Tony followed Pepper onto the elevator, pulling her rolling carry-on bag behind him. "Where's Loki, Jarvis?" he asked. "And what form is he currently in?"
"He is currently on Captain Rogers' floor, Sir, in his male form. Shall I take you there? Welcome home, Ms Potts."
"Thank you, Jarvis," Pepper said, smiling warmly toward where she knew one of his cameras was.
"Yes, Steve's floor is fine," Tony said, and smiled nervously at Pepper. "You're sure you're fine with meeting him this way? As himself?"
"Yes Tony, it's fine. Unlike you, I haven't had any up-close and personal bad experiences with Loki. Any dislike or distrust I might feel towards him is because of his previous actions. Anyway, he seemed fine when I was here before."
"He was a dog when you were here before."
"A perfectly well-behaved dog that all of you were clearly comfortable with. I will be fine, Tony."
"You're sure?"
"I'm sure."
The elevator slowed to a stop, the doors opening onto Steve's floor. Tony was mildly surprised to find almost the entire team gathered there, everyone but Clint. Phil was sitting in front of the elevator, a couple of pizzas resting on a tray balanced on a folded towel in his lap. A smile lit his face as he saw the pair of them.
"Phil!" Pepper exclaimed happily, stepping off the elevator to bend down and hug him. "You're looking well."
He hugged her back. "You're looking lovely as always, Pepper."
"What's the word on the possible press conference?"
"It's a certainty at this point. I'm sorry you've had to come all the way for New York for this..."
"It's no problem, really, I was due to be out here soon anyway, I just moved my schedule up."
"Well, I'm glad you could make it. Tony's always less likely to misbehave when you're on hand," he said, giving Tony a tolerant smile. "Anyway, I better get going – Clint's downstairs on his own."
Pepper nodded and stepped aside. Phil nodded to Tony as he rolled onto the elevator and spun his chair around. "See you in the morning, Tony. Press conference is scheduled for 10:30am."
Tony nodded. "Right. I'll be there with bells on."
"Hopefully not literally," Phil said with an amused smile as the doors slid shut.
Tony grinned and continued further into the living room, where Pepper was currently being enveloped in a hug by Natasha, Steve standing behind her waiting his turn. Bruce was sitting on one end of the couch, looking very relaxed and eating pizza, Loki at the other end looking very tense but doing the same. Or at least had been, judging by the partially eaten slice on the plate in his lap. Loki glanced at Tony, and gave him a thin smile, then returned his attention to watching Pepper being greeted by the others, looking uneasy.
She stepped away from having leaned down to kiss Bruce's cheek, and took the couple of steps over to stand near where Loki was seated. "Loki."
"Ms Potts," he said, and balanced his plate on the arm of the couch before rising smoothly to his feet. "A pleasure to meet you again."
Pepper smiled calmly, looking up at him, then offered her hand. "A pleasure," she said agreeably.
Loki took her hand, started to bow over it and then remembered the human custom, changing it to a shake before releasing it, darting a look at Tony as he straightened up again.
"There enough pizza for Pepper and I? I haven't eaten supper yet and she's only had airplane food... granted StarkJet airplane food so actually pretty good, but...?" Tony asked.
Pepper darted a smiled his way. "I could eat," she agreed.
"Plenty for all," Steve said, gesturing at the array of pizzas set out on the large coffee table nearby, along with a couple of unused plates and a pile of napkins. Tony and Pepper quickly set themselves up with some pizza and took seats, Tony between Loki and Bruce, and Pepper settling down in a nearby armchair.
"Tony mentioned on the drive over that you had a female form you'd chosen to use as your public persona while you're here?" Pepper asked, looking curiously at Loki.
"Yes," he said, and glanced again in Tony's direction before shifting to it.
"Oh my," Pepper said, and smiled. "Striking... the press will have little difficulty in believing that Tony is entirely happy to host you, Loki."
"Pepper!" Tony exclaimed, glaring at her, and getting a smile from her in return. "Okay, fine, good point," he said grumpily.
Nari glanced at him again, but with a smirk on her face this time. "He does seem to have quite the reputation as a ladies' man," she agreed.
"Remember that in this form, she's Nari, not Loki," Bruce spoke up, directing his words to Pepper.
"Right," she agreed. "We'll have to see what we can do to make your presence here seem as unremarkable and unobjectionable as possible. Perhaps a few photo ops of Nari out and about with various Avengers. Or is it preferred that you keep a low profile, and stay within the tower?"
"That's a good question," Steve said, frowning. "Loki's appearance as a dragon this morning was certainly very remarkable; after the press release and press conference to explain it's presence in the skies over New York, I think most people will likely be expecting to see more of our guest. And seeing her in a non-threatening form doing normal touristy things will certainly soothe the fears of a lot of people."
"In that case I believe Pepper and I should take one of our usual shopping trips while she's here, and have Nari go along with us," Natasha spoke up. "Tony can perhaps take her out to dinner and dancing. Steve – would you be up to taking her on a museum or art gallery trip?"
He shrugged. "I suppose so."
"Bruce, would you feel up to taking her somewhere? Something touristy perhaps? A walk in the park?" Pepper asked.
Bruce grimaced. "You know I don't like going out much. And my last walk with Loki didn't end very well, though it was my own fault, nothing to do with him."
"Maybe they could just do something short and simply like making a coffee run together?" Tony suggested. "Well, not coffee since Bruce prefers tea but... there's that bakery you like going to, it's not that far?"
"Maybe," Bruce said. "I'll think about it."
"Thanks man," Tony said, smiling warmly at him, before eating another bite of his pizza. "This is excellent by the way, much better than ordering in. I'm going to kidnap some of the leftovers, cold pizza for breakfast tomorrow, yay. That sound good, Nari?"
She shrugged, keeping her gaze on her own plate of food. "I suppose."
"Well, I'm far from sleepy yet, still being on west coast time, but I know it's pretty late in the evening for all of you," Pepper pointed out, setting her empty plate down on the nearest corner of the coffee table. "And we have a press conference to prepare for early tomorrow. I'm going to head to my room now... I'll see you all tomorrow at breakfast."
"I'll walk up with you," Natasha said, rising to her feet as well. Bruce also bowed out, citing a need to check on some things in his lab, though he heaped his plate with pizza to take with him, evidently having no plans of going to bed any time soon. Tony was still working his way through a last couple of slices of pizza, though Nari had finished all of hers and seemed uninterested in more.
"I can package up some of the pizza for you," Steve offered. "Or would you rather join us all for breakfast tomorrow?"
"Mmmm. How about both? I still want to take leftovers home with me, but I suppose it'll make getting ready for the press conference easier if both Loki and I show up for breakfast with everyone else; more time to talk over anything that needs talking over. Nari, is that fine with you?"
"Yes. Someone might want to warn Clint that I'll be present."
"I'll take care of that," Steve said, as he transferred slices from the different varieties of pizza to a single tray, turning a second tray upside-down over top to provide a lid.
"Thanks, for both the food and that," Tony said, setting down his empty plate and picking up the tray as he rose to his feet. "See you in the morning."
Nari rose and followed Tony away, remaining silent all the way up to the penthouse, trailing along behind him as he put the pizza away in his fridge and led the way up to his bedroom. Only then did Tony finally turn to her, feeling self-conscious.
"So, uh... totally up to you, but do you want to stay in this form, or change to a different one? Sex, no sex? No pressure!"
Loki returned to his own form. "I think what I most want tonight is just to be held," he said quietly.
Tony smiled. "I can do cuddling. Come on, bed time for both of us."
"Put this in the fridge, please," Phil said, handing the tray still half-full of pizza to Clint, before stacking the other tray and their dishes on his own lap and rolling off to the kitchen.
Clint had switched to soft drinks after Natasha had replaced Bruce, and that was now long enough ago – and enough slices of pizza ago – that he was feeling considerably more sober now than he had been earlier in the evening. He carried the pizza in and put it in the fridge, then stood and watched Phil loading things into the dishwasher.
"Do you want to spend the night here?" Phil offered, glancing at him.
"Do I have to stay on the couch?"
"That depends on whether or not you think you're going to be hung over enough to throw up."
"Nah, I'm good," Clint said. "Plenty of hydration, and Tasha made me take something before she left."
"Then you don't have to stay on the couch."
"Thank you, sir," Clint said automatically, then smiled. "Phil. Thank you Phil."
Phil gave him an amused smile in return, then rolled off to and through the bedroom, heading into the bathroom to start on his pre-bed routine. Clint quickly stripped down, setting his things neatly aside on top of the dresser, and dressed in a pair of the sleep pants he kept stored there. Half the top drawer was his, the other half was Natasha's, both of them being in the habit of occasionally sleeping over with Coulson; as much for their own comfort as his, the practice harking back to their years in the field as a team together, and often sharing beds in safehouses or motels. Clint was sure Phil had invited him tonight because he'd know Clint was likely to have nightmares after the revelations of the day, and it would be easier for him to recover from them with Phil right there and obviously alive.
"Need a hand?" he asked when Phil came back out.
"No, Jarvis and I can manage," Phil said, stopping his chair beside the bed and undoing the chest-strap helping him to remain upright before reaching up to grab hold of a padded handlebar that was lowering from the ceiling.
"All right," Clint said, and headed into the bathroom to take care of his own sanitary needs, smiling as he always did at the pair of travel kits tucked away in one corner of the counter near the sink; his own sparkly purple kit, originally meant to be a make-up bag, that had lost most of its glitter, being a several year's old joke gift from Natasha, and the slim, shiny black pouch that Natasha kept her few necessary items in. He made mental note that he needed to replace the toothbrush in his kit soon, the bristles were getting soft and splayed with age and use.
By the time he headed back out to the bedroom, Phil was already changed in his sleep shorts and lying on the bed, one of Jarvis' remote arms reaching down from the ceiling to gently straighten out his legs for him. The bedroom and bathroom were the only places in the apartment that Phil had allowed Tony to install anything of the kind, recognizing that it was either depend on Jarvis for assistance or have an actual person on hand to help him. Phil had felt that Jarvis was much less of a security risk, as well as having the benefit of being on hand at all hours and not just within limited time frames.
"Can I tuck you in?" Clint asked with a grin.
"Sure," Phil agreed, rolling his eyes slightly.
Clint stepped over once Jarvis had retracted his remotes, double-checking that there weren't any big wrinkles in the undersheet – unable to roll over on his own in the night as Phil was, those could all too easily lead to the development of bed sores – before pulling the top sheet up over him. Once he was sure Phil was comfortable, he walked around the bed and lay down on the other side of it. The room was kept warm enough that he didn't bother getting under the sheet.
"Planning to be on guard all night, Clint?"
Clint shrugged, and squirmed around to get comfortable in a position where he could see Phil and the bathroom door clearly, and the bedroom door in his peripheral vision. "Habit," he pointed out. "You know I hate getting tangled up in the sheets."
Phil made a little humming sound of acknowledgement. "Did you and Natasha follow the meeting upstairs?" he asked after a couple minutes of silence.
"Natasha had a comm in."
"Which means you didn't. You should listen to it; you may end up having to work with him at some point. He talked about some of his abilities, among other things."
Clint made a sound of disgust, then sighed. "Jarvis, can you play back the meeting upstairs to my right implant? Low volume."
"Certainly, Clint."
Voices started talking quietly in his ear, mixed in with occasional background sounds. He listened intently, glad that Loki didn't sound like himself, Loki-as-Nari having a markedly different voice, even the accent having shifted somewhat.
"Pause," Clint said after a while, and looked over at Phil, who was lying still with his eyes closed but whose breathing pattern said he was still very much awake. "He's avoiding talking much about his magical abilities, isn't he? He only talks about the things he's directly questioned about, like the illusions and magical blasts and the healing."
Phil nodded. "I thought you might notice that too. I'd be interested to see a list of all the things you can recall seeing him do; I suspect he's downplaying his abilities as much as he can get away with. Not that I blame him, I'd do the same thing," Phil added with a gentle smile, opening his eye again as he turned his head to look at Clint. "I'm still trying to figure out if he got behind me on the Helicarrier by simply making himself invisible and moving while I was talking to an illusion of him, or if he's capable of at least short-range teleports. And if he can teleport, can he teleport only along open sightlines, or can he teleport through things, in which case he was never actually caged at all his entire time there."
"That's... a scary thought, sir," Clint said slowly. "Jarvis, resume." He frowned as he listened to the conversation continue, eventually asking for another pause. "I don't think he got the reaction he expected to from his revelation that he's a frost giant."
"No, he didn't," Phil agreed. "Remember back in New Mexico, what Ms Lewis and the doctors had to say later about the reasons Thor had given for his exile to earth?"
"He'd attacked some place, right? Almost restarted a war?"
"Yes. Along with his friends and Loki, he attacked Jotunheim and almost restarted a war with the frost giants, whom the Aesir consider a 'monstrous and treacherous' race."
"Shit."
"It gets worse," Phil said grimly. "While he was on the Helicarrier, Thor talked a little about what went on back on Asgard while he was trapped in New Mexico. Loki lured a group of frost giants to Asgard, using their sleeping father – Loki's adoptive father, Odin – as bait in a trap, and killed them. The group included their king, a frost giant named Laufey. One of the names Loki goes by is Loki Laufeyson."
"Awww, fuck, sir... he killed his own biological father? Not that I can't claim to not understand the impulse, but... fuck."
Phil continued speaking, voice almost unnaturally calm even for him. "Loki then went on to attempt the complete destruction of Jotunheim; apparently their Bifrost Bridge is as much a weapon of mass destruction as it is a means of travel, which suggests something about the Aesir that I can't admit much liking. Thor returned to Asgard in time to stop it, though in doing so he had to destroy the bridge itself, which is why he was unable to return here afterwards. Loki fell or jumped off the bridge into the void, and wasn't seen or heard of again until he stepped through a portal into the tesseract's chamber here on earth."
"The period he says he was in the hands of this... this Other, and Than-whatsit?"
"The Other and Thanos, yes," Phil said, and chewed on his bottom lip for a moment. "I find it telling that Thor knew the name of the race of aliens Loki was leading before their army ever appeared here. Someone must have known where Loki was and what was happening to him, though I don't think Thor himself was aware that Loki had survived until he reappeared here and Thor was sent to stop him; he cares for Loki too much to have not attempted a rescue had he known what was going on beforehand. I have the feeling that Odin may have disavowed his adopted son, and simply not cared that he was being held captive and... worse things than just being held. At least until he ended up here, where Midgard being under Thor's protection made it important to finally do something about the situation in order to maintain face."
"I don't think I like Loki's father very much," Clint said darkly, scowling.
"I don't believe I'm exactly inclined to welcome him with open arms either," Phil agreed. "Anyway, I believe Dr Banner's characterization of Loki as being a bag of cats is unfortunately rather accurate; he learned things about himself that broke him, reacted to the information in ways that only made things worse for him, and then he was broken farther and made a tool in someone else's hand. He is showing signs of what I would hope can be characterized as recovery since his arrival here; at least I think his development of a relationship with Tony is a good sign, worrisome as it otherwise is."
Clint groaned. "A bag of cats, but you still want me to work with him."
"Yes. I know it's a lot to ask, after what happened to you and Dr Selvig, but... I think I much prefer the idea of a Loki staying here, where we can watch him and where he has begun to form bonds that might temper his behaviour, than a Loki running around with a chip on his shoulder the size of Mount Everest and thinking of us as his enemies."
Clint sighed. "A good point. Okay. Don't expect me to trust him or to leap for joy at his presence, but I can be a professional and treat this like an undercover mission; I've worked with assholes I'd prefer to have just slit the throats of before. Though if he tries to betray us? I have some nice new arrows I'd love to test out on him."
Phil smiled and relaxed, eyes sliding shut again. "I wouldn't expect anything else of you, Barton," he said sleepily.
"G'night, sir. Phil."
"Night, Clint."
