Humans Are So Tiring
The deep voice of the Chitauri leader, The Other, rumbled against the dusty rock ground to be heard by all in the odd dome. Hundreds of thousands, possibly even millions, of unfamiliar creatures filled the arena in such a way that made the entire situation feel like a show. Having all of the eyes fall upon them, Loki felt something they believed may be power. They forced down the fear, not needing it to encroach on the marvelousness of holding awe-filled attention that, for once, was directed at them.
"The Tesseract has awakened. It is on a little world: a human world; they would wield its power, but our ally, here, knows its worth as they never will." The arena, previously dark, began to glow blue with the natural luminescence of the Chitauri army as they pressed their faceplates in their correct place with the rest of their armour. Loki could hear a cheer begin to seep through the crowd, and even in their position knelt before The Other, face hidden by the thick cloak their brother had fashioned them from the skin of Hakurel, they felt that they were in control.
"They are ready to lead, and our force - our Chitauri - will follow." The cheers grew louder yet as Loki was given the signal to rise, and the sceptre was placed in their hands. Loki could feel the approval of the Chitauri and mixed with the feeling of their residual seiðr (as the magic was one they occasionally practised when they presented female to further show the division between their genders to the Asgardian people) making them feel more at peace than they ever had. "The world will be theirs, the universe yours, and the humans... What can they do but burn?!"
When the portal opened all Loki could truly feel was a deeply rooted fear trying to claw up his throat. The blue flames were painful, even against his dragon leather armour, and it left him feeling slightly unsettled, but he forced a smile regardless. Watching the armed humans approach he tried not to move before he could truly understand their intent. It could be that he wouldn't need to fight just then. Negotiation was always his preferred method, not that he got to use it often. His smile fell into a face more contorted with apprehension as he realised they weren't slowing their pursuit nor lowering their weapons. His grip on the sceptre tightened.
"Sir, please put down the spear!" A man yelled. his defensive stance coupled with the distance informed Loki that that man was the one in charge. He looked to his sceptre. Why would they not want him armed when they clearly are? What would they do to him if he were to put it down? He couldn't risk getting himself killed, even if he knew they would war later, he didn't want the people of Midgard to have to fear him in order to lead them. He sent a blast across the room, not really aiming for the leader intentionally, just wanting those with what were clearly weapons to stop pointing them at him. That was when the fight broke out.
He jumped, and shards of metal began to ricochet off of his chestplate. He was thankful for the sturdiness of Asgardian armour, even if it frustrated him to hold a connection to the place that deceived him into believing he had a home.
He jumped and embedded the sceptre's blade into the chest of the man shooting at him. When the two opposite the walkway to him began to do the same he threw his familiar blades, which nestled into the necks of the attackers. He sent a blast of blue light (which he had no understanding of) towards a woman with the sceptre before slashing it up to slice at the arm of one who went to punch him. As more and more people began to fire he sent a large blast towards the group, atomising a man, then kicked the person at his feet into the wall to his left.
He breathed heavily into the silence. No one moved. The silence was occasionally broken by the static zap of broken electronics spraying sparks into their surroundings. One man recovered quickly, and before he could think he was grabbing the man's arm. The blonde flinched, but Loki couldn't find it in him to feel bad. They were going to kill him, and he needed an upper hand.
"You have heart." He spoke lowly, hoping it would calm the man so obviously filled with panic. He tapped the sceptre to the chest of the one held before him, watching as the blue glow that was always associated with Chitauri made its way up the man's neck and into his eyes, which turned entirely black as Loki witnessed the man's, Clint 'Hawkeye' Barton, entire life play out before his eyes in a matter of a few seconds. Once Clint's eyes had turned an unnatural blue, Loki removed the sceptre from his chest.
He did the same to another before he heard Clint's voice echo in his head the same way the occasional prayer would.
'He's taking the Tesseract.'
"Please don't," Loki spoke clearly as he turned to see Director Fury attempting to make a quick escape with the Tesseract in a case. "I still need that."
The man spouted some ridiculousness about not needing things to become more of a mess, and Loki finally felt that fear entirely dissipate into rage. He echoed words he didn't really believe into the ears of the man who would take his words as violent truth, ad lied further when he introduced himself as 'of Asgard'. The only truth he spoke was the fact that he was burdened with such glorious purpose.
"Loki? Brother of Thor?" The scientist of Clint's memories asked. To be entirely frank, it did little to stray him from anger.
"We have no quarrel with your people." The Director spoke, as though you could ever truly be okay with a race that you could comfortably call 'your people'.
"An ant has no quarrel with a boot." His tone was calm, but his words were acidic.
"Do you intend to step on us?" He would have laughed if in the right company, the response sounding so childish to him despite the fact that were they the same specie Loki would have been far lesser in age.
"I bring glad tidings of a world made free from freedom. Life's great lie is freedom, and once you accept that in your heart," He took that moment as a convenient one to also take control of the scientist. "You will know peace."
"You know, you say peace but I kind of think you mean the other thing..."
"Sir," Clint spoke as he made his way towards the God. "He's stalling, this place is about to blow and drop a hundred feet of rock on us." All members of the room began to speak, but all Loki could focus on was Clint's odd speech. He had seen that the man was deaf, and had a contraption known as 'hearing aids', which had broken when Loki had sent the initial blast in his direction. He felt the man's longing at that moment to get to higher ground where he would be safe, and the deep fear and upset over his lack of full understanding of the room. Lip reading was far from easy for the man when there was so much he should have to be listening to. Loki stretched out some of the magic to restore whatever was broken in the device that gave the man hearing, and he felt the gratitude surge in his link as a God to those who followed him.
If he were to be perfectly honest, the time it took for them to leave the place (however that was managed) and set up their new place to work was more than a mystery to Loki. He could remember flashes of blue and be on the back of what he now knew was called a Jeep. What he did know was that after days of familiar floating in his own mind while the world moved around him, he came to in an underground bunker teeming with life, and Clint Barton by his side.
"Back with me, Sir?" The use of Sir had made Loki uncomfortable, but she didn't have the energy to correct Barton or to change herself into her female form, so she dismissed the discomfort.
"What do you mean, Clint?" The man looked taken aback, maybe not truly understanding how Loki didn't know what was happening.
"Here on Earth, we have doctors - healers - for our minds. They teach us about why we react the way we do to stuff, and how that can be treated. You, quite clearly, struggle with dissociation, as I do. It means you retreat into your own mind without realising, like a floating feeling, and your body reacts on autopilot. I've been with you the whole time to make sure you weren't snapped out of it before you wanted to be." Loki felt flooded with all sorts of emotion at that moment. How was it that she felt more understood and cared for at that moment than she ever had on Asgard?
"My gratitude, Clint." The man nodded with a small upturn of his lip before leaving to perform some sort of task he had clearly planned. Loki took some time to assess her surroundings before pulling herself back into her memories with her seiðr.
"The Chitauri grow restless." The Chitauri guard had said while Loki's past-self paced, comfortably in their androgynous body, while she sat off to the side to witness the interaction again.
"Let them gird themselves. I will lead them in the glorious battle." The guard scoffed.
"Battle? Against the meagre might of Earth?" Loki remembered she had felt kind of offended and allowed herself to chuckle at the dramatic look on her past face.
"I had said glorious, not lengthy. If your force is as... Formidable as you claim." The guard had turned just as Loki had and both looked rather disgruntled, much to Loki's amusement.
"You dare question us?! He who put the sceptre in your hand? Who gave you ancient knowledge and new purpose when you were cast out, defeated?!"
"I was a ruler! The rightful ruler of Asgard, betrayed!" Loki of present felt the discontentment fester once more in the form of burning behind her eyes, the same way she had felt it then.
"Your ambition is little and born of childish need. We look beyond Earth to greater worlds that the Tesseract will unveil." Loki then witnessed herself lash out in a quiet tone that she remembered using all too well.
"You don't have the Tesseract yet." The guard flew over rocks and ash and dust to Loki of time passed, a threatening hand held in front of them towards the Deity. "I don't threaten. But until I open the doors until your force is mine to command, you are but words." The slow lowering of the guard's hand, both in Loki of the memory and the moment, brought feelings of victory.
"You will have your war, Asgardian." The guard had begun, staring their slow walk in a circuit around Loki. "If you fail, if the Tesseract is kept from us, there will be no realm, no barren moon, no crevice where he cannot find you. You think you know pain? He will make you long for something as sweet as pain." The guard stopped behind Loki of then and slowly reached their hand out as they spoke, and as the word pain was uttered, they pressed their hand against the memory Loki's face. Loki presently remembered the searing, white-hot, everything that that touch had brought, and so snapped herself into the present once more. Her resolve tightened. She had a plan.
He could hear the gentle classical music faintly as he entered the building. He didn't recognise the song, but like any good member of Asgardian elite, he could muddle his way through a song's melody and estimate when it would come to a crescendo. If nothing else, Loki wanted drama. He altered the sceptre into a walking cane and revelled in the fact that it, like his shoes, clicked on the marble with each fitting beat. He let himself look out over the rail at all the people below and delighted in the elegant stairs. He trotted his way down them and towards the congregation. Just as the first sharp note of the violin stuck the room, as he had estimated it would, he swung his 'cane' into the fact of some entitled aristocrat. A sharp gasp filled the elegant room and grew into loud fearful tittering as Loki dragged the man Clint had described by the back of his neck to the centre of the room. He flipped the man onto the stone slab in the centre of the room, allowing himself a moment to take in the frankly beautiful sculpture before using his immense flair to get a perfect copy of the man's eye sent to Clint (simultaneously pulling it out). The music had finally stopped, everyone running for their lives and screaming.
Showtime.
Not before long, he was in his traditional Asgardian armour and cape. The black green and gold always bought him solace, even if he favoured red in his offerings. He used his natural power to create decoys of himself, boxing in those who tried to run.
"Kneel before me." He spoke in perfect German. "I said... kneel!" He had slammed down what was once more his sceptre during his pause and revelled as they began to come to their knees before him. He had always valued an ability to listen. He began to wade his way through the people who, sat on their knees, came up to his waist.
"Is not this simpler? Is not this your natural state? The unspoken truth of Midgardian life - of humanity. You crave subjugation and for the bright allure of freedom to diminish. It kills off your joy to fight in a mad scramble for power and identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel." Finally, he could speak uninterrupted. He would admit to himself that he had been projecting slightly, but how could he be wrong? How could it be possible that they didn't feel that way when their freedom had been sucking their optimism for so long?
But then a man stood.
"Not to men like you." Loki couldn't help but laugh for a multitude of reasons. He was a god, not a simple man, and considering he spent quite a lot of time not even being a man he doubted he could truly qualify.
"There are no men like me."
"There are always men like you." The reply made him regret letting Barton teach him German.
"Look to your elder, people: let him be an example." He shot a blue beam towards the too brave man, revelling in the control he felt he had been given. He was so prepared to see the man atomised.
That was, until the dreaded soldier (who Loki believed, from his red, white and blue get-up, had way too much faith in America) dropped from seemingly nowhere to save the man with a fancy painted bin lid.
"Ya know, th' last time I was in Germany I saw a guy standin' over everybody else. We ended up disagreein'." Loki allowed himself to sneer. He wasn't anything like that spineless creature! He did not needlessly hate, he did not destroy needlessly. Loki held power and control, but Loki knew how to wield it for benefit.
"The soldier: the Man Out of Time." Loki taunted, remembering the articles Clint had showed him. They had a long travel from their base to Germany, and they used it productively.
"I'm not the one who's outta time" The soldier spoke just as Loki heard the approach of a near-silent jet. A gun dropped from the base.
"Loki, drop the weapon and stand down." He knew then that if their plan were to come to fruition, he'd have to at least pretend to fight. To begin with, it had only been the soldier he had been dealing with, but before long some obnoxiously loud, unintelligible music blared from the speakers of the jet, and Iron Man swooped from the sky to lend a hand. To Loki, it was a blessing. He could fake his loss far sooner. The loss of pride would be more than worth it once Midgard was his.
It was hard to ignore the incessant mumbling chatter of the two accompanying him in the back of the jet, though he had to admit that Stark's nicknames were creative and the only thing truly distracting him from the pain the cuffs gave his wrists. Thunder and lightning crashed suddenly. Loki couldn't help but squirm a little. That blasted blonde brat was going to ruin Loki's whole plan!
"What's th' matter? Scared of a little lightning?" The Captain had asked. Loki suspected he was attempting to be insulting.
"I'm not overly fond of what follows."
Moments later, Thor, of course, had forced his way into the ship, whacked Iron Man with his favourite hammer, and taken Loki by the neck. He had ignored Loki when he had gone in for a hug and had instead jumped out of the back of the plane. He threw Loki to the rocky floor the second he landed.
"Where is the Tesseract?"
"I missed you too..." Loki muttered with a laugh once he had finished his pained groaning.
"Do I look to be in a gaming mood?"
"You should be thanking me! With the Bifrost gone, how much dark energy did the Allfather have to conjure to bring you here to your precious Earth?" Loki rambled as he slowly sat up. The pain in his back was overwhelming. Thor pulled him up the rest of the way, cupping the sides of Loki's neck this time with both hands.
"I thought you dead!" Loki couldn't help but be selfish in his responding question when he could so clearly see the man's blue eyes well with tears.
"Did you mourn?" His tone was softer than he would have liked.
"We all did. Our father-"
"Your father." Loki quickly interrupted. Thor let him go roughly. "He did tell you my true parentage, did he not?"
"I care not of your parentage! We were raised together - fought and played together. Are you to forget all of that?" Loki so fondly remembered, and it made what he could not forget all the more painful. The betrayal burned brightly and festered in his veins, bringing tears to his eyes, a rock o his stomach, and spite to his heart.
"I remember a shadow. Living in the shade of your perfection. I remember you tossing me into an unrelenting abyss. I, who was, and should be a king! That I cannot forget."
"So you come to take the world I love in recompense?" Thor asked. And all Loki could think to reply for a short while was a tear-filled yes before he could finally push his permanently polarised emotions down. That was, until Thor quickly continued. "Recompense for your imagined slights? No, Loki, the Earth is under my protection and I will not allow you to take it from me." Loki laughed deliriously, not really knowing what else to do. Thor knew how he was treated on Asgard when female. Thor knew all of the things he was forced to watch - to endure. Thor knew how deeply he longed for what he loved most to come back, and Thor witness his years of mourning and anguish when he lost his children. For Thorto call the slights imagined Loki could almost believe that he had forgotten all of the good times he had had with the man he had believed his brother. He allowed his time to blur by in rage caused mist until he heard Thor's words fill with tears once more.
"-and you come home." And Loki allowed himself a final truth.
"I don't have it." The rest of the fight went quickly, and soon he was once more on a jet.
When Loki was being escorted to what he assumed would be a cell it was by approximately twelve soldiers. He had kept a small smile on his face, but when he was brought past a lab it stretched wider. Bruce Banner - the Hulk, and the key to his plan's success - was only a wall away from where he was walking. He smiled at the others in the room and was more than surprised to see a child working on something in there that, honestly, looked complicated. Did they allow youngers to fight on Earth? Was the child given the same level of respect as the other soldiers? Could Loki finally stop feeling permanently a little tired from having to hold up a visual visage of being older? It gave him hope.
Lost in his thoughts Loki was soon locked in a large glass cage, clearly meant for Hulk by its large size and lack of furnishing. Director Fury paced by his door momentarily before walking to what was very obviously a control panel.
"If it is unclear, you try to escape, you so much as scratch that glass," At this point Fury started pressing a few buttons. Loki made sure to memorise them, he knew he could probably use them later. Given the fact that the whole floor dropped out from beneath his cage, and from the glass, he could see the world so far down below, he was more than scared. He was, however, also fully prepared to use the knowledge to his advantage. "You're diving thirty thousand feet in a steel trap. You see how this works?" Fury closed up the floor before making a delightful callback to their initial meeting.
"Ant." He said, gesturing to Loki. "Boot." He finished as he made the same gesture to the controls. Loki didn't bother stifling his laugh.
"It's an impressive cage." Loki laughed there and tried to make it sound convincing. "Not built, I think, for me." Loki allowed himself to wonder the cage a bit, taking a look at the rest of the room, and where all the cameras and doors were. He was delighted to see there was three of each.
"Built for something a lot stronger than you." Fury replied. His fear tactics were commendable, but Loki knew the truth. They weren't all that effective.
"Oh, I have heard." He turned to look straight into the nearest camera. "A mindless beast; makes play he's still a man. How desperate are you that you call on such lost creatures to defend you?" Loki couldn't control his tone there. He was starting to get annoyed being spoken to once more as though he was lesser.
"Well, let me know if 'one of real power' wants a magazine or something." Loki watched the man walk away then before hearing smaller footsteps creep around the door. He reached out his magic to play a looped couple of seconds on the cameras, allowing the child the moments to do what they wanted without being yelled at for it later.
"I know of your presence, child," Loki said once he was sure no one could watch their conversation as he was so sure that they had been earlier, and he spun around to face the kid. "Have you been permitted entrance here?" The child shook their head. "And are you aware of the dangers I present?" The kid laughed and Loki froze.
"You're not dangerous, you're a kid in a box." Loki could think two things at that moment: 'what ' and 'I may have to kill a kid '.
"... Pardon? I'm not an infant, boy, I'm a God." Loki watched the boy smile and bring his wrist up to show a watch with a keypad.
"What is the average Asgardian lifespan?" Loki spluttered about the relevance before the child prompted him once more.
"5071 at approximate." Loki watched the child press some buttons before looking back towards the god.
"And your age?" The god sighed and ruffled his hair in a nervous habit he had never been able to break.
"1048..." Loki mumbled and the child smiled wider. Loki was definitely going to have to kill a kid.
"Now, if you divide the average human lifespan (79) by the Asgardian one (5071), then times it by your age (1048), you'll find that you, according to humans, are like 16 years old. Making you, Loki, a child, and one only like 6 years older than me." Loki sighed and thought and considered his options for a minute. She also took a minute to consider herself before deciding she was once more a goddess, not a god. The child held no deceit, Loki's powers could tell her that, and he seemed trustworthy. Loki supposed she could show her true age considering the boy had already figured it out, and she could also use the moment to get out of the uncomfortable male body.
"Very well. I have the viewing devices looped. I suppose, as you have figured it out, I can show myself to you." The child fell silent momentarily leaving Loki to shift. Was something wrong? Did she fall into some kind of trap?
"No way!" He exclaims. "You're actually genderfluid? Like in the myths?"
"What is... gender fluid? It sounds like rather odd sustenance." Loki had meant it a genuine question, never having heard the term before. She felt even more puzzled when the boy laughed himself to tears.
"No no no, it's where your gender" Loki had never heard of the term 'gender' before. Asgard was more than happy to just refer to people as what they said they were, a label for it was unnecessary. Luckily for Loki, the boy explains. "- whether you're a boy, a girl, or something else - changes."
"And you midgardians needed a label for that? Why cannot it be said I simply am a man or am a woman or anything otherwise?" It had seemed a very basic question, but the boy sighed sadly, and it had Loki considering herself and her choices for while she was here.
"Because some people don't think you can change it. They think you have to be the one you were told you were at birth. Those people are called transphobic." Loki was attempting to consider that before she heard a call of 'Peter' from the hallway from a voice that was so clearly Stark in its haughtiness. The boy turned t look at the door, telling her it was his name.
"Ah, so that is your name: Peter? Why does Starkson call you?" Peter sighed.
"Unfortunately, I'm a stark son too," He said before slapping his hand over his mouth. He clearly hadn't meant to say that. "Uh... I mean... My surname is Parker, and you heard nothing that could suggest otherwise." Loki laughed. Maybe she didn't have to kill the child, she decided she rather liked this one.
"I will not share that fact, child. Now go, Parkerson, before you are found with me." Loki changed his form back into the same one he had been using previously, shifting from foot to foot and ruffling her hair. The body felt too tall, too broad. She felt as though she was lost in it. It was rather uncomfortable, but it would be better than if any of the workers here were one of these 'transphobics' and killed her for it or something otherwise.
"One more question!" Peter said urgently when he very clearly should have been leaving given the voice was getting dangerously nearer. "Do you hear prayers?" Loki gave a small, soft smile, and she responded quieter, slightly saddened.
"Yes. Each one directed to me. Though I don't receive many any longer..." Her sadness was not one she could easily hide. She used to receive prayers often, people going to her for support or to leave her offerings to show their appreciation. It was one of few things that brought her solace until they slowly tapered off. She received hardly twenty or thirty a day now, which would take barely a few minutes from her day. Loki was knocked out of her melancholy thoughts by Stark's calls, which were far louder, no longer an echo.
"Thank you, Goddess Loki. Bye!" The child didn't wait for a response, he simply slipped out the door. Loki could faintly hear their interaction.
"What are you doing back here, Peter?" The man sighs.
"I got lost on my way back from the bathroom." Given they walked away together there in silence, Loki assumed Stark believed Peter's lie. So the child could be one of her own followers: he held the properties.
He was clearly mischievous, having snuck away to see Loki. He clearly wouldn't tolerate people trying to hide things or lie (the child literally called out a goddess). He was strong at heart and caring, that was obvious. He was open-minded, and clearly saw grey zones where others may see black and white. Loki could very well be the child's patron deity. The patron deity usually didn't know that someone was one of theirs until that person also did, at which point they could either decide not to have deity connections, or to work with their patron. Loki had a feeling she would be hearing from the young Peter, and she could safely say she wouldn't mind.
She gave herself time to consider Peter and quite a lot of it. She could feel disturbances around her sceptre, one of them that may have been Peter, though she wasn't so sure. She'd let them have their fun - they wouldn't find anything. How could they? They were only humans.
Loki, as usual, had timed everything perfectly. They were just having their spat with Romanoff as they knew Clint would be starting his break-in. Unluckily Romanoff was too good at her job, and in Loki's blinded anger they spilt that Banner was their plan. Regardless, Loki knew they could still succeed. They had lied though. They would kill her if necessary, they would never let Clint do it. Loki would like to believe that they and the man had bonded. They knew that Clint was under the control of the sceptre, of the Tesseract, but they had shown themself entirely to Clint - their age, their gender, their life. Clint had helped them puzzle their way through why they lost so much of their own time. Clint had taught him German, and they had shared life experiences. Loki knew it was careless and stupid to have done so, but they finally felt they could trust someone. They finally had a friendship. They weren't then going to hurt that first person to ever truly extend them help - they weren't so stupid. They just hoped Barton could see so.
Romanoff did give Loki a good chance to distract everyone. Before long, all of their main players were in the same room - the room with the sceptre. They were already in the midst of starting an argument, so it didn't drain Loki too much to push the sceptre to heighten the anger and frustration of all in the room. It would give them all a distraction, and it would give Loki the necessary time to get Clint and the others on the ship. It was all seeming very convenient.
Until they heard Peter's voice in the back of their head.
'Loki, I come to you now in a time of need for guidance and support. I feel a rage. One I thought I was long over, and a hurt I know will never heal. I ask of you, please can you help clear my mind. The words said to me were wrong, and the actions of the room are loud. I come to you asking for focus.'
It was a format they had heard before. A woman who had prayed to them daily and sat down in astral projection often to have lengthy conversations of guidance with the God. She wore a pentagram necklace and always had an aura of yellow. She, now Loki thought about it, reminded them a lot of Peter. Loki reached out their power to the sceptre and scanned the room, finding Peter hunched over himself crying while sitting on the floor. His aura was a swirling red, blue and yellow. Loki reached out with the sceptre's magic to remove all anger from Peter's crumpling form. They received sobbing 'thank you's in the back of their mind that signalled that they had done a good job of removing the anger as requested to clear the boy's head. They thought of potentially removing the sadness too, but then they remembered the need to feel the sadness when something had been said to ensure the person who said it was not easily forgiven. Whoever it was that filled Peter with such doubt and sorrow had earnt the boy's ire - Loki wasn't going to remove that from Peter over a selfish need to see the boy well.
That was when the first explosion hit. It shook the ship and rattled Loki's cage. Loki could hear shots in the distance. They could hear Hulk's roars on the outside of the ship: perfect. Clint rushed into the room with a few others in SHIELD gear and let Loki out of the cage, gave rushed words of update, handed Loki the sceptre, and a nod to each other before Clint was off again, leaving Loki to make a decoy of themself to wait and trick Thor. Clint had told him that it would most likely be Thor to come to the cage first - Loki had to be prepared. Clint clearly worked fast, because soon enough another engine was out and the ship was dropping. Most everything was going perfectly to plan. Lucky for Loki, Thor was nothing if not predictable.
"No!" The blonde roared. Loki's decoy was stood at the entrance of an opening cage, so Thor charged. He moved to tackle what he believed would be Loki but instead, he phased right through. Loki quickly gestured at the man behind them to shut the door, trapping his 'brother'.
"Will you ever learn not to fall for that?" They spoke once Thor had looked at them. Loki startled slightly as Thor slammed Mjolnir against the side of the glass, creating a large crack. He lost his fear, however, when the whole thing teetered as if to fall.
"Some humans think us immortal... Shall we test that?" They said. They were just about to press the buttons to drop the cage from the sky when he heard a loud groan, followed by the familiar sound of a body hitting the floor.
"Move away please." The agent had a gun. Loki, out of a healthy amount of self-preservation, did just that and took a step back. The agent started to walk forward, so Loki did too. They were hoping they could find a middle ground. The last thing they wanted was to be blasted by something they didn't know the effect of. "You like this? We started working on it after you sent the Destroyer. Even I don't know what it does." The man powered it up. It glowed a threatening orange. Loki was hoping that Thor may say something in his defence, but the god stood silently. "Wanna find out?" Loki desperately did not, in fact, want to find out. They quickly made a decoy to stand in their exact position before teleporting behind the agent, where they then stabbed the blades of the sceptre straight through the man's back. Thor cried an anguished no, and Loki pretended that the blood didn't make them want to gag while the man shifted so he could slide down the wall. They walked slowly to the controls.
They made sure not to look in Thor's direction. In that exact moment, they desperately needed someone to give them an out. They didn't fully grasp until they were literally considering potentially murdering their brother how far they were going to have to take the whole situation. They didn't like it.
Instead of voicing this though, an echo of a threat of more than suffering filled their brain. They dropped Thor from the sky.
They couldn't back out anymore. They should have at the start, they could see that, but there was no choice. They didn't want to be forcibly tortured again; they wouldn't cope with more suffering. Loki would have loved nothing more than to have been able to live a normal life on Earth like Thor had been now that they had realised how many people didn't want the ruling it, but they had no choice. They flicked off the panel.
"You're not going to win." The dying man said as Loki turned to walk away.
"Am I not?" They stopped and turned to face the man. He nodded.
"It's in your nature." Loki would be lying if they said that didn't hurt. As usual, they let their emotions take them.
"Your pathetic heroes are scattered and your fortress is falling from the sky. Pray, tell me, how could I lose?"
"You lack conviction." Loki's anger bubbled in their veins so much that they didn't even notice the agent moving the weapon that previously had been resting on his lap to face the trickster.
"I just tossed my brother to his death for this, I really don't think that I'm-" The bast hit Loki square in the chest. It sent them flying violently back and through a wall. They groaned as they hit the floor, the impact forcing the air from their lungs. Faintly, they heard the agent speaking.
"So that's what it does."
Loki had just managed to scramble their way to a jet that they could escape on when a voice echoed in the back of their head. An angry voice of a stern woman, who Loki would be scared to ever come across by the tone in her voice because by Odin's beard she sounded murderous.
'So help me, Loki, if I find my Peter dead because you and your merry band of mind-controlled misfits wanted to take over the Earth I will beat the ever-living fuck out of you !'
And it finally clicked in their mind: Peter was on the ship that just got mostly blown up. Even if it was now stabilised, there was a very likely chance that Peter had been blown up inside of it, or sent flying off the edge of one of the many holes now riddled in it.
Somewhere in their mind though, Loki knew that wasn't the case. They weren't certain if he was alive, but he was certain that Peter was on the ship. If they remembered correctly, there was quite a blast in the lab; Peter contacting Loki when he was in the lab couldn't have been more convenient. He was probably somewhere near there. The boy had brains, certainly, but he was a skinny little runt and they doubted he could have made it far after a blast.
"Hold the ship." They ordered before teleporting themself to the lab. Two teleportations in such a short time-frame exhausted the god, and Loki wasn't certain if they'd be able to teleport both themself and Peter once they found the boy, but it was resolute in their mind that they would at very least make an attempt. They could rest at Stark Tower while the portal was being opened.
They assessed the large hole in the centre of the floor. If they remembered correctly, the whole opened not far from where Peter had been sat. If he had moved over once Loki had aided him, he would almost certainly be on the floor below. Loki jumped into the hole, landing steadily on a foot, hand and knee (like a real hero). Directly in front of them was a very blue looking Peter. The large pole next to his body and the bruising on his arms and neck would suggest it had previously been trapping him. Loki rushed to feel for a pulse...
Nothing.
Panic and sadness filled them and they worked quickly to push magic into the boy's frail heart and mind to jump-start the boy's body into living again and find the reason he had passed in the first place. Every aspect of the memory flooded Loki's mind at once and they searched frantically for the inhaler they now knew resided in Peter's pocket as Peter started weakly fighting for breath again. They forced the plastic into the boy's mouth.
"Peter, deep breath!" The diety panicked, but they felt better as the boy did as instructed, taking in a lungful of medication. "Good, and another." The moment Peter had taken the second and was breathing at least semi-regularly, Loki pulled Peter to their chest.
"This is going to feel strange, but you'll be okay. I'm taking you home." And they teleported them to the jet to make their getaway.
Colours seemed far too bright when Clint opened his eyes. It made it feel like his skull was being set on fire. Everything was silent, and it upset him unnaturally. He could remember all that had happened in his time with Loki; it all dribbled back slowly until it was all too present.
He could remember that to begin with it felt hostile. It felt like someone has torn him out of his own mind and forcibly stuffed someone else in, but over time it had changed. It felt like a gentle smoke clearing his mind of anything unpleasant. He could remember how Loki had filled his mind with incomparable knowledge and understanding of anything he could need to know.
Most confusingly, he remembered Loki.
Loki was nothing how he would have expected. They seemed almost normal to Clint, and so so young. Loki had confessed to Clint that they were not yet an adult and that they were doing this because the Chitauri had saved them. They had to pay their debt back somehow. From what Clint could understand, it was very threatening. Now his mind was clear Clint could fully understand every aspect of how Loki was. He found that he didn't dislike them.
Snapping himself from his thoughts he realised he was strapped down. He could feel his aids, but the fact he couldn't hear anything suggested they were broken again. There was no Loki to fix them this time either.
He jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Fortunately, it was only Natasha. She, much to Clint's relief, spoke clearly. It made it a lot easier for him to lip-read.
"You're going to be alright, Clint." For a long moment, he couldn't really think of why he may have been anything otherwise. He just nodded. She unclasped his wrists and he thankfully took the water she offered. The running and fighting had made him tired and parched. He could do with a drink. She waited for him to be looking at her again before speaking.
"You've gotta level out. It's gonna take time." He was quick to disagree.
"No, you don't understand." From her flinch, he knew he was speaking far too loud, and attempted to be a little quieter, though he was almost certain it didn't quite sound right. "I'm fine. It didn't hurt. Loki... Loki just needs help. How did you get it out." She looked as though she would have preferred he continued, but he supposed she didn't feel she could deny a man an answer to his question when he was clearly so tired.
"Cognitive recalibration: I whacked you real hard in the head." He didn't really know if he should have thanked her, but he did so regardless. It was then he realised something else. He may not have been in pain, and he may have understood Loki's position, but Clint had still killed quite a lot of people. He needed to know... Just how many?
"Natasha... How many-" She tapped him and shook her head, effectively cutting him off. She changed briefly to sign, just t say 'Don't do that to yourself, Clint'. He appreciated it for a multitude of reasons.
"Loki... They get away?" She nodded.
"Don't suppose you know where?" Clint did know: Loki had told him the whole plan. What Clint also knew, was that he couldn't risk getting the diety killed when he was so clearly being trusted, so he found a way to technically lie.
"I didn't have to know, I didn't ask."
Once she reached Stark Tower, Loki was less than happy to know Clint hadn't made it back with them. That meant he was more than likely back in SHIELD's control. Peter had fallen asleep leaning against her on the jet, and she couldn't blame him. He had literally been dead, she figured it made sense he had to sleep it off. The moment they reached Stark's tower she was sending Selvig to the roof and carrying Peter inside. She couldn't tell which room would be his, and she knew she didn't have the time to look, so instead, she simply laid him on a bed in the closest room that had one. She could try to pretend that she hadn't been fondly carrying the boy the whole time, but no one was around to see her so she wasn't going to bother. When she attempted to let go Peter had whined in a way that, to Loki, had sounded far too upset, so she attempted to replace her own body with a pillow. Thankfully it worked enough that his wordless complaints stopped. She stroked his hair (though she would adamantly deny it if asked) before leaving the room to wait on the balcony for Stark.
It was a matter of moments before his ridiculous suit could be spotted just off in the distance; Loki silently thanked her foresight not to take the time to find Peter a room. She knew that placing Peter in the centre of all the action was going to be something she would likely regret later, but she had no other option. She couldn't have left him on the ship with him too far for her magic to be able to check on him, and she certainly didn't want him waking up surrounded by those under her control. It was the best of a bad set of selections, and yet when Stark immediately moved to blow up the device she was sure Selvig had gotten running, she felt it wasn't good enough. The man didn't have a singular clue what could have done! It could have blown up the entire building had she not had Selvig build it a barrier. There was only so much her magic could do, and she was certain that she wouldn't be able to bring Peter back from a being-blown-to-pieces level of damage.
Stark floated himself down to the same level she was on. The last thing she had expected was the man taking off his armour, but surely enough that was what he did. Robots pulled the pieces apart from around him in a complicated and frankly over the top display as he walked himself inside. She tried to hide her slight confusion as she also walked herself into the building, approaching from the opposite side.
"Please tell me you're going to attempt to appeal to my humanity." She snarked. She knew that if Thor or the soldier asked her (or Peter in the correct context, though it would be unnecessarily unlikely) in the right way she could get away with explaining herself and being able to have the whole laughable plot ended before it got too severe, however, she'd never let the Man of Iron have the satisfaction, both for her own sanity and for Peter's. She knew there wasn't going to be enough of a correct opportunity to get her away from the wrath of The Other or even the one higher than that should she fail, but it would be an ideal situation should she be able to stop. Loki sincerely did not want to have to force others through torture in order to follow her any less than she wanted to be tortured herself.
"Um, I'm actually planning on threatening you." The last thing she would want was an all-out fight that ended up waking the boy not even three rooms across, and yet she found herself taunting the man anyway.
"You should have left your suit on for that." He prattled on about things that to Loki were meaningless, being so naive as to refer to her sceptre as a simple glow-stick. One that, if went to plan, would be a glow-stick that overtook the mind of the 'hero' and won Loki a ticket directly out of having to make the situation worse. He offered her a drink, which she promptly denied. She had had a single encounter with Asgardian mead and swiftly decided there would never be a repeat performance.
The scientist's apparent need to take nothing seriously soon began to grate on the woman, so as he poured a drink she moved to the window. She scanned her eyes across the skyline and allowed herself to picture if it would look better or worse once the Chitauri landed: she decided on much, much worse.
"They are coming; nothing will change that," she turned quickly, hoping that her lingering panic wouldn't show. "What have I to fear?"
"The Avengers." He had said it so simply, but the two words had thrown Loki's entire world off-course. What were 'The Avengers', and why was it nothing Clint had warned her of if it were to be such a threat? She wasn't so scared when he continued - the man would really have been a lot better in most fields if he learnt exactly when it was he should stop talking. "That's what we call ourselves. Like a team of 'Earth's Mightiest Heroes', that kind of thing."
"Ah, yes," She granted with a slight laugh. "I've met them." The man prattled on about who exactly Loki should be struggling against, though she couldn't help but scoff and turn momentarily when Thor was referred to as her brother. She pretended she didn't hear the movement of metal or notice that Stark had acquired some new wristbands when she turned back to him.
"When they come, and they will, they'll come for you."
"I have an army." Stark began to walk towards her, what she assumed was mead in a glass in his hand.
"We have a Hulk."
"Oh, I thought that that beast had wandered off?" She joked with a smirk, but she clearly struck some kind of a nerve, because the man's next words came quickly and with far more of a frosty bite.
"You're missing the point, Raindeer Games, there is no throne! There is no version of this where you come out on top. Maybe your army comes, and maybe it will be too much for us, but then it's all on you. If we can't protect the Earth you better be damned sure we'll avenge it." It would have been a motivating speech, and she was sure had it come from the Captain, she could have conceded there. She could have given in and admitted that she had no idea yet how to run a world that wasn't battle driven. She could have finally said that she was being forced to continue now she had realised it wasn't what she wanted because she was to be tortured beyond pain otherwise. She, instead, went for her final hopeless plan and tapped the sceptre to the man's chest, more than surprised when it didn't work. She tried again only to receive the same result and the classic snark of the other.
She grabbed him by the neck and delighted in throwing him across the room.
"You will all fall before me." She mutters before once more picking the man up by his neck and throwing him, this time though she threw him straight through the window to plummet to the floor below. A metal suit blasted through the room and to the floor. By the time she had struggled back to her feet (finding it harder since her body was still too tall and too wide and too not hers) Stark was at the hole in his window in the suit that had just been deployed to him.
"And there was one other person you pissed off: his name was Phil." She knew she should likely know what Stark was talking about, but she honestly had no idea. This, of course, was to be kept to herself. She was soon blasted backwards across the room, and in the exact same moment she hit the floor the entire tower shook.
The portal was being opened.
Stark was very obviously about to fly away to deal with it when Loki heard another voice that filled her with dread.
"Goddess Loki?" He sounded painfully tired, and he stumbled with each step. His voice was weak and his breathing still audibly too raspy and rattling. She was on her feet before Stark could even react.
"Peter, go lay back down." Her voice was slightly too cold compared to the previous tones she had been using with the boy, so his eyes raked the room. He took in the broken glass and his father in the suit and understood near immediately something was wrong.
"Mister Loki," He remedied quickly, hoping Stark wouldn't notice. "What's going on?" He coughed and nearly fell with how much the short sentence taxed him with the energy being used to hold himself up.
"Seriously Peter," Loki said, giving up holding such a strong pretence for the silenced Stark as Chitauri flew down from a hole in the sky. "Go and lay down before you die again, idiot child. Where is your inhaler?" Peter sluggishly searched his pockets and panicked when he couldn't find it. It was then Loki remembered it was still in her cloak. She held the boy's head as she had before, instructing him on when to breathe. It was with Loki's quiet and firm mumblings that Stark finally seemed to find his voice.
"What the actual fuck?" Peter, mouth then freed of the plastic drew a deep chuckle from Loki when he replied a simple 'eloquent' before slumping against the goddess once more.
"No seriously what the fuck?!" Stark repeated before Loki decided to reboot him.
"Help me here, now, or see if your presence can aid the tear in the sky, Stark, I'm too busy to deal with your pathetic malfunctioning." She began to lead Peter to the sofa, wiping away shards of broken glass before deciding to just lay out her cloak and materialise herself another so the boy could lay safely. His breathing was steadying again, but Loki held no hope that it would stay that way long with Peter's dry, rattling coughs. Each was followed by a hearty wheeze that sounded far too close to the one he produced when Loki had first woken him. Stark seemed to decide that flying himself away to fight Chitauri was what he needed to do at that moment, and so Loki continued to pretend she knew what she was going as she fed her magic into the boy's body. He began to fall back asleep, only to be jolted awake with each cough. Loki knew that at that rate, he'd likely have no clear memory of ever waking up, only hazy thoughts of pain and some of his surroundings.
She tried to pretend that was comforting.
She had a total of twenty minutes of steadily feeding Peter low levels of her magic before he finally slept, and so she allowed herself to take herself onto the balcony. Looking at the child so pale whilst remembering how he had looked during their first interaction was difficult. She couldn't decide if he reminded her of a mixture between her daughter Hel and her son Narfi, or if he reminded her of a very sick Thor. Either way, seeing the boy so broken and ill and being able to draw such close connections to those who were and those she thought to be family burned her from the inside out. She safely assumed it was what had her so drawn to him in the first place.
It meant, of course, that by the time Thor landed on the balcony beside her she was magically, physically and emotionally tired. She had strained her magic so far in managing multiple teleportations and making so many models of herself, and holding up her look as it was, was tiring. Once she had spent so long feeding her magic in another direction she knew it would be unlikely she could even hold her appearance for longer than a few hours if she no longer used any of her own power. The fighting, running, and the physical toll of teleportation had wearied her to a point that she felt simply standing too much, and she knew she was a matter of a few short sentences away from giving in and falling to the floor to weep and allow someone to help her pick up the pieces of the truly broken mess she had forced herself into.
"Loki! Turn off the Tesseract or I'll destroy it, then take me to young Starkson." Thor yelled over the sounds of explosions and Chitauri engines.
"Parkerson... And, you can't." She forced out weakly. "There's no stopping it." Her mind was filled with the times the same words had been said to her regarding the deaths, entrapments or enslavements of her children, and it further broke her resolve. Even Thor's harsh tone wasn't enough to motivate her into continuing out of spite. When the jet, which Loki could see Clint was piloting (she tried to pretend that didn't foolishly hurt her), began to fire at her she threw down the sceptre and allowed the bullets to ricochet off of her armour. She fell hopelessly to her knees as each bullet against the metal forced more breath from her. She was more than surprised when Mjolnir flew into the wing of the jet before returning to Thor's hand.
"Look at this, Loki. Look around and see. Do you think this madness will end in your rule?" Thor's tone had become softer and seeing the giant Chitauri creature had entirely broken the rest of Loki's resolve. Thor kneeled next to her and a single tear left her eye.
"It is too late. It's too late to stop this." Thor shook his head and held Loki close to his chest by her shoulders.
"No. We can, together, brother." And for once Loki corrected him in a different way.
"Sister." And she hugged him back.
The pair of them revelled in the now unfamiliar closeness and Loki allowed herself to feel hope.
"The Other, the leader of the Chitauri... If I don't go through with this I have been promised more than pain at his hand." Thor shook his head and ran his fingers through Loki's hair.
"You've known more than pain, sister, I refuse to allow you to experience any more." She laughed, and Thor's smile was, for once, kind. He took the sceptre and wiped the drying tear from his sister's cheek, holding her tight and using Mjolnir to fly them to the rooftop. He handed Loki the sceptre and saw her moving towards the unconscious scientist on the floor.
"I'm going to alter the others. See if you can make progress here for now. I'll be back."
Thor lept of the roof feeling lighter than he had in a while despite all of the fighting occurring on the ground around him. He dredged up all the power he could (adamantly refusing to call it magic as his sister did, given that he only really summoned bad weather, as he had once said to her) and fried as many Chitauri as he could on his way to where the rest of the team were. He took out the remaining six surrounding them and was immediately addressed by the captain.
"What's the story upstairs?" Thor took a deep breath.
"I spoke with Loki, she is seeing what she can do to stop it. The power surrounding the cube is impenetrable, but I have no doubt she can find a solution. She's always been smart when she's not being stupid. If you come into her area, don't fire. She's trying to help: I trust her." The moment Thor finished his sentence the portal began to close. One of the larger Chitauri fighters and probably a couple of hundred others slipped through before it fully closed, and Thor gave a booming chuckle.
"That's my sister!" He cheered, confusing the group thoroughly.
"Why are you calling Loki a girl, Thor?" He heard Stark through the comms. He responded, rightfully confused.
"That is how she is currently identifying herself? Have none of you been making sure she is comfortable when she is no longer male?" He asked in horror to the confusion of the team.
"No? Wha are you talking about, Thor?" The captain asked as more Chitauri rained down on them.
"Later. Now that portal is shut we can clean up down here and I can go find out what Loki meant when he said Peter died." Thor corrected Stark with a rather loud 'she' before continuing to help fry the Chitauri. The numbers were culled down much faster once there wasn't more coming in, and the team worked around the city meticulously picking off each and every soldier. Thor, all the while, was plotting his method of keeping Loki safe.
Loki walked cautiously towards the waking man, not sure if he would still be under the sceptre's control. She was right to be careful, as he began to frantically swing at her as the blue drained from his eyes.
"Selvig, stop. I need your assistance in shutting this thing down!" She yelled. She needed his attention, and thankfully it worked.
"...What?..." His question was rightfully bewildered and he had - blessedly - stopped swinging at her.
"The portal, I need to close it. Is there any way how?" Selvig seemed frozen and Loki had to continually prompt him to get any actually helpful information.
"I wasn't in my right mind when I built it, I'd need a look."
"I wasn't in my right mind when I ordered you to, Selvig. See what you can do." It took the scientist a single slow circle of the buzzing device before his face lit up. He pointed to a small point just below the Tesseract.
"There! That's a safety, should cut the power source. You need something strong to get through the barrier though." Loki immediately handed the man her sceptre. He looked disgusted by it, and though offended Loki could entirely understand his revulsion.
"Would that work?" He nodded and Selvig immediately attempted to force the sceptre through the barrier, but it was clear he wasn't quite strong enough.
"Need me to try?" She offered, taking the handle of the sceptre. Selvig nodded and simply pointed to the exact place the head of the sceptre would need to go. He would give directions of Loki's forcing the sceptre through the energy caused the path to stray, but in less than ten seconds - though it felt a millennium for both who just wanted everything to be over - the device stopped feeding the portal, causing it to slowly knit itself closed.
"Thank you, Selvig, for having more sense than I in this situation." Loki allowed herself to laugh openly with the more than relieved scientist before she took him by the waist. "Hold tight, I'll jump us down to the penthouse." She waited for the shellshocked man to do just that before practically carrying him to the sofa. She sat him down on the side of the sofa the sleeping Peter wasn't, checking on him when she noticed he was still asleep.
"Stark offered me a drink. I said no, but I'm extending you his offer." She said once she was at least partially satisfied with Peter's wellbeing. Selvig nodded with a grateful sigh, so Loki made quick work of pouring him a glass of Stark's mead. He drank it in one, placing the glass on the floor. Loki, in need of her own calming down, moved Peter as gently as she could so his head was in her lap and began to gently play with his curls, once again feeding him low levels of her magic. She knew that soon her magic would stop holding up her looks, but she felt bone-deep in that moment only one thing: Peter was more important.
When The Avengers got back to Stark Tower all three in the penthouse were long asleep. Loki's hand was still buried in Peter's hair, but her looks - fortunately for her - had remained the same. They were shocked out of sleep by Thor's booming call.
"Sister!" Peter immediately started hacking coughs. The sharp intake of breath causing the boy's breathing to once again fall into unnatural shallowness and rattling. Loki fumbled for a moment, not aware yet of all the eyes on her, searching for Peter's inhaler. She, as she had each time before, held the boy gently as she helped him to use her inhaler, slowly beginning to feed what was left of her magic into the boy. His breathing settled quickly, and she moved him to lay in her lap once more. She yawned deeply, longing for nothing more than return to her sleep.
"Yes, brother?" She asked allowing her eyes to close still not taking in the rest of the room. "Is it over?" Thor's footsteps were clunky and familiar as he made his way over to her. He ran his fingers through her hair in an unfamiliar but more than welcome comfort.
"It is over - you did well." She shook her head, tiredly attempting to push all the credit to Selvig for the scientist's forethought. "Rest now sister, and we shall plan how to aid you in your escape of The Other." Loki's sigh was deep and thankful, and just as she was about to allow herself to fall back asleep she heard the same irritating voice saying the same irritating words she had heard roughly two hours previous.
"What the fuck?"
"Tony, Peter is right there!" Romanov, much to Loki's amusement, chides. Only then was it she noticed that Thor had called her his sister in front of The Avengers - the exact people she was attempting to hide her genderfluidity from. (Though she could admit that Peter giving her a label for her identity made it feel a lot more concrete and easy to explain in her head.) Loki tried to pretend she wasn't annoyed the whole team was there - she was, after all, in Stark's living room - but she couldn't help but feel slightly wronged by Thor that he'd tell these people that may harm her for it. That was until she noticed a very shifty Clint. Basic sign language had been a quick necessity to learn in the bunker given how often Clint managed to break his hearing aids, and she would notice the signs of it anywhere. He would scan everyone's faces every moment possible, barely pausing to blink lest he miss someone saying something and lose his understanding of anything going on in the room. She waited for Clint's eyes to scan her before she began to sigh, and he immediately relaxed at the shoulders.
'Your hearing aids broke? ' When Clint sighed it was almost painfully familiar, and his small nod more so. Some in the room looked very confused, but they continued on regardless.
'I've got them in but they're definitely not working. Work your magic? ' She gave the familiar push of a little bit of her power that seeped into the device to correct what was wrong. She clapped twice and was met with a nod - their test to ensure it had worked. They smiled at each other, and it made her more than relieved.
"Can someone actually answer my question here?" Peter resigned himself, blearily, to the fact that he clearly wasn't about to get any sleep and instead sat up to lean his head on Loki's shoulder. He yawned, stretched, and then relaxed again before speaking.
"Can I get a water?" Natasha was immediately moving to get him one to both his and Loki's relief, and he chugged the whole thing once it had been placed in his hands. Selvig, used to the constant loud chatter and movements in the bunker, managed to keep on sleeping. Loki knew she likely could too if she wasn't about to be drilled for however many hours until they were satisfied.
"Where is Peter's guardian? I need to talk to her." She wasn't going to do anything until she knew that whoever that woman was wasn't going to murder her to ensure Peter's safety. The boy perked up immediately.
"Yeah! Where's May?" Stark stepped forwards.
"On her way - I'm one of his guardians. Whatever you want to say to her tell me so we can get this over with." Peter's deep glare had her shaking her head immediately.
"I need her." Peter relaxed once more into Loki's side. "She is, after all, the only reason why Peter is currently breathing - for more than one reason."
Needless to say, Loki was having to artfully dodge a lot of questions before she arrived.
The moment she saw Peter as she stepped out of the lift she took off at a run. She scooped the boy into her arms and began checking him over.
"Patatino I'm so glad you're okay! The moment I'm done hugging you I'll murder Stark for ever thinking it was a good idea you come on that ship. Your breathing is rattling, you've used your inhaler, right?" Peter laughed and kissed her cheek and everyone in the room ignored Tony's spluttering.
"Yes, auntie May, I'm alright. Murder him if you want to - I certainly won't stop you. Yes, Mister Loki has made sure I use it." Hearing the male reference towards herself made her deeply uncomfortable, but none-the-less, having it come from Peter she was relieved. She knew he was trying to help her, and she was more than thankful. That was when it clicked with May just who Peter was resting against.
The connection of her fist on the dragon leather was audible. It hurt the Goddess, so she knew it was likely more than painful for the woman herself.
"Loki you inconsiderate little-"
"-Okay May, I'm gonna stop you there! Mister Loki saved my life, cut him some slack!" Peter cut her off. She was stunned to silence for a moment before glaring. She was about to speak before she was once again cut off - this time by a God.
"Loki is currently a she, Parkerson." Thor was likely trying to be helpful, but both Peter and Loki wanted to punch him in the face.
"A fact, brother, I was hoping to keep secret. Peter was attempting to help." Thor seemed confused, so Loki continued on. "We can have the discussion once we hit what I'm sure will soon be my interrogation."
"Damn right, Loki. You tell me right now what happened with my boy before I get violent."
"You weren't already?" Loki joked before seeing her raised eyebrow. She didn't know how, but that one movement struck more fear into her than any of The Other's threats. "I heard you... On the ship. It was a threat, but as it was addressed to me it worked in the same way as my prayers. I realised, thanks to Peter for calling to me for guidance just before the blast, that he was probably unconscious somewhere in or near the lab." She took a deep breath.
"I found him on the floor below... He was dead, but relatively recently. I managed to force enough magic into him to get his heart beating, and I searched the top levels of his mind so I could see the damage. I used his inhaler to get his breathing steady and I've been feeding him low levels of my magic whenever I've been awake or close enough, but I teleported us to the ship so I could bring him here to sleep. By the time I need to wait for it to replenish he'll be stable enough to go a few hours without it - which I'm afraid to say won't be long." The room was silent for a long while. May sobbed quietly and squeezed Peter (which she quickly had to release due to his wheeze).
"Sister you must be careful! It is not healthy to drain your magic so low!" She yawned once more.
"Well, I'm about to reach such a point my looks may not hold so I'd like to hurry our conversation if possible." Peter had the decency to look sheepish.
"They know you're a kid Loki you don't have to hold it." She turned, more than dramatically offended.
"You told them? You little traitorous quim." She should have come off as angry, but Peter heard the smile in her voice.
"It was necessary if you didn't want to get catapulted out of the sky or shot at any point." She pretended to consider her options for a moment.
"I suppose you may continue to live - I want not to have made myself so tired for nothing." They shared tired smiles before Loki turned to the blissfully quiet group before her. "Ask away I suppose."
It took hours of questioning and discussion before the group came up with a plan decent enough to please Fury and not punish Loki too severely. She was to be kept under arrest in what was soon to be the Avengers Tower (there was enough damage to call for a partial re-build, and Stark called for a rebrand while he was at it). The Avengers moving into the Tower would give Loki significant 'policing', and she wasn't to be permitted use of her magic for the entire year unless it was an emergency. She wasn't allowed to leave the building unless accompanied by at least three others. The UN wasn't pleased, but they couldn't push for more. The Tesseract was returned to Asgard, and the sceptre surrendered to Fury until the arrest was over. All things considered, things were shaping up to be an odd, but wonderful next year.