Chapter 5 – A Day in the life of an unhappy Research Assistant

Summary:

Loki hates his job. Actually he loves playing with the new tech but he hates working for his father, especially in his brother's shadow.

Chapter 5

Loki resented just being Tony's assistant.

Loki resented that his brother had a better job than he did.

Loki resented working in his father's Company.

Loki resented that he didn't get the main part in the play, but mostly, Loki resented that his father didn't listen.

If he had listened to his youngest son, he would have known that playing opposite Darcy was just what he actually wanted.

That afternoon, Odin pulled both his sons into his office. Told them what part they had in the play, then dismissed Loki abruptly so that he could discuss a sales strategy with Thor.

Thor's job was cool.

Thor got paid three times as much as Loki.

Thor got a Company Car.

What did Loki have?

A research assistant's job, working hard for practically nothing. Pittance and no recognition from the one person from whom it truly mattered.

All this internal bitterness transferred into Loki's features as he entered never-ending data into the computer, bashing the keyboard brutally.

"Whoa there Kid! Don't take it out on the hardware."

Tony placed a firm hand on Loki's hunched shoulder, gently squeezing, coaxing him out of his funk.

"I'm not a kid, Tony." Loki shrugged off Tony's hand, spinning around to face his boss. "I don't need you treating me like an idiot! I don't need your condescending attitude as well as…" Loki, still seated, looked at Tony with daggers in his eyes, fists balled up by his sides. Every fibre of his body tensed, ready to strike.

"As well as your Father's you mean…" Tony butted in. He placed both hands on Loki's upper arms gently moving them up and down. A sideways smirk played on his mouth. "Loki I'm your boss, not your Dad. I'm far too exceptional to be likened to him. Remember?"

Loki breathed in, unaware that he had been holding his breath since his outburst. He tried to calm himself. Tony wasn't the enemy. Tony was actually a pretty cool boss. They had a lot of fun together designing and testing new scanners in their small team. Just him, Tony and Dr Banner.

"Want to come and see my new toy?" Tony leaned back, letting go of Loki, knowing that new tech would distract the young lad.

"It won't fry my arm off will it?" Loki asked with caution, as he followed Tony over to his workbench.

"You make one robotised mobile scanner that gets a little too pyromaniacal and no-one lets you forget it!"

"How could I forget it Tony? The damn thing ruined my leather jacket! It's a good thing Bruce is always prepared for your… innovations. You owe me a new jacket and a drink for that, you know"

Tony and Bruce designed the medical scanning equipment and Loki had the fun task of compiling the testing data and preparing reports for the R&D meetings. He did, however, get to poke around at the tech occasionally, with good results. Tony generally mentored Loki with his design ideas but Bruce was more reserved. The Doctor was mostly worried about the next scanner exploding, Tony's ideas were a bit off the wall at times. Bruce was exceptional with the radiation reduction process. It was this working equilibrium that kept Allfather Medical Equipment Ltd at the top of the Radiography Scanning Equipment market.

Tony demonstrated his new micro scanning machine on the model hand in the glass case. The small device remotely attached itself to the wrist and then span 360 degrees scanning, displaying a holograph representation of the bones within the hand, above the model.

"This has reduced electromagnetic radiation making it safer for the Radiographers and the patients. Plus the highly durable coating means this device perfect for out in the field."

Tony was clearly impressed with his new creation. Loki peered in the case, frowning.

"What's up, Loki? Something amiss with my new baby?"

Loki thought for a moment. There was something not quite right with the design. The premise was great but the shape was wrong.

He was discussing his concerns animatedly when Thor came blundering into the Lab.

"Afternoon Brother! How are the Lab rats today?"

"Bugger off Thor" Loki winced as he heard his sibling booming tones. He refused to look back towards his brother as he re-engaged Tony in design specifications. If he ignored the idiot for long enough, there was a chance he would leave….well hopefully.

"That's tiny! How am I supposed to sell that to Hospitals?" Thor pushed towards the device holding out a hand intending to pick it up.

Tony was used to this Odinson being grabby with his precious tech, and snatched the device away from its glass case, moving towards the safety cabinet to put it away.

"Size isn't everything Thor!"

"That's not what the girls say at the Competitions! I'm the biggest they have seen all season" Thor couldn't help but bring out the guns and flex his biceps in front of his leaner brother.

"They clearly haven't seen all of you brother" Loki muttered under his breath. He usually didn't lower himself to such distasteful remarks but Thor walked right into that one. Tony snorted in the corner, holding himself together.

"I've come to tell you Loki, that I'm taking a month off from the week of the show. I want to get some intensive training in before the competition. I will need to book a tanning session, and a haircut, and a waxing session."

Thor's voice trailed off as he listed his preening requirements before the event.

"That's months away Thor! You need to concern yourself with learning all your lines and pretending to work around here. Why did you want to tell me this anyway, I don't care about your annual leave?"

Loki, leaning against the work bench, crossed his arms over his chest. Tony joined his side, happy to watch the Barone show.

"Because brother dear, Father cancelled your training seminar in Sweden. He doesn't want both his sons out of the country at the same time."

"He did what!?" Loki stood up straight and strode angrily over to his older sibling. "And why would he do that, Brother?" Loki spat out the last word.

Squaring up to Loki, clearly not intimidated by his weaker, younger sibling, Thor smirked into his face. "I suggested to Father, that Mother wouldn't be happy if we were both away, she would worry too much about us. That maybe only one of us should be away at a time….. Obviously he let me attend my competition over your uninteresting seminar."

"You utter bastard Thor! How dare you manipulate Dad into making me stay here? I wanted to go to that Seminar, Hell, I needed to go."

"You don't need to go to Seminars Loki, you're just an admin assistant. I reminded Father of that. He thought it was only Tony and Bruce going anyway."

Loki gripped his fist, raising it to his hip. One more word out of this jumped up moron and he was going to wipe that self-serving smirk of his stupid face.

Tony gently touched Loki's forearm applying pressure, pushing his fist down. Levelly Tony turned to Thor. "Get out Thor, you didn't need to come and deliver that message yourself, did you? Go and flirt with the girls in the legal team. I've heard they like a bit of beefcake, just remember to keep your mouth shut. Not all of them can stomach a moron."

"Careful how you speak to me Tony, one word in my Fathers ear and you can easily be sacked."

"Your Father has more sense than to get rid of me, but it's clear the acorn doesn't fall far from the tree Odinson!"

Thor turned indignantly and walked out of the lab.

"Ignorant arsehole, who does he think he is? He thinks he's so much more important than me."

Tony shut the Lab door firmly and giving Loki some space, went over to the coffee machine. He would have to break out his special emergency bottle of scotch. The boy needed a decent drink.

Gutted but still seething, Loki sat deflated at his desk. Looking up at his monitor he could see he had an email notification. Absentmindedly he clicked on it. Unsurprisingly, it was an email from his Father explaining that due to family arrangements, Odin thought it best to cancel his attendance at the summer Radiology seminar. Also, there was a short line about Research Assistants of his level not allowed to attend out of house seminars. He would have to wait for Tony or Bruce's notes and the next in house training session.

"Well, that's just fucking great! The Almighty Thor gets his own way yet again. Why does my own Dad always side with him? It's so…."

"Unfair?" Tony nudged a generous glass of scotch towards him. "Here, you look like you could use that drink now…"

Sorry - I broke my wrist am I am struggling to type. Will get another chapter out as soon as I can.