Chapter 28
Sylvie allowed her mind to go quiet as Loki kissed her softly. It had already been an emotionally if not physically demanding day. She nudged him with her nose affectionately making Loki puff an amused breath against her lips.
“I wish we were alone…” he murmured softly.
“We are alone,” Sylvie countered playfully.
“I wish we were alone somewhere more private,” he clarified with a small smile.
“And why is that…?” She breathed a little desperately, arms resting against his chest and hands gripping the front of his shirt.
“You know why…” he said breathlessly.
“Mmmm,” Sylvie hummed, “something about Avengers HQ got you going?” she teased softly.
“Mmnn… something about you…” he kissed along her jaw to nip at her ear, “you always get me going…” he purred.
Sylvie tried to huff a quiet laugh but it came out needy and breathless, “what am I going to do with you?” she whispered.
“Anything you wish,” he murmured softly into her ear, placing another kiss at the corner of her jaw before pulling back slowly to look at her fondly, “I told you before… I’m yours.”
•- — - • - — - • - — - •
Tony turned his chair distractedly with his feet while he flicked through his Stark tech phone. The advanced device allowed him access to every camera in the building—including the ones in all the conference rooms.
After the rest of his team had dismissed his concerns Tony had felt powerless to protect them from what was certainly an obvious trap. He called up the surveillance footage quietly, ignoring Steve and Bruce’s conversation about whatever had happened on Sakar.
He watched as Loki talked with his brother and wished he felt more animosity towards their would-be-enemy. As they spoke it was clear how pained Loki was. He wanted to chalk it up to an act but the Asgardian seemed surprisingly genuine. He tuned in and out of Steve and Bruces’ conversation, adding input when called upon but mostly remaining uninvested.
Eventually Natasha and the mystery woman joined the two brothers and Nat shepherded Thor out of the room. He heard them down the hall, the female Avenger scolding the God of Thunder as they approached.
“—her name is Sylvie, I’m sure Loki will introduce you properly later…” Natasha said wearily.
Tony looked up at Natasha and Thor, pretending to be surprised by Thor’s transformation as if he hadn’t been watching on the surveillance camera.
“That was quick—what’s your secret? South Beach Diet—?” Tony deadpanned.
“Ah yes, afraid I was just born this way my tiny friend, privileges of my Asgardian birth…” Thor boasted.
Natasha rolled her eyes, “I don’t know, you seemed a little more relatable before—though I won’t miss the grungy bathrobe. That had to go,” she said flatly.
Steve looked him over, expression concerned, “are you alright? I know firsthand how disconcerting a large body transformation can be…”
Thor huffed irritably, “I don’t know what transformation you speak of, I tire of this idle mockery, I require more sustenance,” he grumbled and turned to head off to the kitchens.
Tony had ignored most of the last five minutes in favor of watching the security camera on his phone. Loki and this woman who Natasha identified as ‘Sylvie’ seemed entirely wrapped up in each other.
There was a strange softness to the man’s movements which Tony hadn’t seen before… when they had spoken all those years ago, Loki had certainly been precise in his movements, almost graceful, but there was a gentleness to him with this woman he could never have anticipated.
He watched as Loki leaned down to kiss her softly, the mood between them seeming like that of two people in love. They were affectionate and even somewhat playful, engrossed entirely in the world which consisted of the two of them alone.
It was completely inconsistent with everything Tony knew of the man, and it made him wonder if this was really even the same version he had met back in 2012.
“—right, Tony?” Bruce turned to his friend, hand outstretched for backup and face expectant.
Tony looked to his friend inhaling deeply, “Hm? I wasn’t listening…”
Bruce heaved a sigh and continued on his rant regardless.
Tony turned to Natasha who was leaning against the wall by the door nearby, “what about Loki’s mystery date? She a threat?”
Natasha looked impassive, “I don’t think so, she genuinely seems to be here as support for Loki…”
“So they got a Bonnie and Clyde thing going?” he asked skeptically.
“I’d say more Johnny and June,” Natasha smirked.
Tony looked taken aback, “Agent Romanov, look at you diggin’ deep with the Johnny Cash reference, whatever happened to the upright S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who infiltrated my company all those years ago?”
Natasha rolled her eyes looking a little smug, “you’re not the only one who listens to music, Tony,” she pushed off the wall to walk over to where Steve was sat by the table.
“Did Loki tell you if he has the stones on his person or stashed somewhere?” she asked with a weary professionalism as she leaned against the table next to him.
“He didn’t specify, just said he had two infinity stones.” Steve looked up at Natasha, brows furrowed with reluctance and exhaustion, “Nat, are we making a mistake here? I mean, I know we agreed to give him the benefit of the doubt, but just turning up with two infinity stones—doesn’t that feel a little too easy?”
Natasha gave him a half shrug, “perhaps, but from the sound of it they could chose any time to visit and they picked this one, maybe they thought coming now would do the most good…”
Steve smiled hesitantly and sighed, “I don’t like all this time travel stuff, gives me a headache…”
“That’s what I’ve been saying all day,” Natasha said with a huff of laughter, “it’s not the kind of war we were trained for.”
“Definitely not,” Steve said wearily.
Tony suddenly got up from his chair with a sense of authority, “alright. I’m making an executive decision. These two have gotten to play one on one with three members of team so far, I say it’s time for a group offensive.”
Bruce looked at Tony skeptically, “what you wanna challenge them to a game of doubles?”
“That wouldn’t exactly be a group effort, Brucey,” Tony said casually, “no I’m thinking more like a team interrogation.”
“That—doesn’t sound like a good idea,” Steve said reluctantly.
Tony rolled his eyes, “well they don’t have to know it’s an interrogation, we just say… we wanna offer them some hospitality, dinner and a few drinks to show no hard feelings,” he explained hastily.
“But secretly it’s an interrogation,” Steve said skeptically.
“Uh, don’t you think he’ll find that suspicious…?” Bruce asked.
Tony huffed, “who cares? He came here ‘wanting to help’ right? That means he expects us to trust him, why wouldn’t he jump at the invitation to a little superhero soirée?”
Natasha stood up from the table, “alright, I’ll ask, I doubt they’ll trust an invitation from any of you three and god knows where Thor went,” she said casually as she walked to the door.
“Yes! That’s two for my plan,” Tony said excitedly, “come on Cap, even a boy scout’s gotta losen up sometime, this will give us an opportunity to ply them with drinks, maybe slip a little something something in there,” he feigned saying the last part as an aside to Bruce with overt intention.
Steve sighed and shook his head idly, “why do I feel like this is going to go horribly wrong…?” he asked rhetorically to no one in particular.
“‘Cause you’re a buzzkill, now come on, Banner you’re with me—let’s go poke around R&D and see if we can’t find a compound or two that might help loosening their tongues,” Tony strode boldly toward the elevators with a reluctant Bruce in tow.
“I’ll try to make sure he doesn’t poison them,” Bruce attempted to reassure Steve as he left the room.
“Geez, this is definitely gonna end badly…” Steve muttered to himself as he watched the two scientists head into the elevator.