Sinbound: Variants

Part 16

"Hey, doll. You should wake up, ok?" I hear a soft voice say to me while rocking my shoulder back and forth. I rub my eyes and see Bucky, hunched over me with his metal arm resting on his knee and his other waking me up.

"Bucky?"

"Yeah. Come on, we're having a meeting. You're the star of it, doll. Let's go." He says, standing up and offering me a hand. I take it, rubbing my eyes and staggering a little when I stand as the blood rushes to my head. Bucky holds his hand out for support, but I don't take it. Instead, I walk next to him as we head over to the meeting room on the second floor of the compound.

When I get inside, everyone's waiting for me. I take a seat in between Tony and Loki, who had saved a seat for me. I'm across from Nat, who smiles and winks at me. Oof.

"So, apparently I'm the subject of this meeting today?" I say as I take my seat. I hold my hand out as if to keep people back from crowding. No one it crowding. "Please, We'll take pictures afterwards." I joke.

"Cute, kiddo." Tony says, chuckling to himself. Loki squeezes my thigh under the table and smiles at me. I scrunch my nose at him and it makes him blush a little. 

"Ok, but really. What's the plan?" I ask, looking around.

"Loki and I were talking earlier, and I think we've come up with something to do about the variant." Thor starts. "Care to explain, brother?"

"Certainly." Loki says, clearing his throat. "There seems to be a catch when it comes to Ayca and her variant. If she kills her variant, she loses her magic and becomes chronically weak. If her variant kills her, she loses her humanity completely, and we have an even bigger problem."

"I hope this isn't how you describe me to your friends." I say, looking at him with my eyebrows pushed together in concern. 

"Bold of you to assume he has friends." Tony jokes.

"That's a lot of damage!" Peter says, giggling to himself. Loki exhales sharply and glares at him from across the table. 

"Carrying on..." He says, sounding annoyed, "If there were a way to extract the magic out of the variant, she would cease to exist."

"Wait, what?" I ask, my lighthearted nature now going away suddenly. "Elaborate, please." I twist in my seat to face him more.

"Don't use your magic. In fact, don't do anything."

"Good one."

"I'm serious."

"Fuck you."

"Ayca..."

"Loki..."

We banter while the others listen, their eyes darting back and forth between the two of us.

"I can explain, Ayca." Natasha chimes in, not phased by the cat fight I'm having with Loki.

"Someone should!" I say back to her. She gives a weary look at Steve, then back at me.

"You and Loki's magic are similar. Since you go down either way if you do it, Loki is going to take care of your variant. He's going to... eliminate the magic in her by taking it in as his own, basically."

I stare at her in silence, then slowly turn my attention back to Loki.

"Are you an idiot?" I spit at him.

"No." He says, very offended. "I'm smart."

"I asked if you were an idiot, not stupid. Loki, this is a bad idea."

"The bad idea guy, as always." Thor jokes slightly. No one hears him, because I bang my fists on the table.

"How is that gonna go, Loki? You'll just march right up to it and say 'ok, I'm gonna kill you now' and suck all her magic out? No, I don't think so."