There was no update yesterday because I went to see Adele and she was amazing! And I'm working late the next two nights so there probably won't be an update until Saturday.
/ A Lot of Speculation \\\ 04 – Loki
A week later he had a phone call from the British doctor from all those years ago. The man had intel…though, as far as Phil knew he had been invalided home a tour and a half after the time they had known one another. JARVIS had helpfully provided some information on what the doctor had been doing in the intervening years and then he'd pulled Steve in on the phone call. And they'd ended up in Edinburgh.
It had gone Code Green because of course it was a Loki situation, this time he was working with some academic mathematician and they were attempting to ruin the world. And of course magic had been involved. And of course Bucky had been shot. And of course Phil had left the safety of the StarkJet, which was being protected by JARVIS, to plant himself in front of the Hulk who was trying to shake off whatever it was that Loki had managed to do to him. Magic didn't work on the Hulk but Loki had definitely affected him in some way. Steve was protecting Bucky because there was never going to be a situation where he didn't put himself between danger and Bucky Barnes. Clint was on a roof somewhere and Nat was trying to take out all of the henchpeople single-handedly so Phil planted himself between Loki and the Hulk and hoped like hell he wasn't about to die. He wasn't sure he would be able to cope with the fallout on tumblr if he died and he had a feeling that he would have to deal with it even in death.
"Well, well, Agent," Loki said, voice dripping with enough interest that it made Phil's hand press into his tie immediately. He adjusted the knot and then forced himself to look Loki directly in the eye. "You have been hiding something quite interesting."
Phil froze and a trickle of dread flicked at the back of his mind. But, he pushed it down and away and lifted the large gun at his side. "I wouldn't say hiding it."
"Oh, not that gun," Loki smirked at him.
"I have another three on my person," Phil said blandly.
"And an archer on the roof and a debilitated super soldier and a befuddled monster who turns out to be the lesser of two evils."
The trickle of dread turned into a flood of certain fear; Loki knew about his powers now and he didn't know what Loki's seiðr would be able to do with his powers. Thor hadn't been able to find anything when he had spoken to his mother but Loki was an entirely different bag of crazy to what Thor said of his mother.
"The Hulk is often the lesser of two evils when faced with beings like you," Phil said, choosing to pretend he didn't know what Loki was referring to and flicking his thumb over the safety on the gun.
"There are no beings like me!" Loki spat.
Thunder clapped in the clear sky above them and the sky started to darken. Loki's eyes darkened in response and the joyful look on his face fell a little.
"And there are no beings like him either," Phil said, relaxing back while the black clouds gathered above them.
Loki growled and twisted his staff through the air, gathering momentum and making the air close, before he swung it into a final arc towards Phil's chest and then something slammed into Phil and he was yanked back and up, padded wires biting into his arms as he flew through the air and away from Loki. He watched as Thor slammed down to the ground in front of Loki and they both disappeared in a brilliant flash of light from the Bifröst. Phil dangled above the other Avengers for several long minutes until Clint swung down next to him and hooked his hand onto Phil's elbow and swung them both to a nearby roof where they were able to land and Clint started cutting Phil loose.
"Well, that was stupid," Clint said, shaking his head.
"You're the one who tied me up with one of those arrows," Phil pointed out, watching as a team of plainly dressed SAS soldiers and MI:6 officers descended and collected the mathematician before disappearing.
"Not that," Clint said, exasperation clear in his voice. He looked up at Phil and even though his eyes were sparkling Phil could see the worry and censure below that. "The trying to take Loki down, alone, again."
"I couldn't let him keep affecting the Hulk – who knows what he'd have been able to do to Bruce if someone didn't stop him."
"We would have stopped him without you facing him like that again."
"Again?"
"The helicarrier," Clint said, voice dripping with something that Phil couldn't identify and the strain of quiet judgement over Phil's lack of understanding. "Facing Loki down on your own again."
"Just like you would," Phil pointed out.
Below them S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, MI:5 agents, and police were scurrying to clean up the mess and make sure that any bystanders were getting medical assistance where needed. Steve was coordinating with half his attention as he tried to convince Bucky to get into an ambulance and go to the hospital and Bucky refused to leave until Steve could come with him. Bruce was back to himself and hiding in the StarkJet while Tony tried to coordinate around Steve and Bucky and Nat watched everything from the door of the StarkJet. But, Phil and Clint had no idea as they stood on a rooftop.
"I didn't almost die," Clint pointed out.
"No, you were brainwashed," Phil said, making sure his voice was as emotionless and bland as possible.
"More reason for us to avoid the demigod."
"Asgardian," Phil corrected because he might not be a religious man but he didn't like anyone making the god connection when there was a more scientific explanation and anything that diminished the power of Loki was good. If it also diminished the power of Thor it was something Phil could live with.
"Yes, then we should both avoid the Jotun," Clint said, just a hint of two can play at this game in his voice as he corrected Phil. Phil allowed himself a smile in response.
"Our jobs don't allow us to just ignore the guy with magical powers when he's trying to do evil things in Edinburgh."
"Well our jobs also involve the Jotun's Asgardian brother so it's best to leave Loki to Thor and whatever is about to happen on Asgard."
"Thor did sweep him away very quickly," Phil commented. "They must have been waiting for him to show up so they could capture him."
"Maybe Odin isn't the terrible king he appears to be from looking at Loki."
"I think that is more of an indictment on his skill as a father than his ability as a King."
There was a loud siren below them and Phil was brought back to the moment. He looked down at the scurry of people that he should be involved in, that he should be organising. He said as much to Clint and the archer nodded and turned to the door on the roof behind them.
"There wasn't anything else to that conversation with Loki was there?" Clint asked, turning suddenly, just before would have slipped through the door in front of Phil.
"No," Phil said, pushing him into the darkness of the building.
When Phil got home, they debriefed with Steve seeming to be only half there so Phil finally decided to leave it until the next day and every one scattered to find food, or to rush to Bucky's side, and Phil decided to go home, shower, and then utilise that amazing office to fill out the paperwork associated with an international Avengers operation. Except, once he had showered and eaten he decided that he could give himself the night off as well so he flicked through Stark's media library until he found the collection of reality TV that seemed like they would be a good distraction. He wasn't going to get out his tablet because he didn't want the temptation of checking but then he needed to research something he'd seen on the show and then it was a quick tap to look at tumblr and see his dash filled with photos of Edinburgh…and a lot of photos of Steve and Bucky and then even more of him and Clint on the roof. He wasn't going to flick to the other blog but his curiosity got the better of him so he visited AgentHawkisREAL against his better judgement.
Phil looked at the photo of himself staring at Clint and was reminded of the way he father used to look at Aunt Helen…and how much like his father he was in looks even if he wasn't anything like him in personality. But, he couldn't be looking at Clint like his father had looked at his aunt because that had ruined his family, led to something of a scandal in their little hometown and had left his childhood broken into two parts. No matter that his father and Aunt Helen had been happily living in…he refused to call it sin no matter what his nana said every time it came up, for over thirty years. He closed tumblr and went to do some ironing, pushing that picture out of his head.
/
