Running Broken

Author's Notes

The story will continue as I have time to move it along. I'll add notes as needed.

Thanks

I appreciate Masada42 (@user98735533) for inspiration in her delightful "My Friend Loki" and "Loki Chronicles" stories describing a sympathetic and loving Loki, and for fantastic comments on early chapters (and versions) of this story.

Notes on Canon

I apologize for my loose interpretation of MCU and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. canon. Call it yet another piece of the multiverse, and let it go. Apologies as well for giving the OC extracanonical 'powers' and fabricating the Hydra 'magic meters'.

Finally, a potentially countercanon plot hole: Could Pierce, even as Secy of the Council, just waltz into a secure S.H.I.E.L.D. facility? I dunno. He somehow knew even before Fury did that Dieter Wolff was spilling about Lady Loki (or maybe he knew even before they caught Dieter). I am sure he had buddies that could intercept the coords sent to Coulson's badge (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. canon). Probably has a private jet. Ultimately, Coulson's cube roll said I needed an underground facility and Pierce. (shrug)

Notes on characters:

Tony Stark and Nick Fury are a total blast to write. It's also easy to test the 'truth' of their dialog because if I can't hear RDJ and SLJ when I read it in my head, I don't have it right.

Loki is a complex character, but I think the MCU writers were right to keep him on Asgard until his mom died. I made him a powerful and chaotic "fish out of water," but it doesn't feel 100% true—except for his line the morning after he and Sunny sleep together. That sentence is perfect, and I still giggle every time I read it.

Coulson is often portrayed as lawful good, but a man in his position could not get through life without seeing shades of gray. If he were lawful good, he'd surrender Loki to Pierce, and S.H.I.E.L.D. would lose important information. But I absolutely believe Coulson would try to help Loki find his best (non-evil) self. Clark Gregg thinks so, too:

Story Cubes:

I've enjoyed using Rory's Story Cubes to guide the plot for this story and inject a bit of creative chaos. It has absolutely led the story to places I didn't expect to go.

Coulson's roll was originally going to be Sunny's, with a slightly different cube order and vastly different interpretation (obviously). I rolled it while I was writing the scene where Loki shares Coulson's beautiful "you are worthy" affirmation, but I felt like the scene of the blooming friendship was too sweet to interrupt. Then the next day, 'Mother Coulson' had to intervene, and the roll moved to him, pushing the plot in a totally unexpected direction—and leading to a plot twist that I didn't anticipate until Pierce started speaking. Scout's honor, I thought the questions were going to be about Loki. Obviously, Coulson did too. [I actually sort of wonder whether Coulson thought the cubes were manipulative bunk right up until the moment when he found himself in an actual underground base and then had to scramble to try to remember the rest of the prophecy. It's an interesting question that the dang author does not address.]

Rory's Story Cubes are intended for ages 8+, so there's a lot of leeway in interpretation. You don't have to use them for augury, as I have; you can just use them to play with the plot. I posted pictures of each roll so you can see the actual cubes, as "Sunny" arranged them, and get a feel for creative options in interpretation. Each of the rolls roll was completely random, and I had to really squeeze my creative lemon to make a couple of those cubes fit a story. Coulson's request to read the final three-cube roll as Stark's was a fun exercise in manipulation. (Yeah, that's the word Sunny wanted Coulson to say.) Haven't decided whether to use that interpretation for anything. As Sunny notes, it wasn't Stark's roll. And Stark would definitely consider divination to be total bunk. But it seems to give Loki (maybe) a shot at redemption. So... (shrug)

Clint Barton's roll is as legitimately random as the others but some detail-oriented readers may notice that it includes 4 green cubes and only 2 black. Apparently I put them back into their boxes incorrectly after Sunny's roll. By the time I noticed, I knew the roll was too perfect to dump.

I've been using the original story cubes (red box), "actions" cubes (blue box) and "voyage" cubes (green box), but there might be others. I found them on Amazon. I use 9 cubes because it feels right for plot chunks. Your mileage may vary.