Title: A Lane to the Land of the Dead chapter 10/14
Pairing/Characters: Teamfic. No Pairings. Loki, Thor, Avengers, Original Male Character. Brief non graphic mention of OMC/OMC
Tags: Gore, violence, strong language, angst, self harm, torture.
Note: There is no major character death in this fic.
Summary: 5th part of the Teamwork series, but this is written like a standalone fic, so if you haven't read the others you will still be able to understand it.
Loki has been an Avenger for two years, but as a new threat pushes him away from the team, they begin wonder just how much they can trust him.
~0~
Chapter 10
~0~
"Where did Loki go?" Steve asked when he arrived by Thor's side.
"I do not know, he said he could not stay," Thor replied, as the rest of the team joined them.
"That's just great." Clint said sarcastically.
Thor knelt by his nephew, removed his helmet, and turned his head so his neck was no longer in the grotesque, twisted position that had ended his life. He gently stroked his hair and then smiled when he opened his eyes with an audible gasp.
William looked around and asked, "Where is my father?"
"He has left."
"He has abandoned me again," William whispered as his eyes travelled the length of the hammer handle.
"No, he simply cannot bear to see you in so much pain," Thor replied gently.
"Then he should end it for me like a good father would."
"He will not allow it."
"Perhaps you all would question his motives for keeping me alive if you knew what he planned for me," William said, louder than before.
"Plans?" Clint asked.
"He kills you all and takes the nine realms for himself. My father rules with an iron fist, he kills all who oppose him, and I stand by his side!"
"You lie," Thor shouted. "Loki would not do that now. He's changed."
William squinted up at him, and said, "Are you sure? Are you really sure?"
"I would trust him with my life," Thor said solemnly.
"And that will be your undoing," William said with a grin.
"You may lay there as long as you wish and spout your untruths, little one, but I will never believe you."
William smiled again. "I have all the time in the world. I can lay here until I die, my body rots, and the remnants are blown away. The hammer may be the only thing that can imprison me, but I assume you cannot afford to be without Mjolnir for that long. You will have to remove her at some point, and I will STILL be here!"
Thor thought for a moment. The boy was right. Even if he left him pinned in the street at some point another threat would rise and he would have to call Mjolnir to his hand and let him go. He was a mad, invincible child, who would not be reasoned with, and he knew Loki was right; the boy would never listen.
"What are you doing?" Clint shouted as Thor plucked the hammer from William's chest.
As William teleported away, Thor turned to Clint. "What was I to do? Leave him trapped for eternity?"
"You could have kept him there till we found a way to contain him!" he shouted angrily.
"Do you not understand? The child will not be contained. He has lifetimes to wait for your civilisation to fall, for your prison walls to crumble, and one day he will be free to wreak devastation upon the realms until he gets what he wants. He must be dealt with here and now."
Behind them the Hulk roared loudly in pain as William appeared behind him and slammed a knife into his thigh. Hulk swung round, flinging his arm out, and it connected with William, sending him flying into the construction site.
"Find him, quick," Steve shouted as he ran towards the site, and the others followed him.
"I can't see him," Clint shouted as he ran between the metal uprights.
"Did he teleport away?" Natasha asked.
"He is here," Thor said, looking down into a deep hole, and the others gathered by his side.
William laughed, coughing up mouthfuls of blood that ran down his cheeks as he lay on his back on top of the foundations, with a long metal pole piercing his chest.
"You think this is the end?" he laughed, his eyes beginning to close as blood ran across the concrete. "I will see you soon enough."
The Avengers watched as the boy died, and then waited.
"Is he dead?" Clint asked.
"Looks that way," Natasha replied.
"Stay alert," Steve said. "He could wake up at any time."
"He's not coming back," Tony said, raising his faceplate. "As long as that pole stays in his chest he stays dead, just like Loki couldn't heal when he still had the knife in his back."
"It's over?" Natasha asked.
"Not quite," Clint said, as he raised his bow and fired an arrow. It hit a lever on a piece of heavy machinery, and fresh concrete began to flow into the hole, covering William's body.
"No!" Thor cried.
"It's the only way!" Clint shouted at him. "The second we move him he's going to come back. Now he'll be here, forever, and everything he said about killing us won't happen. You should be thanking me!"
Clint turned to walk away, but before he could even register that someone stood in front him he heard a voice say "I told you I'd be back," and felt a pain in his stomach.
William grinned as Clint collapsed to the ground with his hand wrapped around his middle, and laughed, "You'll have to do better than that."
"How the hell did you escape?" Steve said, raising his shield, as William began to stalk backwards, holding his blood smeared knife out defensively.
"I didn't. I'm still down there, in that hole, but concrete doesn't last forever," William said with a wicked grin. "A thousand years from now, this building collapsed, the metal in my chest corroded until it was little more than dust and I woke once more."
"Do you see?" Thor exclaimed. "No prison will hold him."
"And no words will soothe me, so stop wasting your time on pretty speeches, uncle," William said.
"What the hell do you want from us?" Natasha shouted, knelt by Clint's side, holding her hand over the bleeding wound in his stomach.
"I want you to try harder!" William cried. "You are Earth's mightiest heroes, you defeated some of the nine realms most powerful villains, and now I want you to defeat ME!"
"I hate to say it, kid, but I don't know if we can," Steve said quietly.
William growled, baring his teeth like a feral dog, and said, "Then your realm shall pay the price, and their deaths will be on your conscience."
"Shit!" Tony shouted as William teleported away. "He's going after people again."
Natasha stood as everyone looked around. "He won't go far. He wants us to see what he does."
"Can anyone see him?" Steve asked.
An arrow sped past their heads, and Clint groaned, "I can," as he flopped back down and dropped his bow to the floor.
They followed the path of the arrow to William, stood calmly on the roof of a neighbouring building, and watched as it hit him and exploded.
~0~
~0~
Tony was the first to arrive home and he stormed through the tower down to Loki's room, kicking the door open so hard that it snapped down the middle, exploding a shower of splinters.
"What are you doing?" Loki asked as he lowered his arms. "Why are you still in your suit?"
"Get up," Tony ground out.
"What?"
"You, get up, RIGHT NOW!" he shouted.
Loki climbed off the bed and moved over to Tony. "Has someth-"
Tony punched him in the face, putting the full power of the suit into the blow, and sending Loki flying back onto the bed. "That's for blasting me with magic!"
Loki crawled to his knees, and held his cheek. "He is my child, it was an instinct."
"You barely even know him!" Tony shouted. "You ever pull any shit like that again and I will END you, just like I should have when you attacked us the first time."
Loki's mouth dropped open, he breathed out slowly as he rose from the bed, and asked, "After everything I've done, all the people I've helped, and you still throw that in my face?"
"When you start attacking us you better believe I'm gonna throw that in your face again!" Tony shouted, jabbing a finger into Loki's chest. "Clint is in surgery right now, and that is YOUR fault!"
Tony stormed out of the room, leaving Loki alone to wonder what had happened.
~0~
~0~
"Are you going to give me an explanation for what happened yesterday?" Fury asked, as he sat with Loki at the SHIELD conference room table.
Loki sat for a while, and then quietly asked, "What would you have me say?"
"You attacked Stark. Don't you feel any remorse for that?"
Loki wanted to laugh. Did he feel remorse? He had attacked one of the few people in his life that he thought of as a real friend, and then left a battle, which lead to one of his team mates being injured. Such behaviour on Asgard would not be treated lightly, and Loki wondered what form his punishment for such cowardice would take.
"Of course I do," Loki snapped.
"And would you like to explain your behaviour to me?"
"It was an instinctual act. I did not even think about doing it, it just… happened."
"It just happened?" Fury asked, as he leant back in his chair. "You are aware that if it had 'just happened' to Barton or Romanoff they could have been seriously injured, maybe even killed?"
"I am," Loki said remorsefully. "I'd like to request that you do not send me to face him again, if he reappears."
"Oh, don't you worry about that," Fury said. "As of now you are off the team, regardless of who they are fighting, until I know you can be trusted again. Do you understand what this means?"
"Yes," Loki sighed.
"If you do anything to endanger a member of this team again I will have you locked away in a place that will make a snake dripping venom in your face seem like a vacation."
Loki scrubbed his hand wearily over his face and nodded.
"Go home," Fury said, as he stood up. "Get some sleep, you look like total shit."
Loki looked up at him for a second, and then said, "Can I see him?"
Fury raised an eyebrow. "You understand what you're asking? The condition he's in?"
"I am aware of what happened, yes."
"Come on then."
~0~
Fury lead Loki through the SHIELD building, down to the heavily guarded containment level where he himself had once spent some time as he waited to be taken back to Asgard after the battle in New York. He thought back, remembering how he had been locked away, seething with rage and hatred, and hoped William was lying. He never wanted to become that person again.
They entered a room where a large white box stood upon a table, and Fury asked, "Are you sure you want to do this?"
Loki nodded, and Fury removed the lid.
A large black container was inside the box, filled with liquid that gave off white vapour, and under the surface lay body parts. Two mangled legs, most of a forearm, a hand with only its thumb, and half a head.
"This was all we could find," Fury said quietly. "Agents are continuing the search today, but its possible the rest of him might have been… vaporised."
"You think he's dead, don't you?" Loki asked, as he looked up from the shattered body.
"This is liquid nitrogen. If we found the part of him that regenerates and it's in here, he isn't coming back."
"And what is to prevent me taking this box from you?" Loki asked.
"If you like breathing I highly suggest that you don't," Fury replied sternly. "Now that the Bifrost is repaired it wouldn't take much to banish your ass back to Asgard."
Loki looked down at the box, and said, "It matters not. This flesh is merely an empty shell that he has cast off like a butterfly escaping a cocoon."
"The fact that he hasn't time travelled back to this point and unleashed hell suggests to me that he's dead, and this situation is over."
Loki reached across the box, grabbed Fury's wrist, and growled, "Listen well, for my words may save your realm. William is not dead, and now he plots anew. He waits, and he will strike when your guard is down. You must be prepared for that day or we will all meet our end."
"Get your hand off me right now!" Fury barked.
Guards rushed into the room and grabbed Loki, trying to drag him away from Fury, but as they pulled him Loki lashed out with his free hand, grabbed the edge of the white box, and tipped it over, spilling its contents onto the floor.
"Stop him!" Fury shrieked, as Loki let out a blast of heat that melted the frozen flesh.
"Do you see?" Loki shouted. "If he was contained within this box he would have started to regenerate, but he isn't. He is free, and mark my words, he is planning against us while we stand here and fret!"
"Get him out of here," Fury ordered. "Put him in a cell."
"You know who his other father is, don't you?" Loki asked, as the guards tried to move him.
"Yes," Fury answered. "Do you?"
"I have known since the first day I touched William's magic with my own, but I could not say outright because then he would have known the manner of his death, and what use is a hero who is to afraid to fight in case this be the day he falls?"
"Which is the same reason why we decided not to tell him."
Loki shifted on his feet, and then quietly said, "You know, Stark once told me that the people called him 'the merchant of death' so I have to ask myself, exactly which of his fathers does our child take after?"
"Oh, it's you. It's definitely you," Fury stated, then he said, "Put him in a cell to cool off and call his brother."
Loki laughed as he allowed the guards to lead him away.
~0~
Thor thought it was amusing when he received the phone call asking him to come and collect his brother from the cells at SHIELD headquarters, but quickly realised it was no joke. Loki had attacked Fury, the second mortal he had hurt in two days, but Fury appeared to be in a forgiving mood, despite his badly bruised wrist.
"He will not be punished for his actions?" Thor asked.
"Do you think locking him up will achieve anything?" Fury asked.
"It has not in the past," Thor replied.
"Look, I understand that this mission has been an incredibly personal one for him, and that makes it hard," Fury said. "Loki has always been on the team by the skin of his teeth. His psych reports make for truly terrifying reading, but while Stark is still on the team everything is relative."
"What do you want me to do?" Thor asked.
"I need you to take him back to the tower and help him. As of now he is off the team, but if he can't control his behaviour, then you need to take him back to Asgard and ensure that he stays there."
Thor nodded solemnly and hoped that he could do something to aid his brother.
~0~
"Well, isn't this just like old times?" Loki asked, when Thor appeared outside his cell. "Me in here and you out there with a look of pity upon your noble face. I am almost nostalgic for the dungeons of Asgard."
"Loki, why are you acting this way?" Thor asked. "It is not like you."
"Is it not?" Loki asked. "The mighty Thor has a very short memory it seems."
"This is not you, not now."
"Perhaps it was my plan all along, to lull you into a false sense of security, bide my time until the right moment to strike," Loki rambled as he walked up and down the sparse cell.
"Then why are you still here?" Thor bellowed. "If you truly wanted to escape there is nothing to stop you leaving. There are no wards against your magic, not a single person here could stop you, and you know that. You are here, in this cell, because you choose it."
Loki stopped walking, stared at Thor for a few seconds, and then turned his face to the wall.
"Speak to me, Loki. What is happening?"
Loki turned his head, glancing over his shoulder, and quietly said, "You should leave now. It's better for everyone if I stay here."
"No. I will not leave you when you are behaving like this."
"I'm going to kill you," Loki whispered. "Father too."
"You would never do that."
"I've done it before," Loki said quietly, raising his head slightly, and glancing at Thor out of the corner of his eye.
"That was different. YOU were different. You are not that person now."
"Are you sure?"
Thor though back to what William had said when he was pinned beneath the hammer and suddenly it all made sense. "That child," he growled. "He has been filling your head with poisonous lies."
"What if it is the truth?" Loki asked.
"He attempted to tell me the same things yesterday, but I do not believe him."
"You don't?" Loki asked, and Thor shook his head. "And the others?"
"I cannot speak for them, brother, but even if they do, when they have time to think, once this is over, they will realise you are no longer capable of such things."
"Perhaps," Loki hummed. "He wants to drive me back to madness, Thor, and it seems he has had some success."
"No, brother. This is not madness."
"It isn't?" Loki asked. "I attacked Stark, a man I would call my friend. What else is it, if not madness?"
"A mistake, Loki," Thor said. "A simple mistake. You acted without thinking. I know that you love your children and would do anything to protect them."
Loki sighed, but did not move.
"Come home with me," Thor said. "I promise I will keep you safe."
"Home?" Loki asked. "I'm not sure I have one after this."
"If you are not welcome there," Thor said gently, "then I nor am I."
Loki smiled sadly and nodded as Thor opened the unlocked cell door.
I will post two more tomorrow!