The Robbed That Smiles
Chapter 04:
The morning light was bright, sneaking through the sparse breaks between the city brownstones and streets, and reflecting off of the glass windows and storefronts not far down the way. Commuters were already milling about in cars and on foot, on buses and bicycles. Each hurrying on their way to school, work, home, or wherever they were supposed to be. It was rushed, but also relaxing.
At least that was what Lokki's eyes reflected as she watched the hustle and bustle of Midgardians going about their lives; herself sitting outside a cafe at a canopied table, picking at a raisin bread muffin and nursing a glass of decaf iced tea. Sporting an olive and gray blouse with matching capri's and flats, she blended in with the Midgardians milling about the cafe. Ordinary. Unremarkable.
The only aberration to the image were the magic-suppressing bracers around her wrists. Though not connected like standard seidr shackles, the bracers still stood out. Not to mention they were uncomfortably tight and nearly undid the effort of the rest of her outfit to keep her cool.
"Norns, why does it have to be so hot?" Lokki scowled and sipped her drink, making sure to mouth one of the ice cubes. The cold surface felt wonderful on her tongue and she closed her eyes, focusing on it rather than the Midgardian sun heating up the air in an unexpected winter heatwave. Doing so also had the added bonus of helping to calm the nausea burbling in her stomach.
"Midgard is much warmer than Jotunheim or Asgard. What do you expect?" Came a smirking voice and she opened her eyes, scowling at the sight of her male counterpart sitting across from her. Dressed in a long sleeved suit and tie, stylish and much too stuffy for the weather, Loki grinned, not at all bothered by the unusual heat. The reason readily apparent when Lokki reached to grab his wrist and her fingers passed right through. "Seriously, why not head inside? There's air conditioning and a few empty seats."
Lokki scowled and frowned. She glanced back inside the cafe, briefly considering the other's advice, but then shook her head. The next second she covered her nose, remembering the scents that had bombarded her when she'd ordered her muffin and tea. Most were pleasant and hunger inducing despite her nausea, making her want to stay inside. But then one of the employees charred a customer's egg and sausage sandwich. That, combined with a few other smells like the dark roast coffee and the body odor and deodorants of numerous Midgardians cloistered in the small cafe, drove her out.
"You're seriously going to suffer out here? Why?" Loki asked, barely reacting to his female double's scowl. He blinked when she muttered her reason, and nearly made the mistake of simply dismissing it. Only to stop midway following the vehement glare his doppelganger flashed him. Nine days had passed since the arrival of his female counterpart to his universe, and while it wasn't long enough for the Avengers to come to a consensus on the goddess, it was long enough for Loki to realize that pissing off a pregnant Jotunn was not the best idea.
Contrary to the Asgardian library's lore about them, frost giants weren't as immune to extreme cold as assumed. Damage wise they were, but he'd spent nearly the whole third day following Lokki's arrival frozen solid after pissing off his female counterpart. It was an enlightening and humiliating experience. One he had zero desire to repeat, not least because of Stark's jibes after he thawed out.
The illusion of Loki sighed. "You can't be comfortable. I'd be miserable in this heat, so you in your condition must be..."
"What do you want?" Lokki interrupted, taking a gulp of tea and relishing the cold liquid, while the god of mischief watched silently. It wasn't until she started taking another drink that Lokki noticed the other's smirk or that her tea had turned to water. Very, very cold water. She glared at him. "You…."
"Hm?" Loki gazed down at Lokki, standing beside her as he dispelled the illusion of himself. He was tempted to grab his female version's shoulder to preemptively secure her but refrained. Instead he simply stood and waited.
"That was my tea, bastard." She grumbled, before drinking more of the iced water, her body craving it despite how mediocre it was for her taste-buds.
Loki tilted his head, his lips twitching with a hint of a smirk watching the disconnect between his doppelganger's words and actions. "You're welcome? I could've done worse, but seeing as you're with child making you sip something foul wouldn't be…"
"Forgivable? Like deliberately holding a knife to my abdomen and threatening my unborn child?" Lokki hissed, scowling at the mischief god, whose face paled a shade.
"I apologized for that." Loki replied abruptly, lowering his voice. Aside from the two of them, and Doctor Strange unfortunately, no one understood exactly what he'd done when he'd aimed his dagger at his female doppelganger's stomach. At least not yet. And he wasn't looking forward to the potential shit-storm that'd occur if his brother or the other Avengers figured it out. Out of everything he'd done, his threatening an unborn child would likely be the final straw for many of the Midgardians.
"Letting me knee you without retaliating isn't an apology."
"I...I apologized verbally the next day."
"After Doc confronted you." Lokki retorted, leaning back in her seat and glaring up at the other god. After the Midgardian wizard had finished questioning her, a mild interrogation unlike what either she or him expected, Strange had sought out a private conversation with Loki. One in which he'd briefly and concisely told the mischief god he knew Lokki was pregnant and that he knew Loki had figured it out himself before the mischief god had pulled a dagger on his female counterpart.
"I can't believe you told him." The mischief god grimaced, remembering how Strange had confronted him and threatened to place him back in the same endless pit of a dimension as during their first encounter. "And none of that 'oh, he just happened to figure it out', bullshit. You could've spun some lines to convince him he was mistaken, or that you were simply trying to manipulate him into thinking you're pregnant. Sow some doubt." Loki grumbled, not noticing how Lokki turned quiet or the shift in her demeanor while she listened. The female Jotunn glanced down at her abdomen, caressing it protectively.
"...you're right. I could have done that." She muttered - something in her tone alarming Loki. The god of mischief glanced back down at his doppelganger, noticing her wistful and dour expression. "I could have even let him use one of those dangerous interrogation spells in his book, but…." Lokki glanced up at Loki. "If you were in my position, would you actually risk harm to your child just to deceive someone?"
Loki opened his mouth to respond but then shut it, his female double's question giving him something to ponder. Having his own children wasn't something he'd ever thought much about, and despite what the Midgardian myths about him said, he wasn't a parent. If he had had a child or children, he imagined it would've tempered his envy for his brother, and even his disdain for Odin. He couldn't imagine being anything but devoted to caring for his own child, if he'd had one.
"See?" Lokki muttered, correctly interpreting her male self's lack of response.
"...the wizard wouldn't have endangered your pregnancy. Not really." Said Loki after a moment of quiet introspection. "None of them would. They're all too...good. Heroic."
"As opposed to you?" The goddess muttered, her voice barely above a whisper. Especially for her next two words. "...or I?"
Loki groaned, grinding his teeth and completely missing the last part of his doppelganger's reply. "Come on. I wasn't really gonna stab you. I was just...just…" He grimaced, a contrite glimmer in his sea-colored eyes. "Your innate frost magic didn't trigger when I held that dagger against you, so you know I'm telling the truth, I…."
The goddess simply glanced up and gazed at Loki, her demeanor similar to that of a wiser person looking at a foolish youth. "You think that ability is infallible? That it always works?"
"...it doesn't?" The mischief god asked, his eyes widening and darting over his doppelganger for any sign of lying.
Lokki just shook her head, a gleam in her eyes that the mischief god couldn't quite decipher.
"You're here because Doc sent you, right?" The goddess asked, standing up and ignoring the curiosity in the other god's eyes. It was obvious he wanted to question her more about her pregnancy, but she cut him off before he could. "It's probably about the obstetrician he wants me to see. Let's go then."
0
"And...?" Prompted Stark, his arms crossed as he leaned back against the table, eyes set on Strange. Or rather the monitor screen live video of the sorcerer currently being streamed through one of the wealthy inventor's iron suits. The latter frowned as the former proceeded to ignore him, instead picking up a book to skim through. "Little Miss Frosty didn't say anything else? Like the name of the person who destroyed her universe?"
"I already told you what Miss Lokki said during my interview with her last week." The wizard replied without glancing up from the book he held, his eyes slowly skimming over the pages of text; his purpose not to read but rather to ignore his fellow Avenger.
"'Interview'? It was supposed to be an interrogation." Stark countered, his annoyance increasing with each passing second the other man continued brushing him off. His mouth twitched into the sort of mirthless smile one gets when they're angry but trying to remain civil. "Not some talk over tea or whatever trying to figure out if someone will be a good fit as an employee."
Strange grimaced, becoming annoyed himself at the other's verbal jabs. "I already told you what I got from her. Someone collected all the Infinity Stones and used them to decimate her universe, after offing her universe's versions of us."
"And?" Stark again prompted the wizard. "You learned nothing else from her? She's been staying in your Sanctum for over a week, and you haven't gotten her to elaborate or give names? Dates? The locations of the other stones, perhaps?" He scowled, watching the other closely before shifting tactics. Shrugging and dropping his crossed arms, his next words came out smugly. "You know you could just admit you got nothing out of her and let the rest of us have a crack at her. Natasha's already geared up to try her hand at…"
"You're free to question Miss Lokki yourself all you like." Strange interrupted after slamming his book shut, brow furrowed. "Provided you don't utilize any harmful or physically invasive methods to interrogate her."
"Not use any harmful…?" Stark gawked at Strange, crossing his arms again. "You do know who she is? Who she claims she is? There is no way to question her and get truthful answers without using some sort of force or threat thereof."
"I strongly advise against either." The wizard replied, turning finally to face the other man - or rather the iron suit that was streaming their pseudo-skype call to Stark. "Empty threats won't work and, unless you have some way to avoid becoming a human popsicle, using force won't either. You saw what she did to Loki the other day."
Stark started to retort but stopped, the memory of the female mischief master freezing her male counterpart playing in his thoughts. It had shocked but also highly amused him, once they figured out Loki was physically unharmed. (A few of his fellow Avengers were less amused.) Even now a grin pulled at the corners of his mouth remembering it. Of course it was different to consider what would happen if one of them got froze solid instead. Unlike the ice that Steve Rogers had been frozen under for decades, the frost magic Lokki had used was pretty unsurvivable. Except for Jotunn, apparently. "If my safety is why you object, I'm flattered. But your concern is unwarranted since I've been developing a new version of those magic cuffs that should withstand even Little Miss Nippy's freezing temperatures."
Strange grimaced and shook his head. "I can't allow you to use any harmful means to interrogate Miss Lokki. I…"
"'Allow'?" Stark blinked, gaping at the other man. "Allow? What? Are you her doctor or..." He muttered while rolling his eyes, only to be cut off suddenly by the sound of the stream being cut off and the iron suit he'd sent dropping through a portal. "...something?" As the suit landed in front of him, Stark simply stared at it and then the holographic monitor; his face and demeanor shifting through various expressions and emotions. It finally settled on shock just as his cell phone rang.
~0~
With her hands squeezed into tight fists at her sides and her jaw clenched, Lokki fumed. Her sea-green gaze locked on a woman with chestnut braids and dressed in the traditional Asgardian healer uniform. Not just that, everything about the woman - from stance and facial expression to accent - screamed Asgardian. The frost giantess' eyes narrowed.
Standing just as wordless beside his female doppelganger was Loki, his own demeanor growing more wary each second that passed. After collecting Lokki from the cafe, he'd brought her back to the Sanctum per Strange's request: (one of the conditions for the wizard not telling the others that the mischief god essentially threatened an unborn child was Loki helping with Lokki. To keep tabs on her and bring her to the Sanctum whenever Strange asked.) Neither of the mischief gods had expected to find an Asgardian physician waiting in the Sanctum foyer.
"Good morning." The woman greeted, stepping towards Lokki. "You must be the one Dr. Strange asked me to come see. I'm…"
The mischief goddess scowled, ignoring the other's greeting and instead turned to leave. Only to be stopped by Loki who grabbed her arm, the god not wanting to chase after his doppelganger. Lokki glared at him, her skin suddenly a handful of degrees cooler. "...I know who you are." She spat, talking to the Asgardian while continuing to glare at her male double. "Lady Reyda. Junior Maternal physician for the Asgard royal court. Or what I assume Midgardians qualify as an obstetrician."
"Yes. That is correct. I…." Reyda glanced from Loki to Lokki, her wide gray eyes quietly observing the two, noticing all their similarities. Their differences too - like Lokki being more lithe and a mite shorter than her male counterpart. Or the few telltale signs of the female Jotunn's frost magic acting up despite the magic suppressing cuffs holding it back. "You must be the Lady Lokki from the parallel dimension. Thor talked about you and your sudden arrival, and everyone in New Asgard is curious about you."
"Are they now?" Lokki clenched her teeth, still not turning back to the young obstetrician. Her frost magic continued to build up, leaving the edge of her seidr cuffs an icy white. The Asgardian obstetrician tensed, alarm and concern churning inside her.
"Milady, perhaps you should sit down and try to relax? Having your frost act up too much isn't good for your condition. It's only meant as protection for dire circumstances." Reyda approached, reaching out to grab Lokki and lead her to one of the cushioned chairs in the downstairs sitting area. Her words caused Loki to look at her and then at his female doppelganger, intrigued. Even more so when Lokki didn't contradict the other woman.
"Is that true?" Strange asked, having just started to descend the stairs from the upper floor of the Sanctum. His brow creased heavily with concern.
Lokki spun around at his voice, and hissed at him. "You promised not to tell anyone!"
"No. I promised not to tell the Avengers." Countered Strange, continuing on his way down to the small group. "Which Doctor Reyda is not. She is, however, the only obstetrician I found who has any experience with Jotunn pregnancies." He paused, considering the mischief goddess' fuming countenance. "I assumed, as this is Earth, or Midgard as you call it, and no human has medical experience with your people, you would know I'd ask around New Asgard. It would probably be better to have a Jotunn physician, but seeing as you two are the only Jotunn on Earth that's unlikely."
The mischief goddess glowered at the wizard, as did her male counterpart, albeit with a less intense glare. Reyda herself also turned on Strange, laying into him after realizing what he'd done and how Lokki was reacting to it.
"You didn't tell her I was coming?! Or that you'd be having an Asgardian physician look after her at all?!" Reyda chastised the human wizard, her anger surprising Strange more than either Lokis'. "Female Jotunn have very difficult pregnancies as it is, exacerbating them through emotional stress is irresponsible! Unprofessional! You…"
Strange froze at the criticism, his calm demeanor wiped from his face at Reyda's revelation. Instead a doctor's concern replaced it, mixed with fearful guilt over the chance of him contributing to complications or worse. "...How difficult is a Jotunn pregnancy?"
Reyda opened her mouth to respond, before paling and turning back towards Lokki. "I apologize. I don't know how much you know or have been told already, but…"
"I know." Lokki replied in a low voice, her anger drained and replaced with a quiet despondency. She turned around towards the Asgardian obstetrician, but kept her gaze downcast, her lips pulled thin. Her next words came out incredibly low, almost like she was trying to simply mouth them. "This isn't my first pregnancy."
Reyda stilled, along with Strange, seeing the goddess' somber demeanor as she mentioned so sadly news what was usually happy; immediately, both of their instincts as members of the medical profession hollered at them. Neither needed much more to surmise what the goddess had likely experienced. And although Loki lacked the same medical instinct, he couldn't help but recognize the grief-stricken expression on his doppelganger's face. It didn't take long for him to realize the same thing as Reyda and Strange.
"You've lost a…" Loki started to say, callous in his shock, only for Strange to abruptly interrupt.
"There's a room over this way, where you and Dr. Reyda can talk privately, Miss Lokki." The wizard motioned towards an office that had served as a private study space for other sorcerers a few times the past few years. He flashed the mischief god a chastising scowl. "I've fitted it as you requested, Dr. Reyda."
Reyda nodded, muttering thanks to the wizard before focusing solely on Lokki, who was now a bit more reticent. And quiet. A moment or so passed before the two women headed towards the room Strange had indicated, and as the door clicked shut the human sorcerer turned towards the mischief god.
Before either could speak, the door to the Sanctum opened and Wong entered, followed by Rogers and Thor. The latter two's expressions were a mix of annoyance, curiosity, and exasperation; while the former's was simply discomfort. Strange glanced at the two behind his fellow Sanctum wizard briefly before focusing on Wong. From his friend and fellow sorcerer's demeanor alone, the surgeon-turned-wizard understood what this intrusion was about.
"Good day, brother." Loki greeted enthusiastically, hiding his confusion and wariness for why his brother was standing annoyed in the doorway. Whether solely from his confusion or because part of him was still reeling from what he just learned about his female doppelganger, his mind was blank. He tried, but he couldn't think of any pranks he'd done recently that would explain Thor's presence or annoyance.
"Oh! Brother, good to see you." Thor greeted, his one good eye widening in delight and surprise. Something that further bewildered Loki. "I didn't know you were here, is our sister-of-sorts here as well?" The thunder god glanced around behind the mischief god.
Loki blinked, initially too taken aback by the shift in Thor's demeanor to answer; he'd been apprehended so often after seeing that annoyed look on his brother, that it took him a while to register it wasn't him Thor was irritated with. "Well, um, she's sleeping in. Late night last night." He lied, knowing that his female-doppelganger would be furious if anyone else found out about her pregnancy. "...why are you here?"
Thor cocked an eyebrow at Loki's confusion, as well as the lie about the mischief goddess. It wasn't up to his brother's usual skill, not even close, and he was tempted to call the other on it. Rogers interrupted before he could.
"Relax. For once, you're not the one in trouble." Rogers told the mischief god before turning his attention back to Strange. Crossing his arms, he scowled, not so much angrily, but rather a mix of stern and bemused. Thor's expression reflected pretty much similar sentiment when he glanced back towards the human sorcerer.
Strange rolled his eyes and sighed. "We can talk about this elsewhere. I was just getting ready to go for a stroll."
"Go ahead." Rogers replied, before continuing. "But first, please explain why the poem at the base of the Statue of Liberty is now written in a combination of Sanskrit and Klingon?"
The surgeon-turned-wizard just shrugged, partly smiling and muttered something about pleading the fifth.
Thor scowled and crossed his arms, not understanding what Strange meant while Rogers sighed heavily. "That was the replacement statue you provided." The thunder god said gruffly, holding back the impulse to grab the doctor by his lapels and shake him. Realizing how angry Thor was and surprised by it, Strange bristled.
"Calm down. It was just a bit of harmless fun, a joke."
"...a joke?" Rogers asked, while preemptively standing between Thor and Strange.
"It was meant for April Fool's Day." Strange elaborated. "Thanks to a certain someone, it ended up having to be used as a placeholder instead." Strange side-glanced at Loki, the mischief god highly amused by the situation, especially as he for once wasn't the one in trouble.
"Seriously?" Rogers muttered, his annoyance barely more than a tidbit now. Thor's however hadn't decreased a bit; Loki himself got annoyed by the Midgardian's attitude shift.
"Hey! My statue was for April Fools Day as well!" Loki exclaimed, starting to fume. "How is it you Midgardians get mad at my prank but not his?!"
Rogers immediately gaped at the mischief god. "You mean your prank was for…" He facepalmed when Loki nodded and proceeded to demand why his prank was being judged harsher than Strange's. "Are you seriously saying you...you do know that April Fool's Day pranks are not valid as such unless done on the first of April, right? You can only get away with such pranks on that day."
Loki's eyes widened, lips parting in surprise. "I could've gotten away with it? I could've avoided getting into trouble if I waited?"
"I...well," Rogers grimaced, thinking about the giant Loki statue and how the mischief god's first appearance on Earth had been when Loki had tried taking over the planet. Even on April 1st, replacing Lady Liberty with a statue of Loki would likely not be acceptable as a joke. "...it would've been more forgivable, maybe? You did attack Earth before, so any prank in which you replace an important statue with one of yourself wouldn't really be tolerated. Any other prank, sure. But not that one."
"...oh." Loki muttered, realizing for the first time how terrible his statue prank actually was. The Midgardians hadn't thought of it as a prank at all, but must've thought it was a second attack by him. "I...oh."
"Ah, so you can feel remorse." Strange quipped, tempted to chide the mischief god about his threat to Lokki's unborn child. Thor grabbing his shirt angrily circumvented that. The wizard tilted his head, gazing at the thunder god, bewildered. "Why are you so pissed off?"
"Language." Rogers chastised, to which Strange rolled his eyes and repeated his question. Before Thor could answer, Rogers did. "Well...because of last week's incident...it's been difficult to convince S.H.I.E.L.D and Washington that this time it wasn't Loki."
"What?" Loki just gazed, slack-jawed, at Rogers.
"Ah." Replied Strange, understanding now why Thor was angry at him. It was a case of the boy who cried wolf. The mischief god had done one too many pranks that it was impossible for some people to believe he wasn't the culprit of a similar prank. "I guess I should help." He paused, thinking. "If S.H.I.E.L.D and Washington think Loki is behind the current statue, does that mean…."
Rogers nodded. "Yeah. They want to lock him up in Antarctica."
"But I didn't do anything this time!" Loki yelled, looking back and forth from the Midgardians to his brother. He finally settled on glowering at Strange. "This is your fault! You need to tell them you're behind this current shit! Not me!"
"I do?" Replied Strange, annoyed by the mischief god's demands and feeling like having some fun at Loki's expense. Thor tightened his grip on the wizard's shirt, glaring at him. After a moment Strange started to sigh and agree to help clarify things, but was cut off by Loki.
"You have to! Selfie's BABY is going to need an UNCLE when it's BORN! An uncle that can teach it all about magic and mischief and…" Loki trailed off, cheeks paling a few shades, and a chill racing down his back.
"Huh?"
"What?"
"You FUCKing SON of a BASTard!" Lokki hollered, swiftly exiting the office room in which Reyda had been assessing her condition. Having heard her male double mention her having a baby, she zoomed out seething, barely bothering to fix her blouse properly. (To fully assess the health of her and her baby, Reyda had needed to directly examine Lokki's abdomen - especially since the technology available on Midgard was leagues behind Asgard.) "You BITCH about me not LYING to Doc about MY pregnancy when he was gonna use who knows what to INTERROGATE me but then YOU blab right away to save YOUR sorry ASS!? You FUCKing QUIM coward! You…"
Finally noticing who was there and that the Sanctum door was still wide open, Lokki fell quiet; behind her Reyda hurried forward, concerned greatly by how agitated the frost giantess was. Her sea-colored eyes roamed over her surroundings and the faces of the Avengers in the Sanctum foyer, the room suddenly struck so quiet a pin drop would sound like a sharp clap.