Loki and the Frigid Throne
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Loki, upon returning to his old chambers, felt little for conversation. His fingers twitched by his sides and his back muscles gripped his spine like a beast's jaws.
It was precisely as he left it: the curled scrolls on his desk, the dusty spell books on his shelves, the glowing crystals in his displays, the green garments in his closet. They had not even repaired the punctures in the wood of his desk, nor in his wall from the fury of his throwing daggers.
Frigga. Somewhere in the depths of her heart she surely couldn't bear parting with her son that was oh-so long gone.
As much as it would feel nice to be warmed from such sentiment, it was truly beyond him. She preserved his room precisely as it was like a mausoleum. Her son was dead; the monster lived in his stead. It was why she didn't believe him even when he implored her about the impending invasion. Even when his body was too broken to conjure his illusions to appear he was alright.
The empathy was there, yet the trust wasn't. Not that he truly thought she'd give it, but that had never stopped Loki from wanting. It is what he did.
He wanted. he wanted power, wanted to dig his fingers deep into the stringy heart muscles of the Other, wanted to see his friend cleave the head off The Mad Titan's purple shoulders, wanted Clint's hands all over him.
Clint running flat of his tongue over his hand, sticky from the ice cream, stroking the sweetness from it. He had to grab his hand. It wanted it to be his…Loki. Focus.
Everything. Everything hinged on the outcome of his mission and he had to concentrate and hone his wits and magic to pull it off just so. Loki usually never had trouble focusing, so it irked him to no end that he was so distracted. He bit the inside of his cheek, damn that mortal Clint!
Luckily Romanoff and Rin caught onto his mood and left him be, well at least after Romanoff told him his father was a real piece of work, to which he was greatly inclined to agree.
Rin had asked him why his father didn't like her picture and he told her the truth: that he was a bitter, blinded warlord. He cared not for things he didn't see from what he could not personally gain. If it didn't help him personally, it could easily be swept aside, or stored until needed.
Always. Always he was the thing swept aside, or stored to be Thor's lesser. Being back in his old chambers freshened the old wounds. He never had a chance to be his equal. No matter what he did, or how hard he tried to excel at magic or tactics, Thor was the only champion of Asgard. Before the Bifrost, this greatly bothered him, especially when he much younger.
Loki commonly tagged along with Thor, the Warriors Three and Sif, but he knew deep down that they only humored him because he was Thor's younger brother. When growing up, he had never met anyone who preferred his company over his brother's.
Until Sesshomaru. Loki cared not that in Asgardian years he was perhaps nine years Sesshomaru's senior, Sesshomaru matured quite quickly for his age.
Loki remembered the first time he and Sesshomaru truly bonded.
"Hey! Are you the God of Lies?!" A much younger Loki lifted his head to see two Dark Elves, a Fire Giant, and a Panther Demon gathered in front of him. The leader obviously the taller, scrutinizing Dark Elf. Loki inwardly groaned, he just wanted to be left alone to study his runes, he was already late. Loki tapped his foot on the dirt path.
"If I were to deny it, you couldn't believe me could you? And if you didn't think I am and answered yes, would you think it the truth? No, you couldn't. So, don't you think your question was just a tad needless? Not that I would expect any higher thinking coming from you lot." Loki responded wryly. He knew he was outnumbered, but cocked his jaw up strongly anyway, he could take them. It wouldn't be a flawless victory but he had just learned that new spell...
He would even get a few battle scars to show Allfather.
"You going to pick a fight with us little Prince?! We're gonna teach you a lesson! No one disrespects anyone around here!" The Fire Giant bulked out his underdeveloped chest. Loki had studied Fire Giants, this one was clearly an adolescent. He also apparently had an underdeveloped brain.
Loki chuckled. He cared not what harm came to him, and he was not above dirtying his tunic to educate some half-wits on proper form and technique. Magic coiled at his fingertips.
"Respect is earned not given. Remember, because I am not my brother Thor does not mean I cannot fight!" Loki stood, immediately tiring of their moronic exchange. He took a fighting stance and prepared to for a four on one that may not end cleanly, or his way. Loki scrunched his nose that he hadn't quite perfected his duplication spell enough to properly fight all of them and hold his concentration.
The Fire Giant approached him from behind and the Panther Demon converged on him from the left, both of the Dark Elves flanked from the right. Loki spun around. Right then he saw a patch of white behind the Fire Giant and the Panther Demon. Who would be all the way out this far?
Oh. Him.
Loki spotted the young and bored Dog Demon walking down the path their way. Sesshomaru was it? He had met him the other day and was supposed to start studying with him today.
"Move, you are in this Sesshomaru's way." Sesshomaru quipped to the Panther Demon. Loki chuckled, this truly was the same Demon who told off his brother a few days ago. 'He can't be seriously trying to intimidate them. Those two are much larger and stronger than he is. Sure he is fast but speed is not everything.' Loki studied the approaching Demon, sensing no hidden power.
"Who do you think you are pipsqueak?! Did the pretty little princess Dog Demon ge-" In an instant the Panther Demon's throat and upper body were ensnared in a vibrant green whip. With a dancer's grace, Sesshomaru curved his body clockwise and slung the Demon far through the air and into the nearby lake.
Kerplunk!
So, mayhap a bit stronger than Loki originally gave him credit for.
"That's it you're going down!" The Fire Giant launched himself Sesshomaru and he dodged just barely. Fire Giants could be much faster than they looked. Sesshomaru's hands glowed green and he rebounded and gracefully side kicked him down the path.
'Facinating. Maybe this won't be such a bore to be stuck with this Demon after all.' Loki wasted no time in joining the scuffle, he was no damsel needing rescue.
In the end, they managed to toss all of them into the lake. They made a highly effective team for their first time aligning.
As Sesshomaru was healing a mild burn on his arm with his youki Loki approached.
"I, Prince Loki of Asgard, didn't require the assistance you provided. I am an adept fighter and those ruffians were nothing compared to me." Loki bit out. Only Thor had attempted to come to his aid before, he didn't know why this waif of a Demon had decided to do so now. It puzzled him, Loki prided himself on reading people quite well, but he couldn't read this Demon.
He didn't seem like the type to go around saving people, and he didn't seem like he cared for Thor's favor, thus coming to his younger brother's aid to gain acclaim.
"This Sesshomaru did not engage my opponents for your sake. They would not vacate the space I wished to occupy." Sesshomaru's eyes hardened and he looked up at Loki apathetically. Loki could spot a lie, and while he could tell he wasn't lying, it didn't seem like the whole truth.
They both stared at each other for a moment, measuring the other up.
"I have heard of a great cavern over yonder that is rumored to be inhabited by Weasel Demons who guard a stolen crystal, wish to accompany me to explore?" Loki offered with a wicked grin slicing his face. Perhaps this Demon would be somewhat fun, and it wasn't like they were about to go to their study session now. He also wanted help acquiring his magic crystals.
"...this Sesshomaru approves." Loki noticed while Sesshomaru's face revealed little of his emotions, his ears lifted.
"Let's be on our way then, before our friends decide to learn to swim." Loki smiled widely and gestured to the path around the lake. Sesshomaru spared a glance to the lake and huffed, following. Side by side they made their way to the cavern, stopping every so often to skip a stone into the same lake they threw their opponents into.
The same lake two days later Sesshomaru would get thrown into by the same tall dark elf and his friends when they ambushed him.
Loki may or may not have magicked a swarm of Asgardian hornets to harass them for days.
"Guards leave us, your presence is just as well on the outside of the doors." He snapped out of his memory, hearing his mother, Frigga's voice. He knew she was simply an illusion, that Odin would not want her visiting in person. Loki sat up from his leaned over position on his bed, straightening.
He knew the guards wouldn't try anything to prevent the queen from speaking to him if that is what she so wished. Odin dare not anger her that much.
"Yes mother, you look lovely as always, but you seem strained." Loki chose his words carefully; he couldn't risk sounding too concerned over his mother or she would simply brush it off. In reality, she appeared to have been overusing her magic.
Loki fought a frown itching on his face, his mother could sometimes be too self sacrificing.
"Strained? My dear I have never been more relieved. I have been watching you my son, I had to scry you. On Midgard you were blocked by Heimdall's sight, especially with the weakened Bifrost he could not see you due to some interference. I knew you had to have gone to Midgard after Sesshomaru. You always did look after each other." Frigga confessed, folding her hands, smiling brightly.
Loki's eyes flickered with confusion.
'Heimdall's sight was blocked? No wonder Odin didn't send the Warriors Three and Sif to Midgard to hunt me down, he had no idea where I actually was and until he did, there no use to waste his black magic.' Loki's face twisted, there were hardly any ways left to block Heimdall's sight. He had the magic reserves now to hide from Heimdall if need be, but when he first arrived on Midgard he did not. Blocking his sight took a highly powerful magic barrier or…
Youki interference.
"That would have to be due to Sesshomaru's proximity barrier. It seems to have a multitude of purposes. It alerts him to incoming foes, along with blocking my magic signature and now apparently Heimdall's sight." Loki mused, he wondered if Stark ever got the proximity barrier working on a large enough scale if Heimdall's sight of Midgard would be blocked completely.
Precisely like what happened all those centuries ago to Midgard when the Demons vanished.
"I see, he was protecting you." Frigga put a finger to her lips and Loki had to fight a snort. Sesshomaru most likely conjured the proximity barrier to prevent Odin from interfering with their chat, not to protect him from Odin. "It seems like he has matured muchly. I remember you would smuggle him into Asgard to witness your spells and pranks. You formed quite the brotherly bond with him." Frigga continued and Loki caught the suggestive lilt in her tone of voice.
"Mother, I had Odin summon him to prevent our realms from devastation, not for revelry." Loki didn't necessarily warn, but reinforced. He didn't want his mother thinking him simply nostalgic.
"I know you say that, but you cannot deny you are pleased that you have indeed reconnected." Frigga paused. "You searched for so long on Midgard for any clue as to the disappearance of all the Demons. I remember I could not scry them either." Frigga confessed, which piqued Romanoff's attention. Loki recalled his mother was the only one in Asgard who genuinely felt remorse and not simple mystification for their disappearance.
"So, Pretty Boy's species just up and vanished off Earth?" Romanoff interjected, pausing in her training of her new protégé, Rin.
"I know not of what happened. I was in Alfheim at the time. No one on Asgard knows what happened either, as Heimdall's sight of Midgard was blocked. When Thor and I returned from Alfheim, Midgard not only had no Demons, but any evidence and memories of them were erased. I searched in vain for a century. No one I have met, from any of the Nine Realms or otherwise, has had any information." Loki confessed, Romanoff nodding in understanding.
"Explains a lot." Romanoff shrugged and Loki nodded. Rin simply practiced a simple kata, unperturbed.
"Mother, you must know that Sesshomaru can now scry. He does so dangerously. He goes deep into his scrys as if mindless. He tried to scry another powerful sorcerer and I fear that something malicious happened when he saw Astral Plane. Have you any advice for me in aiding him, as you know my magic has never had an affinity for scrying." Loki twisted his mouth in a frown and Frigga laughed softly.
"Loki, your friend is no mere seer." Frigga suddenly became serious and Loki's jaw dropped in confusion. "I saw him on the Astral Plane." Now that floored Loki, his eyes momentarily bugged out.
"On the…how? No one, not the Kree, the Skrulls, the Vanir, the Aesir, not even the Celestials have been able to access the Astral Plane in millennia! The secret was lost when the last Adept fell. The Celestials even tried those genetic experiments!" Loki sputtered, baffled was an understatement. The Astral Plane wove itself in between and through dimensions, it was as enigmatic and potentially powerful as the Odinforce.
'The Celestials genetically tampered with the Kree, Skrulls, and Midgardian mortals in an attempt to breed beings to access the Astral Plane, but all those experiments failed. The Mad Titan himself is a result of one such genetic experiment.' Loki's thoughts wandered, surely his mother wouldn't be mistaken, but how could it be possible?
Possible without the Tesseract at least. Loki had not tried to go to the Astral Plane with it, but he knew of any of the Infinity Gems, the Tesseract would have that ability.
"I wouldn't say millennia…centuries ago when Midgard was blocked from Heimdall there was someone on the Astral Plane. They were shrouded from me properly seeing them, but they hid something of great power there. Your Demon friend, Sesshomaru, has the ability to go to and harness the Astral Plane. I doubt he knows of what he is doing, he was visible to any sorcerer and could have been subjected to a curse." Frigga's voice turned a bit more serious and Loki's lip twitched up like a nervous tic. A curse?
"My Lord has been cursed?!" Rin piped up. Oh, that would upset her. Loki swiftly turned as Rin approached Frigga, head tilted to the side, lips tightly curved in a frown.
"Worry not little one, your Lord appears to be quite resilient." Frigga smiled warmly then flicked her eyes to Loki. It was a tell of hers, Frigga didn't lie often.
Loki caught Romanoff's watchful eye, and he surmised she suspected the same. She murmured something in Rin's ear Loki didn't catch and took her aside to draw.
"Mother, assuredly you have theories behind all of this." Loki wasted no time. He didn't anticipate the issue of Sesshomaru's new ability to be such a disaster. Potentially, if Sesshomaru could be properly schooled in the Astral Plane he could harness its tremendous energy and defeat the Mad Titan exponentially easier.
Or, it could back fire and not even Loki knew what that could mean.
"You fret so over matters you cannot control, son. I have a feeling what your Demon friend is going through can only be solved by him. You need to focus on yourself, What I just saw in the throne room makes that astoundingly clear. You have grown so much; you are now a truly powerful sorcerer, and even more important, a good man." Frigga informed, and Loki chest hitched and he fought a gasp. She didn't show one of her more knowing tells. She spoke the truth.
'A good man? Not a monster? Wasn't that Thor's speech? What was this?' Loki's eyes flashed wide and a green spark shot from his fingertips.
"Don't look at me so. How could I not think this about you? I saw your display when your friend Sesshomaru gave his explanation of his strategy. I am profoundly sorry my dear Loki. I had no idea that is what happened to you, when you first fell from the Bifrost I was unable to scry you. I should have trusted you, I should have seen past that sorcerer's influence and his awful magic. I just can't apologize to you enough." Frigga's illusion fuzzed out a bit and Loki snapped out of his trance. He hadn't expected this at all, his mouth went dry and he ran a hand through his hair to calm it and himself.
"Mother you need not apologize. As you are aware, I am quite adept at trickery." Loki found a genuine smile form on his face. The crushing, grating weight of his own mother no longer trusting him lifted, he stood straighter than he had in a long time.
"Your trickery may be able to fool me, but not Yggrasil." Frigga's illusion waivered once more. Apparently, the Nines chose today to bombard him with information he neither knew he needed nor wanted.
It didn't help that Loki suspected his mother was being purposely vague and hiding some things from him. It was so like her. She did it when he was growing up so he could unravel the problem on his own but now was really not the time. Despite how relieved he felt that his mother didn't see him as what he truly was, impatience broiled in him once more.
Loki, paced, turned on his heel, and his magic coiled in his fingers like ribbons.
"What happened in the throne room shouldn't have happened at all. My magic flows from the Odinforce, it shouldn't have been able to counter Gungnir." Loki really had things to do. He couldn't continue to speak in riddles.
Time flowed slower in Asgard than it did on Midgard and he still had to secure the Tesseract.
"Yggdrasil is sentient, it is not simple magical power source like the Astral Plane." Frigga led and Loki had no choice but to scrunch his nose. Sentient? Loki noticed Rin turn her head over at the conversation.
"You're saying Yggdrasil has its own mind?" Loki stepped back, surveying his mother's illusion.
"This is a topic best broached by Odin, perhaps you should ask him." Frigga's eyes shone like stars and her warm smile lit her face. Oh. Like that would happen. Loki knew what his mother was scheming but that relationship was beyond repair, and Loki preferred it that way.
A latent, dull anger remained in him that still made calves and hamstrings tighten. He held onto the resentment that he was never told he was a Frost Giant, not even by Frigga. He didn't suspect this festering anger would ever truly vanish, but Loki shelfed his anger, for once.
He couldn't abide a man who betrayed him so, who used him so. The Other had at least been upfront with his intentions. Even Odin promised he would be a fairly treated prisoner, which was of course was not the case.
Loki's eyes glazed over in memory. The guards held him down even though they didn't really need to. He had no magic to spare. He had been leeching what little magic wasn't dampened by his cell into his concealed crystals to fuel one a long-range teleportation spell. In other words, he was defenseless.
The Aesir had always been naturally stronger than he, of course now he knew why.
They didn't want him merely beaten, no. They wanted him to submit in various ways, with various acts. Endured he did, and he had thought about hunting the individuals down and slitting their throats but thought against it. Loki relished revenge, but to seek out those deviant sadists would interfere with the greater vengeance against the Other. Plus, if he sought them out to kill them it would give weight to what they did to him, and he didn't want that.
After all, a weapon doesn't feel shame.
"Not to interrupt Queen Frigga, but, do you think that Odin will allow us to see Heimdall? A ruler such as he has to understand the severity of the threat we all face. Thor even advised us that Thanos and the Other are feared even here in Asgard." Romanoff's voice fell soft but heavy. Frigga's illusion turned and regarded her with eyes hopeful.
"Our Allfather is not usually so agitated. Thor and Fandral are reasoning with him now. I have informed him of what I saw on Midgard, I believe he will agree for you all to see Heimdall, but on what terms I am unsure." Frigga admitted, a small smile gracing her elegant features.
Loki balked in surprise at Fandral coming to his assistance, but he was ever the most reasonable one of the four. It would make things easier since no doubt Allfather knew Thor had a soft spot for his adopted younger brother.
"Good, Thor and Fandral together should prove effective. Rin had a definite emotional impact on Odin. He became angry because he genuinely liked her and the thought of her using him provoked an outburst. I am sure Odin will comply and on acceptable terms." Romanoff remained sure and poised. Loki absently wondered what 'acceptable terms' meant to the assassin. Frigga laughed softly, as if understanding a joke he didn't.
'I am not as certain Odin will listen to reason, yet no matter the outcome he should allow Rin and Romanoff to return to Midgard. Romanoff shouldn't worry about 'acceptable terms'. Thor along with Sesshomaru will be enough to thwart the Mad Titan if Odin wants to unleash the full wrath of the Odinforce upon me. Though, I did manage to stop him in the throne room which was somewhat amusing.' Loki scrunched his nose.
"Queen Frigga I drew you while you were talking with Uncle Loki." Rin anounced with glee and Frigga bent down a bit. Rin ran up to present her the picture. She also drew Romanoff kicking Volstagg, Hogun and Sif, but both Frigga and Loki advised her to hide those.
It was time.
"Mother, where is the Tesseract?" Loki's voice sounded hard as granite. Frigga pursed her lips and Rin whipped her pony-tailed head around, attention piqued. Romanoff also turned to him, but to her credit she had a practiced disinterested look printed on her facial features.
"Loki." Frigga stated simply, he knew what she feared. She just now had reconstructed the fractured trust they had between them. While it was unfair to test it so soon, but it had to be done. The Tesseract was his possession. He collected it and he was the only person he trusted with it. He certainly didn't trust Odin with one of the Infinity Gems, especially one that could potentially create a gateway to the Astral Plane.
Asgard with the power of the Astral Plane and the Odinforce? Not while he stood.
"Mother. It is mine." Loki insisted. She had to understand that it was his responsibility and while he allowed Odin to borrow it; it was time he reclaimed it. Asgard had become indolent in its security of its prized items. Loki would know, he did have in his possession a certain Casket of Ancient Winters. He kept it because while he had no love lost for Laufey, the Frost Giants had indeed been subdued and conquered by Odin. Loki knew how it felt to be humiliated, stripped down and forced to kneel, mouth open to the dominion of Asgard's finest.
It also represented a suitable bargaining chip for his life if he was turned over to Jotunheim in the next hour.
"It's in the vault, where the Casket of Ancient Winters used to be." Frigga relented, her arched eyebrows slanted across her regal face. An intentional barb, of course Frigga would know he most likely retained the Jotunheim relic. Loki recognized passive aggression, he operated with it commonly. All the sudden a white hot wave of possessiveness roiled within him and his eyes darkened.
"The Casket had no right to be within the halls of Asgard! It is mine by divine right! It belongs with the Frost Giants, not with Odin who dominated them so. Now that Laufey has fallen, as his son, his only heir, the King of Monsters, it is my responsibility to…" Loki trailed off, his normally quicksilver tongue had gotten ahead of him. He had momentarily forgotten that he was not alone in the room with only his mother's illusion. Loki's eyes locked onto Romanoff's narrowed blue ones.
"Oh, don't mind us lowly mortals, your highness." Romanoff's full lips quirked up into a mocking smirk. Of course, mortals didn't know of the reputation of the Frost Giants.
"Why didn't you tell us you were a king, Uncle Loki? Do you not like being king? Sometimes I think Lord Sesshomaru doesn't like being a lord, he is hardly ever at his castle." Rin skipped up to Loki, grabbing the tail of his robe scrutinizing him as if seeing him in a new light.
"It definitely seems like something you'd flaunt, we've seen you on one of your power trips. Does Thor know?" Romanoff continued and Loki rubbed his temple, rolling his eyes.
"I do not want that frigid throne." Loki snorted. "I do not believe Thor had ever thought my lineage in such a way. The Aesir would not approve if I took such a throne even if it was welcomed by Jotunheim." Loki's green eyes sparkled in sudden devilry. They had heard this much, may as well continue. Rin and Romanoff held their ground as Loki's magic spiked out from his hands.
"I am Jotun. A Frost Giant. Frost Giants are the monsters of Asgard. They exist as evils in their fairy tales, the savages in their war stories, and the most sincere horror in the Nine Realms. I am heir to their throne." Loki grinned wickedly. Oh, wouldn't that just be the fly in Odin's ointment if circumstances were different and he was still truly Loki and not the Broken Blade the Other forged. Loki indulged himself in a half-imagined day dream of seeing Odin's head spin as he crossed his blue skinned legs on the icy throne of Jotunheim. He'd keep the horned helm and his preferred shade of viridian green.
Alas, such a dream would certainly not come to pass, even if he didn't that particular throne, the thirst of power be on equal footing with Odin made Loki's mouth water.
"Loki, do not speak such of yourself. I trust the Allfather's judgment in keeping that relic. It prevents full scale war, I will not have you question such measures. It would be good to have it returned." Frigga's voice flatlined in a stern tone and Loki sighed. Strategically, it was a good maneuver. Loki calmed his magic and refocused.
"Mother, I going to see to the Tesseract. If Asgard could so easily misplace the Casket of Ancient Winters, it most assuredly could lose the more powerful Tesseract to the Mad Titan. It is my responsibility that I left in Asgard's inept hands." Loki replied to his mother, explaining his actions as he coiled the green magic around him to teleport to the vault before anyone could stop him. He was sure to leave an indiscernible illusion of himself in his quarters.
Loki found himself cloaked in silence and the cerulean blue light of the Tesseract. The darkened vault remained cold even without the Casket within it, almost as if it remembered what it was like to have it. Loki slowly approached the finest gem he had ever come to possess. It was now or never, this was his only window of time with Odin distracted enough to not feel his residual magic in the frigid vault.
Not that he truly felt the cold.
"Uncle Loki, are you going to take back your Tesseract?" Rin's innocent question caused Loki jump out of his skin. She had the tails of his black and green robe in her hands.
She…she stowed away in his teleportation spell!
"Rin! You! Shhhh!" He silenced Rin with a hand over her mouth. Her lips already cool beneath his touch It'd be too risky to send her back now. "You should not have done such a thing. Magic is dangerous." Loki lowly warned, if only half of her were teleported…well, Odin would be eating his organs.
"You shouldn't be alone Uncle Loki. And Rin wanted to see the Tesseract!" Rin whispered, smiling brightly. Loki blinked. Why would she care over such a thing?
"So, are you going to take your Tesseract back? It's important to you right Uncle Loki?" Rin pushed and Loki furrowed his brow. It was important to him. He had spent a good portion of his life finding where some of the Infinity Gems were located. The mortals had rediscovered the Tesseract, and he allowed him to play with it for a while. He had located the Ether, but that was far too perilous to collect. The Soul Gem alluded him, though Loki was sure it was still tucked away on Midgard somewhere, another reason the Mad Titan could not be allowed to conquer the planet.
"It is important, but if I simply removed it, Odin would know." Loki pursed his lips, Odin had added better spells in the past few years. The substantial power going missing from the vault would alert Odin. The spelled vaults would know if all of the sudden there was such a vast disparity in energy.
Unless it was replaced with something of near equivalent power.
Loki's thoughts spun to the Casket of Ancient Winters, he could cast an illusion spell and it could easily be disguised as the Tesseract until someone were to try to touch it. They even looked similar.
Would he really give such a significant relic back to Odin? The Casket was so entrenched in everything that he used to be. It represented everything that caused his fall, his imprisonment, the failed invasion, Asgard's cell, Thor's rejection, Frigga's tears, Odin's sentence, Sesshomaru's return.
"And Odin would hurt you again if he found out you took it?" Rin asked softly, biting her lip. The girl could be too perceptive, Romanoff's protégé was a good role for her.
"I don't allow anyone to hurt me Rin." Loki whispered back, deep in thought. His blood surged through his veins at the thought of Odin having the Casket returned to him. But, Loki surmised only he himself could keep the Tesseract absolutely safe. His thoughts flashed to Clint when he stood over him in the sparring room, that artist Kanye West's music blaring words he could never say.
'I aint loving you the way I wanted to. What I had to do, had to run from you.'
Loki could eat Clint with a spoon with such passionate relish. The Nines, he'd go to war with just a spoon for that archer.
And yet here he was debating if swapping his Infinity Gem that could doom their realms for a relic from his past was the correct choice. He wasn't right in the head. He knew that. He did. There was little good in him, it was why he was debating it in the first place: the safety of the few he cared for or a hardened notion of spite and a race that wanted his head on a spike.
Well, not that many Midgardian mortals didn't wish for the same for Loki. But Loki didn't fight for the squalling masses of mortals. That was Thor's mantle.
"That's not true. Barton hurt you, you let him." Rin wagged a finger and Loki knew she was right. He had forgotten about the arrows but something in Rin's voice suggested that might not be what she was referencing.
"I am not going to argue with a child, not even you dear Rin." Loki forced himself to concentrate, if he recalled correctly the guards would do another sweep in one hundred seconds so he had to act fast. He also knew Odin's attentions could only be distracted by Thor, Fandral, and his mother but for so long.
Tesseract or Casket? Which would he relinquish to Odin? His future, or lack thereof, or his past his heritage and a symbol of Odin's warmongering? Could he really just let go of all that resentment, of all of that and give back to Odin not only what never truly belonged to him, but what he also never deserved? Not that he deserved an Infinity Gem either.
If he traded them now, he wouldn't get the chance to exchange them again before he died.
For once, why couldn't he have both?
With a wave of his hand a portal opened to one of his more deftly hidden dimensional pockets. He gingerly reached in and a relieving chill spread through his body as he clutched the handles of the Casket. He hesitated again, Odin's glamour faltered just like it did when he was on the Bifrost with Heimdall.
His skin turned blue, he knew theoretically his eyes were now fully red, and his face had raised lines just like his hands did, but he had never seen his reflection. Only when he touched the Casket did this form freely show, and his gut sank, Rin's brown eyes looked upon him.
"You see Rin, I'm the King of Monsters." Loki announced and Rin laughed despite her goose-pimpled skin, her breath puffed visibly in the air.
"You're ashamed of your true form Uncle Loki? Your form is a whole lot less scary than my Lord's, even Jaken's! I am not scared of my Lord when he changes, Jaken isn't either because he is still our Lord Sesshomaru, so why should I be scared of you?" Rin shivered but the smile never left her face. "Humans think all Demons are monsters, but my Lord knows they are just cowardly weaklings with no sense. I think that Lord Sesshomaru would feel the same about the people here." Rin hopped up and down to deter the cold and Loki chuckled.
He had forgotten that she would see his Jotun form as equivalent to Sesshomaru's true form. He could debate his skin could give her frostbite, but Sho did have his toxin. He couldn't deny the truth to her words, the Aesir certainly feared anything that didn't look like them, and would certainly shirk in fright if he showed his blue skin in public. Why did he let it rule him? Why did he give the Aesir that power over him?
"You lack good sense child." He glanced down at the Casket and made the only choice he could, and Rin beamed in approval. He quickly teleported them both back to his old quarters to a tense, rigid shouldered Romanoff who immediately struck him in the temple with her charged baton.
The Norns! That hurt!
"Wench! I did not mean for Rin to abscond with me!" Loki hissed, vision black at the corner of his left eye and his whole body twitched from the electric charge. He didn't even realize he had been kneeling the blow caught him that off guard. He went to prevent a second strike when he saw his hands were still blue and lined all the way up to his mid-arms.
She swung the baton again at the insult and he caught it, frost instantly graced its surface despite the electrical charge. She eyed it then him and a flicker of recognition darted in her blue eyes as she relaxed and he released his grip on the baton.
"Whatever you did Glow Stick, it'd better be worth it." Romanoff said slowly and collapsed the baton and looked over Rin as a superior officer would a trainee.
"I concur." Loki put a hand to his temple, willing his vision to come back unperturbed and his skin to return to its proper color and texture. She was highly effective alright. The electric shock of the baton shook his daydreams out of his head and replaced them with something dark.
A dark, brewing foreboding cloud shaded his thoughts. His magic spiraled like a whirlpool inside him in great discord. Something was afoot, he could sense something was not right. There was an insatiable thirst, a clawing urge to return to Midgard immediately. There was no way Midgard could befall an attack, despite what he told Stark. Sesshomaru being on Midgard was simply an unnecessary precaution. Right?
Acid still churned in his gut like ravenous eels.
Loki snarled like a caged dragon, he had so much power, and so little means to use it. If anything befell Clint while he sat in his room like a scolded child, Odin would face his vengeance. No. Asgard would face his vengeance. The entire realm, he would plunder it and not even Thor nor Frigga could stop him. His jaw clenched, a fiery rage looped through his body. He would pluck out Odin's remaining eye and give it to Thor if Clint suffered at the hands of his enemy while Odin hemmed and hawed.
On cue, Thor burst through the carved double doors with Frigga, weary but jubilant.
"Brother! Odin has allowed us to seek Heimdall's eyes! He has but two stipulations!" Thor threw his bulging arms around Loki before he could protest. Thor held him dearly like a babe would a doll. Loki stiffened, trying to pry himself away from his brother, finally managing to do so. Loki was going to kill him. He was going to kill Thor.
Romanoff had already snapped a photo and Loki fought the urge to magic the device away.
Rin then gave Thor a high five. Everyone was against him!
"What does Odin require of me he hasn't already taken?" Loki replied blandly, dusting non-existent dust from himself after the crushing embrace.
"One is conditional upon the other. If the Chitauri fleet is indeed headed towards Midgard as you allege, you cannot return to Asgard until we have defeated the threat, or he will turn you over to Jotunheim." Thor reported painfully and Loki scoffed.
'I didn't want to return here in the first place anyway. It is also unsurprising he would turn me over to Jotunheim. My crimes against them are greater than Midgard. They do not look kindly on regicide nor patricide I'd presume, even if I am technically heir to their throne.' Loki put his hand on his hip, looking out his window, knowing this would be the last time he would see this view of his reading gardens. He would never return to Asgard, and it didn't bother him as much as he thought it would.
"That is acceptable. Which is the other?" Loki tensed and clenched his fists thinking of the one thing Odin would want. Something important to him that he could obtain…some sort of poetic justice….Oh.
'Thor, please not say he wants Sho's head or his sword. Sesshomaru will certainly not part willingly with Tenseiga, and the battle between the two that would ensue would certainly drive a wedge between the realms. Midgard's heroes would certainly not take to him being slain, I would be forced to take up arms against Odin, Thor would undoubtedly take Odin's side…' Loki calculated the predicted fallout, fearing the worst in Thor's sky blue eyes.
"He would like the picture Lady Rin drew for him." Loki's jaw slackened and all the rocky, knotted muscles in his body loosened one section at a time. Rin jumped in delight, running to go get her artwork.
They…succeeded? Loki stood shell-shocked, he wasn't used to winning.
"Objective complete Rin. You just won me fifty bucks off your Uncle Clint." Romanoff flashed a knowing smile Loki's direction. Loki paled, the bow and arrow motion and now this. She somehow knew!
'Oh no. This doesn't bode well. She couldn't possibly know of my affections for him! I rather cherish our limited time together and she will certainly sabotage it. She is indeed a valuable ally. I mustn't befall any situation in which she may resort to blackmail. She could tell Clint my true heritage! She could tell him the exact abomination I am.' Loki ran a trembling hand through his hair to calm it. Loki's green eyes unfocused off in the distance a new spike of dread shooting through him. He had to return to Midgard now.
"Thanks Natasha, it was Lord Sesshomaru's idea. He said that Odin would be vulnerable to familial emotional sentiment!" Romanoff then high fived Rin the hand Rin put up and she saluted.
Frigga chuckled at Rin's quotation of Sho's tactic.
"Thor, your suspenseful declarations will be the very end of me. Let's be off, I loathe rotting in this room a moment further." Loki let shine a fake, vibrant smile as Rin handed him the folded piece of art paper.
"Aye, Odin requires your presence before him before we depart for Heimdall. Worry not dear brother, I will escort you to the doors, and I shall only be on the other side of them." Loki pursed his lips, he didn't need nor want Thor's protection.
"I shan't require aid. Watch over Rin and try to not let Volstagg, Hogun nor Sif antagonize Romanoff, I'd rather not explain to Odin how his prized warriors were bested by a mortal woman and child." Loki quirked a devilish grin and Romanoff rolled her eyes as if to say 'flattery will get you nowhere'.
"I would have to concur. They are quite formidable. Fandral has placated Sif and Hogun some, but they believe you scheme." Thor admitted with an edge of hurt. What a naïve oaf.
"Oh, indeed brother I conjure many a scheme, just none to which Asgard nor Midgard will be a victim. Inform Fandral he has my gratitude." Loki glamored on his armor, he was off to war. He strode purposefully out the door when Romanoff grabbed him suddenly. The action caught him off guard, she was never this direct nor close with him before.
"I trusted your judgment on this. You can trust my discretion." Romanoff read his mind. Since when did they come to some sort of mutual trusting partnership? This was obscene.
"This is dangerous territory for beings such as us." Loki narrowed his eyes, not catching anything ingenuine in Romanoff's stance.
"Less dangerous than a galaxy conquering War Titan, a sorcerer who can curse people light-years away, and spaceships than can turn our planet into dust?" Romanoff challenged back.
"You're wiser than this, dear Spider." Loki chided lowly as he put on his horned helm and left her in the foyer. The mortals getting too close to him was a slippery slope. Loki knew this to be true, but he could have rebuffed her more harshly.
He could have burned the bridge slowly building between him and his billiards partner. But he didn't, in fact he knew she wouldn't tell Clint about his hands, about his throne, unless of course he forced her hand. Did he trust her? He was wiser than tha…
Frigga apparated, this time in person, in the marbled east corridor with him.
"My son, please, take great care. You and your friends are both intrepid and intelligent, I recall now how bright and talented Sesshomaru was, yet the Mad Titan and the Other are most formidable. I can't... I simply can't... My dear Loki...ple-" Loki pressed a finger to his mother's shaking lips.
"They won't ever own me again. I will regain my honor and redeem my name. I vow to shield our realms and bring ruin to our enemies. And while I shoulder vast responsibility, I wield a more colossal strength than ever before. I possess people to protect and should I fall, fear not my mother, for Thor and Sesshomaru will finish what I started. Albeit I have not known much in the way of luck nor good fortune, I would strive to await you in Valhalla." Loki felt his chest clench, but his eyes remained clear. Frigga swallowed and kissed his cheek.
Loki would not tell his mother that this would be the last time they saw each other. He did hope, however, when he succeeded in slaying the Other, he would one day see his mother in Valhalla.
Loki found himself at Odin's throne room before he knew what actually transpired.
"Loki, you have conspired me into bringing forth a Demon Lord from the past, cajoled me into breaking Asgardian law and now impose upon me the gall to request more of a strained Heimdall. If this invasion, this armada, is some farce, you will receive no mercy nor preferred treatment. I will relinquish you to Jotunheim." Odin warned, standing tall with Gungnir. Loki swallowed, even though he was certain of the invasion, the promise to send him shackled like some sow to Jotunheim didn't particularly please him.
Loki wished to say something grandiose and verbose, however, instead he took a page from Sesshomaru's book and instead handed him Rin's drawing wordlessly.
Odin's disbelief in lack of a grand retort was palpable as he took the drawing. Odin folded the paper in his hand, lone eye lolling over its markings. Then, in a fraction of an instant, he speared forth Gungnir at Loki with a great stream of dazzling magic at its tip.
Loki's blood ran icy like his Jotun heritage.
He should have seen the attack coming. Really. He should have teleported, or conjured his own spear. Instead, his training blanked on him and he only had the instinct to throw out a quick, underpowered forcefield. Loki cursed himself looking so taken off guard in front of his former father. He cursed himself it would end like this.
He cursed himself the last thing he would see was Odin's disapproving eye.
Loki's lips rippled into a grimace. Gungnir would easily impale through the weak protection and skewer him through. The thought that he never got to ravage Clint's body with his tongue flashed through his head. Not the invasion, not the Other, just Clint. Clint with his roguish, tussled hair, his toned body, discerning eyes, yet open heart. Loki was indeed selfish through and through.
A spike of despair ruptured his lungs, he'd never get to see that wide-eyed caught off guard expression again. It wasn't fair! This wasn't the death he wanted! Clint!
Gungnir pierced his armor, then his chest and Loki closed his eyes and sucked in his last breath of air.
But the great blade advanced no further. Loki opened a green eye.
Only a couple inches of Gungnir's great blade had ruptured through his armor and between his ribs. A great, green cedar tree had slowed Gungnir's impact and shifted its shaft at an angle to miss his heart. Gungnir stuck through the trunk of the tree like an arrow through a training target. He lived.
Loki's lungs remained trapped in a cold cage as shock spread through his veins, it happened again!
"So, it is true. One of Yggdrasil's branches has chosen you as a vessel." Odin murmured as he powered down Gungnir's blade and the cedar tree and the magic instantly vanished.
Loki simmered and warmed with incandescent ire.
"You dare?! You test Yggdrasil in this way? You are mad! You are without sense!" Loki chipped out, mirroring Rin's earlier words. His jaw strained and fists clenched as he volleyed a bolt of magic at Odin which ricocheted off Gungnir at an odd angle. Loki ignored the blood dribbling down his chest, soaking into his armor.
"Without sense am I? You hold that forked tongue of yours. I have the mind to renege on my generous offer and send you to Jotunheim now. The branch of Midgard may have chosen you as a vessel for its magic over me but do not be so foolish to think it is near enough to defeat me Loki." Odin replied loftily, stamping Gungnir on the throne room floor with a clang.
Loki's thoughts blanked out. One of the two realms he ravaged, the other being Jotunheim, chose him as a vessel for its magic? Over Odin? It even challenged the other branches?
Yggdrasil had that capability? What precisely did it even mean?
"Surely if the branch of Midgard has chosen me as a vessel for its magic, then it proves that Midgard needs me. You'd risk the realm your son loves so dearly for your own sensitive ego? You'd risk the safety of Asgard?" Loki's lips sliced into a challenging smile, devoid of warmth.
Odin's eye flashed.
"You fell from the Bifrost, but it seems your arrogance is still quite intact. Midgard does not need you as its guardian nor champion." Odin lowered his chin.
Loki couldn't help himself, he shapeshifted into Thor, billowing cape, blond hair and all.
"Allfather, would you risk the realm I love, the mortal Jane I love so dearly on such bold a claim? Midgard can use all the hands it needs to stave off against such a mighty foe!" Loki gestured the best he could as Thor, amusing himself. Odin caught him off guard, it was time to return the favor. Odin would always have a blind spot for Thor, just like Frigga had for himself. He really should have shapeshifted into Thor before all of this. Loki could just imagine the blood pressure rising in Odin's arteries.
"Your childish antics are a disservice to all who know you." Odin responded darkly and Loki simply cackled in response.
If only Odin truly knew.
"I have never been very fond of servitude. As much as I do love our chats, wouldn't you want to see if you need to ready my shackles and muzzle?" Loki shape shifted back, sans helm, blood still staining his armor as he strained to heal his wound against Gungnir's magic. It would be a slow healing process, it'd probably even scar, but it didn't really hurt.
Odin nodded. Together they held a tense, awkward silence as they strode towards the awaiting Thor, Rin, Romanoff along with the Warriors Three and Sif.
Loki could tell by the panicked, incredulous look on Thor's face that he saw his wound and Loki made a frenzied motion to not mention it. Romanoff put a hand on his shoulder, knuckles white face blank. Rin scowled. Loki smiled reassuringly, Frigga understood.
They made an odd bunch all walking together across the faded Bifrost towards Heimdall. Rin still swung her bone through in the air as if attacking an invisible foe.
Loki swallowed thickly, the eels in his gut thrashed and sliced; he knew he must look pale. Loki had great confidence in the location of the Mad Titan's armada. He knew the Aethon and the Nycteus were the fastest of his fleet. Followed by the odd destroyer, the Worldslayer. He had never seen the Worldslayer in person, but had seen its images when aboard The Relentless. Loki had scrutinized and calculated the most efficient route the Other would have to take to reach Midgard. The foreboding feeling that not all was well on Midgard rendered him shaky.
Loki, with as extreme precision as Clint's aim, put them just inside the Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy, near the star Sirius, 8.6 light-years away. He didn't return to Asgard to convince himself, he returned to convince others.
Then why did he feel such awful trepidation?
Before he knew it, he was before Heimdall.
"Heimdall, it has been many a Midgardian moon since we have been on civil terms, however, I, we, must entreat you. We must know the placement of the Mad Titan's Navy. He means to strike and ravage both Midgard and Asgard. I am aware I placed a great strain on you and Odin summoning the Lord of Demons and the Western Lands to this time-space but I implore you, it was for a most dire reason." Loki, ever the silver-tongue heard the words spill from his mouth without hardly thinking them.
Heimdall turned, rolled his great shoulders, and huffed good naturedly.
"Ever long winded you are Loki. Here lies the bulk of your supposed fleet." With a blur of lapis and pink cosmos, Heimdall revealed the fleet. Loki subconsciously mouthed their names: 'The Umbra', 'The Voracious', 'The Relentless', 'The Worldslayer' and lastly 'The Aethon', and 'The Nycteus'.
But they were nowhere near Sirius, they were well past Proxima Centauri, Loki put the fleet at merely one light-year out.
'Perhaps they made up time around the Sagittarius dwarf Galaxy?! No. Loki recalled the Other's experiments on his magic. He had to have imbued his magic to their engines to increase their output. There was no changing it now. There was still time, perhaps two Midgardian weeks.' Loki sighed in relief just slightly. Romanoff was busy recording the image.
"Grand. Exactly where I knew them to be." Loki lied smoothly. "The Aethon, their fastest, leads them. They will reach Midgardian space in two weeks' time." Loki's eyes danced, reflecting the stars and cosmos. It was truly a shame the Kree saw this sector of this galaxy as too backwater for them to aid in their defense.
"Only two weeks brother didn't you say be—" Romanoff silenced Thor with an elbow to his side. She was talented.
"It exists! The fabled fleet! You were serious!" Sif gasped. Rin next to her put her hands on her hips as if to scold her.
"How dare this Mad Titan try to threaten Asgard and Midgard!" Volstagg craggily pointed.
"We owe you an apology Loki..." Hogun stared breathlessly at the image.
Loki, for the first time in a long time, felt vindicated. While it was quite lovely to feel listened to by the Aesir for once, he no longer found himself longing for their approval. Maybe Rin's little speech hit home. Loki rose above them, he was indeed over Asgard and their opinions of him. Let them think what they will of him, it's not like he would see them again anyway.
"However, Loki, a Darkvoid Interceptor from their fleet entered the atmosphere of Midgard four Midgardian hours past." Heimdall's deep baritone voice dropped an octave along with Loki's heart. Loki jumped, his instincts had been spot on, something awful is indeed afoot. A jagged lance of panic stabbed his gut, the acid brewing.
'It cannot be! They had no such vessels capable of that velocity in their possession before! 'A Darkvoid Interceptor is a small but agile cruiser. It has considerable artillery and viability! She also cannot be destroyed easily due to a reinforced armored hull. I know helicarriers SHIELD employs can't defeat it easily. Why would the Mad Titan show his hand in this way? Why send this one ship ahead to alert them when they had the advantage of surprise? For what gain?!' Loki's dark green and black magic snaked around him unconsciously.
"Darkvoid Interceptor? Loki, could the helicarriers stave it off?" Romanoff inquired but Loki ignored her.
'Clint. Sesshomaru. Both would no doubt try to engage it directly. I have to believe them to be well. There is no other option. Clint owes me a wager after all. He cannot fall before I collect it.' Loki rocked back on his heels. He didn't replace his special protective spell on Clint before he left! What folly!
"Where is it now Heimdall?" Loki's throat closed and his panic roused similar reactions in Thor and the other Aesir. Romanoff and Rin remained calm, however now attentive.
"It entered a space on Midgard that is blinded to me by a barrier. It has not left." Heimdall admitted. Just as he said that the fleet that was just once visible also vanished.
Loki's mind fragmented. New York.
'Sesshomaru's proximity barrier may have given them enough warning, yet I know not if it would remain if he were slain. I must believe he lives. I must believe Clint lives. I cannot panic here.' Loki attempted to relax and licked his lips steadying himself.
"Where did the main fleet go friend Heimdall?!" Thor inquired, now agitated. Loki figured Thor knew him well enough to pick up on his hidden panic.
"It seems they sensed my gaze upon them and shielded themselves from myself similarly to the barrier on Midgard." Heimdall informed but it mattered not to Loki. They got the answers they needed and now SHIELD did not need any more proof due to the Interceptor.
"We must return to Midgard. That interceptor is not to be trifled with. The city is in great jeopardy." Loki found his voice and Rin scampered behind him followed by Romanoff and Thor.
"It's OK Uncle Loki! Lord Sesshomaru, Stark, and Uncle Clint are there!" Rin reassured. Loki nodded. Yes, they were, and that's why he was nervous. Sesshomaru could be blindly reckless when faced with a challenge and Clint would fight to the last man. Stark would also no doubt attempt some splashy display of his weaponry to spark Sesshomaru's competitive spirit.
"Yeah, Pretty Boy hasn't disappointed us yet, and I know Uncle Clint wouldn't let my stuff get destroyed before I got back." Romanoff, that blasted woman! Thor will catch on! He is not that dense!
"You refer to both Loki and Clint as Uncle to Rin, is this another Midgardian custom to which I am not privy?" Thor inquired and Loki immediately started swirling his green and black magic in the same ring be made on the helipad of Stark Tower.
"Not now Thor!" Loki snapped, but it held no venom, just anxiety.
'Stark Tower better still stand.' Loki furrowed his brow in concentration. He caught Heimdall's eyes inadvertently when he summoned his magic ring, and Loki could have sworn Heimdall knew that this was final goodbye. Heimdall saw all; he was no one's fool.
Loki imagined a crumbling city in flames, cratered roads, crying mortals, and eurphoric Chitauri seeking and destroying everything in their path. He knew their ways intimately.
As the ring constructed around them he could barely make out the words Odin called out.
"Go forth and conquer my sons." However, he knew he must have misheard Odin, he must have said son. Loki shook his head, forcing himself to focus.
The cosmos circled as a vortex once more and Loki prepared himself for mayhem.
What he didn't prepare himself for was teleporting right in front Rogers who was sitting next to the Quinjet eating what appeared to be a bowl of gruel.
"Good, you're just in time! Fury told Clint that he would come by in an hour. Oh, Natasha it'd be smart to talk to him first, Clint didn't tell him where you actually were. Are you hungry? Want some?" Steve extended the large bowl and Loki's facial expression became the epitome of 'you've got to be kidding me.'
"What!? By the Nines no I do not want your fattening tuber gruel!" Loki exploded, looking around sensing everything being relatively peaceful. Where was the Interceptor?! The Chitauri? Had he gone mad?
"Aye Captain I am famished!" Thor passed Loki and grabbed the fork from Rogers.
"Steve, status report. Heimdall showed us there was an enemy bogey inbound to these coordinates four hours ago." Romanoff's voice sounded no nonsense as she also took the fork from Thor and took a bite of the potato salad.
What is with these mortals?!
"No casualties except property damage. Sesshomaru, as Clint says, 'death starred' the spaceship from the torch of the Statue of Liberty. Channel 8's Chopper Dave, 'the traffic eye for the regular guy', has a pretty good video of it. Clint TiVoed it, along with like thirteen Robert Downey Jr and demonic possession movies. Oh, Clint got hit by a Chitauri ray blast on the shoulder but seems to be in pretty good shape." Steve summarized and took back the fork. Loki frowned, so Clint did get injured. He would have to treat the wound and see it wouldn't happen again.
"Sounds good. I'll finally get to see Pretty Boy in action." Romanoff beat Thor to the fork and took a large bite triumphantly. Thor scowled.
Loki looked back in the direction of the Statue of Liberty and true enough there were two helicarriers in the distance hovering above the mouth of the Hudson river.
"Told you my Lord Sesshomaru would win against that bantha fodder! I'm gonna go show him my picture of the distant realm!" Rin ran off like a dervish. Bantha Fodder? Wasn't that a line from the Star Wars movie?
"Sesshomaru performed what feat exactly?! And what do you mean by Clint being in 'pretty good' shape. Define 'seems'." Loki, exasperated finally found his voice. He had to find Clint after this and heal him, but first he had to know exactly how Sesshomaru single handedly took out a ship like an Interceptor and remained unharmed. He didn't possess that power the last time he saw him.
"Clint says it just winged him. Sesshomaru though shot the ship down with one of his swords. Tony called it Backstreet Boy, but that's not its real name. He also…ahem took out a bunch of the Chitauri in Central Park. He beheaded one with his bare hands and then threw the head at another. Oh, and he did it all wearing a Nirvana T-shirt, which is a band I am supposed to listen to, and now the free-world thinks he is the new Avenger 'Mr Nirvana'. He also almost cut Tony in half with his other sword, but apparently, it can only cut Demon ghosts and furniture. Natasha, Sesshomaru did destroy a jet on the runway of one of the helicarriers after they tried to order him around and Fury said it would come of your pay. You guys really didn't miss much." Rogers added purposefully nonchalantly. Romanoff snorted in laughter at the threat and Thor seized the opportunity to take back the fork.
Loki blinked. He was gone just thirty-nine hours and Sesshomaru had gone and created a spectacle of himself. It was almost too much to process.
"Son of Taisho becoming an Avenger is a tremendous victory! I must see to congratulate him for this glorious occasion! I must find mead!" With a final forkful of potato salad, he returned the utensil and set off down the roof access with strident purpose, probably planning to hug the unsuspecting Demon.
"Don't worry Glow Stick, this will all work out, we just need to make sure Fury doesn't have a pulmonary embolism when he sees you...are you sure you don't want any of this fattening tuber gruel? Clint made it." Romanoff winked and Loki let loose a few orbs of green magic in pure frustration.
By the nines, what had he gotten himself into?!
Sorry for the delay in this chapter coming out, I had company visiting and I had a lot to get out in this chapter. WHEW.
Loki is back! How will he deal with his budding friendship with Natasha? Does Loki have the tesseract or the casket? How will Clint 'welcome' Loki back? What will Fury have to say to our dear Demon Lord? What is all of this business with the Astral Plane and the Branches of Yggdrasil anyway?!
Shout out to my loyal reviewers: Demonic Otaku, Silvermane1, Darkmiror, SexyBL, Elspath7, the17thmuse, NamidaKira, Windwraith, and The Rayne Alchemist! You guys really push me though the hard chapters, I couldn't do it without you :)
-TL