Disclaimer: I do now own any of the Marvel characters. The Avengers was written by Joss Whedon, movie transcript taken from the website Scribd. If you know it, I do now own it.
Fine Yourself Here
When I woke I was alive in somebody's room / I felt life and love and hope infested my bones / Wake up you've got a lot of things to do
-Margot & the Nuclear So and So, "Quiet as a Mouse"
Loki came to in stages.
The first stage he only felt pain and went back into the dark willingly.
The second stage he heard Romanov pleading, things exploding and someone roaring
The third stage he could hear several people talking over one another— all sounding worried. Then someone punched something and Loki passed out.
The fourth stage he heard something beeping and metal clinking together. He felt rather floaty, so he floated away.
The fifth and final stage, found him in a sterile smelling room.
"Hey."
Loki blinked a few times to clear his eyes, then turned his head with some difficulty to find Clint Barton across from him, strapped to a bed.
"So, you missed everything," Clint went on once he knew Loki was listening. "They told me you're not evil, not going to mind control me, but I hope you don't mind I kind of wanna shoot your eye out."
"Understandable," Loki mumbled, turning his head away.
It felt like someone was trying to cram something akin to the size of Russia into his head.
"The Hulk is MIA. I think he fell out of a hole on the side of the ship. Or he jumped ship," Clint casually offered. "And that's all I know, as I don't remember shit from when I was under your control."
"Not me. My evil half," Loki corrected.
Clint snorted. "Can't I just hate both halves?"
"If you must."
Loki's middle ached. It felt as if someone had blasted a hole through him, then tried to put him back together badly.
The door opened. Loki pried his eyes back open as Romanov entered, looking a little beat up but otherwise unharmed.
"Good. You're both awake," she said flatly. "Stark and Rogers got the engine working and we didn't fall out of the sky, but we can't fly anywhere because our systems are down. And we're not sea worthy due to several large holes in the sides and bottom."
"We're Swiss cheese!" Barton quipped.
She gave Barton a look, then turned her attention to Loki.
"I'm sorry, Agent Romanov," Loki mumbled, raising his hand to his head.
She shook her head at him.
"You did warn us he'd do this. He did exactly as you said he'd do. He activated the Hulk, sent Barton to make us dead in the water and escaped with the magical stick."
Loki sighed, cringing as pain radiated from his middle.
He had yet to investigate what was causing the pain.
"It's honestly amazing you're alive," Romanov muttered, taking a step closer to Loki. "You should have been burned beyond recognition by the explosion, but other than the metal rod through your middle and the blood gushing from your head you appeared fine."
"Why'd you lot save him?" Barton asked.
Romanov turned to him and said, "He's on our side, Clint."
Barton snorted, struggling against his bonds.
"Agent Romanov, I believe you can free him."
"He's strapped down so he won't kill you," Romanov pointed out. "He tried to take your eye out the moment he saw you."
Loki closed his eyes and felt around with his magic. He had broken almost every single bone in his body, had several minor burns (magic and his Juton skin might have helped with the heat from the blast), had a gaping hole in his middle the mortals had tried to patch up, oh, had crushed his skull.
No wonder his head felt like mush.
"I should be dead," Loki muttered.
"You were in some sort of bubble when Stark and Thor unearthed you," Romanov said. "Only Thor was able to break through it. He said your magic was protecting you, keeping you alive but wasn't strong enough to fix you while you were out cold."
Loki hummed his agreement, not having anything to add.
"Do you know where they are?" Clint asked, sounding oddly small.
"Stark's house in Malibu," Romanov answered. "Stark confirmed he arrived there yesterday."
"Of course," Loki muttered, opening his eyes back up.
"Your friend seems to be amped up on magic. She teleported into the lab, took the specter, freed her boss, then they both went poof," Romanov said, looking back at Loki.
Loki frowned, staring at Romanov in question. "That ought not to be possible."
Loki realized she hadn't mentioned any deaths. "They didn't kill anyone, did they? Is Agent Coulson alive?"
"There were a few severe injuries, but no dead yet. And yeah, Coulson is alive. Did he die in the movie?"
"He was the tragic death that brought you together," Loki admitted. "He lives, thought, and gets his own TV show."
"Of course he does," Clint snorted. "He's Phil. Wait, what? Movie? TV show? What the hell are you two talking about?"
Romanov ignored Clint. "We are going to go stop them the moment you two are ready."
She looked between the two men— one strapped to the bed, the other looking like death.
"I doubt he'll be ready any time soon. He had a metal bar through his middle when they wheeled him in here," Clint said, struggling again. "Seriously. He said you could untie me."
"You are not to harm him. He did not take your freewill," Romanov insisted.
Clint sighed, the fight draining out of him. "Fine."
"And you claim you don't remember," Romanov added.
"I don't really. I remember…feeling unmade all of a sudden. I remember feeling like I'd been sent to the back of the room for timeout. At times I kind of escaped…but I was never able to influence what I was doing. I don't remember what I was doing or why I was so upset about it. But, I remember being mad as hell at Loki."
Clint sent a look at Loki.
"That's not Loki," Romanov said.
"I am Loki," Loki quipped, hands feeling around his middle. All he felt were bandages. He used his magic (now that he was awake) and began to repair the damage. He had no idea what the mortals had done to him, but they'd had stitched him together in various places.
Odd.
"How did you get him out?" Clint asked. "The Loki in my head. How'd you get him out?"
"Hard hit to the head," Romanov said. "We need to hit…King Reindeer over the head. Hard. Multiple times."
"King Reindeer?" Clint asked.
"Loki, can you sit up?" Romanov inquired.
"In a moment," Loki gritted out, his magic flowing through his middle—repairing the damage to his organs was hard work. Especially with whatever Thor allowed the mortals to do while he was unconscious.
The two spies allowed him quiet as he finished repairing his insides. Letting out a breath he opened his eyes, turning his head towards the pair.
"I don't know if I can sit up at the moment."
"You don't need to," Romanov said softly. "Clint, look at his eyes."
Jaw tightening and grinding his teeth, Clint slowly turned to face Loki. Loki met the now grey, clear eyes calmly. Clint frowned.
"What am I looking for?"
"What color are his eyes?"
"A freaky shade of green. I saw that when I first saw him. The girl had the same—"
He stopped talking suddenly.
"The girl had what?" Romanov asked.
"Jessica's eyes are the same shade of green as mine," Loki supplied. "No doubt Agent Barton noticed when we first arrived. Did you happen to notice the other's eyes when he arrived?"
Barton shook his head.
"The girl's eyes turned a weird shade of blue-green after Loki touched her with the spear," Clint gritted out.
"The other Loki has blue eyes," Romanov said flatly. "He's under the same spell you were, only it's got a different hold on him."
Clint grunted. "Fine. I won't take his eye out. I'll take the other guy's eye out instead."
"That, Agent Barton, is fine with me," Loki allowed.
"Then I'll find whoever did it to him and take both his eyes out," Clint muttered.
Romanov unstrapped Barton and allowed him to sit up fully. The man rubbed his wrists and eyed Loki. Loki closed his eyes again. His magic was too low for him to do anything at the moment to further his healing— or rid himself of the remaining pain.
"How long do you need to be battle ready?"
"A few hours," Loki said.
Romanov nodded and began to do something to the bed Loki was in.
"Come on, Clint. I'll fill you in on our way to the jet."
"Jet?"
"Help me roll his bed. We're taking him with us."
You tore me apart / Broke all my bones and shot through my heart / I always used to pretend / The hero really gets the girl in the end
-Kill Hannah, "From Now On"
Staring at Loki on the white hospital bed was beyond weird.
The hospital bed was chained into place and the god on it was as still as corpse. The only way Clint was sure he wasn't dead was the fact his skin was slowly becoming more pink than the chalky, grey white it'd been when Clint had first awoken in the medial bay next to the unconscious god with a metal bar through his middle.
"You could stop staring."
Clint startled, turning to face Captain America.
And that was all kinds of bizzaro as well. Between the fact Clint had read Captain America comics as a kid and Coulson was an avid fan, seeing the guy in real if was just almost too much for Clint to deal with at the moment. He was sure his head would explode and cover the hero in brain matter.
Gross.
"He's out for the count. I doubt he noticed," Clint muttered, turning his attention to his bow and arrows that sat in his lap. The same ones Stark had had kittens over upon seeing in Barton's possession.
"WHY DOES HE KEEP STEALING MY STUFF!" Stark had roared, storming out of the briefing room they'd all gathered before leaving when Fury handed Barton the quiver and bow. Fury had claimed they'd been on Clint when he'd entered the ship, but Barton had never seen them before in his life.
They were clearly made by Stark (he put his name on everything) and Clint grudgingly agreed they were beyond cool.
"I know he looks just like the man who…violated your mind, but he's not like that. He's helping us," Captain America insisted.
Clint eyed the blond next to him.
"Yeah, I know. He's got green eyes," Clint grumbled.
For some reason that comment made Captain America's cheeks go a bit pink. He schooled his facial features, but it left Clint feeling wrong footed— more so than he already felt for being one of Loki's minions and not remembering a thing.
"Did the Man of Iron go ahead?" Thor inquired quietly. Well, quietly for the guy. Clint was pretty sure Thor had one setting: LOUD. In favor of his recovering brother, he'd tried to take it down a notch.
It didn't make much of a difference.
"Yeah. He's pretty mad about them taking over his house," Captain America said, rubbing his neck. "Is Doctor Banner alright?"
"Yes, he's fine," Banner muttered, sitting up for the first time since they'd found him in some rubble in an abandoned industrial park. Somehow he'd wound up a hundred miles from where he'd originally fallen out of the Hellicarrier.
"Oh, you're up," Captain America said, looking surprised. "How are you feeling?"
"What happened to Lo?" Banner asked, swinging his feet to the floor of the jet. He looked rather worried as he studied the overly pale form on the white hospital bed.
"He was gravely injured," Thor said slowly and gravely. "He is working on healing himself."
Banner stared at Thor with a look of disbelieve. He stood up and crossed to the bed Loki rested upon and eyed the fallen god for a long time till he reached forward and felt for a pulse at the neck. Loki made no indication he felt Banner's touch. Banner removed his hand from the god's neck and lifted the blanket. Clint couldn't see what he was doing, but assumed he was checking out the damage.
It was beyond weird to see someone handle the man with such care and no sign of fear. Banner acted as if Loki was a docile, injured bunny or something.
Clint tightened his grip on his weapon.
"Did he had an injury around the stomach area?" Banner asked, looking over his shoulder.
"Aye," Thor said.
"Metal rod through the middle," Clint supplied.
Banner looked bewildered. He let the blanket fall back down.
"What is it, Banner?" Thor gently asked.
"His middle is….well, it's completely healed," Banner said.
"Magic voodoo," Clint offered, grimly smiling.
Banner stared at him for a moment before looking at Loki again. He opened his mouth to say something else, when Stark's voice came over the radio up front. Everyone fell silent in order to hear what the snarky bastard had to say.
"They've got the machine for the portal set up," Stark reported, sounding more annoyed than mad.
"Can you stop them?" Natasha asked.
Stark snorted. "Not in this suit. It's done for after the damage the engine on the Hellicarrier did."
Captain America colored and shifted uneasily. Clint quirked an eyebrow.
"I almost didn't make it here. Damn it! Why did they invade my house? I just finished the remodel!"
Clint saw Natasha clench her jaw, but she did not remark the reason Stark needed a remodel the last time was all his own fault.
"Can you switch out suits?" she asked.
"Jarvis, what's the status of, well, you in the house?"
"I'm not in the house," came the AI's posh voice.
"You're not?"
"No, sir."
Stark hummed. "You guys get my new suit from the Tower?"
"Yes, did you manage to grab the bracelets?"
"Yeah. I did. Genius here," Stark quipped. "Okay. I see Loki in my living room. I'm going to go throw him out. Laters."
And the com went dead. Natasha ground her teeth together and stepped on the gas. Everyone else exchanged looks.
You can lie to yourself / And all of your friends / And pretend you don't care / But circumstance gets in the way
-Lucky Boy's Confusion, "Fred Astaire"
Loki snapped his eyes open.
"Brother?"
"Yes?"
"What is the matter?"
"I'm awake. Thor, what is going on?"
"We have arrived in California. We landed outside of the Iron Man's home," Thor reported.
Loki swiftly sat up. He felt his magic swirl within his core, protesting the sudden movement when it was still trying to build itself back up. Ignoring it for the most part, Loki swung his legs over the side of the bed. Suddenly, a blur of black shot passed cursing loudly.
"Loki just threw Stark out the window!" the blur shouted, jamming his finger into a button at the back of the plane.
"Hawkeye, calm down," Captain America said, appearing out of nowhere, holding his shield before him. "We planned for this."
"THE HATCH IS STILL CLOSED!" Barton shouted.
"JARVIS DEPLOY!" Stark's voice was shouting over the radio as Thor shoved it in Loki's ear. "ANYTIME NOW!"
Loki allowed Thor to aid him in getting up off the bed as blur of red and gold metal flew passed. Barton managed to get the back hatch open just in time for the armor to fly out of the plane. Everyone was silent, till a moment later, Iron Man flew into the air and back into the house that hung off the cliff.
"Stark!" Loki barked into the radio in his ear. "The portal is opening. The aliens are going to pour out shortly."
"He's right," Rogers said, nodding. "I need you in the air. Thor can you deal with Loki. I mean, the other one. The reindeer one."
"Aye, Captain. Brother?"
"I will be fine," Loki assured his brother. Thor did not believe him. "I am fully healed, Thor. Go. Stop him."
"You do not have your armor," Thor realized.
Loki was dressed in a SHEILD uniform. He waved Thor off.
"There's a shield around the portal," Stark's voice said over the radio. "I don't think I told you earlier. It's different than it was last time. It's greenish. Not blue like GQ said."
"What does that mean?" Romanov asked.
"It means he used more than the Tesseract," Loki said. "My magic is green."
"The magic around the tiny female when she no longer looked like Stark was green," Thor said, looking confused. "Did she steal your magic?"
"You cannot steal magic," Loki snapped. "The other does not have full access to naturally green magic. His is tainted. It ought to be blue."
"I haven't seen you do green magic," Romanov said, appearing at Loki's side. "What's the plan? We can debate magic later."
Everyone knew she was right.
"The people are all inside their homes because they think it's raining," Rogers said, sounding a little confused. He clearly did not know how the people of Southern California viewed rain. "For the moment, that is likely the safest place for them to be. We need to neutralize Loki. Then deal with…what the…"
The Chitauri chose this moment to pour out of the portal in hoards. Loki stared. The sight was chilling and at the same time more powerful than it'd appeared on the tiny screen of Jess's television when Loki had watched The Avengers.
Stark swore rather colorfully.
"Keep them occupied, Iron Man," Rogers managed to say. He looked at Loki, as if he had the answers.
Loki nodded. "We must keep them…within the barriers of this estate."
"Did you hear that, Stark?"
Stark swore again.
Above their heads, the aliens were quickly spreading out beyond the grounds of Stark's home, blindly attacking nearby homes. People began screaming, things began to catch on fire and chaos broke out in the surrounding neighborhoods.
"We need to get…the people out," Rogers finally said.
"Where? Where will we put them?" Romanov asked.
"I will deal with the people," Loki offered. He raised his hands, allowing Romanov to see green magic produced by Loki. "Usually, I do not put color into my magic. Wastes energy and is quite showy. It does naturally show up within shields I create. Haven't found a way to stop it doing that."
"Good. Lo, go do…what you have to do to keep the people safe," Rogers said.
Loki teleported away before he could dwell on the fact Rogers had called him "Lo." Once he was in the streets, Loki reached into the empty space storage unit and grabbed his staff. He eyed the chaos— people running, Chitauri firing and blasting, and the fires and explosions sending debris everywhere. Squaring his shoulders, Loki set to work setting up shields around people, homes and knocking the warrior aliens out of the sky.
As it's winding down to zero / I am your unlikely hero / I'll see this through / There's so much of me in you
-Maroon 5, "No Curtain Call"
Banner Hulked out the moment Loki (or Lo as the others seemed to call him for some reason) vanished into thin air. The green rage machine ran across the lawn of Stark's home, used one of the car parked in the driveway and jumped into the air. He instantly grabbed hold of one of the alien hover crafts and began smashing. Rogers ordered Clint up on high and to lay cover for Natasha and himself while they battled the aliens falling to the ground. Clint climbed up a tree and began shooting arrows.
From his view in the tree, he could see the aliens that'd gotten way beyond Stark's grounds were behind blasted out of the air by energy blasts lightly tinted green, while there were signs of random green shields all over the place.
Clint turned his attention to the battle taking place in Stark's front yard and something caught his eye. A young woman (maybe this Jessica person they kept talking about) came flying out of the house, her arms raised over her head to protect herself from the flying debris. She dodged around the rubble and dead aliens till she neared the tree Clint was sitting in. Clint paused in laying down cover to catch the demented smirk on her face before she tossed something into the tree.
Clint jumped out of the tree right before the entire thing blew up.
"Hey! That wasn't nice!" Clint shouted at her, rolling to his feet. She was standing behind a rather large piece of what was formerly a wall of Stark's home. She gave him a rather evil smile and raised her hands, conjured up something and threw it at Captain America, who dodged out of the way before it exploded in dark green flames.
She let out a rather maniacal laugh and darted off.
"Hawkeye, mind taking care of her?" Rogers asked over the radio.
She threw another green bomb, attempting to hit the Hulk as he took to smashing what looked like a huge flying snake thing— which was following Iron Man.
"What the hell is that?" Clint asked.
"Bringing the party to you!" Stark shouted, then added, "HEY! THAT IS NOT WHAT THOSE ARE FOR!"
Something blew up in green flames.
"Why are they green?" Stark asked, sounding bewildered.
"She has something you built?" Clint shirked, scrambling up and over ruble and debris after the girl.
"They're not bombs! They aren't supposed to explode in a fiery ball of green either!" Stark shouted, then cursed. "JESSICA WITTON I'M TELLING GQ ON YOU!"
"STARK!" shouted several people.
The Hulk roared and landed with a loud thud somewhere in Stark's yard as the snake thing crashed to the ground.
"Follow Witton, Hawkeye," Rogers ordered. "THOR, LO, report!"
Clint got to his feet, made his way around the rubble and into the house where Witton had vanished when Stark had started yelling at her. Good Loki reported that he'd shielded what he could and he was busy. Thor said nothing— clearly still battling Evil Loki.
Clint vaulted over some hedges that were somehow still intact and scrambled up the stairs into the house. The sight that greeted him was not what he had honestly expected. Clint knew he'd been in the house as a mind controlled freak and thus had no idea what the inside actually looked like, but the reality was not what he'd ever imagine.
The place was in ruins and it was a tribute to whoever built the joint that the roof was still standing judging by the destruction inside.
Thor and Evil Loki were locked in battle in Stark's living room, sending bits of concrete, glass and other debris all over the place. Clint spotted dark hair vanish down a stairwell that had seen better days and followed, sliding down the stairwell since the stairs had ceased to exist.
"STOP BREAKING MY STUFF!" Stark shouted over the radio.
"FOCUS ON THE BATTLE, IRON MAN!" Rogers shouted back.
Clint reached the lower level, which must have been Stark's lab/workshop/garage. Witton turned, noticing Clint had followed. She yanked out a gun and shot at him. Clint dodged, getting off an arrow. He heard her gasp. Peaking out behind the tool box he'd taken refuge behind, he saw her holding her arm. She threw the gun aside and jumped into one of the cars, staring it up and tearing out of the place with the music blasting. Clint leapt to his feet and decided not to take one of the classic's Stark had, but the newest looking sports car in the garage.
Clint felt around for keys for a moment till the AI butler said, "Sir, the keys for the 2013 Acura NSX are in here."
Clint looked over at a noise to his right and saw the AI had opened up a cabinet containing keys to all Stark's various vehicles.
"Thanks," Clint said, darting across the lab and staring at the keys. The ones to the car he wanted suddenly extended. Clint grabbed them and thanked the AI again. He sprinted back to the car, got in and started it up. It roared to life and Clint took off after Jessica.
"WHAT ARE THEY DOING IN MY CARS!" Stark shouted. "THOSE ARE MY CARS!"
"STARK!" barked several people over the com link.
"I JUST GOT THAT ONE! I HAVEN'T EVEN DRIVEN IT YET! YOU BETTER NOT CRASH LEGOLAS!"
Standing on the edge of something much too deep / It's funny how we feel so much / But we cannot say a word
-Sarah McLachlan, "I Will Remember You"
"LO! LOKI!" Roger's voice bellowed suddenly. "Can your brother swim?"
Loki thrust his staff into a head of a Chiturai, smashing it into the street before he answered. "Yes, why?"
"I think Rock of Ages likes throwing people out windows," was Stark's offering.
"He's got plenty to choose from," Romanov said, then grunted.
Loki stopped what he was doing and teleported to the cliff edge— just in time to see Thor get control of his descent and raise his hammer. Thor shot into the air.
"Guess he doesn't need to know to swim when he can fly," Romanov's slightly breathless voice came.
Loki turned his attention to the huge gaping hole Thor made when Loki had thrown him out of the house and into the ocean. The other Loki, RG, stood in the hole, glaring at Thor as he took flight and didn't crash into the water. His eyes scanned the chaos and destruction till he locked eyes with Loki. A menacing smirk painted his angular face and he took a running leap, landing on one of the gliders. Loki was about to follow and go after the man when heard an explosion in the distance followed by a string of curses from Barton.
"Hawkeye, reprot," Rogers demanded.
Barton continued to curse till he said, "Uh, I don't think Witton's part of Loki's Mindless Army any longer."
"What happened?" Loki demanded, completely distracted as Thor landed next to him, using his hammer to whack an alien who tried to attack while Loki was distracted.
"She crashed her car," Barton reported. "She's out cold. Big cut on her head. I've, well, I'm trying to stop the bleeding without moving her."
"Leave her there, Hawkeye. We need you back here. The Reindeer is airborne," Rogers said in his leader voice.
Rogers looked at Loki across the battlefield and met his eyes. She will be fine, those eyes informed him. Loki was unsure how Rogers knew this, but as he dodged an attack by an alien, he knew he had bigger problems than an unconscious friend.
"OVER HERE! OVER HERE!" Barton suddenly shouted.
"Hawkeye!" Rogers shouted, turning away from Loki to fling his shield into battle.
"The ambulance can't get here, but I got a paramedic with her now. I'm on my way," Clint reported.
"Captain, I'm going…" Loki trailed off. "I need to…"
Loki did not wait for an answer. He removed the radio from his ear, handing it to Thor. Thor appeared confused, but held the radio in his free hand while whacking an alien upside the head and away from them.
Loki knew what he had to do.
"Remember me, brother," Loki said before he vanished.
Well it goes like this: the fourth, the fifth / The minor fall and the major lift / The baffled king composing Hallelujah
-Jeff Buckley, "Hallelujah"
"What's next?" Clint demanded, pushing himself to his feet.
After diving out of the car as an alien glider fired something at him making the car explode.
Stark was still shirking in outrage.
"I HATE! I HATE! I HATE!" Stark raged, unable to express himself as the aliens attempted to blast himself, his home, and his belongings to kingdom come.
In the distance Clint heard the sirens of the emergency services. He hoped they'd eventually make it to Jessica and her crashed car along side the road (along with all the other injured people in Malibu). The paramedic that had made his way to the crash scene promised to stay with her. The guy hadn't seemed too worried, but then again the world was ending.
"Get up top. Iron Man? Give him a lift?" Rogers ordered, snapping Clint back to matters at hand.
Clint made sure he still had his quiver and bow (thank god it collapsed and fit in his pocket) and grumbled, "I can't wait."
"I HATE—" Stark shouted, then cursed badly enough to make a sailor blush. "But, I'll grab Robin Hood, Cap."
Iron Man appeared out of nowhere, grabbed Clint and dragged him off to a high cliff and drooped him before shooting back towards his former home— cursing a blue streak the whole way. Clint ground his teeth together, got to his feet (yet again), found a safe place and began shooting arrows at anything that wasn't red or the Hulk. He noticed Loki, the evil one, on a glider and aimed an arrow at him.
One of the super secret exploding arrows Stark had in his lab. (It was clear to Clint that even though Stark had been rejected from The Avengers Initiative, he wanted to be part of Fury's Super Secret Boy Band. All the Stark tech gadgets Clint had on his person when Natasha had knocked him out proved it. Why else would Stark design a bow and arrows if not for Clint?)
The bastard caught the exploding arrow before it hit him in the eye. Former master's eyes met former mind slave for a moment before Mr Evil dove at the house, taking shelter within its remains.
"Wimp," Clint muttered, notching another arrow and taking aim.
You're cold inside / You're not the one I hoped for / I'll see you on the other side
-Keane, "Untitled 1"
Loki had teleported to Jess after Barton had left. She was in rough shape, but she'd live thanks to the magic flowing through her system. There was indeed a medical person with her, so Loki quickly left to face RG.
He shouldn't have teleported to Jess. He knew the moment the Deranged Reindeer returned to Stark's house he didn't have enough energy for a fight, but a fight to the death was in order. Loki felt it within his bones, his soul, his very being. The same things that told him he belonged in this reality and not the other reality were speaking to him again— telling him he had to put himself back together.
It was time.
Jess would live and he'd be one person.
"Finally," RG breathed, stepping off the glider and onto the broken patio that overlooked the ocean. "I've been waiting for you to show yourself to me, weakling."
RG sneered, twirling his Glow Stick of Destiny (as Stark fondly called it) in front of him. He pointed it at Loki and blasted him with energy. Loki reacted on instinct and blocked the blast with one of his own from his staff.
This enraged the Deranged Reindeer and he launched himself across the room, throwing the staff aside in favor of the knives they both favored.
Loki used his staff to propel himself into a roundhouse kick, knocking the helmet off the Deranged Reindeer and into a wall.
The battle was on.
Today is gonna be the day / That they're gonna throw it back to you / By now you should've somehow realized what you gotta do
-Oasis, "Wonderwall"
Loki had seen it on one of Jess's television shows. He had scoffed. The manner in which magic was portrayed in the show was flawed and extremely stupid, but one of the concepts appealed to him, even if it wasn't feasible and silly.
As Loki was locked in battle with the less desirable aspects of himself, he suddenly remembered the show, it's obsession with good and evil, and more importantly hearts.
It was all about hearts on the show— black hearts, hearts innocent, hearts pure and good, hearts tainted with evil.
Loki's heart was tainted no matter which form he was within. Just because he'd been separated from his rage and madness, did not make him innocent, good and pure.
No.
Loki was sure he'd never been innocent.
Or pure.
And yet, what Fury has told him rang within his mind.
Choices. Choices were what counted.
Loki had the ability to make choices that did not lead down a dark road. He had done it.
RG sneered at Loki, flying across the once smooth marble floor towards where he had thrown his specter. He snatched it up and shot an energy blast.
It hit the wall behind Loki's head.
"Enough of this, dearest," RG mocked, closing the distance between the two.
It was clear RG had more energy (magical and physical) than Loki. Loki was struggling to get back to his feet.
"Let's see what is in your heart," RG softly said, raising the pointed end of his specter up towards Loki's chest.
Loki hit the golden rod with his forearm, knocking it out of the other's grasp due to his sudden movement. Loki was on his feet and shoving his hand into the other's chest before either processed what was happening.
His hand went straight into the other's chest to his beating heart.
"Oh, this is new," RG mused as he stared at the arm sticking out of his chest.
Loki could feel the other's heart beating within his hand. He squeezed down and focused on that feeling, focused on pouring himself into the heart.
He did not intend to rip the heart out as they did in the program that had given the idea.
No, he was going to put himself back together and for some reason, this manner made sense. Everything was telling him this was how to put himself back together, to meld the two parts he had to pour himself back into his own heart.
Mad, Insane, Angry Loki had their actual body.
Loki had no idea why or how he'd known this. It just made sense.
"Stop! No!" RG yelled suddenly sounding panicked. He tried to move found he was unable to move. "What are you doing?"
"Putting us back together," Loki replied calmly, meeting the other's frightened blue eyes with his calm green ones.
The other Loki's blue eyes began flickering. Loki pushed harder with his own magic, turned them so the other one was pressed against a remaining wall. He tighten his grip on the other's beating heart and felt himself growing faint.
"No," the other whispered.
"Yes," Loki whispered back, feeling light headed. He allowed himself one last smirk before darkness took him.
You will give up, you always do / And time won't let you follow through / Your weakness has shown / And now you're everything they've thrown at you
-Imperative Reaction, "Severed"
Everything was blurry and muted for a moment till he became aware he was flying through the air surrounded by the Chitauri. Then something pushed him into the back and everything blurred even more.
The next time things became clearer, Thor was pressing him up against the wall, shouting at him.
"I know you are in there! What did you do with him!" Thor screamed.
An insane laugh left his mouth as he stared at his brother.
"I ate him!" he shouted into Thor's face.
Thor roared.
"Stop this madness, Loki! Stop it now!"
Loki rammed his head into the wall behind him. He felt a fog lift in his mind and the world became sharper suddenly.
"Look at this! Look around you! You think this madness will end with your rule?" Thor demanded, jerking Loki around to look at the damage being dealt to the Los Angeles area.
It was horrible.
Smoke was rising up all over the place and the noise of various sirens and people was deafening over the noise of battle.
"It's too late," Loki weakly said, feeling at war with himself. Something was eating at his mind, his heart and creeping into his veins.
It was evil.
It burned.
Thor jerked Loki back to face him.
"No. We can stop it. Together," Thor insisted, searching Loki's face. He must have seen something, as his face lit up with hope. "You're in there, are you not?"
And something kicked Loki in the head and everything went back to being muted and blurry.
Sometimes you scrape and sink so low / I'm shocked at what you're capable of / And if this is a coronation / I ain't feeling the love
-My Chemical Romance, "Kill All Your Friends"
The battle seemed to go on ages after they'd lost Good Loki and were left behind with the evil version. Thor was once again thrown from the house, only this time he didn't seem to have the will to use his hammer to fly to safety, so he landed with a large splash in the sea.
He got back out, looking like a drowned, lost puppy.
The Hulk landed next to Thor, shoved him and shouted something that made Thor regain his focus.
Captain America and Natasha were both still in Stark's front yard battling with aliens on the ground that came in wave after wave.
Clint stayed on the cliff till he ran out of arrows. After getting Iron Man to give him another lift, Clint joined Captain America and Natasha in the front yard for some hand to hand.
"We gotta get that portal down," Natasha shouted. "We need to stop them coming in."
Hulk smashed something. Thor roared and lighting stuck, causing the people of Los Angeles to freak out even further.
"What do you suggest?" Rogers asked.
"I'm going up there," Natasha said, pointing at the still somehow intact roof of Stark's former home.
"Are you sure?" Clint asked, using a metal pole he found to whack the living daylights out of an alien.
"Yeah. Give me a boost," she must have said to Rogers.
Captain America nodded curtly as Thor landed with a thud next to them.
"My brother is gone," Thor proclaimed, using his hammer to whack some aliens out of his way.
"He looks like he's still in there," Stark said over the radio. "Whoa! Watch out. Another snake!"
Clint hated those snakes— huge, ugly, alien snake thingys of destruction and doom.
The Hulk jumped up onto the snake and set about smashing.
"Give me a boots," Natasha repeated. "I need a glider."
Rogers nodded. Clint and Thor gave them cover as they worked together to launch Natasha at one of the gliders. She grabbed hold and went flying off into the air as the snake crashed to the ocean and the Hulk crashed down near Rogers.
"Hulk," Rogers said. "You need to take Loki out. Help Black Widow get the staff. We need to close the portal."
What did the staff have to do with the portal?
Clint whacked a few aliens while spinning in a circle.
"HULK LIKE LOKI."
"The other one. The evil one. He's in the house. Go smash him."
Rogers' mouth was a thin line as he gave the order.
"NO LIKE PUNY GOD. HULK SMASH."
Clint watched as the green monster took off towards the house, smashing his way into the former mansion.
"Seriously!" Stark shouted. "He couldn't use one of the holes Thor made?"
Bang and light, that's all they do / Beings like gods, there are too few
-JJ72, "Surrender"
"I got the Glow Stick of Destiny!" Natasha shouted. "I can close the portal! Selvig says it'll still work!"
Clint was too busy to be confused.
"WAIT! We got trouble in River City!" Stark's voice sounded over the com as Clint used his trusty metal rod to bash some aliens brains out.
"River City?" Rogers asked. "Where is that?"
"Trouble! We got trouble!" Stark shouted, sounding as if he was struggling with something. "With a capital T that rhymes with B and stands for BOMB!"
"WHAT?" everyone asked.
"I'm going to fly up into the hole, throw the bomb and you keep the Chitteratti distracted. Savvy?"
"STARK, NO!"
"It worked last time!"
"I don't know how long I can hold this!"
"YOU ALMOST DIED!"
"But I didn't!" Stark shouted. "I'm doing this!"
Iron Man zoomed over their heads at great speed.
"Hold the door for me," he said."
"STARK!" several people shouted.
"Why does Stark have a bomb?" Clint asked, whacking an alien and then thrusting the metal pole through its center.
The alien fell down. Clint tried to take the pole out, but it was stuck.
"Hey! You stole my weapon!"
Something exploded near Clint, making him forget about the rod and scramble to find another weapon while Rogers went running towards the house.
Holding lightly words that make you aware / Your head's spinning / No one knows you're not there
-Tonic, "Future Says Run"
The next time Loki realized something was going on and things were no longer blurry, he was lying in a crater.
"Oh," he breathed, feeling everything in his body ache. Then, he realized his mind was free from the dark, sinking evil that had been swirling around within his veins before.
He was in control.
Loki was amazed for only a few minutes before he realized he had his anger, his rage, and madness were there, bubbling and burning just as they had been during his final days on Asgard. Everything he felt, knew and was mixed together to create confusion and utter inner turmoil.
But, Loki was whole.
And he had no clue how he felt about that. He stared at the ceiling, feeling the beating the Hulk had dealt out to him with every fiber of his being. He closed his eyes, still hearing the battle raging above his head.
Then, it all suddenly stopped.
"There!" someone shouted above his head. "He fell through right before it closed!"
"HULK GET!"
Something smashed above his head and the ceiling caved in.
Anything that's dead shall be re-grown / And your vicious pain, your warning sign / You will be fine.
-Angels & AIrwaves, "The Adventure"
Iron Man threw pieces of debris aside, bitching the entire time about his destroyed home.
"Well, at least it wasn't your freaking, brand new, ugly tower," Clint snarked.
"Oh, shut up, Legolos," Stark snapped.
Thor and the Hulk helped Iron Man out clearing the pieces of roof, house and whatever else off Loki.
He was Loki. There was only one now, the other having…gone somewhere else. Or something. Clint wasn't clear what had happened. Natasha said Loki had put himself back together while Thor said Loki had told him he'd eaten the other one.
The Hulk smashed a few pieces of bigger debris, looking joyful.
"At least you're alive," Captain America muttered, kneeling in the debris and attempting to help. He couldn't lift as much as the other three, but damn if he wasn't going to unearth the fallen god.
"Who do you think we wound up with?" Natasha asked as the first signs of Loki began to appear as the guys cleared away the rubble. She clutched the specter tighter, raising it a little. Thor fell to his knees near the head and Iron Man threw the last bit of debris off the body to reveal who'd they were stuck with.
He looked like the insane one, as in he was wearing the deranged ones clothing.
"He is both now," Thor said, studying the unconscious form. "As Lady Natasha said, he put himself back together."
"He put himself back together," Rogers echoed faintly, staring at the man in the hole they'd made in the rubble.
"He was broken?" Stark asked, looking at something in his hands with a heartbroken expression.
"He split within the void. His madness broke away from…everything I knew my brother to be," Thor explained, glancing at Natasha who nodded her agreement.
She clutched the spear harder and a muscle twitched in her jaw.
"Weird," Stark said, throwing what used to be his couch aside still holding whatever had caused the heartbroken expression earlier.
"Careful!" Rogers suddenly shouted as the couch landed a little too close to Loki. "He doesn't look so good."
"Well, between the roof, the smashing the Hulk gave him and his earlier damage, I'd think not," Natasha pointed out, crouching down next to Rogers.
"He lost that body," Thor said. "This is the body of the mad one."
"So, still not in good shape," Clint muttered. "I mean, he looked bad when he arrived. The other one, uh, Good Loki, was in good shape when he got here."
The group stared down at the body they'd uncovered. He looked as if he was sleeping peacefully. The group watched the man calmly till he began to slowly wake. Clint quickly grabbed an arrow (Stark had more arrows in the lab— which was mostly intact— for Clint) and aimed at Loki's head.
I'll take my heart / And rip my feelings out / Before they make me doubt / And I'll fall down with flames burning, alive again.
-Quietdrive, "Rise From the Ashes"