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NICK FURY'S OFFICE
MONDAY: 06:18
'And he was fucking glowing like he was about to go supernova and then the light died down and, everyone else saw this too, right? Loki was blue, not like ‘it’s a bit cold out and I forgot my mittens’ blue, I mean bright blue, with red eyes, and Thor was all 'Is that you?' and Loki just ignored him and he didn't even look up when one of the army guys came round and started shooting, he just waved his hand like this, and the bullets just fucking vanished and then he kind of pointed at Steve and that asshat from the Council and the three of them fucking disappeared and yes I'm aware I'm swearing too much, Bruce, but Steve isn't here and I'm really fucking upset, but ok, I'm done now, someone else can talk.'
Tony doesn't so much stop talking as start breathing again, and the others gather protectively around him. The atmosphere in Fury's office is sparking with mixed energy - Tony's frantic, Bruce is edgy, Clint is glowering, and Natasha is all steely purpose. Fortunately, Thor is absent, attempting to locate Loki through Heimdall, or the sparks could easily have turned into an actual lightning storm and someone might have gotten badly hurt.
Nick Fury leans forward on his desk, narrowing his eyes. 'So Loki is alive, correct?'
Tony skewers him with a look. 'He's alive, yes, and I'm not saying I don't get that that's the most important thing, even though I still don't like what you and Clint did, so fuck you for that, but...' His shoulders sag with exhaustion, both physical and emotional. 'He's alive, but... I don't know. Where is he now? And why did he have to take Steve and not me? How did this all get so fucked up?'
Clint kicks a chair forward just in time for Tony to drop into it, but the scientist doesn't seem to notice, he just leans over with his head in his hands. 'Is this ever going to be over?' he asks wearily, and Bruce steps forward to place gentle hands in his shoulders, kneading the tight muscles.
Nick Fury looks at his watch and nods his head slowly. 'Yes, it is. And within the next hour, is my guess.'
Tony's head jerks up in surprise. 'Yeah, that was supposed to be a rhetorical question. So, what the actual fuck??'
'Not quite done yet after all, Stark?' the Director asks wryly.
Tony starts to rise to his feet, but Bruce's hands press firmly down on his shoulders and in the end he stays seated, glaring at Fury. But it's Bruce who addresses the Director, his voice deliberately calm and measured. 'You should know I'm starting to get uncomfortable with this whole situation, Director. If you know something, you might want to share it sooner rather than later.'
Fury refuses to be intimidated. 'Oh, I'm sorry this is upsetting you, Doctor, allow me to order you a mug of camomile tea. Or, how about you all sit the fuck down and listen, instead of standing there judging me. So here's the recap - everyone paying attention? Obviously you all know about the serum Hydra developed, which is fatal to anyone who is, let’s say, extraordinary. What you don’t know is that it’s only the beginning. We have intel that the serum is phase one of a larger plan and I don't need to tell you that that doesn't usually go so well for the rest of us. So that’s been the mission all along, to find out their endgame; Loki's been working it from the beginning, and he's been doing a damn good job of it, too.'
Natasha's voice is cold. 'Right. And Loki getting captured and tortured by Hydra and nearly executed by the Council, was that all part of the mission too?'
Fury gives her a hard stare. 'Of course not, we've had to do some major improvising. But if it had been, I truly think he would have done it anyway. Loki understands about sacrifice. And lying to the people who trust you. He’s willing to make the difficult calls, which makes him one of the best agents I have. It’s called acceptable risk. We played some hair-raising odds, and it looks like it's finally paid off, and I for one am not going to sit here and apologise to you for that.'
Bruce speaks again, the anger rising in his voice. 'You're using his guilt against him, manipulating him into doing whatever you want. How can you be ok with that?'
For the first time there is real anger in Fury's voice, too. 'You think that's what this is? I thought you were smarter than that, Doctor. It's not guilt that's driving Loki; it's the desire to be something other than what he was. This isn't about what happened in the past, it's about the future, and making it better. And if you don't approve, then you all need to take a long hard look at why you do what you do.'
Behind them, Natasha lets out a small breathy sound, between a laugh and a sigh. Clint moves to her side and they stand there, not quite touching, but supporting each other nonetheless.
Tony isn't going to let Fury off with such a vague explanation. 'If there's a bigger picture here, why haven't you told us about it?'
'Who do you think you're dealing with?' Fury snaps back. 'We're spies, not a group therapy session. I share only what I think is necessary.' His voice levels out. 'Besides, we've all been flying blind up till now. Here's what I know - Loki told me something back in the cell, just before the Council took him. He told me to make sure he was given a high dosage of the serum. He didn’t care how I did it, but he also said that if his theory was correct, it would either kill him, or he'd be able to complete the mission within a couple of hours. I didn't understand it at the time, not until I talked to the guys at the lab. Loki was one step ahead of us there, and it's rare that I let that happen. So I got the Council to give him the serum, and since his plan evidently worked, he's now using his considerable advantage to find out what's really going on, and to kick Hydra's many-headed ass. I can assure that if Captain Rogers is with Loki right now, he's 100% safe. So it looks like the rest of you get to take the back seat for once - why not relax and enjoy it? '
Tony doesn't look like he could enjoy anything at the moment, except perhaps getting the Director in a painful headlock. 'So you can explain what happened to him tonight? With the super god powers and the whole Doctor Manhattan look..?'
A medical dossier slides across the desk toward him and as Tony flips open the cover and scans the first page, Fury sits back with a glint in his eye and awaits the inevitable comeback. He doesn't have to wait long.
'Are you in any way fucking kidding me???'
*****
HYDRA MOUNTAIN BASE
MONDAY: 04:15
It hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts. They're trying to reprogram him, again, and although it always hurt before, that was nothing to the pain of trying to hold out against the obliteration of his memory, of everything that makes him... him. He doesn't know who he is, but he needs to keep clinging to the possibility that one day, perhaps, he might. Because at least he knows now that he was somebody, that he wasn't always this lifeless deathless thing. He once had a past, and maybe even a future. Every time, they try and take that certainty away from him, and every time it works, for a little while, but the illusion won't take any more. Not since... for a moment he panics that the memory is gone, but no, it's still there, burnt into his brain like an image of the sun onto his retinas.
The fair-haired man on the bridge.
He'd been positioned out of sight during the prisoner exchange, watching the proceedings through the sights of a sniper rifle in case things should not go according to plan. Of course everything had. The Hydra scientist had scurried across the bridge, while the SHIELD prisoner had stumbled along in the opposite direction. But all through it, he had only had eyes for The Man. He'd watched him hurry toward the prisoner and escort him away with the others. The others were nothing to him, but The Man... Something inside him had felt full to bursting as he watched, and he'd suddenly found himself envious of the prisoner. He'd wanted The Man to look at him like that, with concern and kindness. He'd wanted The Man to bring him home. It was the start of a slow process of awakening that had culminated in him betraying the people who had kept and controlled him for as long as he could remember, and warning The Man (and his friends) of Hydra's plan to destroy them. Because he'd die before he'd let Hydra or anyone else destroy his one golden sliver of hope. He still isn't sure if his 'employers' know of his betrayal, but it hardly matters. Everything they do to him feels like a punishment now, whether it is meant as one or not. He is no longer theirs. And whatever happens now, he can't go back.
And then abruptly the pain ends, and it's sooner than he expected. Something isn't right, he can feel that the process isn't complete. Why...?
There. He sees The Blond Man, hovering anxiously over him like an angel, but he knows he isn't dead because he doesn't think there will be angels where he's going, only darkness. Looking around him, he sees that the technicians are gone and he doesn't care where, they don't matter to him. Faceless shadowy figures, they operate the machines that steal his mind away from him, but they are only workers, following the orders of someone unthinkably powerful. It hasn't yet occurred to him to wonder who they are and what they want, but the seeds of doubt are already growing in his mind. Now there are questions. Before, there was only the work.
The Man leans over him and, ever so gently, loosens his restraints, then He swallows hard, and His voice breaks a little as He says the word, 'Bucky...'
Bucky. He mouths the word silently to himself, but he can't wring any meaning from it yet. He shakes his head, in confusion rather than denial, but a small sob escapes The Man. It's only then that he spots the others, hanging back and watching them - a stern-faced woman with the bearing of an official, and a tall dark-haired man whose skin is a deep cobalt blue and incised with elaborate whorls, and yet who looks somehow familiar to him. The blue man's expression is calm and yet he's seen those same features wracked with pain, and at once the memory returns to him... the prisoner! The cruel machines, they did this to the prisoner, too, and what’s more, he helped them do it. He strains toward the prisoner and he isn't sure what he's going to say, but the words whispering in his brain seem somehow more meaningful to him for their long lack of use. I am sorry. I am sorry. I am so sorry.
The prisoner looks at him with blood-red eyes, and seems to be reading the words hidden inside his skull. And when he speaks, the words vibrate through his very bones.
'I know. But we need you to come with us.'
Somehow the way the prisoner says 'you' gives him more of a sense of himself than he can remember. You. It tells him something about himself, makes him feel almost whole. The prisoner moves closer, and there's a power coming off him like he's never seen before; is he seeing it or feeling it, he can't tell, but it's all around him like a halo. He wonders if he should be afraid, but he doesn't feel it. He feels held, understood. And yet, after everything they did... He had helped them capture the prisoner, brought down by the dogs on the mountain. They'd found him torn, ragged and bloody but still defiant, his teeth bared in something between a snarl and a grin. The cuffs were doing their work, subduing his powers, but despite that and his evident exhaustion, he had fought back and they'd struggled to restrain him. Back at the base, he, himself, had fastened the straps around the prisoner's wrists and ankles, and when they'd turned on the machine, the very one he himself is now sitting in, he had watched, fascinated, as the prisoner threw back his head and screamed himself hoarse. Tears were running down his cheeks, but his eyes were fierce, and... is that what I look like? he had wondered. But it was a coldly curious thought, and he hadn't thought about it again for several days. They had kept him busy, and when he saw the prisoner again, he looked quite different. Not broken exactly, but wrong somehow, his mind bent out of shape by their experimentation. He was still defiant, although it was a desperate kind of defiance, like an animal made savage by pain. And yet, when they told him what they had planned next for the prisoner, he had agreed without a word. Because that was then.
The prisoner speaks again, drawing nearer, those red eyes disconcertingly intense. 'I thought I understood, but I was wrong. Everything is quite clear to me now. I thought Hydra were controlling my clones, but they weren't - they were controlling you. You are their master plan.'
'Yes. They...' He coughs, his voice dry and rasping, and someone presses a glass of water into his hand. The Blond Man hasn't left his side, and is still looking at him with those wondering blue eyes, but he can't meet them just yet. Instead he addresses the prisoner again. 'They tried, but they couldn't control you. So they... took some of your power instead. It's in your blood - they used this machine to... to transfer it to me. And now... ' He coughs again, and The Man takes the glass and raises it to his lips, but he pushes it away. 'Now I can change my appearance. They told me to kill two men, important men, and to wear your face while I did it. And...' his voice drops to a whisper. 'And I did what they told me to.'
The woman takes a step back with a gasp and the prisoner turns to stare at her. Something in his look says that if anyone in this room should be afraid right now, it's her. But then he turns back, 'We would call it blood magic. The most powerful magic of all, and very dangerous to all concerned.'
No, not magic, science, he thinks, but then he wonders if he is right. Perhaps this is sorcery after all, and they are all deceiving themselves that there is anything rational or controllable about any of this. The only one who looks in control now is the prisoner, his bearing regal and his eyes steady and grave.
'So this, it seems, is their grand plan. I was the first, the test subject, but one by one, Hydra plans to take power from each of us, and give it to you? Then, once they have disposed of the originals with their poison, only you will remain. One single being with the power of all the Avengers combined, and entirely under their control.'
'No,' he protests, knowing he has no right to expect them to believe him. 'Not entirely. Not any more.'
'And can you still do it?' the prisoner asks curiously. 'Can you make yourself look like me?'
'Yes.' And with an effort, he feels the illusion reshape his features. The woman and The Man gasp, but the prisoner looks almost amused. 'A good likeness. Although my vanity tells me that my complexion is a shade paler than yours. At least, in my customary form.'
He lets the illusion fade, and the other two relax visibly. The prisoner eyes him thoughtfully, adding, 'Soon I will take that ability from you, but not just yet, I think. I may yet have one more use for it.'
A faint hope blooms in his chest, and for a moment it is almost as painful as the machines. 'You can do that? Then can you also give me my memories back?'
The prisoner puts his head to one side. 'I can, but I do not think I will. That is something which needs to happen naturally, and slowly, and I believe Captain Rogers here will be glad to help you through it.' Blue fingers reach to brush against his arm, and blue lips curve into a smile. 'You will find your own way out of the maze, and you will be stronger for it, I know.'
The Man casts the prisoner a look of deep gratitude and bends down to help him to his feet. His legs are weak, but The Man is strong, stronger even than him. He lets himself lean in, trusting in that strength to hold him up.
Meanwhile, the prisoner turns to the woman, who is watching them all with an expression of... no, he can't quite manage to read that particular emotion.
'This, Councillor, is what we are fighting against,' the prisoner tells her. 'You think us monsters, and perhaps you are right, but there are worse monsters in this world, and in all the others. You need us, and I wished to show you why.' At that, the room explodes with sounds and images, every wall, every surface showing scenes of pain, domination, and death. Many of them he recognises as his own work, but he won't allow himself to look away. Some of the perpetrators appear human, others far from it, and others still are somewhere in-between, but it's their acts which unite them, and for the first time he has an understanding of the word 'evil'. The woman puts her hand to her mouth and shudders, and from beside him he hears a sickened groan of 'God...' And then just as suddenly there is quiet, and the images are gone. The prisoner watches them all in silence for a moment before leaning toward the woman with a voice like death.
'I am not your enemy, but neither am I your friend. Do not make the mistake of testing me again.'
The woman recovers herself, and manages to look the prisoner in the eye as she says, 'We were wrong this time, but I won't apologise for what we did. We only do what we think is right for the world.'
The prisoner laughs dryly. 'You and Director Fury are not altogether dissimilar, it seems. Still, I do not require your apology. I require that you drop the charges and leave me alone, at least until the next time you think I have murdered someone.'
She lowers her head, in an approximation of a nod.
'And leave this man to us,' continues the prisoner. 'He was not the one responsible for the murders, and I assure that you are not equipped to deal with this. Captain Rogers and I will look after him.' There is no doubt in anyone's mind that this is a command and not a request, and the prisoner nods once in satisfaction. 'Good, then that is settled. And now, I have no desire to linger in this vile place any longer...'
*
From their vantage point on the next peak, Steve looks back at the mountain base in which they were standing only seconds earlier, and down at the dear figure clinging to his side, lost but never forgotten, and now found again, and he thinks that nothing else unbelievable can happen today. Of course he is wrong, and as the top of the mountain collapses in on itself, his first thought is that he really should have known. His next thought is accompanied by horrified disbelief.
'My god, Loki, all those people!' he cries, aghast. 'I know they were Hydra, but still...'
'Oh, I did not kill them, Captain,' Loki tells him breezily. 'I merely sent them to a place where they will no longer present a threat to anyone.'
'Where?' Steve insists.
Loki doesn't answer, but a smile spreads over his face that makes Steve wonder if death wouldn't have been the more desirable option.
'And their equipment?' Steve asks weakly. 'The serum, their laboratories, that... awful machine. Those are all destroyed, right?'
'Ever the soldier,' Loki smirks at him, but it's a fond smirk. 'The equipment is buried under 800 million tons of rock at present, but if you wish to be certain...' He gestures, open-handed, toward the mountain, and a deluge of blue light sweeps over it, before subsiding like a wave on the beach. Loki turns back to him with a grin. 'There. I have obliterated any trace of them. Even the plans for them no longer exist. Will you consent to trust me on this, mere civilian that I am?'
Steve finds that he does trust him, absolutely, and he'll never be able to adequately express his thanks for what Loki has just done for him. And for Bucky. He laughs wearily. 'Sure, though I wouldn't say you're a mere anything.'
Loki laughs back, and Steve notices how the blue suits him, though he hasn't the slightest idea what it means, or how Loki is suddenly able to do... well, pretty much anything, it seems. However, now is not the time for questions. Bucky needs to rest, and soon.
Loki nods his agreement as if he's read Steve's mind, which under the circumstances he probably has. He turns to Hawley, and she flinches a little, but he only extends an imperious arm over her left shoulder. 'This, alas, is where we part ways. There is a village twenty miles northwest of here, and I feel sure you are quite capable of making it there on your own.' His red eyes narrow with a vicious smile. 'After all, wolves have not been seen in these mountains for some years now.'
He gives her a small mocking bow, but the Councillor is already hurrying away in the opposite direction. Steve, Loki and Bucky are left alone on the mountainside, and suddenly Steve feels the cold and the exhaustion creep into his bones and he thinks how much worse it must be for poor Bucky.
'Can you get us home, Loki?' he asks, and at the word 'home' Bucky looks up at him with such emotion in his eyes that Steve almost breaks down there and then. And with that look, the word takes on a wonderful new meaning. Suddenly he can't wait to get back, and begin giving Bucky the safe and loving haven he's been denied all these years.
He's bringing him home.
*****
NICK FURY'S OFFICE
MONDAY: 07.01
'So, what, side effects may include unlimited superpowers and omniscience? Did nobody read the label on the bottle first?' Tony shrugs off Clint's hand and continues to pace around the room, glaring at anyone who makes any attempt to calm him down. Natasha wisely stays put, leaning against the wall with her arms folded, while Bruce takes a turn at reading through the medical dossier. When he looks up, his expression is one of complete astonishment.
'Is this...I mean...Is this for real?'
Fury nods tersely, and Bruce returns his gaze to the documents, starting in surprise as he feels Clint leaning over his shoulder to peer at them. Clint shakes his head, 'I can't say it means anything to me. Can you translate, Bruce?'
Bruce turns round to Clint and Natasha, his eyes still wide with wonder. 'I'll try, but this is all kind of over my head too. OK...' He takes a deep breath before starting. 'After the safe house, Loki's immune system was primed against the serum, so a massive dose like the one they gave him would have sent it into overdrive. It would have killed a human, and from what we know, it would have killed an Asgardian too. But...'
'But Loki isn't an Asgardian.' Tony finishes Bruce's sentence and all eyes turn to him. He looks like a man who's had about as many surprises as he can take, and the others move cautiously so as not to spook him any further. 'Apparently, he's something else.'
From her spot in the corner, Natasha's eyes flick toward Fury and the Director nods in agreement. Bruce backs him up. 'According to this research, it's true. In this form - it says here it's called 'Jötunn' - his chemistry isn't the same as Thor's. It contains a high concentration of cobalt nanoparticles - I'm guessing that would be the source of his powers. It's alien biology on a whole different level. Basically, the serum combined with that to push his metabolism through the roof and his cell potential is pretty much unlimited now. If he wasn't a god before...'
'Yeah, it does explain a few things, doesn't it?' Tony comments over his shoulder. 'Which is more than Pokerface over there has been doing.'
'I'm getting pretty tired of your attitude, Stark,' sighs Fury. 'Frankly we didn't tell you because it was none of your business. We've known about the whole Jötunn thing for a while now, but Loki asked us to keep it quiet. It's up to him to tell you about it, wouldn't you say?'
'Yeah, but...'
'Anyway,' Fury cuts Tony off sharply. 'Your relationship isn't the issue here. So, there it is. Loki took a chance that if he changed after they'd administered the dose, the cobalt in his blood would do the rest, and any power he had before would be magnified to the nth degree. I suspect he figured all this out some time ago, he just kept it to himself as a last resort. For the record, Stark - Loki doesn't tell me everything either, he just gets the job done. ' And there's no trace of snark in his voice as he adds, 'When I first met him, I assumed your boyfriend was all talk, and no action. Turns out he's just the opposite, and I respect that.'
'I do not believe I was meant to hear that, but I appreciate the sentiment nonetheless.'
Nobody knows how Loki is able to appear unnoticed in a relatively small room with five people all facing in different directions. But there he is, perched nonchalantly on the edge of Fury's desk, looking like he just dropped in to borrow a stapler, except for the fact that his skin is still a startling blue. Glancing from one shocked face to another (even Natasha is looking uncharacteristically surprised), he adds, 'I can see that you are all anxious, but let me reassure you, Captain Rogers is quite safe. I left him at his apartment, since it appeared he had a great deal of catching up to do with an old friend. The Hydra base is no more, and their plans destroyed. War with Asgard is averted and the Council will leave us alone, at least for a while. There really is nothing to worry about.'
A sound like a growl is heard emanating from Tony Stark, and Loki turns to him with an eyebrow raised, just in time to see an irate mass of pent-up anxiety hurtling toward him. Supergod or not, he clearly makes the decision to stay and take it like a man, and Tony shoves him down hard onto the desk, white-knuckled fists tangled in the god's collar. 'FUCK you! Nothing to worry about??!' Loki's mouth forms the shape of a question but Tony half lifts him and slams him back down, cracking his head painfully on the surface. 'I thought you were dead. Then, I thought you were dying. Then, I thought you were going to fucking explode! Do you know what I've been going through for the past few hours? Where the fuck have you been, and why didn't you contact me? I'm so goddamn angry at you right now!!'
Loki stills under Tony's vice-like grip, and he looks up at the scientist with those deep crimson eyes, waiting tensely for the next question. But Tony never asks it, it's as if he hasn't even noticed the change in the god's appearance. Instead, still shaking with rage and a heady mix of other emotions, he yanks Loki upright again and pulls him into a violent, crushing kiss. Loki stiffens for just a moment, before going limp with relief, and sliding his hands behind Tony's neck to return the kiss. It's only when Tony's hand starts to slip under the hem of Loki's t-shirt that a chorus of mock-scandalized voices is heard:-
'Woah, I so don't need to see this!'
'Tony, you know we're all still here, right?'
'Seriously, Stark, on the boss's desk?'
But it's only when Nick Fury adds the voice of authority that the two of them actually look up, both glazed and wide-eyed, having genuinely forgotten where they were. 'Not going to happen,' the Director tells them firmly. 'We'll talk later, but first you two need to go home and sleep this off - I'm ordering an indefinite leave of absence. Which starts right now with you both getting the hell off my desk!'
Loki turns to smile at the Director, and with a deeply sarcastic-sounding 'Yes, Sir!' he pulls Tony into one final kiss with extra tongue for Fury's benefit, before they both disappear in a dramatic, and entirely gratuitous, swirl of paperwork.