Authors note: I won nothing, and this chapter contains mentions of mpreg so you know, you have been warned!
"That" Tony said, pouring a drink that would have been enough for three people to share "Was weird. I mean, even for Loki. And he once turned Spider-man into a pig"
He took a sip and glanced over the glas at Bruce, who didn't look nearly shocked enough for Tonys taste, especially since the billionaire had just made a big show about re-telling the battle with Loki that had come to such a strange climax. He strode over to the scientist, casually plopping himself down on the common-room sofa next to Bruces chair.
"A million pennies for your thoughts?"
"I don't know… I just… How much do you know about old norse mythology?"
"Thor is all braggy, Loki's a deceptive dick, Odin sleeps for way too long at inconvenient times and at one point Loki cut off some chicks hair and therefore everyone hates him. Guess pixiecuts isn't their thing"
"So basically you know more about female hairstyles then actual myth" Bruce concluded.
"I know more about female EVERYTHING that most other things" Tony said with a smile that would have made Pepper punch him. Bruce felt an urge to punch him too.
"I don't think Loki was here to fight us, or pull some global prank worth billions in property damage" Bruce said slowly, clasping his hands together as he did when he was pondering something "I think he's hiding"
"What makes you say that?"
"I know what hunted people are like. I know how they think" Bruce answered softly "Of what you told me, Loki's actions seems… well, it's what I would have done"
"Okay, fine, let's say he's running" Tony mused to change the subject away from the Hulks many years hiding from institutions like SHIELD "From who? The probably very pissed off woman he fathered a seriously creepy kid with?"
"From Odin" Bruce answered "And I don't think there is a woman. I think Loki is the mother"
"M-hm. Okay" Tony said, and downed his drink "I'm going to go get three more of these, and then you'll have to elaborate on that theory"
The humans hadn't taken her away from him, not yet. Loki had assumed that as soon as the helicopter had made it's way into the bowels of the SHIELD carrier Hela would be ripped from his arms, never to be seen by him again. That was what usually happened with his children, after all. He was certain however that the humans would be kinder to her than the cruel fate surely bestowed upon her by the Allfather.
But they hadn't taken her away, not even when he was escorted to the high security cell made up of steel, force fields, shatterproof glass and magic that must be the workings of Doctor Strange had they attempted to remove her from his arms.
Sitting with his back against the see-through wall of his prison, he desperately clung to every precious moment with his youngest child. He tried to commit everything about her to memory, the weight of her in his arms, her smell, the texture of her little tuft of raven hair. She was perfect.
Of cause he always believed all his children to be perfect, even Sleipnir though the birth of his eldest had been a very traumatic experience. It was the Allfather who named them monsters in the eyes of the court and sent them to cruel fates of servitude or imprisonment. When Jörmungandr had been born, a slithering silver-shimmering snake no bigger than Lokis forearm he understood that the Aesir would deem his son a monster, but he had hope that he would at least be allowed to stay with this child, which was born to him of his own free will. When Fenris came into the world, a blind ball of black fluff that fit in the palm of his hand Loki no longer had any hope of getting to keep his children without a fight. He hid behind magic barriers worlds away from the Allfather and the ever-watching eye of Heimdall, but it hand't been enough.
So this time, when he had first noticed the signs that meant he was once again with child, he'd started what was to be maybe his most grand scheme yet. Even for the trickster god this one was ambitious, months of creating fake trails for the Aesir to follow and conjuring illusions to throw Heimdall off his true path, while Loki prepared himself in a small cabin in a desolated northern county of the United States of America.
If a god would have had someone to pray to, Loki would have silently given thanks to that deity the night Hela was born and looked almost human. She had ten fingers, ten toes and those deep-green eyes all his children had. The color of her skin was off though, as the left part of her shared the unnaturally pale, almost shimmering skin of her snake-brother, while the other half had a deep blue shade that Loki credited to his Jötunn heritage. But she was perfect, and she looked human enough for an organization that dealt with large, green rage-monsters on a weekly basis, or so Loki hoped. So he set the final part of his plan in motion, got SHIELDs attention and prepared himself for a life in a prison cell, be it in Asgard or on Midgard. But at least, for the first time in many years, he believed his child might be safe.
The agents that finally came for him where heavily armed and with good cause. If Loki had not had a plan that involved strictly not gravely injuring any members of SHIELD he might have done something awful with the gentle-voiced woman that instructed him to put down his child so that they could properly cuff him. Even in his weakened state Loki was still capable of giving her nightmarish hallucinations for the rest of her natural life.
He found no comfort in that however when he placed Hela on the cells simple cot, gently stroking her head one last time before his arms were trapped by iron behind his back. It took everything he had not to struggle and fight against the people who would separate him from her, especially since the tiny, unusually silent girl started making small scared noises when she was no longer in the familiar security of his arms.
As he was escorted out of the cell someone else picked her up, for the first time in her very young life. Loki didn't turn to watch, but he felt it in his entire being and when Hela started to cry he felt like the sound tried reached into him to try and rip his heart out. He kept his composure, even though he felt like he was breaking, piece by piece, with every step he took away from his little perfect girl.
Authors note: I didn't intend for this to become such an angsty story, and it's going to get worse before it get's better. Itook some creative freedom with the chapter, as I know Marvel uses their own terms (or maybe it's just English translations) for some things (like Jötunn) but I'm going to stick with the Scandinavian spelling as much as possible, since that's what comes natural. I changed Hel into Hela though, per Marvel canon. Hopefully it doesn't get all confusing. Next chapter has lot's of dialogue to lighten up this text-heavy one!