Mischief Makers Ch. 04

After several seconds, the people in the hallway reported that the darkness had begun to recede back into the confines of the infirmary. A little longer and Cami caught sight of some light at the edge of her vision. She started to blink her eyes to help them adjust to the conversion and felt warmth overtake her as the darkness withdrew toward the corner and into Loki.

Loki was on his hands and knees on the floor, but pushed himself up onto his haunches to return the stares coming at him from the group.

"Where did all the blood go?" Tony asked, drawing the group's attention to the fact that other than the stains on his pants, there wasn't a visible drop of blood on Loki. Even his newest wounds had stopped bleeding.

Hopper held up Cami's hand. "His blood is gone from her too."

"No more snake," Tony added, casting his gaze down and around to be sure.

Natasha marched back into the room. "Loki, what did you do?"

Loki looked weary. He stood, but stumbled back into the corner.

Cami crossed quickly to Loki so she could help steady him and give his wounds a little closer inspection. "These will need to be stitched up," she said.

"Maybe he can just heal them," Tony said with an edge to his voice, "since it seems that he's back to casting spells now."

Loki lifted his gaze from Cami to look at Stark. He shook his head, seeming to deny the accusation.

Cami chose to ignore Stark. She gently touched Loki's cheek, which felt unusually cold. "You should probably lie down, wrapped up in a few blankets."

"Tony," Natasha said with a frown, "he's obviously very weak and he saved Clint's life. Can you stop being a bastard for a few minutes please?"

"Loki casts some serious magic, even though he's supposed to be mortal now, and suddenly I'm the bad guy. Geez, you ex-criminals really do stick together."

Natasha glared back at him.

With a sigh of exasperation at Stark's attitude, Hopper turned back to the door. "Dan, wheel Clint back in here. Gary, Marcus, go get that other bed out of the storage room next door for Loki."

Tony said gruffly as he stepped out of the way of the gurney, "I'll call Fury then. He's going to want to know what happened."

"WE don't even know what happened," Cami pointed out.

"JARVIS was monitoring the camera feeds. So, we'll start there. I'm sure Nick will have some questions for me to bring back to Loki."

No one challenged Stark as he stormed out of the infirmary, the weight of his suit making his every angry step even more pronounced.

- - - - -

Clint woke to find his two favorite girls at his bedside. Cami was curled up asleep in a lounge chair. Natasha was sitting on a metal folding chair, her attention on the screen of a hand-held computer that looked like it might be the one they'd given to Loki.

"Did someone beat the hell out of me?" Clint asked with a groan.

Natasha put aside the computer and climbed to her feet. "Your heart stopped and there were complications with the CPR. The doctor says you actually held up really well. You've got a broken sternum and a couple cracked ribs."

"Oh." That explained a lot about how he felt.

"Do you remember anything that happened?"

"Um... yeah; sorta." Clint was surprised by how quickly his memories surfaced. "There's another Loki. He doesn't like our Loki all that much and he is seriously bad news."

"Two Lokis," Natasha said, casting her attention across the small room and drawing Clint's gaze to their Loki sleeping on a gurney against the far wall under a small mountain of blankets.

"The other Loki is working with someone named Jahla. It sounded like they've been using our Loki's blood to make the other one stronger," Clint said.

Natasha took in this information with a growing look of concern.

She said, "We don't know much, but some stuff happened that I'm sure you'd like to know before Director Fury arrives." She reached for the computer. "I've got video footage that Stark pulled from the security system."

"Is everyone else alright?"

"Loki has sustained serious injuries again. The rest of us are all fine, if you don't count that Stark's on a bit of a rampage."

Clint looked, but didn't find anything resembling the controls there would be on a standard hospital bed. "Help me sit up," he said.

Natasha managed to get the gurney to cooperate, but the effort caused enough noise to wake Cami.

"Hey," she said with a smile to her brother. "Did Nat tell you how badly you scared us?"

"Not exactly, but I bet it was pretty upsetting," Clint admitted. He really didn't want to go into all the details if he could avoid it.

Natasha queued up the video footage and gave him the computer. "Obviously there are no cameras in the shower area. We didn't see who attacked you, but the camera outside the showers did capture this."

Clint could see himself on the screen, standing in the entryway of the showers with his gun drawn. The camera must have been above and to the right of where he stood.

He started the video, realizing that it hadn't been enhanced for optimum sound. His verbal exchange with the other Loki was much too soft. With some focus, he could probably recall what they had said to each other though.

The video showed just how fast the strike from Loki had hit him. Clint hadn't managed to get a single shot off, no matter how ineffective, before he was laid out.

Clint chose to rewind the video and watch it again a few more times before letting it move on to Loki pulling the fire alarm and starting CPR on him.

Clint got really uncomfortable as the scene played out on the screen and it wasn't because Loki had given him mouth-to-mouth. It had been the look of terror and desperation on Cami's face that eventually caused him to pause the video.

"The part you'll really want to see happened here in the infirmary," Natasha said softly, acutely aware of his discomfort. She took the computer and advanced the video.

Clint noted that Cami was looking tense as he took possession of the computer again. "Something you want to tell me, Kiddo?"

"It will look really scary, but... I'm fine. So, don't get all worked up."

"Um, OK. Maybe I shouldn't have asked."

Again the sound was useless and the camera angle a little less-than-ideal, but as soon as he saw the group's reactions, he had to rewind the video and zoom in to find out what he wasn't quite seeing. The image was pixilated, but he could tell that something had come out of his chest when Cami drew near to him.

"When you got hit with that spell, it must have put this thing inside of you," Natasha said.

"Why aren't I in quarantine?" Clint asked, becoming further agitated.

"It's OK," Cami said, reaching out to touch his arm reassuringly. "Loki got it out. Just watch."

Clint watched the rest of the video in silence, though the changing emotions on his features probably spoke volumes to them.

He handed the computer back to Natasha. "I can see why Stark is so upset."

"Please don't get angry with Loki," Cami begged. "He saved your life and probably all of ours by getting rid of that misty snake-thing."

"How did he do that, by-the-way?" Clint asked, choosing not to address his sister's plea at the moment.

"We have no idea. He's been asleep for hours. Whatever he did, it took a lot out of him."

Cami said, "The doctor said Loki has classic symptoms of anemia, but like they said in D.C. he doesn't type close enough to any blood they have in storage. He's just going to have to recover on his own like before."

Natasha said, "His body temperature dropped too, but has been rising slowly."

Clint stared at Loki for several long moments. Underneath his human appearance, he was supposed to be Jotun, a Frost Giant. How cold was too cold for him?

Clint sighed. "It's just one thing after another with this team. Perhaps we've been too appropriately named."

Natasha nodded, not looking as amused as Clint had hoped.

"You said that Fury is on his way?"

"Yeah. He talked to Stark, saw the video and caught the next bird out," Natasha said. "I haven't heard what his mood is on this so far."

"I doubt it's good."

"Hopper took the Streak to rendezvous with him. I expect them back in the next hour or so."

"It would be nice if we got a chance to confer with Loki before Nick gets here. Have you tried to wake him?"

"No. The doctor said to let him sleep. He wanted to hook him up to a bunch of stuff and give him some meds, but Loki would only let him stitch up his wounds."

"He doesn't like doctors," Clint said.

"Can't say I blame him," Cami said sadly. "He spends so much time in the hospital thanks to that damn curse."

Clint sat up even farther, causing discomfort in his taped chest. With a wince, he said, "Someone grab me a uniform and some painkillers. I refuse to be debriefed in a hospital bed."

"I'll go," Natasha said, leaving Clint to deal with the look Cami was currently giving him with her sad puppy-dog-eyes.

"I came a little unglued in the hallway when I thought you were dead," Cami said softly. "Sorry I acted like that in front of your friends."

"It's not a big deal," Clint said to make her feel better. In truth, it was important to have field agents who could keep their cool - especially when faced with shocking and emotional situations. That sort of discipline took longer for some to develop - or they eventually quit field service for less taxing positions in S.H.I.E.L.D. Clint added, "It looked to me like you pulled it together pretty quick."

Cami shrugged. Her gaze shifted between him and the blankets.

Clint watched her swallow hard and blink away tears, trying not to let him see just how badly she was shaken.

God, she's trying so hard, but... I don't know if she can do this, he thought. "Sorry I scared you," he said, feeling that he should mention her distress as respectfully as possible.

"I thought my whole world was ending," Cami admitted. "I realize that you must have felt so alone when Mom and Dad died."

This wasn't where he'd wanted this conversation to go. So, he clenched his teeth, suppressed the urge to access those memories and answered her with a simple nod.

Clint decided that he needed to employ a distraction to get them back on track with the priority issues of the moment.

"See if you can wake your boyfriend." As expected, his choice of words surprised her. "I doubt he'll want to be in bed or in his pajamas when Director Fury gets here. The whole team needs to be in uniform, calm, collected and ready to answer some very tough questions."

"Am I in trouble again?" she asked, clearly uncertain.

"I don't know," he admitted. "Most of this is going to be aimed at Loki. Fallout for the rest of us will depend a lot on the facts and how they're spun."

"The best we can do is to tell the truth, right?"

He was proud to hear her say that, even if she'd turned it into a question. "Yeah. Always tell your boss the truth - unless, of course, you shouldn't."

- - - - -

Surrounded in thick mist and twilight gloom, Loki endured the crushing despair of Niflheim and its eternal winter. He hoped he was just dreaming, but the vivid images looming in his mind and the debilitating chill in his core would not abate, no matter how hard he tried to push them away.

He had no physical body in this nightmare, yet it felt like he was being restrained. When he looked around, a vast sea of dead, pallid faces stared back at him. Something about his presence seemed to mesmerize these lost and forgotten souls and they hindered his return to consciousness by merely wanting him to remain.

Loki knew that he had brought this torment upon himself and not entirely for selfless reasons. Perhaps that is why this dream state had such an unbreakable hold on him.

A distant, angelic voice called for him to awaken. It was Cami, of course, but the hollow moaning of the dead rose up to drown her out.

- - - - -

Cami could see the tension in Clint's body when he and Natasha left the infirmary to meet up with the director in the hangar. Natasha was also on edge, but Cami suspected her issues were more about Clint being out of bed in his injured condition, than in possible consequences from Loki's stunt.

Cami remained with Loki, continuing to try to wake him.

They had added an electric blanket to the bottom of his pile and jacked up the thermostat in the room, all in the hopes of getting his body temperature to stabilize.

Cami had even sent out a plea for assistance to Heimdall to pass along to the royal family in Asgard. So, she shouldn't have been so surprised when she saw Clint and Natasha returning with Nick Fury, King Odin and Queen Frigga.

"Still no luck?" Clint asked Cami as he stepped into the room, holding the door for the others.

"None; and it feels like he's getting colder," Cami reported.

"Maybe we'd better get the doctor back in here," Nick Fury said, eying Loki grimly.

"I think the doctor has given up," Natasha said with mild disgust. "He wasn't exactly prepared to deal with these unusual circumstances."

Frigga was the first of the new arrivals to come right up to the bed. She touched Loki purposefully on the face, neck and chest, gathering information with her careful examination.

"Did you see the video?" Cami asked Frigga, but also shot a look over to Odin.

"Yes, Cami, we did," Odin said.

Frigga muttered with an air of exasperation, "He's lucky to be alive."

"What did he do exactly?" Clint asked. "We didn't think he could use magic."

"It's hard to explain," Odin admitted, shaking his head and looking weary. "Frigga, what can you tell us?"

"This is going to take some time to sort out," she said.

"Please keep us advised," Fury said respectfully to the king and queen. "You three," he indicated Cami, Clint and Natasha, "come with me."

What Cami assumed was going to be a lecture aimed at the Mischief Makers, turned out to be a gathering with the Hellhounds too. Nick pulled them all into the rec room, passed out some beers to everyone except Clint, who was on strong painkillers, and ordered them to start talking. He wanted to know everything they knew or thought they knew about Loki in reference to the most recent incidents.

Stott said after several minutes of discussion, "He's actually made an effort to act like a team member the last few days. Personally, I like the guy."

"The dude is freakin' awesome at just about everything he tries to do," Kotter said next. "I want to keep him on our side if we can manage it."

"Since we know now that there's two Lokis," Fury said, "it might be too dangerous to let our Loki return to the helicarrier with the other one gunning for him."

Clint clarified, "He won't kill our Loki. He needs his blood for what he calls 'enhancements'."

"Magic is not an area S.H.I.E.L.D. has much experience with," Hopper pointed out. "If we harbor Loki, we're asking for trouble."

Cami had said nothing thus far. Her unopened beer sat on the table beside her chair. She had been reading their expressions, trying to be objective and not think about Loki's current condition. Then suddenly everyone's eyes were on her.

"What?" she asked with confusion.

"Anything to share?" Fury asked her.

"No." Cami stared at her shoes to avoid the director's intense gaze.

"Spill it. What's on your mind, Miss Barton?"

"We issued him a uniform," Cami said softly. "Loki signed all the paperwork. He's done everything we've asked of him so far, and now that his past comes back to bite him, we're going to cut him loose?"

"Cami, we didn't say we were," Natasha said. "We just might not be the allies he needs."

"How could I ever let him face the other Loki and Jahla again alone?"

"You couldn't," Clint said. "I don't want to ask you to either."

Fury pressed, "We are not equipped to fight magic."

"King Odin told me himself that the time has come to forge alliances between the realms. Asgard has protected our world in the past. Why can't we ask them for help?"

"We would certainly give it," King Odin said, stepping into the room and catching everyone off guard. "Please forgive my interruption," he said politely. "I come with news."

Fury welcomed him into their group with a nod. "How is Loki?"

Odin looked calmer than when he had arrived in the infirmary. "All things considered, he is doing better now."

"What can you tell us?" Natasha asked.

"At his trial, I suppressed Loki's ability to access his magic, but I didn't remove his knowledge of it. What he did today wasn't casting a spell. He provoked a magical occurrence by using ancient words of power."

Fury asked, "What sort of magical occurrence?"

"He utterly destroyed that creature," Odin said.

"So, he can destroy something anytime he wants to, just by knowing these words?" Hopper asked with visible concern.

"No, it doesn't work that way," Odin said. "Though Loki couldn't cast magic, there was magic present: the blood curse, my spell, plus the residual magic around his scars. All of that came to bear when he invoked those words. Plus, he had his intended target - the serpent, a magical creature. He also had a powerful catalyst - his blood, spilled through magical means. This was an act of opportunity that nearly killed him. He will not be repeating it."

"How can you be so sure?" Nick asked firmly. "Absolutes are rare in this world."

Odin understood the director's skepticism. "The curse is gone," he said, "along with the residual magic around his scars. They were burned up in the attempt to undo the serpent. The spell I put on him fractured under the strain, allowing his Jotun physiology to partially surface through the cracks."

"That's why he was cold? It was his Jotun side coming through?" Cami clarified.

"Yes, the frigid grip of Niflheim was trying to claim him, and, I suspect, it was the only way for his body to fight back. I had no choice but to remove my spell on him completely so he could return to his natural Jotun form."

"You're no longer suppressing his magic?" Clint asked. "How do we know he won't just blink away and escape?"

"There is no need to suppress his magic now, Agent Barton. Loki doesn't have any magic left, nor can he shapeshift." There was rising anger in Odin's features as he further explained. "My son says that the blood sorceress took those abilities from him and gave them to his double."

Cami couldn't identify all the mixed emotions she felt. "He is stuck in Jotun form with no magic?" she asked.

Odin nodded. "For now we are letting him rest and recuperate. He will heal faster this way. I promised I would return him to his human form later if he wished."

Cami could only imagine how Loki was feeling now. At least he would be able to talk about his experiences with them with the curse gone.

"Does he need anything?" Natasha asked, looking solemn.

"His only request was that we examine Agent Barton's injuries and try to provide some assistance in healing him." Odin looked at Clint. "Will that be alright?"

"Yes. Thank you, Your Majesty," Clint said, looking very appreciative.

"We still have unanswered questions," Nick Fury said.

"As do I," Odin assured him. "Loki has just regained his voice and it appears that he is hesitant to say too much. I wish to give him time to collect his thoughts."

The king turned to leave.

Natasha followed along as Clint climbed painfully off the couch. She suggested the use of Clint and Loki's room for the examination as they met up with Odin in the hall.

Director Fury gestured Cami to come over to him when she met his gaze.

"Yes, sir?" she asked, moving to the seat closest to him.

"How was driving?"

This seemed like an odd topic for the moment with all that was going on.

"It was really fun."

"I haven't had time to review the footage, but Stark thinks you were holding back. Is that true?"