"Behold!" Skurge rushes into the scene, Loki still with his hands in the air and Aurora's quad blaster pointed at him. The man tries to catch his breath, still exhausted from the long run. "Thor... Odinson... and Aurora Reyes..."
"No, no." Loki lifts his finger, frustration running through his voice. Now his whole plane is ruined and he turns to Skurge, looking more than just done. "You had one job. Just one."
"So did you." Aurora's gun is bored into his back and Loki gulps, she's really mad at him. Her finger is still around the trigger, ready to electrify him. As he slowly and carefully turns around to look at her, Loki faces her bitter and disappointed expression. "Your job was to stay."
"I told you to stay away from me, Aurora. What's so difficult to understand there?" His voice remains clear as he pushes the emotional impact Aurora has on him aside. This is for her own good. Loki only tries to protect her but it hurts him to see her in so much pain as her hand starts shaking and her eyes are glassy. It breaks his heart and he just wants to hold her in his arms, kiss away the dolor.
"Alright." She sinks her weapon and inhales deeply, but this doesn't mean that she gives up. The ring is still in her pocket, captured in the velvet box. "I'll stay with Thor then. You can't keep me from doing this."
"Where's Odin?" The God of Thunder asks with anger and Loki rolls his eyes.
"You just couldn't stay away either, could you? Everything was fine without you. Asgard was prospering. You've ruined everything. Ask them– "
"Where's father?" Thor cuts him off and walks threateningly towards his brother, Loki stumbling backwards in fear until they reach a bench. "Did you kill him?"
"You had what you wanted. You had the independence you asked for." He attempts to talk his way out of it but Thor aggressively presses his hammer against his brother's chest, holding him down until Loki confesses. "Ow, ow, ow, ow. Okay. I know exactly where he is."
"Lead us to him." Thor demands and in the next second the Warrior Three walk into the whole drama. Volstagg, Hogun and especially Fandral are surprised by Aurora's appearance as they grieved when they found out about her supposed death.
"Aurora?!"
"Oh, hey, boys!" She smiles brightly and pulls all the three of them into a big hug. "It's been a while! But it seems like that Loki didn't even bother to share the information about my status as well. You look like you're seeing a ghost."
"Technically, we are." Volstagg mumbles while Loki suddenly drags her away from them.
"What are you doing?" He hisses and Aurora glares at him, pulling her arm away from him.
"If you are seriously jealous now, I'll get mad. You left me, remember? You're not in the position to be bloody jealous, Loki." She snaps and turns back to the Warrior Three. "We're leaving now to get Odin back but we for sure need to catch up on the lost time!"
"We definitely do." Fandral smirks in a flirting way which makes Aurora roll her eyes. She then looks at Thor and Loki, ready for the new adventure and mission although she only takes this opportunity to break Loki's whole play and find out about his true reason for the sudden breakup.
"Let's go! I've always wanted to use the Bifrost."
***
New York City. This is where Loki left their father. Honestly, Aurora had expected something more exciting than Terra, she would have loved to see one of the other realms. At least the Bifrost has been an awesome roller coaster ride for her and she can't wait to use it again. While Thor wears mundane clothes, which is more than amusing to Aurora because he looks like a beefcake forced into a hobo's outfit, Loki has changed into a completely black suit, which drives her more than insane because he looks more than just handsome in it. Aurora has stayed in her space clothes and that makes people stare at the weird trio the entire time.
"I didn't imagine my first time in New York like this, looking for your father." She mumbles and is disappointed that she can't do a sightseeing tour or meet Thor's Avengers. Voltricity was her childhood hero.
"Well, you could've also stayed somewhere else instead of coming with us." Loki's remark makes her glare at him and she is so tempted to push him into the traffic on the street.
"True, I could have stayed with Thor's friends, they're much more fun." Aurora snaps once again and the fury in Loki's eyes ignite. Thor feels more than annoyed to walk between them.
"Okay, this is enough! You two go right in the corner and talk it out. I'm trying to fix the mess that you caused, brother, and I can't have you two barking at each other like dogs the whole time! I give you five minutes and if you haven't figured it out until then, I'll imprison you immediately, Loki." He doesn't even let them protest and just pushes both to the corner, giving them a death glare before granting them space.
"Unbelievable." Aurora groans and stares at Loki who avoids her glance. "Okay, let's get over this quickly. If you just wanted the throne, then you could've told me. Instead you're acting like an ass."
"You really think this is about the throne?" He scoffs, still looking at the people on the streets. Only five years ago, he almost succeeded in ruling over this city.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I thought it was sort of obvious that this is about the throne since you were literally disguised as Odin!" Her voice rises and it makes her angry that he doesn't even look at her. "What is it about then, huh? I'm not scared of you if that's the case because I know that it wasn't you."
"I told you that this doesn't concern you."
"Everything that's a threat to you is automatically my concern because I love you, Loki. And that means that I'll do anything to protect you." These are the words that he doesn't want to hear because they only weaken him. Now he can't resist to look at her and he witnesses how her anger is replaced by sorrow. "You can't demand from me that I'll stop caring about you. But I'll give up on our relationship if you say clearly that you don't love me. No lies, just honesty."
"By Valhalla, Aurora, you know that I cannot do this!" He takes a step closer to her, his hand caressing her cheek. Both have missed this so badly, almost craving desperately for more but they keep control. He spent only a month without her and it still felt like an eternity. Loki knows that he's really screwed up this time but his first priority is her safety. And he'd rather have her hate him while alive than be dead because of her undying love for him. "I'm doing this because I love you."
"What?" She looks in confusion at him and Loki only lets go of her, leaving a cold emptiness on her cheek.
"Let's go back, Thor requires our help." He ends the conversation before it could really begin which frustrates Aurora even more. She hates how he's playing with her feelings and now she has no other choice but to blindly trust him. Deep down, Aurora knows that Loki always has secretly good intentions but it's hard to believe that when he's such a jerk.
The trio soon arrives at their destination which turns out to be a demolished retirement home as they watch how the last pieces of the building collapse into dust. Aurora only stares at the process with widened eyes while Loki realizes it's not exactly his best day.
"I swear I left him right here." He promises and his blonde brother huffs in annoyance.
"Right here on the sidewalk, or right there where the building is being demolished? Great planning."
"How was I supposed to know? I can't see into the future. I'm not a witch." Now they really sound like brothers.
"No? Then why do you dress like one?" Thor's comment makes Aurora chuckle and Loki glances offended at both.
"Hey."
"I can't believe you're alive. I thought you and Aurora were dead. I mourned you, I cried for you." Thor still sounds incredibly pissed and Loki reacts surprised, not expecting this brotherly emotions while Aurora feels bad. Loki has only mentioned Thor a few times the last years, saying his brother was happy but she didn't question it any further.
"I'm honored..." Loki responds uncertainly and Aurora nudges him.
"You better apologize for lying to your brother. Your lies hurt him, fix this!" She advises him as two girls ask Thor for a selfie. "You still mean a lot to him, Loki. I'm not the only person in this world that cares about you."
"I'd prefer if we first find out where Odin is." He says but is more than relieved that Aurora still cares about him after everything he's done to her. He truly doesn't deserve Aurora Reyes. As both turn around to Thor, the two girls leave and they hear the God of Thunder's dry chuckle.
"She didn't dump me, you know. I dumped her. It was a mutual dumping." The Jane topic makes Aurora clench her teeth in discomfort while Loki pats his brother's back sympathetically. All of sudden, a golden circle appears beneath Loki's feet, sparkling the color in the air and the three of them frown. Loki slightly panics and looks at them, feeling how he slowly gets consumed by the mysterious circle. This only occurs to him though.
"What the hell??" Aurora scrunches up her face and none of them understands what's going on. She's never seen such a thing in her whole life ever before.
"What's this? What are you doing?" Thor demands to know and Loki shakes his head.
"This isn't me." Loki swears and in the next second, the circle pulls him down as he falls into a hole and disappears. "Ah!"
"Loki!" Aurora shouts and stares at the left note on the ground, no other tracks of Loki provide them a solution to his strange absence but this sheet. Thor only narrows his eyes and pokes the piece of paper with his umbrella disguised hammer.
"Loki." He whispers as he hopes the paper sheet would turn back into his brother again. With a sigh, Aurora kneels down and picks it up, only to read a foreign address.
"177A Bleecker Street. That's where we may find Loki's kidnapper. I've never seen such an interesting portal." She mutters, frowning. It's like in Asgard where there's no border between magic and technology. This has awoken her interest. "Come on, let's go. I have a navigation system to find the street."
"We shall find my mischievous brother– Aurora, why are you going to a phone booth? Is the phone number of the kidnapper written on the note?" Thor frowns as Aurora is close to a black phone booth. The auburn-haired girl drops the ear cap though, shaking her head.
"Sorry, just... just considered to call an old friend." Now is not the time to call Happy Hogan. "Let's save Loki."