Thanks to the lovely npeg for acting as my beta and adding a few of her own things to the previous chapter especially! This is my first published fanfic so I am still getting used to how things work on here. This was really the most difficult thing I've done since my dissertation! XD

I just want to warn you all that you are most likely in for an emotional roller-coaster of a ride, so for those who are easily affected by the feels, BE WARNED.

Also, I was heavily inspired by Idlewild's "Tell Me Ten Words" for quite a significant part of the story, which I wanted to introduce in the previous chapter. Hope you like :).

For this I suggest anything from the official soundtrack from the Avengers film, especially tracks of the New York battle scene.

Feedback always appreciated and encouraged.

I do not own any characters etc (apart from OC)

Of Gods and Monsters

It was, quite simply put, sheer chaos that engulfed the Island of Manhattan that day. A great dark hole in the sky exposed the crowds of workers, tourists, mothers and children to a wave of mindless cruelty and death. Swarms of dull silver and black seeped into the narrow streams of traffic, flashes of blue gave way to fire and smoke, and the sounds of blood curdling screams and shattering glass made the air thick with panic and desperation as people ran for their lives in vain.

And Loki watched.

"Loki! Turn off the Tesseract or I'll destroy it!" Thor yelled over the chaos that roared above and below as he stood upon the balcony of Stark Tower, eyeing the proud trickster of green and gold who was admiring the view.

"You can't! There is no stopping it. There is only... the war!" Loki sneered, pointing his sceptre towards his brother as a challenge. Thor, disappointment and anger simmering behind his tired eyes, accepted.

"So be it."

What followed was a short-lived battle of sibling rivalry as weapons collided and unbridled rage flowed through hit after hit. The fight was graceless and dirty; a far cry from their last feat on the Rainbow Bridge, and stray blue streams of energy from Loki's sceptre shattered glass and destroyed much of the tower's sign beneath them. Even the Quinjet's interruption was no match for the raging determination that flowed through every fibre of Loki's being, firing a pulse of blue energy at one of the engines and sending the jet crashing into the chaos below. The two gods continued their brawl, raging and unyielding, an invisible energy forming between them like the destructive force of a tornado as warm air met with cold.
Thor grabbed onto his brother as he deflected another blow and forced him to gaze upon the madness that had consumed the city as they fought.

"Look at this! Look around you!" Thor screamed. Loki's eyes, wide and feral, scanned the burning towers of shimmering silver as more of his flying demons descended upon the city.

"You think this madness will end with your rule!?"

Loki turned to face him. "It's too late… it's too late to stop it," he breathed. There was an air of doubt and exhaustion as he spoke, and for a moment he had honestly believed his own words.

"No," Thor replied in hope of finally reaching out to his lost younger brother. "We can. Together."

And just as he had done on the mountain the previous night, when he had been pulled from the small Midgardian craft only to be interrogated by his idiot of a brother, Loki felt real confliction.

'You give up this poisonous dream and you come home.'

For the briefest of moments he had lowered his guard and allowed his heart to rattle the confines of its prison as he recalled what that word had meant to him. The warmth of those many memories of his life on Asgard crept through his very bones and smothered the cold that clung to them. Memories before that fateful journey to Jotenheim, before he uncovered the greatest lie that was never his own, before he chose to let go of everything and welcome the nothingness that awaited him. But it had been a false life, a lie burned into his flesh as clear as his Joten skin was blue beneath its alabaster veil, and it would never go away. There was no stopping it. It was too late –two millennia too late.

Fate had brought them to this moment, but it had not placed the dagger in Loki's hand. Just as every soul in all the nine realms would someday be tested with a choice, like a traveller approaching a fork in his long and winding road, Loki now faced his, and it would be a decision that would determine his fate and the fate of many.

Loki's choice that day was one laced with poison.

His eyes glassy, and with a faint smile, Loki let go for a second time, just as he had on the shards of the Bifrost, and thrust the dagger into his brother's side.
Thor staggered as the dagger pierced his side and a searing pain accompanied with dizziness consumed his body. Loki straitened his posture and gazed upon his fallen brother as he succumbed to the poison, a faint smile still tugging at his lips as a single tear ran down his cheek.

"Sentiment…" he breathed. A word he associated with weakness, and all that was wrong with the world he intended to rule, and Thor would witness the price of such a weakness before he breathed his last breath. Loki would make sure of it.

He sneered at the fallen god that slumped beneath him.

"It will be your undoing."

Loki raised a foot to rest on his brother's shoulder and kicked him down so that he fell onto his back, exposing the seeping wound in his side. Thor grunted at the pain as Loki bent down and removed the dagger, hovering over him as he admired the sheen of crimson on the blade.

"Not the poison that now courses through your veins, but the weakness of your misplaced faith in humanity," he spat, rising to loom over his brother as the hot crimson trickling from his side darkened the vibrant red of his cape.

"Sentiment is a far greater poison."

The trickster circled his victim, continuing to admire the blade between his elegant fingers, catching the light in short-lived flashes of brilliance. Thor tried to lift himself from the ground but only managed to pull himself to a sitting position against the glass wall of the balcony, clutching his side and noticing the true extent of his injuries as he raised his shaking hand to reveal a bloody palm.

"It won't heal," Loki said flatly, "Not in time to spare you from what I have planned for you. It drains you of your immortality. It is something that I discovered in my… absence, and from personal experience I can assure you that it can be agonising. Although I admit that it was perhaps not as potent as the concentration I offered you. What with your Asgardian brutish physique, I thought you may require a stronger dose."

He gestured to his brother mockingly as he paced, sneering. "It tastes good, does it not?"

Thor stared at him angrily through eyelashes but said nothing.

"The Chitauri have other means of torture than their barbaric weaponry."

Loki idly threw the dagger aside and approached him, lowering his sceptre to rest on his chest as it rose and fell, heavy and slow. Thor's arms were limp by his side but his eyes remained fixed on Loki's.

"Now…" he began, as the sneer melted from his features, "I intend to make use of that heart of yours before it falters."

. . .

"Stark! Are you seeing this!?"

"Seeing, still working on believing. JARVIS, find me a soft spot."

Tony stalked the giant flying creature from a neighbouring street. The fight was frankly getting rather ridiculously out of hand and they had not planned for giant alien serpent pets. In all honestly they hadn't really planned anything at all, so Tony took the initiative and did what he does best – shoot first, ask questions later. However, the shooting wasn't stopping the floodgates in the heavens above. They needed Banner, and fast. And where the hell was Thor?

"What the – JARVIS, scrap that. I've found one."

He could see, through slight adjustment to his visuals at about 50% magnification, Loki looming over a wounded Thor on the tower. It was not a good sign if the demi-god – and if Tony was being perfectly honest with himself their most powerful team member next to Banner – was out for the count. Repulsors firing and weapons at the ready, Tony abandoned the giant flying eel and shot towards the tower.

. . .

"Now, I intend to make use of that heart of yours before it falters."

The blue glow of Loki's sceptre intensified and a low hum emitted from within its core, but before anything was able to pass from within the crystal to its metal tip a huge surge of energy hit his side and sent him flying across the concrete floor of the balcony.

"As much as I loved our little talk earlier I'd appreciate it if you'd, y'know, get the hell off my property, if you insist on having one of your family feuds. The place is new."

Tony landed on the balcony, hands at the ready for any sign of retaliation but eyes focused on the wounded demi-god slumped against the glass looking worse for wear. There was a loud grunting noise and a hiss of anger as Loki stood, a thin veil of smoke trickling from his garments and eyes seething with anger.

'Fuck.'

"You are persistent," Loki breathed through gritted teeth as he steadied himself using his sceptre.

"In case you hadn't noticed I'm not the quittin' type. Now what's it gunna be, the door? Or the balcony? Cos' I really don't care, either way you're getting a face full o' pain."

Tony activated the rest of his artillery to standby, the repulsors on his gloves humming at the ready. With a quick jolt of his arm Loki fired a flash of blue energy at Tony who managed to dodge fast enough to come away relatively unscathed, retaliating by firing repulsors at the trickster god. There was much dodging of artillery before Tony was able to fly close enough to land a punch on the god's face, knocking the horned helmet clear across the balcony. Loki sneered as another attempt by the Iron Man met nothing but air, his clenched metal fist flying through an apparition of the smirking god before being flung through a window into his living room by a flash of blue. Loki chuckled from the far side of the balcony. Tony emerged, screen on his HUD flickering slightly and eyes focused intently on the enemy mocking him. The sceptre hummed and Loki readied himself to fire, pulling his arm back, as Tony raised his repulsors in response.

It was déjà vu. The two bolts of energy met in a glass-shattering and ear-ringing explosion that sent a shockwave through the top floor of the tower and threw both men clean off their feet.
When the dust had settled, and Tony's suit had managed to reboot itself, he was met with both the satisfaction of breaking his enemy's beloved weapon, and the gut-retching disappointment of breaking his own. There was nothing but bad news on his HUD as it flickered erratically.

"Sir, all communication systems have been severely damaged, there is a critical malfunction in the propulsion turbines and power is rapidly depleting –"

"Dearly noted – and here I was thinking it was Christmas."

Flashing lights and text in a variety of colours filled the visuals of his HUD as error message after error message and the words 'CRITICAL MALFUNCTION' invaded his vision.

Loki stood, a little shakier than before, and examined the barely functioning weapon in his hand. The blue glow that had been ever-present was now barely a flicker at its core. The trickster sighed in exasperation and then his eyes, cold and raging, shot up to glare at Tony, who had yet to move from his rather awkward position, half on the balcony and half leaning over its edge.

Tony could hear the footsteps of his enemy over the screams in the streets below, but they were not approaching him. Tony managed to right himself, slumping away from the edge of the balcony, and noticed that Loki was not retaliating, but was instead more concerned with the Tesseract. Abruptly, the sceptre pierced the field of energy surrounding the glowing cube and, with careful adjustment, terminated the function of the machine. The portal immediately lost its stability, gradually closing to nothingness, with no trace that it was ever there. Tony raised his face plate to get a better look without the distraction of flashing error messages.

"I don't get it – why shut the portal down?"

Loki turned to face him, Tesseract hovering in one hand, the broken sceptre in the other. A breathy laugh escaped his lips before he conveniently removed the cube from sight – that is to say, it vanished in his hand in some strange warped constriction of space. The sceptre he tossed aside, no longer of use as he approached Tony and, leaning down, grabbed the man by the throat to pull him up toeye-level.

"Do not trouble yourself over matters that no longer concern you," he said through a wicked smile.

"You're still on my planet – I'd say it's my concern," Tony choked.

He suddenly felt sick, like something bad was fast approaching that he could not avoid. He was right on both accounts.

"Stark! You got - missile heading to - city, - thr - minutes away - Do - copy?!"

It was Fury, his voice faint and choppy through a barely functioning coms system with yet more bad news. The god of mischief's smile grew into a terrifying grin as his eyes glinted through the shadow that veiled his features.

"It's my planet now."

And just as those words flowed from his lips like hot liquid metal, his grip on Tony's throat loosened, dropping him from the edge of the balcony.

'Déjà vu…'

"JARVIS! BACK UP POWER WOULD BE GREAT – ANYTIME NOW!" Tony shouted as he spun down the side of the building at great speed before hitting several arms of the metal cranes. They broke his fall, literally knocking his backup power online in time to land awkwardly through an upturned cab, destroying it beyond all recognition as he skidded – face first – across the tarmac.

'That could have gone a lot more smoothly,' he thought, sluggishly rising to his feet.

If he had his facts straight had three minutes to stop a missile with little to no power in a suit that could no longer sustain flight. Things were looking pretty ugly – almost as ugly as the aliens that were screaming towards him with highly-dangerous-looking weapons spitting blue pulses of energy. Not good. Neither was the searing pain in his back and abdomen, come to think of it. He spat out a mouthful of blood before his faceplate lowered and his HUD lit up so he could assess the extent of the damage to the suit before the aliens were too close for comfort. He was still unable to use his comms to call for backup, and there was only enough power left for a few minutes of combat at the most. The flickering arc reactor in his chest was also not a good sign, either.

"Picked a fine day to play the hero, Stark," he muttered to himself, almost regretting his decision to pick a fight with the god of mischief.

Almost, that is.

. . .

Steve's clenched fist met metal and flesh as the ugly creature flew several feet through the air and into a nearby building. He had been fighting the alien swarms on the ground with Natasha and Clint, protecting civilians caught in the mayhem and clearing a path towards Stark Tower. It was complete chaos on the streets; Tony hadn't been keeping them posted on the situation from above, and Banner was still nowhere to be seen. Things weren't looking good from where the Captain was standing, shield at the ready, stained with spatters of inky blood and dirt, his eyes towards the sky. And that's when he noticed the bright blue beam shooting up from Stark Tower had disappeared and the portal above was closing, a low rumble like thunder bellowing from its centre.

Then things got a lot worse.

"Captain! Do you copy!?"

"Sir!" Steve responded instantly, raising a hand to his ear.

"You've got a missile heading towards the city – I've tried getting through to Stark but he's not responding. You've a little over three minutes to get out of there, unless you can get through to him where you are. Where's Thor?!"

Steve's mouth went dry.

A missile?! What the hell was going on?!

Fury was still shouting down the comms when Steve realised he had not answered his question.

"… Sir, Stark's not with us and last I saw Thor was on Stark Tower. And it looks like someone shut down whatever was ripping that hole in the sky – it's gone."

The news that the portal had closed was obviously a concern to Fury, who was back monitoring the situation on his screens. He took a second or two to respond.

Something didn't feel right.

"I can see that. Listen up, you and the rest of the team get the hell out of there now, do you copy?!"

"Wha –"

"Sir, I copy!"

Steve looked over to Natasha, who had also been receiving the message over her coms and was fast approaching him after shocking the crap out of an alien with her Widow's bite. He frowned in disapproval at her response.

"No can do, sir, 'fraid the Quinjet took a rough landing. And I'm not runnin' when we still got a chance with Stark and Thor."

"Captain there's not enough time - you find one of those alien jet-skis and you get out of there now! That's an order!"

Steve lowered his hand and turned on his heel towards Natasha. Clint approached behind her but his eyes were glued to the skies.

"I need someone to clear me a path to Stark Tower –" Steve shouted before Natasha cut him off.

"–This is suicide –"

"Not if Stark or Thor is still alive, and I'm sure as hell not gunna run without tryin'."

"I've got your back," Clint nodded as he reached for another arrow. Steve nodded back and turned his head to Natasha who maintained her cold indifference before giving in.

"I'll find us a ride."

Steve smiled faintly but it did not reach his eyes, and made his way down the road.

"The second you find one, the two of you high tail it outta' the city – you got that?!"

Natasha thought about objecting, but before she could, Steve had already broken into a sprint towards the Tower, Clint's arrows flying past him as a swarm of aliens fell in his wake.

. . .

Thor's vision was blurry as he opened his eyes, wincing as the pain in his side continued to shoot through his body like thousands of tiny daggers tearing through his flesh. There was a strange quiet around him, the noises of chaos had become a faint ringing in the distance and he could smell the sea air. He was no longer in the heart of the city. Loki had teleported him and the unconscious Selvig to Liberty Island, perched atop the Statue of Liberty's torch, overlooking the trickling smoke that seeped from within the mass of towering structures. He tried to stand but could barely manage to right himself. His brother, looming over him, breathed a laugh as he watched him struggle.

"I was afraid you had drifted from consciousness all together," Loki sneered.

"Wha – what have you done with the Tesseract!?" Thor breathed through spasms of pain. He had noticed the portal had disappeared above the city.

"Is that all you can concern yourself with, really? I am disappointed in you – you, who loves this planet and the pathetic mortals that dwell upon it," Loki mocked, snorting in disgust.

"They are not safe as long as the Tesseract is in your hands," Thor responded through gritted teeth.

"There will be no safety for them without me. The humans are reckless and self-destructive creatures. You insist upon branding methe enemy, but you fail to realise that it is not I who holds the dagger."

He laughed at his own choice of words in that moment. "Well, not now, in any case."

Thor's eyes narrowed in confusion, but he would see soon enough what Loki meant by those words. He could sense something was terribly wrong with the situation.

"Why are we here?" he asked, quietly.

"I wanted you to have the best seat for the main event," Loki breathed before moving as elegantly and as swiftly as a snake striking its prey, a hand gripping Thor's neck as he lifted him up from the ground. He moved in close, hissing the words through curling lips into his brother's ear and shaking with anger.

"So that you may witness, with your own eyes, the true extent of your failure, as man, woman and child burn within the fires that their very protectors kindled, those protectors whom you place so much faith in. They are all alike, all deluded, and all fearful of what they cannot control. This is the only reason you still draw breath."

He threw Thor to the ground and circled him as he continued.

"When this is over, when the flames die, I shall rise from the ashes King of a new world, a world made free from the very illusion of freedom that humanity's false saviours continue to promise them. Subjugation is in their nature. They are lost without the guidance of a true leader."

Thor stared at his brother, a mixture of horror and rage upon his features as he dared to ask the question.

"What of these flames- what is it that you speak of!?"

Loki sneered; no sooner had he uttered those words did a deep, earth-shuddering rumble fall upon his ears, growing louder with each fleeting second. In his panic Thor ignored his aching wound and practically leapt to his feet, stumbling against the rusting metal bars so that he could see what was fast approaching on the horizon. Lifting his arm towards the city, he summoned Mjolnir. It would take agonising seconds for the speeding hammer to reach him before death itself would engulf the millions that still fled in terror within the narrow passages of Manhattan.

"It is pointless," Loki sniggered. "Their fate has been sealed."

The rolling thunder from the sea grew louder, but it was also met with the sound of Mjolnir breaking through the air in a super-sonic boom as it caused the water beneath it to stir, great peaks and troughs of sea and spray. Just as the hammer was reunited with its master, the missile sped past them with a furious rush of noise and air. Thor spun the hammer as quickly as he could with what little strength remained within him and followed. It did not take him long to reach the device, grasping onto it as best he could and shifting its direction so that it changed its course from a true line to a gradual curve. He knew what had to be done to save all those people; to save his friends.

And Loki remained still, watching with eyes glittering with disbelief as his brother carried the missile into the heavens.

Fool.