Starks Goddess {3}

Twenty

Loki scrubbed his hands over his tired face. He had been awake for 31 hours since he last slept, but he was not giving in, not yet. Though he knew the others were wary of him, he was thankful to at least have the women show kindness. He sat back, and blew out a breath, his eyes tired from reading through another book on norse mythology. A lot of it was inaccurate, but there may be something that would be pertinent to the situation.

'You want another cup of tea?..'.. Loki turned his head, seeing Wanda in the kitchen, holding up her cup to him... 'I know you don't like coffee, but I'm not bad at making tea..'

'Yes please, I would appreciate that, thank you..'.. He have a small nod, seeing Stark in the corner of his eye, watching him.

'What is your deal?..'.. Loki sighed, he had been waiting for Stark to let loose on him about all this, as though it was his fault... 'Cause I still don't understand it..'.. Loki turned to the man, knowing the rest were watching and listening... 'I know what Romanoff and Wanda have told me about your conversations with them, but what exactly so you get out of this? Why marry her? Couldn't find anyone on your world?..'

'Harsh Tony..'.. Nat scowled at him... 'You heard what Thor said, Loki was manipulated too. The battle wasn't his fault, not really..'... Loki was floored to hear her say such a thing... 'When you still made weapons, people believed you were bad, only in it for the money, not caring about the people. What was it?..'.. She tapped her pen to her chin... 'God of war, right? That's what they called you. Yet it wasn't even you, it was Stane dealing your weapons and you took the blame..'

'That's not the same..'.. Tony glared at her.

'Really? Cause Buck here..'.. Nat gestured to him... 'Was manipulated and controlled by Hydra. Same with me and the red room. Those two..'.. She nodded to the twins... 'Same with Strucker. Rogers and the government, Thor and his father. Oh, and Izzy, let's not forget her..'.. Nat sat up straight... 'All her life she was manipulated, controlled, tortured, abused, put in cryo. Honestly, the fact she has any semblance of sanity, has me fucking baffled. Cause I know if I experienced a shred of what she has, I'd be a mess. What makes Loki any different?..'

Loki remained silent his eyes on the widow, hearing her defend him. No one had done such a thing in a long time, and he couldn't help but respect the woman all the more. He turned his gaze to Stark, seeing him silent... 'Come on, cause we all want to hear it. The rest of us all know it, and from what Thor has told us about Loki, before the battle and growing up, it seemed to be way out of character for him, so yeah, he made a mistake, but he wasn't in control of his actions..'

'He controlled her!...'.. Tony practically shouted... 'He broke those walls, because of him, she remembers! He broke her!..'

Nats lips parted in shock, and she started to realise... 'Are you serious? Tell me you're joking right now?..'

'What?..'.. Steve rested his arms on the table, looking between the two.

Nat huffed a laugh in disbelief... 'You want her back to how she was, before the battle, right? That's what it's been about for years..'.. She tossed her pen down... 'I can't believe I didn't see it sooner..'.. Nat shook her head at Tony... 'You want her to be just Izzy, not Shadow. You want her to forget her past, right? To never speak of it. See, I thought you tensed up when she talked about it, because you were worried about her, but that wasn't it, was it?..'