CHAPTER FOUR
Loki was pacing his cell when he sensed someone approaching the door.
For months, the trickster had been kept behind a glass that someone (his personal guess was Stark with help from his brother) had manufactured to subdued his magic. Beyond the glass was a door to the rest of the SHIELD facility and a single chair which was occasionally occupied by Fury and most frequented by his brother.
Loki was most surprised that his brother had yet to visit after yesterday's trial. Many times there had been movement by the door but no one had yet to come in.
'Good.' He thought. 'I don't need his tears of pity as he wallows in false sentiment.'
But, although he would never say it aloud, something was weighing heavy on Loki's chest. The fear of death was irrelevant to him as Loki knew it would take power that no mere mortal possessed to rid of him. Instead, it seemed that the thought of never seeing his brother again was frequently crossing his mind.
Loki could still clearly picture the day he fell from the bi-frost, leaving behind a devastated Thor and a pitying father figure. There was no doubt in the tricksters mind that was the last time he would stare into the face of the brother he had grown up with and trusted for almost all his life.
'He just wasn't ready to be king.' Nothing Loki did those years ago filled him with regret. Because he had lead the Frost Giants into the kingdom, had he learned of his true parentage and shown to Thor himself that the 'golden child' was simply not prepared to take the throne.
Of course, Loki had wanted the throne for himself at the time but that was neither here nor there. He knew that his tricks were sometimes ill-humored and had created quite a reputation for himself on Asgard in being vastly unliked. So much had changed since then. So much that Loki wished he could share with Thor but even just the thought of what transpired after the fall brought a sweat to Loki's brow.
'Don't think.' Loki's mantra had been hard to maintain with the constant visits from Thor who asked way too many questions than necessary. Being on trial hadn't been the most helpful either but the god knew he could manage. He would have to.
The sound of the door unlocking brought Loki out of his reverie. He shuddered at the sheer stupidity of his feelings for his brother and suppressed the thoughts deep into the back of his mind. As the door began to open, Loki turned away, collecting his emotions before confronting what was sure to be a dreadful encounter with his brother.
Thor's voice, softer than usual, rang through the air. "Brother."
Loki smirked at the sound of Thor's vulnerability. "I thought you would have visited sooner or are you delighted to hear that..."
The rest of the sentence died in Loki's mouth as he turned to see his brother in line with the rest of the Avengers. His eyes widened as he examined the crew, taking a step back when he made eye contact with Bruce.
"I see someone's afraid of the Hulk." Tony jabbed.
"We are here," Natasha said, ignoring Tony's comment, "to ask you a few questions. It would be in your best interest to comply—"
"Or what? You'll throw me into the ground again?"
Bruce couldn't help but smile.
"Loki—" Thor warned.
The god in question threw his hands up. "I am not looking for trouble. I have obeyed every one of your ridiculous Midgardian customs and you have decided my fate. Now please, let me have some peace before you lead me to the slaughter."
"You may or may not deserve that." Tony muttered.
"You are not helping." Steve snapped.
"And that's not why we're here." Clint was farthest away but he was still glaring at Loki with his arms crossed. Natasha couldn't help but notice that Loki seemed uneasy by Clint's presence.
Good.
"Like I said," Natasha continued, "we have some questions about what happened back when you tried to take over New York."
Loki gave her a knowing look. "Are we going to be playing the same game we did then? Where you bargain everyone's life for Barton's—"
"You take my name out of your damn mouth!" Clint charged forward but Thor held him back. However, Natasha turned back to the group.
"He remembers."
Bruce looked confused. "You didn't even ask him anything."
"Back on the helicarrier, I went to visit Loki in his cell and I played him for information on what his plan of attack was, finding out that it was his intention to bring out the Hulk." Bruce looked uncomfortable recalling the memory. "He remembers when I bargained for Clint's life which means," she turned back to Loki with a smirk, "he has his memories intact."
If anyone noticed Loki's heart rate begin to rise, no one mentioned it aloud.
Tony took a step forward with a skeptical look on his face. "You know, you're getting chatty all of the sudden, reindeer games. I'm starting to get the feeling that you have something to hide."
"I've been in this cell for a long time with my only visitor being the idiotic oaf I call my brother." Loki replied, taking no notice of how Thor was smiling at his use of the word 'brother.' "You don't think it would be in my best interest to be suspicious when the people who put me here suddenly have an interest in my well being?"
"You know, I've been thinking that too. Funny how great minds think alike." Tony turned to Bruce. "Why are we even trying to help this psychopath anyway?"
That particularly surprised Loki. "Help me?"
"We know there's a part of the story you're not sharing." Bruce said.
"Loki," Thor approached the glass until he was face to face with him, "you spoke of someone who showed you a higher power back on that mountain when we were first reunited. Someone who gave you the Chitauri to control. Who was it who showed you this power?"
Loki's face fell into an unreadable expression. "What?" His voice was small and far from the bravado Loki had been carrying seconds before. To everyone in the room, it seemed as though the god shrunk in stature as he took a few steps back.
Thor asked again. "Loki, whose power were you under?"
Again, his brother did not answer. Instead, Loki turned the team. "You shouldn't be asking me this. You need to go, now." He turned his back to the group and walked deeper into his cell.
Steve was starting to get nervous. "What's going on, Loki?"
Ignoring the question, he began pacing the floor, repeating to himself, "Don't think, don't think." Loki began to tremble, placing his hands over his temples.
Without thinking Natasha stepped forward. "You don't need to be afraid to tell us. We're on your side."
That apparently was the wrong thing to say because the next moment, Loki was against the glass screaming with all the energy he could muster. "What kind of weakling do you think I am? I controlled those armies— Me, alone had that power! No one else but me!"
The room was filled with silence and the sound of Loki gasping for air. The team had taken a few steps back and were looking to each other in defeat. Maybe they had been wrong about the god of mischief. Natasha looked to see Bruce frowning as he nodded his head side to side.
"Like I said," Tony crossed his arms, "psychopath."
Clint seemed disappointed as he nodded in agreement. "We got the information we wanted now let's get on with it."
Thor, in one last attempt, placed his hand on the glass. "Brother, please. We have come not as enemies—"
Loki pulled himself upright, no longer shaking. However, something seemed to be hidden behind his blank stare. "Thor, I don't wish to discuss this any longer. Now, I will ask you one more time to, please, just leave me a—"
And with no warning, both Clint and Loki fell to the floor and began to scream out in agonizing pain.
Immediately, all hell broke loose.
Steve sprinted to the glass. "Loki! Stop this!"
"This isn't me!" Loki squeezed out through a pained expression. He had both hands on his temples with his eyes closed shut. Clint had curled up in a ball to try and lessen his pain as Natasha fell to her knees trying to assess where the pain was coming from.
Tony reached into his pocket and pulled out a wristband Thor knew all too well. Before he could even trigger the Iron Man suit, Thor had his hand around Tony's arm.
"Thor, I swear to god—"
"This isn't him!"
"Clint is practically dying on the floor and you don't think—"
SHIELD agents rushed into the cell with their weapons pointed at Loki and began to attempt to lead the team out. Steve moved to Clint's side, reaching down to lift him up from the floor as Bruce ran towards Loki's glass partition.
"Drop the shields!" Bruce yelled towards the nearest agents. When they stared at him blankly, he asked again only this time a hint of the other guys voice surfaced in the delivery. They immediately ran to the control panel.
"Bruce are you crazy?!" Tony shouted.
"Trust me! It's not him!"
The second the glass rose from the ground, the doctor crawled through to Loki's shaking frame. A heavy sweat had broken out of the god and he seemed unable to hear Bruce who was desperately trying to get through to him.
"Loki, can you hear me?"
Thor ran to his brother's side, grabbing a hand as he did. Tony, unsure of what to do, followed after him and knelt by Bruce.
"I hope you're right about this."
Steve was almost out the door with Clint in his arms and Natasha by their sides when the archer began muttering.
"He's coming, he's coming…"
Natasha desperately grabbed his hand and began to squeeze, "Clint? Can you hear me? Listen to the sound of my voice. Who? Who is coming?"
"He's… on his way…"
Clint's eyes shot open as his whole body released. Whatever spell or pain Clint had been under was clearly gone leaving only beads of sweat and a clear look of fear in his eyes. Natasha could hear him panting for air, choking when he took in too much at once. Steve barely realized he was conscious again before Clint was scrambling out of his arms and towards the other group gathered on the floor of the cell.
Clint crawled to Loki, aggressively pushing his way into the circle formed around the god who was still in writhing pain.
"We need to wake him up. NOW!"
Bruce nodded and began to shake Loki but to no avail. Steve and Natasha ran over and joined the group as Loki's body began to flail.
Bruce turned to Thor. "Can you summon lighting?"
"He'll take this whole structure down if he does!" Natasha yelled as she pinned down Loki's arm.
"I gotcha!" Tony pulled the wristband out once again and turned to Thor. "I promise this won't hurt him."
Thor nodded. Tony pressed the button and his whole hand became that of the Iron Man suit. A hum rose from the center as Tony placed his hand on Loki's chest.
"Here goes nothing."
He fired a large shock through Loki's body. The god shot up with a final scream— they had succeeded in waking him up.
Steve instinctively grabbed onto him and held his frail frame up. Clint collapsed onto Natasha out of both exhaustion and relief. Thor assisted Steve in slowly bringing Loki's heart rate down as Bruce began demanding supplies and medical support from the bewildered agents watching on.
Tony gave a small smile at the sight.
"Are we a good team or what?"
