened and hinted at mischief. "Oh, shit. This cannot be good."
"Loki's teaching us magic!" Jane announced.
"We're doomed," Barton moaned, crouching down and covering his head with his hands.
Loki let out a cackle.
Banner sighed and walked over to help Barton back to his feet. "You are not. And it's really not as easy as it looks." He glanced towards the glum Stark and the smirking Loki. "Jane has the best handle on it, but she's still nowhere near capable of any of Loki's tricks."
"How 'nowhere near'?" Barton demanded, looking at the female.
Jane furrowed her brow and stared at an outstretched hand. She mumbled the fire spell under her breath for a good minute, repeating it over and over, before a flicker of flame appeared, dancing steadily.
Barton looked towards Banner then, one eyebrow raised. "That's pretty 'nowhere near'," he announced. "So, why's Metal Head whining like a spoiled kid?"
"Tony hasn't managed anything," Banner explained. "I can get a flame after a fair bit longer than Jane, but Tony can sit there, trying, until he's blue in the face and not even get a flicker."
"Poor baby," Barton cooed.
Stark flashed him a glare. "I'll booby-trap your arrows, you damn crow," he threatened.
"Uh-huh," Barton replied, unbothered, and walked past the irritated billionaire, whistling.
The four still in the kitchen set about making sandwiches, Stark slamming everything he could get his hands on to show how displeased he was. Banner twitched a few times before, finally, calling, "Tony."
Stark slammed the pickle jar.
"Tony."
"Mr Stark," Jane added, inching away from Banner.
Stark pulled open the fridge and grabbed a can of soda. He made to slam it on the counter, but Loki grabbed his wrist just before it could connect. "Are you a child throwing a tantrum?" he enquired icily. "This solves nothing, only chances more trouble. Control yourself, or I will refuse to teach you at all."
"What's the point when I can't do it," Stark snarled, letting go of the can and letting it hit the worktop with an unsteady bang, toppling sideways, and rolling to the floor with a crash. Banner flinched again, but seemed more in control of himself with the promise of Loki's intervention.
"You are inclined towards giving up after but a handful of hours?" Loki returned, lips curling with a mocking smile. "Why, then, should we think you capable of protecting this realm? Perhaps you are best to simply leave now, return to your cold machines and let the true heroes protect the helpless."
Stark reached up with his free hand to hit Loki, but the god grabbed it and held him fast, not moving a centimetre when Stark pulled in an attempt to free himself.
"Lok–" Jane started before Banner shushed her.
"What would you know about giving up?" Stark snarled. "Magic is easy for you! I'll bet you've never struggled with it a day in your life!"
"As you have never struggled with your machines, I've little doubt," Loki returned, unbothered. Magic was natural to him, as natural as breathing. Which only made sense, given that his very being was made up of nothing but pale blue energy.
"I don't struggle with science," Stark agreed, voice quieter, but just as violent as when he'd been near-yelling. "I have never struggled with science. I fucking made myself a heart. With scraps! So why the fuck can't I use you magic, your science!" he finished, voice rising and spitting the last word like it was a curse.
Loki blinked, his mind catching on to Stark's words – translating his meaning – and his eyes lit on the dim glow in the centre of the human's shirt. He let go of one of Stark's hands, not flinching when the human landed a hit against his arm, and tapped the arc reactor. "This. It is of magic."
"It's science," Stark snarled, tugging at his still captive hand and hitting Loki again with the free one. "Real science."
"No, wait," Jane interrupted, stepping forward and ignoring Banner's hushed attempt to pull her back away from the altercation. "Mr Stark, think. It glowed on the Gay Detector. Just like Loki."
The anger bled from Stark's eyes as his intelligence came into play, and Loki finally released his other hand, taking a half-step back. The human looked down at the glow in his chest, touching a hand to it, then the Gay Detector around his throat, hanging just above the arc reactor. "JARVIS," he called, pulling the Detector over his head, "can you connect to this and find an image of me trying to cast magic?"
"Found," JARVIS replied after a beat, and a holographic screen lit up over the worktop, showing the group sitting on Loki's floor. Jane and Banner were dark shapes against the grey haze of Midgard's magic, fingers glowing as they gathered the energy, slowly, for a spell. Loki was a bright figure of blue between the dark shapes.
Stark's blue triangle sat across from Loki, flickering at the edges with sparks of red as he tried and tried again to cast a spell.
The real Stark's lips curled with a bitter smile as he said, "My terrible privilege."
"Tony..." Banner breathed and touched the other's shoulder.
Stark waved a hand at the image and it vanished. "Cool. That–that's cool. Whatever." He took Banner's hand off his shoulder and pressed the Gay Detector into it. "Have fun. Let me know if you figure anything out," he said before grabbing his plate and the fallen can, then leaving the kitchen.
"Oh my God," Jane breathed, one hand held to her mouth and eyes bright with unshed tears.
Banner clenched his hand around the Gay Detector as he turned to Loki, who was staring at the empty space where the image had been playing, brow furrowed. "Loki." The god glanced over, thoughts flickering lightning-quick behind his eyes. "Could he still cast magic? Despite the arc reactor? Could–?"
"I am...uncertain," Loki murmured, motioning for his plate to float over to him. "And I would not know how to test it, not without chancing damage to the arc reactor." And didn't that sting? Loki, who had spent nearly two millennia learning all he could about magic, had come across something he couldn't know, couldn't even test.
"Doesn't Mr Stark have a replacement?" Jane asked.
"Not of that sort," Banner replied, shaking his head. "He's got his older model, the one that almost killed him–" he grimaced and Loki's eyes narrowed, "–but not this one. Says he'd rather not make another one unless he absolutely has to, to keep it out of the wrong hands."
Jane rubbed a hand over her eyes. "I see," she whispered.
They made their way out to the common area, in silent agreement that they wouldn't return to practising magic for the moment. Everyone else was arrayed around the television, the Warriors Three balanced on stools dragged over from the bar and Sif in Loki's usual spot at Thor's side. When Jane settled in at Thor's other side, the elder prince looked up at the younger, silently asking if he needed to ask Sif to move, but Loki shook his head and balanced on the arm of Stark's chair; when Stark had wanted to offer comfort or an apology, he had shoved his way onto the couch, and Loki thought it was a reasonable way to offer his own support for something none of them could change.
Stark glanced up in surprise and Loki raised an eyebrow at him, a silent challenge to try making Loki move. Stark's lips quirked at one side and he returned his attention to the idiotic programme on the screen, shifting slightly to lean against Loki's side, accepting and grateful for Loki's presence.
Loki, Banner, and Jane remained long after their lunches were finished, ostensibly to finish watching the 'soap opera' that was on when they came in, then because Jane and Banner wanted to join in on the competition to beat out everyone else in the game show that Coulson determinately turned it to before the next episode of the first programme could continue. Sif and the Warriors Three seemed sad to see the change in venue, and then disbelieving at the sudden influx of shouted answers and the heckling of the contestants on the screen by the Avengers and Jane. Even Thor made a couple tries at answers, usually getting them wrong and getting teased by his fellow Avengers for it. Loki allowed an occasional derisive comment about one of the contestants, which Barton then usually expounded on, much to everyone's amusement.
Stark remained uncommonly silent through the first half hour of the programme, lips twitching with a faint smile from behind the tablet he'd pulled out of the cushions of his chair to work on. The other humans occasionally shot him concerned looks, but seemed calmed to see him working; only Loki, leaning against Stark's shoulder, could see how the human was flicking uselessly between screens on his tablet, as though nothing could hold his attention.
A question eventually popped up that would normally have been left for Stark to answer – some technology-based query that Banner or Jane could make guesses about, and that Coulson frowned over, but Stark called the answer out without even seeming to think about it – and everyone glanced towards Stark before looking back at each other and giving their own, uncertain responses.
Loki glanced down when he realised the tablet screen wasn't flickering out of the corner of his eye and blinked to see an answer there. Stark stared at it for a moment before closing out of the screen and returning to his idle flicking. Loki blinked, then said the answer out loud. After a beat, the answer was given in the programme, the same one Loki had given, and everyone turned to look disbelievingly at the Trickster.
Loki smirked at them. "Yes?"
"You can't possibly have known that answer," Barton insisted.
"You would do well to not underestimate my knowledge," Loki returned, amused.
"Looking it up on your phone is cheating," Romanoff pointed out.
"I did no such thing."
"Yeah? Hand it over," Barton challenged, holding out his hand for Loki's mobile. "Let's see your genius a second time."
Loki raised an eyebrow, then handed his mobile over to Jane, since he didn't trust Barton with it. "Perhaps you will," Loki commented neutrally, "perhaps you won't."
Stark continued flicking through screens mindlessly for another three questions before he typed out another answer. Which Loki then gave, earning him a disbelieving look from Barton. When everyone looked over at Jane, she held up Loki's mobile in evidence of his innocence.
"I vote for removing Loki's access to all knowledge," Barton insisted.
"SHIELD wants Loki's cover standing up under scrutiny in public," Rogers was quick to point out. "That means him learning random facts about Earth is good."
"When he decides to take over the world with his knowledge, I reserve the right to say 'I told you so'."
"Loki's not in the 'taking over the world' business anymore," Jane insisted even as Thor swore, "My brother would do nothing of the sort!"
Loki laughed at all of them and caught the answer to the current question – which they'd all missed to argue about Loki's knowledge – out of the corner of his eye on Stark's tablet. He called it out and they all sort of looked towards him in disbelief for a quiet moment before it was said on the television.
"Okay, no. You're going down," Barton swore and turned back to the programme with a single-minded determination.
Stark's shoulder against Loki's side quivered with suppressed laughter and he shifted so his tablet was more visible to the god. Banner and Coulson caught on to what Stark and Loki were doing after only one more question, and Jane, Romanoff, and Rogers didn't take much longer. Thor found the whole thing too funny to care how Loki was keeping up with the programme so well, the other Æsir weren't familiar enough with Midgardian technology to understand what was happening, and Barton was too busy failing to beat Loki to notice how the god's eyes would glance down at the tablet held against Stark's knee at every question.
"Dr Banner won this round," JARVIS announced as the credits rolled, "and Loki came in second."
"Technically, Tony came in second," Banner was quick to point out as Loki leaned over to accept his mobile back from Jane.
"So he did," Loki agreed easily, finding no reason to claim a victory which wasn't his; his victory had been in keeping Barton in the dark for the entire programme, watching the archer get more and more desperately irritated.
"Wait, what?" Barton looked up, blinking, and Stark held his tablet up a bit more, smirking. "Oh, fucking Christ. I'm using both of you for target practise next time I've got new arrows to test."
"You will not," Rogers snapped, scowling.
Coulson calmly hit the back of Barton's head. "He won't," he promised and Barton hunched down on the couch, arms crossed over his chest.
When the next game show came on, Stark jumped in with his own loud answers, back to his usual good humour.
One of the last questions involved serpents and Stark sort of jerked in surprise, then glanced up at Loki. "You were gonna visit Jordan," he reminded the god.
Loki glanced down at Stark, lips curling with amusement. "I know of no one by the name of 'Jordan'."
Stark rolled his eyes. "Don't play stupid with me," he ordered before peeking around Loki towards Thor. "Hey, Pikachu! Your brother wants to see his kid."
Thor blinked in surprise and looked up at Loki. "Jörmungand?"
Sif and the Warriors Three shifted uncomfortably in their varied seats and Loki smiled easily even as he looked them over with sharp eyes. "We are on Earth with him, are we not?"
"You've got a kid," Barton intoned. "On Earth."
"Shouldn't have slept through the Norse mythology class," Romanoff commented and Barton just sort of stared at her. "That's the World Serpent, right?" she asked of Loki.
"That is your name for him, yes," Loki agreed, glancing towards her, but keeping most of his attention on where the Warriors Three and Sif were trading looks; he had a feeling that they would see him kept from his son.
"This is going to go over so well with Fury," Banner muttered and Stark flashed him a shit-eating grin.
"Loki has the right to visit with his children, no matter how big they are," Rogers cut in, glancing at Coulson long enough to see the man nod. "I would think the director would be glad to have Jor– Sorry, Loki, say it for me again?"
"Call him Jordan, Cap," Stark suggested.
"Jörmungand," Loki offered.
"Thank you." Rogers nodded. "The director should prefer to have Jörmungand on our side, I would think, and the only way I can see that happening is if Loki gets a chance to talk to him."
"Sort of a, 'Hey, kiddo, I'm working for the humans now, so don't eat any of them'?" Stark said. " 'Oh, and if you happen to see a man in a metal mask, munch away'."
"And chance breaking his teeth?" Barton cut in, amused. "Naw, squeeze him to death. Drown him a bit, maybe."
"He might have an air tank," Romanoff was quick to point out.
"Squeeze him, then drown him," Stark decided. "Or squeeze while drowning, I'm not picky. Hey, Puff? You okay up there?" he added, nudging Loki's side. Then he seemed to realise who Loki was looking at and his expression darkened. "Okay, no. Fury doesn't get to dictate who sees their kids, and neither do you four."
"It's not us that would think to refuse Loki or Jörmungand a visit," Fandral said with a smile that was just a touch too wide.
"My nephew was banished to Midgard to remove him from Loki's side," Thor intoned grimly. "This is the will of the Asgardian Council and the Allfather."
"Remov– The fuck," Stark snarled, leaning forward so he could better see the five Æsir. "Someone explain this to me. Someone unbiased," he added as Sif opened her mouth. "Thor? Loki?"
"And they're unbiased?" Barton muttered, but he too was looking between the brothers, clearly interested in hearing more from them than the other non-humans.
"Jörmungand's mother is a Jötun," Loki explained quietly, "as is Fenrir's. Angrboda was murdered for bearing the children of an Æsir, and my sons were sent to Asgard shortly after Jörmungand was born. Fenrir was..." Loki frowned, trying to think how best to describe his middle son after losing his mother and meeting his father for only the second time.
"Feral," Sif suggested coldly, rubbing at her calf, where Fenrir had bitten her at least twice.
"Hey!" Stark called.
"Feral is accurate," Loki said, grimacing in dislike of the word. "He was disinclined to listen to myself or any other in Asgard, and the Council had him banished after he mauled one of their sons." Loki suppressed a smile, because he'd never liked the man his son had mauled, and he'd found the event hilarious until they decreed Fenrir would be banished for his crimes. "I managed to argue for Jörmungand to remain with me, for he was but a snakelet, and while he is much better behaved, he also grew quite large. When they demanded his banishment, I was...not well pleased."
"You brought down half the palace," Thor commented drily, but there was a glint of amusement in his eyes that hadn't been there in the past, and Loki thought his brother was finally beginning to understand his sense of humour. That, or Thor was remembering the girlish shrieking the various Council members had let out when the roof rained down around them, only kept safe by Odin's protective barrier.
"I thought you said there are spells on all the buildings to keep them from falling apart during an attack," Jane said to Loki.
"There are."
Stark laughed. "That's kind of awesome." He glanced up at Loki's tired smile and his own amusement faded. "They banished him anyway," he recognised.
"Loki's actions led the Council to believe him unstable, too unstable to raise so dangerous an offspring," Thor said in Loki's stead. "Father was disinclined to argue with them." He looked away, ashamed. "As was I."
"You and Jörmungand were not friends," Loki commented drily.
"He is my nephew; it was as much my duty as yours to stand for him," Thor insisted, then shook his head. "It matters little now. If you would visit Jörmungand, Brother, I would go with you. Though we may all be best served were I to remain at a distance," he added and Loki laughed.
"The Allfather–" Volstagg started.
"Father is not such a fool as to not recognise what realm both Loki and Jörmungand reside in," Thor interrupted. "If he finds disapproval with Loki visiting his son, he would have spoken against it sooner."
"And the Council?" Sif asked, dark eyes sharp as she looked between the brothers.
"What the Council doesn't know can't hurt them," Loki commented with an icy smile.
"The Council never said Loki couldn't visit with Jörmungand, only that he couldn't raise him," Thor pointed out, shooting Loki a silencing look. "If they find fault with this, let them come to Midgard and debate it with me."
"With all of us," Rogers insisted. When the Warriors Three and Sif shot him disbelieving looks, he said, "We're a team; that means we all stand up for each other."
"I do not think Loki would say the same," Fandral returned, glancing towards the younger prince, who shot him a cool smile to hide fear beating against his rib cage. Because he was walking a fine line, remaining a member of the Avengers, and while Stark may have forbidden name-calling, he couldn't stop the occasional truths, like this one.
"It's not about whether he would say anything," Rogers replied firmly. "It's about what he'd do. And if there's one thing I know Loki will do – beyond causing as much trouble for Clint as he can – it's that when it comes to it, when we need him to be there, he will be. He's earned my trust – all our trust – or he wouldn't be part of this team."
"Can't say the same for you four, though," Stark added with an over-bright smile as he leaned comfortably back against Loki, a position he'd left when he'd leaned forward at the start of the discussion.
"Was our assistance in your last battle not sufficient evidence as to our good intentions, Man of Iron?" Sif asked stiffly.
Stark let out a sharp laugh, but it was Barton – surprisingly – who said, "You'll go to war with us, yeah, but I bet you don't care about us. We're just mortals to you people."
"You are but mortals," Volstagg insisted. "Things that would leave us wounded for but a day would see you dead, and your days are short, compared to ours. You think Loki and Thor think any differently?"
"I'm saying Loki and Thor don't say 'just mortals'," Barton clarified. "We've got names and personalities beyond being good fighters. They've come to know us, to figure out what we like and what we hate." He looked between the two princes. "Tell me I'm wrong."
"I cannot," Thor admitted.
Loki met Barton's stare for a long moment in silence before his lips twitched. "I should have turned that cereal to vegetables."
"Fuck. You," Barton snarled and the humans and Thor all grinned.
"By this time next week," Banner said quietly to the Warriors Three and Sif, "you're going to be back in Asgard. But Loki and Thor will still be here, watching Disney movies and fighting battles on our planet. And maybe Thor stays for a promise, maybe Loki came for questionable reasons, but they can still leave whenever they want, nothing we do could stop them. They stay because they want to, because this is as much their home as your planet – more than, perhaps," he added, nodding to Loki, who nodded back. Banner looked the four over. "Would you stay?"
"We have a duty to our king–" Sif started.
"We wouldn't," Hogun interrupted. "If we remained long, if we cared to see you as beings beyond your short lives, we might, too, wish to remain. But we will not; it is not our way to become interested in those that will sooner die. And had events gone differently, had Thor not been banished and Loki fallen to the Void, they would not either. There is a chance for all of us, but it is not one we would wish to take." He shook his head. "We have collected what we came for; tomorrow we will return to the Bifröst site and Asgard."
"I'll see to it that transport is waiting in the morning," Coulson returned evenly into the following silence, the Avengers and Jane trading surprised looks.
"That's...good. I guess..." Stark decided, glancing helplessly up at Loki. When the god raised a wordless eyebrow in response, Stark grimaced, then said, "Bruce said Disney. I need Disney. I need..."
"Don't say WALL-E," Barton ordered.
Stark flashed him a smirk. "Excellent choice, Cupid. JARVIS, WALL-E."
"I hate you. Possibly more than Loki," Barton swore.
"You don't hate Loki," Romanoff said to her nails, which she was cleaning under with the tip of a knife. "You have a mutual pact of dislike and the urge to torment each other incessantly." She slid him a glance as the television lit with the film menu. "I've seen you hate people, Clint."
Barton huffed and made no further comment.
The film wasn't bad, Loki decided, and he thought he understood why Stark liked it so much, as his 'children' were all robots.
They took a break after the film to get their pizza, which Rogers left part-way through to order, then settled in to watch a couple Bond films, as demanded by Barton and backed by Coulson. When Coulson told JARVIS to shut down the television, everyone groaned a bit, but made for bed all the same.
Loki woke in time to see the Warriors Three and Sif off, but didn't bother doing more than sitting in the kitchen and listening to the helicopter take off. Once Jane and Banner had risen, they all retired to Loki's floor to work on magic while Stark hid in his lab and the other humans and Thor watched pointless programmes or destroyed each other in the gym.
About an hour before lunch, they were interrupted by Fury calling, "Avengers, assemble." There was a small army of giant spiders running amok through Central Park, which they decimated quickly enough to return to the tower and eat lunch at the time Banner had scheduled for them.
Over lunch in the common, Thor asked, "Brother, when did you have wish to see Jörmungand?"
"This would be a good time to do it," Stark was quick to chime in. "The likelihood of there being another attack today is something like point zero zero two percent."
Loki flashed an amused smile at the human before nodding to his brother. "If now is acceptable to you, we may as well."
Thor nodded and stood. "Let us do so, then. Shall I collect Mjölnir, or will you manage?"
"Best not to take your weapon," Loki suggested drily and Thor grimaced in understanding before holding out his hand for Loki to take.
Loki had scryed for his son's whereabouts last night, and JARVIS had helpfully provided him with a satellite image of the area. There was a chain of islands near to Jörmungand's head which seemed largely unpopulated. It was to one of these islands that Loki teleported them.
Thor immediately began to shiver in his thin Midgardian clothing. "Brother, if you would?" he requested.
Loki smirked and considered leaving Thor to suffer for a bit longer, but he didn't wish to speak with Jörmungand with an irritated Thor at his back, so he twisted a spell to keep his brother warm. "Sufficient?" he asked as Thor ceased shivering.
"Yes, thank you," Thor replied with a smile. Then, because he was Thor and didn't always think, added, "At least now we know why the cold never bothered you."
Loki shook his head at the elder and walked some paces to the cliff overlooking the water's edge. "Jörmungand!" he called, magic lending strength and distance to his voice.
A great wave crested against the cliffs and Loki thought he could see a large shape in the distance, moving closer. Behind him, Loki heard Thor shifting uncertainly and he smiled a bit cruelly; Thor had often been Jörmungand's favourite victim when he played a prank, and Thor's irritated speeches on the proper behaviour of a prince just made Jörmungand wish to torment him further. (Jörmungand and Loki both had found bitter humour in Thor's words, then, as they both knew that Loki's children would never see any closer to the Asgardian throne than the bottom of the steps before it; it was only now that Loki could see how truly far from Loki and his children's reach the throne was.)
Jörmungand's voice reached them first, a hissing cry that translated to, "Papa! Papa came! Papa's here! Papa's come to visit! Pa~pa!"
Freezing water splashed high over the cliff as Jörmungand reached Loki, nosing his large head against his father's stomach, and Loki hugged him with a laugh, uncaring at his soaked state. "Jör, Jör, my sweet Jörmungand," he murmured and his son hissed in pleasure.
They remained in their embrace for a long moment – centuries of separation leaving them desperate for contact – until Jörmungand recognised the taste of the Æsir behind Loki. "Uncle Thor!" he called, peering around his father with a wicked gleam to his eyes.
"Nephew," Thor returned, shuffling back another step.
Loki laughed and scratched at a dull scale just under Jörmungand's left eye. "Let your uncle be, child."
"Yes, Papa," Jörmungand agreed, holding still so Loki could finish removing the dead skin. "Papa, why have you come to visit? Can I come home?"
Thor let out a pained noise behind them and Loki's smile turned sad as he brushed his hands against the newly uncovered scale. "No, I'm afraid not," he murmured. "Uncle Thor and I are residing on Midgard for the moment and I had wish to see you."
Jörmungand drooped and he rubbed his head gently against Loki. "I understand," he said, sounding so pained and lonely.
Thor hurried forward and ran a hand over Jörmungand's nose. "Were it my choice, Nephew, I would see you in Asgard again."
"I am too big for Asgard," Jörmungand acknowledged, and there was gratitude in his eyes as he flicked his tongue against Thor's side. "Where do you reside here?"
"In the new city of York!" Thor declared.
"It lies against the other large ocean that divides the land," Loki clarified. "We live with some of the Midgardians and do battle against those that would see them come to harm."
"Midgardians are strange creatures," Jörmungand informed his father and uncle, as though imparting great wisdom.
"Indeed they are," Loki agreed. "Would you tell me of them?"
Jörmungand's eyes lit up. "I can tell Papa a story?"
"You can tell Papa as many stories as you wish," Loki promised.
Thor chuckled. "Not quite so many, Brother, Nephew. If we remain over-long, the others will come looking for us, likely with SHIELD in the lead."
"We may have to break the telling up over many days," Loki allowed and Jörmungand hissed out a laugh.
They remained with Jörmungand until late in the evening. Stark eventually rang them through Loki's mobile, asking, "You still alive out there?"
"We are alive and well," Loki promised. "Jörmungand is telling us of his adventures."
"And pranks," Thor added loudly and Jörmungand hissed a loud laugh.
Stark chuckled. "Good. We're about to sit down for dinner and Steve ordered I call you. Are you intending to come back to eat, or should we dig in without you?"
Loki glanced towards Thor. "They are to begin eating," he explained to his brother.
"I can catch you food!" Jörmungand hurried to say. "And then Papa and Uncle Thor can stay a bit more?"
Thor smiled towards his nephew. "It has been many weeks since last I had fish," he commented.
Jörmungand let out a happy sound. "I'll be right back!" he hissed before diving out of sight and sending up a spout of water, which fell against the green shield Loki had thrown up over them.
"We'll eat here," he told Stark. "We'll attempt to return before morning, but I should like to again visit with Jörmungand before my return to Asgard in three days."
"We can work something out, no problem," Stark promised. "Hang out with your kid. And remember to tell him not to eat any humans, right?"
"I shall do so," Loki agreed and ended the call.
By the time Thor and Loki returned to New York, the sun was just rising in the east.
"Before morning," Romanoff said from in front of the television, lips curled with amusement. "You're about ten minutes late."
"I said 'attempt'," Loki returned. "And it is not yet morning where Jörmungand resides."
"I suppose we can forgive you," Romanoff decided, "on account of time zones."
Loki chuckled and motioned for some tea to begin brewing in the kitchen. "Take care not to sleep over-long, Brother," he cautioned Thor as the elder stumbled towards the lift and his bedroom.
"Get some sleep eventually, Loki," Thor returned with a tired smile.
"Perhaps," Loki replied as he joined the female spy in sitting before the television. "Is there anything of interest?"
Romanoff glanced towards the television, which had the sound particularly low and subtitles turned on. "Cartoons," she allowed as the advertisements ended and animated characters returned to the screen. "Or infomercials, which are actually more mind numbing than this."
Loki smiled and settled in to watch with her as his tea floated out of the kitchen into his hands. Romanoff's eyes glinted with amusement, but she didn't say anything and they remained in peaceful silence until Tony stepped from the lift.
"Morning!" he called with a ridiculous grin stretching his face and a mug in one hand. He made a stop in the kitchen, where they heard him knocking things around and muttering too low for them to hear – likely about the lack of coffee – before coming out with a freshly brewed mug and dropping onto the couch with Loki. "Hi. How'd your visit with Junior go?"
"It was well," Loki replied with amusement. "He and Thor only made three attempts on each other, and Jörmungand finds amusement in tormenting your seafarers."
"Definitely your kid, then," Stark commented.
"Very much so, yes," Loki agreed.
Stark glanced towards the quiet television, then back at Loki. "So? Stories. Tortured seafarers. Go."
Loki chuckled and settled in to tell a few of his favoured stories of his son's; Jörmungand was not inclined towards eating boats or seeing mortals drown, but he enjoyed popping up beside ships in the night and scaring their lookouts. He'd also scared more than one ship away from danger and rescued at least a dozen humans that might have drowned. He tormented people who came within his reach, yes, but he was not the monster the Asgardian Council had believed, and Loki was proud of his son for not falling to the darkness as Loki had, had made sure that Jörmungand knew just how proud he was.
Banner, Rogers, Jane, and Pepper all came in and settled in around the couches during differing parts in the retellings, and they all seemed to enjoy it, more entertained by Jörmungand's fun than bothered.
The lift had just opened to let out Barton and Coulson when Fury's voice called, "Avengers, assemble."
"Fuck no. Two days in a row?" Barton complained. "This is so wrong. Also, breakfast?" He looked hopefully at Coulson as the Avengers that had been on the couches made for the lift and Loki stood to change.
"Stop whining, Barton, and get things done," Fury snapped, uncaring. "The world isn't going to stop for your stomach."
"You can stop for doughnuts on the way," Stark suggested as they all piled onto the lift. "I vote for jelly-filled."
"We're not making a stop for food," Rogers replied, sounding simultaneously apologetic and irritated.
Coulson joined Loki for the transport to base as the lift doors closed. "Where are we headed, sir?" he asked Fury.
"Niagara Falls, Canada side. We're too far out, so you'll have to sit in their base and deal with the Northerners," Fury replied and JARVIS immediately pulled up schematics for Loki. "All I know is there's a boat straddling the damn border with civilians and some sort of monstrous fish. Loki, if this is one of your fucking kids–"
"I have only one child in this realm, Director," Loki replied stiffly, "and he is neither small enough to fit that area of water, nor inclined towards violence against your race."
"Jörmungand is peaceful, Director," Rogers insisted, his voice echoing both over JARVIS' speakers and the earpiece Loki wore. "And in Alaska, from what Loki was saying."
"Whatever. Get moving," Fury ordered.
Loki took Coulson's offered hand and transported them to the control room JARVIS' images had directed them to. Guns were immediately cocked at them, but Coulson brushed right past them to the woman standing at the head of the room. "Status, Agent Laws."
"Interesting mode of transport," the woman returned, eyeing Loki and motioning for her men to lower their guns.
"Emerald Frost, our newest addition to the team. She's a magic-user," Coulson said as he took over one of the computer screens Laws had been standing in front of. Loki followed him closer to the screens, looking between them at the images of the Falls. "Status."
Laws shook her head and pointed at the boat in the middle of one of the screen. Water frothed white around it and little dark things moved against the hull, as if climbing or jumping towards the deck. "One of our scientists has been working with some of the sludge that was left over from the Chitauri invasion last year, as you know." She shot Coulson a glare.
"The British government is still in talks for us to hand pieces of tech over," Coulson returned smoothly.
Laws snorted. "Because that actually makes me feel better about your tight asses."
"Get to the point," Stark called over the comms. "I've got an ETA of about two minutes, Laws, and I'd like to know what sticky mess your group of incompetents made this time before I go getting it into the gears of my suit."
Laughter from the other Avengers came through the comms following Stark's demand and Loki had to cover a smile at the constipated grimace that took over Laws' face. Coulson's lips twitched and he said, "You've been working with the sludge and it escaped containment."
"In a nutshell, yes," Laws agreed. "Our head scientist had been testing it on varied fish, especially after that accident your people reported about rodents getting into a batch and some of them dying, while others...changed."
"Became more resilient and grew in size," Coulson agreed, both agents ignoring Stark's cackling.
"Our team wanted to see if they could anticipate which species it killed and which ones survived it, so they've been testing on fish. One of the tanks cracked overnight and the whole batch got out into the river. No one knew what had happened until the reports came in from the boat about man-eating fish."
Coulson nodded, expression grim, and he turned to Loki. "Emerald Frost, Iron Man, Thor, let's worry about civilian extraction first, unless you have a quick way to take out the fish?"
"A death spell?" Loki replied. "Not one that would target only those fish dosed with this 'sludge'."
"Could you ice over the area?" Rogers asked.
Loki shook her head, looking at the tumbling water. "Not as strong as that water is, not without chancing damage to the entire area and the boat."
"Let's avoid that," Rogers decided. "As Coulson said, then: Emerald Frost, Iron Man, Thor, transport the civilians to safety. When we arrive, Hulk and Widow will stay on the jet and continue transporting civilians while the rest of us deal with the fish."
"Understood," they all chorused and Loki transported to the boat, appearing next to Stark as he hovered just above the deck.
"Nice landing," he said to her and Loki flashed him a smirk. "Right, friendly neighbourhood superheroes here to get you off this boat," he said to the terrified people who were shying away from the railing. "Kids first please."
Thor landed behind them as Loki stepped forward to where a mother stood with three children. "I'll get them to safety," she promised.
"Thank you," the mother whispered, pressing the children towards Loki. When one of them clung at her hand, she shook her head and passed him to the eldest. "Listen to your sister. Mommy will see you again soon."
Loki made sure she was touching skin on all three children and warned, "This will feel a bit odd," then transported them to the receiving area she'd seen on the screens while she'd been in the control room.
Loki was gratified to find not a single parent who did not push their children to be rescued first, though both she and Stark did come across adults who thought they deserved to be saved more than the children. After the children were saved, they saw to the parents, keeping on at a steady pace until the quinjet showed up, then trading off and focussing on the fish.
"Any bright ideas?" Stark asked as he fired on one of the fish and it flailed a bit before dropping back into the water. A moment later, a fish with a black singe mark jumped against the hull.
"From where did this 'sludge' come?" Loki asked as Rogers beat a particularly high jumper away from a cowering man down the deck a ways and Barton stuck a couple fish with arrows.
"The large ships," Rogers replied.
"Leviathans," Thor and Loki chorused.
"All right, geniuses, know what the shit is?" Stark returned, amused.
"It depends on where, in the Leviathan, it came from," Loki offered, freezing a group of fish and tossing them away from the ship for Thor to decimate with Mjölnir a bit out. "If it comes from along the spine, it's very likely a product of its own body, laced with drugs to strengthen it. If it came from the ports along its sides, where the Chitauri rest during flight, it is more likely the nutrient mix that the Chitauri require for flight through the Void. If it came from the cybernetic implants, it will be a violent, mind-less sort of drug, which they use to control the Leviathans."
"Those things were alive?" Rogers demanded, sounding sick.
"They are of a species from the same world as the Chitauri," Thor offered sombrely. "When the Chitauri were brought to control under one leader, the Leviathans were turned from beasts of burden – much like a horse – to ships of burden. Their magic and technology was not advanced enough to build ships from nothing, so they used what they'd always used."
"Always nice to know we're not the most fucked up creatures in this universe," Barton muttered.
"Sounds like this is the cyber-goo," Stark commented as he blasted another couple fish. "Though, I have to say, their habit of getting back up with a burn in their sides is disconcerting..."
"It may be a mix," Coulson suggested. "Parts of the Leviathans were damaged when they crashed–"
"Or were smashed," Stark helpfully added.
"–and some of the lines of sludge may have mixed. The rodents that got a dose from our stores didn't turn violent, but these salmon are violent, and salmon usually aren't."
"Yeah, no kidding," Stark muttered.
"Any ideas, though?" Rogers asked. "They're both violent and resilient, and there are other fish in the area to worry about, too. How's the evac going?"
"We're nearly done," Romanoff reported. "One more trip and the last of the crew should be off."
"Thor," Laws cut in, "how well is smashing them while frozen going?"
"It seems well," Thor allowed.
"Can we freeze the area around the boat, then let the Hulk smash the ice to his heart's content?"
"He'd love it," Stark replied.
"What about the other fish?" Rogers asked.
"Considering how violent these salmon are, I don't think there will be many – if any – alive in the area to be effected by the ice," Banner offered. "If someone's willing to keep him from sinking, I think the Other Guy could be a good solution to this."
"Do it," Coulson ordered.
"Hawkeye, you and I are on the quinjet with the last group," Rogers ordered as the quinjet came back for the last group. "Iron Man, keep Hulk off the boat until the ice is secure, then you and Thor need to keep him above water, if you can. Emerald Frost, we'll leave you to make things a little cold."
"Only a little, Captain?" Loki purred and Rogers choked on a laugh.
"Hey, you're supposed to save the sexual innuendoes for the bedroom," Stark complained with a laugh.
"Was that an offer, Iron Man?" Loki returned, shooting the human a sultry look.
"Oh, Jesus, both of you need to stop flirting on the comms. Actually, just stop flirting entirely," Barton complained. "Seriously. The colour Cap's face is turning completely clashes with his suit."
"We'll let the designers know next time they have to make a new one," Stark returned.
"Shut up. Both of you," Rogers ordered over the team's laughter.
"We're clear, Emerald Frost," Romanoff announced.
Loki checked to make sure Banner, Stark, and Thor were out of her range, then motioned for the Casket of Ancient Winters to appear in her hands, knowing she would need its full power to ice over so much water. Thor made a surprised sound over the comms, but said nothing about her access to the artefact, so she closed her eyes and let her Jötun magic spread out from the boat, catching at those fish with the taint of the Void in their blood.
"Have I mentioned lately that I'm glad you're on our side?" Stark asked as Loki motioned the Casket away and he landed with Banner. "Also, shiny toy; can I play with it?"
"Maybe if you're very, very good," Loki returned, her voice rasping with the cold of her Jötun form. She eyed where Banner was turning green and growing in size. "We may wish to move back."
"Hulk is pretty good about not smashing the team while he has something else to smash," Stark replied as Thor landed at Loki's side.
Loki stepped closer to her brother, using his natural warmth to speed along her change from Jötun to Æsir; there was definitely a temperature component involved in the magic of her birth. Once she was fully Æsir-coloured again, she teleported to the receiving area, next to the quinjet.
Rogers smiled at her from where he crouched with a family. "Good work," he said over the comms and Loki inclined her head in understanding. She saw Barton and Romanoff assisting with the civilians – passing out blankets, food, and drinks – and went to join them; an Avengers' work was never done, she was finding. And, looking at the huddled families – the relieved parents and the terrified and excited children – she found she didn't much mind this part.
The rest of the day following the attack on Niagara Falls was spent teasing Stark with the Casket, giving Thor the cold shoulder after he mentioned that Loki should return the artefact to Odin, and teaching Jane and Banner more magic. Loki spent the next day with Jörmungand, still irritated enough with Thor that he didn't even stop to ask if his brother wanted to visit. Jörmungand had been confused by Thor's lack, but well-used to Loki and Thor's spats to be unbothered by his uncle not having come along.
On Saturday morning, Loki was woken about an hour before he would have risen to leave for Asgard by an explosion in the city. He hurried to his window as Fury called, "Avengers, assemble."
"Can we talk about the morning attacks?" Barton complained.
"Get up," Romanoff snapped in reply, and it sounded like they were in the same room.
"What the fuck," Stark swore. "Is that–?"
Loki's eyes widened as he recognised the flash of pale green magic just before another building exploded beneath them. "Amora," he/she spat as his/her form shifted.
"What?" Thor called and something crashed nearby him. "By the Norns. What is she doing here?"
"Friend of yours?" Stark asked drily.
" 'Friend' is, perhaps, not the word I would use," Loki returned acidly as she finished forming her armour around her and slipped her earpiece in. "Coulson, you're on your own."
"Try to get her to stop destroying public property," Coulson requested before Loki teleported.
"Loki!" Amora crowed in glee as Loki appeared next to her. Then she shot out a streak of pale magic, which Loki reflected harmlessly towards the sky.
"Always a pleasure, Amora," Loki returned silkily.
"Old flame?" Stark asked in her ear.
"They were students of magic together," Thor explained as Loki blocked a few more of Amora's taunting flashes of violent magic, trying to keep them away from the buildings. "Loki was by far the better, and there was jealousy. Not long after word got out that Loki had lain with a Jötun, Amora exploded in violence. Loki faced her down and she was imprisoned for three centuries under Loki's magic before being banished."
"What brings you to Midgard?" Loki asked her opponent as she heard Stark rocketing out of the tower behind her.
"You did, in fact," Amora replied with an over-bright smile. "I had heard of your treason, monster, and your fleeing to Mid–"
A blast from Stark's repulsors slammed the Æsir into the side of a nearby building. "I thought we were avoiding property damage," Loki commented drily.
"Sorry," Stark replied, sounding anything but. "The whole 'monster' thing just rubs me wrong."
"So you have friends!" Amora shrieked as she pulled herself from the building. "Well, so have I!" She pointed to the street far below them, where a large form in blue was trashing everything in his path, including people. Amora let out a scream as an arrow bloomed in her right shoulder and she fell back into the hole she'd created when Stark had blasted her.
"What the hell is going on down there?" Rogers demanded.
"Skurge," Thor recognised.
"You would call him a minion," Loki suggested. "Very destructive, and hardy as any Æsir."
"Great." Rogers let out an irritated sound. "Thor, Black Widow, Hulk, you three are with me on the ground. Hawkeye, Iron Man, provide support to Emerald Frost if she needs it. Let's get these two rounded and locked up."
Thor went flying between where Loki and Stark stood or hovered and Amora hid. The enchantress ducked out of hiding, eyes wide, and called, "Thor! Thor, my gentle pri–!" She fell back behind her hiding spot with a scream as an arrow, repulsors blast, and sparkle of emerald green magic hit her outstretched arm.
"Amora may or may not have a crush on Thor," Loki mentioned with a smirk.
"Have I mentioned how little sense you people make?" Stark complained. "Seriously."
"Shut up, Iron Man," Barton ordered. "Emerald Frost, can you get her out into the open? I'm not much for a Mexican standoff today."
"Especially on no breakfast," Stark agreed.
"I, too, have other things to see done today," Loki commented to the two humans before calling out, "Amora! Are you so afraid of these mortals that you would hide from them? How the mighty Enchantress has fallen!"
"Say that to my face, Jötun scum!" Amora snarled as she launched herself from the building and towards – unexpectedly – Barton.
Loki recognised the glint of the spell at Amora's fingertips, knew her strength lay in mind-control magics, and felt panic flare cold against her heart. "Hawkeye, move!" she shouted.
Barton didn't stop to think, just jumped off the ledge of the building, avoiding the streak of pale green by a slim margin. Stark dove to catch him, leaving Loki to defend herself against Amora's furious onslaught of violence at the loss of her target.
"Mortals are beneath us!" Amora snarled as one of her spells got through Loki's defence, splashing pale green against the gold armour on her shoulders. "It's their duty to do our bidding!"
Loki grit her teeth. "Not against their will," she spat as she wove a nasty spell that would enclose Amora in ice. "Not when they have my protection!" She released the spell and it bloomed bright blue against the pinks and oranges of dawn.
Amora managed to dodge most of the spell, but it caught her left leg up to her hip and her left hand. She struggled with it for a moment before an arrow slammed into her stomach from a grim archer and a repulsor blast singed her hair, sending her to fall like a stone to the street below.
Loki teleported down to the street to catch her before any further damage could be done to the surrounding buildings or the civilians who were fleeing from where Skurge was struggling against Thor and Hulk, Rogers and Romanoff running crowd control and trying to keep the property damage to a minimum.
Just before Amora got in range for the spell Loki was weaving, the Enchantress managed to twist and send down a violent blast that tore up the ground around Loki.
"Loki!" Stark shouted over the comms, shortly followed by Barton's own concerned call.
Loki shoved against the rubble that had pinned her, her unfinished spell washing painfully against her skin, and only just managed to push it away and roll to the side before Amora and the attached ice smashed against where Loki had been laying. The ice shattered and Loki chanced a wound to the side to protect a crying child that had fallen next to where her mother was crushed under part of the destroyed street.
"Loki, Loki, Loki," Amora tutted as she sauntered over. She ducked the dagger that Loki flung at her and slammed her with magic, sending both the Jötun and the human child she was curled protectively around into a nearby shop front.
"Iron Man," Loki gasped over the comms, "get the AMF."
"It'll affect you too!" Stark called back.
"What's this?" Amora taunted as she stepped through the hole in the broken glass. "I'm sorry, did I cause a magical backlash?"
"Just do it," Loki hissed as she left the child sobbing under a half-destroyed counter and ran towards Amora, intending to get her away from the civilian and hold her attention long enough for Stark to neutralise her.
Amora had no skills in physical fighting, unlike Loki, and the Jötun was too close for her to chance another explosive spell, so she turned and ran back out into the street, giving them both room to manoeuvre. They traded blows – Amora's magic to Loki's daggers and the occasional shattered ice she found at hand – both ducking behind rubble to avoid return fire. Loki's connection to magic finally returned at the same moment that Barton found a perch above them and started raining arrows down on Amora.
"Get out of there before Iron Man gets back," Barton suggested. "I've got–" He was cut off as a streak of pale green magic caused the concrete under his feet to give out from under him.
Loki called on her magic and formed a hasty ice slide under the falling archer – helping him to a safe landing on the street – then called up all the broken ice that still lay on the pavement to target her opponent. "Thanks for the offer," she breathed to Barton as Amora refocused her attentions on Loki, "but I think I'll stay here for the moment."
"Yeah, I tried," Barton grunted and fired another couple arrows at Amora from behind the slide before running behind a building as she turned towards the construct to blast it apart.
Loki felt the world darkening suddenly, the Void closing in, and she knew the AMF was in effect. But even knowing what caused the terror didn't protect her from it and the horror was crawling over her skin, forcing through her nose and ears. She closed her eyes against it – there was nothing to see anyway – and clenched her jaw against the slime over her lips. And her magic was gone, was no longer the hot/cold comfort held against her skin and the panic was setting in, couldn't be held back even though she knew this was nothing, this didn't exist, it was just a lack of magic, just Stark's technology, that it would end if she held out just a little bit longer, just a breath more and was she even breathing?
"I've got you," Stark's mechanized voice cut through the dark haze. "I've got you, and the others have got Amora and her giant buddy and I'm getting you out of here, okay? Loki?"
The horrors were fading away, but the blackness remained and Loki sank into it, let it carry her away to nothing.
-0-
A/N: THIS CHAPTER SUCKED HAIRY MONKEY BALLS.
That's all.
~Bats ^.^x
Whatever Lies Beyond This Morning
Like So Much Shattered Glass Chapters:
One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven
Rough Edges Chapters:
One | Two |
Christmas Tunes
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no subject
Date: 17/9/12 07:10 (UTC)Love the interaction with Jordan (real name too complicated to remember :P) and Thor's reaction towards Loki's son is amusing as well. ahaha
Annnnnnnd I hope you have the next chapter ready 'cause I wanna read it! :P
Especially after this last fight D:
no subject
Date: 17/9/12 19:22 (UTC)Jör. I call him Jör. (Or Junior, which Tony starts tossing around after he meets him. XD)
Mmmm... *shifty eyes* Nope. Still gotta wait a week. Minor cliffie or no. XD
Wait until chapter six. *cackles*