Repartition Chapter 1
Title: Repartition (part of the Golem-verse)
Written for this Prompt: http://norsekink.livejournal.com/11219.html?thread=25518035#t25518035
Warnings: The Avengers not fully understanding the situation and Thor accidently on purpose being a dick.
Summary: Thor's new friends find out that Loki is not quite what they expected.
Note: Post-Avengers
Chapter 1
Thor lets the information slip (he should not be surprised, it is not as though this hasn’t happened before. He tries to take solace in the fact that it was technically an accident and then decides he doesn’t fucking care because Thor Did. It. Again) during a fight in the middle of Manhattan.
“You are arrogant! Self centered and self serving and you have learned NOTHING!” He yells, shielding himself from an attack by the Man of Iron. Loki is not even sure why he is still fighting, Thor snarls, past the point of attempting to reason, and he picks at him. I should leave, he thinks. Just disappear and leave them alone and angry and burning.
His illusions span the street and he hurls a spell at the Captain. He keeps yelling.
“They know! All your friends,” the words drips with distain. “They just don’t say anything because they’re cowards! And because you! You beat down EVERYONE who disagrees with you! Even if they are right! Ask them!” he screams. “ASK THEM!” An arrow hits his shield and detonates; it shakes with the force, but holds. “Would it have been so hard Thor?! To think of me as an equal!? That I had purpose?!”
“STOP!” Thor commands. And he does, fighting against it. “WHY WOULD I?!”
He had been watching Thor rage and every impact of the hammer chips away just a little more of the barrier between them. His not-brother is practically frothing at the mouth.
"YOU’RE NOT REAL!"
The world freezes.
Then Hulk hits the shield.
Loki is still for long enough that Thor is able to knock through the crumbling remains and pin him to the ground. The weight of Mjolnir on his chest burns. So do his eyes.
The Avengers stare at them and then erupt in a burst of noise.
-
Loki sends a shadow to their conference room, knowing what will be said, but hoping he is wrong.
-
They are sitting around the table. Stark is distant, none of his usual bravado, just quiet, withdrawn into his own mind. Banner is not present of course, Loki is under the impression that he sleeps much of the time after his changes. The Widow and Hawk sit side by side; he taps his foot, will occasionally stand to pace, sit down again, and then resume the tapping, while she is a statue. The Capitan stands against the wall. He had been sitting earlier, but like the Hawk, was unable to remain that way. He is too tense, too full of thought. The door slams open and Fury stalks in, moving to stand at the head of the table, jaw tight, veins throbbing. There is a twitch at the corner of his eye and Loki feels inordinately pleased with himself for a moment before all feeling is gone from him again.
“What did you mean, not real.” Fury growls.
Thor is looking at his hands, reluctance obvious in the creases on his brow and the white on his knuckles. Acknowledgement of the consequences coming to mind after he takes action, as always. Thor’s command echoes in his mind.
Idiot.
“When I was young,” he starts, trailing off for a moment and then collecting himself. Firming up his resolve to tell the story. Loki listens with his back plastered against the wall. “As the only child of the Allfather, and heir to the throne, there were attempts made on my life. My mother is very protective, and did not trust others with my safety. She commissioned a companion to be made for me that they could control.”
The following silence is broken by Barton’s sputtering, a noise that sounds like “what?!” but is mostly unintelligible. Thor shifts, defensive.
“The dwarves are excellent craftsmen.”
Everyone in the room but Stark speaks at once.
Loki closes his eyes in the cell, buries his face in his hands, and listens to the chorus of “Made for you?!” and “What is he?!” and the Hawk’s bitten out “Because obviously that control part worked out real well,” which almost makes him laugh (a broken ugly thing) because Yes. His thoughts exactly.
The Captain, after his initial outburst, waits to speak until the others have quieted down. His face is tight, his racing mind showing dark in his eyes.
“What does that even mean?”
“My brother-“
“Except not really,” Clint interrupts him, he is ignored. Thor continues, but corrects himself.
“Loki is created of complex guiding spell work. He is…” He pauses, grasping for an answer.
“Like, a robot?” The Captain hazards a guess. One of the consoles near Loki’s cell short circuits, the insides frying themselves as he lashes out in frustration. There is a scurrying of boots outside the door.
“Yes,” Thor gives them a sheepish look and a shrug. “I have never fully understood the details. Loki has always just been Loki. He is crafted out of spells and elements made to last and imbue strength. The core of him was built to grow and counter me.” The Widow’s eyebrow creeps up.
“So Loki is supposed to be like this?”
“No- my brother-“ The director twitches at the word, Thor presses on. “Something went wrong.”
“Wrong how,” Fury leans against the table.
The Capitan sends a curious look at the Man of Iron. “His,” he hesitates, “programming?” Thor glances to Stark as well, who shrugs, looking at neither of them. “Tony, you can fix robots when they get messed up… right?” The answer is an oddly hesitant yes; there is a childlike relief in Roger’s eyes. “So, can’t we get his programming fixed?” He turns to Thor, hopeful. “Would Loki act normal then? You would have your brother back.”
“Why the hell didn’t we know this shit before now?” Barton complains, talking to himself and no one and every one, “Might have been helpful.”
“No,” Thor is firm. “He has always been resistant to adjustments; there were some… incidents early on. He would have to wipe clean.”
“Well why haven’t you.”
Thor says a lot of things then. They are large and emphatic and gestural and mean nothing but essentially boil down to child hood memories and because he didn’t want to.
“So, you let him rip the earth apart because you don’t want to miss your childhood toy?” Barton is speaking, but Loki can see the words in the eyes of everyone in the room. “Because you were fucking nostalgic?!” He throws his arms in the air and slumps backwards. Loki opens his eyes again and looks round the greyness of his cell to distract himself from the silence that follows. “If he’s a robot why don’t we just reprogram him. That’s a thing, right? We can do that? You just said we could.”
“Yes, well-“
“Stark, you can take care of that. Problem solved.”
“Wait a minute-“
“It is not as simple as that.” Thor interrupts. “We will have to bring in the sons on Ivadi.”
“No- wait- no! The hell, guys! You don’t just root around and tear out something’s brain.”
“You were all about death and detention before this, what the hell changed.”
“It’s-“ Tony deflates halfway though, “different.”
“Yeah. It is. It’s not a life.”
Emotions pass over Stark’s face in a confusing mass of shattered bits and pieces before he slumps down in his chair and looks to the side, arms crossed as if to protect himself. As if he is the one that needs protecting.
“Any of your bots going to flip the fuck out on us Stark?” Fury asks him, then Hill speaks for the first time.
“Why don’t we just destroy it then, if fixing it is such an issue. I can tell you, even if it is explained, the council- hell, all of America- isn’t going to be pleased with it roaming around. What if it corrupts again?”
“You will not destroy him!”
Thor puts his foot down (figuratively and literally, as there is a dent in the floor of the helicarrier where he stomped it)
Fury slams his hand down on the table, there is silence. He looks every one of them in the eye before turning to the Norse God.
“Thor, call in the dwarves. We’re doing this.”
-
Loki screams.
-
Everything goes quickly after that, as though they are afraid of him disappearing before the plans come to fruition. They are slowed down only by the Captain asking how any action against him will affect their relationship with Asgard. There is a moment where Fury swears and then they start to plan, Loki moves his shadow on, unwilling to listen to the rest of the conversation.
Thor comes to visit him immediately after the debriefing, already making plans for the journey to Svartálfaheimr.
“I have made them promise not to destroy you.”
The shadow sinks back into him and Loki looks up, just barely meeting Thor’s gaze for a moment before returning his eyes to the floor.
“Just my soul then?”
“I am trying to protect you,” Thor growls. “Why are you never satisfied.”
He curls himself up in the corner of the room, staring at the joint where the wall meets the floor.
“What does Odin think of this?”
“I will deal with Odin.”
“Really.” Laughter bubbles up inside his chest. “Like you did the last time?”
“YOU,” he is slammed back into the wall, “will stay here. You will not harm them.”
“I hate you.”
Thor storms away and in his wake the Man of Iron takes his place. He watches, quiet and unassuming (Loki wants to throw something at him, but has nothing at hand) and then he too leaves.
Loki is left alone.
Next Chapter
Written for this Prompt: http://norsekink.livejournal.com/11219.html?thread=25518035#t25518035
Warnings: The Avengers not fully understanding the situation and Thor accidently on purpose being a dick.
Summary: Thor's new friends find out that Loki is not quite what they expected.
Note: Post-Avengers
Chapter 1
Thor lets the information slip (he should not be surprised, it is not as though this hasn’t happened before. He tries to take solace in the fact that it was technically an accident and then decides he doesn’t fucking care because Thor Did. It. Again) during a fight in the middle of Manhattan.
“You are arrogant! Self centered and self serving and you have learned NOTHING!” He yells, shielding himself from an attack by the Man of Iron. Loki is not even sure why he is still fighting, Thor snarls, past the point of attempting to reason, and he picks at him. I should leave, he thinks. Just disappear and leave them alone and angry and burning.
His illusions span the street and he hurls a spell at the Captain. He keeps yelling.
“They know! All your friends,” the words drips with distain. “They just don’t say anything because they’re cowards! And because you! You beat down EVERYONE who disagrees with you! Even if they are right! Ask them!” he screams. “ASK THEM!” An arrow hits his shield and detonates; it shakes with the force, but holds. “Would it have been so hard Thor?! To think of me as an equal!? That I had purpose?!”
“STOP!” Thor commands. And he does, fighting against it. “WHY WOULD I?!”
He had been watching Thor rage and every impact of the hammer chips away just a little more of the barrier between them. His not-brother is practically frothing at the mouth.
"YOU’RE NOT REAL!"
The world freezes.
Then Hulk hits the shield.
Loki is still for long enough that Thor is able to knock through the crumbling remains and pin him to the ground. The weight of Mjolnir on his chest burns. So do his eyes.
The Avengers stare at them and then erupt in a burst of noise.
-
Loki sends a shadow to their conference room, knowing what will be said, but hoping he is wrong.
-
They are sitting around the table. Stark is distant, none of his usual bravado, just quiet, withdrawn into his own mind. Banner is not present of course, Loki is under the impression that he sleeps much of the time after his changes. The Widow and Hawk sit side by side; he taps his foot, will occasionally stand to pace, sit down again, and then resume the tapping, while she is a statue. The Capitan stands against the wall. He had been sitting earlier, but like the Hawk, was unable to remain that way. He is too tense, too full of thought. The door slams open and Fury stalks in, moving to stand at the head of the table, jaw tight, veins throbbing. There is a twitch at the corner of his eye and Loki feels inordinately pleased with himself for a moment before all feeling is gone from him again.
“What did you mean, not real.” Fury growls.
Thor is looking at his hands, reluctance obvious in the creases on his brow and the white on his knuckles. Acknowledgement of the consequences coming to mind after he takes action, as always. Thor’s command echoes in his mind.
Idiot.
“When I was young,” he starts, trailing off for a moment and then collecting himself. Firming up his resolve to tell the story. Loki listens with his back plastered against the wall. “As the only child of the Allfather, and heir to the throne, there were attempts made on my life. My mother is very protective, and did not trust others with my safety. She commissioned a companion to be made for me that they could control.”
The following silence is broken by Barton’s sputtering, a noise that sounds like “what?!” but is mostly unintelligible. Thor shifts, defensive.
“The dwarves are excellent craftsmen.”
Everyone in the room but Stark speaks at once.
Loki closes his eyes in the cell, buries his face in his hands, and listens to the chorus of “Made for you?!” and “What is he?!” and the Hawk’s bitten out “Because obviously that control part worked out real well,” which almost makes him laugh (a broken ugly thing) because Yes. His thoughts exactly.
The Captain, after his initial outburst, waits to speak until the others have quieted down. His face is tight, his racing mind showing dark in his eyes.
“What does that even mean?”
“My brother-“
“Except not really,” Clint interrupts him, he is ignored. Thor continues, but corrects himself.
“Loki is created of complex guiding spell work. He is…” He pauses, grasping for an answer.
“Like, a robot?” The Captain hazards a guess. One of the consoles near Loki’s cell short circuits, the insides frying themselves as he lashes out in frustration. There is a scurrying of boots outside the door.
“Yes,” Thor gives them a sheepish look and a shrug. “I have never fully understood the details. Loki has always just been Loki. He is crafted out of spells and elements made to last and imbue strength. The core of him was built to grow and counter me.” The Widow’s eyebrow creeps up.
“So Loki is supposed to be like this?”
“No- my brother-“ The director twitches at the word, Thor presses on. “Something went wrong.”
“Wrong how,” Fury leans against the table.
The Capitan sends a curious look at the Man of Iron. “His,” he hesitates, “programming?” Thor glances to Stark as well, who shrugs, looking at neither of them. “Tony, you can fix robots when they get messed up… right?” The answer is an oddly hesitant yes; there is a childlike relief in Roger’s eyes. “So, can’t we get his programming fixed?” He turns to Thor, hopeful. “Would Loki act normal then? You would have your brother back.”
“Why the hell didn’t we know this shit before now?” Barton complains, talking to himself and no one and every one, “Might have been helpful.”
“No,” Thor is firm. “He has always been resistant to adjustments; there were some… incidents early on. He would have to wipe clean.”
“Well why haven’t you.”
Thor says a lot of things then. They are large and emphatic and gestural and mean nothing but essentially boil down to child hood memories and because he didn’t want to.
“So, you let him rip the earth apart because you don’t want to miss your childhood toy?” Barton is speaking, but Loki can see the words in the eyes of everyone in the room. “Because you were fucking nostalgic?!” He throws his arms in the air and slumps backwards. Loki opens his eyes again and looks round the greyness of his cell to distract himself from the silence that follows. “If he’s a robot why don’t we just reprogram him. That’s a thing, right? We can do that? You just said we could.”
“Yes, well-“
“Stark, you can take care of that. Problem solved.”
“Wait a minute-“
“It is not as simple as that.” Thor interrupts. “We will have to bring in the sons on Ivadi.”
“No- wait- no! The hell, guys! You don’t just root around and tear out something’s brain.”
“You were all about death and detention before this, what the hell changed.”
“It’s-“ Tony deflates halfway though, “different.”
“Yeah. It is. It’s not a life.”
Emotions pass over Stark’s face in a confusing mass of shattered bits and pieces before he slumps down in his chair and looks to the side, arms crossed as if to protect himself. As if he is the one that needs protecting.
“Any of your bots going to flip the fuck out on us Stark?” Fury asks him, then Hill speaks for the first time.
“Why don’t we just destroy it then, if fixing it is such an issue. I can tell you, even if it is explained, the council- hell, all of America- isn’t going to be pleased with it roaming around. What if it corrupts again?”
“You will not destroy him!”
Thor puts his foot down (figuratively and literally, as there is a dent in the floor of the helicarrier where he stomped it)
Fury slams his hand down on the table, there is silence. He looks every one of them in the eye before turning to the Norse God.
“Thor, call in the dwarves. We’re doing this.”
-
Loki screams.
-
Everything goes quickly after that, as though they are afraid of him disappearing before the plans come to fruition. They are slowed down only by the Captain asking how any action against him will affect their relationship with Asgard. There is a moment where Fury swears and then they start to plan, Loki moves his shadow on, unwilling to listen to the rest of the conversation.
Thor comes to visit him immediately after the debriefing, already making plans for the journey to Svartálfaheimr.
“I have made them promise not to destroy you.”
The shadow sinks back into him and Loki looks up, just barely meeting Thor’s gaze for a moment before returning his eyes to the floor.
“Just my soul then?”
“I am trying to protect you,” Thor growls. “Why are you never satisfied.”
He curls himself up in the corner of the room, staring at the joint where the wall meets the floor.
“What does Odin think of this?”
“I will deal with Odin.”
“Really.” Laughter bubbles up inside his chest. “Like you did the last time?”
“YOU,” he is slammed back into the wall, “will stay here. You will not harm them.”
“I hate you.”
Thor storms away and in his wake the Man of Iron takes his place. He watches, quiet and unassuming (Loki wants to throw something at him, but has nothing at hand) and then he too leaves.
Loki is left alone.
Next Chapter