King Loki

Chapter 30
Cephera took her free time to escape both of the men in her life. In just one short week she was ready to hang them both. It was clear Loki didn't want her away from his side and the jealousy was showing through. Krystoff was no better, attempting to hijack her in the middle of hallways when she finally managed to find herself alone.
The verbal battles between the two men was wrought with underlining insults that were made to sounds like compliments. It was frustrating to listen to.
She escaped to Tony's room. She no longer had to inform Loki when she was going to see Tony. She had free reign, no permission or heads up needed.
"Hey Tony," Cephera smiled at her friend.
"Everytime that door opens, it kind of makes me half excited." Tonys comment made her roll her eyes.
"Get used to it. I'll be seeing a lot more of you." She told him. "I've been given the freedom to come see you whenever I like, for as long as I like." She smiled proudly.
"Even better," Tony waved her over. "I've got a plan." He rubbed his hands together and pulled out a few sheets of paper he'd hidden under his desk.
"You trust me enough to share it with me?" She was surprised. She'd thought since her relationship with Loki was clearly not one of espionage, that no one would trust her. It had been a fear of hers.
"I've known you long enough to know you're still a loyal friend." Tony's smile was genuine, no sign of sarcasm in his tone.
"That's a relief." She meant it. She'd been worried she might have turned away her friends. "So what's this plan of yours?" She asked, curious. She wasn't surprised that Tony was still seeking ways to overthrow Loki.
Tony unfolded the papers and displayed them side by side on the desk. She couldn't really tell what it was. By the dimensions it was a fairly small device. "Time travel," Tony told her after given her a moment to behold his sketches.
"Really?" Cephera questioned, skeptical that such a thing were even possible. "Have you gone mad in this room?" She added pursing her lips and crossing her arms.
"No more than the usual crazy." Tony replied with a charming smile.
"If Loki finds out, then what? What about Pepper? I just managed to arranged something better for the two of you." Cephera didn't like this plan. If Loki had proof that Tony was attempting to build anything that could be used against him, Loki would surely punish Tony.
"You're missing the point of time travel. To change one event to ripple through the ages and change everything." His reminder didn't bring her comfort. This was something she felt Loki absolutely didn't need to know. Even if he didn't punish Tony, he might use the device for himself.
She cared for Loki, and she felt he cared for her, but given the choice he might just use this for his own means. If this could work, which Cephera doubted, Loki could go back and fix the mistakes he made and make conquering Earth more smooth. Cephera felt that the effort he had to put in to claim the Earth is what has somewhat humbled the King.
"How do you know it will even work? You can't officially test it." She shook her head. Was Tony so desperate to risk his life along with everyone he loved. If he failed, if his device didn't work, he would cause his own ripple affect of disaster.
"Five years ago no one believed in magic, now look at us. If magic is possible, why isn't time travel," Tony took his sketches of the time device and hid them away.
"Tony I've lived among people who can do magic, and time travel is not something people just snap their fingers and do. Messing with the fabric of time is..., foolish. So many things could go wrong." Cephera sighed. She was worried. "Besides, no one has ever actually achieved time travel."
"That we know of," Tony winked at her, his hopes were clearly high.
"Fine, if it were possible, what will you do? At what point in time will you go? Can you control that?" Cephera sat down, deciding to at least humour him.
"Imagine knowing Loki was coming before he got here. Stopping him the moment he came for the Tesseract." Tony sat in his own chair to face her.
"Wasn't he working for someone? If Loki fails that mission, what about those who'll come after to finish the job?" She asked.
"See..., now you're thinking." Tony grinned. "Loki was working for someone according to Thor, what ever happened to him anyway?"
"His father came and took him back to Asgard. Apparently too much was happening in the rest of the universe for Odin to care about what was happening here." Cephera knew very little about that topic and now that she was talking to Tony, she was realizing she knew very little about everything."
"Good thing I never counted on him anyhow." Tony scratched his goatee. "Back to the question at hand, you raise a good point. Who was Loki working for and what are they capable of?" Tony pondered the thought. "You need to put that relationship of yours to better use." Tony tutted.
"He doesn't talk about the past often and now with Krystoff here...,"
"Krystoff? Your former lover." Cephera nodded. "There must be an awful lot of testosterone going around now." Tony sounded amused. He knew about the many troubles she'd had with Krystoff over the years. Tony was like the big brother she never had, and she told him just about everything.
"You have no idea. Everyday is like a pissing contest. I'm pretty sure my unlimited access to you is Loki's way of trying to stay one step ahead of Krystoff." Cephera sighed.
"Well that can be an advantage. Look I know your all head over heels for the King, but it wouldn't hurt to ask him some personal get-to-know-you questions, and well, you know, share it with me."
Cephera sighed. She hadn't been asking much about Loki's past. She didn't want to pry. Somehow she felt he'd tell her when he was ready, but now she began to wonder if Tony was right. Maybe she should try to push him a little. With Krystoff around he just might be more open to talking about things.
XxX
"That's why they haven't been attacking." Loki growled at the information just brought back by Steve Rogers. He was in a private meeting with the Captain as Cephera had left early, much to Loki's discontent, although he did have Krystoff under surveillance.
"They've been cutting off access to here for sometime it would seem. The people are running low on basic supplies, food mostly." Steve frowned. Loki knew very well what this meant. The resistance had been stopping traders from reaching Loki's city.
The old city of New York was still under heavy construction, but people still lived there and they needed food. The resistance were attacking Loki's integrity, his word that he wanted to see everyone living normal lives under his news laws, laws he hadn't yet been able to officially instate.
Dignitaries that Loki had yet to come to terms with had also been failing to show up. No doubt another of the Resistances attempts to thwart him.
"I think it's time to let Pietro stretch his legs." Loki told the Captain.
"And do what, run circles around our enemies?" If it had been said by anyone else, Loki might have thought they were making fun of him, but coming from Steve Rogers is was just concern.
"His speed can be used to free up the roads. They wouldn't see him coming." Loki used his magic to create a map of all roads leading out of the city. "Bring him to me. I want to see what he thinks he might be capable of achieving for me and prepare a road transport. I'd hate for our roadrunner to get tired running to each location. I want him to preserve energy."
Steve Rogers saluted and walked out. Loki continued looking at his map. The city had come a long way from the rubble it had been. Back before the Resistance was large enough to defy him, Loki had been making head way on the building of his own grand city.
The Spire had been the first finished building, of course. He'd planned to clear the rubble and allow contractors to build according to his own personal design, but then the Resistance showed up and everything slowed down. The contractors never got the chance to build anything significant, but the people who supported Loki had begun building homes and salvaging businesses in the near distance.
It wasn't the city he envisioned, but he'd long laid to rest those plans. They would have to wait. After all, the city could be upgraded with time, once he was supreme ruler.

Notes