Loki did his best, in the month after the gala, to convince the Avengers that he was interested in everything besides finding Jak and Bucky. He taught Wanda magic lessons after several profuse apologies and under the watchful gaze of Vision. He helped Thor and Jane study the cosmos when Jane came for a visit. He defended the Compound alongside all the others when the occasional intruder showed up and sparred with whoever wanted to test their metal against an Asgardian… which was all of the Avengers. He did anything he was asked, made helpful comments about missions that cropped up, and put on a friendly face. But most of all, he kept his head down.
He was friendly, but did not invite attention. Offering comments and suggestions kept suspicion off of his usually chatty self, but other than a few words per conversation, he did his best to be unnoticeable. Another member of the team. No one worth paying attention to beyond casual acknowledgement. Forgotten within a month.
While he was fading into the background, he observed rising tensions amongst the team. Particularly between Captain America and Iron Man. What had started as a disagreement about letting Jak and Bucky stay on the run, fed into greater arguments. The ways missions were run changed. Having witnessed their very first meeting, Loki knew that Stark and Rogers had never seen eye to eye, but in the end they always managed to make their differences work together for the good of all. The Avengers needed Tony Stark's sass and hotheadedness, just as much as it needed Steve Rogers command and audacity. Quarreling was how they communicated. But not for much longer.
Over the course of a month, secrets were kept. Arguments fizzled into unproductive silences. Rogers and Stark avoided each other and ran their missions separately. Loki watched them do things behind each others' backs and shrug off issues they would have normally consulted each other on. He observed "ask forgiveness, not permission" on a daily basis and had to keep his glee contained when they never did ask that "forgiveness" and instead loudly justified themselves.
Soon, the others began to subconsciously take sides. Loki knew Thor trusted Rogers above Stark so it didn't surprise him to see the two of them frequently together along with Sam Wilson. Rhodey, as everyone expected, stood by Stark, though in part it was because Stark had recently become more interested in the idea of consequences and keeping the government informed of their activities. Loki didn't side with either pseudo-party, doing what he did best and agreeing with both when the other couldn't see.
He agreed with Stark that they should have done more to find Jak and Bucky, shaking his head and muttering Asgardian oaths. Then he'd go for a stroll and come across his brother and the captain and tell them that, after being on Midgard longer and learning of their criminal "justice" system, he was glad that Jak had gotten away and perhaps they should never stick their noses into her business again. Of course, he never outright said any of those things, but he was the master of implication and manipulation. He let Stark and Rogers use him as a canvas for their own ideas and never directly said anything of substance about the matter.
And then came the day that Pepper Potts made everything click into place. She called Stark and, whatever the discussion was, it lasted over an hour and Iron Man left the Compound the next morning to go back to Malibu.
Stark gone meant Jak was safe from his interference.
Then all Loki had to do was wait a day longer and place a few phone calls of his own. Though he wasn't used to Midgardian technology, he did know better than to place this momentous call from any device in the Compound. Instead, he slipped out, with a comment to an Avenger or two that he would be back in an hour and was just running to the bookstore. He'd become such an ordinary fixture at the base and made so many trips to the bookstore that no one even acknowledged his departure. From there, he used a payphone to call Rebirth and talk to a receptionist.
It seemed that, even though Uriah Fenice had been put in custody and locked away in some secluded prison, his company was still up and running. And the dear receptionist was ever so helpful in giving Loki the numbers of the members of the board. Especially when he asked her very angrily in Uriah Fenice's voice.
"Listen closely," Loki said to the first board member that he called, still using Uriah's voice, "I have an important task for you and I need you to pass it along to the others. If you don't, I'll throw all of you to the wolves to lessen my sentence, do you understand me?"
"I'm listening," the board member said in a nervous whisper. Loki smiled at the phone.
"Good. I'm in prison and I'm going to tell you exactly how to get me out."
.
.
The next day, when the Avengers got an urgent message that Uriah Fenice had escaped prison, most of the team set out to investigate and get him back. Steve, Thor, Wanda, Vision, and Sam took off in the Quinjet, intent on recapturing the dangerous sorcerer. Rhodey was on another mission that day and Natasha stayed at the Compound to handle things there.
There was some small worry that Uriah would go back to the Compound to try and harm the Avengers, but Natasha wasn't worried. Loki was staying behind as well since none of them had dared to tell him that Fenice was out. As a gatherer of secrets, Natasha knew that Loki had suggested releasing Uriah a month ago and everyone agreed that it was best to tell him it was some other mission so that he would not be interested in going. And it meant that there was a sorcerer in the building if Jak's father did decide to attack the Compound.
The Black Widow spent her time scouring Jak's files for the thousandth time. She had hope that they might have missed a clue before that would lead them to find her and, possibly, her father if he went after her. Nothing was popping up until she looked through an archive of pictures that showed all Jak and her mother's belongings that had been confiscated by the FBI after they attacked. On a whim, Natasha flipped through the pictures until she came to one that made her pause.
It was an image of an ancient box that looked like something out of King Tut's tomb. It was painted in colors that would have been vibrant long ago, but were mostly dulled by time. Hieroglyphs lined the edges, but there was no note of translation anywhere to be found. In the middle of the lid there was a man with orange wings growing from his arms. Natasha wasn't overly familiar with ancient Egypt, but she knew enough to spot something out of the ordinary.
"Usually it's a woman who has those," she muttered, pulling up an internet search of other art to compare it to and finding that generally the goddesses Isis and Nut were the ones depicted with wings and they weren't usually as orange or chaotic looking as on the box. These wings almost looked like fire. Like Uriah Fenice's flaming appendages at the gala.
Atop the character's head there was a bright orange circle, which another search showed to be the sun. The man's skin could have faded over time, but looked paler than what was seen in most ancient Egyptian art and most alarming of all was his rusty red colored hair. A color that could have long ago been meant to be magenta.
"The hell is this?" She made a note of the FBI agent whose name was attached to the file and then looked for an Egyptologist who might be able to translate the hieroglyphics. She found one based in London, but when she looked at the clock she realized it would be too late across the pond to make a professional call so she sent an email including a picture of the box and waited.
It occurred to her that Loki might know and would probably have some ideas about that box. After all, he was ancient himself, he had to have some familiarity with artifacts such as the box, even if they outdated him by a few thousand years. So, she asked Friday where he was in the building and then headed for his bedroom. Once there she knocked on the door.
There was no answer.
"Loki, is Natasha," she called, "I have a question for you."
He didn't say anything and she sighed, hoping he wasn't in one of his moods.
"It's about Jak."
Still nothing, which made her suspicious enough to barge into the room. There he sat, peacefully reading on the bed, not even bothering to look up when she entered.
"Hey. What do you know about Egyptian mythology? Does your family know Ra and Isis and all of them? Are they cousins? Friends at the godly country club?"
He turned the page of his book and continued ignoring her.
"Friday…" Natasha narrowed her eyes, "Do a thermal scan of this room."
"I have sent the thermal scan to your phone," Friday told her.
She spotted her own body heat first in vibrant warm colors and then saw a dark purple spot where Loki sat with a small red heart beating very slowly in his chest. Previous thermal scans had shown the Avengers that Loki had a distinct lack of body heat that Thor quietly explained to them as his Frost Giant heritage. The scan was slightly off when Natasha compared it to previous scans, but there was a heart and there was cold around it, so it had to be Loki, didn't it? His illusions had never been able to fool Friday's scanners before.
"Loki, what is going on? Are you okay?" She stepped closer and waved her hand in front of his eyes. When he didn't even blink, she gingerly touched his shoulder. It sparked green and then his image fell away. "Shit! Dave!"
Dave, a normal civilian man of fifty, was Jaklyn's janitorial replacement and now he sat, encased in ice on Loki's bed. His eyes still moved back and forth beneath the ice and the heart on the thermal scan suggested he was still alive.
"Friday, bring up any medical files about how Nick Fury defrosted Steve Rogers and tell me how to get Dave out of this ice!"
When the task was done and Dr. Cho and her team had taken Dave (who quit on the spot) to the infirmary, Natasha realized what Loki's absence meant. She called up Steve.
"I think Loki's the one who released Fenice," she said without preamble.
"We've got footage of the board for Rebirth breaking him out," Steve replied, "Why do you think it was Loki?"
"What's Loki done?" Thor's voice said in the background.
"He's MIA. He froze the janitor!"
"Is Dave okay?"
"Recovering. We need to find Uriah Fenice," she pressed her hand to her forehead, "If we find him, we find Loki. I'd bet my defunct SHIELD pension on it."
"Only the defunct one?"
"Loki's unpredictable," she rolled her eyes, "Let's keep an open mind to where he might have gone."
"You know, sometimes I miss fighting just regular old Nazi's," he sighed, "Why does there always have to be magic involved these days?"
A note from the author: You know Loki, he can't keep from causing mischief for long. We knew it would only be a matter of time.
Thanks for reading this far! Special thanks to CrimsonWitch008 for your review! Yes, you are spot on. One of the last chapters is literally them getting ready for Lagos lol. BUT! There's a bit more to it than that. And there's a set up for other schenanigans. I won't say too much. I hope you enjoy what is to come!
Until the next chapter!