I don't own Loki or the Avengers, but man do they do some cool stuff in this chapter. I can't even pick a theme song for this, there's just too much going on. Credit goes to the ever awesome Wynn for the idea of the Helm of Awe (although the general concept is pretty familiar in BlackFrost fics). She is super awesome and you should read her fic, Remembrance of Things Past when you're not reading my stuff. ^.^
Chapter 29: The Polish Job
"So how does this magical tracker thing work?" Natasha asked as she was putting on her makeup. They were in a run-down hotel in Krakow, making their final preparations for the mission.
"Here, give me your hand," Loki said. She took the offered arm, and pressed a finger against her wrist. A green symbol, which looked like a sharp-angled B, glowed there for a moment, and then disappeared. "If you're in trouble, just say my name, and it will activate."
Natasha looked surprised. "That's it? Are you sure he'll be able to sense it?"
She smiled sadly. "It's the simple version of a much more complex spell. It forges a connection between you and me, temporarily. He'll be able to sense it because it's linked directly to my... er, our essence."
"What does the more complicated version do?" she asked, examining the skin, which showed no signs of being different at all.
Loki turned away, pulling the clothes she would need to wear out of a duffel bag which also contained the revolver and a few other props. "It's called the Helm of Awe. It can activate automatically, when needed. Energy of various forms can be transferred between the two ends. And it's permanent."
Natasha laughed a little. "Well, I don't want that then," she joked.
Loki said nothing for a moment. "I'm going to go change clothes," she said as she headed to the bathroom.
Natasha finished prepping her short list of tricks, and checked her hair in the mirror. It always shocked her a little to see herself with light hair, she was used to wearing it red or black. She wasn't going to be able to hide much for this mission, only a garrote in the waistband of her shorts and a couple taser disks in her boots. She couldn't risk being discovered too soon.
Loki came back out, looking a little lost in the men's t-shirt and too-long jeans. She sat on the bed, looking distracted and a bit sad. Natasha caught sight of her expression in the mirror.
"You okay?" she asked, turning around.
Loki looked up at her slowly. "I don't want to do this," she said quietly.
She moved to offer a comforting hand, when Loki changed, grinning at her.
"She's good, isn't she?" he admitted. He now fit his clothes perfectly, and he began to lace up his boots.
Natasha frowned. Loki's expression before she changed had been genuine, she could tell that much. Which meant there was something else that was bothering her.
Loki shrugged on a black leather jacket. He hid the ruby under his shirt, and put a thick gold chain over it. The magnum was tucked into the back of his waistband, and he fished a package out of his bag. "Help me with this?" he asked.
She took the fake facial hair kit from him, and applied the scruffy goatee on his chin carefully. He touched it gingerly-he had never grown a beard-and peeked in the mirror. It made him look a little like Tony, he thought.
"What do you think?" He lifted his arms a little.
She nodded. "How about me?"
He made a gesture with his finger that she should turn around. She rolled her eyes, but complied. She wore a pair of very short shorts, thin tights with holes in them, stiletto boots, a scrap of fabric that could maybe be called a shirt, and a jacket two sizes too small.
"Here," he stood up, and took gentle hold of her chin. Using his thumb, he smeared the edge of her lipstick a little, and then smiled. "That's better."
She glanced in the mirror. Somehow it made her look much more tousled than before. "Thanks," she said awkwardly. "Shall we?" she asked.
He picked up his walking stick and twirled it. "The night awaits," he grinned cheekily and gestured eloquently towards the door.
"You are enjoying this way too much," she complained as she went to the door.
Natasha shivered where she stood under the streetlight, and took another drag on her cigarette. Summer was ending, and the nights were cold here. Her outfit wasn't really helping either. She glanced back at Loki, who leaned against the graffiti-strewn brick wall. He was scowling again.
"What?" she asked in Polish.
"What, what?" Loki raised an eyebrow, answering back in fluent Polish as well. It irked her to no end that he hadn't even needed to learn it, thanks to the gift of All-tongues that he and all the scions of Asgard enjoyed.
"You keep scowling at me. What's your problem?" She rubbed her hands on her arms, trying to warm them.
He toyed with the toothpick he was chewing on for a moment. "I don't like your hair blonde," he admitted at last.
Natasha blinked. It was possibly the last thing she expected him to say. "Why not? Aren't gentlemen supposed to prefer blondes?" she teased him.
He smiled at that a little. "Well it's no surprise I'm not a gentleman then, as I prefer redheads." He scuffed his foot on the cracked sidewalk, scowling again. "My wife was blonde."
Natasha's mouth fell open a little. "Your wife?" she said incredulously.
Loki looked up, amused at her shock. "Ex-wife, technically. The second one."
She finally gave up looking at him over her shoulder and turned to face him. "You've been married. Twice." She didn't sound as if she believed it.
He nodded. "It was an arranged marriage. Her name was Sigyn, and her father had performed some feat of heroism for Odin," he waved a hand dismissively, "I forget what."
"What happened?" she asked, not without sympathy.
"We suited ill," he said with a frown. "She petitioned Odin to be released from me."
Natasha frowned. "I didn't know a woman could divorce a man in Asgard," she said. It seemed too... forward-thinking for them.
He laughed darkly. "Only in special circumstances."
Now she was suspicious. "What kind of circumstances?"
He looked away, standing up and throwing away the toothpick. "It's not something I'm proud of," he muttered.
Oh my god... Natasha thought, feeling sick to her stomach. Did he... beat her?
He cleared his throat. "Anyway, she's married another, I hear, and quite happy."
"What happened to your first wife?" she asked with rising sense of dread.
He laughed, as if surprised. "Angerboda? Now, she and I were too well suited, I suppose. She betrayed me, and I cast her out. Later, through no fault of mine, she died." He smiled, the expression oddly incongruous with his words. "But at least I got Hela out of the deal."
"Hela?" Natasha asked, surprised by the fond tone of his voice.
Loki looked at her, smiling. "My daughter. Goddess of the dead."
At this point Natasha decided she didn't want to continue this conversation. Loki obviously had a long and complicated history, and right now she needed to focus on the mission. She turned back around to face the street, pulling her arms in tight to her body, projecting an image of easy vulnerability.
Loki watched her, chuckling to himself. He found it interesting that while the morbid tales of his two wives clearly unsettled her, it was his affection for his daughter which frightened her the most. Considering Hela, this was probably a smart reaction.
They stood there another forty-five minutes, various cars slowing down to pass by, some even making a few offers, but Loki scared them off with a few glares and an outrageous price. At last a car drove by slowly on the other side of the street, with three brutish men inside. They almost stopped, but then pressed on.
"Wasn't that them?" Loki asked.
"Yes," Natasha breathed. "Don't worry, they'll be back."
Loki grinned. "You seem very confident in your appeal. Rightly so, I must say."
She laughed. "I'm the only girl who looks like she's had a decent meal in the last month," she argued.
Sadly, Loki had to agree. The other girls he had seen on the way there were a depressing sight indeed. No question as to why they were on the street, they needed the money just to get some food. He frowned a little at how poorly these humans seemed to care for their own, and then winced as the ruby flashed below his shirt. Was he really any better?
Sure enough, fifteen minutes later the car returned. The man in the back seat got out to haggle with Loki, who stepped forward with a grin.
"How much?" the squat man asked.
To her surprise, Loki gave the exorbitant figure he had given to the other men, instead of the reasonable one he had been instructed to offer. The man listed another figure, far lower than either.
Loki just laughed. "I'm sure the three of you won't take more than an hour," he joked, "but that's a lot of work for my best girl here," he wrapped his fingers around the back of her neck possessively. "She should at least get time and a half."
The man suggested a price closer to what Loki was supposed to say. He looked like he would say no for a moment, and then gave in, taking the money. He goosed Natasha, and shoved her towards the man. "Off you go, then," he said cheerfully.
She glared back at him, throwing away her cigarette before getting into the car.
"I'll be waiting," he said, tapping his wrist subtly.
As the car pulled away, a motorcycle down the street started, and began following at a discrete distance. Steve nodded to Loki as he passed, and Loki ducked into the alley. He leapt against one wall and then the other before pulling himself up onto the roof. He too followed, as best he could. Above, he could faintly hear the sounds of a helicopter.
"Ready Barton?" he asked, putting a hand to his collar, where the microphone rested.
"If you are," Barton shot back.
It wasn't terribly difficult to follow the car over the rooftops, as he was free to take a more direct route than Steve. After a few minutes, though, he knew something was wrong. He felt a burning in his chest that could only mean that Natasha had already activated the rune.
Natasha cursed to herself. Almost immediately, she had known something was wrong. She could feel it. As soon as they turned the first corner, the man turned and grabbed her wrists, quickly binding them together with a zip tie. She could have easily attacked him still, but her orders were to stay put as long as possible, so the others could catch them. So she cried and pleaded with the men, playing the frightened girl to the nines. The man continued to tie her up, completely ignoring her protests. At some point, she realized that she was going to have to rely on her teammates to get out of this. This man knew what he was doing.
Before he gagged her, she managed to whisper Loki's name quietly. Then, she could only hope.
"Damn, I've lost them," Steve called over the radio. Barton cursed as well.
"Where do you think they're headed?" Loki asked him quickly.
"We have to cut them off before they go into the tunnel!" He shouted, making Loki wince. He looked out over the rooftops, and spotted a shortcut. He put everything he had into his flight, and managed to make it there a moment or two early. "Shit," he muttered, as he realized he would need some kind of magic to stop them.
"What?" Barton demanded.
"I won't get there fast enough," he lied, praying that his counterpart would know what to do.
Loki blinked down at the situation before her. She could feel her rune, on Natasha, coming closer, and spotted the car below. Vanishing the walking stick, she cast a spell quickly which allowed her to jump down to the street below. She pulled out the Magnum, and pointed at the oncoming vehicle.
"Stop the car!" She shouted in faltering Polish. It was not so easy for her.
Instead of stopping, the driver stepped on the accelerator. Loki barely had enough time to release a blast of energy, lifting her high enough to clear the roof of the car. She summoned a knife and drove it into the roof of the car as it passed, and then pressed herself down flat as it sped into the tunnel. When they exited, she stood, fighting for balance. She dismissed the knife, and with a twist of her hand, peeled back the roof of the car like the lid of a sardine can. Inside, she could see Natasha tied up, and the faces of the three shocked brothers.
She pointed the magnum down at them again. "I said, stop the car!" she demanded, using magic to make her voice louder and more intimidating.
The driver piled on the brakes, throwing Loki off. He swerved hard, and the car careened into the ditch to one side of the road. Loki floated down to the ground, and quickly cast a spell which froze the car and it's occupants before they could crash. She ran over to the car, cussing, and wrenched open the door. She released Natasha alone from the spell, and whipped out the knife again to cut her free, tucking the magnum into a pocket.
"Are you ok?" she asked, as soon as she took off the gag.
"Yeah," Natasha said, although she was obviously shaken.
"I've got her," Loki said into the radio, and she heard Barton cuss in relief.
"Good job, Loki," Steve said. "I'm on my way."
Loki started pulling the still-frozen men out of the car, and Natasha helped her secure them with their own zip-ties. Once they were all clear of the car and tied up, she ended the spell, allowing the car to slam into the rise of earth on the other side.
The men were obviously startled, and one of them, the man who had paid, started shouting at them in Polish.
"Shut the fuck up," Loki said in English, and swung the magnum against his face to emphasize her point.
"Whoa, Loki, calm down. It's ok, no need to get angry," Natasha said, shocked by her use of excessive force.
"I am NOT angry," she shouted, lifting her hand to strike again. Then Loki glowed, and paused, looking up at the gun in his hand. He stowed it in the waistband of his jeans, scowling. "Alright, obviously that's a lie, but I only just now remembered why." he paced back towards her, fuming.
Natasha tried to calm the shaking of her hands. An angry Loki was the last thing she needed right now. The only thing she could imagine worse was an angry Bruce. "Why?" she asked softly.
Loki glared at the hog-tied men, looking very much as if he wished his counterpart had not dismissed her dagger. He turned to face her, and she saw again the monster who had threatened her from the cage. "They, all of them, haven't the slightest idea what you are, do they?" he spat. "How can you tolerate it? How they value you so cheaply?"
Natasha stilled, shocked. He wasn't mad at her, he was angry for her. "They're serial killers, Loki, I really don't care what they think." Was this really about how little money they had offered?
Loki rolled his eyes viciously. "Not these swine," he kicked one of the men, but he seemed calmer. "SHIELD. How could they risk you like that? It sickens me."
Now she was even more confused. "It was a calculated risk. It's okay, it all worked out, okay," she tried to keep him calm.
"Only because She was there!" he shouted. "If it had been just me, you'd be on your way to-"
"Stop," Natasha took hold of his upper arms, stilling him. "It's ok. You can't think like that. It didn't happen."
He stared down at her, breathing hard. "Were I king, as I once was, I would give half my kingdom for you to grace my bed a single night," he whispered harshly.
She felt her heart, already beating hard, skip a beat painfully. How many times could he surprise her like this? "Only half?" she quipped back, humor her last line of defense.
At this, he smiled, relaxing and shaking off his anger. "Well, I need something to go back to in the morning," he reasoned.
The rumble of a motorcycle sounded from the tunnel, and Steve pulled up. "Okay, I'm out," he spoke into the radio, "Can you read me again?"
"Yes," Barton answered. His voice sounded strained.
Natasha and Loki had moved away from each other quickly at the first sign of Steve's arrival. He stopped the bike, dismounting and running to Natasha. "Are you ok?" he asked quickly, eyeing the wrecked car with alarm.
"Yeah," Natasha answered, "Loki got me out before it crashed. I'm gonna go sit down, though."
He nodded, and moved to stand guard over the killers with Loki.
When the local police arrived, Loki stayed to help translate for him. By the time they were done, and a car had come to pick them up, he turned to find that Natasha, knees pulled up tightly against her chest, was nearly unconscious. He sighed, and went over to pick her up.
"I don't-" she started to protest.
"Oh shut up," he said softly. "You barely weigh a thing."
She pressed her lips together and endured the short ride to the car. He made to buckle her seatbelt and she swatted at his hands. "No fussing," she warned sharply.
He frowned, but complied, taking the seat directly next to her, in the middle. He wrapped his arms around her, and she gave him an angry look, which he ignored. "Go to sleep," he said instead.
Despite her best efforts to defy him, she did.
A/N: Is it hubris if I squee at my own chapter? I just love this thing, it was one of the first ideas I had for the story, and I've been dying to get it out since I wrote it back in November.
Concerning Loki's history: For this story, I have my own little head canon. I have built it off of a combination of the movies, the comic books, and traditional Norse mythology. I've had people tell me Loki's not a father (which I don't really get because he and Hela are always referring to each other as Father and Daughter in the comics) and other various corrections. I sincerely appreciate the constructive criticism, but in this case I reserve the right to produce my own character back stories. Hope that answers any questions this chapter might have brought up.
I'm not used to writing action scenes, so please tell me what you think. I'm hoping it was exciting as I wanted it to be, it's one of those scenes I think would do better as a movie than a book.
Up next on Saturday, you get to find out how much of that conversation Clint over heard, and how Natasha reacts to Loki's confession.
