Loki Misses the Asgardian Prison System

Chapter 181

There is just too much going on right now.

Steve is a criminal now – an international criminal who just disobeyed the ruling of over a hundred countries and his friends. The whole world is going to be looking for him now, and the only people he can call on for help are the ones sitting in this abandoned factory with him.

He doesn't know what's worse: the fact that one wrong move could put him and his friends behind bars for the rest of his life, or the fact that there's nothing they can even do right now to stop it. Until Bucky wakes up, they're just stuck here, twiddling their thumbs and hoping to whatever god might be listening that nobody finds them.

Pietro has spent the last hour or so sitting in the far corner of the room on his phone. He's assured them that he's not texting anybody, and Steve's inclined to believe him, if only because Wanda's phone broke in the explosion so he can't text her, so they've largely left him alone. But with nothing else to do until Bucky wakes up, Steve decides to pay him a little visit.

He sits down on the ground with a quiet groan, crossing his legs in front of him. "What're you up to?"

Pietro angles his phone toward him to show him his now-ended game of Piano Tiles. "I am not talking to anybody," he says, a hint of irritation in his voice.

"I didn't think you were," Steve assures him. "I just wanted to see what you were up to."

"Absolutely nothing," Pietro deadpans. "What a wonderful, heroic journey this is." He restarts his game of Piano Tiles without looking up.

Steve sighs. "I know," he says. "This isn't fun – and it's not going to be fun. And if you want to back out, you technically haven't done anything wrong yet. You can still go back."

"No, I cannot," Pietro says, "because if you cannot prove that your friend was not responsible for the bomb, then the man who was will get away, and I cannot let that happen."

Steeve gives him a small smile, though Pietro's too busy playing his game to notice. "You're a good kid, Pietro."

"I am not trying to be a good person, Rogers," Pietro tells him. "This man could have hurt my sister – he could have killed my sister. He will pay for that. I will make sure of it."

"Good," Steve says. "Remember that. Don't forget it for a second. But you can't kill him."

"I most certainly can."

Steve shakes his head. "No, you can't," he repeats. "Because if they can't take him alive, they won't believe he did it, and they'll treat you like a murderer."

"They already do," Pietro replies. "Was that not the point of the Accords? Because they think we're murderers?"

"But they're 'murders' we could get away with," Steve says. "They're not going to let you get away with this one."

Pietro is quiet for a few moments, and through it, his fingers never stop hitting the keys on his screen. Finally, he just says, "Okay."

"You're not going to kill him?" Steve asks.

"I'm not," Pietro replies. "But that's not to say he will emerge unscathed."

Steve feels he should tell him to be careful, to leave the punishment to the governments, to only do his job in taking this so-called doctor in and leaving the rest to the professionals. But what he did... He blew up the United Nations conference. He killed the king of Wakanda, and a dozen others. He could have killed the Avengers – their friends; Pietro's sister. And he framed Bucky for it all; pulled him out of the life he made for himself and sent the whole world after him.