Loki Misses the Asgardian Prison System

Chapter 43

Loki pauses, processing all of that. He definitely sees the problem, but... "I thought you were in Malibu. Why are you...?"

"Because JARVIS is an idiot; that's why," Tony says irritably.

Loki raises an eyebrow. He's fairly sure there has to be more to it — JARVIS is far from an idiot — but he doesn't expect to get more of an answer than that.

"So your plan should be to fix your suit first," Loki says slowly. He doesn't want to jump to conclusions, but it seems like the logical course of action to him.

"My plan is to find shelter first," Tony says. "Preferably before my hands fall off."

Loki raises an eyebrow. "Do human hands do that?"

Tony throws his head back, exasperated. "No, Loki, my hands are not literally going to fall off. But it's freezing out here -- it's below freezing -- and I'm walking around in jeans and a t-shirt, and that can kill a person."

Loki nods slowly. "Then, yes, you should probably find shelter." He looks around, but it's difficult to see much in this weather. He decides to cheat a little bit.

He astral projects ahead a few thousand feet, just to see if Tony's wasting his time going this way. He still finds himself in this empty tree-lined field, but, squinting his eyes, he does see a building off in the distance. He astral projects over to it. It's a lot easier than walking. It gives him a great view of the place in a fraction of the time.

Loki's not quite sure what he's looking at, but he does know that it's a building, and right now, he has a feeling that's good enough for Tony. He eyes it briefly, taking in the sight. Texaco. Whatever that means. His attention is immediately drawn to the lights, and when he looks inside, he does see someone in there. He's not sure whether this is the type of place a random stranger could usually just walk into, but hopefully that stranger inside will feel bad enough to let Tony in.

Loki returns to Tony's side. "No more than half a mile ahead, you will find a building. I suspect you can take shelter there."

"Oh, thank god," Tony mutters. "That's, what, ten, twenty minutes? I think I can..." He lets out a long breath, and a small cloud of foggy air comes out of his mouth. "God, that's so far away." He looks over at Loki. "I don't suppose you could get me there any faster?"

Loki just shakes his head.

"Could you at least help with the suit?" Tony asks.

"I can't," Loki says. "At this distance, my powers are negligible." He holds a hand out in front of him and tries to form just a simple ball of green energy, which, unsurprisingly, does not work. "Nothing."

"Great," Tony mutters. "The one time I want your help, and you're absolutely useless."

Loki lets that slide because he can tell Tony's having an understandably bad day. "Is Ms. Potts okay?"

"She should be," Tony says. "She was there when the Mandarin attacked, but JARVIS said she got out. I'd call and check, but..." He gestures helplessly to his suit. "Kinda can't do that."

"Would you like me to look in on her?" Loki asks.

Tony hesitates. "She really doesn't like you."

"I assume she also doesn't like thinking you're dead," Loki says.

Tony sighs. "Yeah, no, I guess... " He waves him off. "She should be with an old kind-of-friend of mine, Maya Hansen. If you can find her, just make sure they're somewhere safe, tell them I'm still alive."