Archive of Our Own

Disclaimer: If you know it, I fail to own it.

We would build a rocket ship and then we’d fly it far away / Used to dream of outer space, but now they’re laughing at our face

-Twenty One Pilots, “Stressed Out”

“You’re back?”

“I’m here for you, Leopold.”

“Me? Or could you not live with the fact you didn’t understand something?”

“Leopold Fitz, I wish to return Jemma from wherever she went.”

Leopold gave Loki a searching look.

“You’ve been doing this on your own for months,” Loki gently said.

“You went home.”

“I did,” Loki sighed. “I needed to go home.”

“I know, but Jemma—”

“Does not like me,” Loki gently reminded Fitz.

“She would have done—”

“And I did,” Loki said, setting down his tablet on the table. “I combed over the symbols, the intervals the Monolith goes liquid, the readings, the rumors, the legends. I got to know FRIDAY to a depth I do not care to as she is not JARVIS.”

Leopold looked pained at the mention of the death of JARVIS but nodded. “FRIDAY…is she…”

“Works just as well, but a very different personality.”

“And nothing? You’ve got nothing?”

“I found this.”

Loki opened a file and pushed the tablet at Leopold. “They say this scroll is connected with the culture that first recorded what the Monolith did. It’s from the days of before your savior.”

“The Monolith is older than the pyramids. It’s older than anything on the planet.”

“True, but it was not recorded until maybe a few centuries before Jesus arrived.”

“Did he really?”

“That, I cannot answer as I was not yet born,” Loki reminded Leopold. “I was born in 1048 AD, remember?”

Leopold shook his head, clutched the tablet, and stared at the image of the scroll. “Where is it?”

“With some terrorists.”

“Seriously?”

“I’ve traced it to Iraq. After your last president raided the country, a lot of the museums were plundered during the chaos of wartime. This was in one of them and I believe the man who has it will only trade for weapons of mass destruction.”

“Good thing I have some,” Leopold muttered, plowing out of the lab with Loki’s tablet.

“He was almost ready to give up,” Barbara Morse grumped, coming up behind Loki.

Loki glanced at her before looking back at what Leopold had been working on when Loki had entered the lab. “No, he is nowhere close.”

“Yes, he was giving up. There were no other leads and he could finally concentrate—”

“On nothing,” Loki snapped, rounding on the woman. “Love cannot be reasoned with, cannot be ignored, Agent Morse. I am sure you know that. Love is the reason you are here speaking with me now.”

Morse pressed her lips together and shifted her weight off her bum knee, glowering at being reminded what her ex-husband did for her after Ward and his minion kidnapped her. Loki took a step closer.

“He will never give up, he will never stop until he gets suck into that Monolith himself.”

“She could be dead.”

“She’s not. She’s Jemma Simmons. She has the iLoki that Leopold and I worked on to extend the life of the battery. She is resourceful. And she’s got a reason to fight for her life.”

Morse looked doubtful but said nothing.

“I know she feels the same as him,” Loki assured.

“Please,” Morse sighed deeply, looking at Loki as if he were stupid. “She and Tripp were flirting up a storm. She and Fitz don’t flirt.”

“In their own way they do. Where is Tripplett?”

“Got his own team,” Morse replied, folding her arms across her chest. “After you left, Coulson reorganized. Daisy and Mack go Inhuman recruiting, I’m stuck in the lab because I was stupid enough to major in biology, Hunter and Tripp hunt down HYDRA cells, and I’ve no idea where Smiling Jimmy went. Coulson is really tight lipped about where he sent Jimmy.”

“Agent May has yet to return from her vacation?” Loki asked, feeling surprised.

“Nope.”

Loki frowned. “That’s not good. How is Coulson?”

“How do you think he is?” Morse snarked, shifting her stance again and looking annoyed at the betrayal her body was dishing out. “He’s holding it together, but he’s getting a little…dangerous. That new government agency is getting the better of him.”

The pair stared at one another for a long beat before looking away.

“You better look after Fitz. He’s reckless.”

“I know, Agent Morse. And I shall. Though you’ve got to admit, it’s nice to have him back.”

Morse sighed heavily through her nose. “I just wish it was for a better reason he fully recovered.”

“As do I. As do I.”

“Go see Coulson. And please look over Fitz’s fake hand Coulson’s wearing. It’s creepy as hell.”

“I shall. I have a few ideas,” Loki allowed, thinking about Sebastian’s arm. He really wished the man would have allowed someone close to it, but tragically the man was a little too trigger happy for anyone to get close enough to examine it. And now he was somewhat MIA. “Anything else occur whilst I’ve been gone?”

“No. Daisy is itching for you to come back and join her superhero team. It’s still only her and Mack. None of the Inhuman’s we’ve helped through their transformation have stuck around.”

“Not everyone wants to be a solider, Agent Morse.”

“Did you ever?”

Loki smiled sadly. “It was all I ever wanted.”

High-rollers crap out every time, roll a soldier’s bones like loaded dice / War is the beast that makes every mother cry / It’s been this way since the get go

-Willie Nelson, “The Get Go”

“This is going to end badly.”

“More badly than our past attempts have?” Leopold asked without humor.

“Yes. I do not like you going in alone.”

“I gotta go in alone. I can’t take you with me,” Leopold insisted. “You look like you’re going to pass out.”

“So does everyone else.”

“You just don’t want to admit there are things you do not know,” Leopold snapped, fidgeting with the burner phone waiting for the terrorist to text him the meetup location.

“There is plenty I do not know,” Loki snapped right back. “I don’t know what the Monolith is, I do not know where Jemma went, I do not know what the hell you are going to do once you meet with a bunch of terrorists without backup, and I do not know how these people deal with this infernal heat!”

Leopold glared with all his might. “You are my backup, you twit!”

“I’ll be blocks away!” Loki shouted.

“Because I have to go alone! They’ll be paying attention!”

Loki sighed deeply, swiping at the sweat beading down his forehead in the desert air. Loki had never enjoyed hot climates before, but now they were unbearable. It took everything within him not to freeze himself just to get some relief.

The burner phone beeped.

“I made you a portable air conditioner, remember? Where is it? Ah, here. You can set it on the lowest setting and I won’t complain when I get into the car and it’s arctic.”

Loki grabbed the contraption and set it on the seat next to him. He waited until Leopold and his suitcase full of Splinter Bombs was out of the car before he flicked the switch on. He let out a sigh of relief as the cold air blew onto his hip. Slowly it spread till the whole car was freezing cold. He turned the thing down a few notches when he saw his breath. While Leopold said he’d let Loki use it at the lowest setting, Loki wasn’t evil. He wouldn’t make Leopold sit in below freezing temperatures even if he kept dragging Loki to tropical and desert locations in their quest for information on the Monolith.

Loki waited a tense twenty minutes before he spotted Leopold. He started the car as Leopold got in and screamed for him to go. Within seconds, bullets flew through the back windshield.

“We’re going to have to pay for that! I knew we shouldn’t have gotten a rental!” Loki shouted, turning the wheel. He used the opportunity to blow out his own window (might as well total the car as it was highly unlikely they’d give it back in one piece) and shot ice at the ground under the car that was following them.

The chase car hit the ice and spun out. Loki went back to calmly driving. Now that he’d lost the window, though, he did turn the AC unit to the lowest setting. He glanced over at Fitz, who with shaking hands unwrapped what he’d gotten from the terrorists. His eyebrows knitted together.

“Does this look familiar?” Leopold inquired, extending the delicate scroll towards Loki.

Loki glanced at it before his stomach sunk. 

“Death.”

“What?!”

“It’s a symbol for death,” Loki muttered, going back to driving them out of town to the out of the way airstrip the Quinjet was parked at.

Fitz deflated. “Death. Great.”

“But, it could also mean plenty of other things,” Loki tried. “We will have to research it when we get back.”

“It’s been six months, Loki,” Fitz snapped. “This was…this was supposed to bring her home.”

“And it might. Just because it means death to me, doesn’t mean that was the originally meaning. That scroll is old and it is tied to the Monolith. And it’s older than dirt because the writings are nothing I recognize.”

“Can we get the Aether back?”

“No,” Loki said. Part of Loki did want to go get it from the Collector so maybe it’d allow them to read whatever language was on the Monolith, but that was a bad idea for everyone. “But, once we’re back at the Playground, I think we might need to speak to Coulson about bringing in Asgardian help.”

“Thor? Sif?” Leopold asked, looking doubtful. “Is there someone else in that world—”

“No. On this world,” Loki explained, grinning sharply. “Someone who has been here longer than I.”

“You’ve not been here all that long compared to who I think you’re talking about.”

“Quite right. Let us go relieve Coulson of his worry, research the symbol, and then go see our Asgardian friend.”

You’re not the big fish in the pond no more / You are what they’re feeding on / So what are you gonna do when the world don’t orbit around you?

-Paramore, “Ain’t It Fun”

“Elliot Randolph, how I wish to have met you under different circumstances,” Loki sighed, taking in the overly crowded jail cell. It looked more like a professor’s study than a place of punishment.

“Prince Loki?” Randolph asked, slowly getting to his feet and looking confused.

“Tis I,” Loki proclaimed, throwing his arms out. He lifted his sunglasses and grinned wildly as Randolph gasped and stumbled backward. “How did you know it was me? No one else seems to see me.”

“You…you…you…”

“Have red eyes? Yes, that seems to be the case.”

“Loki,” Coulson sighed, pinching his nose. “We need his help, do not scare him. Hello, I see you’ve been locked up for being drunk and disorderly.”

“Hello, uh, yes.”

“You’ve lost your Asgardian accent,” Loki lamented. “And here I was hoping to hear one.”

“Loki,” Coulson scolded. “Shut the hell up.”

“I think not.”

“Loki,” Leopold pleaded. He pushed Loki to the side and pulled out the scroll. “We need to know what this means.”

Randolph looked at it and said, “Death.”

Leopold sighed.

“It’s connected to a portal,” Coulson remarked, picking at his nails.

Morse sighed deeply behind Loki. He glanced at her to find her itching to do something, anything. He was pretty sure she’d mop the floor simply for something to occupy her hands.

“I love portals,” Loki offered, turning his attention back to Randolph. “Portals open and all sorts of fun things happen. Like the time I fell through one. Twice. In two bodies. Fun times.”

Randolph pressed his lips together.

“You don’t like when things threaten your cushy life, do you?” Loki guessed, cocking his head to the side and smirking.

“You know that means death. It’s got no other meaning,” Randolph insisted.

“Oh, I am not saying you’re wrong. You’ve lived history, lived through things we only are able to read second or third hand,” Loki stepped closer, gripping the bars in his gloved hands. Randolph looked leery at Loki’s closeness and what he feared lingered under the gloves. Loki sneered. “I am sure you’ve heard all sorts of stories about me, and yet you were long gone from Asgard by the time the All-Father had brought me from Jotunheim.”

“What.”

Loki grinned, all teeth.

“Loki,” complained Coulson.

“We need your help. We’ve got this stone that goes liquid and can transport…somewhere,” Morse offered, grabbing Loki by the scruff of his neck and dragging him away from the bars. “Will you cool it? I know you’re the so-called God of Mischief, but honestly. You’d think you never asked for help before.”

Coulson snorted.

“A rock that goes liquid?” Randolph inquired, cocking his head to the side.

“Covered in symbols I’ve never seen before,” Loki grumbled, straightened his shirt and glaring at Morse. “I am likely the best-read person on Asgard. Or I was the best-read person on Asgard. Not sure who takes the mantle now that I’m forever gone.”

Randolph took a step closer to the bars.

“You’re not just a Frost Giant, are you?”

“I am nothing, but that’s a story we’ll share after we’ve solved this problem. Mind getting yourself out of there and coming with us to check out this portal that could kill everyone on Earth?”

“Loki—” Coulson started, but Randolph had already grabbed the bars and moved them aside. Loki smiled wildly as Randolph stepped into the hallway with them and Coulson sighed deeply.

“Remind me why we brought him with us?” Coulson asked Morse.

“Because you can’t tell him what to do,” Morse groused.

I like to think that we had it all / We drew a map to a better place / But on that road, I took a fall

-Maroon 5, “Maps”

“Oh.”

“What?”

“I’ve seen this before. It was a long time ago. It was at a party. Oh, it was a great party.”

“How are you able to get drunk off mortal alcohol?” Loki inquired.

“I make my own.”

“Ah. Did you bring your own to this party?”

“Of course, but before I was too drunk, I remember seeing that symbol. It was above a doorway and I remember wondering what had possessed them to carve a symbol of death into their doorway. It’s not something you carve into stone above your doorway, let alone in your eighteenth-century castle.”

“When? When did you say?” Leopold asked, rounding the case that held the Monolith.

“I think it was the eighteenth century. Or was I in the eighteenth century and the castle was older?”

“No idea,” Loki drawled. “The liquid?”

“I cannot believe you didn’t figure that out,” Randolph sighed. “It reacts to something on the other planet it’s connected to.”

“Are we sure it’s only one?” Morse asked.

“Yes,” Loki, Randolph, and Leopold answered.

“That sand I found on it,” Leopold reminded Morse. “That proves it only goes one place because when we dusted it with the robot, it was all from one place, not multiple ones.”

“Portals also don’t usually go to more than one place,” Loki said. “Unless there’s a great source of power behind them. This? Not so much.”

“It’s got power,” Randolph said, frowning. “I can feel it, can’t you?”

Loki scowled. “I know it is dangerous to me. That is all I feel from it. It makes my destruction.”

“You’ve never said that,” Coulson said. “What do you mean?”

“The Inhumans believed that it was a Kree device created to do to them great harm. It is not Kree, but it will be my end. I do not know why, just a feeling. In here.”

Loki pointed to his chest, hoping Coulson would understand. Randolph frowned and looked back at the thing as it went liquid and sloshed around the containment unit.

“You really think it’s something on the other planet that makes it go liquid?” Loki asked.

Randolph shrugged. “Better than anything else I can guess. Also, Kree? Why do I know that?”

“They were here shortly after the completion of the Ice Wars,” Loki said. “They were here for maybe a century. I met them near the end of the tenure when…I discovered the paths between Realms.”

Randolph’s eyes went huge. “You can do that?”

“Not anymore,” Loki stated. “Thor and his merry band of idiots dragged me off after a month and by the time I returned, the Kree were gone as were their test subjects. Or so I thought.”

“Kree…they’re…oh.”

Randolph blinked several times, staring at Loki as if he had three heads. Loki shifted uncomfortably.

“You’re half human. That’s why you’re so short.”

“Yes,” Loki tightly replied. “We’ve figured this out.”

“You said the All-Father adopted you?”

“Yes.”

“I wondered how you’d gotten here,” Randolph whispered, turning away and tapping his fingers on his lips. “I remember when Thor came to Earth with his friends, well, before that misadventure in New Mexico.”

“You came because the Bifrost was open,” Loki guessed.

Randolph nodded. “It’d not opened since the war ended and the last of Asgard’s forces had gone to Jotunhiem.”

Loki nodded. “Are you sure you’ve not seen this before?”

Randolph turned and stared at the thing harder. “The Kree forces that showed up came in ships. They landed somewhere else, not where you had met the group. I hung around maybe two months after you’d left to make sure you and Thor did not come back. It’s weird how mythology works, isn’t it? The Norse had all your names, but you’d yet to be born. Thor’s how much older than you?”

“Not much,” Loki tightly admitted. “He was young enough to not realize how children were born and never questioned it.”

Randolph chuckled. “I doubt anyone paid much attention. We were at war and only had one heir.”

Loki nodded. “They were likely relieved to have a spare.”

“Anyway, so I hung out where you’d been. I did notice they were doing something, but I didn’t really care until more strangers showed up. Nothing dramatic happened, but half the village vanished overnight. I wonder…”

Loki shuddered, realizing what Randolph was implying.

“The Kree brought this thing there?”

“I doubt they brought it,” Randolph said. “There are legends about it that go back to the Egyptians. The Kree were here when?”

“Multiple times,” Loki said. “The one we met didn’t give us a time frame but alluded the faction had tried this many times before. Also, since my birth mother was one of those with the DNA altered by the Kree, we know they were here before the time I ran into them.”

Randolph nodded. “I think the Kree knew what this thing was. What’s the best way to get rid of something you don’t want anyone to find?”

“Shove them to a portal to a hostile world,” Loki flatly stated.

Leopold shuddered.

“So, how do we get there?” Coulson asked.

Randolph put a fist to his mouth and turned back to the Monolith. “Well, I think we should go visit the castle. It’s in England. Can we go there quickly?”

“Yeah. It’s just a skip and hop away,” Coulson sighed. “Where in England is this castle?”

“Not sure. I’ll have to look it up.”

“There are like a million castles in England,” Morse pointed out as Loki handed the tiny Asgardian his tablet. “It’ll be like finding a needle in a haystack.”

“Not really. I’ll know it when I see it,” Randolph said, flicking his finger through various images of castles. “Ah, this is it.”

Loki snatched the tablet. “Let’s go to Devon. We ought to take Nicholls. He’s from there.”

“Agent Nicholls is busy.”

“Where is he?” Loki prodded. “I’ve not seen him since I came back.”

“He’s busy,” Coulson stated again. “Where exactly are we going?”

I spent a lot of nights on the run / And I think, oh, like I’m lost and can’t be found / I’m just waiting or my day to come

-The Strumbellas, “Spirits”

“Where is James?”

Daisy looked up, wondering why Loki was in her room. He never came into her room. Especially without knocking. 

“I don’t know,” she bit out, glaring at the red-eyed giant. “Coulson won’t tell any of us and Jim hasn’t been in contact with any of us since Coulson sent him off. I was hoping you’d know where he’d gone.”

Loki’s whole body sagged and he leaned against the door frame.

“Sorry. I do not. And since FRIDAY has decided to hate me, I cannot use her to find him. I do not know how anyone in this day and age vanishes without a trace, but James has managed it.”

“You ever find Bucky Barnes?”

Loki looked guilty.

“You did? God, I was going to offer him as someone else who’s vanished without a trace.”

“I found him, then lost him,” Loki admitted, sitting down across from her. “I’m worried for Coulson.”

“I am too. AC seems…a little too intense.”

“I agree. And this…woman in charge of ATCU?”

Daisy shuddered. “I cannot stand the thought of her and her organization.”

“Nor can I. I do not understand why Coulson wishes to work closely with them.”

“I don’t either.”

The pair sat in silence for a solid minute before Daisy asked, “How do you think Jemma’s doing?”

“Adjusting.”

Daisy nodded, picking at a loose thread on her comforter. “She’s hiding something.”

“I agree.”

Sky looked up. Loki was studying his nails.

“Any idea what?”

“Likely that there was someone else with her on that planet,” Loki said, twisting his blue hands together then stretching them out before him. “There is no way she is as sane as she is if she were alone for six months.”

Daisy nodded.  “Yeah. I read about solitary confinement. You all go whacko. How are you not a fruit loop? Didn’t they have you locked up alone for six months?”

“I was never truly alone,” Loki wistfully admitted. “Thor and my mother visited, as did Odin. Not that he spoke to me. He stood there and stared at me like I was a puzzle he needed to solve.”

Daisy snorted at that image, not that she knew what Odin looked like passed king-like and huge, as he was Thor’s daddy and Thor was gigantic.

“Why wouldn’t Simmons tell us about this other person?”

“Could be because the person was an alien, was insane themselves, or…she is guilty.”

“Of what?”

“Living.”

Daisy shivered. “We always have such cheery convos, Lokes.”

“I know. I’ve not seen you much since I’ve returned. How are you doing?”

Daisy shrugged. “Good enough. We got another Inhuman and I think he’ll join. He’s…well, there’s nothing for him to go back to. Mostly due to the loud noise he made when we brought him in. I mean, most of the ones we find, their powers don’t emerge in such a way they bring down city blocks.”

“What is his power?”

“He melts metal,” Daisy grinned. “It’s actually kind of cool. I’ve been working with him to learn control. I didn’t think I’d be any good at teaching, but Mary taught me her methods.”

Loki snorted. “I am sure she is a great help.”

“She is. She’s like, literally, the only person from Afterlife who is willing to help us. Mack and I went to see Lincoln— OMG, I didn’t tell you.”

Loki cocked his head to the side, opening his eyes wide and raising his eyebrows to his hairline. Daisy ignored his sass and explained the monster they’d come across when they’d gone to talk to Lincoln again. Loki’s expression morphed from mockingly interested into horrified.

“You believe he’s an Inhuman?”

“Or a freaking alien, but how he was so single-minded in going after Lincoln leads me to wonder if he was a Kree.”

“No. The last Kree here said they were done. He was the last one they were going to send to clean up their mess. Also, if we’ve learned anything about the Kree, they tend to blend in with their surroundings.”

“True. So, Inhuman.”

“Who is going after other Inhumans?”

“Maybe? I don’t like it, but what else?”

“You are likely correct. How many times are you going to attempt to recruit Lincoln before you give up?”

Daisy shot Loki an annoyed look.

“Let him live his life as he wishes. As I am repeating multiple times, not everyone wants to be a solider.”

“I’m not a solider.”

“Yes, Daisy Johnson, you’ve become one.”

Though I’ve never been through hell like that / I’ve closed enough windows to know you can never look back

-Fun. “Carry On”

Phil pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Are you sure you can’t grow me a new hand?”

“Do you want it to work?” Mary Harrison asked, quirking an eyebrow at him. “If not, then sure. I’ll grow you one. I can regrow bone, skin, and cartilage. I can’t do nerves.”

“Then how does Loki feel the tip of his nose?”

“He doesn’t,” Mary pointed out. “Ever ask him about it?”

“No,” Phil conceded.

“He didn’t even notice till his nose had been fixed for three days and he ran into a door,” Mary chuckled. “So, now you know the drawback of my power. I can’t regrow limbs. But, if you break your leg, let me know.”

Mary winked, walking off. Phil sighed again as Alisha stood next to him, frowning.

“What?”

“She really likes you,” Alisha said. “She never tells people that. I mean, I know because she regrew my finger. It’s got no feeling. I’ve lost track of the times I’ve burned it on the curling iron. Usually only realize it because it smells.”

Phil shuddered.

“And it’s really stiff,” she offered, showing him how her pinkie finger didn’t bend all the way. “She’s healed my broken arm and it’s fine, but regrowing stuff…not her strong suit.”

“Fine. No new hand for me. I am going to go cry now about it in my clubhouse.”

Alisha stared at him blankly.

“Never mind. Let’s go plan our mission. I know you’re only here because you trust Doctor Harrison.”

“Yes. She likes you, so I’ll ask for your help in this: there is some sort of monster tracking down the people who went through transformations at Afterlife.”

“Yes, we’ve met him.”

“When he went after Lincoln Campbell, I know. I’m worried.”

“Hence why you’re here,” Phil concluded.

“Yes. I’d rather have you on my side than against me.”

“I’d like to recruit Inhumans,” Phil stated.

“I know. Mary told me,” Alisha said. “That’s also why I am here. The ATCU isn’t our friend, they wish to either cure us or imprison us. You employ Inhumans. Also, the ones who have gone through transformations from the fish oil pills, you’ve let the ones who didn’t want to join go free.”

“I will not hold anyone hostage unless they are a danger. So far, everyone’s gotten a hold on their powers and went on their merry way.”

“And we thank you for that. Powers need to be controlled,” Alisha agreed. “I believe we can set up another Afterlife.”

“Another one?”

“Yes. You’ve already set up one in a sense. Afterlife was only accessible through Gordon, which protected our small group, but now…”

“The group is expanding too fast,” Phil quickly said not wanting to revisit the death of the teleporter.

“Correct,” Alisha agreed, looking sad, but moving on. “I have an idea where we can start to recruit.”

“I’m listening.”

He is working through the unimaginable / His hair has gone gray, he passes every day / They say he walks the length of the city

-Kelly Clarkson, “It’s Quiet Uptown”

“Loki.”

“Leopold, it’s three in the morning.”

“You need to come back.”

Loki groaned, pressing his face into the pillow, phone still to his ear. Next to him, Steven shifted.

“I am in the middle of something.”

“You don’t sound like you’re having sex.”

Loki pressed his face further into the pillow and let out a muffled scream. He sat up and rested his hands on his head.

“I meant, I am on a short vacation.”

“Loki, you don’t understand. I found something. Major. HYDRA.”

“Something major HYDRA?” Loki echoed and Steven shot up so fast Loki was worried something had bitten him.

“Where’s HYDRA?” Steven asked, looking around. “Does he have a lead?”

“LOKI!” Leopold shouted.

“Sorry, Steven, no. You’ve got a one-track mind. And Leopold, I need more. As I said—”

“You’re on a sex holiday.”

Loki closed his eyes. “I am not on a sex holiday.”

“Yes. You are. This is more important. I need you.”

“Loki?” Steven gently asked, rubbing his bare shoulder. “If it’s important you can go. We’re done.”

“OH MY GOD!” Leopold shouted over the line. “DON’T BREAK UP WITH HIM!”

Steven looked perplexed, so Loki muted the phone while Leopold continued to shout. “Are you sure? There might be another lead if—”

“He’s not here. He is long gone. Wanda can’t feel anything familiar to what she felt when she found him in Mexico City.”

The pair exchanged looks. Loki still felt revulsion at the sight of the lab they’d discovered on the outskirts of Mexico City. Sebastian was long gone and whoever had caught him were long dead.

“We’re not going to find him now,” Steven said sadly. “So you can go back to your SHEILD buds.”

Loki reached out and squeezed Steven’s hand.

“We’ll head back tomorrow and start searching fresh. Now assure Fitz I’m not breaking up with you.”

Loki un-muted the phone.

“I AM SO SORRY, LOKI! LOKI!”

“Fitz, it’s fine!” Steven shouted. “We’re not breaking up.”

“Oh. Okay. Can I have Loki?” Leopold asked.

“To keep him or borrow him?”

“BORROW! I JUST WANT TO BORROW HIM! FOR JEMMA!”

That got Loki’s attention. After Jemma had come clean about the fact she had not spent six months by herself, Leopold had been hell-bent on finding a way to get the man she’d been with.

It made Loki’s heart ache with how much Leopold Fitz loved Jemma Simmons, even if she was in love with another man. Loki glanced at Steven.

Steven would likely do the same. For anyone he loved, not just Loki. Selfishly, Loki wished it were just him.

“What did you find that connects what you’re doing to HYDRA?”

“I can’t send it, so please just come.”

“I will, but send it through the iLoki.”

“Oh, yeah.”

Leopold hung up and Loki fell backward. A second later his other phone beeped. Holding it up to his face, Loki opened the attachment. Loki turned the phone several times, then dropped it.

“Bloody hell.”

“What?”

“HYDRA has been around a long time, I believe. I’m…”

Loki jumped out of bed and began to yank his pants on.

“Leaving me hanging?”

“No. Here. Look.”

Loki tossed Steven his phone as he yanked his shirt on and began to button it while tossing things into his overnight bag. He grabbed his passport (US Embassy), slipping his shoes on as he did.

“It’s the same symbol you found on the scroll, only upside down.”

“It was in the castle,” Loki reminded his boyfriend. He grabbed his leather jacket. “Which was built long after the Monolith and not by anyone Jewish.”

Steve frowned. “This is Jewish, right?”

“Hebrew.”

“Yeah. Okay. How are you going to get back quickly?”

Loki smirked, pulling his phone out and dialing. “Good morning, Mr Stark.”

“I hate you.”

“No, you don’t. I need a plane.”

“I gave you one.”

“No, I need one that can leave in less than an hour.”

“I don’t store planes in…where ever you are.”

“Then give me a suit.”

“No!”

“Then give me a plane.”

“Fine. Where the hell are you?”

“Mexico City.”

Stark grumbled. “There’s no way I— fine. FINE! Pepper says I have to give you a suit. Where you are going?”

Loki gave him the coordinates and hung up. An hour later he was on his way. The suit flew him to the coordinates, landed, threw him out, and took off. Loki rolled his eyes, dusting himself off. He walked to the waiting car and slid in.

“I was the only one awake,” Leopold explained. “Bobbi and Hunter didn’t think too much of my findings, so I called you.”

Loki sighed. “We’ll find more.”

“Sorry to cut short your sex holiday,” Leopold said, starting the car and heading towards the Playground. “How the hell did you get Stark to give you a suit?”

Loki snorted. “I didn’t. Ms Potts told him to let me have it, likely because I called at three thirty in the morning.”

“Wouldn’t it be—”

“Actually it was two thirty, as they are an hour behind of us in Malibu.”

“Ah. Okay.”

“And I think they just arrived and are jet lagged.”

“So, you didn’t sweet talk anyone.”

“No. It’s not as fun as you’d think flying in that thing. It’s kind of, well, it’s like crammed into a tube.”

“A really neat tube.”

“If you say. It’s a quick way to travel and not one I’d ask for often.”

“You thought this was pressing enough?”

“Yes. This is pressing as if the Monolith is something HYDRA worshiped, we’ve got a problem.”

“Besides an evil piece of portal making rock, an alien that eats people, and HYDRA?”

“HYDRA is not what we thought. It is in fact very old and means death. We will need many symbols to make our point.”

Leopold nodded. “Is Stark still the doghouse for making a homicidal robot?”

“Likely.”

“That’s probably why Ms Potts made him give you a suit,” Leopold reasoned. 

Loki nodded as they pulled up in front of the hanger door for the Playground. “You’re likely correct. And I will use the fact Stark is in the doghouse to my benefit for as long as he’s there.”

I’m in the details with the devil / So now the world can never get me on my level / I just gotta get you off the cage / I’m a young lover’s rage / Gonna need a spark to ignite

-Fall Out Boy, “My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark”

Jemma was waiting in the lab for them with an armful of books.

“These are all the books I could find,” she started, setting them down on the table. “Agent Carter gathered all the material she could find on the occult, fearing that another occult loving cult would rise like HYDRA.”

“Her fear was well founded,” Loki murmured.

“When did the Kree first come here again?” Jemma questioned.

“They were here for centuries before they were discovered,” Loki replied. “I found them during your planet’s Dark Ages, but we know they were here long before I found them since I have Kree DNA.”

“But if they’d been working that long—”

“Since prehistoric times,” Leopold said. “Morse dated some of the stuff you had in your pack. One of the rocks you had was from prehistoric earth. So the Monolith's been around since then sending things back and forth. If the Kree brought it, then they’ve been here since then.”

Jemma stared at her best friend wide eyed.

“I do not know the history of the human testing, only that it existed and it was still rather unsuccessful when I’d stumbled upon the experiments. I believe they thought I was a successful experiment, now that I am thinking about it. I was too young and foolish to care. I was more excited about being away from Asgard and finding something illicit.”

“I found a bottle of wine from the nineteenth century. French,” Jemma said quietly. “It’d turned to vinegar, but…why was it there?”

“I am sure we’ll figure it out,” Loki assured her.

She nodded and the trio began to pour over books. They’d been at it for about an hour before Leopold let out a sound of alarm.

“You found something?” Jemma asked.

“I think I’ve got the progression. You were right, of course.”

“Loki was right about what?” Jemma asked.

Leopold and Loki both lined the books up, exchanging grave looks before Jemma came around and looked at the progression. She gasped.

“No. No. No. Do you think Will is HYDRA?”

“Not likely. But, whoever funded it might have been,” Loki remarked. “It was a mission kept off the books. It wasn’t anywhere in any NASA records when I looked. Whoever put it together made sure it was populated with people without close families, without relations they had close ties to. Whoever put this together and funded it knew no one would return.”

Jemma gasped.

“The ATCU is a front for HYDRA. We need to tell Coulson,” Leopold whispered, staring at the images.

“How did you get there?” Loki inquired as Jemma fled the room. “How did—”

“Since you’ve been gone, we’ve discovered who funded the program Will was a part of. It’s the same person who fronts the money for the ATCU.”

“Who?”

“Gideon Malick.”

Loki blankly stared at Leopold.

“We’re starting to think he’s the new head of HYDRA.”

“Why?”

“Because there’s a secret lab within the ATCU, one that Price thought was making a drug to cure Inhumans, but when we went to extract Jim—”

“Extract James?”

“Oh, yeah. You missed that too,” Leopold said, running a hand through his hair. “Coulson sent Jim to the ATCU because he thought it was a front for HYDRA.”

“He sent James on an undercover op? Honestly?”

“Yes?” Leopold tried. “Jim was an assistant. Had almost no clearance, but was convinced they weren’t helping Inhumans. He wasn’t getting anywhere, so Morse and Hunter went in to help, while Price was here. Daisy did some hacking and we found the lab. Price said that it was run by Malick personally.”

“She’s still here?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh.”

“She and Coulson had a big fight, that’s where we found out it was run by Malick, who we already know funded the NASA program to use the Monolith.”

Loki’s eyes went large.

“Get these books. They’re going to want proof, right?”

Loki helped Leopold gather the books up and followed him to where the rest of the team was gathered while Jemma spoke too quickly to be understood.

“We come bearing visuals,” Loki said, setting down the books.

Jemma paused to gulp air.

“Hello, again,” Loki greeted, leering at Rosalind Price. She grimaced.

“How did you arrive at the conclusion the ATCU is a front for HYDRA?” Coulson demanded. “Granted, I am likely to believe it.”

Price glared at him.

“It’s all in the logo,” Loki said, gesturing to the open books on the table. “We start here, the symbol of death, and move onwards.”

Loki felt a sick satisfaction as each person reached the same conclusion he had.

“Why won’t they just die?” Hunter grumbled.

“There’s a reason they went with the hydra,” James remarked.

Loki startled at the sight of the young man, who’s sheered all his hair off into a stylish, but close cut. Price kept glancing at the man as if she was having a hard time believing he was who he was claiming.

“Cut off one head…” Coulson bitterly trailed off.

“And one goes off and does his own thing?” Hunter suggested. “What does this Monolith and the cult around it have to do with HYDRA’s overall goals?”

Everyone stared at Hunter. He looked up from the book he’d been reading and glanced around.

“What? I do know how to read. It’s right there.”

He pointed. Coulson grabbed the book and read. “An English cult, rumored to operate in the region where the castle with the symbol is located, claimed that the object they worshiped required sacrifices.”

“It was believed they were all under the influence of something as they were peerage,” Hunter remarked.

“When was this?” James asked.

“1839,” Coulson reported. “Why?”

James blinked a few times, then sat down on a stool, looking alarmed.

“What?” Jemma pressed.

James swallowed loudly, slowly turning his blue gaze towards Jemma. “It happened before I was born, long before I was born, but it was still a hot gossip topic when I came of age, even though it's been over sixty years.”

“Your—you…uh…” Jemma trailed off, looking at a loss on how to word what she wanted.

“How old are you?” Price demanded.

“Twenty-nine,” James replied absently. “But, when I was eighteen and joined the men after dinner, a few of them were almost always discussing Lord Manzini, who was the one who’d gone missing and the others claimed was sacrificed for the good of us all.”

“Lord Manzini?” Fitz repeated, tapping on his tablet. “Went missing in 1839 and proclaimed dead the following year. His cousin who inherited his title was the one…who told the world about the cult.”

“He existed in both…”

“How old are you?” Price demanded. “Is anyone here normal?”

Coulson shrugged. “What’s normal?”

“I am totally normal,” Hunter bragged.

“You are not,” Morse said, rolling her eyes deeply.

“You can’t be normal and be a member of SHEILD,” James said gently, smiling.

“You seemed so normal when you were my assistant,” Price groused, eyeing James distrustfully then sighing deeply. “Fine. Don’t tell me you’re secretly from the turn of the century. God, that’d make so much sense if you were. Coulson, your spy didn’t know what Snapchat was.”

“Damn. I knew there was something I forgot to tell him,” Coulson sighed, snapping his fingers.

“I just cannot keep up with it all,” James complained.

“Does this mean there’s HYDRA…where Jim’s from originally?” Jemma asked.

“There was a Lord Manzini who was a cult member. Maybe it is just something he does?” Daisy suggested.

“Nothing I remember ever matches up, though,” James reminded everyone. “Nothing. Why does this fit?”

Everyone stared at him for a solid minute before he smiled. Jemma sighed dreamily, the guys all looked a little gobsmacked, Daisy rolled her eyes deeply but leaned further into James’ shoulder, and Loki had to resist the urge to vault over the table and kiss the man.

Loki shook his head to clear it.

“Stop that,” Daisy ordered. “You totally did that on purpose.”

“There is nothing special about him,” Jemma said like a broken record. “He’s not Inhuman, he’s got no enhancements, and—”

“He’s a lackluster spy,” Price offered.

“Thank you,” James loudly said, still wildly smiling. “I enjoy the fact I have no talents and nothing remotely special about me.”

“You kind of look like me,” Loki reminded him, smirking.

“And he’s blonde now, so even more so,” Hunter remarked, clapping Jim on the shoulder not occupied by Daisy.

“Oh, god. He’s right,” Price said, looking between the two. “I think my head is going to explode.”

“Eh, you get used to it,” Coulson shrugged. “Now, what are we going to do now that we know that the ATCU is a front for HYDRA.”

“I don’t think it’s really a front,” James offered. “I might be a horrible spy, but I believe it was really set up for its purpose. However, its connection to the lab is where the trail went sour.”

Daisy lifted her head off James’ shoulder and he stood, making his way over to the table with the books.

“Malick didn’t keep quiet that he was funding the lab, that it was his project. He is friends with the President. That is how he got his foot in the door when HYDRA fell and the President was under pressure to replace SHEILD with something uncorrupt.”

“Good job him. Long live HYDRA,” Hunter grumbled.

James furrowed his eyebrows together, extending his long-fingered hand towards Leopold and making a grabbing motion. Leopold handed him the tablet.

“During my time with the ATCU, I did backgrounds on every, single agent we hired.”

“That was your job,” Price grumbled.

“Correct. It was perfect,” he smiled and went back to tapping. “They were all clean. All either ex-military and easy to trace or former SHEILD agents.”

“SHEILD agents?” Coulson asked.

James nodded, turning the tablet over to Coulson. “Many did not rejoin SHEILD or were unable. They went elsewhere. For instance, Agent Carter went to the CIA.”

“Pardon?” Loki asked, head snapping up.

“Sorry, Sharon Carter, Agent 13. She went to the CIA,” James clarified. “Maria Hill went to the private sector.”

“But not really,” Coulson whispered.

“Anyway, I was leery of the former SHIELD agents. Only a few of them I believe are HYDRA. And they were the ones who led me to the lab.”

“Which we know is HYDRA,” Daisy grumped.

“So, what are we going to do?” Jemma asked. “That lab is forcing people who have had no preparation to become Inhuman without their knowledge. It’s bad enough we’ve got people all over the planet doing this, but they are knowingly doing it.”

Daisy looked uncomfortable and James reached for her hand.

“We need to destroy them,” May stated flatly. “He’s building an Inhuman army.”

Everyone sat in heavy silence, till Price eloquently proclaimed, “Shit.”

Yeah we change, yeah we change / Yeah we feel so lost / And we don’t know who we are / Yeah, we break, yeah we break and we just can’t stop / So we keep breaking hearts

-Ellie Goulding, “Don’t Panic”

Things just got worse.

1. Turned out the ugly Inhuman who was taking out other Inhumans was, in fact, Doctor Gardner, May’s ex-husband who she clearly wasn’t over.

2. Ward decided it was high time to get his “revenge” on Coulson for the death of Agent 33 (which was Ward’s fault, not Coulson’s) and killed Price: Coulson’s new girlfriend.

(Daisy wanted to question Coulson’s choice, but then again her last crush was Grant Ward: certifiable psycho.)

3. In taking out Price, Ward had turned Coulson into a revenge-driven crazy-head.

4. While Coulson channeled his inner Batman (I am vengeance, I am night, call me Agent Coulson), they were supposed to be taking out Malick’s weirdo HYDRA faction.

“Coulson’s on a suicide run,” Mack grumbled.

“No, duh. He should have taken Loki,” Daisy remarked. “Loki does suicide missions well.”

“I think it was best to send Loki with Fitz and Simmons,” Mack pointed out. “Ups their chance at survival if they come across a hostile Inhuman.” 

He didn’t want to be in charge, Daisy could see that clearly. She didn’t for a second question Coulson’s choice. It was the only one he’d made recently that Daisy agreed with one hundred percent. Out of everyone, Mack was a good leader and kept a cool head. (Something Coulson used to be able to do but had lost since the death of Price.)

(Daisy felt it was much more than simply the fact Ward and shot Price in the throat and she’d bled out in Coulson’s arms that sent him over the abyss into the revenge swamp. It was everything mounting since the downfall of SHEILD. He needed to let out his aggression, go a little nuts. It just was such a bad time for him to decide to let his inner Crazy Loki out.)

“Speaking of them, have they reported back?” Mack asked, turning away from Daisy.

“No,” May flatly reported, looking more pissed off than usual. “They’ve fortified the castle to the teeth. There’s no way we’re getting in easily.”

Mack sighed. “What would you do? If you were in charge.”

May looked up at Mack, who was looming over her shoulder, and flatly said, “I’d never be put in charge.”

Mack sighed, burying his face in his hands.

“Just be a leader.”

Mack picked his face out of his hands and stared at May. “That’s what you’ve got to say? No rousing speech?”

“No.”

Mack groaned.

“You don’t need a rousing speech. You’re a natural leader,” Daisy offered.

“Who usually follows your orders,” Mack reminded her.

“Eh. Details,” Daisy whispered. “Okay. I’ve got a map of the area, high res.”

“We’re screwed.”

“Oh, no.”

“What?”

“The Loki Alarm went off about an hour ago,” May reported, squinting at her computer screen. “Crap.”

“What?” Daisy demanded. “What happened?”

“There’s a news story about an abandoned warehouse that was encased in ice in the middle of Florida,” May bit out. “The authorities broke through about a half hour ago and found a government agent dead by a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.”

Daisy cursed darkly, along with Mack.

“That guy Bobbi came across in the labs, the one who can control your movements. He was there waiting for them. No one else found?” Mack asked.

“No,” May growled, scowling at the computer screen.

Daisy turned back to her computer and began to search the castle for Loki. Her eyes zeroed in on a person-shaped blob that was alarmingly blue compared to all the other orange-red blobs.

“I got him,” Daisy reported. “He just arrived with several other warm bodies. Thank god he runs so damn cold these days.”

“He ran cold when he got here,” May reminded her.

“Of course he did,” Mack muttered. “Well, okay. They’ve been kidnapped. Now we gotta go rescue them.”

“They’ve spilt them all up,” Daisy reported. “They’ve put Loki here.”

“What’s there?”

“Containment units from ATCU. Oh, and one from SHIELD.”

It was only after she’d said that did Daisy remember who was in the containment unit and looked up sharply to find May had gone deadly still. Mack backed up and eyed her.

“You good?”

“Yes.”

“You lying?”

“Yes.”

“Figured. Well, we’re mounting a rescue and save the world mission. Just don’t die. And try to keep Doctor Gardner in the unit. Don’t let him out.”

“I won’t,” May said, stomping off.

“Gear up. And get your new team together.”

“Can I add Jim?”

Mack stared at her, looking confused. “You want to add Jim?”

“Why not? I need to replace you with someone, don’t I?”

Mack snorted. “I don’t think that pansy boy can replace me.”

Daisy shook her head. “Well?”

“Ask him. It’s fine with me. Go prepare you Caterpillars for their first mission.”

Daisy grinned and hurried off to get Joey and Lincoln (who’d finally agreed to join them after ATCU had blown his life out of the water. He kinda had nowhere to go after that). On her way, she ran into Jim.

“Hey! You get to be a Caterpillar!”

“Pardon?”

“Yeah! You’re on my team now!”

“I am?”

“Don’t do that confused thing. It’s too cute,” Daisy admonished. “Come on, we’ll go to go talk to Joey and Lincoln.”

In the madness and soil of that sad earthly scene / Only then I am human / Only then I am clean

-Hozier, “Take Me To Church”

Jim and Fitz sat on either side of Jemma.

“I am very sad,” Jemma said through her tears.

“Understandable,” Jim murmured. Loki was staring at Fitz. Jim took one look at the expression and knew Loki wanted to get out of Fitz why he was walking around in a half freaked out daze. Meeting Loki’s green eyes, he carefully picked Jemma up and guided her out of the room.

“I should stop crying,” she offered, tears still flowing down her face. “I really should, but I can’t seem to stop.”

“Jemma, darling, you have every right to mourn,” Jim gently said, sitting her back down on an office chair in the lab.

“What does Loki think he’ll learn from Fitz?” Jemma asked, swiping at her eyes with the handkerchief Jim had given her earlier. “I know that’s why you’ve brought me here.”

She sucked in a lot of air.

“I do not know,” Jim admitted. “Hopefully after Fitz tells someone what really happened on the other planet he will process it and return from the fugue state he’s been in since he returned.”

Jemma sniffed. “I know. I’m horrible. I’m so wrapped up in the fact that Will didn’t make it back and is dead now…dead. I left him to die.”

“You did not leave him to die. He told you to go,” Jim gently reminded her, putting a hand on her arm. “He wished for you to live. You were never meant to be there, while he volunteered to go.”

“Why does that matter?” Jemma demanded, her eyes filling with more tears.

“I do not know. I’m not sure what to say if I am honest.”

“Oh, I know. You’re simply trying to comfort me, but—”

“What if what Fitz saw is best not for us to know?”

“Why should he carry the burden—”

“Loki will carry it as well.”

“Ward didn’t come back,” Jemma whispered. “Not that I am upset that he is either stuck there or perished, but whatever happened has to do with Ward. They played us against one another when they kidnapped us. I didn’t know what they did with Loki, till I found the frozen tube.”

“You let Loki out.”

“I also let Lash out.”

“I know, Jemma.”

“I let him out knowing what he’d do. I let him out to save myself.”

Jemma began to hyperventilate, so Jim grabbed her face and pulled her closer to him so all she could focus on was him. “And I am glad you did. Your parents are glad you did. Fitz is glad you did. The future is glad you did.”

“Would you have done that?”

“Yes.”

“You sound so sure and you’ve never been faced with that choice.”

“I’m a trained solider, Jemma. You are not. While I had never been to an actual battle before the day I died, I have ears. I heard tales, good and bad, of what occurs within the theater of war.”

Jemma looked impossibly sadder.

“You do what needs to be done to live, to remain alive. It might not be pretty, it might not be brave, it might be messy, but you do these things. Those HYDRA men would have done the same.”

“They wouldn’t have killed me.”

“Yes, they would have.”

Jemma stared at him, her eyes filling and spilling over silently to her already damp cheeks.

“Once you’d served your purpose, Malick would have had you killed. Because you would never be loyal to HYDRA, no matter what its goals.”

“That is true.”

“You are alive, Fitz is alive, and at some point, you will heal. Because you are human and that is how it works.”

“You sound so sure.”

“I died. I was left with horrible visions, horrible, crippling heartbreak. I healed. It took awhile, but I healed.”

Jemma nodded. “I keep forgetting.”

“And that’s good. It’s not worth remembering.”

Jim let go of her face as he heard the door behind him open and close. Loki stood there, looking bleak.

“What happened?” Jemma asked. “Did Fitz really kill Ward?”

“No. Will’s body was possessed by the thing HYDRA wanted to bring back, the thing that stalked the sands and killed people. This is worrying for varying reasons.”

“What?” Jemma squeaked, falling forward. Jim caught her before she face planted. “What do you mean that Will was possessed and it is worrying for varying reasons!?”

Loki crossed the room and took Jemma out of Jim’s arms and sat her back in the chair.

“Will died shortly after you left, running across…It.” Loki sneered, looking disgusted. “This…thing, It, is an Inhuman, one who wants to rule the world.”

“How do you know?” Jemma whispered.

“Malick told me after he apprehended us. Wanted me, as an Inhuman, to join in their glorious war.”

Loki scrunched his whole face up.

“You didn’t agree since he locked you up,” Jemma quietly said.

“Oh, no, I did agree. If I hadn’t, he would have had me killed on the spot as I was only useful if I was on his side. That is not important—”

“You did the frozen thing on purpose, you weren’t fully under whatever the gel does!”

“I did that before the gel was put in. I knew you or Fitz would find me if I put off enough cold.”

“How—oh.”

“Yes, not fully human or Inhuman,” Loki grinned grimly. “The gel didn’t fully work on someone who wasn’t fully Inhuman.”

“He told you his evil plans?” Jim faintly asked.

Jemma looked at him, but Loki didn’t move from his crouch in front of Jemma. He took her hands and gripped them hard, regaining her attention.

“He’s a bad guy, of course, he did. He thought he was close to getting what he wanted, so he was bragging. As a former villain, I know how good it feels to brag.”

Jemma made a choking noise. “You brag all the time.”

“True.”

“What did he tell you?” Jim requested.

“It was banished through the Monolith, as It wished to rule the world, by the other Inhumans. It came back to bite them when the Kree later showed up and started pushing the peaceful Inhumans through,” Loki chuckled darkly, looking down at his and Jemma’s hands. “HYDRA was founded in order to bring It back to bring forth the new world. They sent people through it regularly as offerings.”

Jemma made an inhuman choking noise while Jim grabbed onto the table.

“They didn’t call themselves HYDRA, did they?” Jemma asked.

“No. They called themselves Death.”

Jemma shuddered. Jim took a few steps closer and put a hand on her shoulder, looking down at Loki, who glanced at him before looking back at Jemma.

“The Monolith passed hands over the next several decades, till we know it to be in England, then it was lost once again until it was found somewhere in Mexico at the turn of the century.”

“Who got it then?”

“It fell into the hands of a faction of pre-HYDRA in America. It remained in American hands until it met its maker when we brought you back.”

“How did HYDRA become what we know it to be?” Jim inquired.

“Johann Schmitt,” Loki spat out. “He became a member of HYDRA and transformed it to his liking. The HYDRA to rise out of the ashes of World War II was a combination of the vision of Schmitt and what it originally was.”

“Every large organization has factions within it,” Jemma commented blankly. “What does this history lesson have to do with Fitz?”

“After the NASA mission, there were people within HYDRA that felt the mission failed, so they moved the Monolith to SHEILD and it was carted around on an airship carrier until we got a hold of it. Malick stated that once it went to SHIELD, he lost control over it and was unable to carry out HYDRA’s true mission: bringing back It.”

Jemma shuddered. “That thing isn’t…anything remotely human-like.”

“I know,” Loki assured. “I felt it anytime I was near the Monolith. It made itself known.”

Jemma snatched her hands out of Loki’s and hugged herself.

“What did Fitz do?”

“Nothing himself,” Loki admitted, sitting back on his heels. “Coulson…shot It.”

Jemma took a shuddering breath.

“It was not Will. It killed Will and took over his body, as It doesn’t have a body of its own anymore evidently. It pretended as it has access to the body’s knowledge.”

Loki scowled deeply.

“Oh, no.”

Jim realized where Loki was heading and sat down hard, missing the chair and winding up on the floor. Jemma did not take her eyes off Loki.

“Ward.”

“Coulson killed him and they left the body,” Loki stated clinically. “And his hand.”

Jim would have laughed if he hadn’t been dreading what Loki was going to say next.

“You think It took control of Ward’s dead body and managed to escape through the portal before it closed and we blew up the castle.”

“I think it made it through end of sentence,” Loki stated. “Do you think an explosion would stop it? And there are other dead bodies within the wreckage for it to take. Once It is in the body, it becomes living again, almost. The damage festers and shows metal in the wound. That is how Fitz realized Will wasn’t Will.”

Jemma put her hand over her mouth and began to hyperventilate. Loki moved forward and put his arms around her.

“This is…if I…if I hadn’t asked him…”

“Malick would still have opened a portal, still have brought It back. That was his goal. He collected bits of the Monolith, as HYDRA cut off bits of it so they’d always have bits if something happened to the larger Monolith. Remember the empty square parts?”

Jemma nodded, breath still hitching unnaturally. “I saw… the ones… he had.”

“He still would have done it, no matter what you had done, what Fitz had done. He’s been working to do this for more than sixteen years since he found the Monolith with NASA.”

“At least we know if we see Ward again, he’s a zombie,” Jim offered.

Jemma gave a hiccuping laugh and collapsed fully into Loki, finally breathing normally.

“Fitz didn’t realize till he was telling me,” Loki whispered. “I think you need to go to him. He needs you, Jemma.”

Jemma pushed herself off of Loki, wiped her face again with the now sopping wet handkerchief, before standing and striding out of the lab to where Fitz was located in the lounge.

“You’ve not told Coulson your fears.”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“He’s not in a good place, has not been since his hand was chopped off during our battle with the Afterlife faction,” Loki remarked, sitting down on the floor next to Jim. His long legs flopped out before him and he stared at his blue feet.

Loki never wore shoes anymore unless he had to.

“Are you going home, then?”

“For now, while we regroup. You will need to watch Coulson.”

Jim nodded.

“No need to make it obvious, just make sure he’s gotten revenge out of his system. When Ward appears one again, It will have Ward’s knowledge, but It will not be Ward. He will be a thousand times more dangerous.”

Loki shuddered. Jim gazed at him sadly.

“Oh, what the misled have wrought.”

“Precisely.”

Wish we could turn back time, to the good ol’ days / When our momma sang us to sleep but now we’re stressed out

-Twenty One Pilots, “Stressed Out”