Fill: [Gen] or Any/Loki - Behaviour-changing parasites 13/?
anonymous
August 18 2013, 02:30:31 UTC
To Bruce Banner's infinite relief, Loki continues to make superhuman progress.
By the time Bruce and Natasha have returned from a decidedly unsettling meeting with Nick Fury about the possibility of a second-wave invasion by the Chitauri, Loki is standing up.
"My brother is making progress, yes?" Thor beams at Bruce while Loki looks on, impassive, and seeming strangely vulnerable in the hospital gown.
"Yes, Thor; this is fantastic."
And it is. If the god's brain is continuing to fix itself, he might actually get out of this without any permanent damage.
But...
"Who is he?"
That's the first question Loki asks Bruce, once Banner has finally convinced Thor to go avail himself of some food and rest.
'Who is he?'
"He's...Thor. Your brother."
"Well yes, I've gathered that." There isn't nearly enough bite behind what should be sarcasm, coming from Loki. "But I mean - " the trickster god waves his hands disjointedly. "I don't remember him. I don't know who you are, either, but you don't keep referring to me as a member of your nuclear family."
"I'm Bruce Banner." Bruce extends his hand automatically, and Loki shakes it.
And this whole thing is starting to feel profoundly surreal.
"He's your brother. That's all you need to know. He loves you, and that's why he just stayed up for 36 hours straight watching out for you."
"Ah." Loki blinks. "I...I gathered that," he says, softly.
Well damn. If this brain surgery turns Loki normal, Bruce is going to have to be a candidate for some kind of award.
"Ask him to tell you about it sometime, when he gets back. I'll bet he's got tons of stories."
Loki's nodding.
Loki is taking instructions from Bruce Banner, voluntarily. Can this day get any weirder?
Re: Fill: [Gen] or Any/Loki - Behaviour-changing parasites 14/?
anonymous
August 18 2013, 19:35:38 UTC
Oh god, just when things were starting to look up D: By 'property' he probably means Loki, unless (unlikely) he's just come to get his little toy back...
This fic is an emotional roller coaster, and I'm completely on the edge of my seat.
Re: Fill: [Gen] or Any/Loki - Behaviour-changing parasites 14/?
anonymous
August 19 2013, 22:18:52 UTC
Nuh-uh, Thanos. They're not giving Loki back, right when he's starting to recuperate and go back to being the (pretty) decent sort he was before the unfortunate frost giant revelation. And the co-opting by neural parasite to the cause of absolute nihilism courtesy of your unesteemed self.
Fill: [Gen] or Any/Loki - Behaviour-changing parasites 15/?
anonymous
August 20 2013, 00:49:16 UTC
"He's dead."
Thank God for Natasha Romanoff. She thinks three times faster than Bruce in negotiations, deadpanning into the camera with a bold-faced lie.
And Bruce immediately starts to look busy, fakes a sense of purpose to run off and make sure the trickster god who happens to be in the same room as them doesn't inadvertently wander past the webcam that has Thanos on the other end..
Thanos chuckles. "Loki was right; you mortals really are stupid. We thoroughly tested the parameters of his healing abilities, and there is no way--"
'Thoroughly tested.' Bruce isn't gonna think too hard about that.
"Well apparently," Natasha snaps, "you underestimated the destructive ability of a human with a bone saw who has no idea what he's doing."
Bruce winces a little at that, but can't deny Natasha the material for her bluff...
"Then you will deliver to me his corpse." Even from across the room where he's doing his damnedest to distract Loki, Bruce is fairly sure he can hear Tony's furniture shaking at the force of that booming voice.
Bruce had never thought he'd find himself wishing Loki had his magic back...
"Give us three days," he hears Natasha demand, cooly. "You dumped this Asgardian and his whole freaking army on our lap. He killed hundreds of our citizens. The least you owe us is the scant bit of medical knowledge we can get from studying his body."
There's silence on the other end of the camera. Bruce realizes he is starting to sweat.
Fill: [Gen] or Any/Loki - Behaviour-changing parasites 16/?
anonymous
August 20 2013, 01:00:26 UTC
The webcast from Tony Stark's living room ends, and Bruce lets out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. He's not worried about Tony himself - if there are two things that guy is good at, it's extricating himself from dangerous situations and villain-proofing his home. In that order.
No, Bruce is worried about Loki, who is impassively immersed in a rubix cube just (he hopes and prays) off-camera from where Widow was talking to Thanos.
Shouldn't he…reassure the god, or something? It was, after all, Thanos who had done God-only-knew-what to him...Bruce remembers the dozens of healed fractures, and he shudders.
At least there are small mercy's in the god's temporary (please, please temporary) memory loss.
Bruce scoots his chair closer to the bed to reassure the now oddly childlike trickster god. "We're going to keep you safe," he tells him. "We don't give up…patients…to…the enemy." The fact that both parties technically counted as 'the enemy' and that Loki was really more of a prisoner than a patient…these were things Bruce didn't need to share with the amnesiac jotun right now.
"Ah," Loki's eyes light up with sudden understanding. "So I am the one that the...large one...is interested in? That was a good lie." He nods approvingly at Natasha, who hasn't spent quite as much time with agreeable!Loki as Bruce has and is just kind of staring at him like she expects him to do a trick.
Loki raises an eyebrow at Natasha's persistent stare, as though he thinks she might not be quite right in the head.
And Bruce is trying so, so hard not to laugh at the staredown.
"Listen here, Loki," Natasha is suddenly half-on top of the trickster, grasping the collar of his hospital gown and pulling him up to meet her eyes, "If you get the Earth destroyed, I don't care whether you remember what you did or not, I will make you pay for it."
Loki's eyes are wide and the rubix cube lies forgotten in his lap.
Bruce hates himself, a little, for not intervening right away. But he really wants to see how the 'new' version of the trickster responds to threats.
He soon opens his mouth: "Thor!" he calls, and Natasha is suddenly halfway across the room even though the thunderer is, if they're lucky, half a block away and soundly sleeping.
Then Romanoff's hip beeps. And so does Bruce's.
"Come on," Natasha grouses, checking her pager. "We've got another meeting with Fury."
Fill: [Gen] or Any/Loki - Behaviour-changing parasites 17/?
anonymous
August 20 2013, 01:06:55 UTC
"We've beaten the Chitauri once before," Tony points out. "And God only knows what that brain parasite told Thanos about the Hulk. He might realize it's best not to pick a fight with--"
"Yeah no, that's not it. He's curious."
Tony will never cease to be amused by the sight of Fury raising his eyebrow; the patch adds to it, somehow.
"He knew that I was lying. But he's curious. Wanted to know what the hell we thought we could get together in three days that would make any sort of difference. He's not scared of us one bit. If he were, he wouldn't be waiting."
Fury's brow furrows.
"Plus, I think he kinda likes me." Natasha shrugs as the furrow turns into a glare. "Just stating a fact. Might wanna have me do the talking in the future. I suspect he doesn't react quite so well to grizzled warriors, or the like."
Tony Stark suppresses a burst of wildly inappropriate laughter.
"If we play our cards right," Natasha is still talking, not Fury, which kind of amazes everyone, "I think I could get us a week."
"Your 'request' to act as our liason to Thanos is granted," Fury nods to the Black Widow. "The question is," Fury finishes for her, finally, "what can we do against Thanos in a week?"
By the time Bruce and Natasha have returned from a decidedly unsettling meeting with Nick Fury about the possibility of a second-wave invasion by the Chitauri, Loki is standing up.
"My brother is making progress, yes?" Thor beams at Bruce while Loki looks on, impassive, and seeming strangely vulnerable in the hospital gown.
"Yes, Thor; this is fantastic."
And it is. If the god's brain is continuing to fix itself, he might actually get out of this without any permanent damage.
But...
"Who is he?"
That's the first question Loki asks Bruce, once Banner has finally convinced Thor to go avail himself of some food and rest.
'Who is he?'
"He's...Thor. Your brother."
"Well yes, I've gathered that." There isn't nearly enough bite behind what should be sarcasm, coming from Loki. "But I mean - " the trickster god waves his hands disjointedly. "I don't remember him. I don't know who you are, either, but you don't keep referring to me as a member of your nuclear family."
"I'm Bruce Banner." Bruce extends his hand automatically, and Loki shakes it.
And this whole thing is starting to feel profoundly surreal.
"He's your brother. That's all you need to know. He loves you, and that's why he just stayed up for 36 hours straight watching out for you."
"Ah." Loki blinks. "I...I gathered that," he says, softly.
Well damn. If this brain surgery turns Loki normal, Bruce is going to have to be a candidate for some kind of award.
"Ask him to tell you about it sometime, when he gets back. I'll bet he's got tons of stories."
Loki's nodding.
Loki is taking instructions from Bruce Banner, voluntarily. Can this day get any weirder?
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"So, I've got some bad news, guys."
That's the last thing Bruce Banner and Natasha want to hear from Tony Stark right now.
"And by 'bad news,' I mean...uhh..."
Tony swivels the camera to show that there is a huge, malevolent-looking giant in his living room.
"Says his name's Thanos, and he wants us to return his property."
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This fic is an emotional roller coaster, and I'm completely on the edge of my seat.
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Not gonna happen.
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I have to admit, I giggled at this line.
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Thank God for Natasha Romanoff. She thinks three times faster than Bruce in negotiations, deadpanning into the camera with a bold-faced lie.
And Bruce immediately starts to look busy, fakes a sense of purpose to run off and make sure the trickster god who happens to be in the same room as them doesn't inadvertently wander past the webcam that has Thanos on the other end..
Thanos chuckles. "Loki was right; you mortals really are stupid. We thoroughly tested the parameters of his healing abilities, and there is no way--"
'Thoroughly tested.' Bruce isn't gonna think too hard about that.
"Well apparently," Natasha snaps, "you underestimated the destructive ability of a human with a bone saw who has no idea what he's doing."
Bruce winces a little at that, but can't deny Natasha the material for her bluff...
"Then you will deliver to me his corpse." Even from across the room where he's doing his damnedest to distract Loki, Bruce is fairly sure he can hear Tony's furniture shaking at the force of that booming voice.
Bruce had never thought he'd find himself wishing Loki had his magic back...
"Give us three days," he hears Natasha demand, cooly. "You dumped this Asgardian and his whole freaking army on our lap. He killed hundreds of our citizens. The least you owe us is the scant bit of medical knowledge we can get from studying his body."
There's silence on the other end of the camera. Bruce realizes he is starting to sweat.
"You...you are the humans' leader?"
"Yes."
God bless Natasha.
"Very well," Thanos booms. "Three days. No more."
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No, Bruce is worried about Loki, who is impassively immersed in a rubix cube just (he hopes and prays) off-camera from where Widow was talking to Thanos.
Shouldn't he…reassure the god, or something? It was, after all, Thanos who had done God-only-knew-what to him...Bruce remembers the dozens of healed fractures, and he shudders.
At least there are small mercy's in the god's temporary (please, please temporary) memory loss.
Bruce scoots his chair closer to the bed to reassure the now oddly childlike trickster god. "We're going to keep you safe," he tells him. "We don't give up…patients…to…the enemy." The fact that both parties technically counted as 'the enemy' and that Loki was really more of a prisoner than a patient…these were things Bruce didn't need to share with the amnesiac jotun right now.
"Ah," Loki's eyes light up with sudden understanding. "So I am the one that the...large one...is interested in? That was a good lie." He nods approvingly at Natasha, who hasn't spent quite as much time with agreeable!Loki as Bruce has and is just kind of staring at him like she expects him to do a trick.
Loki raises an eyebrow at Natasha's persistent stare, as though he thinks she might not be quite right in the head.
And Bruce is trying so, so hard not to laugh at the staredown.
"Listen here, Loki," Natasha is suddenly half-on top of the trickster, grasping the collar of his hospital gown and pulling him up to meet her eyes, "If you get the Earth destroyed, I don't care whether you remember what you did or not, I will make you pay for it."
Loki's eyes are wide and the rubix cube lies forgotten in his lap.
Bruce hates himself, a little, for not intervening right away. But he really wants to see how the 'new' version of the trickster responds to threats.
He soon opens his mouth: "Thor!" he calls, and Natasha is suddenly halfway across the room even though the thunderer is, if they're lucky, half a block away and soundly sleeping.
Then Romanoff's hip beeps. And so does Bruce's.
"Come on," Natasha grouses, checking her pager. "We've got another meeting with Fury."
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"Yeah no, that's not it. He's curious."
Tony will never cease to be amused by the sight of Fury raising his eyebrow; the patch adds to it, somehow.
"He knew that I was lying. But he's curious. Wanted to know what the hell we thought we could get together in three days that would make any sort of difference. He's not scared of us one bit. If he were, he wouldn't be waiting."
Fury's brow furrows.
"Plus, I think he kinda likes me." Natasha shrugs as the furrow turns into a glare. "Just stating a fact. Might wanna have me do the talking in the future. I suspect he doesn't react quite so well to grizzled warriors, or the like."
Tony Stark suppresses a burst of wildly inappropriate laughter.
"If we play our cards right," Natasha is still talking, not Fury, which kind of amazes everyone, "I think I could get us a week."
"Your 'request' to act as our liason to Thanos is granted," Fury nods to the Black Widow. "The question is," Fury finishes for her, finally, "what can we do against Thanos in a week?"
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And Loki called for Thor! ;-; Even though he can't remember being his bro.
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Although I might have gone with the "we dunno where his body is, somewhere in the tons of rubble" approach.
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