“You’re being a pest,” Jane said without heat, trying her very best to ignore the feather-light kisses Loki was placing on her neck and failing.
He laughed in her ear, a low deep thing that made it hard to think.
“I am the God of Mischief, that will never be taken away from me. And right now, being the fly in your ear is precisely what that entails.” He responded, arms snaking more snuggly around Jane. “Or, perhaps I’m trying to tempt you away from this for just a little while.”
She wanted to complain. She did.
But it was hard to do that when they had spent months thinking they would never so much as brush hands, let alone be wrapped up in one another like they were. With Loki in a button-up Earth shirt and tailored pants and Jane still in his pilfered tunic hours later.
And he was doing such a great job making it so she didn’t want to work on papers detailing what she knew about the Convergence. He learned her a little too well in the hours they spent wrapped up in each other the night before, and he was using that knowledge to his advantage.
Which is why it was a small miracle that her phone rang.
“Don’t answer it,” Loki suggested, kissing the spot between her shoulder and neck.
She reached for the phone and answered it on speaker.
“Hello?”
“Doctor Foster,” Nick Fury’s voice came through the line. “Tell Loki he’s got a job to do.”
“Already?” Loki protested.
“There was a relic we suspect to be Asgardian found in Norway,” Fury replied. “We’ve got a plane waiting for you outside the building to take you up where Coulson and his team are currently going over the info.”
“A plane….” Jane started to say before the light from the glass doors to the balcony was eclipsed by a small aircraft. “Oh.”
“It won’t take long,” Fury assured in a pointed way that also said there would be no backing out of it.
“I’ll return,” Loki said, kissing her soundly before manifesting a blazer, and heading for the balcony, smoothing his suit as he went.
Jane watched him step outside, the doors to the plane opening and Loki hopping inside.
She pushed down the anxious wave of watching him disappear, knowing deep down that there was likely nothing SHIELD could do to take him away from her even if that’s what they were trying. At least for no more than an hour or two.
An hour or two she could work on her papers in peace.
Loki
The small plane didn’t take him terribly far, landing inside the carrier of a larger aircraft. The Bus was what the pilot had called it. Odd choice of name in Loki’s opinion but who was he to judge.
He disembarked from the small plane, adjusting his jacket and tugging his cuffs as he stepped toward Agent Coulson and the formidable-looking woman at his side.
It was the first time Loki had seen the man in person since their rather close encounter with one another. Despite the smile he plastered on his face, Loki’s chest was tight, unease settling in around his heart.
Still, Coulson was smiling back politely, hands clasped in front of him. And while it was likely he was only accepting Loki’s presence because his leader directed him to, he didn’t seem petulant about it.
“Agent Coulson,” Loki greeted him, offering a hand, though the woman still glared at Loki harder.
“Loki,” Coulson replied with a tilt of his head.
Loki withdrew his hand with a nod of understanding, carefully mimicking Coulson’s pose when the woman glared at him harder.
“You look well,” Loki said, eying him over. “I admit to believing there would be some sort of contraption like Tony's former arc reactor.”
“Nothing as cool as all that,” Coulson replied as if he didn’t think anything about Tony’s previous part was “cool”. “Just a simple surgery, and after that I was sent off to recover in Tahiti. It’s a magical place,” Coulson replied, the last bit sounding almost automatic.
Loki glanced at the woman who eyed Coulson nervously but said nothing.
How very interesting.
“This is Agent Melinda May,” Coulson introduced the woman beside him. “Normally, given how few people are supposed to know about your… allegiance, we would be the only two people to see you.”
“You make it sound as though it’s still some sort of secret,” Loki commented as Coulson turned and started leading him deeper into the massive aircraft he’d been brought aboard. “As if my face has not been in nearly every newspaper around the world.”
“It’s blurry at best. Some are even speculating it wasn’t real,” Coulson commented.
Loki rolled his eyes and shook his head, noting Agent May’s lips quick a little at it.
“And it’s still early days,” Coulson continued, “if we wanted to, SHIELD could make that out to be nothing but a hoax.”
“That will work for only the length of time it would take Tony or the Captain to see it. Then I fear you will have righteousness and ego rain down on your heads. Not to mention Thor’s opinion.”
“We were told he went back to Asgard,” Coulson paused, glancing at Loki hopefully.
“Afraid only just this morning he returned as a sort of self banishment.”
Coulson blinked, then turned, leading Loki around a corner to a room that looked walled in by glass. A picture of a pair of mortals was on the far wall, a tall, serious-looking man talking about them to three younger-looking humans.
“Yeah, two at least,” the younger male said as the group looked over a fragment of something. He had curly light hair in contrast to the other’s darker, short strands.
“Which means Sid and Nancy may be looking for a complete set,” the dark-haired man said, “And the markings?”
“Asgardian,” Coulson said as sliding doors opened, allowing him, Loki, and Agent May to join the others. “Which is why Director Fury called in an Asgardian to have a look.”
The taller man had a gun trained on Loki before Coulson could finish his sentence. The other three in the room looked at Loki wide-eyed, much to his amusement.
“I see my reputation precedes me,” He commented before slowly approaching the table in the center.
“Stand down, Ward. Loki isn’t a threat.” Coulson told him as Loki reached for the white, partial stick of plastic lying on the bench.
“Now, let’s not be too hasty. I’m only not a threat to you and your gang of misfits. But I assure you, I am very much a threat,” He looked over what appeared to be a broken bit of staff.
“Loki is doing what we might say is community service.”
“Community service?” One of the females said with righteous indignation. “For destroying a city and attempting to take over the world?”
“If I had wanted to, I would have,” Loki told the girl coldly, meeting her gaze dead on.
She didn’t flinch, but he saw the nervous swallow all the same.
“Loki, that’s Agent Simmons, next to her is Agent Fitz, that’s Agent Ward over there, and this is Skye.”
“Not agent?” He asked her.
She smirked, “Sorta doing the community service thing, too.”
He grinned at her, making Agent Ward tense.
Refraining from instigating too much mayhem, Loki turned his attention to the partial stick. He read the markings, then read them again to be sure he was seeing it right, then gave a delighted chuckle.
“And this is most certainly Asgardian.”
“What is it?” Skye asked in a cheeky tone, “the nail to your brother’s hammer?”
Loki couldn’t contain the snicker at that, peering at the young woman from beneath his lashes, “I like you,” He said to her, finding it amusing that she clearly hadn’t known how to take the compliment. “No, it is not the nail to Thor’s hammer, though that will be an amusing anecdote to tell Jane over dinner this evening.”
“Really?” Coulson asked in a tone that betrayed nothing.
“I’m sure she would find it as amusing as I do. And if not, Miss Lewis certainly will if she deigns to make an appearance.”
“What is it, then?” Agent Fitz asked, his desperation to know buried under a venier of seriousness.
“It’s part of a Berserker staff,” Loki told him, setting down the model. “They are no longer used on Asgard. In fact, the Berserker army is near as legendary as the Valkyrie at this point. They were around when I was much younger. I think I hadn’t quite reached three-hundred when Odin retired them.”
“Three hundred,” Skye repeated under her breath, glancing Agent Ward with wide eyes.
“Why did Odin retire them?” Agent May asked, earning Loki’s attention.
“Because the staffs were said to bring out the worst in anyone who held it. And that rage, that thirst for battle, became rather addictive. It would start brawls, both with regular citizens as well as the Einherjar. Nearly nothing could stop them.”
“So why did we find it here?” Ward asked, crossing his arms, standing tall.
“It was said that the last army of them was sent here, to Midgard, but I’m uncertain of the reason. I would guess perhaps a rogue bunch from Jotunheim, perhaps someone from another realm? Whatever the reason, I’m sure Odin would have seen value in letting them loose. But I did not hear tell of the Berserkers again except in whispers, in texts from the archives that were often missing more than a few pages.”
“We have an expert on your people here on Earth.” Coulson said, “We consulted him after we first found your brother’s hammer. He might have an idea as to why they were here, and maybe why one of the pieces of their staff was left behind.”
A niggling of something tickled at the back of Loki’s mind, something he’d read coming to mind for the first time in quite a while. Something he had paid little to no mind to in the past.
“Would the invasion in London have maybe triggered something, activating the way to find it?” Fitz asked, tapping a writing utensil against the surface he was leaning on.
“I sincerely doubt it,” Loki replied, running his hands over the marking. “What came here was far more ancient than this staff, it would have no effect on it.
“So how would these guys have only found it now?” Skye asked. “Did it call to them by magic?”
“Just because we don’t understand something yet doesn’t mean we should regress to the dark ages, Skye. Talking of magic and fairy tales,” Agent Simmons said with an eyeroll.
“You think magic something of fairy tales?” Loki turned to her.
She was far less nervous this time. “Everything has a scientific explanation. Magic is make believe.”
“Magic,” Loki said, producing an illusion behind Agent Simmons and Sky, “is just science you don’t understand,” he and the projection echoed, causing Agent Simmons one to startle and stumble back into Agent Fitz.
“Simmons,” Coulson said, “Maybe don’t antagonize the God that nearly killed me.”
“I assure you, there is no antagonizing,” Loki replied. “I’ve had enough speculation from Jane over the last year to know how your mortal minds work. She’s even parroted the quote to me more than once.”
“I find it hard to reconcile you and Doctor Foster being that close.” Coulson commented in that knowing way that usually preluded the reminder that Thor had had his lips on her.
“I assure you, Jane and are very close.” He countered before Coulson could say anything.
“Who is she, your girlfriend?” Skye teased.
“As a matter of fact, yes,” Loki replied smugly.
Skye reared back, muttering, “huh,” under her breath.
Ward sighed. “These guys found the piece of staff in hundred-fifty square kilometers of Norwegian forest. In your opinion, could they have found it by magic?”
“That I can’t say for sure,” Loki said to the man. “If they’re simply mortal, then it was likely that they had another reason to think to look there. A legend I’m unaware of, stories passed down. Maybe your expert will have answers.”
~*~
“Thanks for stopping by,” Coulson said as he and Agent May walked Loki back to the small aircraft he’d taken aboard.
“An odd sentiment coming from you,” Loki replied with a grin.
“I admit, wasn’t liking the idea of having you on board after what happened last time we met. But Fury was right, you are different.”
Loki simply shrugged, still feeling a little raw after his confession to Thor not twenty-four hours before. He was certain Coulson was merely making the point, having already heard Loki’s side of things, and it deserved no addressing.
But there was something that had been bothering him, and he glanced around the carrier before he met Coulson’s gaze.
“No mortal can be an expert on anything Asgardian,” Loki warned him, glancing at Agent May. “The last time any of us have been here was six hundred years ago, and I can tell you we did not impart knowledge in how to identify Asgardian language. What you found? I can’t even say I’ve seen one in person on Asgard.”
“So what are you saying?” Coulson asked.
“I’m saying that there was once word that one of the Berserkers didn’t come home. No one really believed that, of course, for who would want to spend their days away from the splendor which is Asgard. But I’ve learned in recent times that Asgard likes to sweep the ugly truths of itself under the rug.”
Coulson gave a nod of understanding, and Loki went on his way.
~*~
He received the tip through Jane, a message from Coulson that told him that he might want to pop over to Seville, Spain in the next day or two. After a quick consultation of the map, and Loki had made his way to the small university Coulson suggest he go poking around.
The man in the room appeared unassuming by all accounts. If he hadn’t recalled the rumors of his youth, and if Coulson hadn’t confirmed them, Loki might have never known of the man’s existence.
He wasn’t grey yet, so older than Loki but not by more than a thousand years, two if life on Midgard had been good for the man’s health.
“I know you’re there,” The former Berserker called as he continued packing boxes. “So you might as well just come out and say what you have to say.”
Loki obliged, his Midgardian shoes clicking a little on the wood floors of the man’s office because he wanted them to.
He scanned the space since the man, the one Coulson said went by Elliot Randolph, hadn’t deigned to look at him yet, putting his hands in his pockets.
Loki could tell just by a glance that some of the texts Elliot had on display were ancient by Midgard standards. Far older than a mere mortal would have.
“How many years of history are stored within these walls, I wonder?” Loki commented, meeting Elliot’s gaze as he finally looked up.
Elliot narrowed his eyes at first, then tensed, going on guard.
“Agent Coulson kept mentioning Prince Thor,” He said. “I hadn’t expected Prince Loki to be the one to darken my door. Come to take me back, then?”
Loki chuckled mirthlessly, “No,” he assured. “I’m about as welcome on Asgard as you would be right now. You, a deserter, one who risked his weapon falling into mortal hands. You’d be thrown in a cell as quick as I would should I drag you back.”
Elliot set the books in his hands down on his desk, then leaned toward Loki with narrowed eyes.
“Why would Odin lock his own son in a cell?” He asked in a suspicious tone.
“I suppose you didn’t hear about my little skirmish in New York.”
“No, I head about it,” Elliot said, slowly resuming his packing. “I just didn’t think much of it. You’re, what? A thousand by now? Isn’t it time for you and Thor to start waging war? Conquoring more of the realms? Keeping the ones under Asgard’s thumb in line?”
“You’re right about the age,” Loki nodded, “not so much regarding Odin’s will. I was cast out for it, among other reasons.”
“The King of Asgard cast out his youngest son?”
Loki tilted his head slightly. “I’m not the first child he’s banished.”
“No,” Elliot said with grave seriousness. “You are not.”
Loki narrowed his eyes slightly, mind racing as it occurred to him that this lost man of Asgard likely hadn’t known of Thor’s banishment, which had him wonder what or who else was out there.
“Both princes here on Earth,” Elliot shook his head, “Not a good sign for the golden city above.”
“No, it’s not,” Loki agreed. Then sucking in a breath, he recentered himself. “I merely came to satiate my curiosity. When I had been shown the model of the Berserker staff, I had warned Coulson there may be another Asgardian roaming the Earth.” He stepped closer, “You wouldn’t have happened to have had an affair with an English woman about thirty years ago?” He asked curiously.
Elliot smiled, “No,” He confirmed,
“Damn,” Loki swore automatically.
“You were hoping?” Elliot asked, surprised.
“A mortal woman I’m rather fond of has exhibited signs of perhaps being more than what she appears,” Loki shrugged. “An Asgardian would have been an easy explanation.”
“It would have been,” Elliot agreed, “but I’m not the only off-worlder who came and settled in, either.”
Loki nodded, filing that away.
“I’ll leave you to your packing,” Loki told him. “And know that I will keep your secret. From Thor as well as anyone else who might pose a problem for you.”
“Thank you,” Elliot replied, and Loki smirked at the lack of deference paid.
He supposed they were more equal now, after all.