Chapter 2 is here! I hope you'll like it! I don't own anything, and also please, review/comment, it would really motivate me!
"You don't honestly believe this do you?" Tony is gaping at Thor, mouth open like a fish.
"You look like a fish, Stark." Captain America says. Natasha rolls her eyes and Clint just stares, a look full of hatred and contempt but also doubt. He is looking at Loki, who's lying on the bed in one of the many guest rooms of Stark tower (something nobody but Thor is happy with) and all of the Avengers are sitting or standing around him. Tony closes his mouth but keeps staring at Thor, then back at Loki and Thor, repeating the process every few seconds.
"I understand that you have doubts but I assure you, I can explain!" Thor says looking all of them in the eyes. Then casting his eyes to the ground for a second, he finishes: "Well most of it anyway."
Ignoring the rather obvious eye-roll coming from Tony and the exasperated sigh of the Black Widow, he continues
"Look, when we brought the tesseract with us, the All-father realized that it could do great harm, but recognized that it still was a great power. Legend says it could grant immortal life, among other things-"
"Immortality? I could be mistaking, but aren't you like, a Norse god?" Tony interrupts, looking up from where Loki lay. It was just so confusing, there he laid, his enemy, looking like a twelve-year-old (Tony doesn't know how old that makes him exactly, Asgardians obviously age a little different from humans). Tony doesn't know how to feel, he feels hatred, because that "kid" on the couch was the cause of all his nightmares, he was the one that killed all those people, and had planned to take over earth and rule it as a god. But on the other hand, he still looked like a kid, acted like a kid and well, Tony Stark was many things but he was not a man who would murder a child… or a god in the form of a child. Let's just say he had conflicted feelings about all of this.
"We are born, we live and then we die," Thor says.
"Give or take a few thousand years, yes?" Tony interrupts again. Thor doesn't react, he seemed sad.
"We weren't looking for immortality," Thor says, after a long pause. "But we needed someone with experience with the Tesseract, it had been lost for so many years, we barely remembered what to do with it. And well the only one we knew did know what to do with it was-"
"-Loki" Natasha finishes the sentence before Thor can.
"You thought you could trust Loki? You didn't expect him to you know, play a trick like he's known to do?" Clint looks possibly furious, his gaze murderous and now directed at Thor instead of Loki. Thor doesn't seem to know what to say to that so he continues like he hasn't been interrupted at all.
"We took precautions, but the Tesseract is still unpredictable. While experimenting on it," before anyone could interrupt he quickly adds, "with supervision of the All-father, Loki didn't play any tricks, the All-Father would have noticed it," He looks around, daring anyone to disagree with him.
"The Tesseract sent out a magic blast, like I've never felt before. I was blast against a wall and when I opened my eyes, Loki was gone."
It is silent for a while before one of them opens his mouth.
"This immortality how does that work?" Bruce is wringing his hands together again but this time he looks more determined.
"It is said, that the Tesseract can take any amount of years from your body, your mind, however stays intact."
"Of course," Tony says, "If you wanna be immortal you don't want to lose the memories of your immortal life, now do you?" he chuckles like he's just said something funny but then realizes he's the only one laughing and quickly stops.
"But if that's the case, shouldn't Loki be able to remember everything? The only thing the tesseract would've taken would be years, not memories, right?" Bruce asks, glancing at Loki before looking at Thor again.
"Yes, normally but apparently something went wrong."
"Something went wrong? Nothing went wrong Thor! Isn't it obvious? Loki's just playing us!" Natasha says.
"You don't understand, Loki is a trickster but he would never sink this low. His pride would never allow it. And…" Thor hesitates "he called me brother. He hasn't done that since…" This time he did fall silent. Before anyone can protest or say something else they heard another voice, coming from the bed.
"Brother?" Loki sits up swinging his legs off the couch and putting his hand on his head, grimacing. The moment the Avengers realize he is awake they all stare at him. No one reacts as Clint stands up abruptly and stalks out of the room, followed by Natasha and Bruce, who obviously doesn't trust himself (or the 'other Guy') enough to stay in the same room with a conscious Loki. Loki seems surprised and curiosity fills his eyes but then he looks at Thor again.
"What has happened? Why are we on Midgard?"
"You can stop pretending!" Tony exclaims in an impatient voice, "No one's gonna believe this act anyway so you better drop the de it already!"
Loki looks genuinely confused but doesn't say anything, looking at Thor as if looking for guidance on how to react to this.
"Friend Stark and Captain America, maybe you should leave us, we have much to discuss." Tony feels the urge to tell Thor that this is his tower so that he can leave whenever he wants to but a very angry look coming from Thor stops him before he can open his mouth.
"Thor, maybe it's not such a good idea to leave you alone with him yet, we don't know whether this is a trick or not." surprisingly it's not Tony but Steve who utters the words. Thor just nods.
"Mind if I ask Jarvis to monitor his breathing and heartbeat? It's not a hundred percent trustworthy but that way we can see if he's lying or not." Tony asks, trying to sound reasonable.
"Lie?" Loki snorts, "Why would I lie to Thor? Unless it's about who turned his clothes pink?" Thors eyes light up for a second as if remembering that day fondly before sadness takes over again, those days are long behind them and he wishes they weren't but they are.
"Do whatever you think necessary." he says. Tony nods and looks up
"Jarvis?"
"Already on it sir," a British disembodied voice answers. Loki looks possibly spooked and is glancing around the room, trying to find the man behind the voice. Tony doesn't feel like explaining anything to the trickster and shrugs when he gets a questioning gaze directed to him from Loki.
"If his heart rate or breathing changes, I want to know it." he adds. Then silence falls once more and Steve seems to get the hint even though it was his idea, it's obvious everyone is waiting until he leaves so he does.
Once Captain Rogers is gone Thor starts to speak.
"What's the last thing you remember brother?"
Loki stops trying to find Jarvis.
"You somehow convinced me to help you sneak into mother's chambers, I am telling father you forced me by the way," he snaps quickly before continuing "and then you somehow managed to create an explosion, next thing I know I'm standing on Midgard and you look centuries older than you looked only a few seconds after I've just seen you. When did you get this old?" Not even a beep from Jarvis, so either Loki is a really really good liar and found a way around Jarvis (which Tony seriously doubts because Jarvis was made by him so he's almost flawless, duh) or he's telling the truth (also something Tony seriously doubts).
"You are certain brother? That id the last thing you remember?" Loki doesn't even hesitate one second. "Of course that's the last thing I remember, I did just tell you that didn't I? Did the potions thicken your skull brother?" he mocks, nudging Thor with his elbow. Thor doesn't react.
"I think my brother and I need some time alone," he says, his words obviously directed to Tony who sighs and stands up slowly.
"Fine, but you better watch out, I'm still not convinced." and with that he walks out of the room.
XxXxXxXxXx
Steve Rogers is officially confused as hell. Tony came 10 minutes ago with a big sigh
"We asked him some question and I had Jarvis check if he was lying. Not one beep, I honestly don't know what to believe right now." And the only thing Steve can do is agree with Stark. It is true, Loki does look like a kid and, well Steve isn't an expert but he looked really confused back in Central Park. He knows of course that Loki is basically the god of lying but still. If he was tricking them he had to give it to the guy, he'd be the best liar Steve has ever met. And that includes Natasha so that says a lot. Clint is holding his bow and looks ready and more than eager to storm back to the room Loki's in and shoot Thor's brother. Stark's just noticed this and immediately starts to complain
"No weapons in my tower!" he whines. "I've just had it rebuild! I like my tower the way I like all my other things! Whole, put it away hawky, this is my tower!" he threatens. Clint shoots him a look but lowers his bow.
"You left Thor alone with that monster? You don't actually believe any of this?" Tony sighs and shrugs
"Look the only thing I know is that from the moment one lie comes out of our favorite reindeer, I'll know about it and since Jarvis hasn't detected any lies from the moment the conversation started until now, that means Loki must be telling the truth."
"Unless he's a really good liar," Clint says "and he is the god of lies isn't he?"
"Look, it doesn't matter how good you are at lying, there is no lie that can't be detected by a system I build!" Tony's somehow managed to conjure up a bottle of whisky from out of nowhere and stops talking after filling a glass (also apparently, suddenly conjured up out of nothing) and sips from it. Before a discussion can be started on the reliability of things made by Tony Stark (one that would probably have ended horribly anyway) footsteps could be heard from the hallway. Two voices drifted to the kitchen, Steve could easily hear them.
"And you are certain they are your friends? They didn't look very friendly to me."
"I have a lot of explaining to do, to you but also to them, but let's just say some bad things happened and they don't trust you." Thor has never been one for subtlety, his loud voice the rather obvious proof. When the two demi-gods enter the kitchen the reactions are immediate. Barton doesn't waste a second and his arrow is pointing at Loki's head the moment he sets foot in the kitchen. Natasha is a little more subtle and her hand hovers close to the gun on her hip. Tony quickly gulps down the rest of the whisky and Steve shifts uncomfortably from where he's sitting at the kitchen table. Bruce takes a few steps back to make sure there's enough room between him and Loki.
Loki doesn't seem bothered by anyone's reaction but Barton's (granted, Barton is threatening his life and the rest of them are just acting really weird) he quickly steps behind Thor and sneers.
"Lovely friends you have, brother. I'm sure mother would be thrilled to meet them." He raises one eyebrow sarcastically while glancing at the arrow Barton's pointing at his head.
"Mind telling your friend, -Eye of hawk, isn't it? To lower his weapon?"
"Hey Robin Hood," Tony says "what did I say about weapons and exploding arrows? I don't want them in my tower!" Tony is waving his arms up and down but is ignored by Barton.
"Clint, lower your weapon, you don't want to do things you'll regret later." Natasha says calmly, almost as if she doesn't really care whether he'll listen to her or not (which is probably the case).
For a moment it looks like Barton is just going to ignore her, he doesn't lower his bow and he keeps staring at Loki, who is at the moment still hiding behind Thor. Thor just stands there, looking at Barton, eyes sending one very clear message: If you shoot that arrow I will crush you
Loki can practically feel the tension slip away after a few seconds and assumes that the mortal has indeed, lowered his weapon. He steps from behind Thor and glances at his brother. Before he can open his mouth to criticize Thor's taste in friends the red-haired woman speaks.
"Let's just assume Loki is telling the truth, what have you told him?" She inquires; hand still close to her gun but her stance would suggest that she meant no harm. Everyone in the kitchen ignores Barton, who's scoffing and crossing his arms.
"I told him that it's not me who has aged, but him who's been de-aged through experiments done on the Tesseract. I think it would be best to tell him everything later. When all of you finally realize this is not a trick and you can explain it to him yourselves."
"You want me to tell him what he's done wrong? Oh please, give me an hour or two?" Barton sneers.
Loki doesn't like the fact that they're talking about him like he isn't even there. He's also curious, what could he have possibly done, to make all of the people in this room so very angry with him? Thor's told him that he was around his age, not three-hundred but around 3100 maybe? A lot of things can happen in two-thousand-and-eight-hundred years, Loki knows that, but last thing he remembered the only time he has ever set foot on Midgard was fifty years ago because Thor wanted to meet some mortals and see if they were a match for his battle skills. Obviously they weren't and the trip hadn't taken that long.
"If it's all the same to you," he says, "I, personally, would feel a lot more inclined to listen to your list of things I've done…" For a moment there Loki doesn't know what tense to use, "or will do… if you put away that bow and your friend would stop her hand from hovering a few inches away from the device that is here apparently known as a gun?" He says the word 'gun' like it feels odd on his tongue.
Thor seems surprised that his little brother has spoken at all and in his eyes shines amusement like he finds the situation entertaining. Easy for him to say, no one in this room looks like they'd like his head on a plate.
To break the very awkward silence that has stretched between them for more than five minutes the man Loki knows as Man of Iron seems to have decided he'll try to lighten up the mood.
"So until we know Rudolph here isn't lying, what do we do? Start braiding each other's hair and tell the newest gossip?"
Loki is confused by the word 'Rudolph' but doesn't react upon it; he does see the reaction of everyone else in the room though. Eye of hawk has decided he can't stand to be in this room anymore and stalks away from Loki for the second time that day, again followed by the woman. However, the man, whose name is 'Healer Banner" according to Thor, stays. Loki doesn't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing.
"Look, friend Stark I understand your confusion and suspicion but you have to trust me. I'm going to Asgard right now to sort things out, I have no doubt that the All-Father already knows what has transpired here on earth and that he and I have much to discuss."
"Perfect!" Stark exclaims, "You can take your brother with you and sort it all out, far away from my newly rebuilt tower and its recovering city, Ney York!" He's clapping with his hands and walks over to Thor to clap him on the back giving him a not so gentle push towards the door.
"I don't think you understand, Loki can't come, we managed to hide the fact that he wasn't in his cell when we were working with him on the Tesseract from the people of Asgard but after this… incident there's no way the Aesir won't notice it if Loki comes with me. The people of Asgard are still angry and if they weren't they'll certainly be now, he isn't safe in Asgard and-"
"Wait, don't finish that, if you were going to say that I should let him stay in Stark tower then please for the love of-" Tony seems at loss about what to say but then after a quick glance at Rogers he continues "America! Don't finish that sentence!" Both Captain Rogers and Thor are looking utterly confused for a moment before both shake it off.
"Stark, you can't deny that earth owes Thor big time and even if Loki's lying, he's in the body of a twelve-year-old, I think we can handle it, right?" Loki has given up on trying to figure out what they're talking about half of the time. Since when did the Midgardians owe Thor anything? Those must have been some really busy tw-thousand-and-eight-hundred years that he forgot.
"I'm sorry friends but you don't have a choice. I have to go to Asgard and Loki can't come with me. If he has to he'll stay in the guest room the whole time." Thor says already walking towards the door. Loki wants to object to that because he honestly doesn't want to stay in that weirdly white room when Thor's gone but he doesn't. Thor had already explained to him why Loki couldn't come with him. He had also said that it would be unwise to provoke the humans for although Loki remembers them as being rather weak, these particular humans obviously weren't. Before any of the people in Starks kitchen can object Thor already stand on the balcony and has started swinging Mjolnir too. In only two seconds flat he thrusts the hammer forward and then he's gone.
Loki doesn't fancy being in the same room as Thor's "friends" when Thor isn't there to stop them from trying to kill him he quickly turns around to go look for that guest room Thor had talked about not a few minutes ago, while walking he can vaguely hear the man of iron mutter something under his breath.
"Great, this is all just GREAT!"
What do you think? Only 3000 words this time. I'm not really sure I like how it turned out. I especially love the scenes with Clint and Loki in one room! Please review/comment to say what you think!