Missing
Chapter 34: Missing
Loki hadn't gotten any sleep that night. Even laying there in Mobius's arms, his own wound around him just as tightly he couldn't relax enough to fall asleep. He stayed up the whole night. A dagger handle clutched in both hands carefully. Making sure they never accidentally cut or nick Mobi.
When the room started to lighten with the beginnings of the sunrise he let out a breath he didn't realize he had been holding and only now registered a slight ache in his lungs. Like they had been strained. He let the daggers disappear, but he still didn't move. Not wanting to wake Mobius before his alarm went off.
Mobius's alarm startled him two hours later, when it went off. Yet still no one had come breaking down his door and storming up the stairs to drag him out of the room and stuff him into some unmarked van. Never to be seen again. His arms tightened significantly around Mobius.
As Mobius came to and reached over to turn off the alarm clock as he grunted. "Sweetheart, loosen up your grip...just a little."
Loki blinked and immediately loosened his grip with a quiet apology. He still did not let go though.
"Loki?"
Loki settled over alert green eyes on Mobius.
"Sweetheart did you get any sleep?"
Loki shook his head. "Wanted to be ready in case they came." He said quietly.
Mobius frowned as he reached for his phone and placed a quick call to work to let them know he would not be able to come in today.
Loki looked to him in confusion with furrowed brows. "But-"
Mobius gently shushed him. "It's okay. You're always my first priority, you know that." He said as he as he reached up a brushed hand through Loki's hair. Letting his nails graze his scalp in soothing repetitive motions.
Loki felt something release inside him. Tension in his rigid limbs slowly went slack. His exhaustion crept up on him and his eyes slowly flickered shut. "B-but..." He still tried to fight the sleep. Not wanting to be caught unawares. "Mobius I'm so scared. I don't want to be alone. Not again. I don't want to close my eyes cause otherwise you might disappear."
Mobius shook his head. "I don't think they're coming. I know you always prepare for the worst, but I think they would have come by now. I think we're okay." He said as he moved his hand down to just caress his cheek.
Loki still looked at Mobius with so much uncertainty, but he knew deep down his husband was right. Mobius had always been a small voice of reason when his own reason and logic tended to be drowned out by his paranoia.
Mobius smiled reassuringly. Of course under the surface he still shard a little of Loki's fears, but he was fairly certain that Tony had known even before he had shown up on their doorstep and in that time they hadn't been bothered once. "Sleep for me Loki. I'll wake you up in a couple hours. Alright?"
Loki was helpless to resist when Mobius told him to do something so finally he let go of his remaining fears and let his eyes fall shut. Mobius stayed with him for a couple minutes. Talking about nothing in particular. Letting his voice guide Loki into sleep.
Once he had him settled and he was breathing evenly he got up to get dressed for the day and get started on some breakfast for him and Kevin.
***
Over the coming weeks Loki had called for two sessions with his therapist, just to ease some of the paranoia he was still battling, but with every day that past and he remained free the more he started to relax again. Things settled back into a general routine. Now that Loki wasn't so worried about hiding his magic so it wouldn't give him away he also started to use it a little more around the house, but not when Kevin was home. He still thought it best to wait until he was a little older to tell him.
Mobius was able to shift over to his schedule he kept during the slow seasons of fall and winter which was Monday through Thursday with Fridays off now. Kevin had started school at long last and he was already making new friends.
Sean kept in touch with them regularly. His son made sure to call him at least once a week and he got to hear about the progress they were making on the bot they were building for their bot battles. Him and Peter sometimes called him and he would do his best to help when Peter's source who remained unnamed was unable to answer the phone.
It was a nice if not chilly fall afternoon. He was curled up in his reading nook. A blanket on his lap and a cup of tea nearby. Mobius was at work. Kevin was at school and for once he was okay being home alone.
He was brought out of his world between the pages when he heard his phone ringing and looked over to see that it was May. Peter's Aunt. He reached for it and answered. Pressing the phone to his hear as he shut the book over the fingers of the hand that were still grasping it as he leaned back a little.
"Lyle?"
Loki frowned in concern. It sounded like she had been crying...or was going to cry. "May, is everything alright?"
"No not at all. Not even hardly. Peter's been missing for three days. The last thing on his phone to be sent out was a text around midnight saying that he was at Sean's house working on their bot. When I called Sean he said Peter hadn't been over at all that night. His phone went dead shortly after, I can't track it anywhere. I went to the police, but they're hardly moving fast enough. S-Sean...he didn't tell me what you would be able to do differently, but he said you might be able to help. I'm so worried about him. He's always doing this."
Loki's heart broke for her as he heard how upset and worried she was. "May please calm down it will be alright." He said as he stood and set his blanket aside. His book forgotten. "Why would Peter lie about his whereabouts? He didn't seem like the type that would pull something like this."
"I don't know. He started doing this sometime in Highschool. I've tried to ground him, locking him in, talking to him, reasoning with him, shouting at him. Nothing keeps him from going on these late night escapades of his."
Loki shook his head at the thought. He had always told his boys to tell him where they would be. Not because he was controlling, just so that he would have a starting point if this exact thing happened.
"Well, we can worry about that later. Right now what's important is finding him and making sure he's okay. Do you know what the last thing you saw him wearing was?"
"Wait...are you coming?"
Loki was already headed up the stairs. "Yes. I may not be able to do much to help, but I will do what I can. I have a couple tricks up my sleeve and if nothing else I am diligent. I know you have work to keep up with and that you probably don't have to much time to search for him, so I want you to get some rest and calm down. I'll set to work as soon as I get to Sean's apartment."
"Thank you Lyle."
"Of course May, he will be okay I swear to you. I'm going to pack a quick bag and let my husband know and then I'll head for the airport." He said as he pulled down his shoulder bag. He hung up and and then gave Mobius a call. He didn't answer which meant he was probably busy with a customer so he left a message. "Mobius, I'm sorry for the short notice, but May just called me with some troubling news. Peter has been missing for three days and there's very little to go off of. I'm going to go to New York to try and find him. The police are trying, but they're not moving fast enough." He hung up the phone and then tossed it on the bed and grabbed a couple things to throw in the bag.
Couple changes of clothes, his phone charger, a book or two, his toletries and a couple other things that he needed to bring with him. He slipped his cuffs on once he teleported himself to the bathroom of the airport. Luckily it was empty. Glamour settled and magic suppressed he got in line at the counter and bought a first class ticket for the next flight to New York. He was a little irked about the fact that it was going to be a two hour wait, but he would take what he could get.
He settled down to wait in one of the chairs near the window and leaned back against it. May had sent him a text of everything she knew. The last location his phone had given off which had indeed not been Sean's house, but somewhere in Brooklyn, what he had been wearing that day and that he mentioned that he was going to be home late. That was it. He mulled over the information as he thought about why Peter might pull something like this.
It was while he was mulling over this information that he felt a pulling on his conscience. Like someone was trying to get his attention. It was such a foreign feeling that he almost didn't recognize it, but finally he did. It was a prayer. He shut his eyes and turned his attention to it so he could better hear what this follower wanted.
"....this. Do I just...talk to you? Here goes I guess. I need some help. There's a kid missing that I care about a lot. The whole team does. We're all out looking for him, but there's so little information to go on. You have your powers...so..."
Loki pulled away from it before he sighed. He didn't really want to entertain Stark, but if there was a second kid missing and he was already going there to find one then there wasn't any harm in helping him find his kid as well.
Loki closed his eyes as he focused on the location the prayer was coming from and soon enough and illusion of him was standing in Stark's lab. One of the tables had been over turned in probably some sort of frustration and Stark sat on the couch towards the back of the room hunched over with his head in his hands. "Stark, I heard your prayer."
Tony's head snapped up and he saw relief plain on the man's face. "Thank you so much. I didn't...I didn't that would actually work."
"I told you I would hear it. I am not physically here though. Not yet. I am awaiting a flight to New York so I cannot speak for long. Who is this kid you need help finding?"
"His names Peter. Really good kid. Lives with his Aunt. He's on the team technically-"
Loki had frozen for a moment. Because...surely..."Surely you're not talking about Peter Parker."
Tony's shocked silence was all the confirmation he needed and suddenly he was furious. "How could you let him be an Avenger Stark?! He's a child! Are you insane?!" He shouted before a horrorifying realization dawned on him. "You...was he on that battlefield? Against the Mad Titan?!"
Stark raised his hands. "Whoa whoa hey! Let's start with how the hell you know Peter."
"Him and my son Sean attend the same college. They are working together on bots for the bot battle. They have become good friends. Now please tell me that young man was not...not thrown up against Thanos."
"Look I tried to tell him no okay?!" Tony shouted in a moment of angered frustration. "Normally all I let him do is what he already doing. He patrols the city. Fights the little fights. Muggers, people sticking up convenience stores, bank robbers, mutants who decide to go off the deep end, anti mutant protesters who takes things to far. He's not going to stop so I thought I could at least keep him safe, but..." He gestured helplessly to the damaged suit for Spiderman laid out on one of his tables. "Everything in it was dead when I found it. Including the tracking systems. Like it was hit with some
sort of EMP."
Loki rubbed a hand down his face and the movement was mirrored by his illusion before he looked back to Tony. "I'll be in New York in a couple hours. Keep the rest of the team away from me, I'll have him found in no time. Alright?"
Tony looked over to him with unshed tears. "What if he's hurt? What if he's been calling for help and I didn't come for him. He trusts me."
Loki shook his head. "Don't think like that Stark. Those thought lead nowhere good. Focus on what you can do to avoid a situation like this in the future." He said before his illusion disappeared.