They end up on the roof together, under the stars and all that romantic bullshit.
Jaycee changed into sweat pants and her long t-shirt and shed her heels and dress. Her hair is still up though, a pile of curls held together with bands of gold and pins. He has to admit it actually looks tamed instead of the riot it normally is. He's dressed simply too and anyone looking up at the condo roof would probably just see a guy and a girl having a nice evening conversation.
Except they're not normal, not in the least.
Jaycee dangles her legs off the edge, a daring display for her. "Not afraid of heights anymore?" he asks her as she kicks her heels in tandem against the side of the house.
"Not afraid," she says wryly. "But still definitely not comfortable so keep your distance or I will throw you off. I wouldn't even have to pretend it was an accident to the Avengers."
He raises an eyebrow and she smirks at him. "I seem to recall an incident involving a flying Asgardian boat, New York City and you absolutely screaming your head off," he says and she gives him a sour twist of her lips. "Barton must have some interesting training methods if he got you to stop having that adverse of a reaction to falling through dimensional loops and crashing into skyscrapers. And Tony is right, you keep scowling like that and you'll have wrinkles."
Jay can't help herself. She bursts out laughing so hard she rocks backwards, stomach hurting she's cackling so hard. Loki looks at her with worried eyes, afraid she's either finally lost it or that she's going to crack a rib. Unbidden a smile creases his eyes too and soon the two of them are laughing hysterically on the roof.
When Jay finally manages to catch her breath, she forgets who she is with and nudges his shoulder with hers. "You agreed with Tony," she says, still giggling a little. "And you totally painted a mental image for me of what it looked like when we skydived from Asgard to NYC. That flower vendor's face was hilarious when you took out his stand with your stupid Asgardian boots." She dissolves into another fit of laughter, eyes tearing up.
Loki looks at her with one eyebrow raised, unsure if her last loose screw has fallen out. When she finally catches her breath, she looks at him with a smile on her face. "Come on, you have to admit that was funny," she says. He shrugs nonchalantly. She makes a rude noise. "Stick in the mud," she accuses.
He wrinkles his face in mock confusion and she giggles again to herself. She drums her legs against the side of the condo, looking up at the sky, looking far more relaxed and happy that he has ever really seen her despite the fact that she was just involved in a brawl at a physics banquet. He must be projecting his thoughts because she looks at him with those uncanny eyes and says, "I am happy, you know. In general, my life is happy now. I don't see that as a bad thing. Do you?"
She cocks her head at him, bird-like as she perches on the edge of the roof, waiting for him to say something. He could talk to her about what happened tonight at the banquet or those tense moments in the lab looking at each other's scars. He could even tell her about his bargain with Hel but even when that thought occurs to him, a barrier goes up high in his mind. Her eyes narrow as though she senses it, which she probably does but she doesn't pry.
In truth, he just wants to sit here in silence and watch the stars stay still with her. For once in his life, Loki, god of lies, wants to enjoy a true moment in his life with an honest woman.
But even as he leans back on his palms, legs hanging next to hers, he feels something like a premonition tighten the atmosphere, make it change, become malevolent. She must feel it too because she springs to a crouch on the edge of the roof, eyes scanning the night darkness for whatever is causing this tremor. He stands up next to her and it is then that he sees a flicker of movement on the edge of the roof.
Time slows, her senses go afire with tension, muscles prepping for battle. Loki looks at her with those too green, too familiar eyes and yells, "Run, Jaycee!"
Her full name on his lips jolts her out of her tired stupor faster than anything else ever could have. She hesitates for only a nanosecond, then grabs his hand tightly and sends a telekinetic pulse at the band of unknown warriors climbing up over the edge of the roof. He looks at her like she's lost her mind but she barely sees as they sprint away towards the opposite edge of the roof from where the warriors are coming, her tiny body pulling him along with a surprising amount of strength.
"Hold on!" she hollers over her shoulder and then jumps off the edge of the roof.
The sudden downward acceleration stuns him momentarily but not so much as the fact that they are about to become roadkill. They freefall for a moment before Jay pushes hard with her mind and puts up a telekinetic barrier between them and the ground. They touch down a little roughly and Loki raises an eyebrow at her trying to hide how shaky that felt. She shrugs. "Haven't gotten the landing right yet," she says nonchalantly. "And by the way? That's the reason I'm not afraid of heights anymore."
They warriors are cursing behind them, having to rappel or take the stairs to follow them. Half didn't make it to the rooftop and will be running around the sides of the building now. They have precious seconds to gain an advantage in ground. "We stick together," she tosses the words over her shoulder at him, hair rippling back at the speed they are running at. "I honestly don't trust you not to bolt and you have answers I need." She gives him a rather cheeky grin. "Consider yourself my prisoner."
He raises one eyebrow and the twitch of a smirk would have her laughing if she didn't need all of her breath to power herself forward. She notices she is still holding onto him and that somehow their hands are now entwined. Like, fingers laced and everything.
Stars above. She'll deal with this later.
"Are you trying to pull my arm out of its socket?" Loki asks conversationally as they hang a hard right at the coffee shop on the corner. "You're going to need to pull harder than that."
Jay yanks hard on his arm just to be spiteful. He lets out an involuntary "ow" of protest. An arrow whizzes past her head, close enough to send a rippling breeze through her hair. She risks a glance behind her.
Their pursuers are still coming. "Persistent lot, no?" she says.
"Credit where it's due," Loki shrugs.
"They're Vanir, aren't they?" she asks between deep breaths.
"It would appear so," Loki says, barely keeping up with her pace. "Do we have to go at Mach Two? I think Mach One would be just a doable." In response she accelerates, taking them straight into the heart of downtown, her hair coming loose and slapping him in the face. "Do you have a plan or is it just tire them out?"
"Hush," she admonishes. "Need breath for breathing."
"Wouldn't you be better off under the protection of your precious Spandex Crew?" Loki asks.
She keeps her face as humorless as possible when she looks at him. "They could use the sleep. Mustn't wake."
He laughs despite himself, despite the situation and she gives him such a cocky smile before she pulls a knife from her belt and holds it up menacingly. He doesn't have time to be shocked before she throws the knife, the blade skimming his ear. He turns to watch its trajectory as it turns in the starlight to bury itself to the hilt in the calf of one of their pursuers.
They pound the pavement hard. "You almost looked afraid I'd knife you," Jaycee says conversationally as they sprint around gas pumps and dormant cars at the one gas station in town.
"Try incredulous," Loki retorts. "I still don't know where you were hiding that blade."
"Take a guess," Jaycee says, her voice sultry despite the fact that she is dodging debris on a pothole ridden street. He pulls on her arm to get her to look at him and she does, a half embarrasses flush on her face, the other half challenging in a way he's never seen before.
She doesn't let him complete his analysis. "Come on," she says, voice husky like she's struggling to control how it comes out. Goodness are they flirting? In the middle of a chase through New Mexican streets at some ungodly hour in the morning. She risks a glance back at him. Oh no, by the Norns they are. His gaze is heated, something she's never seen before. Thank goodness it's dark because she's definitely the deepest shade of crimson present in any Crayola box.
"But seriously," Loki says, "Why run away from sanctuary?"
Jaycee keeps moving, seeing soldiers moving towards them from the right, trying to head them off. She lets go of his hand for a moment and puts on a burst of speed and jumps, grabbing onto the lowest rung of an old rusty fire escape. She does a pullup to grab the next rung and levers herself up onto the iron catwalk. She looks back down towards him and gives him a look that can only say "WELL?"
Somewhat less gracefully than Jay, Loki makes his way up the rickety ladder. While he struggles, she enjoys it, speaking to him as if they are chatting in a coffee shop. "No offense to any of the Avengers but right now I don't trust that Fury doesn't have his hands in this somehow. They want me on the throne of Vanaheim and I'm not interested. Knowing them, if we'd stayed and had the fight that would have ensued, it would have gone to negotiations that would have not taken my opinion into account. I rest their judgement in all but I'm not one of them and I plan to keep it that way until I know that I'm not just a bargaining chip."
She holds out a hand and helps him out just as the first soldier rounds the corner to the alley with the fire escape. "After you," she says, ushering him upwards. They hit the stairs at a run, the metal creaking underneath. Arrows ping off the metal, and Jay deflects any that come too close with small telekinetic shoves.
They mount the roof and Jay leads him like an expert between air conditioning units, staying low. She stops him for a moment, both of them catching their breath, straining to hear if the soldiers are following them up. "Do you have a plan or are we just going to run around town all night?" Loki asks between pants. Jay holds up a finger to silence him, ears cocked and he rolls his eyes. "Not that I don't enjoy running, but-,"
She cuts him off by clamping a hand over his mouth. "Just, shhhh, for one freaking nanosecond," she hisses at him. He raises an eyebrow at her over her hand on his mouth and she flinches backwards. She scans the area, her body tensed. "Something isn't-," But she never finishes that sentence.
Out of nowhere an arrow slices through the air, speeding for them. Without hesitation, Jaycee stands up and snags it out of the air, eyes already swiveling to see where the attacker is. Still stunned by her telepathic catch, Loki is slow on the updraw as she yells, "Goblins!"
She is indeed right. Goblins and trolls are swarming over the rooftops, engaging the soldiers from Vanaheim and making a beeline for her. Loki grabs her arm. "I'd say Tyr knows where you are," he says and the two of them survey the surroundings, suddenly lacking an escape routes. They had intended to track their foes from Vanaheim from the rooftops but now they are trapped. In this small town, the buildings are slightly too far apart to jump between as they would be in a big city.
The soldiers from Vanaheim seem just as surprised as Jaycee and Loki, engaging the goblins and trolls and shouting orders in a language Jaycee does not understand. There is little time for conversation as a horde of goblins mark their position and converge on them. Loki motions sharply to Jay and she slides her second hidden blade into his hand, leaving herself with only her mind and her training and her powers to defend herself. They stand back to back, preparing for the onslaught.
The first troll to reach them tries to pounce from a neighboring building. They duck as a unit, Jaycee delivering a high kick to the back of its head as it sails by. An axe comes flying for Loki but Jaycee deflects it telekinetically and sends it hurtling into the chest of a goblin. They move as a unit, slashing, stabbing, shoving, kicking.
Time blurs and soon it becomes difficult to discern who is fighting whom. Soldiers from Vanaheim take out trolls but also try to get to Jaycee in the melee. Goblins hack at Loki but also pounce on the highly-outnumbered soldiers from Vanaheim. Jay tries not to think so much and to just move, to feel the presences around her and react. If she stops to think she'll surely try to figure out how Tyr knew where to send his army of rejects. She won't admit it, even to herself, that she is terrified that Tyr is going to magically appear here and take her away again.
"I know this is going to sound strange," Loki yells over the din as he lashes out, impaling a goblin in the chest, "But if you and I work together, we just might be able to get clear of this rabble."
"I'm all about practicality," Jay hollers back. He grabs her wrist and swings her around. At the same moment, she jumps, putting all of her strength into twisting herself up and over. Loki holds tight as he swings her around in body in an arc. She lashes out hard with her feet, clearing the space around them and gaining them a moment of reprieve before the next wave hits. She lands, her chest flush up against his back and stumbles hard, falling into him.
"The Vanir seem to be winning," Loki says to her over his shoulder. "You have a plan for them when we eliminate Tyr's army?"
He turns to steady her but what he sees horrifies him. Jaycee has stumbled into him, not from her usual clumsiness, but because an arrow shaft is protruding obscenely from her back. She looks up at him, eyes unfocused and sinks to her knees, swaying in pain.
He sees it all again in a moment, Sigyn lying at his feet, wounded and in danger. He loses a moment of the present as he slides into the past, seeing the queen of Vanaheim dying at his feet. Then the flashback fades and he is slammed into reality as a goblin lurches towards him with a battle cry. Jaycee collapses completely, blood shimmering wet in the darkness of the night.
He has no time to help her as a Vanir man runs towards him, shrieking a battle cry. He lashes upwards, slicing into the man's cheek, blood spraying his face. He lets the fury emerge and kicks the man savagely in the chest, buckling the man around his boot. Someone screams something in Vanir as the man picks himself up for another assault. The man stops, hesitates and the man who yelled at him fights his way towards Loki.
They regard each other for a moment, the Vanir man looking at Jaycee's shuddering form laying on the ground. "We will protect you. Save her," he says. He whistles and the Vanir men surround Loki and Jay, forming a wall of protection between them and the trolls and goblins. The leader nods at Loki and then turns sharply, swinging his sword to decapitate a troll.
Loki knows there will be a price for this but he drops to Jaycee's side. Something isn't right. She's shivering uncontrollably as if with fever. She's fallen onto her back hard; the arrow shaft having broken off in her fall. She's gasping hard for air, unable to get a full breath. He rolls her over, none too gently in his haste and sees the remaining arrow shaft sticking out of her back, slick with blood. It's lower than he initially thought and with dread he realizes that it may have clipped her lung and that's why she isn't breathing right.
Just get it over with. She thinks at him hard. He grabs the shaft and yanks hard, her blood sliding over his hands. She screams a muffled yelp of agony and flounders on the ground, trying to alleviate the pain. Loki throws the arrow shaft away, nailing a troll between the eyes with his blind shot. He presses down hard on her back to slow the bleeding as he works up the energy necessary to heal her. He doesn't know if he can bypass the lock on the magic dampening device still strapped to his ankle but is relieved of that worry when Jay reaches back towards him and motions something unintelligible with her hand. The cuff springs open on his ankle and she slumps forward, coughing hard, trying very hard not to cry out.
He doesn't hesitate once the cuff clacks away. He presses down hard, sending as much of his magic into her punctured lung as possible. Her back arches unnaturally and she goes rigid. Jaycee lets out a silent scream, her telekinetic power kicking in. She sends out a shock wave, uncontrolled, that flattens everyone in a mile radius, knocking them clean off their feet. Loki is the only one unaffected and he grabs onto her head, looking into her eyes. They have a moment before the men recover and come for them and he needs to know her move.
She looks up at him, trying to communicate something to him. She's still struggling to breathe, eyes cloudy with pain and desperation. Tell Thor what happened. She sends at him mentally. Let the Vanir take me, they can take care of the goblins and I'm safer with them than with Tyr.
No, he argues, I'm not leaving you. He almost adds again to that sentence but catches himself just in time. We can still face them and get out of here.
Don't try to kid yourself. It's out of character. She manages to raise an eyebrow at him. I'm good, but I'm not that good and I'm pretty sure there's an arrow head still lodged in me somewhere.
He brushes his hand over her back subconsciously, fingering the wound. She moves in pain under him, eyes closing tightly in pain. You need to go. She tells him. Leave me here. You can go, be free to do whatever you want. I won't put that cuff back on and you can leave this all behind.
And for a moment he is tempted, sorely tempted to do as she says and leave this war behind. But he knows he cannot, knows that they both die if he does. She does not know this and is offering him a way to run, to be free of the Avengers and of her. But the truth is, even if he wasn't bound to Hel, he cannot leave her, becauseā¦. becauseā¦.
He turns to the Vanir leader. "She's badly injured," he tells the man. "Can you get us out of here? I will come with you as a prisoner for insurance."
Jaycee grabs his arm. No, no, what are you- but he cuts off her mental thoughts and the protests forming on her lips by sending a quick blast of magic into her that cuts off her voice and stops her from using her power momentarily. She looks at him in shock, a look of horror and betrayal on her face. He pretends he doesn't see it and keeps his gaze on the Vanir leader. He holds his hands out to the man who looks at him consideringly. His men are finishing off the last of Tyr's force and he motions to one of his commanders. The man steps forward and binds Loki's wrists in tight shackles, a make the trickster has never seen before. Another Vanir man kneels at Jaycee's side and very gently picks her up in his arms, her body tiny against his armor. She struggles weakly but Loki surreptiously sends a bolt of magic towards her and she falls limp in the man's arms.
The Vanir leader watches this with guarded eyes. He motions to his men, says something in Vanir and they all look towards Jaycee, unconscious in one of the commander's arms. The men look as though they want to cheer but worried glances are exchanged looking at her state. The leader looks at Loki, grabbing onto the cuffs on his wrists. "We will take her to Vanaheim to heal her," he tells the god of mischief. "Any trouble from you and my men have been ordered to kill you."
Loki looks at him with his signature smirk. "I'd expect no less from a Vanir commander," he says conversationally. The leader pulls him close, so they are face to face as the men prepare some device to make an interstellar jump.
"I know who you are trickster," the man hisses so that only they can hear. The men look towards them with varying degrees of disdain and loathing. "We all know the stories of your betrayal. You step one inch out of line and I will not hesitate to end you. I don't care what your scheme is, or why you are with our queen but if you put her life in danger, I will make it slow and painful. Are we clear?"
"Crystal," Loki hisses in his face. "And just so we are clear, if you hurt her in any way, if you use her as a figurehead for your damn revolution, be assured that I will end you." Slightly surprised by Loki's vehement defense, the leader leans back from the trickster god.
"So be it," he says. He whistles to two of his men who come over and roughly handle Loki, half dragging him towards the main party, where two of the men are cranking a wheel on a device he has never seen before. With a snap of electricity, the air in front of them on the edge of the roof shimmers and slowly, a familiar rainbow portal opening. One particularly burly and scarred man pushes Loki roughly forward when he tries to get closer to Jaycee to see her.
She is stirring in the arms of the soldier who lifted her. The soldier is looking down at her with something like reverence and Loki wants to wipe that look off his face. Jay comes to in the soldier's arm and he says something reassuring but he hasn't had any experiences with Jaycee Strong before and therefore does not expect her to clock him with a punch that would have decked Thor. She is up and trying to run before anyone can react and Loki tries to reach for her but is pulled back roughly, a fist grazing his temple and making him wobbly.
Jaycee doesn't make it far but Loki can hear her thoughts screaming through the night. THOR! She roars, staggering as the men grab her. BARTON! Vanaheim, adrenaline, hurry! Loki doesn't understand the last part but suddenly Jaycee is convulsing on the ground, eyes rolled back in her head, limbs shaking uncontrollably. He tries again to get to her but the man guarding him punches him hard in the stomach, pushing all of the air forcefully out of his body. He clacks his knees hard on the rooftop and catches a glimpse of Jaycee seizing hard on the ground. He does not know what is happening to her, but the Vanir leader does not hesitate.
"Remorag, take the prisoner. Bjern, Kaiton, carry the queen!" he hollers. "We need to get her back to Njordon and the healers now!"
The surly, scarred guard hauls Loki bodily to his feet and pushes him towards the portal. The young man from before and his friend pick up Jaycee who is still spasming hard and carry her as best as they can towards the portal. As the Bifrost portal fills his vision Loki fervently, for the first time in decades, hopes that Thor has heard Jay's call and will do his best to come after her. He sees a sweep of Jay's auburn hair and rainbow light and then, nothing but the vastness of space.
