A/N: HAPPY HALLOWEEN! For real this time. I've been cosplaying Natasha all day since that was my costume. Literally just quoted Tasha at people instead of saying "Trick-or-treat!" I was originally going to be Loki, but the costume was too expensive. *sigh* It'll happen eventually. Speaking of Loki, this is Halloween Part 2, which includes the costume party, more Russian/English convos (sorry if the Russian sucks by the way, Google Translate is not accurate), another conversation with Tony, and yes, yet another confrontation with Thor, which Loki is not exactly thrilled about. Oh yes, and a lot of screaming fangirls. You're welcome.
Disclaimer: Do I even have to put this anymore? Marvel/Disney's. Not mine.
7. I Will Devour You
Central Park was, if possible, even more beautiful in the sunset than it had been when he'd come out here with Natasha a week or so prior. Loki looked around in wonder; they didn't get colors like this on Asgard. Fall on Asgard was like much of the rest of the year; a little cooler, maybe, but not cold, and without the life the vivid colors of Midgard's trees brought to the place.
Thor, too, seemed to be staring out in fascination. Loki was trying his hardest not to pay attention to his brother; he hadn't moved far enough away from Loki after removing the dampeners for Loki's heart rate to go back to normal. And even now, as the Avengers, plus Coulson and Loki, walked through Central Park (Loki with slightly more spring in his step than he'd had of late; the return of his magic had done him wonders), Thor never strayed too far from Loki's side.
Even the Avengers looked around. Natasha had been right the other day when she'd told Loki that Rogers would have liked to draw this place; Loki caught a snacth of conversation with Banner when Rogers said exactly that. Natasha walked ahead with Barton, who looked a little agitated; Natasha appeared to be trying to calm him down. Thor walked with Coulson not far from Loki, just a few feet ahead. Which left Stark to fall back and attempt to strike up a conversation with Loki.
"Hey, Reindeer Games," Stark said, using the default nickname he'd selected for Loki due to his helmet (which he hadn't seen anywhere recently).
"Stark," Loki said in acknowledgement, still gazing at the trees as the twilight fell upon them.
"You seem...livelier," Stark said carefully. "What's up?"
Loki looked at him with a raised eyebrow. Stark was addressing him so casually, as if they were friends. Maybe they could be; but they weren't, at least not yet. Still, Loki decided he'd better not push his luck, lest Stark decide to put those dampeners back on him.
"It was the removal of the magic dampening cuffs." Loki decided to answer honestly for once. "The way they supress my magic...I didn't even notice, but it leaves me feeling rather drained and exhausted. Having them removed improved that a hundredfold."
Stark glanced at him. "Why did it leave you drained and exhausted?"
Loki considered how best to answer for a moment, then explained, "My magic is like a physical part of me. It manifested itself at a young age -"
"Hold on, hold on, how young is a 'young age' for you Asgardian god types?" Stark interrupted.
"I'm around 1048 years old Asgard time, which would equate to about seventeen, I believe, in human terms. So I'd say, in Asgardian terms, a young age for us would be around...oh, twenty or thirty years old," Loki estimated. "Human years would be about the same as normal humans, more along the lines of two or three. I'm not entirely sure of exact ages. I've lost count. We don't really celebrate birthdays on Asgard, maybe once a decade. All I know is, I've been around since about 965 A.D. Midgardian time."
Stark actually whistled. "So basically you're a timeless immortal god."
"We're not immortal," Loki said, surprised. "Far from it. I heal quicker than most Asgardians, and it's difficult to kill me, but I'm not immortal. Neither is Thor, who I think is about twenty-three in human terms."
Stark shook his head. "Yeah, that makes no sense. Anyway, back to the original topic of your magic...?"
Loki tried and failed to hide a smirk. Stark was annoying, but in a strange way it was rather endearing. "You asked. Anyway, as I was saying, my magic is like a physical part of me that manifested at a young age. I believe I am now one of the strongest sorcerers in the Nine Realms. Because of that, and because it manifested so young, my magic is a part of me, and when that part is supressed...it's like cutting off my oxygen, in a way. Being a god, as you put it, I can survive for a certain amount of time without oxygen, but eventually I will suffocate. It's the same sort of thing when the cuffs are on, only on a larger scale because I can survive longer without use of my magic than I can without oxygen. Think of it this way: when the cuffs are on, it's like I can't breathe; when they're off, I can breathe freely again. Downscale that a bit to my magic, and that's why wearing the cuffs for so long left me drained and exhausted."
Stark absorbed this for a minute, then nodded. "It makes sense," he said. "Sort of."
Loki laughed. "You humans. Why are you all so stupid?"
Stark looked rather offended. "I happen to be a certified genius."
Loki raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really?"
"I built my first circuit board when I was four," Stark told him. "I got into MIT at fifteen. By the time I was seventeen, I had graduated with a Master's degree in Physics and Electrical Engineering. So yes, certified genius."
"You realize I have absolutely no idea what any of those words mean, right?" Loki chuckled. "Like the others, I don't speak Genius."
"Ha! So you do admit I'm a genius!" Stark exclaimed.
Loki sighed, but smiled and shook his head. "Can we get back on topic, please?"
Stark nodded.
"You're all stupid when it comes to magic," Loki elaborated. "For years there wasn't enough magic in this planet to sustain beings that thrive on it, like me, for long; now that there is you're all still blind to it. But for someone who has magic..." Loki closed his eyes as he walked, which was probably dangerous, but hey, he was a werewolf - he had to be steady on his feet. He was confident he could do this with his eyes closed without tripping over anything.
"For someone who has magic, what?" Stark prompted when Loki failed to continue.
Loki opened his eyes again, and this time it was as if a shade had been lifted away from his gaze. He could see the different wellsprings of magic in the area, as well as different auras surrounding the other Avengers based on how magically-in-tune they could potentially be. Stark's wasn't a huge glow, but it wasn't almost nonexistent like Barton's was, either.
"For someone who has magic, seeing Earth in its proper form is quite spectacular," Loki finished. He looked around, different areas lighting up or growing dimmer as his gaze shifted from magic spring to magic spring. "New York in particular has deep magical roots."
"Yeah, I've never been one for all the weird spiritual stuff, so...this really doesn't make much sense..." Stark trailed off. Loki laughed, letting the magic view fall from his eyes, the preverbial veil dropping back into place.
"What was that about being a certified genius?" Loki teased.
Stark glared at him, then laughed.
They fell silent. Loki really didn't know what else to say.
"I hope this idea of yours works," Stark commented. "You're going to need the people on your side eventually. Why not get a jump on it?"
"I'm assuming that was a rhetorical question, considering we've already established the plan," Loki replied. "But you are correct about me needing the people on my side."
"You need to show them you're not the same terrorist that tried to destroy New York," Stark continued.
Loki looked at him shrewdly. "Do you believe I'm not the same terriorist, as you put it, that tried to destroy New York?"
Stark's gaze was even as he replied. "Do you?"
Loki had no chance to respond, for they had arrived at a break in the trees and into the place Stark had said he was going to set up the costume party - the main park. Loki glanced aroud as the night fully gathered; oh, this was going to be fun.
He raised his hands; a green glow appeared as Loki called on his magic. The Avengers watched, mostly in fascination, as Loki used his magic to transform the park. Flickering jack-o-lanterns appeared at the edges of the park, against trees and the fountain. Orange and black took precedence on the tables that Rogers had set out earlier as Loki's magic coalesced into solid form. Purple candles flickered on the tables. For extra creepy effect, Loki created a few of the traditional Halloween creatures: skeletons, bats, a few fake gravestones with puns rather than names (his favorite was one that made even Barton chuckle - the headstone read "Ben Better"), a mummy or two. And, for good measure, Loki turned the water in the fountain purple, lit from within by a magical blacklight.
Finished, Loki dropped his hands and turned back to the Avengers, who were all - even Barton - staring around in wonder.
"Holy shit," Stark said, breaking the silence.
"Локи...это потрясающе," Natasha told him, shaking her head. [Loki...this is amazing.]
"Спасибо, Наташа," Loki replied. [Thanks, Natasha.]
"This looks amazing," Rogers marveled.
"Creep factor is defininitely in play," Banner remarked. "And it's not even that much of a scare level."
"I can up the creep factor early, if you wish," Loki offered. Once he'd gotten his magic back, they'd spent the rest of the day devising a plan and preparing for tonight's party. The Avengers were all aware of the plan; the citizens of New York and assorted S.H.I.E.L.D. personnell that had been invited weren't.
"No thanks," Stark muttered. "I know what's going to happen and I'm going to be creeped out. Besides, we don't need to terrify the partygoers on their way in."
Loki shrugged. "Suit yourself."
Stark hit the comm in his ear: "JARVIS?"
"Ready when you are, sir," JARVIS's automated voice replied. Loki still found it rather amusing that, just like the human being Jarvis had been (according to Stark anyway), his AI had an English accent.
"Alright." Stark brought out a piece of his armor, one of the repulsor gloves. "We ready?" Loki guessed he was asking the other Avengers as much as JARVIS.
There were murmurs of assent from the Avengers and Loki, and Loki heard a confirmation from JARVIS as well.
"Light 'em up," Stark said, and aimed his repulsor at the sky.
A handful of fireworks shot out rather than the usual repulsor beam. They exploded overhead, forming the invitation for all citizens of New York that wished to attend to head to Central Park for a costume party. Now all they had to do was wait.
"Как ты думаешь, сколько времени потребуется, чтобы орды фанаток и фанатов с криками вошли внутрь?" Natasha asked Loki, coming up beside him. [How long d'you think it'll take for the hordes of fangirls and fanboys to come screaming in?]
"О, может, минут десять для тех, кто уже был в костюмах. Максимум полчаса," Loki predicted. [Oh, maybe ten minutes for the ones who were already in their costumes. Half an hour at most.]
Natasha laughed, looking around the clearing. "Это выглядит потрясающе," she complimented again. [This looks amazing.]
"Тоже потрясающе. Моя магия вернулась, пусть даже временно," he replied. [Feels amazing, too. Having my magic back, even if only temporarily.]
"Да, даже не пытайтесь объяснить мне это, я ни слова не пойму," Natasha chuckled, only half-joking. [Yeah, don't even try to explain that to me, I won't understand a word.]
Loki laughed. "Принято к сведению." [Noted.]
They fell silent a minute. Loki gazed around as the S.H.I.E.L.D. people started to arrive, helping set up a path for the civilians in the woods. His gaze lingered on Thor, who was busy helping Stark arrange the makeshift stage that Rogers had thrown together earlier for their performance.
Natasha noticed. "Ты снова смотришь на него," she said. [You're staring at him again.]
Loki looked over at her, startled back into speaking English. "I am not! And what do you mean, again?!"
Natasha chuckled. "Come on, Loki. You know perfectly well what I mean."
"Я не смотрю на него!" Loki protested. [I do not stare at him!]
"Да, you do. Not often, but enough," Natasha informed him. She seemed to sense Loki's preoccupation, because she added in soft Russian: "Что еще у тебя на уме, Локи?" [What else is on your mind, Loki?]
Loki sighed. "I...had this dream. Last night. It was strange - fractured images and voices, mostly, a confusing haze. But there was one part I remember vividly..."
"Какой?" Natasha asked when Loki hesitated. [What?] "What is it? What happened?"
"In the dream..." Loki hesitated again, then switched to Russian: "Во сне Тор целовал меня. Везде. И...и я наслаждался этим, гораздо больше, чем должен был, а теперь...Наташа, теперь я даже не могу смотреть на него, чтобы мое сердце не пропустило несколько ударов." [In the dream, Thor was kissing me. Everywhere. And...and I was enjoying it, far more than I should have, and now...Natasha, now I can't even look at him without my heart skipping a few beats.]
"That doesn't sound too bad," Natasha said. "So what's the problem?"
"I just..." Loki shook his head. "Я не должен так себя чувствовать. Как бы то ни было...это так. И я не знаю - не знаю, как с этим жить." [I shouldn't feel this way. Whatever...way this is. And I don't know - I don't know how to live with it.] A pause, then: "I don't know if I can live with it."
Natasha laid her hand on his arm gently as the civilians began trickling in. "You'll find a way," she said. "Вы разберетесь. Ты Локи; ты справишься с этим." [You'll figure it out. You're Loki; you'll get through this.] She smirked at him. "And hey, maybe you'll get Громовержец [the Thunderer] out of the deal, too."
Loki scowled at her. Natasha grinned.
"Я пойду встречать гостей вечеринки. Увидимся через несколько," she said, and walked away. [I'm going to go greet our party guests. See you in a few.]
Loki noticed she had a habit of doing that.
Civilians and S.H.I.E.L.D. agents alike, most in costume, slowly filled up the clearing. Loki hung back as the Avengers made the rounds, greeting people and exciting much screaming and swooning from fans. A few S.H.I.E.L.D. agents wandered over to say hello and to tell him they were keeping an eye on him, to which Loki's only reply was "So is everyone else here." That shut them up quick.
Once the crowd had calmed down a bit, the Avengers filed their way onstage. Loki's magic caused speakers to appear, their cords winding like snakes to the nearest power source, which happened to be a miniaturized Arc reactor much like the one in Stark's chest. Stark had built the thing specifically for this occasion.
Once they were connected and Loki gave Stark the go-ahead, Stark cleared his throat, muttered something to JARVIS, and then spoke, his voice echoing out over the crowd.
"Um...hi, guys," Stark said into the mic attached to his shirt. Instantly, the crowd erupted in cheers. Stark raised a hand after a few moments of this, and the crowd fell silent. "Well. Thanks for the warm, if not overly enthusiastic, welcome. Now, uh - as you can see, this is a costume party, yeah?"
An answering cheer from the crowd. Stark kept going. "And you also must have noticed that we're -" He gestured to himself, the other Avengers, and Loki, still standing unobtrusively behind the rest - "not wearing costumes."
Another answering cheer. Still Stark continued. "Well - that's because we've devised a bit of a game to kick off this party. And it requires, you'll all be happy to hear this, it requires audience participation!"
A huge roar from the crowd as the fans screamed in excitement. Loki smiled a little; they were enthusiastic, he'd give them that.
"But first!" Stark shouted over the noise. "But first, we need to lay out the rules, and who better to do that than the person who came up with the idea in the first place? Now I know he's maybe not the greatest person in your minds, given everything that happened during the Chitauri invasion, but we're asking you to give him a chance to prove himself." Stark looked over his shoulder at Loki. "Come on out, Trickster."
Loki emerged from behind the Avengers. For a moment everything was silent; then, slowly, a collective cheering scream rose from the crowd. Loki was absolutely astonished, and that was no mean feat - they were cheering. For...him? The Avengers looked about as clueless as he was.
Loki glanced at Stark for permission; he had an idea for his introductory speech about the game, but it involved nearly becoming the Chitauri-controlled him to do so. Stark nodded, ever so slightly, telling him it would be okay, and besides, Coulson was on standby to tell the S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives to stand down.
Loki looked back out over the crowd, which haadn't quieted, and casually held a finger to his lips. Instantly, the entire park fell silent.
"I am Loki," he said clearly, so the mic hidden inside his suit jacket could pick his voice up. Another cheer. "Of Asgard," he added next, glancing quickly at Thor and then away. The crowd cheered yet again. "And I am burdened with glorious purpose." Once more, a cheer. Coulson's hand went to his earpiece; presumably the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents had reacted.
"I must admit, this is not what I was expecting," Loki said. "But it is Halloween, so I suppose a game or two are in order. For this, we are going to need five audience members per round to participate -"
The crowd began screaming again. Loki shouted above them: "SILENCE, YOU MEWLING QUIMS!" The crowd quieted, not one of them looking the least bit ruffled by his insult. Loki continued at normal volume.
"As I was saying. Audience participation - do not scream again - will be required, five people per round. The game is simple: I will use my magic to disguise five audience members plus an Avenger in completely random costumes, the same on all participants per round but varying round by round. Your job will simply be to guess which of the six is the Avenger. Sounds easy enough, doesn't it?"
The crowd cheered again. This time Loki let them; then he held a finger to his lips again. Again, the crowd hushed.
"We shall see," Loki said. He let the crowd cheer again, since crowds seemed to do that a lot regardless. Once the cheering died down on its own this time, Loki turned to the Avengers and smirked.
"It appears," he said, drawing it out and savoring the drama of the moment, "I have an army."
This was Stark's cue. "We have a Hulk."
Loki spun back around to face the crowd. "Alright, hands up, who's with Hulk?!"
Half the audience's hands shot up immediately. Banner looked a little surprised. Loki selected five completely random individials from the audience, then motioned the rest of the crowd back.
The civilians looked in awe as they climbed up onstage. Banner smiled gently at them. One of the women looked like she might faint.
"Alright, alright, in line," Loki scolded them, corralling them into a line. He turned back to the audience. "This is the lineup, right? Remember this." Loki motioned the ones on the stage into a semicircle and turned off his mic.
"Banner, you know the plan. The rest of you, I'm going to use the costume Banner himself will be in for the rest of the night. When you go back into the line, you'll scramble the order, so no one in the crowd can tell which ones you are. All your faces will be blanked out so the rest of the crowd can't see who it is. Understand?" Loki instructed.
The civilians all nodded, most looking quite excited. Loki gave them a final word of warning: "This is going to feel a little weird."
Then he cast the spell.
A few minutes later found Banner and the five civilians all standing in a different order than they'd originally been in, faces blurred and all dressed like Harry Potter (though Loki had no idea who that was; Natasha had told him to read the books and he just hadn't gotten around to it yet). Loki turned his mic back on and turned to the crowd.
"Your turn," he said. "Agent Coulson will pick three of you to give your best guess as to which one is the Avenger. Starting now."
Coulson made his way through the crowd and came back out with three civilians in tow. He lined them up on the other side of the stage; Stark handed the first one a microphone that Loki produced out of nowhere.
"Which one," Loki asked the man, "is the Avenger?"
"Um..." The man surveyed the civilians and Banner, trying to figure out which was who. He pointed at the civilian in the center right. "That one."
Loki removed the illusion. The woman underneath smiled; the man groaned and passed the microphone on.
This woman was a little unsure. "That one," she guessed, gesturing to the civilian on the far left.
Loki removed that illusion too; the man underneath grinned and waved. The woman chuckled nervously and handed the microphone off to the last woman in line.
This lady didn't even hesitate. "That one," she said matter-of-factly, gesturing right at Banner.
Loki had to admit he was surprised. He let the illusions drop, making Banner's a real costume. "Correct," Loki said, not a trace of the surprise showing in his voice.
Banner retreated, the audience members dispersed back into the crowd, and Loki turned back to Stark.
"Where's Barton?" he asked, Stark's next cue.
"Hawkeye?" Stark said. "Up in a tree, what did you think?"
Loki sighed dramatically and called out: "HAWKEYE! Come here a minute, would you?!"
And Barton jumped out of the tree, executing a neat flip before landing on his feet in front of the crowd. Show-off, Loki thought privately. Aloud, he turned back to the audience and picked five more civilians, then repeated the same instructions he'd given Banner's group. He was aware of Barton glaring at him the whole time, but made no mention of it, pretending not to notice.
This time the costume illusions were Marty McFly from Back to the Future. Barton had jumped at the chance for a Marty costume; that was the only reason, Loki thought, that he was putting up with this.
Again, three guessers were called up. This time no one got it right; Loki had purposefully told them to remember the civilians' and Barton's positions again, anticipating that the audience would be expecting him to shuffle them around again and in fact doing the opposite and having them remain where they had originally stood.
This process repeated itself with each Avenger. With Thor, the costume was Captain Kirk from what Natasha had informed Loki was "JJ Abrams' Star Trek trilogy." Loki had had to try very hard to calm his heartbreat when he drew Thor and the civilians into the semicircle for instructions. For Rogers, the costume was Jace Herondale from what Natasha had informed him was the "Shadowhunters series, which Steve has apparently gotten into thanks to Tony." Rogers had merely smirked at him when Loki made eye contact; Loki still couldn't figure out why. Natasha's own costume was Katniss Everdeen from "The Hunger Games, since she is a badass and hello, she's called the Girl on Fire for a reason." Loki thought she looked quite good dressed as Katniss, though after expressing that once again, he had no idea who Katniss was, Natasha had remarked in Russian: "Мне действительно нужно преподать тебе урок поп-культуры." [I really need to give you a lesson on pop culture.]
And Stark's costume was Indiana Jones. That Loki had heard of, though when he'd told Natasha he'd never actually watched the movies she had looked at him with a scandalized expression and all but forced Stark into the idea of a movie night sometime later in the week, to educate Loki on Earth entertainment. It had been quite amusing to watch.
The same woman that had guessed Banner came up again three more times, and every time got all of them right (Thor, Rogers, Stark). Loki had to ay he was impressed. That took talent.
"What's your name?" he asked the woman, after Stark had retreated.
Now the woman hesitated. Loki looked at her more closely; she looked a little drunk, but otherwise had dark brown hair pulled up in a messy ponytail that looked black in the flickering candellight, dark brown eyes, and strange white tattoos on her face. She wore what looked like dark blue armor and a cape to match; Loki did a double take when he saw the cape. It looked...Asgardian? Was this just her costume, or...?
"I'm called Scrapper 142," she said finally.
Loki saw through the lie quite easily - she should have known better than to lie to the Liesmith - but he let it slide, for now.
"Well, you must be either really lucky or really perceptive, then, Scrapper 142, because out of the six, and of all four times you were up here, you figured them all out," Loki praised.
Scrapper 142 smirked. "I suppose I'm just lucky that way."
She walked away, back to the party. Someone else in the crowd shouted above the rest: "What's your costume going to be?"
Loki smirked and wordlessly used his magic to give himself cat ears and a tail, black to match his hair and his suit. The crowd screamed in appreciation. Loki turned back to the Avengers, still smirking. Stark chuckled and shook his head; Rogers looked mildly amused; Natasha was shaking with silent laughter; Barton was glaring at him, as usual; Banner shook his head; Coulson was smirking back, something Loki still found strange - he could not figure that man out; and Thor...Thor's expression Loki couldn't quite place. The Thunderer looked away, but Loki kept studying him, trying to place what that expression had been.
Stark stepped up to the front of the stage. "Who's ready to party?!" the self-proclaimed genius-billionaire-playboy-philanthropist shouted.
The crowd screamed, JARVIS turned on the music, and the party officially began.
Loki and the Avengers dispersed among the crowd. Loki watched each of them for a few moments, himself standing a little apart from the main group of costumed civilians and S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, dancing and drinking and generally having fun, which at this point was almost a foreign concept to Loki. He noticed Stark greeting a few friends of his - James Rhodes, Pepper Potts, and his head of security, Happy Hogan. Loki couldn't help but note that Stark seemed to have a habit of giving people he knew personally light kisses on the cheek in greeting; Loki wondered for a moment why, then decided it didn't matter. Stark was Stark, and that was really the only explanation Loki needed.
Rogers was laughing with a handful of assorted S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and civilians. Loki watched him for a moment, noting the way he always seemed to cross his arms over his chest when he laughed. So the super-soldier wasn't perfect, after all. He had his quirks.
Banner seemed to be deep in discussion with two agents on Coulson's personal S.H.I.E.L.D. team. The infamous FitzSimmons that they'd heard about from Coulson over dinner, Loki assumed. A Scottish engineer and a British biochemist, both brilliant. No wonder Banner was getting along with them so well. Banner seemed, though Loki couldn't tell exactly, to be apologizing a lot; it was possible he'd said the wrong thing, as he sometimes did, though not normally when it came to his science work.
Barton was with Coulson and a few of the other agents on Coulson's team - Agents May and Ward, Loki thought, as well as the new recruit, Skye - and actually seemed to be having fun for once. Loki didn't think Barton had smiled much since the Battle of New York, and couldn't blame him. Loki noticed no small quirks about him - yet. Maybe, if Barton ever decided to forgive him and acknowledge his existence for longer than five seconds, but not today. Though Coulson himself did look rather exasperated; perhaps Barton was telling an embarrassing or incriminating story.
Natasha stood talking with Hill and a group of civilians, who all looked quite in awe. Loki wondered if she was describing one of her S.H.I.E.L.D. missions, because she gestured a lot as she talked, pantomiming explosions by the look of it. He'd noticed that about her already, though: Natasha often gestured as she talked, for no other reason than to have something to do with her hands. Loki thought the Midgardians called it "ADHD."
And Thor...Loki's heart stuttered (again) when he saw Thor, telling a tale to a group of riveted civilians. Even dressed as this Captain Kirk character, he looked good, Loki couldn't help but think. Even from this distance, Loki could see the gleam of mirth in his blue eyes, his smile almost brighter than his lightning. His blond hair had been illusioned short to match the costume, though Thor had absolutely refused to let Loki do anything with his beard, which sort of ruined the effect. Still though, he looked good - and watching him laugh, seeing that smile light up his face the way it hadn't since his original exile from Asgard (since my fall from grace, Loki thought privately, though it was a small voice that whispered this), was well worth it.
"Any particular reason why you're staring at the Lord of Thunder?" a voice asked form beside him.
Loki turned; it was Scrapper 142, the woman who'd basically won the guessing game. She had a half-empty bottle in one hand, the other on her hip.
"It's God of Thunder," Loki corrected automatically. Then, "How'd you know he was called that?"
"It's not my first time meeting an Asgardian, you know," Scrapper 142 told him.
Loki raised an eyebrow. She'd just inadvertently given something away, he just didn't know quite what that was.
She took a drink, and Loki figured it out when he saw the tattoo on her arm.
"You're a Valkyrie," he breathed.
The Valkyrie glared at him. Loki continued.
"I thought the Valkyrie had all died horrible, gruesome deaths," Loki siad. Apparently that was the wrong choice of words, because next second the Valkyrie had her knife at his throat.
"Choose your next words very carefully, Lackey," she hissed.
Loki grinned. "It's Loki," he corrected, "and you wouldn't dare kill me in the middle of a very public party, would you?"
"Keep talking and find out," the Valkyrie growled, the knife pressing a little harder against his throat.
Loki barely felt it. His grin stayed in place. "Oh, I wouldn't do that if I were you," Loki told her. "You'd be taken down immediately."
"Why? No one here cares about you," the Valkyrie snarled. "Besides, what can a group of civilians do?"
Loki actually chuckled. "You really have no idea, do you?" he laughed.
"About what?" Valkyrie hissed.
"This entire park is filled with highly trained S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, not to mention the six Avengers that you so cleverly figured out the identities of," Loki informed her. "At least Black Widow and Thor would be on you immediately if anything were to happen to me. And the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents don't like me, but it gives Fury a bad standing with Odin if I die; that and the fact that you're a Valkyrie are enough to get you thrown in a S.H.I.E.L.D. holding facility for a few decades. So I'd back off, if I were you..." Loki twisted, bringing her arm away from his face and touching his hand to her head, calling on his magic.
For as long as he could remember, Loki had had the ability to access other people's memories if he touched their head and concentrated hard enough. The Valkyrie's memories weren't hard to find; mentioning the Valkyrie slaughter had apparently brought them to the front of her mind. Loki watched as the entire force of Valkyries fought a dark being, a woman by the looks of it, who completely slaughtered them. It was quite horrifying. The deepest pain within the memories was when one blond-haired Valkyrie jumped in front of the woman's sword to save this one's life. A stray thought told him her true name was Brunnhilde.
Loki pulled out of her head abruptly; the Valkyrie now known as Brunnhilde stumbled away from him, glaring fiercely.
"...Brunnhilde," he finished, his voice a soft whisper.
"How dare you-!" she began, but Loki held up a hand.
"Don't try it," he said. "Leave. Now. Leave and I won't call them over."
Valkyrie glared at him, then put away her knife and retreated. Loki got the feeling that wasn't the last time he'd be seeing her.
She doubled back for a moment. "By the way," she called, just low enough that the rest of the crowd wouldn't hear her, "I know what you are, werewolf."
Then she was gone. Loki was really starting to get tired of people dropping bombshells on him and then walking away.
She knows what I am? But...how?
Is she the female wolf that keeps following me?
The party continued on. At one point, everyone reconvened for Loki to up the stakes a bit with an intense display of magic as he made the decorations creepier, and for the deposit of candy, which everyone - even Loki - took some of. Then the party got interesting as a few of the civilians decided they wanted something more and approached Loki with the idea for a haunted corn maze, which he'd obligingly raised. Natasha had been one of those interested, dragging Barton with her the first time and Stark with her the second. Loki had made sure to make it extra creepy for the two of them, trying to scare the unscarable Avengers. When they came out of the maze, both times Natasha was perfectly fine, while Barton looked pale as one of the ghosts Loki had added to the maze and Stark had hastily hidden the obvious fear in his expression. Loki, watching from a few feet away in the shadows, had met Natasha's eye and smirked.
Now the party was back to normal, though getting more interesting as the night wore on. Loki had resumed his position a little separate from the rest of the party and was staring up at the moon, thankful this wasn't one of his transformation nights.
"Loki?" Thor's voice. Loki looked back down at him, heart skipping a beat or two the way it had been ever since the dream.
"What?" He hadn't meant for his tone to be nearly as irate as it was.
Thor apparently decided not to take offense. "You seem a bit distracted," Thor noted. "And you're standing apart from everyone else. I wondered why."
"That Scrapper 142 woman is a Valkyrie," Loki said, staring off in the direction she'd disappeared. His magical tail flicked from side to side slightly. "I saw her tattoo. And her memories."
Thor sighed. "I forgot you can do the memory thing."
Loki looked back at him, eyebrow raised. "'Memory thing'?" he echoed.
Thor shrugged. "I don't know what it is."
"To be fair, I don't either," Loki admitted. "It's just something I've always been able to do."
Thor studied him. "You look troubled, brother," he said.
"I'm not your brother," Loki replied automatically. Then why do you still call him 'brother' in your head? Thor looked a little disappointed.
"The point still stands," Thor pressed. "You look troubled. What's wrong?"
Loki sighed. He wasn't going to get away from this one. But he couldn't answer honestly. Not yet. Maybe not ever.
"I don't fit in," Loki said instead, which wasn't totally a lie. "That Valkyrie brought it up. She was unaware of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents in the crowd, or of your and Natasha's loyalty - which I still don't understand - and she threatened to kill me, after I brought up the Valkyrie slaughter. I told her she shouldn't do that; her response was to inform me that no one here gives a damn whether I live or die. That's not entirely true, but looking around..." Loki shook his head. "Seeing the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents watching me out of the corners of their eyes, seeing the civilians not give a crap because they're too busy having fun, and even watching the Avengers, Barton in particular, and knowing that most of them would gladly see me dead...I don't belong here, Громовержец, and I never will."
"First thing: what did you call me? In Russian?" Thor asked.
Loki hadn't even realized. "'Громовержец,'" he repeated. "It means 'Thunderer'."
Thor nodded and continued. "Second thing: I don't think any of the Avengers, except possibly Barton, wish you dead, br- Loki. I've been talking with each of them lately. Nat adores you, thinks you're a good conversationalist and just a relaxing and very much different presence to be around; Cap sees the good in everyone, and he's positive that your good will triumph; Stark has been rather amused by you lately, which I do not understand since you spend most of your time in your room, and as far as I know, before today you two had little contact; Banner is a little less wary around you, though he's still far from ready to trust you, and it'll take some talking to get the Hulk to not freak out next time he sees you; even the Son of Coul has moved on, since Fury brought him back from the dead and you expressed to everyone that you regret the events of the Battle of New York and everything before. The only person who absolutely refuses to see reason is Barton, and even he'll come around eventually. Even if Nat and the Son of Coul have to force him to."
Loki looked away from the earnestness in Thor's face. He knew Natasha liked him; and yes, Stark had seemed a little friendlier once they'd gotten talking; and Loki had to admit, he was right about Rogers; but Banner? And Coulson? He wished that were true.
Thor gently turned his head back. Loki stiffened at his touch, fragments of the dream flashing through his mind. He wasn't sure what he'd do if this began to play out that way. He wasn't sure if he'd try to run or if he'd give in like he had in the dream...
"And I am always here for you, Loki, whether you want me to be or not," Thor said, dragging Loki out of his thoughts and back to the present. "Nothing in all the Nine Realms will ever change that. Now, you can hate me; you can hate us all if you wish; but that will not make me leave. Even though I know you want me to, I'm never giving up on you, Loki."
Green eyes met blue; Loki saw he was serious. Thor had never been a good liar, least of all to Loki. Loki sighed and looked away again; this time Thor let him. The Thunderer turned to leave, then paused and looked back.
"Loki?"
"What now?"
"How do you say 'Trickster' in Russian?"
Despite himself, Loki smiled. He looked at the ground so Thor couldn't see it and said, "'Обманщик.' 'Trickster' in Russian is 'Обманщик.'"
He could sense Thor's nod. "Well then," he said. "Happy Halloween, Обманщик."
Thor walked away; Loki smiled to himself again, all thoughts of the dream forgotten for the moment as he looked up to stare after his retreating brother.
He'd gotten the pronounciation a little off.
Phew. That was a long one. Who liked the ending? *virtually raises hand* I'm quite proud of it. The little quirks Loki notices about the Avengers are actually things I've noticed about the actors while watching numerous interviews on YouTube (yes, RDJ does actually tend to give people little kisses, and Chris Evans really does cross his arms over his chest when he laughs). Sorry (*cough* Adalia *cough*), I know a week is a long time to wait, but updates should be a little faster now that the Halloween chapters are over. I am planning on a Thanksgiving (I'm American so yes) and a Christmas chapter, possibly a New Year's (American Central Time) one too, so be on the lookout for those as the holiday season begins. Please leave reviews telling me what you thought of the chapter, I worked hard for a week on this in between school and watching the DC Arrowverse TV shows to get it right.