The Scientist (Loki x OC)

Pt. 16: Movie Night

Scribbling away with a bright orange pen, Luna continued her dissection of the mystery sequence within Loki's genome. Her mind ran in circles, trying to find the key to the answer she so desperately wished to see. As one hypothesis solidified itself in her mind, another popped up and pushed it out of the way.

She closed her pen and stuck it in between the notebook pages. "Hmm...no, not quite," she mumbled to herself.

Luna slipped a virtual glove on and turned the sequence over one, two, three times, looking at it forwards and backward. It was still similar to Steve's sequence, and Steve's was still similar to the wood frog's sequence, but nothing seemed to match up the way it should.

She sat down with a huff. Science was meant to be straightforward, provable, and based on irrefutable evidence. In moments like these, Luna remembered the saying she came up with during her undergrad years: the first rule of biology is that there are no rules.

She put her gloves and glasses on the table and tried to rub life back into her face, pressing her fingertips against her closed eyes until she saw pops of color. The clock on the wall told her the day existed in the midafternoon. At this point in time, Loki and Tony would have been working since before lunch. After stretching her back out, she slid her glasses into place and went to the lounge to grab a couple of chilled water bottles.

Entering Tony's garage, Luna scanned the area for the two men, expecting them to be hard at work. However, she spotted Loki all on his lonesome, pulling pieces from his spaceship with his bare hands, sleeves rolled to his elbows. By the time Luna got close enough to greet him, he had removed five more sheets of material.

"Hey, how's it going?" Luna asked, handing him a bottle. He pushed his sleeves back down and dusted his hands.

He took the bottle from her and uncapped it. "It goes." Luna nodded.

"Where's Tony? I thought he'd be here."

"He left some time ago to attend to a personal matter."

"And he has you doing the grunt work all by yourself?"

"Well, he did put this-" Loki gestured to the Iron Man suit in the far corner with eyes lit and flight stabilizers set to fire, "-here to guard me in case I cause any trouble in his absence."

"Wow, I wonder why he would do that." Luna grinned at her own quip. Loki gave her a nonthreatening sneer and tightened his high ponytail. "So, what do you think he'll do with all these pieces?"

"Examine them, probably. As any scientist would with something alien. You did the same to me."

"Yes, but you're different."

"How so?"

"For starters, you're not an object." Luna moved a notebook on a nearby desk and hoisted herself up to sit.

The click and swing of the entrance cut off anything else about to be said.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't my Baby, here for a visit," Tony called out. Luna chuckled and twisted to look behind her.

"Hi, boss," she replied, handing the other bottle to him once he got close enough.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?"

"Figured you both needed some refreshment in the form of dihydrogen monoxide."

"One of my favorite chemical compounds. You know me so well." Tony uncapped the bottle and took a swig. Luna slid off the table and followed him as he walked closer to what was left of the ship, letting Loki be to rest and drink his water.