Who are you? (A Loki Love Story)

Chapter Thirteen - Divide and Conquer

        I walked into the meeting room, fresh out of the infirmary, to see that Tony and Steve were the only ones present. Neither of them were paying any attention, absorbed into their own thoughts, and Steve was startled when I sat down. when he realized that it was just me, he relaxed. "What happened to your neck?" He asked, noticing the bandages wrapped around my throat.
        "Loki's failed strangling attempt." I answered back.
        "Are you okay?" He asked politely.
        "A little shaken, but otherwise I'm fine. You?"
        "Same." He answered back, and we both left the conversation there, opting to go back to thinking about what everyone was thinking about. Phil. Nick walked into the room a few minuets later and stood at the head of the table, not speaking for a few moments. When he did, it was in a sad voice.
        "These were in Phil Coulson's jacket." He said, tossing cards that had blood on them in front of us. When I looked closer, I saw that they were his Captain America trading cards. "Guess he never did get you to sign them." Steve slowly picked up a card. "We're dead up here. No communications, No location on the Cube. Banner, Thor. I've got nothing for you." Fury said, "Lost my one good eye. Maybe I had that coming." Steve dropped the card, And I felt a tear escape down my cheek. I quickly wiped it away, knowing that I had done enough crying to last a lifetime. "Yes," Fury said, making his way around the table. "We were going to build an arsenal with the tesseract. I never put all my chips on that number though, cause I was playing something even riskier." He paused, then continued. "There was an idea, Stark and Sophie know this, called the Avengers Initiative. The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people. See if they could become something more." People had tried to talk me into becoming a higher level agent so that I could join if the idea went through. I always denied, but now something had changed the game. "To see if they could work together if we needed them to, at the battles that we never could." Fury continued. "Phil Coulson died still believing in that idea. In Heroes." Tony suddenly got out of his chair and walked out of the room. I didn't blame him. I wanted to leave too, but I couldn't. "Well, It's an old fashioned idea." Fury said, and then he left the room. Steve and I sat in silence for a few moments.
        "I'm going to go find Tony." I stated, standing up. "Do you want to join?" He hesitated and I added in a whisper, "I don't really want to be alone right now." He nodded and we walked around the ship.

~*~*~*~*~*~
        
        We found Tony in Loki's cell room. He was staring down at the floor, as if he was waiting for it to open and swallow him up. Steve went around to the other area that would have led to the cage and leaned on the railing. I went around to Tony and put a hand on his shoulder. He shrugged it off, but not before turning slightly, giving me a good look at his face. He looked....... Haunted. "Was he married?" I heard Steve ask.
        "No." Tony said quickly. He paused then added, "There was a, uh, cellist..... I think." I nodded.
        "I met her once. she was sweet.... and nice..." I said, trailing off. It had been a brief meeting, but I had seen that Phil had loved her, and she had loved Phil.
        "I'm sorry." Steve said. "He seemed like a good man." Tony let out a huffy sort of laugh under his breath.
        "He was an Idiot."
        "Why." I said shortly, crossing my arms over my chest.
        "For believing?" I heard Steve ask. I followed Tony over to where Steve was standing.
        "For taking on Loki alone."
        "He was doing his job." Steve says.
        "And he wasn't alone!" I exclaimed. "I was there too." Tony looked over at me.
        "Yes, but you were occupied, trying to breath again." I glared at him. "And You were an idiot as well, for taking him on before anyone was there to help." He made his way over to me and Steve. "You were both out of your league. You both should have waited."
        "Sometimes there isn't a way out." Steve said, and we walked to meet Tony in the middle.
        "Right, I've heard that before." He said, walking past us.
        "Is this the first time you've lost a soldier?" Steve asked, and Tony flipped around, infuriated.
        "We are not soldiers!" He exclaimed, and for once, I agreed with him. "I'm not marching to Fury's fief."
        "Neither am I." Steve said.
        "I never was." I said. "I'm not really here by choice."
        "He's got the same blood on his hands that Loki does." Steve said. "But right now, we've got to put that behind us and get this done." I saw Toy look over to the blood stain on the wall, left by Coulson. "Now Loki needs a power source. To-"
        "He made it personal." Tony said, cutting Steve off.
        "That's not the point."        
        "It is the point. That's Loki's point." Tony said.
        "He hit us all where it would hurt the most. Why?" I asked.
        "To tear us apart." Steve  said.
        "Yea, Divide and conquer, He's- " Tony started to say, but he quickly changed, mind moving faster and faster. "He knows he has to take us out to win, right? That's what he wants. He wants to do it. he wants to be seen doing it. He wants an audience."
        "Like a celebrity." I said.
        "Exactly!" Tony said, pointing at me.
        "Like in Germany." Steve said.
        "Yes, but that was just previews. This is opening night, and Loki, He is a full tilt diva." Tony said, and I nodded in agreement. "He wants flowers, he wants parades, he wants a monument built to the sky with his name plastered-" He stopped and swore, running out of the room as he realized something.
        "Stark towers." I said, eyes widening as the realization hit me. Steve had the same reaction and we both ran out of the room, following Tony.