Loki couldn't stop looking down at his nails to how smooth the polish was on them. It was a strong brand of nail polish he had heard, and couldn't help but appreciate how quickly it dried too. He had painted his nails black before many times during his life in Asgard, but never had it feel like this. The paints he used were made from natural ingredients while he noticed the Midgardians used synthetic chemicals. Interesting.
Natasha paid for both of their hands and they picked up their shopping bags to leave. Loki had thoroughly enjoyed shopping with the master assassin and would kill to do it again. The first thing they did was shop for dresses as Natasha explained she needed a brand new set because her old ones were destroyed in some fire. Top secret SHIELD stuff, he wasn't supposed to ask what more had happened.
He helped her pick out about five dresses; a couple of formal floor length garments that complimented her figure, two winter ones, and one simple dress that could be worn in all seasons or occasions. While Natasha was trying everything out, Loki spotted a lovely floor length gown that was a deep emerald and had an open back. He had to have it for when his returned and he could shape shift into his female form, he decided. So, without wanting to tell Natasha in case her knowing the fact that he could shape shift would turn into a disadvantage for him, he grabbed it along with clothes from the men's section. He bought his clothes with the debit card Pepper had supplied him with (at first he had to ask the cashier how to use it) and made sure the dressed was wrapped up and hidden underneath the shirts he bought.
After that, they looked through shoes, jewelry, and electronics. Loki got himself a stark phone which Natasha went through and modified so that he couldn't be located or traced easily with it. "Just a trick I learned from SHIELD," Natasha said dismissively when he questioned how she came across the knowledge.
Natasha also introduced him to ipods and the wonderful world of music. Loki downloaded all of the songs he knew Tony listened to in his workshop. Of course he also sampled different genres, finding each one intriguing. Eventually he settled on classical music though as the others genres such as pop or dubstep gave him a massive headache after a few songs.
Natasha led him outside the mall to the parking lot where her car was parked. They dropped off their stuff in the back seat and trunk before heading back inside. They wandered around, thirty more minutes to kill, when Natasha finally started asking serious questions.
"Do you know why Thor is chasing you?" she asked, voice strangely cold considering all the merriment they had earlier.
"No," Loki said. "Why? Do you know?"
"In a way," she said with a pause. She shot him a brief sympathetic look as if she felt deeply sorry for him. Loki raised a brow but didn't say anything to that. "Though I don't think he's going about this the right way. But it's none of my business to be honest and I don't want anything further to do with it."
"Good to know someone is on my side," he sniffed.
"I'm not quite sure of that either."
"Oh. It seems I have the wrong idea about what our relationship is currently."
"I didn't mean that," she said carefully. "Would you believe me if I offered to help you? Help you run as far as you can?"
"I would never to say no to assistance," Loki replied uneasily, not sure how to take that. "It would be great if you helped me pull off at least one crime in this city before I leave in some time."
"Sure thing, but it'd have to be after my mission."
"Of course," he agreed. "But why? Why are you offering?"
"Because I have a feeling that you should enjoy this and drag this on for as long as you can," she said quietly. "Because once he catches up with you, you're going to be in so much pain."
"This is Emma Cook reporting to the city from Riverside Park! Today is the grand re-opening of the community lake and we have a nice crowd here today to watch Mayor Townend cut the ribbon!"
The blonde reporter smiled sweetly as the cameraman made sure to catch some footage of the crowd gathering around. They were right in front of the pier which was decorated in symbolic red ribbon. People had small city flags to wave, signs approving of the Mayor, and children running around with face paint across their faces. It was a nice sunny day, perfect weather for the event.
The Mayor walked up to the reporter, a stout man with his chest puffed out in pride. In his hands were huge scissors that weren't really practical but more of a symbolic utensil. He gave the camera a wide smile, swiping a hand over his mustache to make sure it wouldn't get in the way of his teeth.
"And here's Mayor Townend! Sir, what do you think about this event today?"
"Today will be a landmark for our community!" The Mayor declared, "Perhaps the most spectacular event of the year!"
"Will you be pushing for more environmental awareness sir?"
"The environment is important! We will have a city cleanup day in two weeks in order to cleanse ourselves of the toxic influences of our society-"
Suddenly people screamed in the background. The mayor whipped his head around, confused as to why people were cowering and covering children's eyes. And then...he saw.
Strutting across the park was a naked man, yelling and smirking like he was enjoying himself. His long black hair blew gracefully in the wind as he approached the cameras. The news reporter gasped, nearly dropping her microphone.
"What in the world?!" the mayor exclaimed.
"Is that Loki?"
"Why yes, yes it is!" Loki yelled at the camera while he passed by it, pausing to make sure the cameraman got plenty of his pale body. He winked and bared his teeth at a few citizens who attempted to stop him. They cowered back in fear and he crossed his arms.
"Public nudity is a crime!" the mayor screamed at him.
The frost giant kept strutting along as if he owned the place. He waved at a few children and threw the mayor the finger which he had learned is a sign of disrespect, curtesy of Tony. But then he saw a few police cars arrive in the parking lot and decided it was time to get the fuck out of there. He sped up his pace until he was running.
Loki ducked into the bushes at the other side of the park right as people started calling for the police to hurry. He pushed his way through brambles, leaves, and dirt to the path he had mapped out earlier with Natasha. After crawling through too many bushes and avoiding litter, he climbed out from the underbrush and onto the street. It was a nice backstreet right between the back of the mall and the more rough side of the park. The perfect place to rendezvous considering they both had split off for different "missions".
Natasha was already waiting for him in her car, the back seat open. He jumped in, closed the door, and Natasha stepped on it without any prompting. Loki shuffled through the shopping bags from earlier until he found the clothes he had bought for his first disguise; a white button down, blue sweater vest, dark pants, and a pair of what Nat had called "hipster" glasses with clear lenses.
While he dressed, Natasha spoke without bothering to contain her laughter between words. "You went streaking? Showing off your ass is your idea of evil?"
"Well, it is breathtaking. I thought you Midgardians would appreciate some godly physique." He slipped on his pants and buttoned up. A smile ghosted his face when she snorted. "I cannot believe it is even a crime here. How can simply showing your body be indecent?"
"You run around Asgard nude?"
"Like I said, I cannot believe it is a crime here."
"Tony is going to enjoy that news report."
"That is enough," he said, cheeks turning faintly pink. "Did you contact Lady Potts?"
"Yes I did about twenty minutes ago. She has everything ready for our departure and we just have to get to the airport. Say goodbye to this car though. It's going to stay here."
"You must be so sad."
"It's comfortable and my favorite." she sniffed. "But I have a couple more in Malibu."
"Thank you for coming with us," Loki said honestly. "And giving me your trust."
"Who ever said I trusted you?" Natasha said with a smile.
"I assumed you did considering the fact that you are driving me to the airport after committing the somehow serious crime of public indecency."
"You could go to prison for that Loki. That was way too serious, you better hide underground before they catch you and you spend the rest of your life in a cell."
"Really?" Loki's brows raised. Did he do something too serious? He stared at the spy who was keeping a straight face until eventually it crumbled with a toothy grin.
"No, I lied. That was sarcastic, a lot of college student streak and get off with a little bit of time."
"Look at us," he laughed. "A couple of liars helping each other out."
"How did my life turn into this," she rolled her eyes. "I do this type of thing all the time. I think I can smell retirement coming up."
"You're too young for that," he put the glasses on, completing his transformation. "How do I look? This feels too hot."
"Like a hipster if we added a scarf and Starbucks," she snorted. "Weren't you cold running around naked by the way? It's supposed to be twenty."
"No, I was not," he sniffed. He didn't want to get into the fact that he hadn't noticed the chill because of what he was. "The cold never bothered me anyways."
A/N: Here's an update! Sorry I'm super busy with school and I kinda was supposed to be doing homework while writing this anyways, oops. Today is also my birthday AND Mother's Day sooo Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers and your mother~
Next chapter will be Tony-centric and then Loki reaches his destination of Malibu. In the story it's around the first week of December.