Tony Stark couldn't believe himself sometimes. The burning in his chest subsided, replaced by a somewhat aggressive tingling as the lightening faded and Thor removed the hammer from his aching chest. He was alive, as his shaking boy proved, and yet. And yet. A thought presented itself and would not let go of its grip – how embarrassing it would have been to die because of his own malfunctioning technology.
Taking Thor's hand, extended to him, he struggled to his feet. The S.H.I.E.L.D agents surrounding them watched in restrained shock, hands folded behind their backs. They made no move to help.
Laughing with a warming grin, eyes twinkling, Thor gave Tony a pat on the arm and turned to grab his brother by the arm and take him back to Asgard before he could be taken by someone less prepared to deal with him and his ways.
When his hand brushed nothing but empty space, he whipped around, dropping his hammer to the floor and narrowly missing an agent's foot with it.
"Where's Loki?" his voice was gruff, his deep exasperation making itself known. Tony cursed his reactor and its ill-timed technical issues, casting his eyes around in futile hope that their fugitive might have just popped across the lobby for a coffee. With no such luck, he groaned outwardly when Thor spoke again.
"And where's the Tesseract?" Growling with frustration that Tony suspected was centuries old, Thor gripped his hammer, spinning it and sprinting for the door and took off in a blaze of coloured light.
Rubbing his temples, Tony locked eyes with the agent nearest him and shook his head. "Oh, shit."
… … …
Thor grabbed his brother by the collars of his coat and pressed him backwards into the stone walls of the palace. Chronic betrayal and fury mingled on his face. Lightening crackled beneath his skin, not mixing well with the lump in his throat.
"What the hell were you thinking?" he demanded, pressing his brother further against the wall. He then paused, his conviction visibly shaking as he became aware of a new, strange power, intruding on his senses. Frowning, he loosened his grip on Loki's jacket and stepped back. Loki made no move to flee, rather he watched Thor with a dark eye.
"What is that?" Thor asked, searching the area around them with frantic eyes. Not meeting his brother's gaze, Loki thought for a few seconds and looked up, sighing with something akin to guilt. Or perhaps just the knowledge that he had been caught so soon.
"I don't know."
"Don't lie to me, Loki," the anger returned, redoubled and sharper. Loki held his hands up in mock surrender, grimacing.
"Okay, fine," it was his turn to grab Thor's cloak and pull him into an alcove.
"It's another one of those-those things from the sceptre. Aren't they?"
Just as a thought formed on how he might slip away and finally cause some mischief, one of the stones burned in Loki's pocket. The heat screamed at him, distorting and suppressing sound and light, encasing him in his own bubble. It called out, enticed towards the lightening prickling at Thor's fingers.
And then the floodgates opened. Not a scrap of his own free will, his own power, could stop the torrent of explanation, of what the stones were, why he had one and now two, what he theorised they could do. Only one thing remained buried beneath the stone's influence – he decided the keep the 'who' of it all to himself. Titans were probably, he thought, not Thor's cup of tea.
Disbelief replaced Thor's fury, it seemed, as the lightening died away. With it went the pulsing of the power stone and Loki's compulsion to speak. He beheld Thor in stunned horror.
"Come on, we should go. I will explain these to father." Even in his eyes, Thor's conviction was not as steely as it sounded.
They marched off, hoping to enter the palace from behind, keeping to the quiet, underused streets at the edge of the city, heads dipped and eyes downcast. Occasionally, Thor muttered to himself and Loki considered running, using the stone that had brought him to the first abandoned planet to work its magic, so to speak, once more. Only when they arrived at the back gates did Thor curse himself. Two guards, clad from head to toe in the splendid colours of Odin's family, passed them. They saluted Thor and gave Loki a smiling, almost reverential nod.
Thor stopped; a puzzled look was plastered across his features. Rolling his eyes, Loki stopped too and ran his fingers over the stones.
"I told father I was bringing you back here, before leaving Earth. Everyone knows of your crimes, why did they not stop us and take you?"
Loki cast his eyes around for any more guards that might be approaching them, might be arriving to take him away to a glass-walled prison cell. Instead, they landed on a great brass pot, holding gloriously blooming orchids, shining in the daylight. Edging closer, his reflection came into focus enough for him to see the face staring back at him – the sharp features of Lady Sif.
"Dashing," he muttered to himself, grinning wickedly.
"What?" Thor joined him, staring apparently aimlessly into a sheet of brass. The realisations that Thor saw Loki's own face and that nobody else did came rushing at them both as Loki told his brother what he saw. They both thought the other might have laughed if it weren't for Thor's next idea.
"It's the stones," he said, sure of it.
"Yes," Loki said, slowly, "it appears they're manipulating my magic."
"How?"
"The power stone. It craves power. It wanted yours so much it was quite happy for me to tell you everything." Doubt, for the first time in centuries, dawned on Loki's face.
"Perhaps," Thor began, knowing all too well that he had to tread lightly, "we ought to hide them away. Figure out what to do with them. Father is wise, but I worry he will not treat this with enough caution."
"Agreed." Loki replied. The intermittent urge to tell Thor of Thanos grew stronger. His brother would not be pleased.
… … …
Humans loved to say, 'if you want something done right, do it yourself'. Many more advanced celestial beings thought this ridiculous – humans may have invented servitude, but others had perfected it and there was very little worth doing yourself if you had enough servants to do it for you. At least, that had been the idea that Thanos had gone into his quest with.
The tension in his head as he gazed down at Maw, kneeling, told him that he may have been wrong. A growl escaped his throat unbidden.
"I have come before you to bring you news of treachery," he kept his head bowed, although there was a nobility about him. Thanos waved a hand, ordering him to continue.
"The sorcerer that we entrusted with the mind stone has not returned. The humans destroyed the Chitauri army and there has been no sign of him nor that which he was to acquire." Anger struck deeply at Thanos – he struck the arm of his seat with a balled fist.
"Has there been any sign of the stones?"
Maw confirmed his concerns that Loki had betrayed them. A mirthless laugh left his mouth, ignoring Maw's continued presence, as the bitter irony hit him. He supposed to be tricked by the trickster god should have been something to be anticipated, and perhaps he had, somehow.
"Do you wish us to pursue this traitor? We will stop at nothing to- "
"No," Thanos interrupted, holding up a hand, "no. We can get to him later. Prepare a delegation to travel to earth. Immediately."