Disclaimer: I do not now, nor have I ever owned the rights to Marvel Comics or its characters. It all belongs to Marvel, Disney, Stan Lee, and whoever else has the rights. I am not making any kind of profit off of this work, it is all just for fun and freedom of expression.
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Warning: Graphic descriptions of violence and sexual content.
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Chapter 2
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"You would do well to get out of my way, Rogers". Thor said with warning, his blue eyes bloodshot and sparking dangerously, his face pale and drawn.
Wearing a dark gray pair of sweatpants and a matching Stark industries hoodie instead of his Asgardian attire and his blonde hair damp from the shower he had taken, the god of thunder was no less formidable as mjolnir rumbled menacingly in his hand. The Thunderer stood face-to-face with Steve Rogers.
Other men might've stepped aside with haste but Steve, still wearing his battered red, white, and blue uniform, held his ground and met Thor's frustrated gaze unflinchingly.
The two tall blonds were currently standing in the slightly damaged penthouse of Stark Tower, with the dark storm clouds swirling high above them.
Steve looked back at Thor with his own blue eyes brimming with sadness as he spoke.
" Please Thor, try to understand that we are not trying to keep you from your brother." Steve explained.
" Then why do you dare to bar my path downstairs?" Thor challenged with a snarl.
" I just spoke with JARVIS, he told me that Bruce, Tony, and Clint are still patching Loki up. He told me that they would rather bring Loki up here to you in the penthouse than have you go down to that cold and sterile room. JARVIS said that it's worse than we can possibly imagine, that the three of them are barely getting through the autopsy as we speak." Steve said gently.
Thor looked away and had to swallow with some difficulty before he looked back at Steve and spoke.
" It is my duty Steve, Loki is..." Thor had to pause here for a second to keep from crumbling before he forced himself onward.
" Loki is my brother, it is I who is meant to carry him." He gritted out.
" I know that Thor, I know and you will carry him." Steve assured quietly before he reached out and gripped Thor's shoulder, giving it a squeeze that would have crushed other flesh as he continued.
" All I am saying is that you won't have to do it alone. All of us are here for you, and for Loki. We will carry him too. It's the least we can do." Steve declared firmly, feeling his own eyes burn and his throat constrict painfully.
Thor didn't break down into tears, even though he really, really wanted to. He pushed down the urge and deflated at hearing Steve's words, mjolnir hanging listlessly in his hand as he gave Steve a tired nod. Steve gave Thor's shoulder a final squeeze before reluctantly letting go.
A harsh wind picked up, blowing into the penthouse through the busted floor to ceiling windows, the weather reflecting Thor's grief stricken mood. Steve turned his gaze up to the ceiling to address JARVIS.
" Hey JARVIS?" Steve called.
" Yes Captain, I am here." The AI answered diligently.
" Do you have any way to shut the windows that got blown out? Otherwise I'll just find some sheets or something to cover things up." Steve said.
" Thank you for your consideration Captain Rogers, rest assured, I have a solution available that can keep out the wind and afford everyone some much needed privacy at this time." JARVIS assured.
Steve and Thor turned their gazes to the shattered windows as a few moments later a soft, metallic clang sound, followed by the low hum of unfurling metal. Before their eyes Steve and Thor watched as large, metal storm shutters systematically came down, covering the entirety of the broken penthouse windows. There was a moment as the light was blotted out, and then the penthouse lights came on.
" Thanks JARVIS." Steve said appreciatively, but Thor stayed silent.
Steve turned his gaze to the Thunderer beside him and felt his heart squeeze painfully when he saw that Thor's eyes had gone once more to the blood stained crater that still graced Tony's floor in front of the bar area.
Clearing his throat, and wanting to get Thor away from the horrible sight, Steve spoke.
" Come on Thor, let me make you some coffee." He said quietly.
Thor tore his gaze away from the crater, wanting to refuse the super soldier, but as he gazed at the understanding look on Steve's face, Thor let out a sigh and nodded.
Thor wordlessly shuffled after Steve as the soldier led him to the private kitchen area Tony had told him about on the other side of the wall behind the bar.
Once they got there, they found Natasha standing in the far corner with her phone to her ear and a mildly irritated look on her face.
Steve had a feeling that a certain eye-patch wearing individual was on the other end of the line, but he chose to keep his thoughts on the matter to himself. They would see what the situation was once Natasha got off the phone.
Steve gestured for Thor to take a seat at the oval dining table in the middle of the room while he made his way over to the fancy looking state of the art coffee machine Tony kept beside the stainless steel refrigeration and quietly asked JARVIS to walk him through how to work it without blowing anything up. He was still new to this century after all. Thor looked like he wanted to protest but then wordlessly made his way over to the table and all but collapsed into one of the chairs, Natasha's sharp green eyes going to him for a moment before she returned her attention to the phone conversation she was having.
While Jarvis patiently walked Steve to the process of using a more state-of-the-art coffee machine than the good captain was used to, back down in the medical wing the AI was dutifully recording the hellish scene that was Loki's ongoing autopsy.
Once the copious amounts of blood had been washed away and the vacuuming hood had been used to quickly dry Loki's body, Bruce, Tony, and Clint, donning protective fair shields, had gotten to work on the most daunting part of the entire morbid examination, the extraction of the numerous foreign objects that Loki's murderers had embedded in him with the help of the examination table's holographic projections of the objects' locations within Loki's body. Tony had situated himself at the end of the table and gotten to work on Loki's feet and legs. With fresh horror coursing through him, Tony had used to pair of fine tipped magnetic pliers to start doing his extractions. Tony had found that he couldn't simply pull whatever it was out of the tips of Loki's toes, no he had to slowly twist them out of the bone, these jagged, demented little aliens screws that had probably been drilled into Loki's toes while the man had still been alive. Tony had stayed completely silent, finding you couldn't even bring himself to curse as he had had to pull out of school from every single tell Loki had left and from every bloody stump where a toe had once been. Once Tony had twisted the last jagged screw free from Loki's feet, he moved on to Loki's long pale legs, bracing himself for whatever fresh horrors he would find.
From where he was standing at the middle of the exam table tending to Loki's stomach area and arms, Clint was quietly putting at one of the many knife rooms that littered Loki's body. There had been many sharp and jagged piece of metal within these rooms but unlike what Tony was dealing with, these pieces were not embedded in bones, so the archer was with carefully extracting them with relative ease. This fact didn't subtract from the horror one bit, ask Clint surmised that many of the fragments were remnants of the knives or torture devices the Chitauri had used on Loki. As he pulled fragments from Loki's wounds, Clint's eyes raked over the copious amount of trauma to Loki's flesh, they settled on Loki's significantly thinner, bruised and battered face. After that go to his head had released him from the mind stone's control, Clint had wanted so badly to do serious and permanent damage to this very same face, on his own behalf and for Phil Coulson. Now as he gazed at the bruises and cuts standing out vividly black and reddish purple against dull, lifeless blue color of Loki's skin, all he felt was that quiet devastation, the despair of knowing there was nothing he could do for the man lying on the table.
Swallowing thickly, Clint went back to his task, gently putting the next round that had a fragment in it.
From where he was working on Loki's chest and head area, Bruce was having a similar go of it as Tony, having to pull jagged metal from Loki's bones as well as his flesh. He was having to deal with what looked like razor sharp mini saw-blades that had been driven into Loki's ribs and soft tissue, and another scan from Jarvis indicated that there were five fragments of alien metal in Loki's massive head wound that still needed to be expected. On top of this they were still only fixing up Loki in the front, they would have to contend with the horrors of his back once they turn them over, especially that awful word across his shoulders.
An oppressive, melancholic silence surrounded them, with the imagined echoes of Loki's suffering ringing in their ears. They had triumphed over the Chitauri in a hard fought battle for New York, but it obviously did not feel like victory, not one bit.
Back upstairs in the penthouse, Steve set a plain black mug of fresh, steaming coffee down in front of Thor, who was sitting silently in his seat, a far away look in his eyes, absently rubbing at his throat. No doubt he was remembering whatever force had been controlling his brother's body, the malevolent presence's cruel and callous words and the tight grip around his own throat.
" Would you like some cream and sugar?" Steve asked, pulling Thor from his dark contemplations. The Thunderer quietly answered that yes, he would actually like some additions to his coffee.
A few feet away Natasha was fixing herself some herbal tea, having kindly waved off Steve when he asked if he could make her some coffee too. She wanted Steve to keep his focus on Thor, keep the Thunderer as calm as they could manage. The last thing they needed was for the grief stricken Asgardian to go berserk. She had been on the phone with Fury, telling the director to keep his distance for now, but the situation was very grave and delicate. Fury had not been pleased, wanting to see the situation for himself, for his own sake, and not because the World Security Council was demanding answers. Those assholes willing to nuke New York City "for the greater good" could shove it where the sun don't shine. Without resorting to a screaming match of their own, Black Widow and the Director of SHIELD had come to the agreement Fury would come to the tower only after Loki's body was secured and there would be absolutely no talk of taking him front Thor, not one single syllable. Fury got the hint that the Avengers had closed ranks around Thor, and Loki.
The next hour passed by with grueling slowness, Tony, Bruce, and Clint working with care while Jarvis gave Thor, Steve, and Natasha regular updates to help placate the devastated God of Thunder. Bruce, Tony, and Clint finally reached the final pieces that needed to be extracted from Loki, the metal fragments that were buried in the horrendous wound to his head.
"Alright guys, we are at the homestretch." Bruce said as he ready himself.
With both Clint and Tony standing by if they when needed, Bruce concentrated on the holographic projection that had been guiding them thus far. Bruce carefully went into the wound with his magnetic surgical tongs and sought out the smallest of the five fragments first. Thankfully it came away without much difficulty and Bruce dropped teh fragment into the specimen jar Tony held out for him. It made a soft "tink" sound as it landed. On this went another three times without incident until Bruce got the last and largest fragment.
"Man this one is buried deep, it went almost all the way through his parietal lobe." Bruce said, Tony and Clint glancing at the holographic image that showed Bruce slowly pushing the metal prongs into Loki's brain matter towards the remaining fragment. It felt like the prongs were sinking endlessly through thick sand, but it was Loki's brain. Thankfully, mercifully, the twin ends of the prongs finally pressed against the hard fragment, Bruce carefully gripped the it firmly with the tongs. He started to gently pull on it, expecting this last fragment to come loose as easily as the others. Instead the fragments stayed firmly in place.
" Well, that's interesting." Bruce said casually as he pulled a little harder, but still the fragment would not budge.
On either side of Bruce, Tony and Clint frowned as they watched the doctor continue to pull harder and harder on the fragment with no luck.
"This makes no sense, the fragment is not buried in any bone, just soft brain tissue." Bruce explained before he tried to pull with all of his regular human strength.
Still it would not budge.
Normally, Tony would've made a snarky comment about the man who could turn into a giant green rage monster when angered enough not being able to pull a small piece of metal out of something that was the consistency of flan, but this was not a normal situation, this was the autopsy of the Norse God of Mischief. This wasn't the place for snarky comments. Wordlessly Tony reached out and gripped the prongs with Bruce and together they pulled, hard. Yet again the fragment stayed happily buried where it was.
Without any prompting Clint reached out and added his grip to the prongs and as one the three Avengers pulled with all of their might. It may as well have been trying to move the tower itself, because the fragment did not give, not even a centimeter. They all let go, the prongs sticking out grotesquely from Loki's head.
"Damn it." Clint said under his breath, staring at the strange sight with confusion.
Tony was staring too, though his expression was more contemplative. Bruce's face had a telling green tint too it, so he took a few moments to calm himself down and keep his other, angrier half from making an unwanted appearance.
" We need bigger biceps." Tony declared.
" Not Thor." They all said in unison,
Nodding, Tony looked up and spoke to his ever faithful companion.
" Hey Jarv, can you get our resident super soldier down here? We need him. Oh and be discreet regarding a certain blond, hammer swinging individual, we don't want him down here only to see his kid brother with a shiny set of prongs sticking out of his cranium." Tony said with nonchalance, though inside he was freaking out a little at the current situation.
" Understood sir, I'll have Captain Rogers down here shortly without alerting Mr. Odinson." Jarvis assured.
" You're the best Jarvis." Clint said with a tired smile.
" I am aware Agent Barton." Jarvis replied with his dry cheekiness before setting off on his urgent task.
Back in the penthouse kitchen, Thor, Steve, and Natasha were sitting at the kitchen table in a morose silence, exhaustion creeping into their bones. As they had had their respective hot beverages, Steve had engaged Thor is light conversation, mostly about Asgard and the battle, though he tried not to mention Loki directly. Natasha had been on her phone, texting with Fury to keep him undated. Now though, they all sat silent, in contemplation of the ramifications to come when Natasha's phone chimed with a new text. Natasha picked up her phone, expecting a message from Fury or Hill.
Upon seeing that it was Jarvis, Natasha cast a quick glance at Thor before reading the text. It read as followed.
" Agent Romanov, Captain Rogers' assistance is required downstairs, please send him with haste and assist me in diverting Mr. Odinson's attention."
Natasha's face gave nothing away as she looked up and sent the ever vigilant AI a subtle nod. A few moments later Jarvis' rich, accented voice sounded through the room, make all three Avengers look up.
" Pardon my intrusion Mr. Odinson, but I started researching Norse mythology ever since your existence was revealed to us. Not to be too forward but may I ask, is there actually a goddess named Freya who rides around in a chariot that is pulled by a pair of large, magical black felines?" The AI asked, genuinely wanting to know and wanting to keep Thor's attention on him.
While Jarvis had been speaking, Natasha sneakily showed Steve her phone. Instantly on alert, but outwardly calm, Steve came up with an excuse to head downstairs.
" Hey you guys." Steve began, waiting for Thor and Natasha to look to him for a moment.
" I am gonna go take a shower, I got chunks of New York literally all over me." Steve said as he rose from his seat and gestured to his dust covered self.
" Understood Captain Rogers, I will direct you to a fresh set of clothing afterwards." Jarvis said, Thor nodding and not suspecting anything, Natasha playing along and sending Steve a subtle look to get a move on and not linger.
With a final nod, Steve headed out of the kitchen while both Jarvis and Natasha started to pepper Thor with questions about Freya, the Thunderer obliging and answering that yes, Freya and her giant cats were indeed real.
Once he was out of sight from the kitchen, Steve all but ran to the elevator that was open and waiting for him.
All throughout the ride down to the medical wing, Steve felt his stomach twist into tight knots, wondering just what kind of abominable scene he was about to walk into. When the elevator doors slid open with a soft chime, Steve stepped up and shoved his trepidation aside, walking down the hall with purpose as he made his way to the examination room.
Inside said exam room, Tony and Clint watched as Bruce tried yet again to carefully wiggle the fragment, but still it would not budge from inside Loki's head. They had covered Loki up with a clean medical sheet, tossing the bloody ones from earlier. They had also propped loki's head up a little using the built-in headrest that Tony had activated after their first few failed attempts at getting the fragment, hoping a better angle would get them somewhere. No such luck. Bruce withdrew with a sigh, hating that they had to leave the prongs in Loki's head, Bruce not wanting to cause any further damage by withdrawing them over and over without the fragment. The three Avengers looked up when Jarvis' voice sounded to through the room.
" Sirs, Agent Romanov and I have successfully engaged Mr. Odinson in conversation about his homeland, allowing for Captain Rogers to take his leave under the guise of desiring to shower. He is set to arrive any moment now." The AI informed them.
A few moments later a determined looking Steve Rogers, still clad in his battered uniform, strode into the exam room. When his eyes in inevitably fell on Loki where the deceased prince lay, Steve came to a grinding halt, his blue eyes widening in shock at the grisly scene before him, seeing the metal prongs sticking out of the top of Loki's head that glinted in the bright light of the exam room.
Tony and Clint quickly rushed forward to greet Steve and partially block his view.
" Glad you could get here without Point Break hounding your heels Cap. We really need your help but you aren't gonna like it." Tony explained gravely.
Steve looked past his two teammates, his clear blue eyes once again zeroing in on Loki. Bruce shuffled awkwardly by the head of the table as he watched on.
" What happened?" Steve asked, pushing his horror down and trying to be objective.
He turned his gaze back to Tony and Clint at the archer spoke now.
" We were patching Loki up, those bastards had drilled these metal objects into his bones and insides. We got everything else out, but there is just this one piece left and it won't budge, not even when all three of us pulled on it together." Clint said, his voice quivering for a moment at the mention of the many metal objects they had extracted from Loki's body.
" I take it the piece you're talking about is in Loki's head and you need me to try and pull it out." Steve said knowingly.
" Yeah, but if y-" Tony began to say when Steve just shook his head reaching out and placing his hand over Tony's shoulder, giving it a firm but gentle squeeze as he spoke.
" I can handle it Tony, and if my strength isn't enough, we will just have to leave it in there, because I think we can all agree, we are not going to let Thor anywhere near this." Steve said with a wan smile.
The other three Avengers nodded in agreement before Tony and Clint hurried off to get Steve a protective apron, surgical gloves, and a face guard.
A few minutes later Steve, clad in the protective gear, was making his way around to the head of the table, bracing himself for both for what he was about to do and what he was about to see. When he finally came to stand beside Bruce, Steve felt like his entire body had been returned to the ice that had trapped him for the last 80 years.
Loki's skull had been cleaved open, the bone a stark, gleaming white with the pinkish gray brain matter peeking out. The gleaming metal prongs stood inserted within the depths of Loki's brain, seemingly waiting for its next challenger almost like a horrendous version of Excalibur in the stone.
" Oh God." Steve whispered, having to shut his eyes a moment and breathe the sterile air of the exam room.
Bruce, Clint, and Tony watched Steve with sad understanding, staying quiet as they waited for Steve to compose himself.
With a deep breath, Steve got a hold of himself and opened his eyes, his face taking on a determined look as he gritted his teeth and stepped up to the task that had been asked of him.
With a quick glance at his three harried teammates, who either nodded or sent him wordless looks of assurance, Steve reached out and looped his fingers into the scissor-like end of the medical prongs and gripped it tight. Steadying his nerves and taking a deep breath, and also praying that he didn't cause Loki anymore damage, Steve slowly started to pull on the fragment. At first nothing happened, the fragments stayed put as it had been, so Steve slowly started to unleash more of his superhuman strength. Bruce, Tony, and Clint all came closer when they saw the holographic projection of Loki's head that was still running, and finally saw the fragment shift, barely a centimeter but still it shifted.
" You moved it Cap!" Clint said quietly but with excitement.
Steve nodded mutely, gritting his teeth harder as he continued to pull, wondering whether Loki's brain was actually the consistency of concrete, or the fragment was just that goddamn evil. Slowly but surely, the fragment began to come loose, moving towards the opening of Loki's wound. When the fragment seemed to get jammed in Loki's brain matter again, Steve let out a small growl of frustration and looked down apologetically at Loki, before he reached out with this free hand and gently held the side of Loki's face, hooking his fingers against Loki's sharp jaw in order to get better leverage and because he was afraid he'd pull Loki clean off the table before he got that damn piece of metal out of him. Steve was hyperaware of his hand against Loki's cheek, remember vividly that this was the same face that he had punched during their vicious brawl in Stuttgart. He had wanted to do maximum damage then. Now, even with Loki cold against his palm, he didn't want to hurt him. Steve felt revulsion ripple through him, not towards Loki, but towards himself, feeling like he had no right to touch Loki like this. What could he and the others do though, he was their only option without having to traumatize Thor on a tremendous scale.
With a low grunt, Steve used nearly all of his strength, no one else moving or making a sound for what seemed an eternity until finally, finally with an awful, wet, slurping sound, the tongs came out with the fragment clasped firmly between them.
Steve let out a shaky breath, Tony, Bruce, and Clint following suit, all of their eyes riveted to the fragment. The fragment which had a jagged alien symbol carved into it that was glowing a bright, Chitauri blue.
Before any of them could properly think about how to proceed, the glowing symbol started to flicker like a dying lightbulb, before simply going out entirely. All four sets of eyes immediately went to the prone figure laying on the table, watching, waiting to see if anything else would happen. As the seconds went by, nothing else happened, Loki stayed still, Loki stayed stone-cold dead on the metal exam table.
With a blink, the tension seeped away and all four men sagged in the release of tension, but also disappointment. They had been hoping, for what they could not quite say, but that fledgling hope was gone like the mysterious glow of the symbol. Steve swallowed thickly as he gazed at Loki, and then his eyes went to the tongs in his hand. He wanted nothing more than to hurl this wretched, hideous thing into the nearest wall, but Steve just stood and stared at it balefully.
Bruce wordlessly stepped forward and reached for the prongs, taking the fragment from Steve's unresisting hand and quickly depositing the offending item into a specimen jar and placing it with its fellows. Tony and Clint watched as Steve pulled the gloves from his hands, looking pale and ready to hurl. Steve's blue eyes never left Loki. It was how he noticed a few strands of the god's ebony black hair sticking to the edge of his jaw, no doubt caused when Steve had held his face for leverage.
Without thinking, Steve reached out for the strands, his fingertips ending up grazing Loki's jaw. The moment his fingertips made contact with Loki's cool skin, Steve felt like a jolt of electricity went through his entire body. Swallowing thickly and feeling completely overwhelmed, Steve gently pulled the strands of hair away from Loki's jaw and tenderly tucked them behind the dark haired man's ear.
Clearing his throat, Steve looked up at Tony and Clint and spoke.
" I just... I need to get out of here." He said haltingly.
" Of course Cap, just ask Jarvis for anything you need." Tony said quietly.
" Thanks for helping us out." He added, looking at Loki himself a moment before looking back at Steve.
" Don't mention it." Steve said, a little absently as he forced himself to look away from Loki's bruised and cut up face and slowly, almost dazedly make his way out of the exam room.
Before he stepped through the exam room doors out into the hallway, Steve paused and looked back at his teammates, who still had much left to do.
He wanted to say so much, wanted to tell them to take care of Loki to the best of their abilities, wanted to yet again thank them for thinking he could handle it and sparing Thor the trauma, but instead, Steve just gazed at his three teammates and they gazed back at him in silent understanding.
They weren't getting over any of this, not any time soon.
With a final nod, Steve stepped through the doors, leaving Tony, Bruce, and Clint to now still clean and patch up Loki's body that had been left bloodied once more from all of the extractions. Thick, dark blood had started seeping from Loki's head wound, a final bit of damage inflicted by the fragment left by the Chitauri.
Feeling the tendrils of guilt wrapping around their hearts at what they had asked Steve to do, what he had been put through, Bruce, Tony, and Clint set to work on finally getting through this entire ordeal.
Tony went and retrieved the prototype handheld suturing machines he had built a few months back, while the Medical Wing had still been under construction.
Handing one to each of his teammates and keeping one for himself, Bruce and Tony picked up the water hoses once more and got to work bathing Loki's body a second time.
Out in the hallway, Steve leaned against the wall across from the doors to the exam room and just breathed with his eyes tightly shut. He had thought cleaning Loki's blood from Thor's silver armor had been bad, but he would gladly have done that a thousand more times than what he had just had to do in that exam room.
" Captain Rogers, you are exhibiting signs of emotional distress, shall I call for assistance sir?" Jarvis asked quietly from above.
Steve forced his blue eyes open and sighed, feeling a pang of fondness for the AI before he slowing shook his head.
" I'll be okay Jarvis, that was all just a bit... Much." Steve said with a brittle smile turning up the corners of his lips.
" Understandable Sir, these last fews days have certainly been a bit 'much' as you so succinctly but it." The AI agreed, earning a small huff of tired laughter from Steve.
With a small groan, Steve pushed himself away from the wall and stood tall but utterly exhausted as he spoke.
" I could really use a shower, for real this time Jarvis." Steve declared with a sigh.
" Of course Captain, right this way. You will be pleased to know that while all of the showers in the tower are fitted with the latest in technology for maximum relaxation, the showers on this floor have a little bit extra, seeing as to how it is the Medical Wing and utmost cleanliness is desired." Jarvis explained and little LED lights started blinking along the length of the hallway to Steve's left, indicating that he should follow them.
" Good to know Jarvis, good to know." Steve sighed as he followed Jarvis' illuminated direction.
With any luck, Steve would be able to boil his own skin to his heart's content.
Although, he sincerely doubted he would feel in any way clean even after he did.
