Broken Beyond Repair

Chapter 9

It's strange, returning to Avengers Tower after that fight. When they were here just hours ago, they were here as enemies, temporary allies only because their goals aligned. Now they're more than that. They're friends. They're Avengers themselves. Wanda's not quite sure what to make of that.

"Don't get too used to the place," Tony tells them as they head back inside. "We're moving upstate pretty soon. Cleared out a whole warehouse for us."

"I still don't get why we have to move," Clint mutters.

"What do you care?" Tony asks. "You've been shacking up with your wife this whole time."

"I really don't think it counts as 'shacking up' if it's your wife," Bruce remarks.

"Oh, you know what I mean."

While they discuss that – not that it needs to be discussed, but anything's better than the silence that followed them throughout their return trip to the tower – Wanda stays quiet, her attention more focused on Loki than anyone else. Pietro insists that he was using some godly powers while she wasn't around, but she has a bit of a hard time believing it. He just doesn't seem capable of it. He's still curled up in his wheelchair, holding onto the handles as Pietro wheels him through the halls. She's always known that he was more than he looks, but she can't imagine him being that much more.

Thor's mind seems to be in the same place, because he spends more time looking at Loki than he does paying attention to the conversation. Eventually, he looks over at Wanda and Pietro and says, quietly enough not to disrupt the others, "I was sent to Earth in part to bring Loki home, but I don't know that he'll survive the trip."

"Good," Pietro says bluntly. "He does not want to go."

Though they were doubtlessly meant to be hurtful words, Thor just nods, accepting it without argument. "I understand that. But he is still Asgardian. He is still my family."

"That means nothing to him," Pietro says.

"You may be correct," Thor admits. "Loki and I have had a long and complicated history. We've never been on worse terms than we were the last time we saw each other, and I fear that it may be too late to change that. But his home and his people are in Asgard. At the very least, he may still want to see our parents."

Wanda and Pietro share a look. He might have a point. They don't know what's going on with Loki and Asgard. Nobody ever really told them, and they don't want to ask. After Steve tried to convince them that Loki wanted to take over the world, they've pretty much decided not to trust a word anyone says about him. But Loki wanting to see his parents? That's not very far-fetched.

"We are his family, too," Pietro says. "We were his family when he needed one most. You have no right to take him from us."

"Unless he chooses to go with you," Wanda adds. "We have no right to keep him from you, just as you have no right to keep him from us. This is no competition. Loki's happiness should be our first priority."

They all look down at Loki, who stares at Thor with wide, fearful eyes. He's yet to even acknowledge that they're talking about him. But he has to know. He has to be listening. She never tried to force a reaction from him, but at least this time, she'd like him to do something. This is all up to him now — and though it's not a competition, she really hopes he chooses them.

"I do not know that I trust Loki on the Bifrost," Thor says. "I would rather try to bring my father here—"

"Woah, wait, hold on," Steve says quickly. Apparently their conversation wasn't as private as it seemed. "You're going to bring the king of Asgard here?"