Four
"Well, that was dramatic..." Ultron mused, as he paced, gesturing wildly. Loki helped me to my feet, wrapping a protective arm around my waist and reeling me close to him. "I'm sorry... I know you mean well, you just didn't make it through... You want to protect the world, but you don't want it to change... How can humanity be saved if it's not allowed to... evolve..? Look at these... these puppets..."
Ultron crushed the head of one of the defeated bots he had picked up, and let it drop to the floor.
"There's only one path to peace... The Avengers' extinction."
Thor hurled Mjolnir at Ultron, and he fell apart, the pieces of his body scattered on the floor by the elevator. His disembodied voice floated through the room, sending chills racking down my spine.
"I had strings, but now I'm free... There are no strings on me..."
"Freedom is life's great lie," Loki muttered, glaring at the tattered robot. I sighed, and rubbed absently at the still tingly skin along my right shin.
"Loki..."
We turned, to see the rest of the team standing next to Thor, who had Mjolnir in hand, and was staring at Loki. He sighed, and let me go, holding his arms out with his wrists pressed together, as if waited to be shackled.
"Do what you will, brother. Odin knows I deserve-" He was cut off mid rant, however, when Thor stepped forwards, and pulled Loki into a crushing hug, letting Mjolnir drop to the floor.
"I thought you dead..." he mumbled, his voice tight. "I held you as you died, brother. How-?"
Loki cleared his throat, looking rather uncomfortable, and Thor released him, beaming, although he looked like he was about to cry.
"It was an illusion," Loki explained, drawing me back to him. I stared up at him, my mouth open, and my brows furrowed as he continued speaking. "I staged the whole thing. It was necessary to gain some freedom. I had to find a way back to Midgard, and I wouldn't be doing that from a cell."
"So you faked... the entire thing..?!" I confirmed, my hands balling into fists. There was a stagnant silence in which I heard Loki gulp, and several people stop breathing.
"Now Evie, love..." he began, sounding rather nervous. I cut him off, stepping away from him. I paced in a small area, my hands gripping the hair at my temples in an attempt to calm the raging headache that was forming.
"With all due respect, Reindeer Games," Dad started, stepping forward with a disapproving frown on his face. "You put my girl through Hell, and-!"
"Ha!" I scoffed, hands dropping as I whirled to face Loki again. "That's an understatement! After that dream, I fell to pieces. And then when Thor turned up to confirm it, I lost it... totally! I locked myself away... I turned fucking catatonic! And you have the gall to 'now Evie, love' me?!"
"Evie," he snapped, striding forward, and grabbing my wrists with his large smooth hands. "I will forever hate myself for doing that to you. But it was necessary. Your reaction had to be real, if the All-Father were to look down here and see for himself. I can only apologise for the abysmal way I acted."
At this, Loki dropped to the floor, clasping my hands in his, resting his forehead against the backs of my hands.
"I will spend the rest of my eternity grovelling on my knees if it would but secure your forgiveness. I know that such an act would be foolish, but rest assured, I would do anything for you, Evelyn. Even leave, if you truly-!"
I cut him off, falling to my knees and hugging him tightly. He seemed shocked for a second, but quickly returned the embrace, his strong, lean arms closing around me.
"You are never leaving me again..." I muttered, pressing my face to the crook of his neck, and inhaling greedily. Ice and parchment filled my nose, and my entire body relaxed.
"Never..." he agreed, kissing the top of my head.
After I had left Loki in my room to shower and change, I headed back into one of the smaller rooms on the lab floor, where the team was digging around for news of Ultron, Strucker, or any unusual HYDRA activity. I walked up to my dad (wearing gray sweatpants, a blue cotton tank, and a large gray hoodie I had nicked from Clint), who was being shown a tablet with a picture of a dead body, slumped by a blood-stained wall.
"What's this?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.
"A message," Steve said, glancing at me gravely. "Ultron killed Strucker."
"And he did a Banksy at the crime scene, just for us." Dad snarked, his brows drawing together slightly.
"This is a smokescreen." Nat put in confidently. "Why send a message when you've just given a speech?"
"Strucker knew something that Ultron wanted us to miss." Steve mused, looking down at the gory picture once more.
"Yeah, I bet he..." Natasha trailed off, frowning at the computer monitor before cursing heatedly in Russian. "Yep. Everything we had on Strucker has been erased."
I glanced at a manila folder on the desk, and lift it into the air with the flick of a finger.
"Not everything.
The team was standing around desks, feverishly flicking through the meagre physical info we had. Loki had turned up a few minutes into the search in 'casual' Asgardian wear, and was helping me rifle through a few sheets of paper. I mused out loud, eyes scanning the page I held.
"Known associates... Well, Strucker had a lot of friends."
"...These people are all horrible." Bruce said, frowning in disgust at what he was reading. My dad suddenly stepped closer to Bruce, glaring at a picture in the scientist's hands.
"Wait... I know that guy."
Bruce passed my dad the photo, and I sidled up next to him, eyes widening in recognition.
"From back in the day. He operates off the African coast: black market arms,"
I noticed the glare Steve shot my dad, and I straight away went on the defensive, speaking at the same time as Dad.
"There are conventions, alright? You meet people, I didn't sell him anything!"
"Ulysses Klaue is about as dodgy as they come: Dad would never-!"
"He was talking about finding something new," my dad interrupted, shooting me a quick look. "A game changer; it was all very 'Ahab'."
Loki stepped up, and examined the picture of Klaue. His eyes were drawn to the back of his neck, and a pale finger landed on the glossed piece of paper.
"This."
"Uh, it's a tattoo. I don't think he had it-" my dad stammered, before being cut off swiftly.
"No, those are tattoos," Loki indicated several other blotchy marks on his neck, before coming back to the raised symbol. "This is a brand."
"How would you..." I trailed off, eyes widening as they flitted over Loki's smooth skin. "Where-?!"
"Hush..." he breathed, hugging me close with one cool arm. "Nothing that lasted, I promise. It was in the past..."
I nodded, and pulled away when Bruce started tapping furiously on a keyboard, identifying the mark on his neck using a computer aided software.
"Oh, yeah. It's a word in an African dialect meaning thief, in a much less friendly way..."
"What dialect?" Steve asked, looking over at us, trying to read the screen from where he stood.
"Wakanada...? Wa...Wa...Wakanda." Bruce stuttered, finally reading the right name. I blanched, and glanced worriedly at my dad.
"If this guy got out of Wakanda with some of their trade goods..."
"I thought your father said he got the last of it?" Steve inquired, cocking a blond eyebrow.
"I don't follow. What comes out of Wakanda?"
My dad and I shared a look, before his eyes turned to Steve's shield, lying on the table. I beat him to the punch though, turning to look Bruce in the eye.
"The strongest metal on Earth."
The Captain was the next to speak up.
"Where is this guy now?"
The jet touched down on the edge of a thick forest, facing the deserted shipping depot ahead of us. Before we split up, I pulled Loki to one side, and began to speak in quiet rushed tones.
"Listen, the others think it's best if you wait here with Bruce while we go inside. I don't personally agree but-"
"Alright."
"-there's nothing I can really do, and-"
"Evie."
"-again, I'm really sor-!"
"Evie!"
I looked up, startled, to find Loki looking at me with a slightly amused expression.
"I said it's fine. Go in there, do what you must, and make sure you come out alive. I don't trust the witch twins, and the robot even less. Be careful, Evie."
"I will," I promised, giving him a quick kiss. "Don't aggravate Bruce, please. I don't want a repeat of New York."
"I don't want a repeat of New York," he scowled, wincing as he rubbed his chest. "That damn brute slammed me into the concrete more times than I can-!"
"Okay, Lokes, I get it!" I giggled, shaking my head. He cocked his head, and raised a brow.
"Lokes?"
"I-"
"Evie! We need to go!" Steve called, beckoning me over. I waved in conformation at him, then turned back to Loki, hugging him.
"I'll see you later."
"I'll look after her brother," Thor promised quietly, appearing out of nowhere. They locked gazes for a few tense seconds, before Loki nodded, and released me. Thor held out his hand to me, and I took it, taking a steadying breath as he drew me into a one armed hug, whirling Mjolnir faster and faster with his right hand. "Ready, Lady Evelyn?"
"As I'll ever be, Prince Thor," I teased, rolling my eyes, before fixing them on the clouds above. "Let's fly."