Loki, the Undying

Rated: T

Summary: [Set immediately after Infinity War, Spoilers inside.] After his encounter with Thanos, Loki is found adrift in space. After finding that he is too late to attempt to help Thor save the universe, he is determined to find out the fate of his brother. After all, Loki is still the God of Mischief, and he may have a few, albeit drastic, tricks up his sleeve.

000

"Cass!" Loki shouted, pounding on the door. "Why is the door locked? You were here alone!"

He had done his duty and returned to the ship to get Cass and drop off Kylepo in the event they needed to make a quick getaway again. He hoped that it wouldn't be the case—the ships on the satellite were certainly equipped to give chase if it came down to it. However upon returning, he found that Cass had locked herself in the sleeping quarters, which was strange because they never locked the door.

Loki had started to put in the bypass code, which had had figured out one night when he was bored, when the door slid open with a hiss. The room was dark, but Cass's brown eyes shined up at him. It caught him so off guard that he stepped back. "What are you doing? We have our appointment with the seller."

"Feels better to sleep without a disguise," Cass replied, her voice quiet. "You know how it is."

Loki frowned. He didn't like her implication that they were even remotely similar. "So you locked the door? There was no one else here."

Ash shrugged and stepped into the light of the main chamber, grabbing her slightly over sized jacket from the back of one of the seats. "I didn't want you to see when you came in."

Kylepo swatted at her as she walked by the other seat he had jumped up on, but she slapped his paw away. Loki watched as she walked towards the exit, shrugging on her jacket. As she stepped outside, he took a peek into the room, verified that nothing was amiss, and followed after her. He had seen her in what he assumed as her true form when he had accidentally killed her back on the farm. Albeit for only a moment and in the dark. He knew she was small framed, with messy black hair, and scarred—but he hadn't gotten that good a look at her. Perhaps she was really quite hideous—it would certain reflect her attitude.

She walked ahead of him at a casual pace that he could have caught up to, but he did not. He preferred to stay a few paces behind her so that there was no chance of conversation. They went to their meeting place, the stand with the fried eggs, and ate a quick lunch. Tony still wasn't doing well.

"I haven't been this hung over since college after homecoming week," he muttered and picked at his food.

"What did you think alien alcohol was going to do to you?" Cass asked and placed her order.

"I dunno. You live and you learn, I guess."

"Your weak human form can't take much. You may be doing less living if you aren't careful." Cass replied.

Their appointment wasn't far away. There was a large, impressive looking building—and they were right across from it, in a warehouse. Nebula led them to the entrance, which she was presumably familiar with. There were large, imposing guards standing at the door, and they pat each one of the four travelers down to ensure they weren't carrying any weapons—though it was pretty much useless since Loki could summon up weapons as he pleased and Nebula practically was a weapon. Then there was Tony and his housing unit for his Ironman suit. No one could tell that he was well armed either. Overall, they looked entirely inconspicuous.

Still, they pat them down, one by one. Nebula got a fairly quick pat down, perhaps too quick—one of the guards looked rather uncomfortable. If Loki were to guess, they had tried to be more thorough the last time Nebula had walked through, and it hadn't ended well.

Tony was next. "Bet this your favorite part of the job, isn't it big guy. Search away. I'm clean."

They made Cass take off her jacket. It was too big and she was rather petite. It hid too much. With a loud sigh, she pulled the baggy jacket off, held her hands out, and showed that there was nothing in her tanktop.

Loki brought up the rear. They pat him down, which he was not pleased about, but of course, they made things awkward. As they patted up his leg, they stopped and patted again. "Not a gun, mate," Loki replied in irritation.

All three of his companions turned around to look at him, Nebula and Tony raising brows at him.

"I'm a literal giant, if you've forgotten. Take that into consideration while you imagine my anatomy."

"God, this puts so many images in my head that I so did not want," Tony said and walked ahead with Nebula.

"Now, now, Stark, no need for envy, it isn't your fault that humans are so… tiny," Loki replied and trailed after the team , a small smirk dancing on his lips. Tony muttered about his playboy status on Earth, but Loki chose not to respond.

The warehouse entrance led into a small entryway with a woman sitting behind a window. She had what Loki equated to horn rimmed glasses and hair in a curved updo. She hummed at them when they entered, but pressed something that sounded a buzzer and opened the double doors for the group. Another guard met them just passed the double doors and led them through the open warehouse—where Loki was quite certain some sort of drug was being refined by rows of workers—and to a metal staircase.

Up they went to an office that overlooked the warehouse.

The office was filled with monitors that zoomed into different areas, presumably watching the workers. There was a large, brushed metal desk with a short, squat creature who had a very large, protruding jaw with unnecessarily large fangs.

"You got the funds, Blue?"

"Fifteen hundred creds, as agreed upon," Nebula replied. She reached into one of the front pockets of her jacket and pulled out a currency driver. The creature, Mister Mordrax according to the name plate, held out his hands. "Driver first."

"What do you think, that I'm just going to take your word for it? Not a chance, sweetheart, gotta verify that first."

"What insurance do we have that you aren't going to drain the chip and claim it's empty?" Loki asked, knowing full well what he would do in the same cirmcumstances.

"None," Mister Mordrax responded in a bark, "but I'm a honorable businessman, and doing back on my word is bad for business."

"Says someone refining Banow for mercenary missiles," Cass muttered and hopped up onto the ledge of the window to watch the workers. "Think you're losing one of them over there—yup, the green one just collapsed."

The short creature behind the desk growled and reached over to a control panel to zoom into one of the aisles, and indeed, one of the workers was on the ground. He pressed an intercom and gave a codeword, which Loki assumed would send someone to take care of the downed worker. "If you have a problem with my business, feel free to leave. Good luck finding someone with the driver to get to such a backwater sector."

Nebula threw the chip down and Mister Mordrax took it. He popped it into a small machine to verify the funds on the chip.

While he did, Loki glanced over at Cass and then at the screens, watching as one of the guards came out to grab the fallen worker and drag them to the back. Banow was metal found in certain asteroid belts that was shaved down to but in missiles with a reactive compound. When they hit their target, it unleashed a deadly gas that corroded the lungs and eyes in seconds, and destroyed the body of its victims if let to sit.

It was generally only used by mercenaries, since it was banned in intergalactic conventions, but incredibly effective in warfare regardless.

Loki knew what it was since he was involved in politics from a young age—but he couldn't identify it by a simple walk by. He found it… curious… that Cass picked up on it.

"It's good," Mordtrax grunted. He opened one of his desk drawers and slid another driver, about half the length of Loki's palm, over to Nebula. She took it, looked it over, and put it into her breast pocket. She did not thank him.

Nebula stood and started towards the door, but Loki did not follow.

"That's a DL3 driver," Loki said, causing Nebula to stop. "They have the silver connectors. What does our ship run on?"

He could hear the woman groan under her breath. "DS9."

"Not surprising," Mister Mordrax said, a slight smirk on his face—it was hardly flattering with his large jaw and fangs. "No one uses DL3s anymore. You're going to need a converter."

"How much is that going to cost, Grumpy?" Tony asked, flopping down into a chair. "Boy am I having flashbacks to my arms dealing days… Any chance you're interested in reforming."

"Not at all. Another fifteen-hundred will do."

There was a collective groan. "Fifteen-hundred? We just gave you everything we had. We don't even have the funds to try to make more," Nebula snapped. She turned around and slammed her hands down on the desk. Her metal pieces clanked loudly.

Mister Mordrax placed his hand over a large red button and raised a brow at her, clearly threatening to call in his goons. Though Loki was confident they could take them on, that wouldn't help them get the converter. Nebula stared him down, and he caressed the button. With a growl, she stood up and turned around, giving a nod to Cass.

From her oversized jacket, Cass pulled out the stolen necklace and tossed it onto the desk. It slid across the metal and Mordrax caught it.

"Not bad… but still not going to cut it. Still need a thousand."

Loki sighed and turned around. He wasn't eager to show off how far his magic had recovered but…

"What kind of scam are you running?" Tony snapped, "you could have told us before we came back. At least then we would have had the chance to get what you wanted. What do you want us to do to make up the difference, huh?"

Mordrax chuckled. "Well, I'm down an employee… Pull a few shifts in my warehouse and—"

"Not a chance," Tony growled, "we won't be part of manufacturing missiles or whatever you're doing."

"Well then, good luck—"

"We'll give you this," Loki said, and held out a bottle of wine. It was one of the last Revvyat bottles that he and Cass had taken with them. He had two stashed in his pocket dimension with the Asgardian weapons, but he hadn't wanted to reveal he had access to it.

Cass jumped off of her spot on the ledge, "that isn't yours to trade." She scowled at him and quite honestly, it made Loki grin.

"And my people's belongings weren't yours to take, so you have no room to speak. A bottle of Revvyat wine for the converter," Loki said and took a step forward. He set it on the desk but did not let go of the neck of the bottle, even as Mordrax tried to take it.

"This can't be real."

"I assure you it is. I've had the pleasure of consuming some of its sister bottles," Loki said and rotated the bottle a bit so that Mordrax could see the label.

He inspected it, his grubby little fingers twitching. He growled. "Two bottles."

"No," both Loki and Cass said simultaneously.

"One bottle, or we leave and we'll find a buyer for it. As you can imagine, it won't be hard to find a buyer to give us at least fifteen hundred creds." Loki pulled the bottle a bit, but Mordrax wasn't letting go. "Do we have a deal?"

Mordrax eyes his red button.

"I assure you, we are far more competent than we look, and I'm sure you wouldn't want any trouble to spill out into your warehouse," Loki said, looking down at Mordrax, who looked back at him with an angry glint in his eyes. "We don't want trouble. We just want to get to our destination."

The two had a stare down for a few moments, but ultimately Loki didn't threaten. It was Mordrax who released the bottle and opened his drawer once more. He pulled out a small device, which Loki recognized as the appropriate converter. He slid it forward a bit and Loki slid the bottle towards Mister Mordrax. It was a tense exchange, but Loki was far quicker than the short creature and took the converter before Mordrax could attempt to take it back.

"Pleasure doing business with you," Loki said and waved his hand. With a brief shimmer, the converter disappeared. He gave a nod to Nebula, who went to the door without a moment's pause. It was best to get out of there before Mordrax could think to stop them.

He did not stand, but the monitors changed to focus on them as they left. Mordrax watched them intently as they quickly exited the warehouse.

"Pick up the pace, they're following us," Nebula said as they headed down an alleyway. Mordrax may not have been keen to have a fight in his place of business, but now that they were clear, all bets were off.

Tony tapped his housing unit for his nano tech, and soon both his hands and arms were covered in armor, ready for a fight. Loki summoned two daggers, just in case. Nebula moved the driver to a slot in her arm, which was a bit unnerving to see, and prepared for hand to hand combat since she had to leave her weapons behind. Cass did nothing. She casually strolled through the alley, hands in her pockets.

They had only managed to get a few blocked before they were cut off from both sides.

"Keep moving forward, better to put them all behind us and get to the ship. How fast can we take off?" Tony asked, sending a repulsor blast as one of the goons in front of them. He went down quickly, not expecting such a blast from someone who was supposed to be unarmed. Loki threw his two daggers forward and downed the second one. Nebula ran forward and jumped, punching the first one square between the eyes as he attempted to stand again. Loki retrieved his daggers to save from continuously summoning new ones and turned, throwing them at the two goons running at them from behind. It hit one in the chest, stopping him, and hit the second in the shoulder—slowing, but not stopping the goon entirely.

There were more uniformed individuals following them, but the alleyway opened up to a main street and there was going to be collateral damage very quickly.

"I'll get the ship ready. Don't get too beat up, kids," Cass said and side stepped into the main street.

"What, you're leaving us!?" Loki snapped, but Cass was gone. Her clothes were laying in the street way, and there was a caw above him. He glanced up to see a large, black bird soaring over their heads in the direction of the shipyard. "Useless, little…"

It was so much harder to fight when he was being conscious of the people around him. He shoved individuals to the ground, left and right, trying to keep them out of the way as weapons blasted at his back. One of them hit him as he shoved a child into a stand, burning his shoulder. He hissed and unleashed a barrage of daggers in anger, taking down three attackers.

If he could simply not care then it would be so much easier… But he had seen enough death for a while and wasn't interested in being the reason for bloodshed for even more. Nebula got separated from him and Stark, but he was confident she could get back on her own. The majority of the goons had gone after him anyhow, since he was the one with the wine that Mordrax wanted anyhow.

It took much longer than he would have liked, but they made it. The ship was ready to go, Cass was sitting unclothed in one of the pilot's chairs, waiting for them. Nebula was coming into the shipyard from another entrance, with goons on her trail. Loki and Tony ran back outside, sending daggers and repulsor blasts to the attackers, dodging blasts as they went. A chunk of Nebula's leg was badly burned and she was having problems running.

Loki created a simulacrum and sent it near to her, diverting some of the attacks to his false form, giving her enough of an opening to make a dash for the ship.

Soon, they were on board, and Cass was closing up the entrance.

"I'm just going to jump in a random direction. We'll load the driver when we're clear," Cass said, and that was all the warning they got before the ship lurched forward, sending them crashing into the back wall. Having to do a quick lift off from their spot with little room to properly thrust was not smooth, but Cass managed. Just as they were about to clear the satellite, there was a jolt as something hit them.

"They're shooting at us," Nebula shouted.

"Jumping in three, two, one," Cass replied calmly and then they were gone.

Loki hoped that they would be able to have a normal take off from at least one of their stops, but he knew they wouldn't be so lucky. It seemed fate was trying to stop them, though, perhaps, fate wasn't trying very hard at all.

000

Author's Notes: I've been pretty good about posting every dayish for a bit, but that may be going away. I will... do my best not to disappear again for six months! Unfortunately, once I start something new, I tend do go at it full force until I get bored, so... That tends to eat up my drive to work on other projects. Anyhow, Loki may not be the pilot/party leader (that's left to Nebula who has the most experience with space travel and navigating the seedy underworld discreetly.) However based on how easily he could pilot different ships without much time to learn, I do figure he has extensive flight knowledge. If you're wondering why Loki still feels the need to conserve his magic-it's be cause he is not in top shape. But, since he does not know the reason for that, you, the reader, do not know that either. A planned scene should explain it, however. Remember that Tony is only human, and though Peter Quill is as well, he has some exceptional parentage. Tony is totally at a disadvantage when it comes to dealing with alien life.

Loftcat27: the fact that you've gone through like everyone of my Avengers stories and reviewed gives me a good chuckle! Thank you for those! Hopefully you feel like my writing has improved over the years! (The first one was posted over six years ago! I've come a long way, I think...) Thank you for sticking with me! I hope you'll enjoy where this heads!

Trickstertales: I'm glad you're enjoying the story! The first chapter was on the short and sweet side, so I can understand why some people may not have been inclined to stay! If you enjoy a paced story, then hopefully this will be up your alley! Thanks for your review!

Thank you to all of the other readers as well! I hope to have something else posted in the next few days!

Ever Your Servant,

A.F