Unfettered (Loki x Reader)

Chapter 38 - Misdirection

"I need to see her, Tony. I think I can help."

Tony paces the room, arms crossed. "Just, give me a minute here," Tony mumbles.

"Tony, please."

"I said give me a minute!" Tony snaps, his feet still carrying him back and forth across the lush carpet of his study. "I'm a genius, but sometimes I do need to think for more than three seconds."

"Pfft," Natasha scoffs. "You've never critically thought about anything for more than three seconds, Tony."

Tony stops his pacing and glances up, the consternation on his face gone. "You know what?" he says. "You're right. The answer's no," he says.

"What?!" you spit. "Tony, come on, that's not fair."

"It's a bad idea, Squirt. The last time you were in a room with her, you ended up blind with a shattered psyche in Asgard for a month."

"He's got a point, Y/n," says Clint as he sits cross-legged on top of Tony's desk.

"And you," Tony says, pointing at Clint. "Get the hell off my stuff. Feet. On the ground."

Clint rolls his eyes and makes a show of slinking from the desk to the ground before taking a seat in the second chair next to Steve. Tony shakes his head and pinches the bridge of his nose between his fingers, massaging for a moment before fixing his focus back on you and Nat, who stands behind you.

"The answer is no, kiddo," he says. "I can't take that chance. Whatever's going on in her mind is dangerous. And we don't understand it."

"Do we ever understand how other people think?" you challenge.

"I said no," Tony snaps.

Anger simmers low in your stomach. "Just because you don't know what you're doing doesn't mean I don't," you seethe.

That room falls silent as a myriad of emotions flash across Tony's face - surprise, insult, indignation.

"First of all, I always know what I'm doing," he snarks back. "And second, you're not the only one at risk here. Agent May's at stake too."

"You think I don't know that?" you question. "You think I haven't felt guilty for every second of every day since we had to leave her there? We're the Avengers, Tony! We don't leave our people behind. But we did. Because I messed up."

"Don't say that," Steve says, speaking up for the first time. "I was the one who pulled you off her."

You let out an exasperated sigh - too tired to go down the rabbit hole of blame. "Tony, look," you say, determined. "When I was in her head, I started piecing together her memories. I saw the pattern. I was making progress! The only reason that I wasn't able to finish was because our cover was blown."

"Squirt, I-."

"But she's here now - with us!" you interrupt. "What happened before won't happen again. She's back in our care, meaning we're in a controlled environment. There won't be any reason to force my link with her to close before she and I are both ready."

"But that doesn't mean there isn't risk that-."

"And," you say, interrupting once more. "I've already been in her head once. I made progress. I know what to look for this time!"

"She's got a point, boys," Nat says, stepping to your side and placing a hand on your shoulder. "We should give her a shot."

Tony frowns. "Still a bad idea, miss talks-alot," he says. "You're forgetting that HYDRA's had her for weeks. Who knows what they've planted in that head of hers."