Cruel Vengeance

Avengers Tower, New York

June 2011

“You’re really not very subtle, Tony,” Miss Lewis commented.

Stark twisted around his headrest to glare at her. “I’m not trying to be subtle.”

Miss Lewis rolled her eyes.

Loki cast a pointed glance at the gauntlet on Stark’s hand. Sparks were popping from the energy source in the center. “You do realize that weapon can do very little to harm me, yes?”

“We bested you with it once,” Rogers snapped from the driver’s seat.

Loki lifted his chin. “I allowed myself to be taken.”

There was a pause.

“Fine, I’ll bite,” Miss Lewis said. Loki filed the expression away as another Midgardian colloquialism he ought to learn. “Why’d you let us catch you?”

“Ah, ah,” Loki said, and smirked in her direction. “Not until our bargain is sealed.”

Miss Lewis glared at him.

Loki smiled innocently and went back to looking out the window.

He ignored the tension of the other occupants of the vehicle and watched the city go by. It really was fascinating, what these Midgardians had managed to build despite their short lives and relative societal youth. Loki had not visited this realm since they were squatting around fires in huts in the far north and worshipped him as a god. He had learned that most humans now followed other deities while the Norse pantheon was largely considered myth, an irony Loki found highly amusing. The humans had certainly come a long way, though. Vast fields of crops to feed the ever-growing population, glittering cities and weaponry that could decimate millions of people in a heartbeat. It seemed that the Midgardians lacked any compunction about using their “nuclear bombs”, unlike Asgardians, who considered most weaponry beyond traditional swords, shields, and bows to be ignoble. Loki had to admire the Midgardians’ brutal efficiency in wartime, and the occasional brilliant battle commander they’d turned out in the last thousand years. Yet their accomplishments in other areas, like the arts and planetary conservation, were significant as well. Loki had seen many races use their homeworld until it was nothing but a husk. The Midgardians had gone a long time without realizing the damage they could do, but in geological time, it was a blink, and they were turning themselves around. They were nowhere near the point of no return. Loki had to admit a grudging respect. For such short-lived mortals, they burned so brightly before they died.

Darcy Lewis’ attention was fixed on Loki. He could feel her eyes on him every few seconds. He wanted to examine her more closely, as well, but refused to allow her to notice his focus. There would be plenty of time, assuming that he succeeded in sealing a bargain with the Avengers, to study Darcy Lewis.

Loki knew a few things about her already. She had a certification–a “degree”–in a branch of academia known as ‘Political Science’ and had been a sort of student working with Jane Foster during the… incident… involving the Destroyer. That had been their first exposure to the other realms. Since then, it seemed, Miss Lewis and Miss Foster had come to work for Tony Stark, the former as part of a Public Relations team and the latter as a scientist, and while he was not entirely sure in what capacity Miss Lewis served the Avengers, Loki knew hers was a much more significant role than the Midgardian news media realized.

There was a mind lurking behind those pretty eyes, a mind like the razor whips favored by some female soldiers in the Myozarian army: wicked sharp and flickering faster than Thor’s lighting.

Loki looked over just as Miss Lewis’ eyes shifted to him again, and made eye contact.

He cocked his head and examined her with an intensity that had made every woman he’d ever known swoon. As an experiment.

Miss Lewis merely raised an eyebrow at him and turned her gaze forward again.

A faint hint of a smile crossed Loki’s lips and he settled back in his seat, just as the vehicle turned off the street and into a parking garage. This was going to be a pleasant game.

The car parked.

“Out,” Stark snapped, opening his own door.

Loki climbed out and waited patiently while Stark and Rogers cast suspicious glares at him. Neither spoke, but he could tell exactly what they were thinking: this is a terrible idea .

Loki kept his face bland and pleasant.

“Stop waffling,” Miss Lewis ordered, and grabbed Loki’s elbow. “Come on. Point weapons at his back if it makes you feel better,” she called over her shoulder to Stark and Rogers.

Loki stifled a laugh and fell into step beside Miss Lewis. After a second, Rogers and Stark began following them.

Miss Lewis resolutely didn’t look at him while they climbed into the elevator and stood in an awkward square formation. Loki hid his discomfort as the metal box jerked slightly and began to ascend. He disliked these aspects of Midgardian buildings. If it malfunctioned, even he might have a difficult time escaping before impact, and while being trapped in an elevator when it imploded wouldn’t kill him, it would cost a vast amount of energy to free and heal himself.

With a deceptively pleasant ding , the elevator doors slid open.

Miss Lewis marched out into the penthouse space.

Loki followed closely behind her. It was empty.

“Excellent job removing the dents from the floor,” he remarked idly.

Stark smiled sharply. “I was tempted to leave the one shaped like you. As a memento. But I decided it might be a safety hazard. You know, Hulk smashed you so far into the floor, someone might fall in.”

“Admirable concern for your associates,” Loki drawled.

Stark walked over to the bar.

Loki moved casually in his direction. “If it’s all the same to you, I’ll have that drink now.”

Stark snorted and grabbed an extra glass.

“JARVIS, can you send Jane and Bruce up here? Maria if she’s in,” Miss Lewis said.

A mechanized voice came through hidden speakers. Loki concealed his flinch of surprise. “I have already contacted them, save Agent Hill, who is not present. They will arrive shortly.”

“Thanks, J, you’re the best,” Miss Lewis said.

Loki accepted the glass of Midgardian liquor from Stark with a nod and took a sip. His eyebrows crept up. Loki had sampled a fair amount of alcoholic drinks in the brief time he’d spent hiding on Midgard, and this was an excellent vintage.

Miss Lewis leaned on the back of a leather sofa and pulled out her phone.

Loki walked over to stand beside her. “You don’t intend to partake?” he asked, tipping the glass in her direction.

Miss Lewis barely looked up. “Nope.”

“May I inquire why not?”

“Nope.”

“It bites,” Loki said, amused, and took another sip.

Miss Lewis ignored him.

He squashed a flicker of irritation. It only made the game more interesting to meet a woman seemingly immune to him. Darcy Lewis was a challenge, and an opponent, and a mystery.

No , he chided himself. Do not allow yourself to grow attached to a Midgardian. Five years, ten, a hundred–they die, and that’s that. I am something more.

Loki’s fingers tightened around his glass. He was a prince without a palace, nothing more. But he was heir to the throne of Jotunheim and adopted son of Odin son of Bor, and he would not allow himself to be denied his birthright much longer.

All he needed was a chance to gather his wits, repair the damage done by his–incarceration. To hide on Midgard until his strength was sufficiently restored to return to the other Realms and begin gathering forces.

He didn’t have a plan yet. No matter. Loki was nothing if not good at improvisation.

A door hissed open, and three new people walked in.

“What’s going–”

Banner’s voice cut off when his eyes fell on Loki.

Miss Foster lost a step, recovered, and marched forward.

“I am Loki-”

Her hand cracked across his face.

Loki’s head turned seventy degrees with the force. It wasn’t particularly painful, but he was impressed. He had to laugh a bit as he turned back to face the Avengers.

“That was for New York,” Miss Foster snapped.

“I like you,” Loki said with a smirk.

Miss Foster huffed and stepped back, glaring at him. Miss Lewis touched her shoulder once, lightly, with a highly amused expression on her face.

“What is he doing here?” Banner said. 

Loki eyed him. “I am here because I would like to offer you a bargain,” he said.

“A bargain.” Banner did not appear inclined to make any sort of deal with him.

“He’s been pretending to be Derek Bord, a reporter for CNN,” Miss Lewis said. “He approached me today and asked for a meeting. In a coffee shop. We sat down and he was like oh, by the way, I’m actually Loki. Basically he’s offering to tell us the truth of what happened during the battle of New York if we provide safe haven.”

“Safe hav– here ?” Stark’s face was turning an interesting shade of red. “Likely.”

“Let’s hear him out.”

Loki glanced at Rogers, faintly surprised. He hadn’t expected him, of all people, to be an advocate.

Rogers caught the look. “Don’t think I’ve forgotten what you’ve done,” he snapped. “But I’ve certainly noticed inconsistencies between Fury’s story and our observations. I’m willing to listen. No promises beyond that.”

Loki raised his free hand in a gesture of surrender. “That is all I ask of you. I apologize, Captain Rogers, for having used the scepter on your comrades. I understand what it is to have one’s free will stolen.”

Rogers dipped his head less than a breath. It was all the acknowledgement he would receive. Loki stepped around the sofa and the low table until he arrived at a glass conference table, and sat down at a random seat along one side. He was unfamiliar with Midgardian etiquette still, but he predicted that the seat alone at the narrow end of the table would be occupied by the leader or highest-ranked occupant of the room, and he didn’t want to usurp that position.

There was a brief moment of awkwardness in which Rogers and Stark both stepped for the chair Loki had avoided and stared at one another until Lewis grabbed Stark’s arm and pulled him into a seat just to Rogers’ left. Loki resisted a smirk. Evidently the Avengers were not so unified as they let the world believe.

That was good. Flaws, he could use.

Divide and conquer.

If he had to.

“Okay, talk,” Miss Lewis said, thumping down into a seat directly across from Loki. Foster sat next to her friend with the unconscious grace of someone entirely focused on her internal world. Banner, still silent, sat next to Stark.

“You would like to know the truth of what you call the Battle of New York, correct?” Loki said.

Rogers nodded once.

There was a bitter war waging in his heart, between his pride and his pragmatism. The first demanded that he keep his secrets, tell only the bare minimum, lie and evade to hide the depth of his weakness. The second told him that he had no choice but to be honest. If not, he risked his bargain; he risked everything he needed to get where he wanted. Darcy Lewis would be a difficult woman to fool.

Pragmatism won.

Though there was one secret he would not reveal.

“I must begin some time ago. Several hundred years by your calendar,” Loki said quietly. “There was a planet populated by a race known as the Kree. Asgard had been at war with them for centuries by your measure. There were two threats: the Kree government’s official army and the guerrilla warfare waged by armed resistance tribes or movements hiding in the undeveloped land around the cities. The Kree’s homeworld was dying from eons of abuse, and they desperately needed an end to the fighting so they could focus on restoration. They came to me to broker a peace.

“We declared a cease-fire and I convinced Odin to invite a Kree delegation to the palace of the Allfather for the first time in generations. Negotiations are not rapid, for Asgardians or for Kree, but we were making progress. Until an Asgardian military outpost on Kree soil was attacked by one of the rogue militant units, with whom the Kree government had no ties and we had no treaty. Thor used the attack as validation for a suspension of the cease-fire and reengagement with the Kree. I tried to advise Odin and my brother to do otherwise, but to no avail.

“Their homeworld was almost beyond the point of no return when Asgard’s military finally crushed the last of the resistance. With the battle won, Thor turned his sights to other plunders and conquerings, and he left me to pick up the pieces of the vanquished enemy. To become the face of Asgard in the Kree’s collective memory. They rather loathe me now.”

“But you tried to stop the war,” Lewis said.

Loki shrugged. “On Asgard, the Allfather’s word is law. He commanded me to subside, and because I had no power then to resist him, I obeyed. He commanded me to step in as Thor’s strategist in the campaign, and I did. He commanded me to take over the governing and rebuilding of the Kree homeworld in the aftermath, and I did.”

“This is why I hate monarchies,” Lewis muttered.

Loki spread his hands on the table. “Be that as it may, the incident… opened my eyes, as it were, to the way Thor and Odin beheld me. I did not like what I realized. To them, I was the forgotten son, the shadow, nothing but a crutch for Thor to lean on. I realized that though Thor and I were raised as twins, and though Odin had said he would not choose one of us as heir until later in his life, I never had a chance. He lied to me my entire life when he taught me that I could be a king.” Loki knew that his bitterness was creeping into his voice and stamped it down, returning to a cool, emotionless tone. “Moreover, I saw what he did not: Thor was ill-suited for the throne. You know this,” he added, looking at Foster. “He has his virtues, but among his flaws I can list impulsivity, pride, arrogance, toxic nobility, a superiority complex the size of your sun. In my rage and jealousy, I arranged to disrupt his coronation. I never intended for us to go to Jotunheim. There was a guard who was supposed to stop us before we reached the Bifrost, so Odin would see that he could not hand Thor the throne. The guard was too slow. We arrived on a foreign, hostile realm. And I had no choice but to fight the Jotuns, the frost giants, so that I could bring my brother and his friends home.

“Thor was exiled. I became the sole heir to Asgard, but still Odin refused to acknowledge me. I was bitter. I intended for the second attack to come so I could kill Laufey, king of the Frost Giants, and save Odin’s life. I would prove myself to my father.” Every word tasted like vinegar in his mouth, but Loki forced himself to continue, baring his past to these people who in all likelihood wanted him dead. It was a risk. But then again, risks were his specialty. Loki loved to play the odds.

He would keep his last, greatest secret. His Frost Giant heritage–it would only terrify them. Turn them against him. Loki would never gain safe haven if the Avengers knew what he truly was.

“The plan worked,” he said. “My mother, Frigga, crowned me Regent of the throne until Odin woke… or passed. And then Sif and the Warriors Three disobeyed the express command of their sovereign, committed treason, to come to Midgard and find Thor.

“So I sent the Destroyer.

“But when I had Thor there, weak in his mortal body… I discovered that I did not want to kill him. That, despite everything, I still considered him my brother.

“I ordered the Destroyer to return to Asgard.” Loki laughed harshly. “It appears my control was not as complete as I thought. The Destroyer existed for two purposes: to serve the sitting monarch of Asgard and to protect the interests of first its realm and then its ruler. In leaving Thor alive, I broke from the second objective, and the Destroyer took action without my express command.”

“It turned away,” Darcy said softly. “Right before it backhanded him.”

Loki inclined his head in her direction. “Precisely.”

There was a long moment of silence.

“You still haven’t mentioned New York,” Rogers said at last.

“Fascinating family drama, though,” Stark added. “And I thought my dad was messed up. Assuming that you’re being honest.”

“I have nothing to lose by honesty, and everything to lose with a lie,” Loki said. “Make your decision as you will. If I may continue?” He let a bit of acid creep into his voice at the end of the question.

Lewis was smirking.

“Oh, by all means, keep talking,” Stark said. “I’m getting another drink.”

He stood up and walked to the bar, but Loki knew he was still listening.

“I lashed out. When Thor returned to Asgard and challenged me for the throne, everything I had accomplished went to ashes and dust in a heartbeat, as so many times before. I aimed the Bifrost at Jotunheim with the intention of destroying the realm and every Frost Giant on it.

“Thor shattered the Bifrost to stop me. I fell into the Abyss of space between the realms,” Loki said simply. He thanked the Norns for the vast amounts of practice he had as a diplomat and spy with keeping his face smooth and emotionless. The Avengers would get no more out of this than they had to.

Foster cocked her head. “What was it like?”

“Falling through space?” Loki chuckled. “Unpleasant.”

“Pick his brain about it later, Jane,” Lewis interrupted. “How did you survive the fall?”

Loki took a deep breath. “A creature of immense age and power known as Thanos guided my fall until I crash-landed on a shattered world lost to the spaces between the realms. Nowhere in Yggdrasil, nowhere any Asgardian has been before. Or since.”

“ Between the realms,” Foster mused, half to herself. “Erik’s Dunne-Laro hypothesis needs to be adjusted–”

“Jane,” Dr. Banner said.

Foster mimed zipping her lips.

“How do you people get anything done?” Loki muttered, and grinned inside when all of the Avengers glared at him. He so enjoyed stirring up trouble.

“Keep talking,” Stark snapped.

Loki raised his hands. “As you will.

“I was weak from fighting Thor and from keeping myself alive in the space between the realms. Thanos is a seidr wielder as well. At full strength, he would present a challenge for me to overcome, and I had very little–you would call it magic–remaining. He broke into my mind and essentially used the influence of the scepter on me as it was on you, Agent Hill.” Loki inclined his head slightly toward Hill, fighting to hide the way he reacted to the memories. What Thanos had done–it was the scepter, but worse, because it was a conscious being sifting through every dark corner of Loki’s mind rather than inanimate power. He could imagine no greater or more intimate violation. His fists clenched beneath the table.

“However, I had an advantage in that I am a mage rather than a Midgardian, and I managed to resist. Enough to plan an invasion with little chance of success. Enough to influence the early events so as to maximize publicity and exposure in a country known for having a genocidal dictator in the last century. Enough to convince him that it was necessary for me to be captured to release the Hulk, when really I expected you to come speak with me, and I could suggest to you that all was not as it seemed. I allowed the Widow to deduce my plan, and–” He broke off and his eyes darted once to Miss Lewis.

“And what?” Rogers asked. His hands were tapping slowly on the table.

And somehow, in the presence of Darcy Lewis, I became more aware than I was at any other point in my captivity. “And then Miss Lewis appeared. We spoke. I attempted to do the same, then bade her conceal herself. I had enough control to leave her alive–”

“But not if I’d interfered,” Lewis said.

Loki nodded once. “I do not know what you have been told of the combat that followed, but–”

“Oh, we know what happened,” Stark growled. “Thor showed up. You guys fought. Coulson tried to stop you and Thor killed him for his trouble. And our charming babysitter Nick Fury decided to keep it a secret, so we had to hear it from Darcy, after Thor was long gone.”

Loki hid a smile. He would be very interested to watch the events that unfolded upon Thor’s return to Midgard. The Avengers did not appear ready to welcome Loki’s erstwhile brother with open arms. “In fairness to Thor, he did not intend to kill Coulson,” Loki said, mostly to see how they would respond.

Rogers’ jaw flexed. “He still attacked a human with deadly force. Coulson was thrown across the room with enough force to be impaled. Even without the beam, he wouldn’t have escaped without severe injury.”

“Okay, we’ve established that no one here likes Thor. Keep talking, Reindeer Games,” Miss Lewis said.

Loki frowned at her. “You will not refer to me as–”

“Oh, you bet your alien ass I will,” Miss Lewis interrupted, grinning. “Tony comes up with good nicknames. Go on. Finish the story.” She propped her elbows on the table and stared at him with wide, innocent eyes.

This woman–

Loki continued.

“Upon my escape, I was under much closer scrutiny by the Chitauri leaders,” he said. “It was all I could do to command Selvig to build in the failsafe, and then shield his mind from the scepter enough that the order would not be overridden.

“The invasion began. I deliberately held back the majority of the Chitauri forces to buy you time. You had to bring Selvig out of the scepter’s influence, and then you would need the scepter itself.”

“Cognitive recalibration,” Stark said. “Selvig was thrown across the roof by the explosion when I fired at the Tesseract. That was when he hit his head.”

“Yes, that was a brilliant plan,” Loki said sarcastically. “Try and blow up the inexhaustible energy source. Bravo.”

Stark pointed at him. “Nobody died.”

“The whole planet could have been fried into cosmic dust in an instant,” Loki snapped.

Silence descended over the table.

“Now that you understand better with what forces you play: I made the tower my command post so as to keep the scepter near the Tesseract, and I could only hope that one or all of you would come to fight me. I underestimated your dedication to protecting civilians.”

“Innocent lives are important,” Rogers snapped.

Loki swirled the remaining liquor in his glass. “Indeed. And sometimes the most efficient way to save the most lives is to eliminate the leader of the invading forces. I anticipated a tactical decision to defeat me as a unit and therefore the army. Instead, I fought Stark and then Thor. The circumstances allowed me to leave the scepter behind when I joined the airborne Chitauri forces, but I had to play the part. To continue as a loyal, if coerced, general for Thanos. Which included partaking in the battle.

“I returned to the Tower eventually, and met the Hulk. You saw the results of that battle.” Loki gestured toward the dent in the floor. “Under normal circumstances, I would have immersed the Hulk in an illusion and sent it bolting away into the far north. I refrained.” He smiled thinly. “Thanos remained unaware of my full capabilities. He could not punish me for failing to use a tactic of which he had no knowledge.”

“And where have you been since then?” Hill asked.

Loki tapped the table idly. “Here and there. Midgardian authorities have been actively hunting for me all over your realm. It will take some time to discover a way off this realm–some time before I am prepared to leave. For now, I desire nothing but to wait here in peace. I have no quarrel with your people. It is taxing to maintain a shield both against Heimdall’s sight and a constant illusion complex enough to stand up to anyone I might meet. Moreover, that kind of illusory spell is far too complex to simply put on like a cape. It requires time and preparation. Avengers Tower offers a reprieve.”

“So that’s what we can give you,” Stark said. “How long do you want to stay? And what is it that you are giving us in trade?”

“The truth,” Loki said simply. “Information in exchange for a safe haven. I intend to stay… I do not know. Some years, on Midgard, I believe.”

“You’ve given us information.”

Loki smirked. Rogers had set him up perfectly. He savored the moment before he spoke. “Not all of it.”

“I thought not,” Lewis said, watching him cannily. “He’s either got something else to tell or he’s only saying that he is. If you don’t give us anything else, our bargain goes down the toilet,” she warned.

Loki drank the last of his glass. “I would expect nothing less.”

“That’s not enough,” Foster said abruptly.

All eyes turned to her, but she didn’t seem to care, examining Loki in a way that made him want to fidget or drop her gaze. “You’re going to let me run tests on you,” she said. “To study your– your seidr , or magic, or whatever you call it. If you stay.”

Loki considered. He saw no reason why allowing her to run tests while he performed simple seidr would do any harm, though his instinct was to denounce the idea as beneath him. He was the heir to two thrones, not a circus animal.

He’d learned his lesson about pride. It was a weakness when left unchecked. “Nothing invasive,” he said.

Foster whipped out a tablet of some sort and began typing on it furiously. He watched with vague interest as her attention disengaged entirely from the conversation.

“And tissue samples.”

“No,” Loki snapped instantly.

Lewis was looking at Banner with one eyebrow raised, clearly surprised that he’d spoken. The man’s words were quiet, but they held the kind of quiet force that came from someone who didn’t waste any.

“Just a bit of blood and possibly a cheek swab. I promise not to harvest your organs,” Banner said with a wry smile. Loki looked closer at the unassuming man with so much power lurking behind those even-keeled eyes. What he could do with the Hulk– cast illusions to guide the beast through any foe, any fight–

With effort, Loki cut off that thought pattern. For now.

“Hasn’t the mighty Thor already acquiesced to allow your science?” Loki snapped.

Banner shrugged. Loki remembered that he was a biologist. “It’s good science to take samples from more than one member of a given species.”

Loki instantly saw the flaw in this plan. He was Jotun. His tissue would look nothing like Thor’s. “Thor and I are twins,” he said. “We are too similar-”

Banner shook his head. “You’re fraternal twins. Your genes, if we can isolate the genetic material of Asgardian tissue, will be sufficiently different to provide useful information.”

“I refuse,” Loki said.

There was a tense pause.

“One small blood sample. Or no deal,” Stark said.

Loki glared at him.

“How much do you want to be here?” Lewis asked with a grin.

Loki’s jaw clenched. He would be forced to alter the data, sabotage the machines– anything to delay results. Or simply hope that Asgardian and Jotun biology were sufficiently different from Midgardian that they wouldn’t be able to get usable data.

“I accept,” he said coldly.

“We have to have rules,” Rogers said abruptly. “If we go forward with this. We’ll figure them out now, and if you have a problem with any, speak now or forever hold your peace.”

Lewis snorted but the rest of the team ignored her.

“JARVIS, you record this,” Stark said. “Number one: Reindeer Games doesn’t go below our private floors unless he’s disguised. Jane and Bruce, if you take him down to the labs, he’s either wearing an illusion or you clear everyone else out first. JARVIS’ll shut off the cameras if you’re taking him into an area under surveillance that anyone other than us can watch.”

“No leaving the tower unless you’re with one of us,” Rogers added.

Loki bounced his knee, once– that would be irritating, but he’d already pushed them on the tissue samples. He couldn’t risk the Avengers simply denying his bargain entirely.

“You tell us if you use any kind of magic,” Lewis said.

Stark nodded. “And you need to do something to my tower so the next extraterrestrial megalomaniac can’t just march in here with magic and take out all my defenses.”

The rest of the Avengers stared at him while Loki tried not to laugh.

“Tony,” Rogers said tightly. “Maybe not the best use of-”

“Remind me who owns this tower?” Stark said with one eyebrow up. “Oh, yeah. Me. Watching a crazy person take it over once was one time too many. Reindeer Games here can give me an extra layer of defense. I’ll take it.”

Rogers sighed and rubbed his temple. “ Fine. Loki, can you do that?”

Loki traced a rune on the table with his finger. It glowed with green energy traceries and he frowned at the way it changed and shifted for several minutes. He got what information he needed quite easily, but drew the moment out just to make them uncomfortable.

“It’s possible,” he said at last.

Rogers nodded. “And just to be sure–you are in no way to interfere with our goals; you leave us alone when we want you to; you don’t get to pass on any information you may pick up to anyone beyond this group, Natasha, and Clint; you aren’t allowed to cause or attempt to cause harm to any of us or anyone else; you follow the laws of this country while you’re here…” He trailed off, clearly running out of things to say.

“Do not concern yourself,” Loki said, amused. “I will remain unobtrusive.”

“I’m sure,” Stark said sarcastically.

Rogers looked around the table. “Anything else, guys?”

"Do we tell Maria?" Stark said. 

A silence fell on the group. No one seemed to know what to say; awkward glances were exchanged as they all waited for someone else to speak. 

Miss Lewis sighed loudly. "I vote no, since she's not here." 

Rogers frowned. "Why not?" 

"She's SHIELD," Miss Lewis said, "and also uptight, and also also hates Mr. Horny Helmet over here." Loki swallowed an irritated noise. "She might tell Fury, which we definitely aren't going to do right now, or at least she'd be conflicted about it. It's risky." 

"But she's one of us," Barton argued. 

"She is?" Miss Foster said. 

Miss Lewis snorted. 

"Vote," Rogers said. 

One by one, the rest of the team shook their heads.

“Guess not," Stark said. "Secrets, yay."

"Does anybody have with this arrangement as a whole?” Rogers asked. “Seriously. Don’t be shy. Even with all these rules…” He trailed off, but no one needed clarification, least of all Loki, who understood perfectly well that this would be galling to Stark and Hill in particular. They both hated him.

Of course, Loki couldn’t admit that part of his motivation was simply interest. This was a very remarkable group of humans, who had managed to beat back an invasion from the depths of the universe with little external help. Their victory could be partially attributed to Fury, who had assembled the team to begin with, but–Loki was very curious to see what was in store for the Avengers.

“So we give Loki a room,” Stark said flatly. “But he has to tell us the last bit of information right now.”

“I second that,” Rogers said.

Banner nodded slowly, face pensive. Loki could tell the man was turning everything over in a very methodical fashion, processing the discussion and coming to a conclusion. Every inch the scientist. “This all seems… reasonable.”

“I have no objections to any of these restrictions,” Loki said. He’d more or less anticipated all of them, although he had hoped they wouldn’t restrict him to the tower. That was the price for a safe haven, and he would take it.

“Do we need to vote?” Rogers asked.

Stark pressed his palms flat to the counter and leaned forward to look Loki in the eyes. “I’d like to make one thing clear.”

His voice was frosty. All the others tensed slightly at his tone. Loki leaned back and gestured for him to continue.

“If you so much as step a toe outside these lines– if you break a rule, hurt any of us, interfere with our operations in any way– our deal is done. I am only agreeing to this because you’ve convinced me you’re not actively our enemy. But if you turn on us or use this olive branch as a weapon, I will come after you and you will regret that choice. Understood?”

“Understood,” Loki said. He hid his amusement, well aware that he would only find it an irritant. Stark on his own would not be capable of defeating him in battle, but he would be a formidable enemy between his mind and his suit, and he had the backing of this entire team plus SHIELD. “You will hardly even know I’m here.”

“I doubt that,” Lewis muttered.

Loki smirked at her, and she grinned.

“So we have a deal,” Rogers said, looking tired.

Stark made a face. “I need... another drink. I’m gonna regret this.” He pointed at Loki. “Don’t break my tower.”

Loki raised his hands. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”

“Awesome!” Lewis said. “Just like a dog.  JARVIS, where can we keep him?”

“The Avengers have only occupied approximately two-thirds of the suites on the floor above Mr. Stark’s,” JARVIS responded. Loki would have to ask someone, later, how that system worked. It had to be some sort of mechanized control system, but it was advanced far beyond what he had expected of Midgardian technology. “I can allocate that space to our guest.”

“Do we want him living on the same floor as us?” Banner asked.

Miss Lewis shrugged. “We can keep a closer eye on him.”

“It’ll do for now,” Rogers said. “Let’s just go with it. We can figure something else out later.” He leaned forward, just as Stark returned to the table with a new glass of the golden-brown liquor. “Spill your information.”

Loki’s face tightened. “You must keep in mind that I was not capable of accessing my normal level of mental functionality while under Thanos’ control. There are things I didn’t know–things I would normally have pursued, and uncovered, but could not because I was so overwhelmingly occupied with maintaining a shred of autonomy.” He took a breath. “As such, I can give you no names, but I know this much: Thanos has an ally here on Midgard. A very powerful, well-placed, and clever ally. Thanos’ desire to rid the Earth of humanity won’t have diminished in the slightest, and he is far from having deployed all his options. He will be delayed in his return as he no longer has my expertise in the secret shortcuts between the realms, but have no doubt, he will come. I simply do not know with whom he has allied.”

The Avengers stared at him in silence.