#28
"Only if you consider the unfolding of events through the prism of a linear timeline in which the concepts of cause and effect are inextricably linked with those of past and future," Loki said eventually, which caused Bruce, Tony and Shuri to give defeated, conceding nods. Thor's heart gave a lurch at how smoothly the lie had tumbled off his brother's tongue; at how true and convincing his words sounded. Or was he, perhaps, not lying at all? Thor was no longer certain—strictly speaking, he had never been entirely certain—and a familiar sense of distrust coupled with a slight but nagging frustration began to joyfully chip away at his heart.
"But magic does not obey those laws," Loki concluded with a winsome smile.
"I'm seriously starting to hate that word," grumbled Tony.
"It must be so frustrating for you to finally reach the limits of your intellectual capacities," Loki jested, his smile transforming into a sneer. "I feel almost sorry for you."
Before Tony could reply to his brother's jibe, Steve claimed the right to speak, his suspicious eyes on Loki. "So, tell us, how can we be sure you're not lying to us about the stones' magic running out? Because the Mind Stone seemed just as powerful as it was back in 2012."
"Regrettably, I have no answer to that," Loki conceded quietly. "Ancient magic works in mysterious ways and I do not know them all. But I know what I saw. I know what I feel inside me right now and I know that the magic surging through my veins is by no means the stone's full power. I understand that my word means nothing to you, Captain Rogers, but my actions should." He flashed the Avengers a smug grin. "Before I came down here, you had zero Infinity Stones. You did not even know how to get hold of them or Thanos. Now, you have two, and his—"
"No," Natasha cut in, her expression darkening. "You have two. One inside you, one inside a pocket dimension only you can open. Thanos still has four. We still have zero."
Thor was getting the sense that, while Loki's Aesir appearance put himself at least somewhat at ease, it did the exact opposite to Nat, Steve and the others. It seemed to serve as a collective reminder of a havocked New York and thus bred even more distrust among them than his Jotun form had.
"And no way of knowing if you aren't planning to collect them all by yourself," Clint confirmed Thor's silent speculations, his lips twitching nervously.
Loki's eyes hardened in response to their accusations. "If you would just let me finish—"
"You trying to help us could all be just a pretense," Natasha went on and Thor felt their words beginning to weigh more heavily on his chest. Could they be right? Could all of this be nothing than just another one of his sly little brother's schemes?
"Maybe you took a slight detour and sent your astral projection to the dwarves to order your own Gauntlet before you paid the stones another visit," Steve speculated.
"Nah, that's not possible," Rocket replied and seeing him and Loki standing side by side, Thor suddenly understood why he had instantly bonded with the rabbit after he had lost his family, his people and his dignity. Rocket and Loki were alike in a strange sort of way. They were both misfits, shrewd and sarcastic to the point of being offensive with a morbid sense of humor and an irritatingly smug I-don't-care-attitude that had come into existence for the sole purpose of protecting their softer side. "Nidavellir is in ruins and the dwarves are all dead," Rocket continued nonchalantly, as if to give Thor further proof. "Thanos killed them all after they forged the Gauntlet for him. Well, except for Eitri, but chances are he died in the Snap." He finished with half-shrug.
A shadow of sadness hurried over Loki's stone-hard face but he composed himself within seconds.
"That doesn't really change anything though," Steve pointed out.
"Nah, it doesn't," conceded Rocket, who had still sided with Loki after he had saved them from crashing into the ocean earlier but was apparently no longer comfortable with trusting him after he had locked away the stones.
"And he could still want the remaining stones for himself," Valkyrie added, flitting a semi-apologetic glance in Thor's direction. "And use the entire destruction of the universe lie to provoke us into action. He could have even wielded the Mind Stone earlier after we snapped him out of its influence."
Loki's head tilted up in defiance and, for a brief moment, Thor wondered if it was possible. Had his brother perhaps made a bargain of his own with Hela? Was that why she had set him free so easily? Was he really pursuing his own plans while merely pretending to help? No, he has changed, Thor told himself. I witnessed his torment in the cabin. None of this was a trick. The only reason we are facing such a dreadful predicament right now is because I hung on my father's every word for most of my life, never suspecting Loki of a greater destiny than illusions and trickery. I must have faith in him. I must.
"Why would I do that?" Loki asked and Thor could sense the effort it took him not to slide back into his old, antagonistic ways. "I mean, honestly?"
"You said you needed time to think," Bruce answered, "but then came back with another stone even though you said you'd been aware that the removal of the Mind Stone had sped up the fading of the remaining stones' magic. Not to mention that the Mind Stone tried to control you. Why would you take your chances with another one of them? Isn't that rather reckless and stupid?"
Loki bristled. "Why would you waste your time arguing with me while the universe is unraveling? Isn't that rather reckless and stupid as well?"
"The universe seems fine to me," said Tony with a jerk of his head in the direction of the glass doors and the unthreatening calm of the night beyond them. Thor cast a reflexive glance at the clock that now read fifteen minutes to one a.m. in the morning. The clock and its inherent symbolism reminded him of the oath he had given his half-sister and he shuddered. By Odin's all-seeing eye, I need to talk to Loki and I need to talk to him alone. As soon as possible.
"For now," Loki snarled.
"But something is definitely happening to the planet," Pepper said softly, her voice shaky with fear. "I just heard a report on TV. Apparently, there was not a single full moon since the snap, which happened fifty-four days ago. The tides are out of balance almost everywhere around the world. The ground plates are moving at a suspicious speed. Volcanoes that have been inactive for years suddenly stir again. Everything is out of whack."
"See?" Loki smiled thinly. "Apart from that, I am here, no? I could have taken both the scepter and the Reality Stone and be up and away by now, but I came back."
"The question is to what purpose," said Clint.
"Maybe you need us to build the remaining four stones for you," Shuri suggested.
A feral glint of malevolence sparked in Loki's eyes. "Oh, please."
"What you gave us is not an answer," Nebula pointed out, her voice as sharp as the edges of a freshly grinded sword. "Why would you risk the stones' extinction and the universal destruction that comes along with it just to get your hands on the Reality Stone?"
"I have always been better at forging out plans as I go along rather than sticking to a previously concocted strategy," Loki responded listlessly. "That is just how my mind works."
"Which is exactly the problem," Natasha concluded. "You might no longer be the psychotic war criminal you once were but you're still a liar with an unstable mind who makes decisions on a whim that benefit only himself. Do you honestly expect us to proceed on your word alone?"
Loki's eyes narrowed. "That's such an apt characterization," he scoffed. "Did you pull that out of a children's book on Norse Mythology?"
"Loki, please," said Thor, unable to keep a trace of censure out of his voice and resenting himself for it. He turned towards the Avengers, forcing the remnants of doubt and distrust out of his mind. "Come on, guys," he began, uneasily sucking on the edge of his lip. "He risked his life to recover these stones. You saw what the Mind Stone tried to do to him. None of this is his fault." He glanced at Loki, who rewarded him with the barest of smiles. "I dare say he has proven his loyalty. What more do you want from him?"
"Oh, I don't know." Tony looked at Loki with a challenging grin. "Why don't you hand the stones over to us to prove that you don't intend to keep them?"
Loki huffed an incredulous laugh. "Oh, maybe because you, especially you, have proven time and time again that you cannot handle them?"
"But I can," Valkyrie noted. "I mean, I could. I am no mortal."
"If you were sober, maybe," Loki scoffed. "But I think you'll all agree that we are not in any position to take any chances with those stones."
"Says you," Clint remarked sourly.
Loki's eyes narrowed but he was eerily calm when he spoke. "Alright, I have listened to your preposterous allegations long enough. Just in case you did not notice, I am genuinely trying to share what I know with you here but you have interrupted me three times so far." He tsked. "You have been huddled together in this place for seven weeks trying to locate Thanos, to no avail, but still you show no interest in what I might have learned about him this second time." Loki's lips twisted into a grin as his audience lapsed into contrite silence. "Now, would you pay me the courtesy of letting me finish or do I have to further endure your impeachment?"
Steve nodded hesitantly. "Go ahead."
Loki raised his right hand, palm out-stretched, and moved it in a circular motion, conjuring a projection of about three feet in diameter in the middle of the room, the edges of which were shimmering in a color mash of red, green and orange. "You wanted to know where Thanos is?" Loki asked as the Avengers drew closer to the product of his sorcery, expressions of awe etching their features when a lonely wooden cabin on a patch of grassland surrounded by steep forested hills under a blindingly blue sky came into view. Not far from the cabin, Thanos was sitting on a rock, the scorched Infinity Gauntlet by his feet. "Now you know," said Loki. "Take it as a token of my, well, for want of a better word, loyalty."
Thor's heart lurched at the sight of the titan and he felt his guilt burning in the pit of his stomach for a few moments before he found small comfort in the realization that their enemy was naked and vulnerable from the waist up, his skin marred by flames, his golden armor mounted onto a scarecrow with outstretched arms. He was looking forlorn and, the Norns forbid, almost helpless.
"And just so you know," Loki continued pointedly, "I would have shown you this earlier if you had just let me finish instead of assaulting me with your unjustified incriminations."
Tony made a noise halfway between a grunt and a laugh as Nebula's mechanical hand jerked forward to reach into the projection, her fingers going right through it. "That's—"
"An illusion?" Steve asked but there was no hostility in his tone.
"It's neither a portal nor an illusion," Loki explained with a patience that Thor would not have thought him capable of summoning after their rejection. "It's merely a projection of my memory." He flitted a glance at the computer where Tony and Shuri had abandoned their work once he had come stumbling back into the room, and a smile touched upon his lips. "Sort of what you attempted with that cute little program of yours but with magic. Anyways, as you can see, Thanos no longer has access to the power of the stones," Loki concluded with the faintest tremble in his voice. A near-translucent entity of ethereal beauty clad in a silken robe appeared in his projection, her skin of a pale white; her vigilant eyes, waist-long curly hair and garment shimmering in red.
"Is that the Reality Stone's incarnation?" Thor asked, awed by her appearance.
"It was, yes," Loki confirmed before he flicked his fingers and the being began to fade until the sunlight had almost entirely permeated her form. "That is her now."
"She's vanishing," Pepper whispered, stating the obvious.
"Yes, she is. Well, not anymore, obviously, because I freed her," Loki said with a grin, "but I suppose Time, Space, Power and Soul are suffering the same fate, which means that we should make haste to kill Thanos in order to free them."
"Why don't you just free them like you freed the others?" asked Shuri.
"My brain has temporarily reached the limits of its ancient magic absorption capacity, I'm afraid," Loki responded with a slick smile. "My apologies."
"So, how do you propose we free them?" Natasha asked. "Do you have any idea where this planet is? How far away it is? How long it would take us to—"
"I do," Nebula whispered, her forehead creasing in a grimace of pain. It was the first time that Thor saw her stagger under the weight of the physical and emotional torture she had endured and, even though he was still a little mad at her for withholding from him that she had witnessed Loki's decent into genocidal madness firsthand, his heart went out to the woman. "I remember this place … Of course … He took us there when we were children …" She gulped. "I … I should have known. Why didn't I realize …"
"Where is it?" Rocket asked softly, his derogative nonchalance not carrying over to his tone.
"He used to call it the Garden," Nebula whispered as Tony grabbed one of the little tablet devices that were linked with his computer system and conjured up a projected map of the solar system that appeared next to Loki's illusory window into the titan's refuge. "He took us there to show us the beauty of life untouched by the cruelty of an insatiable universe." Nebula's voice was barely above a whisper, the disdain for her adoptive father and herself etched deep into her expression.
"Do you remember its name?" Steve urged her with the same compassion as the rabbit and, glancing at Loki, Thor could see his brother's silent resentment regarding the circumstance that the Avengers awarded the cyborg with trust and empathy while they continued to treat him with distrust and hostility even though Thanos had tortured and manipulated them both into executing his orders.
A tear spilled out of the cyborg's eye, which she quickly brushed away with the back of her good hand. "Helgidómur."
"Helgi-what?" asked Tony.
"H-E-L-G-I-D-O-M-U-R," Rocket spelled out. "That's not even that far."
Tony typed the name into his device and a few moments later, a red, blinking circle appeared around a minute planet on his map. "There it is."
"Not that far?" Pepper gasped. "That is Pluto right there," she mumbled, pointing to another tiny planet in the vicinity of the one Tony's AI had just emphasized for them.
"Jesus," whispered Nat, all color draining from her face when the implication behind this piece of information sank in. The others inched closer, their facial features derailing.
Taken aback by their rather violent reactions, Thor asked, "What?" He glanced at Loki and Valkyrie, who were the only ones who had not risen from their chairs, but his brother just shrugged and Valkyrie merely raised an eyebrow.
"It's five billion miles away," Shuri replied.
"So?" asked Loki, his head jerking in the direction of the Stormbreaker, which Thor had placed against the wall. "If it borders on your solar system, there's a chance the planet is connected to the outermost branches of Yggdrasil."
"What does that mean?" Nebula asked.
"It can be reached via Bifrost," Valkyrie replied and Thor shifted uneasily when he recalled how eleven days had passed on Midgard while he had used the Rainbow Bridge to travel to Niflheim and back to Norway in a matter of hours.
"Hell, yes!" Rocket exclaimed with a huge grin, reminding Thor of how the he had squeaked with joy when they had traveled from Nidavellir to the battlefield of Wakanda with Groot, still confident in their victory.
"I bet it's still closer than Sakaar," Bruce murmured softly as if to reassure himself, a quaky smile appearing on his pale face.
"A lot closer," Valkyrie replied but the scientist looked still shell-shocked. They all did.
"So, we just hop onto the Rainbow Bridge, cut his head clean off and take the Gauntlet back here?" Steve asked eventually, his face twisted in disbelief. "Just like that?"
Thor cringed inwardly. "It's about time someone cut his head clean off," he mumbled, nearly choking on the words.
"But can we just …" Nat began, her voice trailing off as her eyes swept the map and then the projection, her cognitive efforts to grasp the magnitude of the journey ahead visibly stamped across her features.
"Why not?" Tony asked her on a shrug. "He's gonna hear a spaceship approach from miles away. This way, we'd have the advantage of a surprise-effect."
"You built a replica of the mind stone with your technology," Loki reminded them. "You could probably build your own Gauntlet if you wanted to and you obviously need the rest of the stones if you wish to undo the Snap. Thanos is vulnerable and defenseless right now, which means that, yes, Captain Rogers, right now is the opportune moment to go there, kill him while he sits brooding all by himself on that accursed rock, retrieve the Gauntlet and then figure out your next move before he gets the chance to make his."
"Wait, what?" asked Natasha.
"Why would he make his next move?" Pepper stammered, her eyes widening in shock. "I thought he was …" Her voice trailed off.
"You haven't told us everything, have you?" Valkyrie grumbled.
"Well," Loki began, drawing the word out, "not yet, no." He held up his palms and spread his hands to affect an air of innocent nonchalance when the others narrowed their eyes at him. "I might have alerted Thanos to my presence. I mean, not really," he hurried to add, "for he looked into my direction when I fused with the Reality Stone and did not see me. But he asked himself aloud who dared to steal from him, so I suppose he will be bracing himself up soon. Which is all the more reason why you should make yours first."
"You're a maniac," Tony mumbled as Natasha and Clint threw their hands up in the air in defeat.
"Why the hell did you decide to retrieve the fucking Reality Stone under these circumstances?" Steve shouted.
"Well," Loki sighed, adopting his best look of slightly fearful innocence, "I suppose I just love to make things difficult."
Before anyone could reply, Valkyrie leaped from her chair and punched Loki so hard against the chest that he toppled over along with his chair, which broke to pieces beneath his weight. "That's for your insufferable attitude!"
To Thor's utter dismay, Loki responded with a high-pitched giggle.
"Um, can you maybe not use your full Asgardian strength in here?" Tony asked grimly but neither Valkyrie nor Loki paid him any attention.
His brother scrambled to his feet and made a show of brushing imaginary dust from his clothes. "Wow, that's quite a punch you've got there." He smirked at Thor. "I guess she's a lot more fun than Jane, eh?"
Valkyrie's hands fisted at her sides but Thor held her back, unable to keep his own frustration with his brother's antics out of his voice when he said, "Loki, please. Why do you have to make this so hard? They really are trying here."
"So am I," Loki protested, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "You know me, brother. You know that this is me trying," he continued, his tone bordering on hysteria. "Before I came back, none of you had an idea what to do next. Now you have a location and a plan. Does that truly count for nothing in their eyes?"
Loki turned away from Thor and took a step towards the Avengers, his sparkling red-green gaze traveling from Tony to Steve, then to Natasha and ultimately to Clint. "Do my past crimes—which I already paid for with my death and a subsequent sojourn in Hel, mind you—truly keep you from even considering that I could be of help to you? Would you relinquish your chance to get revenge just because you have sworn to never forgive me?" He paused, his facial muscles taut with anger. "Relinquish your chance to get your loved ones back?"
"Don't you dare to speak of my family," Clint growled quietly, his face hardening with pain and anger.
Thor's heart ached at what Loki had left unspoken. Am I truly that insufferable, that undeserving of your esteem, that impossible to like? It was the story of his life. No one ever thought him capable of great deeds. Everyone always assumed the worst of him. No one ever trusted him. No one ever stood up for him. Thor himself had just doubted his brother's loyalty again just because he had displayed a few of his irritating quirks even though he damn well knew that Loki's pride, arrogance and condescending humor were merely bandages he had wrapped around his broken heart.
"Alright, I've had enough of your skepticism!" Thor took a step forward and placed a hand on Loki's shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. "He doesn't deserve your persistent animosity."
Loki's lips parted in surprise.
"I said this before and I am going to say it again. Barnes, Wanda, Nebula; they were all your enemies once and you chose to forgive them. If you truly cannot find it in yourselves to forgive Loki too, you are a bunch of hypocritical douchebags. Apart from that," Thor continued with his eyes on Tony, "you begged us to come here with you because Thanos is our common enemy. You said to him, and I quote, 'We're here to determine your sanity and assess your eligibility for possible collaboration'. You also said that if I were unwilling to do this without Loki, you would all be in for one hell of a ride. Well, guess what?"
The Thundergod took a deep breath and sent a silent prayer to the Norns that he would not regret his leap of faith. "I am unwilling. He is my brother and I will stand by his side. He has suffered at the hand of Thanos in ways you can't even imagine," he continued, his voice trembling at the memory of his brother's tear-choked cries of agony. Next to him, Loki's face turned clammy. "Except for you, of course." He smiled wanly at Nebula. "I dare say what Thanos did to him goes far beyond what most of your minds could even conjure in your darkest nightmares and, the Norns be damned, you know what it is like to suffer from post-traumatic stress!"
Tony's lips twitched.
"I know him and I know that he wants Thanos dead as much as you do and I know that he has no reason to betray me or anyone of you. Not anymore. If he says that we should attack now, that is exactly what we should do," Thor concluded and reached for the magic of the Stormbreaker, which came flying across the room and settled into his hand, materializing his battle armor from thin air. "So either you suit up and help us kill this purple abomination or you stay here. I do not particularly care."
In truth, he did care. He'd been torn between the overwhelming urge to save his little brother and the desperate need to rectify his tremendous failures ever since he'd rescued Loki from Hela's lair but whether he cared or not was beside the point. The point was that he needed Loki to believe that he believed in him and, apparently, he did. Loki's hand shot out towards his face and wiped his right eye in one fluid movement.
Valkyrie's face fell. "Are you actually crying?"
"No, of course not," Loki shot back indignantly but his words were coming out half fake-laugh, half choked-sob.
Thor squeezed his brother's shoulder for comfort once more. "So, who's with us?"
Author's Note:
~ This chapter is a wee bit longer than the others but I just couldn't bring myself to make a cut, my apologies if it drags a little. I also wondered if I have kept the Avengers too wary of Loki for too long but they have been confronted with quite a lot that they don't understand and are understandably overwhelmed. Plus, I suppose Loki's attitude and his locking away the stones—even if it was for their safety in a way—don't really inspire any confidence in his motivations.
~ I always wanted Nebula to play a part in locating Thanos but I never really knew how to implement it, so I just took the version Endgame offered. Helgidómur means Sanctuary in Icelandic, by the way. I just couldn't resist.
~ I also couldn't resist to put the "I mean, honestly?!" reference from Endgame in here.
~ Oh, and Akira? I had already written the Valkyrie punching Loki scene when I read your chapter and thought it might be too violent a reaction but now I decided to leave it in here, even though she punched him for far less :D
~ Last but not least: Thanks to everyone who recently favorited this. As I've said before, a review would be most appreciated. Much love!