batsutousai (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
batsutousai) wrote2012-10-07 12:02 pm
batsutousai) wrote2012-10-07 12:02 pm
FIC: Rough Edges ~ Marvel ~ FrostIron ~ R/M ~ Ch 6/7
Title: Rough Edges
Chapter: 6 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, implied character death, kidnapping
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: Figured I'd be nice and call this out at the top: THIS CHAPTER ENDS IN A CLIFF-HANGER. Read the warnings, they should give you an idea about what to expect.
If you can't handle a cliffie, come back next Sunday.
-6-
Thursday was spent down at the pier with Jörmungand. Loki leaned against his son's head while Jörmungand dozed in the sun, translated for the Avengers when they came down to talk, or worked with Banner and Jane in learning magic while Jörmungand watched on, intrigued. Throughout the day, however, Loki kept a notebook and pen next to him, jotting down notes for the spells he wanted to weave to protect the arc reactor.
Stark had woken before Loki, unusually, and had been long gone when she'd finally dragged herself out of bed and decided to spend the day as a male. When he'd asked JARVIS, the AI explained that something had come up in California that Stark had gone to see to, and Loki wasn't certain if that was a sign of his lover fleeing from their talk last night, or if something had honestly happened. (It was hard to tell when a computer was the one passing on the message.) Pepper was also gone, so if it was Stark running to the other side of the country, his PA was either in on it, or it was a well-timed distraction.
Whatever the real reason for Stark's absence, Loki used the time without his – admittedly distracting – presence to refine the spell and spend time with Jörmungand, something Loki could never consider a waste of time.
He left Jörmungand as the sun fell behind the horizon, taking Jane and Banner back to the tower in time to settle in for dinner.
When the humans and Thor settled around the television to watch a sports programme, Loki waved them off and turned to the lift, thinking it might be best if he finished his work on the spell and turned in, as he was to return to Asgard the next day. (A reminder that he'd made to the humans at dinner, receiving more than a couple sighs and Barton's loud comments about 'peace and quiet'.)
As Loki stepped into the lift, his thoughts turned to Jörmungand – Thor had agreed to spend much of tomorrow with the serpent – which reminded him of another 'child' that had been denied attention of late. "JARVIS," he said as the lift started past Stark's floor, "hold. I would spend time with Dummy, if it's allowed?"
The lift immediately returned to Stark's floor. "Dummy would appreciate that," JARVIS replied. "And Sir gave you access to his floor, which includes his lab. Usually."
"And by that, you really mean I can get in here whether he wants me to or not," Loki commented, amused, as he pushed into Stark's private lab.
"I said nothing of the sort," JARVIS insisted as Dummy let out a chirp of pleasure and wheeled over to the sink to start making a mug of hot chocolate. "I simply mean that Sir has given you permission to enter this floor as you will and has put no further stipulations on your access of the rooms within it. If he had told me to lock the lab to you, I would have done my best to dissuade you."
"And likely failed miserably."
"You are very like Sir in that way," JARVIS replied, his computerised voice sounding just the slightest dry, and Loki laughed.
Dummy wheeled over with the mug and held it up with an inquisitive sound.
"Thank you, Dummy," Loki said, taking the mug and settling it on the table, next to his notebook. He settled on the stool he'd waved over, then turned to smile at the bot. "I thought to spend time with you, as I fear the addition of my own son to the city stole Tony's attention from you yesterday, and his own matters have stolen him today."
Dummy whirred sadly and bumped his single arm against Loki's knee.
Loki brushed along the foreign feel of metal in much the same way as he'd seen Stark do before and Dummy let out a quiet chirp. "I admit, I am uncertain what Tony does to spend time with you."
"Sir often allows Dummy to assist him in working on projects, or works to repair parts of Dummy's code or pieces of his body," JARVIS answered.
Loki smiled. "There are none of those I might do. I could speak, however," he realised. "Do you care for stories, Dummy?"
Dummy's arm raised slightly, akin to a person looking up hopefully.
Loki chuckled and brushed along the bot's arm again, the motion becoming more familiar as he repeated it. "I would tell you of Jörmungand, my son who has come to visit, I think? And then I might tell him of you, when next I sit with him." Loki's smile turned sad. "I think you are both lonely, in your ways."
Dummy chirped a query and so Loki settled in to tell the bot of Jörmungand's banishment, of his son when he was but a snakelet and the pranks he'd played on everyone, pranks that only Loki and Jörmungand seemed to get any amusement from, though Thor now recalled quite a few with a laugh.
Loki wasn't sure how long he sat with Dummy, telling stories and letting his hot chocolate go cold, before the door of the lab fell open and both Loki and Dummy looked over to watch Stark stumble in, looking exhausted.
"Tony," Loki said neutrally.
Stark's head jerked up and he blinked at Loki a few times. "What the–? Loki. You're–" His eyes tracked down to where Dummy had rested his arm across Loki's lap. "You're visiting Dummy," he realised and smiled.
Loki gently pushed Dummy's arm out of his lap and stood as the bot wheeled away, towards the coffee machine. "No, Dummy," Loki called. "Tony, let's get you to bed."
Stark shook his head and brushed past Loki. "Ideas. Gotta get some work done. Been dealing with idiots all day and I need to get some work done. Can't just keep sitting around, doing noth–"
Loki sighed as he caught the human when his spell knocked him out. "Sleep first," he murmured against Tony's hair before shaking his head. "JARVIS, did Lady Pepper return with Tony?"
"She is remaining in California for another day to make sure nothing further goes wrong," JARVIS replied evenly.
"Very well. I think you can leave the lab door open for the night," Loki decided as he turned to see Stark to bed.
Dummy chirped behind him and Loki glanced back over his shoulder to watch as the bot picked up his cold hot chocolate to pour it out in the sink. Trusting that the bot was capable of knowing his limits when the lab door was left open, Loki continued to Stark's room and stripped the human of all but his boxers before settling him under the covers. Loki was just stripping to join him when Dummy rolled in with a quiet chirp and Loki's notebook.
"Thank you," Loki murmured, taking the object. He glanced his spellwork over, then set it to the side. "Probably best for him to be awake before I cast any magic on him," he added and Dummy whirred an agreement.
As Loki climbed under the covers and settled in next to his lover, Dummy wheeled around the bed and rested his arm next to Stark, acting for all the world like he was going to sleep there, though Loki was pretty sure the bot didn't actually 'sleep' in a manner anything like a living being.
Loki smiled at Dummy and murmured, "JARVIS, lights," then closed his eyes as the room dimmed but for the steady glow of the arc reactor and the tiny prick of red light above Dummy's camera.
-0-
Loki woke to Stark muttering, "Dummy? How are you...? Hi. Morning. I love you too, you stupid piece of scrap metal. How'd you get out of the lab?"
"I let him out," Loki offered, rubbing a hand over his eyes to clean out grit from sleep.
Stark was oddly quiet and Loki glanced over to find his lover staring at him, looking mildly betrayed. "You magic'd me. Again," he accused.
"You needed the sleep," Loki insisted. And then, because it wasn't completely untrue, he added, "And I would sleep better knowing you were in here, rather than working all night."
The irritation bled from Stark's eyes and he sighed and shifted closer to Loki. "Manipulator," he muttered before pressing a kiss to Loki's lips.
Loki hummed an agreement as he kissed back, opening his mouth to the human and pulling Stark over so he could buck up against him.
"Dummy's in here," Stark managed to get out as he broke free to catch his breath. Because they'd both sort of agreed that having sex with either of their 'children' in the room would be awkward.
"Going back to Asgard for the day," Loki returned.
"Oh, Christ. Fuck Asgard," Stark complained and Loki chuckled before tilting his head and nipping at the underside of the human's jaw. Stark groaned and ground his pelvis against Loki's, then ordered, "Dummy. Out," in a strangled voice.
Dummy let out a pitiful whine as he wheeled out.
"Good boy!" Stark called after the bot and Loki snorted against his throat. "Shut up," Stark added to Loki and distracted the god with a hand down his briefs.
Dummy was waiting for them when they finished in the bedroom, carrying two mugs and looking inexplicably hopeful, for a robot with no face.
"You spoiled him," Stark accused Loki as he handed over the hot chocolate and took a sip of his coffee. "Best boy," he added to Dummy, who chirped happily and rubbed against Stark before wheeling over to rub against Loki.
"I take partial fault for distracting you from him," Loki replied as he smoothed over the bot's arm.
Stark shook his head, amused. "Only partial?" he asked and Loki flashed him a smirk from behind his mug. Stark nodded at the notebook Loki held in one hand. "Paper? Really?"
"It is comfortable to me. And less likely to be damaged while I sat with Jörmungand."
"I water-proof tablets before I let them out of my lab," Stark replied. "And paper is just as easy to destroy as computers."
"Not with my spells," Loki returned.
Stark rolled his eyes. "Oh, yeah. Whatever. Okay, so what were you working on that required old fashioned paper? Or am I not allowed to know? Is it a present?"
"After a fashion," Loki agreed, enjoying dangling his secret in front of his lover.
"Ooh. Present for Junior?" Stark guessed. "Or Thor, maybe?"
"Neither."
Stark widened his eyes comically. "Tell me it's something mean to spring on Clint."
"Such spells require little planning," Loki replied with a smirk; pranks were his speciality.
Stark laughed. "Roaches, I remember. So, is it for me?"
"It is," Loki agreed, still smiling, though there was less humour to his voice than there had been. Stark had left for the entire day, and he was still uncertain as to whether he'd done so more to get away or because he was truly required.
"Ooh." Stark grinned and tilted his mug to drink, then paused, recognition blooming in his eyes. He lowered his mug and touched his free hand to the hidden arc reactor. "This. You said you'd create a spell to protect it."
"So I did," Loki agreed neutrally, sipping from his hot chocolate.
Dummy let out a quiet whine and wheeled over to Stark's side, bumping his claw against the hand over the arc reactor.
Stark ran his hand over Dummy's arm, unbothered by his claw touching the reactor. "It's okay, buddy," he murmured and Dummy whined again. To Loki, Stark explained, "Dummy found me. After Obie left."
Loki nodded, understanding a bit more the bond between Stark and Dummy. "Dummy," he said to the bot, "I would see Tony safe, his arc reactor never again removed against his will."
Dummy let out a chirp, sounding almost like approval, and moved his claw from the arc reactor. He remained, however, at Stark's side.
Stark smiled at his bot, then nodded towards the notebook. "So, your spell, does it allow me to remove my own arc reactor? 'Cause sometimes, you know, I have to make repairs on it and stuff."
"Though you have no replacements," Loki returned.
Stark shrugged. "If I can make my repairs in under five minutes, I'm more than safe. And I've got a couple older models that I can use, so long as I keep them in for no more than three days. But, yeah, don't need anyone getting the design for this one." He tapped the arc reactor. "Too much power."
As much as it bothered him that Stark had no equal replacements, he was familiar with the need to keep objects with power away from the interested; it was why he kept the Casket and his magical staffs in his magical space, where only he could recall them. "Should this spell work, it would enable you to do as you would with your arc reactor. The spell should also allow one of the Avengers or the Ladies Pepper and Jane to remove the arc reactor, should it no longer have power, so a replacement might be switched in. Beyond that, no one else should be able to even touch it."
"Not even you?" Stark asked, eyes sharp.
Loki shook his head. "I made no allowances for myself, but as it is my magic, I might well be able to work past the spell." He met Stark's eyes and stated with all honesty, "I wouldn't."
Stark smiled and stepped forward to brush his fingers against Loki's jaw, Dummy moving quietly at his side. "As odd as it might seem, I trust you."
Loki snorted. "Less odd, more insane."
"I'm not renowned for my sanity," Stark returned and pulled up his shirt, baring the arc reactor. "Go for it. Can't know if it'll work until you've tried, right?"
Loki flashed him a quick smile and held out his mug. "Dummy, if you'd please hold that?" he requested and the bot took it from him. "Thank you." Loki glanced quickly through his notes, then banished the notebook to a magical space, intending to destroy everything in Asgard, so there would be no chance of anyone reverse-engineering his spellwork. (He could have destroyed it in Midgard, but the distance between the realms was an added security, and he was more familiar with ways to destroy research notes in Asgard.)
The spells were not difficult, but Loki was uncertain how the arc reactor would react to them, considering how it sucked up other magic. Except sleep spells, Loki had realised, or teleportation magic, which affected Stark as though he were an average human. Loki wondered if the arc reactor allowed that magic which Stark, himself, would have allowed on some level, although that still left the question of why the human was blocked from using magic.
The arc reactor's glow brightened as the spells sunk into it and Stark made an odd face before commenting, "Coconut. Again."
Loki raised an eyebrow at him as he held out a hand for his mug, which Dummy handed back over. "Coconut."
Stark touched a hand to the arc reactor and flashed Loki a grin. "Yeah. That's what this element tastes like."
Loki shook his head. "And you were complaining of my describing magic with taste."
Stark laughed. "Yeah, shut up. So, are we testing it?"
Loki considered that for a moment, then held out his hand towards the arc reactor. He touched the panel next to Stark's fingers without issue and sighed. "It seems it didn't work."
"Well, it was a nice thought," Stark replied and moved his hand to pull his shirt back down.
As soon as Stark's hand had moved away, Loki's fingers burned and he pulled his hand away with a hiss of pain.
"Loki!" Stark grabbed for Loki's hand, his mug of coffee falling to the floor, and watched with some disbelief as the bright red burns faded away under the direction of Loki's magic. "You okay?" he whispered, pressing a kiss to Loki's fingers.
"I will live," Loki returned drily and Stark smiled. "I believe it does work."
It took Stark a moment before his mind caught up with Loki's words, then he looked between Loki's hand – still held between his – and where the arc reactor laid under his shirt. "Jesus, yeah. But, burning?" He frowned up at Loki. "I don't want to see you hurt to protect me, Loki."
"The idea is to keep people from touching the arc reactor," Loki reminded him. "I had envisioned something of a magical shield, but a spell of fire would hold myself at bay far better. The arc reactor has a mind of its own, and it will bend this spell as it sees fit." He shook his head. "I will heal from burns, you will not heal should someone remove your arc reactor; this outcome suits me."
"Well it doesn't suit me," Stark muttered, taking his hands from Loki's so he could poke at his own chest. "Hear me? No more burning Frosty. I am not cutting back on fantastic sex because you're repurposing spells. No. Not happening."
Loki snorted and stepped around the human. "I should like some breakfast before I leave."
Stark stooped and picked up the fallen mug, leaving the coffee for Dummy to clean up with the rag he'd found in the bathroom. "Good boy," he murmured to his bot, who chirped happily, then hurried to follow Loki. "I still say fuck Asgard. You were just there."
"I agreed to return every six days, not counting those days where I must return for other matters. That I missed my last trip makes it all the more important for me to attend today."
Stark sighed and turned them to the lab long enough to set their mugs inside, then hit the button for the lift. "I hate duties."
"Noted."
"Also, try not to bring back anyone this time?"
Loki snorted. "It would be to my preference, as well, were the Warriors Three and Lady Sif to remain on their end of the Bifröst."
"I think even Thor was sick of them by the time they left."
"Entirely possible," Loki allowed, remembering fondly how Thor had stood up for Loki against his friends.
Jane and Romanoff were in the kitchen together when Loki and Stark arrived. "Did you have need to return to New Mexico today?" Loki asked the female scientist.
Jane shook her head. "Nah. Natasha and I had plans today, and I've got most of what I needed from the Bifröst, anyway, thanks to the Gay Detector." Romanoff snorted and Jane grinned at her.
"Best name for it ever. Like, seriously. Awesome," Stark insisted as he poured himself some cereal.
"Pepper does have a point about your inability to be PC," Romanoff returned. Before Stark could complain, she added, "And, yes, I know. Clint is worse than you. Slightly."
"That's up for debate," Loki commented and Stark grinned at him while the two women rolled their eyes. "I take it my brother is not yet up?" he asked of Jane.
"Not when I left, but he asked JARVIS to wake him when you left, so he should be up pretty soon," Jane replied. "We'll drop by and spend some time with Jörmungand today, and I know Bruce was going to go out there with Steve for a couple hours after lunch."
"Assuming there aren't any attempts at villainy today," Stark added.
"Fingers crossed," Jane said, doing so. "Even if there is an attack, though, we can still drop in and see him."
Stark nodded. "True enough. I'll probably head down there, myself. Get some more work on the translation done. When are you two leaving for your girl's day out?"
"Shortly," Romanoff returned. "We can wait for you, if you'll hurry."
"Cool. I'll have to stop and grab the briefcase suit and my tablet, but I'd appreciate it." Stark flashed Loki a smile. "Any messages for Junior?"
"Tell him of Dummy," Loki suggested. "I told Dummy of Jörmungand and promised to return the favour."
"That is, like, kind of sickeningly adorable," Stark decided. "Can we win the award for the most awesome parents ever?"
"Weirdest, maybe," Barton said as he stepped into the kitchen. "Also, I want pictures of any play dates between those two."
"Maybe not," Loki decided and Stark laughed while the women smiled. "I will endeavour to return in time to assist with dinner," he added to Jane as he stood, waving his empty bowl towards the sink.
"I'd appreciate it," Jane agreed. "Have fun."
"Prank a bunch of the stuck-up idiots and bring back pictures," Stark insisted.
"Lots of pictures," Barton added. "Turn them all pink. Or make them wear dresses or something."
"You have no imagination," Loki informed the archer, much to the other three's amusement, then teleported to the Bifröst site, transforming into Thor en route.
Heimdall was the same as ever when Loki arrived, nodding to Loki without any sign of emotion. Hogun awaited him with the horses and they greeted each other amicably enough before turning for the city.
Loki's morning was spent dealing with the duties of a prince, while lunch was spent seated with the Warriors Three and Sif. They remained tense with each other, but there was an easing in their interactions that hadn't existed before their visit to Earth, a bit of the old familiarity and friendships that had been lost to Loki's betrayal. And Loki appreciated it, even as he left behind pranks that would have them none-too-friendly when he returned again in six days.
Loki spent the afternoon with his mother. She again took him out to visit with Sleipnir and Loki remembered his mobile and took pictures of his eldest with it, thinking Jörmungand and Stark would both appreciate it. (And Thor might enjoy having pictures of his nephews, really, as Loki might like his own collection of his children next to the one of him and Thor as children.)
With his mobile heavy against his chest, Loki stopped by Odin's office before leaving to return to Earth. "Allfather," he said in a neutral voice.
Odin glanced up at the disguised prince. "You have a question?"
Loki glanced around the room before stepping fully in, assured that the king was alone. "I would receive permission to visit Niflhel."
Odin raised an eyebrow at that. "For what purpose?"
Loki smiled. "Have I not family there I might wish to pay visit to?" he replied.
Odin sighed. "Loki, I'll have none of your games."
Loki closed his eyes, silently praying for patience, then returned, "And I've no need to play them. I would visit with Hela, as I have visited with Sleipnir today."
"As you have visited with Jörmungand, I've little doubt."
Loki shrugged. "You would have me leave him lonely while residing in the same realm? Thor, too, made speak with him."
"I'm certain that went well."
"Surprisingly," Loki said, though he knew he'd no need to speak. "They converse still."
Odin eyed Loki for a moment and the prince smiled back at him, the picture of innocence. "And would you demand to see Fenrir next?" Odin finally asked.
Loki tensed. "What use, when you would, as ever, deny me my right?"
Odin met Loki's false blue eyes with his steady stare until the younger finally looked away, jaw clenching with an anger that was all the more obvious on Thor's form. "I will give you passage to visit Hela," the Allfather agreed at last. "Pass on my greetings."
"Perhaps," Loki replied as he turned to leave, a last snub to mark his displeasure. When Odin gave no response beyond the sigh of a father resigned to his son's rebellion, Loki counted himself the victor.
The Bifröst didn't travel to Niflhel, but Loki travelled out to Heimdall anyway, both to keep up appearances, and to let the guardian know he would be travelling by alternate means. Heimdall was unsurprised and Loki left after dispersing his stolen form.
Hela awaited him at the gates when he stepped through the mists to them. His youngest was half lovely, half terrifying, and it had broken Loki's marriage to Hela's mother; Sigyn had been unable to love so terrible a daughter and so had fled, but Loki had birthed a horse, loved both a wolf and snake as sons, and could see little wrong with his only daughter. He had raised Hela with all the care he'd been too young to have for his sons, rebuking those who would turn her appearance against her and protecting her in a way that he'd been unable to do for Jörmungand or Fenrir when the Council would have seen her banished for minor crimes. It had been her wish to serve in Niflhel, and one that Loki had fully supported and seen to that she received.
"Father," Hela murmured as Loki drew her into a hug.
"Hela, it is always a treat to see you," Loki replied, freeing a lock of long hair from where it had been caught in the kinks of her neck.
"Yet, rarely without need," Hela returned, well-used to her father's play with words. "What brings you to my realm?"
Loki shook his head. "I have been visiting with Jörmungand and had wish to see others of my children. Odin gave me leave to visit with you on my return to Midgard, and so here I am."
The skin of Hela's mouth turned down in a lopsided frown. "Father, what has transpired?" she requested, spotting easily the unspoken story in Loki's words.
"Much," Loki admitted. "Might I sit with you a while and catch you up?"
"I would appreciate it," Hela agreed, "though I get the sense I will not enjoy it."
"There has been precious little joy for much of the past years," Loki admitted. "Though it has been well these recent weeks."
Hela smiled in her awkward way. "Then I might stay for the entirety," she teased and Loki laughed.
Loki told her everything but the horrors of the Void – he didn't believe any of his children were owed that waking nightmare – and she remained silent for the whole of it, assimilating everything in much the same way as Loki would while in a more studious mood.
When Loki finished, she nodded and commented, "It makes sense. That you are Jötun." She waved her skeleton hand, the deformity that had always set her apart from her peers. "That I am half."
"It does," Loki agreed.
"Grandfather should not have lied," Hela added.
"Odin does many things he should not," Loki replied bitterly.
Hela shrugged. "It is the will of parenthood."
Loki shot her a sharp look. "You think I–"
"No, Father," Hela hurried to assure him. "You have always done your best by me, by all of us, I know. But I have long sat with the dead, and I see all too often that parents bring pain to their children by doing what they believed to be right at that moment. And Grandfather, for all his strengths, is still as capable as any other father of making poor choices. I do not forgive him that, but I can understand it, I think." She met Loki's scowl with the same even stare that Odin would often use when someone was being difficult. "As would you, were you inclined to look past your own anger."
Loki sniffed and looked away. "Allow me my anger, darling."
Hela shrugged. "I would never think to deny you anything, Father," she replied and the serious tone was vanished. "But you have found a Midgardian to amuse yourself with; that's well. You're always happier when you have a distraction, be it a long play or a lover."
Loki flashed her an amused look. "Most children are disturbed to think of their parent with another," he pointed out.
"Most children were not sired – or borne, in Sleipnir's case – by you. And most children, also, did not regularly walk in on you," Hela added drily and Loki laughed, because his youngest had often enough walked in to find Loki in compromising positions with varied Æsir, both as a woman and a man. Hela, more than Loki's other children, was cured of any embarrassment at Loki's habit to blackmail his peers with sex.
"True enough," Loki allowed. "Am I happier, then?"
Hela considered him for a moment, then nodded. "Yes. It was a good time to find him, seeped in anger and followed by darkness as you are. I feel less worry for you, knowing of this Midgardian. And Uncle Thor, I think."
"Darkness?" Loki repeated, caught off-guard by the comment.
Hela motioned to an aura only she could see. "It has the shape of madness, though it is of darkness. It surrounds you. It...frightens me," she finished in a whisper.
Loki swallowed against a block in his throat. "I am familiar with this darkness, I think," he allowed, remembering well the Void and its effect on him when his magic was stolen. "I had not meant you to know of it," he added, regretful.
Hela shook her head. "What is it?"
Loki sighed. "It is of the Void, and that is all I would speak of it. Please, Hela."
Hela looked away. "How is Jör?" she asked, tangling her hands together and causing her skeleton fingers to click against the glimmer of rings and bracelets on her normal side; pieces of beauty that were the only gifts her mother had ever bestowed upon her.
Loki reached forward and took her hands in his, bringing both to his lips for a gentle kiss. "He is well," he told her. "He enjoys his pranks on humans and saves those he can; he does a much better job than I at making up for his tainted blood."
Hela sighed and leaned forward to rest her forehead against Loki's, still bent forward as he was over her hands. "Have you ever loved Jör or Fen-Fen less for being born of a Jötun?" she asked.
"No."
"Then why think so much less of yourself?"
Loki shook his head. "I know of what I am capable, Hela, of what I can and will do, should the opportunity present itself. I think less of myself not just because I am of Jötun stock, but also because I know myself to be a monster."
"I don't think you a monster, Father," Hela insisted, regret in her eyes.
Loki flashed her a smile. "I should hope not, lest I worry for my parenting skills."
Hela allowed her awkward smile to show, though there remained sadness in her eyes. "I love you, Father. We all do."
"I know," Loki murmured, brushing a hand against her bone cheek and letting his smile soften and fill with love. "And I love all of you; I always will." He kissed her forehead, right along the line where the skin fell away to bone.
They remained in silence for some long moments before Loki recalled one of his original intentions for visiting and pulled back enough to bring his mobile from the fold of cloth he'd secured it in over his heart. "Tony gave me this mobile telephone, which has a camera. I would take a picture of you, to keep in my rooms on Earth and, I think, in the palace."
Hela's eyes brightened over her awkward smile. "Just be sure to get my best side," she informed him.
Loki laughed. "You have one that's better than the other?" he returned, an old joke that recalled Hela's childhood, when she would come home in tears from the teasings of other children for her unusual appearance. No matter who had greeted her tears – be it Loki, Thor, Odin, or Frigga – they would always make certain to insist that the other children were only jealous that they didn't look so lovely. (And, remembering that, Loki found himself torn between his hatred at Odin for his secrets, and gratitude and fondness that his not-father had never allowed Hela to feel anything but loved, had never allowed anyone to speak poorly of her in his presence. Odin may have failed Loki in so many ways, may have let Jörmungand and Fenrir face lonely banishments, but he'd truly tried with Hela and would always protect Sleipnir.)
Loki took a number of pictures, then sat down with Hela for a good ten minutes while she decided which picture of herself was the best, then looked through the pictures he'd taken of Sleipnir, Frigga, and Asgard. "Are you going to take some of Jör?" she wanted to know.
"I intend to," Loki agreed.
"And your Midgardian friends?"
"The most embarrassing ones I can," Loki promised.
Hela laughed. "I should like to see those."
"I will come again when I visit Asgard."
Hela rested her head on Loki's shoulder, relaxing when he wrapped an arm around her. "I have missed you, Father."
"As I have missed you," Loki replied as he slipped his mobile away. "I should return to Midgard," he added regretfully. "I had promised to assist Lady Jane with dinner, since Thor is useless."
Hela laughed and pulled away to stand. "Best to go quickly, then, before Uncle Thor thinks to help in your absence."
"Lady Jane may never forgive me," Loki said with some concern and Hela laughed again. Loki smiled and kissed her forehead, then both cheeks. "I will see you again in six days," he promised.
"I look forward to it," Hela replied and saw him to the gates of her realm.
Loki wrapped his magic around him and rode the branches of Yggdrasil back to Earth, coming out in a cave and teleporting to Avengers Tower. He was smiling as he stepped through the glass doors from the balcony, but it fell when he realised he was alone in the common area, when there should have been someone in the kitchen, at least. "JARVIS?"
"Helicarrier," JARVIS was quick to answer, and there was fear in his mechanical voice. "Sir has been kidnapped."
Ice enclosed Loki's heart and froze through his veins even as he wrapped his magic around him to teleport to the helicarrier. He arrived to find the Avengers, Fury, and Coulson around a conference table at the back of the bridge, none of them sitting and the lines of their shoulders tense under their uniforms, which were spotted with blood. "What happened?" Loki demanded as he stalked up, his Jötun voice grating in the sudden stillness that had followed his appearance.
Guns cocked around the room and Coulson snapped, "Guns down."
"Brother–" Thor started, moving like he might move to intercept Loki, but the younger god shot him a glare full of ice.
"What. Happened," Loki repeated.
"From what we can figure out," Romanoff cut in with a cold efficiency that suited Loki at the moment, "Doom, Mandarin, and a couple other small fries made some sort of pact; they attacked all at once and kept us distracted and apart. No one realised Stark was missing until they all made a retreat."
"JARVIS hasn't been able to trace the suit," Banner added, the tone of his voice saying he was holding on to his human form by sheer willpower. "Every piece of tech we have to trace Tony has gone off-line, and no one can even say which of the villains has him, though it's almost certainly Mandarin, given their history."
"Can you find him?" Barton asked and everyone looked from him to Loki's blue form. "Some sort of spell?"
Loki closed his eyes and flipped through his mental spellbook for a scrying spell that would let him locate a human. "I can try," he agreed, calmer with a path before him.
The first spell didn't work, fizzled out over the table's top, and Loki frowned in thought as Barton groaned.
"The arc reactor," Banner murmured, glancing up at Loki. "You said magic doesn't always work because of it."
Loki nodded. "I do not think it would block this, but it may. That it doesn't work it a good sign; it means he is alive and the arc reactor is in one piece," he said as he wove another spell. When it, too, fizzled, Loki focussed his magic on finding Stark's armour, figuring anyone smart would have removed that from its power source in Stark's chest as soon as they had him.
An image of a pile of red and gold scraps appeared over the top of the table. Other bits and pieces of metal lay nearby, as well as some other, less shiny piles of rubbish.
"Can you figure out, where, exactly, this is?" Fury demanded as the hopeless air vanished from around the table and the Avengers all straightened.
Loki manipulated the spell to give them an aerial view of the compound where the suit had been tossed. When it started to go fuzzy at the edges, he stopped pulling back on the spell and shook his head. "Any further from the origination and I lose the image."
"Can you teleport with that much?" Rogers asked.
"I could teleport with the original image," Loki replied.
Rogers nodded and looked around the table. "Natasha, go with Loki and see what you two can figure out about this place. Set trackers for us to find you and we'll follow you directly. If you two can find and get Tony out before we arrive, do it."
"But we're still going in," Barton said, eyes narrowed and determined.
"They made this personal," Rogers replied. "We're still going in."
"Female on the field," Coulson reminded Loki as the god ended his scrying spell and Romanoff turned to collect the trackers she would need to place.
Loki gave a jerky nod and focussed on becoming both female, and losing the Jötun-blue. Her armour shifted with her and Loki twitched the colours with barely a thought, making her clothing more green than black, and losing the cape she'd still been wearing from her journey from Asgard.
Romanoff returned with a cloth folder and two earpieces which looked vaguely different from the ones the Avengers usually used. "SHIELD issue for reconnaissance," she told Loki as she handed one over. "They come in pairs and keep switching between frequencies, so we can communicate without worrying that anyone else can keep up."
Loki nodded and slipped it in, motioning her other earpiece and mobile into a magic space. Both prepared, Romanoff held out her hand, sleeve pulled up to bare her wrist, and Loki took it and teleported them into the space next to Stark's wrecked suit.
Romanoff crouched as soon as they appeared while Loki took a slow turn around the room, magic sparking along her fingers in hopes of spotting something to take the cold fury still threading through her veins out on. But the room was empty save the piles of rubbish.
"Clear," Romanoff breathed before getting up and dashing towards one of the four doors Loki counted. "I'll start placing the trackers; see if you can't find Tony."
"Of course," Loki agreed and motioned for one of her sceptres to come to hand. Secure with the familiar Æsir magic, she made two copies of herself and split off to try each of the other three doors.
"Are you aware of everything your copies see?" Romanoff wanted to know, sounding intrigued.
"To an extent," Loki agreed as she slipped through her chosen door. In the back of her mind lay the threads connecting her to her copies. The most basic form of the spell allowed only copies that acted as she directed, and required her to see them to keep up with their actions. Some centuries ago, Loki had woven a spell to craft a copy that could move independent of her, based around a specific set of directions she set into the spell, and relate back important information; in this case, her copies were told to remain out of sight, make note of movement inside the compound, and search out Stark.
Five minutes of seeing no one, Romanoff finally announced, "Trackers set. Is it just me, or it is this place eerily empty?"
"I have not seen a person," Loki replied, pausing in the middle of the hallway and motioning to try another scrying spell on Stark. It, like the others, fizzled into nothing, but she was left with the sense that she was close to him, close enough to feel the arc reactor's refusal of her spell. "I believe Tony is here, however."
"Can you get a direction?"
Loki frowned and considered her spell knowledge, then tried another scrying spell, a simpler one that was intended to sort of point in the direction of the object, rather than actually show it. It didn't quite fizzle away, as the others had, but left her with a vague direction. "East northeast," she reported, turning in that direction.
"From your position?"
"Yes."
"You took the door right across from me?"
"West northwest, then," Loki corrected.
"Is one of your clones closer?"
"I am...uncertain. One moment." Loki took a moment to switch with the copy that had gone north from their entrance point, then recast the direction spell. "Yes," she said when the spell tugged her insistently in the correct direction. "I've traded positions."
"Good. Get in, get him out. I'll meet you back at our drop-in."
"Understood," Loki replied and ended the spell for her copies, thinking to save the extra magic for getting Stark out and to safety.
It didn't take Loki much longer to hunt down the room Stark was in. She stepped through the open doorway with sharp eyes, looking for any sign of someone she could tear apart, only to hear a crunch as she stepped on something. She glanced down and found the covering for the arc reactor shattered under her boot, pieces of it leading her eyes to where a man with a metal mask for a face stepped forward, laughing. As Loki watched, the laughing man motioned and with a sparkle of silver magic, a curtain drew back to show Stark laying, too still, against a metal table, a gaping hole in the centre of his chest where the arc reactor had once been.
"Did I not say I would see you destroyed?" the masked man said before laughing again.
-0-
-0-
A/N: I couldn't help it. It was such an awesome place to leave it. (I thrive on your pain, dear readers. XD)
~Bats ^.^x
The Shattered Glass Series:
Whatever Lies Beyond This Morning
Like So Much Shattered Glass Chapters:
One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven
Rough Edges Chapters:
One | Two | Three | Four | Five |Six | Seven
Christmas Tunes
..
Chapter: 6 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, implied character death, kidnapping
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: Figured I'd be nice and call this out at the top: THIS CHAPTER ENDS IN A CLIFF-HANGER. Read the warnings, they should give you an idea about what to expect.
If you can't handle a cliffie, come back next Sunday.
Thursday was spent down at the pier with Jörmungand. Loki leaned against his son's head while Jörmungand dozed in the sun, translated for the Avengers when they came down to talk, or worked with Banner and Jane in learning magic while Jörmungand watched on, intrigued. Throughout the day, however, Loki kept a notebook and pen next to him, jotting down notes for the spells he wanted to weave to protect the arc reactor.
Stark had woken before Loki, unusually, and had been long gone when she'd finally dragged herself out of bed and decided to spend the day as a male. When he'd asked JARVIS, the AI explained that something had come up in California that Stark had gone to see to, and Loki wasn't certain if that was a sign of his lover fleeing from their talk last night, or if something had honestly happened. (It was hard to tell when a computer was the one passing on the message.) Pepper was also gone, so if it was Stark running to the other side of the country, his PA was either in on it, or it was a well-timed distraction.
Whatever the real reason for Stark's absence, Loki used the time without his – admittedly distracting – presence to refine the spell and spend time with Jörmungand, something Loki could never consider a waste of time.
He left Jörmungand as the sun fell behind the horizon, taking Jane and Banner back to the tower in time to settle in for dinner.
When the humans and Thor settled around the television to watch a sports programme, Loki waved them off and turned to the lift, thinking it might be best if he finished his work on the spell and turned in, as he was to return to Asgard the next day. (A reminder that he'd made to the humans at dinner, receiving more than a couple sighs and Barton's loud comments about 'peace and quiet'.)
As Loki stepped into the lift, his thoughts turned to Jörmungand – Thor had agreed to spend much of tomorrow with the serpent – which reminded him of another 'child' that had been denied attention of late. "JARVIS," he said as the lift started past Stark's floor, "hold. I would spend time with Dummy, if it's allowed?"
The lift immediately returned to Stark's floor. "Dummy would appreciate that," JARVIS replied. "And Sir gave you access to his floor, which includes his lab. Usually."
"And by that, you really mean I can get in here whether he wants me to or not," Loki commented, amused, as he pushed into Stark's private lab.
"I said nothing of the sort," JARVIS insisted as Dummy let out a chirp of pleasure and wheeled over to the sink to start making a mug of hot chocolate. "I simply mean that Sir has given you permission to enter this floor as you will and has put no further stipulations on your access of the rooms within it. If he had told me to lock the lab to you, I would have done my best to dissuade you."
"And likely failed miserably."
"You are very like Sir in that way," JARVIS replied, his computerised voice sounding just the slightest dry, and Loki laughed.
Dummy wheeled over with the mug and held it up with an inquisitive sound.
"Thank you, Dummy," Loki said, taking the mug and settling it on the table, next to his notebook. He settled on the stool he'd waved over, then turned to smile at the bot. "I thought to spend time with you, as I fear the addition of my own son to the city stole Tony's attention from you yesterday, and his own matters have stolen him today."
Dummy whirred sadly and bumped his single arm against Loki's knee.
Loki brushed along the foreign feel of metal in much the same way as he'd seen Stark do before and Dummy let out a quiet chirp. "I admit, I am uncertain what Tony does to spend time with you."
"Sir often allows Dummy to assist him in working on projects, or works to repair parts of Dummy's code or pieces of his body," JARVIS answered.
Loki smiled. "There are none of those I might do. I could speak, however," he realised. "Do you care for stories, Dummy?"
Dummy's arm raised slightly, akin to a person looking up hopefully.
Loki chuckled and brushed along the bot's arm again, the motion becoming more familiar as he repeated it. "I would tell you of Jörmungand, my son who has come to visit, I think? And then I might tell him of you, when next I sit with him." Loki's smile turned sad. "I think you are both lonely, in your ways."
Dummy chirped a query and so Loki settled in to tell the bot of Jörmungand's banishment, of his son when he was but a snakelet and the pranks he'd played on everyone, pranks that only Loki and Jörmungand seemed to get any amusement from, though Thor now recalled quite a few with a laugh.
Loki wasn't sure how long he sat with Dummy, telling stories and letting his hot chocolate go cold, before the door of the lab fell open and both Loki and Dummy looked over to watch Stark stumble in, looking exhausted.
"Tony," Loki said neutrally.
Stark's head jerked up and he blinked at Loki a few times. "What the–? Loki. You're–" His eyes tracked down to where Dummy had rested his arm across Loki's lap. "You're visiting Dummy," he realised and smiled.
Loki gently pushed Dummy's arm out of his lap and stood as the bot wheeled away, towards the coffee machine. "No, Dummy," Loki called. "Tony, let's get you to bed."
Stark shook his head and brushed past Loki. "Ideas. Gotta get some work done. Been dealing with idiots all day and I need to get some work done. Can't just keep sitting around, doing noth–"
Loki sighed as he caught the human when his spell knocked him out. "Sleep first," he murmured against Tony's hair before shaking his head. "JARVIS, did Lady Pepper return with Tony?"
"She is remaining in California for another day to make sure nothing further goes wrong," JARVIS replied evenly.
"Very well. I think you can leave the lab door open for the night," Loki decided as he turned to see Stark to bed.
Dummy chirped behind him and Loki glanced back over his shoulder to watch as the bot picked up his cold hot chocolate to pour it out in the sink. Trusting that the bot was capable of knowing his limits when the lab door was left open, Loki continued to Stark's room and stripped the human of all but his boxers before settling him under the covers. Loki was just stripping to join him when Dummy rolled in with a quiet chirp and Loki's notebook.
"Thank you," Loki murmured, taking the object. He glanced his spellwork over, then set it to the side. "Probably best for him to be awake before I cast any magic on him," he added and Dummy whirred an agreement.
As Loki climbed under the covers and settled in next to his lover, Dummy wheeled around the bed and rested his arm next to Stark, acting for all the world like he was going to sleep there, though Loki was pretty sure the bot didn't actually 'sleep' in a manner anything like a living being.
Loki smiled at Dummy and murmured, "JARVIS, lights," then closed his eyes as the room dimmed but for the steady glow of the arc reactor and the tiny prick of red light above Dummy's camera.
Loki woke to Stark muttering, "Dummy? How are you...? Hi. Morning. I love you too, you stupid piece of scrap metal. How'd you get out of the lab?"
"I let him out," Loki offered, rubbing a hand over his eyes to clean out grit from sleep.
Stark was oddly quiet and Loki glanced over to find his lover staring at him, looking mildly betrayed. "You magic'd me. Again," he accused.
"You needed the sleep," Loki insisted. And then, because it wasn't completely untrue, he added, "And I would sleep better knowing you were in here, rather than working all night."
The irritation bled from Stark's eyes and he sighed and shifted closer to Loki. "Manipulator," he muttered before pressing a kiss to Loki's lips.
Loki hummed an agreement as he kissed back, opening his mouth to the human and pulling Stark over so he could buck up against him.
"Dummy's in here," Stark managed to get out as he broke free to catch his breath. Because they'd both sort of agreed that having sex with either of their 'children' in the room would be awkward.
"Going back to Asgard for the day," Loki returned.
"Oh, Christ. Fuck Asgard," Stark complained and Loki chuckled before tilting his head and nipping at the underside of the human's jaw. Stark groaned and ground his pelvis against Loki's, then ordered, "Dummy. Out," in a strangled voice.
Dummy let out a pitiful whine as he wheeled out.
"Good boy!" Stark called after the bot and Loki snorted against his throat. "Shut up," Stark added to Loki and distracted the god with a hand down his briefs.
Dummy was waiting for them when they finished in the bedroom, carrying two mugs and looking inexplicably hopeful, for a robot with no face.
"You spoiled him," Stark accused Loki as he handed over the hot chocolate and took a sip of his coffee. "Best boy," he added to Dummy, who chirped happily and rubbed against Stark before wheeling over to rub against Loki.
"I take partial fault for distracting you from him," Loki replied as he smoothed over the bot's arm.
Stark shook his head, amused. "Only partial?" he asked and Loki flashed him a smirk from behind his mug. Stark nodded at the notebook Loki held in one hand. "Paper? Really?"
"It is comfortable to me. And less likely to be damaged while I sat with Jörmungand."
"I water-proof tablets before I let them out of my lab," Stark replied. "And paper is just as easy to destroy as computers."
"Not with my spells," Loki returned.
Stark rolled his eyes. "Oh, yeah. Whatever. Okay, so what were you working on that required old fashioned paper? Or am I not allowed to know? Is it a present?"
"After a fashion," Loki agreed, enjoying dangling his secret in front of his lover.
"Ooh. Present for Junior?" Stark guessed. "Or Thor, maybe?"
"Neither."
Stark widened his eyes comically. "Tell me it's something mean to spring on Clint."
"Such spells require little planning," Loki replied with a smirk; pranks were his speciality.
Stark laughed. "Roaches, I remember. So, is it for me?"
"It is," Loki agreed, still smiling, though there was less humour to his voice than there had been. Stark had left for the entire day, and he was still uncertain as to whether he'd done so more to get away or because he was truly required.
"Ooh." Stark grinned and tilted his mug to drink, then paused, recognition blooming in his eyes. He lowered his mug and touched his free hand to the hidden arc reactor. "This. You said you'd create a spell to protect it."
"So I did," Loki agreed neutrally, sipping from his hot chocolate.
Dummy let out a quiet whine and wheeled over to Stark's side, bumping his claw against the hand over the arc reactor.
Stark ran his hand over Dummy's arm, unbothered by his claw touching the reactor. "It's okay, buddy," he murmured and Dummy whined again. To Loki, Stark explained, "Dummy found me. After Obie left."
Loki nodded, understanding a bit more the bond between Stark and Dummy. "Dummy," he said to the bot, "I would see Tony safe, his arc reactor never again removed against his will."
Dummy let out a chirp, sounding almost like approval, and moved his claw from the arc reactor. He remained, however, at Stark's side.
Stark smiled at his bot, then nodded towards the notebook. "So, your spell, does it allow me to remove my own arc reactor? 'Cause sometimes, you know, I have to make repairs on it and stuff."
"Though you have no replacements," Loki returned.
Stark shrugged. "If I can make my repairs in under five minutes, I'm more than safe. And I've got a couple older models that I can use, so long as I keep them in for no more than three days. But, yeah, don't need anyone getting the design for this one." He tapped the arc reactor. "Too much power."
As much as it bothered him that Stark had no equal replacements, he was familiar with the need to keep objects with power away from the interested; it was why he kept the Casket and his magical staffs in his magical space, where only he could recall them. "Should this spell work, it would enable you to do as you would with your arc reactor. The spell should also allow one of the Avengers or the Ladies Pepper and Jane to remove the arc reactor, should it no longer have power, so a replacement might be switched in. Beyond that, no one else should be able to even touch it."
"Not even you?" Stark asked, eyes sharp.
Loki shook his head. "I made no allowances for myself, but as it is my magic, I might well be able to work past the spell." He met Stark's eyes and stated with all honesty, "I wouldn't."
Stark smiled and stepped forward to brush his fingers against Loki's jaw, Dummy moving quietly at his side. "As odd as it might seem, I trust you."
Loki snorted. "Less odd, more insane."
"I'm not renowned for my sanity," Stark returned and pulled up his shirt, baring the arc reactor. "Go for it. Can't know if it'll work until you've tried, right?"
Loki flashed him a quick smile and held out his mug. "Dummy, if you'd please hold that?" he requested and the bot took it from him. "Thank you." Loki glanced quickly through his notes, then banished the notebook to a magical space, intending to destroy everything in Asgard, so there would be no chance of anyone reverse-engineering his spellwork. (He could have destroyed it in Midgard, but the distance between the realms was an added security, and he was more familiar with ways to destroy research notes in Asgard.)
The spells were not difficult, but Loki was uncertain how the arc reactor would react to them, considering how it sucked up other magic. Except sleep spells, Loki had realised, or teleportation magic, which affected Stark as though he were an average human. Loki wondered if the arc reactor allowed that magic which Stark, himself, would have allowed on some level, although that still left the question of why the human was blocked from using magic.
The arc reactor's glow brightened as the spells sunk into it and Stark made an odd face before commenting, "Coconut. Again."
Loki raised an eyebrow at him as he held out a hand for his mug, which Dummy handed back over. "Coconut."
Stark touched a hand to the arc reactor and flashed Loki a grin. "Yeah. That's what this element tastes like."
Loki shook his head. "And you were complaining of my describing magic with taste."
Stark laughed. "Yeah, shut up. So, are we testing it?"
Loki considered that for a moment, then held out his hand towards the arc reactor. He touched the panel next to Stark's fingers without issue and sighed. "It seems it didn't work."
"Well, it was a nice thought," Stark replied and moved his hand to pull his shirt back down.
As soon as Stark's hand had moved away, Loki's fingers burned and he pulled his hand away with a hiss of pain.
"Loki!" Stark grabbed for Loki's hand, his mug of coffee falling to the floor, and watched with some disbelief as the bright red burns faded away under the direction of Loki's magic. "You okay?" he whispered, pressing a kiss to Loki's fingers.
"I will live," Loki returned drily and Stark smiled. "I believe it does work."
It took Stark a moment before his mind caught up with Loki's words, then he looked between Loki's hand – still held between his – and where the arc reactor laid under his shirt. "Jesus, yeah. But, burning?" He frowned up at Loki. "I don't want to see you hurt to protect me, Loki."
"The idea is to keep people from touching the arc reactor," Loki reminded him. "I had envisioned something of a magical shield, but a spell of fire would hold myself at bay far better. The arc reactor has a mind of its own, and it will bend this spell as it sees fit." He shook his head. "I will heal from burns, you will not heal should someone remove your arc reactor; this outcome suits me."
"Well it doesn't suit me," Stark muttered, taking his hands from Loki's so he could poke at his own chest. "Hear me? No more burning Frosty. I am not cutting back on fantastic sex because you're repurposing spells. No. Not happening."
Loki snorted and stepped around the human. "I should like some breakfast before I leave."
Stark stooped and picked up the fallen mug, leaving the coffee for Dummy to clean up with the rag he'd found in the bathroom. "Good boy," he murmured to his bot, who chirped happily, then hurried to follow Loki. "I still say fuck Asgard. You were just there."
"I agreed to return every six days, not counting those days where I must return for other matters. That I missed my last trip makes it all the more important for me to attend today."
Stark sighed and turned them to the lab long enough to set their mugs inside, then hit the button for the lift. "I hate duties."
"Noted."
"Also, try not to bring back anyone this time?"
Loki snorted. "It would be to my preference, as well, were the Warriors Three and Lady Sif to remain on their end of the Bifröst."
"I think even Thor was sick of them by the time they left."
"Entirely possible," Loki allowed, remembering fondly how Thor had stood up for Loki against his friends.
Jane and Romanoff were in the kitchen together when Loki and Stark arrived. "Did you have need to return to New Mexico today?" Loki asked the female scientist.
Jane shook her head. "Nah. Natasha and I had plans today, and I've got most of what I needed from the Bifröst, anyway, thanks to the Gay Detector." Romanoff snorted and Jane grinned at her.
"Best name for it ever. Like, seriously. Awesome," Stark insisted as he poured himself some cereal.
"Pepper does have a point about your inability to be PC," Romanoff returned. Before Stark could complain, she added, "And, yes, I know. Clint is worse than you. Slightly."
"That's up for debate," Loki commented and Stark grinned at him while the two women rolled their eyes. "I take it my brother is not yet up?" he asked of Jane.
"Not when I left, but he asked JARVIS to wake him when you left, so he should be up pretty soon," Jane replied. "We'll drop by and spend some time with Jörmungand today, and I know Bruce was going to go out there with Steve for a couple hours after lunch."
"Assuming there aren't any attempts at villainy today," Stark added.
"Fingers crossed," Jane said, doing so. "Even if there is an attack, though, we can still drop in and see him."
Stark nodded. "True enough. I'll probably head down there, myself. Get some more work on the translation done. When are you two leaving for your girl's day out?"
"Shortly," Romanoff returned. "We can wait for you, if you'll hurry."
"Cool. I'll have to stop and grab the briefcase suit and my tablet, but I'd appreciate it." Stark flashed Loki a smile. "Any messages for Junior?"
"Tell him of Dummy," Loki suggested. "I told Dummy of Jörmungand and promised to return the favour."
"That is, like, kind of sickeningly adorable," Stark decided. "Can we win the award for the most awesome parents ever?"
"Weirdest, maybe," Barton said as he stepped into the kitchen. "Also, I want pictures of any play dates between those two."
"Maybe not," Loki decided and Stark laughed while the women smiled. "I will endeavour to return in time to assist with dinner," he added to Jane as he stood, waving his empty bowl towards the sink.
"I'd appreciate it," Jane agreed. "Have fun."
"Prank a bunch of the stuck-up idiots and bring back pictures," Stark insisted.
"Lots of pictures," Barton added. "Turn them all pink. Or make them wear dresses or something."
"You have no imagination," Loki informed the archer, much to the other three's amusement, then teleported to the Bifröst site, transforming into Thor en route.
Heimdall was the same as ever when Loki arrived, nodding to Loki without any sign of emotion. Hogun awaited him with the horses and they greeted each other amicably enough before turning for the city.
Loki's morning was spent dealing with the duties of a prince, while lunch was spent seated with the Warriors Three and Sif. They remained tense with each other, but there was an easing in their interactions that hadn't existed before their visit to Earth, a bit of the old familiarity and friendships that had been lost to Loki's betrayal. And Loki appreciated it, even as he left behind pranks that would have them none-too-friendly when he returned again in six days.
Loki spent the afternoon with his mother. She again took him out to visit with Sleipnir and Loki remembered his mobile and took pictures of his eldest with it, thinking Jörmungand and Stark would both appreciate it. (And Thor might enjoy having pictures of his nephews, really, as Loki might like his own collection of his children next to the one of him and Thor as children.)
With his mobile heavy against his chest, Loki stopped by Odin's office before leaving to return to Earth. "Allfather," he said in a neutral voice.
Odin glanced up at the disguised prince. "You have a question?"
Loki glanced around the room before stepping fully in, assured that the king was alone. "I would receive permission to visit Niflhel."
Odin raised an eyebrow at that. "For what purpose?"
Loki smiled. "Have I not family there I might wish to pay visit to?" he replied.
Odin sighed. "Loki, I'll have none of your games."
Loki closed his eyes, silently praying for patience, then returned, "And I've no need to play them. I would visit with Hela, as I have visited with Sleipnir today."
"As you have visited with Jörmungand, I've little doubt."
Loki shrugged. "You would have me leave him lonely while residing in the same realm? Thor, too, made speak with him."
"I'm certain that went well."
"Surprisingly," Loki said, though he knew he'd no need to speak. "They converse still."
Odin eyed Loki for a moment and the prince smiled back at him, the picture of innocence. "And would you demand to see Fenrir next?" Odin finally asked.
Loki tensed. "What use, when you would, as ever, deny me my right?"
Odin met Loki's false blue eyes with his steady stare until the younger finally looked away, jaw clenching with an anger that was all the more obvious on Thor's form. "I will give you passage to visit Hela," the Allfather agreed at last. "Pass on my greetings."
"Perhaps," Loki replied as he turned to leave, a last snub to mark his displeasure. When Odin gave no response beyond the sigh of a father resigned to his son's rebellion, Loki counted himself the victor.
The Bifröst didn't travel to Niflhel, but Loki travelled out to Heimdall anyway, both to keep up appearances, and to let the guardian know he would be travelling by alternate means. Heimdall was unsurprised and Loki left after dispersing his stolen form.
Hela awaited him at the gates when he stepped through the mists to them. His youngest was half lovely, half terrifying, and it had broken Loki's marriage to Hela's mother; Sigyn had been unable to love so terrible a daughter and so had fled, but Loki had birthed a horse, loved both a wolf and snake as sons, and could see little wrong with his only daughter. He had raised Hela with all the care he'd been too young to have for his sons, rebuking those who would turn her appearance against her and protecting her in a way that he'd been unable to do for Jörmungand or Fenrir when the Council would have seen her banished for minor crimes. It had been her wish to serve in Niflhel, and one that Loki had fully supported and seen to that she received.
"Father," Hela murmured as Loki drew her into a hug.
"Hela, it is always a treat to see you," Loki replied, freeing a lock of long hair from where it had been caught in the kinks of her neck.
"Yet, rarely without need," Hela returned, well-used to her father's play with words. "What brings you to my realm?"
Loki shook his head. "I have been visiting with Jörmungand and had wish to see others of my children. Odin gave me leave to visit with you on my return to Midgard, and so here I am."
The skin of Hela's mouth turned down in a lopsided frown. "Father, what has transpired?" she requested, spotting easily the unspoken story in Loki's words.
"Much," Loki admitted. "Might I sit with you a while and catch you up?"
"I would appreciate it," Hela agreed, "though I get the sense I will not enjoy it."
"There has been precious little joy for much of the past years," Loki admitted. "Though it has been well these recent weeks."
Hela smiled in her awkward way. "Then I might stay for the entirety," she teased and Loki laughed.
Loki told her everything but the horrors of the Void – he didn't believe any of his children were owed that waking nightmare – and she remained silent for the whole of it, assimilating everything in much the same way as Loki would while in a more studious mood.
When Loki finished, she nodded and commented, "It makes sense. That you are Jötun." She waved her skeleton hand, the deformity that had always set her apart from her peers. "That I am half."
"It does," Loki agreed.
"Grandfather should not have lied," Hela added.
"Odin does many things he should not," Loki replied bitterly.
Hela shrugged. "It is the will of parenthood."
Loki shot her a sharp look. "You think I–"
"No, Father," Hela hurried to assure him. "You have always done your best by me, by all of us, I know. But I have long sat with the dead, and I see all too often that parents bring pain to their children by doing what they believed to be right at that moment. And Grandfather, for all his strengths, is still as capable as any other father of making poor choices. I do not forgive him that, but I can understand it, I think." She met Loki's scowl with the same even stare that Odin would often use when someone was being difficult. "As would you, were you inclined to look past your own anger."
Loki sniffed and looked away. "Allow me my anger, darling."
Hela shrugged. "I would never think to deny you anything, Father," she replied and the serious tone was vanished. "But you have found a Midgardian to amuse yourself with; that's well. You're always happier when you have a distraction, be it a long play or a lover."
Loki flashed her an amused look. "Most children are disturbed to think of their parent with another," he pointed out.
"Most children were not sired – or borne, in Sleipnir's case – by you. And most children, also, did not regularly walk in on you," Hela added drily and Loki laughed, because his youngest had often enough walked in to find Loki in compromising positions with varied Æsir, both as a woman and a man. Hela, more than Loki's other children, was cured of any embarrassment at Loki's habit to blackmail his peers with sex.
"True enough," Loki allowed. "Am I happier, then?"
Hela considered him for a moment, then nodded. "Yes. It was a good time to find him, seeped in anger and followed by darkness as you are. I feel less worry for you, knowing of this Midgardian. And Uncle Thor, I think."
"Darkness?" Loki repeated, caught off-guard by the comment.
Hela motioned to an aura only she could see. "It has the shape of madness, though it is of darkness. It surrounds you. It...frightens me," she finished in a whisper.
Loki swallowed against a block in his throat. "I am familiar with this darkness, I think," he allowed, remembering well the Void and its effect on him when his magic was stolen. "I had not meant you to know of it," he added, regretful.
Hela shook her head. "What is it?"
Loki sighed. "It is of the Void, and that is all I would speak of it. Please, Hela."
Hela looked away. "How is Jör?" she asked, tangling her hands together and causing her skeleton fingers to click against the glimmer of rings and bracelets on her normal side; pieces of beauty that were the only gifts her mother had ever bestowed upon her.
Loki reached forward and took her hands in his, bringing both to his lips for a gentle kiss. "He is well," he told her. "He enjoys his pranks on humans and saves those he can; he does a much better job than I at making up for his tainted blood."
Hela sighed and leaned forward to rest her forehead against Loki's, still bent forward as he was over her hands. "Have you ever loved Jör or Fen-Fen less for being born of a Jötun?" she asked.
"No."
"Then why think so much less of yourself?"
Loki shook his head. "I know of what I am capable, Hela, of what I can and will do, should the opportunity present itself. I think less of myself not just because I am of Jötun stock, but also because I know myself to be a monster."
"I don't think you a monster, Father," Hela insisted, regret in her eyes.
Loki flashed her a smile. "I should hope not, lest I worry for my parenting skills."
Hela allowed her awkward smile to show, though there remained sadness in her eyes. "I love you, Father. We all do."
"I know," Loki murmured, brushing a hand against her bone cheek and letting his smile soften and fill with love. "And I love all of you; I always will." He kissed her forehead, right along the line where the skin fell away to bone.
They remained in silence for some long moments before Loki recalled one of his original intentions for visiting and pulled back enough to bring his mobile from the fold of cloth he'd secured it in over his heart. "Tony gave me this mobile telephone, which has a camera. I would take a picture of you, to keep in my rooms on Earth and, I think, in the palace."
Hela's eyes brightened over her awkward smile. "Just be sure to get my best side," she informed him.
Loki laughed. "You have one that's better than the other?" he returned, an old joke that recalled Hela's childhood, when she would come home in tears from the teasings of other children for her unusual appearance. No matter who had greeted her tears – be it Loki, Thor, Odin, or Frigga – they would always make certain to insist that the other children were only jealous that they didn't look so lovely. (And, remembering that, Loki found himself torn between his hatred at Odin for his secrets, and gratitude and fondness that his not-father had never allowed Hela to feel anything but loved, had never allowed anyone to speak poorly of her in his presence. Odin may have failed Loki in so many ways, may have let Jörmungand and Fenrir face lonely banishments, but he'd truly tried with Hela and would always protect Sleipnir.)
Loki took a number of pictures, then sat down with Hela for a good ten minutes while she decided which picture of herself was the best, then looked through the pictures he'd taken of Sleipnir, Frigga, and Asgard. "Are you going to take some of Jör?" she wanted to know.
"I intend to," Loki agreed.
"And your Midgardian friends?"
"The most embarrassing ones I can," Loki promised.
Hela laughed. "I should like to see those."
"I will come again when I visit Asgard."
Hela rested her head on Loki's shoulder, relaxing when he wrapped an arm around her. "I have missed you, Father."
"As I have missed you," Loki replied as he slipped his mobile away. "I should return to Midgard," he added regretfully. "I had promised to assist Lady Jane with dinner, since Thor is useless."
Hela laughed and pulled away to stand. "Best to go quickly, then, before Uncle Thor thinks to help in your absence."
"Lady Jane may never forgive me," Loki said with some concern and Hela laughed again. Loki smiled and kissed her forehead, then both cheeks. "I will see you again in six days," he promised.
"I look forward to it," Hela replied and saw him to the gates of her realm.
Loki wrapped his magic around him and rode the branches of Yggdrasil back to Earth, coming out in a cave and teleporting to Avengers Tower. He was smiling as he stepped through the glass doors from the balcony, but it fell when he realised he was alone in the common area, when there should have been someone in the kitchen, at least. "JARVIS?"
"Helicarrier," JARVIS was quick to answer, and there was fear in his mechanical voice. "Sir has been kidnapped."
Ice enclosed Loki's heart and froze through his veins even as he wrapped his magic around him to teleport to the helicarrier. He arrived to find the Avengers, Fury, and Coulson around a conference table at the back of the bridge, none of them sitting and the lines of their shoulders tense under their uniforms, which were spotted with blood. "What happened?" Loki demanded as he stalked up, his Jötun voice grating in the sudden stillness that had followed his appearance.
Guns cocked around the room and Coulson snapped, "Guns down."
"Brother–" Thor started, moving like he might move to intercept Loki, but the younger god shot him a glare full of ice.
"What. Happened," Loki repeated.
"From what we can figure out," Romanoff cut in with a cold efficiency that suited Loki at the moment, "Doom, Mandarin, and a couple other small fries made some sort of pact; they attacked all at once and kept us distracted and apart. No one realised Stark was missing until they all made a retreat."
"JARVIS hasn't been able to trace the suit," Banner added, the tone of his voice saying he was holding on to his human form by sheer willpower. "Every piece of tech we have to trace Tony has gone off-line, and no one can even say which of the villains has him, though it's almost certainly Mandarin, given their history."
"Can you find him?" Barton asked and everyone looked from him to Loki's blue form. "Some sort of spell?"
Loki closed his eyes and flipped through his mental spellbook for a scrying spell that would let him locate a human. "I can try," he agreed, calmer with a path before him.
The first spell didn't work, fizzled out over the table's top, and Loki frowned in thought as Barton groaned.
"The arc reactor," Banner murmured, glancing up at Loki. "You said magic doesn't always work because of it."
Loki nodded. "I do not think it would block this, but it may. That it doesn't work it a good sign; it means he is alive and the arc reactor is in one piece," he said as he wove another spell. When it, too, fizzled, Loki focussed his magic on finding Stark's armour, figuring anyone smart would have removed that from its power source in Stark's chest as soon as they had him.
An image of a pile of red and gold scraps appeared over the top of the table. Other bits and pieces of metal lay nearby, as well as some other, less shiny piles of rubbish.
"Can you figure out, where, exactly, this is?" Fury demanded as the hopeless air vanished from around the table and the Avengers all straightened.
Loki manipulated the spell to give them an aerial view of the compound where the suit had been tossed. When it started to go fuzzy at the edges, he stopped pulling back on the spell and shook his head. "Any further from the origination and I lose the image."
"Can you teleport with that much?" Rogers asked.
"I could teleport with the original image," Loki replied.
Rogers nodded and looked around the table. "Natasha, go with Loki and see what you two can figure out about this place. Set trackers for us to find you and we'll follow you directly. If you two can find and get Tony out before we arrive, do it."
"But we're still going in," Barton said, eyes narrowed and determined.
"They made this personal," Rogers replied. "We're still going in."
"Female on the field," Coulson reminded Loki as the god ended his scrying spell and Romanoff turned to collect the trackers she would need to place.
Loki gave a jerky nod and focussed on becoming both female, and losing the Jötun-blue. Her armour shifted with her and Loki twitched the colours with barely a thought, making her clothing more green than black, and losing the cape she'd still been wearing from her journey from Asgard.
Romanoff returned with a cloth folder and two earpieces which looked vaguely different from the ones the Avengers usually used. "SHIELD issue for reconnaissance," she told Loki as she handed one over. "They come in pairs and keep switching between frequencies, so we can communicate without worrying that anyone else can keep up."
Loki nodded and slipped it in, motioning her other earpiece and mobile into a magic space. Both prepared, Romanoff held out her hand, sleeve pulled up to bare her wrist, and Loki took it and teleported them into the space next to Stark's wrecked suit.
Romanoff crouched as soon as they appeared while Loki took a slow turn around the room, magic sparking along her fingers in hopes of spotting something to take the cold fury still threading through her veins out on. But the room was empty save the piles of rubbish.
"Clear," Romanoff breathed before getting up and dashing towards one of the four doors Loki counted. "I'll start placing the trackers; see if you can't find Tony."
"Of course," Loki agreed and motioned for one of her sceptres to come to hand. Secure with the familiar Æsir magic, she made two copies of herself and split off to try each of the other three doors.
"Are you aware of everything your copies see?" Romanoff wanted to know, sounding intrigued.
"To an extent," Loki agreed as she slipped through her chosen door. In the back of her mind lay the threads connecting her to her copies. The most basic form of the spell allowed only copies that acted as she directed, and required her to see them to keep up with their actions. Some centuries ago, Loki had woven a spell to craft a copy that could move independent of her, based around a specific set of directions she set into the spell, and relate back important information; in this case, her copies were told to remain out of sight, make note of movement inside the compound, and search out Stark.
Five minutes of seeing no one, Romanoff finally announced, "Trackers set. Is it just me, or it is this place eerily empty?"
"I have not seen a person," Loki replied, pausing in the middle of the hallway and motioning to try another scrying spell on Stark. It, like the others, fizzled into nothing, but she was left with the sense that she was close to him, close enough to feel the arc reactor's refusal of her spell. "I believe Tony is here, however."
"Can you get a direction?"
Loki frowned and considered her spell knowledge, then tried another scrying spell, a simpler one that was intended to sort of point in the direction of the object, rather than actually show it. It didn't quite fizzle away, as the others had, but left her with a vague direction. "East northeast," she reported, turning in that direction.
"From your position?"
"Yes."
"You took the door right across from me?"
"West northwest, then," Loki corrected.
"Is one of your clones closer?"
"I am...uncertain. One moment." Loki took a moment to switch with the copy that had gone north from their entrance point, then recast the direction spell. "Yes," she said when the spell tugged her insistently in the correct direction. "I've traded positions."
"Good. Get in, get him out. I'll meet you back at our drop-in."
"Understood," Loki replied and ended the spell for her copies, thinking to save the extra magic for getting Stark out and to safety.
It didn't take Loki much longer to hunt down the room Stark was in. She stepped through the open doorway with sharp eyes, looking for any sign of someone she could tear apart, only to hear a crunch as she stepped on something. She glanced down and found the covering for the arc reactor shattered under her boot, pieces of it leading her eyes to where a man with a metal mask for a face stepped forward, laughing. As Loki watched, the laughing man motioned and with a sparkle of silver magic, a curtain drew back to show Stark laying, too still, against a metal table, a gaping hole in the centre of his chest where the arc reactor had once been.
"Did I not say I would see you destroyed?" the masked man said before laughing again.
-0-
A/N: I couldn't help it. It was such an awesome place to leave it. (I thrive on your pain, dear readers. XD)
~Bats ^.^x
Whatever Lies Beyond This Morning
Like So Much Shattered Glass Chapters:
One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven
Rough Edges Chapters:
One | Two | Three | Four | Five |
Christmas Tunes
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Yeah as you can see, I read it >.< And now I have to deal with the cliffhanger *pouts and pokes it* Sunday get here faster!!!
Totally off topic..but remember the microwave of mine exploding? Yeah..I didn't kill it. Just some olive oil getting heated too hot >.>
But! I did have a battle with a knife today when it broke...my palm lost >.>
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Well, that's something... (Really? Olive oil can get too hot? I mean, I suppose it makes sense. Not something I've ever managed, but... ^.^")
NO. There will be no harming of yourself. I forbid it. *stare*
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Yeah..Olive oil can get hot >.>
The weather is colder and drier over here so my skin..erm, yeah is getting drier. lol And my scalp especially so I'm trying to see if olive oil will help it <.<
*pokes her bandaid* It's all better...at least I didn't slice my finger open where I needed stitches >.>