Chapter 24
Natasha headed for the floor of the building Tony had set up for team members to get rest between missions.
Ever since The Snap she had unofficially moved in here, and now that they were formulating a plan, a number of the Avengers had taken up temporary residence.
It had been an excruciating five years of solitude, and she was continually surprised by how not-terrible it had become to have a bunch of messy boys in her space.
She stopped at the little coffee nook halfway down the hall to start a pot hoping to wake both Thor and herself up enough for whatever was coming next. Armed with two mugs of hot coffee she went to the room Thor had passed out in earlier.
It was a relatively spartan room with a large tinted window in the back wall. Distant lights flicked through the dark glass and Natasha used her elbow to push the dimmer for the lights on the wall up.
The warm white light illuminated the unconscious God of Thunder, passed out on his back like an enormous starfish across the bed.
Thor had dark sunglasses over his eyes but his mouth was wide open as he snored loudly. His robe had pooled at his sides revealing his large gut beneath a tank top which was bunched around his midsection.
Natasha sighed like a put upon housewife and set both mugs down on a side table by the door. She walked over to Thor and removed his glasses, snapping near his ear.
“Come on big guy, time to get up,” Natasha said unenthusiastically.
Thor continued to snore, completely unaffected by her words.
“Thor, come on…” she said firmly.
Still nothing.
She heaved another sigh and used one hand to lift his jaw, closing his mouth, while the other pinched his nose effectively cutting off any oxygen.
After a few seconds Thor began to stir, arms swatting ineffectually at nothing and eyebrows twitching in response to the light. He slowly began to thrash against her hands and Natasha released him quickly, retrieving the coffee cup to hand to him.
“Ahhh… Natasha…. What is the meaning of this? Did I not fall asleep in the correct room again?” He asked blearily, hand trying to lift the sunglasses which were no longer there.
“No, you’re fine,” she said wearily, hands on her hips, “but there’s someone here to see you—”
“—is it Jane?” Thor asked with dazed optimism.
“What? No—why would Jane be here? Focus, it’s—”
“—ahhhhh a I see, a ‘fan’” Thor yawned and used his fingers to make air quotes. He furrowed his brow at her, confused by her annoyed expression.
“What is it? Did my fans not know who you are? That happened to Rhodie once, he was quite distressed…” Thor rambled, completely oblivious like a sleepy toddler waking from a nap.
Natasha heaved a sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose, “Fine, go find out for yourself…”
She took a large drink from her mug and turned to the door without a second look.
“Your ‘fan’ is upstairs in conference room three…” she said irritably and headed back down the hall.
When she returned to check on Steve, Tony and Bruce, she found that things had hardly progressed. Steve was now slumped in a chair with his hand over his face, elbow braced against the edge of the table.
Tony was ranting about all the reasons why allowing Loki to walk around the building freely was a mistake. That left Bruce sitting on the floor holding the empty blender upside down over his mouth, distractedly trying to get the last of the protein shake to drip onto his tongue.
Natasha finished her coffee and set it on the side table drawing Steve’s attention.
“How’d it go?” he asked patiently.
Natasha shrugged, “I think he’s telling the truth—”
Tony huffed and threw his hands up, “this is why you’re no longer my favorite.”
Natasha rolled her eyes, arms crossing over her chest, “he isn’t the same Loki… he started talking about time variances and nexus stuff and I tuned out, but it sounds like the gist is he’s a reformed alternate version.”
Steve furrowed his brow looking unconvinced, “‘Alternate version’? What does that even mean?”
“Well in theoretical phys—” Bruce started but Natasha cut him off with a raised hand.
“—a bunch of complicated sciencey stuff that makes my head hurt, all that matters right now is that he seems to come in peace, and most importantly he says he’s got infinity stones.”
“Wait, what?” Bruce set the blender down loudly, a drop of protein shake running down his cheek.
Natasha stared disapprovingly at the drink on his face, frowning but choosing to press on.
“He said he wants to give them to us—”
“In exchange for what?” Steve asked uncertainly.
“Apparently nothing,” she shrugged, voice cautiously optimistic.
“Okay how much of this little thought experiment are we really gonna entertain? Am I the only one who remembers 2012? Or perhaps the part where Loki came here under orders from Thanos? Bruce back me up,” Tony turned to his green friend for support.
“Yeah, that is true—” he agreed flatly.
“Okay yeah, so he was sent by the big bad we’re busy trying to take out, and all of a sudden he just shows up? Apropos of absolutely nothing, by the way, and I’m the only one who finds that suspicious?” Tony asked incredulous, hand raised like a school boy.
Steve looked somewhat swayed by Tony’s argument, then glanced at Natasha, “he’s got a point…”
Natasha sighed, “yeah, the timing’s not great… but honestly guys, we’re out on a limb here. We need infinity stones and there’s even a chance this is for real I say we at least hear him out.”
Steve considered both arguments, then gave a small perfunctory nod, “I agree.”
“Me too,” Bruce added.
“You?! I thought we were on the same side here?” Tony asked irritably, exasperated by being outnumbered.
“I’m sorry Tony, but she’s right. Anyway on Sakar—that planet I told you about, with the weird grandmaster guy and the angry girl and the people who loved the Hulk—”
Tony nodded impatiently, hand motioning for him to get to the point.
“Anyway, Loki was there, and it was sort of touch and go, but he ended up helping us… he and Thor seemed to be patching things up,” Bruce shrugged hopefully, “so if this ‘alternate version’ says he’s here to help? I say we give it a shot.”