Chapter 14 – Hydra
DISCLAIMER: We do not own Marvel... unfortunately... xD
Author's Note: In which Loki and Tony make some... disturbing revelations. ;)
~ Amina Gila
They might be invisible, but Loki still feels better keeping his back pressed to the wall as he and Stark inch their way through the hallway, headed towards where Loki can feel the seidr emanating from the scepter. The energy is so powerful and stifling that Loki is mildly surprised that normal mortals can't sense it, though to be fair, unlike them, he has seidr. And he's also spent a lot of time around seidr and magical objects.
"How much further?" whispers Stark as Loki uses his seidr to soundlessly unlock the door ahead of them.
"There should be a computer up ahead," Loki answers, just as quietly, as the door opens. They dart through before anyone has a chance to wonder why a door opened by itself. There have been a number of security officers inside dressed in all black, and Loki is getting bad vides from them. Something strange is going on, and they need to discover what that is. "You can hack that, while I proceed to the next chamber which should contain the scepter."
Stark nods, following the unspoken rule to keep talking to a minimum. It was almost too easy for them to infiltrate the building, though that's probably because mortal technology is incapable of detecting or stopping Loki when he's invisible and using his seidr to conceal his presence. He thinks it's a good thing that he wasn't so badly brainwashed by Thanos that he tried to conquer Midgard willingly. Short of killing him, nothing could have slowed him down.
Pushing those dark thoughts from mind, Loki points towards a computer terminal which is turned off and sitting innocently on a desk. The room has a window for what seems like observation purposes. It's almost as though whoever took the scepter – provided someone did, in fact, remove it from SHIELD custody without anyone realizing – has been studying it. That can't be a good thing.
Stark silently moves to the terminal and begins working to get access to the files within so he can download them. Loki, meanwhile, peers through the window to the room beyond. The scepter is lying in a glass case on a table. He walks to the door leading to that chamber, using his seidr to deactivate the separate alarms before entering. Before they broke into the facility, Loki had remotely taken all the security offline. By the time the people here realize that their systems were tampered with, he and Stark will be long gone.
Looking at the scepter, Loki can't suppress the shudder that runs through his body. He loathes the Mind Stone and everything which it represents. Despite the time he's spent trying to recover from what happened to him, despite the support which Thor, Stark, Rogers, and Banner have given him, it's not enough to erase the past. Truthfully, there's nothing which can heal the damage Loki suffered, except perhaps time.
Steeling himself against the memories which he knows will surface, Loki opens the case and lifts out the scepter. He can still remember the day when Thanos put it into his hands with orders to go down and conquer Midgard before bringing him the Infinity Stones on the Realm. Thankfully, that plan had failed… but what if it hadn't? What if Thor hadn't listened to Loki that night? He shakes his head slightly, twisting his wrist to store the scepter in his pocket dimension. The nearness of the Mind Stone is already affecting him, which isn't surprising. He needs to get it as far away as possible and fast.
"Are you done?" Loki questions, leaving the room and returning to stand next to Stark.
"Nearly," the man replies, shifting impatiently. "I'm not sure how long it will take them to realize that their computer system has been hacked, and I don't want to tempt fate. JARVIS is going to stall them somewhat, but I can't guarantee that it'll be entirely foolproof. I mean, they probably will never figure out who did it –"
"Actually," Loki interrupts, "It'll be easy for them to determine the culprit because whoever took the scepter is presumably the same who tampered with their system. We need a way to hide the Mind Stone from their scanners, especially since I have no intentions of keeping it hidden with me."
"Right, of course not," Stark agrees. "Banner should be back to the Tower anytime. He and I should be able to put something together in a day or two."
Loki presses his lips together. "Make it less," he orders. "I don't think I can keep it with me for that long without any risks, and we need a secure location to store it."
Stark tilts his head back and forth. "No promises," he finally concedes, "But I'll see what I can do." That, presumably, means that he'll do it. He rarely ever shows his softer side, but Loki knows that he does – to an extent – care about him, something which he still can't quite understand. He tried to conquer their realm, albeit not under his own volition, but the Midgardians are already willing to forgive and forget. Would that Asgard was the same.
"Aaaand… done!" Stark declares with satisfaction, stepping back. "Let's get out of here." Without bothering to ask permission, Loki grabs Stark's arm and teleports them outside. Stark stumbles, shaking himself as he regains his balance. "Sheesh. Give a guy a warning would you?"
Loki ignores him. "Captain, we have successfully obtained the scepter," he reports through the communicator.
"Great," Rogers answers. "We located and destroyed the four Chitauri scouts. Meet us back at the quinjet."
"On it."
Stark continues to mumble under his breath as they fly towards their destination. If not for the scepter's presence burning in the back of his mind, Loki might actually be up to engaging in the friendly banter. He's never had friends before as far as he can remember. Acquaintances, yes, but not friends. Everyone only wanted to spend time with Thor. He brushes away the familiar surge of resentment. It's pointless, and the feelings are probably being drawn up by the Mind Stone. He has friends now, sort of anyways, so crying over the past is useless.
The flight back to the Tower is quiet and tense, especially so after Loki explained the importance of keeping the scepter hidden from sight. To the best of their knowledge, and based on the limited information that Romanoff has, the scepter should have been taken out west to a secure, remote location. It wasn't. If it was stolen without Director Fury knowing, then there must be hostile forces within SHIELD. Until they find out more from the information which Stark obtained, they've decided that they cannot trust anyone but each other. Loki knows a liar when he sees one – being the god of lies has its advantages – and he is certain that all three of his companions can be trusted, at least with this.
"I had JARVIS contact Banner to tell him get back to Tower, because of an emergency," Stark tells them as the quinjet lands on the Tower. "Given how much time we've spent studying your magic and the Tesseract, we should be able to design something to block the scepter's emissions from external detection, especially if the radiation is similar to that from the Tesseract."
"From detection on the planet," Loki corrects. "I very much doubt that Thanos' spaceships will be blocked by any technology you could design."
Stark makes a face. "That's not helpful. We need to decide where to take the scepter then. I don't think any of us want another Battle of New York on our hands. I'd rather we choose the battle ground ourselves and make him come to us."
"Might I suggest a remote location on the west coast where the scepter should have been in the first place?" Romanoff suggests, butting into the conversation.
"Yeah," agrees Stark, nodding as they walk into the common room. "Yeah, that's a good idea. JARVIS, can you find suitable locations where we can reasonably keep the scepter, but with minimal casualties to surrounding populations when the Chitauri attack?"
"As you wish, sir," the AI replies. Loki doesn't think he'll ever get used to it, even if he enjoys speaking to the machine at times. "I have also discovered alarming information from the recovered files." JARVIS actually sounds worried, however that's possible, and it's enough to concern Loki as well.
"Out with it," orders Stark.
"The organization which possessed the building stole the scepter from SHIELD for experimentation purposes," JARVIS explains. Loki frowns. They already knew that, though. Or at least they'd guessed. "It appears that this group is HYDRA."
"What?!" explodes Rogers, "But – but that's impossible!"
"I'm sorry, Mr. Rogers, but it appears that HYDRA was not destroyed when you killed Red Skull and crashed the plane," JARVIS answers, sounding apologetic.
Loki raises an eyebrow as everyone in the room seems shocked into silence. "Can someone explain to me the significance of this HYDRA organization?" Yes, he might have made frequent forays to Midgard, but he never cared to learn all the details of their internal conflicts. It was not only exhausting; it was also exasperating.
It's Romanoff who answers his inquiry. "It was the scientific branch of the Nazis during World War II and is dedicated to controlling the world, claiming humanity can't be trusted to rule itself."
"So, not a whole lot different from what you might have done," Stark unhelpfully adds. Loki glares at him, not appreciative of the reminder of what he'd suffered from the scepter only months earlier. "Sorry," the billionaire says sheepishly. "I shouldn't have said that." He probably only apologized after realizing that everyone is glaring at him.
Rogers mutters something under his breath, shaking his head. "Alright, so here's what I think we should do. Tony, you and Bruce can work on creating a device to conceal the scepter. Loki, Natasha, and I can go through the files you got to find anything of extreme importance which will help us."
No one protests, so they split up to complete their tasks. Loki might never have used a tablet before, but it's not hard. He's always had a knack for figuring things out. Rogers is at one end of the conference table, while Romanoff is sitting opposite Loki several chairs down. The atmosphere is tense, as would be expected, and no one speaks as they scan through the endless pages of data and reports which they'd uncovered. Truly it was a stroke of luck which allowed them to discover this.
Over three hours later, an hour after Stark and Banner had taken the scepter from him so they could take its readings, Loki finds himself frowning down at the beginning of a file about something known as the Winter Soldier Program. The main individual is simply known as the "Asset," and it makes his stomach turn to realize that this person is considered as expendable as Loki himself was by Thanos.
The more he reads, the worse he feels, not because of the callousness of the language, but because of the way the man was mind washed. He no longer has any free will of his own – and probably is far too scared to resist anymore – and it's revolting. Thanos is known as the mad Titan, so it's not surprising for him, but for the mortals to treat some of their own in this manner, abruptly reminds Loki of why Midgardians are considered inferior. He can't imagine this happening on Asgard. Actually, he can, because he was always looked down on and reviled for being weak and inferior and fighting in a cowardly manner.
James Buchanan Barnes, part of the Howling Commandos which served under Captain America, a close friend of Steve Rogers… and now, a special weapon of HYDRA, mind washed to follow whatever orders he's been given. Looking through the missions, Loki knows that Rogers is going to be furious and horrified and probably a number of other emotions. He has to tell the others; they need to know. That's when his eyes fall on the name Stark. An expletive in his native language slips out before he can stop it. It just went from bad to worse.
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