When Jane showed no sign of moving, Loki slid out from behind her and supported her head so she lay lengthwise on the sofa, head nestled on a throw pillow. After a moment, he lifted her legs and settled them against the cushions as well. Bereft of his warmth, Jane reached out blindly, catching his hand on pure instinct. Gently, he disentangled her fingers and draped a blanket over her instead. Soft chenille was a poor substitute for Loki, but Jane was willing to compromise. So long as she didn't have to budge.
"Comfortable?" he asked, stroking back sweaty hair from where it clung to her temples. His hands were cool, soothing. Jane hummed happily, snuggling down like a rabbit into its burrow.
"I could use a drink," she murmured, "If he didn't drink it all, I remember Tony had this Virginian rye whiskey that's really good. Very smooth. Had antlers on the bottle."
"Whiskey?" he chuckled, "And here I thought anything stronger than beer was too much for you. If I recall, you never got the hang of Asgardian mead."
She cracked one eye open, narrow and sharp. "Asgardian mead would put Captain America under the table. It's meant to get people like you drunk. Besides, it's sweet enough to rot your teeth out of your skull. Just get me a whiskey," she closed her eye again and yawned, "so I can take a nap."
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," he said, "who knows whether you will be able to exert the same control over the Aether if your mind is not awake to do so? My spells fade when I sleep."
Fear stole into Jane's drowsy mind, electrifying her wide awake. She jerked upright.
"I didn't think of that," she said, prodding the compressed edges of the Aether as if sounding it for weaknesses, "I have no idea what it gets up to when I'm sleeping. Have you seen anything happen?"
"No," he replied, heading to the bar, "but we're in the endgame, now. Mistakes will be deadly."
Jane swallowed. "You can't drop a bomb like that on me and not accompany it with booze. Drink, please? Now?"
Loki nodded, browsing through the battalion of bottles, skimming over where a few of them had shattered, and found the familiar green-labeled bottle Jane loved so much. Tony, determined to introduce Jane to the world of alcohols beyond cheap wine and pale beer, had tempted her with small-batch brews and local blends aplenty. He poured two generous portions into cut-glass tumblers where they gleamed like liquid, golden sunset.
When he stepped away from the bar carrying only the glasses, Jane shook her head.
"Bring the bottle."
His eyebrow quirked, but he complied, bringing the glasses and bottle over to the coffee table, taking his seat on the sofa again.
"To the stupidity of elves," he toasted her, tipping his glass, "and your brilliance."
She didn't return the salute, instead drinking deep and greedily, hoping that familiar burn in her stomach would anchor her somehow, make the world feel smaller and more manageable. No luck. Her brain churned endlessly over those two, heavy words. The endgame. Where every move counted and their possibilities narrowed with every turn. That was where they were.
Fan-flipping-tastic.
She finished the glass and poured another, stoking the fire building in the pit of her stomach. At least it was something other than blinding terror to focus on.
"So what should we do? We don't know where anyone is, not really. We don't know what resources we have. We know we have to seal the portals, and we know where they'll be, but without Tony's and SHIELD's resources, we have no way of doing that."
She paused only to pour herself a third glass, her mind racing ahead of her tongue; without the Aether to absorb some of the spillover, her head was already beginning to swim. Or was that a panic spiral?
Loki caught her wrist as she went to lift the glass again, the gentle pressure of his fingers doing more to settle her than all the whiskey in the world.
"Jane, relax. We are in a better position than you realize. The elves did not find us; they will not find us. They are waiting in a place we know for us to return. The Avengers are containing them, so we know where to find assistance. There is still time until the Convergence."
"Not enough of it," Jane grasped his hand, "And what if you're right? What if I can't sleep without releasing the Aether? How am I supposed to do what we need to do...and stay awake the whole time? The Convergence is days away."
"Here," he smoothed one hand over her forehead; Jane's exhaustion cleared like a cobweb in a breeze. She didn't just feel awake, she felt focused. As though her vision was a laser cutting right to the heart of things.
"What was that?" she gasped, shivers running down her skin. "That was better than espresso!"
"A variation on a healing spell," he replied, "the brain is, after all, just another organ that may be damaged."
"Thank you," she sighed, "You're right. I was panicking. You're right. Then, should we go find Tony? With his power and the portal-sealing tech Erik developed, we'll have everything we need."
"Greenwich, then?"
"Greenwich," she agreed, "Although heading straight for where all the dark elves are gathered feels like a terrible idea, we did get pretty good confirmation just now that they can't sense us."
She turned to Loki; his gaze hadn't wavered from her face. It was humbling, how much he thought of her, watched her, anticipated her moods and needs. Even now, she could tell he was guessing what she would say next; what she might require from him. Support, acknowledgement, information…he gave her so much and so freely.
"What about you?" she murmured, "How are you feeling? I can't make you a magical cappuccino, but I can get you a…regular cappuccino."
"Drinking coffee outside of Italy is a futile pursuit," Loki smiled, "But thank you. Remember, my endurance is many times yours, especially now that you no longer have the Aether to call on."
"Yeah, I'm starting to remember how much being a normal human sucks," she replied, shrugging, "And I just remembered, I can't get you coffee; I don't know how to use Tony's fancy espresso machine anyway," she pouted; it seemed ridiculous that she couldn't think of anything nice to do for her—was Loki her boyfriend now? No, couldn't be. The word 'boyfriend' was the wrong fit for him; it was far too casual, like a pair of cargo shorts.
"Ooh, I know! Tony used to keep these chocolate-coated espresso beans in his lab. I bet they're still there."
He fixed her with a stare that spoke his interest. "Let's go find out."
Giggling, Jane shot upright, dodging his grasp, leaping over the coffee table and trotting towards the elevator. Deprived of Aether or not, she felt light, and buoyant, and wonderful.
"Get down! Hands on the ground!"
Jane fell to her knees, falling so fast that her bones shuddered on uneven cobblestones. Loki, of course, didn't bat an eyelid, standing arrogantly at her side, regarding the half-circle of startled soldiers around them with his chin proudly high.
"Did you have to bring us right into the middle of the damn camp?" Jane hissed, barely able to hear herself over the repeated and increasingly frantic orders for Loki to get on the goddamn ground, "I could've told you this was a bad idea!"
"On the contrary," he gestured broadly, ignoring the hail of bullets that bounced off his skin, ringing to the ground, "Why should we have to prove ourselves when this ruckus will summon—ah, here he is."
With a resonant clunk and a whir of repulsors, Iron Man shattered the stone as he landed in front of them. His mask lifted up and his eyes rolled.
"Oh. It's you. Hey Jane. You can get up now."
"Gee, thanks," she muttered, brushing grime off her jeans. There was a hole in the knee and…yep, she'd skinned her knee, and blood was soaking into the ragged edges of denim. She watched it avidly. It hurt. Had such little things always hurt this much?
It had been less than two hours, and already she missed the Aether. Did that mean she had to get rid of it sooner, later…or never?
Since the ramifications of retaining for the rest of her life a space parasite that made her faster, stronger, practically invulnerable, and able to hold off multiple extraterrestrial assailants at once was a little much to consider, Jane did her best to focus solely on the matter at hand. The conversation had moved ahead without her.
"—was wondering when you two would show up," Tony said, brusquely waving the still-confused soldiers out of his way as he led them towards a tent, "Did you get what you needed? And where'd you go to get it? Darcy said something about Rivendell, but I figured that probably wasn't right. Though who knows? Life has gotten pretty weird recently."
"That sounds like Darcy," Loki said, "Her relationship with the truth is spurious at best."
"Aren't you one to talk?" Tony griped, "And when did you read The Lord of the Rings?"
"Perhaps I just watched the movies?"
Jane laughed. "She wasn't quite wrong, though. We went to Alfheim. Home of the light elves."
Tony turned and stared at her, mouth working—though whether to repress a laugh or a groan she couldn't tell. After a beat, he shrugged and turned again.
"Sure you did. Why not? Anyway," they ducked under the tent flap, stepping into a labyrinth of whirring, blinking machines, powered by the soft, animal hum of a portable arc reactor. Jane recognized a stack of portal sealers, each no larger than a paperweight, fun-sized down from the original plans she'd seen from Erik's research. Tony must have gotten ahold of them at some point.
Standing in the center of all this chaos, Tony sighed and rubbed his forehead, forgetting until he bashed himself with his own gauntlet that he was still wearing his suit. "We're almost ready to go. I've got over ten thousand of these babies stockpiled in my factories across the world, with trusted teams set to go on deployment missions. For those regions where automated drones won't do, we've got liaisons to the United Nations and the Peace Corps standing by."
"That's…amazing," it was incredible to be around Tony when he was in manic-creator mode. Everything had already been foreseen and dealt with. "If we're on track for deployment tomorrow night, then I can set up the algorithm and give it time to process. Once the portals are locked down and we're safe for the duration of the Convergence, then we can deal with the dark elves."
"Yeah, about that," Tony said, rubbing his chin, "We got an ultimatum from them. Ten minutes ago."
"An ultimatum?" Loki tensed, "Are they in such a position of power here to make demands? From you, of all people?"
Jane recognized the impulse to tease; everything seemed better when Tony his normal smirking, wise-ass self. When he was worried, things were well worth worrying about.
"Yeah," Tony didn't bother with jokes to soften this blow, "Return the Aether to them by dawn tomorrow, or they'll destroy the planet."
Thanks so much to everyone who welcomed me back in the last chapter! I couldn't help the Endgame reference in this chapter, but I hope it wasn't too intrusive. Although, this story has been so long in development that it's a bit hard to remember who's in the universe and who isn't. Although I'm thinking of bringing back some earlier characters from World Under Siege over the next few chapters that still haven't come into the MCU, but we'll see!
Please let me know what you think, and I'll see you all soon.