Loki Misses the Asgardian Prison System

Chapter 144

So they get settled with some ice cream – cookies and cream today; not Loki's favorite but certainly not one he dislikes – and sit down at the counter together to eat. It's oddly comforting to be in their presence again after so long trying to stay away. If he doesn't think about their impending death only decades away, it's nice to be here with them.

Loki looks at Steve expectantly. "So?"

Steve raises a brow. "So?"

"What were you discussing with Sam Wilson?"

Steve huffs, shaking his head to himself at the question. "I should've known you were gonna ask that."

"Looking for Rumlow?" Bruce guesses.

Steve shakes his head. "Bucky, actually," he says.

Loki furrows his brows, cocking his head slightly to the side. He's still looking for Bucky? Is that something he should pass on to him? A part of him feels it is – Bucky deserves to know that they're searching for him. But a part of him doesn't want to. A part of him hopes that Steve succeeds; that he tracks down his unsuspecting friend and drags him to the compound whether he agrees to it or not. The guy needs friends – preferably not of the feline variety.

"You're still looking for him?" Bruce asks.

"Mm." Steve nods. "I know he says he has a home and he has someone special back there and I'm not trying to ruin that, but..."

"You want to know that he's okay," Bruce finishes for him, nodding sympathetically. "I get that. I don't blame you at all."

"Do you know where he is?" Loki asks. "Even a general idea?"

Steve shakes his head. "Out of the country, I think; that's the best we've got – and that might not be true, either. Wherever he is, he's doing a damn good job staying under the radar."

Bruce purses his lips. "Do you think he's near Sokovia?"

"What?"

"He found us in Sokovia, right?" Bruce says. "Maybe he was nearby. Maybe that's how he knew we were there — or maybe he didn't even know that; maybe he knew Ultron was there, and he found Nat by mistake."

Steve ponders that for a few moments. "That... could be something. I'll mention that to Sam and see if he can..."

"If there's anything I can do to help, let me know," Bruce offers.

"I don't think there is," Steve says. "But thank you."

Bruce just nods in response.

Steve pauses, then furrows his brows, looking at Loki curiously. "Could you find him?"

"Unfortunately not," he lies. If Steve and Sam happen to find Bucky on their own, he'll let them do whatever they want with that information, but he's not going to provide it himself. It wasn't easy to win his trust as a bodiless apparition who appears at random intervals to annoy him about moving in with the Avengers, and he's certainly not going to break that trust now.

"Yeah, I figured," Steve says. "That's alright. I'll find him someday." Quieter, he adds, mostly to himself, "I have to."

Bruce thinks for a few moments, then asks, "Have you asked Tony for help?"

Steve huffs. "I'm not asking Tony for help."

"Why not?"

"Because he's not gonna find him, but I'll have to put up with his smart-alec remarks," Steve says. "If I was going to ask a scientist for help, trust me, it would be you." After a pause, he adds, "Besides, he's got enough on his plate as it is with the whole move."