Loki: Not afraid

[moonshadows]

“You’re not afraid of me.”

One slender finger held Loki’s place in the worn paperback as he looked up. “You’re not afraid of me,” he said mildly.

Dr. Banner smiled nervously, flashing a look at the guards who were quite afraid enough for both of them. “That’s different. You can’t hurt me.”

Pale eyes traced the lines of Banner’s body. “I could say I just wasn’t trying hard enough.”

“Nuh-uh. You won’t sidetrack me that easily. You played us all like violins, made us dance like marionettes. You know what I can do, saw what I can do, and you’re not afraid of me.” The smaller man licked his lips, arms crossed tightly over his chest. “I just want to know why.”

Loki stood slowly, book forgotten on the bench, stretching his lean frame before closing the distance between them with slow, deliberate steps. His eyes flicked to the guards, then the floor in front of the cage, and the wiry scientist shuffled closer until mere inches and the clear substance of the door separated them.

“There is a part of you,” he said quietly, hardly louder than a whisper. “It is not how you were raised, and you cannot be free of it as much as you wish you could. It is not who you are, but it is what you are, and once someone knows your secret, it is forever how they will think of you in the dark corners of their mind. If your people knew about it, you would never be trusted again.” He paused, a look of vulnerable pain on his face. “I know exactly what that is like.”

The smaller man’s nervous fidgeting evaporated as his brain went into overdrive. “And Thor doesn’t know,” he murmured. “No wonder there’s such tension between you two.”

Dark, slender eyebrows arched. “You’re very good; much better than Agent Romanoff, I’d say.”

Banner grinned. “It’s easy to underestimate the little guy. I’d guess you know all about that, eh?”

“Correct again,” Loki said, amused.

“Dr. Banner, please step away from the glass,” called one guard.

Both men backed up a few steps.

“So, whatcha reading?” Banner nodded at the abandoned paperback.

Loki glanced at it in disdain. “Some tawdry tale of mischief and mayhem for the masses. It’s better than staring at my fingernails, but not by much.”

“Oh? So what’s your style, then?”

“I prefer things that challenge the mind rather than dulling it. Your director half-promised me an encyclopedia. No doubt many of the entries will bore me, but at least some should prove quite fascinating.”

“I’d let you borrow some of mine, but I’d be here all night explaining them to you.”

Loki smiled briefly. “Can’t have that. Let me work my way through the encyclopedia first.”

Banner grinned back. “You got it.”