Loki watched his Pet play with the bubble surrounding her, a bubble that was allowing her to breathe and withstand the intense pressure of the deep. "If you continue to poke at that, I will poke you in return."
"Promise?" Tracy remarked without heat since she was busy staring at their surroundings in complete awe. Loki felt pleased with himself. Even if they did not find anything, bringing his wife down here was worth it just to witness the look of sheer wonder on her face. She was still new to the world of magic, so it was easy to blow her mind.
He hoped she never lost that sense of wonder, even while he knew that she eventually would. She was immortal after all, and there would come a time when she would have seen and done everything. Loki just hoped she never became jaded from it. He liked to believe he would be there to make sure she wouldn't. Gabriel had hinted that the angels were trying to find a way to extend his lifespan so that he wouldn't leave Tracy a widow five or ten thousand years from now, but he didn't feel all that hopeful. All he could do for now was savor moments such as this, when her eyes sparkled and her breath caught as a shark swam by her, while she gazed around at the life littering the ocean floor.
She hadn't seen anything yet. "Come, Pet," Loki ordered her and led her to the top of the ridge.
He was rewarded by the sight of her stunned, absolutely stunned.
Atlantis was a wonder, a glittering jewel in the ocean's crown. The city sat on the sea floor, a vast complex of ancient buildings that glowed in the depths, the light so strong that neither Loki nor Tracy had to conjure any lights of their own in order to see. It was a bustle of activity, sleek golden vehicles zipping among the buildings transporting the people to their destinations, guards patrolling while riding sharks, more lights blinking among the golden aura the ancient city gave off. Words were inadequate to describe the staggering beauty of it all.
Looking at it, Loki thought, its wonder was almost comparable to that of Asgard. In fact, it almost made him homesick.
But he did have a home, he thought as he turned to look at his beloved, who was dumbstruck, her pupils nearly obscuring her green irises as she took in all the sights. And if her head continued to turn like that, it would spin right off her neck. She was too adorable, trying to see everything, her curiosity insatiable. Loki reached for her hand and squeezed it.
As beautiful as it was, and as hopelessly romantic, Loki had to remind himself that they weren't here so he could sweep her off her feet. They were on a mission. The sooner they were done, the sooner there would be an opportunity for some quality time. He needed to remind her of that as well. "Tracy."
She shook her head as though trying to snap herself out of a fugue. "Sorry. It's just..."
"I know, my love, but you wanted to accomplish something here."
"Right. Crime scene." Tracy blew out a breath, her cheeks puffing while her lips vibrated. Too cute. "We need to find it first."
"Follow me. Stay close to my side, Pet, and..."
"...step where you step, stop when you stop, run if you say run without any argument. I know," she huffed, having heard his speech many, many times by now. Normally Loki would be concerned about where she would run on the ocean floor, but she had her token that allowed her to teleport to the Silver City. She could flee there and the Atlanteans wouldn't be able to follow...not without dying instantly or, at best, going instantly mad. That made him feel much better about bringing her...it was the only reason, in fact, he was willing to entertain her idea.
Yes, he was overprotective, but she was his treasure. Still holding on to her hand, he led her on a path among the sandstone and corals, using the shadows and his magic to keep the two of them hidden to more easily move past the patrols.
Tracy stayed silent and Loki could tell she was having a hard time focusing when she really wanted to take in their surroundings. He made a mental note to bring her here at a better time, when they weren't due back at the Compound in an hour and a half.
They slipped through the city's defenses, his magic keeping them hidden from surveillance. It was child's play to slide unnoticed among the shadows and alleyways until they arrived at the site of the attack.
It was being heavily patrolled and not a word was spoken verbally as his spells kept them invisible to the guards. Fortunately, they didn't need speech. Even without their bond they were so attuned to one another that they could communicate with a look, a tic, or just with eye contact. Loki stayed close to her as she looked around at the site. Debris littered the ocean floor and Loki could spot the telltale scorch marks from laser fire. Whoever launched this assault must have been technologically advanced. No wonder Namor jumped to the conclusion that Wakanda was responsible.
The bond was silent, but he could feel Tracy zero in on something. She was kneeling on the ground with her hands in the sand. Loki saw that she was digging, and he stepped forward to help.
When they finally managed to unearth the object, they merely glanced at each other and then Loki teleported them out.
Now he was ravenous.
The two of them were in the kitchen after dropping the object they found off with Bruce in his lab, and his stomach was growling. Magic burned up a lot of energy and he had expended a lot keeping the two of them safe at the bottom of the ocean.
"I should've known that the kitchen would be empty with Bruce and Thor both in residence, and T'Challa and Namor both guesting," Tracy tsked then reached into a cupboard to pull out three cans of fish. "Tuna sandwiches it is." She opened the fridge and took out more items, then set out the cutting board. She held up a dill pickle. "Three?"
"One," Loki countered.
"Two it is," she announced then began dicing the pickles while ignoring his glare. Well, she was going to eat with him since he detested eating alone, so she might as well have the tuna salad the way she liked it. He did, however, stop her at two stalks of celery and one teaspoon of pepper. He took a loaf of bread out of the freezer using his magic to warm it up, and the two ate and pretended they weren't bursting with impatience for Bruce to come up and tell them what he'd learned of the artifact Tracy found.
After he finished four sandwiches plus an entire sleeve of Oreos Tracy managed to find stashed in the back of the pantry, the two of them headed back down to what she had termed The Dungeon to resume the talks.
More insults and posturing littered the next two hours, which was when Loki finally had enough and told the two monarchs they were through for the day and strongly suggested everyone get a good night's sleep. Hopefully tempers would be cooled off tomorrow. It was so bad that he had been certain he was going to have to stop his wife from launching herself at Namor at a few points.
"I realize that the Cat Man is your friend, Pet," he was saying to her as they made their way to Banner's lab. "But he hardly needs defending."
"That…that fish fucker had no right calling T'Challa a…crap, what was it again?"
Loki cleared his throat and quoted, "'A flea bitten litter sniffer.'" Yes, the insults had devolved into juvenile mud-slinging and that had been when he called an end to the day's proceedings. "T'Challa got his own back, however, calling Namor a 'yellow bellied puffer huffer'."
They had gotten very juvenile.
"Not that one! I'm talking about the one where he implied T'Challa's mother conceived him with the help of--"
"Bruce! Please tell us you have something!" Loki cut Tracy off as they entered the lab. He really didn't like hearing insults that involved mothers, so he had no desire to hear what Namor said again.
"I just might," Bruce answered as he looked up from a microscope. "T'Challa was just here. Tracy, did you really suggest that next time he call Namor a 'dolphin humping hentai star'?"
Loki groaned as he looked at his wife. "Stop encouraging them," he growled at her guilty expression. "Did you find anything on the object we retrieved?"
"Maybe. It's actually part of the hull off a submersible. Note the curvature, the angle suggests it might have come off the stern on the starboard side, and you can tell this side is the outer hull because…"
"Bruce," husband and wife cut him off.
"Right. Anyway, I did a metallurgy analysis. There are trace amounts of vibranium but must of it is comprised of iron, steel, nickel, and trace amounts of adamantium. You don't see that last one used in the construction of ships and subs very often. There are a small handful of nations that do, but only one that constructs their vehicles in that specific combination."
Loki had a bad, bad feeling that he knew which nation that was. "And that is?"
Bruce looked at him. "Latveria."
Loki had been afraid of that. He looked at Tracy, who looked at him, and the two said what they were thinking at the same time:
"Fuck."