X
"Brother, please, you must eat." Thor nudged Loki's plate, but he shook his head. "Will you not even speak?" Loki just stared ahead at nothing.
"Sometimes eating really is the best thing for grief," Bruce said. "There's a science behind comfort food, actually."
Thor brightened, glancing at his brother.
"Do you have hakikarl?"
"Um . . . no . . . sorry."
Natasha brought Loki a glass of water.
"I am sorry for your loss," she said softly. He nodded and took a sip.
"Pray send our thanks to Director Fury," Thor said, turning to Coulson. "He held a beautiful funeral for Amma, though I am glad it was private."
"She deserved a state funeral with every honor," he said. Steve nodded in agreement.
"She would not have wanted that," Loki said finally. He looked at Coulson. "You did right."
"Will you be visiting Dr. Foster before you return?" Bruce asked.
Thor's face turned red as he nodded.
"Briefly."
Tony held up a hand.
"Hear that?"
"Hear what?" Pepper asked.
"That sound."
"Which one?"
"That's my generator."
"So? This really isn't the ti-"
"My green arc generator. The fourth prototype."
Pepper stared at him.
"I thought you said it would only come on during a power outage."
"I did."
"And that it could keep New York running for a year."
"It can."
"New York City?" Steve asked.
"New York State," Pepper corrected.
"What triggered it?" Coulson asked.
"Sir," JARVIS said.
"Kill the GA-04," Tony said.
"No, sir."
Tony stopped.
"JARVIS, shut off the generator."
"No, sir."
Pepper nudged him.
"Please."
"No, thank you, sir."
"JARV-"
"The GA-04 has been reappropriated, sir."
"For what by who?"
"Reallocation, sir."
"Do enlighten us." There was a hesitation. "JARVIS. . ."
"I cannot-" He stopped. "I have been corrected. Please stand by."
Thor looked around.
"By what?"
"Just stand," Clint said.
A quiet sigh was followed by a series of holographic beams streaming downwards. They faded, and they were face to face with L.
"She left a recording?" Loki murmured.
"No," L said, smiling softly.
"JARVIS, what is this?" Tony asked, staring at L.
"This is the Librarian, sir."
"No no, she died. We – we just came from her funeral."
"Yes, I did," L said. "Quite an ordeal, that." She looked at Loki. "I've never died before," she added softly.
"Well . . . how – what is this?"
"An ancilla."
"She cloned herself," Steve said quietly.
"When did you do that?"
"When I first met JARVIS. I've made it a habit to install a copy of myself everywhere. . . Just in case."
"Um . . . wow . . . how many copies of you are there?"
She laughed, her voice reverberating slightly.
"I know, more than one of me is terrifying. I've always built in fail safes that permanently wipe a copy remotely when I no longer have use of them." She stopped. "Remotely. I've never used that word before." She shrugged. "Whatever."
"So you're not . . ." Loki's voice broke. ". . . real . . . ?"
L's smile faded a bit.
"No," she said finally. "The heart that nursed you as a babe, comforted you as a child, and taught you as a young man is gone." She reached out and caressed his cheek. Loki's eyes widened as he put his hand over hers. "But the mind and soul that has always loved you remains, minn dýrr lítt kind."
Loki looked torn.
"Can you shift?"
She grinned and the hologram shimmered as her wings unfurled, blowing some of Tony's notes and sketches off his desk.
Tony walked around her, studying the hologram. Finally, he reached up and touched her wing.
It feels like feathers! he mouthed.
Pepper rolled her eyes.
"Stop grinning like an idiot," she said, wiping away tears.
"No, this is really cool; how are you doing that?"
"Ask JARVIS to explain it to you," L said, still staring at Loki.
"Why can't you?"
"Several reasons, Anthony: my memories and knowledge are still allocating themselves within my matrices; secondly, numbers are something JARVIS and I understand, and while I'm clearly integrating millenias' worth of vocabulary and idioms, I'm still most fluent in Latin – as far as languages originating from this world, anyway. I would hate to trap Natasha here as an interpreter for what would likely be a hella long discussion." She immediately slapped a hand over her mouth.
Loki smiled and threw his arms around her. L held him close, brushing his hair back from his temples. Her fingertips lingered and she tipped his face towards hers.
"You once accused Odin of locking you away as a stolen relic," she said softly. He nodded, looking down. "Stay on Midgard."
"And do what?"
Her form shimmered and he found himself staring at a mirror image.
"Learn," she said, shifting back. "Learn from another relic how to govern, how to rule, how to judge."
"Why?"
She glanced at Thor as she straightened.
"There is a world I left behind. A world that may yet come to hold the living."
Her gaze flickered back to Loki.
"As my son, the birthright is yours."
"But . . . You could rule."
"No, I surely could not. I am the last relic of a forgotten age. And that is just," she said, silencing Loki's reply. "We deserve to be forgotten." She straightened and pulled away, regarding the others. "And now, I am at peace."