Loki wedged himself into the corner, knees drawn up to his chest, staring blankly at the floor as he wrung his hands together. You're never alone, my little prince, Mother had always told him.
"Look at me, sweetheart," she told him gently, one night long, long ago, when he sought her out after yet another nightmare.
He obeyed, his eyes wide and scared.
She smiled. "Your father, your brother, me, Heimdall – we will always be with you. Even if we're not standing next to you." She tapped his chest, right above his beating heart. "We will always be here. Always."
"Promise?"
"I promise," she said fiercely, leaning forward to kiss away a new tear glistening on his cheek.
He closed his eyes. Don't leave me now, Mother.
"Hello."
He opened his eyes, recognizing Mantis's soft voice. "Hey," he greeted.
She crouched beside him, not quite settling. "You are scared."
He heard the certainty in her voice, didn't bother denying it. "I am," he admitted quietly, looking down again. "This plan…"
She gave him a tiny smile. "The first time I fought beside these people, I was betraying the only family I had ever known. I did not even know if he could be stopped. But I had to believe it would. I had to have faith."
Loki returned the smile wryly. "Belief and faith are far harder to come by when you've lived as long as I have."
She accepted that with a twitch of her head. Taking a breath, she reached out, tentatively resting her fingertips on his sleeve. "I can soothe your nerves, if you wish."
He moved her away with a light touch. "Thank you, but… no. I think… I think I have to do this myself."
She dipped her head, withdrawing her hand. "I will leave you to it, then."
Gamora brushed past Mantis as the young empath walked away. She sat beside Loki, brushing her fingers over his hand before pulling back. "You do realize you're not really doing this yourself, right?"
"Knowing and believing are two different things, Gamora," he pointed out.
"I know," she sighed. "After Thanos… I suppose it wasn't until after his death that I really believed I could be free of him. I knew I had to try, but…"
"But he gets in your head," Loki murmured. "In your heart. Until you're alone, and his path is the only path."
Gamora reached out, her hand stopping to hover just beside his hair. "May I?"
He bit his lip but nodded. She slid her fingers into his hair, cupping his head and easing him down to her. She kissed his forehead, not with a lover's heat, but a sister's tenderness. She lingered a moment, and Loki let her, almost leaning into the affectionate touch. Am I starved of this anymore? he wondered.
No, whispered that steadfast ember of hope. Except, it wasn't an ember, not anymore. He could feel it burning, small and hesitant, but warming him nonetheless.
"How sweet," Beb's sickeningly familiar voice purred.
Gamora released him, swiping away a tear that had escaped her eye. It took everything Loki had not to flinch away, instead lifting his gaze to glare at her. The guards that had disappeared after taking their dishes now stood behind her. They had guns, but they were holstered, right next to the devices that would zap them if they stepped out of line.
Beb placed her hand on the scanner, part of the forcefield vanishing at her command. The four Guardians rose, the other three converging on Loki as she stepped inside. Gamora grabbed his hand, interlacing their fingers and squeezing for half a moment.
He pulled away from her. "Take me, and let them go."
"Aw, are we friends again?" Beb asked mockingly. "Whatever. Their lives aren't up to me, anyway. Yours, on the other paw… I have a few hours of fun ahead of me while we're parked."
She grabbed Loki's arm, digging her claws into his wounds. He clenched his jaw shut against a whimper, almost reaching for the others as they shifted towards him. "Move any closer, and I will make the next few hours even more painful."
Loki sucked in a breath, shifting his tension to a clenched fist. Beb began tugging him out, and if she noticed him looking back, she said nothing. As they moved away, leaving the forcefield open for escape, the guards' hands hovered over their devices. Still holding his arm with one hand, Beb used her other to start closing the forcefield.
Before he could think better of it, Loki struck.
He grabbed the loose skin on the back of Beb's neck and slammed her face into the wall. It left a bloody imprint as she gasped, stunned. The guards started to press the buttons of pain. Heat began surging through Loki's veins. Gritting his teeth against the pain, he grabbed Beb and hurled her at the guards.
They went down in a heap. Sudden relief from the building agony drove Loki to his knees. Precious seconds were wasting as he clutched at his neck, chest heaving, but he couldn't make himself move.
"Loki!" Gamora cried.
"You're almost there, buddy," Peter encouraged. "You just gotta let us out."
He saw a guard stirring, reaching for his device. Saw Beb stirring, her bloodied claws reaching for Loki. Panic surged through him. He lashed out, socking Beb in the jaw, knocking out the two guards. He grabbed one of the devices, pressed the button, and the obedience disks clattered to the floor.
He kicked Beb, just to make sure she was out, before grabbing her paw. He staggered to his feet, his entire body protesting, and hauled her back to the scanner. It activated beneath her touch, and in a wave of gold, the forcefield shut down.
Peter ran out, tugging both women along with him, releasing their arms the moment they were free. He darted to Loki's side as he started to fall, easing him to the ground and helping him lean back against a wall. Gamora knelt on his other side, resting one hand in his hair.
"Can you walk?" she asked, glancing around.
Loki just groaned, pressing a hand over his stomach. Peter squeezed his shoulder, taking stock of their situation. "I think those three are out. We can give you a minute, but we've gotta move."
Loki lifted his wrist. "Keys?"
"Ah, right," Peter said, moving to Beb's body while Mantis checked the guards. They searched thoroughly, double-checking, triple-checking, but eventually sat up. "They must be somewhere else. I know I saw Beb take them from Kutral."
Peter returned to his side, pulling Loki's arm over his shoulders. Loki stumbled to his feet, leaning heavily on Peter, while Gamora steadied him with a hand on his back. She pulled away, taking the lead as they crept down the glaringly white corridor. They stopped at every room they found, Gamora and Mantis disappearing into it to search for the keys. Occasionally, Peter and Loki overheard grunts and smashes as they dispatched a guard or two.
Each time, they returned empty-handed.
"No," Loki protested as, finally, Peter tried to guide him outside. "No, I need these cuffs off-"
"I know!" Peter interrupted, half-turning to him. "Believe me buddy, I want them off too, but if those two didn't find the keys, they're not on the ship. The Grandmaster probably took them just in case this exact scenario happened."
"Oh, oh this is cute, you guys are trying to escape!"
Peter jumped outside, landing in a patch of loose dirt that puffed up around his feet, yanking Loki out and shoving him behind him. A small town full of rickety wooden buildings rose up to their left, faintly lit by the growing light of dawn. The Grandmaster and five guards faced them, five blasters aimed at them.
On the Grandmaster's belt, glinting in the dawn light, was a familiar pair of keys.
Loki stared at them, rubbing at the chafed skin around his cuffs. Mantis slid back, taking Loki's arm, clutching her stolen blaster. Peter and Gamora paired up in front of them, aiming their own stolen blasters right back at the guards.
"Come now, people, I want to take you alive!" Grandmaster exclaimed, as if their rebellion was sincerely confusing him. "Well, uh, not Loki, but, well, three out of four isn't bad, right?"
"We're leaving," Peter stated. "All four of us. Now."
Grandmaster sighed, dropping his arms. "Fine." He gestured at the guards. "Dispose of them. We'll leave when you're done."
For a moment, everybody stared, evidently having the same thought: That's just a waste of money.
Then Grandmaster, one foot inside of his ship, gestured more vehemently. "Do it!"
"No!" Gamora shouted as he started disappearing inside. She fired off a few cover shots, all of which missed narrowly, as she lunged for him. The guards turned on her, firing simultaneously. Most of the blasts just scorched the hull.
One hit its mark.
"Gamora!" Peter shrieked, firing desperately at the guards. He grabbed Loki with his free hand, dragging him away to shelter behind some barrels. Mantis scurried to join them.
The energy blast caught Gamora in the ribs, scorching right through her shirt. It slammed her back against the ship before she crumpled to the ground. Where she stayed. Unmoving.
But she had succeeded. Her hand was locked around the Grandmaster's elbow, bringing him down with her. He shook her off, grumbling, brushing dirt off his golden robes. "Stupid revolts. Why I even bother-"
At his hip, the keys clinked together.
She risked her life for me.
She took that hit to get to those keys.
Grandmaster rolled her over, feeling gingerly for a pulse. Gamora twitched a little, her hand moving as if to bat at him, but it hardly moved an inch before going still again. Her eyes opened, the light within them fading, her lips forming a soundless word. She shuddered in pain, but still she focused on the keys, still she tried to reach up to grab them.
For me.
"Get off of her!"
The shout tore from Loki's lips before he could think better of it. Ignoring the pain burning through his arms and torso, Loki burst from the hiding place. He crossed the space between them in two strides, one arm thrown in front of his face as if that would save him from the hail of blaster fire, and bodyslammed the Grandmaster.
They skidded, Grandmaster slapping at Loki. There was surprising strength behind the blows, but they were wild, clumsily aimed, as if he were an annoyed little kid slapping at his sibling. Loki grabbed his wrists, pinning them together in one hand, and cracked his cuff over the Grandmaster's face. Something cracked, blood spurting from the wound, and he went limp.
"Good job," Gamora praised from behind him, her voice hardly above a breath.
Loki dropped Grandmaster's arms, scrambling backwards. He yanked the keys from his belt. There were three, one for the chain that had never been reconnected, and one for each wrist. Loki chose one, tried it on both wrists, but it jammed in both. He tried the second on his left wrist, getting the same result. Then he tried it on his right wrist.
It popped open, falling to the ground. Strength flooded back into Loki, a tsunami of power that made him throw his head back in ecstasy. It coursed through him unchecked, powerful enough to snap the other cuff in two, doubling the magical energy surging within him.
It burned, sizzling against every atom of his being, threatened to pull him apart. Emerald power emanated from him, stopping any blaster fire that reached him in its tracks. Only then did he work to rein it in, siphoning some of it to where it normally lay within his core, waiting to be called on. It pulled his atoms back together, sped up the healing process, knitted his wounds back together, banished the weakness from his muscles.
He reached blindly behind him, grabbing Gamora. Energy flooded into her, making her jerk against his grip, choking on a scream. Loki directed it to her side, soothing the burns, rebuilding the damaged flesh, fixing the ruined shirt.
Golden light began mingling with the emerald. His dirtied, ragged clothes melted away, replaced by his familiar black and green leather with accents of gold armor. Dirt and grease lifted from his skin and hair, the long black strands untangling and curling back to their natural glory. The familiar weight of his horned helmet settled over his head.
"The prisoners- What the f… u… Sh-"
The light still glowing around him, Loki rose to his feet. His eyes snapped open, landing on the guards that had shot Gamora, on the ship that had imprisoned him, on the torturer now standing in front of him.
With a roar, he flung the remaining excess power at all of it, all of them. The guards disintegrated. The ship shattered, debris flying into the empty landscape beyond its hull. Grandmaster stayed, chains appearing around his wrists and ankles.
One rope of emerald wrapped around Beb's throat. Loki held his arm out, summoning her. She dug her heels in, eye panicked and huge, struggling. It made no difference. Loki's fist still wrapped around her throat, icy cold biting into her flesh.
"P-please-"
"Begging did not save me," he hissed, glowering down at her. "And it won't save you."
With one last surge of power, he crushed her throat in his fist. Crushed her body with his magic. Until there was only a tiny pile of residue by his feet.
"What the hell?"
Loki looked up, past the rapidly disappearing light, to see a Ravager, a heavily tattooed grey man, a tree, and a raccoon.
"Who the… who are you people?" Loki rasped.
A/N: Between this and Hidden Heartbeat, I think I have a thing for letting Loki have a really triumphant moment and then immediately yanking the rug out from under him...
