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

As Loki stood in a great tower, looking over the beautiful (yet battle scarred) land of Wakanda, he realized something.

He had absolutely chosen the wrong city to try to start his take over, those years ago.

Wakanda reminded him of Asgard. Their technology was far superior the rest of countries on Earth, though Stark could give them a run for their money. They also had a fantastic fusion of futuristic and tribal or traditional—that was what reminded him of home the most. It was all quite… regal, in his opinion.

Not that anyone much cared about his opinion, at the moment.

Loki was surprised to see the young woman who saved them from the ocean. She was not even an adult but even he found her rather impressive. She was clearly brilliant and had a personality that he could only deign unflappable.

"Listen, I've got a country to run and a continent to repair," Shuri said from her spot at a holographic computer screen. Her back was towards them, but they were hardly paying attention. Tony was eating his third helping of food, continuously insisting that it was superior to anything else in the galaxy. Cass joined him, though she picked at it, rather than devouring it. Nebula sat at a table nearby, using some of the tools that Shuri had supplied her to repair some of her cybernetic body parts.

And Loki…. Loki just waited at his spot at the window. Shuri had told them that Thor had survived, along with a few other of the Avengers. If that was the truth, then why had Thor not come to find him? Perhaps he did not care that Loki had lived as well. Perhaps he blamed Loki for the death of the Asgardians—and rightfully so at that.

"My staff is setting up a transport to get you to the others. They're still in the 'Avengers Bunker' or whatever you call it. Good news though, the Sokovia Accords have basically been nullified. It's all hands on-deck, as they say. No one has time to police the Avengers while they're busy policing their own countries, I guess…"

They had tried to ask Shuri about what had happened on Earth. They had hoped for a debrief. However beyond letting them see the footage of the battle, she was not eager to talk about it. She said it was better for 'their friends' to tell them the details. Loki found that hardly fair, since he felt that Shuri had given him a warmer reception than whatever he could expect from the rest of the Avengers—he figured they would be locking him up and leaving him to rot as soon as they could. He figured that was the best case scenario and only likely if Stark vouched for him. If not… well, Loki figured he was much easier to kill these days and a final death could be awaiting him very shortly…

"When you're done eating, one of the staff members will help you get cleaned up and get you some new clothes. If you'll excuse me, there are armed bandits at our border that I need to go blow away."

"We can help with that," Tony said, perking up, "you know, since Wakanda has been so welcoming."

"Tch," Shuri spat as she turned around in her chair and started to walk towards the exit, "aliens and Avengers have done enough to Wakanda. We'll handle it ourselves." For as callous as the words were, her tone was light and she gave them a wave as she left.

000

They had an armed escort as they left Wakanda. Shuri sent two of her Dolls with them, as well as two Wakandan pilots. For the first time since their galactic journey had begun, the space quartet and cat could sit back while someone else took the wheel. Though the flight was certain fast compared to other earth travel means, it was still a few hour ride to their destination in upstate New York.

"Stark," Loki said, his voice barely above a whisper. Tony was sitting with his eyes closed and his arms crossed against his chest. "Stark!"

"Whaaa-t." Tony replied in annoyance, not even cracking an eye open.

"You've… spoken to the others?"

"I spoke to Pepper and Rhodey. Cap was out." Loki scowled. Tony had been on the line with someone for a very long time. He was disappointed to know that it was only his woman and not someone more important. "Why?"

"Do they know I'm coming?" Loki asked.

Tony finally sighed and opened his eyes. "Yeah."

"… Do they know I'm coming and I'm not in chains?"

Tony hesitated, and that was really all Loki needed to know. He put his head back with a thunk.

"They're going to shoot me on sight, aren't they? Probably think I've mind controlled you or something."

"Yeah, probably. That's a 'you problem' and not really a 'me problem.' You're pretty good at not dying though, so I'm sure you'll be fine, even after Nat and Barton get their hands on you." Tony replied and settled in once more, his arms going across his chest again. "Thor will be there though, maybe. He'll pull them off of you."

Loki grimaced. At this point, he'd rather let the Hulk toss him around like a rag doll again than face his brother.

To his surprise, however, it was the Hulk, well, Bruce Banner, that was the first to greet him.

The Wakandan ship touched down smoothly on the landing pad of Avengers' HQ. He had tried to catch a glimpse of who might have been waiting for them, but their pilots insisted that he sit, and he had no interest in challenging the fierce warriors. So Loki sat and tried to calm his nerves so that he could put on a brave face. He had stared down Thanos (and almost died), so what were the Avengers compared to that?

After they received the all clear, Loki and his companions made their way to the exit, where the door opened and provided them with a staircase to the cement pad. Tony led the way, as it was his territory. Cass followed him, with Nebula after. Loki prepared to take up the rear, but before he could step off, Kylepo meowed up at him.

"What? It'll be fine."

The feline meowed again.

"If they blast me to smithereens, I'm sure someone will look after you. Cass will make sure of it so she doesn't get stuck with you. Now come along and be sure not to stand too close to me, just in case…"

But there was no blasting. Loki stepped down and fell into place next to Nebula, watching as the Avengers, or what was left of them, stared at them. Their eyes were burning holes into them—but Loki got the distinct impression it wasn't out of anger. It was embarrassment.

They were all trying not to look at Pepper and Tony, who were currently locked in a tight embrace. Pepper was sobbing, alternating between swearing at Tony and kissing him. Loki gave a small smile and quickly suppressed it when Pepper slapped Tony twice and then embraced him. One thing that was curious about the matter, however, was how incredibly huge Pepper was looking. Funny, Tony hadn't mentioned that his woman was pregnant. Or perhaps he didn't know?

Based on the complete look of shock on Tony's face, Loki gathered it was the latter.

"Loki," Banner said, pulling Loki's attention back to the group staring at him. "Before anything else, you should know that I vouched for you so… don't make me regret it."

"I didn't realize we were that close," Loki replied lightly, sliding his hands into his pocked and rolling back and forth on his feet.

"We're not," Banner replied dryly, "but we're all enemies of Thanos. The enemy of our enemy, right?"

Loki was about to open his mouth when he felt a rush of power coming from his left—well, leftish. It was flying at him. He barely had time to throw up a simulacrum and step away before it hit. Just as he was about to keep moving, the power turned towards him, seemingly guessing his movement, and grabbed him tightly.

"You are alive!" It was Thor that wrapped his arms tightly around Loki, squeezing the breath out of him. "I did not believe it when Banner contacted me! I thought it must be a trick! But you are truly here!"

"Can't—breath—"

Thor loosened up but did not let Loki go. "I am so relieved! I thought—ow!"

Finally Thor released Loki and he saw that Kylepo had latched himself onto Thor's leg.

"What manner of beast is this?" Thor asked, shaking his leg, trying to get the feline to let go.

"I—it's… My cat?"

Without further prompting, Thor reached down and pulled Kylepo off of his leg and cradled him in his arms. "And you have a cat! How it reminds me of the mousers back home—you loved them!"

Loki looked over Thor's shoulder to the others who seemed like they were stifling their laughter. Loki cleared his throat. "Ah, well, yes. So, let's catch up later. I think there are more pressing matters to deal with…"

"He's right," Rogers replied, stepping forward. "I understand that there is catching up in order, but before that, let's head inside for a debrief."

"Then we celebrate?" Tony asked over Pepper's head as he held her sobbing form to him. "I could really use some… celebrating."

Barton frowned—no, he scowled. "Celebrate? Are you fucking kidding—"

Natasha elbowed him in the gut, causing him to grunt. "We could all use a little… celebrating." She looked over at Barton, her eyes narrowed. "Just for one night."

He looked like he was fuming. He looked at Loki with murder in his eyes, then at Tony with—was it jealousy that Loki detected? Whatever it was, he gave his long look and then turned away first, marching off towards the Bunker.

Loki had been in Barton's mind. He knew Barton's secrets. He knew that Barton had a family: a wife, a few children. Did they not survive Thanos's wrath? Loki guessed not. So few had, after all.

Barton was right. This was no time for celebration. It was a time for mourning.

000

Stark and Nebula started off the recap explaining their fight with Thanos. Loki was practically on the edge of the seat. Had they really come so close to winning? Had Stark and his crew spunky scrappers really managed to almost get that bloody gauntlet off of the Mad Titan?

"We almost had him," Tony said, wiping a hand down his face. He knocked back the last of his scotch. "We almost had him."

"What happened?" Rogers asked.

Nebula let out a slew of curses in numerous dialects and then slammed her fist down on the table, shaking the glasses around her. "Peter. Fucking. Quill."

And then they explained the rest. Loki's blood practically boiled as he internally seethed. If they ever managed to right Loki's many wrongs and stop Thanos from ever even enacting his plan… Well, Loki was certain he would kill this Peter Quill if ever they met, simply out of principle.

No one that selfish deserved a second chance? Even Loki wasn't that selfish…

Except, of course, he was. He had taken the Tesseract knowing full well who was after it. He could have left it, he should have left it. He knew that Thanos had planned to use it. He could lie to himself all he wanted and say that he never would have taken it if he knew what would happen because of his actions… But it was just that. A lie. He had always known. And he did it anyhow.

Because he was selfish.

Stark finished, abbreviating the rest of his story to explain how he and Nebula met up, then how their duo became a quartet and a cat.

"And you, Loki? How did you survive Thanos?"

"It was because of your sorcery, wasn't it?" Thor asked, stepping up to the table and setting down his large glass of beer. "You had a plan, didn't you? To escape Thanos and find a way to beat him."

Loki smiled ruefully, shaking his head. "No."

"You didn't plan to stop Thanos?" Natasha asked, raising a delicate brow at him. Loki hated the way she seemed to look right through him. No mortal should have been able to have that sort of power over him.

"I mean, there was no sorcery. No trickery. No plan. I tried. I failed. I felt Thanos snap my neck as he choked the life out of me. I thought I died—truly." He swallowed, feeling the phantom pain in his neck once more as he imagined the tight grasp around his neck. "I thought I died."

"How did you come to meet with Stark then?" Thor asked.

Loki shifted and sighed, giving a nod over to Cass. "Scavengers found me, floating in space." The group gazed turned towards her.

She raised her glass of liquor and gave a shrug. "Guess he really is undying."

000

Author's Note: I know, I know. Not very exciting. I need to get them all settled in so they can make their plan and actually start that plan. I don't want it to drag, but I also don't want to just rush it. Will there be a chapter of drunken debauchery? Or at least a partial chapter? Who knows. That's a tomorrow decision. I think I might need to pause and write the last few chapters and work into them since I know how I want those to go and I just keep replaying those in my head… We'll see. I actually changed the last line because I felt it made some things too obvious and since Loki isn't going to figure out Cass's deal for a few more chapters, why make it easy on you, right?!

Ah, review time. This was an interesting round of reviews.

ThePhoenixandtheDragon: if you manage to get this far… I hope it got better? I never in a million years thought someone would say they didn't hate Cass but hated Tony! I tried to have Tony's outburst be within character. He is prone to going off on people when he's angry (like when he gave out his address in Iron Man 3.) I don't know if Tony will ever be able to forgive Loki. We haven't seen him interact with Bucky, so we don't really know if he's forgiven Bucky either. He need a focus, and it's easier for him to blame Loki than anyone else, even Thanos, when Loki is right in front of him. Anyhow, thanks for your review, and I hope you're able to move on with the story!

Now for the Guest: … I'm glad you mistook this fic for another and jumped to the most recent chapter? Haha! Listen, I get not liking Cass. Readers are really supposed to not like her. She is not some OC love interest who is supposed to come in and save the day. She is a plot device. Half the time, I want readers to forget she's even there. When she pops in to do something, whether it's her conversations or a strange ability, I want the readers to question what the point is! Hopefully if you get to the end, it will make sense. Also, hopefully you enjoyed the more recent chapters enough to move past your dislike of her, haha!

Spxxxxx: thank you for your review! I am really going to work hard to it out! I have the epilogue done, and I'm trying to make sure I have at least the next chapter ready before I post… but I may start updating too frequently for that!

Everyone else! Your reviews really help me keep going! I'll try very hard not to get distracted and to keep writing!

Ever Your Servant,

A.F