I don't own the Avengers, or Loki. But y'all seem to like what I do with them, so…
Chapter 25: Persuasions
"She's going to what?" Fury asked through clenched teeth.
"She will continue her restoration work for a week, and then she'll switch back to her original form for another week," Dr. Bryardie repeated.
Fury glared at the young woman. He had understood the words perfectly well the first time around. It was the idea behind them that he found hard to grasp. "So what you're telling me is that she can control the switch,"
"Yes," she agreed.
"And she's going to intentionally turn back into the maniac who tried to level this place?" he demanded.
Rowena sighed. She wished very much that Loki had not asked her to keep his possession at the hands of the Other a secret. Telling Fury would make this so much easier. "I have a very good reason to believe that Loki is no longer a threat-at least not as much of one as he once was. Without his magic-"
"Without his magic, he can still beat the tar out of Captain America," Fury pointed out. "Supersoldiers are in a bit of short supply right now, if you hadn't noticed."
She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Which is precisely why you should give Loki a chance."
Fury looked confused, and she smiled.
"As you mentioned in our last meeting, he has some very unpleasant former allies. He has even less desire to see them again than we do." She pointed out.
"The enemy of my enemy is not my friend, Bryardie." Fury didn't like where she was going with this.
"Loki's female form has already proven that she has the potential to be a very valuable member of the Avengers initiative," she argued.
"Because she does magic, and she's not an asshole of mythic proportions. We don't really need another one of those on the team," he reminded her.
She nodded. "I agree that it's often difficult to get their personalities to jive. Barton in particular would not be happy about working with him. But I believe that he and Romanov would be a very good undercover team. They're both highly skilled at deception, and this would free up Barton to work long-range, which he's much better at."
Fury really didn't want to agree with her, but it was difficult not to imagine what such a team could accomplish. "Has he even asked to be on the team?"
"No, and he won't," she said. "He thinks he's better than us. But he'll take any opportunity he can to show off to Romanov. We can use this to our advantage. If nothing else, I suggest the continued use of the female Loki. He remembers everything she does, and the trust she is developing with the team may bleed over into his persona."
Fury nodded. "I think we'll stick to that plan for the time being. Until he shows he wants to play nice, I'm not going to offer him the opportunity to stab someone in the back."
Rowena nodded. "Is that all then?"
He dismissed her with a wave of his hand. Just as she was about to open the door, he spoke again. "What is it you see in him anyway?"
She turned back, and shrugged a little. "Someone I would much prefer as a friend than an enemy."
Fury turned away again, and she left.
After her appointment with Dr. Bryardie, Loki grabbed some lunch in the cafeteria and then headed up to Tony's lab to work. More materials had arrived during her absence, and she threw herself into the work without a second thought. It wasn't until a few hours later, when Tony showed up, that she came back to reality.
"Hey, I didn't know you were in," he called by way of greeting. "Whoa... you've been busy..."
She stepped back and looked at her work. She had created several large statues and a number of cornice pieces. "I guess so," she said, surprised herself.
Tony frowned. "You're probably about done then?"
She stared down at her hands. "Actually, no. I mean, I've made a serious dent in my reserves, but I think I could probably do this twice over," she gestured to the crowded workspace.
"Okay..." Tony tried to hide his surprise. "Well, you should probably give it a break anyway. We'll run out of materials at this rate."
She nodded. "You know, I bet it's because of Him," she realized out loud.
"Him?" Tony had very intentionally avoided Loki's male form. He was still dealing with some pretty intense nightmares, and he'd rather avoid the issue altogether, no matter what 'Dr.' Bryardie said about facing his fears.
"Yes. It's entirely possible that the reason I have more energy is because it was building up while I was gone, because he couldn't use it," she suggested.
Tony thought about that. "But you don't seem to have more to work with on Mondays, after a rest over the weekend."
She shook her head. "That's because I'm still human on the weekend," she joked. "While He's here, He's Jotunn, and his magic reserves are much greater than mine.
They build up, and they don't dissipate during the change, apparently."
Tony shrugged. "Well, I guess he just got way more useful," he joked back.
"Hey," she thought of something, and pulled up a stool, sitting next to where Tony was tapping away at a workstation. "I'm um... I'm not going to be here for the next poker night," she explained.
Tony frowned. "Damn. Should we reschedule it?" he asked.
She shook her head. "I know you all have pretty busy schedules. I actually thought that maybe you could, you know, let Him play instead."
He stopped typing and stared at her. "Seriously?"
"Yeah," she said, shrugging.
"Why?" he asked, incredulous.
She shrugged again. "I dunno, I just... I think he's lonely."
"Lonely?"
She played with the end of her braid absently. "Yeah. I mean, I was pretty lonely most of the time before the change, you know? And He's supposed to be the same as before. And I don't know, I just get this feeling, like he's really lonely."
Tony turned to face her. "So what? You want us all to make buddies with the guy who tried to kill us last month? Who killed Phil?"
At this, she blushed. "I guess it was a stupid idea," she said quietly to her shoes. "I just thought... He's so stuck up, he's never going to be the first person to offer the olive branch."
Tony rubbed a hand over his face. He really didn't want to have to tell her no. "Look, I'll talk to the other guys about it, but don't hold your breath, ok?"
Her face lit back up a little, and she nodded. She turned to go back to her work, when Jarvis piped up.
"There's a call from Director Fury for you, sir," he said. A window popped up on Tony's workstation and he tapped it open.
"Stark, you and Loki get your butts over to the conference room. Thor's back." With this, he hung up.
"Chatty guy, huh?" Tony asked Loki, and then rolled his eyes.
Loki was beaming from ear to ear, and she nearly skipped over to the elevator.
"You have some real issues, girl," he said, shaking his head as he followed.
"Oh, you have no idea," she laughed.
Loki took a deep breath, and opened the door to the conference room. There stood Thor, gorgeous as ever, speaking seriously with Natasha. The assassin caught sight of her first, and then Thor looked up as well.
"Loki," he said, surprised. "You're... back."
She smiled. "As are you. How are mother and father?"
Thor blinked a little. "They are well. Mother sends her love, of course."
Loki rubbed her arm awkwardly. She wanted to hug him, but she wasn't sure how he'd take it. And Natasha was sitting there watching.
"Well as cute as this family reunion is, we have business to discuss," Fury drawled sarcastically from his seat at the head of the table.
Loki sat down between Thor and Natasha, and turned her full, respectful attention towards the Director of SHIELD.
He snorted. "So what does the big guy in the sky have to say?" He asked Thor.
"Er..." Thor glanced at Loki "He had proposed that if you no longer wish to act as Loki's guard, that he could be returned to Asgard, to a... secure location..."
Loki turned to look at Thor, worried. "Where?"
Thor put his hand on Loki's, which rested on the table. "I suggested that without your ability to use magic, drastic measures would not be necessary. Accommodations could easily be made in the palace, if that was even needed. But then Heimdall informed us that you had changed again, upsetting any plans we might have had."
She smiled wryly. "Sorry," she joked.
"Well here's our plan," Fury said, making it clear that it wasn't a plan he liked. "This Loki will stay for a week, and then switch back. They're to split the time half-and-half, every other week."
"I'm sorry," Tony interrupted, "but this is way confusing. Can we please give them nicknames so we can keep them straight?"
Loki raised an eyebrow. "Nicknames?"
"Yeah," Tony grinned. "Like, Femme Lokita and Original Recipe Loki," he joked.
"Femme Lokita?" Thor asked.
"You know, 'cause she goes on missions with Red here," he gestured to Natasha.
She shot him a deadly look that clearly showed what she thought of his nicknames.
"I wouldn't mind Femme Loki," Loki spoke up. "But I don't want to pick one for Him. It might just piss him off."
Fury rolled his eye. "Alright, then it will be one with Femme Loki and then one with Dude Loki. Happy?"
"Usually," Tony quipped.
Fury turned his attention to Thor. "Will that suit Mr. High-and-mighty?"
"We shall speak to him about it," Thor suggested. At Fury's exasperated sigh, he held up a hand. "Not to worry, I need not return to Asgard." He pulled a small stone from a pouch at his side, setting it on the table. It had a rune inscribed on the surface, which glowed.
"A Norn stone?" Loki asked, eyes wide.
Thor nodded. "Karnilla was kind enough to bestow a pair upon us so that we may remain in communication with Asgard while we are here."
Loki looked very surprised. "You know, you could have just asked. With a mirror I could easily contact another sorceress, such as Amora."
Thor smiled a little. "Yes, but that would require Amora's cooperation."
Loki sighed, rolling her eyes. "And I suppose she listed some ridiculous price for said cooperation, since she would fain have you spend so much time away."
"Precisely," he laughed. "Karnilla merely asked that Balder return to her for some time."
Loki frowned. "But that would mean that all the princes of Asgard are gone. What happens during the Odinsleep?"
"One of us shall be recalled," Thor reasoned.
As he went on explaining the situation, Tony shared a look with Natasha. "Do you have any idea what they're talking about?" he asked her.
She shrugged. "Politics. Seems it's much the same there as it is here."
"So how does this Norn stone work, anyway?" Fury interrupted both conversations.
Loki kept staring at it. "I'm afraid I'll have to use it, it takes some talent in magic. I imagine Father has the other one?"
Thor nodded, gesturing encouragingly.
Loki swallowed, and picked up the stone. She closed her eyes, concentrating. The others watched as she frowned, paling. After a while, a sheen of sweat broke out on her forehead. At last she opened her eyes, letting out a breath. She handed the stone back to Thor. "Odin agrees with the plan."
"Well good," Fury said, clearly chafing at the idea of any authority higher than his own. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have work to do." He got up and left, effectively ending the meeting.
The others stood to leave as well, although Loki faltered a little. Only Natasha seemed to notice. "You ok?" she asked quietly as Thor and Tony joked around.
Loki nodded. "The stone creates a telepathic connection between the two ends. A smart choice, since it eliminates any chance for deception."
Natasha thought about that a moment. "Like, talk with your minds telepathic, or read everything they're thinking telepathic?"
Loki sighed. "Both. And Odin is... not happy with me," she said somberly. She looked as if, in a weaker moment, she might cry.
The assassin patted her shoulder awkwardly. She had planned to stay distant from Loki, even after the change, but found it difficult. Somehow, she had made friends with her. She never made friends. How did that happen? she wondered.
A/N: Last night I had a nightmare that I went to update with this chapter, only to find that the mods had removed my story, apparently because they didn't like Femme Loki. I woke up and was so upset I couldn't sleep for the last half hour before my alarm went off lol.
On a technical note: The Norn stones don't work quite the same here as they do in the comics, but I think the ones in the comics might be made to work that way. *shrugs* One of the two sides should come up with an inter-stellar communication device of some kind, just for the strategic benefit alone.
Many thanks to the anonymous reviewer who came up with the nickname "Original Recipe Loki." It is by far the funniest I've ever heard, so I had to use it.
