"Dr Banner?"
Peter carefully knocked on Bruce Banner's door. He needed advice, and this time he doubted Tony Stark's would be of much help to him. He knocked again, and now the calm voice of Dr Banner answered him.
"Come in."
The doctor's room was painted in soft hues of blue, and it was in every way an oasis of calm. Dr Banner sat behind his desk, but he turned when the door opened.
"Peter. How can I help you?"
"I… I need advice."
"I am glad to help, if I can. What is the problem?"
"There is this girl…" He started.
"Girls aren't really my area of expertise, Peter…"
"No, it's not about dating and stuff, she's a good friend and I really like her, but she… well, she's a mutant, and she has this idea that she's a monster. And I wanted to know if there was any way to make her see she's not."
Dr Banner's face hardened a bit.
"What is her power?"
"She… I don't really know. She can make things die. We were in a garden, and she wanted to prove to me she was a monster, and she made everything die, every single thing in that garden except for herself and me. Just like that. And I have heard she can do other things too, like freeze things, and blow fuses and stuff."
"Hmm…"
"Where she lived before, there was a lot of discrimination against mutants. She told me she and her family were literally bullied away there, that people there said that those of her kind were better off dead and things like that. I think she really believes that shit."
Dr Banner looked pensive.
"This is difficult. I'm not a psychiatrist, but if it's true that she didn't hear anything but bad things about mutants in her childhood I can imagine that leaves it's traces."
"But what should I do?"
"Make her see the good side of her gifts. Make her see that she can do good things with her mutation, and perhaps she will start to see herself less as a monster."
Peter smiled softly at the doctor. Dr Banner knew very well himself what it felt like to be a monster, to think yourself a monster. Only because of the good things the Other Guy had done he had started to accept it, slowly yet steadily. He watched the youngest inhabitant of the tower leave, and wondered about this girl he had spoken of. To have power over life and death was a whole lot to carry for a fifteen-year-old… He couldn't help but empathize with the girl, even though he didn't know her.
(Pagebreak)
He hadn't come home. At first she hadn't noticed, still in shock after what had happened between her and Peter, but then the eerie silence of the penthouse had crept up on her. Carefully she had entered her father's room, finding it empty. He hadn't come home. Loki stayed away for days sometimes, but never without telling her in advance. And with what had happened the night before… Hela had a bad feeling about it. She prepared everything she would need for when he would eventually stumble in; tweezers, gauze, disinfectant and other things like that, and she hoped he wouldn't have injuries worse than a bullet in the shoulder or a shot of hail in his ass.
And if he wouldn't come back… she didn't even want to think about that possibility. Things were bad enough already.
(Pagebreak)
"So… you talked to Creepy?"
Peter nodded at Justin.
"I did. She… I don't want to talk about it."
"Man, you better do. I'm not going to sit around enduring your woe-is-me-mood for another two weeks."
Peter threw his friend an angry glare.
"It was fucking creepy as hell, okay? You were right about the mutant thing. And she doesn't want to talk to me anymore, or anyone for that matter. She wasn't even in class today."
Justin nodded.
"So, she really sucks the life out of things?"
"Kind of."
"Wow… that's… wow. Shitty. I mean…"
"I know what you mean."
"Uh-huh."
They sat next to each other, contemplating the events for a moment.
"You know, I think she really liked you. It's not like I have so much experience with girls or anything, but she liked you. She did that whole creepy eyes thing at everyone else, but when she looked at you she didn't. And she never did any of the freaky mutant stuff when you were around."
"Apparently she doesn't like me anymore. We almost kissed, I swear I felt her lips, and then she just ran off."
"If she almost kissed you that means that deep down she likes you, no matter what she says. A girl that doesn't care for you would never let you penetrate her personal space like that."
"If you say so."
"I say so."
They walked to class together. No matter how awkward and socially inept Justin was, Peter was glad the boy was his friend. He wished he could do something about the frequent beatings…
(Pagebreak)
Tony Stark had better things to do than going to SHIELD meetings, no matter how many times Fury threatened him. Instead, he was tinkering on his latest suit, AC/DC blaring in the background while he bobbed his head to the beat and occasionally sipped from a drink. Ah, life was good. At least, that it was until the sound of breaking glass and equipment disturbed him.
"JARVIS, what the hell?"
"It seems you have a visitor, Mr Stark."
"Cut the crap, JARVIS."
He put the bracelets of his suit on and made his way to the "crash site". There was no damage to the ceiling or walls, but a glass table filled with computer material had broken and a few shelves had come down for some reason, leaving part of the workshop a messy rubble of glass shards and broken electronics. Most surprising was the slightly human form in the middle of the mess. Tony quickly assessed the situation.
"Two feet, two hands, green coat… oh no. You have to be kidding me."
The trashed person was wearing a big golden-horned helmet.
"JARVIS, is this…"
"It appears to be Loki Laufeyson, Sir."
"What the fuck is he doing here? Is he even alive? Gods can't die, right?"
He nudges the god with his feet, receiving a moan from him.
"Okay, apparently he's alive."
"Shall I inform SHIELD, Sir?"
"Nah. Not yet. If he tries to kill me you can call the troupes."
"As you wish."
Tony bent closer to Loki.
"Hey, Reindeer Games, you awake?"
Loki lifts his head, but his eyes send shivers through Stark's spine. They are full of pain and fear, almost like a haunted animal. He trembles and moans, crawling up on a ball in the middle of the muddle, his cape wrapped around him as if it was the only thing keeping him warm. Tony stared at it.
"Loki, I never thought I'd say this, but you look like shit. Where the hell have you been hanging out?"
He didn't get an answer, apart from a bit of frightened moaning. The truth was, that Loki hadn't been anywhere, actually. After the fight he had panicked and teleported in a highly unstable way without specifying his target, which made him end up in the dimension between locations. It had been horrid, dreams of both the abyss and the Chitauri had haunted him until he had finally found ground again. He had no idea where he was, and actually he didn't want to know. His mind was a mess; he couldn't even form a sentence in his head. Tony realized that the trickster god didn't really pose a threat to him in the state he was in, and made a decision.
"JARVIS, don't let anyone in the workshop, okay?"
"I wasn't planning on doing so, Sir."
"You're awesome."
"I know."
Tony shook his head. How had his AI developed a sense of humour? He crouched next to Loki.
"You really should get up before you cut yourself even more on all this stuff."
Loki stared at him with wide, frightened eyes, and Tony shook his head again. He reached out his hand to touch the god's shoulder, but when he did Loki let out a yelp and promptly fainted. He looked at his hand.
"Strange."
He shrugged, and lifted the green clad man from the debris.
"Damn, you're heavy! Don't you magic your extra pounds away or something?"
Of course he didn't receive an answer. He put Loki down on the bed he had in his workshop –just to please Pepper and make her believe he sleeps even when he stays in the shop all night- and started to undo the man's armour. The helmet was first to go.
"I don't see why anyone would ever opt for a helmet with antlers."
Then the rest of the armour followed, leaving Loki in nothing but a thin green tunic. Tony was surprised by how meagre the god actually was.
"You know Reindeer Games, when 70 per cent of your body weight is armour you're doing something wrong."
"May I remind you, Sir, that Mr Laufeyson is currently not able to hear you?"
"No shit, Sherlock."
"Not to mention how much the Ironman suit actually weighs."
That he had no defence against. He sat down and watched the unconscious man. Loki looked beat and positively horrible, as if he hadn't slept or eaten in days. Handing him over to SHIELD now would be a piece of cake, but for some reason Tony didn't feel like it. Instead he covered Loki with a sheet and returned to his work.
(Pagebreak)
Three days now, three days and no news from her father... Hela sat at the kitchen table, head in her hands. Worry was consuming her. Had the Avengers taken him captive? Had… Hela didn't want to think about it. Had those creatures taken him? Loki would never just disappear without letting her know, she remembered he always left her a note even when he just went to the bakery. Her eye fell on the cardboard box she kept on a shelf in the kitchen, and she took it. Inside sat a whole bunch of thick white envelopes, some slightly bloody, all marked in her curly handwriting with their contents.
'Metal rod, left thigh, possibly car or robot part'
'Bullet, right shoulder, Black Widow'
'Bullet, chest, Black Widow'
'Debris, sort of all over, Hulk'
'Crooked arrowhead, left shoulder, Clint Barton'
'Shot of hail, ass, old lady with gun (lol)'
There were many more, and Hela went through them with a strange fondness. Every single item was something she had plucked from her father's body after a fight. She had a whole collection of those… Loki's armour did a good job, but those SHIELD agents knew how to aim. Her fingers slowly caressed the envelopes. The only reason she kept them was because they reminded her of how she had been of use to her father. No matter how many times he told her she didn't need to prove her use because she was his daughter, Hela needed the extra reassurance, no matter how small.
"Oh father… Please let me know you are all right…"
(Pagebreak)
Tony was disturbed in his work by two things. The first was a Norse god who had crawled into the corner of the workshop, abandoning the bed and looking really terrified for some reason. The other was JARVIS.
"Sir, Dr Banner requests permission to enter the lab. He said you had agreed to let him use some of your equipment for an experiment of his."
Tony's eyes flashed from Loki to the doors of the workshop to places to hide either himself or the frightened god.
"JARVIS tell him I'm in the middle of a dangerous experiment. I will let him in as soon as I'm ready with it."
"As you wish."
Tony braced himself and walked up to Loki.
"Try not to faint this time, I need your cooperation. Do you see that closet? You would do me a great favour if you would simply get in there and not make a sound. Like, really no sound at all."
Loki slowly nodded, still staring wide-eyed at him. Then he proceeded to crawl inside the closest closet, rolling on a ball once again. Tony was literally baffled. He told the great God of Mischief and Lies to crawl in a closet and the guy just did it? No 'kneel pathetic mortal I want to rule your planet' shit? He just wanted to call Bruce in, when his eye fell on the different pieces or armour that still laid spread out next to the bed. Most of it was quickly hidden under the blanket, but where the hell would he hide a gold-coloured horned helmet? Eventually he just shoved the thing under his desk. When Bruce came in, the first thing he noticed was the ravished part of the shop. Then he took note of Tony's flushed expression.
"A dangerous experiment, huh?"
Tony had to come up with an excuse, quickly.
"Well, err… I… I tried to make DUM-E fly through the lab, but he crashed into a table. It's embarrassing really."
"Oh, I see… I thought you were doing something with radiation or magic or something like that… Why on earth would you want DUM-E to fly?"
"So he could bring me my drinks even faster. Now, what did you want to do here? I'm afraid that part of the lab is out of order for the moment, but the rest is all yours for the time being."
Bruce started explaining his experiment, and Tony tried his very best to listen, while emptying glass after glass of strong liquor. He really needed something to calm himself down…
Three hours later, Bruce had finally left, and Tony was awfully drunk. Not that he wasn't used to that, yet still… It was that moment he realized what was in his closet still. A slight panic arose. What the hell had made putting LOKI in his closet seem like a good idea? He opened the door and saw… that the trickster was soundly asleep, curled up in the small space the closet offered. It was almost endearing, in a way… Tony shook his head. Loki and endearing in one sentence made no sense. Blame it on the alcohol. He would definitely blame on the alcohol what he did next…
"That's the worst place for sleeping in the whole known universe, I can know because I woke up there once. You should use the bed…"
No response from Loki made Tony decide to help the god a hand. Carefully he lifted him from the closet and put him back on the bed. He wanted to back away when he noticed Loki clenched his shirt. The man really had an iron grip, so Tony, drunk as he was, sighed deeply.
"No leaving, I get it."
He put himself down on the bed too, and allowed Loki to roll closer to him. He tried not to contemplate either how awkward this was, or how absolutely, ridiculously cute the villain looked, because either line of thought would cause him stress and he didn't feel like having stress. He just closed his eyes and allowed his mind to slip away.
(Author's Notes)
Yes, finally we're getting to the good parts! (I love writing sad!Loki for some reason, almost as much as I like reading it...) Also, yes, Hela collects the stuff she plucks from her dad after fights. Imagined her to be the kind of person who keeps creepy souvenirs.
Now, READ AND REVIEW PLEASE! I see people read this story, but they don't review! It only takes a tiny little effort to really make my day, people! Do a good deed today and make me happy!