Let's just leave Clint and Nat in that fire and go to one week before all that happened, shall we? I did actually try to get their timelines to coincide, but Loki's part just moved way slower for some reason...
Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or any characters associated with them.
Loki and Fury's gaze held for a few agonizingly long moments. The tension in the air was nearly palpable; one could cleanly slice through it with a knife. Refusing to give the director any satisfaction in knowing the fear inside was slowly increasing, the trickster narrowed his eyes and pushed himself off the couch, his eyes never wavering from their gaze.
"I was hoping my intelligence was wrong," The man said darkly, glaring at the trickster.
He bit his lip, knowing how many nasty replies his silvertongue had already conjured. This was not the place for them; not now, not yet. Instead, he kept his gaze, remaining with a feigned air of confidence as he glared back.
Tony edged off the couch with an eye roll, purposefully thudding noisily against the ground. "It usually is," He replied easily, none too happy with the man entering uninvited.
Fury crossed his arms, his glare intensifying and his locked gaze with the trickster never wavering. The silence continued for several seconds, anxiety and apprehension growing in each of them.
"What is he doing here?" The director finally asked, his tone near a growl.
"I asked myself the same thing," The billionaire muttered, though he seemed to go unheard.
Thor responded, ignoring Tony's comment, "I assure you, my friend, that my brother means no harm to you or your planet." Loki bit harder on his tongue to keep himself from countering the warrior's terminology and facts.
"Somehow I don't believe that," Fury said simply, striding forward, the elevator doors sliding shut behind him.
"Why should you?" Loki said, the sound of his voice echoing in his ears. "After all that Thor has done for you, after all he's done to prove himself reliable, would you not trust his word?"
Fury narrowed his good eye. "I trust Thor. It's you I don't trust."
The trickster smirked. "Well, that goes without saying."
Thor elbowed him, quietly, a silent gesture that told him he should stop talking. Loki flared at him and rubbed his side. Though he loved to talk, to let his words slide so easily off his silvertongue, he knew when it was time to still his speech and need no reminder.
"Why are you here?" The director asked.
He didn't respond immediately, because he knew someone else would. What he didn't expect was the answer to not come from Thor's mouth.
"Fixing loose ends in his punishment," Pepper replied, her gaze at the man hardening. Loki was quickly realizing not even those the director considered his allies were very fond of him. He smirked bitterly for a moment. It reminded him of his relationship with Sif; allies that hated each other.
Fury finally shifted his gaze from the trickster's to stare at the group with scrutiny. "If that is all there is, then why is he still here."
"Because it involves Barton," Tony snapped. "But you sent him off on a super secret spy mission, so technically this is your fault."
His glare hardening, Fury continued with feigned calm, "I don't want him anywhere near my agents, especially Barton,"
Loki fingered the ball in his hand, tossing it in the air nonchalantly. "Then he'll continue to suffer," he lied smoothly. His magic was almost, if not completely, dormant in the Hawk's mind as far as he was aware, but creating leeway was the best option for him right now.
The man's gaze intensified at his words. "He's not suffering," He responded, though a hint of doubt was underlying his statement.
Throwing the ball a little higher, the trickster arched an eyebrow. "Is he? How can you be so sure?"
He realized silently the veiled confusion in Pepper's eyes as she knew the Hawk was most certainly not suffering and Thor was as oblivious to the lie as Fury was. Tony, however, quickly picked up on it, quicker than he had first anticipated.
"He's been having dreams," the genius said, perking up. "Nightmares, really."
Bewilderment laced through the man's features as his good eye narrowed farther. Loki knew the man didn't trust him, but also knew he trusted Stark more than the trickster; granted, that increase in trust probably wasn't overly extensive. As the ball fell back into his palm he wondered idly why the billionaire was taking his side. He supposed it was because he secretly cared about the wellbeing of his hawkeyed comrade. That was the most logical conclusion, after all.
He noticed how Pepper's eyes suddenly lit up as something seemed to click in her mind. She piped up, adding her own piece, "He was also knocked unconscious, supposedly because of Loki."
The ball landed in his hand, his grip on it tightening as he furrowed his brow at the newfound information. He knew the Hawk had collapsed, claiming he had seen through his eyes, but he hadn't quite realized they were blaming him for it. Granted, it inadvertently was his fault, as it was his magic that had tethered their minds.
Fury eyed the four carefully, looking quite exasperated. Finally he glowered back into the trickster's eyes that shone faintly with mischief.
"You only fix Barton. That's it," He responded firmly.
Loki smiled wickedly. "I wouldn't dream of doing otherwise," He replied, the words rolling off his tongue like silk.
They continued their glare match for a few more minutes, the trickster's roguish smile never faltering and the director's indifferent expression never changing. Eventually, Fury muttered something under his breath that only Loki heard, before motioning to Stark.
"I believe your twenty four-hours are up," He stated with feigned seriousness, the faintest hint of a smirk tugging at his lips.
Tony's expression turned confused before sudden recognition brought coinciding terror and mischief to his eyes. With a disguised smirk and feigned confidence, the genius followed the director, leading him back into the elevator with a hand on his back.
"Yeah, Nick, you're gonna love this…" His voice died away as the doors slid closed. He glanced back to Pepper for a moment, silently conveying to keep an eye on the trickster.
She nodded in response, flicking her gaze back at Loki to find his mischievous smirk and glare had yet to waver. No one spoke for a minute or two, the silence interrupted only by the incessant rain.
"Well, that went better than I had anticipated," The trickster muttered finally, his gaze remaining affixed on the elevator doors.
Thor moved beside him, walking to the CEO and clapping a hand on her back, nearly sending her to the floor.
"Thank you for defending my brother, Lady Potts. That was very noble of you after all he put you through," He said the last words with a pointed glare at the aforementioned.
The trickster simply beamed up at him with the same unfaltering, roguish smirk, untold mischief dancing in his emerald eyes.
Pepper, however, seemed to have her mind on other things. She frowned thoughtfully, letting her eyes turn back to the elevator.
"Did you hear what he said?" She asked, almost to herself.
The warrior's expression shifted to confusion, but Loki seemed to instantly know to which she was referring. He crossed his arms and snorted.
"Ragnarök," He muttered with an eye roll. "He mentioned something about Ragnarök."
The CEO arched an eyebrow, adopting the same expression as the older Asgardian next to her as she swiveled her gaze back to the trickster.
"Ragnarök?"She questioned, bewilderment lacing her tone.
Loki waved a hand nonchalantly. "It's nothing. Do not worry about it," He answered, his eyes glinting with the faint hint of annoyance. Annoyance at what she was unsure, but she questioned no more about the strange word.
His brother, however, seemed rather interested and moved to fulfill such curiosity, "How do you know about this 'Ragnarök', brother?"
With an eye roll, Loki responded, "There are these wonderful things called 'books', Thor. You know? Those things you have never touched since we were children?"
Thor wrinkled his nose in contemplation. He knew what books were, Loki had been so enamored with them it was hard not to, but he truly could not remember the last time he had actually opened one and read it. Had it been the last day he had been required to take lessons with the scholars and had moved to full time weapon's training? No, Loki had come to him many times after that with a book in hand and an expression of excitement about some discovery or another he'd found within the pages.
He realized now, that the only time he'd ever truly paid any attention to the tomes was when the younger had so elatedly come to show him what he had learned from the bound paper. And Loki had had no shortage of those discoveries, especially in his youngest years, when he read night and day, often forgetting to come to meals in favor of the pages of his books. It was that separation that had started to make him different, for as the other children eagerly made play with their mock battles, the young trickster had indulged himself with the inscriptions of old, increasing his knowledge at a phenomenal rate compared to most other children.
But that knowledge and learning had come with the price of teasing and mockery. He had been different, different from the start and he had been branded with that difference since. That brand had stayed with him through the years and no one had realized the effect it had had on the young Asgardian.
Choosing to dwell on that matter later, Thor chuckled as he remembered old memories of his younger sibling. "Aye, if I remember correctly, the last time I read a book was when you ran into my chambers in the middle of the night with a tome on potions and so proudly showed me a section on how acids were formed," He regaled with a smirk.
The trickster blinked for a second as he attempted to recall the memory. His lips turned up into another roguish smirk as he remembered to what his brother referred.
"Yes, and if I remember correctly, Sif had a bit of acid related trouble the next day, correct?" He replied with the same mischief as before dancing in his eyes again.
Pepper smiled as Thor's laugh bellowed through the living room, overpowering even the downpour outside. Curiosity danced in her own eyes as she made to inquire further, but was interrupted by the sound of the elevator door sliding open. She narrowed her eyes for a moment at the familiar, but since the Vanko incident, unwelcome, sight of Tony standing next to a beautiful woman. It took her a moment to process that the woman seemed none too interested in her beau, but rather in the blonde Asgardian that stared after her.
The woman's face growing into an enormous grin, she bolted out of the elevator and would've vaulted the couch had Thor not come around to greet her.
"Thor!" She cried eagerly as she wrapped her arms around his torso.
"Lady Jane!" The warrior said with a laugh. "You escaped the tiny, thin box!" He added with a grin. Though he knew his assumption of the box was incorrect, he also knew the same assumption would make his friend laugh, and that mattered more than being correct to him.
And she laughed indeed, a sound rivaled only by the waves of the Asgardian ocean as it brushed against the sands of its beaches. He smiled at the sound. It was a sound he had missed, so long it had been since he had been able to truly laugh. It was a luxury lost to him, fading slowly through time. He wished he could feel its warm embrace more often and silently vowed to find more ways to laugh from then on.
Tony sidled out of the elevator, managing to look dejected and pleased at the same time. He strode over to Pepper, clapping a hand on her shoulder and smirked down at her.
"Apparently they tried to delay the flight because of the storm," He whispered to her, "But she wouldn't have any of it."
"Sounds like someone I know," Pepper muttered with a smirk, elbowing him in the ribs.
Loki shifted awkwardly behind the couch, folding his arms closer to his body and looking like he was about to gag from the sentiment as he had the last time the two had seen each other. He felt the slightest pang of guilt for even having the idea of coming to kill a woman the older Asgardian held so dearly, but quickly brushed it away. Not that he cared for Thor, but more so because the two held something he had never felt. They appeared to share a love he had never known and ripping it from them would make him worse than Odin in his eyes, for Odin now attempted to take everything of which he knew and loved.
Jane parted from Thor, her eyes drifting around the room. When they fell on the trickster their gazes locked, not shifting for several, tense moments. Finally, she slowly slid her hands from Thor's grip and sidled over to the younger Asgardian, their eyes never wavering from each other's stare.
She stopped in front of him, her stature nowhere near the trickster's own, standing in silence.
"You must be Loki," She whispered, her eyes darkening in the slightest.
He nodded, noting how each occupant had shifted to watch the conversation. "I am."
Silence reigned again for a few, precious moments, before Jane's lips turned up again into a smile. With that same smile, she lifted her hand and slapped him across the face.
His head jerked to the side at the force of the impact, his mouth slightly agape at the sudden action. Loki turned his head back to look at her, furrowing his brow and raising a hand to rub the now stinging skin on his face.
Looking rather pleased with herself, Jane replied, "That's for trying to take over the world and for trying to kill Thor." Then, with a less than sure of herself expression, she gently pulled his head down to her level and kissed his cheek. Settling back down on the balls of her feet, she let her hand linger on his shoulder and whispered, "And that's for not succeeding."
"Well, that wasn't exactly my decision," He muttered, mind reeling in an attempt to process what had just happened as he continued to caress his stinging face.
"Was it?" She asked with a smirk, pulling away to move back to Thor.
Her words echoed through his head, resounding against his skull. He watched her quizzically for a moment as the others began to mull about, continuing to give him their wary glances, though they seemed to be filled with less ire than before. Had it been his decision to fail? Had his subconscious not wanted to see the fall of Thor and his newfound friends? He would admit, he had taken some enjoyment in the entire ordeal, especially in finding one who could challenge him in his own element.
But, though not all his intentions had been his own, had he truly wished to see himself fail? Had he wanted to see the Avengers defeat him? He didn't know. Those memories were sharp and clear, but his thoughts were muddled and cloudy, as half of them were not even his own. The Chitari mind control that coursed through his brain had clouded what he saw, heard, and thought. A bloodlust he had known he was always capable of surged forth and overcame his thinking as he decimated populations, ordering the Midgardians to kneel.
Now, that part he had particularly enjoyed; the terrified faces of the mortals as they sunk to their knees in quiet subjugation. He had never been in such a state of power. None had ever knelt to him, despite being the king's son. They had all knelt to Thor, because they all believed Thor was the only one worth bowing to. They did not see the younger prince and ignored how it had been that prince's plans and magic that had saved the warrior and his men from a gruesome fate. They did not care, for they only cared about who they believed had won the battle, casting aside the brilliant strategist that had formulated that which truly brought victory.
He'd slowly become a pariah in his own home, cast aside by his own people; all because he was different, more different than anyone had ever realized. He wondered if it had been his Jotun blood that made him favor the intellectual rather than the brute war the others preferred. No, the Jotuns were just as warmongering as his own people. He had been born different in many ways. He would've been an outcast even if he had grown up on Jotunheim. Anywhere he could have gone he would've grown different than the others and been rejected.
No matter where he went, no matter what he did, he would always be different. So, why fight that which could not change? He'd accepted he was different many years ago after destroying his room in a magical explosion and being grounded. Though Thor had adamantly insisted he had been involved-which he was-he had not been grounded alongside Loki. He had been dumbfounded by the favor his father had showed, and had decided he was somehow different than the one he had called a brother.
Though he was different, an outcast in his own realm, he had continued to learn in that difference, enhancing his abilities, and sharpening his silvertongue. When he could not receive the positive attention he so desperately searched for, he turned to the negative, seeking attention in any way possible. His pranks had definitely gotten him attention, not the attention people normally wanted, but it was attention nonetheless and that was what he had wanted.
His pranks had not all been driven as such. Often, all he wanted was a laugh and a bit of fun. Less often, they were fueled by vengeance. Yet, every prank, trick, and joke left with at least someone smiling. Though, the reason behind the smile was not always amusement, sometimes malevolence, sometimes cruelty.
As he watched Jane embrace Thor again, he wondered how such a petty mortal could spur his mind into such thought. He glanced outside, the pounding rain beginning to subside and the clouds giving way to the orange haze of sunset. Another day was ending. Each day that passed brought him closer to his imminent death on Jotunheim, each passing second closer to his doom.
He turned away from the window, ignoring the thoughts. He could worry about that later. He could dwell on those thoughts tomorrow.
And that tomorrow had to eventually come, didn't it? He could not escape these thoughts, for they were as imminent as his death, as they followed as such. The tomorrow would come, and he would no longer be able to run from his own questions and musings.
The inevitable tomorrow would surely come.
I love the word 'pariah.' It's such a fun word. Also, I finally got Jane into the mix. Took me only, what? 9 chapters?
Thanks for reading and for all your lovely reviews! They are all very much appreciated~