Thors arrival came so fast that Loki had no time to get scared for Hela or himself. The god of thunder burst into the laboratory where Loki and Stark had just been trading clever insults and blurted:
"Were you aware that Sleipnir understood speech all this time?"
"What in the name of the nine realms has granted you this astonishing wisdom?" Loki answered with mocking surprise and jumped to his feet
"I had of cause no idea that my eldest was capable of such things, since I did not teach him, nor repeatedly tried to educate my blundering idiot of a brother on the matter for HALF A MILLENNIUM!"
Loki banged his chained wrists into the nearest desk, causing a small avalanche of papers to fall down on the floor.
"Um, hi Thor" Stark greeted with a limp wave, where he was casually seated by a cluttered desk "Nice… shoulder curtains, as usual"
"If Sleipnir has been capable to communicate all this time, why has he not made it known?" Thor asked with genuine confusion.
"Mayhaps because no one would take the time to listen" Loki hissed "Of cause you…"
"Who or what is a Sleipnir?" Stark asked, interrupting the brothers.
"My son" "A steed" the asgardians answered in unison.
"Perhaps he never talked because his voice was a little horse?" Stark offered with a wide smile.
"Is there not a wormhole close by which you could kindly dispose yourself into?" Loki snarled.
"Uncool! Totally uncool." Tony responded, pointing at Loki "You know how I feel about wormholes"
"Then by all means exit the chamber if it seems suddenly too confined" Loki pointed at the door.
"Nuh-huh. My lab!" Stark said and crossed his arms over his chest "You guys leave!"
"I am not exactly free to wander the premises, you overgrown child!" Loki gestured to a chain that secured him to a bolted down steel table "Simply leave!"
"Hey, you don't get to order me around!" Tony concluded "You're a lot of things mommy, but you're not mine!"
Loki was just about to reply when Thor softly said "I have a message from mother"
The fight went right out of Loki, and without turning back to face Thor he asked: "How is she?"
"Tired" his brother answered "Otherwise well"
"Has she sent you to tell me how very proud I have made her?" Loki smiled joylessly at Thor, his green eyes hard again.
"Ok, if you guys are going to get all brotherly-touchy-mushy I'm going to plop in my iPod because I just don't do that kind of thing" Stark announced and pushed one plug into each ear "I have an image to uphold here"
When a noise that neither of the aesir though even seemed similar to music started seeping out from Starks headphones Loki turned to face Thor.
"What news do you bring me, brother? Has those talentless Norns appointed my daughter as the one that will end Friggas life?"
"She misses you, Loki" Thor replied "And she asked me to tell you to try to be as perceptive of yourself as you are of others, while you are here"
"Ha! Wise council coming from the woman who posed as my mother for my entire life" Loki laughed joylessly "Obviously I am not as perceptive as either of us though!"
"Then perhaps you can learn a lesson in humility" Thor said sharply.
"Yes, after all your long weekend here on Midgard worked wonders for you" Loki smiled "You returned with a spring in your step and such luster in you hair, to the delight of everyone!"
"Yes, did I ever thank you for that?" Thor replied and mirrored his brothers insincere smile "Had you not plotted against me I would never have grown into the man I am today, and I would never have known the company of Jane or my friends here on earth"
"Oh, you are so very welcome" Loki said with mocked joy "I am so happy things are FINALLY going your way!"
"Probably because I do not attempt to sabotage myself at every given opportunity" Thor retorted "If you could just stop trying to take revenge for all imagined slights…"
"Like when I begged you to help me keep my child safe, and you instead initiated a hunt for him with your friends for sport?" Loki replied in a dangerously low voice "Imagined slights like that, brother?"
Thor sighted and uncrossed his arms. He leaned back on a desk that complained loudly under his weight.
"I did not come here to fight with you, Loki"
"How unlucky, since fighting is the one thing we do well as siblings" Loki replied with a shrug.
After a moments silence Loki rubbed his face with his hands and took a deep breath.
"Tell Frigga I appreciate her concern for me" he said, and then after a moments hesitation "Is he well?"
"Father? He's…"
"No, you dimwit" Loki snapped.
"Sleipnir does well" Thor replied after a moments silence "I asked him if he was content, and he is."
"He was never the most ambitious child, and he has his father's temper" Loki mused "But he his clever."
"Very much so"
"They were all clever" Loki said softly, avoiding his brothers eyes.
"That's probably why they got away" Agent Coulson smiled from the doorway "Mr. Laufeyson, Mr Odinson, would you follow me please?"
Loki gritted his teeth as he was led out of the room. What had the human now managed to piece together? .
They ended up in a meeting-room so small that Thor seemed to take up the major part of the floor-space. Loki was offered a leather armchair that was a blessing for his back. Since the start of his captivity he had only rested on the hard bed and harder steel chairs that SHIELD seemed to treasure since they existed in abundance on the carrier. Thor filled up an entire matching two-seat sofa and Agent Coulson remained standing with his back against the door. Idly Loki noted that no one had moved to chain him to something, probably because they perceived him as less of a threat with Thor so close by. It annoyed him.
"Would the two of you like some time alone, to talk?" the agent asked and Loki shook his head before Thor could answer.
"I would consider that a cruel and unusual punishment" he said, leaning back in the chair.
"I came to make amends, Loki" Thor started "To say that I am sorry for never..:"
"And I will hear none of it. Your regret means nothing to me" Loki spat "What you have done can not be undone with empty words. I would much rather discuss what the agent thinks he knows about my other children"
"It's not so much what I know about them as it is what I know about you" Agent Coulson smiled and sat down in the remaining armchair, placing a oceanic map on the small table between them.
"Everyone seems to offer such insight about me this day" Loki muttered as he glanced over the map.
"Do you claim that the others escaped?" Thor asked, understanding nothing of the blue map of unfamiliar waters "The sea serpent was cast out, this is true, but the wolf remains chained in Asgard"
"No, he doesn't" Agent Coulson plainly stated looking at Loki who made to attempt to confirm or deny the information.
"If it had been freed, all of Asgard would have known" Thor protested.
"Maybe, but Fenris was never caught" Coulson continued, leaning forward in his chair, inviting Loki to continue with a gesture of his hand.
"Loki?" Thor looked at his brother.
"How do you assume to know this, Agent Coulson?" Loki said darkly, his green eyes fixed on the agent, unblinking "What makes you more capable to unmask such a deceit than the aesir who are more advanced than your race and who have had a considerably larger amount of time to see through it?"
"We're a data-driven organization" the plain-looking human responded easily "We accumulate data, analyze it and take the most reasonable action based on what we know. We're also pretty good at psych-evals. The data we've gathered on this subject is based on old mythology, hunter stories and watching you. That last part is the big piece of the puzzle"
"Wit" Loki smiled with malice.
"That would be the short version, Mr Laufeyson" Agent Coulson nodded "With that 'wit' we have simply come to the conclusion that if a child of yours would be held captive under horrible circumstances, you would not be sitting here. You would still be fighting for him"
"Agent Coulson, had my wrists been free I would have applauded you" Loki replied, his smile growing wider and colder.
"But the wolf is there!" Thor protested "I… I helped chain it there myself. It took Tyrs hand in the process"
"I'm certain there is a wolf, Mr Odinson, but it's not the right one"
"The wolf is a giant, Son of Cole! It dwarves horses and bears in comparison. There is no mistaking it for another"
"Unless" Loki turned to his brother with a dangerous look in his eyes "Unless there was someone who with an extraordinary talent for magic that could alter the appearance of creatures and who was sly enough to trick all of the Aesir into chasing after the wrong one. Perhaps by setting a brother on a false trail with a desperate plea for help he knew would be ignored"
Thor started at his brother, eyes wide in shock. Still, he felt a small sense of relief that he had not played a part in capturing Fenris after all.
"Who is the one chained then?" he asked.
"Oh, when we speak of my child you call him 'it', when it is a creature of unknown origin you refer to it as 'who'" Loki snarled "If you must know, she is the wolf who gave Fenris milk when he was new to the world. When I searched for something to take Fenris place she offered herself up as bait. Her appearance was changed to mirror Fenris and you all fell for the trick. I did not know what you intended to do with her once caught though, but there was no way of freeing her without setting you back on my sons trail and I cherish him more than I reget her suffering"
"Even if what you say is true, we would have known by now" Thor continued his line of protests "No matter how talented you are there is no way for you to maintain such a spell from Midgard"
"I never said I cast the spell, brother" Loki said softly.
"Then who…" Thor cut himself off when he realized the obvious "Mother"
"Now you know how it feels" Loki smiled and placed his cuffed hands on Thors arm "When mother lies to you"
To Lokis great surprise Thor placed his own massive hand on top of his brothers and smiled at him.
"At least mothers love and trickery joins us" he said as Loki snatched his hand back as if the genuine warmth in his brothers voice had burned him "I am glad Fenris fate was not as cruel as the scheme I played an unknowing part in"
"Your cruelty against me is the same, even if the end result is not what you assumed it to be" Loki snarled.
"Indeed, it is" Thor replied "But at least I will not have to try to rectify it by releasing a giant wolf upon Asgard, as I had planned"
"I am genuinely surprised, brother" Loki admitted, wide-eyed "Not only did you intend to go against Odin, but you PLANNED something?"
"I am the one of us slow of wit" Thor smiled "But which one of us intelligently planned himself all the way into midgardian chains?"
Just as Agent Coulson prepared to interject himself between the two siblings to avoid a fist fight Loki actually laughed. A small, self-ironic dry laugh but still.
"Where you really going to attempt to free Fenris, brother?" he asked and Thor nodded "Who swayed your mind?"
"Sleipnir" Thor admitted "And Hela. They do not appear to be monsters. Perhaps Fenris is, but he must be given a chance to prove himself before he is punished for misdeeds not yet committed. Loki, Father was wrong to judge them so. I am sorry I have been to foolish not to see it before now"
For half a second it looked like Loki might actually shed tears, but then he composed himself and answered in a thick voice "That was quite an accomplishment by my son, considering he can not speak a word in any of our languages. What did he do?"
"He was quick to forgive my stupidity" Thor said "At least in part"
"Forgiveness is in his nature as it never was in mine" Loki sighed "I was never a good mother to him in the early years when he needed me. I was too young, too proud to endure the ridicule. He forgave me for that. How angry he must be with me now"
"He is" Thor admitted "But he misses you as well. And I think he understands why you desired the throne of Asgard so much"
"Oh, because now when he has finally conversed with you he must see how my need to outshine you…" Loki started but Thor interrupted him
"He understands that if you are king, there is no one to cast your children out"
Loki was speechless. Thor had never seen him speechless before in their long lives. Agent Coulson took the moment to clear his throat, reminding the brothers that he was still in the room.
"Are you sure you wouldn't like some privacy?" he asked, but now both brothers shook their head in striking similar manners.
"I think what needed to be said has been said" Loki replied quietly "Am I to understand brother that if I speak to Agent Coulson about what this map means you will not attempt to murder the child that can be found using it?"
"If he does not pose a threat, no harm shall come to him by my hand" Thor replied.
"Oh, I'm pretty sure he can be considered a threat" Agent Coulson smiled "But so far it seems like he's been pretty docile for the better part of 2000 years, so we shouldn't be hasty"
"So where is Fenris?" Thor said and leaned over the map, while Loki rolled his eyes at his brothers stupidity.
"We assume he's somewhere on earth" Agent Coulson said and received a small nod by Loki as a reply "...since this is where his brother is, and his brother seems easier to find"
Thors face visibly paled.
"You mean…"
"It is an oceanic map, brother"
"We're not going for the giant wolf, mr. Odinson, we're going for the gigantic snake" Agent Coulson smiled and seemed genuinely excited.
Authors note: Heck that was a long one, but maybe that's alright when it took me awhile to update this time!