Second Thor/ Being Human Crossover: Chapter Six
Chapter Six
"Oh hell no," Nick Fury said. "If you're interviewing Rogers about what happened in the forest, I'm going to be in on it."
Loki tried not to look impatient. "If you are, as you say, 'in on it,' it is very unlikely Steve will say anything useful. He thinks you are his enemy."
"But you're going to explain to him that it's just a spell, right?" Fury demanded, his one eye glinting dangerously.
Fortunately, now that he was not trussed in restraints that made him feel like everything vital was being sucked out of him, nor fearful of being served the same way again if he made a false move, Loki was able to remain composed in the face of Fury's regard.
"You appear to be threatening me, Nick Fury," he said calmly. "I do not believe you mean to do so, but it is a most unfortunate impression. Is this how you addressed Steve when you spoke to him?"
"I'm the director of a US government agency, not Mary Fucking Poppins," Fury replied. Loki, mystified, glanced at his friends for translation.
"Mary Poppins was a character in a book-- a magical person who looked after children. They probably have a copy in your school's library," George explained. "You might like it."
"There was a movie as well. Some of the songs were pretty good, although Dick Van Dyke's Cockney accent should have been destroyed with fire," Mitchell added helpfully.
"I liked Dick Van Dyke in that role," Annie objected. "He was sweet."
"Well, obviously, but that doesn't mean his accent wasn't an abomination," Mitchell argued.
"Thank you," Loki said, and turned back to Fury, whose expression indicated his name had never seemed more appropriate in the whole of their brief acquaintance. "Truly, Nick Fury, I am not trying to render your life or your job more troublesome. But surely there is some place in this vehicle where you can observe our conversation without forcing Steve to deal with your presence." Fury opened his mouth, possibly to incinerate Loki with a breath of flame. Loki raised his hands in a gesture that indicated he was unarmed, and sportsmanship therefore forbade violence against him. "It is necessary that you understand the situation, Fury. You cannot order Steve to lose his fear. He already knows it is the result of a spell. He already knows it is irrational. That does not prevent him from experiencing it."
Fury suddenly deflated. "All right. I'm being unreasonable. It's just that he was always so brave."
Loki blinked, confused. "He is still brave. He is merely experiencing a great deal of fear at the moment. The spell is to blame, but the circumstances under which he came to be aboard this vessel have not helped, nor has his treatment since his arrival."
"We haven't done anything to him," Fury insisted, but now he sounded defensive.
"Anything aside from locking him up, which I understand you believed to be for his own protection, and instilling anxiety about the fates of those he believes he can trust. Surely you can understand how these actions have exacerbated the effects of the spell: his fears no longer seem entirely irrational to him. It therefore seems to me most unwise for you, or Iron Man, or any of the agents present at his capture, to present themselves to him until he has had a chance to calm down. I do, however, understand your wish to have a representative of your group present, and a possible solution has occurred to me."
"Which is-- ?" Fury prompted.
"Admittedly, when we showed him an image of my brother Thor, it also frightened him. But Thor did not actually participate in any of the… activities… that have combined to make Steve's state of mind worse, so he would be a better option than most of you. Also, of course, my friends and I can vouch for his harmlessness."
Everyone looked at the enormous, heavily-armored thunderer. Thor looked back with his most disarming smile. Had there been little birds in the helicarrier, they would assuredly have been landing upon his shoulders. Mary Poppins, whoever she was, could not have looked more harmless.
"Huh," Fury grunted, but it was a grunt of acquiescence.
His point made, Loki went on,
"I think it would also be beneficial if we could bring Steve from his… room… to a more open location, to demonstrate that neither he nor we are prisoners. Thor can meet us there, and we can ask Steve what he remembers. Does this seem reasonable?"
Fury hesitated, as though calculating the chances it was all some sort of trick. Then he nodded.
~oOoOo~
Agent Coulson escorted the housemates to Steve's door, which was still locked from the outside. This struck Loki as an exceedingly poor way to convince the stricken Avenger that he was not in fact a prisoner, but he swallowed his annoyance and knocked politely.
"Steve? It is Loki. I am here with Annie, George, and Mitchell. May we enter?" At an assent from within, Agent Coulson entered a code on a keypad. The door slid open, and Coulson withdrew down the corridor. The four housemates entered the room, and Loki found himself suddenly filled with apprehension. Suppose Steve no longer recognized them as friends? Worse, suppose he, Loki, was unable to do anything to help?
The first of Loki's worries was banished immediately when Steve came right over and hugged each of the four in turn.
"I'm so glad to see you," he said, his voice unsteady. "I was telling myself all kinds of terrible things they were probably doing to you-- "
Loki made a mental note to ask Thor never to mention the cell or the restraints to anyone he knew.
"As you can see, none of them were true," he said, in a matter-of-fact tone he hoped would be reassuring.
Steve nodded, rubbing his forehead. "I know that. I mean, I knew it already, consciously, but I have this voice in the back of my mind, telling me terrifying things. And when I'm alone I can't figure out what's true and what isn't. I'm glad you guys are all right, but I'm also really glad you're here, because you can tell me I'm just being stupid."
"You're not 'being stupid,'" Annie said sharply.
"If you were chained to a wall, you wouldn't be 'stupid' because you couldn't move," George added, which Loki thought a rather apt analogy.
"Exactly," Mitchell nodded. "Whatever cursed you is powerful and nasty, and you don't know how to fight it yet."
"It's definitely been winning so far," Steve mumbled. Loki folded his arms and regarded Steve with a raised eyebrow. Seeing the expression, Steve explained feebly, "I've turned into a complete coward."
"Indeed?" Loki asked, hearing sarcasm ooze into his tone. "And you demonstrate this how, exactly? By panicking and running away when a mechanical man attempts to abduct you?" It would have been better for the house if Steve had done exactly that, but this was not the time to bring that up. "By thinking of no one but yourself and your own fear, and forgetting about what might be happening to your friends?"
Steve chewed on his lower lip, looking stung. But he also looked as though he could almost understand the point Loki was trying to make, except that the voice in his head was confusing him. "I didn't do anything like that."
"Of course not. You have been confused and frightened, but have continued to do the things you need to do. That is not cowardice. The stories told of the Avengers say that you were a soldier in the great war of the 1940s." Steve nodded. "And you were very small and weak, yet you volunteered repeatedly until you were finally selected for this super-soldier program?" Steve nodded again. "Well, when you were small and weak, were you ever in a situation in which you experienced fear?"
"Of course," Steve replied sharply, as if Loki's needling tone had gotten under his skin. "I didn't give in to it, though. The important thing was to keep doing what I needed to do." Steve abruptly fell silent, staring at Loki, who regarded him with raised eyebrows. Reluctantly, a smile tugged at the corner of Steve's mouth. "You twisty psychological bastard," he murmured.
Loki placed a hand over his heart and sketched a bow. "I will take that as a compliment. Put briefly, you have indeed been cursed with fear, but the sorcerer who cursed you has still failed."
Steve obviously wanted to believe Loki, but was afraid it was all a comforting lie. Loki held his confident expression, hoping the others could not tell that parts of his speech were indeed comforting lies-- with no idea who or what was behind the curse, he could not guarantee a favourable outcome. However, Steve was a soldier, so part of him probably understood that Loki was telling him what he needed to hear to encourage the desirable outcome. There was no shame, and very little deception, in that.
Abruptly, Steve said, in a wryly humorous tone, "As long as you don't tell me Nick Fury is one of those friends you mentioned, because I don't think I'd believe that even if I wasn't under a curse."
"I agree, he is formidable, but I think perhaps that is just his way. He may be very fond of small animals and… and his grandmother," Loki offered. Steve gave him a sharp look and Loki smiled. "I am kidding. I am fairly sure he does not possess a grandmother."
"Probably hatched from an egg buried in the sand," Steve muttered. Loki smiled again.
"Now, are you ready to leave this room, and perhaps look out a window?"
~oOoOo~
Following detailed and extremely accurate directions from Agent Coulson, Loki was able to lead his little group back to the observation deck. By now the sun had set, and the sight of lights below them and stars coming out above was both beautiful and soothing.
As they entered the room, Thor raised a hand in greeting from a chair at the conference table. He sat on the side of the table away from the door, and did not rise. Despite a careful explanation of who he would see and why he was not to be feared, Steve still caught his breath in a sound of near-panic. Then he exhaled, and followed as Loki approached the table. Annie, in a previously-arranged gesture, immediately went over to sit in a chair right next to Thor. As hoped, this concrete expression of Annie's lack of fear seemed to make some impact on Steve's state of mind.
He still made a careful survey of the chairs before he selected one, directly across the table from Thor, which put him in a good position to defend George and Mitchell if Thor suddenly turned violent, and meant he would only need to spring across the table if Thor attacked Annie or Loki.
Obviously, none of this was actually going to happen, but it was evident by the way Steve dealt with his fear that Loki had been right: the unknown sorcerer was making Captain America's life miserable, but had failed nevertheless.
Loki steepled his fingers, decided this made him look like a gloating villain, and folded his hands before him on the tabletop instead.
"Thor and Steve, both of you were in the forest the night before last, when the event happened. Thor, Steve's memory of the incident appears to be incomplete. Could you repeat what you have told the rest of us regarding how you all came to be there?"
"Certainly, brother," Thor replied, leaning forward to put his elbows on the table. He did so with an economy of words that impressed Loki considerably: in Asgard, of course, all tales of battle would be embellished in the re-telling until even those who were there at the time doubted the veracity of their own recollections. Thor was as famous for his extravagant boasts as he was for his extravagant deeds, but now he limited himself to what sounded like the bare facts, in an effort to assist Steve with his memory. Loki had often thought, recently, that exile on Midgard had turned out to be a very good thing for his brother, but now he caught himself wondering whether he had simply been unfair to Thor for all these years.
"I don't remember very much about it," Steve admitted finally. "I do remember being out in the storm, how hard it was raining. There were flashes in the sky and I couldn't tell if it was lightning or Stark's jets. I was walking toward the centre of the storm and a figure appeared, almost right beside me."
"Were you able to see it clearly?" Loki asked gently.
Steve shook his head. "Not that I remember. That could be the spell, or it could just be that it was so dark. I do remember he was wearing some kind of a green cape or a cloak, and he had dark hair." Loki experienced a moment of gratitude that Nick Fury was not in the room to hear this. "I don't remember anything about his face, but he had a… a terrible purring voice, with an English accent." Loki was extremely grateful Fury wasn't present right now. Steve looked at Loki and added, "It was like yours, but the voice sounded a lot older. He sounded a bit like… like Sydney Greenstreet." Loki glanced around the table and found three confused faces and Mitchell nodding in comprehension. Perhaps Mitchell could enlighten them all, later.
Steve continued with his story. "He said something about what each of us brought to the battle, that all I had was courage and so he was going to take it, and there was another flash and something… hit me. That's the last thing I remember until what I guess was the next morning, when George just seemed to be there, asking if I was okay." He looked at George. "I was so grateful someone was there to help that I never even asked what you were doing out there. You looked like you'd had a rough night, too."
George looked uneasy. "Well. Now that you mention it…"
Humans would never cease to bewilder Loki: after all the anxiety he and his housemates had gone through, wondering how Steve would react to the revelation of their respective supernatural statuses, he accepted the information perfectly calmly. Even the news that he was sitting right beside a vampire did not shake him. It was clear he believed Mitchell, he just did not seem afraid of him.
"This may tell us something about the sorcerer," Loki realized. "He may have believed he was robbing you of your courage, when in fact all he did was burden you with a fairly specific set of fears. You fear your old companions, but not your new ones, and really, if you were going to be afraid of anyone-- "
"Vampires and werewolves, and ghosts, oh my," Annie murmured. Steve, looking deeply relieved, smiled at her.
"So this spell isn't as serious as we thought?" he asked Loki, hopefully.
"I think it would be a bad mistake for us to be overconfident," Loki cautioned. "But it does indeed appear the original sorcerer may himself have been arrogant. Wizards are like anyone else, prone to conceit and boasting."
"Oh, surely not, brother," Thor murmured. Loki favoured his sibling with a raised eyebrow: this new command of sarcasm was not unwelcome, but it was surprising.
Of course, Thor had been spending a great deal of time recently in the company of Tony Stark…
"I think perhaps the next course is to return to the forest," Loki decided. "Steve, it may be best if you do not accompany us." Steve looked prepared to protest and Loki reluctantly overruled him. "Thor mentioned lingering magic, and it would be most unfortunate if it was still able to affect you."
"What if Annie and I stay with Steve, just to remind him when it's the spell talking, and Loki and George go back to the forest with Thor?" Mitchell suggested.
"That seems reasonable," Loki agreed, looking at George and Thor for their reactions.
"Sure. Field trip," George agreed.
"I do not believe there were any fields nearby," Thor began, but stopped when Loki made a gesture indicating he would explain the idiom later. "Very well. There is a lounge on this vessel where the three of you may find amusements to pass the time."
"Do you two know how to play poker?" Steve asked hopefully.
~oOoOo~
There was a discussion of whether it might be best to wait until morning before visiting the forest, but in the end they decided not to. This was partly to avoid antagonizing the impatient Fury, and partly because the trace magic had already had time to deteriorate, and Loki was concerned about waiting any longer.
The group on the "field trip" was comprised of Loki, George, Thor, Tony Stark suited as Iron Man, and Agent Coulson. Loki was torn between relief that Fury had declined to join them, and worry about what he might be doing back on the helicarrier. Loki had no confidence at all in Fury's patience, and he hoped the one-eyed man was not interrogating Steve again. Fortunately, Mitchell's patience was unquestioned, so there was very little likelihood of Fury exasperating him into some sort of vampire-related disaster.
Surely not.
"We were about half a mile in that direction," Stark explained, gesturing. Coulson looked as nearly annoyed as could be imagined.
"Through the woods," he said, deadpan. "In the dark."
Loki's night vision was actually very good, and this soon after the full moon George's senses were highlighted as well.
"I found Steve a couple of miles in that direction," George said, with a gesture of his own. Loki was aware of Coulson rolling his eyes.
"So we'll begin where the fight happened, and then try to track Steve's movements," Stark suggested. The others were agreeable. "You picking up any magic right now, Loki?"
"Not at the moment," Loki replied.
Coulson reached into his coat and brought out an electric torch, as well as a small red object that turned out to be a folding knife. Coulson switched on the torch, and used the knife to make a mark on a tree.
"Make sure we can find our way out again," he explained, at Loki's inquiring look.
Despite Coulson's obvious annoyance, Loki rather enjoyed the walk through the dark forest. It was certainly a pleasanter night than the one George had been out in, stars above them and leaves rustling. Coulson paused occasionally to carve a trail mark on a tree, which seemed a shame, but it did not appear to be a good idea to object.
As they approached the site where the battle had taken place, however, the stroll became rather less pleasant. It was apparent that none of the others noticed, but Loki became aware of something. If he had not been alert for the signs, he might have thought at first that he smelled rotting vegetation. As it was, he paused and looked around at the others.
"Does anyone else notice-- ?" he began. The others stopped and looked at him. "No?"
"Just woods," Stark said.
"Rabbits," George said shamefacedly.
"What is it, Loki?" Thor asked.
"I am beginning to sense magic," Loki told his brother.
"We are still some considerable distance from the site of our battle," Thor said cautiously.
"I smell magic," Loki insisted, using the most analogous sense at his disposal.
"I realize that I am not as sensitive to the presence of magic as you are, Loki, but the signs should not be so widespread this long after the encounter," Thor pointed out.
"Unless the sorcerer came back, or there is another source," Loki pointed out. It was evident from the expression on Thor's face that he had already had the same thought, and he was not happy about the implications. There was, however, nothing to do except continue forward, Thor watching Loki carefully.
The "smell" became stronger and more unpleasant as they approached the site of the battle, turning into what could best be described as the sensation of bronze on his tongue as well as the rotting scent in his nostrils. This did not feel like friendly or even neutral magic, and Loki was torn between anxiety at having brought a group of friends into this, and relief that he was not confronting it alone.
"This was the last place we saw Steve," Tony Stark announced, and they followed the torch's beam into a stand of aged oak trees. "What?"
The question was addressed to Loki, who did not hear it because he had suddenly found his hands pressed to his ears. He saw Thor turn toward him in apparent concern, lips moving, but he could hear nothing beyond a swelling, chattering buzz as the smell changed to damp earth and the taste in his mouth to granite. Surely the others could sense it as well. Surely magic this powerful was obvious to everyone.
It took a moment to sort out the sensations and realize this was entirely different magic, and the buzzing sensation represented… anger. Something was very angry at them. As the thought formed, the buzz became unbearably loud, like a great swarm of insects in his head, as if something realized he could understand the message, and was shouting at him.
Loki felt himself wobble, and reached out blindly for support. His fingertips brushed against the bark of a tree, but before he could lean on it he felt his arm jerk involuntarily as a sort of charge jumped to his body.
It was coming from the tree. This was not surplus magic, left behind by whoever attacked Steve. It was completely separate, and they had blundered into its source. The magic was in-- no, the magic was the trees, and possibly even the land they grew in.
Loki's eyes cleared just in time to see Coulson about to make one of his trailblazing marks on a nearby oak.
"Don't!" he shouted, voice hoarse, throwing his right hand upward in a gesture to emphasize his word. He formed no spell, had no intention of directing anything toward the SHIELD agent, had no conscious thought beyond "stop," but a charge of uncontrolled power surged through him, there was a flash of soft green, and Coulson was flying across the clearing to land in a heap in the wet leaves at the base of one of the oaks.
"Coulson!" shouted Stark, and "Loki!" shouted Thor, and George started toward the stricken agent as Iron Man's mask came down over Stark's face and Thor turned on him, clearly intent on defending his brother.
"It wasn't me!" Loki yelled, not even trying to conceal the edge of hysteria in his voice as the magic raged through him. He started to raise his hands, thought better of it and directed his palms toward the ground. "I didn't do anything, there is something here."
"What do you mean you didn't do anything?" Stark demanded, but demanding was all right, asking questions meant he would probably wait for an answer. "What the hell do you call that? Coulson!"
"Fine," Agent Coulson mumbled, "I'm fine," and he sat up with George's assistance.
"I didn't, honestly, I didn't do that on purpose," Loki insisted, voice shaky with relief, but he felt a sense of loss as the magic ebbed out of him and back into the ground. "We need to leave. I'll try to explain as soon as we get back to the road, but we have to get out of here now. Do not harm any of the trees as we go."
"One way to manage that," Stark said, wrapped one arm around Coulson, and took off into the night.
Thor glanced at George. "Can you hang on?" he asked, and a moment later he was carrying George and Loki back toward the helicarrier, Loki's head still ringing so he could hardly tell which direction was up.
They landed on the carrier deck and Loki found his feet firm beneath him as Thor set him down. Since he had come to Midgard, he had become accustomed to the after-effects of casting magic, the light-headed giddiness that took time to abate. He had no such feeling now: away from the snarling angry buzz, his head cleared. He felt wonderful.
Coulson, fortunately, had his wind back. The fact he was uninjured was the only thing that calmed Stark enough not to turn on Loki as he had done in the schoolyard. Mask open so at least his face looked human, he raged,
"What the hell was that? You could have killed him!"
"I know," Loki said quietly. "I'm terribly sorry, but it wasn't me. I had no control over what happened back there."
"What did happen back there?" Coulson asked, perfectly calmly, as he brushed loam and bits of dead leaves from his trousers.
Loki took a deep breath. "What you need to remember is, there is more than one kind of magic. There is the magic from within, generated by the sorcerer himself, and there is… what one might call ambient magic, carried by the land or realm. Asgard, for instance, has a great deal of the second type of magic, which can be harnessed through a tool such as Odin's great spear, or directly through a sorcerer. Midgard seems to have forgotten magic, and so up to this point I have only been able to cast that which I generate myself. This limits what I can do: like blood, magic spent has to regenerate itself."
"Which explains why it's so tiring for you," George spoke up. "It's like… donating blood."
Loki made a mental note to ask George later why in the Nine Realms anyone would wish for the blood of another, apart from sorcery, and nodded. "Yes, exactly. What happened in the forest is, we stumbled upon a source of magic being generated by the, by the realm. I have not encountered this before on Midgard and I was unprepared. Also, the magic was powerful and very angry. It used me as a conductor, and set upon Coulson when he threatened the tree."
"Hang on," said Stark. "Are you trying to make us believe we were attacked by England?"
"In essence, yes," Loki replied.
Stark's eyes widened in exasperation. He threw his head back and shouted, "We're your ally!"
"You are the ally of the people," Loki felt the need to point out. "The land may have different ideas. Perhaps this other sorcerer was able to awaken the magic of the land, at least in that one place. Perhaps this is what he used to attack you earlier. Or perhaps it is simply a consequence of his use of magic in that place. I cannot, for the moment, say."
"Why couldn't the rest of us feel it?" George asked.
"I find it very hard to believe you could not," Loki admitted. "I felt like a swarm of bees had taken up residence in my head, and a great electrical charge was passing through me. I had almost no control over the power, but it was…"
He stopped before he uttered what might sound like a damaging admission, but the fact remained: it was exhilarating. Just to be able to feel power like that again. It was like being let out of a tiny, sealed box and breathing cool, free air.
And he knew better than to admit that to the others, even to Thor.
"It was very startling," he finished lamely. "And for that reason, when I realized what it was and tried to stop Coulson from angering it still further, I accidentally let loose what amounted to a charge of it. I am terribly sorry."
"No harm done," Coulson shrugged. "If you hadn't been there, do you think the magic would have been able to do anything to us? Or did it need you to use as a weapon?"
"I don't know," Loki admitted. "It felt intensely powerful to me."
"Well, in that case, I'm pretty glad you stopped me from scoring that tree." Coulson frowned. "Although I definitely want to get my pocketknife back."
"I think we definitely need to go back," Loki agreed. He hoped his voice sounded apprehensive to the others. It would not do to let them know how… excited… he was.
"In the morning," Thor said quietly, and his expression as he looked at his brother made Loki's heart sink a little.
"In the morning," Loki agreed.