Chapter 34
Tyr showed up the next morning.
Just . . . appeared. Standing in the middle of the street, he almost looked like a normal human being.
Then again, normal human beings didn’t stand in the middle of the street in New York City, disrupting Christmas traffic.
People sitting outside the various restaurants in the cold weather looked up from their breakfasts.
The whole team rushed outside in record time to surround him.
“I only want to talk,” Tyr said, raising his hands in what looked like surrender.
“Why?” Loki demanded.
“It has come to my attention that one of your teammates is expecting a babe,” Tyr said, glancing pointedly at Natasha, “I wished to congratulate her.”
He shifted his gaze onto Loki, a knowing look in his eye that she didn’t like.
Norns, he knew.
“How do you know?” Natasha hissed, “And why do you care?”
“Of course I care,” Tyr held a hand to his chest in mock offense, “We’ll be sure to leave it unharmed. We just need to borrow your mage. His magic would do well for us.”
“We?”
“Why, yes,” Tyr answered, “You didn’t think I’d come to a fight with the famed Avengers alone?”
He let out a low whistle, and dozens of the people previously eating breakfast started to surround the Avengers.
“I believe you’ve met them before,” Tyr said thoughtfully as the Avengers shifted outward, “The Battle of New York, was it?”
He grinned at the terrified expression that emerged on Loki’s face, and leaped towards her.
Loki only barely blocked his attack.
The people surrounding them let out a collective war-cry, and all of Loki’s fears were met.
The Chitauri surged toward her, and the Avengers scrambled to meet them.
“Natasha!” Bruce exclaimed, somewhere amid the fighting.
“I’m fine!” Natasha hissed back.
She could hear her making her way towards where Loki struggled to hold her ground.
“Natasha!” Steve’s voice came over the comms, “Natasha, fall back!”
Natasha, of course, ignored him, coming to stand at Loki’s side. She huffed out a breath, taking a second to reload her guns.
“You alright?” She asked, blocking her com so only Loki would hear, and went back to shooting Chitauri.
“About as well as I can be.”
“Oh adorable,” Tyr cackled, eyes glinting in amusement, “Now you would need a mortal’s protection.”
He attacked again, and Loki’s daggers clashed with his sword.
A trio of Chitauri rushed to join him, but Natasha was there to stop them.
She aimed her gun at Tyr’s face next.
“And now you need protection from a mortal,” she threatened.
Tyr froze, shocked, If only for a moment, before the grin returned to his face.
“Alright,” he said, raising his arms, “I know when I’ve been beat.”
And he disappeared into thin air.
“Coward,” Natasha muttered.
Loki shifted her attention to the swarming mass of Chitauri, but they were already retreating.
Half the team had already gathered protectively around Natasha.
“What was that, Nat?” Steve asked, after he’d made sure she was alright, “I told you to fall back.”
“I told you, I was fine,” Natasha insisted, “I had everything under control.”
“It’s not just you we have to worry about anymore. Do you know how Bruce or—” Steve scolded her, “—or Clint would have reacted if they’d been here today?”
Natasha pressed her lips together in a fine line, a stone-cold expression on her face.
Steve sighed, rubbing a hand down his face, “I think you should be going on maternity leave.”
“But—“
“Never thought I’d say this, but Cap’s right,” Tony agreed, “It can’t be good for Bruce’s blood pressure to see you go into battle like this.”
Natasha seemed to deflate at that.
“Alright.”
“Well, not that this wasn’t fun,” Bucky said, “but can we go home now?”
The walk home should’ve been short, but the silence made it feel like an eternity.
So silent, in fact, that Loki didn’t find it annoying to hear a squirrel chattering in one of the trees along the sidewalk.
“Did you know squirrels can’t die from fall damage?” Bucky asked, finally breaking the silence as he stared up the length of the buildings around them.
“Why do you know that?” Steve glared at Bucky.
“Shouldn’t you already know that, Squirrelheart?” Loki teased.
“Sure, if you knew all the types of fish, Fishbrain.”
“If anyone here is a squirrel, it’s me,” Bucky continued as if they hadn’t spoken, “I fell off a mountain and lived to tell the tale.”
“You fell off a train, Buck,” Steve corrected him, “And there was snow to soften the fall.”
“That’s not what my metal arm tells me,” Bucky answered, and narrowed his eyes, “And where did ‘Fishbrain’ come from, anyway? I mean, I kinda get Squirrelheart, Steve has always been kinda squirrelly, but—”
“No,” Steve glared at him, “That’s not why.”
“Steve used an analogy,” Loki explained, “A fish can’t climb a tree, or something like that.”
“You know that Einstein quote?” Steve clarified, “about how a fish will think it’s dumb its entire life if you tell it to climb a tree?”
Bucky let out a slow, understanding, “Oh. . . “
“That’s adorable,” he smiled, “What would I be, then?”
Steve and Loki glanced at each other, shrugged.
“Wolf, maybe?” Loki suggested.
“Wolf, what?”
“Wolfwalker?”
“Why?”
“Because you’re relentless,” Steve explained, “But you’re also kinda slow.”
“Hey!”
“Hey,” Steve held his arms up, “Everybody’s got their strengths and weaknesses.”
“Yeah,” Loki murmured, suddenly serious, “Do you, I mean, can we talk? Like, away from the team when we get back?”
“Sure.”
“Yeah, of course.”
By the time the door to her room clicked shut behind them in the Tower, Loki was already feeling like she wanted to throw up, and it wasn’t from the morning sickness.
She didn’t want to talk about this.
“There’s something I need to tell you.”
Steve must’ve read her expression, because the next time he spoke, it was with the gentle voice he used so often to calm her, “Hey, you know . . . if you’re not ready—“
“No, I have to tell you now. If I don’t, they will.”
“Who?” Bucky asked, folding his arms.
“The Other, I suppose. Or Tyr. Whichever comes first.”
“Okay, we’re listening,” Steve nodded to Loki.
She took a moment to gather her thoughts before diving into her explanation head first.
“Natasha’s not pregnant. I don’t really have the ability to help her.”
“Uh, I’m pretty sure she is,” Bucky protested with a breathy laugh, “Have you seen her lately?”
“An illusion,” Loki admitted quietly.
“And the fact that she’s been having cravings and morning sickness?” Steve asked, disbelief apparent in his voice.
“Stellar acting by a double agent,” Loki said, “You really think she wouldn’t be able to take on the role?”
Bucky shook his head and narrowed his eyes at Loki, “Why the hell would she need to pretend to be pregnant?”
“Because,” Loki started to say something, but found she couldn’t say it, “Let me start over.”
By now, both Steve and Bucky were giving each other nervous glances.
Loki raised a hand to rub her temple.
Norns, how would she explain this?
“Natasha didn’t want me to kill it.”
Yep, that definitely explains it all.
Steve gasped “What?” at the same time Bucky demanded to know what she was talking about.
Loki sighed, suddenly too tired to try to explain in words.
She dropped the glamour.
For the first time in months, there were no illusions to hide behind, no appearance to keep up.
No lies.
She stared at the ground, waiting for some sort of reaction, but neither Steve nor Bucky said anything.
When she looked up, Bucky’s mouth still hung open, speechless.
Both of their expressions were whirlwinds of emotion—mainly shock, mixed with anger and sadness.
They both knew that Loki was sex-repulsed. Always had been, Thor had told them so.
They also knew that Loki had never wanted children.
It didn’t take long for the pieces to connect.
Steve glanced from Loki’s face and down to her stomach. He looked close to crying.
“Are you—Can I—?” He gestured vaguely with his arms, like he wanted to hug.
Loki’s chest tightened at Steve’s sudden hesitance to touch her.
Wordlessly, Loki nodded.
Strong, warm, gentle arms wrapped her in an embrace, soon to be joined by Bucky’s mismatched arms.
Something fluttered in her stomach, a reminder of Loki’s impending doom.
“They’re going to come for it,” she whispered, and a tear ran unbidden down her cheek.
“They’re going to fail,” Bucky spoke, his voice fiercer than Loki had ever heard it as they pulled away.
“Do you—?” Steve asked, “You’re giving it to Natasha, then?”
Yes, she thought, but she couldn’t bring herself to say it.
“I don’t know,” she said finally, “I don’t know if I want to anymore.”
She glanced up at Steve, “But you know how much Natasha wants this.”
“She’s not going to take it from you, though,” Bucky reasoned, “She’ll understand.”
“But do you—?“
They couldn’t possibly want . . .
“Loki, this is your choice,” Steve said seriously, “We’ll stick with you no matter what.”
Bucky gave an affirmative hum.
How did she ever get so lucky?
“I . . . Yes, I want to keep it.”
Steve smiled and let out a shuddering breath, “Okay.”
“I think you’re gonna make him cry,” Bucky commented with a smirk, though he sounded closer to crying than Steve did, “He can’t believe it.”
“So what about . . .?” Steve trailed off, clearly wondering what should be done about Tyr and the Other.
“I have a plan,” Loki said, “Can I trust you two to help me out?”
Bucky and Steve both nodded without hesitation.
“Tell us what to do.”
Loki glanced at them quizzically.
“How good are your acting skills?”