“Look, forget about Theo. He is none of your concern, not any more. I will handle that. I didn’t come here for your advice on him. I came here because clearly there is an issue with how everything is going down right now and I’d hoped to clear the air so we could complete this mission and get the Hel out of here.” That was seeming less and less likely as Steve went on, but Loki knew what he was getting into when he requested this sit down and he was determined to do his best to try and talk some sense into the Captain. “Wait, we can just go back to the bus? I know the Conductor is with us, but that was never an option before. Did they say why the change? If that has been an option the whole time, then why are we putting so many of our fellow passengers that don’t have extra powers in danger?” This new tidbit of information confused Loki greatly and he did nothing to hide that fact.
Every word out of Steve’s mouth only served to confuse Loki more and he did not like being confused. “I need you to explain something to me. Why bother having other leaders, even if you consider them beneath you, if you aren’t going to discuss options with them? They are still in charge of a team, no? Were we not supposed to report to our leaders? What if someone not on your team said something to the Doctor or Tony that was useful, but you didn’t know about it because you didn’t deem it worthy to talk to your lieutenants?” If there was anything that Loki was sure of in that moment, it was that Steve was utterly baffling to him. “You told me once that you didn’t want to be in charge, but it was needed on missions to be successful and you were doing it because no one else wanted the job. Now I know the Doctor is not too keen on his posting as a team leader, but Tony is quite well known as a good leader. Why would you not just pass the torch? He’s clearly agreed to run a team, therefore maybe there are people who want the job.”
“Yes, he asked how the leaders might be dealing with the issue that could be caused by the locals suddenly learning about magic because believe me, it could be catastrophic. Was the issue that he didn’t treat you like an imbecile by not spelling it out for you in black and white? I can help with that. If we do not do our best to make our footprint here as small as possible, it could cause unprecedented issues. I understand what you’re saying about how we weren’t as careful in the other worlds we’ve been to, and you’re right about that, but if you think going shopping in London while under cover and no one would know any better is the same as introducing magic to a whole society, then I have severely underestimated your intelligence.” Loki had never thought that Steve was a genius like Tony, but he had thought he was intelligent enough to be a good leader, even if he didn’t always agree with his methods. Now he was seriously reconsidering that thought.