Damage Report
Chapter 16: Damage Report
Loki felt as if he was falling. A slow endless descent through nothing. No more together. No more bind. No more purpose left in this world. Mobius was gone. Sean was gone. Kevin would blame him and they would never let him keep him. Not with the amount of issues he had. It was a sensation that he hadn't felt in a long time, but one he knew like an old friend. Always falling. Always alone.
Loki allowed himself to fall apart for about ten minutes hunched over on the floor of the lobby before he forced himself to calm down. To get ahold of himself. It had been awhile since he had had to be the strong one. That role had shifted to Mobius. He didn't have a whole left in him, but now he had to dig deep and get it the fuck together because they could still be alive. No one had said anything about casualties yet and if their hearts were still beating if only a little then there was still time to say to hell with the secrecy and rip off the bracelets so he could heal them.
So he forced air into his lungs. Deep breath after deep breath. Forced his vision to clear. He was still shaking, but he felt a cold determination fill him. Like the determination from a fight that Thor had lead him into that he was pretty sure they weren't going to win. Once he could breathe again he reached out for his phone and looked at the address as he forced himself to his feet.
"Sir are you alright?"
Loki looked over to see one of the hotel staff glancing worriedly at him. He raised his hand a little in a placating gesture. "I...I will be." He said before he turned on his heel and ran for the entrance of the hotel. He dipped into an alley on his way and took off one of the bracelets long enough to summon a pair of shoes to his feet before he put the bracelet back on and took off running again.
As soon as he reached the sight he could see a whirlwind of commotion. The restaurant's glass windows had been shattered and part of the building had crumbled to the ground. There was debris and dust everywhere and he could just make out ambulances on the other side of the caution tape that had been set up. The same caution tape banners that he showed no heed for as he shoved a past a couple people without a care for manners and jumped over.
"Hey!! Stop! Sir!"
Loki paid little heed to the officer's calls as he jumped through one of the shattered windows. "Sean! Mobius!" He called frantically as he looked around. There were other's on the floor and scattered about. A couple were crying over forms that were no longer moving right now, but he forced himself to not pay attention as he started to move deeper into the building. "Sean!! Mobius!!"
"Hey!"
Loki whirled around as he saw none other than Ironman hovering a couple feet off the ground with his repulsors raised and aimed at him. He felt himself freeze in place. Had his bracelets failed? Were they looking right at him? Did they think he was just a threat in general? He opened his mouth and tried to say something, but nothing came out. He watched as the armor lowered until it was on the ground and the repulsors died down. The face plate retracted into the rest of the nano suit and he took a small step back.
"Birdbrain hold your fucking fire for two minutes. He's just looking for someone." Tony said. Not talking to him though, but he just stayed where he was.
"Hey, I know it was scary, but we're all trying to get this mess sorted out. We can't have people just running in here. Who are you looking for? They may have already been loaded into one of the ambulances."
The mans voice was a little gentler and he noticed that he was finally looking at him. Speaking to him. His heart was busy pounding in his ears which made it very hard to hear anything the man had to say, but he nodded along. "I'm sorry." He finally managed to croak out as he felt a couple tears gathering in his eyes. He just wanted Mobius's arms wrapped him. That soothing voice telling him everything was going to be okay. "M-my...my husband Mobius a-and my son...they were here eating lunch."
Tony waved one of his hands a little at the apology, but that only caused Loki to flinch involuntarily. "No worries. I'm not good with names and we just handed people off to EMTs. You have a picture?"
Loki nodded as he unlocked his phone with shaking hands and held it up so that the home screen could be seen without any apps in the way. It showed Mobius with the boys hugged to either of his sides with Crater Lake in the background. He pointed to the older of the two boys. "Them."
Tony took a good look at it for a moment. "Hey Fri we have good news for him?"
Loki was about to ask if he had gone a little mad, but then he heard a faint and muffled robotic female voice speaking, but he couldn't make out what it said. Luckily Tony was willing to act as relay.
"They were taken to the hospital about fifteen minutes before you got here. Your kid is fine, couple bruises, but he was more shaken. Your husband was a little more banged up, but they're both okay."
The only reason he didn't drop to his knees in gratitude at the information was the attempt of trying to preserve some small amount of dignity in front of his former enemy. "W-which hosptial?"
Tony gave him the name of the hospital and he was quick to throw it in his phone. "Thank you." He managed to get out before he let himself be lead back behind the caution tape by a couple of officers who were helping keep the panic down on the ground.
***
"Hey Boss?"
"Yeah Fri?"
"I just thought you might find this a little curious. The man that you were speaking to just now is wearing some sort of a magic suppression cuff."
Tony paused at that. "Really?"
"Yes Boss."
"Mm...keep a tiny eye on him from time to time then. Let me know if anything suspicious comes up."
"Sure thing Boss."
***
Once he had walked a couple minutes he broke out into yet another sprint for the hospital. Following the directions that his phone rattled off. He wanted nothing more than to just rip one of his bracelets off and teleport, but he forced himself not to. If someone picked up a trace of magical energy shortly after he had left it would be to easy to trace it to him.
Thirty minutes later found him running through the doors of the hospital which was abuzz with activity and commotion. Probably a little overwhelmed with the chaos of the explosion. He let security check him over before he stopped at the front desk. His fingers shaking a little as he toyed with them.
"Are you okay sir?" A receptionist with a name tag that read Jennifer asked at last once she had finished up with something on her computer.
Loki stepped up to the desk. "My husband and my son uh Mobius and Sean. I was told they were brought here, they were a-at...at the restaurant when the explosion went off."
Sympathy lit the woman's eyes. "Just a moment hon." She said as she turned back to the screen. She asked two or three more questions just to make sure she had the right room number before she gave him one.
Loki thanked her before he set out at a brisk walk instead of a full on run. He didn't want to risk not seeing someone and running into them. They had enough problems on their hands without someone knocking people and stuff everywhere. After what seemed like years, but was probably minutes he found the room and let himself in. "Sean? Mobius?"
"Lyle!" Sean shouted as he heard Loki's voice and looked over to see him and the next instant his arms were full of the boy. Still covered in some dust and he could see the beginnings of a bruise on his chin, but he was okay. "You're okay." He sobbed in relief. "You're okay. You're both okay."
Once he had held him for a couple minutes and he was sure Sean felt a little better he pulled away from him and made his way over to the bed to assess Mobius who seemed to be unconcious at the moment. He looked the man over with shaking fingers before they found their way to his cheek. "Mobi...Mobi please wake up. Please."
Those ocean blue eyes cracked open and despite the fact that they seemed a little foggy they still lit up with recognition. "Hey Sweetheart...sorry I scared you..."
A couple of Loki's tears dripped down onto Mobius's cheeks as he leaned down and pressed a kiss to his lips. "I was so scared. I thought I lost you." He said in a shaking voice. "Are you okay? What happened?"
Mobius waved a small hand, but he wasn't in much of a condition to be listing off his injuries right now. He did try, but Loki just hushed him once he realized this. "Rest. You need rest. I'll talk to the doctor and don't worry about Sean alright? I'll take care of him."
Mobius didn't argue as his eyes slipped shut again and Loki turned back to Sean. He wrapped the boy back in his arms and took a seat with him curled up in his lap, which Sean didn't seem to worried about pulling away from him at the moment.
"Are you sure you want to really stay in this city Sean?" Loki whispered just a touch hopefully though he kept the hope out of his voice. Maybe after seeing firsthand how dangerous this city was he would change his mind. "It's not to late to back out."
Sean shook his head. "I'm not running. Stuff like that is something that I'll have to get used to."
Loki let out a silent sigh at that answer and shook his head. A God could dream. He just held him a little tighter, still being mindful of his strength though. "Once the doctor comes in so I can talk to him we'll go back to the hotel so you can shower and get some clean clothes on. Alright?"
"Okay. Can we watch a movie later?"
"Something light hearted." Loki negotiated.
"Fine by me."
They sat in silence for a little while as Loki calmed down. Took solace in Sean in his arms and the steady, healthy rythm of Mobius's heart from the monitor it was hooked up to. He had not lost his little family. Everyone was still in one piece and together. Kevin was safe at summer camp. About thirty minutes later he finally saw a Doctor step in.
"Sorry for the wait. I'm Doctor Hal." He said as he looked over a couple things for Mobius before he turned to Loki.
Loki shook his head. "It's okay. I know it's hectic right now. I was fine waiting cause I know he's okay."
The doctor nodded as he flipped open the file. "He is. He did crack one of his ribs a little and a the rest of them are bruised. He had a couple cuts in his back from the glass shards, two or three of them required a couple stitches, but nothing serious and his left hand was broken from the way it landed, but your son didn't take any damage aside from a couple bruises like the one on his chin so I find it highly likely that he threw himself on top of him to take the brunt of the damage."
Loki let out another small sigh. It was hardly the worst damage report he had heard. A couple bruised ribs, couple cuts and a broken hand. "Can I ask when he will be allowed to leave?"
"Let me keep him here a day or two just to make sure that there's nothing internal that we missed and as long as everything looks good we can probably get him out of here Sunday afternoon or Monday morning."
Loki nodded before he looked over to Mobius one last time before he saw his phone on the nightstand by the bed. Good he still had it. "Thank you doctor. I'm going to take my son home so he can wash up and we can both calm down, but I will be back to visit soon." He said before he unwound his arms from Sean, but offered him a hand.
"We'll take good care of your Husband." The doctor assured before they left the room.