A God Can Hold His Liquor - Part 38: Duplicates
Summary: Loki’s mission is straight-forward. Take your duplicate to the police station in London. A simple task for an ethereal being with genius-level intellect. You have every confidence and trust in him to execute on his mission. And his intention was to carry out the plan, it truly was… until he bumps into an old friend, and he’s forced to think on his feet. Pairing: Loki x Female Reader (reads like an OC) Words: 3,200 Warnings: Surprisingly, this is somewhat PG. Pure comfort, really. And Loki having self-awareness and an unexpected therapy session. Contains: Fluff and hugs and self-love and Loki being good to himself.
A/N: At the bottom of the chapter, you’ll find the inspiration behind Loki’s disguise. ***
“I see you brought the girl.”
Loki stopped walking. You were in an abandoned underground tunnel in London, known to Loki from his familiarity when the transportation system was built several centuries prior. It was the logical route to the city after Heimdall beamed down the God to a rural location with the sole purpose to remain undetected. Only in the darkest recesses of Loki’s mind had he imagined the only drawback to his plan of traversing London’s underpasses. The only possible risk. And it stood in front of him.
He saw a large imposing figure of a man, dressed in black, his back turned to them, disguised by a large shadow. Instinctively, Loki reached for her hand and held it tightly. Slowly, the figure turned. His pale face broken up only by pink lips which curled into a snarl. His index finger raised, juxtaposing an otherwise clenched fist. “You brought her. Why?”
The girl whispered. “I’m frightened, Mr. Loki.”
“I know, little one. I know.” He stood in front of her, effectively shielding her with his body. He looked back at the tiny duplicate human. “He won’t hurt you.”
The figure chuckled. “Well that hasn’t exactly been decided now, has it.”
Loki looked at the man in front of him. His duplicate. The one he hadn’t seen since the day he teleported you and him to Asgard.
Loki’s Double pointed. “She is the reason I’m here. Their news media launched a campaign calling for my head. A search swept this entire wretched planet.” He swept his arm open theatrically. “And you, nowhere to be seen. I mean to rule this world, not burrow in it. I tire of scuttling in shadows, grow weary of hiding in dark places.”
Loki cocked his head at his mirror image. He’s so incredibly angry. Bitter. Cold. He continued to observe as his double continued his tirade.
“And you have the audacity to return with the very reason I am in hiding. I am here, skulking in tunnels as those ghastly Midgardians assume I am the one who took the girl. All the while, it was you who kidnapped her and I am paying for your mistakes. You are no different than father who you insist you despite so much.”
Loki spoke earnestly, his hand on his chest, long fingers spread. “I’m sorry. For leaving you here to contend with the consequences of my decisions. I should not have. It was wrong. Please forgive me.”
Loki’s Double scoffed and tilted up his chin arrogantly. “You were a warrior. Skilled in battle. A wise sorcerer, trained by the very best and feared by beings throughout the Nine Realms and beyond. Now look at you. Pathetic. I wonder what happened on Asgard to turn you so soft. Was it that woman.” He cocked his head. “Oh it was.”
Loki used his right arm to secure her behind him. She cowered, holding onto one of his legs. “No. This isn’t her. This is her duplicate.”
Loki’s Double cackled. “This is a jest, is it not? First you completely exhaust yourself creating me, then you repeat the process with your precious mortal. You are so enamored with her you created a duplicate?” He clicked his tongue, walking towards Loki. “Loki of Asgard, look how far you’ve fallen.”
“I have not fallen anywhere. Fallen in love perhaps, but…”
“Love? That’s what you call it? Leaving me here, paying for your errors, while you are in the realm eternal, feasting on all the delicacies Asgard has to offer, playing the hero no doubt, and gallivanting with the girl and being – ”
“Loved.” Loki spoke flatly. “I was in Asgard being loved.” He looked at his double. His former self. Void of affection and touch and compassion. Angry at the world. Entitled. Craving a crown to fill the void inside of him that threatened to eat him alive. Loki let go of the girl and stepped forward, reaching out to his double. He received a strong push backwards, his boots scuffing on grimy concrete. Loki put up his hands in surrender. “It is not my wish to fight you. Rather, I wish to….” He sighed. The man in front of him wore heavy armour. Loki decided a hug was perhaps not the best decision. “Okay, look. You’re angry. You have every right to be. But I need your help.”
Another scoff from his double. Loki continued.
“I realise you will want to know what’s in it for you. The benefit is a way out of this burrow. So. Let us place our differences aside. And let me tell you about this plan.”
***
“You remember your lines, yes?”
She glanced around the tube station, bustling with commuters. “I don’t like it here. It freaks me out.”
At least she’s starting to sound a little more like… like her original.
I wonder how she is. Back on Asgard. I trust Sif and Thor are treating her well.
He pulled her close as a stern woman in red-rimmed glasses and a tight up-do pushed past, her travel card beeping against the barriers. “Yes, it’s – it’s very busy. But I understand she lives – you live – outside of the city limits. It will be much quieter in your family’s home.”
With a strong arm around her waist, he led her through the tube station and out into the bustling streets of London. The sounds of traffic and talking and music assaulted them the moment they stepped into the capital. The musty smell of rain on the concrete. Damp. Filthy. Loki reached out to a stout woman wearing a head covering handing out free newspapers. He held the grey paper over the duplicate’s head as they walked through the streets.
Isn’t it supposed to be summer? Odd weather for July.
“Are you alright, little one?”
She smiled. “Yeah. But it’s weird seeing you like that.”
Loki wore a navy blue flat cap and sported a short white beard. His usually elegant fingers now covered by knitted fingerless gloves. A tattered brown trench coat almost drowned him, and underneath lay a tight waistcoat with a button missing.
“Yes. I know. And I’m afraid I must make another change shortly. I will be forced to alter my voice when we arrive at the police station.” He gave a sympathetic smile. “You do remember what to say, yes? And how it’s different to what we practiced on Asgard?”
“Yeah. And those, umm… the false memories you implanted, when will I get those?”
“Soon. And your personality will filter through within the next day or so. For now, we’ll put it down to shock.”
He walked her up the steps of the police constabulary. At the top, she squeezed his hand. “I don’t want to go in.”
He felt a clenching in his stomach that he could not name. He raised curled fingers to his lips. “I understand this is frightening for you. But I will stay as long as they permit me to. And I… I promise I won’t leave until your family and friends arrive.”
“Okay. But… I’m going to miss you.”
Loki noticed a fizzing sensation in his nose, right before his eyes began to water. Despite being in public, he risked it and hugged her. “Right. We have to assume our roles now.”
They walked into the station and reached the counter, greeted by a sullen ashen-faced man with heavy bags under his eyes. Greeted was a generous description. The man’s eyes remained fixed on his phone. He spoke in a thick Cockney accent. “Take a numba, sit darn, coffee machine in the back next to the loos.”
Loki spoke in an equally thick east-end tone. “Ere, int this that gal you were lookin’ fowah?”
The girl bit her lip on hearing his tone, stifling a laugh.
The counter man – Colin, according to his badge – looked up. “Bleedin’ ‘ell. Where you find ‘er then?”
“She were wunderin’ rarnd the station. Couldda got picked up by any dodgy ol’ geeza.”
“Yeah awight, awight.” Colin moved aside a stained, cracked mug, full of tea that resembled treacle in both colour and consistency. “Nigel! Ay, Nige! They found ‘er! The girl!!”
Within sixty seconds ten police officers surrounded her and pushed away the old man they believed brought her to safety.
“Ere! Be careful! Been through a lot, she ‘as. Can tell by lookin’ at ‘er.” Loki called out as a burly officer blocked him. He saw the girl’s eyes pleading with him. “Look I’m stickin’ ararnd. Don’t trust you lot.”
“Please! Please, I trust him,” your duplicate called out.
After much grumbling, the City of London police officers permitted Loki to accompany the young woman to a private room for questioning. The line of questioning started. Where had Loki taken her? How had she been missing all this time? Precisely what did the big-bad-intergalactic-war-criminal want from her? Why?
The girl knew her lines. She explained she remained with Loki during the time she was missing. He scooped her up off the streets of New York, before they were banged into a SHIELD cell, and she escaped with him. They hid in his bunker and remained undetected underneath the thick concrete of Manhattan. And that’s where she stayed.
When the campaign launched to find her, she explained how Loki became restless. “I think he was… afraid. Of harming me. And keeping me away from my family. He.... felt sad about it, I think. We… we get on really well you see.” She looked over at the real Loki, still disguised as an old man from London’s East End. “Then recently, he teleported us to London. Using a blue thing. It’s gone now. I don’t remember where. But I think he was trying to bring me back home. As I said, he liked me. He was kind to me. We sort of… got along.”
Excellent work, little one. Loki thought, knowing nobody could hear him. Now they will believe the Tesseract is on Midgard.
“You trust him?” An officer asked.
“Yeah. Yeah, I do.”
“Classic case of Stockholm Syndrome,” a woman with glasses in the corner piped up from her notes, pen hovering to jot down her psychoanalytic theory.
“Who brought in the shrink?” The officer frowned, irritated. A detective shrugged.
After an hour of this, during which Loki had to school his expression and prevent his eyes rolling into the back of his head at the tedium of it all, he observed the girl. Her shoulders were no longer hunched up tight. Her breathing relaxed. She smiled more. More time passed, and soon old-man-Loki was escorted to a private room to talk about the reward. “Well I ain’t got no bank accarnt, don’t trust ‘em. Cash or nuffink fellas.”
As he expected, this request bought him time. Eventually, the officers returned with cash for him in an unmarked bag. Loki left the station, hiding the money in his Seidr pocket, and transforming himself into a DPD driver, busying himself with boxes. He remained outside the station, transforming into various different forms to remain undetected, stopping only when a large group rushing into the station, wailing and yelling. He looked through the glass entrance of the station. The girl was surrounded by family and friends, hugging her. She smiled.
With a flash of green, Loki transformed into himself. Black hair, Asgardian armour and all. She looked at him through the glass. She waved and smiled. In a flash, a new disguise appeared.
She would never know that Loki followed her to their home, stopping only when the family sat down in the front room with cups of tea, biscuits, hugs and smiles.
***
“You came.”
“I said I would.”
Loki faced his double, still lurking in the tunnels under the City of London.
“What’s that?” his double asked.
“Oh! It’s a bag, they insist on handing out these ghastly pieces of plastic with every purchase. Do you know it takes four centuries for it to biodegrade?”
“Yes. Mortals are ridiculous and pathetic. And weak.”
“That’s a little unfair.” He reached into the carrier bag and fished out a sandwich, a bag of crisps, a bottle of water, a sausage roll still warm from the well-known UK bakery, as well as a chocolate chip muffin. “The food is ghastly here. I apologise in advance.” Loki handed the items to his double, who now cradled an armful of food. “Oh! But you must try this. It’s referred to as ‘coffee.’ I assure you, it’s absolutely wonderful.”
The double frowned. “You brought me sustenance. Why?”
“You must be ravenous.” He watched his double’s body language, cautious and untrusting. With a flick of his wrist, Loki conjured a side table, followed by a Midgardian sofa and two armchairs. He shrugged. “I saw the furniture in displayed in a large outlet on my way here, I thought it may be more comfortable for you. Here, why don’t we place the food on the – ”
Loki’s double grabbed the sausage roll and bit into it aggressively, pastry crumbling at his mouth as his eyes watered at the sensation of food entering his system. Loki simply gave him a nod as he ate, sitting on the sofa in soft silence. Without too much persuading, his double sat down on the armchair next to the table of food. Within ten minutes, all that remained were empty wrappers. Loki handed him the coffee. Reluctantly, the double accepted it. Loki smiled as his double tasted his favourite drink for the first time.
***
“Tell me again about this embrace you speak of.”
Loki’s double sat next to him on the sofa, leaning back, his foot raised up to rest against his knee. Three hours had passed. Loki explained everything to him. The truth. Of you. Of Asgard. Of your duplicate. Of the simple plan to hand her over to authorities. And how it had changed.
“Well, perhaps she could show you. The embrace you desire.”
Loki Two shook his head. “I wish to at least know what I am doing prior to that eventuality.”
“Very well, my magnificent double. Stand.”
Loki’s double rose to the worn soles of his leather boots. He clasped his hands behind his back. “Very well. Do your worst.”
Loki rolled his eyes playfully. “It’s straight-forward. It simply involves placing your arms around another, as they do the same.” He placed his arms around the stiff and unyielding body in front of him, hugging him tightly. His squeeze was not returned by his duplicate, stubborn arms pinned down beside him. “No no, you have to return the embrace, that’s the whole point of it. Come, place your arms around me.”
“This is… odd.” The duplicate didn’t move an inch.
Loki leaned back. “Very well. The theory is, it’s about trust. It comes from a time where exposing one’s torso,” he gestured to his own, “placed one in a vulnerable position.”
“They would stab you.”
“Yes – quite. However, it’s present day. Nobody’s stabbing anyone.”
“You no longer use your daggers?”
“Well yes I do – I just, I suppose… it’s complex. Suffice to say, the embrace is symbolic.”
The double scowled. “To risk maiming by a stranger. In what realm does that hold logic? Why on earth would I do that?”
“To be loved.” Loki looked around the dank tunnel. He shrugged. “And at least to make your way out of here. Now. Come.” He placed his arms around his duplicate once more. He rested his chin on his double’s shoulder. His inhaled and exhaled, slowly, several times.
Come on, Loki.
I know you can do this.
By the Norns, you can.
You’re me, for Odin’s sake.
And if I can overcome my own arrogance, by all accounts so can you.
Come on, Loki. For the love of Thor and all things sacred.
For mercy’s sake, just do it.
Loki took a deep breath in. And let go.
Fine. Fine. You don’t want to. Or you’re not able to. It’s alright. If I were you, I wouldn’t want to, either. I abandoned you. I left you. And I am sorry. I love you, Loki. I always will. No matter what you choose.
As Loki relaxed into the body of his duplicate, he felt an unexpected sensation.
The feeling of strong leather-clad arms embracing him.
***
“And you are absolutely certain their authorities will not capture me and lock me in a cell for all eternity?”
“For the final time, no they will not. I sowed the seed when I handed her to the charming man at the constabulary. And. It’s been three days. News moves quickly in their realm. The dust has proverbially settled.”
The two Gods walked down the pavement casually, the duplicate casting a disgusting look at two youths frolicking past them, dancing in front of their phones and speaking to each other crudely.
To the outside world the two men appeared as generic City of London bankers, thanks to Loki’s Seidr. A gift his duplicate did not possess, along with his longevity.
“Wait.” His double stopped, placing an outstretched arm over his protector’s stomach. He turned to him. “What if she despises me? What if the very sight of me causes her insides to contort? I’m hardly what one would call – ”
“Do not speak that way of yourself.” He smoothed down the lapels of his duplicate’s Saville Row suit. “You are wonderful, Loki Laufeyson.” He ignored the suspicious glance of a passing teen, chewing gum and pushing a buggy.
“Very well. But there is no guarantee she will warm to me in the same way your lady love has done with you on Asgard.”
Three days. Three days with me and he’s already softened.
“My love’s duplicate, she spent some time with us in the forests of Asgard. We were the only ones she’s known. When I brought her to Midgard, understandably she did not wish for me to leave. She knows you are not me, per say… but the physical reminder of me may conjure enough comfort until genuine affection builds between you. And besides. You are both duplicates of two souls who are very much in love in what some may call a realm-changing love story.”
The double pursed his lips together, his mouth fighting against the urge to break into a shit-eating grin. “And, pray tell me, precisely how soon after I fall in love shall I expect to lose the use of my cognitive abilities and rational thinking?”
“At least you have your sense of humour. That’s something. Now. You’re ready, I assume?”
The duplicate’s arms spread into an over-confident gesture. “Positively brimming with enthusiasm.”
After passing through a bus stop, Loki’s hands tingled with Seidr. In a flash of green, his Saville-Row-suited duplicate was dressed in fine Asgardian leather.
Loki sat at the bus stop, newspaper in hand, as he watched his duplicate walk up the steps to her home and hesitate on the threshold, his hand lifting several times before he mustered the courage to knock on the door.
He watched the scene unfold, your duplicate and his duplicate, reunited in the front room of your family’s home. He remained on watch until the sun went down.
[ NEXT PART ]
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Loki’s disguise:
SURPRISE MOTHERFUCKERS!!!!
