In The Shadows | Loki

THE CURE

"The cure?" Loki asks when there's nothing but silence in the room after Rogue speaks. "What cure?" Dread had filled me, knowing that Rogue was right. 
        "The mutant cure." Storm says after a moment. Loki frowns, looking to me for an explanation. 
        "There... There's no cure for who you are." Loki replies after a moment. "It's in your DNA. It's a part of you." 
        "It doesn't actually work." Jean is the second one to snap out of her shock, glancing around at the rest of us. "Not permanently, anyway. It depended on the strength of the mutation."
        "I'm proof of it. It only worked for a year on me." Rogue speaks up. "The stronger your mutation, the quicker it wears off. I'm on the verge of a level four. I know a few level fives that got hit in the battle. It only worked for a few months on Magneto, didn't it?" Logan nods once, and I know he's watching for my reaction.
        "Loki, I told you how bad the prejudice against mutants was. When this cure came out, so many parents forced their kids to get the cure. So many people voluntarily got it so their lives could be normal." I shake my head. "I don't even know how long it would last on me." I admit after a moment, looking up at the group. "They actually used a mutant named leech to make the cure. His mutation was that he could cancel out all mutations within a certain area around him. I've got his mutation, I know how to turn it on and off. It wouldn't work, right?" I look to Jean, who I know had gotten a few vials of the cure after everything at Alcatraz had gone down.
        "I'm not sure." She admits after a second. "It's not a mutation. They twisted his DNA when they made the cure, made it so whoever received the cure would have their cells changed. It's like any other vaccine. It affects your white blood cells, makes them fight off and form a resistance against what the cure is fighting, which is the mutant gene." I look at her, waiting, and Jean sighs, running a hand through her hair. "I.... I think it would work. Not for long, but in my professional opinion, it would work for a while."
        "So she'd be a sitting duck for however long it takes for her mutations to come back." Logan huffs in his gruff voice. "That's just perfect." 
        "I'm not stupid, Logan." I snap suddenly, frustrated. "I've trained without my powers, I've got my swords, I'm not useless." 
        "Yeah, but you won't be as bulletproof as you are now, kid." He replies, giving me a pointed look. "And your tendency to take on thirty people at once, that's going to have to stop." I grit my teeth, nothing coming to my mind to say seeing as he was right. "And you can't go into everything headfirst and alone."
        "I get it, Logan." I snap, taking a step back and sinking into my office chair. "I'll be pretty defenseless. You've made your point clear." 
        "Not completely." Loki murmurs with a frown, eyebrows furrowed as he thinks. Everyone turns to him with varying degrees of confusion written on their faces. "My magic. I know you had some before, due to your mutation, but my magic is tied to you through the bond. I don't see why you wouldn't be able to use it, even with the cure inside of you." I blink in surprise at that, but nod at the logical explanation. 
        "You'll have to actually train me to use it like I've been bugging you to do." I say after a second. He scowls at that, and I raise an eyebrow. "What?"
        "You're the one that's always busy, love." He counters. "I can't leave the tower. We could have trained any time you wanted too." I narrow my eyes, knowing he was right but not wanting to give him the satisfaction. 
        "Should we tell the other Avengers?" Rogue asks carefully, pulling the topic back to what was important. "I mean, they should know, right?" Logan, Storm, and Jean all look to me for an answer, but before I can say a word, Loki speaks.
        "No." I blink in surprise at the quick and final answer. "I.... They must report everything to SHIELD, yes?" I hesitate before nodding once, trying to see what he's getting at.
        "Oh. Government moles. I see it." Logan realizes with a snort nod. "Plus, if the guy after you is in the government, they'll know that you know about the cure." I watch the large man shrug. "Governments usually suck like that. I agree with the magic man. We should keep this to ourselves." It was rare that Logan agreed with anyone on anything, and apparently Jean, Rogue, and Storm agreed with me given the look they were all giving Logan. 
        "Well, we aren't leaving you here with people who don't know what's going on." Storm says after a moment. "Think Stark will have a couple of guest rooms we can use?" I nod silently, glancing towards the door. The people out there, the ones smiling and laughing with each other in the common room, the ones who didn't know what I had just found out, they were my family. Part of it, anyway. They were the people who I actually cared about, and I couldn't tell them anything.
        "There are a couple of empty rooms on this floor." I murmur, getting to my feet. "I'm assuming you brought stuff that's on the jet?" Jean nods.
        "The professor thought it might be better if we were prepared to stay, just in case." She agrees.
        "Then you'll go get those, and then I can show you to your rooms." Rogue scrambles off of my bed, and Logan gets to his feet as well, following Jean and Storm as they head to the elevator to grab their things. I wait in my room, not particularly wanting to go back out there and lie to everyone. 
        "Love?" I look up at the soft voice to see Loki looking down at me with concern. I hesitate, trying to figure out if I wanted to actually voice my thoughts and worry him more.
        "Do I ever get a break?" I ask quietly. "Ever since I was thrown out of my house, my life has been nothing but one shitstorm after another. I think I'm going to get some time to relax, to breathe, but then there's another crisis and I have to just keep going. I just don't know how much longer I can go without just dropping." Loki's lips part, as if he's going to speak, but he doesn't. He takes a step forward and wraps me in a hug I didn't realize I needed. 
        "I've found," Loki starts after a second, his chin resting on the top of my head, "that if you attack a planet, you'll be imprisoned, and it gives you some time to breathe." I let out a bark of laughter, my shoulders shaking at his clear attempt to make me smile. 
        "I think I'll look for a different solution." I murmur, pulling back. "Maybe I'll just go live on an uncharted island. Get away from civilization." Loki hums, thinking.
        "That could be nice and private. Away from prying eyes and interrupting humans." His hands slide from my upper back and down, down, and he moves closer-
        "Who said I was bringing you?" His hands stop at my hips as he scowls, and I can't help but laugh again. 
        "We interrupting something?" Logan asks in his gruff voice, giving Loki a dangerous look. 
        "Yes, but it's not out of character for you." I reply with a small sigh. "Let me show you to your rooms." Logan nods, and I go to move, not leaving until I push myself onto the tips of my toes and press a soft kiss to Loki's lips. "Thank you."
        "There is a child present."
        "I am not a child!" Rogue protests, shoving Logan.
        "If you two start fighting I'll make you sleep on the Blackbird." I say as I pull away, moving to the hallway. "I'll go into mom mode on you two."