Chapter 12: Nick Fury, Nick Happy

I plopped down on the couch with a groan. My armor flickered out of existence and I was left in my tunic. Stark followed, shedding pieces of his armor. Thor shed his armor and Mjolnir in favor of his tunic as well. Rogers took his armor off as well. Banner had gone off to his calm room to de-hulk-ify. The rest of us sat around the living room quietly. We sat in silence before it was shattered by Banner running in barefoot and dressed in rags, clutching something in his hand.

"What the hell is this?" He asked me.

I looked at my sketchbook, open in his hands. I gulped and shook my head. He showed it to the others, who glared at me warily.

"Why did you not tell me about this, Loki?" Thor rumbled.

"It appears that Thanos's reach is far deeper and rooted than I thought. He is in my subconscious, but I have been able to suppress him. I am in control of myself and I will not let myself harm any more innocents." I regarded everyone calmly and coolly, in spite of the roiling in my gut.

"This is serious! You should have told us! You could have turned evil and we wouldn't know." Natasha said.

"I drew those just before I felt Thor in peril. There was no time to tell you, and in the wake of the traumatic family reunion which brought back decades of hurt and anger, which I am currently trying to suppress, I forgot it." I snapped, glaring around the room.

"Now. If you'll excuse me, I would like to excuse myself." I got up and walked out of the room.

Not really seeing where I was going, I let my feet carry me. I was whirling, being buffeted by the self-loathing I was feeling. Lost, I turned and turned, searching for a ray of light. Whispers echoed in my head, from my time in the cell, reminding me that I was worthless, a monster. Thanos was in my head, laughing at my feebleness. I shouted and slammed my hands on the nearest wall and slid down to sit on the floor, my back to the wall. Staring numbly at the wall opposite, I struggled to regain my equilibrium and to not lash out with my magic. I was so frustrated with my weakness. I no longer wanted to feel like I was not my own person, not able to be in control of my facilities.

The wall opposite slid open with a loud grating noise. I jumped up, startled, and walked over curiously. Cool air wreathed around me as I walked in the dark doorway. Lights flickered on as I walked through the entryway. I saw weapons, forbidding, menacing, and many different types. I walked down the long room, fascinated by the inky blackness reflected back to me. Past the Hydra weapons, laid a long and thin box. I opened the box, ignoring the misgivings a corner of my mind shouted at me. The lid hissed open and mist curled out. When it cleared, I could see a familiar scepter. Entranced, I reached a hand out to touch it. I ignored my feelings of wariness and came even closer. I felt like I was swimming underwater, and that I sensed everything through a long tunnel. My hand touched the scepter and everything exploded to life.

I was hurtling down a dark tunnel through space with the scepter in hand. I had no control over my motions and I fell like a rag doll. The tunnel ended and I fell heavily to my feet. Thanos stood over me.

"You have failed me, little princeling. I wanted to have Midgard in the palm of my hand. You disobeyed me. You swore a blood oath that you would be my faithful servant. I demand blood payment. I will come for you. I will hunt you down like the coward you are. I will rip everything you love out of your life, even if I have to tear down the heavens to find you." He snarled, glaring down at me.

"Loki! Wake up buddy. Come back to us." Someone shook me.

Thanos lunged for me, but I felt myself being shaken out of the vision. My eyes flew open and I gasped awake. I was lying on my side on the couch in the living room. I rolled off it and dry-heaved. I closed my eyes. My head was pounding and my mouth tasted terrible.

"Give him some space!" Rogers held everyone back.

"Brother! You are all right! What were you doing with the scepter?" Thor asked me from behind the Captain.

I held up a hand weakly, rolling onto my back and closing my eyes. I coughed, the force rattling my frame. I felt awful, as if I had been stampeded by a herd of bilgesnipes. I felt battered, bruised, and my mind felt swollen and fuzzy.

"That was an insanely stupid thing to do. Why did you touch the scepter? You could have gone even more off the deep end and gone on a rampage and destroyed New York again." Stark berated me.

I tried to get up. "Thanos is coming."

"What? What do you mean Thanos is coming?" Banner asked.

"I mean that he was able to reach from my subconscious and direct my movements so that I touched the scepter. I had a vision when I touched it. Of Thanos. He said that he was coming for me and that he would rip everything I love out of my life. He also mentioned a blood oath." I was able to hiss this out while I eased myself into a slumped sitting position.

"Blood oath? Oh, Brother. You didn't." Thor gasped.

"It appears that I did." I sighed.

"Wait. What's a blood oath?" Rogers asked.

"It is a spell, one where the blood of two parties is mixed together and is formed into an inanimate object or returned to one party. The party that received the blood infusion is bound to the other for eternity, even past death. If one of them manages to break it somehow, the breaker's life is forfeit." I instructed.

"And you took one of those?" Banner asked.

"Apparently it is so." I grunted, trying to move my shoulder.

"So you two are blood brothers now. That is disgusting." Stark added flippantly.

"Help me up." I asked Thor.

He pulled me to my feet and laid a hand on my shoulder to steady me. I stumbled forward and into a wall. I left a crater in the wall from my hands and I looked at the craters incredulously.

"Holy cow! Are you on steroids or something?" Stark whistled appreciatively.

I only shook my head mutely in wonder. I staggered back to the couch and sat down, but got back up when I accidentally ripped the armrest off.

"I am sorry, Stark. I do not know what is happening to me." I still held the armrest.

"Umm. Can you just magic the wall and the couch back together?" He said slowly.

I nodded and gestured, mouthing the words required. The pieces whizzed around the room, Stark, Steve, and Thor ducking to avoid being hit. The fixes were made in a matter of seconds. I clenched my fists, standing straighter. I marveled at the strength flowing through my veins. It infused me, like liquid adrenaline. It was raw power, fueling my magic and my physical strength.

"Brother. Are you all right?" Thor asked me cautiously.

"I'm ... better than all right. I feel invincible. Whatever Thanos did to me through the scepter gave me a boost. It's ... incredible." I breathed, wrapping the sensation around myself.

"You're not going to go bag-of-cats crazy again, are you?" Banner asked me hesitantly.

"No. I can handle it. Thanos has injected his power into me. It is whispering in my head, trying to get me to attack everyone in reach. It is trying to make me feel how I would if I was the ruler of the universe." Everyone tensed slightly and moved their hands to the hilts of their weapons.

"Cool. Try to bend this with your bare hands." Stark tossed me a bar of solid metal.

I effortlessly twisted the metal into a pretzel and tossed it back to him. He caught it with a grunt of effort.

"Okay. You two have to arm wrestle." He pointed at me and Banner.

"Huh? What? No way." Banner shook his head emphatically.

"Yes. I agree. That would not be a good idea. I might lose control and injure him or others." I said, stretching my muscles lightly.

"Sir. Director Fury is entering the foyer now." Jarvis said calmly.

"Shit! You, go hide. We'll keep him busy. Who called him anyway?" Stark shot to his feet and gestured wildly.

"No one called me. I just happened to see a video capturing an Asgardian army, my Avengers, and the war criminal Loki, and decided to pop in and visit. So now that I'm here, why is he here?" Fury stalked in through the door, impeccably dressed in black leather with his customary eye patch.

"Damn." Stark said softly.

What happened to Loki?! Thanos is controlling Loki's mind! What is Fury gonna do?! I, personally, think that the blood oath spell is supremely cool. If you think so, review and share your opinion with me. Even if you don't think so, review and tell me what I could have done to make it better.