Author's Note: Thanks for the reading my story and the nice reviews! Here a (revised) version. Hope you'll enjoy!
Chapter 14 now revised!
Loki walks up to Tony and Bruce as they are playing a game of chess.
"This is so boring," Tony exhales lazily. He rolls his head, letting out a yawn.
Bruce isn't in the least impressed, though, "Chess trains cognitive abilities and strategic thinking. It helps stimulate the brain and enlarge its capabilities."
"I'm already genius. If my brain gets any bigger, I'll be like the Egghead, and I can't do that to the world. I'm too pretty for that," Tony sighs.
"I don't think you have to fear that," Bruce huffs.
"This still sucks," Tony puts childishly.
"Oh, hi Loki," Bruce smirks upon catching sight of the young woman.
"Hello," she speaks gently. "Enjoying a good old game of chess?"
"He is. I'm here against my will," Tony snorts.
"How is that?" Loki frowns.
"Because he dragged me to a football game not long ago – and I hate those. Now I get to choose the game," Bruce grins at her.
"I see...," she nods. Even if she finds herself enjoying friendship, it still confuses her sometimes how different these friendships among humans can be. Bruce and Tony are the best example. Other than their genius, they couldn't be more different from one another. They have different interests, and they make it their personal obligation to annoy each other with forcing the other to take part in his hobby, even though he knows the other one hates it.
Really, friendships are mysteries of their own.
"So? What brings you here? Or rather... what's in that folder?" Bruce grimaces.
Loki taps on the manila folder once, "Actually I wanted to talk to you and Master Stark... or no... I don't want to talk about it, I just want you to have a look at this."
"Sure, we'll look it through if you want," Tony shrugs.
"Thank you. I very much appreciate it," Loki bows slightly.
"Hey, wanna join? Or take over so that I can return to life again?" Tony smirks.
"No, thank you... oh, Doctor Banner! Tsk. I thought you were better at this game than Master Stark!" Loki shakes her head.
"I have him at check," Bruce frowns.
"Yeah, and then this ordeal is finally over and I'm a free man again!" Tony exhales. Loki moves one of Tony's chessmen, "Checkmate. Stark wins."
With that she walks off. Tony folds his arms behind the head, leaning back, "I didn't know I am that amazing. Or well, I know I am, but..."
"She just won for you. You had no clue," Bruce rolls his eyes.
"I didn't make my move yet, and I'm a genius. I would've come up with it," Tony argues.
"Right," Bruce snorts sarcastically.
"I actually start to enjoy that game all of a sudden," Tony grins.
"Sure, for as long as your self-confidence gets a boost you are all up for it," Bruce huffs.
"One could say so," Tony hums.
"Oh, whatever," Bruce rolls his eyes at the other man.
"You and her play more often, I take?" Tony asks casually.
"Couple of times a day," Bruce shrugs.
"Who wins?" Tony grins.
"Hm?" he blinks at him. "We are equal, I guess. We don't count points like some other team members tend to do."
"Aha," Tony snickers.
"Of course one has to consider that she played this game like... a thousand years longer than I do," Bruce shrugs.
"You think she lets you win on purpose?" Tony asks skeptically.
"No. I just take longer. That's all," Bruce insists.
"Right," Tony huffs, not buying it, but then turns to the folder. "But first things first."
He takes the folder and skims through the pages with trained eyes, scanning for all essential information. Suddenly his eyes open wide, though, to which Bruce can only frown.
"Oh... wow...," Tony gapes.
"What now?" Bruce knits his eyebrows at him.
"I think I might pee my pants," Tony stares at the paper in disbelief.
"Please don't," Bruce grimaces. Tony flips the folder over to his friend. Bruce takes it up.
"After reading that, you'll do, too," Tony says, tapping on the tabletop nervously.
"Now I'm scared," Bruce grimaces.
"Just read it," Tony urges him. Bruce fixes his glasses as he reads through the pages.
Bruce gapes as he reads, "Oh... goodness."
"Right?" Tony nods vehemently.
"... that is worth a council for sure," Bruce blinks at the pages.
"Totally council-worthy," Tony agrees.
"Wow," Bruce shakes his head.
"But... the far more important question would be: why did she just give this to us, not wanting to explain it?" Tony argues. After all, Loki actually took a liking to "scientific discourse". She likes discussing theories with Bruce as well as Tony - and she is past the point where she is eagerly hiding it.
"Dunno. We'll have to tackle it in the meeting," Bruce shrugs.
"You think she's just trying to hide her light under the bushel again?" Tony grimaces.
"One thing about Loki is that she always does things for some greater kind of purpose. So is suspect this is more than just... embarrassment," Bruce tells him.
"Hm," Tony hums mindfully.
"We'll have to see what the council brings. Maybe she spills, then," Bruce suggests.
"Yeah... you do realize that she has us at checkmate... like... all the time?" Tony scrunches his nose.
"Yeah... yeah," Bruce grimaces, now thinking about it.
The two frown at the chess board in silence.
Later the day, all Avengers assemble for the council.
"... Okay, now that we got the totally not-interesting boring part covered... we can now tackle something... way better," Tony says - after they went through the standards that he just finds utmost annoying and perfectly overrated.
"And what would that be?" Steve cocks an eyebrow at him. Usually, when Tony has something to say that is "way better" it usually involves women or alcohol... possibly both, and a huge party to top it all.
Tony gets up from his chair and flips on the screens and points at them, "That."
"And what is... that?" Thor grimaces.
"That is a way to overcome the energy output problem," Tony smirks, clapping his hands together to some rhythm going through his head.
"Come again?" Steve frowns.
"Tony's suit operates with the arc reactor energy," Bruce explains. "Thanks to the Vibranium the energy output is vastly increased, allowing him to fly and fight with the suit the way he does. Yet, there is the hypothetical possibility to make more of that energy. The reactor has far more potential than what is actually used. The problem up until now was that once we attempted to increase the output level to a certain degree, the system shut down. And if we had gone further, everything would have collapsed."
"Which means, if I tried that with my suit... boom – me dead. And I don't fancy that, which is why we didn't try that yet," Tony snorts.
"Okay," Steve nods.
"But now we have this," Tony nods at the screen.
"A formula," Steve says.
"This is a way to bypass this problem and to unleash the arc reactor's full potential without risking an overload," Bruce tells them. "The idea is to create multiple mini reactors within the reactor and then connect in series, to put it very simple. Of course I could go further into detail on how exactly this works, but I don't think that this really interests you. What it does for us, though, is that it would allow us to make use of the arc energy – with about thrice its intensity, without having to fear that it will destabilize in any way."
"Well, great success for you guys... but... what is that to us?" Steve questions.
"Right, if you wanna polish your suit, then do that," Clint huffs.
"Well, the thing is that this is not the idea, entirely," Tony smirks. Bruce flips on to the next page revealing construction plans for weapons: Steve's shield, Natasha's guns, Clint's bow and arrows, the Iron Man suit, something that looks like an exoskeleton, Thor's hammer, and Loki's daggers.
"Your idea is new equipment," Natasha blinks at the plans.
"I would love to say it's me coz I think this totally rocks... but," Tony argues. "Loki came up with this."
All turn to the young woman, who simply sat through it all, one leg over the other, observing passively. She just shrugs at them as their eyes fall on her, though. She will not acknowledge this with a real reaction.
"Seriously? That is by you?" Natasha turns to the trickster.
Oh, great... now she has to answer.
"As I said before, my studies are not far different from yours. This is a problem I already encountered for a different energy resource long before I got to know you. Now that I work here... it just stirred my interest and I started working on the problem again. That is when I developed this, more as a fun project, as Stark would call it," Loki explains calmly.
"This is more than a fun project, though," Tony argues. "We are talking about an enhancement for all our weapons, using the arc reactor technology. And that with tripled output. That would mean... well, your weapons would be just way cooler... and far more importantly, even the Hulk would get something to play with."
"Right – something I never thought about before. But if we use this technology, it might grant me better control over my body when I hulk out. I would have to wear this exoskeleton, but thanks to Loki's design, it would allow to adapt to my size. Once it's no longer needed, it'd disappear into my belt again. To put it very simple, the skeleton would connect to the important muscle areas, such as arms, legs, the neck and connect to the brain, through electric stimuli. Hence, better control," Bruce nods.
"I'm officially impressed," Natasha whistles softly.
"Then why don't we just put that into practice?" Steve asks.
"That is... a good question," Tony smirks, before he turns to his favorite trickster. "Loki, why don't we just put that into practice?"
"I see no trouble putting that into practice, since I gave it a lot of thought, and my calculations, as far as I'm concerned, are correct. There is just one condition," Loki explains.
"And what would that be?" Steve questions.
"Master Fury will have to approve," she shrugs. "When that happens, it is essential that my name and my involvement in the development are not mentioned. If he asks, it was Doctor Banner or Stark, or both. How you arrange that is up to you, I don't care. Just leave out my name."
"What?!" Tony gapes in shock.
"Now don't give me that look," she grumbles.
"But that is your idea," Bruce argues.
"You will notice, however, that Master Fury will hardly approve a project for creating weapons stronger than the arc reactor, and then for all members... which adds up to forces out of unmeasurable proportion," Loki shakes her head.
"I think he'd dig that," Tony smirks.
"Not for as long as it's my design," Loki reasons.
"But you are already on the active team and you create weapons all the while. I don't think this is a real issue anymore," Steve throws in. At least it shouldn't be anymore.
"I create weapons under the observant eyes of the SHIELD, Doctor Banner and Stark. The missiles I create don't have the power those would have. Let me tell you, we are talking about a whole new level of power when it comes to these. Master Fury would not approve with my name on them," Loki argues.
"Still is your idea," Natasha insists.
"I don't see the issue. It is just a name written under a report. This is beneficiary for the team. From whoever it comes... it doesn't matter to me," Loki shakes her head.
"You seriously want me to go ahead and talk to Fury and then proudly announce that this is my project?" Tony makes a face.
"That summarizes it quite well, yes," Loki nods. Is that so hard to believe?!
Tony shakes his head, "I am known for many things, but I don't claim anything mine that isn't... other than women for a certain time perhaps, but you see the point. That is plagiarism."
"I do not mind," Loki snorts, growing impatient. This is such a ridiculous conversation. And by giving the folder to Bruce and Stark, she actually hoped to bypass that, but... then again, they are superheroes. This certain species just always feels this strong urge to do the right thing. Fools.
"It isn't the right thing to do," Steve shakes his head.
There we go...
"If you mean to question my motives, I assure you that they are solely to aid the team," Loki hisses.
"Of course. It's just that it's not right to claim that this is someone else's. You worked this out. You should get the credit for it," Steve reasons.
And here we go another time - superheroes, really, you just have trouble with them at times.
"The only problem is that I will not get credit for this if it is me. I can get credit for it for as long as my involvement remains unknown, because that means the project will launch," Loki debates. Really, humans and their sense of justice. They rather let a chance slip away only because it might be "plagiarism"? Humans are odd beings, really, and utmost foolish.
"But what if Fury sees that you are just trying to help us a great deal?" Natasha throws in.
"I think Doctor Banner could give you the exact numbers, but let's just say the chance is nearly zero. And even if Master Fury might appreciate the idea... I don't know about his bosses. They are rather strict, so to speak. I know that Master Fury took a huge risk with recruiting me. I don't know what they will do if they find out about this project, though," Loki reasons.
"C'mon," Natasha sighs, but Loki remains unimpressed, "I simply ask you two to do me the favor to present that to Master Fury. I can help creating the weapons once he gives his okay, but Master Fury has to approve before we can think about that. If you really wish to do me a favor, keep my name out of this."
"Fine, we'll present it to him," Tony suddenly says coolly. All glance at him disbelieving. They expected him to go on with the argument - and not give in. Tony never gives in. Ever.
"Thank you," she bows her head. Maybe one of them is finally coming to his senses... even if it's Stark.
Bruce grimaces at him, but Tony seems so confident that no one means to argue.
The following day, all have assembled to talk to Fury about the new project.
"Yo, Blackbeard," Tony greets Fury, who huffs with annoyance in his voice, "Stark."
"We wanna present something to you," Tony tells him.
"And what would that be?" Fury asks.
"Enhanced weaponry, using the arc reactor technology to triple the energy output," Tony says. He switches on the screens to show the construction plans.
Fury glances at the screens, "I see... for all members?"
"Yep," Tony nods.
"Wow. When did you come up with that?" Fury puckers his lips.
"That only popped up... recently," Tony shrugs.
"And that works? Is it stable?" Fury questions.
"Of course there will be a longer test phase to make sure, but we have good faith that this will work. The basic equation is valid. It will allow us full access to the arc reactor energy without having to fear destabilization," Bruce explains.
"Right, the question is just how to put that into practice," Tony agrees.
"I see. Well, SHIELD has interest in finding new ways to protect the people. So... this deserves... a chance, I suppose. I will present it to my bosses if you want," Fury nods.
"Cool," Tony shrugs.
"So... who'll be the leading scientist in this, as the founder? We have to put that down for the bureaucrats," Fury asks casually. Bruce and Tony look at each other for a second before they say simultaneously, "Loki."
"What?" Fury gapes. Loki has to try hard to keep her face stoic, but eventually manages to roll her eyes. The orders were that simple. Keep her out of this, just claim it as yours. What's so hard to understand about it?! Why can't those guys ever listen?! She glances at the two who just blew her and how stupidly they smirk at her, as though they just achieved something great, even if they might just as well have risked everything they worked for. Great, just great. Stupid mortals.
"Loki found this equation and worked out the first sketches. And they are a-mazing," tony smirks.
"She did all the designs and construction plans by herself," Bruce adds.
Fury turns to Loki angrily, "You had no jurisdiction for that."
"A moment ago that didn't matter to you," Bruce argues.
"I don't like to play the bad guy here, but you have to see that I act here as a representative of the government also. I have to make sure that this is not the means to lead to bigger trouble," Fury retorts.
"We would have had Loki in the team either way, for the creation process. And it's not like you forbade her to take part in it for as long as it was our plan," Tony huffs. Really, that can't be the argument here.
"You don't seem to get this," Fury sighs. "I have people above me who tell me that we are already violating every rule with Loki on the team. I took a huge risk with this – and they won't be pleased to hear that we make her dreams become true by creating super weapons. Even if I appreciate the idea, we have to see that we are also serving a public function."
"Public doesn't know that Loki is the same person who tried to take over all this time ago," Bruce shrugs.
"But the bosses know about this," Fury insists.
"And we know that this is Loki's idea," Bruce retorts.
"And we won't claim that it's ours," Tony nods.
"You see, we discussed the matter within the team. Even if you agreed to launch the project under Bruce's or Tony's name... we would refuse to take part in it," Steve agrees. Loki whips her head around at the Captain, realizing that actually all of them look so foolishly contempt and utterly pleased with themselves. They discussed that after she took off, the bastards. Loki swallows the growl in her throat. They plotted against her! Really stupid mortals!
"You mean that," Fury grimaces.
"I would not use those weapons," Natasha shakes her head.
"Neither would I," Clint says.
"Me neither," Thor agrees. Loki blinks at him briefly, but can't pay much attention to the thunderer at this moment. After all, there is much bigger trouble ahead of her - thanks to them and their foolery.
"You gotta see that she is now on the team," Tony tells Fury. "That means, to us, she has full rights. It might be she is on probation, but I would do the same thing for anyone. I won't put my name under this. I didn't come up with the idea. I wish I did, but... it was her. So it's only fair that we launch the project under her name, and that it is given into her care. It's hers."
"Again, this is not up to me," Fury sighs.
"Well, this can wait. It's not like we desperately need those weapons by the end of tomorrow. You can talk to your bosses and discuss this in all calm, no?" Tony shrugs.
"You guys are really a bother," Fury shakes his head.
"We're saving the world all the while risking our life. I guess we may, a bit," Tony snickers.
"You own that, Stark," Fury snorts.
"Saving the world is something I also own," Tony smirks at him smugly.
"Well... I'll talk to my bosses, see what they say. I hope you're aware that this might mean sanctions for the team... and possibly a shut-down for the project?" Fury sighs.
"We still got a Hulk to convince them," Tony grins.
"Don't think about it, Tony," Bruce smirks. "... but he has a point."
"You can go now," Fury grumbles. The Avengers leave the room. Fury steps over to the board, looking at the construction plans, a grin on his face.
"Boss?" Coulson turns to Fury.
"Yeah?" he asks.
"Why are you smiling?" Coulson asks curiously.
"They are a team now," Fury smirks.
"So it is no trouble with the bosses that Loki came up with this project?" Coulson questions, narrowing his eyes.
"Oh, that's gonna be a bitch to get through, but... this here was my plan," Fury smiles, looking at the screens another time.
"Yeah?" Coulson smirks.
"I didn't bring Loki in for nothing. Already when she went havoc on Earth Loki made it clear that she is not only smart but also strong, out of proportions strong. How would I not want her on the Avengers Team if I can help it?" Fury shrugs.
"So you are so mean to her so that the others take sides with her?" Coulson concludes.
"That... and because I'm kinda pissed, still," Fury grins. Coulson smirks, looking at the constructions as well, "Wonderful isn't it?"
"If this works out... then there is almost nothing holding us back anymore," Fury nods.
Meanwhile outside, all others are silently walking back to the lounge. Everyone except Loki and Thor is wearing a victorious smile on their lips.
"I hope you are aware that Master Fury might just as well get a 'no' and this project will never be launched, yes?" Loki breaks the silence, hiding her anger behind a calm voice.
"Yup," Tony grins goofily.
"Good, I just meant to make sure that everyone was on the same page," Loki huffs.
"Yep, we are on the same page," Tony snickers.
"It was the right thing to do," Steve tells her. Loki rolls her eyes. She will severely hurt someone, Steve, if he keeps pondering on the rightness and justice part. They should know by now that Loki gives a damn on right and wrong for as long as she finds it a good idea.
"If doing the right thing means risking so much... then I still highly doubt that I am all too fond of the idea of righteousness," Loki mutters.
"It must hurt you real bad that you are one of the good guys now, huh?" Tony snickers.
"You can't even imagine. I think I'll be sick," Loki sneers. Tony smirks ever the more.
Loki closes her eyes as she speaks, "Though I think I do not come around the fact that I have to... honestly thank you for the gesture. I know what this means in your realm, and is a huge gesture. So... thank you."
Neither one says anything. As much as Loki hates to admit it, she is... glad... ugh, stupid immortal.