Of Numbers and Strange Friendships

Chapter 12

"LOKI! Get your magical ass in here and put this right this instant!" Stark's voice roared, interrupting what had been a pleasant quiet afternoon in the tower. Thor rushed into the lab to find out what Stark's problem was.

Loki didn't answer.

Which was quite understandable, as Loki was not there.

Loki was conveniently out of the tower.

"What is the problem, Stark?" Thor asked when he arrived. The rest of the team was running in too.

It was never, ever, a good sign when Tony was bellowing for Loki. Tony pretty much hated Loki, especially for his habit of defenestrating Tony when Tony got on his last nerve. The feeling was mutual, but Tony could never throw Loki and they both knew it.

They also usually attempted to get along for Peter's sake.

But today was not usually.

Tony just gestured to the small brown rabbit in a makeshift pen on one of the lab tables. "He turned Peter into a rabbit!" Stark exclaimed, gesturing. He was panicking and couldn't fix this without Loki to beat into a pulp. Thor looked just as horrified while the rest of the team was laughing at the ridiculous situation, assuming the kid had done something to annoy Loki too far. They all knew that Loki wouldn't do anything that would actually hurt the kid, even being temporarily turned into a bunny wasn't really hurting anything. So they could laugh about it.

Stark wasn't laughing.

Stark was panicked and Loki wasn't around.

Stark couldn't beat the shit out of Loki to fix this is Loki wasn't here.

Thor figured out the solution. "Jarvis, where is Loki?" He asked the AI, who of course was present in the lab.

"He went out of the tower, sir. Shall I call him?" Jarvis replied.

"Please," Thor knew to be polite to the AI. He was polite anyway, but the AI ordered the pop tarts, so Thor was polite to him for that reason if nothing else.

A Jarvis screen came to life as the video call went through to Loki's cell phone. "Yes?" Loki asked pleasantly when his image came up on the screen. He seemed to be dressed in his black suit and was clearly not in the tower. He was in a coffee shop or something.

Tony was cooing to the rabbit, promising to get him turned back soon. Stark glared up at the screen. "Turn Peter back human. NOW!" He roared at Loki.

Loki raised an eyebrow, legitimately looking confused. "What about the spider-child?" He asked.

"Turn. Him. Back. Now!!" Tony roared again, as if that would make Loki do what he wanted.

Loki rolled his eyes. "I have done nothing to the arachnid," he replied calmly.

Tony gestured to the rabbit. "Then what do you call this?!?" He demanded.

"You Midgardians call it a rabbit, Oryctolagus cuniculus," Loki recited the scientific classification for a rabbit, just to be an ass for technicallyanswering Tony's question, but not giving the answer he was really looking for. "I thought you were supposed to be smart, Stark," he added dryly.

"We all heard you threaten to turn Peter into a rabbit!" Tony snarled. "Now turn him back!"

"The arachnid? I have done nothing to him," Loki protested innocently.

"Brother. Enough. Your joke is over," Thor told him firmly. The joke of turning Peter into a rabbit had been entertaining, but Tony was legitimately panicking and it was time for the joke to end.

"I do not jest, I have done nothing to the spider-child," Loki replied with a smirk and moved his phone so Peter was in the shot, coming back to their table in the coffeeshop, bringing drinks and snacks with him. "Except take him out for coffee,"

The room burst into more laughter, as did Loki and Peter. "Surprise, Mr. Stark!" Peter laughed while Tony glared and grumbled and demanded to know about the rabbit. However, it was obvious when the rabbit disappeared in a shimmer of green magic. Loki and Peter had made the joke together to make Tony think the rabbit was Peter.

"Two," Loki told his friend jovially. This had brightened his mood considerably. Peter laughed and they ended the call.

The pair of them laughed about it and the video they had of Tony cooing to the rabbit for weeks.

*

"Six," Loki informed Peter when he arrived at the tower.

Peter grinned. "That's fine. I was gonna go out on patrol. Come with me," Peter replied jovially. Loki chuckled, his mood easing from his friend's presence.

"Very well, arachnid," he replied as stood from his couch, his armor shimmering into place as he did. Peter dropped his stuff next to his usual couch and changed quickly into his suit. He made sure his mask was firmly in place before the pair headed out of the tower. Loki waited patiently as the child did not possess magic. He had checked as he would have taught his friend to use it if he did.

They headed out of the tower to track down petty crime.

The pair stopped a robbery, webbing the men in place in the bank.

They stopped some stupid teens from stealing a car.

They stopped and took pictures with fans, until Loki got too homicidal and they moved on.

They stopped a group of men from harassing a young lady. And then walked her home.

Things were going just fine and typically for a weekday afternoon. The pair came across an armed robbery of yet another bank. Loki huffed and rolled his eyes. "Stupid mortals stealing money," he grumbled and summoned a bolt of magic in his hand. He tended to avoid using the daggers when he was patrolling with Peter, since the teen didn't approve of killing or really injuring even criminals. So they webbed up the criminals and Loki stunned them with bolts of magic, tricks, illusions, occasionally some hand to hand combat, especially if they were being particularly annoying.

This group of criminals robbing the bank were a different story. There were more of them than usual.

That didn't concern Loki.

The pair rushed in webs and magic flying.

Guns went off. Not at the hostages, but at Loki and Peter. Loki raised a shield to defend himself. Peter was across the room already. He trusted the spider to get out of the way. He trusted the suit Stark made to be bullet proof as stated.

He shouldn't have trusted.

He should have known better.

Peter cried out in pain

Loki whirled to Peter's yell to see blood pouring from the teen.

The suit had failed.

Peter was bleeding.

The bullets had hit him.

Loki roared in rage and pain that his friend was hurt. "Loki," Peter's voice was small and pleading. He was hurt and scared.

Loki gave him a too-calm, too pleasant look.

"Ten"