Chapter 14

LJ felt dizzy, hanging his head exhaustedly. His forearms had fallen asleep; that disturbing staticky feeling filled his arms. Interrogation experts of every variety had been in and out of this tiny black room. It was like being stuffed into a broom closet for time out, only with unpleasant curses being spit out on you. Now, he scowled at a young man in front of him, who had striking green eyes and dark brown hair. The man growled as he paced around the room.

The SHIELD agent was confused. What the hell was going on here? Could this be a trick? Loki was the trickster god. He wished he could just wipe out this little brat and move on with his life. But orders were orders. Still, he was tired of hearing this kid's claims about being Loki's. He gave a sigh.

"You're lying," he stated, half to himself. "'S what you do. What you were born to do."

LJ rolled his eyes. "This is ludicrous! You cannot keep me here!"

The man sneered. "'S what you think. You're no kid. Heck, you're probably older than me!"

Loki Jr. wasn't exactly sure of what to say to that. Actually, all he knew to do was glare at his enemy. He couldn't use magic and he couldn't think clearly enough. His mind was too clouded with regret.

"You've got no idea how long SHIELD's wanted to capture an' punish you ourselves. What'd Odin do? Pat you on the back and tell you 'good job'? Some king he is."

LJ growled and shook his head wildly. "I've never even seen Grandfather Odin, let alone spoken to him!" he cried pleadingly. "Why are you doing this?! I've done nothing to you!"

The agent straightened in posture, rising to his full height. He looked down his nose at the small Lokison; it made LJ feel like an ant at the toes of a furious picnicker. This was one picnic the boy rued stepping into. He slouched and bowed his head submissively. Trying to hold his ground here would be suicidal.

"You got amnesia or somethin'?!" the man bellowed, making LJ cringe. "You killed eighty people in two days! For fun! You destroyed most of Manhattan!" His face was bright red, both in anger and in his blood pumping a little faster throughout his face. "You ought to be dead, you little son of a-"

LJ never heard the rest. The door at the front of the room slammed open. Another fellow, a little older than the first with a commanding voice and wrinkled smile, came in. It was the first one that had visited. LJ gave a wince. He wasn't very fond of this guy.

"Director Fury requests all hands on deck," he stated calmly, still gripping the doorknob. His eyes flashed to LJ forebodingly. "I'll take it from here."

For a moment, the younger agent loomed over Loki Jr. like a tall skyscraper. He ogled at his superior, who stood professionally possessive of that doorknob. His grip never ceased to exist on the silver knob. The young agent finally nodded slowly.

"Yes sir, Coulson." The first agent left, silently speedwalking down the hall.

The door closed. Great, thought LJ, another one.

The one called Coulson coolly stepped forwards towards the Lokison's chair. The boy braced himself for another scolding. He held his breath, filling his lungs and captivated the oxygen, greedily hoping that this would make the words less harmful. The words were missing, however. Dry air hung between the two bodies in the small interrogation room, leaving body language the only form of communication. It grew cold. LJ could feel the frigid air seep through his coat and into his skin. Everything was still. Coulson's blue-eyed gaze was highly unnerving.

"So," he finally said, breaking the silence.

LJ rolled his eyes, brow furrowed. "So?"

"You never really told me last time: Why are you here?" Coulson began a repeat of their last encounter.

"One of the idiots of your world dragged me here," LJ growled sarcastically. "I did not threaten you or your people in any way. Now please stop this nonsense."

He didn't see why in the world his answer wasn't accepted. After all, it was the truth. Maybe it was just because they were used to having tougher, less trustworthy people here. They mistook LJ for a thug. No, he realized, this was how they envisioned his father. The voice of the other agent rang throughout his skull. "Killed eighty people in two days…" Eighty people.

Eighty.

All dead.

Because of his father.

LJ shook his head. No, that was impossible… Wasn't it? Yet, it seemed so…real. His eyes closed as he felt a surge of pain rip through him. The pain was not physical, though. It was emotional. He felt lied to. Of course his dad wouldn't mention anything about people dying. It would make him sound selfish. Cruel. Like a tyrant. Perhaps like the tyrant he'd come to think Thor was.

No.

He would never put his own father that low on the totem pole. LJ flexed his fingers, trying to relieve the pain and the stress. With every passing moment, he felt like a shaken soda bottle, ready to explode under maximum pressure. Tolerance, he reminded himself, discipline. He then stared straight ahead, pretending that all of this didn't make sense. He would play coy. Until his rescue.

"You're so funny," Coulson could be sarcastic, too. "Now answer the question. You're pretty intelligent, you should know what I'm looking for."

LJ looked to his left and lied, "I came to visit my dear Uncle Thor."

Technically, this wasn't a fib; he had seen his uncle earlier. Unintentionally, yes. But nonetheless, this counted for something. In all technicality, of course.

Coulson stared, bemused. Again, with the phrasing "uncle" and "grandpa" and "father". He decided to humor the child, out of spite.

"Okay, fine. How, pray tell, did you get there?"

LJ's nervousness began to ebb.

"That's none of your concern," he said.

Coulson frowned. "All of this is SHIELD's concern. We keep tabs on most things that happen in New York."

LJ pursed his lips. "You don't have to know everything."

Coulson looked downright offended. SHIELD not know everything? How unspeakable! Phil frowned harder.

"Why shouldn't we?" he inquired rhetorically. "SHIELD needs to know everything because we have to protect mankind from devastations like you…or, as you say, 'your father'. We don't want our death toll to double."

LJ looked away.

"I bet it doesn't matter to you," said Coulson a-matter-of-factly. "You probably think that just because you didn't know any of those people who died, you shouldn't care. Do you want me to show you why you should?"

LJ lifted his chin to gaze at Phil. Coulson pulled back the lapel of his suit. There, under the dull, black silk of his suit's jacket, was one half of a big, red scar. It was dark, like a bruise. The light skin was stained pink from blood. LJ shook his head and turned. The boy squeezed his eyes shut, suddenly hit by nausea. He tried to process this. There was only the fact that he couldn't that blocked his progress.

"W-why are you showing me this?" yelped Loki Jr., repulsed.

"Because." Phil said. "You now know a victim. Your father murdered me."

Coulson fixed his collar as LJ recovered. When Phil was finished, he walked back to the door and regained possession of the doorknob. He paused.

"A medical examiner will be in to see you and you'll be relocated to a holding cell." And with that, Coulson briskly walked down the hall.

Hours later, LJ found himself inside a round, cylinder-like cage with very thick glass. He had nothing but air. Unable to put up with standing on his lame leg, he decided that sitting and lying down weren't so bad. Although, it got very boring. He stared at the funny looking ceiling, daydreaming. He would doze a little, waking up when another nightmare found him. After a while, afraid of the prospect of any more bad dreams, he decided to skip sleeping; he would stay awake through the rest of this manmade hell. This was easier said than done.

Down below the Helicarrier where LJ was being held, Stark Tower stood with all the mixed up people inside.

"Change us back, Reindeer Games." persisted Tony for about the third time.

"Yeeeeeaaaahhhhh…no." Loki replied, arms folded across his chest.

"What? Why?!" cried Stark juvenilely.

"Because, I don't trust you. You're not getting changed back until my son is released." Loki stuck out his tongue.

"How can we save your other brat if we can't use our abilities properly?" reasoned Clint, who was checking out his new strength by lifting Lilli up on his shoulders. Lilli let out a frightened squeal; she hadn't agreed to this!

Loki looked up into the corner of his eye thoughtfully. "Hmmm… you're right. Very well, I'll change you back."

Loki snapped his fingers and green wisps of magic floated and spiraled around the bodies in the room. The Avengers glowed bright neon green before the lightshow subsided and everyone was checking themselves out for any defects.

"Oh, thank God, I'm me again!" Tony almost jumped with joy, he was so happy.

Clint seemed depressed. That is, until he accidentally turned on the stove behind him. His hand slipped down the knob for the burner behind him, a small ember flickering to life. The flames licked at the back of his pajama pants and burned at his tailbone.

"AHHHHHHHH!" he ran around the room, yelling out curses.

Natasha threw coffee that was in the mug in her hand. (Neither Tony nor Nat would drink it, trying to figure out whose backwash was in it…) Clint yelled a little louder, feeling the scalding hotness of the caffeinated drink. Oh well, at least the fire was out. Lilli, who had full view of the situation, giggled.

Loki, who tried to act professional, was actually having trouble keeping a straight face. Tony facepalmed. This was just what they needed.

"So," said Steve, setting Lilli down on the sofa. "What's the plan, guys?"

Everyone exchanged glances with one another.

"We have no plan. Great."