Chapter Text
Chapter One
Loki was bored, and a bored Loki is never a good thing.
Usually confined to the 35th floor, Loki had discovered a way out a week ago and now that the Avengers, his keepers, were gone, some sort of mission on the other side of this rock, Loki was able to come and go as he pleased.
As he went floor to floor, examining the building, he was surprised to find someone left behind, working in a glass fronted laboratory-cum-office. She didn’t notice him and having been mostly alone for the four weeks he’d been here, Loki felt the need to be interact with someone; even if they just ended up trading insults, it was better than nothing.
The doors whooshed open almost silently and the woman looked up.
“Who’s there?” she asked.
Loki froze in place, wondering why her eyes focused near him rather than on him.
“Tony, if this is your idea of a joke, I’m not above hiding prawns in your Iron Man suit again.”
Loki kept perfectly still and after a few moments of listening intently, she evidently decided nothing was there and turned away.
“Jeeves, where are we on the simulation?”
‘The computer model has finished running, Dr Lang. The addition of vibranium decreased the efficiency by nine percent.’
“Okay,” she thought for a moment then began speaking softly to herself. “We need to find a way to stabilise the alloy and absorb the vibrations without losing its structural integrity. Maybe I’m going about this the wrong way. Jeeves,” she spoke up. “I want you to run the model again, this time with five, ten and fifteen percent lead alloys. It’s a soft metal, it should absorb some of the momentum.”
“Yes, Doctor.”
Loki watched, fascinated as she reached for a cardigan, her hand feeling around for it, rather than just grabbing it.
His luck here hadn’t been wonderful so far but things might just be changing. Not only did he have a way out of his prison, he evidently had discovered a blind inhabitant of the tower. This was perfect as it allowed him to be with someone else, without the tedious business of actually having to interact with them. Even better still was the fact she needed to talk to her computer rather than typing, it meant she spoke her thoughts aloud and that provided a nice background chatter for Loki.
He silently moved deeper into the room and found a chair, watching as his new pet, Dr Lang the computer had called her, crossed the lab to a kitchen area. She didn’t even have to feel her way, so clearly she was used to moving around in here.
He watched as she filled an electric kettle with one cup of water from the tap, then she reached for one of three canisters, tracing her fingers over something on the lid before she opened one and added a teabag to a slightly larger cup than the first one, then she made her way to the fridge and retrieved a carton of milk, sniffing it. The kettle boiled and she added the water, just the right amount to leave room for a dollop of milk still not risk spilling any.
Loki was impressed with her ingenuity, expecting the use of boiling water to be too difficult for someone without sight.
She went back to work and Loki listened intently, eventually learning that she was working on new form of metallic armour that would absorb shocks without transferring the energy to the person inside the armour. It was primarily for Tony Stark’s suits but could easily be used for an armoured vehicle.
“Okay, Jeeves,” the doctor stretched. “I want you to order a seven and nine percent aluminium alloy and the eleven percent lead and have them shipped to the testing lab. I want the progress reports and comparisons to pure vibranium, and alert me as soon as they’re typed up, don’t wait for them to be submitted.”
“Of course, Dr Lang.”
“Thanks, Jeeves.”
The doctor headed towards the door calling, “Come on, Buddy.”
A yellow dog approached her and nudged her leg.
“You okay?”
The dog barked softly but Loki could tell it wasn’t a real canine but a robotic entity designed to look like an animal.
Loki followed them out of the lab and took the elevator up to the thirty ninth floor, heading to a communal living area, much like the one on his floor. The whole way, the dog stayed by her side, just touching her leg with his body.
She got a glass out from a cabinet, less certain here than she had been in the small lab kitchen, then she made her way to a mini fridge and took some juice out. She turned to the glass but the side of her hand hit it, sending it crashing over and shattering against the marble counter top.
“Shit!” she cried, then took a few deep breaths. “Jeeves?”
‘Yes Dr Lang?’
“How broken is the glass?”
‘Analysing… The glass has shattered, into multiple pieces, I doubt you will be able to clear it up alone.’
“Is any of it on the floor?” she asked, and Loki realised her feet were bare.
‘No, the floor is safe to walk on.’
“Can you send the Dummys down to clean it up, please?”
‘They are on their way now.’
“Thank you, Jeeves.”
She unscrewed the spout on the juice carton and drank straight from the carton, then she put it away and felt around in the fridge.
“God damn it!”
‘Is something wrong, Dr Lang?’
“One of the uncaped crusaders ate my food again. How many times do I have to say ‘I’d like to learn to cook for myself so please don’t touch my food or I won’t know what everything is’ before it sinks in? Do they not realise I put brail labels on it for a reason?”
‘I can tell you what foods you have, Dr Lang,’ Jeeves offered.
“Thank you, but I’m actually trying to learnt to be more self-sufficient. Besides, my ham is gone and I wanted to make an omelette… Or maybe more of a quiche or Spanish omelette…”
The cooing sounds of Tony Stark’s robots sounded as they entered the room and Loki noticed they were mechanical arms labelled DUM-E and DUM-Y.
“Hey guys, can you clean this glass up for me?”
They cooed and the doctor took that as an affirmative.
“Thank you. Buddy and I are heading to the shop, we won’t be long.”
Loki followed them to her room down the hall where she attached a coat and harness to the dog, then she slipped into a pair of ballet flats, pulled a coat on and left. Loki went as far as the lobby but he couldn’t follow any further as he hadn’t learned to override the external building security yet. Once she had scanned her finger prints he could try and slip out with her, but there wasn’t much room in the revolving door compartments and he was almost certain to be discovered.
He wasn’t worried that this woman could harm him but he knew that if he harmed her, Thor and the others would never cease searching for him. His magic was still very weak, far too weak to be able to hide from Heimdall for very long.
“Jeeves?” he spoke to the building’s artificial intelligence as he sat on one of the reception chairs and waited for her to return.
‘Yes, Sir?’
Loki had used his magic to tamper with Jeeves programming so it now thought he was Tony Stark. Stark would never check up on his own movements, so he would never learn that Jeeves thought there were two of him. As for movements he recorded for Loki, he had Jeeves copy the first ten days of his movements, overwriting the dates so they appeared to be new data.
“Tell me about Dr Lang,” he instructed the new artificial intelligence.
‘What would you like to know?’
“Who is she, how old, where is she from, what does she do, why is she living here?”
‘She is 31 years old, from England. She is a robotics expert who was hired by SHIELD and she still works in that field, but for Stark Enterprises now. Mr Stark invited her to live here after she was wounded during a training exercise.’
“How long as she been unable to see for?”
‘Approximately eight months.’
“The robotic dog?”
‘You designed that for her, Mr Stark, when you realised there was a waiting list of more than a year to obtain a guide dog.’
“Why does it look like a canine?”
‘Because Dr Lang did not wish to draw attention to herself with a robotic dog. She said she finds it hard enough to navigate the world, without being stopped every five minutes by curious bystanders.’
“Who would be so uncouth as to stop a blind person attempting to go about her day?”
‘The buildings other occupants.’
“Ah yes, the innocent staff who had to be evacuated before dangerous me could come here,” Loki drawled. “So why is she blind?”
‘Her retinas detached following an accident.’
“So she has no sight at all!
‘She has no sight in one eye and only 7% in the other eye.’
“So she can see?”
‘Light or dark, very large shapes, but that is all.’
“After being so grievously injured, why is she here and not with her family?”
‘She is not close with her family.’
“Why not?”
‘Her father is in the Army and was stationed abroad for much of her childhood. Dr Lang was sent to boarding school and often spent the holidays with her friends and their families.’
It must kill such an independent woman to suddenly be unable to do basic tasks, he mused.
She returned soon, carrying a net bag of shopping. She placed her hand on the scanner, moving it around until she found the correct place and it beeped, then the revolving door sprang to life, turning until her compartment was inside and she walked across the marble lobby. Loki noticed that the dog seemed to guide her directly towards a lift, leaning closer to her to adjust her direction slightly. She felt around on the wall until she found the call button and heard the soft ding that signified an elevator had been called. Since the building had been evacuated for Loki’s arrival, the elevator hadn’t moved and the doors opened immediately. Loki slipped into the carriage at the same time and watched as she felt the buttons, then pressed 39.
He wondered how she knew which buttons to press.
“I don’t know who you are,” she suddenly announced to the elevator. “But if you follow me around tomorrow and don’t introduce yourself, I will be pissed and will not be held responsible for my actions.”
Loki wondered how she knew he was here, he was naturally stealthy, after all, and could sneak up on anyone.
Was she was bluffing, he wondered. She didn’t say anything more so he assumed she was bluffing. Regardless, he didn’t follow her out when the lift stopped at her floor.
***
Loki sat in his rooms that night, pondering the woman he’d seen today. Something about her intrigued him, her spirit, but then again, being blind wasn’t the worst thing that could happen. Why he doubted he’d be breaking glasses after one day, let alone eight months.
Loki wasn’t a braggart like his brother though, he liked to test his superiority to make sure and to this end, he fetched a towel from his bathroom and secured it around his face. It wasn’t easy but it did render him blind, although like the doctor, he could still tell that it was light.
He made his way out of the bathroom but his confidence that he knew these rooms like the back of his hand was quickly shattered when his shoulder brushed the door frame. No matter how confident he wished to be, he couldn’t stop holding his hands before him after that.
Next his toe knocked into something, making him hiss in pain and hop for a few moments. He should have kept his boots on, he admitted. He thought he had knocked into the end of the couch but as he put his hands out to feel what was around him, he felt no leather. He widened his search, his hands clamouring for a surface he recognised but he found none.
Panic began to seep in, what if he wasn’t in his room any longer? Something he touched fell and shattered, but what? His hand felt a plant but he didn’t have any plants in his room. He must be somewhere else, but where? And how? And-
He ripped the towel off and looked around him.
He was still in his rooms, but somehow he was over by the window, and there was indeed a potted plant there that he had forgotten about. He had thought he was still over by the bathroom, ten feet from his present location. No wonder he hadn’t known where he was.
The vase on a decorative table had also been shattered.
So much for it being simple. He wasn’t even truly blind and yet he had felt panic. How much worse must it be for Dr Lang, and she didn’t even have the comfort that she could remove her towel and regain her vision.
His respect for her grew and he was determined to find out more about her.