Disclaimer:
I own nothing; all rights go to Marvel and Disney.
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Fuel to Fire
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Chapter 10
Thor knew he had a difficult decision to make. As he watched Loki, completely oblivious to his surroundings, it became clear just how much Thor was needed on Midgard. Fury hadn't honoured their agreement by letting the staff go missing. But even so, Thor had to honour their agreement of keeping Loki a prisoner in the human world. He had to. But, in order to do that, he had to leave Loki on Midgard when he transported the Tesseract back to Asgard.
The thought of leaving Loki worried him greatly. His brothers sanity hang by a loose thread and there was no telling how long he'd yet to fall before all of this was over. Thor shifted, and gently lifted Loki from the cold floor. Still draped in his cape, Thor placed him back on the bed before exiting the room. As Thor watched his brother, he felt greatly divided. He loved Loki and the news that the events on Midgard perhaps weren't entirely the trickster's fault, Thor still couldn't find it in his heart to forgive his brother. He knew Loki's strength, both physical and mental. He didn't understand what Bruce meant when he talked about mental disorders and illnesses. They didn't have those terms in Asgard. Asgardians were strong, both in body and mind. But, Thor reminded himself, Loki wasn't a asgardian. As much as Thor kept forgetting it, his brother was a jotun. And Loki had killed many innocents, both on Midgard and Jotunheim. That could never be forgiven. The doubt plauged Thor. Were Loki under Thanos control, or not? Loki had manipulated the Jotuns to attack Asgard. Thor had to entertain the possibility that it also be the case now.
"I'll return soon, brother." Thor said, leaving the room. He walked to the living room, hoping to find the other avengers.
When Thor arrived at the living room, the others conversation stilled. Nobody said anything as the god lifted sat down in the sofa.
"He's lost consciousness again." Thor informed Bruce, who nodded.
"Makes sense. He's still healing, and the panic attack would've taken a lot of his energy."
Thor looked at the others, noticing that the archer had returned.
"Friend Clint." Thor nodded to the agent, who returned the greeting. "When did you return? I did not see you when I arrived some hours ago."
"He never left." Tony informed dryly. "He monitored Loki and Bruce, and forgot tell us about it."
Thor looked surprised, but then he smiled. "I give you thanks. I know it is not easy for you to be around my brother."
"Hence why I chose to watch through surveillance." Clint said, eying Tony who shrugged.
Thor looked bewildered between the two, then turning his gaze to Steve for an explanation. Steve sighed.
"Tony believes Clint should've interfered when Loki took hold of Pepper." the captain explained. Understanding dawned on Thor's face, and he turned to Tony.
"While I understand why you feel this way, my friend, it did make all the difference until I got here." Thor explained, turning to Pepper.
"I hope you haven't been harmed, lady Pepper." he said, concerned.
"Just Pepper. And no, it's just a bruise. No harm done." she reasured him, smiling.
"That gladdens me. The grip of a jotun can be very dangerous but it seems Loki, even in his unstable state of mind, still manages to keep his powers well hidden beneath many layers of magic."
"Pepper has a bruise in the shape of a hand on her arm! - Loki's hand." Tony interrupted, anger in his voice. "If Loki's using his magic to keep his strength hidden, why was she hurt?"
"You misunderstand me!" Thor exclaimed, forgetting once again how little his mortal friends knew of the rest of the universe. "I'm not talking powers such as strength. Loki is a jotun, in your word a frost giant. The Jotuns have a unique skin, due to the harsh environment of their planet. If your touched by a Jotun, it will burn your skin of your flesh. Their very touch is freezing, their skin many degrees below that of zero. Had Loki lost control over his mirage, he could've caused lady, sorry, Pepper severe injury."
The others had been silent during Thor's explanation. Pepper had paled when Thor explained just how close she'd been to getting her skin burned off.
"See!" Tony bit out. "He is dangerous, even when you think he isn't!"
"Stop it, Tony!" Pepper snapped, her professional attitude slipping back into place.
Thor looked troubled by having caused a rift between the two. He shifted nervously, until Pepper looked at him, smiling reassuringly.
"I admit, had I know of the danger, I might've asked Bruce for help. But, I didn't and nothing happened. Now we all know, so that should limit the danger considerably. And Thor," Pepper added, her voice curious. "Bruce was right. He did calm down when he touched me. Why?"
"Most likely because of your light hair, and the fact that you are female." Thor explained. "Loki's always had a strong bond with our mother, who if I might say it, have similar hair colour to yours. In his deluded state of mind he might have thought you were her."
"Sounds likely." Bruce added. "IF Thanos is feeding him nightmares and messing with his head, it would be a natural reaction for Loki to look for somebody whom he feels safe around. And, if I might add - it would seem that for all the two of you have been through, he still feels safe around you Thor. Or else he wouldn't have let go of Pepper."
To their surprise, Thor didn't smile at Bruce's words. Instead he looked worried.
"Is there a problem?" asked Steve, noticing Thor's gaze to the Tesseract.
"I need to bring the Tesseract back to Asgard. Your director have showed me that the stones are not safe here. I will use the Tesseract to open a portal to Asgard, allowing me to bring it home."
The others nodded their understanding. The fact that shield had lost the mind gem was more than unsettling, and they understood Thor's desire to bring the space gem to safety.
"So what's the problem?" asked Clint. "Light it up, and get on with it."
"Loki." Thor explained. "I have to leave him here. He is, as we agreed, your prisoner."
The others could see Thor's dilemma. He had to perform his duty and bring the Tesseract home, but he was Loki's brother and leaving him when he was this unstable and injured seemed unthinkable for the loving thunder god.
"I'm not asking you to find a solution for me. I have to do my duty to my realm and my king." Thor said, with conviction but they could all see the doubt in his eyes.
"No one's asking you to like it Thor." Steve reminded, sitting down beside the god. "Just because you feel doubt, doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. The hard actions are often the correct." Thor looked at the soldier, the only one of the Avengers who might have some idea of the trouble Thor was facing. Following orders, or following his heart.
"Besides," Natasha added. "Isn't it possible that you can ask for help in Asgard, in regards to Loki? If we could stop him from getting these panic-anxiety-rage attacks, that would be great."
"I have thought about that myself." Thor confessed. He looked at Tony. "Are you fine with my brother staying here? I'll chain him again, so he can't use magic or cause harm."
"Funny how that doesn't really seems to work." Tony pointed out, but then he dropped his head with a sigh. "Look Thor. This is important to you, and just like you doesn't have to like that you have to get back to Asgard, I don't have to like having Loki here while you're away. It's just the way it is. And who knows, maybe I'll finally get a chance to ask the maniac about his magic."
"Don't get your hopes up." Bruce noted. "He's even further away now than the last time you spoke."
"And at that time he threw me through a window. You know what, the chains sounds like a really good idea." Tony added, as Pepper shook her head.
"If you are sure, then I'll depart for Asgard right away." Thor said, his heart heavy.
Thor went to see Loki, but the young god was still out cold when he arrived at the ER. The others had followed Thor, and watched him as he gently placed the magic chains around Loki's slim wrists again. Thor let the cape be, and took to simply look at Loki.
"Please tell him, when he wakes, that I'll return as soon as possible." Thor asked, and both Bruce and Steve nodded. Nobody said anything about it, but they all felt certain that should Loki wake before Thor managed to return, it would most likely cause trouble. Maybe even the dangerous kind.
"The quicker you leave, the sooner you return." reminded Clint. Thor nodded.
"Behave, brother. I'll return as soon as possible." with that, Thor left without looking back, carrying the Tesseract with him.
"Jarvis. We'll be seeing Thor off, keep an eye on this one, will you?"
"Certainly sir." the AI replied, as they walked to the helipad.
Thor took position, holding the Tesseract up in front of him. They sky was grey, and Thor looked at the bright blue cube with poorly hidden resentment.
"Problem?" asked Tony, suddenly worried.
"No my friend. It's merely been a while since I or anybody - besides Loki - have used other kinds of intergalactic travel than the Bifrost. I have to say, I prefer the old ways." Thor reassured them, before taking a deep breath. He looked up, and turned the handle of the container. The Tesseract flared up, and Thor shone with a blue light before seemingly disappearing up into thin air. The gathered heroes stared. It was the first time they'd seen the cube in action since the attack.
"No portal." Tony noted, mostly to himself. "Seems to be different ways to intergalactic travel."
"Fascinating." said Steve, turning around to face the others. "But now with Thor away, we need some sort of plan to watch out for Loki. We all have our different lives and none of you should have to put them on hold." at this he looked at Tony and Pepper.
Natasha and Clint stepped forward in sync. "We've been assigned to watch over Loki whilst he's on Earth." Clint informed. "And to be honest, I feel better when I know exactly where the bastard is." Steve nodded his thanks, turning to Bruce. The doctor shrugged. "I don't have to be anywhere." Bruce informed. "Here is as good as any place."
"Pepper and I kinda live here, so yeah."
"I'll keep an eye on Loki tonight, and then we'll work out a plan tomorrow on how we best keep the population of New York safe."
"Roger that! Bruce, you are with me" Tony said, clapping his hands together. "We have a hot date, the topic magic and intergalactic travel. You, me, the lab - now!"
"No." Pepper injected. "Sleep, now." her voice leaving little room to argue. Tony opened his mouth to protest, but at the same time Bruce yawned. Tony's face fell.
"Sorry." Bruce said, giving Tony a apologetic smile. "It's been quite a busy day. I could use some sleep."
They all said their goodnights and went to their assigned room while Steve went to the ER to keep an watchful eye on Loki. The soldier sat beside the god, reading as the hours went on. Loki showed no signs of waking and the night went without incidents. The room had begun to brighten when Steve closed his book, and watched his clock. 5.46. The others would soon be up, or so he hoped. He ran a hand across his face, stifling a yawn.
He didn't know what'd he'd expected from the alien, but for Loki to sleep through the night without trying to kill himself or others seemed a little out of character given the events of the past days. He remembered Bruce saying that Loki most like had tired himself out completely. His seemed to be healing slower too, Steve noted with some worry. That couldn't be a good sign. The time went on, and an hour later Steve heard a knock on the door. The captain turned around to find Natasha in the door.
"Morning." She said. "Any trouble?"
Steve shook his head. "None." she nodded.
"I thought as much, he looked completely done yesterday and to be honest no better today. How about we let Jarvis keep an eye out for him, and get some breakfast in you?"
Steve smiled. "Coffee sounds good." he said, standing up. "Jarvis, you'll be watching him and alert us should there be any change in his condition. Any at all."
"I will mr. Rogers. Breakfast's ready, and the rest of the team is heading for the kitchens." the AI informed as Steve and Natasha left the ER to go join the others.
"Morning." Steve said as he and Natasha entered the kitchen. The rest of the team were already in different states of eating breakfast. Natasha poured Steve a cup of coffee before heading back to her seat beside Clint. The archer looked well rested, and in better spirits than he had the day before. Obvious the sleep had done him so good. He and Natasha spoke lowly together, no doubt sharing some shield intel. Steve went to sit beside Bruce, who were pouring himself oatmeal.
"Bruce, I have waffles! Pancakes! Freshly baked bread! Bacon! Why are you eating that?" Tony yelled from behind the counter and appeared with what looked like orange juice in hand.
"Oats' just fine." Bruce replied. "They are good for brain work."
"Toss some of those pancakes to me!" yelled Clint, raising his plate. Tony flipped the frying pan, and a second later the pancakes landed gracefully on Clint's outstretched plate. The others goggled at Tony, who smirked.
"What? I shoot missiles, don't you think I know how to aim?"
"As long as you didn't cook them." Clint replied. "Pepper told me that is not one of your strongest games."
"You wound me. But no, they are heated. I get food delivered." Tony replied, joining Steve and Bruce with his own stack of pancakes. "Just help yourself cap."
They all ate in comfortable silence. When the last plate had mysteriously disappeared trough a door (Tony claimed he had no idea what happened to the dishes) they all turned to Steve.
"Nat told me it was a quiet night?" Clint broke the ice, jumping to the topic. Steve nodded.
"He didn't even move. Small blessings I guess." he replied, draining the cup of strong coffee in his hand.
"Now what?" asked Natasha. "We simply guard him until Thor returns?"
"Don't know about you, but I fear our thunder god doesn't have the best grasp on earth time vs asgard time. It could be days, weeks before he returns. If we should be so unfortunate for Loki to wake before Thor returns, we should try and I don't know, fix the problems in his head?" Tony said.
"How? The only we know to work against the infinity stones is a hard blow to the head. We can't keep hitting him -" "works for me." "- shut up Clint. As I said, we can't keep hitting him. We have to find another way to cancel out the reality stones effect on Loki." said Natasha.
"I guess we can try and make something." said Tony, looking at Bruce with a frown. "But it''ll demand some sort of collaboration with Loki and I don't think he's a very big fan of us. You know, we've kicked his ass. Multiple times, I might add."
"He's a prisoner, he doesn't get an opinion." Steve said matter of factly. "It is our duty to keep him safe until Thor gets back. That's the deal. Once Fury decides Loki can't tell him more about the invasion, we get to ship Loki back to Asgard."
"I'm not sure what Fury or the world council or who ever is giving the orders, are expecting to learn from Loki. It'll take some heavy therapy to set his head straight, and as Bruce said yesterday - Loki might not be interested in returning to who he once was."
When Loki opened his eyes, he immediately wished he hadn't. The brightness of the human artificial lights felt like daggers to his eyes, piercing his brain. The pain exploded and he groaned. He heard a voice speak, but the words meaning escaped him. Not a moment later he heard the sound of the door opening.
It would seem the voice of Starks invinsible servant had called for his caretakers. Loki kept his eyes closed, hoping they would go away.
"You awake?" a voice much closer to him than the first sounded. It wasn't Thor. Loki would've felt relieved if it wasn't for the fact that it meant one of the mortals saw him in this pityful state.
Loki ignoreed the voice, hoping they would just leave him. He had no idea why he was in this kind of pain, other than he had a vague memory of attacking one of the mortals. What had happened since were a blur.
"Jarvis said you just opened your eyes a few moments ago." the voice persisted.
Jarvis. Loki remembered the name in passing. It would seem they at least had left him alone after his failed attempt of escape.
"Loki!" the voice said, louder. The noise caused Loki to wince in pain. His head felt like it was splitting in two.
"Don't bother. He prefers to act like a child." a second voice said. Loki felt anger flare through him. How dared they!
With a great effort he forced his eyes open. Once again the light in the room, all of which seemed to be directed at him, caused pain to rip through his skull. He attempted to lift his hand, to shield of the light source but found it chanined. Again.
Lovely, he had forgotten about the chains.
"Jarvis, dim the lights please." said the voice and the painful brightness disappeared. Loki blinked slowly, allowing his eyes to ajust to the light. When finally able to see who was in the room with he, he felt his eyes narrow in disgust.
The humans. With no sign of Thor. The iced soldier stood right beside him, the redhead on the other side of what ever contraption he had been abandoned on.
The other kept their distance, the doctor standing furthes away. Loki felt himself smirk. It amused him how the doctor feared his very presence. Loki looked at each of the mortals in turn, before turning his attention back to the captain.
"So." he said, his voice hoarse. He didn't show it, but the sound surprised him. Just how long had he been unconsicous?
"You all stand before me, ready to stop me should I attempt to escape." he said bemused.
"Do I really appear as I am about to go anywhere?"
"We don't trust you." Steve said. "Even with those chains on. Given one small opening, you'll attempt to flee."
Loki nodded. "True. But in these chains you have no reason to fear that."
The archer snorted. "Like we believe anything you say, liar."
Loki smiled. A charming smile. "Oh, my pet - calling me liar is like calling your leader here captain. It is my title." he said, his voice smooth.
Clint growled at the words, but remained rooted to his spot.
Loki smiled, unkindness dominating every inch of his features. "You are new to this, aren't you. You reek of doubt. Of fear." he sneered.
"So do you." answered Steve coldly. Loki barked out a laugh, ignoring the pain in his head. "You have me beaten, you have me chained. And yet, with a single word I can make you cover from your own emotions." Loki said, his voice cold and menacing. "Do I look like I am afraid mortal?"
Steve moved to pick up something. "Yes, you do." he simply stated, as he pulled up a mirror and Loki saw himself. Bruised, blood on his clothes. His hair flat and unkempt. His skin as white as snow and his eyes red and sunken. He stared, his mouth falling open. He saw none of the injuries. He saw furhter, beyond the reflection. He looked into his own eyes, and he saw him. With an angry snarl he lifted his abused arms, smashing the mirror. The glas rained around him, and he heaved, satisfied. He looked at the avengers, expecting to find the doubt in their eyes. When instead Loki saw certainty he felt himself waver for the tiniest of moments.
"Thank you for proving our point." said Steve. "There is something after you, and it's using mirrors to see you."
Loki gave him a blank look, before chuckling. "You are all children." he said with disgust.
"To you maybe." said Steve. "But you are our prisoner, and until Thor gets back, our responsibility. You will be brought food and water. Eat and drink, unless you hope to starve yourself from Thanos' control."
His words caused Loki to stare. He didn't take the bribe of the mention of Thanos, but the other bit surprised him.
"I expect Thor have gone to visit his other little human friends?"
"No." answered Tony. "He's on Asgard, with the Tesseract and your staff. He left you here." the sound of the captains words caused Loki's head to explode in pain, and he shut his eyes, blocking them out. He groaned in pain as he felt the wetness of blood leak from his eyes, down his chins. He couldn't move his hands and so the blood simple stayed. The god said no more, and after a few minutes the avengers left him.
"What do you think Thor will say when he hears we told Loki that he'd been abandoned by his brother?" asked Bruce as they walked down the hall.
"He'll be disappointed in us, I think." answered Steve, his voice regretful.
"It's a normal interrogation technique." defended Natasha. "We need Loki to talk, and despite his injuries I acutally think the beating Hulk gave him have knocked a little sense into him. He didn't break down. He shut us out."
"The tears of blood were a bit creepy, though." said Tony as they reached the living room.
"It's normal. His tear ducts have suffered a trauma. Firstly from his many injuries and next from his break yesterday. I haven't examined him, but I can imagine his immune system isn't working probably and wont do until he eat something." explained Bruce.
"Great. Not like tears of blood does anything good to his charming character." remarked Tony dryly. Then he clapped his hands, a smile on his face. "Well, you guys have fun with keeping an eye on him! Bruce and I'll be in the lap. Call Pepper if you need something. In fact, don't call Pepper. Tell Jarvis. Keep the greek tragedy from committing suicide and/or destroying my property." and with that the billionaire let Bruce down the hall.
Chapter 10, wooo! And the longest one yet, no less. Thanks for the reviews guys! They keep me writing, so do keep 'em coming!
Another thing- A few of you have requested that I add some romance to the story. Sorry to disappoint you but I'm not a big shipper or romance fan. I'm aromantic/asexual, and as such have absolutely little to no interested in romantic relationships. So, no romance in this story. Sorry. You'll have to keep to your monthly dose of angst and despair (I'm such a cheery person, I know). Also, I like to keep things canon. I doubt Loki's able to love anyone. That being said, I know nothing about the comics so do correct me if I'm wrong.
Three chapters in one week. I'm spoiling you and you deserve it! I'll try and write as much as I can before April. My plan is to tie this story to the post-Avengers movies/stories. Just how I haven't quite decided yet. And so I have absolutely no idea how long this story will be.