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Loki slept throughout their drop-off of Brandon at SHIELD which was a good thing since Fury was still oblivious about Loki helping them on occasion. He didn't even move when the quinjet had landed at the tower until Clint kicked him in the ankle as he was leaving the jet.
"I am not asleep," Loki said placidly.
"Then get up," said Clint.
"Clint," said Cap warningly.
"What?" said Clint, "It's not like it hurts him and if I wasn't wearing steel- toed boots it would hurt me."
Cap gave him a look.
"Oh don't censure him captain," said Loki sitting up, "He is right in that it doesn't hurt me and I won't grudge him a little revenge."
Cap sighed and decided to let it go. Clint followed him into the tower and Loki calmly followed him inside. Clint found Pepper waiting for them like she usually did whenever she could.
She smiled when she saw him and Clint said, "Hey Pepper."
"Hi, Clint," she said, "Glad to see you all back in one piece."
"Lady Pepper," said Loki smoothly from behind Clint. He waited patiently for her to finish jumping in surprise before sweeping her a bow.
"Loki!" she said in surprise. "You're here then."
"Yes," he said, "For some time I believe, while we figure out a rather intriguing problem."
"I see," she said, "Well you can have the same guest room as the last time."
"You have my thanks," he told her. She nodded at him and then went over to Tony to kiss him goodbye, saying she had to get back to the office. Tony kissed her and escorted her to the elevator.
He came back in a moment and said, "If you want Loki, Thor left some of his Asgardian alcohol here."
"Best save it for when I actually need it then," said Loki dismissively and reached for one of Tony's bottles instead.
"Anyone else want a drink?" Tony asked.
"Only if it has Gatorade on the bottle," said Bruce looking terribly sleepy but equally determined to stay awake.
"Seriously," said Clint, "Does no one else like lucozade?"
"Lucozade is pointless," said Natasha.
"Monster is pointless," Clint said.
"What?" said Loki.
"Wait," said Tony, "No one told you there was a drink called Monster? How are you going to do your villain act if you don't know?"
Loki glared at him and Steve sighed. Clint laughed because for some reason that made him feel better. He was really tired.
Tony fetched a Gatorade for Bruce who started chugging it as he ambled away to his floor to take a shower. He also brought over a Monster for Loki and mixed it in with the alcohol.
"Alright," said Steve, "Everyone take an hour to shower and deal with injuries. We'll reconvene here."
The others and Clint nodded and dispersed back to their rooms.
An hour later everyone save Loki was back, freshly showered and sporting bandages and band aids. Loki came in a moment later dressed in a slim black shirt and black jeans. He grabbed a cushion of the couch, threw it on the floor and sat down on it, leaning back on the couch. It was his customary spot when he wasn't on the couch itself, and on occasion even allowed Natasha to card her fingers through his obnoxiously soft locks.
Being that it was Natasha, Clint had no doubt that it was some sort of threat but Loki didn't seem to bother about it. Bruce was lying sleepily in the other couch, drinking yet another Gatorade while Tony ordered pizza for all of them.
Natasha was sitting on the same couch that Loki was leaning on and Steve was in the armchair. Clint was perched on one of the arms of Steve's chair and Tony had grabbed one of the bar stools and sat spinning unconsciously on it.
"So," said Steve, "Either Brandon found an interdimensional creature all on his own or someone gave it to him. The first scenario isn't nearly as worrying as the second."
"I do not think he found the creature all on his own, Captain," Loki interjected. "It takes considerable power to rip spaces in dimensions and Brandon clearly does not have that power."
"Alright then," said Tony, "So someone gave Brandon an interdimensional creature."
"Great," said Clint, "It's a free villain giveaway."
"Maybe they had a lotto," Tony mused.
"Focus," said Cap sighing. "Do we know anyone with the ability to rip interdimensional spaces?"
"Doom," said Clint.
"Hydra," said Natasha. "Maybe Red Room."
"AIM?" asked Bruce but Tony pshawed that idea.
"Doom really is the best bet," said Clint, "But he doesn't really let people play with his toys."
"Hydra does," said Steve, wearily.
"Could be a mutant," Natasha offered, "Or an inhuman."
"Or an enhanced," Clint rejoined.
"Which widens our field of search to the point where it's useless," Tony said. "Loki, do you have a frequency for interdimensional rips in space? I'm using the one from New York but I'm gonna guess the one that brought in Brandon's minion was smaller."
"Yes," said Loki, "Considerably smaller. With a lot less power output that that of New York. That was opened using the tesseract. I can also open interdimensional spaces on my own but for myself. Bringing something that large through will take more power."
"So give me a range," said Tony, tapping away at his Starkpad.
Loki went over to him and the two of them conferred for a moment. Bruce struggled to get up and go over but gave up after two failed tries and just wallowed in the couch trying to pick up on what they were saying.
Steve, Natasha and Clint shared looks and then sighed and waited for the geniuses to figure their stuff out. Clint really missed Thor; a three-way silent conversation wasn't nearly as fun as a four-way silent conversation. It didn't hurt that Thor was a sassy bastard under all that polite manners.
While Tony, Loki and on occasion Bruce prattled on about the dimensions, Cap, Clint and Tasha were running down the practical problems.
Housing, Clint suggested with a tap of his foot. You have to put that minion somewhere, not to mention a workshop to build Brandon's tech.
Power, Natasha suggested flickering her eyes to the lights overhead.
Steve agreed with a tilt of his jaw. His eyes flicked from the lights to Natasha. Can you track the power-draw?
Clint titled the pizza slice in his hand. Food? Would minion need to eat?
Steve took a bite of his pizza. If it does, it'll have needed a lot of food.
Natasha tilted her head approvingly. We can track that too.
Clint flicked his eyes to Tony's watch and back to the others, twice. Whoever had minion before might have had to buy food for him too?
If he eats, Steve reminded him, tilting his head the other way.
If he eats, Clint agreed.
Transport? Natasha asked, running a finger along the couch arm.
Clint and Steve both frowned contemplating. There had been no sign that Brandon's base was in the Artic so he must have transported the minion, not to mention himself, somehow.
Clint shifted and stretched. Lots of work. He dropped his arms. Underground contacts.
Natasha nodded. Yes.
"Am I the only one who gets freaked out when they do that?" asked Bruce, breaking into the conversation.
"I just think of it as being able to mentally access wifi," Tony said at the same time that Loki said:
"Yes."
Tony and Bruce looked at him. He shrugged and said, "They are battle companions. It is not strange."
Tony and Bruce looked at each and shrugged and returned back to their work.
'Ahh,' thought Clint, "So that's where Thor got so much practice in silent conversation.' His eyes met the other two who both gave him silent affirmatives of his thoughts and then they scrambled for the Starkpads to start chasing down their theories.
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