You've Got Sucker's Luck
Chapter 29
AN: Eagle-eyed readers may have spied that I updated the chapter count. Nine more to go…
INCIDENTALLY – If you've stuck with me this far and have not yet listened to the song "Exile Vilify" – you need to. Trust me on this one, especially for those of you who are particularly moved by music or have your own personal Loki soundtrack.
All conversation ceased as the brothers entered the room.
Knowing that Thor would be welcomed with the usual fête, Loki left him to it and sought out his own safe harbor at Brynn's side under the pretense of checking on her. Fussing with the bedclothes at least gave him legitimate excuse to ignore everyone.
There were only but so many times one could reasonably be expected to smooth the wrinkles from a fitted sheet, however, and the already-cramped quarters quickly started to border on claustrophobic the longer Loki looked on, watching yet again as Thor's magnetic presence granted him instantaneous acceptance among near-strangers.
Gods, he wished Brynn were awake.
He was on the verge of conveying his displeasure with a bolt of Seidr to his brother's backside when Coulson finally chose to commence with introductions, beginning first with Fitz and Simmons. Both scientists were still visibly starstruck to be in the presence of an Avenger and managed a weak wave before burying themselves behind their tablets, every so often sneaking reverential glances back up at Thor.
Mack stepped forward next, hand extended.
"Alphonso MacKenzie," he volunteered, enduring Thor's hearty handshake with only the faintest trace of a wince, "But I go by 'Mack.' Thanks for coming out."
"I am happy to assist," Thor answered warmly, "Son-of-Coul has spoken highly of you, and your partner."
Presuming the aforementioned-partner's introduction was to follow, Thor then turned to May with an expectant smile – a smile that grew rather fixed when May responded by lifting an eyebrow at him and saying nothing.
"Agent Melinda May," Coulson said, announcing the name of the taciturn agent when he realized cool indifference was to be the extent of her salutation. Nevertheless, his voice grew sly as he added, "She's really been looking forward to meeting you."
May's facial expression was wholly dissonant with the term 'eager.' She afforded Thor a single appraising look, then finally sniffed and remarked, "I thought you'd be taller."
Thor, having little experience with being found lacking, ever, forced a laugh; meanwhile, Loki's estimation of Agent May had gone sky-high and was rising straight into orbit.
The stiff silence was broken by Fury's brusque interjection of, "How much time's left on the clock?"
"About three minutes," Fitz answered as Thor hastily stepped around Coulson and began making his way in Loki's direction. Beside him, Simmons reactivated the OLED screens, throwing the room into a sudden glare. "What happens if, uh, nothing happens by then?"
Fury fixed the scientist with his singular scowl. "Then we wait until something does happen," he replied. "You got anywhere else better to be?"
Fitz balked and mumbled something in the negative, wilting further when Thor lumbered past.
Loki kept his eyes trained on Brynn's EEG as his brother neared, his arms remaining firmly crossed over his chest and back ramrod straight. White-hot resentment simmered beneath the surface of his skin and burned deeper with the oaf's every lumbering step. This would be just his luck, he reflected sourly. He had never entertained serious thought of Thor making Brynn's acquaintance, or the circumstances under which the introduction might take place, but this was not what he would have wanted.
His introduction to Jane Foster had been her fist meeting his face in a fiery display of mortal pique. It seemed only fair that Thor's first proper impression of Brynn be of a similar nature – Brynn, Brynn, who possessed more pique and spirit and mettle and gumption and courage than Foster could ever hope to muster, not even over the course of an infinity of lifetimes!
Yet here she was. Abed and unconscious.
Typical.
Thor drew up beside Loki, wishing he would spare him a second glance – and understanding why he did not. Both men knew the other's thoughts, of how Thor once would have seized such a ripe opportunity to make fun – the one time in his life Loki had a woman to show off, and she was not even awake to witness the event, let alone properly clothed!
Jane Foster's steadying influence had been long reaching, however, and as Thor uneasily shuffled from one foot to the other, he felt no desire to mock, nor found humor in the situation. He had not been speaking in jest, when he asked Loki if Sabrina Nolan might find Jane's company agreeable. This woman was of import to his brother, and on those grounds alone, that made her of import to Thor as well, but how to go about convincing Loki of his sincerity was a riddle that would have to be solved at another time.
"What is that?" Thor asked finally, motioning to the screen and the wavy lines scrolling across it that seemed to have Loki utterly transfixed.
"An electroencephalogram."
Thor nodded sagely. "Ah."
Loki's eyes did not leave the EEG.
"You've not the faintest idea what I just said, do you?"
"Er, no."
"It monitors her brain waves," Loki said tersely.
There came another knowing hum.
Loki's breath left him in an irritated puff. Must the job of stating the obvious to Thor always fall to him? He knew damn well what idiotic conclusion the slowly-turning wheels in his brother's head were leading him towards – a conclusion which, on any other day, Loki would have been delighted to encourage in hopes of later witnessing Thor pose the question, "What do mortals' brains wave at?" to his precious Lady Jane.
"And you're certain all of those," his brother's inquiry interrupted Loki's grouchy scheming, and he saw Thor motioning at the OLED screens, "aren't going to wake her back up once you lift the sleeping spell?"
"Whatever phenomenon is at work puts her into what appears to be a fugue state," Loki explained, restlessly letting his arms drop to his sides, only to refold them back across his chest again. "She remains sufficiently oriented to be able to navigate her way to Ives but is unaware of what goes on around her – at least as far as I have been able to tell."
Thor's mouth tightened, as did his grip on Mjolnir. "This sounds like the work of HYDRA," he observed, grim-faced.
"One minute," Simmons called out softly.
Coulson signaled everyone closer, wanting a final word of some sorts. Thor went to join them, then shot Loki a deliberate look when he made no move to accompany him. Loki pretended not to notice Thor's expectant glare until his doing so became obvious, then finally huffed and ambled over to join the assembled group.
"I'm sure you've got all the bases covered," Coulson said to Loki as he came to stand beside Thor, "But this is the last chance to tell us anything else we might need to have on our radar."
"Ah, yes." Clasping his hands behind his back, Loki arranged his face in a polite smile and addressed his audience. "It goes without saying that I will slaughter you all should any harm come to her," he said pleasantly, "But I thought I would say it anyway."
"There's no 'I' in 'team,' Loki," Mack pointed out; across from him, Thor had let out an exasperated sigh and was scrubbing a hand down his face, "We're gonna take good care of her."
"But that still doesn't mean I wouldn't enjoy wringing your neck afterwards," May offered.
A half-snorted chuckle prefaced Loki's reply. "Promises, promises," he quipped.
Fury – ready to wring both of their necks – chose that moment to step into the fray and issued his final warning:
"Do I have to put both of you stupid-asses in a –"
The Director's threat would forever remain a mystery to all, cut off by the sound of high-pitched, musical tones from across the room.
The watch.
Loki had already bolted over to Brynn's bedside and was restoring her to a natural state of sleep by the time the others were turning to look for the source of the noise. He withdrew his hand from her shoulder and then stepped back, fighting the instinct to hover as the watch around her wrist continued its quiet chime. The tones sounded perfectly innocuous, but Loki knew the battered blue Timex's alarms and alerts, and none were this long in duration, or complex – an eight-note staccato arpeggio.
Brynn muttered Loki's name once and then rolled over, the blankets twisting with her as she curled up and away from him to face the wall.
The series of beeps repeated itself, this time at a higher pitch.
Swirling mists of Seidr began collecting at Loki's fingertips. Coulson was the first to spot the faint glow of emerald and exchanged a look with Thor, who responded with a subtle shake of his head. His meaning was clear: Do not interfere.
The tones repeated a third time, again at an even higher pitch.
Brynn twitched and rolled back onto her right side, oblivious to the six-person audience watching her every move.
The fourth iteration of tones ended on a prolonged, drawn-out beep. The watch's electroluminescent face briefly lit up its trademark Indiglo-green and then the negative liquid-crystal display went black.
Brynn's eyes started rapidly darting back-and-forth at random beneath her lids.
Loki tore his gaze away from her, the ends of his hair whipping against his cheeks as his head shot around to look at the EEG. The delta wave patterns had gone wild, nothing indicative of seizure activity or REM sleep, but likewise nothing even remotely normal.
By force of habit, he unconsciously began counting the seconds.
The EEG grew increasingly berserk as Brynn flopped onto her back and sluggishly pushed herself up from the pillow – further evidence that Ives's influence was vining its way into her psyche; usually she was wide awake from the moment she opened her eyes.
"Coming," she whispered, answering a summons audible only to her.
Ten seconds.
Everyone began shifting to the perimeters of the room as Brynn forced herself out of bed – Thor having to yank Loki away from her when she stumbled and fell to her hands and knees – and then clumsily climbed back to her feet.
The display on the OLED screens moved in conjunction with her, making for a distracting visual tumult in the background, but Loki's vision was consumed only with the neural chaos scrolling across the EEG. Simmons, having some knowledge of the field, watched along with him, also trying to make sense of the violent collisions of beta, alpha, theta, and delta waves.
Twenty seconds.
Brynn now stood rooted in place in the center of the room, her shoulders slumped, staring into space. May and Mack eased closer to flank her on either side; Coulson joined Fury by the head's up display on the desk, and Fitz and Simmons kept watch from their tablets, monitoring the sensory array and cameras.
Thirty seconds.
It was no wonder Brynn's TBI-related symptoms continued to linger three years post-injury, Loki thought to himself as he watched the bedlam on the EEG grow progressively worse. Whatever this phenomenon was, coupled with the ECT and resultant seizures was why her recovery had plateaued. Ives had been inflicting equal parts healing and harm with every counseling session, reknitting Brynn's emotional wounds by day and reinjuring her brain at night.
Forty seconds.
Whatever lingering doubts anyone held regarding Loki's depth of feelings for Brynn slowly dissipated as they looked on – May included. The strain on his face and fear in his eyes were not that of a demigod or despot, but man desperately trying to protect that which was most precious to him.
Fifty seconds.
Sensing his agony, Thor's grip on Loki's arm tightened.
"Steady, brother," he encouraged softly.
Loki heard these words but paid them no mind. Brynn had entrusted her well-being to him, and he would permit this neurological massacre to continue no longer.
"Enough," he snarled. He angrily wrenched himself free, only to be yanked back by Thor a second time when Brynn's shoulders unexpectedly snapped straight with a jerk.
Loki eased away from Thor and checked the EEG; Brynn's brainwaves remained a scattered mess but the blank expression on her face was starting to fade, and then with a blink of her eyes she appeared herself again – to everyone but Loki.
Evidently unaware that it was still the dead of night, Brynn started going about her morning routine. Nothing seemed amiss, but Loki spotted the differences immediately – differences that were as subtle as they were drastic.
Brewing her daily cup of Pike's Place did not involve the usual ritual of frowning at the paper filter, the filter basket and then back again as she struggled to determine how one was oriented in relation to the other.
The potted sweet potato vine sitting out on the table – a cutting from the original Sammy had grown years ago as part of a high school science project – was diligently attended to as she waited for the coffee to finish. Most mornings Loki had to remind her to water the plant or would simply do so himself for fear that one more day of Brynn's benign neglect would finish it off completely.
Steaming mug now in hand, Brynn made her way towards the built-in dresser in her closet, sipping coffee as she went. She withdrew a pair of dark fuchsia cargo pants without so much as a glance at the labels Loki had affixed to each individual drawer weeks ago, indicating what went where. She could never recall where she had folded her clothes away from one day to the next, and he had grown tired of waking each morning to the sound of slamming drawers and seeing her in a state of acute distress as she hunted for socks.
Brynn opened another drawer, this time pulling out a black T-shirt.
The color slowly drained from Loki's face.
No, no, no…
Everyone looked at Loki with mounting uncertainty as Brynn stepped into the bathroom and shut the door behind her; running water could be heard a moment later as she started brushing her teeth, her reflection in the mirror duplicated on the network of OLED screens.
"I thought you said she slept in pajamas?" Fitz exclaimed in a loud whisper to Loki, voicing the team's confusion.
The view on the screens flickered before Loki could respond. There was a brief glimpse of Brynn starting to pull her arms out of her sleeves, and then the displays turned to static as the top's microscopic network of cameras started going offline, unable to hold up to the strain of the fabric being stretched over her head as she undressed.
Brynn emerged from the restroom seconds later, wearing her black running top and cargos. She finished her coffee as she stepped into her sneakers, placed the empty mug on the desk, and then left.
After a quick confirmatory nod to Coulson, May and Mack followed her out the door without further word, adhering to their training to stick to the plan whenever possible and improvise as needed.
"Damn, damn, damn!" Loki hissed as soon the door closed after them.
"I-I don't understand," Simmons faltered, clutching her tablet, "You said she sleeps in pajamas –"
"She does!" he cried, "But she was always dressed during her encounters with Ives –"
"So why didn't you tell us that?"
"Because I forgot!" Loki roared, rounding on her.
Simmons shrank back as Thor attempted to put a calming hand on Loki's shoulder, but he flung him off and angrily stormed towards the bed.
Fury ordinarily would have castigated and brought to task anyone who dared make such an outburst towards one of his people, but he – and Simmons as well, judging from the worried look in her eyes – seemed to recognize that Loki's vitriol was directed towards no one but himself.
Thor, meanwhile, knew well enough when to let Loki be, and turned to the others in hopes of better understanding why everyone was so agitated. He had not been made aware of the true purpose of Brynn's shirt, and Fitz and Simmons hastily read him in on the situation before trying to brainstorm possible contingency plans.
Loki ignored their discussion, his mind racing in a frenzy of well-controlled panic, eyes boring into Brynn's rumpled bedsheets where not even an hour earlier, he had held her safe in his arms as they laid together beneath the blankets.
How could he have been so careless? All three times he encountered Brynn while she was under Ives's influence, she had never worn her nightclothes. How could such an obvious detail have slipped his mind?
"What about an invisibility cuff for Thor?" he heard Coulson suggest. He and Fury were still stationed by the head's up display, watching Brynn via the Helicarrier's security feed as she wandered the hallways, May and Mack trailing closely behind her.
"Not enough time to make one," Loki answered absently.
There was no telling whether the psychiatrist was even aware SHIELD had found her found out, no means of predicting what might be lying in wait along the way to whatever destination Ives was leading Brynn towards. He had been relying on the shirt to serve as his eyes and ears, to ensure May and Mack had advanced warning of any unseen foes. But now, for his own intents and purposes, he was flying utterly blind.
Which meant he had just entrusted Brynn to two mortals whose ICERs and best of intentions could not compensate for their meagre speed, strength, and senses of sight and sound.
And he had only himself to thank for it.
Unacceptable.
Wasting no time to prevaricate on his decision or consider the consequences, Loki rendered his corporeal form invisible and stepped outside of himself. The projection he left behind rubbed a weary hand down his mouth and chin and looked grimly to Thor, who murmured encouraging words and then accompanied him as he went join Fury and Coulson before the head's up display.
Loki walked past them and straight to the exit, snatching up one of the ear comms lying out on the desk as he went.
"No sign of anything so far," he heard Mack say just as he was stepping through the molecules of the door and into the hallway, "If anything, it's too quiet."
Not for long, Loki mused.
He sealed the door shut, hoping this would buy him a few extra minutes' time before Thor discovered his subterfuge, and then retrieved Brynn's wedding band from his pocket dimension.
He felt the ring materialize in his fist and lifted his hand to look at where it rested in his open palm.
There was a not-so-long-ago time in his life when he would have regarded an object of such base sentimentality with nothing but scorn.
And now it meant everything.
"You stupid, stupid fool," he whispered.
A spasm of grief flickered across his face, and he bit his lip.
Then he vanished the ring safely back away and raised his head. He could wallow in self-pity later; he had a psychiatrist to kill and an infinity stone to resist. Best get started.
Loki checked the seals on the door a final time, called forth his battle armor, and bolted down the corridor after Brynn.
AN: Short of Loki himself showing up and doing the writing for me, there is no chance of my posting an update again before the end of 2019, so happiest of new years to everybody! Y'all have been the best part of my year.
Also, I'm back on tumblr - wrathkitty dot tumblr dot com.