A/N: I physically write these out before I type them, so sometimes finding the chapter is a real problem. This chapter was on three separate scraps of paper and the back of a receipt, all in separate places, and only a little bit of it in the notebook I have for exactly this purpose... Ah, well, it keeps life interesting. On a happy note: No Peters were harmed in the writing of this chapter!
Loki put the Commodore on autopilot and finally relaxed. They were far enough away now that the Pangorians, with their much larger ship, wouldn't be able to catch up, and he'd set a convoluted course, so even if they attempted to follow, they'd end up going the wrong way.
The pirates had been an unexpected delay, but Loki couldn't say nothing had come of it. He had been short one insignificant detail of his plan-namely, ensuring that the Avengers would not slaughter him the second they saw him-and 'Spiderman' ought to be of use for that purpose.
His brow furrowed, as he realized there had not been a sound from the little Spider this whole time. He'd hardly stopped talking since or asking questions since the moment Loki regained consciousness on the Pangorian spacecraft. He succumbed to his nagging conscience, and spun around to check on him.
His traveling companion was slumped on the bench against the wall, his arm awkwardly jutting straight out from beneath him.
Exhaustion, Loki thought dismissively, and he turned back to the control panel.
And then stared blankly ahead.
None of the décor had ever been red. One of his favorite things about the Commodore was that it was not red. Green was of course preferable, but he'd been content to settle for not red.
The seat cushion beneath the little Spider was red now.
"By the Nornir*," Loki swore aloud. He pushed out of the pilot's chair and knelt by the bench. As gently as he could, he moved the Spider onto his back, and spotted the tear, and jagged, gaping wound in his side immediately. It was bleeding, only a slow trickle, but judging by the seat cushion, too much blood had been lost already.
Loki had no idea if there were any other injuries, but he'd have to find a way to get the suit off, somehow. He could heal with his seidr, but he wasn't trained as a healer, and it was easier if he could see the wound. He frowned.
"Karen?" Loki tried, tentatively. "I must assess any injuries. Can you release the suit?"
He knew that Stark's suit could follow commands, and remove itself. This suit didn't look anything like Stark's, but he assumed that the billionaire had made it, since it had an AI. Peter clearly hadn't made it himself, because he'd had to ask what it could do.
Karen did not verbally respond, but the dark suit retracted, revealing another, red version of the suit underneath. Loki scowled at it-why was he wearing two suits?-but then it loosened, enough that he would have no trouble taking it off.
"Thanks," Loki said, and he pulled the mask off first and caught his breath in surprise.
Not just a little Spider; this was a child. Spider-man, more like Spider-boy, he huffed. Yggdrasil's branches, how did Stark justify bringing one so young into the fray? He looked to be barely past his first decade.
"Are even the children to fight and die?" He murmured to himself in disbelief.
Then he remembered that time was of the essence, and he efficiently peeled the rest of the suit off the boy.
Peter, he recalled, belatedly. The boy had said his name was Peter.
Other than a huge bruise stretching over his entire abdomen that was all colors of the rainbow, and some scrapes on his back, there was nothing else, as far as he could tell. Loki lifted his hands, summoning his seidr, and let it dance over the gash in Peter's side first. It slowly began to close, the bleeding halting, and the flesh knitting itself back together reluctantly.
It wasn't quite fully healed when he paused, sweating and breathing hard from the exertion, but it was nearly there. He figured he probably had enough energy to help the bruise along a bit, and he brought his seidr up again. The bruise was greenish-yellow by the time he was forced to stop, exhaustedly lowering his hands.
It was much easier to heal oneself, and Loki didn't practice healing others much, exactly for this reason. It left him weak. For now, however, they were safe from the pirates, and Loki did need Spider-boy alive. Not because he was fond of the child.
The boy was lucky, though. Losing that much blood should have been fatal, he knew, for a normal Midgardian. Peter was not normal, and Loki hoped that his anomalous physiology would allow him to recover quickly. There was a fight ahead, and he suspected that Spiderman would not take no for an answer.
Loki let out a long breath, and looking regretfully at Peter's open face, wished that one so young and innocent did not have to be there at all.
He slid his arms behind Peter's shoulders and legs, lifting the slim form carefully. Moving slowly, so as not to jostle him, he tapped a panel on the back wall, causing it to slide open. The room that was revealed was in the shape of a half-circle, and the space was entirely taken up with a bed.
Loki had planned on having the ridiculously large bed ripped out, so that the space could be used for anything else. He hadn't had a chance, however, before Thanos had attacked, so the best he'd been able to do was subject every surface to rigorous cleansing spells. He was aware that this had been the Grandmaster's pleasure ship, after all, although he hadn't had the… honor… of attending one of the exclusive parties.
Loki rolled his eyes, again, at the Grandmaster's extravagance, and laid Peter down on the bed. At least he could not doubt that it was comfortable-the Grandmaster never spared expense.
He looked wearily at the remaining empty expanse of bed that appeared so inviting.
If he slept, a few hours, the ship would probably be all right. A glance at the console confirmed it, and Loki gave in, falling back onto the covers, and was asleep as soon as his eyes closed.
*I was going to put 'by the Norns', but Nornir is the Old Norse plural for Norn, according to the Google, and I thought it would be a little more accurate for Loki to say it that way, instead.