Loki Misses the Asgardian Prison System

Chapter 174

semi-graphic-but-not-super-graphic violence warning 

Loki is enjoying himself way too much.

He has no idea if Brock Rumlow is actually here, and he decided going into it that he doesn't care. The only difference Rumlow's presence will make is that he will absolutely hold it over Tony's head if he's here when they catch Rumlow and Tony isn't. He can understand why Thor's priorities may lie elsewhere, but why Tony decided a presentation was more important than a mission, Loki will never understand. But they're getting along just fine without them – and besides, it just means there are more people for Loki to beat up.

Unfortunately, they're in public, so he has to be careful how he does it. A rock slamming into someone's head out of nowhere might raise some eyebrows, after all. But, in a weird way, that makes it more fun. It's like a game; a puzzle. He has to think through every move before he makes it, an interesting challenge; one he hasn't faced since the Avengers fought Ultron.

He sticks near Wanda, just in case he slips up. Random moving objects won't look as strange when they're moving in the presence of a well-known telekinetic witch. The lack of her signature red hue may raise some eyebrows, but there's no green to give away who the magic truly belongs to, so the public will be none the wiser.

He'd give just about anything to be able to hear what the Avengers are saying right now. He's sure there's some important discussion going on in their comms; one he can't take part of because they're halfway across the world and no ear piece is going to work from that distance. He should ask Tony to work on that – or ask Bruce to work on it because that would be less awkward and would inevitably end with Tony working on it anyway.

Still, he doesn't need to hear what's going on. He doesn't need to hear which bad guys are the badder guys, or if any of the bad guys are the bad guy. And it's not like they're hard to identify, in their dramatic gear that screams "I'm evil!" even more than Loki's clothing does. So he'll just keep doing what he's doing and hope he's doing it right.

And then he sees him.

Brock Rumlow.

... Probably.

His face wasn't so disfigured in the photos, but he still vaguely looks like him.

And with the familiarity he and Steve are speaking to each other, he's definitely somebody important.

"He knew you," Rumlow says, far too cocky for a situation in which he is definitely going to lose. "Your pal, your buddy, your Bucky."

Loki pauses.

A part of him wants to kill him before he says something Steve doesn't want to hear. A part of him wants to let him talk for curiosity's sake.

"What did you say?" Steve growls.

"He remembered you," Rumlow says, almost taunting him. "I was there. He got all weepy about it."

Loki cocks his head to the side.

"'Til we put his brain back in a blender."

Loki balls his hands into fists by his side. How Steve is standing so close to him, how Steve has his hands on him, and isn't snapping his neck on the spot, he can't fathom. It's taking all his self-control not to step in and do it for him.

"He wanted you to know something," Rumlow continues. "He said to me, 'Please tell Rogers... When you gotta go, you gotta go.'" Something in his expression shifts, a more sinister glint in his eye. "And you're coming with me."

It all happens so fast.

He pulls out some kind of remote – one Loki can't place; one he should be able to place. He's seen explosives before. He's had his people use explosives before, back when he was playing the villain himself. And if he'd realized what Rumlow was wearing, if he'd known his vest was full of explosives, maybe he could have pieced it together.