The Avengers had all gathered in the great room for what Rogers called team building and Stark called a "kumbyeya snooze fest." This only resulted in a long suffering sigh from Rogers and hidden smile from Banner. Thor of course wanted to know what a kumbyeya was and whether you could eat it.
"Not really, but I'll get you some s'mores and we can all hold hands and sing," said Stark as he patted Thor's shoulder. He cocked his head and looked at Rogers. "Maybe we can do some trust falls."
"Yeah, I think you and the Other Guy already had that covered," said Banner, scratching at his hair.
Romanov covered a laugh behind her hand.
Thor settled onto the hearth, more willing to trust its stones than Midgardian furniture which always seemed a bit flimsy to him, and often uncomfortably small. "On Asgard, warriors in a troop train together, live together, and feast together. They also journey into the wilds with naught but their weapons and each other to survive and prove their worth."
Rogers smiled. "I was thinking something a bit more close to home. Since we do have house guests." His gaze lifted to where Loki leaned against the bar that separated part of the kitchen from the dining area and great room.
"Oh, do continue." He waved a hand idly, the other curled around a mug of tea. For being nothing but hot leaf juice, he was surprised at how flavorful it could be. It was yet another item to add to his list of reasons why Midgard may not be completely devoid of use. The mortals could also be rather diverting if you had run out of other options and had not yet sunk to watching paint dry.
Something in his tone caused Rogers to raise his eyebrows and Stark to twist around in his seat—which was of course Loki's intention.
"Why are you so interested?"
Romanov placed a hand on his arm. "Tony, we've talked about this. When you see him dangling a hook in the water, you don't actually have to take the bait."
Loki grinned. The Avengers were always so self-congratulatory, so proud of their great teamwork and the way they came together to defeat the invasion. To foil his plans. He pushed away from the counter and sauntered over to their group. He took in their wary curiosity—it was time they had their perceptions altered.
"I just find your pride in your team amusing," he said. "The fate of the world in the balance, and you very nearly tore yourselves apart and lost it all."
"But we didn't," said Rogers nobly. He'd probably have launched into a speech if Thor hadn't interrupted.
"Despite your efforts to drive a wedge between us," he said, "we prevailed, and together won the day."
There it was. The opening Loki had been waiting for. "Oh, I wouldn't say despite my efforts." He said it slowly, letting a hint of slyness show through as he dropped into a chair.
The Widow narrowed her eyes.
"You were a team that could only be forged in fire." Loki leaned back in self satisfaction. "I merely provided the flame."
The silence that greeted him was impressive. Naturally, Stark was the one to break it. "You're not saying this whole thing was a Batman gambit."
"Depends on what you mean by 'whole' and I'd hardly call it much of a gambit." He preened. "You all preformed more or less according to expectation," his gaze darted toward Banner and Romanov, "with a few minor miscalculations. It was a bit of a rush job."
"But it was our teamwork that broke up your whole scheme," said Rogers, face a picture of disbelieving confusion. It was amusing to see every emotion play out across that guileless countenance. "Why would you want us to trounce your own invasion?"
"Why indeed?" The words of their martyred agent came back to him. The man had said he lacked conviction.
"That was not your primary objective," murmured the Widow, a glimmer of understanding showing through her mask.
"I always knew you were the smart one." His languid ease hardened a bit as he rested his elbows on his knees. The mocking edge had left his voice, leaving it quiet and questioning. "Did you not find it the least bit odd, Thor, that I would lead an invasion in a full military assault?"
Thor shifted uncomfortably. The sheepish look he wore betraying that the thought had never occurred to him.
A sliver of disappointment darkened Loki's eyes. Annoyed bravado obscured it with the next blink. "That kind of hamfisted approach is really more your style than mine."
"The scepter's effects," murmured Natasha.
Glee brightened his face as he leaned forward invitingly. "Yes? What of the scepter?"
"All it took was hitting Clint in the head to break its hold. The same with Selvig."
"Exactly the kind of thing likely to happen if the Hawk engaged in an assault on the helicarrier—a helicarrier where you were sure to be." His tone softened, though the self-satisfied amusement never faded. "How could you help but seek him out, but you were too compromised to make the kill. Incapacitation was your only option, and in a confined space you have the advantage over Barton."
Romanov shook her head with a self-effacing smile. "The Hulk was never your main objective—a distraction at best."
"You did divine far more than I had intended," said Loki. It was the exact tone his weaponsmaster had used when telling Loki how he had entirely missed the mark, but at least his stance was good.
"Don't patronize me," she said without malice.
Rogers raised his hand so that everyone looked at him. "I got lost back at the Hulk not being Loki's game plan."
Shaking her head, Romanov ran a finger through her hair. "Loki handed us intelligence when he gave us Clint back."
"Gave?" sputtered Stark.
Loki ignored him. "Did none of you even question why a mere blow to the head would shake the influence from something holding such power?"
"I'm sorry," said Banner, his mild tone infused with incredulity, "are you saying that you didn't want to conquer the Earth? Because that's certainly what it looked like."
A broad, predatory smile stretched across Loki's face. "If I had really wanted this backwater realm, I would have it. And it wouldn't have taken an army. Eighteen months, some aptly spoken words, and you would have been at my feet, begging me to rule you, to save you from yourselves."
Stark snorted. "Bull."
"Even your skills could not possibly," began Thor.
"Remember the Nirnites?"
Thor instantly quieted.
Banner looked at him with widening eyes, "you don't really mean to say…"
"Not a chance! No way we'd just roll over like good little dogs and let you take over."
"And if I offered security? Comfort? The odd human individual is perhaps too wary to be taken in, but you are remarkably stupid in large groups. So much cattle. You claim to love freedom, but already you fritter it away in the name of safety and ease until you do not remember life without manacles and chains. You crave enslavement, running ever toward one form of bondage or other. Whether it be drink, ambition, duty, family, lust, status, redemption, the flesh—you all rush from freedom to chain yourselves to something. It is your nature."
Pausing to let his words sink in, Loki studied each Avenger. Not surprisingly, Romanov accepted his words with a kind of quiet indifference. In her line of work she already knew this to be true, whether she had ever articulated it to herself or not. Thor, oddly, held his council—perhaps not considering himself familiar enough with humans as a whole to confirm or deny. The others, however, seemed truly struck by his words, wanting to deny them, but seeing the truth in them as well.
It was Banner who spoke up. A weariness laced his words. "You're not wrong. But we can be so much more than our baser selves."
"And that's what you were counting on," said Rogers thoughtfully. Everyone looked at him with surprise. The intricacies of Loki's games were generally more the territory of Barton or Romanov, not the realm of the rather black and white Captain America. Rogers carried on, "you said we had to be forged in fire. You were counting on us coming through it stronger than before. If what you said were always true, we wouldn't have come together for the Battle of New York."
"You are such a prima donna—there is no way you could talk your way into power," said Stark—clearly unwilling to get past such an idea.
"What is your professional opinion, little spider. This is your area after all," said Loki gallantly tipping his hand.
The tightness around her mouth and the slight tension of her neck was all that gave her away. The others turned to her.
"Natasha?" asked Rogers.
She folded her hands neatly. "It's," she cleared her throat slightly, "it's not outside the realm of the possible."
He drank in the mixture of horror, incredulity, and shock that pervaded the room. Oddly enough there was a kind of grudging acknowledgement from the Widow, and what might have been slight awe from Thor.
"Then why invade at all?" asked Banner, his analytical mind still turning the problem this way and that, trying to unravel the mystery behind Loki's actions.
Recalcitrant silence had not been the expected reaction from the trickster. A heaviness crept into the silence as Loki drew it out, clearly going to answer, but not yet ready to do so. Finally, he sucked in a little breath and looked up at the Avengers, idly playing with the cuff of his sleeve. "The Hawk and your doctor were not the only ones…conscripted into the cause."
"You were not…" Thor began, only to have Loki's upraised hand cut him off.
"I was not. Do not assuage yourself with the idea that I was but another whose will was corrupted." As he spoke, his attention remained wholly on the rhythmic circling of his thumb against his shirt cuff. "It was not wholly against my wishes to come here." But neither was it without coercion.
Hardened eyes snapped to focus on each Avenger in turn. "Do not mistake me, I would have given up a hundred worlds in order to get away from The Other and his master. But I would not give him the satisfaction of a foothold within the nine realms. And I'll not be anyone's tool."
A/N: I've always thought it odd that Loki's plans during Avengers were so…straightforward. Clearly there was some scheming and machinations, but for the God of Mischief, a known trickster…it all seemed rather traditional. There are of course the heavy implications that Loki was tortured and somewhat pressed into service. And some of his choices don't seem to match up with a straightforward interpretation of events. It's a real shame that they've never dealt with any of these implications or hints canonically. You read various interviews and things and it's pretty clear that both Tom and Joss had the understanding that more was going on than Loki simply invading. Which is probably why so many fans accept the theory that at the very least there was some level of coercion. Which is fun because it allows for such a variety of theories and explanations to explain what we canonically see and with various levels of villainy on Loki's part. I rather enjoy the interpretation that much of Loki's conversation with Black Widow is in earnest (and about himself and not just her), but because he's Loki, he's not above still using a truthful conversation to his advantage.
I'm also partial to characters that are clever and constantly surprising you with their schemes. Loki is an interesting case because unlike some characters who push the trope a bit too far with playing 4-d chess mind games and always having everything work out perfectly, he doesn't always succeed or has to adapt on the fly. Which is a bit more realistic, but still gives us the pleasure of a good schemer. If you like clever (and snarky) characters, I'd highly recommend The Queen's Thief series by Meghan Whalen Turner. I adore them. The first book moves slowly at first, but you're somewhat compensated by the fact that the narrator is a sarcastic joy. The author gets a better handle on pacing after the first story.
Fun Fact: This story has just bypassed The Philosopher's Stone in length (based on word count).
Next Week: Hawkeye's back, and his presence threatens the delicate equilibrium of the house. To make matters worse, Book's healing seems to have stalled—and no one knows why.