Disclaimer: I don't own Avengers.
Many thanks to my beta :)
Thor handed him the pad again. He had talked to Stark a few times over the past couple of days, and had overheard Thor talking to him as well. Things that didn't need to be directed to him were usually redirected to Thor or the agents. He had overheard that the fighting was settling down, and they would probably be there either that night or tomorrow to investigate in person.
He supposed he was grateful, the more agents/Avengers meant there was less face to face time with Thor. If they were all there, perhaps he could ignore the blond completely. Loki was doing his best at the moment, but with only three people, and with the agents practically ignoring him, it was difficult to ignore Thor completely. However, very few words had been exchanged between the two of them. But that was mostly because Loki had made it clear he didn't want to talk to Thor. At least not until he knew his own mind.
This time though as he was handed the StarkPad, it was not Stark's face who greeted him, rather instead it was the other side of The Hulk. Loki's eyes narrowed at him and he nearly turned off the device then and there. This man's counterpart had hurt him severely. His blood boiled at the memory, but he was not nearly as angry as he had been when it had happened. It was largely due to this that he was able to remind himself that the human side of the Hulk was a scientist, and would probably have helpful insights into the current problem.
"Hello."
"Hello," Loki replied coldly. He could be professional when it suited him like it did at the moment. The man sighed.
"What have you found out?"
"Why don't you ask Thor?" Loki said a smirk knowing that Thor didn't understand much more than Armarks bad free, Avengers good. It was probably also the reason the scientist had asked to talk to him. Loki was the one who understood what they were after. The others had never ever heard of The Armarks before he had brought it their attention.
"Cause I'm asking you," the man replied. Loki smirked knowing that he was protecting Thor. The raven-haired being wasn't sure exactly what his thoughts were on Thor. Loki wasn't even sure that he hated Thor anymore, but he was used to putting as many verbal barbs into Thor as he could. Even before they became enemies they would often tease each other.
No, he didn't want to think about that.
"Tony told you we're coming either tonight or tomorrow, right?" The scientist asked to which Loki nodded. "So I'd rather be caught up now."
Loki sighed, because there wasn't really much to say. They had spent more than the better part of two days communicating with humans. The only way that he had been able to deduce the Armarks from the normal humans was a guess. A guess based simply on a stare that he wouldn't be able to explain to the Avengers or anyone else. He hated having to work with the Avengers. Especially the man called Banner whose other side had smashed him into the wall. But he knew what the alternative was, and he liked that even less. He decided for once to be honest, at least partially.
"There is no way to tell which ones are hosts and which ones aren't so far," Loki admitted. All he had were the stares, but he was sure that the Avengers wouldn't just let him tell him they were Armarks without the truth or at least some kind of tangible proof. Nor did they have any real plan on what to do with the hosts when they found out someone was one. Loki knew he should be the one to think of it, but he was tired.
His mind and body were exhausted. Despite Iron Man apparently reluctantly paying for his hotel room, as he had groused about all the times that he had talked to him, Loki couldn't find any lasting sleep. Leaving him in a perpetual state of exhaustion. Any time Loki tried to sleep, all he could think about was the fact that he was in the same town as the hosts. One of them could explode in the night and make their way into his head, then he would be a host again.
"There's no sign on them that says 'Armarks this way'?" Banner asked. It was an attempt at a joke, at least Loki was pretty sure it was. But the exhaustion that permeated his being made him too tired to laugh, nor did he find anything about The Armarks amusing anyways.
"No," he replied simply. Loki felt that he should know what to do, but he didn't, and he hated that more anything. He always liked to think himself as smart. The man with a plan, even if most of his plans hadn't really ended up the way he had at the time hoped. Did he still want to rule Midgard? Did he still want Jotunheim destroyed? He didn't know. Loki shook his head and tried to get his mind back on finding and stopping the Armarks, and away from the effects of The Armarks.
"So the Armarks feed on anger?"
Loki processed what the scientist had asked and nodded. The scientist looked like he was thinking hard.
"So does the other guy... I mean sort of," Loki blinked and vaguely remembered that was what the scientist called the Hulk. He really didn't want to hear about the Hulk right now and was about to change the subject when the scientist spoke again.
"He only shows up when I'm angry. Well, I'm always angry. But he shows up when my pulse goes over 200 beats a minute," Loki processed this and it spun around in his head even as he heard Banner say.
"You don't think that they're related do you?" The scientist asked sounding hopeful as if maybe they were related and as if capturing the Armarks could also stop what was happening to him.
Loki shook his head.
"If it were the Armarks it wouldn't have turned you green. There are no distinct visible changes in a host. At least nothing that couldn't be explained by other causes. Also if it was the Armarks, then at some point you would have expelled them. That would have either hurt or killed you, either way, you would have noticed." The scientist nodded but looked a little crestfallen. The scientist looked like he was trying to hide it but Loki was able to see through it.
"Alright, well, I'll guess I'll see you later tonight or in the morning," the scientist said distracted and clicked off the screen. Loki handed the Starkpad back to his broth- Thor and hurriedly made his way to his own room. He may have caught a few unwanted hours of sleep here and there, but his bed was still as neatly made is it had been on his first night. Largely due to his stubbornness to not willing fall prey to slumber and the nightmares that it brought. He had also stolen more of the vile drink called coffee. With it, he usually only had to endure an hour or so of sleep before he got back to trying to trace where The Armarks were. A difficult feat without much proof or barely anything to go on.
Ignoring the inviting, soft bed again he sat at the much harder desk. He stared down at the maps and limited files he had, blinking as sleep started to rear it's ugly head again. He rose and set to making some of what was called instant coffee. A truly disgusting blend; its only redeeming grace was that for short periods of time it made him a lot less tired. As he waited for the coffee machine to change the powder into a liquid he peered out of his window.
It was night. There was only a sliver of the moon showing in the sky bathing the town underneath only weakly in its rays. His eyes though were drawn to the stars where were plentiful in the small town. Something he had noticed early on was how many stars one could see. The constellations were unfamiliar here. When he was younger he had spent many years searching for constellations, only that had been on Asgard. The planets were aligned differently on Midgard. Loki shook his head banishing the thoughts of Asgard again. Instead, he focused in on Banner's words. There was something about them that was bugging him. Something he should know. What was it? Loki stood up straight as he suddenly knew.
Banner.
If Banner's monster come out when his pulse reached 200 beats per minute then likely the hosts would trigger at the same rate or similar rate. Which at least tell them when they were reacting and why. He couldn't make the Avengers believe someone was an Armark just because he said so. But he could certainly find someone who was extremely angry, and make the Avengers see it that way.
At least now there was a way to track them before they went too violent and exploded. Now, if only he could sleep.
Loki spent the morning going around putting monitoring spells on all the people he suspected to be hosts. He went alone and left a duplicate in his bed just in case Thor or the Agents came to check on him. Loki came back just in time to see Thor staring at him. Loki just snapped his fingers and the duplicate went away. Thor turned around and stared at him.
"Where were you?" Thor asked accusingly and Loki rolled his eyes.
"I took a walk." It wasn't a complete lie. Teleporting would be an unnecessary and flagrant use of power. Until they knew how quickly it was going to go through these people, Loki wasn't going to use his more draining powers unless he had to.
"The Avengers will be here in less than an hour," Thor said like he was trying to figure Loki out, and Loki rolled his eyes again. Thor had never understood him, he certainly was unlikely to figure it out now.
"Alright," Loki replied noncommittally.
"Loki what is-" Loki stiffened; he didn't want to talk to Thor, not about him or anything that mattered.
"Thor why don't go wait in your own room before I make you leave," Loki said stiffly. Thor looked briefly like he wanted to argue but in the end just sighed and left. Loki heard the knock on his door a few minutes later and ignored it assuming it was Thor.
"Technically since I'm paying for it, this is my room, so you better damn well answer the door." Stark, Loki thought, was at least as annoying as Thor. Loki flicked his hand and the door opened to reveal Stark, and Banner, and Captain America all standing in his doorway. They looked strange without their superhero outfits. Even though he had seen all of them that way in the tower, except for Captain America who had apparently been elsewhere.
"The rest of SHIELD will be here tomorrow and Fury really wants to talk to you," Stark said sounding really happy about it. Fury. Damn, he had forgotten about the angry man who ran S.H.I. . "He wanted to come today, but things in New York need still need a little smoothing out."
His eyes focused slowly on the Captain, the only one of three of them that he hadn't talked to with StarkPad pad. He remembered creating the illusion on himself that made him look like the Midgardian in front of him when Thor had broken him out of prison. Loki shook his head clearing his thoughts. Armarks first, then he would figure out whether or not he felt guilty for faking his death.
"So apparently if I've interpreted the situation right, so far, you guys got squat," Stark said, sitting down across him on his desk chair and leaning it backward. Stark looked as comfortable as one would think he would be in his own house, not like he was Loki's unfamiliar hotel room. Stark wasn't right, but Loki couldn't exactly share the other part of the equation so he reluctantly nodded.
"Yet," Loki clarified.
"You don't even have a single host," Stark said.
"We will," Loki said slightly surprised to find his voice more than slightly defensive.
"You don't know how fast it will spread."
"I-"
"You aren't even sure how many there are," Loki glared at Stark. He really didn't like him. Before, Loki would have killed him. But either the knowledge that if he did it would affect his ability to stop The Armarks, or he was less bloodthirsty than he used. One of those stopped him from killing or even injuring the Midgardian in front of him.
"What is your point?" Loki hissed through his teeth.
"No point," Stark said flippantly, "just pointing it out." Loki was grateful that that was the moment the pulse alarm he had instituted that morning went off.
"We may have one," he said before grabbing the smaller pad that could also be used to communicate from the table that was between them. He quickly changed his face and teleported away.
