A/N First fanfic! Un-beta'd, and I hate mistakes so if you find any tell me please! I originally posted this on archiveofourown on the 30th of May 2017, and now have 14 chapters there. I've been meaning to post here for a while now, and now that I have, I will update the sites together. I am a slow writer but know that I will never abandon this story, as it is for my pleasure as much as I aim for it to be yours. I'm more looking to improve my writing than anything else, while also being able to write about my favourite characters.
This story is canon-compliant to the MCU up to Civil War and Guardians of the Galaxy 2, and may use some ideas from future movies.
I'm sorry if the formatting is wrong, I had no idea how hard it would be to post properly! I'll get used to it I promise.
Anyway, hope you enjoy!
'Loki? They're coming. No more than two minutes.'
'I'm ready.'
'Are you sure the Midgardians will help us?'
'They'll aid you, almost certainly, and if they do not help me, understandably, we can leave for somewhere else once you recover. We won't get any further than normal if we don't get help, at least at the beginning. Will you stay conscious long enough?'
'What numbered escape will this be?'
'Hmm, about the twelfth, but don't try to divert the subject, lítt foa.'
'I'm fine, Loki. It still hurts a lot, especially since I won't let it heal, but I will be able to do this. I have to be able to do this.'
Footsteps were heard coming closer, echoing in the space, before the rasping screech of thick metal bars moving on stone.
"Wake up," said a hoarse voice, almost as jarring as the bars themselves. "Master wishes an audience with the princesses again today." The voice laughed dryly as it walked forward. "On your feet."
Loki lifted his head and glanced in the direction of the voice. He stood up slowly, then looked down. "Lift your arms a bit." Loki whispered. 'And act more injured than you are.'
'Well, duh. I'm not an amateur, Loki.' He could practically hear the eye roll.
He helped his companion up gently, using the walls of the corner they were in as support. As soon as they were both up, one fully leaning on the other and breathing heavily, the owner of the voice moved to stand before them.
"Arms up." It said. Loki lifted his arms carefully from where they steadied the one beside him. Engraved metal shackles were snapped around his wrists, with a 30cm length of chain dangling between. The clasps melted together as soon as they were secure.
Gnarly grey fingers then reached to Loki's neck, and just before the hand touched him, a nearly translucent glowing indigo collar faded into existence on both him and his companion, with a line of almost ethereal, thin chain links joining the two. It flared slightly brighter when contact was made. An unintelligible grunt-like word made it flash green for a second, then the hand withdrew. Loki breathed a quiet sigh of relief as the collars disappeared again.
'They are so overconfident. They didn't even put the shackles on me before releasing us! Just because I'm injured doesn't mean I'm useless. Alright. I'm starting the spell. Delay for a bit.'
'I've got the place that we want to land at. Go when ready.'
"You too. Don't be so pathetic. You won't get any sympathy from me. Come here." It narrowed its beady yellow eyes at them as it spoke.
"She can't walk. You creatures hurt her too much." Loki's voice grated slightly from disuse and a dry throat. "Without our magic, she can't heal. She can barely even stay consci-"
"Be silent. I don't care how injured it is, either you'll both walk, or you'll both be dragged out to see the Master."
"All you Chitauri scum are insolent buffoons who seem to be completely unable to comprehend even the most basic of sentences. She can't. Walk. How much clearer do I have to make it." He spoke quickly, nearly spitting the words out.
The grey hand shot out, and embedded a wicked edged blade deep in Loki's side before twisting sharply. Red blood immediately started gushing around the hilt and dripping to the stone floor. Loki hardly made a noise, but gave a quick grimace of pain.
"Loki!" a weak feminine voice whispered in alarm.
'I will be fine. Just concentrate!' Loki had hunched over slightly, but kept his arms holding his female companion.
"It seems you mongrels still have not learned subservience. Again, I will inform the Master to increase your punishment. I wonder what he will choose to inflict on you next." The Chitauri soldier twisted the blade further in Loki's side on the last word.
It left the blade, briefly wiping its hand now stained red with blood on its leg, and turned to the second prisoner, taking another identical set of shackles from a pouch at its side. "Hands up. Don't make this worse for yourself, however entertaining it may be for me." With these words, it roughly grabbed her by her right arm and yanked her fully to her feet, away from Loki.
'Loki, would you get this stinking pile of garbage off me before I try to kick it where it would hurt the most?'
'Focus on the spell, foa. I'd rather not lose a limb.'
'I'm a girl, Loki, I can multitask. Hmm. Maybe I should kick it myself then anyway.'
An amused glint in his eyes at her comments, Loki moved to pull the Chitauri, but he halted as another blade, held in the same hand as the shackles, was pressed against the left side of his chest.
"Stop, filth. Even you will not survive a knife straight through the heart." Loki lowered his hands back to his sides, his shackles clinking softly. "Good, now," the guard moved and put the knife to the neck of the limp girl in his grasp, not bothering to avoid her injuries or hold her up properly, and placed her between itself and Loki. "Put the shackles on it yourself. No more tricks." With that, it threw the shackles to the floor at Loki's feet.
Loki haltingly bent down and picked them up, his blood still dripping on the already splattered floor, then slowly walked to his companion, glaring at the Chitauri. The Chitauri noticed his pace though, and moved the blade in warning, until blood started seeping.
"Hurry up. Do not keep the Master waiting. Put them on now, or we'll find out what happens if one separates its head from its neck. Neither of you have magic, it will die," it snarled.
'Ha, how little it knows. Put them on, Loki. The spell will still work. It's not technically me using the magic anymore. We can get them off later.'
The shackles made a click as they shut, before also melting at the clasps.
"So you can follow orders. Now walk."
"Let me hold her. You need not bother yourself."
'Slœgr nadr.'
The Chitauri narrowed its beady eyes at him, then scoffed. "I am no fool. You may support its other side, but I will keep hold of it. I do not trust either of you, especially with that blade, though I will not risk you bleeding out if I remove it."
'It just has to be difficult. Change of plan. Keep thinking of the place, I'll finish the spell now. Kill it with the blade while it's still disoriented. You won't have much time, but I guess it's better we kill it now than let it tell others we're gone. Just be careful. Neither of us will stay awake for long.'
'Alright. I'm ready.'
Loki quickly moved back to his companion's side and let her lean on him again. The Chitauri placed itself just behind them, still holding the girl's arm with one hand, and the blade now against her back with the other. It roughly pushed forward, prompting Loki to also move.
As soon as the girl took a shaking step forward, all three disappeared.
It was the early evening and the New Avengers were absolutely exhausted after their latest separate missions, relaxing on the communal floor of the Avengers Tower.
Well, except for Peter Parker, the Spider-Man, who was literally bouncing around the walls with some inhuman cross of young energy and enhanced spider senses.
"...I really wish we could just deal with something bigger than this 'cause right now all we're doing is police work, which I basically did before Tony invited me here. I mean today Tony just fired at them once like *deeee-bwomf* and some of them ran." He imitated the Iron Man firing pose in mid-air. "Of course, I was like "oh, no you don't" and swung at them like this," here he did a backflip between launching off the ceiling and to another wall to the side of the bar. "And then shot my web at them like *ffffffwiip* and tied them all up, but some split up and Tony and I had to chase them but they went behind buildings and pipes where the suit couldn't manoeuvre around too easily and made it hard for me to use more webs and…"
"And what did you have to do today, Vision?" T'Challa said loudly. He was reclining on one of the beige coloured couches.
Vision, who was behind the bar, looked up from where Tony was trying to teach him how to mix a simple cocktail called a 'Dirty Martini.' He blinked once then spoke. "Ah, I was with Miss Romanoff preventing a problematic gang led by one Mr Kuzgro from robbing banks around the city. It was quite uneventful."
While he didn't say anything interesting, the others all relaxed more after Peter was stopped from talking at light speed.
Natasha was also reclining on a couch, her head laying on one arm and her feet crossed one over the other, watching with imperceptible amusement as the younger spider finally seemed to have tired himself out. He hadn't taken a breath in more than a minute and she almost expected him to collapse. She uncrossed her legs as she swiveled off the couch, rising fluidly before walking to him, the slight clicks of her shoes on the ground attracting the others' attention to her actions.
"Why don't you have some sleep before you go back to your Aunt May? I'm sure she would love to hear about you helping the world one mission at a time."
Peter had decided to tell his Aunt about the true identity of Spider-Man after unofficially joining the Avengers for a few months. She had been getting suspicious even with the well-crafted stories by Tony Stark, and it seemed to be the best way to ease her worries. Of course, she was angry and fearful for his safety at first, but telling her about how he fought usually from a distance, had the Avengers' protection, and was using his powers responsibly calmed her.
"Y-yeah. Yeah, sounds good. I'll just- I'll be on the phone in my room if anyone needs me. Night."
Natasha gave a miniscule twitch of her lips as Peter turned to the elevator and away from the adults. She then returned to her couch amid grateful looks from her fellow Avengers.
Tony came around the bar after Vision somehow managed to ruin the cocktail for the fifth time in as many minutes, and leaned against a wall.
"Well I for one don't want anything to happen, not even police work," he made a pretty good impression of an exasperated teenager, "for at least another month. I swear I am going to sleep for a week and get drunk at parties for the other three, I mean, I've been almost completely sober for six days. Six days. It is simply a disaster! Unthinkable! Preposter…" He was interrupted by Friday in the middle of some grand hand gesture.
"Sirs and Miss Romanoff. There are three intruders on the helipad."
"I think you may have jinxed us Stark."
"Shut up Nat, not the time."
Natasha scoffed, muttering, "and I can't recall a single occasion when you opened your mouth at a time when you shouldn't have, Tony."
He ignored her, instead participating in the frenzy of motion from all the Avengers. They started to run down the stairs to their respective rooms. They met with Peter along the way.
"Friday told me there are intruders. Do you need me?"
"Yes, get ready then come back up to us. I'll meet you all before the hangar door," said Vision, already prepared with his ability to materialise his gear anytime. The others nodded as they ran.
Tony asked, "Friday, are they armed?"
"Two have knives, sir, and are talking, though they did attack each other before. The third is unconscious. One seems to be similar to a Ch…" the AI paused. "Sirs and Miss Romanoff. There are two intruders on the helipad."
They each started to race faster when Friday finished. "What happened to the third?" Asked T'Challa, although they each had a guess.
"One has been killed."
"Yeah, everybody suit-… Get the suits."
The bare grey walls of the cell faded, and in a fraction of a second, changed to the towering skyline of Manhattan. The previous silence was replaced by the faint sound of various cars honking, and the general bustle of a major city.
The girl immediately dropped to the ground, as she tore her arm from the stunned Chitauri's grasp, with a small gasp as her injuries were jolted.
Loki let her go gently but quickly before pulling the blade from his side out with another grimace, then striking as fast as a viper at the Chitauri.
The Chitauri only barely turned in time, instead making the blade catch on its armour. Loki moved again, but the Chitauri had recovered from the sudden change of scenery, and raised the knife still in its hands to block, then aimed to injure Loki.
Undaunted, Loki expertly twisted his blade, deflecting the knife heading towards his right arm, and managing to nick the Chitauri's hand in the process. It hissed as it retracted its arm, but didn't let go of the knife. Loki stepped forward and to his right so the Chitauri could not easily attack the girl on the ground. He kept his eyes on it as he turned his head and coughed up blood. When he faced it again, his back was curved, unable to straighten completely.
The Chitauri laughed as it realised how close Loki was to joining his companion in unconsciousness.
"What was your purpose in coming here?" It mocked. "The Master will find you, and capture you, and punish you, just like every other time you've tried to escape." Loki didn't respond to the taunts, and only locked his jaw, raising both his bound hands together in preparation to fight with the knife. The Chitauri laughed again. "You can barely even stay upright! How about, if you drop the knife and carry that," it gestured to the girl, "when the others find you, I give you my word that I won't let either of you be punished for a week."
Loki swallowed thickly. "Lie," he stated, then coughed. His eyes narrowed as the Chitauri gave its hideous version of a smile.
"Ah, so the little lie detector tries to still be strong. I know how much you must long for a week without any pain, but we both know that you deserve it. He warned you, after all, what would happen to you both if you failed." It closed its eyes for a second as it gave its mocking laugh a final time.
One second was all he needed. Loki struck in its moment of too much confidence, aiming for the one uncovered place that would result in a fatal wound. He quickly stepped back out of reach of the Chitauri's wavering knife, now with his blade buried to the hilt in its jugular.
It gurgled, then fell to the ground.
After making sure it was dead, Loki turned and moved back to his companion. The continued blood loss, as well as the magic drain required to teleport, made him unsteady, and he fell to his knees next to her with little of his usual grace.
She was already unconscious, but he whispered to her anyway, taking laboured breaths between each sentence.
"It's dead. We escaped. We're safe."
He looked her over to see if any of her wounds had opened again. Only the cut on her neck from the Chitauri was bleeding, but the flow was already slowing and clotting. He then attended to his own stab wound, putting pressure on it and holding the ragged lips near each other until his advanced healing knitted them together in a rudimentary clot, stopping the risk of bleeding out completely.
As he did this, there was the faint sound of rushed footsteps. He looked up, and the last thing he saw as he pitched forward onto his uninjured side was the Avengers racing out of the hangar door, slowing to a stop when they got closer. His vision then went dark.
A/N In future chapters, stuff will be explained either in the story or in these notes. I don't think there's anything to add here? But I'm happy to explain certain things if you need.
Thanks for reading!
