High ⊰ Loki ⅹ Darcy ⊱

Chapter 31

Pepper's reaction wasn't what Loki or Tony had expected. She was skeptical, slightly sarcastic, and disagreeable. In short, she was being Tony.

"What am I supposed to say to her, Tony? 'Gee, I'm glad you became Tony's sort of adopted mother. Too bad you missed the wedding?' Really?" Pepper folded her arms across her chest and not-quite glared at Tony.

Stark was clearly taken aback, and looked to Loki for help. Why did everyone always look to him to have the answers? It was frustrating. Loki frowned at the Starks, both of them.

"I think that would be a lovely thing to say, Pepper," he soothed. "Although I am certain my mother would have enjoyed the wedding, had she met you and Tony before you were married. It is a pity that she has missed out on so many moments in Tony's life."

Pepper still wasn't really bending. "So now she just flits in and volunteers to be his part time mother? What? Is it a way to keep an eye on you, since you and Tony are friends?"

Loki's mouth dropped open in surprise. "No Pepper. My mother honored a request from me, nothing more. Unlike my father, Mother is not nearly so...intrusive in my life."

Tony frowned. "C'mon Pepper. For me?" He tried to look adorable, and Pepper just melted.

"Fine," she huffed.

Loki smiled as the couple entered Frigga's suite of rooms. He did not follow. Googling Tony Stark gave a long laundry list of the man's many character defects, and did not really reflect the amazing qualities that made him a good man. He could only hope that his mother would have the opportunity to learn of those qualities, and to do that required interaction time. Pepper would come to accept it, he knew. She did not know the pain of being orphaned. Regardless of age, a person still looked to their parents to provide guidance, unconditional love, and a safe haven. Loki had known the pain of having no parents, if only briefly. He hoped this would help soothe the emptiness within Tony Stark's soul.

He turned away, somewhat reluctantly because he wished to see the expression on his mother's face when Stark called her 'Mom', as he knew the billionaire would. But there were other matters that were far more pressing. The need to find the portal that would bring the army of creatures through to Earth was weighing heavily on his mind.

He had been working with Barton and Romanoff. The archer and assassin had narrowed down search areas for him, based on the size of the last portal. The crazed fanatics needed a certain amount of space to build their portal, so cities could be ruled out. They also needed cover to hide what they were doing from satellites. Still, the sheer amount of area to be searched was daunting.

Loki had reasoned that magical cloaking might prevent him from finding the portal, but it was unlikely that the entire compound would be cloaked. When an area was identified as a possibility, Loki was given satellite feed pictures so that he could jump to that location. When there, he would sweep for magical signatures and stray thoughts that might betray that this was the group they searched for.

It was exhausting.

As he understood it, all of S.H.I.E.L.D's resources had been diverted to finding the base of these fanatics, which had also caused some contention in the organization. The shadowy 'council' that Fury had spoken about once or twice did not want to let go of their many projects. Apparently, Fury had wrested direction of S.H.I.E.L.D away from the council during Loki's attack on Earth, since the council had had a quite different solution that probably would have caused war with Asgard. Their extremity of action had allowed Fury to swoop in and assume full command. He allowed them to continue, as they were somewhat useful, but now they were causing trouble because their own plans had been thwarted.