The Fall Of The Phoenix (Marvel/The Avengers)

Chapter 7 - Unanswered Questions

"If you think building whatever that is in front of me will frighten me... you're going to have to try harder." Loki said through his confident smirk. He had been intently watching me work since I opened up my lab. Not that he had anything better to do.

"I'm here to keep an eye on you, but I'm certainly not going to sit around the hole time flicking through magazines. This..." I gestured to a few spare parts in my hands, "is not meant to scare or intimidate you, if that is in fact something that could be achieved." His smirk grew. "It's too keep me busy doing something useful while you play hamster."

His smirk finally dropped over the term hamster, but grew again once he began speaking. "Barton told me all about you." He stated.

"Did he? How considerate." I replied sarcastically, taking my eyes off him and continuing on with my work.

"Your, shall we say, condition explains why I couldn't control you and why your injuries appear to have almost healed." He observed. "He said you were born in 1924. That puts you at what... 88 years old?"

"Please stop talking." I muttered.

"I find it intriguing. Captain America is one thing. He grew a few extra feet, put on some muscle, that's not that extraordinary. He's still half the size of Thor and not nearly as strong." Barton had clearly informed him on a lot more than just me. "But you... your intelligence far exceeds all of humanity. You have complete control over all that you do and who you are which is why my power didn't work and no doubt if I tried to create an illusion you'd only see the truth."

"Is there a point to this or do you just like the sound of your own voice?" I asked, not bothering to look up, but I could still feel his gaze.

"You don't belong here." He stated.

"Oh no? And where do I belong?" I finally met his gaze, resting my hands on the table in front of me.

"I would hate to see such intelligence go to waste and here on earth, surrounded by mortals who you will long outlive, is doing just that."

"So what? I should pack up and move planets? Hang out in Asgard until I die? What good would I do there? Sure I live longer than most humans, but I won't live as long as what your people do." I shook my head. "What purpose would I serve? None. You may think earth is nothing, but at least here I'm something worth living."

He took a step back from the glass. "You might be surprised. It wouldn't take you long to get used to things up there, you'd have the best memory and according to Agent Barton you're not sure how long you will live exactly."

"Oh I think I have a pretty good estimate and besides even if I did want to leave I couldn't, but it doesn't matter because I don't. I mean sure, it sounds like a nice vacation spot, but it might loose its flare after a while." I went back to my work, but continued speaking. "So... are you going to continue with the chit chat or are you going to tell me something useful."

"And why would I do that?"

"Because you like to relish in your conquests and although you haven't defeated anything yet your confidents certainly hasn't dropped despite being in a hamster ball. Then again, that's exactly where you want to be at the moment."

"Why don't you tell me what you think?" He asked curiously, making his way back to the edge of the glass and resting his forearm on a metal panel above him.

"I think whatever it is you're after its on the hellicarrier." I dropped my work and began to walk slowly towards the glass. "I think you're doing all of this not because you despise human kind, but because you want revenge on your brother. You want to prove yourself. Thor is the heir to Asgard and you're jealous." I concluded as I finally reach the glass. "Everything you're doing, everything you've done is nothing more than the acts of an attention seeking, obnoxious younger brother who always believed he deserved more praise and consideration." Loki's smirk had now completely evaporated, as I stood not half a metre away from him, only separated by the impenetrable glass between us.