To Love A God - A Loki Love Story
Chapter 11 - Welcome To The Club
"Why do you think Mr. Furry wants to hold this meeting?" Rika questioned Loki softly looking up at him from under his arm.
"I am not sure, lille," Loki whispered in her ear than softly nipped t, "We will find out soon enough, I feel."
Rika bit her lip, he noticed, and her cheeks darkened. A small grin pulled his lips up and he softly kissed her crown, breathing in her scent. Her long, wavy locks were pulled back into a cascading bun, one strand left down to fall a long her oval face. She wore a dress he had brought for her. She loved it, he couldn't forget the shine her eyes had taken when he presented it to her, her fingers gingerly touching the navy blue satin garment, loving the black satin bow around the waist. It came to just above her knee, showing off her beautifully toned, lightly sun-kissed legs and feet, which were slipped into perfectly fitting silver flats. It fit her like a glove, though her breast pushed the fabric to its limits.
Her hands held his tightly, the only sign of her worry. He, too, was worried but he couldn't let her see his fears.
"He can't take you away from me, Loki," she said the statement clear in her voice, "I will not allow it."
"I do not think it is up to you allow or not allow anything," Loki replied gently stroking his thumb over the top of her hand.
"Did I say I cared what I am allowed or not allowed to do?" she asked looking side ways at him, "He will not take you from me, Loki, I will not allow it."
Loki smiled again and pulled her to him tighter.
They were soon joined by Tony Stark and Steve Rogers, and Loki noticed, however, Banner was nowhere in sight and neither was his adoptive brother, Thor. He wonder if they were already there, waiting with Furry.
As they continued down the long, metal halls, through the twists and turns of the compound, Loki noticed an absence of guards, of anyone for that matter. Where they being kept out of sight? Or repairing the damage that Banner had caused? He didn't know, but he still wondered.
They came upon a large entire way, the metal plate doors sliding open soundlessly as they got closer, and he saw Furry pacing around a large rounded table, a skylight above lighting the room with the help of a few synthetic lights. Sitting at the table was Banner, Agent Romanoff, and Hill, all looking serious.
Upon their entire, Furry met Loki's eyes and held the stare. That's when he things were going to get very interesting.
"Take a seat," he said sternly and clasped his hands behind his back.
They all did, Tony sitting side ways in his chair, one arm on the table the other hanging to his side. Steve sat straight, both arms on the table, seat pulled up. Banner stood and offered his chair to Rika smiled, excepted it, and sat, tucking her dress down under her as she did so. Thor stood off the side, leaning against the railing that lined the outer part of the room. Loki stood behind Rika, not wanting to have any chance that someone might go for her and he not have time to react.
"As you all know, the Tesseract is still out there," Furry said as he stopped his pacing and stood facing them, but he met Loki's eye with his good one, "And because of a few misunderstandings we have lost it."
"How do we lose a source of power that great?" Rogers asked, "I thought Banner had found a way to track it."
"I did," Banner replied leaning against the wall and crossing his arms, "But, as you can see, we now don't have a way of tracking it now."
"Yeah," Stark said snidly, "He Hulked out and decided to play whack a mole in the science labs. Only, there was no mole."
Rika put a hand over her mouth to cover the smile and coughed to hide the laugh that came at Starks comment. Loki put his hands on her shoulders and caressed circles with his thumbs.
Banner looked side ways at him, a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.
"Isn't there someplace else we could track it from?" Rogers questioned further, "Don't you have the pattern of it or whatever you call it?"
"Yes," Stark bit out, "We have the frequency signal, but this craft was the only thing, other than my lab, that had the tech to even began to use the signal."
"Which means?" Rogers probed.
"It means we're screwed," Furry interjected, "Unless we find some other way to find the damn thing, we're screwed."
"I have a question," Rika said softly.
All eyes turned to her and she shrank back in her chair, "Yes, Miss Hawthorne?" Banner asked.
"Now, don't take this the wrong way," she began.
"Sure sign we're going to take it badly," Stark mumbled under his breath.
Rika's steady gaze met his, "But I don't understand why I'm here. Don't get me wrong," she put hands up, "I'm honored, really, I just don't understand what part I play in this exactly."
"We all saw what you could do, Rika," Romanoff said with one hand on the table and the other placed on her chin, "We think you could be an asset to S.H.I.E.L.D., that's why you're here. We're debriefing you, in short."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa," Rika said sitting straight in her seat now, "I never said I would be apart of this, whatever it is you have going on here. What I can do? Are you kidding me? Beskyttelse is uncontrollable, she'll do more harm than good if she ever gets control of me again. You all saw what she did two weeks ago, she's too dangerous. I will not let her out, ever again."
"We weren't talking about Beskyttelse, Miss Hawthorne," Rogers said reaching a hand out to touch hers.
"We were talking about your other powers," Furry stated, "Your control of the elements and your shielding ability."
Rika went dead still under Loki's touch, "How do you know about that?" she probed her glare leveling on Furry.
"We did some studying, Miss Hawthorne," Furry dropped a thick file in front of her, "You have a bit of a history, it seems."
The air thickened, heated, Rika's hands slowly tightened to fists, "You had no right to snoop into my personal information," Rika said calmly.
"We have every right," Furry continued seemingly oblivious to Rika building anger, "You are on my ship, around my crew, my people. I have to make sure they're safe, it's my job to look into the background of every person on this ship, that includes you. And with your record, you're lucky I'm even allowing you to stay."
Loki put mild pressure on Rika's shoulders, trying to reassure her through his touch, to calm her, he knew he wasn't the only one in the room feeling the temperature change. Banner was slowly easing to the doors. Good, the farther away he was from this, the better.
'Calm, my lille,' he whispered to her mind.
'He had no right,' she seethed, 'No right at all!'
"You could have asked me," Rika said through her teeth, "You didn't have to go around my back."
"We didn't know if you would be truthful or not," Romanoff said softly.
"You didn't ask, though, did you?" she snapped.
The table began to grow hot, Rogers, Natasha, and Stark jerked they're hands off the table, hissing in pain.
"Rika," Thor warned.
"What!" Rika snapped, "They should have come to me! They should have talked to me first!"
The file in front of Rika burst into flame and she leapt back in the chair with a yelp, her eyes huge with shock, "Did I do that?" she questioned sheepishly.
"Yes, lille," Loki chuckled, "I told you to calm yourself."
"I'm sorry," she apologized looking up at him, "I tried, but then She tried to take over and She was making it harder to focus. I'm so sorry."
Loki kissed her forehead softly, "It is alright, love," he assured her softly.
She turned to Furry.
"I take this has happened often?" Rogers asked with an eyebrow raised, sitting back in his chair.
Rika smiled bashfully, "Yeah, that and sometimes freezing glass and making it explode. Making things grow out of concrete and random tornados," she said, getting quieter with each telling, "changing the humidity of the room, drying it out or making it more humid. It kinda depends a lot on my moods, but I can do it on will. I learned how to control it when I was younger, after the first incident."
"What 'incident'?" Stark questioned as he watched her closely.
"Well, I was getting picked on in middle school," she said crossing her arms around herself, "I had just turned thirteen, which is when our individual powers begin to manifest. Some stupid kids were bullying me about my hair, which is naturally this dark purple, has been since the day I was born.
"Well," she said rolling her eyes, "You know how kids can be about stupid stuff like that. Well, these guys had picked on me all year. I moved around a lot. And this time was different. One of the guys pulled my hair, which started a chain reaction. All the other boys, there were four total, started pulling it and poking me, eventually they started hitting me. I tried to stay calm, I really did. Grandmother told me if I couldn't control my emotions, my abilities would do a lot of damage. But no matter how much I told them to stop, begged them to just leave me alone, they kept on. I yelled at them, finally, and the leader slapped my face," her hand reached up and gently touched the spot, "That's when I accidentally threw him back twenty feet."
"Ah," he said and sat back, "Well, that's interesting."
"To say the least," Stark said calmly, taking a drink from his glass.
"What happened next?" Romanoff questioned her focus completely on Rika.
"Well," she smiled sheepishly, "The other boys screamed like little girls and ran off the help the leader, I think his name was Kenneth, I'm not sure though, it's been a few years since then. After they helped him up, they ran and got the teacher. They couldn't believe that a little four-foot five girl could throw a four-foot eight boy twenty feet, but all the boys had the same story. When it came time to ask me, I told them all what had gone on, the kid had left a big, red, ugly hand print on my cheek from where he had slapped me, so it wasn't any stretch to believe he had done it. Thought, I did leave out the throwing part. The boys got suspended and never messed with me again, but we moved after that. Grandmother had to do that every time something happened."
"Wow," Banner said, "That's some story."
"It's not like any of you guys' stories," Rika laughed, "I've got nothing on y'all."
Stark snorted a laugh, some of his drink coming out his nose, "Damn straight on that one," he chuckled.
"Stark, don't antagonize her," Rogers said looking at him seriously.
"What's she gonna do?" he questioned setting his drink down, "Blow-dry my hair for me?"
"She wouldn't," Romanoff stated.
"Unless you picked on her hard enough," Hill said leaning back in her chair causally.
"I can control myself," Rika said with a grimace, "Thanks for the vote of confidence."
"Really?" Stark questioned sitting up in his chair, "Prove it."
Rika smirked, "No," she said plainly.
"Ah, no challenge?" Stark tried to sound deflated, "Loki, what have you been teaching this girl? Have you broken her already?"
It was Loki's turn to try to control his anger, which was usually easy to do. He was never one to be rialed easily, but when Stark made at his and Rika's relationship, it struck a nerve, "I do not see that as being any of your business, Stark," Loki said cooly.
Rika mind brushed his, like the soft caress of the wind, 'Loki, don't let him get at you,' she soothed stroking his hand on her shoulder.
"Come on, Loki," Stark said waving his hand in the air, leaning back lazily in his chair, "We're all men here," he didn't look to the women sitting next to him and see their looks. They were not happy.
He picked up his glass and tilted it back to take a drink, but the liquid stayed in its spot, like it was still flat on the table. Stark pulled it back and stared at it, "Huh," he said and then liquid spilled out all over his lap, causing him to jump up with a shout in startled surprise.
Loki looked down at Rika who was sitting back in a reclined position with her shin leaning in her hand, smiling as Stark swatted at his, now, wet lap. A smirk of pride grew over Loki's lips, so his woman was a prankster, oh, he loved her more and more with each passing second.
"Are you two done yet?" Furry asked leaning on the table, looking between Stark and Rika with his good eye.
Rika smile disappeared in an instant, "Sorry, Mr. Furry," she said softly sitting up in her chair.
'Loki,' she said without looking at him, picking at her dress, 'Sit beside me, please?'
Loki pulled up a chair beside her and sat, positioned towards her enough that she was in his line of sight, but out enough to be able to watch everyone else as well. Rika took his hand in hers and seemed to grow in strength, sitting up straighter and looked much less helpless now.
"The Tessereact aside," Furry continued, standing straight again, "We all need to decided Loki's fate now."
Rika gripped his hand and he looked at her, the fear and tension that was in her grip didn't transfer to her face.
Loki leaned his head into his hand, resting his chin in his palm, he had assumed this would be a meeting to debate what should become of him.
"He will be judged in Asgard for his crimes," Thor interjected as he stepped forward, his arms crossed of his chest.
"That's all well and good," Furry said turning to Thor, "But he committed crimes on Earth, he'll judged and punished here as well."
"What if he helps us?" Romanoff added looking to Furry, her shoulder length, red curls bobbing as she did.
"You think it will make up for the eight thousand deaths on his hands?" Furry questioned almost angrily, turning to Romanoff.
"She has a point," Rogers pointed out, "He could help us find the Tesseract. It may not make up for all the people he murdered, but it's a start."
Rika looked at Loki through the corner of her eyes, he was very still and, though he kept stead pressure on her hand he held, she could see in his eyes he was very far away from her in his mind. She wanted to reach out, try to give him the calm she felt, but she was afraid he would pull away from her mentally and, without knowing how, she knew it would hurt her. So she kept to her own psyche.
Hill sat up and held a hand out to Furry, "I know what he is guilt of," she began, "But considering the alternative, it would be best to have him on our side. If he doesn't coƶperate with us, the invasion could come and we would have no way of being able to stop it."
"Wait," Stark stand holding up a hand as if to stop them, "You saying that he should be one of us? Be on our team?"
"Yes," Hill said meeting his gaze with a hard look, "That's exactly what I'm saying."
"And I'm saying no," Stark countered.
"You don't have a say in who is allowed in on this team," Rogers informed Stark, "It's not your call."
"Then I won't be a part of it," Stark said standing from his chair.
"Sit back down, Mr. Stark," Furry said in a commanding voice.
"How about no?" Stark snapped back at him, "I won't have any part of him or this team if he's on it."
"You don't really have a choice do you, Mr. Stark?" Furry asked.
Stark made for the door, "Tony, you can't just leave us to fend off this invasion by ourselves?" Romanoff said standing.
"Apparently, you don't need me," Stark snapped, "You had wonder boy," pointing Rogers, "Thunder head over there," gesturing to Thor, "Little Miss Kick Ass," pointing to Romanoff, "The Hulk," tilting his head to Banner, "And now this psycho! Where is the room for me?"
"Stop it!" Rika shouted and stood up, pushing her chair back so hard it clanged to the floor, "You are acting like children, all of you! There is an invasion coming to Earth and you're bickering over who gets to be on the team? Have you lost your minds! Big deal! So what if Loki's going to be part of the Avengers for whatever short amount of time that is! If it stops those things, whatever they are, from getting to Earth, what does it matter who played a part in it! Jesus, you act like you won't get all the fame," she aimed at Tony, "Everyone on Earth knows you, Tony! If you play a part in it, I guarantee, millions will know, hell, maybe even billions! So what if Loki helps us find and shut of the Tesseract! At least Earth is saved!"
Everyone was silent, staring at Rika after her outburst was finished. Her chest was heaving, pressing against her dress tighter than it was before as she leaned on the table, her face was flushed from a mix of anger and embarrassment.
"All you had to say was, 'Tony, no, don't go, we need you,'" he said calmly as he took his seat, "No need to get dramatic."
Rika leveled her eyes on him, even as a smile crept to her face.
"She has a point, though," Rogers said.
"Yes," Furry said almost with a smile, "She does. I think we should put it to a vote. Those in favor?"
Hill, Romanoff, Thor and Rika raised their hands, "Those opposed?"
Stark, Banner and Rogers raised their hands.
"Steve you just said Rika was right!" Romanoff exclaimed.
"Yeah, and Stark has a point too," Steve said calmly, "He's a murderer, he planned the invasion the entire time. How do we know he still isn't really just trying to use us?"
"Why don't you stop talking about him like he's not here," Rika said frustrated, "Loki," she pulled at his hand, "Tell them, tell them your changed, tell them you're on our side."
"What can I say," Loki asked her looking deeply into her eyes, she could see the pain in them, "What words could I utter that would convince them other wise, when they are set against me?"
"You have to try," Rika said her voice cracking. She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes, pricking them.
"There is nothing I could say to take back what I have done, Rika," he said gently and stroked her cheek, "Nothing I say will change what they have already decided."
"I won't except that!" she bit out as a tear fell from her eyes, "Do you all hear me!"
She turned to face them, letting them see her pain, her tears, "I am not dense," she said through her teeth, "I know Loki has done horrible things, I know he's killed many people," she met each of their eyes, "But he is a good man, he's changed. Can't you see with your own eyes? I love him, do you all understand me? I love him, and if you turn him away when he could help you save Earth, I will have to part of this. I will take Loki and leave. And you know, there is nothing you can do to stop me."
They all fell silent once again, each looking away at something as long as they weren't meeting her eyes.
"Well," Furry said breaking the silence, "The vote was in favor of Loki, so it's a moot at this point."
Rogers seemed to want to say something, dispute the matter, but he stayed silent, just like a solider to just take orders, Rika thought. She shock her head, he was part of this team too, he had a right to voice his opinion's why he didn't was beyond her.
"So," Banner said after a few moments of, not inconsiderable, silence, "This is us? The Avengers?"
"Seems like," Rogers said.
Thor, Loki, Banner-Hulk, Stark, Romanoff, Rogers, and now Rika.
"You know, we should come up with a name for our new team-mate," Stark said with a smile.
"Name?" Rika questioned.
"Yeah," he said with a wide grin, "We all have names. Hulk, Captain America, Iron Man, Black Widow."
"What about Thor?" she asked, her hand on her jaw.
"Eh," he shrugged his shoulders, "Thor works, why change it. But, you don't have one. I call for a vote!"
Oh, God, Rika thought, here we go.
