Chapter 26
It starts in math class. Nothing good ever happens in math class.
Loki notices Peter tense from across the room. Loki isn’t supposed to know that Peter is Spider-Man but honestly it is so glaringly obvious. And Peter always seems to know when trouble’s coming. So Loki pays attention.
She can hear distant shouting. The classroom phone rings. Mr. Harrison picks it up and his face goes white.
“Everyone, we have to get in the corner,” Mr. Harrington says. “This is not a drill.”
He locks the door while the kids cram themselves into the only corner where they can’t be seen from the doorway or the windows. Peter stays near the front, and Loki stays near him. She knows that Peter will try to be the hero. Loki does not want any of her friends to get hurt — but she knows what Peter’s secret identity means to him.
“Are you seriously live streaming this?” MJ hisses at Flash.
“If we all die, I want people to at least be able to find out who did it!” Flash whispers back.
There are loud footsteps in the hall. Something bashes against the door, once, twice. Everyone quiets. The door opens, splinters flying. A man comes in, wearing a mask that covers his face. There is a gun in his hands. (Distantly, Loki notes that the Winter Soldier looked much more menacing. This copycat is much less scary.)
“Give us Eugene Thompson, and nobody has to get hurt,” the man says.
Peter inches forward. Loki grabs his hand and shakes her head. “Don’t.”
Loki has always been good at patterns, good at plans. Loki can bet that Peter doesn’t have his suit and even if he did, he can’t reveal himself. Humans are so painfully breakable, after all.
Peter tries to shake off her hand. “Let me go!”
Loki shakes her head. “You have too much to lose, Peter.” She looks at him knowingly.
“You know,” Peter breathes.
“Of course I do.” Loki rolls her eyes.
“You two!” The man shouts. “Shut up or I’ll shoot!”
Mr. Harrison climbs to his feet. “Look,” he says. “They’re kids. There must be a way that we can work this out.”
“I don’t think so,” the man snarls. “Thompson comes with us, or none of you leave this room.”
Here’s the thing about Loki. She isn’t gentle, isn’t often kind for kindness’s sake. But she is fiercely loyal. She’s almost died for Thor before. And Peter is 100 times more worthy of her loyalty than Thor. (And she probably won’t even have to die.)
Loki stands up slowly and starts walking forward, closing the distance between her and the man. She can hear Mr. Harrison and the other students yelling at her to stop, to come back. But she’s protecting them: MJ with her fascination for human suffering, Ned with his tech, even Flash isn’t bad enough to warrant death.
“You better stop, girly,” the gunman says, loading the gun. This, Loki thinks, is quite rude of him.
The man shoots. In the space between the gunman and Loki, a barrier forms, bright green and shining.
“Peter,” Loki says without looking behind her. “Get everyone out.”
Loki moves her hand and a desk crashes through the wall, allowing the students to run out of the building. Loki was trying not to cause any damage, to make cleaning this situation up later easier, but there’s only so much she can do. Mr. Harrington tries to stay behind, which is nice of him but rather short sighted. Loki sighs and uses a smidgen of seidr to push him out the hole in the wall.
“What the —” the man says. Loki smiles darkly, pushes the barrier towards the man, and the man falls onto the floor. He’s only unconscious — Loki would love to hurt him more, for endangering her friends, but she needs plausible deniability.
Loki walks casually to her backpack, grabbing her phone. She dials Tony.
“Holy shit, kid,” is the first thing Tony says. “Is everyone alright? I just got an alert from Midtown.”
“Everyone is fine, Stark.” Loki says smoothly. She sits on the ground, criss-cross applesauce, and waits for the authorities to arrive. “We knew it was going to come out eventually.”
“Knew what was going to come out eventually?” Tony asks.
“That I’m an Asgardian citizen, going to an American school to see how we can be further integrated on Midgard,” she says. “That’s how I know Peter, after all. He’s your intern, and I’m often at the Tower. He is fine, by the way. Not compromised at all.”
Loki emphasizes the last point and hopes that Tony understands.
“You are a tiny genius and I’m so glad you’re not evil.”
Loki sighs. “I’m still in the classroom. I figured leaving the scene of the crime might be frowned upon.”
“Don’t say anything to anyone,” Tony orders. “I’ll call my lawyers. You are not to speak to anyone without lawyers present. You did nothing wrong — in fact, you did everything right. But we’re going to have to do this next part by the book.”
“Sounds good,” Loki says. She can hear sets of feet running up the hallway. “It seems I am about to have company.” She ends the call.