Merry Christmas everyone. Early gift for ya :)
You know, I look at where am now in this story and look back at my goal at the beginning of this fic-getting it done before the movie came out - and laugh fondly at my naivete. Oh well.
As predicted, this chapter gave me some issues; I'll try to get the second part of it done sooner.
Loki and Steve rushed from the room, leaving Wanda to guard Vision's bedside. Steve spared a moment to encourage Shuri to please, if at all possible and with all due respect, hurry the hell up! Well, without the mild curse, of course, but Loki thought the sentiment carried through.
They stepped outside into a city in chaos. Citizens raced around in blind panic as they were evacuated into the mines. Loki spotted several Asgardians mixed in with the Wakanda citizens and broke away from Steve to see to them. He waved away the Captain's confused call and made his way toward the crowd. Heimdall and the Valkyrie spotted him and pushed forward to meet him.
"My Prince," Heimdall greeted, amusement still tugging at the side of his mouth. Loki scowled. Of all the times for the Gatekeeper to acquire a sense of humor, he thought grumpily.
"Lackey, what's going on?"
Shaking his annoyance away, Loki focused on the Valkyrie. "The city's under attack. Thanos' children are here to finish their mission."
Valkyrie and Heimdall shared dark glances. "Point me toward the battle," the warrior woman said.
"I think you will find it hard to miss, my lady."
Valkyrie grinned, darkly and nearly manically, then sprinted off after Steve. There was nothing that got an Asgardian moving quite like a glorious battle. It suddenly occurred to Loki that, with Thor off world, the three of them were all that was left of Asgard's famous warriors. That was depressing.
Loki held up a hand to keep Heimdall from following her. "I think it's best if you remain here, keep guard over the Stonekeeper. Having a guard who can see any approaching enemy could be invaluable."
The taller man hesitated, but eventually nodded. Keeping the Mind Stone out of Thanos' hands was the only strategy they had. Heimdall could see the wisdom in providing excessive protection.
"Don't let them destroy the Stone," Loki said.
He'd seen the resolve in Vision's eyes when Steve announced the attack. The robotic man would self-terminate, taking the Stone with him, if he thought the Black Order was closing in on him. And none of the team would hesitate to destroy the Stone once it was free from Vision's head. Loki could almost admire their resolve, especially Vision's, if they weren't so invested in destroying his Stone.
Loki waited for the gatekeeper's acknowledgement before he went to join the front lines. He paused for a moment when a light blue shield closed over the city, blocking one of the ships that were trying to land. The ship exploded when it crashed into the barrier, sending flaming pieces of metal sliding down the dome. Loki studied the shield, a hollowing feeling blooming in his chest. He let that sweep over him, dwelling on the bitter-sweet nostalgia, then pushed the feeling aside and strolled on.
The Captain and the Spider were gone when he joined the group. They have a sizable army, mostly Wakanda citizens, with the Sakaarian gladiators sprinkled within the group. Loki summoned his full armor as he moved to fill the gap between the Valkyrie and Rhodey, following their gaze. They all stood at the edge of a gentle slope, several meters away from where the shield shimmered. A number of enemy ships loomed in the distance, and the distant forms of the Captain and the Widow stood just inside the shield, seemingly conversing with Obsidian and Proxima.
"What are they doing?" he asked, leaning over to Rhodey.
"Giving diplomacy a try."
Loki snorted, not bothering to comment on how pointless that was. They'd see that on their own soon enough.
"Well, lady Valkyrie, did I not promise you a grand fight?" he said, making a sweeping gesture to their army.
Valkyrie grinned that warrior's grin before sobering. "Brunnhilde," she said after a pause. Loki cocked his head curiously. "We're going into our third battle together, with the fate of everything riding on this. You can call me by my first name."
"Brunnhilde," he repeated with a gentle, genuine smile. "Any chance you'll call me Loki?"
"Nope," she said brightly, flashing an impish grin. Loki's own grin grew.
Their tender moment was abruptly broken as one of Stark's garish suits slammed into the ground between them. The Wakandan warriors muttered in annoyance, a few kicking pebbles at the downed suit. The man in the suit mumbled apologies as he levered his face out of the dirt.
"Small adjustments, small adjustments," he chanted, shaking dirt off his face plate.
Recognizing the voice, even garbled by the metallic filter, Loki stared in confusion. "Banner? Is that you in there?"
"Oh, yeah." Bruce flicked back the massive helmet and smiled sheepishly. "Figured I should suit up for this fight. Just trying to get the hang of this thing. It's great though," he added, beaming. "It's like being the Hulk, without actually being the Hulk."
"I must say, I'm very fond of that alternative, as well."
Bruce snorted and flipped the mask back into place. Falcon landed next to them, glancing up at the shield fondly.
"Man, I love this place," he said.
"It reminds me a little of home," Loki said. The Valkyrie hummed in agreement, her sadden gaze likewise on the shield above them.
Below them, the four figures did an about-face and walked away. Steve and Natasha returned to their army, shoulders tense and faces carefully blank. The atmosphere, already uneasy, grew steadily darker.
"They surrender?" Rhodey asked, despite the clear answer.
"Not exactly," Steve said, eyeing the barrier.
There was a long, heavy moment of stillness, then the ships all opened their hulls. Shadows stirred within the gaping moth of the ships, and nightmarish creatures from Hel poured out and raced for the barrier. Loki's gut twisted. He recognized them as Chitauri, but only barely. Their heads had been elongated and their jaws reinforced, additional spindly limbs jutted out of their torsos. Thanos had been tinkering.
"My god," someone whispered.
"Do you see those teeth?"
"What are they?"
Loki shook himself out of his own terrified paralysis and slid his gaze over to Steve. "I wish you'd told me this was your desired outcome; it would have been so much quicker had I been with you. I'm an expert at pissing people off," he said, his voice surprisingly free of nerves.
A few of the Avengers mustered the energy to shoot him half-hearted glares. Then the tide of monsters slammed into the shield. The line of warriors instinctively shuffled back, sounds of panic rolling through the crowd. The creatures piled on top of each other, dissolving as they forced their bodies through the barrier. Despite that, the flow of Chitauri monsters did not slow, some even managing a few steps through the shield before death claimed them.
"Why are they doing that?' Bruce asked, horror clear in his voice.
"They wish to cow you," Loki said, unable to keep the disgust from his own voice. "To show you that they far out-number you, can kill themselves by the thousands and still overrun you. To show you that nothing will stop them, not pain, not death. That you cannot stand against them."
"Shock and awe," Rhodey muttered.
"Well then, they're in for disappointment," Natasha said coolly.
Loki wasn't so sure. The mortals huddled together, shivering. Loki himself felt a shot of ice up his spine at the sight of something so unrelenting in its quest to end his life. Something so…alien.
Sam suddenly launched himself into the sky, arching above the enemy forces.
"Cap, these things are trying to circle the perimeter," he reported. "If they get in behind us, there's nothing between them and Vision."
Steve's face clouded. After a moment, he sighed, and almost seemed to curl in on himself. Then he squared his shoulders. "Then we better keep them in front of us."
"How?" Natasha asked.
"We open the barrier."
Loki blinked, thinking very carefully about that declaration and the appropriate response: "That is a stupid plan."
Steve sent him a tired look. "It's the only play we've got. If we can't keep them away from Vision, we'll lose anyway."
T'Challa stared at him, brows pinched in conflict. Then he lifted his beaded wrist to contact the control base.
"On my signal, open North-West, Section Seventeen.
Requesting confirmation, My King. You said open the barrier? The confused voice on the other end asked.
T'Challa sighed, closing his eyes for a moment. "Confirmed. On my signal."
Yes, my king.
The Avengers stared down at the monsters that were still piling against the barrier. Terror fell over them like an icy fog.
"This will be the end of Wakanda," Okoye said solemnly.
T'Challa didn't argue that point. "Then it will be the noblest ending in history."
Loki watched the exchange, thinking he might just suffocate under the honor-filled sentiment. Then he sighed and rolled his eyes, drawing his blades. "I will say, its still not the most idiotic strategy I've ever heard."
Brunnhilde and Bruce snorted.
T'Challa's communication bead chirped, and a small section of the barrier slid open. The Chitauri hoard stilled, then swarmed through the opening. The Wakandan king stood tall, took the first step forward.
"Wakanda forever!" He called, racing down the hill. His people echoed his cry thunderously and followed him.
"For Asgard," Brunnhilde whispered.
Loki nodded, echoing that whisper, and took a fortifying breath, then the two of the them charged forward with their army.
X
Thor's stomach worked itself into knots as he and his companions walked the dark halls of Nidavellir. He remembered this place well; he and Loki spent many days of their childhood here, marveling at the craftmanship that their home was built on, joyfully racing through the corridors. The day of Thor's majority, his father brought him here, and he was presented Mjolnir for the first time. The golden light of the star at the forge's center filling the halls, and the proud roar of hundreds of dwarves at his back.
"I don't understand it," he muttered, shaking those memories away. "This forge hasn't gone dark in centuries."
"Maybe they decided they all needed a vacation?" The rabbit offered, kicking a stray piece of metal.
Thor didn't bother answering that.
The halls were gloomy, barely lit, and completely deserted. Half-formed weapons and forging tools lay scattered across the floor, covered in a thin layer of dust. That, if nothing else, screamed that there something was wrong. Three hundred dwarves worked and lived here, and they were almost fanatically proud of their craft. Nothing would make them leave their work on the floor like this.
But he didn't really need to see anything to know what was wrong. There may have been no blood, no bodies, but Thor knew the aftermath of battle when he saw one. Knew the feel of it, the taste of it in the air. Thor's palm itched for his hammer, not for the first time since he'd lost it, and ice pooled in his gut.
They continued through the dead forge in silence until Rocket brought them up short. "Hey, big guy, you said Thanos had a gauntlet, right?"
Thor paused and squinted down at his furry companion. "Yes, why?"
"Did it look anything like that?"
Thor followed the rodent's gesture… and his heart dropped into his stomach. Mounted on a pedestal across from them was a mold of a giant gauntlet. Thor didn't need to get any closer to it to recognize the gauntlet that Thanos had clamped around his head. His senses immediately kicked into overdrive. If Thanos and his get had been here to order the development of that gauntlet, they may have left a trap behind.
Thor let his senses expand and drift through the forge. He froze when something pinged in his head. Something was still alive here.
"Get back to the pod," Thor ordered, starting to shuffle back the way they came.
He ran head-first into a massive figure. Before Thor could even comprehend what it was that he hit, something enormous slammed into his torso and sent him fly across the room. Dazed and winded, Thor was only vaguely aware of the rabbit and the tree suffering the same treatment. Then the giant, still mostly hidden in the shadows, advanced on Thor. The thunderer scrambled to his feet and caught the next blow before it landed. He stood at an impasse, trembling as he fought to hold a massive arm between both of his own. And in that moment of stillness, Thor recognized the man attacking him.
"Eitri!" He shouted, pushing the dwarf back. "Eitri, stop! It's Thor!"
Eitri pulled his arm back for another swing, then paused when Thor's words finally reached him. "Thor?" He said, shaky.
"Yes, yes it's me."
Eitri stared in shock for a moment, then his face once again clouded with rage. He swung for Thor again, and the thunder god rolled to avoid it. "You were supposed to protect us! Asgard was supposed to protect us!"
"Asgard was destroyed!" That finally gave the dwarf true pause. Thor approached him timidly. "Odin is dead, our people scattered. I'm sorry, we would have come if we could have."
Eitri's breath left him in a trembling 'whoosh'. The dwarf fell to his knees, cradling his mangled hands— encased in metal, Thor noticed now. Rocket and Groot picked themselves up, and Thor waved them back when they moved to attack. Rocket looked at him like that was insane, but backed off. Thor knelt by the dwarf's side, letting his grief quiet itself before speaking.
"Eitri, what did you do?"
The dwarf looked to the mold of the gauntlet. His face crumbled. "Thanos," he croaked. "He came for us. His creatures overran us before we could even mount a defense. When it was over, he held my people as leverage. He promised that he would spare them, if I made what he wanted: a device capable of harnessing the power of the Infinity Stones. So I made it. But he killed them anyway."
Eitri broke off with a sob, hiding his face in his hands the best that he could. "He made me watch. And when it was over, he said 'Your life is yours, but your hands are mine.' And then he…" he glanced at his hands, no further elaboration needed.
"I'm sorry, Eitri. I'm so sorry." Thor placed a hand on the dwarf's shoulder and sat quietly for a moment. "But there may be a way for you to avenge them, and to make up for what you gave Thanos."
"How?"
"I need a weapon powerful enough kill the Titan."
"You already have one." Eitri took a quick inventory of Thor's person. His face twisted into a scowl of indignation, and for the first time, he looked like the dwarf Thor had known since childhood. "What have you done to Mjolnir?!"
"It's a long story," Thor sighed. He suddenly squinted at the dwarf in scrutiny. "Do you remember Hela, by any chance?"
Eitri winced in sudden sympathy and nodded. Thor scowled. Great, everyone knew about Hela except him. He took a breath to stew in annoyance, then pushed it aside.
"I need a new weapon, something even stronger than Mjolnir." And preferably something that wasn't a blood-stained hand-me-down from his psychotic sister.
"I can't, my hands—"
"Every weapon you've ever designed, every axe, hammer, sword, is still inside your head. I'll be your hands; you just give me the design I need." Eitri still looked hesitant. Thor fought for patience, reminding himself just how much the dwarf had lost.
"I know it feels like all hope is lost. Believe me, I know. We've both lost more to that monster than any man should have to endure. But we cannot let him get away with it. And together, you and I, we can kill Thanos. We can make him pay."
Eitri stared for a moment, and then his shoulders finally straightened. "I think I have just the thing for you."
X
There was a unique kind of stillness that descended over one's mind during a battle. Not calm, per say, or even numbness, but a pool of still in a riot of chaos. Single mindedness. Kill one foe, destroy the next. Repeat and repeat.
Loki had never been one to reveled in battle. He always despised the idea of letting his mind drift from battle, of losing the vital sense of awareness. He'd seen many men slaughtered for that oversight. But for this battle, he let the simplicity of it wash over him, and he reveled in it. In the wake of his death and reincarnation, of seeing Thanos again, of everything in the last eight years, a bit of simplicity was refreshing. He only paid enough attention to keep track of how many enemies he'd killed, but beyond that, his mind was blissfully blank.
He only emerged from the battle fog when the ground shook and nearly threw him off his feet. Loki dispatched the swarm of Chitauri monsters crowding him and scanned the battlefield. Several wheeled machines rolled across the field, tearing apart everything in their path.
Oh dear; that was not good.
"Fall back," the Captain called. "Everybody, fall back to higher ground!"
The message was relayed through several Wakandan coms, and people immediately retreated. The Chitauri swarmed to attack their retreating backs. A handful of warriors stopped to hold back the line, the Captain and the Wakandan king among them. They were instantly covered by the monsters, many being dragged to the ground and devoured.
Watching Steve and T'Challa struggle, Loki hesitated for a heartbeat. The reserves of his magic were running unpleasantly low since his session with Wanda, and he'd been trying to ration it. More Chitauri slipped through the line of defense, more of their warriors fell, and Loki thought: screw it. If they didn't survive this battle, his memories weren't going to matter.
He reached for a familiar spell, and smoke poured from his hands. The grey mist wrapped around each Chitauri, flooding their noses and eyes. Disoriented, the monsters reeled back, trying to shake their senses clear. The fog followed them, until the entire army was completely obscured. Loki smiled faintly. Enacting a spell like this took much more finesse and effort than just blasting a foe away. A part of him greatly enjoyed using his magic to bash his target into oblivion but stretching his muscles like this was much more satisfying.
He'd forgotten how much he missed this.
Loki peeked over at Steve as the Captain situated himself. Steve glanced over the battlefield, a frazzled look on his features, and then settled his gaze on Loki. He nodded to the other man, then tapped his ear piece.
"Rhodey, get ready to beat them back when Loki drops the fog," Steve called.
"On it, Cap."
Steve raced toward the rest of their army, waving for the others to follow. Loki waited until he saw the grey blur of Rhodey's suit before he dropped the fog and ran like Hel. A series of explosion vibrated against his back, heat singeing him. Loki forced himself to go faster, stopping only when he stood next to Steve.
"Handy trick," Sam quipped as Loki braced himself on his knees and fought for his breath back.
"So I've been told most of my life," Loki said, giving the other man an exhausted half glare.
"Thank you, Loki." Steve clapped Loki's shoulder. He watched as Rhodey flew back and forth over the Chitauri army, dropping explosives on them. The metal man made several more passes, and then arched away. "All right, people, breaks over," Steve ordered. "Let's get back to work."
There was only a small groan that rippled through the crowd before the warriors charged right back down to the Chitauri.
Loki stayed perched halfway up the hill, focusing on the wheeled machines that were still tearing the battlefield apart. He scanned it for weaknesses, and finally sent a bolt of magic into the wheel of the center machine. Loki watched in satisfaction as the machine overbalanced without the forward motion, and started a domino effect with the two machines next to it. The earth shook as they crashed to the ground, sending waves of the Chitauri army scrambling over themselves.
This he could do. Small spells, with intense focus, could do just as much damage as the large blasts. And they didn't drain him nearly as much. Perfect.
Loki dove back into the battle with renewed fever.
Despite the brief lull, the tide of the battle wasn't in their favor. The monsters regrouped, and the several of the machines branched together, forming an impenetrable wall of destruction. Well, that was just cheating. Loki gathered his focus, aiming for the wheeled group heading for Natasha and T'Challa's general. His spell was barely more than a spark when Wanda dropped from the sky. Bright flares of power shot into the incoming machine, splitting into four pieces. They obliterated the Chitauri surrounding the two women. There was a lull in attacks in the wake of the machine's destruction. Okoye and Natasha stared quietly for a moment, and Loki seized the opportunity to join them.
"Why was she up there all this time?" Okoye demanded.
Loki rolled his eyes with an exasperated sigh. "Of course. I do the same thing not ten minutes ago, but does anyone notice? No." He took his frustration out on a charging Chitauri, then glanced at Wanda, studying her hard. "Is it the red? It's the red, isn't it? It's just so damn flashy. Story of my life."
"Oh, stop being such a baby," Wanda laughed.
The lull came to an abrupt end as another line of Chitauri charged them. Loki and Wanda whipped around, sending twin blasts of magic at the monsters. The Chitauri were obscured in light, and when it cleared, nothing but ash remained. The two magic users stared at each other appraisingly. Loki sent another dagger flying into the eye socket of a charging Chitauri without breaking eye contact.
"That's twenty-three for me," he said.
"I'm pretty sure I just took out more than fifty," Wanda shot back, a small grin blooming.
Little imp, he thought with only a hint of true annoyance. Loki eyed her, grinding his teeth. Well, he'd have no novice witch out-scoring him. "Fine then," he finally said, lifting his chin challengingly and propping his hands on his hips. "Magic has to be crucial to the kill in order to count."
"Of course."
Natasha and Okoye shared a silent look asking, 'you seeing this, too', then rolled their eyes and ultimately ignored the two.
Excitement bubbled in Loki's throat, and a grin of sheer joy lit up his face. He nodded decisively. "Very well. Keep your scores dutifully. May the best sorcerer win.