Part 3: Chapter 1 - Plans

Maria and Nick discovered that the war room couldn't contain the level of hostility and inflated egos that Loki, the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy packed into it. So, they banished everyone but the academics from the room. Rocket nominated himself to stay, declaring he was the smartest of the Guardians. Maria also stayed to keep an eye on things; and by providing Tony, Bruce, Rocket and Loki with a ton of sugary treats, she managed to reduce the initial bickering to a mildly tense, yet workable, collaboration that went on for hours.

Maria sat back, taking a break from the satellite scans. She was tired, achy and needed a few minutes to rest her eyes and unclutter her thoughts. This did not stop her from spying over at the boys seated at the workstations in the back corner. They'd swiveled their chairs to form their own circle.

"If we can't find a single one of his ships," Loki said with a black licorice in hand poised for the biting, "he must have the fleet cloaked."

Tony groaned, putting down his cola to rub at his neck. "Then we're screwed." He held up his hand, beckoning with a head jerk for Loki to toss him some licorice.

"Not really," Loki assured him and frisbee flung the box at him. "At least if they're cloaked, the shields will be down to conserve power."

Bruce spoke around a mouthful of chocolate-covered peanuts, his lips, cheeks and jaws contorting to make the words without choking or losing any of the prized morsels. "We camph shoot at um—" cough, cough "—if we camph find um."

"I'm not suggesting we attempt to shoot them down," Loki clarified, "as that would be extremely difficult. I think we should board the command ship and do damage from within."

"How hard did Thor hit you?" Rocket goaded Loki. "No one gets close to Thanos until he wants them to." He stood on the chair, waiting until Tony looked away to hop onto the table and snatch up the last piece of strawberry taffy from his hoard of treats.

A licorice piece hung out the corner of Tony's mouth, bobbing and swaying with his words as he addressed Loki. "So, if we just needed to get close enough, how would we do it?" The licorice fell then, landing in his lap.

Rocket tore at the taffy's wrapping. "Well, if we find the right frequency, the Milano's sensors can detect their cloaking shields. Gamora lived most of her life on those ships. She could know which band of frequencies they use." Having freed his prize, the raccoon popped the chewy clump into his mouth.

Bruce argued, "Alright. That might work, but even if we find him, Thanos is going to be on alert."

Tony added, "And our intel says the Purple People Eater is damn near immune to all attack options."

The trickster shrugged. "We'll have to get creative. Surely there's some force bigger and more destructive than him in the cosmos."

"Right. Where's a black hole when you need one, eh?" Rocket joked while scratching at the pink goopy strings clinging to his sharp teeth. "If you can't beat 'em—send 'em into a crushing vacuum of death." Maria noted the sudden silence that fell over the others as the raccoon laughed. "Of course, the nearest black hole is like sixteen hundred light years from Earth. So…"

Stark sat forward in his chair, his features tensing with purpose and eyes shifting as if sorting through possibilities. "Loki, any chance one of your hidden passages goes near that black hole?"

"No. Not even close."

"The bifrost?"

Loki frowned. "It needs a solid, stable target to lock onto. A black hole is neither."

"Then how do we get him there?" Tony pondered aloud.

"Wait," Bruce chimed in. "You're really going to try and trap Thanos in a black hole? Come on, Tony. The theory is cool in concept, but that's too far to push or pull his ship—let alone his whole fleet. We don't have the means."

Tony appeared to be listening, but he had yet to lose the determined look. He picked up the piece of licorice almost forgotten in his lap. He turned it within his fingers, seeming to study its long, hollow shape. "Wormhole," he said. "We'll create a temporary wormhole."

"Nice," Rocket declared with an evil grin. "Tell me we're gonna build something." He began to wring his clawed hands and winked at Maria when he caught her gaze.

"We'll what?" Bruce challenged with widening eyes.

Loki silenced the scientist with a reassuring gesture. "Asgard has pledged their assistance. Though they won't give it up entirely, we could collect some energy from the tesseract. If focused and directed accurately, that energy will move just about anything we want as far as we want."

"Right. Good. That's our plan. I'll call Thor." Tony headed for the door, tapping Bruce on the shoulder in passing. "Get Selvig and Foster on a conference call. I'd like their input before we rip a giant hole through space."

Bruce went along with Tony, casting out doubtful remarks between catastrophic predictions.

Rocket stuffed handfuls of candy, a wireless mouse and a couple pens into his pockets. He jumped down, making it to the door then turning back to Loki, who remained in his chair. "Hey, you're not coming?"

"I'm neither a scientist nor an engineer," the prince stated.

"So?" Rocket shrugged. "At least you're not a complete moron; and, from what I hear, your morals are a little shaky. We should get along great."

Maria laughed a bit louder than she'd intended, drawing both their gazes.

"I'll be along," Loki said. "Don't let Stark blow up anything."

"Now that I can't promise. Blowing stuff up is half the fun." With that said, the enhanced rodent strolled out the doors.

"I don't think I approve of your new bestie," Maria was quick to tease.

Loki stood, crossing the space to her side. "What's a bestie?"

"A best friend."

"Oh." His gaze swept over the workstations riddled with wrappers and the remnants of the candy piles. "Given his tendency for insults and thievery, I doubt Rocket's offer of friendship is genuine."

"He's an opportunist—like you."

"Exactly."

They weren't alone. A few technicians manned key workstations around the room. Certainly someone would be sneaking peeks, gathering intel to entice the gossips. The agency grapevine had to be abuzz with the truth of the scandalous affair. The personnel couldn't help it. S.H.I.E.L.D. trained them to be busy bodies.

Spying the tech's looks, Loki glowered in return. "Can we go somewhere more private?"

Maria pushed back the chair, realizing that she shouldn't have been stationary for so long. She struggled to get her bulky, aching frame to a standing position until Loki hooked an arm around and eased her onto her feet.

"God, I am so tired."

"Well, my mortal," he commented with a cheeky air, "it's been a lengthy day."

Being called his mortal was both vexing and oddly flattering, which further demonstrated Maria's mixed up emotional state. Though tempted to set Loki straight about his lack of true godliness and her unwillingness to treat him as such, Maria decided that wasn't a conversation for right then. She started for the exit. He caught up with her, matching her stride down the long corridor full of leering, whispering people.

"They're all taking this so personally."

Maria glanced at him, curious to hear more on what he was thinking, but he didn't continue. In fact, his features hardened and focus locked straight ahead like he was actively ignoring the lot of them and their disdain. They were heading in the general direction of the workshop, yet Maria pulled him into her office when they reached it along the path. He had asked for some privacy after all. Surely the team could manage without them for a few minutes.

Her new office was much smaller than her last, but that was to be expected with a demotion. She'd barely managed to fit her couch from the old space into this one. She eyed the piece of furniture for a moment, deciding to avoid the frustration of getting down and back up. Instead, Maria sat on the edge of her desk while Loki took in the cramped surroundings. She didn't know if he still suffered some form of claustrophobia from his confinement in Thanos's machine, but he did seem a bit uneasy as he wandered.

"Whatcha thinking about?"

He turned from his fleeting inspection of her bookcase filled with work-related manuals to study her expression. "Honestly?"

"Yes. Please be honest."

He stepped closer, hesitating before also sitting on the edge of the desk. "I think I should go, and you should come with me."

With a rush of mild dread, Maria reached over, taking his hand. "Why?"

"Their plan is folly. We'll be killed or recaptured."

"We won't. You're just scared."

"Don't say that." He tried to pull his hand from her grip. Maria held on, refusing to release him. "Come with me, for our son's sake."

"I'm not abandoning my people, my friends," she declared, growing angry.

"What friends?" he chided. "I see their disgust when they look at you, at our child. They'd rather the baby die than be raised under my influence."

Once more, Loki proved to be her tormentor. The possible truth in his words stung and raged so deeply within her heart that they brought instant tears to her eyes. Why couldn't he just cooperate, have a little faith, and give them all a chance to trust him?

Because he's Loki.

He gave a heavy sigh, rubbing at his chest through the leather. "Damn necklace," he uttered. "You should take it off already."

No way, she thought. If he insisted on hurting her, Loki deserved to feel it too. How better to drive home the lesson that every decision he made affected others?

"What's wrong with their plan?" she asked, trying to redirect his thoughts. He started to rise, so Maria hopped off, turning to block and pin him against the desk. Of course, he could easily break free if he grew desperate enough. "You called it folly. Why?"

"I've seen the command ship's engines in action."

She nodded, coaxing him to go on.

"Even if they manage to get close undetected, there's still a strong possibility the ship can move away before the wormhole fully forms."

"Alright," she said, accepting his words if not his determination that the plan was useless. "This is why we need you. Help them get it right."

He seemed to come to some decision while making another agitated rub at his chest. He plucked a tissue out of the box resting near her laptop computer, offering it to her. She wiped at her eyes and nose, but didn't step away to drop the tissue into the garbage can for fear he'd take advantage of the distraction and scamper off.

"If I stay, can I have the charm back?"

She shook her head. "No. It was mine to begin with."

"I thought not," he said with a low growl and looked away.

Maria dropped the clumped wad onto the desk. She wanted to cheer him if possible and dared to place a soft, sweet smooch on the corner of his mouth. He leaned away as if determined not to give in to her affections and was forced to re-perch on the edge. Maria pressed her stomach into his lap and pecked a few kisses into the warmth of his neck for good measure.

"This isn't the best time to flirt with me," he grumbled, using her earlier rebuke. The reversal wouldn't have been as hurtful if she wasn't emotionally compromised.

"Fine." She moved back with a pang of disappointment. "Maybe if we don't die later, I can get you into a more amorous mood."

He smirked. "I didn't agree to provide services of a sexual nature with my contract."

Asshole, Maria thought, but didn't voice it. "You're exhausting," she admitted.

"And you try too hard."

She assumed it wasn't a good time to throw out their running joke about harder being better.

"I don't like being controlled or managed," Loki insisted. "I thought you'd have figured that out by now."

"I'm trying to make this mess work. Maybe I hoped you'd grow up a little and help me!"

Various parts of her ached and the escalating stress wasn't helping. The baby started in with some light kicking, leading Maria to believe that he really was affected by hers and Loki's moods. She held out her hand in an attempt to silence Loki then moved to the couch to sit, cradling her stomach and taking in long draws of air.

"What have you done to him now?" Loki looked on with what might have been concern, yet he kept his distance.

"Me? Nothing. He doesn't like us fighting," Maria explained, her tone still strained with anger. "He's overly sensitive—like his father."

Loki's eyes narrowed and jaws clenched. He took time to choose his words. "Why must I play this game by your rules? It's my life. I wish to have a say in how I live it. Plus, you have an unfair advantage."

She didn't know if he was referring to the baby, the charm or something else. Nonetheless, he was accusing her of manipulating him, of which she was guilty. She did try to control and manage him as he'd pointed out earlier. Such was in her character and training.

The baby continued to fidget making Maria feel a bit desperate to end the confrontation. She really couldn't afford another broken bone or worse. Time to throw in the towel, she decided and reached back to release the clasp on the chain. "Here," she said, holding out the necklace to him. "Take it and go." With the other hand, she touched her stomach in emphasis. "We're done."

A bit in shock, Loki made a hesitant step forward to collect the offering. "Maria, I—"

"Do whatever you want," she interrupted with a dismissive wave of her arm. "I expected too much. I trusted you too much. I'm sorry I cared. I'm just a twit mortal anyway, right?"

He stood frozen, his eyes drifting from the charm in hand to her flushed features and then down to her stomach. Anger, pain and probably even some fear and sadness plagued his pale blue eyes. She'd just given him what he wanted, yet satisfaction didn't touch his demeanor at all. None of it mattered. He'd made his intentions clear.

"Goodbye, Maria," he uttered, backing to the door. He went invisible, slipping out the door and leaving it wide open with his departure.

Maria wiped her wet eyes, determined to erase the evidence before reporting to the others. None of them would be surprised, of course. She was the fool in this fairy tale, bewitched by an unruly wizard prince. If they survived the Mad Titan, the Avengers and her fellow agents could heckle her all the way into early retirement if not prison.

God, you're dramatic, she chastised herself. Get a grip.

She attempted to rise from the couch, but it was low and her body weary. Loathing the idea of calling for assistance, Maria decided to rest a bit. She laid her head on the back of the couch, closing her eyes and rubbing at her stomach. In the passing moments, the baby's movements calmed into more like flutters, reassuring her that letting Loki go had been the best decision.