A/N - Sorry for the long time it took to update. I had a bunch of things on my plate, and I could only write for a little bit before bedtime. The ending may be a little rushed…sorry again :(
Two more chapters left! The next one may not be that long, but the last one will be. I'm thinking of putting up a sequel sort-of-ish, one that can stand on its own but takes place after this story. If I hit a 100 reviews, I'll write it for sure.
Anyway, here's the chapter!
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"Let me get this straight," said Natasha, blue-green eyes narrowed as she frowned at Thor. "A great, crazy, almost indestructible purple Titan with serious love-issues is coming to Earth? Not to take over the world, but to just, destroy it?"
"When you put it that way," admitted Thor, "it sounds a whole lot worse."
"I know, right?" asked Tony, dark eyes wide. "I mean, how dare he be purple? Blue's the new black."
"Now's not the time, Tony," said Bruce, punching him in the shoulder. Tony turned his eyes onto the archer. "What makes you think I'm joking?" he asked, face deadpan. "Everyone knows purple was so last month."
"Knock it off, Stark," said Steve wearily. You could no longer see the invincible, superhuman Captain America in him. At that moment, Steve was just, well, Steve.
"Can someone tell me why the hell he's here?" demanded Clint, waving his hand towards Loki. The said god raised his bowed head in slight surprise at the mention of his name, amused green eyes regarding Clint quietly. Loki didn't say anything in defense, but settled for a slight quirk of his brow.
That was enough to antagonize Clint, for there is nothing that annoys an angry, passionate person more than mocking and no reaction.
Natasha saw the fierce glint in his eye, so she hastened to the rescue. "We may need to question him," she answered before a huge debate could be started over that.
"We already questioned him," pointed out Clint. He scowled suspiciously at Loki. "What if he's working his fucking magic stuff on us?"
That just seemed to amuse Loki even more, who ducked his dark head to hide a smile. Then he raised his head, twisting his hands in an exaggerated flourish as green sparks danced out of his hand. An illusion of a butterfly danced from his outstretched palm, fluttering its delicate wings as it flew gently above Loki's head.
Natasha had to force a mask of calm on her face to hid the surprise and curiosity she felt. She had a sudden childlike urge to run and try to catch the sparkling butterfly, but the SHIELD agent stamped down ruthlessly on the feeling.
Clint, however, felt differently about the butterfly. In a swift motion, an arrow was pointing at Loki, who looked unperturbed.
"Brother, stop antagonizing him," ordered Thor. Loki did not answer, but turned wide, innocent green eyes onto Thor, as if to say, How can I antagonize him if I'm not saying anything?
Bruce's fist collided with a table, causing the little vase on it to rattle dangerously. "Shut up, everyone!" he hollered loudly. Immediately, silence followed. Bruce rarely showed his anger (except when he turns into the Hulk) but whenever he did, everybody knew to take him seriously.
"We have better things to worry about," he snapped in a most unlike-Bruce manner. "Thor, get your brother out of the room. Clint, he wasn't doing anything. You'd think him making little green butterflies was a sign of deadly intentions."
Wanting to say more but not daring to as he saw a tinge of green in Bruce's arm, Clint silenced, chastened. Loki quietly exited the room with Thor behind him, and everyone remained silent until the god of thunder entered the room again.
Tony immediately took the floor. "Guys, I think we're overreacting a little," he said, pacing with his hands shoved in his pockets. "We defeated Loki easily enough. This is pretty much the same thing."
Natasha snorted, letting the dry contempt escape through her voice. "That's your definition of easily enough?"
"Yes," said Tony, turning to face her. "Steve and I together could've handled him. Thor could've handled him too, and the Hulk got him pretty bad. I'm sure you two could too. It was just his army that was destroying everything."
Steve shook his head. "We're dealing with a whole new level here, guys," he said. "And there's a difference between Loki and Thanos, here. Loki wants to rule, and in order to rule there needs to be something to rule. Thanos here doesn't want Earth intact. He just wants Earth…"
"…destroyed," finished Thor. He looked around at the Avengers, who all had their eyes glued on him. "To let Thanos even near Earth would be folly. What he unleashed here in New York with Loki was only a portion of his army, Loki tells me."
Someone cursed. "What choice do we have?" asked Tony. "The magical rainbow bridge has been destroyed, and life's not like Star Wars. We can't exactly blast off in the Millennium Falcon to face Thanos somewhere off Earth."
Thor raised an eyebrow, as he jerked his hand towards the door. "We can't," he said. "But he can."
Silence reigned again as everyone digested this, mainly wondering if Thor had the audacity to suggest what they thought he was suggesting.
"You mean…Loki?" asked Clint incredulously. "That crazy, son of a—" he caught the dangerous gleam in Thor's eye and hastily amended his statement. "—nice guy," he finished lamely.
Natasha was watching Thor with a knowing look on her face. "Loki put you up to this, didn't he?"
Thor had a guilty look on his face. "Well…he may have mentioned something of the sort," he answered sheepishly.
"What if he's been mind-controlling you this whole time?" asked Tony, narrowing his eyes. Thor shook his head hastily.
"I can assure you, son of Stark," he reassured him, "I am not being mind-controlled."
"His eyes aren't blue," said Clint helpfully, then frowned as he thought his words over. "Well, his eyes are blue," he said, studying Thor's eyes so intently that the demigod began to feel uncomfortable. "Jesus, Thor, you have the bluest eyes I've ever seen. They don't look like they're being mind-controlled, but…ah, to hell with it."
"I never thought I'd see the day when we trust Loki more than Thor," mumbled Tony, "but we need to ask Loki if he's mind-controlling Thor. Then, we need the details of the new mission."
Then, raising his voice, Tony hollered, "Oy! Bambi!"
Despite the dire predicament, Thor smiled. "He never liked it when we used to call him nicknames," he said bittersweetly. "I doubt he'd come if you call him like that."
Tony shrugged. "I have nicknames for everyone."
"Not for me," Bruce pointed out. "Or Natasha."
Tony frowned. "Really?" he questioned. Then he waved an arm vaguely up at the air. "JARVIS, schedule 1-2 for next Thursday—I need it to get new nicknames."
"God, why did I have to point it out?" moaned Bruce. Clint raised an eyebrow.
"You don't have a nickname for me," he said.
"I do," Tony contradicted. "It's Legolas. Or Katniss."
Before Clint and Tony could ramble on for ages—as the rest of the Avengers knew all too well that they could—Loki slipped into the room. All eyes snapped on him.
"Is Thor mind-controlled?" asked Steve, cutting straight to the chase. Loki didn't seem in the mood for beating about the bush, either.
"No, Thor is not mind-controlled" he replied, sending Thor an unreadable, quick glance. "Do you wish to know about my plan to stop Thanos? Other than that, I have no other plans that involve me escaping, or anything that you or the other Avengers would dislike."
"Tell us your plan," said Natasha, and so Loki did.
"You want to keep Thanos from killing anyone," said Loki. "The best way to do that is to not have him here at all. I can teleport you there—straight to Thanos—and I believe all of you, together, can stop the Titan."
"Why are you helping us?" asked Bruce calmly, staring at Loki out of his glasses.
Loki neatly folded his hands behind his back. "I'm sure you can answer that yourselves," he said. "I am not overly fond of Thanos at this moment, and that would be an understatement. Don't think I'm having a sudden change of heart—it'll just be far more convenient for me if Thanos is dead."
It took a quite a bit of persuasion, but the Avengers were finally convinced that Loki's plan could actually work. It took another hour for them to straighten out the little details, and by the end of it everyone's voice was sore and every head was throbbing. But in the end they had the perfect, revised plan of attack, approved by all the Avengers.
"All right, guys," said Steve at last, rubbing his fist against his forehead. "You got a suit? Then suit up."
—
"I can't believe you're just leaving!"
Pepper was pacing, face flushed with eyes glittering. It was her 'panic' mode, the mood that Tony fondly referred to as a 'Peppery Pepper Mode'.
"I mean, what if you're killed?" ranted on Pepper. She shook his shoulders hard to show how serious she was. "Billions of miles away, out in space…oh god, why did I agree to this?"
"Because I have to," said Tony gently, taking her trembling hands in his. He squeezed her delicate hands once, then reached up and cupped her face. "I need to make this world a safer place—for you, Pep."
"I know," said Pepper shakily, a sob catching in her throat. Her eyes were red, but she knew Tony had to go. The redhead entwined her fingers into his tangled dark hair, leaning him over as she crushed her lips against his. She ran her fingers over the red-gold of his suit, smiling tearfully as Tony's faceplate hissed, sliding
Meanwhile, Jane and Thor were also sharing tearful goodbyes, speckled by kisses that were far too passionate for Loki's liking, who was forced to stand right beside Thor.
That pretty much left everyone else standing there awkwardly, averting their eyes from the sobbing lovers and uncomfortable shifting from foot to foot. Finally, Tony and Pepper, and Thor and Jane, separated.
Pepper and Jane hugged Natasha, after formally smiling tearfully or shaking hands with the other Avengers. When they arrived at Loki, however, Pepper settled on a handshake, and in an unexpected show of gallantry, Loki kissed Jane's hand. Jane just flushed and murmured something inaudible under her breath.
"Shall we go now, then?" asked Steve. The Avengers had been prepping for a week, and now they all stood assembled on the balcony of Stark Tower, dressed and fully armed.
Why Loki was there in the first place no one could say for sure. Loki had insisted he wouldn't teleport the Avengers unless Loki himself came along. And anyway, he could come whether they wanted him or not he'd come either way, so they decided it'll better to keep him near them so as to keep an eye on him.
The issue of whether or not he could have a weapon had caused a controversy. Of course, he needed to defend himself…but Loki hadn't earned the title of god of trickery for nothing. He repeatedly said he had no intentions of escaping—but no one could tell if he was twisting his words or not. So the Avengers just told him to stick close to Thor and hope that he wasn't attacked, which probably didn't comfort Loki much. Yet the green-eyed god insisted he was coming.
"I'm ready when you are," answered Tony, glancing at the facial expressions of his teammates. Clint's head was ducked, Natasha's face was drawn tight and impassive, Steve and Bruce wore identical looks of worry on their face, and Thor had a solemn, noble look that probably would make any girl swoon.
The Avengers looked at Loki, who nodded tightly. "Three," he said. "Two…One."
Tony gasped sharply, and he had an uncomfortable, sinking feeling in his stomach. He blinked, and he was no longer standing on his Tower.
He was standing on a barren piece of land that was charred black, with odd formations of rocks and a dry, musty smell in the air. He looked over at Thor for confirmation that this was the spot.
Thor was nodding slowly. "Good job, Loki," he said, sounding slightly impressed, then he froze.
Two sharp, twin knives were forming in each of Loki's hands, each as long as his arm. "Loki…" he began warningly, gripping Mjolnir tightly. But Loki did not look at him, instead, his eyes were fixed on the object in front of him.
It was a Chitauri.
Tony held out the palm of his hand, but Loki was too fast. His knives were a silver blur as they effectively slit the Chitauri's throat. Tony gaped at him.
"I thought we decided you weren't to have a weapon," said Steve grimly. Loki turned back to look at him. "You can't expect me to allow myself to be completely defenseless," was all the reply.
There was nothing they could really do about it, because Loki could just make another one. Just to be safe, Clint trained his arrow on Loki's back. Loki didn't seem to be worried.
"Thanos is this way," he said, and the Avengers followed him warily. They met with a couple of Chitauri on the way, but Loki put them out of action, and Natasha took a several down too.
The walk wasn't particularly long—just a couple of minutes or so. Tony hovered slightly above the others, flinching slightly at every little sound.
Far in the distance, Tony could make out a small, dark blob. "Is that.." he began, but Loki had already anticipated his question.
"Yes," he responded. "It's Thanos. On his stone chair."
Then Loki muttered something under his breath, and before Tony could say anything, he got the same, uncomfortable sensation he'd got when Loki had teleported them. He blinked, and suddenly he was standing somewhere else.
He was still on the same planet, Tony noted, but now….he was standing in front of the dark blob Loki'd declared was Thanos. Except Thanos was anything but a dark blob now.
He was purplish-blue and heavily muscular, dressed in golden armor as he sneered down at them all. Tony glanced around, and was relieved to see it wasn't just him in front of Thanos, for apparently Loki had teleported the other Avengers too.
Speaking of the god of mischief….where was he?
Tony scanned the area, and frowned as he saw Loki stand in front of them all, facing Thanos so his back was to them.
Yet he wasn't Loki with the dark green tunic on. Now, emerald light rippled over his as his outfit changed into his battle garb—his signature golden, horned helmet, with all fifty pounds of leather and gold armor and dark green cloth.
Warning bells went off in Tony's head. Loki shouldn't have this much magic, he'd just teleported all the Avengers. Twice. And he'd made weapons for himself too…Tony was no expert in magic, but something seemed a little wrong here.
He was about to comment in a low voice to Thor, who was standing next to him, when a sword appeared in Loki's hands, forming seemingly out of thin air.
Yet Loki didn't use the weapon to attack. To Tony's alarm, Loki looked up at Thanos. "Loki—" Tony began, but Loki cut him off again.
"Thanos," Loki called out loudly, voice echoing as he looked up at the Titan.
"I told you I will keep my bargain," Loki yelled up at Thanos, somewhat smugly.
"I see," rumbled Thanos' deep voice, causing shivers up Tony's spine. He smiled grotesquely at the heroes of Earth. "What have we here?"
Loki grinned wickedly. "I brought you the Avengers," he said. "Just as I promised."
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