Recap:
"Alright, fine, but if he decides to try anything, I'm personally sending him back to Asgard, and he is keeping some kind of limiters on at all times," he decided, pointing at Thor.
"Deal"
♤
Two days after their arrival, Hilde was forced to leave for Asgård again, having to return to her duties as commander. Loki opted to stay in the room they gave him after that. The team didn't want him around, so why bother trying to immerse himself. With nothing better to do, he spent his time exploring how much magic he could use with the limiters and grew increasingly frustrated over how little they allowed him to use. The team was slowly becoming very salty over the fact that they couldn't get anything out of Wanda about Loki's memories. She was generous with her death glares to those who dared even mention them, and Sam had learned the hard way not to bug her about it; he had ended up stuck in the ceiling for almost four hours and acted as a very efficient warning for the rest of them. Four days went by before Loki dared to venture out of his room, only driven by the growling pit that was his empty stomach, but since no one had bothered with an official tour, he soon became horribly lost.
"Can I assist you with anything, sir?" came an artificial woman's voice from the ceiling after a while of aimless wandering. Loki jumped at the sudden noise, trying to locate its source. Nobody had taken the time to explain to him how the compound's AI worked or that she even existed.
"Who goes there?" He demanded.
"Very sorry for scaring you, sir. My name is FRIDAY. I am a virtual artificial intelligence that Mr. Stark has created. I'm here to assist you and everyone authorized in the building with anything they might need. Now could I be of any assistance to you today?" FRIDAY explained in her monotone voice.
"Alright. Could you show me the way to the kitchen area, Lady FRIDAY?" Loki asked, still wary of the voice in the ceiling. This kind of technology was still foreign to him after all.
"Right away, sir," FRIDAY obliged politely as parts of the floor lit up to show him the way. Once he found the kitchen and thanked FRIDAY, he walked into the room as if he had never been lost in the first place. Wanda was already there, eating an assortment of nuts she had in a bowl on the counter beside her and reading a thick book. She acknowledged him with a smile and a nod, which he returned. Seeing his slightly lost look, she pointed to a large metal rectangle in one corner. Loki raised an eyebrow. How was a large metal box supposed to provide something to eat?
"It's the fridge where we keep our food," Wanda explained before returning to her book. Loki went over to said fridge and opened it. Rummaging through it, he found something that looked at least edible: sandwiches. He grabbed a few and went to sit opposite Wanda at the table. He bit into one of his sandwiches as he took out the book he brought and began silently reading it.
"Can't you summon anything you need?" Wanda asked after a few minutes of silence, looking up from her book and putting some cashews in her mouth. Loki just held up his right arm without looking up from his page, indicating to the limiters that repressed Loki's magic to almost nothing. They looked like simple steel armbands placed under his elbow on each arm. Tony and Bruce had made them together with some help from Thor and designed the bands so they could easily change how much of his magic Loki could use at any given moment. The metal bands could also give out strong, electric shocks if he did anything the team deemed out of line, which was almost anything. Wanda was disgusted at the mere mention of the bands. She hated them, and she had made it known.
"Would you look at that? Reindeer Games has decided to join the real world," Tony commented as he entered the kitchen with a screen in his hand.
"Yes, Stark, I have. Even Aesir needs to eat every once in a while. Did you know that?" Loki asked in a dry tone as he took another bite out of his sandwich. "Now, if you will excuse me, I shall return to my chambers and hopefully have some peace and quiet. Lady Wanda." He bowed his head to the auburn-haired woman as he stood from his seat and left the room, nose still in his book. Barely had Loki made it to the hallway when he bumped into a slightly stressed-looking boy. The short teen apologized profusely as he picked up the things he had dropped, not realizing who he had bumped into yet.
"Watch where you're going," Loki warned, slightly irritated at being distracted from the story in his hands. The teen looked up with wide eyes when he recognized who the tall frame he had bumped into was. Loki expected him to look scared or, at least, intimidated, but no, the boy simply looked curious, then shook his head and stuck out his hand for the god to shake.
"Sorry, where are my manners? My name is Peter Parker," Peter introduced himself politely. Loki looked down at the boy's hand, then back up again.
"Loki. I believe you are the child Stark told me never to touch. He threatened me, I believe. Something along the lines of; I would not have hands if I dared to touch you," Loki remembered, hands still firmly placed behind his back as he smirked down at the shorter boy. He was quite fond of his hands and wasn't very eager to be relieved of them.
"Oh, Mr. Stark told me you would be staying at the compound for a while. Well, it was really nice to meet you, Mr. Loki. I'll see you around," Peter rushed out before hurrying off. This Peter Parker child didn't seem to care that the man standing right in front of him was largely responsible for the destruction of half of New York. He actually seemed more worried about Tony's threat against the man than the god himself. Loki followed the child with his gaze as he bounced away down the hallway toward the kitchen area Loki had just left, stunned at his politeness. When Peter was out of sight, and Loki had digested the introduction, the god decided against going back to his room. Instead, he decided to explore the compound to familiarize himself with the space in which he would spend the near future. So, Loki wandered around the extensive facility for a long time, eating his sandwiches and memorizing the layout for future reference, until he found himself in what resembled a training room. He looked around at all the weird equipment spread about the large room, concluding that he had nothing better to do, so why not run through a few drills. It had been a while since he had been able to train properly, and he needed to let off some steam, so it was perfect timing. He tried to summon something more comfortable to train in, only to cringe at the empty feeling that flared in his chest instead of the usual warmth of his magic.
"Something wrong?" Loki whirled around at the sound, automatically attempting to summon a dagger, then cringed again at the feeling. "Wow, easy, it's just me. Are you okay?" Wanda asked with concern lacing her voice as she raised her arms to put him at ease.
"Yes, perfectly fine, just these bloody limiters," Loki snarled, glaring at the place on his arms where the bands sat under his sleeves.
"I hate them too," the witch agreed. "What are you doing in the gym, anyway?"
"I was just wandering about, stumbled across it, and decided that I could use some training," he clarified as a smirk spread across his face. "Could you be so kind as to fetch Thor for me, Lady Wanda?"
"Why do you want Thor to train with you?" Wanda asked him with a raised eyebrow.
"I haven't had a good spar in too long," Loki answered her with a smirk.
♤
When Wanda found Thor, he was visibly excited to spar with his brother once more, but when she returned to the gym, she had not one but two men in tow.
"Why is Stark here?" Loki demanded with furrowed brows.
"I asked him to join us so he could take off your limiters, brother! So, we can enjoy a proper spar," Thor exclaimed jovially.
"What? I didn't agree to that. What if he bolts?" The genius protested. Wanda and Thor had just asked him to tag along to watch Loki get his ass handed to him by Thor. They never mentioned anything about any limiter being taken off.
"You want to see what he is capable of in battle, correct?" Thor asked with a raised brow.
"Yes, but-"
"Then they need to be removed. Also, Loki will not try to escape," Thor reasoned, sending a pointed look to his brother, who nodded his head in agreement.
"Fine, but the bands stay on. I'll turn the limiting down, but if you try anything, the shockers are still firmly in place," Tony scolded as he pointed at Loki. Loki nodded once, agreeing to the terms. Tony took out a screen and turned off the limiters. Loki gasped at the sudden change in his body. It was as if someone had opened a floodgate of power in his chest. As soon as he had adjusted to the familiar feeling of his magic, he summoned his battle armor, minus the helmet and some long, beautiful daggers. He flipped them in his hands before looking up and making eye contact with his brother. There was way too much mischief in his green eyes to be reasonable as he smirked.
"Let's dance, shall we, brother?"