Chapter 11: Brothers and Blood

Coughing up water, Thor dragged Rhodey onto the shore and collapsed into a sitting position next to him.

"This sucks," said Rhodey, starting to pull off his armor. The metal from his right arm across his chest was corroded, pockmarked where it wasn't stripped completely, but at least the venom hadn't burned through to the flesh beneath.

"No kidding," said Thor, who hadn't been quite so lucky. His left arm was blistered from elbow to wrist, with fierce burns where the poison had landed. The water had helped — not to mention the fact that Rhodey had taken the brunt of the hit — but he was certain that a direct hit would have done serious damage.

His throat burned, too — and not just from inhaling the river. "Whatever that serpent is, its venom could kill a god," said Thor.

"Fantastic," said Rhodey, removing the last of his suit.

Thor nodded. "If Mjolnir's there, we know Hela's behind this," he said.

"What the hell for?" said Rhodey, "What's her endgame? She's got to get back to Asgard, right? How does this accomplish that?"

"I don't know but—" Thor was interrupted by the sound of some kind of whiny… music? "What… what is that? Is that your phone?"

Rhodey was digging in his pocket for it. When he answered it, he immediately snapped, "Where the hell have you been?"

That had to be Loki, Thor thought. Rhodey made eye contact with him and nodded.

"Yeah, I bet he's not. He's fighting a giant snake—"

Thor heard a loud exclamation from the other end of the line (probably "a what?!") and Rhodey winced back from the speaker.

Rhodey listened for a moment and said, "No, he's right here. He and I got hit with some kind of poison spray and we're kind of— hello?" He turned to Thor. "He hung up on me! Your brother's kind of high-strung, huh?"

"He usually hides it better," said Thor, concerned.

"—can't believe I've cast this spell to locate people so many times this week I have it memorized," came an annoyed voice as a burning portal was cut into the air beside them. Strange waved at Thor and said to Loki, who was peering anxiously over his shoulder, "See? There he is, he's fine."

Loki scoffed. "I wasn't worried."

"Uh-huh."

"Why were you worried?" Thor asked, as Loki shoved his way past Strange and through the portal. "Loki, what happened to you? You look awful." He looked like all the blood had been drained from him. Remembering the injuries he'd had when he'd left the Avengers facility, Thor mused that that might be exactly the case.

Dark blood, Thor remembered — nearly black on his hand next to the bright red of his own. He wanted to ask about it but now wasn't the time.

"You should talk," said Loki, flopping down to his knees beside him, "What did you do to your arm?" He tugged at it and Thor held it up for him to examine.

"I'm fine, thanks," said Rhodey. "Is that a hospital?"

"A hospital? Why were you in a hospital?" Thor asked Loki, who was trying and failing to work a healing spell on his injured arm.

"He got shot," said a familiar voice. "Hi," said Jane, a little awkwardly, when he looked up at her.

"What are you doing here?" Thor asked, hoping like he sounded worried (which was true) and not like he didn't want to see her (which might have been true or not — he wasn't sure.)

"I think your sister stole my research," said Jane. "If she can get one of my prototype portals working with magic or whatever, she could create her own personal Bifrost right back to Asgard. Are you okay? Your face is doing a thing."

Thor shut his mouth, which had been hanging open. "You — you got a prototype working? I had no idea you were that close, I—"

She waved her hand but she did look very smug. Thor wanted to bounce to his feet and pick her up and kiss her, but Loki still had a hold on his arm.

"Wait," said Thor, "What do you mean he got shot?" He looked at Loki. "You got shot?!"

"I can't heal this," Loki grumbled. Fear gripped Thor's insides like a vise — how weak must his brother be if even his magic was failing him? Thor cupped the side of his neck and he could feel Loki's heart throbbing beneath his fingers, painfully fast.

"Rest, brother. It can wait."

Loki shook his head at the concern in Thor's eyes and batted his hand away. "It's not me, it's the wound," he said. "It resists my magic." Thor wanted to laugh with relief at that. At least it was only his arm he was in danger of losing, and not his awful, untrustworthy, trouble-making brother.

"I know Hela getting to Asgard is probably worse," said Rhodey. "But there's still a giant snake thing destroying the city."

"Jormungand," said Loki, standing. "The Midgard Serpent. Father cast it out of Asgard so it couldn't play its part in Ragnarok. I'm sure he never imagined Ragnarok would start here." When he noticed Thor staring at him, he said, "Surely you didn't think you'd be the only one to see it coming?"

"I didn't know there was anyone else to see it coming," Thor reminded him irritably. "What part is it to play, exactly?"

Loki didn't answer, staring off into the distance at the great serpent. Thor could see him thinking hard. He got to his feet and helped Rhodey up.

"We've got to find Hela," Thor said. He looked at Jane. "Is there any way to track those portals?"

"Not unless she uses one," Jane said.

"You could call Mjolnir, that'll annoy her," said Loki. Still stubbornly refusing to believe he was unworthy, Thor noted. He didn't know whether to feel annoyed or reassured and had to settle for an uncomfortable mixture of both.

Rhodey shook his head, "She doesn't have it, it's up on the bridge." He nodded toward the distant form of Jormungand.

"Think she'll be with her minions?" Strange asked.

"Maybe," said Thor, "Why?"

"Another damn 'find person' spell, that's why," he said, producing something small and gold from a pocket.

"Is that the bullet your girlfriend pulled out of Loki's chest?" said Jane, looking slightly horrified.

Thor winced at the thought and took the bullet from Strange's hand to look at it. "What is this made of?"

"Exactly what it looks like," said Loki.

"It can't be what it looks like."

"Does it look like the uru-gold alloy that the einherjar's armor and weapons are made from?" asked Loki. When Thor nodded, he said, "Then it's exactly what it looks like. Which reminds me, they've got one of Stark's suits, only it's made from that. They call it Draugr."

"Shit," said Rhodey. "That's why she wanted the arc reactor."

Thor took a moment to let this sink in. For the first time, he was beginning to think they might be outmatched.

"Well, good talk everyone," said Loki, snatching the bullet from Thor and handing it to Wong. "Good luck with Hela. Try not to die." He clapped Strange on the shoulder and said, "Let's go."

Strange looked confused. "What? Go where?"

Loki pointed at the bridge.

Strange shook his head. "Oh no. You're in no condition to fight."

"Good thing I'm not going to fight, then," Loki said. "I'm going to help you get that thing into your mirror dimension."

Strange looked at Wong, who shrugged. "It could work," he said. He held up the bullet. "I can do this."

"Remember," said Loki, looking Thor in the eyes, "That—" he pointed at the serpent "—is a distraction. Don't let Hela slip away because you're worried about something stupid."

"Like you?"

"Right."

Strange and Wong had begun their spells. Thor touched the communicator on his ear and said, "Tony! Loki and Strange are incoming. They're going to try to trap the beast. Hela may have found a way off-world. Rhodey, Wong, and I are going to track her down."

"About time Gandalf joined the party," said Tony.

Thor grabbed Loki's arm before he could leave and gestured to him. "Phone," he said, prying the communicator off his ear and giving it to him. Loki handed the phone over and wiped the communicator off before putting it on. Then he stepped through the portal — no last look, no goodbye — and was gone.

Thor looked at Jane, "You should stay… somewhere."

"Right," she said, "Since you know how to work my machines and all."

Thor looked at Rhodey for support and he just said, "She's got you there, man."

"It's pretty close," said Wong. "Get ready."

o

Strange and Loki walked through the portal out onto one of the towers of the bridge and Loki found himself face to metaphorical face with Mjolnir. He scowled at the hammer.

If it was here, so was Hela. Where was she? Why had she left it?

Fate cannot be stopped.

Loki looked between the hammer and the snake and a thought hovered on the edge of his mind, insubstantial as smoke. He brushed it away. Even if it was possible, it didn't matter now. Unless—

He walked to the hammer and looked down at it. He wasn't worthy, and so he couldn't hold it. And yet.

And yet.

Thor was worthy, and he could not. Hela couldn't be worthy, she just couldn't be. Loki bent down, his hand hovering over the handle. Willed his brain to shut up. Grasped the handle. Lifted.

It didn't budge, because of course it didn't. Never mind, then.

"Can you hear me, Stark?" Loki asked. It took him a few tries to work the little communicator.

"Loud and clear."

"Likewise," said the Vision.

"I uh — me too!" said another voice — an adolescent, if the voice was any indication.

Loki's mouth quirked. "That's not a voice I recognize," he said.

"I'm Spider-Man!" he said, "Nice to meet you!"

Tony groaned audibly. Loki knew what that groan meant. It meant please do not let this innocent, impressionable child try to make friends with the monster.

Loki would never dare admit it, but he liked kids — liked people before they allowed age and responsibility to make them boring. Loki knew how to be nice when he wanted to. The fact that it would annoy Tony was just added incentive — payback, perhaps, for so unjustly turning him out.

"Well met, Spider-Man," he thought for a swift moment, "I am Loki, brother of Thor and sorcerer of Asgard." Thor, magic, or aliens — surely he would find one of those subjects impressive.

"Sorcerer?!"

Loki was inordinately pleased.

"Yeah let's— let's just stick to the fight, here. We can all geek out later. Is there a plan here, Dumbledore?" Tony did not sound pleased. Loki knew that particular tone of not-pleased — the one that said you haven't technically done anything wrong but I don't like it and later we are going to Have A Talk. Good.

Loki looked at Strange, who was surveying the wreckage. "Can you do it?" he asked.

"I… maybe? I've never tried to get anything so big into the mirror dimension before."

"I can lend you power if you need it."

Strange was shaking his head. "I've got the power for it, I think. What I really need is for it to stop moving."

Loki heaved a sigh. "I can manage that, I think." He said to the Avengers, "Strange will try to pull the serpent into another dimension, but he needs it to be immobilized. I need you to fall back so it'll stop going after you."

Tony started to ask what he was going to do but Jormungand made a snap for the Vision and smashed into the tower where Loki and Strange were standing, throwing them both off of it. Strange's cloak kept him aloft and Loki swore at himself. He should have practiced that flight spell.

He twisted in the air to try to get his bearings and was about to change his shape when Iron Man hit him hard in the side, grabbing him and swooping down over the bridge to set him down.

"I can handle a little fall, Stark."

"Yeah it's, uh. Kind of a reflex." He moved to fly off but Loki didn't let go of him.

"Wait. If this doesn't work," Loki kept his voice low and Tony let the faceplate of the suit come up. He looked uncomfortably as if he thought Loki was about to say something sentimental. Loki licked his lips. "If this doesn't work, do not let my brother fight this monster."

Tony looked confused. "What? Why?"

"If he fights it, he'll win," Loki said, "But he'll die. Understand?"

"Does he have an allergy?"

"He has a destiny."

Tony looked disturbed, but he nodded. Around them, the other Avengers had pulled back, and the serpent's head swept around until it spotted them. The armor snapped back into place, and he was the Iron Man once more.

"What are you going to do?" Tony asked. Loki released him and he flew off.

"Just have a conversation," said Loki.

"This thing can talk?!" Spider-Man queried incredulously.

"It has been talking this entire time," Loki said. "Just not in a language you can understand."

"Wait," said Tony, "Are you telling me your Asgardian universal translation thing lets you speak snake?"

Loki tried to get the serpent's attention as it moved past him. "It's not a snake," he said, "It's a jotun."

"Jotuns are giant snakes? So you're—"

"No," said Loki, "They are — we are — shapeshifters." To the snake, which had caught his eye and begun to slowly encircle him, he said, "Hello, brother."

"Brother," it hissed, but Loki couldn't tell from the tone whether it was in acknowledgment or confusion.

"I am Loki," he hesitated, "Son of Laufey. King of Jotunheim." Precisely which of those names belonged to a king, Loki left deliberately vague. Let it ask, let it wonder and talk. He was buying time, not information.

"No name I know," the snake hissed, quicksilver tongue flicking out to taste the air. "No king I know." Of course not. It was ancient — it had probably slept here, beneath Midgard's waves, since long before Laufey's reign.

"Why do you fight?" Loki asked it. Him, Loki thought. Not it.

"Vengeance," Jormungand answered, without hesitation. "Mine is the fate of Odin's son, Midgard's mighty warden. Mine is the life-blood of Thor. I have come to claim it." He opened his mouth and fangs began to unfold from within it — fangs as long as Loki was tall. Bright venom dripped from his mouth and hissed and sputtered on the pavement.

"But why?" Loki asked, "What quarrel have you with Thor?" It drew close, staring through him with a single massive vermilion eye, and Loki imagined his reflection in it was corpse-blue and marked. He felt sick, and told himself it was the blood loss catching up to him.

"Brother you are, I think, Loki Aesir-Shaped," Jormungand whispered dangerously, "But not mine."

Before he could move to strike, Loki lunged forward. He pressed his hand to the smooth scales and the serpent went rigid.

An ominous gold-clad man, blue eyes flashing, dark hair spilling over his shoulders and mingling with his beard. A woman at each side of him — a gleaming golden witch, young and fierce, so beautiful it hurt; a sharp, shadowy shield-maiden, no more than a teenager, jade eyes bright with madness. Battle-bloody, all of them. He took up a serpent in his hands and cast it down from a high cliff into a sea far below. Falling, falling—

Loki wrenched himself away.

He'd bought himself a moment, but the serpent was already shaking himself out of the induced haze. Loki ran for the swiftly-descending curtain of the mirror dimension but he already knew he wasn't fast enough, not injured as he was. The snake would catch him before he passed the spell's threshold.

Fate cannot be stopped, his father had said. Since when had Loki ever listened to his father?

"He won't make it," said the Vision. Soft and logical.

"I can get him!" shouted the boy.

"He can take care of himself!" Stark insisted. There was fear in his voice. There was always fear in his voice.

Loki heard none of them. The serpent's roar consumed him. "I taste him on you. The scent of his blood beneath your chosen skin. I know you, lie-smith. Son of Odin."

Something hit Loki in the back, fast and hard. He was swept off his feet and together they tumbled across the battered bridge as the hole in the world closed with the Serpent trapped behind it.

He was gone. It was done. If fate couldn't be stopped, Loki would run from it.

He pushed himself to one knee as Stark's unruly apprentice whooped with joy. He liked the boy, Loki thought, but he had about had his fill tonight of being manhandled by these well-meaning mortal heroes.

"See, Mister Stark?" he said, "I told you I'd be fast enough."

"You are nothing but trouble," Tony said, landing beside them, "Good job."

He offered Loki a hand and the Asgardian shook his head. "I need a minute," he said breathlessly, shifting to sit. The hand settled on his shoulder instead. Loki leveled a wry grin at Tony and said, "What is it you owe me now, dinner and a drink?"

"Gotta stick around to collect it," Tony replied

Loki silently commended himself for slithering into the good graces of these mortals. If ungrateful Asgard would not have him when he and Thor returned, perhaps Midgard wouldn't be so bad a place to hide.

The sound of Mjolnir flying past interrupted their moment of rest and drew their eyes to the end of the bridge.

Drew their eyes to Hela, crowned in her antlers, her lovely face twisted into an ugly mask of rage.