Once, Long Ago:
Chapter 1:
"We're losing ground Cap." Tony's voice comes through the com in Steve's ear.
To anyone else, Tony would sound glib and calm as ever, but Steve can hear the edge in his tone, the stress.
"I know." He answers, gritting his teeth as he pushes back with his shield against the Doombot currently trying to take his head off.
"There's too many of them." Tony goes on, unhelpfully.
"I know!" Steve snaps.
He isn't as strong as this thing, and using brute force against it isn't going to work, he realizes. He needs to use it's own momentum against it, and so he changes tactics, letting his shield skid along the robots metal frame and off. When it stumbles forward with the loss of his resistance, he spins, smashing the edge of his shield against the back of the bots neck, hard and fast, severing its head in one, clean blow.
"Nice one Cap." Tony says, before the sound of his rupulsor blasts drown the rest of his voice out.
Glancing up, and he sees Tony rocketing overhead, at least half a dozen of Doom's machines on his tail.
Bringing his eyes back to the ground, looking around him, his heart begins to sink as he realizes just how truly outnumbered and outgunned they are.
There's got to be a hundred or more of Doom's machines. And then there's Doom himself, deciding this time to join the fray.
When they'd gotten the call that the Latvarian leader was attacking mid-town Manhattan, Steve had figured, along with the rest of the team, that it would be business as usual, Doom sending in twenty or thirty of his bots to stir up some trouble. A relatively easy containment situation.
But when they'd arrived on scene, it had been nothing like that at all.
The robots themselves had been their first indication that Doom was maybe more serious in his intent than usual, the tech on the things vastly more advanced than anything they'd yet seen from the dictator, the Doombots proving infinitely more difficult to take out, and incredibly more dangerous and effective in their attacks.
The second indication had been Doom himself being there, and that was spelling bad news for everyone involved.
Doom was insane. He was insane, and extremely, frighteningly powerful. A magic user, though Thor had told the team repeatedly that Doom's magic was not innate. That he had somehow unlocked how to harness the naturally occurring magical energy of their realm, how to harness it and focus it.
Whatever the case, none of them were really equipped to deal with the madman besides Thor himself, able as he was to counter Doom's attacks with his hammer. Only currently, their resident Thunder god was too busy fighting off hordes of Doom's robots to focus on the culprit himself.
That left Wanda who, though she'd been progressing in her training admirably, and had shown incredible power herself, her magic innate to her, unlike Doom, still, she was only a kid with technically very little combat experience, and was still learning how to control her abilities.
Doom was at that moment making a fool of her, playing with her as he easily, almost casually countered her attacks, returning her fire with his own blasts of magic, very obviously not meant as lethal, but rather as a means to humiliate her. And it was working. Looking over, Steve could see Doom swat aside another of Wanda's blasts like it was no more than an irritating fly, before hurtling his own back at her, the blast of blue light drilling into her midsection and knocking her flat onto her back.
He felt his jaw clench, fear churning unpleasantly in the pit of his stomach.
"Thor," he starts. "You need to come down and take care of Doom. Maximoff's in trouble."
"I am trying, Friend Steve." He hears Thor answer, a biting growl following on the heels of the reply. "Only I am presently occupied, as doubtless you can see. There are a great many of these mechanical men."
"No shit Sherlock." Clint's voice comes through, sounding ragged and strained. "Cap, we're fucked here. We've barely made a dent in these bastards."
Steve barely even notices the fowl language, his eyes fixed on Wanda and Doom. He only gets a moment to see the dictator moving towards her prone, unmoving form, before he's suddenly attacked by three more machines, his focus dragged away.
"No!" He snaps, fear plummeting like a stone into the pit of his stomach. "Thor, Maximoff needs you now!"
He gets no reply from the god though, only sudden static as he struggles badly against the Doombots, the ambush demanding all of his strength and concentration.
He keeps shooting his gaze towards Wanda and Doom, his panic almost choking him as he watches the dictator continue to stride, slow and nonchalant towards his downed teammate. He has to get over there, Steve thinks desperately. He has to...
His loss of focus costs him, as he's hit square in the chest by one of the bots repulsor blasts, knocking him to his knees, losing grip of his shield, the thing skittering away from him against the torn up concrete of the ground.
He barely manages to roll away, out from under one of the bots descending feet, meant to crush his face, and as he comes up onto his knees, he again snaps his gaze to Wanda and Doom, pushing himself to standing, already beginning towards them.
He has no idea how he's going to stop Doom, but he has to try.
His eyes widen then as he sees a man walking towards them from the opposite direction. A civilian, from the looks of him, dressed in nothing but a white, short sleeved t-shirt and a pair of loose fitting sweat paints. He's bare foot, tall and skinny and, oh Jesus Christ, the idiot is going to get himself killed!
"Wait!" Steve yells, both in an attempt to distract Doom from Wanda, who he now stands directly over, and to warn the civilian away.
His attempt seems to accomplish neither, as Doom crotches down over his teammate, hands poised above her, as if to perform some horrible ritual, and the civilian just continues dumbly forward, clueless, it seems, to the danger.
Blue light begins to gather round the dictators spread hands, growing brighter by the second, gaining strength.
Oh God, Steve thinks, breaking into a full on sprint, Wanda is going to die. He's going to lose another soldier. He's going to...
And then the civilian is at Doom's back, and Christ Almighty, he's got his hand on the dictator's shoulder. Is saying something to him.
Doom begins to stand, to turn, his every aspect hostile and violent, and this fool man is going to get himself turned to dust, Steve thinks, he's going to die, and Steve isn't going to get there in time to save him. To save anyone.
And then it all comes into focus.
Thirty yards out, and the Captain all at once sees who it is... who the civilian is. Tall and skinny, almost scrawny even, with hair blacker than obsidian, skin white as fresh fallen snow.
His hand on Doom's shoulder suddenly squeezes, and Steve watches as the madman's armor crushes in like an aluminum can underneath a heavy boot.
He sees Doom panic, flailing out, groping for the man, thick, metal fingers burying in the material of his t-shirt, blue energy beginning to form.
That's as far as he gets, before he's lifted bodily off the ground, easily as if he weighed nothing at all, and thrown, violently, through the air, crashing with shaking impact into the road's asphalt.
There's a flash of blinding, green light. Steve turns from it, searing against his eyes, and when he looks back, Loki is standing over Doom, still dressed in the same, flimsy clothing, reaching down towards the fallen dictator.
The Captain isn't even sure what it is that happens next.
There's another flash of green, like the color of pine needles, a scent filling the air much the same, and Loki's fingers have punctured the metal of Doom's suit, the light pouring out of it, out of the holes in Doom's mask. And then there is a scream, rending the air, high pitched and agonized... terrified.
"Brother, no!" Thor is there then, slamming down from the air by Loki's and Doom's side, reaching out and grasping hold the smaller god's slender arm. "Stop this." He demands, and Loki looks up at him, his face twisted in anger and disgust.
He says something in return, but Steve is still too far away to make it out, Loki's voice too soft to hear.
He tears away from Thor then, letting Doom go and stepping back, away. He glares at Thor a long moment, fury plain on his face.
And then, in a swift turn, he looks round, before suddenly slicing his hand through the air, so sharp it's as if he's trying to cut through it.
And all at once, every single Doombot collapses like empty shells to the ground, lifeless, useless...
Another explosion of green, blinding light, and Loki is gone.
Doom is still there, lying, moaning and barely conscious on the ground, his suit crushed in and rent apart in several places.
Thor stands, pensive, his arms crossed stiffly over his chest as he stares, unblinking, at the spot his little brother had just been standing a moment before, Wanda beginning to come to, starting to sit up, Clint and Natasha both at her side, checking on her.
Steve can only look on at the scene in horrified confusion as Tony lands beside him, his face mask coming up.
"Uh..." he starts, the whole area suddenly, eerily silent. "what the hell just happened?"
Steve wishes he knew.
He really, really wishes he knew.
/
"Does somebody want to explain to me what the fuck just happened?!"
Clint paces back and forth, plainly irritated and unsettled, the rest of the team standing around, arms crossed and speechless.
"Good question." Tony puts in after a moment. "If I'm not mistaken, or hallucinating, and honestly, I didn't have that much to drink last night, that was Loki. Right? Thor? Talk to me Thunder Thighs. That was baby bro out there?"
Thor shoots a withering glare at Tony, his face set in hard, unhappy lines as he gives a curt, single nod.
"Aye." He answers.
"Right." Tony goes on. "Okay, wow. That's... really horrifying."
"What do you mean?" Thor asks, tone defensive and angry.
"Uh, well..." Tony goes on. "considering crazy cakes just took out Doom and his entire fleet of robo-buddies like they were last Sunday's trash, I'd say that's pretty fucking terrifying. Did you know he was that powerful? Cause I sure didn't know he was that powerful." He turns to Steve, as if asking him.
"I..." Steve starts, having really no idea what to say.
"I have told you all many times of my brother's strength." Thor steps in.
"Yeah, buddy, but..." Tony continues. "we were getting our assess handed to us out there. Seriously. We were losing. And what, Loki just shows up, beats the shit out of Doom, does some magic hand wavy thing and kills all his robots? Are you telling me..."
"As I said, I have told you all many times of my brother's strength. I have told you well how he is the most powerful sorcerer in all of Asgard. Only the All-Father boasts greater power. It is not my failing if you did not listen."
"So what, are you saying your psychotic brother has just been fucking with us this whole time?" Clint snaps, stopping his pacing and staring at Thor. "He's been playing us?"
"If what you mean to ask is, has Loki been serious in intent when he has engaged us in the past, then the answer is no. As you say, Clint Barton, he has been playing us." Thor replies coldly.
"Why?" Natasha asks suddenly.
Thor turns towards her, his eyes narrowed.
"I cannot..." he starts, but she cuts him off.
"Thor, you're not telling us something. You were the only one standing close enough to Loki to hear what he said. If what you say is true, and he's just been playing with us, then why? And why did he even involve himself in this battle? Why did he go after Doom like that?"
"Again, good question." Tony chimes in, and Steve sighs.
They'd all trudged back to Avengers Tower to convene and discuss after SHIELD had taken Doom into custody, Wanda carted off to the infirmary just to check her over, but so far, they were getting nowhere.
The room falls quiet as they wait on Thor to answer, the god looking away from them all, expression stony and thoughtful.
Steve is about the press again for answers when his team mate begins to again speak.
"My brother is living in this realm." He starts, voice unusually subdued. "I am certain you all have gleaned such, given the frequency of his appearances."
"Wait, what do you mean living here?" Clint asks, his face turning pale. "As in... he has a home here or...?"
"He has acquired a place of dwelling, aye." Thor answers bluntly. "An apartment, as you mortals call such things."
"How long have you known about this?" Natasha asks, voice clipped and unhappy.
There is a long pause, Thor's face pulling into a frown.
"... Many months now." He answers at last.
That causes an explosion of questions and protests among the team, voices rising and angry.
The chaos lasts for several seconds, until Steve raises his voice above all of theirs.
"QUIET!" He commands, and everyone falls silent, looking over at him. He shakes his head. "Thor, continue..." he orders.
"... You cannot understand my brother." Thor goes on after a moment. "You cannot know him. His mind is vast, great in its depth. He has lived through much. Seen and experienced such things as none of you could hope to comprehend."
He pauses, turning away.
"You know Loki only as an invader of your world. As a would be dictator. But my brother and I... we are very old. You treat us oft as children for the youthfulness of our appearance. But we have lived many countless centuries. We have lived millennia. And though you have seen us cross weapons, though you have seen us at each others throats..." he shakes his head. "Loki was my most loyal companion for all of our lives. My most trusted friend. You cannot understand. He has saved my life times innumerable. He has spared me pain and humiliation and debasement at the sacrifice of himself suffering these things. So many times. So many countless times. I owe him much. I owe him more than you can ever understand."
At last, Thor turns back to them, staring at each of them, hard and long.
"You may mock me for my sentiment towards him. Chastise me for my continuing to keep his company. I care naught for your disapproval's. He is my little brother, and I love him. Aye, I oft visit him in his small dwelling. I keep company with him. And nay, I will not reveal to you where he resides." He adds in, sharp and quick even as Natasha opens her mouth to ask. "You have seen now a glimpse of what my brother is capable. He play attacks you all. It is a game to him. A thing done for amusement.
You should have little doubt, were he purposeful in his intent against you, it would be over most quick. He could end you all, most simply, most easily. Do not doubt it. Even you, Friend Bruce. Your great Hulk would have not the time to emerge if my brother should not wish it."
"... What about the invasion?" Steve asks, feeling slightly nausea, his head spinning. "He seemed pretty serious about that."
Thor laughs, and Steve stiffens, the rest of the team as visibly uncomfortable.
"I assure you, my brother's attempt on Midgard was anything but. No. I could not at first understand it. Why Loki made so many great blunders. You must understand. My brother has always been a profoundly gifted strategist. It was always he, when we came of age, who formulated our lines of attack and formation on the battle fronts. He and I both have fought in many hundreds of battles. Our experience in war is what you might call extensive. I had thought..." Thor pauses, a pained expression passing over his features for a moment, before he shakes his head and continues on. "I had thought, when we faced my brother during the Chitauri invasion, that Loki's mind had left him. That something had happened to rob him of both his wit and reason. It was the only explanation I could light on to understand his fumbling and clumsy plans.
It is only in these last, several months that I have come to understand that my assumption was only in part correct. No, I tell you now friends, Loki did all he could to ensure we would win the day for your realm. He was not earnest in his attempts to win it himself."
"This... doesn't make any sense." Clint starts, his voice edged hard with anger. "You're telling us your brother wanted us to win that day? How the fuck is that even possible?"
"Why even stage an invasion then?" Natasha asks, the anger less obvious in her voice, instead a kind of cold neutrality overtaking her tone. "Why go through all that? Why cause so much damage?"
Again, there is that pained expression across the god's face.
"I told you I was only in part correct in assuming my brother's mind had left him, and that be the cause of his deranged actions." He starts after a moment, his voice strained. "But my assumption was not wholly false. My brother's mind has been damaged and... he is not as he once was. He is fragile now, in a way I can never recall of him before."
"You mean he's bat shit insane." Tony says, and Thor gives him a withering, dangerous look which shuts Tony right up.
"You will take care how you speak of my brother." Thor snaps. "I am not meant to reveal these things to you. Loki has asked my vow of silence."
"Thor," Steve starts, keeping his voice soft, understanding. "we get that. But this is a matter of security and safety for our entire world. Your brother is residing here, you said. He's living here on Earth. And whether his attempt at taking over our world was serious or not, he still DID attempt it. And you as much as just admitted to us that he isn't mentally stable. You're gonna have to explain to us what's going on."
Thor nods, the lines of anguish on his face only growing deeper.
"It has taken me many months to convince Loki to tell me the truth of what happened to him when he let himself fall into the void. It... I cannot..."
"... Thor." Steve prompts again when several seconds pass by in silence.
"He was found by a creature. By... by a being long thought by us to be mere myth. A being with power enough to rival the All-Father. He is called Thanos, from a race of beings called Titans. In all the stories and histories written of him, we know that he is undoubtedly insane. He is called the Mad Titan. This is who found my brother... who pulled him from the void and..."
"... And?" Clint hisses.
"He kept Loki as his prisoner for nearly a year of your mortal time. He tortured him..."
"Oh, for fuck's sake... You believe that shit!?" Clint starts.
"IT IS NOT A MATTER OF BELIEF!" Thor booms, a crack of thunder crashing outside the tower, so loud it causes the windows to rattle ominously in their frames, and the team falls completely silent.
Thor stares at them all, his eyes shockingly blue, burning too bright to be natural, and Steve knows it's the power of lightening, coursing through his blood.
"... He was tortured." The god finally goes on after long, painful seconds. "In ways so terrible, you cannot even begin to conceive how deeply he has suffered. He showed me his body. It was not an illusion. No trick. I felt the scars with my bare hands. It is a wonder my brother still lives. It is a wonder he has any sound reason left in his mind at all.
Lady Natasha," he turns towards her. "you asked me why it is he invaded your realm, if his intent was never to win it. And I answer you this. It was through this action alone he could find his only means of escape from Thanos. The Titan wished for him to come here... to retrieve for him the Tesseract and open a portal through which his Chitauri army could invade. He needed my brother to do this. Loki possesses a vast and intricate knowledge of the paths between worlds. He is one of the few in all the realms truly able to walk the branches of Yggdrasil. Able to navigate their treacherous ways. Thanos, for all his great power, does not possess a linked energy to the Great Ash, as my brother does. He is not of her as Loki is.
And my brother, for nearly as long as he was held captive, refused to yield to Thanos' demands. And he did suffer for it. Beyond your understanding. He knew he would die then, if he continued thusly. Knew if he had any hope left of surviving, he would have to yield. But Loki has ever been the cleverest of gods, and he yielded full with the intent to betray Thanos, and keep the Tesseract from his hands. It was his only chance, and he took it."
Steve could hardly believe what he was hearing. Couldn't begin to wrap his mind around it. It all seemed unreal. Seemed too bizarre, too much.
"Then why does he keep attacking us?" Tony's voice jars him from his thoughts. "If everything you say is true, why does he keep acting like some crazed villain? Why not just come clean and tell us the truth? He's constantly being hunted by SHIELD, and by us. He's on several most wanted lists. He has to realize, if he's so smart, that he could save himself a lot of grief if he just told us what he's apparently told you."
"Aye," Thor nods, his arms folding tighter over his chest. "that he could. But it is many things which keeps him from it. It is his pride, which has ever been my brother's greatest weakness. And it is the damage wrought to his mind from the tortures he endured. I told you he is not as he was. He is damaged now. Broken, in a way. Grown reckless and careless. He seems... he seems not in control of his emotions as once he was. I have seen him erupt into unreasonable rage, and a moment later, break down into uncontrollable sobs."
"Is that why he attacked Doom?" Natasha presses.
"... My brother claims Doom has wronged him in some way." Thor goes on after a moment's hesitation. "Though I know not how."
"Wronged him? What are they, buddies or something? Are they hanging out together?" Tony starts.
"I know not." Thor begins. "I visit my brother sparingly, and know little of what he does in those moments between."
"Oh, well, that's just great." Clint throws his hands up. "So your little brother, who's apparently even more psycho than we previously imagined, and also apparently uber fucking powerful, is living somewhere in the middle of New York, someplace, by the way, you won't tell us where, having periodic emotional breakdowns and occasionally launching attacks on the local populace, because he thinks it's fun, throwing in one or two other super villain beat down's once in a while, just for good measure. Yup. All sounds fine and dandy to me."
"You will cease in your degrading words concerning my brother." Thor snarls at him, thunder again roiling outside the windows.
"Guys, that's enough!" Steve snaps. "This infighting isn't solving anything." He continues when he has everyone's attention. "Thor, look, I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt here and believe what you're telling us. But it also sounds to me like Loki is pretty unstable right now. Sure, he helped us out today, for whatever reason. But who's to say he won't snap and turn his power against us at some point? If he attacked us with the same abilities he showed earlier against Doom, then we're gonna have a serious problem on our hands."
"He will not..." Thor begins, but Steve shakes his head, cutting him off.
"He needs to be brought in Thor." He says. "If what you're saying is true, it sounds to me like your brother is suffering from PTSD. And with the kind of power he has, that could spell big trouble."
"You would not be able to contain him." Thor counters hotly. "And you only risk incurring his wrath by doing so."
"Well we can't leave him out there." Tony puts in. "Thor, buddy, he's a wanted war criminal. And he's dangerous. Obviously."
"I will not hand my brother over to you." Thor answers fast. "You will not coerce me. If, by chance, the next time he makes a display of engaging you, you manage somehow to capture him, then I will not step in to prevent it. But I will not show you where he dwells. I cannot betray his trust in such a manner."
And with that, the god turns on his heel, striding from the room, leaving the rest of the team without another word.
/
AN: I need BAMF Loki once in a while. Don't worry folks, they'll be plenty of angst to go with it. You know me. But yeah, BAMF Loki is my fav too.