Of Numbers and Strange Friendships

Chapter 14

"Taken care of?" Peter asked in a small scared voice. At least he realized he was too injured to walk on his own and wasn't fighting the fact that Loki was carrying him back to the tower. At least Loki had to get them away from the police and press before he teleported them away.

"Hush, arachnid. Don't worry about it," Loki soothed. Peter didn't need to worry about the very dead criminals. Or the criminals who wished they were dead. Technically, Loki had only killed one of them. And that was a mercy blow.

"You called me your brother," Peter's voice was a pained murmur, but he still sounded pleased and confused by that realization, but that hint of memory teased him and demanded an answer. Loki could accept that.

"Not all family is by birth," Loki said softly to the teen cradled in his arms. It was hard to read Peter's emotions when he was wearing the mask and Loki wished he could rip it off, but he wouldn't out in public. He wouldn't risk Peter's secret identity. It would ruin Peter's life, or so the teen thought. Though eventually someone was going to make the connection between Loki and Peter's friendship and the fact that Loki often went patrolling with Spiderman. So far, though, the masses were ignorant.

Loki hated being vulnerable, and almost took back the words when Peter spoke again. "Never had a brother before. I think I like it," Peter said softly. Loki chuckled. This kid was better and more moral than everyone on the team combined, but he was also injured and in desperate need of medical attention.

"Now that that's established, let us get you to the medical room so Doctor Banner can fix you up," he told the teen. Peter's injuries were bad, but not super urgent at the moment since Loki had patched him up. "Hold on tight. Teleporting is an experience for mortals unused to it." With that bit of warning, Loki teleported the pair of them to the medbay in the tower. "Doctor Banner!" He called with his battlefield bellow. It wasn't a tone he had to use often, here, but he used it now and Banner, Nat, and Thor all came running. Thor knew that tone. Nat and Banner were the best doctors they had in the tower. Loki laid the teen on the bed. "He has been shot," he told Banner when he entered the room. "I patched him up as well as I could on the battlefield, but healing is not my specialty,"

Banner nodded and got to work doctoring, was that even a verb, English was such a stupid language, the teen. "His suit is supposed to be bullet proof," Banner grumbled. He'd removed the ruined suit and Peter was mostly unconscious.

"This is an old suit. Mr. Stark is working on mine," Peter explained while Banner worked. He sounded pained. Loki placed a glowing green hand on the teen's forehead.

"Sleep. You do not need to be awake for this," Loki bid him softly and sent his friend to a dreamless sleep where he wouldn't have to feel the pain. He looked at Banner, who was giving Loki a disapproving look. "He does not need to be in pain while you work on him and with his metabolism we do not know how pain medication will work on him. My way is better," Loki said firmly.

"LOKI! What did you do?!?!" Tony roared from the hallway.

Loki turned to face Stark with a growl. "What did you do? Sending him out on patrol without a bulletproof suit?" Loki demanded in reply.

"You killed people!"

"I technically only killed one of them. The others simply wish they were dead," Loki replied pleasantly.

Thor gave Loki a look. "Brother, what did you do?"

Loki glared in reply. "I took care of the criminals who injured and tried to kill one of our teammates. Who hurt my friend," he hesitated a moment. "My blood brother." He said the last softly, but knew his brother would hear. He knew more that Thor would understand.

Thor looked like he wanted to protest, to argue that Loki shouldn't have killed those men. Loki gave him a firm look and locked eyes with his brother. "Bilgesnipe,"

Thor looked confused for a moment before he seemed to remember the incident, seemed to remember what happened that day. He turned and looked over the footage Stark pulled up of what Loki had done. "Do not yell any further, Stark," Thor said firmly, taking into account the old childhood tale and what he saw on the screen. "We will discuss what happened, but Loki is not to be blamed. Not when he was saving family. We are warriors and this... is a common reaction,"

Loki sighed in relief. Of course Thor would understand. He was just grateful that Peter would be alright and Thor understood what he had done and why. Loki stayed with Peter while Thor smoothed things over with Stark. Thor was always protecting his little brother

Some things would never change

*

Loki was worried about how Peter would take the true knowledge of what Loki had done in his efforts to save him. Peter was distant for a few days before he approached Loki. "You killed them..." he said softly, hurt. Peter knew that Loki understood how he felt about killing the criminals.

Loki hung his head. "I killed one of them. What I did to the rest was worse," he admitted.

"Why?" Peter asked in a small voice.

"My people are warriors, arachnid," Loki started, picking at his left palm as he always did when he was nervous. He was afraid Peter would never forgive him for what he did to those men. "Thor and I were raised to defend those weaker than us, violently and viciously if necessary. Those men hurt you and you are under my protection," he held up a hand to keep Peter from interrupting. "Yes, I know that you are capable. You are still like a little brother to me, and it was my job to protect you. I failed you in that, and all I could do in the heat of the moment was make sure the men who harmed you would never be able to do so again," Loki explained. "I hope that you will be able to forgive me for my actions, someday,"

Peter thought that over long and hard. "I don't approve of killing," he finally said slowly. "I don't like it, but I do understand that sometimes it's necessary... More than that, though I appreciate that you consider me a brother. And I don't want to lose that. And I promise not to go out on patrol without the bulletproof suit again," he added with a smirk

Loki gave him a small smile. "That sounds like a deal, little spider,"