The Avengers: Finding Young Loki

Mending Bridges

Tony explained everything to the Avengers and SHIELD that night after Loki had gone to bed.  “You’re sure Loki’s fine with you telling us?” Steve asked, not wanting to anger Loki.

“Yep.  The kid said he preferred you hear it from me than have him explain it to you,” Tony confirmed and Steve breathed easier.

“So, he has sort of a dual personality problem?” Clint queried. 

“No, he can just talk to his past self,” Tony reiterated.  Clint’s brow furrowed and Tony could almost guess where his mind was going.

“So, he’s kind of got a Ghost Whisperer thing?”  Natasha elbowed Clint in the side and he grinned.  Thor shook his head and Jane placed a hand on his shoulder.  Darcy hummed while Erik remained aloof on the side. 

“He says he calls it Ikol?” Thor then asked.  Tony nodded and Thor stroked his chin.  “It’s his name, backwards,” Thor told them and everyone realized that.

“That must hurt.  Knowing that the guy you hate, used to be you, and that he basically has your name,” Clint said and several people nodded.  Loki was constantly haunted by what he did. 

“The poor kid.  He must feel so inadequate, thinking that no matter what he does, he’ll never make up for what he did,” Bruce said.

“That’s what the Dokkalfart guy said earlier today,” Tony said.

“Dokkalfar,” Thor corrected.

“Whatever,” Tony responded.  Thor glared and then returned to his thoughtful state. 

Meanwhile, in his private room, Loki was lying on his back.  What could he do to show Jane Foster and Erik Selvig that he had changed?  It was a puzzle, but it was one he was going to have to solve on his own.  Loki rolled over and went to sleep.

The next morning when Loki woke up, he half expected to find the Avengers waiting outside for him, but nobody was.  Loki changed into a pair of jeans, a black V-neck t-shirt, and a green hoodie.  He stepped out into the hallway, but only a few SHIELD agents greeted him.  They nodded their heads or actually said hi.  Loki waved his hand or responded, but he found himself wandering around.  Finally, he made it to one of the science labs.  He opened the door and stuck his head in.  “Bruce?  Tony?  Either of you guys in here?” Loki asked.  No one answered him, and Loki walked in.  He glanced around and saw a few things written on a screen.  He walked over and studied them.  “Well that hypothesis is wrong,” Loki remarked dryly as he took a techno pen and fixed it.  He knew that it was a mixture of Tony’s science, Bruce’s science, and astro-physics.  Luckily, he was good at all three.  As he worked, a smile started to appear on his face.  He loved exercising his brain as much as he loved exercising his body.  Loki worked hard, rearranging the faulty theory, and he was so engrossed in it, that he did not see Erik Selvig enter.

“What are you doing to my theory?!” Erik asked and Loki spun around.  He dropped the pen to the floor and stepped away from the monitor.  Erik ran over and turned the screen towards himself and saw all of the work that Loki had done.  He stood up and stared at the young god as he edged his way along a counter.  “You did all of this?” Erik queried, pointing to all of Loki’s equations, explanations, and hypothesis’.  Loki swallowed loudly and nodded his head.  Erik pulled up a chair, studied it in silence, and then signaled for Loki to approach.  “Did you go to school for this?”  Loki shook his head.  “You can talk,” Erik told him, and that was when Loki let out all the air he had been holding in.

“I never went to school.  I just came in looking for Bruce or Tony, and I saw the board.  The theories were wrong, so, I was just trying to correct them,” Loki explained as he carefully rubbed the countertop.  Erik nodded and then handed him the techno pen back.

“Show me,” he said.  Loki nodded and finished what he had started.

About 15 minutes later, Jane Foster walked in and she was very surprised to find Erik and Loki sitting together and discussing the Nine Realms and where science connected.  “So the Bifrost is in fact…?” Erik asked.

“An Einstein Rosenbridge, or in layman terms, a wormhole,” Loki said.  “It connects all the Nine Realms together.  Sort of like the branches of Yggdrasil,” Loki explained.  Erik nodded and had to smile at Loki’s animation.

“Just like that?” Jane asked as she sat down at a computer.  Both Loki and Erik turned and noticed her for the first time.  “He took over your mind, used you; and here you are, having a conversation about mystical trees.  Amazing!” Jane said as she signed in and accessed her files.  Erik looked at Loki and the god was studying his hands.

“Quick question,” Loki said, raising a hand and Jane looked up at him.  “What did I do to you specifically?”  Loki leaned forward in his chair and waited for Jane to respond.  The astro-physicist smiled just a little before she answered Loki’s questions.

“You tried to kill the man I love,” she said.  Loki’s eyes glazed over instantly, and Erik actually felt bad for him.  “That’s what you did to me specifically,” Jane finished before she went back to typing.  Loki started chewing on his lip and then he suddenly winced.  His hand went to his head, and he stood up.

“Excuse me doctor,” he said to Erik and he ran out of the room, the wind he created knocked a few of Jane’s papers off her desk.  She bent down to pick them up and she looked at Erik, his arms were folded across his chest and his eyebrow was raised.

“I was the one he manipulated, and I am telling you that you’re being too harsh on him,” Erik said.  He did not stay to listen to Jane’s excuses.  He left and Jane just stared at her screen, a very small ember of guilt beginning to burn within her. 

Loki took out his frustration in the training room.  A few SHIELD agents were in there, and Loki challenged a bunch of them to a fight.  They took him up on that offer, and Loki went against three of them.  Numbers never fazed him.  Loki used his extreme intellect, and beat them.  One agent tried to punch him, but Loki simply redirected it, and he punched his partner.  Another agent tried to kick him, but Loki just grabbed his leg and threw him into his two buddies.  Finally, no agent wanted to fight Loki.  Loki wiped the sweat from his brow and sighed.  All those hours spent training in Brazil, China, and the Philippines had paid off.  The training room emptied out, and Loki began to punch and kick one of the hanging bags.  He soon started growling and talking to himself.  Ikol was back.  How many times do I have to repeat myself? the annoying voice asked.

“I keep telling you to shut up,” Loki pointed out dryly as he did a spin kick and started the bag swinging.  He began to dodge in and out of it, punching it, are delivering slicing blows meant to take out nerves.

Ah, but my advice is not to be ignored, Ikol said.  Loki caught the bag and paused, thinking for a second.

“Do you what the definition of advice is?  Advice is a word of counsel offered by a second party to a first party.  The first party can choose to accept or disregard it.  I’m the first party and you’re the second party.  I am choosing to disregard your advice!” Loki said as he kicked the bag again, and it came off its chain.

“You’re funny when you talk to yourself,” said a voice and Loki spun around.  Darcy Lewis was leaning in the doorway, her arms folded across her chest. 

“Miss Lewis,” Loki said, nodding his head and then picking up the bag.  Darcy’s eyebrow went up when she saw the damage to the chain.  Loki looked at it, grinned for a second, then it disappeared as he leaned the bag against a wall.

“Miss Lewis makes me think of my political science professor.  Please!  Call me Darcy,” she said extending her hand to him.  Loki’s eyebrow went up, but he took it.

“You’re talking to me,” he said.

“You’re surprised?” Darcy asked and Loki nodded.  “Well, unlike some, I find you fascinating,” she told him in a whisper.  Loki’s eyebrow went up a little further and Darcy had to laugh.  “Maybe enough people haven’t told you this, but, you’re extraordinary Loki.”  Loki felt a warm feeling spreading all over his body, and he gave Darcy one of his smiles, a genuine smile.