Of Helicarriers and Spoken truths
Back at base
“What are we going to do?”
Nick sighed, rubbing his hands over his eyes.
“I have no idea. He didn’t recognize us down there, doesn’t even recognize the carrier. He evidently remembers Thor, though that particular relationship seems to have gone downhill. Thor say anything about what happened?”
“Other than the whole ‘Loki will face Asgardian Justice!” declaration? Nothing much. We’ve got some vague explanation about a fight, and something about Loki’s heritage, but he’s steering away from the big stuff. Are we going to tell her?”
“No. She’s too fragile right now. She thinks he’s dead. And if he’s not careful, he’ll meet someone more trigger-happy than us and actually be it. And she can’t take that. Not again.”
Nat bit her lip.
“Are we going to tell them? That he’s one of ours?”
“If we have to. I’m keeping it quiet from the World Security Council for the minute, until we can figure out exactly how to get the kid back. It's better the world doesn’t know we have a rogue agent. Thankfully whoever seems to be running Loki’s body doesn’t seem to have done his research. Oh, he’s got the basics for sure, the crappy home life, the whole Thor thing, but he hasn’t got our number. And he hasn’t seemed to pierce it together from our little chat downstairs.”
Nat agreed distractedly.
“Romanoff? What you ticking over?”
“Thor.” she said, “Something's off. Between them. I get that their relationship hasn’t actually been the best, but he’s shown no indication whatsoever that anything’s wrong with Loki, other than the whole ‘gone mad’ thing. What kind of a person can’t remember the colour of his brother’s eyes? It's all over Loki, that something's wrong. Forget the whole tesseract thing, his entire personalities changed, he looks years older, not to mention like he’s about the keel over and его окровавленные глаза СИНИЕ!” ((His bloody eyes are BLUE!))
Nat struck the wall beside her in her outburst, the pain inside bursting out.
She was the rational one. The smart one, the one who used her head and her gun equally.
She was a Widow, heartless, frozen. She was dangerous in its purest form.
And she was human.
She’d lost her brother, her niece, her best friend.
So she was hurt. And she was angry. Very, very, very angry.
A furious tear brimmed in her eyes, anger spilling it over the edge.
Her fist was caught by a calloused one as it made its way back to the wall, a gentle arm pulling her in, cradling her as so few ever had.
She sobbed, anger and shame and guilt and loss squeezing her tighter and tighter. She cried as she hadn't, couldn't, for years. She cried for Ava, for Loki, for Clint. For those she had, and those she left behind. She cried for her sister, for her friend, for the man who’d been the Winter to her Fall. And she cried for Natalia, the little girl she’d left behind, in those walls, destroyed by a system crueller than any knife, any gun.
She let everything out, on that lonely stretch of corridor, held together by the man who’d become a father to her, the man who’d given his all to bring them together.
She eventually stilled, tears finally coming to a stop.
“You okay?” muttered Nick, his own eyes damp.
“Yeah.”
“Good. Because we’ve got a job to do.”
“Do we have a plan?”
“We’re bringing them home. All of them.”
“Home?”
He grinned, a smile that said ‘I know something you don’t’.
“Let’s just say I’m having a few words with Stark. Now, up you get agent, we’ve got a rescue mission to plan.”
--------------------------------------
Tony watched from the shadows, as the rest of the team watched the screen, where Reindeer Games was having his little power trip, and the Pirate made his point.
It wasn’t that he didn’t trust them. Well, most of them. But he’d learnt his lesson when it came to blind trust - fool me once and all.
“He really grows on you, doesn't he?” Bruce was the first to break the silence.
“ Loki's gonna drag this out. So, Thor, what's his play?” That was Steve, practical as ever. Just like his dad had told him. Captain America, the man who got things done.
Thor finally seemed to register the presence of the others, snapping out of his daze.
“ He has an army called the Chitauri. They're not of Asgard or any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the earth. In return, I suspect, for the Tesseract.”
“An army? From outer space?”
Tony rolled his eyes - Steve was literally talking to an alien - why was the idea that there were more so unbelievable?
“ So he's building another portal. That's what he needs Erik Selvig for.”
“Selvig?”
“He's an astrophysicist.”
“He's a friend.”
Huh, that was interesting - Point Break knew Selvig. Mexico?
“Loki has him under some kind of spell, along with one of ours.” said the redhead, looking up from her screen.
Tony felt his eyes narrow - he still didn’t trust Romanoff, especially after her little infiltration stunt. Plus there was just something… off about her. Or rather, about the information she was feeding them. She seemed far too invested in the safety of their prisoner for her own good, as in fact was Fury. When he got a spare moment, he’d do a little digging, see what he could find.
“Have care how you speak. Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard, and he's my brother.”
Tony had never been more glad he was a single child. Loyalty to murderers seemed exhausting.
“He’s adopted.”
Tony snickered to himself, even as Coulson appeared behind him, gesturing him into the room.
“ I think it's about the mechanics. Iridium, what did they need the Iridium for?”
“It's a stabilising agent” said Tony, before turning to Coulson, “ I'll fly you there. Keep the love alive. Means the portal won't collapse on itself, like it did at SHIELD.”
He walked past Thor, slapping the god on the arm.
“No hard feelings, Point Break. You've got a mean swing. Also, it means the portal can open as wide, and stay open as long as Loki wants.”
He spun on the spot, addressing the crew, “Uh, raise the mid-mast, ship the top sails. That man is playing GALAGA! Thought we wouldn't notice. But we did.” he covered one eye, looking at the screens,”How does Fury do this?”
He was babbling, he knew he was. Call it a nervous habit, but god it was fun. Especially when people fell for it.
As Hill replied, he carefully stuck a hacking implant on the bottom of a desk, continuing to talk. That would be useful for his digging.
“Well, that sounds exhausting. The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. Only major component he still needs is a power source. A high energy density, something to kick start the cube.”
“When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?” asked Hill, eyebrow raised.
“Last night. The packet, Selvig's notes, the Extraction Theory papers. Am I the only one who did the reading?”
“ Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?” asked Cap.
“ He's got to heat the cube to a hundred and twenty million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier.”
Ahh, fellow science buddy.
“Unless, Selvig has figured out how to stabilise the quantum tunnelling effect.”
“ Well, if he could do that he could achieve Heavy Ion Fusion at any reactor on the planet.”
Tony was smitten.
“ Finally, someone who speaks English!”
“Is that what just happened?”
Hah, take that Dad. Something Golden Boy couldn’t do.
Tony shook hands with Bruce.
“It's good to meet you, Dr. Banner. Your work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster.”
He couldn’t resist it. Though he felt a little bad when Bruce looked down.
“Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube. I was hoping you might join him.”
Tony turned to watch the Pirate as he entered.
“Let's start with that stick of his. It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon.”
Man with a Plan strikes again.
“I don't know about that, but it is powered by the cube. And I'd like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys.”
“Monkeys? I do not understand.”
“I do! I understood that reference.”
Tony rolled his eyes, before making his way to the exit.
“Shall we play, doctor?”
“Let’s play some.”
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Meanwhile.
“Ava? Ava, sweetie, wake up for me.”
Ava stirred, groaning.
“Mom?” she asked groggily.
“Hi baby.”
“What’s going on?”
Elena smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes.
“We’re going for a little holiday, just for a bit. I’ve packed a bag for you, you can stay in your jammies in the car.”
Ava rubbed her eyes, yawning.
“Where are we going?”
“We’re gonna see Coop and Laura for a bit.”
The girl perked up, “Are Uncle Clint and Auntie Tasha going too?”
“No sweetie, I'm sorry. They’re on a mission for a bit. But we’ll see them soon.”
Elena gently scooped the girl from her bed.
She regained some of the weight she’d lost, and had been training as much as her weakened body would allow, but she was still far too light.
Carrying her down the stairs, Elena settled her daughter in the backseat, clipping her in before tucking a blanket around her frame.
It wasn’t until Ava had drifted off to sleep, serene in the moonlight, that Elena opened her phone.
“Target secured,” she said.
“Good. Bring her back. We’ll attack shortly.”
Elena drove on, unwinding the window before tossing the phone.
She couldn’t risk being tracked. Her daughter’s safety depended on it. If she brought her to her master, she’d be safe. The sceptre had shown her. It had shown her so much.
-------------------------------------------
“ There's not many people that can sneak up on me.”
Natasha almost smiled - it had been Loki who had shown her how to shadow-walk, how to be more silent than the night itself.
“But you figured I'd come.”
“After. After whatever tortures Fury can concoct, you would appear as a friend, as a balm. And I would cooperate.”
Nick would never. He would threaten, and bluster and bluff, but he couldn’t. Not to Loki.
She had to focus. Information. She needed information.
“I wanna know what you've done to Agent Barton.”
She could talk about Clint. He was a safe topic - close enough to be an honest emotion, far enough to keep her from breaking down.
“I'd say I've expanded his mind.”
Bastard.
“And once you've won. Once you're king of the mountain. What happens to his mind?”
“Is this love, Agent Romanoff?”
“ Love is for children. I owe him a debt.”
Something she’d been told once, when the only man she’d ever loved had been dragged away.
Loki sat, but his movements lacked the feline grace she was accustomed to seeing on him. He moved as if his body was… foreign to him. Unfamiliar.
“Tell me.”
She grabbed a chair, mirroring his actions.
“Before I worked for SHIELD, I uh...well, I made a name for myself. I have a very specific skill set. I didn't care who I used it for, or on. I got on SHIELD's radar in a bad way. Agent Barton was sent to kill me, he made a different call.”
She remembered when they’d first had this conversation: the four of them, Clint, Loki, Elena and Nat, all sat on the floor, doing a braiding chain. Somewhere between the vodka and the JD, they’d started talking, spilling secrets an enemy would kill to know.
They’d gone from favourite colours to autobiographies of their lives.
Not that Loki seemed to remember that.
“And what will you do if I vow to spare him?”
Throw him a freaking birthday party. What did he expect?
“Not let you out.”
Loki chuckled, “ Ah, no. But I like this. Your world in the balance, and you bargain for one man?”
“ Regimes fall every day. I tend not to weep over that, I'm Russian... or was.”
Loki laughed again. “You misunderstand me. You bargain for Barton… what of the others?”
Nat’s breath caught. Keep it calm, Romanova.
“Others? There are rather a lot of SHIELD agents. I cannot bargain for them all..”
He shook his head, smiling.
“Not even for your precious niece? Ava seems quite the apple of your eye.”
Her. heart. stopped.
“What have you done with her,” she hissed, anger breaking the careful mask.
“Nothing… yet. I wouldn’t waste my bargaining chip. But do you truly care? After all, I thought that ‘Love was for children’... Drakov’s daughter?”
If there was any remaining doubt in Natasha’s mind that Loki wasn’t himself, this was it. He could never do this, could never hurt the girl he loved to the ends of the earth. This might be Loki’s body, but it sure as hell wasn’t Loki.
But she had a sense, call it a gut feeling, that Loki wasn’t gone entirely. That he was still holding on inside, protecting them, keeping his memory of them out of the imposter's reach.
He continued,
“You lie and kill in the service of liars and killers. You pretend to be separate, to have your own code, something that makes up for the horrors. But they are a part of you, and they will never go away!
I won't touch Barton. Not until I make him kill the child you love so dearly as you watch. Then you,
Slowly. Intimately. In every way he knows you fear! And when he'll wake just long enough to see his good work, and when he screams, I'll split his skull! This is my bargain, you mewling quim!”
Nats head spun with horror, she turned suppressing a sob, although her voice still broke when she replied, “You’re a monster.”
He laughed, “No, you brought the monster.”
Bingo.
“So, Banner… that’s your play.”
He looked staggered. “What?”
Yet another tip-off - Loki knew her far too well to fall for that trick.
She tapped her comm, “Loki means to unleash the Hulk. Keep Banner in the lab, I’m on my way. Send Thor as well.” she turned to the god, “Thank you for your cooperation.”
As she left, she sent a prayer to whatever gods were listening - let their Loki be okay. Because he was hanging on, she knew he was. He had to be.
--------------------------------------------------
Tony was tapping away at the computer when Fury entered.
“What are you doing, Mr. Stark?”
“Uh… kind of been wondering the same about you.”
“You’re supposed to be locating the Tesseract.
“We are,” said Bruce, “The model’s locked and we’re sweeping for a signature now. When we get a hit, we’ll have the location within half a mile.”
“And you’ll get your cube back, no muss, no fuss.” tapping at the screen, he pulled back up the set of files he’d been looking at. “What’s Phase 2? And who exactly is ‘Luka Skye’?”
Suddenly, Rogers entered, dropping an assault rifle onto the table. He looked pissed.
“Phase 2 is SHIELD uses the cube to make weapons,” he turned to Tony, “Sorry, the computer was moving a little slow.”
“Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract,” Fury blustered, “This does not mean that we’re…”
“I’m sorry, Nick.”
The group turned to face the monitor, where Tony had decrypted the file, which was currently showing a whole lot of incriminating evidence. Namely the plans for weapons more complex than Tony had seen for years.
“The files for good ol’ Luka should be a moment longer. Interesting that you’ve encrypted them with even more security than your Grand Master Plan. Feel like sharing before we get them up?”
Fury clenched his jaw.
“Shut it down, Stark. I don’t know where you heard that name, but Skye is off-limits for a reason.”
Bruce’s head snapped up, looking across the room at the approaching red-head and the muscled blonde.
“Did you know about this?”
“You wanna think about removing yourself from this environment, doctor?”
“I was in Calcutta, I was pretty well removed.”
The red-head ignored him, turning to Fury.
“We need to tell them, if this is going to work, we need trust. And secrets aren’t the best thing for that. Ava’s life is on the line.”
Fury sighed, rubbing a hand over his face.
“Fine, but do it quickly. I don’t want to waste a moment longer than necessary.”
Natasha nodded, and Tony suddenly noticed lines that hadn’t been there before her little chat with Loki. What had he said to her?
“You’re right,” she said, “We haven’t been entirely honest with you. For good reason. You asked about Luka Skye. He’s one of ours, half agent, half consultant. We bumped into him late 2001, and recruited him soon after. Since then, he’s been on and off missions for 10 years, until almost exactly a year ago, when he dropped off the grid entirely.”
“And he’s reappeared? Is he helping Loki?” asked Steve
“Not exactly. Or willingly at least. From his behaviour, and from… physical changes, we’ve deduced he’s being controlled. And not just his mind.”
“How would you know? Sleeper agents aren’t exactly uncommon, and good liars aren’t hard to find. Here at least.” Tony couldn’t resist the jab.
She stared him down. “I’ve known him for over a decade. He’s the closest thing to a brother I have, as well as being the godfather to my niece. If I say he’s changed, you can take my word for it.”
“You have a niece?”
Everyone glared at Tony,
“That’s what you pick up on?” muttered Steve.
“But why keep it secret?” asked Bruce, “And why reveal it now?”
“Two very different questions, Doctor. We’ve revealed it now, because the niece I mentioned has gone off the grid, along with her mother. We haven’t received confirmation, but Loki’s hinted that his people have taken her.”
“I’m so sorry,” said Steve, forehead creasing.
Natasha shook it off, “We’ll get her back. She’s strong.”
“And what about the first half? Why not tell us to begin with?”
The computer to Tony's left bleeped, and he checked it automatically. Then checked it again.
“...I think I can help with that.”
He turned the monitor to the group.
There, in the blue tones of the screen, was a profile, complete with a picture of a teen, eyes glinting with mischief, grin playing at the corners. The differences between the two were evident, but it was undeniable the same person.
Loki.
A hell of a lot younger, a hell of a lot happier, but unmistakably him.
“What trickery is this?” boomed Thor, “My brother has not visited Midgard in centuries, he has fooled you - “
From a hidden pocket, Natasha pulled out a piece of paper, folded with care. She tossed it at the group, eyes cold.
It was a photo, clearly some years old, but kept carefully. It was a group of people, standing together. Tony instantly recognized Loki, standing in the centre, despite the long hair and distinctly feminine figure. He - she? - was holding a baby, cradled in their arms. On one side, a woman who must be the mother stood with a second man. On the other, Natasha, Barton, ( with a second child in his arms and a woman by his side), Coulson and Hill stood, with Fury right at the back, resplendent in a flowery pink bucket hat. A ginger cat sat on Loki’s shoulder.
But what stood out most was how happy everyone looked. At least three lots of bunny fingers were being held up, smiles were entirely genuine, and Natasha looked like she was suppressing a laugh. So far, he hadn’t seen her so much as smile.
Thor looked flabbergasted.
“I-I don’t understand? Why would Loki come to be here? He despises people, Midgardians especially.”
Fury shrugged, “Seems like you don’t know much about your brother, then. As Agent Romanoff said, he’s been one of us for years. The girl he’s, sorry, she’s holding? Her goddaughter. Ava.”
They stood in shocked silence, trying to absorb what they’d heard.
“You… you spoke of physical changes?” said Bruce hesitantly, “That confirms he’s under mind control.”
“His eyes.” said Natasha simply, “His eyes are green.”
“...And the man downstairs…”
“Has blue ones. Not to mention the fact he’s about a decade older, doesn’t use his magic, and has threatened the most important person in his life. Whoever it is downstairs? That’s not him.”
“Which is why,” mused Tony, “You didn’t want to tell us. And why you protected him earlier. Because you want to get him back.”
“Precisely.” said Natasha, “But in light of… recent events, we need to have you on board. No secrets.” she turned to Fury, “By the way, when were you going to tell me that SHIELD are creating weapons? I’m kind of offended here.”
Fury sighed, “Not unless we needed them. At the moment it’s between Hill and I, neither Barton or Loki knew either, mainly because you’d all go and run to Elena, who’d have it shut down within the week. They were meant to be a last resort.”
“Wait, Elena? Can you people stop throwing names around?”
“Ava’s mother,” said Natasha, “the one who’s currently missing.”
“So,” said Steve, “ We got a game plan?”
“Game plan?” said Tony, “Who said we’re helping? The way I see it, you lot kept a whole bunch of secrets, then only told us when it benefited you. Why should we help?”
Steve placed a hand on his arm, “I know what it’s like to be lied to, Stark. But the lives of innocents are on the line. We can settle our problems later, for now, we need to focus. What’s the plan, agent? I’m assuming you have one.”
Natasha half-smiled, “You know me well. First priority is Ava, she needs to be out of the line of fire when we strike. Wherever they’re keeping her, it’ll be secure and hidden.”
“Like the kind of place they’d hide a tesseract?”
“Exactly doctor. We find the tesseract, we find Ava.”
“Uhh, talking of the tesseract? You might want to have a look at this.”
Bruce turned the screen around to them, where a signal was pulsing.
Natasha immediately flicked her comm on, “Hill? We’ve got guests, left side. 45 seconds incoming. Don’t let that ship anywhere near us. They’ll go for the engines.”
She tilted her head as she listened in, nodding to Fury.
“Doctor Banner, you feeling okay?”
Bruce nodded, “I’m fine, is Loki still contained?”
“For the moment, Thor, I’m under orders to not let you anywhere near that cage. We’ll need you on defence. Stark, Captain, you go too, if the engines get hit, you’ll be on repair duty.”
The team nodded, gathering their weapons.
Just before they left the room, Steve placed a hand on Natasha’s arm, “Thank you,” he said, “For being honest with us. We’ll get them back, all of them. I promise.”
And then the world went to hell in a handbasket.
Why a handbasket? Thought Tony blearily, as he was thrown across the room from the force of the explosion. What was wrong with normal baskets? Or Helicarrier for that matter.
A familiar figure pulled him upright, and the Captain stabilised him as he summoned his armour. Guess Romanoff had been right - engine duty it was.