"Loki… Loki.. It's alright.. You're safe now… I have you… You're safe…" Thor kept on trying to reassure his brother as he thrashed in his arms, his feet scrambling and kicking against the blonde god, attempting to squirm away from him. The younger one just shook his head, grabbing Thor and throwing him off, backing away as he scrambled to his feet, moving until his back hit a tree. Or at least, Loki had thought it was a tree until the man's strong arms wrapped around his torso.
"Thor!" Loki cried out, pulling the other's attention back to him, and away from the approaching figure he had been so terrified of. Loki turned and as he expected, the man who was holding him was the other one of the guards from the prison, who had raped and tortured him. He tried to fight him off, cursing and yelling, as Thor started over to help him.
Thor was saying something, yelling his brother's name possibly, or maybe he was directing his words to the man holding him, but Loki could not hear. All he could hear was the sound of his own heartbeat, as he struggled against the massive man holding him still.
As Thor approached, he was tackled to the ground from behind, by the man's partner, who then hooked his arm around the Thunder god's neck, attempting to choke him as he yelled some sort of orders to the other. At least, Loki assumed they were orders, as the man proceeded to throw him over his shoulder, starting to walk away.
The thunder god had just thrown his own assailant against a tree, knocking him out, when he saw Loki being carried away. He yelled out in rage, before chasing after the man and reaching him just as Loki pulled out a knife, stabbing the man in the back and causing him to drop his captive.
"Thank you…" Loki chuckled out weakly when Thor caught him, then looked to the tall man who'd attempted to kidnap him, and was now turning around, rage emanating from him as he glared at the brothers. Thor placed Loki down, moving in front of his little brother with Mjolnir held firmly in his hand. He didn't bother speaking to the tall man, just attacked right off the bat, slamming the hammer into his chest and sending him flying back into a tree. That man also lost consciousness, and the thunder god walked over, grabbing him by the neck and carrying him over to the other unconscious man, dropping him on the ground at his side.
Loki turned some vines into rope with his magic, then assisted Thor in tying the men up to the nearest tree. They then sat back and waited for them to come to, Loki not saying a word as he glared at the men.
The blonde god looked to his brother and frowned, reaching a hand out and gently placing it on his back. "Brother… You seemed to recognize them as we fought… Who are they?"
Loki finally tore his eyes away from the face of the one who had attempted to carry him off, looking to his adoptive brother with a slightly amused expression, though his eyes looked sadder and more desperately angry then ever. "They are the guards from the prison… The ones who.." he looked away, then back to Thor, swallowing dryly. "The ones who raped me, Thor."
Thor's eyes widened and he snarled, turning back to the men, getting to his feet and striking them both across the face in turn, to snap them back to consciousness as soon as possible. He glared with fury at the larger one, picking up Mjolnir and holding it aloft at his side as he spoke. "How did you find us?"
The guard gave a grin, looking at Loki as he spoke, his voice a slimy, high pitched whine that gave Thor shivers. "Well… the trickster over here made it very clear that he had gotten away… We didn't know he'd escaped for sure until there were reports of mysterious patches of ice appearing within the palace." he laughed, and Thor struck him across the jaw once more.
"Who else knows where we are!" Thor barked angrily, growing more and more infuriated as the men both just laughed, looking at their captors with grins. He smashed Mjolnir into the larger man's shin, snapping the limb like a twig. "Tell me!" he demanded, the man panting and hissing in pain, incoherent.
The smaller guard looked at Thor with fear now, eyes wide and chest heaving with his fast, nervous breathing. "N-no… No one knows… We.. We were dismissed from.. From prison duty… And we… became bounty hunters… Heard Loki had escaped…. Came looking for him… only ones who figured out he'd be with you… And found out that you'd told Odin you were going to be here…Didn't tell anyone… So as to keep the bounty… To ourselves…" he swallowed dryly, then looked to Loki, who was glaring at the two of them with hate filled eyes, body trembling softly. "H-hah.. You are still scared my /prince/?" Sarcasm dripped from the word prince, a grin spreading over the man's greasy face.
"Thor, stand aside!" Loki snarled, striding forward and pushing past Thor, who had been about to attack the men once more for daring to mock his little brother. "I am not afraid of you sorry pathetic wretches. You are nothing, so far beneath me that I cannot even find you if I look beneath the dirt on the bottom of my shoes. You are lower than the lowest, crawling creature that burrows through the ground, and ten million times more disgusting. I shouldn't even be gracing you with the privilege of my addressing your filthy form, you don't deserve even that." he took a breath, then continued, his voice deep, low and menacing.
"You know… I have had nearly three years to decide what to do to you two... I had so many ideas… Gloriously tortuous ways to kill you slowly and painfully.. Making you pay for what you did to me… But now that I have you here… I know exactly what I must do. I will kill you in the way that you deserve, not with grand schemes, but as the animals… the creatures… the vermin… that you are." He flicked his wrists, a small ice dagger appearing in each of his hands. He didn't give any warning, only swiftly brought his arms up, slicing their throats quickly before turning back to Thor, who had been watching him with wide eyes.
"What!" Loki snarled, dropping the knives and glancing back to the now dead guards. Their blood was running down their bodies and soaking into the ground at the base of the tree, shining black in the moonlight. Loki sneered, his face that had formerly been filled with so much burning hate and disgust merely showing a light disdain now, spitting on them before walking back to the blonde god once more.
"Loki…" Thor attempted, reaching a hand out to gently touch his brother's shoulder, feeling a light splattering of blood beneath his palm as he touched the other's leather jacket.
"Do not touch me." Loki glared, shrugging him off and striding away from the elder. He headed in the direction of the river, only stopping when he reached the edge, jumping into the cold rushing water and cleansing himself of the blood. He climbed out once he deemed himself clean enough, sitting on the grass and looking up into the starry sky.
Thor carefully walked over, sitting beside him and clearing his throat. "Loki… I know that you are hurting… All I ask is that you allow me to assist you… Did killing those men ease the pain at all? Father has told me that-"
"I do not want to hear what your father has told you about revenge killings Thor!" Loki interrupted, the words 'your father' bearing just as much burning resent as ever. "Yes, it did ease the pain! I feel much better knowing those pathetic, disgusting vermin are dead! Just let me be Thor!" he turned away from him, chest heaving as rage and fear continued to course through his veins.
"Loki… I am sorry. I wish to help, and you seem fixated on preventing me from doing anything akin to such a feat. Let us set up camp here… Get a little bit more rest.. Then we shall see how you are feeling in the morning, yes?"
Loki rolled his eyes, laying on his back in the grass. "Fine. I need no fire, I shall go to sleep here… I shall see you in the morning then." The god of mischief closed his eyes then, refusing to look at Thor as he built a fire relatively close to him, then lay between Loki and the flame. Thor lay there until Loki was deeply asleep, then grabbed him, pulling him against his body once more, telling himself that it was a preventative measure… to ensure Loki did not have another nightmare…
In the morning, Loki opened his eyes slowly, confused as to why he was so warm for only a split second this time, rolling away from Thor, but since they had shifted slightly in the night, he rolled directly into the smoldering embers of the fire, yelping and rolling further off it, laying in the damp grass on his back.
Thor had sat bolt upright when Loki had cried out, looking over him with concern, then slight amusement as he saw what had happened. "Are you alright there Loki?"
"Yes.. I am fine…" he rolled his eyes, sitting up and dusting himself off, sighing and shaking his head. "Thor… If those people could find us… Then who's to say that someone else is not going to come after me here… What can we do?"
Thor thought a moment, then frowned. "We could see about getting to Midgard sooner… If you are able to shape shift… You were able to change that vine into rope, and create your ice daggers were you not?"
Loki nodded slowly then thought for a moment, biting at his lip softly. "Yes… I do think I should be able to change… But I should not do it until we are nearing the palace… In case I can not keep up the illusion for long…" he nodded, getting to his feet and stretching. "We should make haste Thor… Those men will not remain hidden forever…" he turned on the spot, impatiently waiting as Thor got to his feet and picked up Mjolnir.
The thunder god flew them to the edge of the forest, landing carefully and setting Loki down, who did not stumble this time, but strode a few feet away purposely. He stood still then, taking a breath and concentrating, a shimmer of green running over his body as he transformed his appearance. He spun to face Thor, grinning and holding out his hands at his sides to give him a good view of the steel grey suit with a light green shirt and a emerald green tie. "Hey, princess! How do I look?"
Thor laughed when Loki turned round, shaking his head at whom he had chosen to impersonate. "Very good brother.. You look just like the Man of Iron… Hopefully it will be enough to fool Heimdall…" he nodded, then led the way into the palace, nervously watching as 'Tony' greeted every one he passed with a wave, a wink, a grin or a point.
They were nearly at the Byfrost, when Odin came round a corner and walked directly in front of them, frowning a little upon seeing his son and the billionaire. "Thor? I was under the impression that you were going on a camping trip.. That you were to be away for some time?" he looked to 'Tony' and his frown deepened, the young god shrinking from Odin's gaze a little, avoiding eye contact.
The Allfather looked back to his son, and shook his head almost imperceptibly. "Thor… Why did you not tell me you had your friend here? More importantly, how did you bring him here without the use of the Byfrost?"
Thor swallowed dryly, the before he could answer, 'Tony' spoke up. "I'd been experimenting with some new stuff, trying to replicate the effects of the Tesseract, when the damn thing shot me up here…" his voice trailed off as Odin stared at him, slowly meeting the Allfather's gaze, which seemed to see right through all his magic to who was truly standing there. Loki started to feel the magic slipping as he became more and more sure that Odin knew exactly who stood in front of him, but he dared not run, or turn to Thor to let him know. He took a deep breath, still holding the gaze of his adoptive father, and hoping that Thor could see… That Thor would understand what was happening…
A palace guard came running into the hall then, falling to his one knee in front of Odin in a hurry. "M..My king…" he panted, keeping his head bowed as he knelt there, breathing heavily and shakily.
Odin turning and looking at him, frowning softly. "Yes…What is it?" The old god tilted his head a little, blinking his eye a few times as he took in the guard's distressed state.
The man was only able to gather himself a little, breathing still heavy as he explained the situation, face stricken with terror as he looked up at his king. "M-Monsters…In.. In Asgard… Monsters…" he panted, the Allfather narrowing his eye a little at the word.
"Monsters? You are going to have to be a bit more specific warrior… Take a moment to calm yourself if you must, but I need you to be more clear, understood?" Odin spoke slowly, his voice calming and steady.
"Th-There… There are two men… Dead sir… In the woods… Throats cut by ice… There were Ice burns on the wounds… The others suspect there are frost giants in Asgard… You must come quickly…Please!" The man nearly begged, his voice shaking with terror.