~I Remember You~
Chapter 7: Breaking the Ice
Steve looked up from the sketch he was working on and gazed across the room, over to where Loki was, deeply engrossed in the pages of an old Shakespearian book he had found on the shelves of Tony Stark's libraries. He watched as the god flipped the page carefully, the usual scowls and sneers on his face absent as he was absorbed into the dark, tragic world of Macbeth. This man before him now seemed so different from the Loki he first met. He looked so peaceful, holding not a weapon but a book in his hands; a picture of serenity. The change was great, and Steve found himself liking this change. A lot.
The Captain gave a tiny smile and returned to his sketch.
It has been nearly a month since Steve had talked to his team mates regarding the issue of Loki, and while they weren't pleased with it at first (Clint had been especially grumpy), the Avengers all conceded in the end. For one, it was clear that Loki will not stand staying cooped up in his room for any longer. The trickster was starting to become a more frequent sight around the tower, and it was getting hard for the Avengers to avoid bumping into him once in a while as they went about their daily activities. Such instances sometimes led to chaos. On a few occasions, Steve and Thor only barely managed to stop an enraged Clint from tearing Loki's throat out to 'wipe that fucking smirk on his face' after the god had provoked the man in one way or another.
Natasha was considerably calmer than her friend when it came to dealing with Loki's snideness, but Steve was not oblivious to the tension in the assassin whenever Loki was in the vicinity, nor did he miss the dangerous gleam in her eyes when the god made a personally offensive remark. It still gave him chills, and the Captain wondered how Loki could actually stand before the Black Widow's cold azure glare during those times, smirking as if it was all a funny joke. Steve wouldn't.
Bruce, true to his promise, did nothing on his part that would provoke the god. Loki seemed to have sensed this, and thankfully reciprocated in kind, although Steve suspected that this was mostly due to the god being wary of the Other Guy lurking in the depths of Bruce's warm brown eyes. Tony Stark, contrary to Steve's expectations, appeared a lot more amiable to Loki than the Captain had expected he would be. Of course there were several spats and arguments now and then, complete with threats and ugly name calling, but Tony seemed the most willing out of the Avengers, other than Steve and Thor, to give advice to Loki on how to operate the electronics around the tower as well as point out to the god that he was an incorrigible menace in the kitchen.
The Captain soon realised, however, that as much as Loki made an effort to avoid Thor, he also seemed to be constantly (and intentionally) hanging round places where Steve himself was. How often had Steve entered the kitchen to get a drink after his workout and seen Loki eating his dinner silently at the counter? Or when he had been relaxing in the living room out of habit, gazed up momentarily from his sketches only to see Loki sitting on the armchair at the corner of the room, reading a book quietly? It was as though Loki had somehow memorized Steve's daily schedule and made it a point to stick near the man whenever he could. Steve was, needless to say, unnerved by this realisation at first and it didn't help that whatever efforts he made to resolve the discomfort between them simply resulted in awkward silences. It seemed that after the fiasco with the television, Loki had become considerably more withdrawn in his interactions with him. But still, the fact that Loki constantly sought out the Captain's company (silent company) rather than avoid him seemed encouraging, at the very least.
Steve was about to add the final touches to his sketch when the sharp sound of the Avengers' emergency siren pierced through the room. Steve gazed up, immediately exchanging glances with Loki, whose eyes flashed with similar vigilance. Without a word, the Captain rose from his seat and promptly strode out of the room, heading to the meeting room in the tower where the team would gather, his sketchbook lying forgotten on the couch. Loki watched after the man's leaving back for a second before giving a sigh and reluctantly folding down the corner of his current page in the book. It then took him another second to teleport the book to his room before he was following closely after Steve, wondering what the fuss was about this time.
Life as an Avenger or a temporary-Avenger-on-a-conditional-basis was never peaceful, as it seemed. In the past month, there had been multiple times when Loki had been called to assist the Avengers, but all these had merely been petty matters: A couple of flame-thrower and grenade armed bank robbers, one freaky mutilated looking rabbit-werewolf crossbreed and a crazy, melodramatic, pigeon-controlling diva hell bent on world domination. It was as though Loki's invasion on New York with the Chitauri army had encouraged the evil, world-dominating wannabes from all over the world to proceed with their plans, just as Tony had theorised, and this meant more work for the Avengers, even if the villains' attempts were laughable at best.
These threats were taken care of fairly quickly though, and fiasco with the pigeon-controlling maniac had seemed so absurd that Tony even told Loki to stay out of that one. For once, Loki was all too pleased to obey, spending his day lounging on the comfy couch in the living room with a nice cup of tea instead and watching Steve bat the squawking, flapping birds away with his shield in the live news broadcast on TV. He especially enjoyed the part where Thor was bombarded with multiple bird droppings. Tony complained about this endlessly for days as he worked to clean his suit, and it was no surprise when the genius's sour moods were further fanned by Loki's smug smirks.
This time, however, it seemed as though the threat was real.
"Robotic clones," The hologram of Fury stated grimly to the assembled Avengers and Loki as images on the screen beside him showed multiple Doombots flying around the city and firing energy blasts at everything in sight. The images faded a second later to zoom in on the figure of Doctor Doom himself as he stood next to a whirring, glowing machine atop the Trump Tower, observing the chaos below with silent pleasure.
Tony whistled. "Looks like Doom took lessons from a certain someone on how to invade New York glamorously," he said, ignoring the annoyed glare Loki shot him. "Poor Donald though, it's gonna cost him for tower repairs after this is over."
"Speaking from experience, Stark?" Loki smirked and Tony looked offended enough to retort back if Fury had not stepped in.
"If you two are done with your childish spat, we going to need the Avengers to head down immediately to control the situation." The Director said scathingly and the room fell silent once more. "Meanwhile, S.H.I.E.L.D. will work on decoding the signals from Doom's machine. Currently we are unable to find a way to disrupt it yet, but if the Avengers are able to take out Doom along with his contraption while on-site, that would be a plus."
"Way to cover up incompetency." Tony muttered softly as the hologram of Fury flickered out.
"Alright team, you heard him." Steve commanded, not hearing Tony's snipe at Fury. "Get yourselves suited up and gather at the Quinjet in two. Avengers go!"
Loki grinned at Tony slyly. "So I believe I am not to 'stay out of this one' again, am I, Stark?" He mocked as the other Avengers filed out of the room and rushed to their respective stations. Tony scowled.
"You will get your ass into this mess, Reindeer Games. It's about time for you to sweat a bit."
Steve frowned at the banter and turned to his teammate. "Go get ready Tony, this is serious."
The billionaire shot Steve an annoyed look for a second before sighing and giving a nod of understanding. "I'll meet you guys straight at the site." He said and Steve gave him an amiable slap on the shoulder before the man left the room. The Captain then turned to Loki, who seemed more bored than concerned about the entire affair.
"Loki, you're coming with us."
XXX
"What. Are. These. Things?!" Loki gritted his teeth in annoyance as he plunged his long dagger into the neck of the nearest Doombot and decapitated it, causing the body to crumple to the ground into a heap. Near him, Thor swung the Mjolnir at an approaching Doombot, knocking it back into a lamp post with a metallic clang.
"The Director stated that they are robotic clones of Doctor Doom himself." Thor panted as he swung the Mjolnir heavily at yet another Doombot and Loki rolled his eyes in disdain.
"Thank you for repeating what I've heard as well, Thor, it was most insightful!" Loki sneered as he flung a dagger at a Doombot preparing to fire a blast from far away. The dagger met its target and buried deep into the chest of the robot, causing the monstrosity to fizzle and explode in a second.
Thor brought his hammer down hard on the last Doombot near them, smashing its head in before pausing to catch his breath and turning to Loki. "Well, you must admit that they are somewhat like the clones you always conjure up, brother." The Thunder god pointed out. Loki simply gave a cynical snort in reply.
"Except for the fact that mine are illusions, and intangible," He retorted. "These are different. They are real. They have powers. And they possess consciousness, unlike Stark's many contraptions." Loki frowned as he gazed around at the sparking heaps of Doombots around him. "This requires sorcery of some kind, mixed with Midgard's own technology to a degree which even I cannot decipher at this point."
Thor laughed. "You are always so curious Loki, and cautious. Back in the days you would always be analysing our enemies in war, right down to the type of armour they wear and the number of teeth they have."
Loki glared at his brother in irritation. "Well, at least I wasn't the one who nearly had his hand gnawed off after teasing Ratatoskr because I forgot how sharp the creature's teeth were." He retorted and it was Thor's turn to look bemused.
"That was when we were children!" The god protested indignantly.
"And yet you never seem to have grown wiser." Loki smirked in reply. Thor gave an affronted snort and was about to retort back when Clint's voice came through the communicator.
"Sorry to interrupt the brotherly love, but there's another group of Doombots heading your direction."
Loki hissed irritably at the quip and glared up to the top of a nearby building where Hawkeye was, waving at them with what Loki was almost certain to be a smug expression.
Both brothers then turned abruptly and sure enough, soon spotted another hoard of robots approaching.
Thor laughed in anticipation of the fight and gave his Mjolnir a swing. "Just like old times, eh Loki?" He grinned and beside him, Loki chose to roll his eyes instead of answering.
I swear Steven did this on purpose...
Once the Avengers landed on site in the Quinjet, Steve had been quick to give out orders on handling the situation. Just like in the invasion Loki had instigated, Tony was to keep perimeters and contain the invasion within Wall Street. Clint, as usual, kept a bird's eye view of things, calling out patterns and taking out whichever air borne enemies he could. The Hulk was told to smash any robots in sight and Steve, Natasha, Thor and Loki were to stay on the ground to fight the Doombots and rescue civilians. Loki would have approved of this plan if not for the fact that Steve had placed him and Thor together on the streets to fend off Doombots while he and Natasha went to the more occupied buildings to evacuate civilians. However, as the Avengers went into action promptly once they received their respective roles, Loki had neither the time to protest, nor show his displeasure. It is for this very reason now that he was fighting side by side with his buffoon of a brother, and getting more irritated with each passing second.
As Loki punched viciously into one of the robotic menaces with his dagger, hissing silent curses at the never ending stream of enemies, he was caught by surprise by yet another charging Doombot, which slammed into him and pinned him against a wall. In the background, he heard Thor's anxious cry and a hastened series of clangs which could only due be Thor's frantic attempts get to his brother. The Doombot pressed itself firmly against Loki during the struggle, negating his attempts to break free and even the god was astonished by its overwhelming strength.
"Doom will destroy you." The Doombot declared, its face so close to Loki's that he could feel its warm breath blowing on his face. Loki winced in disgust.
"Get out of my face, monster!" He snarled. White swirls of energy surrounded his fingers and exploded in a blast of energy after he flexed them towards his tormentor. The Doombot, along with many others near him, disintegrated under the force of the blast and Loki himself was left backed against the wall for support, drain by the sudden massive use of energy. It took him a while to compose himself and after he did, spotted Thor fighting the final two remaining Doombots with so much fury that even Loki was stunned. Then, in that moment, their eyes met and the expression of relief that appeared on Thor's face at the sight of him unharmed made Loki realise that his brother must have thought him dead, or at least injured, in that explosion.
One of the Doombots took advantage of Thor's momentary pause to fire an energy blast at the god, knocking him back onto the ground with a grunt. Out of pure reflex, Thor flung his Mjolnir at the nearest charging Doombot, decapitating it almost immediately but leaving himself defenceless against the second robot's incoming attack. The Doombot grabbed him by the neck and was about to aim a blow at the Thunder god when a sharp dagger flew towards the robot and struck its head, causing it to fizz out and release its grip on its enemy. With a roar, Thor reached out for his hammer, which flew back into his hand, and swung it hard at the Doombot, shattering it into pieces. After making sure that there were no longer any enemies in the vicinity, he turned to Loki and gave him a grateful smile.
"Thank you brother."
Loki stared at his smiling brother for a moment, feeling a rush of nostalgia in his heart of all the memories they once shared and bit his lip, trying to force his emotions back down again. But before he could decide whether to be nasty or nice to Thor, Captain America came rushing over.
"Is everyone alright?" Steve asked anxiously as his gaze swept between the two gods. "I heard an explosion over the intercom."
Thor nodded gingerly and Loki gave a tiny scoff. "It was my magic." He stated bluntly.
"Oh," Steve stared at him blankly for a moment before composing himself again. "Right. Widow and I have gotten most of the civilians out of the buildings and S.H.I.E.L.D. agents as well as the police are escorting them out of the area. However, the situation's getting out of hand here. Nat is going further down the street to check if there are any more civilians we might have missed out," He explained to Loki and Thor, "and I will need you two to-"
"Whoa, I think I need some backup here!"
Before Steve could finish his order, Hawkeye's panicked voice sounded through the intercom and all attention was directed towards the rooftop where Clint was, desperately trying to defend himself against multiple Doombots.
"He's outnumbered!" Thor cried as they watched the archer dodge multiple blasts of energy fired in his direction and backing up against the edge of the building, resorting to fending off the robots with only his bow in close range. One of the Doombots grabbed Clint from behind in an iron grip and the others advanced menacingly on the man as he struggled to release himself to no avail.
"Tony! Get to Hawkeye!" Steve called urgently through the intercom, but Loki gave a scoff.
"It'll be too late when he arrives," The god hissed. Without another word, he teleported himself to the rooftop and flung a dagger straight into the eye of the Doombot trapping Hawkeye. As the robot loosened its grip, the archer broke free just in time to avoid a blast of energy from a nearby Doombot and retaliate with an arrow of his own instead.
"When I said 'backup', I wasn't expecting you!" Clint yelled to Loki as he fired off another series of arrows at the surrounding Doombots. Loki smirked as he stabbed another Doombot in the neck and allowed it to fall to the ground with a clang.
"Well you know what they say, Hawk, beggars can't be choosers."
Clint scowled, but gave no reply otherwise as he continued firing arrow after arrow. However, with every Doombot taken down, three more seemed to sprout to take its place, and it wasn't long before Loki realised they were fighting a losing battle.
"There's too many of them!" Loki hissed as he threw another dagger at an approaching Doombot and Clint gave a disgruntled snort beside him.
"You don't say. I'm running out of arrows. We need another plan!"
"Indeed." Without warning, Loki grabbed Hawkeye's arm so suddenly that the man nearly punched him out of pure reflex.
"HEY! What the-"
Before Clint could finish his exclamation, he felt a strange sensation within him as his surroundings swirled and his breath was sucked out of him. In a blink of an eye, the buildings around him returned back into focus and Clint fell back onto the ground in a state of shock. It was then that he realised he was no longer on the rooftop, and that Steve, Thor and Loki were all staring down at him.
"What- what the hell was that?!" Clint sputtered as Steve helped him up to his feet. "I thought I was blacking out!" He turned to Loki in disbelief and the god smirked.
"If you haven't figured it out by now, it's a form of magic commonly known as teleportation." Loki grinned and Hawkeye turned red in the face.
Steve gave a sigh of exasperation. "Alright guys, that's enough. Fury just sent a message that they are still unable to find a way to disrupt the signals Doom's machine is sending to the Doombots-"
"Hardly surprising, considering S.H.I.E.L.D.'s current grasp of technology," Tony's voice quipped through the communicator and Loki watched with amusement as Steve closed his eyes in frustration for a second before continuing his sentence.
"-so we need another plan of attack. The key to ending this lies with that machine. However it works, it seems to be controlling the Doombots."
"I can handle this." Clint said, stepping up. "I just need a clear shot, and transportation." He turned to Loki, who gaped at him in surprise.
"Excuse me?" He asked quizzically and Clint gave a mock sigh.
"Teleportation." He stated flatly. "I need you to give me a lift up there," The archer pointed towards the rooftop of the building nearest the Trump Tower, where Doom was situated.
Steve, along with Thor, seemed as stunned as Loki by this request. "Are you sure about this?" He gazed at Clint uncertainly.
Clint scoffed in reply. "Do I look as though I have a choice? Stark's too busy flying around and having fun right now."
"I protest that! Not busy. Just having fun." Tony's voice came through the communicator once more, a little strained as the Iron Man zoomed by overhead, heavily pursued by three Doombots.
The edges of Clint's lips twitched upwards in a smirk as he continued. "Besides, Loki's teleportation is the only way to get up there without alerting Doom."
"Alright," Steve agreed. "Thor, you and I will stay on the ground to continue this fight," he said and Thor nodded grimly. "You two," the Captain then turned to Loki and Clint, "We're counting on you guys. Let's do this!"
As Steve and Thor rushed off to fend off another incoming horde of Doombots, Clint grinned and stepped next to Loki. "Ready, jackass?"
"Just don't fall down this time." Loki smirked and grabbed Clint's shoulder firmly. Within a second, they were standing on the rooftop of the building nearest the Trump Tower, and Hawkeye gave a wicked grin when he spotted Doom standing next to the glowing whirring machine, blissfully unaware of their presence. Loki watched as the archer drew an explosive arrow from his sheath and aimed it carefully at the machine before firing off the shot. The arrow whizzed through the air but exploded before it met its target, just when it reached the tower's boundaries. The space around the tower shimmered for a moment from the explosion before stabilizing again and Doom's head snapped towards their direction immediately.
"Fuck!" Clint cursed furiously as realization dawned upon him. "A force field."
"Don't look now Barton, but I believe we have company."
Clint spun around at Loki's words and sure enough, multiple Doombots have landed on their rooftop and were now advancing on them.
"Now what, genius?" Loki snarled as he plunged his dagger into the nearest Doombot and drew it out also immediately to slash another approaching enemy.
Clint hissed in irritation as he shot a Doombot in the face. This was bad. The plan was not working out as they had expected, they were outnumbered, and at this rate, he would be out of arrows before he could take out Doom's machine. They needed another plan; a plan that could bypass Doom's force field and allow them to destroy the machine.
An enormous roar sounded all of a sudden and a mass of green landed in the middle of the mob of Doombots with a crash. The Hulk gave another deafening roar and slammed its huge fists onto the nearest robots, smashing them immediately. Loki and Clint watched, amazed, as the Hulk continued smashing Doombot after Doombot, swinging out viciously at them with his fists and oblivious to the energy blasts they fired at him. Finally, after all the enemy were disposed of, the green giant turned to glare at Loki. The god gave an uneasy laugh.
"Good thing we are allies, right?" He chuckled awkwardly and the Hulk raised its fist. Loki was about to step back in alarm when the giant brought it crashing down on a Doombot flying towards them, crushing it just inches away from where Loki was. He then gave another deafening roar in the shocked god's face before leaping off the rooftop towards another building, smashing any Doombots that he encountered in his path.
Clint snickered at the stunned look on Loki's face. "He's rather friendly, isn't he?" He smirked and the god turned on him with a glare.
"Shut it, Barton." Loki snarled and Clint simply shrugged the retort away with a grin. The two then turned back to where Doom was, still observing them carefully from the tower.
"We need to act fast." Loki said urgently. "He's going to send more reinforcements soon."
"How?" Clint snapped in irritation. "He has a fucking force field! And I only have one arrow left!" Loki's gaze snapped towards the archer's sheath at his words and sure enough, there was a lone arrow left in it. They basically had only one chance at this. One last shot.
"That will be sufficient." Loki answered grimly and Hawkeye shot him a glance of surprise. "I will be able to open a gap in his force field with my magic, and I believe I can trust you to do the rest." Clint's eyes gleamed at the idea and he nodded, immediately unsheathing his precious last arrow.
Loki took a deep breath and started to focus his mind on disrupting the electromagnetic forces surrounding the opposite tower. Soon enough, a portion of the air around the tower started vibrating violently and tearing apart, showing a clear, stable gap in between the shimmering space. It took a second for Doom to realise what was happening and the deranged man gave a shout of anger, rushing immediately to his machine in an attempt to mend the force field.
"I can't hold this much longer!" Loki hissed to Clint, strained from the pressure of countering against the increased strength of Doom's force field. "Do you have a clear shot, Barton?"
Clint smiled as he pulled the arrow back. "As I always do."
In a split second, the arrow was released, flying through the air and entering the gap in the force field just before it closed, landing on its mark. The bomb on the arrow beeped before it exploded, blasting the machine into smithereens and sending Doom slamming back into the railings from the blast. Around them, Doombots froze midair and started plummeting down to their demise.
Loki gave a satisfied grin as he watched the spectacle, and was surprised when he felt Clint slapping his shoulder happily as the man laughed in glee to the sounds of Doom's enraged cries.
XXX
"Come on Loki!" Steve said impatiently as he dragged the reluctant god down the stairs.
"Are you sure about this Captain? I believe they would rather have me absent." Loki protested unhappily and Steve chuckled.
"You're thinking too much!" The man retorted as he pulled Loki through the door to the lounge room. "Hey guys, look who I brought!"
Loki winced at the sounds of the loud AC/DC music blaring from Tony's stereo and gazed around the room where all the other Avengers were, partying in lieu of their defeat of Doom.
"Finally! So you decided to come out of hiding!"
Loki turned to the direction of the bar counter where Tony was, pouring out a glass of Scotch. "Stop being a greasy hermit and join us Lokes!" The billionaire grinned as he took a sip out of his drink.
"Your invitation touches me, Stark," Loki snorted with disdain, "in all the wrong ways."
Tony gave a pout. "Spoil sport."
"Brother! Come join us!" Thor hollered from the couch where he, Bruce and Natasha were. "This pizza is divine! You'll love it!" The Thunder god laughed as he gestured to the boxes of pizza stacked on the tea table. Loki turned exasperatedly to Steve, who grinned and gave him an encouraging nod. The god then sighed and trod over to the couch, taking the seat near Thor and very graciously (Steve thought) accepting the slice of pizza his brother offered him.
It wasn't long into the party before Tony started a drinking match and soon, Loki was left sitting at his end of the couch alone, munching on his pizza (it turned out Thor was right for once!) and observing with amusement as Thor and Natasha downed cans after cans of beer. The god was chuckling at how Tony was trying to force Steve to test the limits of his drinking when he felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Clint standing next to him.
"Here," Clint set a can of beer before Loki, much to his surprise, and the room fell silent as everyone, even Tony, turned to observe the duo. "It's a party," Clint explained. "You can't be at a party without a drink."
The relief that swept over the room when it was apparent no arguments would break out was evident, and Tony gave a laugh at Clint's words. "That's right Rudolph! Drink up! You can't be the only one sober here. Even Bruce is drinking!"
"It's just a glass of gin!" The scientist protested.
Loki smiled and took the can of beer offered to him, opening it up and taking a sip.
Clint gave a tiny cough when he saw Tony waggling his eyebrows at him. "Nothing changed between us though. You're still a bastard." He said to Loki and the latter smirked at his words.
"I don't doubt that for a second." The trickster replied smoothly and Clint grinned before walking off.
"How touching. I can feel the tears starting to well in my eyes." Tony smirked to Hawkeye along the way and the archer retaliated with a firm headlock. Thor cheered on as the two men wrestled and Steve shook his head at the childish, rambunctious behaviour of his team mates, He then walked over to where Loki was and sat right next to him, bringing a beer of his own.
"You did great out there," Steve smiled and Loki scoffed cynically.
"I was only doing as expected of me, according to the agreement." He retorted, taking another sip of his beer. Steve laughed at the reply and shook his head.
"No, you did more than that." He pointed out. "You saved Clint's life, and Thor's." The Captain added. "Your brother told me that."
Loki gave a tiny scowl. "Thor must have been hallucinating then."
Steve stared at the god with exasperation for a moment before smiling and patting him amiably on the shoulder. The two then sat quietly and continued sipping their drinks, each knowing deep down that for the first time in weeks, the ice had finally been broken.
A/N: I know I haven't updated for sometime and I am really sorry for this. Thanks to all the readers who are still sticking with me!
Many have been asking me if Steve will remember Loki, and all I can say is that he will. But not so soon. ;) So just keep following to see what goes on!
