Man, I don't know where the subplot of "Loki wants a goddamn sandwich" suddenly came from. But it's at least kept people moving where I need them to move.
It was easy enough to reassure themselves that Loki hadn't slaughtered Fitz-Simmons, because the argument they were having from the kitchen carried out well into the Bus living room. Coulson, May, and Ward all relaxed their firing stances. Skye just relaxed.
"…can't believe you! The man is responsible for the deaths of thousands of people and millions of dollars of collateral damage! He's a psychopath and I am actually using that impossibly imprecise word to describe someone and you are making him a sandwich!"
"All of that seems like all the more reason to make sure we don't keep him waiting for his sandwich, now doesn't it?!"
Coulson knocked on the kitchen door, eliciting identical yelps from the scientist's hidden inside. Skye peeked around the threshold, and reassured herself that both Fitz and Simmons were alive, well, and apparently unharmed even if they were impossibly jumpy.
"Everything okay here?" Coulson asked.
"Yeah." Simmons bobbed a nod. "We, ah, we gave him the antivenom, as instructed, and he mostly sat next to Thor and looked sullen, which we didn't interpret as misbehaving, so we haven't shot him dead."
"He's mostly mobile now," Fitz added. "Still sitting outside the lab with Thor."
"Could be worse, I suppose," said Coulson, his gaze darting towards the stairs down to the lab. "Let's move out into the meeting area to discuss how this is going to go."
Skye understood. Best to minimize the chance of the alien gods with whatever super senses they might possess overhearing any more than they already had.
So, in fact, they crowded into the loading dock to hold a hasty planning session.
"We're not doing this with them together," said Coulson immediately.
"Is Thor going to give us a choice?" Skye asked, raising an eyebrow. "Did you see the look he was giving us when he realized that we'd shot this guy?"
"I have more faith in our ability to convince Thor to let his brother out of his sight than I do our ability to get anything if they have the chance to keep their stories straight."
"Not an unreasonable assumption," said Ward, pulling a face. "Siblings can be…like that. In my experience, they won't have to say anything to keep tabs."
"So, basically, what you're saying is that you don't have much faith in this to work either way," Skye finished, turning back to Coulson and liking this less and less by the second.
Coulson had the decency to look at least a little abashed. "Hardly the worst odds we've ever seen. Besides…this is what we do. We take on threats to the world with impossible odds. And we win. Let's just be thankful that, in this case, said threat is still half paralyzed and at least mostly held in check by his brother. If we have to involve the rest of SHIELD, or, God forbid, the Avengers, this is going to get out of control."
"I am thankful. So much thankfulness here," Skye agreed. Even if she would have, secretly, leapt at the chance to meet the rest of the fabled superhero team, she supposed losing out was a fitting price to pay if that was the cosmic balance for keeping Loki in check. "So, we just need to get Loki into the interrogation room? I think I've got a plan for that. Mind if I try it?"
Coulson looked impressed, and Skye let herself preen a little in reply. "Can't hurt," said her boss. "Gotta say, I am amenable to anything right now that keeps things calm and moving. But…" And here there was a subtle shift in his expression that nevertheless sent a chill down Skye's spine. She thought she noticed May giving him a look of similar disquiet to what she was feeling, but you really could never tell with May. "…however we get him on the other side of that table, I'll be the one speaking to him."
Skye didn't like that look. Skye didn't think that was a good idea. Skye had seen the way Coulson had reacted to even seeing Loki across the street, and thought that if anything could make this spiral out of control, sticking Coulson and Loki in a vibranium-alloy room together would probably have the best chance.
Skye also knew by now when arguing would only get her sent to her room or lectured, not only by Coulson but by anyone here, all of these people who were still watching Coulson like he was a ticking time bomb, because even after all they'd been through together questioning the boss was not what you did.
And maybe after all they'd been through was having more of an effect on Skye than she properly wanted to admit, because in the end, she didn't say anything either. She told herself that it was just because maybe, just maybe, the fallout might lead to some answers to questions they'd all been wondering, and there was still very little Skye wouldn't do for answers.
"Cool beans," was all she said aloud. "Be right back."
Then she left them there, moving out of the hanger and back into the living space of the Bus. A peek in the kitchen revealed one of Simmons' special sandwiches, freshly completed. She picked up the plate and transferred it to the interrogation room, setting it down on the heavy metal table. The "clink" of the ceramic plate on the metal echoed loudly in the chamber.
Then Skye took a deep breath to steady her nerves, and headed down the stairs to the lab.
She heard talking as she drew near to the stairs, but it stopped as soon as her feet touched the first step. Skye fancied she felt the heat of their gazes even before she walked down far enough to see that they were both staring expectantly up at her.
Suddenly powerfully self conscious, her plan to get the ball rolling seeming hideously simple, Skye cleared her dry throat and gave them both a wave. "Hey. So, uh, we're back. As you've noticed. Loki, right? You were waiting on a sandwich?"
"That did seem to be in the bargain, yes."
"Cool. Well, we've got it ready, and I set it down in a room off the living room. You can eat there while Agent Ward and I talk to your brother."
Thor, as she had expected, immediately looked doubtful. "Forgive me, but I would rather Loki stay with me while this matter is resolved."
"Come now, brother. I'm sure we're dealing with honorable mortals. These are your friends, after all."
Loki was still staring fixedly at Skye, and so Thor couldn't actually see the look on his face. He probably didn't have to. The tone of Loki's voice all was laden unashamedly with sarcasm and scorn. Skye still envied Thor, there and then, because she could see the look on Loki's face as the one-time conqueror looked right at her. That was a smile so sharp she felt she would probably bleed if she took another step nearer, and eyes that saw right through her. He'd reminded her of a sick, rabid dog when he'd been vomiting his guts out on the roof, but sick, rabid dogs didn't have eyes that sparkled with that sort of ferocious intelligence.
He knew exactly what she was trying to do, and Skye thought for certain that she was about to die for it. Indeed, when he rose from his chair, she flinched back with a strangled little gasp.
Both brothers froze, then, Thor with a hand on Loki's shoulder, Loki on his feet and standing under his own power. She saw him glance back at Thor, then, and fancied she saw something crack. And underneath was a little less bloodlust and something…else that she didn't know what to make of. Sadness, or maybe just resignation.
"Loki," Thor began, but either couldn't or wouldn't say anything else.
Loki gave him a second, before almost delicately picking Thor's hand off his shoulder. "Don't keep your friends waiting, Thor," he said, turning aside and making for the stairs. "It's impolite. I'll still be here when you've finished, after all. And we never did get to eat."
Thor almost smiled – it was barely a twitch. "I suppose we didn't. And you are still healing." He got up and made to follow Loki, and the look he gave Skye as he passed was not hostile in the slightest. It was, however, wary. Skye didn't do him the insult of trying to smile this time. She just followed him up the stairs and into the main living area of the plane.
"Do me the favor of trying to actually rest, just this once," she heard Thor saying to Loki ahead of her. "I will come and find you when this matter is properly settled."
"Well, I can certainly try. But no promises. Try not to take until next year, brother."
"Here," Skye piped up, gesturing at the closed door of the interrogation room. "Thor, you can have a seat on the couch. Loki, you can just…wait in here."
Again, she had the impression that Loki knew exactly what sort of room was on the other side of the door, and that Thor even had his suspicions. But when she opened the door itself, Loki stepped inside willingly enough. Thor, after a long moment where Skye could feel his stare on her back, moved to the living room.
Loki took a few steps inside and surveyed the room. There wasn't much to see, as far as Skye were concerned, but he stared down at the floor with fairly rapt attention. As she watched, he tapped a foot against the floor, before moving to the walls to rap cautiously on them. Predictably, the vibranium alloy of the walls absorbed the sound with barely a "thunk".
Skye had thought for a moment he'd forgotten about her, or expected her to have slinked off – she certainly would have liked to, but curiosity was a powerful thing. So she started slightly when he addressed her, without looking up.
"What sort of metal is this?"
"Silicon carbide-coated Vibranium alloy," Skye said, rattling off the label from memory. She gave a half shrug that he didn't look up to see, and added. "Not sure if that would mean anything to you."
"I have something of a fascination with metalworking." Curiosity was a powerful thing, and so Skye found herself waiting to see if he would elaborate on that. He didn't – he just kept running his hands over the etchings in the walls as though he could unlock the secrets of one of the most complex bits of metalworking in SHIELD's arsenal by touch alone.
Maybe he could.
He seemed…reasonably calm, for a guy sitting in a glorified cell who at least seemed to understand that the walls of the cell couldn't easily be battered down. Skye couldn't help but try to take advantage of that. Couldn't help but ask a question that had been nagging at her every since her brain had suddenly failed to make the connection between the man standing over the frightened crowds in the video and the man who was willingly letting her lock him up, apparently solely by virtue of his faith in his older brother.
"Why did you do it?"
It wasn't an easy question. Even she knew that. And Loki visibly froze, one hand still resting on the cell wall. After a moment, his eyes staring at the wall even though she suddenly couldn't be certain he was really looking at anything, he spoke in a deliberately light voice. "You'll have to be more specific than that. Even I'm not omniscient."
"I don't know." She shrugged helplessly. "Take your pick? Stuttgart? New York? Coming back here at all?"
"That, you will have to discuss with my jailor." He waved a hand dismissively. "Even I don't know most days what goes on in Thor's thick head."
"Okay. Then in total violation of the Monty Haul Principle, I switch my vote to options one and two."
"They were both a part of the same plan."
"Yeah, but one involved just you giving a speech suitable for acceptance into the Evil League of Evil, the other mostly involved the invading alien army and a lot more screaming than monologuing. I mean, I'm assuming they were your army, right? No one's got any pictures of you at the scene. But you've been counting on that, haven't you?"
Her time with SHIELD had trained Skye even more than her time with the Rising Tide on how to take in a lot of details in very short order. So she didn't miss the way his fingers tightened on the wall, almost for support. "Thor has been counting on that, I'm sure," he said, a tightness lying just beneath the surface of his flippant tone. "As for the rest…"
And here he did look up at her, and, of all things, he smiled. Skye was seized by a sudden, fierce urge to slap him. It was an urge that flickered and died, even if only due to confusion, when the tone he used when answering her was…strangely almost gentle. "Is there anything I could say that would make you feel better? That would make any of it better?"
Skye tried to think. She really did. In the end, however, there really was nothing for it but to shake her head. Loki did not look the least bit surprised.
And really, if there was no good answer to that question, what else could she say to him? Much as it burned to do so, Skye made to turn away.
What Loki said next brought her up short.
"I'm not one of a kind. There will be more wolves at your gate in years to come. Mind you take care, Skye."
There were so many things she should have said to him for that. So many questions that he'd just as good as handed her, just scant seconds after she'd thought there was nothing else. As though he'd read her mind. She wondered if he could.
The impulse to slap him returned again as strong as ever, because a scant second later, Coulson stepped into her field of vision and, doubtlessly, his.
"Skye," he said, raising an eyebrow at her. "Everything all right?"
"No freaky mind control here," Skye answered brightly, trying her best not to squirm under her boss' gaze as well as that of the psychopathic mass murderer. "How's things otherwise?"
"Fine," said Coulson flatly, n that tone she knew by now meant not in front of the psychopathic mass murderer.
"Cool. Glad to hear it. I…guess I'll just see how Ward's doing. Leave you two alone." She sidled out of his way.
"You do that. Keep me posted if anything happens."
"You got it, boss."
Coulson strode into the room with his spine so straight you could have drawn blueprints by it. Just before he closed the door of the interrogation room, she saw Loki, facing the agent head on, knees slightly bent and arms akimbo with the air of a man braced for a fight.
Then the door closed in her face, blocking out the scene and whatever it would become. Skye swallowed, nervousness fluttering in her stomach, but the sound of the lock clicking home seemed to turn something in her overworked brain back on. It was enough to let her turn away and scurry out to the living room to see what she might have missed, or if there was anything else she could possibly do to see this entire mess have a bloodless ending.
I don't know why, besides Loki and Thor, Skye has turned out to have the most easily available head of the cast as it stands. Maybe just because her natural curiosity hasn't had time to be totally tempered by a survival instinct.
Also, I have my suspicions that "Skye" is an alias, but that is neither here nor there.
