Summary: Loki and Sigyn have known eachother since childhood. Tired of waiting, she gets engaged to another man, but Loki won’t accept it, and tricks Sigyn into marrying him instead. Married life is not bad, and for a long time they consider themselves happy. When the choices they make threaten with tearing them apart, an unbreakable bond and an everlasting promise could be the only things keeping them together.
Summary: Faith and Loki are fuck buddies. Someone who was there when no one else was. When Faith was sleeping with a married man who all of the sudden decided to grow a conscience right after his wife got pregnant with twins. When Loki was being cheated on by his fiancee only a couple of weeks before their wedding. It is a comfort thing and they were perfectly fine with it, why make it complicated with a baby? It’s ridiculous!
Rating: Mature Pairing: Loki/OFC - past Bucky/OFC Hospital!AU
Summary: Loki is capable of sweet talking his way into the bed chambers of anything with legs so successfully that you often wondered if his words were laced with magic. But after being yet another victim of his charm, you knew it was no magic, and only you were to blame for falling like an inexperienced pubescent girl into his trousers. You thought you could keep your heart out of it, but it doesn’t work like that. Is it too late to get out unscathed?
Loki/OFC Rated M (may go up to E in future chapters) Trigger Warnings: Angst, talk of suicide, therapy, unhealthy family dynamics, mention of torture and mind control
Loki’s plans to conquer and rule Midgard have come to a disastrous end. After being captured by the Avengers, he is being held on Earth. Odin has refused to interfere, and the outlook for the God of Mischief appear bleak. His only hope may lie in one mortal woman, a Psychiatric expert brought in to interrogate him.
Dr. Caroline Thorpe is intrigued by Loki and thinks that more lies beneath his actions than is commonly known. Can she find out the truth before he is shipped off to die for crimes against the Earth? And can Loki bring himself to care?
The cell felt empty once more after she left. Loki tried not to let it bother him. After all, he would not be occupying it for long. He wondered if she would bother to return. He couldn’t really blame her if she did not. At his best Loki knew he was an acquired taste, and he had hardly been his most charming self with Dr. Caroline Thorpe.
It was too formal a name for the lady in question, Loki decided. Dr. Thorpe sounded stiff and proper, not like the idiosyncratic woman who had been questioning him. Such a name belonged to someone who frowned more, who lectured him on the error of his ways. Caroline had smiled at him, the first honest, uncompelled smile he had seen in over a year directed his way. She was not what he had been expecting, not that he had been expecting anything.
A movement out of the corner of his eye had Loki spinning around towards the door to his cell. An odd feeling of hope crept up in his chest. She was back, and he did not have to face the impending dark alone.
He was wrong in that. It was not the doctor standing outside his cell, but the Midgardian bureaucrat who was so keen on seeing Loki hang. A snarl on his lips, Loki sank back onto the uncomfortable bench, making himself as uncooperative looking as possible.
“Mr. Laufeyson,” the man said with an insincere smile. “Would you kindly accompany me; I have some questions for you.”
“No,” Loki said succinctly after pretending to consider the matter for a moment. Even if he had been inclined to do so before, branding Loki with the name of the father who had abandoned him killed any flicker of desire to be accommodating.
Loki/OFC Rated M (may go up to E in future chapters) Trigger Warnings: Angst, talk of suicide, therapy, unhealthy family dynamics, mention of torture and mind control
Loki’s plans to conquer and rule Midgard have come to a disastrous end. After being captured by the Avengers, he is being held on Earth. Odin has refused to interfere, and the outlook for the God of Mischief appear bleak. His only hope may lie in one mortal woman, a Psychiatric expert brought in to interrogate him.
Dr. Caroline Thorpe is intrigued by Loki and thinks that more lies beneath his actions than is commonly known. Can she find out the truth before he is shipped off to die for crimes against the Earth? And can Loki bring himself to care?
Caroline’s thoughts raced as she strode down the hallway. What should she do?
At first, she had considered going to Pierce with her discovery of Loki’s history, but she just as quickly jettisoned the idea. The Secretary had made it abundantly clear that he considered Loki nothing more than an alien war criminal deserving of the harshest sentence possible. She would never be able to explain to him the layers of trauma, not to mention the brainwashing, that had led to his actions on Earth. All she would achieve by going to him with her concerns would be getting herself removed from this case for losing her perspective. Pierce wanted Loki killed and he wanted it now.
Who then? Reaching into her pocked, she grabbed her cell phone and scrolled through her contacts until she found the number she sought.
“You have reached the voice mailbox of Director Nick Furry. You know how to leave a message, so do it. If it’s important enough, I just might get back to you.”
“Hi, Director Fury,” she said, cursing silently that he wasn’t there. “This is Doctor Thorpe. I just had a breakthrough with the patient, and I really need to talk to you. Please call me back at his number as soon as you can. We have to stop Pierce from taking Loki to the raft. Also, it looks like there may be a new, even more dangerous threat waiting for us out there.”
Damnit! Fury was the only one who might be able to pull rank on Pierce. She was not sure what the hierarchy was, but she would not want to face down the SHIELD Director if she didn’t have to. Hopefully, the thought of a new danger would warrant a call back. From what Loki had told her, Thanos was something they would need to prepare for sooner rather than later, especially since two of the stones he was looking for were in this very building!
In the meantime, who else was there? Thor? He might be brought to believe that his brother had reasons for his actions. A part of him must hope for Loki’s rehabilitation or he would not have insisted she be allowed to treat him. Perhaps he could be of help.
“Excuse me, but have you seen Thor?” Caroline asked a passing scientist as she made her way to Fury’s office on the off chance the Director may just be holed up there ignoring his calls.
“He’s gone,” the man said, eyes doing a quick once over of her.
“Do you know where?” she asked, a sinking feeling in her stomach but smiling none the less. She had found over the years that a friendly smile could be a disarming weapon in places like this. People were taken aback by a show of openness, and often replied in kind before they knew what they were doing.
“I think he was sent on a mission,” the man told her, glancing around to see if the hall was clear before continuing. “I heard a rumor there was a bit of a dust up earlier. Thor actually yelled at Secretary Pierce!”
“Really?” she asked, trying to look surprised. “About what?”
“Something about his brother. The select team that guards the prisoner were all furious about it. I heard Pierce had Thor sent on some drummed up mission to get him out of the way. Not that I blame him - I wouldn’t want to get on Thor’s bad side! When Fury tried to take the cube from him the other day for us to examine, I thought he was going to use that hammer of his on the Director’s head!”
“The cube?” was he talking about the Tesseract? Caroline had heard just enough about it that she knew it was central to Loki’s story.
“Yeah, some Alien tech. Thor wanted to bring it to Asgard, but Fury wanted it to stay here.”
“Who won?” Caroline was truly intrigued.
“It was compromise, I guess,” the scientist looked about nervously again. “They locked the cube up in Fury’s private office along with some other mysterious artifacts. In return, Thor got some concessions for his psycho brother. Now that he’s gone though, I wouldn’t bet on Pierce keeping Fury’s terms. He’s really got it in for the would be king of earth.”
“Can you blame him?” Caroline laughed, not wanting to show how anxious she felt with the man confirming her own belief.
“After he tried to take out New York? Not one bit. Hey, I have to get going. I’m supposed to be working on the cloaking mechanism.”
“Sorry to keep you.”
“No Worries. I’m Marc, what’s your name?” the man asked, smiling and once more letting his eyes roam a bit more than she liked.
“Laura,” Caroline answered, giving him her sister’s name as she had often done with men over the years. “See you around!”
He looked a little annoyed by the brush off, but Caroline didn’t take the time to worry about it. She rounded a corner, ducked into a stair well, and scrolled once more through her phone. As she dialed the number, she prayed to all of the Gods including the one sitting not far away that she would not get voice mail again.
“Well, well, well, if it isn’t my favorite head shrinker! What’s up Doc?”
“Stark, thank God!” Caroline breathed a sigh of relief that someone was answering her call.
“I knew you couldn’t stay away from me. Let me guess, all your other patients are mind numbingly boring after me, and you just can’t wait to get me back on your couch so you can probe me further.”
“Actually, I have a pretty interesting patient right now,” she said, thinking about Loki. “He might even give you a run for your money!”
“That’s it, I’m hanging up now,” Stark said, offended.
“No, wait! Tony, I need your help!”
“Fine. But only because you are the only one who likes to listen to me talk about myself as much as I like doing it.”
“That’s because I get paid by the hour,” she laughed, unable to help herself.
“Touche, and ouch. What do you need?”
“Okay, you can’t ask me why, but do you by any chance have the lock code to Director Fury’s office?” she held her breath.
“Uh, one question. Why?” he asked automatically.
“I can’t tell you. All I can say is it is vitally important that I get in there, and Fury has gone awol.”
“Yeah, a little bird told me he was off planet at the moment.”
“Fuck me!” Caroline swore before she could stop herself.
“Is that a serious invitation? Because Pepper -”
“Tony, do you have the code or not?”
“If I did,” he began, giving her a glimmer of hope, “it would be for emergency use only. Or playing a really good prank.”
“This is an emergency. And in a way, it might be considered a prank,” it was stretching things, but she was desperate.
“You swear to me that you are not doing anything to put yourself in danger?”
“Why Stark, I didn’t know you cared,” she was honestly flattered.
“I don’t, I just don’t want to have to break in a new therapist. Okay Doc, I am trusting you. And I trust that Fury will never know where you got it from. Also, when you’re in there, you have to move all of his pictures so that they are just barely at an angle. I will drive him nuts deciding if they’re off or if it’s just his impaired vision.”
“That’s awful!”
“So is breaking and entering.”
“Good point. I will tilt them all.”
“Not too much. Don’t want to give it away. Alright, I am sending you the sequence. Don’t make me regret this, Caroline.”
“You are my favorite billionaire patient!” she told him.
“Aw, I bet you say that to all the oligarchs. Talk to you later. And I mean that. I’m having my office call to schedule a tune up. I have some teenage years stories about my dad I am just dying to get off my chest!”
“I look forward to it,” she told him as the call went dark.
She felt a small pang that she would most likely not be able to make that appointment. There was a very good chance she would be in jail before too long. Still, she had a duty to the patient she was treating now, and that took precedent over Tony’s lifetime of family issues.
By the time she made it to Fury’s office she had heard the ping alerting her that the info from Stark had arrived. Just to be on the safe side, she knocked several times and called out the Director’s name. It would be a disaster if she broke into his office only to find him sitting there eating his dinner. When she was certain he was not, she copied the code from her phone into the keypad next to the door. She knew they updated the codes frequently, but she trusted that Tony would somehow have the most current one.
To no surprise, Caroline heard the small click as the lock released and she pushed the door open and slipped inside. The office was smaller than she had expected, and almost completely empty. A shiny metal desk was bare of anything more than a lamp and a single pen. There were no drawers or cabinets that secrets could be stored in anywhere to be seen. One chair sat behind the desk and two more, much less comfortable looking, in front. On the one wall opposite the desk hung a few memories. That was it, the sum total of Fury’s workspace.
Caroline looked about, uncertain what to do next. There was nowhere to search, and to be honest she was not even certain what she would be looking for or why she had come. She knew she needed to help Loki, but beyond that, she had very little in the way of a plan and was instead acting off of sheer instinct. Halfheartedly she felt along the underside of the desk for a hidden button, but as expected there was nothing there.
Oh well, she decided, she might as well keep her promise to Tony, after all he had gotten her inside. Of course, as he likely knew the contents of the room that was no harm in that. With a self-depreciating shake of her head, she walked over to the decorated wall. The three items hanging there were a strange collection. One was a framed copy of the Shield insignia, above it a picture of youthful looking Fury, Coleson, and a blond woman Caroline didn’t recognize, and finally a slightly out of focus picture of an orange tabby cat staring balefully at the camera. Caroline had to stop herself from pausing to decipher what she could from these pictures. She did not have the time to dip into Director Fury’s subconscious, but boy would she bet money it would be an interesting swim! Instead, she one by one tilted each of the photos so that they were slightly off-center, thinking as she did how juvenile Tony Stark could be.
The moment she tilted the photo of the cat, Caroline jumped back in surprise. The wall to her right, with no audible sound at all, began to slide. Where once a blank off-white barrier had stood, now the space opened up into an area twice again as large as the one in which she had begun, and it was as different as she could imagine.
In one corner, stacked with alarming haphazardness, was a pile of what she took to be some sort of advanced weaponry. Caroline gave that section a wide breadth. Boxes of documents, filed and loose, sat on the floor containing who knew what secrets. A map on the far wall of the world had small lights gleaming in different colors. As she approached it, she discovered from a legend on the bottom that each light represented a member of the Avengers, or some other enhanced person. After a moment, the map zoomed out so that instead of depicting just Earth it showed what she gathered was a map of different planets. Additional colored lights gleamed in locations she could not give names to.
After staring at the map for a few moments, Caroline wandered to the long table in the center of the room. She would bet money that these were the alien artifacts that Fury and the Avengers had taken off of Loki, at least those not being studied by SHIELD scientists. Now her interest was truly peaked. if there was something that could help her patient, chances are it was here. She had no idea what most of the clutter was, but her eyes were drawn to a pair of keys made in the same metal that composed Loki’s manacles. Upon closer inspection, she saw that the long keys were etched with letters and symbols from some language she was ignorant of.
Ignoring a touch of fear, she grabbed the keys and put them in her blazer pocket. Loki was a prisoner, and for good reason. He had committed acts of atrocities on the city of New York and beyond. And yet, she was sure that he was not now a threat to humanity unless they pushed him to that point. He had been under duress when he made war on them, and not acting of his own free will. In addition, he had years - centuries - of trauma that he hadn’t begin to come to terms with. Given time and a willing ear to listen, it was possible he could process these experiences and come to terms with his life, but he would not get that opportunity if he was shipped off for a show trial and put to death.
Could she act so recklessly as to free a confessed murderer? Would she be able to live with herself if she did not?
Randomly, Caroline reached over and opened a shiny silver briefcase that sat next to the keys. She drew back a bit as she looked at the glowing blue cube that sat inside. There had been enough gossip going around that she knew what this cube had to be. Loki had spoken of the Infinity Stones, and of alien who was seeking them. With this and the scepter here at the compound, how long would it be before they were attacked by a force led with more conviction than Loki had shown?
Acting on impulse, she slammed shut the briefcase and grabbed it as well. This might be the most insane thing she had ever done in her life, not to mention treason against her whole planet, but her decision was made.
***
Loki was in a better mood than he had been since his capture. There was an odd lightness inside him that he could not provide a reason for. He decided to avoid trying to - he only had a few hours of life left, best not to poke too hard and ruin them.
Instead, he set about making himself more presentable. He might be a prisoner and trapped in cuffs that prevented him from full use of his arms, let alone his magic, but Thor had removed the other chains, and he had enough range of movement to tidy his hair some, smooth out his clothing, and try to present a more appealing appearance. He had a lady he wanted to impress after all.
He knew it would not be easy. Caroline might be attracted to him, but she was a professional and he would guess highly ethical. Well, Loki’s silver tongue had worked its way around others’ ethics before. More concerning were the men sitting outside his cell. Loki paced near the glass, glaring at them, and to his amusement they looked away. He pointed to the light above and raised a speaking brow, hoping they would think he meant to try to sleep. One of them seemed to catch on to this idea, for after a moment the lights in his cell dimmed. That was better. He was not completely averse to public displays, but he doubted that Caroline would consent to be part of one. With the lights down, the guards would have to look hard to see what they were doing on the other side of the room where his bench was.
Yes, it was not a perfect situation, but it was workable. An evening spent attempting to seduce his lovely therapist would be far more amusing than one spent with nothing more to occupy him than counting down the minutes until death.
When he saw her enter the outer area Loki sprang to attention in more ways than one. It seemed his body was quite taken with the distraction he had in store. Caroline had a silver brief case in her hands that was similar to the one Selvig had used for the tesseract, and Loki wondered fleetingly what SHIELD equipment she was hauling. Most of his attention, however, was caught up in noticing once more how shapely her legs were and how the buttons of her blouse strained slightly over her breasts.
The door to his cage opened and Caroline entered. She seemed jittery to him, and he wondered if she sensed what he was up to.
“Ah, my darling doctor. Come to ease my pain some more,” he purred, standing near to her and breathing down her neck.
“Loki, I have a couple of questions for you,” she said in a clipped voice.
“And I for you,” he smiled. “To begin with, what is it that gives your hair that delicious smell of strawberries?”
“Shampoo, I guess,” she waved him off, much to his annoyance. “Loki, if the cuffs were off of you, you could access your magic, yes?”
“If the cuffs were off, I could do many things. But even with them on, I can still manage quite a few I would wager you would enjoy.”
“Stop that! Focus!” she glared at him, and he took a step back.
This was not going at all how he had envisioned. Was she so devoted to her work that she would insist on exploring more of his sins?
“Could you use your magic.”
“If the cuffs were gone? Yes, I could.”
“And you could get out of this cell, out of this base without injuring anyone? And I mean ANYONE.”
“There might be a few cuts and bruises,” he looked at her oddly. “What is this about, Caroline?”
“I have the keys,” she said, then took a big step back as he moved towards her instinctively. “Wait! Loki, I do not believe Pierce means to give you a fair trial. He has sent Thor away and Fury is off world. I believe he means to kill you, tomorrow if not tonight.”
“You are right, of course,” he agreed, laser focused on her now, wondering where she had hidden his keys. “Although I had hoped for tonight.”
“I am beginning to doubt you have that long,” she took a deep breath and looked up at him. “Loki, you have done some truly terrible things, but I do not think that you deserve death. The extenuating circumstances far out way your crimes. I cannot, in good conscience, allow them to kill you. If I let you go, do you promise to leave quietly and with no casualties? To go find somewhere to heal?”
“As I said, there may be one or two small contusions, but I can avoid anything fatal. You would really do this Caroline? Why?”
“I told you,” she said, looking at the floor.
"And that is the only reason?“ he asked, unsure why he was pressing. His freedom was at hand! He should grab it run.
"I like you, Loki,” she admitted, blushing as she looked at him. “I think if you were just shown a little bit of compassion, you could be a remarkable person.”
“Ah, Caroline, what a shame our time is so limited,” he found he meant it. “You have my word.”
“Alright. It’s good the lights are low, that will hide us a bit from the guards. Go sit on the bench. I will sit next to you in a moment and pretend to be taking your vitals. As I do so, I will unlock your bonds and you may escape.”
He could not believe his luck. Maintaining a calm demeanor, excruciating given the circumstances, he strode to the bench and sat down, pulse racing. Caroline went to the table and took out a contraption of some sort, still holding on to the suitcase he supposed must contain the keys. A moment later she sat down next to him, her knee bumping against his. Again, he felt a moment of disappointment that they were not to share the evening. She set down the case and wrapped the medical device around his arm. Once she had his wrists in hers, she slipped a metal key out of her pocket and began feeling along the cuffs for the slot to put it into.
“Caroline, love,” he murmured, seeing movement outside, “best hurry. We seem to be expecting more company.”
“I can’t find where the key goes,” she grumbled, feeling along the other cuff.
As Loki watched, a squad of men led by the human who had carried his chain before, entered the outer room and then the lights in his cell brightened.
“Damnit! I don’t know how these work!”
“Step away from prisoner and bring us the Tesseract!” a voice from outside demanded as one of the guards began punching in the access code.
“The Tesseract! Caroline, is the Tesseract in the briefcase?”
“It is. I thought you could take it somewhere safe away from earth.”
“Oh, my darling doctor, you are my angel!” he said, meaning it.
Reaching around her, Loki grabbed the case and popped it open. There, bright and blue as before, was the Tesseract. He was free!
“The hostile has the cube! Open fire!”
As the door opened Loki saw the men draw their guns. Acting on pure impulse he grabbed the Tesseract and holding it in his manacled hands slipped his arms over Caroline’s head and around her neck.
“Hold tight,” he told her, “this might be a bit bumpy.”
A moment later the cell, the guards, and SHIELD were all gone as the space stone swept them away.
Loki/OFC Rated M (may go up to E in future chapters) Trigger Warnings: Angst, talk of suicide, therapy, unhealthy family dynamics, mention of torture and mind control
Loki’s plans to conquer and rule Midgard have come to a disastrous end. After being captured by the Avengers, he is being held on Earth. Odin has refused to interfere, and the outlook for the God of Mischief appear bleak. His only hope may lie in one mortal woman, a Psychiatric expert brought in to interrogate him.
Dr. Caroline Thorpe is intrigued by Loki and thinks that more lies beneath his actions than is commonly known. Can she find out the truth before he is shipped off to die for crimes against the Earth? And can Loki bring himself to care?
“Well, that was some excitement!” Caroline tried for an amused tone, but it sounded flat to her own ears. “I am sorry for the interruption.”
Loki didn’t speak, but instead sat staring at his trembling hands, the haunted look she had seen in his eyes still shadowed there. Cautiously, not wanting to spook him further, she walked over and placed her hand on his shoulder. Loki winced at the contact but did not pull away. She could feel a slight shiver running through him.
“I will not let Pierce hurt you, Loki,” she said quietly, uncertain how she would make good on the promise.
“Pierce,” he spat the name. “A mere annoyance. What harm could he do to me? A few days of pain followed by death? Easy enough to face.”
“Then what is it that you fear - no, let me rephrase that, as I know you fear nothing,” she mentally rolled her eyes that the male ego, no matter the species, was apparently universal. “What has caused you to react so strongly?”
“Pierce is a child, nothing more. His imagination is limited. There are others… much more inventive in their tactics.”
“And these others are looking for you?”
His silence was answer enough.
“Loki, what happened after you let go on the Bifrost?”
“What, do you desire a blow by blow of my year and more? I fell. I landed. I was found. I slept, I ate, I breathed. I survived.”
“You fell, let’s start there. I cannot imagine what that must have been like.”
“No,” he agreed quietly after a silent moment. “You cannot. Darkness, so complete and total you wonder if you still have eyes to see at all. Cold. Cold enough to takes away all sensation in your skin and bones. And silence that deafens in its totality. It was endless, the nothingness. It could have been days, or centuries, or the blink of an eye and I would not have known the difference. It just was.”
“That sounds terrifying,” she shuddered.
“To be completely alone with only your own thoughts? Mildly terrifying, yes. Particularly when your thoughts had wandered as far afield as mine had done recently. Of course, your kind would have been dead in an instant. Me though, I went on. Is it falling when there is no direction? I do not know. Eventually, a flicker materialized. I thought at first it was a sign of madness. I knew that I had not been exactly sane for some time… since that moment in the vault days before. Was I now adding hallucinations to my list of symptoms? But inexorably the flicker began to grow stronger, larger, to take on a shape. It was a ship, out beyond the realms, far from Odin’s reach. I would have laughed if I remembered how, frozen as I was. I had sought an escape of one kind, but it seemed I had found another. Some kind souls were rescuing me from the grim fate that I had chosen over a life locked away in the Asgardian cells. Kind, merciful souls.”
His voice was soft, but his lips twisted into a mocking sneer on the last words. Caroline sensed that he was far away, not with her at all. She gave him a moment, wanting to see what he would volunteer.
“Am I not lucky, Caroline?”
“That is not quite the word I would use. Were they kind? Your rescuers?” She had a sick feeling she knew the answer.
“At first they seemed so, to a point,” he said in a dull voice. “They pulled me in, thawed me out, fed me. None of them spoke much, at least not to me, but gradually as my senses returned, I realized that it was no mercy mission they were performing. I was to be restored to health that I might be sold to a mining colony as slave labor. Needless to say, I did not care for this plan.”
“I should think not. What did you do?”
“Took over their ship. It was not difficult. I thought of seeking out the colony they planned to sell me to and see how they liked being free labor, but in the end, it was too much trouble. I found a planet nearby and landed there, took their weapons for myself, and what supplies were of use to me and left them to rot or be rescued, whatever fate would determine, in their own brig.”
“I would say that was charitable, all things considered,” Caroline said. “What then?”
“I wandered for a time. Aimless, really. Gave myself over to the sort of vice and frivolity that Odin frowned on. If he was not my father, why should I obey his rules? If there was a place of ill repute in the outer planets, I sampled it. I learned quite a bit in my pursuits, so it was not all a waste. Perhaps someday I will share some of it with you, if you like.”
The way his eyes became dark and hooded on the last words left Caroline with little doubt what sort of things he had learned. She did her best to hide the swift reaction his words caused through her body, but the slight smirk that ghosted over his lips left her embarrassingly certain that she had failed.
“Go on,” she said, hating the strain in her voice.
“Things went on in this fashion for a bit,” he resumed, after throwing her a sly smile. “Then one day, when my supplies had run low, I decided to help myself to an obligingly well-stocked armory. I had just slipped in and tucked a few things into my pocket dimension for later use, when I was suddenly beset by guards. I killed a score or so, but eventually their leader appeared, a female with blue skin and robotic alterations. She was a bit humorless, but recognized talent when she saw it. After some quick talking on my part, she dismissed the guards and invited me to meet her father.”
“Her father?” Caroline prompted, as Loki went silent.
“Thanos,” he said at last, the name sounding bitter. “The Mad Titan. A powerful being, even to me. He was looking for recruits for his army. I heard him out, but I have never really been much of a joiner, so at the end of the day I politely declined. It is safe to say that Thanos does not take rejection well.”
“What happened?”
“He imprisoned me,” Loki said, that haunted look returning to his eyes. “I had thought to escape one prison on Asgard, only to find myself in a far worse one. He gave my keeping over to a black sorcerer called the Other. Things went rapidly down hill from there.”
“Torture?” Caroline guessed, grieving for him.
“Tortue as you know it would be nothing to the Other. He was a true artist. It was not just my body he sought to break, but my mind as well. He reached in and pulled out every thought, every feeling I had ever had. Do you know what it is to have your own mind used against you? Every day he played with me, inflicting pain only to heal me so that he could do it again. He created illusions so real, even now I am not entirely sure that you are real, and I do not still linger in that cell. He delighted in giving me hope, only to snatch it away and mock me for believing it might exist. And all the time, he asked for the same thing. That I swear over my allegiance to Thanos and be reborn as one of his children. He promised me everything I ever wanted - a home, a kingdom to rule, the chance to take my revenge on those who had wronged me. All I had to do was give away my will to him and his master.”
“Loki, I am so sorry.”
“I do not seek your pity,” he snarled, before taking a deep breath and pulling himself back under control. “I resisted for months. I kept hoping he would tire of the game and kill me. I think he might have, but Thanos had a new idea. He arrived himself one day at my cell, a gold scepter in his hand with a glowing blue stone set in it. He was as kind as the Other had been harsh. He talked soothingly to me, reminding me of all that had been taken away by Thor, Odin, and their lackies. He insisted that he was not my enemy, he was one who would set me free. As he spoke, I began to feel my resentment for my false family grow. They had turned on me, humiliated me, lied to me. It was because of them I had suffered so much pain. Thanos told me again of his goal to save the universe, of the Infinity Stones, a collection of gems he needed to do so. This time, it seemed to make sense to me. He weaved a picture of a new order, with me as a central figure. He could help me, he promised. Send me to Earth with the power and armies to conquer it. It could be my realm, not Asgard perhaps, not yet, but surely better than the cold reaches of the Jotunheim that Odin had planned for me.”
Caroline was practically holding her breath as he paused, not wanting to risk pushing him back into defensive silence. She had the feeling he was not even aware anymore that she was in the room. He was talking to himself as much as to her now.
“I knew it was a lie,” he continued at last. “A part of my mind screamed at me not to listen, to keep resisting him. It all sounded so perfect though. And the resentment I felt, the righteous, all-consuming anger, drowned out the truth. On the one hand was revenge, sweet and rewarded, on the other a continuation of the endless torture I had endured. He held out the scepter and told me it was mine to wield if I would just do as he asked and bring him the tesseract when I had conquered Midgard.”
“So you took it,” Caroline finished when he did not.
“I took it. I sold my soul for power and revenge. I grasped it with both hands and threw myself into a war that was never mine. I became the villain Thor and Odin thought me. I chose, Dr. Thorpe, and I chose evil.”
“It was not a fair choice,” Caroline said, feeling it to her core.
“Fair is for children and pets,” he shot back. “Life is not about fair. I could have fought longer. I could have resisted.”
“That was the scepter in the room just now? The one this Thanos gave you?”
“It was.”
“Why did you say none of them could use it?” there was a piece missing, she was sure of it.
“The scepter is not just a weapon, or not an ordinary one. The blue jewel embedded in the head, that is the Mind Stone.”
“Mind Stone?” she asked.
“It took me a while to put it together, I blush to admit. There are six Infinity Stones - Mind, Power, Time, Reality, Space, and Soul. Each one has a different power. The mind stone, as you might infer, grants you control over the minds of others.”
“That was how you hypnotized Dr. Selvig and the others,” Caroline put it together.
“It was. One tap to the heart, and if the wielder has the power to use it, you have a willing slave,” Loki confirmed. “There is more to it, however. More than I was told. Thanos had the Mind Stone in his possession for some time. He had worked on it, brought it under his control. When he gave it to me, he handed me a chain. All of the killing resentment I was feeling, the hate… that was stoked continually by the Stone. It effects all around it, appealing to their baser interests, tempting them to violence. If one of the lesser mortals tried to use it, someone who’s mind was not strong, it would consume them utterly. They would be a puppet.”
“So the whole time, the whole attack, you were being controlled as well!”
“I knew what I was doing,” Loki shook his head. “I made a choice.”
“A choice born out of torture! A choice coerced and enforced by mind control.”
“I am not the victim, doctor. And I told you before, I do not want your pity.”
“What about my compassion?” she demanded. “You suffered a terrible trauma, almost died in a void, were tortured endlessly, and to top it all off, when you were at your most vulnerable, you were subjected to a stone that controls minds. Loki, I have been a trauma specialist for over a decade, and I have never met anyone who has suffered more than you! Yes, you made mistakes. Before your fall and after it. But given everything you went through, who would do otherwise?”
“You see what you want to see,” he smiled at her with pity of his own. “It is kind, but unwarranted.”
“And what now?” she demanded of him.
“Now? I am guessing that your Secretary Pierce will have me killed. It was kind of Thor to get me this brief reprieve, and you are much more pleasing company than the soldiers, but I have learned the hard way not to trust in false hope. The trial will take place tomorrow, and I will be found guilty of war crimes and executed.”
“How can you say that so calmly?”
“Death has been stalking me for some time, Doctor,” he said. “That she finally caught me is hardly a surprise.”
“No.”
“No?” Loki sounded genuinely amused by her determined outburst.
“No, you are not going to be killed,” she repeated, resolved within herself.
“And how, may I ask, are you going to stop it?”
“I don’t know, but I will.”
Caroline stood, smoothing her skirt down as her thoughts raced. Loki was a victim, despite his insistence to the contrary. She had suspected from the start that there was more to the story than the world knew, but even she had never dreamt the depth of his suffering. She would be damned before she let him suffer more. He needed care and time to heal, not a summary execution. She just had to figure out how to make the powers that be realize this.
“I need to talk to someone,” she told him.
“I’m not going anywhere,” he smiled sadly. “Not yet, at any rate.”
“I will be back,” she insisted, once more touching his shoulder and seeing his flicker of surprise. “Thank you, Loki, for telling me your story.”
“You are easy to talk to, Caroline. And not like the other mortals I have encountered. I will be sorry not to get to know you better.”
For once, Caroline didn’t sense any double entendre lurking beneath his words. It went to her heart, and she felt a completely unprofessional urge to throw her arms around him and weep. Blinking back the hint of tears, she squeezed his shoulder instead and went in search of someone who might help them.
***
She really was a sweet little thing. Clever too, for a mortal. She had known just when to speak and when to keep silent, drawing out more than Loki had ever planned to share with anyone.
There was a slight easing, he was shocked to find, now that he had spoken his nightmare aloud. He had been holding it so tightly, doing his best to keep from even thinking about that lost year of his life. It sat all the time like a weight inside of him, gnawing away at what was left of his soul. The shame of surrendering to Thanos vied with the shame of his true Jotun nature for pride of place among his faults. A stronger, better man would have resisted till the end.
He was not a good man, or monster as the case might be. He was weak, flawed, fatally so. Caroline might think she could save him, but Loki knew better. She was but one woman, and the entire planet was united against her in their belief that Loki deserved death. What could she realistically do?
He realized that his hand had strayed to his shoulder, where she had recently touched him. It had been so long, he thought yearningly. So long since someone had touched him with compassion. Yes, he had spent time exploring a myriad of sexual experiences, but the men and women and others he partnered with had been little more than mere bodies, pleasurable in most cases, but hardly reaching deeper than the moment. There had been no empathy, no connection with any of them.
The last time someone had touched him in such a way had been when Frigga embraced him after he killed Laufey. It was Loki’s last pleasant memory, and then Thor had arrived, and it had all spiraled out from there. Caroline reminded him a bit of Frigga. Kind, compassionate, optimistic in the darkest of times. He had done his best not to think of his mother of late. She had been his source of kindness and support growing up, and it ate at him to know that she had gone along with the lie Odin devised. He did not like to feel anger with her, shied away when it rose up, so he kept her locked away from his conscious thoughts.
She would mourn him, though, along with Caroline. Possibly Thor as well, who seemed to vacillate almost comically between defending and condemning his adopted brother. Poor Thor, Loki couldn’t help thinking, attempting to reconcile two opposing thoughts when he could barely handle one.
That was more like it! Loki did not want to wallow in self-pity. It was much more in keeping with his self-image to mock his erstwhile brother than to look closely at his past. If he was going to die, he would do it with a quip and all the snark he could muster.
Perhaps when Caroline came back, and he no longer doubted she would, he could persuade her to send him off in style. He had seen her reactions to his flirting and knew that empathy was not all she felt for him. There was desire there between them, crackling in the air. It would be interesting to see where that might lead, if for no other reason than to make the long night before him more bearable. Losing himself in the lovely doctor would be easy enough to do, he was certain, and it would be a way to thank her for the kindness she had shown him.
Yes, he decided, straightening up on his bench. If this was to be his final night this side of Hel, he would spend it indulging in one last pleasure with the one person who saw him as worthy.
Loki/OFC Rated M (may go up to E in future chapters) Trigger Warnings: Angst, talk of suicide, therapy, unhealthy family dynamics, mention of torture and mind control
Loki’s plans to conquer and rule Midgard have come to a disastrous end. After being captured by the Avengers, he is being held on Earth. Odin has refused to interfere, and the outlook for the God of Mischief appear bleak. His only hope may lie in one mortal woman, a Psychiatric expert brought in to interrogate him.
Dr. Caroline Thorpe is intrigued by Loki and thinks that more lies beneath his actions than is commonly known. Can she find out the truth before he is shipped off to die for crimes against the Earth? And can Loki bring himself to care?
The cell felt empty once more after she left. Loki tried not to let it bother him. After all, he would not be occupying it for long. He wondered if she would bother to return. He couldn’t really blame her if she did not. At his best Loki knew he was an acquired taste, and he had hardly been his most charming self with Dr. Caroline Thorpe.
It was too formal a name for the lady in question, Loki decided. Dr. Thorpe sounded stiff and proper, not like the idiosyncratic woman who had been questioning him. Such a name belonged to someone who frowned more, who lectured him on the error of his ways. Caroline had smiled at him, the first honest, uncompelled smile he had seen in over a year directed his way. She was not what he had been expecting, not that he had been expecting anything.
A movement out of the corner of his eye had Loki spinning around towards the door to his cell. An odd feeling of hope crept up in his chest. She was back, and he did not have to face the impending dark alone.
He was wrong in that. It was not the doctor standing outside his cell, but the Midgardian bureaucrat who was so keen on seeing Loki hang. A snarl on his lips, Loki sank back onto the uncomfortable bench, making himself as uncooperative looking as possible.
“Mr. Laufeyson,” the man said with an insincere smile. “Would you kindly accompany me; I have some questions for you.”
“No,” Loki said succinctly after pretending to consider the matter for a moment. Even if he had been inclined to do so before, branding Loki with the name of the father who had abandoned him killed any flicker of desire to be accommodating.
Loki/OFC Rated M (may go up to E in future chapters) Trigger Warnings: Angst, talk of suicide, therapy, unhealthy family dynamics, mention of torture and mind control
Loki’s plans to conquer and rule Midgard have come to a disastrous end. After being captured by the Avengers, he is being held on Earth. Odin has refused to interfere, and the outlook for the God of Mischief appear bleak. His only hope may lie in one mortal woman, a Psychiatric expert brought in to interrogate him.
Dr. Caroline Thorpe is intrigued by Loki and thinks that more lies beneath his actions than is commonly known. Can she find out the truth before he is shipped off to die for crimes against the Earth? And can Loki bring himself to care?
The cell felt empty once more after she left. Loki tried not to let it bother him. After all, he would not be occupying it for long. He wondered if she would bother to return. He couldn’t really blame her if she did not. At his best Loki knew he was an acquired taste, and he had hardly been his most charming self with Dr. Caroline Thorpe.
It was too formal a name for the lady in question, Loki decided. Dr. Thorpe sounded stiff and proper, not like the idiosyncratic woman who had been questioning him. Such a name belonged to someone who frowned more, who lectured him on the error of his ways. Caroline had smiled at him, the first honest, uncompelled smile he had seen in over a year directed his way. She was not what he had been expecting, not that he had been expecting anything.
A movement out of the corner of his eye had Loki spinning around towards the door to his cell. An odd feeling of hope crept up in his chest. She was back, and he did not have to face the impending dark alone.
He was wrong in that. It was not the doctor standing outside his cell, but the Midgardian bureaucrat who was so keen on seeing Loki hang. A snarl on his lips, Loki sank back onto the uncomfortable bench, making himself as uncooperative looking as possible.
“Mr. Laufeyson,” the man said with an insincere smile. “Would you kindly accompany me; I have some questions for you.”
“No,” Loki said succinctly after pretending to consider the matter for a moment. Even if he had been inclined to do so before, branding Loki with the name of the father who had abandoned him killed any flicker of desire to be accommodating.
“Well then let me rephrase that,” one of the guards grunted. “Get your alien ass off the bench and come with us.”
“I’m afraid I can’t,” he sighed in regret. “I am in the middle of a therapy session, and I believe I am about to have a breakthrough.”
“I don’t see the doctor here,” the chief official made a show of looking around, as though Caroline would be hiding under the table. “Scared her off already, did you? I told her it was useless to try and get through to you.”
“On the contrary, she just went to get us sustenance. The good doctor promised to stay with me as long as I needed, all night if it pleased me.”
He didn’t know if she would be coming back or not, but he was not about to admit as much to this loathsome human. As far as Midgardians went, Caroline was the most tolerable of those he had met, and this nuisance of a man among the least. She had at least spoken to him as a person, he realized. He had appreciated that, and enjoyed the sparring back and forth they had engaged in.
“Some people just don’t know a lost cause when they see one,” the guard sneered.
“Is that what I am? A lost cause?” he stood up, using his height once more to try and intimidate. The other man was not small, but Loki was a God.
“Well, that depends on you,” the man in charge had not lost his false smile. “As I said, I have some questions for you. About some of the alien tech we recovered.”
“Well then, might I suggest you resurrect one of the Chitari and try to get answers out of them? Although I would ask nicely if I were you. They tend to view your sort as… well, food.”
In truth, Loki despised the Chitari and all they represented, but if anyone deserved to be devoured by one it was these men.
“It’s not a Chitari weapon we have questions about. Now, are you coming, or do I have to have my men drag you there?”
“Just say the word, Secretary Pierce,” the lunking guard at his side offered.
“At ease, Rumlow, I am sure our visitor can play nice.”
Not a Chitari device? Loki did his best to keep his face impassive as his mind raced. Did these fools have the tesseract here? Could he be so lucky? The metal circling his wrists might stop his own powers, but not even Asgardian shackles could stop an infinity stone. All Loki need do was grab the cube and he was free! He could go anywhere, hide in the deepest reaches of the universe where no one could find him.
“As amusing as it would be to see your witless ape try,” Loki drawled, looking over at the guard disdainfully, “I suppose it would be good to stretch my legs a bit.”
“Great. A few precautions – I’m sure you won’t mind.”
Pierce nodded to his escort and the men produced additional chains. As Loki struggled to keep his anger in check, a collar was roughly fastened around his neck by Rumlow, the larger of two guards. A second, less aggressive man hooked a chain to the cuffs binding his wrists. He endured the indignity with a snarl, hope making him less obstinate than he might otherwise have been.
When they had him bound to their satisfaction, Rumlow grabbed his chain with an unnecessary yank and they all proceeded out of the cell. It did feel good to move, and Loki strutted with all the insouciant swagger he could muster, eyes taking in every detail as he walked. Fleetingly, he spared a thought for his lovely doctor, surprised that he regretted not seeing her again. Still, freedom beckoned and he would not deny it.
“So, having difficulty, are you?“ he asked cockily as they led him down a windowless hallway. "It should come as no surprise. Such lower creatures as yourselves could never dream of comprehending, much less harnessing the infinite power it contains.”
He had to tread carefully, he reminded himself. He was almost there, almost to the prize that would render him free.
They stopped at a door just like all of the other, cold, metallic, and featureless. Pierce stepped forward and a small device Loki had not seen scanned his eye. As the door opened, Loki could just make out the steady blue gleam coming from within.
It was not the tesseract.
The center dropped out of Loki’s stomach, and he needed all of his will power not to slump against the wall. There, in some sort of technical cradle on a table in the center of the room, was his scepter. The stone in the head of the weapon shone a beckoning blue, but Loki knew better than trust it’s peaceful glow.
“We know you used this to subdue your enemies,” Pierce said, giving Loki a hard stare. “Don’t think you’re getting your hands on it now.”
Six burly guards stood around it, guns drawn, presumably to keep him away. They needn’t have bothered. Loki had never been more relieved than when the thing had been taken out of his possession. A gift, the Other had told him. A precious gift to lead armies in glorious battle. He had neglected to tell him the rest.
“So, how do we use it?” Pierce demanded.
As he looked at the scepter with loathing, Loki fought the urge to lunge for it. He was surely faster than the men guarding it, and what would they do, shoot him? Others had tried, and it had done them no good. Asgardians, even counterfeit ones born Frost Giants, were made of tougher stuff than that. He could reclaim the scepter, and in a matter of moments all of them would be dead or under his control. He would enjoy coming up with ways to kill them. In his mind he could hear them howling in pain.
And then, when the soldiers and spies surrounding him were writhing in agony, he could go and find his pretty little doctor. She had promised to stay with him until the end. Well, with the scepter making her will his own, she would have no choice but to honor her word. He could enthrall her, make her will his own. That bright smile she had flashed at him, full of lies and deceit, would be made real with one touch of the tip to her heart. Oh, the things he could do to her, with her, then.
No! Loki shook his head to clear it of the seductive malice. Caroline’s smiles had not been false. She had looked on him with genuine compassion, had tried to understand him. How could he think of turning that compassion into something twisted and false? It was the mind stone, warped by the venom of Thanos and his minions, planting these thoughts in his head.
“You don’t,” he said succinctly.
“Unacceptable.”
“The scepter holds an infinity stone,” he tried to explain as one would to a child, which was all these men were for all their hubris. “It is one of the foundational powers of the universe. In order to wield it, you need a highly disciplined mind, trained to bend it to your will. Even then, it would take you over slowly and inexorably.”
“You used it,” Rumlow scoffed.
“I am a God,” he reminded them. “I have lived and studied for over a thousand years. You are a flea compared to me. For you to even attempt to use this would destroy you. Send it to Asgard and let Odin keep it safe in his vault. Anything else is death.”
More so than he was even admitting. Loki knew who would be coming for the stone. These pathetic humans would be no match for the destruction that followed. They thought his invasion with the Chitari had been bad? Thanos would not stop at subjugation. He was not called the Mad Titan for nothing. Loki had heard more of his plans than he could ever wish. When the purple grape was done with them they would beg for Loki’s version of mercy.
And he would be coming. There was no stopping Thanos’ obsession with the infinity stones. He had only let Loki leave his domain with the Mind Stone in order to secure the second stone locked within the Tesseract, and even then, he had set certain precautions in order. The psychic link that tied Loki to his deadly minion The Other through the stone was doing all it could to reassert control over him.
You wielded power before, the thought in his brain was not his, not originally. You could do so again! Take the scepter! Strike down your enemies. You know you want to. You were born to rule. The scepter can help you do it!
“Alright, let me put it to you this way,” Pierce said, smile gone from his face. “Tell me how to access its power, or I will make sure your final days are nothing but pain.”
You could cause pain. They are set on making you suffer. Why wait when you can make them suffer first. The power is here for the taking. Grab it! Fulfill your purpose!
“For the love of Valhalla, what are you doing letting my brother in the same room with that thing?”
Seldom in his life had Loki been so happy to hear his brother’s voice break into his thoughts. His face was covered in a cold sweat, and his hands shook. Just a few moments more, and he would have done it. The scepter would be in his hands - chains or no, these mortals could not hold him if he truly desired to break free - and everyone else would be dead.
“I’m sorry, Odinson, but this is none of your concern,” Pierce told him coldly.
“Not my concern? Loki is my brother and a citizen of Asgard! I clearly heard you threatening him while he is in your custody. On top of that, you put the whole compound in jeopardy by letting him near the scepter.”
“It seems you have conflicting narratives there,” Pierce replied as Loki caught his breath. “Is your brother a helpless little kitten who needs protection, or a deadly threat who needs to be kept under strict guard?”
“How dare you?” Loki hissed, offense crackling.
“While Loki is hardly an innocent kitten, he is still your prisoner,” Thor remonstrated, “and as such entitled to basic humane treatment.”
“And more to the point,” another voice chimed in as Dr. Thorpe stepped out from behind Thor and glared at Pierce, “he is my patient. I don’t appreciate you hauling him off in the middle of an examination.”
“Don’t forget, Dr., you work for me,” Pierce growled.
“No, I don’t,” Caroline fought back. “I was hired by Director Fury to conduct this debriefing on behalf of Shield. His orders came directly from the President. Now, until I receive word from the White House or the Director, I am going to continue treating my patient in the hopes that we may get to the bottom of why our planet was invaded.”
“That’s easy,” Rumlow sneered, pointing at Loki. “It was invaded because that man has a God complex.”
“I am a God, you sniveling worm!”
“Enough!” Thor boomed, lightning flashing about his fingers. “Dr. Thorpe has stated her case. She has been ordered to treat Loki and will continue to do so until that order is belayed by the one who gave it. If any of you need help understanding this, I will gladly explain it to you again, with the assistance of my hammer.”
“Fine, take him back to his cell,” Pierce said at last, after a long moment of tension. “But we are not done with this, Laufyson. I’ll be speaking to you again.”
“Oh, I look forward to it,” Loki assured him.
“Come on Loki, I am brining you and Dr. Thorpe back to your cell.”
With a last smug look around the room, Loki pulled his chain out of Rumlow’s grasp and chuckled as the man staggered towards the floor. Holding it himself, he allowed Thor and Caroline to lead him back to the cell, away from the seductive lure of the Mind Stone.
***
Rarely had Caroline felt like such a coward as she did when she fled Loki’s cell. She had barely made it halfway to the mess when she began mentally chastising herself for her behavior. Yes, he was being deliberately provocative, flirting so outrageously with her, but that just meant she was on the right track, working her way to whatever it was he was hiding from himself and her. She should have stayed and pressed further. With any other patient she would have. It was just with Loki…
Shaking her head, Caroline smiled wryly. What was it about Loki? He was attractive, that went without saying. In fact, calling him attractive was a gross understatement. The man… the GOD was far and away the most attractive man she had ever met, and that included the blond Adonis who called himself his brother. Still, the good looks were only a piece of the reason she felt so drawn to him. There was a yearning she sensed inside the alien prince. A longing to be loved, to belong, and to have someone see him for who he truly was rather than who he pretended to be. His wit, his charm, his arrogance, all of that combined into a defensive wall designed to keep others from seeing how lost he was beneath it. She desperately wanted to break down that wall, but feared that when she did she would loose all objectivity. Already, she wanted to find and punish all of those others who had hurt him.
By the time she returned to his cell with two plates of food, she had strengthened her resolve. She might not be neutral in this case, but that did not have to be a fault. The patient obviously needed affection, and she could give that to him and still maintain a professional manner. She would show him that kindness was not something he had forfeit with his completely understandable tumble from reason upon learning his life was a lie.
He was not in the cell. The moment she saw it standing empty, guards all missing, Caroline feared the worst. It was possible that he had escaped, but she didn’t think so. He was too resigned to his fate, showed no sign that he was invested enough in his own survival to fight. Had Pierce defied his orders and taken him to the raft already? Could Loki, even now, be flying towards his mock trial and certain death?
Tossing aside the food trays, Caroline raced to find the one other person who might care if Loki died. Her hunch was correct, and she found Thor quickly on the deck where troops were practicing combat. Not waiting for a lull, she had thrown herself into the makeshift circle where he and a group of three soldiers were facing off in a sparring match. His reaction was comical, if she had been in the mood for humor, throwing himself between her and the advancing men, acting as a living shield as he quickly and without finesse punched all three of them to the ground.
“Doctor Thorpe,” he asked, looking at her with grave concern, “what has caused you to so disregard your own safety? Has Loki done something to upset you?”
“No!” she replied, breathless from her mad dash. “Loki is missing!”
“What? He escaped?”
“I don’t think so. I just went to his cell and it is empty. I think they might be taking him to the raft, and I haven’t had time…”
“Come with me,” he ordered, voice stern with anger. “We will find him.”
“Thank you!”
As she ran to keep up, Thor marched down the hallway, interrogating everyone they passed on the whereabouts of both his brother and Pierce.
“I was promised that if I turned him over to the authorities here, he would be afforded a thorough examination before being taken to trial,” Thor growled as they walked. “If I find out they have broken their word, I will free him myself!”
“Thank you,” she panted, jogging along. “I just went to get food and he was gone when I came back.”
“Pierce? Where?” he snarled at an unfortunate scientist who happened to be in their path.
“Down the hall,” the man said, wincing back from the towering fury. “Room 506.”
When they reached the room in question, the door was open. Inside, Loki stood wrapped in a ridiculous number of chains. Secretary Pierce and a number of men were all there as well, and in the middle of the room was a glowing scepter that she had seen Loki carrying in numerous photos and videos from his invasion. His eyes as he looked at the weapon betrayed unspeakable horror. It looked as though he was alone in the room with the spear, all of his energy directed its way. His lips were twisted into a menacing sneer, and a sheen of perspiration coated his handsome face.
“For the love of Valhalla, what are you doing letting my brother in the same room with that thing?”
A wave of relief washed over Loki’s face as Thor’s voice boomed into the silence, and it was as if a malevolent cloud lifted from him. Caroline watched him as Thor and Pierce traded words, and it seemed to her that he was almost ready to collapse. Siezing control in this room full of trained men who could kill her in a moment, Caroline put on her most professional voice and demanded that Loki be returned to her care. She didn’t know how she had the nerve to stare all of them down, but when laid in the balance against whatever obvious trauma her patient was currently experiencing, she would allow nothing and no one to stand in her way.
It was with gratifying speed that she soon had Loki back into the glass room, seated on his bench and looking like a lost little boy. Now that the hostile men were all behind the soundproof barrier, his shoulders were slumped and his eyes sunken. She did not know what it was that had just happened to him, but she would be damned if she let them take him away before she found out.
Loki’s plans to conquer and rule Midgard have come to a disastrous end. After being captured by the Avengers, he is being held on Earth. Odin has refused to interfere, and the outlook for the God of Mischief appear bleak. His only hope may lie in one mortal woman, a Psychiatric expert brought in to interrogate him.
Dr. Caroline Thorpe is intrigued by Loki and thinks that more lies beneath his actions than is commonly known. Can she find out the truth before he is shipped off to die for crimes against the Earth? And can Loki bring himself to care?
Taking a deep breath as she heard the door click back into place, Caroline tried to center herself again before beginning once more with her patient.
“Oh dear, I hope there are no problems, Doctor?” Loki asked, false concern coloring his voice.
“No, no problems,” Caroline smiled at him. “I learned how to deal with gun-toting bureaucrats long ago.”
“If you would like, I could deal with him for you,” the God suggested. “Simply be so good as to unlock my manacles and I will gladly make sure that particular problem is out of the way permanently.”
From a purely ethical perspective, Caroline had issues with a patient being chained during a session. I this instance, however, she had a strong suspicion that no amount of persuasion would convince the magical being seated before her to remain once the cuffs were removed. While it was not her preference to treat an unwilling patient, this particular one was so clearly in desperate need of her services that she was persuaded to make an exception.
“I hardly think interrupting our therapy session is a capital offense,” she said after a moment’s reflection.
“Therapy? Is that what this is supposed to be?”
“Of a sort,” she shrugged. “We can call it something else if the term offends you.”
“I merely find it humorous. After all, where I am headed the status of my emotions is like to matter little. And after that… well, I won’t have to deal with pesky emotions at all.”
“And will that be a relief for you?” she took a gamble, probing him a bit.
“Emotions are a weakness. The sooner you learn that dear doctor, the better you’ll be.”
“I think emotions can be our greatest strength. However, seeing everything you have been through in your long life, I can understand why you might have some hesitation about that.”
“And what could you possibly know about my life?” Loki scoffed.
“Well, you told me a bit about it,” she pointed out. “You were abandoned by your birth father, taken from your home, lied to by your adopted parents, overlooked in favor of an adored sibling, and to top it all off, you found out about your true nature in a horribly traumatic fashion. That’s enough to make anyone want to emotionally shut down. Either that or tumble off the deep end into emotional chaos.”
“Don’t make chaos sound so unappealing,” Loki said. “It can be quite liberating. And after all, I do rule over it as a God.”
“That’s right, you’re God of Chaos and Lies as well as Mischief.”
“I prefer to think of it as stories more than lies,” Loki said innocently. “Lies just sounds so naughty, doesn’t it? But then, maybe that’s part of the appeal.”
“Don’t try to distract me with semantics,” Caroline told him with a disarming smile, ignoring how appealing it was when he said the word. “We were talking about your reaction to the discovery of your true origins. I take it you embraced chaos.”
“It is my nature.”
“You sent the Destroyer, I think it’s called? To Earth to kill your brother.”
“Kill or be killed, what would you do?”
“Not commit fratricide, I hope. Did you really think Thor would kill you?”
“What was I meant to think?” Loki exploded. “All of our lives, he spoke of killing every last Jotun. He dreamed of it. Longed for it. Planned endlessly for the day when he could carry out those dreams as King. Why should I ever suspect that a weekend on this dreary planet would turn him into a simpering puppy where they were concerned? All because of a pair of big brown eyes.”
“You mean Jane Foster?”
“That woman. I had tried to reason with Thor for centuries. Pointed out the problematic nature of genocide, counseled restraint and diplomacy, and for centuries I was mocked for it. Then a pretty female makes the exact same arguments and suddenly Thor is a pacifist?”
“He had changed when he came back to Asgard.”
“In some ways. In others he was exactly the same as always. He had experienced this grand epiphany and was now a warrior for peace, and therefore everyone else must instantly and intuitively know that the world had reordered itself. A mere handful of days prior he had tried to bring about the end of the Jotunheim himself and considered it worthy of songs and celebrations. But when I attempted the same, attempted to show that my loyalty was and always would be to Asgard and our family, I was a criminal, interested in only death and destruction! I spent my life pushing back against Thor and Odin’s reflexive shows of brute force, and the moment I finally embraced the family way they changed it! Why should I be held to a standard different from the one they set all my life? How is that fair?”
Heaving himself off of the bench, Loki strode over to the side of his cell farthest from the watching guards and leaned his head on a forearm pressed to the glass. Caroline could see the rise and fall of his back as he struggled to get his emotions under control.
“It’s not,” she said simply.
“What?” the word was barely audible from where he stood.
“It’s not fair,” she said again.
“Careful doctor,” he warned, turning his head to look at her. “You contradict the great rulers of Asgard and the Nine Realms.”
“How fortunate for me then that I am not one of their subjects.”
“The AllFather may not see it that way.”
“Loki, I know it may sound blasphemous, but I really don’t care what Odin thinks, or Thor either. For the former, I have never met him, and from everything I have heard I am grateful for it. As for Thor… I have met him on a handful of occasions. He strikes me as carelessly kind, overly headstrong, and more than a touch egotistical. Not terribly dissimilar from several other enhanced people I have come across in my line of work. I have a casual linking for him, but I cannot imagine how irritating it would be to be his sibling. The only member of the Asgardian royal family I am interested in right now is you.”
“Why Caroline,” Loki purred, turning with a predatory gleam and sauntering deliberately over to the table where she sat, “why didn’t you say so in the first place?”
***
She was good, he had to give her that. Most of the mortals Loki had met since arriving on Earth would have shrunk back visibly with him looming over them, manacles of no. He was considerably tall by their standards, and he had learned several hundred years ago how to use his presence to his advantage. Instead of flinching away from him, Dr. Thorpe just directed a quizzical look up at him, as though trying to decipher what secret his new tactic was hiding. Only the pulse he could see beating rapidly in her neck betrayed any kind of alarm.
She smelled nice. The thought passed irrelevantly through his mind. A light smell of strawberries that he believed must be from her shampoo surrounded her. Loki had always enjoyed the fruit, particularly when matched with chocolate.
“If you are trying to intimidate me,” she said hardily, “you will have to try better than that.”
“Intimidate you? On the contrary, I was trying to entice you. Are my skills as rusty as that?”
“It’s interesting that your words when flirting are move removed from your true self than any of the other words you have spoken thus far. If I were to guess, I would say you were not one to give your heart over rapidly to another the way Thor did with Jane. Is that part of why it surprised you so much?”
“Why would I ever give my heart to anyone?” he asked, still keeping his voice pleasant as he sat on the edge of her desk, crowding into her space. “I am not so cruel. And who in their right mind would want such a tarnished thing?”
“Tarnish is easy enough to scrub off,” she shrugged. “And I would think there would be many people willing to take a gamble with yours.”
“Indeed? Are you saying I’m attractive, Caroline?”
“You are undeniably handsome,” she admitted. “On top of that, you are intelligent, curious, I would guess talented in many different fields.”
“Oh, I am,” he made his voice as suggestive as possible, and felt a moment of victory when her face blushed slightly.
“I think, after some work, you would make some person an excellent partner.”
“Work?”
“Forgiving yourself.”
“What in Hel do I have to forgive myself for?” he snapped, standing up off the table.
“Not being Thor,” she sighed.
Loki felt as though she had slapped him across the face. So, it turned out this doctor was no different than all the rest. She judged him not by who he was, or even who he might be, but by how far he fell from the perfect golden idol that was Thor. Why had he ever expected different?
“No, Loki, wait,” she said quickly, laying a hand on his arm.
Loki stared down, thinking idly that she was touching him precisely where the Frost Giant had all that time ago. Her touch was warm though, and she grasped him gently as though attempting to heal him instead of trying to burn. He could not remember the last time a person had touched him with anything less than thinly contained violence, and he found himself frozen in place.
“You misunderstand,” she continued, looking up at him. “I am not saying that I think you should be like Thor. I think that even trying to be is an error on your part.”
“Because I am so fundamentally lacking?”
“In some ways, but in others you are so fundamentally more. From everything I read about Asgard before seeing you today, and everything you have told me, the social hierarchy sounds like that of a common high school here on Earth. Thor is strong, brash, brave, all those things. But he doesn’t think before he acts. He doesn’t even really believe a person should think first. In a culture that celebrates battles and strength, he shines. He is an instrument as blunt and inflexible as his hammer, and good for similar functions.
“You, on the other hand, are the complete opposite. You are agile, reflexive, fluid, graceful. Your mind is just as much of a weapon as any tangible object, and I would wager much more lethal. You will survive far better than your brother, because you know how and when to swerve or bend but never surrender. The Asgardians, with their black and white mentality, would not be able to see what a great advantage this is.”
“That is true,” he said begrudgingly.
“Now, let’s look at your childhood again. You were brilliant, I assume, from a young age. That would have made your teachers envious, and I can imagine that you did nothing to hide your superiority to them.”
“A God does not hide his gifts.”
“And they are gifts!” she pounced. “So, if your teachers resent you for the most part, and the other children see more value in arms than in books, what then? Your father spent all of your formative years recounting battles to you, it couldn’t help but glorify skills at arms. The entire society you were planted in revolved around them. And you, from before you understood, would have internalized this.
“And then the final knell – Thor is given Mjornir and the crown.”
“That was never in doubt,” Loki lied. He had dared to hope, long ago now, that the throne of Asgard might fall to him. That somehow he could prove to Odin that he was worthy of his pride and love. He had been a fool.
“You might have known intellectually, but it still would have hurt,” she shook her head.
It had hurt more than he cared to remember. The worst was that no one seemed to even consider that he might feel anything other than delighted on his brother’s behalf. He had been happy, in a fashion. He loved Thor back then with an ease that he grieved the lack of now. Still, that one small, kernel of hope had always remained that somehow, he could convince their father that he was not just a spare prince, dark shadow following behind Thor’s gleaming sun.
“What does it matter?” he asked with a sigh.
“It matters! It matters because you matter. Yes, Odin chose Thor. But that is because Odin has no more imagination than your brother. He wants Asgard to continue on as it has always done. In Thor, he has a perfect reflection of himself. He didn’t choose you because you would have tried new things, made improvements, and, yes, mistakes as well. But you would have changed the status quo. You were not less than, Loki. You were unique.”
Loki walked back to the bench, her words echoing in his head. Had he been comparing himself to Thor all this time? He had thought that he had ceased to do so years ago. Still, the constant praise of his brother rang in his ears. The worship in everyone’s eyes all but blinded him. He had tried to see the irony in it all, to see the throngs who followed his brother as lemmings, nuisances at best.
Magic had helped, a little. His mother had done her best to give him something of his own, and he had seized on it with embarrassing eagerness. He could still remember the first time he had faced Thor across the pitch, their father watching expectantly from the sidelines, knowing that he had a new advantage his brother would never possess. It had all gone as usual. Thor had attacked head on while Loki dodged and danced, blades flashing. Then, summoning all of his magical strength, Loki had blurred his image so that Thor was not sure where he truly started and stopped. It was a crude version of a trick he could do without thinking now. It had been enough to confound his brother, who threw himself at the wrong side of Loki and ended up lying face down in the dirt, Loki’s dagger pressed to the back of his neck.
Loki had been ecstatic. Surely, at last, he would hear Odin’s praise. Instead, his father had looked at him coldly from his one good eye, face unpleased.
“Tricks,” he had said. “Unsporting in this sort of battle. I had expected more from you.”
Odin had turned around and walked away, leaving Loki crushed. Frigga had tried to ease his hurt, assuring him that he had done the spell just right, and she was so proud of him, but the damage had been done. He told himself he gave up on trying to win Odin’s approval at that moment, but he knew it was a lie. A part of him wanted it still.
“Tell me what living creature ever dreamed of being unique,” Loki asked quietly. “Unique is just another word for alone.”
“Unique is special,” Dr. Thorpe countered. “Loki, you don’t have to be alone.”
“Would you link yourself to me, Doctor?” he asked, thinking to call her bluff. “There is, after all, very little time left. Would you stay with me until the axe falls, be it tomorrow or the next day?”
“If you wish it,” she surprised him with the answer. “I don’t think the axe has to fall, necessarily, but even if it does, I will be there with you, if you like. As a friend.”
“A friend,” the word tasted strange on his tongue. “Friend to the one who tried to subjugate your kind? Who killed humans without a second thought?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because you are what you were made to be, and no one deserves to be alone.”
“Yet in the end, we are all. And so shall I be.”
“Loki, I will ask you one last time, do you want to die?”
Loki looked at her, truly considering the question for the first time. He did not actively seek out death, not since he had let go of Gungnir a fallen into the abyss. In that moment he had, indeed, longed for an end to all the pain. Instead, the true pain had only just begun. Wincing away from the memory, he brought himself to the present.
No, he did not particularly want to die. He just was not sure he wanted to live. He knew who hunted him, somewhere in the greater galaxy. He had thought he might be safe on Asgard. Surely his father, he had believed, even if he was not so by blood, would take him back rather than leave him to the barbaric Midgardians. An Asgardian jail cell would not be pleasant, but at least it would be marginally safer. Even one as mad as his pursuer would not risk a head on confrontation with Odin AllFather.
It had not happened that way. Odin had washed his hands of his Jotun pawn. Loki was on his own, with nothing standing between him and more of the agony he had endured in his captivity.
“It might be better for all involved were it to be over,” he said at last. “I fear you have wasted your time with me. Let them end it and save yourselves.”
“Save ourselves from what? From you?”
“No, my threat is over.”
“Then what? Loki, what are you afraid of?”
“I told you, I fear nothing!”
Lies, of course.
“I don’t believe you. Everyone has fears.”
“And what are yours?” he asked, suddenly angry at her for making him feel. “Tell me, Caroline, what are your deepest, darkest fears that keep you up at night? Is it loneliness for you, is that why you hope to see it in me? Do you lie there, alone in your bed with no one to care for you? Only your work to keep you warm in the cold hours of the night? Would you cling to me in my uniqueness because you fear to be on your own?”
“In part, yes, probably,” she agreed with him, startling him once again. “I do know what it is like to be different. To keep others at arm’s length. I know what it is to be alone.”
“Well then, shall we comfort each other? You are not uncomely.”
He had meant to intimidate her, to drive her away, but as he drew closer to her, Loki realized that he would not mind spending time with her. She was more attractive than he had made it sound, and he could feel himself responding to her. Against his will, he began imagining her eyes, frank and compassionate, darkened with desire. Or perhaps it was not all his imagination. Her pulse was racing again, and her pupils had dilated as she looked up at him.
“What you suggest would not be appropriate,” her voice was more strained than it had been before.
“Because I am a terrorist?” he murmured, close to her ear.
“Because you are my patient.”
“I politely decline your services, doctor. At least, your professional services. You had said you would keep me company. We could become quite friendly if you desire.”
“I think this is a good time for a break,” she said crisply, standing and smoothing her hands over her skirt.
“I thought you wanted to stay with me,” he smirked.
“We need food,” she told him. “I will go arrange something and be back shortly.
Loki grinned as she hurried from the room, but the humor faded quickly. He had won that round, he believed. So why did the victory feel so hollow?
Loki/OFC Rated M (may go up to E in future chapters) Trigger Warnings: Angst, talk of suicide, therapy, unhealthy family dynamics
Loki’s plans to conquer and rule Midgard have come to a disastrous end. After being captured by the Avengers, he is being held on Earth. Odin has refused to interfere, and the outlook for the God of Mischief appear bleak. His only hope may lie in one mortal woman, a Psychiatric expert brought in to interrogate him.
Dr. Caroline Thorpe is intrigued by Loki and thinks that more lies beneath his actions than is commonly known. Can she find out the truth before he is shipped off to die for crimes against the Earth? And can Loki bring himself to care?
As he sat in his cell, refusing to give the agents he knew were watching him the satisfaction of seeing him pace, Loki was very well aware he was living on borrowed time. After all, he had just led a murderous alien army against one of their largest cities. He had rolled the dice with the Chitari and lost in humiliating fashion. He knew what his punishment was certain to be, no matter what fantasy Thor tried to peddle. He wished they would just get on with it.
He heard her heels clicking along the tiled floor before she came into view. Plastering a superior sneer onto his face, Loki looked up to see a surprisingly youthful, if not exactly young, woman in a navy skirt suit and pale pink blouse approach his glass cage. With a smile she flashed her badge at the pair of guards flanking the door. He could not hear their words, the prison was soundproofed, but it seemed some sort of disagreement was taking place. Much to his amusement it was the soldiers who finally backed down, punching the code to open his cell into the panel. Weapons drawn they escorted the woman into the enclosure where the God was being held.
As if they needed the weapons. With the inscrolled cuffs binding his wrists, Loki was incapable of accessing his magical powers. Hel, he could not even move his arms far enough to cross them over his chest as habit suggested he do. He supposed he could have used brute strength to muscle his way out, mortals were easy enough to subdue even manacled as he was, but to be honest he didn’t really care enough to try.
The woman flashed him an incongruous smile, only slightly tinged with insecurity, and made her way to the table across from him. Director Fury had been the last person to sit in that seat, and his smile had been very different. It seemed one eyed men of all realms agreed that Loki was beyond redemption. Fury had taken great pleasure in informing Loki that Odin had failed to lift a finger to retrieve his adopted son from the vengeance of Midgard. Thor, that soft hearted oaf, had begged for mercy on his behalf, but when had Loki ever been shown mercy?
“Hello,” the woman greeted him, sitting down and opening a large file folder. “My name is Dr. Caroline Thorpe. I have been contracted by the powers that be to conduct a thorough examination and debriefing of you… I see in my notes that you are listed variously as Prince Loki Odinson, Mr. Loki Laufeyson, Loki God of Mischief… How would you like me to address you?”
“Your Majesty would be acceptable,” Loki drawled, crossing his ankles in front of him as he spread out on the bench indolently. “My King, Your Worship, My God… any of those will work.”
“Prince Odinson it is,” she said with a small smile.
“No!” Loki surprised himself by his vehemence. “Not that. Odin is no father to me, as he has made very clear of late.”
“Very well. Why don’t we just stick with Loki then.”
“And shall I call you Caroline?” he asked, making his voice a purr.
“If you wish,” she shrugged, ignoring his attempt to disconcert her.
“Just what are you a doctor of, may I ask?”
“I have phds in Psychology, Neuro Development, and Trauma Therapy,” she told him.
“And you work for SHIELD.”
“Not officially. They bring me in from time to time. I helped Mr. Stark after his experience in captivity, and have worked profiling other threats, real and perceived, from various individuals. But this is not about me. This is about you.”
“Are you here to determine if I am sane enough to stand trial?” he snarled, leaning forward now and narrowing his eyes. “I assure you I am ready. I find I tire of Midgardian hospitality, and if the only way to end it is via the axe, then for gods’ sake, let them swing it.”
“Is that what you want?” she asked, resting her chin on one hand.
“What?”
“The axe. To die. In short, are you suicidal?”
“Suicide is a coward’s way out,” he snapped.
“Maybe,” she still sounded unphased. “Or it’s a desperate man’s way out. When pain is so intense that living seems the lesser trial. You suggested earlier that I call you your majesty. You served as King of Asgard for a time, did you not?”
“I was the rightful King!”
“And how did that come about? Your father – excuse me, Odin, is still alive.”
“You wouldn’t understand.”
“Try me,” she leaned back in her chair, raising her eyebrows.
“When one lives for thousands of years as we do, rather than the pitiful lifespan of your kind, and one exerts the amount of power that Odin wields, from time to time a rest is required. It is called the Odin Sleep. Pretentious, don’t you think? In any event, he had fallen into it. Thor was banished, and so I became King.”
“Thor was banished? Why?”
“For the good of Asgard! Had he been allowed to remain and to rule, it would have been nothing but genocide and war across the nine realms!”
“My goodness! How fortunate for all of us then that Odin saw that.”
“Odin,” Loki sneered, standing up and pacing despite his best intentions. “Odin was a fool, blinded by a father’s fancy. He never saw Thor for what he was. No one did. They were all ready to give the realm up to him.”
“And yet, he was banished.”
“Ah, I see your game. It is not enough to convict me for my crimes here on Midgard. You want to tar me with my prior acts as well. Very well, I confess. I am not ashamed of it. Thor was a danger to the nine realms. No one else was going to stop him, so I took matters into my own hands. I allowed in a small group of Jotun soldiers to the vault. Not enough to steal anything, mind you. The destroyer was more than a match for them. Just enough to delay the ceremony and give my short tempered brother a match to light the flame of his temper. And what could be more predictable than that he went roaring in, hammer flying, to try and take on an entire race with nothing more than a mere handful of companions. We would be dead if I had not alerted the guard to his intent! But do I receive thanks for that? No. All I got from halting the ill thought assault on the Jotunheim was condemnation, betrayal, and pain.”
He had not meant to reveal so much. The memory still caused pain, in as much as he allowed himself to feel anything. He had saved them, all of them, only to be accused of jealousy and worse by those who were supposed to be his friends. He had needed so much at that time to feel that he was one of them. Loki had always struggled with the knowledge that he was an outsider, only allowed because he was Thor’s brother, held in the blond God’s affections like a beloved pet. With Thor gone and his own true parentage revealed, Loki had been more alone than ever. He longed for one of them, anyone, to reach out to him. Not that he had any delusion of taking Thor’s place in their group, he did not want to. But with his very identity spinning out of his control, any sign that he was part of a group, a welcome member of the band, would have helped him to keep his moorings.
“I am not trying to convict you of anything,” Dr. Thorpe said calmly. “I am simply trying to ascertain what led to your invasion. Surly it was not as simple as envying your brother’s throne.”
“I never wanted the throne!” Loki snapped, automatically. He didn’t know why, no one ever believed him. “No, I see your game. You want to lull me into a false sense of ease. To play the kind, friendly counterpoint to Fury’s righteous anger. You will not convict me, as you say, you will merely draw out confidences until I convict myself.”
“Then you think yourself guilty then?”
“Guilty of trying to improve the miserable lives of the pathetic inhabitants of this world, yes.”
“As long as we obeyed your commands.”
“Well, I am a God.”
“But you don’t want a throne.”
“It is not a matter of want. I was born to it. Told day after day, century after century that it was my destiny to rule.”
“Why was that do you think?” she asked him.
“All part of the AllFather’s glorious plans,” he laughed without humor. “He told both of his ‘sons’ they were meant to rule. He just didn’t tell us the rest of it. Thor was meant to rule over the splendor of Asgard, an adoring people supporting his every jingoistic impulse. Whereas I was destined for a different, colder fate. King of race of monsters who I was indoctrinated to despise. A race, might I add, that would not look with adoration at me despite my parentage, but rather revulsion that such a weak, stunted puppet as I was being forced upon them by the very colonizer who destroyed their home and stole me from my fated death. Oh yes, an equally wonderful destiny for us both.”
“It is true then? Odin stole you from a Jotun temple when you were a baby?”
“Abandoned by my other loving father. Yes. A happy tale, is it not?”
“Better than dying in the cold,” she suggested.
“Is it? The warm embrace of a family? A family where a common theme was the destruction of all the monster Jotuns? One of the first games my brother and I played was of the great battle in which King Thor would lead the mighty army of Asgard. Thor was always the King, even then. He would swoop in, legions behind him, and slay every last Frost Giant, that the evil, bestial race die out forever. And how did Odin react? By tousling his blond head and handing him Mjornir, the weapon with which to obtain his genocidal heart’s desire. Tell me, Dear Doctor, what such an upbringing would instill in a Jotun child. Do you think they would learn to love their people? To see the good in themselves? And when their true nature was revealed, what then?”
“It must have been terrifying.”
“I fear nothing.”
“No? You say your brother dreamed of killing all of the Jotuns. Tell me, Loki, when you found out what you were, did you fear – did you think he might include you in his plans?”
“I fail to see what this has to do with the invasion.”
“Forget the invasion for a moment. It must have crossed your mind. Just that day Thor had led you all to the Jotunheim to slay the Frost Giants. He tried to take on the entire race, wipe out their evil forever, as you said. All of that hate, all of that killing fervor, directed at a group that you were suddenly included in.”
Loki scoffed and looked away, but inside he was in turmoil. The fear had been almost crippling. He had been sorry at first that Thor had been banished. He had meant for his scheme to end in the coronation being delayed, had never thought that it would go as far as Odin casting his brother out of Asgard. He loved Thor, and while their relationship was not without conflict, he could not imagine his life without him.
And then the whisper of a thought had slid like a knife into his brain. His arm and hand had not burned but turned blue where the Frost Giant touched him. What did that mean? Quietly he had made his way into the vault, treading the long familiar halls until he stood before the nook containing the casket of endless winter. It was as if he could hear it singing to him, a song that spoke of sheer cliffs and sparkling snows, crisp days and chilling nights. Compelled, he had reached out and clutched the casket, and his world had ended.
When he felt Odin appear behind him, Loki had known a last glimmer of hope. Surely this was some Jotun trick. His father would deny it, would explain why this was happening to him and make everything alright. Instead, Odin had confirmed in stark, harsh words Loki’s worst fears. He was a monster. No wonder he had been shunned all his life. No wonder he was left to beg for scraps at Thor’s heels. He was the unwanted son of Asgard’s mortal enemy. One of the evil creatures Thor had sworn to eliminate from existence.
Thank the Norns that Thor was not there! He had been even more dismissive than usual of late, scorning Loki’s advice and belittling him in public these days as well as in private. Loki had hoped that it was merely the stress of the coronation, but what if it was more? What if Thor was beginning to sense that something was wrong with Loki? What if he was preparing himself for the moment when his hatred of the Frost Giants drove him to take the life of one who had been raised as his brother?
“Thor directs a killing fervor at whoever happens to be in his line of vision,” Loki tried for a bored flippancy. “Why should I have expected to be exempt?”
“Because you were his brother,” Dr. Thorpe suggested.
“Ah, but I am not.”
“Aren’t you?”
“If I was, do you think he would have so casually let me fall from the rainbow bridge? Oh, he made a token reach for me out of habit, as did Odin, but do you really think that if the combined might of Thor, God of Thunder, and Odin, AllFather tried to save me I would have fallen into the abyss?”
“Or not even Gods, as you call yourselves, are infallible.”
“Careful, little Doctor, you tread on heresy!”
“Hardly the first time,” she flashed a distracting smile despite his attempt to once more intimidate her, “I’m a diehard agnostic.”
Loki took a closer look at this woman who had been brought in to interrogate him. She was attractive, for a mortal. Bright, intelligent eyes, thick hair, conservatively dressed but not without a certain sense of style he could appreciate. More than that though, she seemed unintimidated by him. All of the other mortals he had come in contact with were obviously terrified of him. Whether they expressed it by hostile attempts at intimidation or shrinking visibly in his presence, he had easily read their fear in presence. This doctor though, she seemed completely unbothered to be locked in a room with a mass murderer. Absurdly, Loki was a bit offended by this. He had worked hard to come across as menacing in his takeover attempt. The least he deserved as a balm to his bruised ego was to see the Midgardians squirm when he growled.
A top on the glass sounded and Loki and the doctor both looked over to see a blond man of older years for a mortal glaring at them through the window. Ah, the alpha approach to fear. Puffing out his chest a bit, Loki broadened his shoulders and sneered at the man who’s name he refused to learn but who had barked at him before. Dr. Thorpe looked no less happy than he to see the bureaucrat, but after a brief grimace only Loki was allowed to see due to his position, she stood up and made her way to the door.
***
Caroline struggled to contain her irritation as she exited the glass cell, working to paste a serene look onto her over expressive face. She had lost count of the number of times her failure to hide her thoughts had gotten her into hot water with authorities at her various posts. It was her Achilles heel; no matter how much training she had in various methods of psychology, she had never mastered the blank stare that so many therapists affected.
“Secretary Pierce,” she greeted the man, trying for a friendly tone and not convincing herself. “What brings you down here?”
“I was about to ask you the same question,” the man did not look pleased.
“Sir? I was just debriefing the detainee, as ordered.”
And she had just begun to make progress! She knew, absolutely knew beyond a doubt that there was more going on with this Asgardian Prince than the world was aware of. Everything about his actions since arriving on Earth had been a jumble of contradictions. He was obviously brilliant but made errors that anyone could have foreseen. He demanded obeisance in grand statements about his Godliness, but Caroline would swear that she saw nothing but self-loathing in his eyes.
Why had he come here? It was obvious to her that he was running from something or towards, she was not yet sure, but her instincts told her it was vital to find out. To do that, she had to get him to trust her, at least a little, and she would not do that with glowering government dignitaries hovering over her shoulder.
“I did not order any such thing,” Pierce said, glaring at her. “The prisoner is dangerous. He is scheduled to be transferred to the Raft tomorrow, where he will be tried, condemned, and executed.”
“Director Fury gave the order, Sir,” she bit back the angry retort that the prisoner had yet to stand trial, and therefore his conviction, much less his death, was a bit premature.
“Fury’s gone soft,” one of the agents who always seemed to flank Pierce muttered.
“I dare you to say that to his face,” Caroline said sweetly. “Sir, if the prisoner is leaving us tomorrow anyway, and will not be around in any capacity much longer after that, then what harm could there be in talking to him? Maybe I will discover something that could be of use to us against future threats.”
“You really think you can get something out of him?”
As one, they all turned to where Loki was lounging indolently on his bench, a mocking gaze taking them all in as if he was holding them prisoner rather than the other way around.
Lord, he was attractive, a small voice remarked inconsequentially in her mind. Caroline tried not to blush as she turned back to the men who all towered over her. The last thing she needed was for Pierce and his goons to suspect she had a soft spot for the alien invader. She would never get near him again.
“I think that if I don’t, I will only have wasted my own time and his,” she replied. “Threats have not worked; he doesn’t fear us in the slightest. Why not let me try a different approach.”
“You have until the pick him up tomorrow,” Pierce agreed begrudgingly. “After that, the Asgardian’s time is up.”
Nodding and letting her smile slip away as she turned her back on the exiting men, she focused on the one sitting behind what she knew was impenetrable glass, wrists shackled together.
One day to decipher the mystery this man represented. She had her work cut out for her.
