Title: A Villain State of Mind
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Angst, cold-blooded realpolitik (not in that order.)
Timeframe: Set post-Avengers.
Author's note: If anyone is wondering who Xavier went off to talk to so urgently, it was probably Empress Lilandra. I figure she would be one of the first people he'd want to consult with on hearing news of a genocidal alien warlord in his neighborhood - especially because the Chitauri have ties to the Skrulls, who are long-time enemies of the Shi'ar. She would be able to provide independent confirmation Loki's account of Thanos and give him more information about what sort of threat he and the Chitauri are likely to pose.
The signal dropped before Fury could tell Thor just how many ways that this was not a good idea, starting with the fact that Fury had no intention of letting Loki go, and continuing on to the fact that Fury had no intention of letting Loki go. To say nothing of the fact that he wasn't even sure Loki wanted to go back and bail his old countrymen out of whatever fire their fat was in.
Fortunately (or unfortunately, Fury supposed, depending on your point of view) it was a moot point for the time being: until Xavier got back to take his psychic blocks off Loki's magic, he wasn't going anywhere. Loki was surprisingly sanguine about the delay, despite the wild edge of hysteria that remained after he'd finally laughed himself out.
"They've somehow managed just fine without me for this long," Loki said, and by the gleam in his eye Fury didn't think he meant just this latest caper. "They can stew a little longer. A few hours won't make much of a difference from Asgard's point of view."
'A few hours' turned out to be the rest of that day and all that night. Xavier hadn't been kidding when he said he would be incommunicado - not only was he not answering his phone, but that particular line seemed to have dropped completely off the map, returning only a fast-dial that none of his network technicians could trace the other end of at all. Fury knew many secrets, but the location of Xavier's hidden base of operations was one that had always eluded him. After a few fruitless hours trying to contact him through the other mutants they kept tabs on, Fury gave up and went home to bed.
The next morning Xavier turned up on his helicarrier, as neat and cool as though he'd never been missing. Fury didn't know whose mind he'd been reading, but he evinced no surprise when Fury filled him in on the events of the previous day, and showed him their archive of the phone call that had so thoroughly upended all his assumptions.
Xavier watched the recording with an admirable poker face, his expression no more than intent and attentive, his hands resting lightly against each other with no twitches to belie nervousness. Once again Fury found himself wishing Xavier were one of his full-time operatives, if only for his phenomenal self-control. The only subordinate Fury had who could approach that level of calm tranquility in interrogations had been Coulson.
When the recording ended, the tape ran on for a few moments while Xavier paused - contemplating what, Fury could not guess. But at last he turned to face Fury, his eyebrows raised in inquiry. "Thor's request seems straightforward enough," he said. "An explanation for Asgard's extended silence in the matter, and a good beginning for Loki's rehabilitation. What did you want to discuss?"
Fury made a frustrated gesture with both hands, as if he could grab some fragments of sanity out of the air around him. "This wasn't the plan! The plan was, we would pass Loki off into the custody of his people, who would be better equipped to keep Loki contained and handle any trouble he could dish out," he said bitterly. "Now it turns out they have too much trouble of their own to provide any sort of containment. I'm not at all sure I want to turn Loki over to their custody, if doing so means essentially turning him loose."
Xavier shook his head. "You always knew that you could not keep him here forever," he said. He tilted his head, studying Fury's expression with a gaze that saw more than just the surface. "Why the sudden recalcitrance, Director? You were willing enough to let him go to Asgard's justice before."
"That's when I thought he was going to face justice in Asgard!" Fury snarled. "Whatever their version of justice is for staging an invasion and killing three thousand people! Not be let off the hook scott-free because he does them a few magic favors."
Xavier sighed. "Nicholas, what did you expect from Asgard?" he asked rhetorically. "He's one of theirs - he's family and high-ranking, whatever we may think of it. They're far away, removed from events on Earth. And we can't forget that they're aliens. What do a few human lives mean to them? They can't possibly care about destruction that happens here on Earth in anything but the most abstract of ways."
Fury tensed, eyes narrowing as he scrutinized his partner. There weren't many who were familiar enough with him to use his first name, and he didn't appreciate the liberty. "Yeah, well," he bit out. "Apparently they're not the only ones."
Xavier went still, and his expression closed as though shutters had fallen across his face. "What do you mean by that?" he asked in a cold, flat voice - the one Fury had heard so rarely, which heralded the rare displays of real anger.
"I'm saying that human lives don't seem to matter all that much to you, either," Fury said savagely. "Ever since you came onto this project, everything has been about what's best for poor little Loki! Sympathy for the devil! How about sympathy for all his victims in downtown Manhattan? Or were they too human for you to give a damn? You don't go around preaching mutant superiority like Magneto does, but you sure as hell don't seem to care much about the little people, either!"
"Before you say anything more," Xavier said, in a very soft voice that somehow cut like a razor across Fury's tirade. "Before you say another word, you might want to stop and consider how many mutants live in New York City."
That stopped Fury cold, if only for the seeming non sequitur. He had no idea how many mutants lived anywhere, they didn't exactly fill out the census forms; and what did this have to do with -
"Or rather," Charles continued, "how many of them lived there."
Insight came like a splash of cold water over Fury's chest, and he fell back on considering statistics. The best estimates of the government researches put the activated X-gene at one-hundredth of a percent of the general population. That seemed like a small number until you matched it up with the twenty million people living in the Big Apple. Even if no more mutants concentrated there than in the general population - and those mutants they could identify seemed to indicate that they did; the anonymity of city life and the clandestine communities fostered there provided an attraction - that was still over two thousand mutants living in New York City.
"And what do you think the odds are that none of them were endangered - or hurt - or killed by the alien invasion?" Xavier replied to his train of thought. "For the sake of their privacy, I won't reveal numbers - but let's just say that I care very much indeed, about the destruction of downtown New York. Do not assume, Director, that just because you represent the interests of the Federal government in this manner, means that you are the only one who cares about the fate of our planet."
"I've already told you why I prefer to focus on reconciliation and rehabilitation over punishment," Xavier said, leaning back with a little shrug that lessened the tension of the atmosphere. "For both our sakes, let's not go through the whole speech again. Getting Loki out of Earth's custody, without leaving him with the desire to commit vengeance on innocent people once he does, has always been my goal."
"I still can't just brush off three thousand murders," Fury muttered.
"Not murder," Xavier contested him. "You attended to the same interview I did. His aim was to destroy the Chitauri army. Invading and killing was never his intention."
Fury let loose an irritated snarl. "Fine; I'll knock the charges down to involuntary manslaughter instead of murder! That's still six hundred years in cold storage."
"Except you know that you could never keep him imprisoned for that long," Xavier said. "The options for dealing with Loki are the same now as they ever were: either kill him, or let him go. And you can't kill him; you know without question now that Asgard would never forgive it."
He said nothing. He didn't need to.
"Unless..." Xavier's voice slowed and deepened, words dropping through the silence as though the air had turned to cold oil. "I see. How very neat it would be. Asgard now depends on Loki, and you control Loki. Eliminate him, and let Asgard fall, and no one will be left to take retribution. No more complications no more interjurisdictional negotiations; close the chapter on these troublesome visitors from the stars forever. Very neat indeed." He leaned back slightly and blinked, shuddering as though emerging from cold water. "I'm almost impressed. Even for you, Nicholas, that's cold."
Fury turned away. "It's my job to consider all contingencies," was all he said. "We can't trust Asgard to always have Earth's better interests in mind."
"Of course it is," Xavier said, cool and clinical. "But Director, you aren't thinking things through."
Fury stirred. "What am I not thinking through?" he demanded.
"Thanos," Xavier said, and the name alone brought an atmosphere of dread to the closed council. "You don't believe in him, but I do. And now Malekith. He's in Asgard now, but do you really think he'll stop there? These extraterrestrial beings have invaded Earth before, and it was only thanks to Asgard's assistance that we managed to fight them off.
"We have more enemies than ever before. We need allies, and you're getting ready to throw away - not just one, but two of the most powerful allies we could hope to have. Or two thousand. Or three thousand. Or however many innocent lives are up there in Asgard, waiting for us to send them the help they need to survive.
"So I guess the question is," Xavier concluded, "How many people are you willing to let die to have your justice?"
Fury was the one to break off the staring contest, looking away and to the side. "What are our options, then?" he said, exerting great effort to keep his voice even.
"Same as they always were," Xavier replied. "If you can't kill him and you can't hold him forever, the only question is when and under what circumstances to let him loose. I will point out that there will never be a better time to do so - from Earth's perspective - than now. Up till now, we were only keeping him at Asgard's behest; the things he suffered in your captivity can be attributed to their negligence instead of your malice.
"The corollary to that is that if you continue to hold him now, it will be against Asgard's express wishes," Xavier cautioned him. "You'll make a permanent enemy of both him and them. And whatever's happening up in Asgard, the one thing you can count on is that the situation is not under your control; you have no idea how much of their power structure would survive to come back to bite us later."
Fury sighed. "Why is it that when I talk to you, I always end up doing the exact opposite of what I intended?" he complained.
Xavier favored him with a slight smile. "Why would you talk to me at all if deep down you didn't know that's exactly what you need to do?"
"I still think this is a bad idea, for the record." Fury shook his head. "Just because it's the least bad of all available options doesn't make it good. I told Odinson, once we release his brother's restraints, we lose all control over him. Who's to say he'll go to Asgard at all, instead of running riot on Earth?"
Xavier inhaled deeply, straightening as much he was able in his chair, and leaned back. "Well... hopefully, me."
Loki paced his cell, restless within the stultifying boredom of its uninspiring confines. Staring at the peeling paint or bare metal ceiling had lost its charm many hours ago; at least he could let his body work out some of its nervous energy while his mind wandered.
He hadn't slept the last night since Thor made his broadcast, nor the night before that. Two nights of missed rest were hardly likely to harm him, who had gone much longer periods without sleep before - but it was doing nothing good for his thoughts, either, trapped in an endless self-referential spiral.
What to do next? With the spaemadr gone, it should be a simple enough matter to persuade Fury to release him, ostensibly to go to Asgard's aid. It was so much simpler when he did not have to restrict himself to the truth (although, he thought smugly, there were just as many ways to lie with only truths, as well.) The idea of his impending freedom was heady and intimidating all at once. Loki shied away from thinking why that might be - a month in close captivity, in the quiet and dull confines of this place, should not be enough to accustom him to the routine. Freedom was what he desired. Craved, at any price.
But that still left the question of where he would go once he had that freedom. Not to Asgard, that much was certain. It was no skin off his nose if those dunderheaded fools were incapable of defending their realm against every little invasion - especially against one so feeble and predictable as Malekith. Really, the only reason he might consider getting involved was to save everyone the embarrassment at being so easily defeated by such a -
No. He would not go to Asgard, he reminded himself firmly. He had no ties there (certainly not ties of blood,) and he did not care if the whole floating mountain came raining down around them.
Except... if Asgard did fall, Odin overthrown, Thor defeated (dead?) then Loki would never have the satisfaction of doing it himself. Would never have the satisfaction of seeing the dumbstruck look on all their faces as he proved himself -
He could go elsewhere. He didn't have to stay on this miserable planet, didn't have to playact as anyone's puppet king; all the Nine Realms were open to him now. He tried to come up with a plan, a role for himself that didn't involve being anyone's punching bag or, Norns forbid, anyone's hero. But the futures that had seemed so bright and shining-clear when Charles described them seemed muddled and incomprehensible when he tried to grasp them himself.
He would not go to Asgard. He would not, he would not. He was done with them, done with being their scapegoat, done with pretending to be a prince. He didn't want to be king there any more, he did not want to pretend to be anyone's son or anyone's brother which was only a hideous lie. He would not -
So long as you strive not towards what you desire, but only in rejection of what you resent, you will always, always fail.
The words slid over his mind, and he shivered. They had the ring of truth, but what good had truth ever done him? How could he strive towards what he desired when he didn't even know what that was?
The hiss of the cell door jerked Loki out of the rut of his thoughts, and he tensed instinctively as he turned towards the door. Fool, he scolded himself, looking up like an eager dog who hears its master's step. It was probably Fury again, come to bother him some more about Thor's little speech yesterday, there was no reason to think -
It was Charles.
For a moment Loki stood stock-still, his mind blank as he tried to process the fact of the other's presence. He came back. He didn't leave. He didn't abandon -
"So, Loki," Charles said, his hands easing the wheels of his chair through the narrow door. He looked up at Loki with a slight smile, and folded his hands back on his lap. "I hear that you might be graduating from here soon."
"You came back," Loki said, startled into an uncharacteristic bluntness. He'd come back, and he didn't have to. Charles had already gotten his warning about Thanos' existence, his intentions. He had no further need of Loki. And with Thor petitioning for Loki's release, the humans no longer needed the spaemadr to keep Loki under control. There was no reason that would have required his return - and yet he'd come back.
"Of course," Charles said quietly. "I promised I would, did I not?"
A wordless noise squeaked past Loki's lips that a part of him devoutly hoped that the cameras did not catch - and then he was stumbling forward to Charles' side. He reached out, then hesitated, his hand hovering inches away from Charles', then drew back.
Charles reached out and completed the gesture, catching Loki's hand between his own. For a moment Loki wondered why the mortal's hands were trembling so, if he was frail or unwell - until he realized that it was his own hand that was shaking.
"It's going to be all right, Loki," Charles said softly. Loki clutched his hand between both of his own and bowed his head, as somewhere inside of him, something that had been cold for a very, very long item began at last to thaw.
~tbc.
More notes: Yay, we're back! Hopefully to resume our normal update schedule - at least for another chapter or two, which is all that's left of this fic.
For the last bit, I rewatched some of the scenes of Thor in order to confirm something I'd been wondering; throughout both movies, Loki almost never initiates physical contact (excluding hostile contact like stabbing people in the chest or throwing them out windows.) In the deleted scene before Thor's coronation, it's Thor who reaches out to clasp Loki's neck; in the scene after he kills Laufey, it's Frigga who initiates the embrace.
The only time we see Loki actively reach out to anyone is immediately after Odin falls into the Sleep in the vaults, and he's very shy and hesitant when he does. However it came to happen, Loki was extremely reserved and closed about physical affection long before he came to be a supervillain. So making voluntary, positive physical contact with someone else is a big milestone for him!
If anyone is wondering who Xavier went off to talk to so urgently, it was Empress Lilandra. I figure she would be one of the first people he'd want to consult with on hearing news of a genocidal alien warlord in his neighborhood - especially because the Chitauri have ties to the Skrulls, who are long-time enemies of the Shi'ar. She would be able to provide independent confirmation Loki's account of Thanos and give him more information about what sort of threat he and the Chitauri are likely to pose.