Imitations Carved Deep: Chapter 4
Heyo! So I'm officially back in college. Classes don't start until Tuesday, so I'll try and get a lot of writing done before then. I hope you guys are enjoying reading this as much as I am writing it. :)
Not a Tony/Loki story. Just friendship.
Be forewarned, I have named female Loki, 'Kira', and that is what she will be referred to for a good chunk of the story.
Disclaimer: I don't own them...so sad.
Warnings: Severe angst. Stupid/Bad Thor (temporarily). Torture (in the past). Implied rape (in past). Don't read if any of these trigger.
Overreacting?
Bruce let go of Tony's shoulder as soon as they were out in the hallway. Then the doctor sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. Tony, who had been about to say something snarky no doubt, paused.
"I know that look, Brucie. What's going on?" Dr. Banner really didn't know why he was reacting like this now, but for some reason Kira not knowing he was the Hulk greatly bothered him.
"Kira…doesn't know about the Other Guy." Tony's brow furrowed.
"I'm not sure why that's got you like this. Most people wouldn't look at you and go, 'Oh! That's the Hulk!'. But…" It was Tony's turn to look confused and slightly distressed. He started to think back to a couple of things Kira said when he had first encountered her.
"What is it, Tony?" Bruce couldn't help but think that they were overreacting. Maybe Dr. Banner had gotten too used to living with people who knew and accepted the Other Guy.
"Well, when I first ran into Kira and introduced myself, I said 'I'm Tony, Tony Stark, obviously'. But then she said, 'Not so obvious, I can assure you'. I would bet my last dollar that Kira doesn't know the names of anyone else in the Tower, unless she's heard us say them. Which begs the question, where did she come from and what has she been doing since she's been here?"
Bruce mumbled a quiet, "That's two questions," but let Tony keep going. It sounded like the inventor was on to…something, at least.
"I mean, I understand that she's homeless, but everyone in New York knows about us. Every news report mentions all of our names. Even if she was living in the tunnels, she would have had to come up for food at some point. She would have seen posters, graffiti and plenty of reports about us on multiple screens and devices. Kira wasn't scared when she saw me, but she didn't know who I was. She didn't say anything about Iron Man, or Tony Stark, until after I had said them." Bruce had his lips pursed.
"Seems like the typical move people use if they forget someone's name. Sounds like she probably used it to not seem ignorant or prying. Let you fill in the blanks for her, and if she needs to, ask simple questions to prod you in the right direction." Tony leaned back against the wall.
"I get the feeling Kira's a very smart woman." Bruce nodded in agreement, and then the door opened. Pepper was holding the door wide, while Kira maneuvered the crutches into the opening. She pulled herself out of the room, and a small quirk of her lip showed that she was proud of her accomplishment.
"Excuse us, Dr. Banner, Mr. Stark. Pepper is showing me to my room." Instead of moving, Tony pouted.
"Pep! I wanted to be the tour guide!" Pepper rolled her eyes at the inventor.
"Tony, you would forget that Kira was on crutches in five minutes and start running around the building." Kira raised an eyebrow, confused and curious. Bruce answered her silent query.
"It has happened before. When Clint finally decided to move in, he happened to be injured and confined to crutches for a week. Tony tried to give him a tour, but left him stranded and exhausted on the sixteenth floor." Tony narrowed his eyes.
"And no one lets me forget it," he muttered. Kira bit the inside of her lip to stop herself from smiling. She figured it was best not to encourage Stark's childish behavior. He wasn't the first man-child she had come across and knew, more or less, how to handle them.
"Well, Kira, let's go ahead and go down this hallway." Kira maneuvered her crutches so she could follow the strawberry blonde. Pepper stayed mostly right beside her, slowing her walk so as not to leave Kira behind. She chattered on about the construction of the Tower and Tony's idiosyncrasies, who lived on which floor and the like. Kira only managed to hear the general layout of the Tower and who lived where. Beyond that she was just focused on continuously moving the crutches and keeping a steady pace.
Before Tony Stark had found her in the tunnels, Kira had just come back from an unsuccessful food scavenging expedition. She honestly hadn't eaten in about two days, only able to score some relatively clean water. Only her fear and determination was keeping her on her feet at that point. Pepper kept peeking at Kira out of the corner of her eye and started to see the amount of effort the black-haired woman was putting into simply going down the hallway.
Both were relieved when they reached the door to Kira's designated room. Pepper explained that it was exactly like everyone else's rooms and had it's own private bathroom. When she opened the door and Kira looked in, Kira cursed herself. Her eyes were watering again. She was an extremely private person and had lived her life trying to hide her emotions. It seemed malnutrition, exhaustion and trauma had shipped away at those walls she had built over the years and left her open and vulnerable.
Kira was quiet for a few moments, just taking it all in, before she cleared her throat.
"Thank you very much, Pepper." Pepper smiled and gave a nod in acknowledgement.
"You are very welcome. Now, I know you have to use the restroom. Do you want me to help you?" Kira's eyebrows shot up, and her traitorous cheeks started to turn pink. Kira couldn't wait until she was rested enough to at least control her embarrassment some. Seeing her wariness, Pepper offered a different solution. "Well, how about this. I'll wait out in the hall. You can go in there, and if you need my help, just tell Jarvis, and he'll let me know." Kira's brows pinched together.
"Jarvis?"
"Yes, Miss Kira." Jarvis politely waited for Kira to calm down, after she jumped upon hearing his voice. The woman stared at the ceiling with a mixture of suspicion, awe and curiosity. "I am Mr. Stark's AI, or artificial intelligence. I can help you in a variety of ways. All you have to do is ask." Kira's lips quirked up.
"Thank you, Jarvis. I greatly appreciate your assistance."
"I am happy to supply it, Miss Kira." Pepper was a little surprised to hear 'genuine' happiness in Jarvis's voice. She had a feeling Jarvis liked Kira already. After a nod from the injured woman, Pepper left the room and closed the door.
Immediately, Kira slumped against her crutches.
"Miss Kira, are you alright? Shall I call for Dr. Banner?" Kira straightened up a bit and started to move towards the bathroom.
"No, Jarvis. I am alright, simply tired. Thank you." It was strange to have so many people asking after her well being. It hadn't been a regular occurrence even before she had come to Earth, but best not to mention that. The last time Kira had thought to speak of her origins…needless to say, she still had nightmares.
Kira made it into the bathroom alright, but the rest was a bit tricky. It took her ten times longer than normal and completely wore her out, but she managed it without needing to have Jarvis call for Pepper. When she finally dragged herself out of the bathroom, Kira practically stumbled to the bed and sat down on it.
Jarvis must have told Pepper that Kira was finished (and didn't that make her feel like a child), because the next moment the door to her room opened and Pepper came in. The strawberry blonde gave her a soft smile and took the crutches from her.
"Why don't you take a nap for a while? I'll come get you for dinner." Kira nodded dumbly and allowed herself to be virtually tucked in. She barely heard the door close behind Pepper, before she was dragged down into unconsciousness.
"I don't think it's that strange. I mean, not everyone knows who we are." Tony shook his head at Steve's comment.
"But she has to come out of those tunnels to get food right? And there's some sort of crisis in the city every week. How could she not have seen us and or heard our names at least once?" Steve could only shrug. Natasha sat down on the couch next to Clint with a fresh bottle of water.
"Homeless people tend to be drifters, Stark. She probably hasn't been here that long, or hasn't bothered stopping to read a newspaper. I don't think it's that big of a deal." Tony wanted to keep pushing. There was something different about Kira that he just couldn't put his finger on.
"Okay. Next question: should we tell her about the Other Guy? I have him pretty well under control, but if something happens, I don't want her to have a panic attack or something." Pepper sat down and leaned into Tony's side, rubbing a hand over his shoulder to try and calm him a bit.
"You can explain it at dinner. If Kira really doesn't know about the Avengers, I think it best you all tell her the basics tonight." Tony turned his head and pecked Pepper on the cheek.
"How is our little house guest, by the way?" Pepper sighed.
"Exhausted beyond belief, but too anxious to show it. She's also a bit overwhelmed by the 'generosity and basic human kindness' we've already given her. Kira started to tear up when I just gave her a pair of my old sweatpants to wear. I put my foot down though, when she said she would eat in her room so as not to be a bother to anyone." Natasha didn't seem surprised at the information.
"In that case she's probably been homeless for a good while. I wouldn't be surprised if she does it again when we give her food. Kira's also probably afraid if she does anything to offend anyone, we'll throw her back out on the streets in her injured state or have her locked up. If we just treat her like anyone else, she should eventually get used to it." Clint leaned his head on Natasha's shoulder and looked up at her.
"But we're still keeping an eye on her right? You know, possible spy and all." Black Widow rolled her eyes and flicked Hawkeye's forehead.
"Duh." Steve narrowed his eyes at their childish behavior but said nothing. It wasn't like his Howling Commandos hadn't been the same way. Dr. Banner looked down at the watch on his wrist and pursed his lips.
"You know, as much as she's exhausted, I don't want her to sleep too long. It would be best if she was on a regular sleeping schedule. She should rest definitely, but Kira needs to get her body into normal patterns again. It will help her healing process a lot." The others agreed readily, though it didn't mean much. It wasn't like they were in charge of Kira's health. They would just leave it up to Bruce.
So, the next hour was spent squabbling over random things. Tony would have crept away to the lab, but Steve and Pepper forced him to stay put. If he left then, they wouldn't get him back for another two days. The SHIELD crew had sent over one of the rat cyborgs for him to play with, and his hands were itching to get started. However, if he stayed it meant he got to interact with Kira more which peaked his curiosity just above that of rat cyborgs. Tony should have Jarvis make a note on this date: the day Tony was more curious about a human than a machine.
After a while, Bruce asked Steve if he wanted to help him make dinner. The other Avengers (sans Tony's whine) insisted on having the same thing as Kira, at least for the first meal so she wouldn't feel so uncomfortable. When the two wandered off to the kitchen, Pepper stood.
"I'll go get Kira." Tony jumped onto his feet to walk beside her.
"I'm coming too." Pepper rolled her eyes but allowed it. She had warned Kira after all that Tony might…assist her in Kira's wake up call. By the time they made it to Kira's bedroom door, Tony was vibrating.
"Tony, calm down. She's not a puppy for you to keep." Tony nodded.
"I know! Besides, she's more of a cat than a dog." Pepper whacked his arm and then told him to be quiet. Slowly opening the door, Pepper peeked into the room. Jarvis had darkened the room considerably and drawn the curtains closed. Kira had, despite her exhaustion it seemed, moved from her original position into the fetal position, with the covers up to her ears. Even in her sleep she looked wary and frightened, and the poor woman was shivering.
"Jarvis, raise the temperature a few degrees, yeah," Tony insisted, rather incredulous that his AI hadn't already done so. Jarvis was considerate enough to answer in an equally hushed tone.
"I already have, Sir. Miss Kira's surface and core temperatures are within normal range. I believe it to be more psychological than physical." Tony's brows pulled together, and he added another note to his list of questions to get answered, not ask necessarily, but get answered. He watched as Pepper moved forward towards the bed and laid a gentle hand on Kira's shoulder.
"Kira? It's time for dinner. I'll let you sleep more later." It was something Pepper usually said when she was waking up Tony to force him to eat after a three day binge in the lab. Except that involved louder voices and occasional slaps to the arm. Pepper and Tony both startled back when Kira jumped awake. The young woman pushed back and away from them, breathing heavily, before she recognized them.
She pushed her black hair from her face and looked chagrined.
"I- I apologize. You startled me. Nothing good has ever come from someone waking me." It was Pepper's turn to feel embarrassed for not thinking of that, even though it was not Kira's intention to make other woman feel in the wrong. Without another word, Kira slid from the bed and stood with the aid of her crutches.
They all left the room in silence, even Tony.
Aww! Jarvis and Kira/Loki bromance! ;)
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