Avengers Assemble: Loki's Redemption
Chapter 7: A Promise of Death
But with the odds in their favour, why did Thor, Loki and Tony feel uneasy at how well that victory was within their grasp? It was too easy, even for two gods and a genius at the moment, so what was wrong?
And that was when the reinforcement arrived through a second portal on the ground. All carried bows, and where noticeably bigger than the average Fire Demon. Standing as tall as the average Frost Giant, they towered over the two Gods, with axes in hand and feral grins. These Fire Giants did not have bodies made of fire like their lower grade cousins. No, the skin on these Giants was hotter and burned someone at a simple touch of skin from one not of their own. They were of a dark orange colour and dressed in simple furs made of the creatures that did not burn at their touch. Much of their skin was left uncovered, allowing them to easily burn anything. Grey fingernails sat upon battered hands and a craving for blood was seen in their pure black, featureless eyes.
The battle had now been turned back into the favour of Muspelheim.
Backing away from the new reinforcements that had arrived to aid the small army of Muspelheim, Loki realised for quite possibly the first time in his long life, that he might not make it all the way through this ordeal alive. Even with Thor fighting at his side and to some extent, The Avengers, this whole battle in fact appeared too much for even him. Even when he had entered the void after falling off of the Bifrost, he had kept a small hope alive that he would survive and make it though, because where one hole is created, so is another. Doors did open from both sides after all. But now, as the truth finally dawned upon the God of Mischief, the truth that he may not live to see the end of this war, it dawned in fire. They should have acted sooner, marched upon the realm of fire itself and either demand and end to the attack, or fought their way through the realm to end it.
The heat had risen once more, lifting far above temperatures that Loki had ever experienced before, to the point where it was so unbearable that it began to make the Trickster's Jotun side act up. He could feel his natural ability to freeze things begin to cool the air around him slightly, without changing the colour of his skin. It was a small relief that granted him passage to clear thoughts once more. Glancing around, he noticed Thor had not moved away from the Fire Giants, instead standing firmly with Mjolnir spinning around faster than the mortal eye could see. Stark was circling slightly above him, doing good to stay away from the Demons and Giants. A wise decision indeed, because even he would be able to feel this heat, despite his armour. Lastly, he heard the sounds of the Quinjet arriving, just hovering in the air for a moment. No doubt the occupants of it were taking in the state of the city, both outraged and shocked.
Already it was worse than New York last year, the fires everywhere made sure to begin cindering anything it touched. If this continued for much longer, there would not be a London left to save.
Continuing with the battle, Thor cared little for the arrival of the Fire Giants, inhabitants of Muspelheim's second ring. The Fiery realm had a hierarchy, just like any world, of who was on top, and who was at the bottom. In the case of this planet, the beings with humanoid shapes were on top, and the rank in power was represented by the height of the lifeform. This was all with the exception of certain powerful creatures that also dwell within this realm. This put Demons at the bottom on the first ring and Giants just above them. No one really knew what came next after them, apart from the fact that Surtur sat on top of the pile and rumour had it that he was tall enough to touch the top of Asgard's palace without leaving the ground.
The Prince of Thunder waited until the oncoming enemies, a combination of Demon and Giant, were unfortunate enough as to come close to him, before charging at them with a mighty leap. His hammer spinning faster than a vortex, Thor smashed one of the Giants in the face with an uppercut from Mjolnir, sending it staggering back a fair few paces with a broken jaw, before finishing the top with a downward strike on its head. The Fire Giant burst into flames before turning to ashes that were then soaked by the pouring rain, which did little to help the heat. It was almost amusing how the Demon's and Giant's died in different ways, but Thor's rage at the destruction and death around him allowed no humour to spare at his foes' demise. He longed for battle, having been away from it for a year, skipping many sessions to train the guard to visit Loki in the dungeons. He needed to loosen up a little and this crisis on Earth, gave him a chance to do so. And to take care of a threat from a realm which had long been planning something to do with invasion or destruction. Muspelheim never stayed quiet for long unless Surtur wanted his army prepared.
Backhanding a Demon with Mjolnir, Thor spun around, his hammer mimicking his actions and swatted away anything that came towards him. The Fire Demons it appeared, could be ended with just one, powerful strike, whereas the Giants, their stronger counterparts, could take a lot more damage. However, none were a match for Crown Prince of Asgard.
Summoning a few lightning bolts to thin out the number of Demons and even one Giant, Thor gazed around the battle field, scanning it for Loki. Although he had not yet said anything, for the sake of preserving some of his brother's pride, he knew well enough how much the heat that these beings of the fire realm was affecting him. His Frost Giant heritage gave him a massive disadvantage against these foes and by all rights, he should not even be this close to them while fighting. He should be taking them on from a distance, or providing strategic assistance by calling out orders. But Thor would not say anything yet; he would not belittle Loki like he had done a few times in the past and how many others had done so as well. No, he would let him stay and showcase his power. It was the pain of being the elder brother, that sometimes you had to give your younger not what was best for them, but what they desired. And right now, Loki desired to be here and to help, so all Thor could do was oblige.
But that would not stop him from keeping a close eye on Loki.
He spotted his brother not too far away from him, at the other side of the rather large portal. But then he noticed something that forced him to worry more for the trickster. He had seen earlier that the God of Mischief had used the water from the river to cool his temperature significantly. However, this gateway into Midgard had been opened on the closest street that allowed access to the water, almost as if it had been planned that way. It would not have been too bad, considering there were several other roads that lead to the river, if the great fire, which was gradually beginning to die due to the blessed rain Thor had summoned, did not block off every other possible way as well. Loki was trapped in this small square now and unless he could find a way to get on top of a building, the God of Thunder feared for his brother. As of right now, he was unable to reach him directly without drawing the attention that was mainly focused on himself, upon the Mischief God, which would only make the situation worse.
The Thunder God hated it, but for the benefit of Loki, he would have to stay away from him to keep him safe. Or at least safer.
Returning to focus on his part of the battle, Thor gained the attention of his foes with a well placed taunt, after smashing in the head of a Giant of course, "Anyone else?" he questioned, looking about the others who were reluctant to step forward. "I once thought the armies of Muspelheim where a formidable force in battle. It appears I was wrong," at this the Prince of Thunder got what he wished; for them to all charge straight at him. Rolling his arm backwards, he threw Mjolnir with all his might at the oncoming enemies, the great hammer hitting several of them as it was not faulted in its flight.
Tony flew up, down, left and right around the area, ducking and diving as he went, firing repulsor blasts at anything that was either orange, or on fire. Seemingly, there was no end to this onslaught of an attack, and his own attacks did not look to affect the Fire Giants too much. Unlike Thor, who could take them down with a few power house hits, Stark was barely tickling them with his own. And this annoyed Tony to no end; he had designed his suits to be capable of taking down almost anything. However, this was one of the slightly older models, or at least, the genius would call it that. His new suit had been made only two days ago, on the day before he actually decided to get some proper rest. The one he wore now was last week's model. He had been eccentric about building a lot of suits since Loki's attack on New York, and was up to Mark 42 as of two days previous. However, that one was yet to be tested and quite frankly, he didn't have the time to with the whole Earth crisis.
Looking up briefly, he saw the Quinjet landing nearby. Guessing that The Hulk was about to come into play, he flew upwards and did a quick survey of the surrounding area. With at least what J.A.R.V.I.S calculated to be one hundred Fire Giants having come through the portal, which now looked ready to start closing, they were at a severe disadvantage, being outnumbered by at least eighty six to one, if they all were on the ground fighting. That did obviously include Steve, Natasha and Clint as well and to involve them would only be more dangerous, since none were either a God, wore thick armour, or had been exposed to gamma radiation that ultimately turned you into an indestructible green rage monster.
London was still burning on top of all of it. Some buildings now so badly damaged from the hellish fire that they had begun to fall apart. Collapsing in on themselves, just like the nerves of the people around them fleeing for their lives, terrified shrieks piercing the dawn. Running to get out of their houses and flats and into the London Underground where the stopped trains dwell, they sought refuge. Upon seeing this, Tony noticed that a heap of Demons and a few Giants were making their way after them, perhaps to try and follow them underground. Not having any of it, the genius took off after them.
"Jarvis!" He began, calling out to his AI, "get me a lock on the Fire Demons; plan the best route of attack to take all of them out at once!"
"Sir, don't you think that charging in to all of them is perhaps a little dangerous?" The AI questioned, "the probability of coming out of it unscathed is-"
"Jarvis, I don't want to hear the math right now, I just want a path to follow," the genius told the computerised butler. It was the truth for once that Tony did not want to hear the likelihood of his survival or any other mathematical calculations at this point. People were in danger, he did not have strong enough armour to withstand direct contact from the heat of the Muspelheim for too long and on top of all that, there was no time to waste on too much strategy at the moment. The only strategy he would follow now except run and gun as it were, was any that Cap came up with, since that was his area of expertise.
"Very well, sir," J.A.R.V.I.S replied.
Inside the suit, Tony saw a flight path come up on his heads up display, showing when and where he should turn and pull in and out of dives. Deciding that it worked well enough, he put it into action, first flying around Saint Paul's cathedral and then turning in the air while descending into a dive. A few seconds after that, he came across the group of Demons, the Giants just slightly behind them and was only around ten feet from the ground. From then on, everything seemed to move in slow motion for the genius. The faces of the Demons were highlighted with targets and an attack order. Stretching out his arms, he fired blasts at the two either side of him, before rolling over in midair so his back faced the ground and firing two blasts behind him. Though in this roll, he had kept his momentum, so he turned once more into his usual flying position and had his left arm out in front of him and slightly to the left, while his right was pointed out more behind him in a south east direction.
After firing two more repulsor blasts, he looked at the last four targets he had to take out. He blasted one with his right, then another two with both hands before coming to the last of the Demons and taking it out with a double hand blast. Having completed stage one of his task, he then moved on to the harder part of it; the Giants. Continuing with his flight path, he pulled upwards into the sky, before performing a high turn, almost moving in an arc and coming back round for his first crack at the Fire Giants.
Increasing his speed, Tony flew directly over to the Giant's head before abruptly stopping and bringing his fist up to strike down on its head. Not his best idea, since the even greater heat of the taller foe left scorch marks on the armoured hand and heated the metal greatly. However, where his repulsors failed, surely some heavy hit would make up for it?
Knowing that there had to be a weak spot for him to be able to get to easier, Tony once again asked J.A.R.V.I.S to do the work for him, "Jarvis, scan for weaknesses."
Several miniature screens and targets came up on the genius' display before one fairly obvious, but hard to get to spot was identified. "Sir, it appears that only their eyes will prove a critical target, unless you want to risk the armour melting."
"Not a problem, Jarv," the genius said, his targeting system highlighting the eyes of all five Giants. Every single missile needed to supposedly take the enemies down was primed and ready to fire and so the rockets on his shoulders came out from underneath the gold-titanium plates. He held up his palms, his eyes clearly showing intense focus underneath his faceplate, "Right, let's see what these guys are made of!"
As soon as it had arrived, the Quinjet had circled the sky looking for a place to land and drop off Bruce. This was of course after the occupants of said jet had gazed upon the blazing fire, the destruction and death going on around them in London. They also noticed Tony taking out a few Giants before flying off to seemingly find more foes to attack. Several scorch marks already covered his armour as he headed into the river for a quick dunking to cool off his suit.
Casting his excellent gaze over the low buildings in the city, Clint now being cooperative and responsive with Steve for the moment due to the crisis, spotted a place to land. "Banner, get ready, we're landing in a sec," he called out to the doctor, who was standing by the back of the plane, getting ready to exit as soon as he could. The Archer shifted the jet downwards and began to land, being careful to land properly to avoid a completely out of control Hulk running rampage.
"Bruce, I doubt this will be an issue with you, but I need to say it anyway; don't let the Hulk attack Loki if you can prevent it. I don't know what it's like when you change, but this is crucial. Unless he does something like kill an innocent, which he doesn't appear to be looking to do, try not to attack him. I don't like having to say these things and I trust you completely, but I just need to be sure," the Captain said, looking straight at the doctor with complete seriousness. His mask had already been pulled over the top half of his head and he looked like he wanted to join the battle along with the others, but was at serious risk of being burned. Being a human, he had about as much resistance to the heat as Loki did, maybe even a little more considering the God's heritage, though he did not know this.
"Don't worry cap, I'll keep it under control," Banner reassured him.
Natasha, sat next to Clint in the cockpit looked over at the Fire Demons that had noticed the Quinjet and enabled the machine gun to be armed and ready to fire if necessary. Raising their bows, they aimed and were ready to fire, but would be more likely to do so once they had landed. Locking a few targets using the computer, she didn't move her eyes away from the fiery enemies. "Barton you need to land this quickly if you don't want us to become fried chicken." She mused, though entirely seriously.
"Very funny," he replied, though more focused on landing in the small space of the building's roof. There was a small bump as the jet touched down, but otherwise the landing had been smooth. "Alright, Banner, move it!" The hatch at the back opened out quickly and Bruce ran out, giving the team enough time to get back in the air again before being shot at.
"Bruce, try and keep the damage minimum if you can!" Steve called out before the hatch closed. He knew it was a long shot and unlikely considering The Hulk's previous records, but this was not their city and since it did belong to someone still so precious to the captain, he did not want to have to ruin it further.
Although the Demons and Giants only had arrows, they suspected that they could do a lot more than just bounce off of the Quinjet. In fact, if Clint's exploding arrows could disorientate Loki, a God for a few seconds, then alien life forms that could destroy the planet had powerful weapons. Even if it did appear that Muspelheim was holding back a lot.
Taking a deep breath, the doctor let down all of the restraints in his mind keeping his anger back. He always restrained a focused sense of anger, leading to him being able to control The Hulk, but to be able to assume this form he had to let down certain barriers in his mind and let the anger flow freely. Doing this, his body began to rapidly grow in size, stretching the seams of his shirt and trousers, ripping the former within a few seconds. His skin turned green and his eyes pulsed a bright, almost neon of the same colour. Walking to the edge of the building with thundering steps, The Hulk instantly created a standstill and got everyone's attention for a few seconds with a wild roar that could be heard from a few miles away.
Thor glanced upwards and upon noticing the only one he had found to rival his brute strength, he smiled before turning serious once again. This battle would surely turn interesting now with Banner being added to the fray. It had looked like it would be long and more difficult than first thought in the Thunder God's eyes when the Giants had entered, but not impossible. Being nowhere near as pessimistic as Loki normally was in these situations, though arguably he was usually right, he had only been to glad at a greater challenge. Yet he was not so blind as he once was; he knew this was to be taken seriously and that lives were at stake. His cocky streak was not gone but it did not rule his judgement either. He was coming closer to kingship each day. All that was left was to prove himself once more. He returned to fighting the gormless Giant in front of him shortly after, noticing that they were thinning out gradually.
Loki meanwhile had not been the most pleased to see the creature that had floored him in one go appear for the battle. Keeping a straight face however, he was not scared, only wary. See, that was the thing with the Trickster, while most called him cowardly for acting like this, he wasn't so much a coward, just 'overly careful' as he would put it. After all, one could never be too careful. He had retreated for a bit, sticking to throwing knives instead of fighting physically. That was what he hated doing after all. Close combat was not suited to Loki unless he was one on one usually and he knew this, but was willing to sacrifice his usual tactics in favour of saving a few lives. Going back to his own battle, he backed away further, closer in the direction of Thor, should anything go wrong. He was near his limits already with the heat and felt close to passing out from it, but his determination kept him going... for now.
Tony, after having taken a nice cooling dip in the river, now circled above The Hulk, planning out his next attack. He had to admit, even if big green had come into play, he still felt that this battle was going to hit home heavily on all of them. He was not usually one to be so negative, but looking around, this was worse than New York had been and the battle hadn't even lasted half the time of last year's one yet. But already he was down on almost half of his missiles and his armour was suffering draw backs from the continuous heat exposure. It made it worse to cool it down as crudely as he had, but Stark had to keep on fighting at full potential to be of any use. Picking out a couple of Giants as targets, he flew down towards them with the laser in his left gauntlet primed and ready, before firing it straight into their eyes, cutting into the brain and killing the both of them. The same way he had dealt with the others; the eyes were his only real chance of killing them quickly.
Taking a flying leap, The Hulk leapt from the building and landed on to the head of a Giant. Well, landed his fist on the foes head would be a more accurate description, smashing a lot of it in as well. However this in turn had its toll. Despite Hulk's amazing healing capabilities, he retracted his fist from the attack almost instantly after landing a hit, his hand having been severely burned. Yet this served a fairly good purpose too; it had angered The Hulk even further, allowing his strength and capacity to smash things without being affected as much to increase. These little annoying burns he would suffer, would soon make him stronger. As long as Hulk's anger was infinite, so was his strength after all.
Back in the Quinjet, the two S.H.I.E.L.D Agents and Captain America had given themselves the task of getting any civilians they could find to safety. Since none could engage in direct battle, this was the job best suited for them and looking out of the windows at the winding streets below, they could see many lives that needed saving. Despite the danger, the Fire Brigade, Ambulances and Police forces were all working together to try and save as many lives as they could, even if it should cost their own. Noble hearts resting in the bodies of those who should not have to die for a war they should not have to fight... it saddened Steve the most, even with all the death he had dealt with in his life; this should not be happening and he would do anything in his power to stop it.
Spotting a bunch of innocents taking cover in a small cafe that was completely surrounded, Steve said the first thing that came to mind, "Barton, find somewhere to lower this thing to hover just above the ground near that cafe!" It didn't sound so serious considering the location they were going to, but it was delivered in that exact manner.
Having already seen the people trapped inside, Clint had begun landing, "already on it, cap." He replied, lowering the jet. Their argument earlier seemed to have had no effect on their communication in a crisis like this, which was good, otherwise there would be some devastating consequences.
"Good. Alright, we need to take out the Fire Demons quickly, before more of them come this way. I'll jump out and try and stop them from getting inside. I want you two back up in the sky so you can take them out from the air." The Super Soldier ordered, formulating a quick, easy plan that was sure to work.
"Sounds like a plan, cap, we're good to go if you want to jump out the back," Natasha said, flicking various switches and getting ready to start firing the machine gun attached to the bottom of the jet.
Nodding even though no one was looking at him, the Captain jumped out of the Quinjet, landing on the ground and rolling forwards, he charged towards the doors of the cafe, using his shield to block any incoming arrows. Making it inside the doorway, he looked at the people hiding behind various overturned tables and the counter, who in turn had looked at him, at first scarred if he were the enemy, but soon recognising him as who he was from last year's news. "Stay calm everyone, we'll get you to safety soon." He said, taking his prized shield off of his arm and throwing it at a few of the Demons, knocking their bows out of their hands. This gave Natasha and Clint enough time to get into the air and rain down a storm of bullets upon the fiery enemies.
At the gun on the jet sounded, many plugged their ears, not liking the loud noises that were going off at this time when the sun had barely risen in the sky. It was truly terrible, that these people had been scarred out of their homes at the break of dawn to seek refuge somewhere else, only to get trapped. And while the great fire burned and the Fire Demons murdered too. Many of the children here would be scarred for life, like they had been in the Manhattan incident. In fact, everyone here would have nightmares about this for a long time to come. Why did war always have affect the innocents? The ones who do not even fight always suffer the greatest out of everyone. This world had not learnt peace. After what the Captain had been through to try and strive for more peace, war was now coming from worlds they had never known about, it was an endless cycle. Thor had told him of the tranquillity they had on Asgard, even in the race of warrior Gods there were rarely disturbances of the peace of the Nine Worlds. At least, it had been a while since they had gone to war, a couple of centuries according to the Thunder God. Not long by Aesir standards at all, but to a mortal, that was what they wanted; a peace that lasted more than a decade.
Even Thor had said that always it was the humans that caused the most war in all of the worlds and they fought amongst themselves on top of it. No wonder Loki had set his eyes upon Earth, they were always fighting that it seemed they could be ruled easily with their fractured alliances.
But they had stood together, had they not? In the time of need, the Avengers had all stood together and fought together, despite any previous differences.
There was hope in the hearts of humans somewhere; all they had to do was find it.
When the gunfire stopped, Steve called out to all the people hiding in the shop behind him as the jet landed in front of them, "Okay, it's safe! Everyone, get on the jet quickly!" He watched and counted as everyone got up and ran past him. There were around twenty of them in total. A very tight fit for the Quinjet, but they did not have far to go and could cope with the squeeze for a little while.
Checking to make sure no one was left behind, Steve boarded with them and soon they took off to take the civilians to an entrance to the London Underground, currently the safest place in the city.
Currently trying to relax in the realm eternal, were The Warrior's Three and Lady Sif all of which were gathered in the armoury, the designated safe spot in the palace to talk about what could be thought of treason within the kingdom. Or at least things that the monarchy would not enjoy hearing. They had chosen this room because they all knew they needed to speak on the same thing after listening to what Odin had told them in the throne room. And everyone, especially the guard knew of the things that had been said, and even the were displeased with it. The unspoken law between all of them; no one asked why anyone went into the armoury after usual training hours, no one saw anything, heard anything and they most definitely did not let any warrior speak treason and such.
It was not like the royal family did not know of this place, well, at least Frigga and Odin didn't. Thor and Loki had come down here many a time to rant and express their views on how the kingdom should be run, what decision should be made. After all, that is what everyone else did to whoever was king. The Allfather was a great King, no one could deny that, but even he made mistakes sometimes, just look at his decision to lie to Loki and for a second time! Utter insanity to all those who knew of it.
Pacing up and down with a frustrated expression was Sif. The other three merely watched her, knowing the dangers of trying to calm down this raging Goddess, after all, she was as deadly as she was beautiful, which made her one of the most dangerous people in the realm. "This is madness!" she finally exclaimed, taking Fandral and Volstagg by surprise, "Surely the Allfather knows that lying to Loki a second time will only cause more conflict and turmoil between him and the entire realm should he find out?"
Speaking up, a rare thing indeed, was Hogun. However, when he did speak, the grim warrior expressed only the wisest words that could be heard of The Warrior's Three, "Do not be so quick to doubt if Loki knows of this deception, Sif."
Turning to him, the Goddess held a questioning look on her beautiful face, an odd occurrence for her indeed "How can you be so sure that he is aware of this?"
"Did you not see?" He questioned back, "We were not the only ones playing our part. Although flawless in his responses to the Allfather's questions and apology, he did allow something to slip, on purpose to see if anyone would notice."
"And you noticed?" Fandral questioned, "Well done my friend! What did he allow you to see, Hogun?" Intrigued, the dashing warrior glanced at his mace wielding friend with a curious look.
The grim warrior looked at the dashing one with an expressionless face, still wondering how the rest of his friends where no so observant as he. At least Sif noticed most of the time what the other two did not, "All of us saw it. Loki let one tear fall from his eye when saying he forgave the King."
Loki's eyes widened; if anything, he had not expected to receive an apology from Odin at all, let alone to see him give him an apology in front of the entire population of Asgard. "I… I forgive you" the Trickster said, as a tear slid down his left cheek.
"I have seen Loki shed tears only twice before, but on both occasions, and one time he was acting, his tears came from his right eye, not his left like when he was speaking to Odin. He allowed a mistake to see if anyone would know what he knew." That was entirely true. Loki's tears did always come from the right eye, even if he were faking, but this little slip that only one like Hogun, who was always on high guard could have noticed... was this his way of letting them know he knew what was going on? The God of Mischief was smart and of the current generation of warriors on Asgard, he had arguably been blessed with the greatest intelligence. Considered a genius by most, but an unfit warrior too, he was suited to planning out strategies and looking forwards in what consequences certain actions could take. Perhaps he was letting them know that he knew they were acting in certain respects; they were all in a mix of feelings when Odin had told them of his plan initially, not knowing if they could trust Loki and angry enough to kill him if he tried anything, but now they saw something else.
The friend they had once pushed away more often had separated himself from them and thus come out of his shell completely and demanded attention. They had seen some of his true power and had decided it was better to have Loki on the side of Asgard than of any other. After all, he may not be as strong as Thor, but he was still too dangerous to have as an enemy. Plus Sif and the others wanted to redeem themselves for their ignorance.
There was silence for a few seconds, before a guard entered the room, his face unreadable, "Heimdall requests your presence on a matter of urgency."
They all shared a worried look before heading out to the Bifrost, weapons in hand. It was a good thing they had been in the armoury after all.
The long and gruelling battle or at least it had felt that way, having not yet lasted a couple of hours, had definitely taken its toll on London and The Avengers. The raging fire, only slightly weakened by Thor's blessed rain continued on its path of destruction, burning all in its wake and heating the tarmac on the roads so it was liquid once more. The hellish fire could burn anything, even stone, that was the sheer power of the fires of Muspelheim. This is what Surtur was aiming for it seemed; when he finally arrived to destroy this planet, he would light a fire that could burn the realm until nothing remained and then shortly after, the Earth would fall apart from the attack. There wouldn't even be a dead planet to land on, just a bunch of rocks floating around where it used to be.
They all knew that the fire would need to be put out soon and with the numbers of the small army of Demons and Giants greatly declined, now was the opportune moment to do so.
Looking over at his brother, who was now not so far away from him, Thor called out to the younger God, knowing something the other Avengers did not. As a master sorcerer, Loki could manipulate anything more or less and he had seen him use the water to destroy the Demons earlier and with his power, there was no reason why he could not recreate that on a much larger scale. Only there was, his brother was battle weary, especially from the heat of the area. Thor could understand this himself, having begun to feel a little uncomfortable a few minutes ago, but Loki was on a different level all together. But they had to try and put the fire out, they couldn't just forsake the mortals of this part of Midgard.
"Loki!" Thor bellowed, gaining the Trickster's attention. His face was pale, almost white and beads of sweat were running down his forehead. Never had he looked this tired or ill in his entire life and the older God regretted having to ask this of his brother, who looked like a small gust of wind, could blow him over. He fought his way over to his brother, looking at him dead in the eyes and gripping his left shoulder, "Find a way to extinguish the flames. I will hold them back from attacking you for as long as you need."
The Mischief God nodded and teleported away on to a small building next to the river. Thor's observations had been right, however, there was something no one could see just by looking at his face. The truth be told, Loki had lost his confidence in his magic over the course of this battle, having been casting much weaker spells than usual and getting little effect out of his extensive magical reserves. He would have put this down to being handicapped by the fire, but he knew otherwise; he was not fit for battles like this. Yet he was? He had fought in many wars over the years and had been forced into close combat many times, but this time, why had he lost so much confidence in his abilities?
Why had he lost so much trust?
Shaking his head to rid himself of such lies, he struck his right hand out, pointing it to the river and focused on calling upon the energy needed to lift the column of water pictured in his mind. But his head wanted to play games it seemed and ill-mannered thoughts came to surface and redirected the attention needed to cast his spell to them.
Could he, a newly released criminal really turn and help the mortals he had wanted to rule? Their screams, terrible, shrieking screams as they burned in the fire echoed in his head. The woman who had died so her child might live, being reduced to a pile of ashes. The explosions, the dead bodies of mortals lying beside burning buildings, their corpses littered with arrows. The dead, lifeless eyes which someone would have once adored gazing into.
The pain. The suffering. The screams.
They would not go away.
You cannot do good, Mischief God. Stop trying to fight against your true nature and sit back. Relish in their deaths. It was they who cast you away from their realm, was it not? A voice echoed in his head, causing Loki's focus to be lost even further. How could his mind be invaded by this person now? He thought that the link had been severed long ago, why was this happening?
Watch them suffer as you suffered, for so long. There is no golden heart that rests within your chest as you so humbly believe... you should know by now, Trickster, that you are an agent of chaos. Death is your ultimate pleasure; give in to your dark desires, become a force to be reckoned with once more. Slay them! Slay them all!
BATHE IN THEIR BLOOD UNTIL ALL THAT REMAINS IS A PILE OF ROTTING CORPSES-
"Enough!" Loki yelled, though no one looked up at him. Shaking his head once more, he closed his eyes and pressed his left hand to his temple. He was desperate now; the tone of his voice had said it all. He wanted the water to rise from the river, he knew how to do it, but why couldn't he? The voice that had echoed in his head had disappeared but his mind was in disarray.
What is happening? Why can I not raise a simple column of water? Panicking he looked over at the river, noticing that it did not even stir at his command. What was happening?
Before he had time to react, a Giant suddenly appeared before him and swatted him on to the ground, luckily not touching any of his skin. Since they were the same size as Frost Giants, they were roughly a bit taller than double the size of an Asgardian, but were still able to swat those smaller than them away like flies. Getting to his feet with a very ungraceful stumble, Loki saw three Demons with loaded bows all pointed at him. With wide eyes, he realised that he recognised the arrows on their bows as a special type known only to Muspelheim which were released before he had a chance to do anything.
All three hit their target; one just barely missed his heart, resting just above it inside his chest. The other two hit his stomach. But one thing was common between all of the arrows; they had all been heated and burned the Trickster's insides. He stumbled backwards when he was hit, looking down at the large black shafts that protruded from his body. He held out the palms of his hands, moving to try and grip one of the arrows to remove it, but he fell backwards and hit the ground before he could muster the strength to do so.
Looking up at the clouds that had gathered in the sky well over two hours ago, he wondered if this would be his last moments. The arrows burned his insides, but did not hurt as much as they should. He blinked away a few raindrops from his eyes, before gazing into the pure black eyes of the Giant that had knocked him to the ground in the first place.
Everywhere else, all of Muspelheim's remaining forces just vanished as if they had never been there. The team stopped in their attacks, wondering why this was. Seeing his chance, The Hulk ran to the fire and brought his arms out in front of him to clap, the noise sounding similar to the Thunder that Thor had been summoning in this battle. The winds created by this blew the flames into nonexistence, ending the biggest threat to London, much to the joy of everyone in the city and most of the world in fact.
However, there still was one issue. The only remaining Giant was the one towering over the God of Mischief, who still lay upon the wet ground, gravely injured and defenceless.
"The great Surtur sends you a message, Odinson," It said, a deep, gravelly voice leaving its grinning lips. The Giant looked down upon the Trickster with amusement at his weakness, knowing his master would be pleased. "He sends you a promise of death." Crouching down, the Giant grabbed Loki's throat and hoisted his upper body off of the ground slightly, making skin contact with the God which caused him to receive a severe burn, finally making him scream in pain like the enemy creating this pain had wanted. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to ignore the cindering sensation he was feeling upon his neck.
Not so far away, Thor had been searching for his brother, knowing that something must have gone gravely wrong for him to have been unable to summon a column of water from the river. Hearing a familiar shriek in the air, he spun around to see his brother in the hands of a Giant. He also spotted the arrows sticking out of his body and his gut wrenched in worry. "Loki!" He exclaimed, gaining the attention of the Giant for a second. Enraged, he charged at the foe, ready to throw Mjolnir at its head.
Looking back at the God of Mischief, Surtur's messenger imparted his final words, "At dusk, five days from now, Surtur will hail upon the city you tried to take in your attempts to conquer this realm. He will destroy it and burn Midgard into nothing. Trickster, the great Surtur invites you to witness the end of the Earth, if you survive to see it, that it." Chuckling, it released Loki, letting him drop to the floor. Remarkably, the younger God was still conscious at this point, his right hand which twitched as the God tried to command it to move rested limply on his stomach, just below one of the arrows in his gut.
Throwing his hammer at the Giant, Thor was at first angered when it disappeared before Mjolnir could make contact. This was soon replaced with worry however as he ran to Loki's side. Having heard what the foe had said to his brother, it surprised the Thunder God that despite his many wounds, the first thing Loki said was a reminder of what the Giant had said.
"Thor... in five days... at dusk... Surtur will come," he spoke in a very hoarse tone, obviously pained to speak because of the burns he had received.
"I know, Loki." The Thunderer replied. He crouched next to his brother, his hands on his shoulders as he assessed Loki's wounds. "Do not try to speak, conserve your strength." Never had his brother been so injured in battle, at least not like this. He had taken a beating from The Hulk, but the only wounds he had got from that were mere scratches. These were far more serious and while not fatal to an Aesir, it was safe to say one thing.
Loki was no Aesir. He was a Frost Giant and attacks from the Fire Demons injured him more than any Asgardian.
Summoning the strength to speak once more, despite what he had been told the Trickster gained Thor's attention enough to have him spare a glance from his wounds to his face, "Brother... you should know... the arrows... they are not-" he was cut off by a coughing fit which started up suddenly and pained his entire body as it caused him to have to move.
His eyes closed and his head lolled towards Thor, a streak of blood running down the side of his mouth.
Panicking, Thor shook the Trickster gently, hoping this was not a joke, "Brother?" He said, trying to get the Mischief God to open his eyes, which he did not. Shaking him again, a little harder this time, the Thunder God's worry grew, "Loki!"
He received no response.
Chapter 7 is the longest chapter I have ever written. It counts in at about 8000 words, when it was planned to be only 7000, so it's longer than usual. Still, I hope you all enjoyed it. I'm still trying to keep to weekly updates too, lookout for me next Sunday!
Also, I did hold back a lot on the Hulk. He will get enough glory in the final battle, don't worry. I'm saving all of my best ideas until then.
Thanks for your support and for reading!
By the way, please go and read the fics of Feelsallovertheplace, my Aussie brethren and leave a review. They are excellent and I urge you to go and immerse your self in their splendid humour!