Title: A Lane to the Land of the Dead chapter 11/14
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.
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 11
~0~
Black rain fell from the sky, staining the few buildings that still stood and the shattered wreckage of overturned cars that littered the street a dingy shade of grey.
He walked, feet crunching brittle bones to dust beneath the soles of his boots, surveying the wrecked realm that was now his.
The heroes had tried to defeat him and failed. Their bodies lay tattered and torn, piled together in a small heap, together in death as they were in life. Their weapons lay abandoned; the shield, the smashed faceplate of the man of iron, and the hammer he could not lift.
He was aware of someone standing next to him, and they said, "You did it, father. For me."
Loki began to laugh.
~0~
Loki woke with his heart pounding in his chest and wetness on his face, which he quickly wiped away, just in case he had disturbed his brother. He had already woken Thor once that night, thrashing in the bed, and he had lied about what caused him to panic so much.
Every night for a week he had slept in Thor's room, half terrified that his son would appear to whisper lies of the future into his ears, even though everyone claimed that William was dead.
Loki knew it wasn't true, and when the bodies of criminals began to appear again, his fear began to grow.
He slipped out of the bed, but before he could even stand Thor asked, "Are you all right?"
"I am well," Loki reassured him. "Go back to sleep."
"You do not look well. Did you have another dream?"
"It matters not," Loki replied, as he wandered towards the bathroom.
"It matters to me."
Loki paused, turned back to face his brother, and finally admitted, "I'm scared."
"You know I will not let him harm you."
"Not of him," Loki said as he moved back to the bed and perched nervously on the end. "I'm scared of what he's going to talk me into doing."
"William talks of war and devastation, but these things do not have to come to pass. I trust you, brother. I know you will not harm me, or the others."
Loki sighed. "I suspect you are the only one who feels that way."
"How do you know that?" Thor asked. "You have kept yourself hidden away in this room for days."
"I somehow doubt that I would be welcome after what I have done."
In the half-light Thor could see Loki nervously picking at his fingers, he pulled back the sheets, and said, "Come back to bed, brother. It is senseless to worry about things that will never happen."
Loki sighed. "How can you be so sure?"
"Because I know you. I know you are no longer capable of the things that he describes."
"I wish I shared your faith," Loki said quietly.
"Then I will have faith enough for both of us," Thor replied, and then he patted the mattress. "Come back to bed. I'm getting cold."
Loki's mouth quirked up at one corner. He crawled up the bed and said, "All right, but don't blame me if I wake you up again."
"I will not complain," Thor said cheerily as he pulled the covers back up over Loki.
~0~
When Loki woke the next morning he blearily watched as Thor moved round the room pulling on a T Shirt and taking out a pair of dirty boots.
"What are you doing?" he asked sleepily.
"Getting ready," Thor replied.
"Are you going somewhere?"
"It is not good for you to spend all your time within these four walls. Come, we will go on a quest!"
"I don't want to go on a quest. I want to stay here," Loki replied petulantly.
"Get up and get dressed or I shall drag you out of bed and you can quest in your nightwear."
Loki laughed and half-heartedly rolled his eyes. "Very well then, but no Bilgesnipe, fire demons, or other creatures. I've had more than enough excitement this week without you almost getting me killed."
"Oh," Thor said. "I was going to suggest we go for a walk in the park."
Loki paused, then let out a little chuckle. "The park it is."
~0~
They dressed in their dowdiest Midgardian clothes, hoping that no one would recognise them, which for Thor meant his hair tucked up under a cap, a hooded sweatshirt, and jeans. Thor teased Loki mercilessly when he appeared in a three-piece suit and a tie, and had eventually been talked into changing into black jeans and a leather jacket.
Loki teleported them to the park and they opted to stay away from the crowded areas and instead were content to wander among the trees, listening to the sounds of bird song and the children playing in the distance. It took Loki a while to relax, but when Thor threw a handful of fallen leaves in his face they started to chase each other, running wild through trees and cackling with laughter.
Later, when they were both breathing heavily, they wandered to a café and bought ice cream cones, and meandered through the trees again as they talked about when they were children.
"We should go to Asgard for a while," Thor announced. "You've only been back once since the Bifrost was repaired. Mother will forget what you look like if you don't pay her a visit soon."
Loki let out a small laugh and contemplated Thor's words as he finished the last bite of his ice cream cone. "Perhaps, when this is finished. It would be good to see mother again."
As they cleared the trees and set out to walk across a grass area there was a flash of red light.
"My, my, isn't this pleasant," William said as he appeared before them dressed in his full battle armour. "A family outing and yet I was not invited."
Loki felt a brief moment of panic, and curbed his sudden urge to hide behind Thor. Instead he stood up straight and said, "If you have come here to attempt to twist my thoughts you will be unsuccessful."
William cocked an eyebrow up. "Twist your thoughts? Oh no, we are beyond that. I've come to kill you."
"Why would you do that?" Thor asked, wrapping a protective arm around Loki's waist.
"If I kill him I will never be born."
"Have you thought this through?" Loki asked. "If you attack us the Avengers will come. Perhaps Stark will be killed and you will cause your own conception."
"Stark is his father?" Thor gasped.
"Yes," Loki replied, still keeping his eyes on William. "Stark falls in battle and I eat his heart. Perhaps it will be this battle."
"It's a chance I am willing to take," William said, "But none of that will matter if I kill you before you can eat his heart."
Thor held out his hand, and even though Mjolnir was far away, he called for her.
~0~
Tony sat in the main room of Stark Tower, idly watching TV even though he knew he should be down in his lab working on his suit, but lately he found that he really wasn't in the mood for it.
He flicked through the channels, unable to settle on one for more than a minute, and realised that if Loki had been here he would have grabbed the remote out of his hand and smashed it against the wall in frustration.
He hadn't seen Loki for days, not since his little outburst at SHIELD headquarters that had landed him back in a cell for most of an afternoon, and he hated to admit it but he missed his surly presence around the tower.
When Loki was there he always had someone who was willing to join him in a night out, someone who was unpredictable, bordering on psychotic, and most of all Tony loved the fact that when Loki was around he was no longer the biggest ass hole in the room.
Thor had come to tell him earlier in the day that he and Loki were going for a walk in the park and asked if he wanted to join them, but Tony was nursing a mild hangover and had turned him down. Now he regretted it.
Tony regretted a lot lately. He didn't feel guilty for smacking Loki in the face, that was payback for blasting him, but he really wished he hadn't brought up the attack on New York, especially since it had turned out that Clint's stab wound wasn't even serious and William had managed to miraculously miss every single vital organ and major blood vessel.
It was only two years ago, but it seemed much longer, and they had been through so much together since Thor had appeared at the Tower dragging Loki around by the arm as he apologised for his actions. None of them had trusted him at first, and it had taken time for them to realise that he really had changed his ways, although not entirely.
Loki was still... Loki; he lied all the time, he manipulated people to his own ends, and was prone to dark moods and occasional violence when he was frustrated. But he had also saved Tony's life, and the lives of god knows how many civilians since he arrived back on Earth, and Tony couldn't help but let his mind drift back to the video tape of him sat in his room, alone, telling himself he wasn't good enough.
Tony asked himself the question he had been avoiding: did he really believe Loki would go back to the dark side and try to kill them all? He quickly realised that the answer was no, but there was a chance they might lose him anyway through mistrust and rejection, and Loki's own fragile mental state. Tony sighed as he realised exactly what was at stake here. Loki was his friend, and if he didn't do something about this situation soon he might be too late. Tony sighed as he realised exactly what was at stake here. Loki was his friend, and if he didn't do something about this situation soon he might be too late.
He pulled out his phone to call Thor and ask if he could join them, but dropped it in shock when he heard the sound of breaking glass. He jumped out of his seat and went to the window.
"JARVIS, are Clint and Steve in the tower?"
"Agent Barton is in his room, and Captain Rogers is training, sir."
"Can you patch me through to Steve?" he asked, as he popped his earpiece in and ran out onto the landing platform.
"Of course, sir."
"Tony, what's up?" Steve asked over the comm link.
"Tell everyone to suit up, right now, and head up to the hanger."
"Is something wrong?"
"Well, Thor's hammer just blasted out a window and is heading across the city. I'd say so, yeah," Tony replied. "JARVIS, can you put me through to Clint?"
"What's up?" Clint asked.
"Hey, are you well enough to fly the jet?"
"Sure, are we going somewhere?"
"Yup, I'll give you the location when I get there," Tony said, as the Iron Man suit rose out from the floor and was applied to his body.
"OK, heading up."
"JARVIS," Tony said, as his faceplate slammed down and he blasted into the sky. "Follow that hammer."
~0~
Thor waited, his hand outstretched, as William stalked from left to right in front of them.
"I couldn't help but notice the press have now given me a name," the boy said. "'The Night Slayer'. It has a wonderful ring to it, don't you think?"
"A villain name," Loki replied. "It is nothing to be proud of."
"There already is someone who goes by that name. I imagine he is terribly upset that I have usurped it."
"Why are you wasting our time with idle threats if you intend to do nothing but strut like a Peacock?" Thor shouted.
William stopped, and tapped his foot impatiently. " Isn't it obvious? I'm waiting for the others. Why would I waste my greatest triumph on an audience of just two?"
"They do not even know that you are here. What makes you think that they will arrive?"
William let out a snorting laugh and said, "Oh, I think they do."
Finally the hammer landed in Thor's grasp, he raised it to the sky, unleashing a mighty bolt of lightning, which smashed down to the hammer, surrounding Thor in forks of electricity, and transformed his clothes into his armour.
Glowing gold light surrounded Loki as his armour, cape and helmet appeared, and Tony slammed to the floor next to him, raising his hands, ready for battle.
"Iron Man, fashionably late to the party, as always" William said, raising his chin. "Today is the day you meet your doom."
"Already met Doom, kid," Tony quipped. "Can't say I was that impressed."
William chuckled. "If only you knew the things that I know."
"I quite like surprises so you can just keep that shit to yourself," Tony replied, as the Quinjet touched down behind him.
Steve, Natasha, Clint and Bruce emerged from the jet and quickly moved across the grass.
"Good, good," William said, clapping his hands together. "Now we are all present, shall we begin?"
"Whatever your game is, just get on with it," Tony said.
The boy raised himself to his full height, conjured a knife into his hand, and proclaimed, "I am William Lokasson, the Night Slayer, and future ruler of Midgard and I declare war upon you and against this realm."
"You're a piss poor imitation of your father, kid," Tony sighed. "At least he had an army."
"Oh, I have an army," William said, as a grin spread across his face.
He raised his hand and the sky above their heads began to swirl with colours, pulsing red, orange, yellow, green and blue.
The colours began to coalesce, forming a spout like a rainbow tornado; a flash of light cracked through the air as the spout touched down, and a hundred Frost Giants appeared on the field.
Next chapter will be up in about 5 minutes.