oOo

Chapter 12

The walls were white.

It was so pure that Loki wanted to rip it to shreds.

Loki was staring at the wall of the infirmary room, having just woken up. He woke up from a nightmare that jolted him into a coughing fit and Thor was immediately by his side, worrying. He managed to make Loki talk when he was slightly delirious and got an answer.

"The voices." Loki admitted that his thoughts weren't his own.

Especially now.

Thor learned that the Other was closer than he could possibly imagine and it was frightening for Loki because there was no way to counter him. The Other was stronger with Thanos by his side, because Thanos was probably allowing the Other more access into his brain. Loki did not know how it was possible or how they were doing it, but he was sure the Other was getting help.

By the time Thor had managed to calm Loki down, he was ready to talk.

"It was the voices." Loki kept answering.

"They stopped, haven't they?"

"I suppose so." Loki shrugged. "Do not tell your friends."

"I won't."

Thor patted Loki's head, who slapped his hand away.

"Don't think I've forgiven you just yet, Thor."

"I know."

"Be honest with me." Loki considered his words for a moment before talking. "Did you mean what you said to the Director about not wanting to shower me with affection and that you disowned me as your brother?"

"No, Loki."

"I think you do, and you are only saying that now because you've known certain knowledge you weren't supposed to."

"I was wrong, and I was angry, yes." Thor sighed. "And it got the better of me, but I swear to you Loki, I will try to make things right again."

"You better hope so."

Loki stared emptily and fisted the sheets, not wanting to move from his spot on the bed. Thor was worried, because he had not seen Loki so lost and empty before. It was always Loki being defensive, or him lashing out.

However, Loki was never this quiet.

"Are you well?"

Loki stayed silent.

"Loki, are they talking to you at this moment?"

Loki flinched, trying to ignore Thor.

"Loki, can you hear me?

Loki clenched his fists.

"Brother—"

"Would you stop asking?!" Loki snapped, hissing back. "You are distracting and confusing me!"

"How am I being confusing?" Thor said, taken back.

"First you hate me as a brother, then you coddle me, and now you're treating me like a child. You are being utterly confusing, and you are not my mother, so stop it."

"You are staring away!"

"What if I am?"

"How can I not worry if you are not even paying attention to me and my questions?"

"That doesn't mean a thing."

"It does to me." Thor raised an eyebrow. "You told me when you woke up, that there were voices in your head."

"And you make it sound worse than it is."

"Because it is worse, brother!"

"It is not." Loki snorted, being stubborn. "The Other just speaks, muttering nonsense and making me feel frightened or guilty. He isn't capable of influencing me enough to do horrid things to you. I can assure you and your friends that. If it happens, then blame me for what I might do to any one of you if you continue to treat me this way."

"I am not worried about what you will do." Thor grunted. "I am worried about you."

"Please Thor." Loki rubbed his temples. "Do not let anyone hear you say that."

Suddenly they heard a beeping sound and Loki turned to Thor, who took out a small phone from his pocket and looked at it before tucking it away. Loki chuckled and leaned a little closer to Thor, making a mocking face towards his brother.

"They gave you a phone?" Loki mocked, while Thor shrugged. "What did they say?"

"They want us to watch our story."

"Oh." Loki bit his lips. "They wish to know that fast when they've only finished Stark's story only last night?"

"The sooner we know, the better."

"Oh please." Loki curled his lips, turning to Thor so innocently. "Do they expect me to be there?"

"They expect me to drag you there."

"And you expect me to comply?"

"It would be easier." Thor shrugged and stood up, rummaging through the drawer.

"What are you doing?"

"Must you ask about everything I am doing?"

"It keeps you distracted." Loki smirked as Thor picked the clothing and handed it over to Loki, who stared at it for a long while.

"Take it." He ushered.

"Thor—"

"Do not bother making comments, Loki, because I need you there with me. It has been long overdue already."

"You expect me to wear this?" Loki huffed, taking the clothes.

"And I expect you to bathe as well." Thor pointed at the bathroom. "Their message was clear. They have agreed to let you watch with us."

"Can I not watch it in here?" He made a face.

"I'm afraid that's not an option."

"Are they not afraid I might do anything?"

"They have Banner in there as well, so I assume that they will not have a problem with you at the moment."

"Everyone knows, how typical of you heroes to gossip about me." Loki rolled his eyes.

Thor stayed silent.

Loki gave in.

"Give me a moment."

oOo

"Before you say anything, man, I wish you were an Agent, Stark." Clint smirked. "No really. You're pretty badass without the suit."

"Thanks."

Tony really didn't care, texting Thor to come get Loki as fast as possible so they could get the whole movie finished. Tony really wanted to stay locked up in his lab so he could make new designs.

"No! I mean it! Think about your name. Agent Stark, codename: IronAss."

"I think I'll stick to just being Tony."

"IronAss?" Natasha laughed at Clint. "You came up with that?"

"I like it." Clint grinned.

"Yeah, thanks." Tony smirked.

"You're such a bummer dude!"

"We thought wrong, Tony." Bruce smiled. "You're amazing."

"That's sweet Science Bro." Tony laughed. "So did you watch the end credits."

"We did." Bruce nodded. "And I'm not a therapist."

"Cause you don't have the time." He mocked.

"Temperment."

They both smiled at each other.

"I guess I should change Tony Stark into a yes, for the Avengers." Natasha smirked. "But not before we asses your mental health, because to be honest, we're worried about you."

"Don't bother." He smiled, saying it nicely. "I rather like being a consultant. This job just ain't for me. You know?"

"Noted." She nodded. "But the issue..."

"Will be dealt with when I get there." Tony sighed.

"As long as you try." Clint crossed his arms.

"I have Bruce."

"I think I count as someone." Bruce shrugged.

"Noted." Natasha sighed.

"Where's Thor? I sent him a text already." Tony mumbled. "I thought we were watching his movie next."

"He's probably trying to convince Loki to come watch his movie." Natasha answered.

"He is?" Clint huffed, rubbing his face. "I feel bad for him yes, but do you really expect me to be civil around him? He'll probably act all prince like and shit."

"I don't like it either, but do we have a choice?" Steve shrugged.

"Do you think Loki refused?" Bruce wondered. "I mean, you know what he might say."

"Or he's making excuses." Tony smiled.

Everyone was waiting in the main room. Fury and Hill weren't there because they were checking something on the lower floors. The Avengers had coffee and were now waiting for Thor and Loki, mostly Loki to finish.

"Tony, before they get here—" Steve stood up and raised a finger before Tony could interrupt. "Please, can we just talk about this? Let's be civil. I just want to talk."

"Fine." Tony smiled, standing up to walk to a corner. "Are you coming gramps?"

"I thought we could do this somewhere private." Steve walked to the corner.

"There is no private in the Helicarrier." Tony smirked, whispering.

"The others?"

"Ignore them." Tony waved a hand. "They're all smart enough to know not to pry into a conversation. Besides, you know me from the movie you saw. I don't like cramped up spaces."

"I want to apologize for everything I said to you." Steve admitted.

"O—kay?"

Tony stood there awkwardly, his hands inside his pocket as he swung back and forth on his heels. Tony tried his best to look at Steve, but ended up glancing all over the place.

"You can be useful even without your armor."

"Yeah, you guys established that." Tony mumbled.

"You're a mechanic and I didn't realize until it was too late." Steve took a deep breath. "And I'm sorry."

"I honestly don't know how to express forgiveness." Tony glanced nervously to the others who weren't paying attention to them. "But in other words, I express my forgiveness nonetheless. Let's just keep the insults at bay, what do you say? I may be wrong about you too… you know?"

"Right." Steve nodded feeling awkward.

"Yeah."

"We found the cartoon though…" Steve thought to say.

"Cartoon?"

"About the Avengers."

"Avengers assemble." Tony chuckled. "What about it?"

"You're somewhat the leader of the team, and maybe you are." Steve shrugged. "We just don't know it yet. You're smart, so it's plausible."

"One day, gramps"

"I wish you would stop calling me that."

"One day." Tony winked. "Gramps."

Tony punched Steve's shoulder and walked away gracefully, getting his half-drunk coffee and moving towards the door. Everyone else noticed and turned to him.

"Where are you going, Stark?" Clint called. "Fury and Hill will be back soon!"

"I'm just going to pay Thor and Loki a visit so we could get this done!" Tony grinned. "Hey, call Fury and Hill over here so we can get this over with."

The door slammed shut as he walked away.

"Is it just me or is Stark being a little too meddling—"

"It's just you, Clint." Natasha huffed.

"Tony must have a reason." Bruce quietly finished his tea. "Besides, I think that he feels sorry for Loki since they were both… tortured?"

"He's pretty stubborn, isn't he?" Natasha tapped her fingers. "So, did he forgive you Steve?"

"I think he did." Steve shook his head. "I honestly don't know."

"I don't think Tony is one to hold a grudge." Bruce muttered, punching buttons on the table. "But I want to know something though. I'm not sure what Tony is up to, but he might have forgotten about Agent Coulson."

"What about him?" Natasha raised an eyebrow.

"I checked Agents of Shield, and it says so right here that he's the leader of the team." Bruce said, showing it to them. "So does this mean that he's alive and that he survived? I didn't want to check any further than that because I wanted to research it with everyone."

"We don't know." Clint lowered his voice.

He leaned forward and tampered with the table, closing the tab for the Agents of Shield research. Clint raised his legs and crossed it on the table afterwards and downed his coffee.

"It's level 7." He said. "We're not authorized to say anything."

"Nothing at all?" Steve wondered. "I saw the title too, but—"

"Not now." Natasha leaned back, sipping her coffee.

"Why?"

"We handle this another time, but not now." She insisted. "We have more important matters to discuss and adding Agents of Shield to the mix will mess everything up."

"Doesn't Tony deserve to know?" Bruce adjusted his glasses, sipping his tea.

"If we know Stark by now," Clint huffed. "He's already way ahead of us. You saw how he was at hacking into Shield database in the movie without us knowing. He hacked Shield before too. He probably has everything thought out already."

"You're saying Tony knows that Coulson is alive?" Steve said.

"Probably." He shrugged.

"Where is Coulson right now?" Steve wondered. "And how did he survive?"

"We're not authorized to say anything." Natasha whispered. "Steve, I suggest you keep quiet. Some of us aren't exactly level 7."

"I guess we have to watch later on." Bruce sighed. "Where is Director Fury and Agent Hill?"

"They're in the lower level, checking the tesseract." Clint answered. "Like hell do I know what they're up to."

oOo

Tony knew that Coulson was alive and that's one of the reasons why he doesn't hate Loki that much. And he severely overestimated Loki and thought he was nothing more than a crazy—evil—dense—prince like god!

But no!

Loki was more than that; he was smart and very snarky.

Tony found it enjoyable to talk to him and because now, he had a torture buddy. Okay, that sounded horrible, what he meant to say was that he finally has someone that understands what torture was like.

Basically, Tony has a kind heart and wants to help Loki get through it.

Just like what Pepper and Rhodey did for him when he was in a tough situation. And he wanted to be Loki's Pepper, while Thor was already Loki's Rhodey.

You get what I'm saying?

Probably?

Okay.

Tony reached the infirmary to see Thor make a head on collision with the bed and grunted loudly. Okay, this was Tony's officially weird day. First Fury and Hill were nowhere to be found, then Steve apologized to him and now Thor was acting cuckoo.

"You got my message?" Tony asked, and Thor nodded. "I hope you haven't caught a disease or something after last night?"

Tony sipped the coffee and went inside without asking permission.

"I do not catch Midgardian illnesses so easily." Thor mumbled without thinking too much.

"That's good."

"It has been a long time since I had gotten sick. It is rare for me to catch one. However, it is Loki who always gets sick when we were children."

"That easy huh?"

"Aye." Thor groaned loudly. "Now that I think about it, whenever the heat gets too unbearable, Loki often hides away in the coldness of the palace."

"Do you still consider him your younger brother?"

"Why do you ask?"

"After everything that's happened, I thought you might, you know do something bad?"

"Don't think I've forgotten what you did, Stark." Thor said seriously. "You spied on a conversation that was meant for only Fury and I."

"Loki deserved to know."

"But it was not yours to pry, Stark."

"I'm just trying to help."

"Much like Loki often used to say."

"Didn't need to hear that. Was he like this before?"

"He wasn't, Stark." Thor muttered. "Loki was usually quiet, very observant and very innocent. He often learned things because the warriors and I introduce it to him in a very ill manner way."

"You Vikings are strange."

"Vikings are those who worship us. We are somewhat different from them."

"And Loki? You said he was despised for his magic?" Tony licked his lips. "Here on earth, magic is more an up-side than just being strong and buff."

"Why are you so curious about Loki?"

"Don't I have the right to be?"

"The others also have rights but you seem to pry more than they do." Thor tilted his head. "Should I know something, Stark?"

"God!" Tony rolled his eyes. "Why does everyone think I have a motive?"

"Do you?"

"No Man! I'm just in it for the— heck I don't even know! Science maybe?"

Thor stayed silent for a while, before he finished his answer to Tony's question.

"We often called Loki names before, and he was usually the damsel when we played war games." Thor sighed. "Now that I am recalling the past, I realize I'm not a good brother as I thought to be."

"That's a good thing to know; at least you can fix your mistakes."

Silence.

"So where's your brother?" Tony asked, already knowing the answer. "It's almost show time."

"He is taking a very long bath." Thor looked up from where his face was planted moments ago. "I assume that Loki wishes to get rid of all the dirt in his skin, given his time with the Chitauri."

"Is he being OCD about it?" Tony leaned on the wall.

"What?"

"Obsessive compulsive disorder." He explained. "Is he scrubbing like crazy, or is he showing signs of being too repetitive or he has something he needs to do and if it isn't done then he lashes out or something?"

"No, I do not think it has become that drastic." Thor shook his head.

"Good." Tony sighed. "Maybe he just feels inky."

"I suppose. Will you wait for him?"

"Sure. Why not?"

oOo

"What's going on?" Fury stared, confused. "Give me a full rundown. You said that it was acting up."

"Scans confirm that it is reacting and is very unstable." Erik sighed. "We don't know why it's happening T—there's just a— a force making it happen."

"That's not good." Hill turned to Fury.

"What force are you talking about?"

They were in one of the huge warehouse like room in the Helicarrier and the tesseract was at the center connected to various types of wires and it was surrounded with control panels for monitoring. There was a top floor that consisted of a balcony that encircled it and a safe room where they had emerged from moments ago.

Fury, Hill and Erik were at the top, monitoring the status.

"W—we don't know." Erik sighed. "It's just there. We can't explain it."

"Can't explain it?" Fury laughed. "There's a bunch of you down here and none of you can get anything!?"

"You make it sound like our job is easy, but it's not. There are ways, ideas and possibilities that if we tamper it too much it might react again. We're already keeping our distance. For some strange reason, it's just there! And I'm not getting any progress down with the container either."

"Maybe we should leave it alone?" Hill suggested. "We don't know what it's capable of, or what it is exactly."

"We know it's a portal, that's for sure." Fury sighed.

"We can look it up on the internet." Hill joked.

"I can't believe the internet is doing our job for us." He grunted. "It's like taking candy from a baby."

Suddenly the tesseract began to act up. It began to erupt blue bursts of fire and light, and sounds like someone was trying to break through an impenetrable force.

The blue bursts continued.

"GET DOWN!"

Fury knocked Hill off her feet as the blast hits. It was the same energy that Loki had penetrated through and when it subsided; there was a smell of burning flesh. But other than that, the room was left the same way as it was, except for the control panels going haywire.

Little did they know, that the Other was already lurking in the shadows of the Helicarrier.

Closing in on Loki.

"Finally, an opportunity."

oOo

TBC

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