A Villain State of Mind

Chapter 9

Chapter Notes:

For this chapter, I rewatched some of the scenes of Thor in order to confirm something I'd been wondering; throughout both movies, Loki almost never initiates physical contact (excluding hostile contact like stabbing people in the chest or throwing them out windows.) In the deleted scene before Thor's coronation, it's Thor who reaches out to clasp Loki's neck; in the scene after he kills Laufey, it's Frigga who initiates the embrace. The only time we see Loki actively reach out to anyone is immediately after Odin falls into the Sleep in the vaults, and he's very shy and hesitant when he does. However it came to happen, Loki was extremely reserved and closed about physical affection long before he came to be a supervillain.

If anyone is wondering who Xavier went off to talk to so urgently, it was Empress Lilandra. I figure she would be one of the first people he'd want to consult with on hearing news of a genocidal alien warlord in his neighborhood - especially because the Chitauri have ties to the Skrulls, who are long-time enemies of the Shi'ar. She would be able to provide independent confirmation Loki's account of Thanos and give him more information about what sort of threat he and the Chitauri are likely to pose.

- Mikkeneko

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The signal dropped before Fury could tell Thor just how many ways that this was not a good idea, starting with the fact that Fury had no intention of letting Loki go, and continuing on to the fact that Fury had no intention of letting Loki go. To say nothing of the fact that he wasn't even sure Loki wanted to go back and bail his old countrymen out of whatever fire their fate was in.

Fortunately (or unfortunately, Fury supposed, depending on your point of view) it was a moot point for the time being: until Xavier got back to take his psychic blocks off Loki's magic, he wasn't going anywhere. Loki was surprisingly sanguine about the delay, despite the wild edge of hysteria that remained after he'd finally laughed himself out.

"They've somehow managed just fine without me for this long," Loki said, and by the gleam in his eye Fury didn't think he meant just this latest caper. "They can stew a little longer. A few hours won't make much of a difference from Asgard's point of view."

'A few hours' turned out to be the rest of that day and all that night. Xavier hadn't been kidding when he said he would be incommunicado - not only was he not answering his phone, but that particular line seemed to have dropped completely off the map, returning only a fast-dial that none of his network technicians could trace the other end of at all. Fury knew many secrets, but the location of Xavier's hidden base of operations was one that had always eluded him. After a few fruitless hours trying to contact him through the other mutants they kept tabs on, Fury gave up and went home to bed.

The next morning Xavier turned up on his helicarrier, as neat and cool as though he'd never been missing. Fury didn't know whose mind he'd been reading, but he evinced no surprise when Fury filled him in on the events of the previous day, and showed him their archive of the phone call that had so thoroughly upended all his assumptions.

Xavier watched the recording with an admirable poker face, his expression no more than intent and attentive, his hands resting lightly against each other with no twitches to belie nervousness. Once again Fury found himself wishing Xavier were one of his full-time operatives, if only for his phenomenal self-control. The only subordinate Fury had who could approach that level of calm tranquility in interrogations had been Coulson.

When the recording ended, the tape ran on for a few moments while Xavier paused - contemplating what, Fury could not guess. But at last he turned to face Fury, his eyebrows raised in inquiry. "Thor's request seems straightforward enough," he said. "An explanation for Asgard's extended silence in the matter, and a good beginning for Loki's rehabilitation. What did you want to discuss?"