"You seem tense, Loki," Frigga notices as she observes her son from behind an invisible barrier.
Loki continues to pace in his enclosure. He's been expecting Thanos to appear for days now, but so far, no visit. Loki wonders if he's aware Heimdall is watching. He assumes the titan is awaiting an opening to make his grand attack.
"Distracted…" the golden-haired goddess continues.
Loki flashes her a glare. "You honestly expect me to feel content as Odin's prisoner?"
"Loki," she warns with an equally fierce glare. "We both know you deserve this. Be thankful that I've negotiated your sentence."
"Of course, mother," he sneers. "A lifetime in prison versus death. How lucky I am…"
"He never intended to kill you, Loki," Frigga advises.
"Please." Loki slumps down upon a velvet chaise and stares up at the ceiling. His toying with the red-headed Midgardian is his only true source of amusement. "Why not get away, Mother?" Truth be told, Loki has a soft spot for the woman he calls his mother. Being the only one to show him any mercy, he wishes to repay her with a chance at life. If anyone is to escape Thanos' wrath, it should be Frigga. "Vanaheim is always lovely at this time."
"Loki." Her mother's intuition knows he's avoiding the subject. "Your father…" She catches Loki wrinkling his nose. "He loves you dearly."
"He requested that I be shackled in this cage," Loki reminds her, wrinkling his nose.
"Enough, Loki!" the goddess warns in a commanding tone.
The trickster falls quiet as he watches her with a stubborn pout.
Frigga sharply inhales, then slowly exhales through her nose. Her features soften as a smile forms across her lips. "I'll bring you something to read," she suggests. "Will that calm you?"
Loki refuses to break eye contact with her. "Perhaps Jotunheim will have some literature I'd care for."
"Loki," she drawls, dragging out the last syllable of his name.
"Or Vanaheim-I've picked up many a good book from there."
Frigga sighs, but maintains her calm demeanor. "I pray you will be on your best behavior."
Loki flashes her a smirk. "Take your time, mother." He watches her gracefully spin on her heel and descend down a dark corridor. Loki relaxes on his chaise and lets his eyelids droop. He has a date with a particular assassin this evening…
"You need to stop this," Natasha growls.
Loki relaxes in a King-sized bed and widely grins.
"I've fucked Stark three times now," she scowls, further pleasing the trickster.
"And he doesn't compare…" Loki summons her into the bed with him. She's drawn forward against her will in nothing but a sheer gown. "Your body craves only me…"
Natasha crawls onto his lap and wraps her arms around his neck. "Then why not come back and fuck me in person."
"I've been contained," Loki bitterly states.
"And you can't escape?"
"Soon," he promises, a hand reaching out to cup her breast. "Very soon…"
Natasha awakens with an uneasy feeling growing in her gut.
"I think you're crazy," Tony flatly states.
"I think it seems logical," Bruce counters.
"Yeah," Tony snorts, "let her communicate with the intergalactic bad boy."
"He's up to something," Natasha tiredly repeats.
Tony gives her a sideways stare. "That's what your spy instincts are telling you?"
"Don't you think he turned himself in a little too easily?" Natasha replies.
"We kinda had him cornered," Tony reminds her.
She snorts. "Humans versus a god who knows magic. How well do you really think that would've gone down?"
Bruce steps away from the two to stare at his monitor. "She has a point, Tony," he timidly
interrupts. "For all we know, we're right where Loki wants us."
Tony hates to be proven wrong. But more than that, he hates having his lab partner agree with a tightly wound assassin. "Okay, then," he shrugs, sauntering over to a table to fish a snack from the top drawer. "Let's say we're in Loki's game. How do you expect us to fight back?"
Bruce coughs and lets his eyes wander to the scepter resting on a workbench.
Tony turns his head to eye what his friend is ogling. "We haven't figured out how the thing works."
"Funny." Natasha crosses her arms. "I thought you'd have that thing all figured out. Don't you like fondling big sticks, Stark?"
He shoots her a warning glare. "What if we open up another portal? Better yet-we open up the
same portal and nearly get our asses handed to us?"
"You're afraid of some aliens?" Natasha teases.
"And you're not?" he growls.
"I can contact Eric Selvig," Bruce suggests in hopes of breaking up a potential feud. "Better yet, Jane Foster. Thor mentioned her, didn't he?"
"We're smarter than those guys," Tony gruffly remarks. "What takes them weeks takes us minutes."
Natasha arches a brow in Tony's direction. "So you're in?" She saunters over to the scepter and crosses her arms.
"No point in wasting time tracking down an old man and Blondie's gal pal."
She chuckles at Tony's joke and reaches for the scepter. The second her fingers graze the sleek handle, a searing pain wracks her skull. She immediately backs away from the table with gritted teeth.
"Natasha?" Bruce catches her contorted features and worry crosses his face. "Did you see something?"
The burning pain subsides and she turns to Bruce. "Did you?"
He innocently blinks. "I only assumed… D-did you really see something?"
She shakes her head. "No… No, just have a migraine coming on."
"And the scepter caused it?" Bruce is afraid to touch it after having a previous outburst while holding it, but Tony is quick to snatch it up and examine it closely.
"I feel fine," the inventor notes.
"Natasha was under its power," Bruce replies. "That could be the cause… Maybe it responds to her fingerprints. Or her brain waves… You were under Loki's control with this."
Natasha weakly nods.
Tony gives the redhead a careful stare. "You under anything now?"
She glares in his direction. "If I was, Stark, you'd be dead."
Tony wrinkles his nose. "Harsh."
"Let's just forget it." Natasha proceeds to walk away, but Tony forces the scepter's blade to brush against her arm. Her feet freeze as she sees Loki's smirk amidst a thick fog. He's planning something. She's more sure of it than ever. Natasha scowls and steps away from the weapon. "That thing messed with my brain, Stark. Keep it away."
"Didn't feel anything?" he wonders, eying her curiously.
"No," she flatly answers. "I didn't." Natasha leaves the two men to their own devices. If Loki intends to return, she knows that she'll be the first person he greets…
Back on Asgard, Loki is smiling to himself.
"Heimdall senses a disturbance on Midgard," Frigga states, leafing through a thick tome she's picked out for her son. "Thor is devastated-it has to do with the scepter you left behind."
Loki's smile falls as Frigga glances up at him. "A disturbance? Can he stop it?" He feigns worry in his voice and hopes that Frigga will buy the act.
"Thor wishes to go to ensure Lady Jane is safe," she continues, watching as Loki rolls his eyes. "His newfound friends, as well."
"What danger awaits?" he prods.
Frigga's eyes narrow. "Someone strong. Stronger than your father, even…"
Loki raises a brow. "Odin plans to pay Midgard a visit?"
The goddess bows her head. "He hopes that stealing this scepter Thor spoke of will draw the threat away."
"Why not send Thor to do his bidding?"
Frigga is quiet for a moment. "Your father and Heimdall fear that said threat will make themselves known. Given that happens… he wishes to handle this."
Though his face refuses to show it, he's grinning like a fool on the inside. He knows it's only a matter of time before Asgard is rightfully his…
