The Trickster: Ragnarok
by: Shadow Chaser
Disclaimer:
I do not own any characters from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. All characters belong to Marvel Entertainment, Marvel Comics, and Disney. I am not writing this story for profit, only for my own (twisted) amusement. I will try to return the characters unharmed, but some they might have a few scuff marks.
Story:
Chapter 17
Loki swiftly crossed the room in quick strides Gungnir leveled towards Sleipnir's neck. The man tilted his head back a little to avoid being skewered, the sound of laughter softly dying away. But the too-wide smile and insane light of his eyes told Loki that Sleipnir still found it amusing. He met those icy blue eyes with a mirthless one of his own. "I have half a mind to actually consider your request Sleipnir," he said quietly, aware that Romanov had stood up and was watching the two of them, but had not made any overt moves to stop what had happened. He was secretly pleased with her restraint; she understood him on some level. He was glad that when he had first chosen her to watch over him in place of Thor three years ago, it had not been misguided or foolhardy – unlike the rest of the Avengers.
"Then do it," the other man hissed, attempting to goad him, "what are you waiting for? Give into your baser instincts! I did kill your precious beloved mother-"
Loki only snorted quietly as he stared at the mad flame-haired mage who smiled again and shook his head a little, his neck grazing the tip of Gungnir, drawing a thin line of blood.
"No? Would you like me to describe how I approached her, telling her that Asgard's defenses were down, that it was my fault. How she was horrified at my actions, before she drew her sword and attacked when I tried to skewer her from behind? How she flung her meager spells at me-" The chuckle that fell from his lips was giddy-sounding, "I-I can do that, I can tell you all of the details-"
"Summon him," Loki interrupted, resolutely ignoring Sleipnir's babbling as he tightened his grip on Gungnir. He heard the faint caw of one of the ravens behind him, but did not turn to acknowledge which one it was. He could feel through the thrum of Gungnir's staff that it was Muunin. Huugin was just outside the door, apparently preventing someone from entering, judging by the feel of magick nearby.
"W-What?" Sleipnir blinked, a little thrown from his interruption.
"Summon him," Loki stated again, staring at the mage, "go on, summon your master, familiar."
The mad laughter immediately died on Sleipnir's lips as his expression instantly closed and his gaze became stony and hard. Loki's smile got a little wider as he nodded and shook his head, "I thought so." He lowered Gungnir's point a little and took a step back.
"And what would you know of it?!" Sleipnir suddenly bit out harshly as he lunged forward. The chains rattled loudly as they restrained him only just. "What the fucking hell would you know of magick when you are nothing but a Jotun magister whelp who thinks he's the ultimate power and nothing but a charlatan?! You do not know anything about-"
Loki tightened his grip on Gungnir as he held it parallel to the ground with one hand, "I know enough that your master Baldr would have already summoned you twice over if not more. The tugs and bonds that a familiar has with its keeper can not be broken. That you, with your core ripped from you, sustained yourself by giving into the yearning of having one instead of doing what you could have done."
"And what the fuck could I have done?!" Sleipnir swore in the Midgardian fashion, his teeth bared in anger as he pulled against his restraints again. Loki knew that his words were getting to the other man and knew the reason why they were getting to him. This was not the composed Sleipnir he had met when he had first arrived on Asgard, nor the Sleipnir in the library. He recognized all of the signs and while he knew there was maybe a time long, long ago he would have felt pity, he felt nothing for the other man, not even a sense of disgust.
"You think I would succumb to madness?! Like you're going to fucking do with Jormungandr?!"
Loki raised an eyebrow and tilted his head, "And this is not madness?"
"You know nothing, Loki Odinson," Sleipnir sneered, shaking his head as he pulled on his chains again, taking a few steps forward as Loki stepped back towards the table where Agent Romanov had been sitting to question Sleipnir. "Just you wait, you son of a bitch. You'll understand when one day, you're gonna get a knife in your back or a poisoned blade to your heart because you fucking don't understand the consequences of having your core ripped out. I hope that wherever I am by then, I see Jormungandr doing that to you-"
Loki stared at the man who was starting to spit his words, "You think that by mentioning Jormungandr it would illicit, what? Sympathy? Make me think that I need to do something about him?"
"Muunin gets the danger," Sleipnir jerked his chin behind Loki and he turned his head a little to see Muunin standing in his human form next to Agent Romanov. "Isn't that right, little raven? Last thing I remembered about you, you were skewered on the end of my father's blade, mortally wounded." There was a hitching sort of laugh from Sleipnir as he continued, "What? Let me guess, your brother couldn't heal you – he was always pathetically weak in the magickal arts that I have no idea why he was with our coterie. He couldn't heal you and asked Odin to take whatever was left of your heart, use his core to heal it in exchange for serving Odin as his familiar for the end of his days."
Loki saw that with each word, the human-formed raven's stony look was becoming even stonier and angry. He had never heard of this about the raven familiars of Odin, but it made sense he suppose.
"...My King..." Muunin's words were a strained whisper and Loki glanced down to see the younger-looking man's eyes blazing with barely restrained fury. His nostrils flared with each breath he heaved and his fingers were curled into fists. The matte black feather-like tunic he was wearing was almost rippling with unseen power.
Sleipnir barked out a laugh, "Do you bear that scar? Come on, show it, show it to me! The scar where your heart used to be-"
The red-haired man did not get to finish his words as in that second, something seemingly snapped inside of Muunin and in one blink, his human form was gone, replaced by a raven before in another blink, the human form was back – but with a glinting sharp wicked dagger in his hand as he slashed across Sleipnir's face. It happened so fast that even Loki found himself a little more than impressed at the speed and brutality in which flecks of blood and cuts appeared on Sleipnir. He thought he saw the blur of a talon, though he heard the silent screech of angry wings, and with each blink of his eye, saw Muunin dancing in and out of his animal form, knife occasionally slashing this way and that, but more often than not he could see that it was the talons and beak that was cutting at Sleipnir.
"Muunin," he said just as the raven suddenly appeared with a quiet popping sound and the dagger in his hand was held precariously against one of Sleipnir's eyelids. The other man seemed unaffected by the attack he had just been subjected to, even though blood dripped down from the numerous cuts that had been inflicted on him. In fact, Sleipnir seemed pleased more than anything else as his eyes darted back and forth between the closeness of Muunin and Loki who stood back watching everything.
"My King," the raven's voice was cold, far more so than the monotone that Loki had ever heard, but it did not bother him.
Instead, he flicked a quick look up at where he thought the observation room was in the cell, wondering if any of the Avengers he was sure had gathered in the interim, was going to say anything. After a few moments of silence, Loki turned his gaze back down to Muunin and Sleipnir once more. He had readily underestimated the new Director of SHIELD if Agent Coulson did not say anything. He would have expected a sarcastic remark from Stark or even a word of protest from the good Captain himself at what had just happened.
He settled his gaze on the raven who stepped back, the dagger that was in his hand flicked away by a quick movement of fingers. The human-formed raven then turned and bowed his head at him, waiting as if he knew what he had just done was grounds for chastisement or punishment. Loki only stared at him some more, waiting for the moment- There! Muunin suddenly drew in a sharp breath
"Odin's anger was also my own, sire," the raven said quietly before backing away and standing with his head bowed, looking at the ground.
"And yet, I wonder why," Loki murmured as he turned to stare at Sleipnir and took a step forward. "Summon him," he said again and saw the red-haired man's chin lift up in defiance. "No?"
Sleipnir did not say anything and only blinked at him as blood dripped down his face from the fresh cuts he had received. Silence reigned between them for a few minutes as Loki studied the former mage. Muunin's actions, though foolhardy and stupid in his opinion, had proven something he had been wondering about for a long time regarding their status as Odin's familiars. That they literally were Odin's eyes and ears and that Odin had some amount of control over them. It had also proven to him that Sleipnir was the same, but even though he had let Muunin try to provoke him, it had done nothing.
He gave a theatrical sigh as he drew the chair that Romanov had been sitting in around the table and sat on it, placing Gungnir on his lap as he absently rolled it in his fingers. "You think there is a choice-"
"There is always a choice," Sleipnir spat out a wad of blood that had pooled at the corner of his lips, "and I know your ways, Odinson-"
"Yes, but the statement is, you think there is a choice," Loki waved a dismissive hand at him as he leaned forward and stared at the mage, "when you can easily use the geas you have with Baldr and escape these bonds."
"They're spelled-" he jangled the chains and the corner of Loki's lips twitched up in an unkind smile.
"And when have they stopped you, Sleipnir?" he asked, rubbing his chin in an absent manner. "Having depleted your magick by arriving in Asgard you easily used the geas you shared with Baldr in an attempt to rid Asgard's defenses of me. Clever, I will give you that, especially since your initial plan failed and you relied upon the fact that I would go gallivanting after my idiotic brother. You might have thought it a noble purpose that I would somehow save Thor from your master. But no matter, whatever you thought, the main thing was that I was gone from Asgard, the only one who had surmised your plans and could have warned the Allfather of the invasion from Malekith wielding the Aether and the Dark Elves."
He met Sleipnir's icy blue eyes with his own, "So why not use that same geas and summon him? Return to him, break the chains of your imprisonment and escape?"
Silence answered him as they stared at each other.
Loki tilted his head to the side, "Agent Romanov was correct; you knew what was to come and yet you let it happen. Now, whatever shreds and remnants of guilt and culpability you have makes you stay here, in the chains you could easily shake if you just simply reach out and use the geas like you had used before." He stopped rolling Gungnir in his fingers and gripped it, "Summon him. Summon Baldr. The binding of a familiar coupled with the power of the geas gives you such an ability."
Sleipnir continued to be tight-lipped and silent before he finally opened his mouth. "...No..." his voice was incredibly hoarse, a far cry from the insane laugh and blithe attitude he had displayed only moments ago.
"No?" Loki affected a confused expression.
Sleipnir shook his head violently, flecks of blood spraying into the air. "...No...I won't...I...can't...you...can't make me..." Sweat suddenly beaded across his face as it mingled with the blood before the other man closed his eyes and shuddered, his form twitching and jerking a little. He opened his eyes again and stared at the ground, as if it was the only thing in his world.
The intercom clicked, "Loki, what-"
Loki held up a hand, sensing Agent Romanov moving behind him and also to forestall anything Coulson was going to say as Sleipnir shuddered some more before finally looking up at him.
"Not so pleasant, is it not, fighting a geas?" he asked conversationally.
"Y-You should...know," Sleipnir choked out, his voice still hoarse before he chuckled weakly, "I heard there were stitchings-" His breath stuttered a little and he grimaced, "-involved w-with yours..."
Loki resisted the urge to rub his lips where he could feel the beginnings of rough thread almost pressing on his lips, forcing him to speak through the blood and pain at anything. Instead, he pressed them tightly to rid himself of the phantom touch and watched as Sleipnir suddenly sagged against his chains. The mage's head almost hit the concrete ground if it was not for the fact that his arms held a majority of his body's weight. He took it as his cue to rise from his seat and walked forward, kneeling in front of the red-haired mage as he leveled Gungnir's point again underneath the other man's chin.
Loki deliberately brought the other man's head up and this close, he could clearly see the signs of exhaustion, of bruises and sharp cuts. All geas made had a punishment mechanism built into it, and he supposed that Sleipnir's was perhaps slowly draining the vitality and life out of him. He could see a myriad of emotions swirling in the other man's icy blue eyes felt a stab of anger rise in him It would have been so easy to skewer Sleipnir through at that moment, but he restrained himself. "Baldr," he stated, "I know you can hear me even though you've left your puppet. It seems my brother is still useful for keeping your attention divided. I will find you, and you will answer for your crimes against Asgard and the House of Odin."
Loki stood up and thumped the end of Gungnir onto the ground, feeling the wash of power rush through him at the binding command as the current ruler of Asgard. Task done, he turned and saw Agent Romanov looking at him with an unreadable gaze while Muunin kept his head bowed. Ignoring her, he took a few steps towards the door when he heard the jangle of chains behind him and paused.
"...Kill me...please..." Sleipnir whispered in a broken tone, "...kill me before anyone else dies because of me..."
Loki stared at the door for a moment before shrugging, "No." He took another step forward-
"I didn't mean any of it! I didn't- Please kill me! I want to die! I didn't mean to kill her, I didn't mean it! I couldn't-"
Loki did not even bother to listen to anymore of the mage's words as he stepped out of the door, Romanov and Muunin following him. He could hear the other man laughing and crying at the same time, having finally broken down over his actions as the door slid shut behind them. There was perhaps a time he would have killed him in revenge for his mother's death, but Loki was not feeling charitable. He heard the faint caw of Muunin as he perched himself on the tip of Gungnir, having changed back into a raven. Another soft echoing caw answered him and Loki saw Huugin flying towards them, Jormungandr not far behind. He watched as Huugin settled onto a lower perch on Gungnir before tilting his avian head up to Muunin in a silent question to which the other raven cawed and ruffled his feathers a little. Huugin only dug a beak into his brother's tail in harsh affection.
"Loki," Jormungandr spoke up, bringing his attention around to him as he caught Romanov staring at the ravens like he had. He could feel the tell-tale sign of healing magick all over Jormungandr and frowned.
"You wasted the magick," he stated and saw the younger man flinch.
"I drank poison," the young Healer admitted with a small grimace, "it took the rest to get it out of my system. I promise I will not do that again and let it run its course-"
"What is it," Loki could clearly see that Jormungandr had approached with the intention of speaking about something else and brushed past his fumbling apology. He did not need another groveling at him, it was bothersome and sycophantic.
"There's another-" Jormungandr stopped speaking and his eyes darted to the side just as Loki saw the rest of the Avengers arriving.
He had been right; they had all been watching in the observation room above the cell. He arched an eyebrow at the young mage, but Jormungandr shook his head rapidly, unwilling to say what he wanted to say in front of the others. That piqued Loki's curiosity – Jormungandr almost never wanted to speak in secret, especially since they had arrived. He had deliberately left him with the Avengers along with the bag of healing stones and some borrowed magick to see what he would do with it while he and Dr. Banner explored options to find Thor and Baldr. He spied upon Jormungandr's conversation with Sleipnir earlier through the use of Gungnir and the ravens, and had not been disappointed that the mage had revealed that he was a son of Thanos and thus Sleipnir's half brother with several thousand of years in between them. Jormungandr was not one to hide anything from the Avengers, so this development was new.
"I think it's safe to say that Sleipnir, Strucker, whomever he is, has officially gone off his rocker," Stark said sarcastically as he yawned and stretched his arms wide.
"You got a plan, Loki?" it was Captain Rogers that had spoken up and he glanced at the man who was holding his shield loosely in his hand. He was a little more than surprised to see the metal-armed man shadowing him, having not been previously seen near the Captain at all or anywhere else save for the brief moment he was outside watching everything with a cool-eyed gaze.
"I would think it obvious by keeping Sleipnir alive that you would be overjoyed to hear that Baldr can just barely control Thor," he replied and saw a small frown appear on the Captain's face. That was not the answer he was expecting, but Loki was not inclined to answer him.
"It's good," Coulson spoke up next to the Captain, "but also doesn't get us anywhere. I'm presuming that your little stunt to try to get Sleipnir to use his geas to summon Baldr here's not going to work?"
"It will work," Loki shrugged, "only if Sleipnir is compelled to let it-"
"Okay," Coulson held up a hand, "hold on there. If you mean by compelled, it's cold-blooded torture, that's fine-"
"Wait, what?!" Stark protested and Loki could see Banner and the dark-skinned winged man behind them all blinking in shock. Amusingly, he saw Barton and Romanov nod their heads a little bit at the Director's words. Captain Rogers had a frown on his face while the metal-armed man's was coolly indifferent.
"Coulson, we're not-"
"And fine in the sense that if Sleipnir really was himself, we'd treat him like himself," Coulson overrode whatever protests fell from Stark's lips, "but what you're suggesting is to use the geas, a method that's pretty barbaric and cruel to get to Baldr and Thor. I don't think that if Thor knew about this-"
"How little you know of geas, Director, even back then and now," he sneered at them, "it is a cruel method. It is barbaric. Why in the Nornforsaken realms do you think it was outlawed?! It is blood magick and it is binding the soul to the agreement with another person. It is able to be compelled, to be used, to have it used against you, to have it use for you. Only those desperate enough would do such a thing! That desperation leads to such a hunger that they would use such magick to bind their souls to another and force obedience into whatever made such a geas contract!"
He laughed bitterly, "You should count yourselves lucky that Fury was so ignorant about the geas and its true power in what it can do. That he was able to make not one, but two without minimal consequence!"
"And you were being generous, hah!" Stark crowed in an ugly tone, "fucking fat chance Loki."
"And you were that desperate?" Coulson leveled him with a look that Loki did not like. He knew that Coulson was referring to the geas he had made with Thanos and ignored it, as he shook the ravens off of Gungnir. They flapped and flew into the air before he heard the faint pop of them transforming into their human forms.
"Desperation is like the black abyss," he shot back as he blindly extended his hand out. Moments later, he felt Jormungandr's familiar weight slithering up his hand and arm before the snake curled around his shoulder and settled his head near by. "Sleipnir is not desperate enough."
"I have to agree," Romanov spoke up, bringing everyone's gaze to her, "he's got a point. Sleipnir wants to die, but if we leave him be, he'll give up Baldr's location, with or without the geas in him. Maybe he'll be even more desperate and use the geas as a locator or something so we can actually find Baldr."
"Or use it to escape," Huugin muttered none too loudly behind him and Loki glanced at the raven who was standing shoulder to shoulder next to Muunin. This close together, he could easily see family resemblance between the two, the small narrow faces, though Huugin was more heart-shaped than Muunin's rat-like angular face.
"Wait, he can use it to escape? But I thought those chains-"
"You planted something on him," Romanov interrupted the dark-skinned man who had mechanized wings, as she stared at Muunin who met her gaze unblinkingly and gave a small nod.
"Clever spider," the raven's voice had returned to the same monontone, but Loki could still hear the undercurrent of guilt in it after his earlier actions.
"Want to fill us in on what we might be expecting when, not if, but when Baldr shows up here or we find him or whatever happens?" Coulson asked and Loki saw the ravens look at him.
He shrugged before waving an absent hand at them as he turned and started to walk away. He did not care for whatever history the ravens wished to spill about the House of Bor. It was not his concern. Baldr was weakened, that was all he needed to know, and there was nothing to fear by whatever tales of yore the ravens wanted to spin to the rest of the Avengers. And if Baldr was weakened it meant that he himself had a chance... As he walked further away from the small group, he reached up and absently pressed his fingers to the corner of his lips, feeling the rough feel of stitches against his fingers. He pulled his fingers away and saw the small spots of blood on them before he watched it disappear, the faint glamour of spellwork doing its job.
Time was running out.
Natasha could not help but feel that something was off about Loki as he walked away from them. It felt like he was starting to look over his shoulder at something they could not see, but he could see in all of its ugly glory. There was something familiar about it, but she could not pinpoint it as she turned her attention back to the ravens who stood shoulder-to-shoulder with each other. She could not help the faint amusement at such a gesture, a very avian-like one, but looked odd when they were in their human forms. In terms of behavior, birds pressed against each other for body-heat warmth, but also for protection and comfort. It was also a way for avians to communicate without resorting to loud caws, chirps, and cries that could be heard by others.
Her thoughts were echoed a moment later when both turned to look at each other, almost nose-to-nose by how close they were to each other before as one, they seemed to come to an agreement and turned to face the rest of them.
"We will speak of this," Muunin gestured with a hand towards them, "however, we require your discretion."
"Asgard's dirty laundry," Natasha heard Clint mutter none too loudly behind all of them and made a quick motion with her left fingers on her right shoulder blade – asshole – in the most endearing sense and heard the faint snort of laughter from James who had also caught the intended message to Clint.
"Will the common room do? I get the feeling this is gonna be a long one," Coulson asked and the ravens nodded before turning and heading towards the common area.
They all followed, Stark immediately heading to the open bar to make himself something while Natasha settled herself on one of the loveseats as the others also sat down. She was not surprised to see James standing by the wall in the farthest corner, almost hiding in the shadows behind them, foregoing the comforts of the couches and chairs in the common area. However, she was surprised to see Steve sitting so near James and even with his back towards him. A small smile appeared on her lips at the sight – it seemed like James had made even more progress since their return from Karpov's base. Unsurprisingly, Sam sat next to Steve, though he stole a couple of looks towards where Stark was pouring himself a drink as well as making a communal pot of coffee. She supposed that Sam was considering whether or not he needed a drink at this ungodly morning hour.
Bruce had taken a couch near her and Natasha automatically curled her feet inward as Clint unceremoniously flopped down on the cushion next to her, his fingers absently fiddling with his bow. He was frowning at something and Natasha followed his gaze to where a glass was sitting on the coffee table next to the bag of healing stones that Jormungandr had been working on.
"Uh, I wouldn't touch it," Clint warned as she tentatively reached over. She glanced at him. "Hel was here, fucking with the kid's head. Kind of poisoned him or something. Kind of sucked that it didn't kill him, but I don't know if whatever he drank extends to the glass."
"Is that why my shield was here?" Steve asked and Clint shrugged.
"I ain't saying no to the ruler of dead-people land when she asks that I put something here and there," Clint replied.
"Hel asked you to take my shield and put it half underneath Jormungandr?" Steve looked confused.
"Yep," Clint shrugged, "don't know why, don't even wanna ask. Also don't want to know how the hell- er, how the heck she was able to leave her realm this time either. My guess, Loki, that fucker."
"Your shield has magick-imbued properties and Jormungandr lacks a core. His recovery would have been shortened with a magick-imbued object next to him," Muunin suddenly spoke up, his head tilted like a bird, "did you not know this, Captain Rogers? It is why it has protected you for all these years. That same magick is in your companion's arm. Nidhogg's scales are rare and very hard to come by."
"Uh, it's made out of vibranium," Tony spoke up as he walked over with two drinks in hand and dropped one off next to Sam who looked a little happier before taking a seat and a sip of his own drink. "Coffee's in the pot if anyone wants some. Salt's on the second shelf." His last comment was directed to James whom Natasha had learned liked his coffee with salt in it instead of sugar. It was a very United States Navy style, which completely clashed with the fact that James had served in the Army. She wondered if it was a taste he had acquired when he became the Winter Soldier.
"Nidhogg's scales," Muunin repeated, "your vibranium. Rarely does she shed her scales and sends them into the abyss of Yggdrasil as meteors of metal and magick."
"Nidhogg's a really large dragon in the Norse myths," Coulson stated, looking a little bewildered, "even I have a hard time believing that a dragon of all things, exists." He smiled bracingly at Steve, "Kind of read up on Norse myths after everything."
Steve gave a small shrug, indicating that he did not mind that someone else was taking the lead on the whole Norse mythology thing and Natasha hid a smile as she ducked her head a little. It was like Couslon to read up on the Norse myths after discovering that Steve was a huge mythology buff. To her, it made sense in the fact that growing up skinny and bullied by those larger than himself, he looked up to the heroes and myths of old to at least get himself lost in some childhood fantasy before the realities of the world set in. She tilted her head a little as she glanced at James out of the corner of her eyes and wondered if James knew as much as Steve regarding mythology, heroes, and stories. It would seem prudent, but he had not really spoken up about any of this since Loki had arrived. The fact that he seemed unfazed, even by her critical eye and knowledge of his habits, lent credence to her thoughts, but then again, she also knew that James had a very dry and wicked sense of humor and would keep quiet just to see if Steve would dig himself into a metaphoric hole or not.
The ravens looked at one another, silently communicating as Natasha watched them. For all intents and purposes, one could not even discern the slightest movement, nor even a hint of what was spoken in their eyes, but just then, she caught the barest movement from Huugin – what looked like the tiniest shrug. However, the movement was gone in the blink of an eye before the ravens turned back to look at them, having come to a silent agreement of sorts.
"For our extensive knowledge and lore, even we do not know what Nidhogg is," Muunin admitted.
"Not even Odin?" Natasha jumped in and saw both ravens look at her. She met their dead-eye stares with a placid one of her own and saw the tilt of their heads in the same direction – which looked disconcertingly odd – but she supposed it made sense considering that they were brothers and ravens.
"The Allfather does not speak my words, little spider," Muunin's shoulders hunched forward a little bit; whether out of guilt for what he had done to Sleipnir or the fact that he had lost control of himself when the ravens had been shown to be utterly unflappable and nonplussed before, she did not know. However, she felt a little relieved to see that even the ravens were not immune to such behaviors nor were they unaffected by what had happened in the last day or so. She supposed that it could be a remnant of their Court upbringing, being close to the royal family and all, but it comforted her to some degree.
"We know she resides in the deepest levels of Helheim, near the roots of Yggdrasil. Lady Hel would not respond to our inquiries regarding Nidhogg, even by Court order," Muunin explained with a flat look at everyone. Natasha suspected that it was how he always looked, having forgotten what it was to be expressive after however many thousands of years of being in a raven's form.
"This Nidhogg got anything to do with what's going on?" Bruce asked, rubbing his chin as he leaned back against the chair he was sitting in. He looked tired and Natasha wondered if he had slept at all or had just gone down to the basement to work out some of whatever frustration and anger he had been feeling lately as the Hulk. She was betting the latter rather than the former.
"All associates of Thanos bear extensive watch," Huugin spoke up, his tone unusually sharp and angry, "and more often than not, they are disposed of."
"You mean, they're killed," Steve spoke up from where he sat as Muunin turned sharply to his brother, who met his look with the same visibly sharp angry one before something seemed to deflate and the raven reverted back to his neutral expression.
"Thanos is a plague upon the House of Bor and the House of Odin since time immemorial," Muunin explained, "anything or anyone associated with Thanos has been watched by those who know what he is capable of and what manner of madness he can induce in others."
"Bidden to watch over?" Banner asked and Natasha shot him a look to which the scientist gave her a small shrug. She nodded and looked at the ravens and saw Muunin's lips twitch a little in what looked like a smile directed at Bruce.
"Insomuch as what the Allfather had commanded three years previous," Muunin acknowledged, "tis well that you remember such words, Dr. Banner. It was something we had not anticipated nor realized until it was too late for the previous Crown Prince as he fell into madness as part of Thanos' scheme."
"The Infinity Stones, gems, whatever the heck those things are that we saw in your little illusion trip," Sam interjected from the corner, "Bor and Thanos, they were rivals and allies?"
"Yes," the human-formed raven replied, "Asgard is a race of conquerors. We conquered."
"Using the Infinity stones," Tony took another sip of his drink, pursing his lips together, "that's just great."
"You would do the same, you did the same when Prince Loki arrived three years previous did you not, Tony Stark? Director Coulson? SHIELD used the Space Gem in an attempt to produce weapons to defend itself-"
"HYDRA-"
"And your Centipede Project-'
"That's not SHIELD, that was HYDRA-"
"But you allowed them to grow like a parasite...was Dr. Zola's words if I am not mistaken-"
"That's-" Natasha could see Phil's expression close before he took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "That's true, and yes, we should have known, but I feel like it's the pot calling kettle black for you guys."
Surprisingly, instead of the defensive and arrogance she expected from the ravens, considering the Allfather's lack of communication at times along with the fact that Asgard's opinion of Midgard was akin to a whimsical fantasy at times – Thor not withstanding – the raven instead gave them a broad smile. "You are correct, Director," Muunin replied and Natasha realized that while Odin might have held them in contempt, especially during the treatise, treaty, whatever it was called, made two years ago, the ravens had completely different opinions about them. That was interesting, yet she dared not say it was refreshing. She knew the others probably had a different opinion than her.
"When the conquering was finished, the Dark Elves of Svartlheim sent into the darkness, the Jotun magisters purged and a new ruling class installed, Bor Allfather had known Thanos to seek the other stones elsewhere and make war with others. He expected the Mad Titan to perish in the attempt at reclaiming the other three Infinity Stones against the Mind Gem he held," Muunin started quietly and to Natasha's surprise, she found herself tensing a little, wondering if they were going to see more things that they could not turn away from. But when nothing seemed to materialize in front of her eyes, she found herself relaxing.
"No visual aids this time?" Tony spoke up, thinking along the same lines and Muunin gave them a flat look before continuing.
"The Allfather did not expect Thanos to turn his gaze towards Asgard itself and claim the Infinity Stone that was in its possession, the Tesseract known as the Space Gem. We do not know when it had started, but my brother happened upon a chance conversation between Sleipnir and the Crown Prince, the current Loki's namesake."
"Happened upon?"
Muunin stared at Clint who had a disbelieving look on his face, but it was Bruce who answered Clint's question, "Clint, look at their outfits...they were Court...pages? Right? Messengers? They're probably ignored or not even seen if the Court was anything like what we encountered."
Muunin nodded once, "Even after we were accepted into the coterie of the Crown Prince and his brothers. It was the only capacity my brother could serve in and I served along side him."
"You're a warrior," Natasha narrowed her eyes fractionally as she remembered how fast the raven had moved in his furious attack against Sleipnir. The raven turned his dead-eyed look on her and blinked once.
"Muunin was and still is one of the best...Lord of Swords to Lady Sif's Lady of Swords," Huugin suddenly spoke up, his voice quiet, almost shy and all of them turned to see the raven blink a few times before ducking his head, as if he did not want the attention as he suddenly stepped behind his brother, seemingly hiding from them.
Something seemed to spark in the other raven's dead-eye gaze before it disappeared and he continued as if nothing had been revealed, "My brother happened upon a chance conversation between Sleipnir and the Crown Prince on an errand for the youngest prince Baldr. The conversation was of Sleipnir's father Thanos and of the Crown Prince's willingness to help his adopted son put to rest the madness he thought Thanos was wrecking havoc upon the realms outside of the Nine.
"It seemed the Crown Prince had cautioned him not to, to not rush into such things and to act with caution. Baldr was told of this conversation as we served all three Princes with equal aplomb. The coterie had to bee unified under the Crown Prince's rule, with his brothers supporting him and eliminating any and all resistances to the Crown Prince's eventual rise to Allfather. As was custom to eliminate any and all obstacles that may arise during the Crown Prince's eventual ascent, we suspected Baldr dealt with Thanos or at least confronted him with Sleipnir.
"He and Sleipnir returned and told those at Court the matter was at a rest. But we should have known that Baldr wished for power, wished for the throne, third in line to two powerful brothers, Loki and Odin. At best, he would be made Adviser or perhaps Archmage of the whole of Asgard. Sleipnir's assurance as the Crown Prince's adopted son meant that he would already have a successor and even then, Odin was a formidable warrior and popular with the rest of the Court.
"We initially suspected that it had been Sleipnir's fault, because he was a son of Thanos and thus there was something in his blood, in his parentage that made him wholly unnatural. But it seems we were wrong in light of this new information regarding Baldr. It was years after the chance conversation that the Crown Prince began to go mad. Perhaps it was a geas made that we know nothing about, a geas influenced by the Mind Gem Thanos wielded. Little by little, the Crown Prince began to accuse Baldr of an attempted coup, of betraying the coterie and of taking power for himself. Perhaps it was not madness more so the truth buried underneath the guise of madness.
"The fight came to a head on the Bifrost, when the Crown Prince attacked Baldr who had been traveling with Freyr and Freya as they had dealt with rogue elements on Nidelheim. Both were slain as was Baldr. We now see that it might have been the power of the Mind Gem blinding us to the obvious that he had survived. My brother was sent to summon the rest of the coterie while Sleipnir, myself, Odin, and Heimdall were sent to confront the Crown Prince on his terrible deed."
The raven took a deep breath, his eyes seemingly taking on a far away gaze, "The battle was fierce, even for three warriors such as ourselves and Sleipnir, a mage taught by the Crown Prince himself. The Crown Prince was right to call himself a magister even though he was not one by blood. He was right to call himself one of Asgard's conquerors as we were such a race.
"When it came to deal the final blow, Sleipnir begged for his father's mercy, to spare him for his deed of slaying his youngest brother Baldr. But Odin loved Baldr and thought it magick, years of studies, years of acquiring such a dangerous power that had corrupted his older brother Loki. Odin thought it be more merciful to slay the Crown Prince than to let the madness continue. And so Odin attacked. Sleipnir defended his father, defended his absolute loyalty to the Crown Prince. We clashed and in the ensuing battle, the Crown Prince took advantage of our division. I was felled, as the others of the coterie arrived. Lady Frigga attempted to battle her way through, but the Crown Prince was too clever, too powerful."
The raven gave a wistful smile at them as he stared at a point on the ground, "If there was one thing Sleipnir has said that was true, it is sorrow he feels for killing the Queen. He had loved her, had been set to be her betrothed. He attempted to save Frigga and took a fatal blow for her." His body shook a little and Natasha realized that it was the avian equivalent of a bird ruffling its feathers, "The Crown Prince was far more powerful than any of us realized and when he mortally wounded Sleipnir, it had broken the profession of absolute loyalty, of fealty that a son of Thanos supposedly has. Sleipnir reacted on instinct and killed his father, the Crown Prince at the same time Heimdall cleaved him in half.
"With his dying breaths, the Crown Prince told Bor Allfather and Odin one name that had started all of this, Thanos," Muunin pressed his lips into a thin line, "Asgard went to war again, this time against Thanos. We conquered and Bor Allfather sacrificed himself to imprison Thanos into the shadows of Yggdrasil. Odin became Allfather, Frigga his Queen."
Natasha stared at the young man – who in reality was not so young as he looked – and she realized that the dead-eyed gaze that he and his brother always had was truly dead. If what Sleipnir had said in his rambling earlier, coupled with what Muunin had just said earlier regarding the fact that he was mortally wounded to the point of almost dying on the Bifrost; it meant that the two were actually dead. Only alive because they were Odin's familiars; Odin's eyes and ears in the very literal sense. They were kept alive due to whatever magick fueled them even though it seemed that Odin was a warrior through and through.
"Certainly explains why magic is such a hush-hush taboo subject on Asgard," Bruce commented softly before looking up at the ravens, "do you really believe that Baldr has a geas with Thanos like Loki, er, this Loki does? Like he has with Sleipnir?"
"I do not know," Muunin answered, "I only speculate with this new information given. For a long time we believe Baldr to be innocent, to have been a victim of the Crown Prince's madness, but now..."
"You mentioned that Crown Prince Loki was a mage and Odin was a warrior, but you didn't say what Baldr was," Coulson spoke up, "what is he?"
"Would the healing stones be not obvious?" Muunin gestured to the bag that Jormungandr had been fiddling with earlier, "he was a member of the royal family and had access to the teachings his brothers had. Baldr was and still is a magister."
"Who's mind-controlling Thor with the Mind Gem," Tony spoke up, his voice on edge and thin smile on his face, "you said it, Asgard's a race of conquerors."
"Yeah, but he's not conquering anything at the moment," Steve pointed out, "I mean, if he's got Thor, got the sceptre, he's got everything he needs to level us, level the Earth. All he's done is show up and disappear in Union Square and we find out Asgard's been leveled by the Dark Elves and the Aether-"
"The Reality Gem," Muunin interjected.
"-but the question becomes, what is he waiting for?" Steve shook his head, "Or maybe not. You said that he was presumed dead and fell from the Bifrost right? It means he was probably more than likely wounded, right?"
"His blood was on the Bifrost, as was his body, however an illusion it may have been," Muunin answered with a curt nod.
"I see what you're getting at Steve," Sam nodded, "and yeah, seems a little odd. If he's that powerful, he could have, hate to say it, but really dug us six feet under when Tony and I were there. But he didn't. He just messed with our minds, trying to reclaim his weapon when if he really wanted Thor, he probably could have led the assault on London himself and get at Thor."
"But wouldn't that have alerted Heimdall or something?" Bruce asked.
"Before Asgard fell, Heimdall said that he could not see into those who would cloak themselves in shadow," Muunin explained.
"So he's, what, waiting?" Clint crossed his arms across his chest and absently fiddled with his bow that was slung across his lap. She heard the quiet whirrl and click of his arrow pack rotating through its arrowheads.
"I don't think Baldr can actually do anything," Steve slowly shook his head, "I think Loki's right; Baldr's just barely controlling Thor and its taking all of his mind and effort to do so. He can't do anything else. Maybe that's why he's been trying to summon Sleipnir back with the geas – so that he can send him to do something."
"Then the question becomes, why hasn't Sleipnir done something here," Natasha spoke up.
"Because he already has," Natasha had not even heard Jormungandr arrive and looked up to see the dark-haired man with the same icy blue eyes as Sleipnir staring at all of them, his hands clasped in front of him. Beyond him, she saw James staring at him from the shadows. When he had moved, she did not know, but she allowed herself the lapse in observation due to the short amount of sleep she had in between all of the chaos that had happened in recent days. Jormungandr looked like he was warring with something, but seemingly took a deep breath and let it out. "Loki surmised that the reason why Baldr has not done anything was that he was waiting for Gungnir. My mast-um, Loki's gone to confront him."
"How?! He got Sleipnir to-" Coulson stood up from his chair in alarm as did Natasha and the others. She was surprised that Loki was able to convince Sleipnir to use the geas when the other man clearly did not want to.
"No," Jormungandr shook his head before pointing to Steve's shield, "Loki had me scry my mother's scales. They are the only objects in the world that are able to contain the power of an Infinity Stone. The Infinity gauntlet, the sceptre, the Bifrost, all of it has an element of Nidhogg's scales that can channel the power of an Infinity Stone without destroying its user."
"Loki..." the younger man grimaced a little before seemingly squaring his shoulders, his expression resolute, "I am not beholden to his wishes nor am his familiar, so I give you this in good faith for my own reasons. These are the coordinates that I was able to scry to Baldr's location." He presented them with a scrap piece of paper and Natasha could see the unspoken request for them to save Loki because there was a very good chance he was walking right into a trap.
Author's Notes:
I had mental head casting for Freyr and Freya, but since Cate Blanchett is potentially in talks for a role in the actual "Thor: Ragnarok" movie, I'm going to kind of leave Freya not cast. Also, that's the full backstory for Odin's coterie in a nutshell. Things were...crazy back then and I hope it explains a little more about Odin's mindset regarding magic in Asgard.