Avengers Tower
As the Bifrost’s power melted away around them, Loki scanned their new surroundings. He and Thor had landed on a circular platform attached to the side of Stark Tower — or as it was now called, Avengers Tower. To one side was a drop off that looked out over the large expanse of New York City, to the other was an entrance into the revised version of the tower. Standing in the entrance were Tony Stark, Captain Rogers, and Agent Romanoff.
Loki’s hands itched for his power, held just out of reach by the cuffs encircling his wrists. At least the chain that held the two cuffs together had been removed, allowing him to move his hands freely and independently. That chain could be reconnected, however, if it proved necessary. He seriously intended to avoid that.
Thor began walking towards the group of Avengers, and Loki trailed behind him.
“Thor,” Steve greeted. “Loki,” he added curtly.
“Hello, my friends,” Thor returned with a small smile.
“Nice bracelets,” Tony said snarkily, nodding towards the cuffs.
“Thank you,” Loki responded immediately and smoothly, raising an arm to admire the metal band. “They’re… custom made,” he said with a wink. Tony’s lips twitched upward.
Thor glanced between the two with a furrowed brow, then quickly said, “Good friends, my brother has agreed to help us locate and secure the Scepter as an act of reconciliation towards Earth.” Loki side eyed him, raising a brow.
“How generous,” Natasha said dryly, eyes never leaving Loki.
His own eyes sparkled. He opened his mouth to respond, but Thor quickly cut him off. “He’s happy to help! Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to show him to his room and then retire to my own room for a bit before dinner,” he said, his smile a bit more strained now.
“Sure thing,” Tony said. “You know the way.”
Thor nodded and guided Loki away. Loki could tell that Thor was tense. Internally he was equally as wound up, but he kept his appearance calm and relaxed as they made their way through the tower.
“I see Stark has done some redecorating,” Loki commented halfheartedly, taking in the many changes.
Thor nodded. “Yes. The tower has been turned into the Avengers’ base.”
“Oh goody,” he replied, voice dripping with sarcasm. Thor said nothing, and they continued walking in silence.
Eventually, after traveling down several stories and making their way through a maze of turns, they came to a stop in front of one of the rooms. The door appeared normal at first glance, but upon closer inspection it became clear that it wasn’t just some flimsy piece of wood. Thor pressed his hand to the pad located beside it, and there was a hissing sound as it unlocked. Like the outside, the inside of the room looked quite normal, spacious even. It had likely just been an ordinary bedroom that Stark had altered for the purpose of containing the Avengers’ new guest. Loki entered cautiously and slowly looked around.
“The door will be locked during the night. During the day you’ll be permitted access to the common areas as long as I’m present,” Thor said somewhat stiffly before continuing. “If there’s an emergency, you can call out to Jarvis, though he will likely notice anyway.”
Loki glanced at his brother. “Jarvis?” he questioned.
Thor was about to answer when a voice suddenly came from the ceiling, causing Loki to jump. “That would be me, sir,” Jarvis said politely.
Loki stared at the ceiling with a knitted brow, then gave Thor a confused look.
“Stark’s talking computer,” he supplied with a shrug.
Loki raised a brow. “I see,” he said flatly then turned, examining the room more closely.
Thor stood there awkwardly for a moment. Finally he spoke up. “I’m going to my own room for a bit. Get settled in. I’ll come get you at dinner time.”
“Don’t bother. I’m not hungry,” Loki answered, still looking around the room. Thor watched him for a moment, a conflicted expression on his face. Then he turned and left silently. The door hissed again as it locked. Loki looked up once his brother was gone and stared at the locked door for several seconds, frustration painting his face.
Trapped again.
Once he had thoroughly examined the space, he laid down on his bed and stared up at the ceiling in silent thought. He was still lying there when the door to his room — cell — hissed and opened. He looked over at his brother in annoyance.
“I told you I’m not hungry.”
Thor gave him a look. “It’s your first day in the tower. You’re not skipping,” he said, leaving no room for argument. His demeanor was still more tense and stern than what was normal for the usually lighthearted Thunder god.
Loki rolled his eyes and grumbled. He reluctantly stood and marched past Thor, heading down the hall in a silent fit. The last thing he wanted to do right now was deal with Thor’s self righteous little hero club.
The tension between the two brothers was heavy as they walked, and although Loki wasn’t exactly helping the situation, he didn’t like it. It felt like the last two years of tentative rebuilding they’d done to their relationship had evaporated the moment they landed on this tower. It made him feel somewhat insecure — though he would sooner die than admit that.
They entered a large hangout area. A bar to the side had food spread out over it, and the Avengers were seated on various couches and stools, eating and chatting with each other. The mood immediately shifted as the brothers entered.
For several seconds nobody moved. Then Loki pushed down his own reservations and insecurities and, effortlessly slipping into character, smirked at the group. He walked over to the bar of food and began serving himself a plate, ignoring the tension entirely. Thor gave a small, awkward wave to his group of friends, several of which he hadn’t yet greeted since their arrival. Then he followed after Loki to get himself some food as well. Slowly the conversations began to start back up, though more for the sake of ending the uncomfortable silence than out of any true desire to continue talking.
Once Loki had gotten his plate, he leaned against one of the walls and began eating silently, at the same time assessing the different people in the room. Unsurprisingly, out of everyone, Clint looked the most agitated. He was glaring down at his food as he ate, looking like he might storm out of the room at any moment. Natasha sat beside him and occasionally leaned over to speak to him quietly. She was periodically glancing over at Loki, expression guarded. Bruce just looked nervous as he tried not to draw unnecessary attention to himself. Thor looked equally tense as he came to lean against the wall near Loki, not yet joining his friends. Steve looked the calmest overall, though he was definitely ready for conflict if it should arise, and Tony…
“So, what happened to your hair? Did you decide the whole Sonic the Hedgehog thing wasn’t serving you?” Tony asked with a heavy dose of sass.
Loki had no idea what that meant, but Clint’s not so subtle snort told him all he needed to know. He gave Tony a thin smile. “I thought I’d switch it up a bit, let the natural curls show. Life is all about change after all,” he replied with a tone to match Tony’s. “And what of you, Stark? I noticed the little energy source in your chest is missing. Don’t tell me you lost that as well,” he said condescendingly.
Tony shrugged. “I got bored of it. Like you said, life’s about change. On the topic of losing things though, Thor tells us you can figure out where your magic wand went.”
“You mean where your enemies hid it after you placed it into their hands,” Loki deadpanned.
Tony shrugged again. “Semantics.”
Steve cut in, looking over at Loki. “You can find it though?” he asked.
Loki glanced at the Captain. “I can find it,” he said after a moment, then added, “With my magic, of course.”
Clint grumbled quietly, his voice full of sarcasm. “Of course.”
Thor stepped in. “That, however, is something we can handle tomorrow, is it not?” Though phrased as a question, his voice carried a weight of finality to it. The corner of Loki’s lips twitched upwards, knowing that Thor was trying his very hardest to keep things from escalating between his friends and his brother. He was playing the middleman, something that had in the past normally been Loki’s job. Seeing Thor of all people doing it now was quite amusing to him.
Perhaps this whole ordeal would be more entertaining than he had originally anticipated.
That night, within his new glorified cell, Loki laid awake for several hours thinking and planning for the days ahead. There were many variables to take into consideration and many more that he didn’t even know about yet. He also wasn’t completely decided on what exactly his end goal at this point was.
He would be lying if he said that attempting to escape hadn’t at least crossed his mind. How could it not? It would be so much easier to find an opening and slip away without being detected here than it was in his chambers on Asgard where he was surrounded by containment spells and Einherjar. As for the cuffs, those could be dealt with at a later time. He knew more than one way to free himself of them if supplied with the proper resources. Yes, the thought was certainly a tempting one.
Whether or not he had any true intention of escaping, however, he hadn’t completely decided. He wasn’t overly fond of the prospect of spending the next century locked in his room, but all in all it really wasn’t that bad. Especially because it served as a safe place away from the creatures that lurked beyond the safety of Asgard, creatures that would love to get their hands on him again if given the chance. The thought alone made him shudder.
However, regardless of whether he decided to take an opening to escape or not, the God of Mischief was nothing if not prepared, and so he continued to run scenario after scenario through his mind until his eyelids fell and sleep claimed him.
The next morning, Loki paced impatiently as he waited for his brother — who was no doubt still in bed and snoring like a boar about now — to come get him so they could get some breakfast and then move on to the more important objective of the day, finding the Scepter.
He suddenly came to a halt in his pacing, a thought coming to mind. He looked up slowly, staring at the ceiling with a look of caution and reluctance. Finally he gave in.
“Jarvis?” he called out with slight apprehension, feeling somewhat ridiculous for talking to a ceiling.
“Yes, sir,” Jarvis replied, his voice pleasant though somewhat flat.
Loki’s eyes narrowed. He wasn’t entirely sure what to think of this thing that Thor had described as Tony Stark’s ‘talking computer’, but perhaps it could be of use.
“What is Thor doing right now?” he asked.
“I’m afraid I can’t tell you that, sir.”
Loki raised a brow. “Why not?” he asked sharply.
“Mr. Stark has given me strict orders not to provide you with any information that isn’t necessitated by an emergency,” Jarvis answered politely.
Loki’s face drew up in irritation. Perhaps not so useful then. He wasn’t done quite yet though. “But you just gave me information by telling me that,” he pointed out snarkily, if only to get the last word in. There was a pause. For a moment, he feared he had accidentally set off some sort of safety protocol.
But then Jarvis spoke again. “It seems you are right, sir. Is there anything else I can help you with?”
Loki’s lip twitched upwards into a small smirk. “That is all for now,” he said and took a seat on his bed again, tapping his shoe against the floor as he awaited his brother.
When Thor at last dragged himself out of bed, the two went back to the main area to get something to eat. There was a quiet and tense atmosphere among the Avengers. Now they weren’t even trying to converse with one another.
Loki was quite enjoying the silence, so when Tony finally bit the bullet and spoke up, he felt a pang of disappointment as well as irritation. What he would do to permanently silence that man. If only he had his magic available with which to cast such a spell.
“Alright,” Tony said. “As fun as this little silent game is, we’ve got work to do and a Scepter to find. So, how’s this going to work?” he asked, turning to Thor.
Thor paused for a moment as Tony addressed him. “Well… you are already aware that Loki will need free reign of his magic in order to locate the Scepter,” he replied somewhat reluctantly.
“And how exactly do we know he’s not going to use his magic to — I don’t know — make a very convenient escape?” Clint asked, leaning against a nearby wall. The dark circles under his eyes suggested that he had gotten little to no sleep the night before.
Loki rolled his eyes. “Oh please. As if these cuffs could ever prevent me from escaping.”
Thor shot him a sharp warning glare, and Loki couldn’t help but feel some delight at his brother’s frustration.
Natasha looked unimpressed. “Really? Then why are you still here?”
Loki’s lip twitched in a small smirk. “Boredom, mostly,” he said, not even needing to lie. He really had been growing quite bored locked up in his chambers day in and day out. The offer for a change had simply been too alluring to turn away.
Steve turned to Thor. “You’ll still be with him while he’s locating it though, right?”
Thor nodded. “Yes, of course,” he assured them.
Loki huffed, finding this mildly amusing considering Thor could watch him as closely as he wanted and still not have a clue as to what spells he was performing. It was Thor’s own fault. Loki had tried time and time again to get the oaf to learn at least some basic magic, but he had continuously refused, leaving him absolutely useless in the art. Loki wouldn’t complain now though.
Steve sighed and nodded. “Alright, no point in wasting time.” He looked around the room from one person to the next. “Let’s get this done.”