I CAN'T BELIEVE I FINISHED THIS CHAPTER. I CRIED WHEN I FINISHED WRITING THIS. I'VE BEEN WORKING ON THIS CHAPTER FOR 2 MONTHS.
Anyway, take this and keep it. I didn't read it through because I hate it so much but it's the second longest chapter so far, next to Chapter 1. The next chapter probably won't be posted until I finish writing the entire fic because 1) I am high on motivation wooooo and 2) I feel bad leaving you all without an update for over 2 months oops
As always, please comment/review and enjoy!
Chapter 5: Friends and Foes
Just when it seemed like the Avengers and the Wakandan warriors were at a loss, a bright white light shot down onto the battlefield like a waterfall. Steve knew what this meant: Thor had arrived. It had been years since he last saw his Asgardian friend and if Thor used his thunder and lightning, it would give their side a major advantage against the Outriders and Thanos' armies. Steve heard Bruce yell in excitement from the Hulkbuster armour which made him smile and looked towards his scientific friend. Had it only been three years since he last saw Bruce and Thor during Sokovia? It felt like an eternity.
If Thor joined them, the Avengers had a better chance of winning and saving half of the universe. Having a literal god on their side would not only improve their chances, but also give them all that burst of confidence they needed.
Strangely, as the Bifrost continued shooting down to Earth, it started turning a magnificent emerald green colour. Steve thought this was odd, as when he saw the anomaly before it was either a sparkling white, or very rarely it would be a pale blue. Normally there'd be glimmers of green inside the light among other colours; not being entirely green.
People other than Steve noticed the acidic-coloured Bifrost - most notably Bucky, Natasha, Bruce, Wanda and Okoye. All six of them took their own battle stances, preparing themselves for whatever would emerge from the not-really-Bifrost Bifrost. They all hastily stepped back when an unexpected flame burst into life around the equally-green light. It spread across the grass, within two hundred yards of the Bifrost site. The fire looked like it was only aiming for the Outriders - wait no, it definitely was aiming for the alien monsters - causing them to screech in pain as the smell of burnt flesh arose and writhe in agony until they were cooked alive.
A large majority of the army was dead by the time the flames reduced to sparks that quickly went out. Their attention returned to the Bifrost which was slowing down as the unknown Asgardian emerged. Steve wouldn't have minded it being an intergalactic ally he'd never met before, but the face he saw belonged to a person he hoped he would never see again.
Loki.
Loki was here.
Loki, the God of Mischief and Lies himself, bringer of chaos and death, the attacker of New York who almost won the invasion, was here and not even thirty feet away from him.
Steve couldn't compress a gasp when the greasy-haired god appeared. He seemed to be accompanied by a walking tree and a talking raccoon with a gun at least twice the size of its body, but that was besides the point. Loki was holding a sceptre not unlike the one from 2012 but didn't they take that? They used the stone from it to make Ultron and bring Vision life. It must be a new one. Did Loki have a secret stash of sceptres with different coloured gemstones in his cupboard or something?
Loki looked over the battlefield once the Bifrost completely disappeared, letting himself take in what was happening. He couldn't see Thanos, which was probably a good sign. Though he couldn't see the Mind stone either, which was not great. The familiar sounds of war between the Midgardians and Thanos' armies and the sense of the aura of an Infinity Stone did give Loki a dangerous spark of hope that he wasn't too late.
When he looked back at the hopeless people in front of him, he was surprised to say the least. He really shouldn't have been as this was midgard and the Avengers were the realm's heroes but they looked so pathetic. Loki didn't try to stifle a laugh and chuckled under his breath. His mind flashed back to just before Asgard was destroyed and when his largest problem was how in Hel do they defeat his psychotic older sister and how he saved the remaining Asgardians by doing an overly dramatic entrance on a ship he stole from a trash planet. It really went full circle, didn't it? Nowadays it felt like Loki was always the hero, saving everyone from certain death; which was a first.
Loki recognised three of the six Midgardians preparing to attack him - Agent Romanoff, Captain Rogers and Bruce. When he saw the latter's face in the armour very similar to that of Stark's he felt extreme relief - relief that Heimdall's sacrifice was not wasted. He nodded towards Banner in greeting (they had gained a sort of friendship during their time on the Statesman) and noticed the other three people he didn't know. One of the women - the young looking girl with red tendrils of magic - felt overwhelmingly powerful. He nudged her magic with his; attempting to figure out what type of magic she used. Loki didn't know Midgard had magic users, but he also hadn't known that some of the cities were as evolved as Asgard was (specifically this one). Maybe he had missed it from when he was last on the planet.
To his surprise, the girl flinched when he prodded too far. This only happened when a magic user had a mental link to another person or if they were a telepath. Considering Loki hadn't even known this person existed, it was safe to presume the girl was a telepath. He hadn't met many in his time, so this was interesting to say the least. Romanoff seemed to notice the sudden movement from the girl standing next to her and glared back at Loki.
"If you dare touch her…" the agent growled.
"Then what?" Loki cocked an eyebrow. He couldn't help but smirk slightly as he did so.
"She's one of ours, Loki. And on behalf of the people of Earth, I ask you to go back to your prison cell where you came from." The captain bellowed. Loki's smirk grew and he chuckled. Surely Thor had told them he had died - or at least had a change of heart. That's when it hit Loki that his brother didn't have a chance after the two of them reconciled because of Loki's stupid decision to keep the Tesseract on the refuge vessel. Well, it's not too late to start over, is it?
"My deepest apologies, Captain... Agent." He nodded towards the respective people before continuing. "It's just… half the universe is at risk, shouldn't I help out?" He spread his arms out in his signature pose to show… To show what? Honesty? Vulnerability? Mercy? Whatever it was for, it didn't last long. Loki glanced up, which just happened to be right behind Rogers, to spot a horde of at least five of those flesh-eating four-legged monsters galloping right towards the group. They had slightly more brains than the Chitauri (Loki knew this from experience) and therefore the Outriders had figured out that since nobody was making a move on the Avengers and co, it would be best to at least attempt it.
Without a second thought, Loki swung Ísbrjótur Stuttgart-style so it rested behind his neck on both his shoulders and shot a burst of seidr at the group that entangled them and slowly crushed them into the earth. He didn't even consider that it looked like he was trying to make a move on Captain Rogers' life to the Avengers. Romanoff and the metal-armed soldier looked like they were going to cave Loki's skull in until they were stopped by Rogers who had both his arms spread out to block them. All of their faces were completely and utterly shocked, bewildered and relieved at once which made them look like gaping monkeys. The tribe woman holding the spear shook her head and Loki could have sworn she muttered "I have no time for this," and walked off to fight other members of the army.
Bruce, the magical witch-girl and one-armed soldier took their leaves after that to continue the battle. It was far from over. This only left Romanoff, himself and Rogers standing there semi-awkwardly. That was when Loki finally gave himself a chance to take in that the assassin had dyed her hair - it was no longer the natural red he was expecting, and instead a blonde that was almost white. The captain had a beard that made him look decades older and was no longer sporting that cocky red, white and blue shield. Stark was nowhere to be seen, and neither was Barton. A lot must have happened over the past few years for Earth's mightiest heroes.
Romanoff glared at him then spotted a new enemy and then she was gone in the blink of an eye. Rogers walked over to him with a stoic look on his face (almost as emotionless as Odin's) and once he was in sufficient vicinity, Loki put up a forcefield with two small taps of Ísbrjótur on the African soil to hold off any enemies for the time being. Rocket and Groot were still nearby, though outside of the forcefield fighting the armies like it was something they did everyday. The once-enemy-now-ally looked the god up and down and chuckled. "Change of heart?"
The words shocked Loki right down to his core. Out of anything, anything that could have been said, it was that. It seemed… friendly? Loki did not expect nor want that type of reaction from the captain. He would rather have had to fight a battle against him than answer this, but Loki didn't let the underlying reaction show on his face. Instead he grimaced.
"Even I have morality, captain."
Now it was Steve Rogers' turn to be shocked. Unlike Loki, his emotion was painted all over his face. What he was surprised about, Loki could only guess. What he did know was that the surprise of someone who always resembled a figure so formal made Loki feel accomplished. This was the type of chaos he enjoyed on a daily basis but it never grew old. "What? Surprised I can actually use my brain for once?" he joked despite the truth hurt on the inside. Flickers of the torment from Thanos and the Chitauri played across his mind that reminded him of what he was getting revenge for. Who he was getting revenge for. The battle of New York replayed in his mind. He still couldn't believe he was the one responsible for that.
The forcefield went back down after their brief and slightly awkward reunion, the captain and god fighting together on the same side for the first time in history. It felt utterly surreal, Loki never thought that if he was in the same realm as the Midgardian warriors again he would be, one: alive and two: fighting for the sake of the universe alongside them. As more and more enemies flooded the battlefield, Loki felt it getting easier to use Ísbrjótur. It felt extremely natural as he danced around killing Outriders. With each death, he sensed the uneasy pit in his stomach unclenching and loosening as he got his revenge.
He stabbed one of the monsters in the stomach with Ísbrjótur then with his free hand shot pure seidr out so it collided with the neck, causing it to go limp on the ground. From the corner of his eye, Loki could see Rocket interacting with the metal-armed man who looked particularly pissed off. During his few hours of knowing the raccoon, he learnt that Rocket was planning to get that arm off the man. This made Loki think while idly fighting - what sort of battle did this Midgardian fight to lose an essential part of their body? Another Outrider ran towards him. It seemed bigger than the others and more dangerous (although all of Thanos' armies were equally frightening) with its snapping jaws and flailing limbs.
Loki conjured a dagger to stick into its stomach and was just about to decapitate it when he found himself being helped by none other than the soldier he was just thinking about. Together they tackled the monster, Loki made moves for its neck while the soldier - Barnes, he thought their name was - shot it in the back as a distraction. It didn't take long for the two of them to successfully kill it without minor injuries. Blood was splattered on both of their faces and there were a few scratches from the claws the creature had, but other than that they made it out okay.
The two of them faced each other, panting for breath. Loki felt the need to apologise - he hardly ever felt guilty, so this was a first - for Rocket. The raccoon was overly obnoxious and throughout Loki's short time knowing him he knew how annoying the scrawny creature could be. "Thanks for that, Sergeant Barnes. And sorry about Rocket; his personality is… something else." Barnes chuckled at that, causing Loki to express a small smile.
"What, that rat? I didn't know he was a raccoon until he tried to take my arm," Barnes shot a few more Outriders. "And you could just call me Bucky. I don't feel much like a sergeant anymore." Loki glanced at the soldier after a burst of seidr from Ísbrjótur killed the enemies making their way towards their part of the grassy battlefield. He could see Barnes - Bucky - glance minutely towards his prosthetic arm and put the pieces together; whatever happened was related to him losing an arm.
"Hm. Same here, I didn't think raccoons were intelligent enough to speak." Loki replied.
"In seventy years, I didn't expect society to evolve this much."
He wanted to ask Bucky to elaborate, but Loki suspected a battlefield would be far too dangerous for a full-on conversation. He made a mental note to ask about the past of the soldier later.
It wasn't long after that where Loki felt a new strong aura of magic nearby. It didn't feel natural like the lingering seidr around Karnilla or Thor's bodies, or his own that was rippling through his veins. The fighting on the battlefield ceased. Everyone knew what they were up against next.
Thanos had arrived.
Loki exchanged a look to Bucky who nodded and with the rest of Avengers, ran to the clearing in the trees where the Titan had appeared. It was probably a bad idea, but Loki had the smallest ounce of faith that the Midgardian warriors could handle Thanos for a short while. Even though Loki thought that, he knew it was unlikely they would defeat the alien and he would be the last person to attack him. Loki would have to fight the person who killed Thor.
A surge of vengeance washed over him just as more of Thanos' ships opened up, making more Outriders clamber out onto the Battlefield. The fighting and clashing of spears resumed; breaking the first short moment of calmness and peace Loki felt in days. Gripping Ísbrjótur, he used it to focus his magic into the earth and climb up the walls of the army carriers. They glowed green with Loki's seidr and large cracks crawled over the dark ships.
Loki usually would have strained when he used this much seidr, but with the help of Ísbrjótur he hardly felt any different. The ships he targeted crashed, imploding in on themselves as they hit the ground due to the strength of the seidr surrounding them. Loki smirked to himself as he continued to blast magic at the final swarms of Outriders.
He was decapitating his final enemy in a large group of the monsters when he heard a yell and saw a flash of gold light. It came from the clearing the Avengers had run off to, and if Loki was correct, that was where they were fighting Thanos. He didn't know if the Mind Stone was the final stone Thanos needed to collect, but this was his chance.
Loki didn't know what he was doing until it was too late. He gripped the spear and before he knew it, he was in the air blasting a wave of pure seidr directly at the Titan. Loki noticed the gauntlet was complete. This was his only chance of getting revenge for what Thanos had done to him and to his family. He would be able to avenge Thor, Heimdall and all the Asgardians that were lost during the battle on the Statesman. Loki could get revenge for what Thanos had done to him after his fall from the Bifrost and for manipulating him to get the Tesseract from New York all those years ago. Loki could finally fix the mess he started.
The sharp point of Ísbrjótur penetrated the skin in Thanos' chest. It wasn't until frost spread out of the wound Loki noticed the gem on the other end of the spear had turned a light blue. Thanos groaned, the blood leaking out of his heart mixing with the frost and ice made by Ísbrjótur.
Loki snarled. "You said I'd be the one longing for something as sweet as pain, but it seems it's the other way round." He pushed the spear further into the chest of his enemy until he was sure it would stick out through the other side. This was it. Loki was about to end the life of his greatest enemy who caused him pain, fear and suffering for the past years. His hand not holding the sceptre glowed green with his magic, ready to go for the final blow.
But before he had the chance to, Thanos wheezed, "You should've gone… for the head."
Thanos snapped the fingers on his gauntleted hand and disappeared in a flash of blue from the Space Stone, leaving Ísbrjótur to fall on the ground with a thud. Loki couldn't do anything except stare as people turned to dust all around him. He turned around and found the Captain walking towards Sergeant Barnes - Bucky - whose hands were turning to ash. Loki looked down at his hands and wished - willed them - to start turning to dust too. It was his fault, of course. He failed.
Loki failed getting the revenge he so desperately craved. His chest felt empty. He didn't notice the words of the remaining Avengers around him. He could only think of one person.
Thor. If Thor was here, if Loki had died instead of him, Thanos would be defeated. None of this would have happened.
Bright green coated his vision. Loki didn't care that he couldn't see as he screamed and fell to his knees, seidr blasting all around him. He screamed until his throat went raw and even then the green blinding him didn't want to dissipate.
There was this one time as a child Loki failed to win against a classmate during their sparring lessons, and everyone there saw it. They chanted names at him, calling him a failure.
That's what Loki felt like right now.
A failure.