THE NEW AND IMPROVED LOKI

kate wiped the blood dripping from her forehead with the back of her hand. she had been in nonstop action since the explosion happened and finally things seemed to be calming down. she walked back towards the explosion site and resisted the urge to roll her eyes at her friend. instead of heading his words she simply stayed in the shot and stepped closer, “get my good side” she said, angling her body so that her nasty cut wasn’t showing as much.

lowering his phone for a moment, loki grinned and huffed out a laugh. it was nice being around somebody who didn’t hate him. “hmph, good side? alright bishop, you can be in the photo,” he said, snapping the photo with kate in the background. “although i do expect repayment for giving you so much—what is the term? ah, yes, clout.” he kicked at a small chunk of rubble on the ground. after a moment, he tilted his head and motioned to her cut. “off hero-ing, i presume?” 

“excuse me?” nico snapped at the male as she walked towards him after helping one of the last few civilian up. her brows furrowed into a small frown, “New York’s under attack and THIS,” she gestured towards the mess, “this is all you care about?”

“i can care about multiple things as once,” loki replied with a shrug. the attacks did interest him, and he didn’t particularly like seeing innocent civilians being put in harm’s way, but getting a photo was also among his concerns. “it only takes several seconds to snap a selfie. several seconds you’re making much longer by not getting out of my shot.” 

Lorna sighed, but stepped out of the way, making a show of dramatically opening her arms. “Be my guest. But some of us are actually trying to help clean the place up.” She pointed out, resting her hands on her hips as she glowered at the boy, only for her eyes to widen as sparks began flying out of the phone. “Shit, I am so sorry!” She exclaimed, her arms flying forward as if motioning for someone to stop as she took a few steps towards him, before deciding that approaching him may not be the best idea and quickly lowering her arms in case she accidentally used her powers again.

“thank you,” he called out, ignoring whatever other remarks the woman voiced. when sparks flew, he let out a yelp of surprise. loki fumbled with his phone for a split second before dropping it to the ground. “norns, electricity, just what i love,” he muttered under his breath before looking up at the woman who stood before him. “you might want to learn how to control your powers” he commented, gathering that it was the stranger who that caused the sparks. his voice was not angry, more curious. after all, it only took mere minutes to steal a new phone. 

          “seriously, kid?” frank snapped as soon as he had processed the bullshit that had just issued from the teenagers mouth. he couldn’t quite believe what he was hearing, but at the same time, it was pretty typical of people these days. they were all so desensitized by everything that something like this seemed like more of an opportunity for internet attention than the tragedy that it was.

          taking a few long strides towards the dark haired individual, he reached up to block out the camera lens. “you see that over there?” he remarked, nodding towards a woman who was arranging flowers near the base of the rubble, tear tracks evident on her cheeks. “you wanna be a disrespectful little shit, you go right ahead. but don’t be surprised when someone decides to crush that little phone of yours for doin’ it.”

turning his head, a small frown became etched on the god’s face. while he felt annoyance towards the man for belittling him, he couldn’t deny the valid point. he hadn’t even noticed the mourning woman, hadn’t stopped to think about what lives may have been lost. it was a reminder of just how fragile human lives were. the former version of himself may have laughed at the feebleness of morals, but he was not that loki. “i wasn’t trying to get her in the picture,” he mumbled, feeling much more like the child he resembled than the ageless god he was. “i’m afraid respect never has been my strong suit.” nonetheless, he stuffed the phone back into his pocket after another moment passed. 

“Apparently we can’t, no,” he rolled his eyes. “You’re looking a little younger than I remember Osborn dealing with, Loki.” Daken said, crossing his arms over his chest. He paid enough attention to the news- and particularly the stranger aspects of it- to know a little of what had happened with the ‘God’. “Remember me?”

as he spun around to get a better look at who he was speaking to, loki’s eyes widened into saucers. old faces from his other life always caught him a bit off guard. “ah, daken. how could i forget? you’re looking noticeably less...stabby than the last time we crossed paths,” he said slowly, carefully. “from your reaction, i suppose you don’t know anything about all of this.” 

“ no !! ” she half shouts, and grabs the hotdog from his hand, holding it in her own and tying hard not to squish it so hard it would bleed from her fingers. “ i don’t want your sorry’s or your … your . . . your jokes or whatever the fuck else. you … you’re … how could you …” her cursing becomes heavy with an accent she’s worked so hard to hide while here, and her glare turns into a hard expression. this . . . they’d … someone had lied to her. she’d been told he was dead. thor has told her he was dead. and now, here was loki, standing there looking down to the ground with apologies she wanted to toss to the ground and stop all over in a point of contested anger and heavy huffing upset. she swallowed the anger the best she could, closing her eyes and handing him back his hot dog, before opening her eyes and giving him a soft and even glare. “ you owe me an explanation. I don’t care what you want or … or … or if you have something. I am owed an explanation about whatever the hell happened to you. “

he wouldn’t admit it, but there was an odd bit of comfort in hearing the familiar accent emerge from her lips—even if it was being used to yell at him.  “alright. no apologizes.” loki took in a deep breath, willing himself to swallow down whatever guilt or self-pity he felt. “fine, you want the story? i’m good at those.” his demeanor shifted back into the disinterested, cocky facade he often wore. it was easier to the alternative, especially since most people seemed to already have him placed in a box. “i managed to write myself out of the book of hel. one could say i was reincarnated. given a second chance, a new body.” the half truth came out easily, with no hesitation. he’d long ago perfected the art of lying, so a glamorized tale with bits of truth sprinkled in was a simple feat to accomplish. there was no reason to bring up the dead boy who still haunted his thoughts. “why are you on midgard?” he questioned, taking a bite of his hotdog. better to change the subject. 

sigyn can’t help but sigh. everything. the answer passes through her mind. everything is dangerous about a little deception. who knows what could happen when you’re trying to do anything you can to live a comfortable life. she perks up at the noise of her name, still staring forward, she glances down and laughs. “ yes. that’s my name. ” she replies confused, her head beginning to turn to look at the boy who’s lunch she’s just bought and who seems to know her. “ i’m sigyn fris- ” her words die out and she’s left staring at the younger face of loki. “ but… how…. hmm… “ her words stumble over and her breathing is quick. “ you’re a bastard. ” she hisses at him. “ you’re a fucking bastard. you’re supposed to be fucking dead. “

loki knows he deserved the icy words thrown his way, but that doesn’t stop him from wincing ever so slightly. other than his brother, he hadn’t encountered many faces from the past in recent months. it was jarring. for once, he was at a loss for words. “surprise?” how was he to explain he was only an echo of the old loki, a murderer of the child who once resided in the body who stood before her? the answer was he wouldn’t. ever, if it could be avoided. “it seems death doesn’t quite have the same sting as it once did.” his eyes met sigyn’s for several seconds, taking in her expression. instantly, two words attempted to escape his mouth, and he didn’t bother to hold them back. “i’m sorry,” he whispered, eyes breaking the gaze and turning downward. truthfully, he didn’t know what exactly he was apologizing for. there were probably too many to name. 

The explosions set Daken on edge. Explosions in general didn’t, of course, but they did when he wasn’t the one setting them off. And when his phone started talking- which it didn’t usually- he felt his blood run cold for a moment.

“Shit, fuck- goddamnit.”

loki made a face at his phone. the explosions hadn’t thrown him off exceedingly, it was new york, after all. but, the addition of his phone being hacked piqued his interest. “huh. mutants really can’t catch a break, can they?” he said in the direction of the man who had sworn. 

sigyn sighed at the blatent use of magic. she hadn’t caught a glance of the magic user, and yet, still strolled up to the front of the line, ignoring the soft protests from a couple others, and pulled out a 50 dollar bill, she handed it to the hot dog vender and smiled warmly. “ everyone in line’s hot dogs are on me. “ she grinned, it was a bright warm thing, attempting to put the other at ease as she stuck out her hand holding the bill in her palm. “ i insist. and you must keep the change as well. “ the man hesitantly accepted the 50 and began to pull out the hot dogs, and she glanced to the side, mummering, “ dangerous to use magic so freely. “

loki watched the woman pay for the hotdogs with a curious glint in his eyes. it had been unexpected, to say the least. maybe she was some kind of rich philanthropist, but then again, something told him there was more to it. at her comment, he couldn’t hold back a laugh. “what’s so dangerous about a little harmless deception? i appreciate the concern, but i can take care of myself.” as he turned to get a better look of her, a pang of familiarity instantly met him. "do i..." he trailed off, something suddenly clicking in his brain. images of asgard during a simpler time flashed through his head with a painful clarity. "sigyn?" the name was blurted out in an unsure mumble, his confident demeanor forgotten. 

His eyes tried to focus on the other person’s lips as they talk, and he makes out most of the words, but one of them just doesn’t make sense. “I’m sorry can you say that again?” Clint asks them nicely. Usually he’s pretty good at this sort of thing, but there’s always some words that are just too similar. He had a cup of warm coffee in his left hand, so he lifts it up to take a small sip as he waits, observing his company still. 

loki knew it was probably a bad idea to willingly engage in conversation with a known avenger. but truth be told, he was bored. and, at the very least, the encounter would provide some sort of interesting outcome. “i said this ice cream is truly amazing,” he repeated, holding out his cone while casually leaning against a wall. “this so called ‘dairy queen’ knows what they’re doing. i can see why they are considered royalty.” 

elouise pondered for a moment, “you really want to see them?” she chuckled, thoughtfully she tilted her head towards the exit, “if we go out to the garden i can show you,” she walked out of the building towards the garden, turning around slightly after to see if the male followed. taking a cautious look around, she took a leap off the ground and flew she did a few stunts before landing back, looking at the other for his reaction with expectancy in her eyes.

“why not? it’s not like this little ball is of any interest,” loki replied easily, following her without a moment of hesitation into the garden. as the showcase of the woman’s powers began, his head tilted. it wasn’t exceedingly different from what the beings he grew up with could do, but it was something noteworthy to see on earth. “impressive. so, super strength, is it? flight? nice. useful, that’s for sure. have you always had them?”

“Alright. That’s not e x a c t l y how I expected that to go, but that’s fine. We’ll just roll with it.” Flexible, Noah wasn’t one who enjoyed getting stressed over the small things. Sure, it was easy to get overwhelmed. But he could fix this. 

“it wasn’t me,” loki blurted out, looking down at the coffee machine that was spurting an odd colored liquid all over the floor. apparently hitting the device did not help. “alright maybe it was,” he added, only seconds later with a guilty shrug. “midgardian technology is so fragile but the coffee is oh so good.” 

the grumbling of his stomach had pulled loki from his apartment in the midst of a netflix marathon. out of pure procrastination, he hadn’t bothered to go shopping since moving in. too much work, obviously. making his way down the street, he uttered a spell of deception and watched as several playing cards suddenly transformed into what seemed to be five dollar bills. he walked up to the first hotdog stand he spotted and held out his phony money. “i will take two hotdogs. no onions please, they don’t agree with me.” 

tobin was hardly paying attention and nodded, “alright, comin’ right up. frozen or on the ro-” she looked up, finally realizing who exactly she was talking to. she folded her arms across her chest, “you. what are you doing here?” she thought that after their last encounter, that loki would avoid her bar

loki casually crossed her legs as recognition dawned on tobin’s face. “now is that any way to treat a customer?” she taunted. sure, her life of less than noble ways was a thing of the past, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t have a little fun. “i was just in the neighborhood, thought i’d stop by.”

Rolling his eyes, Teddy got himself a beer before settling next to Loki. “So. Ruined any more lives lately?” He asked, a touch more venom than he may have intended in his tone.

his smile faltered at the other’s question, icy guilt creeping into his stomach. loki had ruined countless lives, no way around it. several moments passed before he shoved the feeling down and forced a smug grin back on his face. “no, none immediately come to mind. unless you count buying the last box of lucky charms today. guilty as charged,” he replied, recovering quickly.