Loki Misses the Asgardian Prison System

Chapter 176

"No," Pietro says immediately.

Natasha sighs. "Just let him talk."

"No," Pietro repeats firmly.

"It doesn't matter what he says," Clint tells him. "We don't have to change anything. But we need to pretend we care."

"No!" Pietro insists. "I am not letting this man talk down to us! He has no right!"

"He has every right, actually," Natasha says with a frown. "He's the Secretary of State. It's kind of his job."

Pietro crosses his arms. "Well, I do not care," he says. "I am not yet an American citizen. He is not my government representative."

"As long as you're living in America, he is," Natasha says, a hint of sympathy in her voice.

"Trust me," Clint says, "I don't want to do this, either, but this is one thing that we can't get out of. We have to let him talk. We have to promise to do better. After that, I'm sure he'll leave us alone."

"Bullshit," Pietro says. This whole thing is bullshit – the government; the country as a whole; all of it.

Natasha sighs, resting a hand on his arm. "Pietro..."

Pietro jerks his arm back and clenches his jaw. This is such bullshit. But he can tell they're not going to back off, so he has a compromise. "Fine," he says. "I will go if Wanda can stay here."

They don't even pretend to entertain the thought.

"He wants to talk to all of us," Natasha says. "They're even dragging Loki out for this."

"I do not care," Pietro snaps. "This is bullshit. How many people has this government killed? Hundreds? Thousands? Millions?"

Natasha sighs. "Pietro–"

"They killed our parents!" Pietro continues, his voice growing louder, his face growing warmer, his hands clenched by his sides. "They destroyed our home! And now, what, he expects us to apologize? Where is our apology?"

Natasha reaches out again.

Pietro swats her hand away.

"Where is our apology?" he demands. "Why should we apologize to a government who thrives on civilization casualties?"

Clint and Natasha share a look.

Neither of them answer.

Further proof that he's right.

But then Wanda sighs. "They're right," she says finally. "We need to go. I made a mistake and people died. I need to own up to that."

"You owe him nothing," Pietro says firmly.

"Maybe not," Wanda admits, "but I owe the people of Lagos everything. I owe it to them to listen to what Secretary Ross has to say."

Pietro hesitates. She seems so sure of this, and truly, it's not his place to tell her not to. But he knows her. He knows how much she cares. He's seen how this is tearing her apart. She's doing this because she thinks it will help, but it won't. It won't bring anyone back to life. It certainly won't alleviate her guilt. This is just going to hurt her.

"Hey," Clint says softly, gently hitting his fist against her shoulder. "It'll be fine. Don't take whatever he has to say to heart."

Wanda forces a smile. "I won't."

She will. He knows her too well to expect otherwise.

"Alright, c'mon," Natasha says gently, leading them out to the meeting room, and unfortunately, Pietro's run out of ways to argue.