Holly Potter and the Midlife Crisis (Hp x Mcu) by Enigmaris

Chapter 40: Don't Lie to the God of Lies.

The thing that most people forgot, that even Loki at times forgot, was that Loki was far from stupid. Sure, he wasn't all that intelligent when compared to someone like Hermione Granger-Weasley, but still he was not an idiot. For centuries he had been one of Asgard's top political experts, even if Odin preferred not to listen to Loki's advice. When he and Ralston had become heroes of earth Loki had thrown himself into the politics of the time.

Humans were terribly clever but that did not mean they were original. They had new names for things, new ways to frame the same actions. Generations grew and died so quickly that the humans of today would forget what their ancestors had already tried. Pierce was just the newest in a long line of idiots who were trying to find a way to exert control over humanity. Loki had seen it with the magic users he and Ralston had tried to protect, and he had seen it with the muggles of the same time.

So, Loki knew what Pierce was. He would care more about it if it affected him directly or if Holly wasn't currently missing.

"What?" Thor asked while the rest of the Avengers sputtered nonsensically. Loki rolled his eyes.

"The man was suggesting you allow him to send three floating islands into the sky so that he can monitor the entire planet for bad behavior." Loki said. "Obviously a fascist. Holly taught me that word, I quite like it. Speaking of, far more importantly, he's trying to mislead us on our hunt for Holly."

"How is the fact that one of the top men in SHIELD a fascist more important?" Clint demanded.

"Holly is what matters. Besides the man won't succeed. Even if he gets his stupid islands up and kills everyone who disagrees with him it's not like the rest of humanity is going to roll over and take it. No, he'll have far too many revolts on his hands until he's either forced to eradicate his entire species or die himself. It's inevitable." Loki explained. "Take it from someone who knows." 

"We have to stop him." Thor declared. "It's our job."

"Our job should be finding Holly."

"Loki." Ron said gently. "Ask yourself, do you think Holly would want you to focus on her or on stopping Pierce if he is as bad as you believe?"

Loki opened his mouth to say that Holly would want them to rescue her, but he knew that would be a bald-faced lie. Next, he wanted to say that it didn't matter what Holly wanted, she had the self-preservation of a lemming anyway. But...he imagined her face if he revealed he'd let a fascist plot like this go uncontested.

Loki, you know what the right thing is. Ralston whispered in his ear. My descendant is going to be fine.

Damn.

"Alright fine. Let's murder Pierce and then go find Holly."

"We cannot just murder one of my most trusted colleagues because you think you're an expert in global politics." Fury growled.

"Why not? It would save us all time."

"We have to do research, ensure that Pierce is dirty." Natasha said. "Then we stop Insight and find Holly."

Loki scoffed but didn't argue. That was what Holly would want him to do. She would want them to be smart, to protect innocent people, and trust her to protect herself. He hated that he had to do what Holly wanted. What Holly wanted was stupid. Especially since she was the one who'd gotten kidnapped. Even though she had been under a sleeping spell so she could hardly be blamed.

Still.

They began to carefully plan out how they were going to go about their reconnaissance. Loki's idea of kidnapping Pierce, tying him to a chair, and threatening him until he spilled his guts was voted down quite quickly which Loki thought was unfair. No one was interested in his truth spell idea either. Something about 'what if he's innocent Loki' or 'you can't torture everyone you don't like Loki'.