(Hi! I have posted more than one chapter per day, but the visualization graph indicates that some people are directly accessing the last chapter posted and missing the previous ones. So if you are one of the people who have come this far please check that you have not missed anything and know that in the next few days I will also be publishing at least three chapters. Thank you very much for your attention!)
Pepper felt her breast tighten in a silent pain, observing now the unconscious body of the one she had as her own daughter, she was sat at a safe distance from the bed in which the younger was lied down and silent tears slipped through her face. For the first time since she started to live together with the trickster god, she desired him to be with the young Stark. She somehow didn't want to believe, before, something so obvious now: Linna is completely dependent of the Asgard Prince. The girl probably would never admit it for anyone, but he made each part of her to need Loki to keep her sanity. Maybe this has been the way she found to survive along the years she was a prisoner, but now, free, Ms. Stark imagined that it would permanently change. Lin really seemed to have improved, she already didn't recall that much the fragile and broken girl who showed up at her home the day they met.
All the evolution she presented until now was nothing more than a well-masked lie. This was unquestionable for anyone who wanted to see that very same day, and Pepper would have stopped whoever tried to hurt the pride of the god weeks ago if she only knew these would be the consequences…
All started with the advice given by the warrior Dora Milaje who was entrusted to watch closely the genius without her noticing. They were informed by her that a crisis had begun and that peter should urgently go where the girl was, he was the closest thing to a help in moments like these. However, when they found her, realized that it was something worse than what they were used to. Lin was suffocating and her body tried desperately force a transformation that would save her. She emanated that powerful aura again, although not as precisely as before; her eyes were golden and she seemed extremely scared with the world around her. Every single sound harrowed her more and made her aggressive against those trying to get closer. Parker couldn't stay by her side for a long time, his spider-sense was so alert and got him so restless that he ended up knocking out the gentle healer who was also trying to help when he asked the boy if he was feeling bad.
Being Peter away, no one really had any chance to bring her back to normal besides little Morgan, but they wouldn't risk exposing her to such a danger. They decided, then, that the best would be to wait and to avoid her to move away from there so that no civil ended up hurt; but time didn't seem to relieve at all the agony the woman showed. They didn't get close, she squirmed as a hurt animal and apparently suffered more with the proximity of anyone.
It was Shuri who managed to stop the seizures, the transformation attempts and the panic attack; an efficient device not tested yet, after certain hardness, was implanted in Stark's bone marrow and almost immediately she fell unconscious on the floor, controlling the breath gradually. Her body didn't take much time to normalize and she got a serene expression, the same she conserved until now.
As the hours passed by, the preoccupation with the possibility of the younger's health to have been damaged with the experiment increased for her lack of recuperation, but after a simple exam, it was clear she was only dragged to a deep sleep and was out of risk.
Pepper controlled hardly her impulse to cuddle her hair. She wanted to take care of the daughter of the man she loved. She wanted to be the mother who was taken away from her. She wanted to believe that someday she would be a regular girl not being tormented by her awful past. Maybe carrying the feeling of guilt that weighed in her heart was easier if she didn't remind her so much of his traits, playboy and philanthropist. The red-haired constantly felt she had failed Tony and that she was failing his image again. Lin was an unknown for her, but every time she looked at her, she had the sensation of knowing her since ever, wanted to hold her and comfort her, but it was hard to admit to herself that the younger didn't see her like this, that she would let her touch her for not hurting her, but feeling extremely uncomfortable.
She would do anything for her to get better, even with her problems and flaws, she wouldn't be deprived of the love of her family if she accepted to be part of it. She was not alone, has never been and Pepper needed urgently to make her see that. Loki wasn't the only one to offer off his hand and she was absolutely sure that if she truly accepted the support she was offering, she would never be put apart again, she wouldn't live in the shadows of a constant possible betrayal and she wouldn't need to submit herself to insane situations for this was her "friend's" will. On the lap of the older woman lied what possibly was the greatest Tony Stark's secret, the only proof he knew about the existence of a daughter he could never know, a protected compartment where he exposed himself not as the great Iron Man, but as a fragile and broken human being, there inside were hundreds of letters possibly written in the worst moments of the genius, just as gifts and advices he could never give, all of them addressed to one person and only: little Linna. All of that began with a suggestion that looked like kind of stupid, they said the billionaire that the pain could be diminished if he transmitted to the paper everything he wanted to say to his daughter and it only stopped when he in fact could raise a new family and assure himself that his other little girl was safe by his side. The red-haired didn't work for the prodigy at the time, but she knew how self-destructive he became after he knew about the supposedly child's death. She never dared to ask him how desperate he was to try even the most fool ideas, however it somehow worked. The wound scarred along the years and Tony wouldn't blame himself for her death anymore, nonetheless, he never abandoned the habit of writing for his late daughter. Inside of what looked like a box was a piece of Tony Stark's heart.
She had no idea of how much time she spent wandering off about her frustration, but only got back to reality when her more-sharpened-than-a-normal-human senses indicated she was being watched. Looking again to the cozy bed, she noticed that the pair of different eyes stared at her curiously with a lazy air. Having her look returned, Lin smiled seeming to be sleepy and stretched her muscles attempting uselessly to wake up completely. Pepper was afraid of imagining the effect of whatever Shuri administered her would have in a normal person, if it could cause that to the girl.
- It seemed your thoughts were so far, I didn't want to bother you. – She hid a yawn with her hand, apparently, she was under the effects of some medicine, after all she acted more slowly and gently than usual.
- You never bother me, Lin – she smiled, gently. – I have here a gift to handle you.
- A gift? – she asked, seemingly slightly more excited. She sat obviously analyzing the wrap on the lap of the other, she liked gifts. Pepper didn't linger to give her the slot she held, hoping her expectations were right and the younger were smart enough to discover how to open it, since Tony designed it to be opened only by him and no one else. She couldn't help smiling proudly when with no hesitation the girl picked up what was being given to her and with her curious eyes started looking for manners of breaking through all the protection her new belong had.
- When I started working for your father he was the greatest asshole I have ever met, always drunk, wouldn't talk to anyone without offending him or her somehow. He acted as if nothing could jolt him and as if nothing in the world were comparable to his magnificence. – The proof that Stark was listening attentively to what she was saying was that she lifted an eyebrow, funny, as if asking "did you really believe he was like this?"; her answer would certainly be that even she didn't notice the lies behind the billionaire's posture at first. – Tony spent all his time far from parties, drinks and polemics, in the lab, alone, he usually didn't get close to an employee and his behavior was enough for nobody to want to spend much time with him. There were, of course, exceptions, like Rhodes, Happy and – she wore an expression of grief – Obadiah Stane; no one else would see more than sarcastic words and ironies, including me… - Lin stopped a bit to look at her, but soon concentered her attention to opening the compartment again. – I printed my walking papers in less than six months of work and when I went after my boss to sign them, Happy stopped me in the living room where he was. Jarvis, of course, would have done the same effortlessly, but it was his way to show he was there for Tony in the case he needed. Happy seemed to be happy to see me, he didn't know I was still there, thought I was worried about Tony and that was the reason I was looking for him, after all he'd been very absent that week. – Pepper laughed nervously – When he didn't let me pass to see him, I got angry, but he was the one who looked like more shaken, more lost.
"Happy said that I was a promising employee, that I should know if I wanted to keep the job, but even though Tony probably wouldn't care if I knew, he wasn't exactly confident about telling me whatever it was. Then we heard groans of pain and a breaking glass noise coming from inside the room, the bodyguard's reluctance weakened and he started to confide me a story about Tony that few people knew."
"Anthony Stark somehow came to know he was father and, although unlikely, he got so absurdly happy that created a lot of plans, expectations and even started searching how to deal with children, after all, it has never been his greatest advantage. He built gifts for her, asked the mother for photographs and started acting like a doting dad, without even have seen her in person, enrolled her in the best schools and provided to her and to the woman who conceived her all the treats they deserved. He has always felt very lonely and even maybe being conned and this probably making him to lose part of his wealth, Tony didn't care, he acted without anyone knowing about it and took care of the smallest details so that the first meeting between father and daughter was perfect. He told Obadiah what he was doing and where he was going to at the last minute, when he arrived at the park where he arranged to meet the mother. Tony waited for you, bought a balloon because many children there seemed to like balloons and continued waiting and waiting, to the point he was almost desperate for being left alone again."
- But the meeting never happened… - Lin spoke with a low voice and a serious expression.
- No, because there was an accident and you never made it to get there. – Ms. Stark's voice turned more broken, the younger didn't want to look at her, but she knew she was containing the will to cry. – The car you were plummeted from a gorge, was completely destroyed in the falling, hit a rock. When the help arrived, they could recover a little package but had no chance to take you out of the debris, you were too stick into them and when they tried to move what was left of the car, the engine blew up. There were no chances of none of you both to be alive, that's why he didn't look for you very much, it was like preventing the wound to heal and nothing indicated you were not in that vehicle. – she sighed. – Happy let me in after he saw my expression when he finished the story, we found Tony shrunk and crying on the floor, his hands were bleeding for he tried to gather the pieces of the broken whisky bottle he had dropped and he was held to a little wood puppet like a child. It was the first time I saw that man without any mask, so I noticed that there was a lot to learn about Tony Stark. I tended his hurts, cleansed the broken glass and let him to analyze me and notice I was not judging him. I got rid of the walking papers, gave a second chance to him and maybe this had been the best decision I have ever made in my life.
A loud click was heard in the room, the compartment opened and Lin stared the red-haired in the eyes, it was her way to say she accepted the feelings offered to her. Before seeing what her father had done for her, the genius left the gift aside and opened a little her arms, clumsy, showing affection. Pepper gasped understanding what that meant and took no time to hold her. The younger felt the tears wetting her skin, but didn't deny them, didn't tremble and didn't hesitate in the face of the welcome of the complete human; her body and her mind didn't neglect her, on the contrary, they recognized her as family.
- Read the letters, ok? – the red-haired kissed the top of her head – this is your moment, I'll give you some privacy, but I'll be here whenever you want. You are not alone, ok?
Lin just nod, she didn't trust her voice to say anything. She felt the arms around her loose and watched the red-haired leave, taking a last look as if she needed to confirm it was ok to leave her alone now. The girl didn't know how to react and past the following minutes looking nowhere. With a kind of satisfying sigh, a shy smile and a shrink of shoulders, Stark decided to give attention to the gift awaiting her. The father she had never met had this unexpected habit of surprising her.
Observing the content of the compartment, Lin could see that there were some envelopes already old faded and others so white that appeared to have been written recently, although it was impossible. She could also see pen drives, small toys, photos, and what seemed to be the retired Jarvis' drive. The photographs called her attention first, taking them with her hands, free of the mechanic fingers, Stark had a full view of a past that for her was so distant that she didn't keep memories of that time. There was the image of what someday was a regular kid and her mother whose face had been long forgotten by the girl. A momentary rambling made the genius think that she neither even remembered the name of the woman who conceived her. Kelly was what was written in the back, but on her mind, the pronounce of the name didn't even sound familiar. Maybe she should feel worse than she already was with this finding, however she only had the sensation of to be looking at two strangers; it was like those moments with her mother had never existed for her. The idea of having a family was something weird to think about. There was that woman who loved her and also that man who loved her, but both were not with her when she needed. Now there was Pepper, the widow of her legitimate father who was willing to love her and to be by her side no matter what was the situation. Lin couldn't help to feel a tingling in her stomach with the woman's attitude, though she has believed before she wasn't a so fool person. It was somehow funny to think that maybe someday she would truly consider her as family, but currently this seemed to be kind of unlikely.
Even knowing she wouldn't be answered, she sent to her friend/fiancé her current vision with the thought: "who would have said I have already been this little cute and adorable thing someday?", with a warmed heart and a little more excited smile on her face, she continued her exploration. She would keep the recordation of her mother with love, though she had no memories about her despite the ones she had just acquired. She can't stop thinking who drastically different her life could have been if that car accident had never happened.
Moving forward, she analyzed Jarvis' drive. It was a pleasant surprise that he was there, since it was something really important for developing Vision. It didn't seem broken or defective anyhow, just simply overcome by Friday. Lin kept it separately for future uses.
Her fingers stumbled upon a wood puppet before anything else arose her interest. Stark didn't know to say how, but she felt an awkward familiarity with the object and took it to examine it better. The contours of the little toy weren't well made, crooked and irregular, who made it had no much ability on what was doing and surely had no technique for that kind of thing. No enough convincing reason came up to her mind to explain why Tony kept something like that, so half-assed, almost like it was made by a child… ah, thinking better, the letters L.M.S made more sense now. That ugly thing had a sentimental value for Iron Man for the simple fact it has been made by Lin herself, even though she didn't remember that anymore. She had to look those things fast, was beginning to feel truly sentimental.
There were projects among the leaves there inside. On those papers, there was what could have been the apex of the avenger's power and that was kept secret so that no one carried them on. Her father never had the time to finish them, he died before trying to work them out. The audacious and unlikely doodles were never more than a simple idea, that's why the woman took no long to keep them among her own projects knowing they could be very useful now she started to work.
Lin raised her hand and used her gift to call her lap top closer, she wouldn't mind the pain that could cause her now, she lived together with pain for too long to give importance for such a thing. She plugged the first pen drive and let Friday pass through the security it had while started to read the letters. Lin wouldn't admit it, but she was hesitating to read what Tony had written. Not knowing the father made easier to accept Loki was her only company during the most part of her life, but there was the proof that the man wasn't just a hero from whom everybody told stories about, he was real and not ignorant about her existence. It might seem foolish, but Stark feared what would be her reaction toward the words awaiting her. She started in an order, the oldest dated letter was the first one to be read.
When she finally finished the second-hundredth, eightieth-fourth letter, night had already fallen and all the pen drives had their barriers broken so that she could examine them, however the girl didn't move immediately, some excerpts kept running on her mind.
"Hello, daddy! Mom told we are going to meet soon!
I wanted you to know before, that even if I show up with Captain America's t-shirt and that I have a lot of his puppets, you will always be my favorite superhero!"
The first letter was written with the big and squiggly letters of the kid Lin had been someday, the envelope and the paper were old faded, but still had the bad drawings and decoration the woman reminded to have done. Tony kept it for all these years with much love and care.
"It has been hard to move on, I feel completely lost, I admit I don't know what to do, but I think I'm following the right path, people are going to keep safer with what I've been doing. No father should see their children die"
"My father's best friend, the one who represented a more present parental figure for me than Howard Stark himself betrayed me, he has never seen me as part of his family, just the money mattered."
"Innocent died with my creations, would you be proud of me if you saw me now?"
"My friends say that what I'm doing now is suicidal, but for the first time in forever I realize I'm doing the right thing, I'm really helping people. I am happy with what I'm starting, it's like the emptiness is finally filling up."
"Pepper and I are getting evolved, how haven't I noticed this amazing woman before? She's been by my side for so long, I must be really blind for not looking at her as I do now since the first day we met."
"I'm now part of a group called The Avengers, I know, it's ridiculous and they suck (except Banner, maybe), but it somehow it seems we work well together, even though I still want to punch Roger's perfect face."
"I've been thinking to convince Thor to expose himself around as the god of the thunder to make clear how the Nordic were right and how no one is sure about anything in this universe. It would cause a true chaos, naturally. It's a shame it's not something a hero would do, even though it's something Tony Stark would."
"I'm still waiting for Jesus showing up to make a revolution here on Earth."
"Maybe I propose to Pepper soon, but I'm afraid. What if she says no? Of course, any woman in this planet would say yes if I proposed, but she's not any woman, that's why I fell in love with her."
"Although it seems weird, I've grown fond of the Avengers. They have become my family. No, I still want to punch Roger's face, maybe just not using my armor to do it."
"The nightmares and panic attacks continue, I haven't done enough, I need to improve, I need to keep awake and fix what I've screwed up. People are dying out there, I can't just stand, all of them are going to die if that comes back."
"We recovered the scepter of Thor's brother, I refuse to say that buck's name. Things seemingly will be ok now. I have some days to examine him before the goldilocks go back to Asgard. Bruce is going to help me with a project to protect the planet, I'm convinced it's going to work."
"We created Ultron, but he's trying to destroy human race, so I have the impression we failed miserably."
"Many innocents died and it's all my fault, I'll find a way to reverse this."
"Steve and I are getting very close, we're big friends and maybe he's conquering the title of my best friend. Rhodes can't know and if this I've just say leaks, I'll deny to my death."
"I've met an interesting kid today, his name is Peter Parker, maybe I turn him into an Avenger, though he's too young. The guy has potential."
"We were proposed a deal to stop innocent deaths, I agree, but Rogers don't. I fear we must fight against our friends so that they don't make any silliness."
"There was a civil war, we've fought. Maybe the only good side about it is that the kid really proved to be our height, but he's still too young, he has a lot to learn."
"I realized how wrong I was about the deal, I will find a way to free the avengers who went arrested and I'll find Rogers and that weird friend of his. I want to help them with whatever they need."
"I discovered that it was Bucky Barners who killed my parents. I ended up fighting both instead of helping them, but they won and left me to die. I was rescued, luckily."
"Steve sent me a letter and an old Nokia phone, it's just like him. I've been thinking of using the phone's technology in the armors, it survived all the times I threw it from the window in wrath attacks and, considering I'm on the twentieth floor, I think I should congratulate it."
"T'Challa agreed sheltering the two happy friends in Wakanda, I don't know why I made efforts to convince him."
"Ok, I'm not mad at the fossil and the popsicle anymore. I admit he was being controlled and didn't know what was doing. But this doesn't mean I'm going to call him, The Avengers don't exist anymore, I'm alone again."
"I proposed to Pepper."
"I've been clinging too much to the kid, I mean, Parker. He spends more time with me than in his own house, he even has his own bedroom here. Pepper says I'm acting like his father just because maybe I lost my mind that time when he got really hurt in a mission. I don't know what she's talking about."
"Why has he to climb walls? This makes my job of detaining him in the room much harder, there was this day that he broke the wall to go out, Pepper says I'm overreacting."
"I had a funny dream. I was pregnant and woke up with a great feeling, I'll ask Pepper if she's pregnant. I have the impression that nothing can go wrong now. Would you be proud of the man I've become, little Linna?"
Lin didn't have to be a genius, as she actually was, to know what happened later. Thanos arrived and destroyed all the happy plans Tony might have created. Whatever he has written after wasn't there anymore, probably affected by the change in the timeline and he died before being able to write a new letter on the timeline they were now. Although being very awkward that the letters that were there belonged to the previous period of the time travel, probably the stones had interfered on this just like they'd done to Loki.
Sighing and kind of lost in her own thoughts, Stark started to explore the contents of the pen drives and she found out that they were nothing more than homemade videos, dear photos and information that not even Lin could find about the world before the time travel. Sometimes the woman got surprised about the much her father was useful even when he was not there. With wet eyes and a warmed heart for everything she's seen, she forwarded a copy of the information needed to Strange. Last of all, she took again the wood puppet among all the toys which now surrounded her and realized there was a kind of similarity between the horrendous thing staring back at her in the mirror and the little ugly thing she held in her hands. Lin was proud of her father more than what she thought she could imagine to be, not to tell that she freed herself of her prison and evolve because of the interference Tony caused in the timeline, she had no words to thank him.
- It's me who should ask, Mr. Stark, would you be minimally proud of me if you only knew what I'm about to do?
(…)
There was no way to Gamora to bring good memories to Loki. When he knew her, she still liked to be the beloved Thanos' daughter and maybe was one of the most feared creatures in the universe, just as she made it clear to the god. The woman faithfully followed the orders of the crazy titan and didn't mind making Asgard Prince to carry forever a memory of what it meant to betray her father's trust. The Godslayer, her main weapon, is capable of crossing the Asgardian body effortlessly, what makes the warrior a potential gods killer who could make the current bearer of the mind stone to burden a scar of a wound that could have caused his death if he wasn't anything but a joke for her.
Hidden by the magic, no one could ever see the abnormal hurt that for a long time was open on the thorax of the extraterrestrial trickster, except when he in fact wanted to show it, after all, when he got Thano's trust, it was almost healed, but Hulk made a point to open it again when attacked him, even not knowing about it. His time in the Asgardian prison (or fugitive time) contributed for the hurt to be completely healed, but it never disappeared and kept as an eternal reminder of what it meant to trick beings like the ones he got involved with. It's not that Loki attributed much value to this advice, since that more than having tried to kill the raisin, now he was justly going to steal the woman who marked him. Lin liked the enormous scar, it made her to feel like him, but she never needed his physical form to this.
The god chose to expose her to his so unlikely ally before they made it to Gamora, he needed to know, after all, what they were dealing with, but Stephen seemed to like even more the woman after he saw her and Loki needed to resist the temptation of stabbing him for that. Old resentments are hard to get rid of and the wizard still considered the god as a probable enemy although he got used to his company. Despite of everything, Strange thanked in his mind the prince for having showed her; for him, any information about the unknown adversary was valid.
They were now in Contraxia, the pleasure planet, and headed to Iron Lotus Brothel, it was weird that Gamora's partner went to that place, after all, there was a good money prize for whoever gave any member of the Guardians of the Galaxy away to one of the big leaders of there. Maybe he could bring Thor to know the place someday.
- I see through your face that you've never been to a place like this. – Loki commented, observing the expressions of his partner.
- I'm not used to travel around the universe with this purpose. – Stephen lifted one of his eyebrows giving back the look. – You, otherwise, seem to be familiarized with this planet, or am I wrong? – The prince likely found that funny.
- You'd be surprised with how informative horny and drunk people can be.
They headed to one of the further tables that the receptive bar had and all through the way the god received respectful and friendly compliments from the androids that served there, one of them even offered the key of one of the rooms so that he could relax with his "elegant partner" and Loki pretended to think about it just to see the restrained embarrassment of the protector of reality to grow. Both ordered drinks that for the human were way too weird and played to be in a super interesting conversation for no one to suspect of their objectives while they waited the protector of the time stone to show up.
It would be too much positivism to believe they wouldn't have to fight, so, even that both were acting like regular clients for that kind of facility they were attentive to each sound, movement or different individual who entered through the brothel door. They were only waiting the imminent confrontation against the adversary who would arrive at any time.
Loki catched the attention of whoever looked at him, played his role magnificently, dressing a typical suit of the high society of that planet, just a green-colored fabric covered his body, showing part of his abdomen and sparkling jewelry adorned his neck and pulse. He was the personification of pure luxury and lie. He talked to those who dared to get close as if they were long-standing intimate friends and captivated the desire of every male or female who self-allowed to be distracted by the false expressions that the prince showed; it was obvious he was popular around. Stephen couldn't be more misplaced, nothing on Earth he was used to attend in his material wealth days were comparable to that place and he felt that even being quiet, keeping to himself, not understanding a word that those aliens said. He was being hated, plagued and probably was a target for the assassin instincts of those beings for he had been "chosen" by the prince of Asgard that night.
He couldn't help thinking that the adopted Asgardian was really having fun with all that, he is vain, loves to be desirable and adored, but likes even more to provoke circumstances in which he can taste the other's discomfort. The wizard felt tempted to leave him there to deal with Gamora alone, but noticed it was a relatively fair change for almost having laughed on him when he showed his scar. It was something he clearly was ashamed about and that hates of himself, and even so Strange didn't think of denying his satisfaction seeing that someone like him had had what he deserved.
When the guardian of the time stone entered through the doors of the brothel no one gave her attention, since the god himself granted all the sights. No one, except Loki and Stephen, seemed to be conscious that Thanos' so-feared adoptive child was now among them. The protector of the reality noticed she was alone and seemed truly upset about something. She didn't want anyone to notice, so she ordered a drink, got away to stay on a kind of hidden table and holding her own face with the hands, started looking nowhere like she was feeling lost.
Still using his enchants to make the clients to be so attracted to him, the prince faked an expression of lovely surprise, like he was sighting an old dear friend, got up majestic and nonchalantly made everyone else to see the arrival of the one who could make anyone to earn a generous money prize, of course, if they could beat her.
- Well, well, if it isn't the amazing Gamora I'm seeing here. – All the creatures who were focused on the god now looked to the green-skin woman. Each word falling from his mouth was full of poison and he stared at her with what everyone would describe as malice and fun. She, on the other hand, looked to the man who ruined her privacy like she didn't believe what she was seeing. She couldn't believe that someone like Loki was still capable of provoking her or addressing her a single word, anyhow, Strange has always found his partner crazy.
- I'm also surprised to see you around here, Loki. Was it much hard to crawl out the reach of your dear brother and flee from your confinement in Midgard? – She supported her chin on one of her hands, her body language showed Gamora acting as if she was talking to a naughty child and not with a god, but, nevertheless, the prince could see that she slipped the other hand to the Godslayer. Why would people never believe he was only saying hello to an acquaintance and that he had no bad intentions behind that?
- I know this might be awkward coming from me, but Thor doesn't, never and never will rule over my actions, no matter how he tries to. – He was getting nearer, sneakily, being closely followed by the creatures that seemed to be his new personal guard. – And I have never been impeded leaving Midgard, I'm only grown fond to the creatures from there.
- I bet humans are celebrating your absence. – She teased him with a fake innocent smile on her face.
- Ah, I have no doubts about it. – Loki laughed nasally. He was so close now that if he lifted his hand, could touch her, but wouldn't do that yet, he had no wishes to lose one of his hands. – But if even you can captivate one of them, it isn't much hard to me to get the trust of all the population, I just have to try.
- I admit lies and illusions can indeed have those being dead to rights, but tell me one time one of them has really liked you or been loyal to you? – The god's mile opened up even more and he moved his face down to be at her level.
- No one told you the news? I'm engaged to a human, an avenger, I'll remember to send you an invitation for the ceremony. – In fact, under the jewelry of his left hand he still had the red band meaning his union with another creature, but the other beings there didn't care about that anyway. Standing near there for when the action began, unnoticed by the woman, Doctor Strange deeply considered conjuring a bag of popcorn to watch the rest of the scene.
- I imagine she's completely insane to match you.
- I believe you could be good friends, her madness may turn you more bearable.
- Do you want a reminder of what limits mean, Laufeyson? – She drew her weapon a little bit, just to make the threat more explicit.
- No, thank you, I remember very well. – Undoubtedly, he could feel his scar tingle at that moment, but didn't mind it at all and kept near, staring her in the eyes all the time.
Before the pair decided to act or Gamora's patience ran out for good, the entrance door was wide open and through it entered a human-faced man, expressing genuine preoccupation, like he was looking for something, or rather, someone. No much effort was needed to know that was Peter Quill and that, for sure, there was something going on between him and her, since when she noticed his present, her body tensed and she seemed to try to avoid with all her powers him to notice her there.
Taking advantage of the slight distraction of his target, Loki lifted his hands to her face as if he was intimately cuddling her, but it was only when she didn't attack him immediately that he was sure he had the win in the bag. The woman in front of him resented the god too much to let herself to think he would be capable of great achievements, so much that she made no effort to notice the stone he had in his neck, which wasn't hard at all, even the magic having changed his image.
As the prince would always say, feelings are weaknesses, they make you to lose the control over your emotions and allow you to be manipulated even more easily. The Gamora Loki has former known would never let herself to be controlled that way and it was very hard to get her trust and to seduce her back then, but this one now loves or has already loved someone and this love handed everything he needed on a plate.
Granting the whole control of the woman's mind, the trickster god made her to take the most enchanted stare possible at him, so that when the "Star-Lord" looked at her, she seemed to be staring her enemy as a lover from whom she hasn't had heard about for a long time.
- But what…? – his babble was audible and Gamora seemingly left the trance noticing him so close now.
- Quill… - she blinked slowly trying to focus her sight to the man who disturbed the moment with her "lover", her feelings were confusing about who one day was her boyfriend even before Loki's action, but now with his intervention, all became clearer and more intense, the green-skinned felt wrath, much wrath, and an uncontrollable wish to hurt him as he had done to her.
- Do you know this insect, darling? – Loki asked with the liar care that he alone had, his voice hoarser than usual, and the creatures around seemed to amuse what he was doing, they liked to see him subjugating someone.
- Insect?! – Peter, more than lost, now seemed outraged, he neared gripped by jealousy and tried to back the god off his girlfriend forcibly, which didn't work and only took tens of beings to pick up their weapons to destroy the one who dared to touch the man they lusted for. Quill ignored them as if he wasn't being threatened. – And what would be you? A god?! – there was irony and sarcasm in his voice, just as the self-confidence he seemingly had to reassure.
- Actually, yes, I am. – A smug smile showed up on the prince's face. – I'm Loki, Odin son.
- Peter made an expression of terror and pain, now looking at Gamora like he wasn't believing what his eyes were seeing. He had too much self-esteem problems involving gods to have to bare another son of Odin.
- Don't mind him, darling, it's just my ex-boyfriend acting like he cares. – She got up as if hurt, held the hand of his enemy, just about to take him out of there.
- Ex-boyfriend? Wait, wait, wait, when did we break up? I thought you were up to make things work between us again! – He was some shades paler, Asgardians definitely didn't bring good memories to him. – Gamora, I already told you, what you saw is nothing what you're thinking, I would never get involved with another woman… Apparently contrary to you who has thrown yourself to the first Mr. Perfection that showed up.
Stephen and Loki stared by far, neither them believed that the lovebirds were arguing in a moment like this. Gamora seemingly couldn't speak, only took her hand to her sword again, angry and ready to attack him, Peter, in turn, stepped back, kind of shocked about her being truly capable of hurting him this way.
Jotun wouldn't miss the opportunity at all, so lifted his hands through her hair and entered her mind, flawlessly would he discover where the green-skinned hides the mind stone. Even with the mind stone helping for free, the barriers of the woman's mind were strong, undoubtedly trained for a long time for when something like that happened, and this stalled him more than expected, so much that when he got back to reality with so few information, came across a pretty different scenario of when he left it.
Gamora, for some reason, imagined that the hand in her hair represented a silent ask for something more and she was centimeters away from kissing him, so great were the wishes of hurting the feelings of the Star-Lord, Quill, already pained and full of hatred, drew his weapon determined to back the god off his beloved, and this made the creatures, who still were hopeful to sleep with the prince, shoot him mercilessly.
- Why do humans lose their mind so fast? – Loki asked, funny, and with a victory smile on the face. – They end up simplifying things too much…
He plucked hair strands from the woman and walked towards the protector of the reality calmly, as if he was not doing anything wrong. It was clear the immediate change in Gamora's posture when he stopped controlling her. If before she felt a non-totally-hers insane angry, now she felt hatred, purely and intensely hers.
- Son of a hairy and mangy Fenrir – she angrily whispered staring the god who dared to laugh petulantly at her. The woman drew her sword and took no long to go for the goddamn Jotun, she would do anything to rip that triumphant smile from his face.
Loki, obviously wasn't such an easy target, quickly conjured a sword and with it blocked the cutting hit, his smile faltered a little, but his expression of victory remained. He was the trickster god after all, the one who is pleased when spoiling relationships and who makes everything for his own entertainment, if the green-skinned had a different image of him, all the plan would bite the dust.
Quill observed the interaction between both very confused, she was about to kiss him two minutes ago and now she wants to kill him. Would that be a very disturbed PMS? On second thought, the face of the man who now was fighting his girlfriend (or possibly ex-girlfriend) ringed him a bell, and… by the way, what was Doctor Strange doing there?
- Are you really helping this miserable maggot, Strange? – Gamora asked franticly clearly noticing the wizard was standing for the god in the fight.
- Bad times, Gamora… even the most unlikely creature may become a good ally. – Stephen with his magic conjured weapons and came between them.
- Wait a minute, this gay is the trickster god! – Peter loudly spoke noticing what everyone already knew. – I've heard about hundreds of his pranks, he's amazing! – the green-skinned stared at him both surprised and outraged, while Loki lifted his eyebrow and answered funny:
- I'm glad to know I have one more fan around here. – his other admirers now seemed afraid, not knowing if they should get into the fight or not.
There was nothing else to do, they had already gotten what they were looking for, even with no one noticing that, now all they needed was to back off enough to open the portal and go to where no one knew. Gamora stepped forward one more time and hit against the magic shield protecting what probably was the only blind spot of the god, so precisely she did it that the spell broke and Loki almost didn't have enough time to parry. Things would be easier if he could simply hurt her, but it wasn't worth it to break his deal with the wizard just to see that beautiful face to bleed.
The crowd around started to flare more, the security had been called and was against the supposedly causers of the mess, in other words, the Guardians of the Galaxy. Gamora and Quill, who decided to fight together with the woman instead of just looking the so-questionable-nature god hurt her, they found themselves trapped and the best to do was to leave the men go, afte all, it was just a Loki's bad taste joke, right? However, she had so much resentment accumulated about that man, so much angry for having trusted him and so much hatred for being tricked by him, that she didn't think about the consequences, she wished with all her powers to hurt the prince and whoever he called friends.
Stephen became her target, it didn't matter to her if someday the wizard had been a good ally, anyone who chose the trickster as a partner has a nature as questionable as his.
She stood as if repeating the attack against the god, but in the exact moment the protector of the reality acted to defend him and Loki himself changed his posture to get the impact, while both grasped the mess to try to disappear, she quickly changed the focus of her weapon, and addressed it to the only man who could take the frost giant out unharmed from there. No human could survive to that hit, Peter knew that and tried to stop her, not knowing her reasons that aroused his partner's wrath, but he was way too far to have the chance of doing anything useful and didn't make it in time to impede the bleeding from being bled.
There was a moment of silence, it was like all stopped breathing for a while, Gamora, noticing what she had just done, stepped away sharply, her expression was of shock and nothing would make her to believe what she was seeing. Only now the stone stopped controlling her completely, there wasn't so much angry in her, the feeling who filled her was genuine surprise. The prince moved fast enough to stop the hit, but not to block it with one of his own weapons, the only thing between Strange and Godslayer was the body of the Jotun itself. Loki tipped aside, feeling the taste of blood in his mouth, despite the blade had penetrated laterally the region of the belly. The pain that damn weapon caused was definitely something he could die without feeling again, he was losing too much blood, the wizard and he didn't mind when the cloak of levitation stuck to the extraterrestrial this time.
Never, ever, at no time, Gamora thought that that man would risk his life for someone someday and this made her body freeze. Peter enrolled her shoulders showing comfort, he understood now that they were manipulating her emotions, he didn't judge her at all. Stephen didn't express what he was feeling in the moment, he removed the Godslayer from his partner and used the space the crowd gave to take him out of there, but not before giving the weapon back to its true owner, she would need it more than him. After they stepped away enough to disappear from their sight, the wizard opened the passage to the location Loki had sent him before telepathically and so both left Cortraxia leaving behind nothing more than a long trail of blood.
(…)
Gamora had hidden the time stone in a lost cavern around the universal reality gap. It was not known how she found that place or how she knew about its existence, usually just the most experienced wizards and gods had access to something like that, it was in gaps like these they kept they most precious treasures, rare or of great emotional value artifacts and even their most useful weapons so that they could invoke them from whenever they were, without taking the risk of someone else to find them. No one would deny it was definitely an excellent place to keep what shouldn't be found, indeed no one would get there if not by being in the green-skinned to know exactly what they were looking for and, considering there was no wormhole near, there was no chance of someone to get to the place by mistake like happened to Jane and the reality stone so many years ago, the stone was definitely safe there. It was a shame that two people who used this very same resource for personal endings were gathering the infinity stones, a total shame, maybe if it weren't these specific people in the treasure hunt, the spell that took them there could have gone wrong and they could have gotten to a place completely out of context. It can't be said if it's luck, ability or a boost to the right direction, given by the space stone, wherever it was, the important thing is that they were face to face to the so-coveted relic.
The Cloak of Levitation carefully laid down on the floor, it felt his own way afraid of causing even more harm to this former almost-master. Stephen stooped to be at the level of the god, it was hard to accept he had been hurt to protect him from someone who could have killed him after his carelessness and it was still weird to him to be kind of worried about that man.
He couldn't help, and didn't want to, standing still while the man who saved his life still bled, Doctor Strange neared to the wound and with all the ability and calm he acquired from all his experience as a physician, he tore the clothes around the bled region, ready to help in his partner's recovering. Strange couldn't perform surgeries or procedures that were so easy for him before without magic help, after all, the nerves of his hands were severely damaged, however, even with all his disposition and experience, he wasn't prepared for what he saw. Godslayer penetrated horizontally Loki at least 6 inches, it was a serious injury that would lead any Asgardian god to an indeed quick and painful death, depending only on his or her level of power. Stephen saw when the blade penetrated him, touched him and for this reason he knew it wasn't an illusion, he felt the blood in his hands and he was the one to remove the sword from the prince…
The wizard could now understand the sensation of wanting to suffocate someone to death, he felt like a fool to be worried, he could only get up, take the time stone and leave the other there, yeah, maybe that's what he should do. Loki wasn't wounded, at least, not anymore, he'd already used his own magic to recover and probably just took advantage of the ride to take a rest. When the protector of the reality pulled out the medallion from his neck, the prince didn't even react, only smiled at him, lazy, too drained to move and kept observing his partner walking decided steps to the pedestal in which the desired stone was.
The Cloak of Levitation protested fiddling under him, uncomfortable for having been deluded too, but caught no attention. Loki needed time to recover his strength, he obviously has magic reserves in his body, but something made him feel that the best was to keep them for what was coming, whatever it was.
Time in that cavern seemed to pass deathly slower, some minutes have passed since Stephen headed to the treasure, but for Jotun, he hasn't moved one inch since then. There was something wrong, his body hair stood up with the powerful presence of an unknown creature. Although he couldn't see it, hear it or feel it, he knew it was very near, so much he had de instinct to stare at the back of his partner, something so primitive that gave him the assurance that the presence was concentered there, though it wasn't the true source of that power.
Loki didn't know what were the creature's intention, he didn't know it, and although his body protested to get better soon and leave that place without looking back, his subconsciousness didn't fear it, it was almost like he was extremely familiarized with whatever it was. So, not making much sense or seeming possible, a name came to his mind.
- Tempus… - he weakly whispered, almost surprised, after all, if it really were the conscience of the time stone, it definitively shouldn't be manifested that way. The presence of the creature moved away from Strange and headed to the liar wizard, he couldn't notice, but it was curious about the Jotun.
- Loki, son of Laufey and of Odin, I didn't think it would be possible for you to notice me this way. – the echoed, ancient and extremely calm voice sounded like if it were inside the god's head. – It seems like you are not as influenced as I used to think you were, I'm thrilled to see this. You're beyond the barriers we impose. – There was indeed certain joy in his tone.
- What do you mean? – his thoughts were still slow, he couldn't reason properly.
- All I can tell you is that you are probably the most truthful creature in all this.
The presence of Tempus suddenly vanished, time seemingly got back to its normal and the god felt his magic return faster than it should, his body cold-sweated for the effort of recovering of the hurt, but he had inside the sensation that the brief dialogue he had just had was nothing but a hallucinated and sudden dream. Stephen walked normally towards the stone, there was nothing stopping him from taking it, or, if there were, someone had already destroyed the obstacles before.
Getting up as if nothing has ever happened, Loki ran to his partner, for him it wasn't healthy nor fair that he carried two infinity stones, for this reason and for he wanted him to keep his face grumpy, the prince passed him at the last minute before he could put his hands on the treasure and hold the time stone in his own hands. He should have imagined that no one leaves something like that so simple to conquer…
Loki felt the tingling in his hands with a raising and unbearable pain, then his vision burred, his body bended back and he knew there was nothing left to do, though he could still see Strange reacting by his side, it was like he didn't belonged to that place anymore. He didn't realize, but he was vanishing, not from that reality, but yes from that time.
The last thing he had the impression of was hearing the voice of Tempus saying: "Send my greetings to Alanes.", followed by his own scream, then everything around him got dark.
When made it to open his eyes again, he was in Asgard.