Response to reviews:
Just me (Guest): Wow, thanks for the review! Thank you so much! I'm glad you like the story so far. I was worried that some people might say that I'm not creative. That's not the case, it's just that after I had the idea I found out that it wasn't only me. Guess that great minds think alike, eh? And thank you again for telling me about those awesome series. I can't seem to stop reading them right now!
TakedaEmo: Oh wow, thanks! I was scared that the two of them might be acting OOC, with all the overly emotional stuff I'm inserting in there. Thanks!
Pallyndrome: Well, nothing in particular. He was just hacking around for fun.
Salty Ice Crystals
Inquiries and Misgivings
Chapter Four: The Source
"We will make you long for something as sweet as pain."
-The Avengers, the Other to Loki.
"It's the gamma radiation." Bruce was speaking so fast that even Steve's enhanced hearing almost couldn't pick up on it. However, the rest seemed to understand the terms Bruce was using to describe Loki's current situation.
"The Chitauri must have forced some kind of slow-acting poison into him. We don't know what it does yet, and I'd rather not. Anyway, after being exposed to some gamma radiation on Earth, or Midgard as they call it, the poison had some kind of reaction and refused to stay in Loki's body anymore, instead forcing its way out. It's supposed to be a good thing for Loki, except that most of the poison is already melded into Loki's bloodstream and system, which means that in the process of getting all the bad things out, those cells keeping Loki alive and healthy are getting flushed out too. We can only hope that, now having identified the problem, Asgard, which in Thor's words are centuries more advanced than us, can find out how to cure this." Bruce finished in one breath. The other Avengers (minus Thor, Tony just hacked into the advertisement boards and left a message for Thor there, nothing too revealing before returning) just stared.
Finally, Natasha asked logically. "If they're centuries more advanced than us, then why could we find out the source of the trouble before they could? And what chance do they have of curing Loki if they couldn't even find out what's wrong in the first place?"
Clint interrupted, "The question should be, why are we even helping him in the first place?"
"Everyone deserves a second chance, Agent Barton." Steve tried to reason.
"He took over my mind!" Clint shot back.
No one could really argue with that unless they really wanted an arrow through their eye, seeing that Clint's hand was already dangerously placed on his bow, so no one stepped in to defend Loki.
Natasha put one hand on Clint's back, trying to placate him. The archer took several deep breaths before finally allowing himself to relax completely. Then only did Steve deem it safe enough to speak. "Clint, I know that we can't understand what you feel, but listen…Loki may have been controlled too. He feels the same as you except that he gets more blame and none of us believe him. Please don't tell me that I'm the only one to notice his eye color."
"What about it?" Tony asked, eyebrow raised. Oh, how he loved challenging Captain America.
"Well, think about it. What's his eye color when he was here the past few days?"
The team looked at each other. They didn't even know the eye color of someone who had lived with them for the past two weeks. Not even Natasha and Clint, who had the best observation skills, just because they simply didn't care.
Tony cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Well, his eyes were mostly shut while he was having his fits, and the lighting was bad plus he decided to stay in the shadows most of the time."
Steve sighed. "Look, his eyes are green. Now what color were his eyes during the battle in New York?" He said, with the tone of explaining something to a kindergartener.
"…blue?" Bruce tried, and received a nod in return. Bruce really didn't recall much from the battle, since he spent most of it in Hulk-form, but when they sent Loki back to Asgard, Loki had lifted his head to look at them, and they were a dirty blue green, almost like a polluted sea. But now he knew that they were the purest green one could ever hope for…it could only mean that it had been blue before.
"Whoa, wait. Does that mean that the Tesseract is controlling him too? Just like Katniss here?" Tony asked.
"Don't call me after that heroine in Hunger Games!" Clint shot Tony a dirty look.
"Fine, Legolas." Tony smirked.
Clint facepalmed. "And not that elf archer in Lord of the Rings! For heaven's sake, I don't even look like him!"
"Robin Hood it is then~" Tony practically sang. Clint growled in frustration and Steve sighed again. So much for getting their attention. "Look, guys, we can work out the nicknames later. So the main point is, Loki has a very high possibility of being controlled then. So I suggest that we should treat him at least a little better so that we don't rub salt onto the wound. If my theory is correct, we don't want to inflict punishment on an innocent."
Natasha nodded in agreement. Clint thought for a moment, then nodded firmly. Being controlled was not the best experience, and to be blamed for what you don't even remember was sickening. Bruce agreed too, and Tony only agreed after ordering Jarvis to pull up various video feeds to confirm it. Steve naturally was in, since it was originally his idea.
Just then, Thor returned. With thunder and lightning for dramatics.
"The old man in the crispy chicken advertisement says that you require my presence immediately." Thor boomed. "For what, may I inquire?"
Clint snorted. "Seriously, Tony, you hacked into the Kentucky Fried Chicken advertisements?"
"What?" Tony defended himself. "That was the most common advertisement and Thor has a better chance of seeing it!"
"Well, Loki may have taken a turn for the worst but we have discovered the source of the trouble." Bruce said over the noise of the archer and the inventor bickering. He briefly explained his theory to Thor. "Do you want to come and see Loki? Maybe soothe him? He was sleeping when I left him. With a really high fever."
Thor nodded and followed Bruce down the corridor, his footsteps being unnaturally lighter than usual. Bruce could only suppose that he didn't want to disturb his brother's rest, and instinctively softened his own footsteps too.
"Here." Bruce pushed open the door. Loki was still sleeping, but he'd vomited a bit more after Bruce had left. This time, the liquid was tinged with blood. Dummy was chirruping, dismayed at the new mess, by Loki's side, but no one took notice of it. Instead, Thor rushed to Loki's side, shoving the robot away. He knelt beside his brother, pressing a kiss to his dry forehead and brushed some hair away.
It's time Loki got a haircut, he thinks. Bruce left the room quietly. The question of whether Asgard could help would have to wait.
He returned to the living room, where Tony was now lamenting the loss of his newly repaired windows.
"I should build a landing pad for Thor too." He complained, gesturing at the glass scattered all over the floor, where another robot was vacuuming it all up. "At this rate it's going, I'm going to be very poor soon. Those windows were supposed to be bullet-proof."
"You should invent a Mjolnir-proof one." Natasha smirked, lifting up her legs as the robot ran under them.
Tony brightened up. "Hey! Good idea! I'm going to work on it when Reindeer Games is outta my tower!"
"I don't think he is going to be anytime soon." Clint said gloomily.
Bruce entered the room, closing the door softly behind him. However, despite the lack of noise he made, every head swiveled to face him. Bruce shifted uncomfortably with the attention.
"So what did Thor say?" Natasha asked finally, curious.
"Well, I took him to Loki after explaining our discoveries, then he went into protective older brother mode and ignored me for all I was worth." Bruce said. "Ask him yourself later."
Tony raised an eyebrow. "Are you copying my cool style of talking?"
Bruce blushed as he recounted his words. "Well, since we're Science Bros, it's only natural that I pick up something from you. Like your speech patterns."
An hour later.
The Avengers (exempting Thor, again) were gathered in the kitchen, eating pizza, Tony's favorite. Natasha had cheese and pineapple, sharing it with Pepper. Tony would never understand girls and their meager appetites. Steve had chicken and pepperoni, something Bruce had ordered for him, since Steve was at a loss as to what is pizza. Bruce himself had ham and pineapples. Clint grabbed a slice from everyone's pizza, enjoying a multi-cuisine. Tony, though, had wanted to try something new. His pizza was the famous Mockba pizza, consisting of sardines, tuna, mackerel, salmon, and onions. It was really delicious.
For Thor, they had set aside at least a pizza of every flavor. Knowing Thor and his appetite, he would have no problem finishing it. Plus, Thor would have to share his portion with Loki. Not that Loki ate much anyway.
The kitchen door squeaked open.
"Dummy, oil it." Tony ordered, mouth still full of pizza. "Finally decided to join us, Thor?"
"Can you please stop mistaking me for my brother?" Loki sighed softly, moving into the kitchen and sitting down on the chair meant for Thor, just beside Tony. He would have sat by Bruce if he could, but Bruce was surrounded by Steve and Clint.
"Where's Thor?" Bruce asked, while Loki pried open the lid of the first pizza box of the many piled in front of him, his hands shaking slightly.
"He is sleeping. I did not wish to disturb his rest." Loki said, now eyeing the pizza doubtfully.
Tony leaned sideways, getting a better look at Loki. "Man, no offense, but you look like you need it more. And I haven't poisoned the pizza, go on and eat it!"
"Pizza?"
"Pizza." Clint confirmed, grinning. High and mighty as he acted, he was still confused by a piece of dough.
The dark haired prince took out a slice of the cheese and ham pizza, sniffing at it. Natasha bit back her laughter.
Steve decided to step in. "It's okay." He said gently. "I didn't know it before, but I still enjoyed it."
That was all the reassurance Loki needed. He bit into it, letting a little sauce dribble down his fingers before he wiped it away with a quick and efficient brush of his fingertips. "That was delicious."
"Understatement of the year." Tony muttered. "Pizza is heaven!"
"Overstatement of the year." Loki countered. "If pizza were heaven you would be all dead now."
"Fair point." Natasha let her grin slip through.
They continued to eat their pizza, exchanging the occasional banter and daily chatter. However, Steve noticed that Loki hadn't touch his pizza after eating the first slice.
"Loki, aren't you hungry?" he finally asked when Tony and Natasha were licking their fingers and Bruce and Clint were halfway through. Pepper still hadn't come home yet from work. After all, it was only seven.
Loki shook his head. "No, but thanks for asking."
Steve wasn't the only one who noticed. "Man, you only had a slice! That can't be enough for you. Look at how Thor eats."
Loki's eyes flashed. "Thor cannot always be the standard to measure me by."
"Ooh, touchy. But at least try another piece. Go on, you won't regret it. And get something in that stomach of yours. I can practically see the bones." Clint added his bit. After Thor had explained the possibilities of Loki being controlled just like him, Clint had done his best to act a little better around Loki.
"If you wish, then let it be so." Loki took another slice and started eating, though it looked like he was forcing himself to swallow.
When he was halfway through the slice, Natasha suddenly said, "Stop. Don't eat anymore. Puke on the floor if you like. Stark has dozens of cleaning robots anyway."
One doesn't have to be a master assassin and spy to see the signs. Loki dropped the pizza immediately, rolling off his chair and emptied his insides onto the floor rather violently. He continued to cough and gag even when they were pretty sure that there wasn't anything in him anymore.
Bruce went over to Loki and gently patted his back, which was still shaking. Slowly and painfully, Loki curled himself into a ball on the dirty kitchen floor, the taste of bile still lingering in his throat.
"Jarv. The scans." Tony ordered shortly.
"Right away, sir." Jarvis printed out the quickly taken scans and Dummy passed them to Tony, who in turn, muttering that he was not the doctor, passed them to Bruce.
"Oh god. His digestion system is all messed up." Bruce gasped, allowing Loki a look for himself at the piece of paper where there was red splashed over the part where his stomach and small intestine should be. The red indicated overly active virus movement and energy readings.
"Someone wake Thor. Now." Natasha ordered. Clint quickly scurried off in the direction of the room assigned to the brothers. Steve, wanting to at least do something, picked up Loki's slice of abandoned pizza and put it back neatly into the box and shut the lid, all the while looking concernedly at the now shaking trickster on the floor.
"Brother!"
There was no mistaking that tone. Thor burst into the room, furious. "You could have woken me, Loki! If not for the Eye of Hawk here,"
Barton coughed at the strange title.
Thor ignored him. "-now what happened?"
Tony seized the chance to explain to him what happened and finally brought up the question, "Say, with all your advanced science and all that, do you think Asgard can cure this?"
Thor's face fell. They dreaded the answer.
"I fear not. There is only one way, but we have no way of doing that."
"What is that way?" Natasha quickly asked. There may still be hope yet.
"By making sure that the poison has never gone into him." Thor answered grimly.
Tony threw up his arms. "We can't possibly go back in time!"
"In fact, that is possible." Loki said from the floor. Bruce was startled, and said, "But that would defy all the laws of physics-"
"Not if one of the Norns reversed the time on me only."
To be continued…
So there is a way…but would the Norns help them? How would it be done? Would the universe collapse since they will be violating one of the laws that it stood on to exist?