Mischief Makers Ch. 03

Sif grabbed Thor's wrist. "What is wrong with you?" she demanded. "You will hurt her."

"Go back to the table, Sif," Thor said again, leveling her with a steely gaze. "This is family business."

"No. I think perhaps you have had too much wine," Sif challenged.

Volstagg stepped into the doorway of the dining room, blocking it off with his immense frame. Fandral and Hogun were behind him straining to see over his broad shoulders.

Tears brought on by pain and fear came quickly to sting Cami's eyes and slide down her flushed cheeks. Though she believed Sif was a great warrior, Cami doubted she could best Thor if this confrontation came to blows.

"You are a bully and a very poor brother," Cami accused Thor. "The Jotun are stronger and bigger than Loki, and you let your friends joke because he couldn't defend himself without magic. The Jotun abused and mistreated him while you drank your wines and told your tales of glory."

"This is neither the time nor company for this conversation," Thor said, leaning closer. His breath smelled foul from liquor. "Think before you speak further."

Volstagg moved from the doorway to Thor's side with one long step. He dropped his meaty paw heavily upon the prince's shoulder. "Thor, would you dare threaten the sister of your good friend Hawkeye?"

Thor released Cami and turned away from his shocked friends. He looked at a loss for words.

Cami immediately spun around and ran from the room. Now that her tears were flowing, embarrassment would not let her be caught. She chose random corridors, skirting servants until she finally took refuge in an armoire in some unoccupied bedroom. Then she drew up her knees, buried her face in her skirt and bawled.

Thor found Cami several minutes later, but he was not the one who pulled her from the armoire and into a strong, comforting embrace.

"Go back to your friends," Odin told Thor as he cradled Cami. His tone was firm, but not accusing. "Tell them to repeat nothing they have heard tonight. I will speak with them in the morning."

"Yes, Father," Thor said solemnly.

Odin walked Cami from that cold, dark bedchamber and through the palace. With a snap of the king's fingers, fires sparked within the wall sconces and braziers, bringing light and warmth to an entry which honestly looked much the same as any other Cami had seen in the palace thus far.

"Perhaps you would prefer to stay here tonight," King Odin said.

"Why? Where are we?" Cami asked, stepping forward a few paces.

"These are Loki's rooms."

She stopped and turned back to the king. "Then I definitely shouldn't be here," Cami said. "This is his private space. I tried to tell the queen..."

"I know," Odin said. "Frigga told me about her request to you."

"Then why did you bring me here?"

"Because you are sad and missing him."

"But, he isn't here."

"We leave parts of ourselves wherever we go and with every interaction. You were in the company of Loki's friends for mere minutes and yet they upset you so. Why?"

Cami's gaze dropped to the floor. "I'm sure Thor explained."

"He did, but only from his point of view, which was hindered by too much drink. I wish to hear yours."

"I was angry that Fandral laughed at Loki and thought he was useless without his magic," Cami said, feeling the emotion bite at her insides, threatening to build up and overcome her again.

"What else?" he gently prodded.

Cami searched her thoughts trying to unravel the complexity of the emotions. "I felt he was cruel to speak that way in light of the treatment Loki received in the Jotunheim."

"Fandral didn't know," Odin said. "Frigga, Thor and I decided to keep Loki's injuries a secret. Heimdall was the only other in Asgard that knew."

The hot emotion inside her stung even more as it cooled. "Then you were protecting his privacy, and I just blurted it out."

"You felt the desire to defend him," Odin said. "It would have come out eventually, Cami. "The royal family of Asgard does not get the luxury of having many secrets."

"You haven't told everyone about him being Jotun or having this curse," Cami guessed.

"That is true. When Thor told Nick Fury of Loki's true parentage, he immediately regretted it because it became public knowledge amongst those who work for S.H.I.E.L.D."

Cami turned back to look at the closed doors off the entry. She tried not to think about the treasures that might be found beyond, things that were special to Loki that he was forcibly parted from now. Of course, she didn't know for certain that he valued objects over anything else.

"I grew up in other people's homes, but not as part of their families," Cami told Odin, not sure what direction her thoughts were going as she spoke. "I never had my own room until the Murphys took me in. It was my personal space and they respected my privacy. After five years with them, I guess I thought they might actually adopt me, but they let me leave with Clint instead."

"Did they love you?"

"Yeah, I know they did."

"Then that is why they let you go," Odin said wisely.

Cami felt close to the king in those moments. He'd comforted and listened to her and not been stern, even if she might have deserved it after her blunder.

"I can't go in there," she said decisively and walked out into the corridor.

Odin put out the fires then escorted her back to the healing room for the night.

Sif was in a sad and humbled mood when she arrived to have breakfast with Cami the next morning. She'd just left a meeting with the king and queen where some truths about Loki had been disclosed and she had made promises to be discreet with that information.

"Loki has teased me incessantly over the years and acted jealous and spiteful at times," she confessed, "but I never wished such horrible things to happen to him."

After they'd eaten and Sif had rubbed some medicine into Cami's wounds, the warrior encouraged her to get dressed in her S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform. "We're going to train this morning," Sif said, shedding her gloom for a small smile. "Have you ever used a stave?"

"No," Cami admitted. "I can't even get past hand-to-hand combat training back home."

"Fighting with a weapon is sometimes easier than without," Sif assured her and hurried Cami along to the training grounds just outside the palace.

The staff Sif gave Cami was smaller and lighter compared to the others displayed on the racks. Once Cami had the grip down, Sif started showing her some simple moves and having her try them on the training dummies, which were wooden posts with stuffed grain sacks tied to them to loosely resemble a person's form.

Working with Sif proved much more relaxed than her classes back at the helicarrier. It helped that there weren't people standing around, judging every little move she made. Plus, Sif had been right about it being easier to attack with the staff than with her bare hands.

"Very good, keep at it," Sif encouraged Cami as she got more confident with her strikes. "I can see the fluid motion of your dancing in your attacks. You have strong limbs and core muscles. Harness that power. Don't hesitate or hold back."

They were still terrorizing target dummies when Thor and the Warriors Three dropped by about midday.

"You are a fierce little thing, Cami Barton," Volstagg called out as the foursome approached.

Cami lowered the staff and wiped at the sweat on her forehead and cheeks.

"I agree," Sif said, beaming with pride.

"We've come to invite you both to join us for a picnic," Thor said, holding up a large basket in his hand. "Of course, we will understand if you choose to decline."

Volstagg also had a basket, which was much larger than the one in Thor's possession. Fandral carried the blankets, and Hogun had a couple of corked jugs.

"I can tell food is a very big deal around here," Cami said. She was being pleasant, but was wary of a repeat altercation. "I suppose we can join you if Sif wants to."

It turns out that Sif did want to, so the group wandered deep into the palace gardens to relax in the shade of the trees. Cami trailed behind the others, admiring the unusual, yet beautiful and fragrant flower species growing around them. By the time she reached the trees, using her staff as a walking stick, the others were starting in on the food.

"Cami, may we speak of last night?" Fandral asked as Cami sat between him and Sif on the blankets. "I do wish to apologize again." This time his expression and tone showed true remorse.

"Thank you, Fandral. I appreciate it, but I assumed you knew more than you did."

"Still," Hogun interjected, "we have made the habit of speaking disrespectfully to each other and about each other, even if just in jest. Odin wishes us to be less that way."

"Now that they are aware of Loki's situation," Thor said after a moment. "I think you should tell us about his first mission."

While she tried to decide where to begin her tale, Cami took a roll offered by Sif, ripped it open with her fingers and dropped some pieces of flavored meat into it for a sandwich.

"Well...you see, Loki and I were sharing my bed," she said in a purposely nonchalant tone, "when there was a knock on my door."

Hogun nearly choked on his drink, which caused Thor to laugh.

"Wait," Sif said, reaching out to touch Cami's knee with a stunned-silly look on her features. "You said you were sharing a bed with Loki?"

"Indeed, I heard that too," Fandral said. "I did not know this was to be a love story."

Volstagg was piling meat on his own makeshift sandwich. "So, how did you two end up in the bed? It seems that would be a more fitting place to begin."

Cami chuckled, pleased that she'd caused such an uproar. "Loki had just been discharged from the hospital. He was tired and had nowhere else to sleep yet. So, I let him nap on my bed."

"With you?" Thor clarified.

"Yes, but it was innocent."

"We must believe you if that is what truthfully happened," Fandral said, clearly choosing to believe otherwise. "Please continue."

"Like I said before, there was a knock on my door. It was a messenger with some communication devices for us. That's when we found out that Clint and Natasha had been called far away to Washington D.C. on a mission. They wanted us to join them there so we could look for a young woman that had gone missing."

"Ah, it was a rescue mission then," Hogun said.

"Yes, it was," Cami confirmed. "So, Loki and I flew to Washington D.C. and met up with Clint and Natasha."

"Did they know who had taken the girl?" Sif asked.

"They didn't know for sure, but there was evidence that it was a man named Victor Drago, who many believed had done terrible things in his life - including stealing girls and selling them as slaves for men's pleasure."

Cami watched the group's expressions darken as they took in this fact.

"So, what did you do?" Sif prodded.

"We made a plan to infiltrate his evil lair. Loki's mind is very keen and able to remember large amounts of written information. So, he read everything S.H.I.E.L.D. had learned about Drago. Then he and Natasha dressed in fine clothes like Drago's friends would wear to fool him into thinking they could be trusted."

"That is a very wise course of action," Hogun said approvingly.

"We had to make Drago believe that Loki had slave girls of his own and wanted to obtain more. So, my job was to pretend to be one of his pleasure slaves." Cami gestured to her uniform. "Obviously, clothes like this wouldn't have convinced Drago. I had to get a special outfit that hardly covered anything. I was basically naked."

Fandral leaned back against the trunk of the nearest tree, smiling, but trying not to get caught doing it. "Were there other un-clothed females there? Did Drago have many slave girls?"

"Oh yeah. He had dozens of girls serving and dancing for him and his friends."

Hogun did not seem as interested in the girls as Fandral. "You did not say what Hawkeye was doing."

Cami explained, "Because Clint had known Drago from his past, he could not go with us. Drago would have recognized him and known we weren't his friends after all. Clint was watching over us from a distance and listening through our communication devices."

Realizing that she had them hanging on her every word, Cami did embellish things a little bit as she described kissing Loki to 'keep up appearances' all the way through the events leading up to Loki speaking his first words to her.

"I didn't know he was cursed and shouldn't talk. So when I ran to him and found he was bleeding, I thought he'd been shot by Vahdati," Cami explained. "Then Captain America and Iron Man showed up to help Clint and Natasha fight Drago's henchmen while Loki and I went to the hospital."

"When did Loki catch the very bad man Drago?" Hogun asked.

"Not until the next day when he remembered what he'd read about Drago's shoulder. Loki knew where Drago had gone to get his shoulder healed when he was younger. He told Clint and Natasha and they were able to capture him there before he could get away again."

"That was an exciting story," Volstagg said. "I can see how telling us would have been difficult if we didn't know some of the things we do now."

Everyone else agreed.

"Do your people trust him?" Fandral asked with care. "After all he did to them?"

"Not everyone. I think it does help that he's been so..." She couldn't think of the right word.

"Unlike himself?" Thor offered with sad eyes. "You didn't know him before. So, you wouldn't see it like the rest of us. He's a changed man, Cami, and not necessarily all for the better."

"Why do you say that? Surely we'll find a way to lift the curse and he'll be able to talk again."

"His scars run much deeper than his flesh," Thor said. "When he attacked the Earth, he was arrogant, confrontational and fearless. Can you tell me truthfully that he displays those traits now."

"Perhaps in small amounts," Cami was quick to respond. "He's been through a lot though."

"Yes, he has, but we have to be prepared for the possibility that there is still more going on here than we know."

"Do you think it is a trick?" Hogun asked Thor. "Loki playing us all for fools?"

"It wouldn't be the first time," Fandral said. "Though this whole thing seems like a pretty elaborate hoax, even for Loki."

"We should not make assumptions," Sif scolded them. "We have no evidence that he is lying to anyone."

"It's hard to tell a lie when you can't talk," Cami said firmly. "Maybe I'm the ultimate fool here, but... I have no reason not to believe him."

Volstagg smiled at her and said, "We hope that never changes."

- - - - -

Loki wanted out of the hospital in the worst way. So he staged his own protest. After he refused to eat, take his medications, stay in bed, change out of his uniform, or follow the tidbits of medical advice doled out by practically everyone from the doctors down to the cleaning staff, Clint and Natasha had him discharged and immediately transported back to the helicarrier.

Upon their return, Fury ordered them to get moved into the team suite on the third level as soon as possible. He also had a full agenda of items to discuss with Natasha and Clint. So, Loki's 'keepers' didn't even have time to pack up their belongings before they were called away to a long meeting.

This left Loki alone to direct the cleaning staff who had been tasked to assist with the move-in efforts. He had them put Clint's stuff in the first bedroom on the starboard side of the living room as it was the closest to the hallway in and out of the suite. It was the clear choice as Clint would think of himself as the team watchdog keeping an eye on all comings and goings.

Natasha got the middle bedroom on the same side as it shared a bathroom with Clint's room and would afford more opportunities for their interaction. The fact that it was slightly bigger with more closet and storage space for her wardrobe would probably be enough to keep her from deciding to switch to another room.

Loki took the first bedroom on the port side so he could be next to the room that Cami had been drawn to. Their rooms also shared a bathroom in between with connecting doors into the bedrooms for convenience.

Loki knew there was a chance that Clint would intervene on the room setup as soon as he discovered that both bathrooms had the connecting doors. It was sheer luck that they were so tired when they arrived back at the suite that Clint and Natasha's discussion on the matter was brief and uneventful. Basically, Natasha liked her room and refused to move anything. Clint didn't want the hassle of moving either and dreaded upsetting Cami by stealing the room she'd liked so much.

The cleaning staff returned the next day with Cami's belongings. Loki stayed in his room until they'd finished. Then he peeked into the room from the bathroom, making sure that her pictures and books had been placed properly on the shelf above the desk as in her old quarters.

It became clear that Clint was working a bit too enthusiastically on Loki's training schedule. Loki was subjected to two long days of written tests to determine what he knew about each area of academic study offered in the field operative curriculum. It was dull and draining for Loki to fill in so many little circles on test sheets, label inane diagrams and write little paragraphs explaining the meaning of this term or the logic behind some process, but he focused his efforts the best he could. He understood that by excelling in these tests, he could prove that he was capable of tackling much more challenging assignments.

The promising results from these tests spurred Clint to request that Loki be allowed to wave the majority of the field operative curriculum, which Fury actually approved. Apparently both men realized that Loki would be bored sitting through such basic classes day after day. Though, they were requiring him to study S.H.I.E.L.D. rules and procedures and learn how to operate and maintain the essential vehicles and equipment on board the helicarrier.

Agent Barton, in review of the Drago mission, decided that he wanted to see Loki trained up in the use of firearms. He was a gun enthusiast, of course, and couldn't help spouting off long-winded facts and history about the various types of handguns commonly used by S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel. Clint even knew what guns the key figures in the organization favored and carried for duty.

Loki was a natural marksman, showing as much skill with rifles as with the handguns. Obviously, he wasn't as good as Clint yet, but he still drew a crowd every time he appeared at the range, which actually got quite uncomfortable at times and even a little distracting.

Natasha also had plans for Loki's training. "Brawn doesn't always win a fight," she told him. "You expend too much energy and have a tendency to telegraph your movements. We're going to make your moves smaller, quicker and deadlier. And, since you can think on your feet, we're going to work on being creative with your environment."

Loki might have been more offended by her critique of his fighting style if he hadn't been so intrigued by her promises. He was being forced to rely more on his fighting ability now that he couldn't cast spells. What would it hurt to let her try to teach him something new?

Mindful of his interest in computers, Fury had stacks of books delivered to the suite for Loki to peruse at his leisure. In truth, Loki was reading and learning too quickly to be enrolled in any particular computer class. So, S.H.I.E.L.D. was letting him do self-study in the various computer sciences.

Loki didn't usually leave the suite voluntarily. Walking the halls of the helicarrier could be intimidating. There was never true quiet or peace it seemed. The vessel, machinery, and people were all in a constant hum. It was a strong, flowing current of purpose and resolve with which he just couldn't seem to connect.