Chapter 21. The Pool
Honest to God I will break your heart,
Tear you to pieces and rip you apart.
~ "Night of the Hunter", 30 Seconds to Mars
A few more days work and they had successfully calibrated the device, which Darcy had sarcastically named LBOD, for Loki's Box of Death, and the nickname had stuck. LBOD now effectively constricted the flow of Loki's magic, but not to a level at which his magic would compress until it rebounded uncontrollably.
And still, Loki had avoided Natasha as much as courteously possible – though he had enjoyed her company more than the other mortals, he did not trust her, and he did not trust himself. Nevertheless, she was still carrying his child and so, when Bruce expressed concern for her deteriorating condition, Loki decided to seek out her company, if only for a small while.
Except she was nowhere to be found. He had searched all her usual places – her room, the rooftop, the lounge room, the firing range, even a strange room that held a body of water. He thought this is what he'd heard the others call a 'pool'. Something about this 'pool' weirded him out a little; it smelt off - sulphury like the pits of molten muck on Muspelheim, and something about the way it was still, and yet clear and not stagnant, didn't seem right to him. So, grinning mischievously, he reached out a long, pale finger to the water's surface…and froze it.
Loki headed back up to the common room, deciding to ask the other Avengers if they had seen Natasha. As he entered the common room he was greeted by four half naked males. He stopped abruptly, unsure of what this Midgardian ritual was. Tony caught sight of him, "Hey look who it is, Rock of Ages decided to come out of his cave."
Loki regained his senses as the group stopped in front of him. Their multi-coloured shorts made a strange noise when they walked. "Have you seen Lady Natasha?" He asked the Man of Iron who, for some reason, laughed.
"She went shopping with Pepper. Last time I saw her she was complaining that none of her clothes fit her and that she'd shoot the next person who said 'maternity wear'." He chuckled again, but Loki didn't understand the reference, instead he eyed the group of shirtless males curiously. "What is this ritual of indecency?" He questioned, and Rodgers snickered.
"We're going for a swim in the pool." Stark nodded, "Hey, you wanna come?" He heard a groan and Clint mutter from the back, "Don't invite him." But Loki just smirked, "Ah, no, thank you."
"Suit yourself." Stark shrugged and they made their way past him and down to the next level. As they left Loki grinned and, making himself invisible, he followed them. This should be good entertainment until Natasha got back.
"Last one in has to do all my paperwork!" Stark shouted, pushing Steve aside and bolted towards the pool, only to skid to a stop at the water's edge. "What the fuck?" They gathered around to stare at the glassy pool.
Steve reached down to knock on its surface, "It's solid ice." He told them in bewilderment. Tony frowned, "JARVIS, did you do this?" He yelled, and the mechanical voice of JARVIS echoed through the room, "No, sir, I didn't not."
Tony scratched his head, puzzled. "Well then how the fuck-"
That's when they heard it.
A snicker.
They all spun in circles, searching for the source. "Who's there?" Stark called out, suddenly worried that his beloved tower had been invaded by ghosts. Hey, stranger things had happened.
Loki let his illusion drop, chuckling quietly beneath his hand, and suddenly they all saw the God of Mischief pop into view. They stared at him for a moment, a little confused, then, without warning, a cold, hard block of ice smacked Loki in the shoulder, and he stopped laughing. They all turned to stare at Steve, who was crouched over the pool where a chunk of ice had been ripped out of the corner. "Nice arm, Cap." Tony grinned. Suddenly, a snowball hit both Stark and Rodgers directly in the face.
"Oh, it's on!" Stark declared, gathering up a handful of snow and ice in his palm. But before he could throw it, a dark cloud gathered on the ceiling and they were all buried under a meter of snow that was dumped on their heads.
Loki laughed almost silently, until a snowball thumped him in the chest. "I think the Other Guy likes snowball fights." Banner said cheekily, and Stark threw snow at the back of his head.
The cloud snowed lightly throughout the room and covered the ground as the snowball fight ensued. Loki had even managed to get Clint involved, though it had taken a little mischief and magic.
"This is ridiculous, we came to go swimming!" Clint had complained, standing by the wall with his arms crossed grumpily as the others hurled snow at each other.
"Lighten up, Bird Brain!" Tony's head popped up from behind the wall of snow he had built for protection, only to cop a snowball to the side of the head, courtesy of Bruce. Loki had snuck around to the corner near Clint and knelt to the ground, touching his fingers to the frozen tiles and letting his magic flow through the floor.
There were cracking noises as a spindle of ice headed straight for Clint and wrapped around his ankles as Clint looked on in horror. "Oi, that's not funny, you crazy-ass god!" Clint started shouting. With a twitch of Loki's fingers, a tiny branch of ice broke from the rest and began to make its way up Clint's leg. "Let me go, you homicidal – HOLY FUCK MY BALLS! GET IT OFF, GET IT OFF, THAT'S FUCKING COLD!" Clint screamed as the other Avengers fell to the ground laughing.
"Oh god, my stomach." Tony managed to gasp through his mirth as he clutched his middle. Clint struggled to jump away, screaming profanities, but his feet were frozen to the floor. Abruptly, the ice vanished and Clint crashed face-first into a pile of snow. Steve clung on to Bruce in attempt to hold himself up, though it didn't help much as they were both laughing so hard.
Clint's head popped out of the icy whiteness and he spat out a mouthful of snow. "That's IT!" He grabbed a handful of snow and hurled it at Loki. The ball passed straight through his chest. As the image shimmered and died, the real Loki appeared behind Clint, grinning wickedly to himself as he shoved a fistful of snow down the back off Clint's shirt. Clint shrieked and flailed about in a very unmanly way, and Loki bolted.
Muttering curses, Clint gathered as many snowballs as he could in his arms and gave chase, pelting snowballs at Loki's back. Steve got up and joined the chase, throwing snow at Clint. Tony and Bruce joined forces and built a snow fort in the centre of the frozen pool from which they hurled snowballs at everyone.
Soon the teams were defined as Loki, Steve and Clint were all being pelted by snowballs but could not manage to hit Stark or Banner in their icy fortress. "Okay, here's the plan." Steve immediately fell into the role of General as they hid behind a wall of snow and icy missiles crashed over their heads.
"Clint, you go that way and draw their fire." Steve drew his plan of attack in the snow with his finger. "Loki, we'll go this way and you cover me and I'll steal their ammo." He instructed as he drew the giant pile of snowballs that were stacked at the rear of the fort.
"I have a better idea." Loki grinned, "Cover me." And he darted out from behind their protective wall before they could object. Steve and Clint hurled snowballs at the ice fort as Loki bolted towards it. He dove to the ground and let himself slide feet first to the edge of the frozen pool to avoid the snowball thrown at his head. He quickly stretched out his arm and touched his fingertips to the icy surface. Instantly, the water became unfrozen and Bruce, Tony and their ice fortress fell into it with a mighty splash.
"You ass!" Tony yelled as he dragged his dripping body to the edge of the pool, followed by a sputtering Bruce. Loki danced away as a vengeful Stark started after him and Clint and Steve doubled over with laughter. "That was, so much better than my plan." Steve gasped.
"You're going down, Reindeer Games!" Tony declared and gathered a giant snowball in his hands. He hurled it with two hands at Loki who ducked, the giant ball whizzed over his head as the door behind him opened…
…and hit both Natasha and Pepper in the face.
"Uh oh." Tony muttered as everyone stared in shock.
"What…what…what the hell?" Pepper stuttered. Natasha brushed the snow from her hair and glared at them all, eyes finally landing on Loki. "We leave you guys alone for a few hours, and this is what you get up to?" She rolled her eyes and Loki heard her mutter "Men" as she wandered from the room.
Pepper crossed her arms and glared at Tony, "So um, any chance you wanna make me a hot cocoa, Pep?" He shot her a winning smile.
She threw a snowball at him.
.
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Later that night, Loki knocked on Natasha's door as she stepped from the shower and donned her newly purchased maternity nightie, the silk feeling amazing on her skin.
"I was told that the people of Russia are fond of snow, is this not so?" He leant against the doorframe and smirked lopsidedly. She glanced up at him, smiled lightly and shook her head. "No, that's true, I guess I just wasn't expecting you to play so nice with everyone. Or everyone to play nice with you, for that matter." She frowned and sat on the bed, and Loki came to stand before her.
"How do you fare?" She hid her tiny smile at his old manner of speaking; she had noticed it had become more pronounced after Thor showed up.
"I'm fine. Bruce says it's not long to go now." She laid a hand over her swollen belly. One of Loki's eyebrows twitched upwards. "What have I told you about lying to the God of Lies?" He mocked. "You are not fine, the child's magic is draining on your life-force as we speak. You are weary, your strength wanes and your pain increases. I daresay you will be pleased to be rid of the child."
She frowned, shaking her head. "Loki, I've told you before, this is my child as much as it is yours, and I will not abandon it the way I was, the way you were."
Loki's mouth twisted darkly, "And what then? We move into a castle and live happily ever after? That is not a conceivable end for this story, not with me in it." He began to pace between the two bedposts at the end of her bed, and Natasha wasn't sure what to say, because up until a week ago, she didn't think her story had a happy ending either.
"I can't tell the future, Loki," she chose her words carefully, "but I do believe in you, and I will keep believing in you, because I had someone believe in me. And don't think you're such a lost cause, because I know of at least three men, who a month ago wouldn't have cared if you lived or died, who stood up to Director Fury in your defence and vouched for you. And your brother, who loves you, who has always loved you. They all believe in you too, if you'd only let them."
He wanted to believe her words. But he didn't. He couldn't. They were all lies. It was her nature. It was his nature. Wasn't it? And even if it was true, even if the Widow and her merry band of Avengers believed in little old Loki, then they were all fools, and he would let them down. For how could he possibly be redeemed? He was a monster, too hideous to even show his true face. If they knew what he truly was, they wouldn't believe in him then, even his dear brother would shun him, and Natasha, would she take him to bed then and whisper to him sweetly fallacious words of hope and trust? No, she would run screaming from the room!
Loki had not even realised his hands had balled into fists until Natasha clasped one in her soft hands and lead him towards her bed. He wrenched his hand from her grip, his expression thunderous as his hate consumed him. And then suddenly, all his rage left him, and he deflated. And he suddenly felt so very tired of it all.
"Stay." He hears her ask, and those big blue eyes plead with him.
"Natasha." He breathes, and he looks utterly torn. He turns away from her to face the window, hands clasped behind his back, brows furrowed in thought. "Natasha, whatever you think this is, I must warn you, it is not. You say it is not a game to you, not a mission, but it cannot be anything more. I cannot be anything more. Hope can be a devastating thing, and you have hope where there is none. Give up, Natasha. Give up, for your own sake. I am what I am, I cannot be redeemed, I cannot be saved. Give up on me. Please."
And he left before she could ask him to stay again, before those sapphire eyes could tame him and make him believe that he could be more than he is. Before she asked again for him to stay, and he said yes and corrupted her forever.
.
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Loki laid down on his small cell's bed to rest, pretending the fact that the guards watched his every move did not bother him. To them he would appear to be sleeping, even as his astral body floated away through the cosmos.
"That was a foolish move Thanos," Loki taunted as the Titan appeared before him, desolate grey rocks and black starless sky slowly forming, "you should not have involved the girl." His purple face twisted into a snarl. "Why was she hidden from me then? She is a mere mortal, she has no powers."
Loki shrugged, a half-smirk playing on his face as he moved about the barren plane. "That is none of your concern. What's important is that we are approaching the final stage of the plan. Gather all your army, for soon we go to war on Midgard. When we meet on the battlefield I shall complete the Gauntlet, and all the world shall fall to their knees before us."
Thanos' eerie eyes pierced him, before his purple mouth split into a wide grin. "Very good, little Frost Giant. Lucky for you, you have become a most useful little traitor." Thanos threw back his head and laughed manically, and Loki bowed his head to hide his own smirk.