"You idiot," Loki muttered, "You absolute idiot. You complete and utter moron. You oaf."
"This is not making my feel any better, brother," Thor grunted, hand pressed to his middle, "In fact, it seems like quite the opposite of comforting words."
"Why would I comfort you?" Loki sneered. He heard someone approaching from behind them and shoved Thor into a bush with a groan, "I don't even like you."
He ducked as a Hydra agent fired a blast at him and then popped back up behind the man, stabbing him through the heart with his sword. The agent swore and crumpled to the ground. Loki went back to Thor and helped him up, allowing his brother to lean on his shoulder once more.
"Then why not leave me here to perish, hmm? Surely that would be much easier on you," Thor taunted. He spotted another three agents ahead of them. Throwing Mjolnir, though a difficult effort in his condition, he was able to plow through all three, knocking them unconcious.
"Because I don't want to hear everyone weeping over your corpse on the long ride back to New York. These mortals are so emotional."
Thor didn't respond, as he was busy summoning a bolt of lightning to fry a tank. The lightning got dangerously close to them and made their hair stand on end. Loki, annoyed, dropped Thor without warning and smoothed down his flowing raven locks. Thor cried out in pain and hit Loki in the knees with Mjolnir. Coincidently, it caused Loki to fall just as a laser blast flew right through where he'd been standing.
"How many more agents can there possibly be?" Loki grumbled, throwing a dagger at the man who'd tried to kill him. The dagger stuck right between the agent's eyes. "I thought Rogers said this was a small base."
"Get me to that ridge over there and I can finish off the outer defense," Thor pointed to a cliff above them. It wasn't high, but it would give him a good view of the battle ground.
"Must I really drag you all the way up there?" Loki groaned, "You weigh more than a pregnant dragon."
"Unless you'd prefer to pick these humans off one by one I suggest we go with my plan... and I am not a pregnant dragon!"
"No, of course not," the younger brother hoisted his sibling up, "Your breath is much worse than that of a dragon."
They stumbled up to the ridge, Loki muttering dark expressions all the while. Once they were there, Thor stood with his own strength and raised Mjolnir to the heavens. He took notice of as many Hydra agents as he could as well as the one tank they had driving around and let loose several bolts of lightning. His aim was true and there were horrified screams across the grounds. The Italian countryside took on a slightly burned smell.
"There!" Thor panted and then fell over. Loki had to quickly grab onto him before he could fall over the ridge. The older brother passed out and the younger complained to the landscape and the sizzling agents about what an idiot Thor was. They didn't respond. Which was good, because if they could have actually heard him, then they might have heard the worry and guilt in his voice. Which would have embarrassed him to no ends.
"Let's get you back to the quinjet, you oaf. I'm sure the Avengers can handle it from here. You'd better not die, brother. Odin would never forgive me… nor would I, come to think of it. And I already have quite enough guilt to deal with sans your oh so heroic death. I do not need to add anything else to my conscious."
Thor made no reply beyond a slight snore. Loki took it to be a good sign.
"Asgardian," Strucker beckoned Blaze closer and she wiped some blood off her face as she approached him. She'd been executing enemies of Hydra when she wasn't giving them information or examining the scepter. It was messy business, but she was having quite a lot of fun. Surtur didn't let her let loose enough and in the past few months she'd built up a lot of aggression. Strucker was kindly allowing her to release it.
"What's up, Wolfgang?"
"What do you know of Thor?"
"Prince of Asgard, Wielder of Mjolnir, God of Thunder… and Massive Idiot."
"Enemy of Hydra?" Strucker asked, crossing his arms and glaring at her through his monocle.
"I mean," Blaze shrugged, "He's friends with those Avenger folks, isn't he? And they hate you guys, yeah? So it would be a safe bet."
"And what do you know of his brother?"
"Loki?" Blaze wrinkled her nose in disgust, "Prince of Asgard, God of Tricks and Lies, Spoilsport Extraordinaire."
"Current location?"
"Odin's got him trapped in Asgard last I heard. Still on probation."
"Wrong."
"Wrong?" Blaze started wiping blood off of her sword, admiring the way it could turn a crisp, white towel into a work of crimson art, "How's that?"
"He aligned himself with the Avengers and destroyed one of our bases in Italy."
"Bummer," Blaze tried not to grin. This was an unexpected and happy surprise, "You sure it was Loki?"
"We have footage," he gestured to a computer monitor and, sure enough, Loki and Thor were fighting off loads of Hydra agents and making a right mess of the poor humans.
"Yup, that's him alright," she couldn't hide a smile, "Brought himself to Midgard without any prompting at all."
"You could have told us that he was likely to team up with the Avengers if he was on earth," Strucker seethed, "We were under the impression that he and Thor were at odds."
"They've been at odds since the day they became brothers, but they will almost always work together if the need arises," Blaze said, "I didn't know he was on the planet or I would have warned you."
"We just learned ourselves, but you are meant to tell us all of the intricacies of Asgard and the major players there. I want any and all information you have on the destroyer of New York."
"Of course! I would be happy to comply," she started blabbing random facts about Loki, even mentioning that she'd been engaged to him for a while until he'd broken it off (if she let them believe he loved her they'd probably ruin the whole thing and try to ransom her to him, so she made sure to clarify that he hated her). She spoke of everything she knew about him, but avoided speaking of his weaknesses. After all, Surtur still had big plans for the dark prince of Asgard.
Plans that would now be much easier since Loki had come to Midgard of his own free will. She was now more excited than ever to get things rolling. And if the Avengers were already tearing apart Hydra bases then they would have no trouble believing her when she told the mighty heroes about the one she was hiding out in.
Hydra would be so disappointed.
A note from the author: I wasn't originally going to add an action scene during this part of the story. I was just going to skip over any fighting bits. However, y'all are a bloodthirsty lot and I thought it might be a fun opportunity for brotherly bonding time! So I just wrote the first half of this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it even if it was kind of short!
Thanks so much for reading, you wonderful people you! It means so much to me that you actually are entertained enough to keep up with this story and it's silliness. :D
Special thanks to my reviewers:
CheetahLover: I hope you like the combat even if it was brief! I always have a hard time writing fight scenes. :P
Dragoncat: You can do it! I believe in you! :D
Ninja Squirrel: You're probably right, and Loki wouldn't say something like that after the events of the the first Avengers movie, I think he actually said out loud a few times in Thor that he loved his brother. Which I think is super sweet even if he was planning Ice Giant genocide in the meantime. And possibly fratricide as well... oh that guy! ;) Also, I may have to write a short where Loki reacts to all of the foods that you mentioned because I just ain't got the space to do so in the author's note lol. I think he's going to be especially grossed out by pineapple pizza ("why do mortals eat this stuff?! For starters, pineapple is ridiculously acidic! Is it not bad for you? Secondly, I find the greasy mess that is pizza hardly tolerable as it is. Why in the nine would anyone put fruit on it?!")
ferbette: "And I even brought a spare helmet for you, brother! It does not have the horns, but that doesn't matter. Safety first, eh? And I've got a spare axe and a mace and fifteen spears and another axe and another hammer - nothing like Mjolnir obviously - and, oh look! Another axe! Would you care for an axe? No? Just the sword and the spear? Alright, but if you want an axe..." XD
xlokiswolfx: You're alive! (I LOVE MULAN!) I'm sorry to hear that you've been having a rough time lately. If you ever need to chat/vent feel free to PM me! Thank you for taking a few minutes to review! I'm so glad that you are continuing to enjoy the story! :D And Loki is totally an Avenger. There's no way around it. He's the one who brought the team together after all! Well... Fury helped, but they would have never gotten together if Loki hadn't been being such a diva lol.
You guys are beyond amazing! Thank you so much for taking the time to leave me such wonderful reviews! This might sound cheesy, but I treasure every word. :) Your kind words always make my day!
Until next time!