Who Are You | A Loki Fanfic

29. Waiting game

   "Welcome," the king greets us. As soon as I step out, I look around in fascination at the site before me. This is by far the best establishment on Midgard. "I've heard of the threat. How big is it?"

   "Life threatening," Steve answers. The king nods his head and talks while walking with him. 

   I turn back to see Wanda struggling to keep Vision on his feet. I run over to assist her. She hands me a non friendly look. "I'm sorry for suggesting you destroy the mind stone at the moment. Let's hope they're successful at removing it from his head, or a miracle happens and the girl Fury talks of finally shows up." 

   We make it inside the laboratory and set him down on the table. 

   "This must be Vision," a child approaches the android. 

   "Yes," Wanda says. "Is it possible for you to remove the stone from his head without disrupting his system?"

   The child scans his whole body with her bracelet and reaches the stone. She brings her hand face up, and a hologram of the image appears for everyone to see. "The structure is polymorphic," she says in amusement. 

   "What does that mean?"

   "It means that there are several different forms in his DNA."

   "So can you do it?"

   She sighs. "Yes, but there are more than two trillion neurons here. One misalignment can cause a cascade of circuit failures." She turns to face her king. "This will take time brother." Brother? No wonder she's allowed to play in the lab. 

   "How long?" Steve crosses his arms. 

   "As long as you can give me." 

   The room grows silent. 

   "Let's leave Shuri to herself," a woman in a red uniform with a spear suggests. "We have to prepare for what's to come."

   The woman in red follow the king out as he speaks. "Evacuate the city. Engage all defenses," he stops in his tracks to look back and point at Steve. "And get this man a shield." 

   Once the room has cleared, it's just me, Ryanne, Alice, her friend Dean, and Wanda. I get a better look at Dean. His hair is pin straight and falls down to the middle of his face. He has a weird slimy look to him. An assault riffle is strapped to his back. I don't know how I feel about him, but he seems close with Alice so I'll let it slide. 

   I turn to Ryanne who's beside me and catch her pinching herself. I place my hand over hers and she looks up to meet my eyes. 

   "Are you okay?" I asked concerned. 

   "No, I'm not okay," her breathing starts to get heavy. Now I'm confused. "I never told you this," she lowers her voice. "But Thanos is..." she pauses. I furrow my brows waiting for her to finish. "Well, how do I say this. He's my biological father," she lets out. 

   My eyes widen. I look around the room and bite my lip. I turn back to her still with my eyes wide. "Why are you just telling me this now?" This could have been brought up so many times. 

   "I don't know," she bites her lip. "I don't have a good feeling about what's to come."

   "Nothing is going to happen," I assure her. "We have the Avengers here, and they annoyingly can get anything done."

   "You're optimism is showing, Loki." I make a smile appear on her face. 

   I lick my lips and laugh. "Desperate times call for desperate measures. I mean will you look around. They trust me," I whisper to her and she laughs. 

   "Are you saying they should be worried about something," she raises a brow. I just shrug my shoulders and let her to her imagination. 

   I look around the room to find Alice gone. I take it upon myself to go and look for her. I hear grunts and clanging of weapons from a distance. I decide to follow the noise. I look up to see Alice and the Widow fighting. I stand by and observe. They're both using the spears that the women in red were wearing. I find it impressive that they know how to fight all too well. I was never taught unfortunately. Magic is my forte. I clear my throat and they both stop. With both my hands behind my back I approach Alice. Natasha comments on her performance then leaves us. Alice bites her lip trying to contain her smile. She sits on the ground and takes a sip of water. 

   "So," I sigh as I take in her new appearance once more. I pause not knowing exactly what to say. This is more awkward then I remember it to be. "You have any stories for me?" I laugh nervously. 

   "Hmm, let's see. Oh," she gasps. "I am now the leader of my tribe. So that's new."

   My eyes shoot out. "Alice, that's amazing. How?"

   "Like I said. A lot has happened. Dean was there with me through it all. How about you?"

   "I have nothing."

   "Come on. You're telling me you still don't know who you are?" she raises her brows. 

   She leaves me stunned, just like the first time she asked me that question. "I'm still learning," I nod my head. 

   She squints her eyes then looks down at her lap. "I saw you and Ryanne together. I'm happy for you."

   I tilt my head to the side. "Happy for what?"

   She looks back up at me. "Oh my God, you're still doing that."

   "Doing what?"

   "Everyone with eyes can see what's going on."

   "Nothing is going on," I attempt to laugh. 

   "Loki," she looks in my eyes. "You have to know that by now, life is short. I learned that the hard way," she nods her head and licks her lips. Tears start to form in her eyes. "You deserve to be happy."

   I swallow hard and nod my head in return. 

   "Warning," a voice starts to project throughout the lab. "Something has entered the atmosphere." 

   We both get up immediately and head to the nearest window. We see something shoot down from the sky but is stopped by the force field surrounding the city. She holds my hand as we watch the remaining pods attempt to make it through the shield, failing each time. Eventually they'll hit right through it. This is just now a waiting game.