A/N: With school and possibly a new job, I won't be able to write as much as I would like, but I will try to update as frequently as possible. Thank you to everyone who's been reading and reviewing and being so patient, you special snowflakes you. Here's an extra long chapter.
The rest of the day was relatively uneventful. Well, as uneventful as it gets in a tower full of super heroes. Which, suffice to say, means Thor accidentally broke the kitchen table, Hawkeye shot the TV when his favorite show wasn't on, and Tony got inordinately drunk by lunch time because Pepper had to spend all day at the office. So it was a bit of a surprise for Loki when the tower was suddenly flooded with red lights and alarms started blaring from every direction. Wanda's voice came over the intercom system.
"Steve and I were on patrol when we saw some commotion at Central Park. It's AIM. They've erected some kind of tower. I think you guys should get down here."
"You heard the lady. Let's go." Tony said as he ran for the elevator. "Avengers Assemble!"
Everyone got to there feet and ran to suit up. Loki sat there watching them.
"Come on, Loki, that's you too!" Tony shouted.
"What?"
"You're living here. You're practically part of the team now." Tony informed the bemused god. "Come on! We could use some mystical mumbo jumbo."
"Uh."
For once Loki was at a loss for words. He still hadn't told anyone about his magic-less condition.
"I don't think Thor would want me to come."
"You haven't caused any trouble yet. I don't see why we can't give you a chance." Black Widow spoke from behind him. She had already put on her uniform. How she did it so fast, Loki couldn't guess.
"Exactly!" Tony exclaimed. "Don't worry, bro, you'll do great. I gotta run." he stepped into the elevator and hit the button for the garage. As the doors were closing he yelled one more thing to Loki, "Oh, and be sure to wear you're cool Asgardian get-up!"
Loki sighed audibly before leaving to go put on his "cool Asgardian get-up." He returned a few minutes later to find that all of the Avengers were gone and he had no idea where to go.
"JARVIS." he called out.
"Yes, sir."
"Where are the Avengers?"
"Top floor, sir. The hanger."
"That would've been nice of them to tell me." he grumbled.
"I agree completely, sir." JARVIS assured him.
Loki arrived at the hanger to find the Avengers in one of the quinjets, preparing to take off. Tony saw him through the front window and lowered the steps to let him in. Once Loki was safely inside, Tony piloted the jet out of the hanger and set a course for Central Park.
"Were you planning on leaving without me?" he asked, with a hint of annoyance in his voice.
"I figured you'd prefer to just zap yourself to the park." Tony shrugged.
"I cannot 'zap' myself anywhere without first knowing where it is I am going." he glared at Tony.
"Ah, well, good to know." Tony replied.
After a brief stint of awkward silence, which made Loki slightly uncomfortable, he spoke up.
"I believe I should be informed about this foe we are facing before the fighting begins."
"Right! Of course!" Tony flipped on the autopilot and swiveled his chair around. "So, A.I.M., that stands for Advanced Idea Mechanics. They're basically a group of high-tech baddies that want to acquire power and overthrow the government."
"That doesn't sound too difficult to defeat." Loki commented.
"You haven't seen them in action." Black Widow warned.
"Very true." Tony nodded in agreement. "And they're even more dangerous now that they have M.O.D.O.K."
Loki gave a weird look. "What is a modock?"
"Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing. He's this big ugly, floating head thing that shoots mental blasts." Tony explained. "And although he is as ridiculous as he sounds, mental blasts hurt." he rubbed his forehead a if remembering a past injury. "A lot."
"Understood." Loki grinned. "Avoid the floating head at all costs."
"Dude, this is serious."
"Beginning descent." a clear female voice announced.
"That's our cue!" Tony stood up and grabbed his helmet from the seat beside him and put it on.
"I would have expected JARVIS to be the voice of all your technology." Loki mused as he adjusted his arm-guards which concealed several throwing knives.
"JARVIS is in my house, my tower, my office, and my suit. I wanted something different." Tony shrugged.
The jet set down softly and the ramp opened.
"Let's go!" Tony called as he flew out of the quinjet.
Black Widow and Hawkeye quickly did last minute adjustments to their suits and weapons, before following Iron Man outside. Loki took a deep breath and ran after them. He wasn't expecting the utter chaos that greeted him once he was out of the jet. Sections of the park were on fire and trees were collapsing everywhere. AIM operatives were using jet packs and buzzing around the air like bees. They seemed to be equipped with incredibly powerful weapons that spewed electricity. Smack in the middle of all this destruction was an enormous tower with a spire at the top that crackled with energy. Loki saw his brother flying around the tower and smashing it with his hammer. But every time he crushed a section, it would repair itself.
"Loki!" he heard Wanda scream. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"I'm here to help. What did you think?" he shouted back.
"You're going to get yourself killed!"
"I'm touched you care," he paused, and before Wanda could even register what he was doing, he had slipped a knife out of his arm guard and thrown it into the neck of an AIM operative that was coming up behind Wanda. She spun around and gasped in shock when she saw the yellow-suited man writhing on the ground. "But I can clearly take care of myself, with or without powers!"
"You obviously can." Wanda agreed.
"Now," Loki stepped up to Wanda and turned her around to face him. "What is the plan?"
"Stop the bad guys." Wanda smiled.
"I know that!" Loki sighed.
"Look out!" Wanda cried and flung out her arms, both hands glowing red. Loki turned around to see one of the trees that had caught on fire, beginning to collapse right on top of them. But suddenly a huge gust of wind hit the tree and moved it in midair just enough to miss them.
"That was you?" Loki asked.
Wanda nodded.
"Impressive." he complimented. "Now, as I was saying, you must have some sort of plan! Tactics? Something?"
"Steve is protecting all of the bystanders and taking out any operatives he can. Tony and Thor are working on the tower and MODOK, and Clint, Natasha, and I are fighting the AIM operatives." Wanda explained quickly.
"Where do I fit in?" he asked, starting to get annoyed.
"I don't know. I had no clue you were coming!" She frowned.
Without any warning, Loki grabbed Wanda around the waist and dove sideways into some nearby bushes.
"What the . . .?" Wanda started to demand, but Loki just pointed to the flash of energy that flew past them, fired from one the enemy weapons.
"Oh. Thanks."
Loki nodded.
"I think I should stick with you. You seem to attract danger." Loki suggested.
"Are you offering to protect me?" Wanda smiled coyly.
"Obviously."
"Well, I don't need protection." she stood up and brushed off her cape. "But I think you should stay with me. In case you hurt yourself."
Loki rolled his eyes and got to his feet as well. He opened his mouth to say something, but a piercing scream cut him off.
"That was Tony!" Wanda exclaimed and took off running towards the tower.
"I didn't realize he was capable of reaching that pitch." Loki said contemplatively.
Wanda ignored him. They reached the clearing where the tower was. Electricity was coursing up and down the entire length of it and Iron Man was crashed at its base. His armor was so scratched and dented it was hard to recognize. It was smoking slightly and all of the paint was completely gone. Tony coughed and tried to sit up.
"What happened?" Wanda asked him in a worried tone.
"I was trying," he coughed again. "To hack into the tower." he sat up completely and pulled his helmet off. He looked relatively beat up, but nothing too serious. He made a strangled choking sound and coughed again. "I don't know what happened. The whole thing just lit up." he wheezed for breath. "I think I got electrocuted."
"You don't say." Loki muttered.
"You're not hurt too bad,Tony." Wanda smiled encouragingly. "Nothing I can't fix up once we're back at Avengers' Tower."
Tony nodded and struggled to stand up. Loki grasped his forearm and lifted him to his feet.
"Thanks, man." Tony's voice was deep and gravelly, like the inside of his throat had been charred. But he slipped his helmet back on and stood tall, ready to fight again.
"You are strong willed, for a mortal." Loki commented.
"I'll take that as a compliment." and with that, Iron Man flew off to help Thor.
"Idiot." Wanda murmured. "I hope he's going to be alright."
"He will be." Loki said with confidence.
"But that tower needs to come down now. I won't let it hurt anyone else." a determined look had come across her face. Her normally beautiful features were contorted with a barely controlled anger. "Watch my back."
"What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to tear that thing apart." she growled.
Loki was taken aback by the ferocity in her voice. She clearly cared a great deal for Tony. Loki made a mental note to ask her why. She stepped closer to the tower and held out her hands. They instantly glowed the familiar red, and Wanda closed her eyes in concentration. Fingers of red energy began crawling its way slowly up the structure before her, greedily grabbing at every inch of metal. Wanda's eyes were still tightly screwed shut as the redness engulfed the entirety of the device after a few minutes. Her hands were shaking and a bead of sweat had formed upon her brow. She was obviously expending a great amount power. She grimaced and opened her eyes, which were now glowing like flames. Loki watched her with odd fascination. She gasped as if in pain and clenched her hands into fists. The entire tower started to make a strange creaking noise. Loki turned his attention to it and noticed that whole structure was almost imperceptibly pulling apart at the seams. Wanda was literally tearing it down.
"You incredible woman, you." Loki whispered in awe.
Wanda whimpered and bit her lip to keep from crying, but it didn't work. A single tear slipped out of her eye and mingled with the sweat already on her face. She was in so much pain. She felt like she was being torn apart like the tower. She had never pushed herself this hard before, but she had to stop it. She couldn't let it hurt anyone else. Amongst all the pain and concentration for the task at hand, she almost didn't feel it. But he had certainly done it. Loki had bent forward and gently kissed the tear off of her cheek. It was so tender; so unlike him, she almost didn't believe it. It was so sweet and encouraging. She fought even harder, yelling loudly as though it would help her in some way.
It went on for goodness knows how long. Minutes. Hours. Years. Wanda had lost all sense of time. There was only the tower. And Loki. The whole time she never lost the feeling of Loki beside her. She wanted to stop everything and cling to him, and huddle into a little ball. But she couldn't stop. Not yet. She was almost there. She was pretty sure she had bitten her lip so hard that blood was dripping down her chin, but the pain was so mild compared to the searing agony of the rest of her body, her bloody lip almost felt like relief. Finally she could feel whatever force was holding that cursed tower together, give out. With one last scream she channeled her energy and the structure burst apart, panels of metal flying in all directions. She was vaguely aware of MODOK shrieking in fury, but there was nothing he could do. Not after Thor had completely destroyed his levitation technology. He just lay there on his side, his little arms flailing, screaming his enormous head off.
"Wanda, my dear," Loki spoke softly into her ear, "You are, without a doubt, the most extraordinary woman I have ever met."
She smiled and slumped forward into his strong arms. His body was colder than a normal persons, but somehow he filled her with warmth. Or maybe she was just delusional. After all, she did just nearly kill herself saving New York. She heard her team cheering and running up to check on her, but it was muffled by the fabric of Loki's clothes, that her face was currently buried in. She inhaled deeply. He smelled of pine and mint and something else she couldn't place. It was an odd scent, but somehow comforting. Loki was holding her and everything was going to be all right.
And that's when everything went wrong.
"Loki!" Thor shouted a warning to his brother, but he AIM operative on the ground, who had seemed to be unconscious, had already fired the shot.
Loki threw Wanda aside and out of danger, spun around, and pulled a knife out from his arm guard. But it was far too little too late.
The bolt of electricity struck Loki square in the chest, and radiated across his body, his protective metal armor only conducting the energy further. His body shook with spasms and he collapsed to the ground. It only lasted a split second, but to the Avengers, it seemed an eternity. Loki appeared to fall and smack into the grass in slow motion. Everyone was too stunned to move. Natasha was the first to act. She ran to his side.
"Thor!" she called out, breaking the god from his momentary shock. He ran to his brothers side. The sight that greeted him was unpleasant to say the absolute least.
It was actually the smell that hit him first. The unmistakeable odor of burnt flesh. He almost couldn't bring himself to look at Loki. At his little brother. His brother that had caused so much trouble. His brother, whose power had grown so strong that Thor had come to fear him, was lying limp in the grass. The clothes on his chests, where the blast had hit, we're completely disintegrated, and the rest of his garments were smoking. In the center of Loki's pale torso was a charred black indent where his flesh had burnt so severely it started to crumble. Ringing the blackness was red and purple inflamed skin that was shiny and cracked. Blood flowed out of the outer rim of the wound, staining the grass around Loki, who was clinging to consciousness and struggling for breath.
"Thor, he's dying. What can we do?" Thor didn't understand how Natasha could stay so calm at such a time. His little brother was slipping away.
Tony and Clint had stayed back, unsure of what to do. Steve was crouched beside Wanda, but all eyes were on the god of thunder.
"He must be taken to Asgard." Thor said solemnly. He knelt down to pick up Loki, but before he could, Loki's skin started changing and he stopped breathing. It shifted from pale and smooth to blue and covered with raised decorative scarring.
"His jotun form." Thor looked in disbelief. "He never reverts to this form. That can only mean that he no longer has the life left to retain his Asgardian form." Thor bent his head in sorrow. His shoulders began to shake as he tried to keep from sobbing. His brother was dead. "No!" he yelled out. "Father, do not let your youngest son die!" He raised his face to the heavens as he screamed with all his might for his father's help.
