Masters of Chaos

Deal or no deal?

Nick walked into the cubby next to the meeting room with Loki and looked through the two way mirror in SHIELD prison. They waited for a while before Avery was brought in. Loki winced at the gag in their mouth and how tight the restraints were on their wings. He looked over to Nick.
"They have to be in so much pain. Even if they refuse to help and stay here, please, release their wings. It's inhumane. They're not an animal. They've got a shocker in their neck, surely that's enough." he said quietly.

"I don't have control over this place, Loki. Trust me, it hurts to see them like this. Tony saw Avery as his adopted kid. I saw them as my godkid. Pepper loved Avery as her own. We don't want to see them like this." Nick replied shaking his head.
"Is that why none of you ever visited them? So you wouldn't have to see the consequences of what you'd done?" Loki asked.

"I didn't have you come here to patronise me, Laufeyson. I asked you to come with me to knock some sense into Avery! They won't listen to me. And honestly the Starks' betrayal hurt them the most. They won't talk to them either. I will ask you one thing though. How did you know none of us have visited? You weren't held here long." Nick asked as they watched Avery have their gag removed.

"Because you heroes never want to acknowledge when you're wrong. Talking to Avery would force you to do that. Make you stare at those mistakes right in the face and look them in the eye again. It's also why Thor never visited me when I was locked up. At least HE could admit that. And to my face. I'll talk to O'Hara ALONE. No earpieces. If I promise them something that SHIELD can't do, we find someone who can." Loki said as he disappeared and Nick watched him walk into the room with Avery unable to protest.

He looked them up and down. Their jumpsuit was baggy with ripped off sleeves.They had a prison tattoo on their neck of a skull with the Anarchist symbol in its mouth. Their body was toned and had a bit of muscle. They weren't slender but they weren't stocky either.
"You look terrible" Loki said with a smile. "Yeah, almost as bad as you did in self isolation. That's the level of messed up I'm aiming for." Avery joked back. Loki grinned and hugged them as best as he could with them chained to the table and the wings in the way. "It's good to see you. They wouldn't let me contact you once I got the all clear." Loki finally said apologetically.

"I'm not gonna ask if you're alone. I know Nick is watching everything." Avery sighed.
"It's a precaution. People with abilities such as ours, well even though I've proven my loyalty I think they secretly reckon I still work for Thanos. We scare them." Loki grinned.

"Long time no see. How come you switched sides anyway?" They asked.
"I regretted it as soon as he gave me that godsdammed staff. The torture didn't help either." Loki tried to joke but the pain was evident in his eyes. Nick double checked and made sure that the conversation was being recorded. This was new information. "Tortured?" Avery asked. "Fire and Frostgiants don't mix. Four years of it. I saw how insane he was. I just couldn't fight him and the staff. I tried to do everything I could to minimise the loss of life while I staged a believable loss in New York. Unfortunately it seems Fury hadn't learned his lesson when it came to heeding a warning." Loki replied as he sat down on his side of the table.

"Let me guess. You got the blame?" Avery said angrily, baring their sharpened teeth. "Naturally. I'm not going to bother with the reels of crap given to me by the others before I arrived here. Fuck the rest of the world and the "justice" thing. Be selfish and do this for you! You don owe the world shit. You never did and especially not now. This is a means to an end for you. A few missions now and then but aside from that you have your own life! This is your chance to get out of here! The deal has been improved, drastically, we'll even look over it now together so you can see. Stark is getting you a large house on the outskirts of the city with loads of space where you can fly safely with a built in gym and a lab. SHIELD will leave you alone completely between missions and all of your rights are going to be restored. You'll only be called on as a last resort so you can enjoy your freedom." Loki explained, pointing to each term on the contract he'd rolled out onto the table.

"I want to add a few items. One: My name is cleared for the public. My trial was completely biased and I want SHIELD, Fury and Stark to all admit they set me up and why. WITH DETAILS. Two: SHIELD admits to violating my bodily autonomy. I didn't consent to these wings. I never wanted them. I was tested on like a lab rat because they wanted to see if they could make better Super Soldiers. So they gave me your abilities thanks to a deal with Odin and these stupid things and said "fuck it let's see what happens." I was taken away from my family and then monitored to see what would happen. SHIELD has to admit to it. And the others they did this to. Three; Those others i mentioned? they're to be freed. They got set up and thrown in here same as me. they go free with no obligations to missions. I'll do them in their place. Four: SHIELD clears YOUR name. Thor and Fury get up on Live TV and they admit you were wrongfully convicted both here AND on Asgard. I read the case files because I was bored. It's the stupidest shit i've heard in years." Avery said bluntly, handing over their own list.

Loki looked through them.
"They're all pretty tame, I would agree to these easily. Then again it's not my ass who's going to get flamed. I'll see what I can do. But the rest?" Loki asked hesitantly.
"The rest is fine. When you get back, tell the old gang one thing. Money isn't going to fix this." Avery said imploringly.
"I will." Loki promised and he touched their hand in comfort.
"If they don't get you out of here, I'll find a way, ok?" he said softly.

"Don't do anything stupid." Avery warned them.
"I'm not the one who does stupid things. That's my brother's job." Loki winked and left the room. Nick met him outside and they headed out.
"The others aren't going to like this." Nick said. "Well boo for them then." Loki snapped.

They headed back to Stark Tower and Loki was fuming. He burst in the door and headed straight to Tony and threw him into the wall. "How the hell can you all say Avery is family to you after what you did! Experiments on children! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU ALL! And to make things worse, there's more than just O'Hara! You weren't family to them, you stopped loving Avery once they weren't useful anymore!" Loki spat. Thor rushed over to his brother and held him back.

"They never wanted powers, or wings! I bet they didn't even want to be an agent! Tell me Fury, how long did you spend lording the fact that SHIELD gave them powers over them to get them to comply?" Loki said as he turned around. Bruce walked over to Loki and brought him over to the couch.
"We'll focus on one thing at a time. What happened during the meeting?" Asked Bruce.

As Loki was about to answer, Nick played the footage and Loki glared at Nick.
"Had I known that was recorded I would've kept my mouth shut about what he did to me." he said coldly. Thor walked over to his brother and sat next to him.
"You let us win?" He asked in confusion.
"Yes, weren't you watching? It was quite a moving confession." Loki replied, not looking at him.
"Here's the terms Avery wants applied. Oh, and FYI, fire isn't the only form of torture I've endured in the last decade or so." He said stiffly as he left.

Thor looked at his brother as he left the room. "I'll clear his name. I can't help O'Hara. But I owe Loki this. I don't care about SHIELD." Thor said quietly.
"I'll clear Avery. Should've done it years ago." Tony said sheepishly.
"Well this is going to be a lot easier than I thought." Bruce said shrugging.