Eviternity | Loki

∆ acquiescence

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❝ she is a flower,

but she isn't soft;

when her petals fall,

they hit like bullets. ❞

~i.m.

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They arrived back just after dinner, and the tower was relatively quiet. Most of the team were off doing their own things.

They had just started rummaging for something easy to eat when Tony stormed into the room, stopping nose to nose with Asta.

"Why didn't you tell me you were going here." He demanded. With a quick flick of his wrist, a holographic projection of Xavier's school hovered at her eye level.

"Because it wasn't any of your business, Tony," she reasoned cautiously.

Tony scoffed. "Oh, not any of my business that you just went to a mutant school that S.H.I.E.L.D. happens to have no knowledge of. Z-E-R-O. Not one file. You don't think that's kind of important?" Loki bristled at his tone as she tilted her head, raising her voice.

"Nobody needs to know about it! It's not necessary!"

"Oh, you don't think that a whole school of mutants being taught how to use deadly powers needs to be on S.H.I.E.L.D's watch list? They're dangerous, they could hurt someone, they could make an army and overthrow us for all we know."

"No," her voice was barely a whisper as she answered him. "I don't. Mutants have been persecuted since we came out of the closet. We deserve our peace."

"Yeah, right, okay, you got me," his voice dripped with sarcasm before he raised his voice once again. "They need to know."

She adjusted hers to match. "S.H.I.E.L.D? Is dead. You couldn't take it to them if you wanted to. You didn't take me seriously I swear it's gone. Give it a day. And what do you know Mr. Stark? Sure you might not have had the best Dad in the whole damn world but at least you weren't thrown out on your ass when you were six. What were you doing in 1962? Being born into a rich white family, right? Because I'll tell you what I was doing."

Her voice lowered dangerously as the dishes on the table started to rattle. Tony took a stunned step back.

"I was in Cuba fighting for my rights, and for my life, and for peace, because a group of mutants decided to start World War Three. They had plans for a mutant dominated world, and you know what? We fought against our own kind. We fought our own brothers and sisters for you because we believed we could have peace and we could live in harmony with you monsters. And when we stopped your war wanna know what happened? Do you really want to know Tony?" 

Her voice rose in volume. The walls began to blister, and rings of gold glowed in her eyes. Footsteps thudded in the hallways signalling that others had heard the argument and were rushing to see what was happening.

"You turned your missiles on us. We were stranded on an island after saving the hell out of your damned lives and you fired your fucking missiles at us. You tore us apart. We fought our friend to stop him from obliterating you all. We lost everything. We lost Darwin. Two of the most important people in our lives both left us. It put a dangerous political chasm in our mutant society. Then we lost Sean and Azazel to mutant experiments." 

She lowered her voice. Her eyes still glowed and the room groaned as she stared off into space. Dishes were whipped off the tables, shattering against walls and the lights started to flicker softly.

"Experiments like the ones I was subject to. I left Charles. I was hunted by humans for weeks on end. When I was caught, he played inside my brain, he fucked up my DNA, waterboarded me, stuck me with needles and screws, beat me, poisoned me and he did it over and over and over again. I don't know how many more mutants went through the same thing, but I know that most of them died. And the only reason I escaped that burning hell was because he kidnapped more of us, and there were children clever enough to climb aboard their helicopter and set the Wolverine on that damned compound. The kicker is that the bastard responsible escaped with his life. Typical." 

She closed her eyes and the walls returned to normal, the shattered dishes snapping together as if they'd never been broken.

"All over the world mutant children are still being disowned and abused. Even forced into illegal cage fighting, like one of the kids that saved me. He was in a circus, because he looked different. He was blue, and beautiful and the humans were jealous and scared. All we ever wanted was to live in peace. To be treated like intelligent beings, not brainless monsters. It was your kind who made peace impossible."

She started to tear up, and Loki placed a comforting hand on her back as she leaned over the counter, head in her hands.

"If you still think that the world should know about this then fine. Go public then. But if anybody finds out there's a school for us." She laughed hollowly. "We'll be extinct before you can teach them our history, and that'll be on you, Tony Stark. Those children need that place more than you will ever know. So think about it. And watch yourself before you go accusing a whole species of being criminals. We're learning to control our powers so we can blend into your society, while creating a haven for those who don't have that luxury."

She turned to face Loki and he put his arm around her shoulders as they walked away from the group toward the elevator.

"Well, that was educational for them." Loki smiled over at her and she managed a weak smile in return.

"Yeah, if he goes public it's the end for us." She closed her eyes as the elevator rose, only opening them when it stopped.

"He won't." She raised an eyebrow as she stepped off, him following at her heels.

"How do you know that?"

"I took a look inside his head for you." She nodded and walked over to the lounge. 

She let out a shout she'd been holding in over the course of the argument, sending objects swirling through the air. Loki moved them away from him with ease as he made his way to her, on her knees in the centre of it all. He was shocked when she stilled everything where it was, the ring of gold prevalent in her eyes once again. 

"I can feel it."

"The Feral Mind."