From here on it's going to move faster because yes at first it was a bit slow: p hope you like it, please review/comment and a thousand hugs and kisses to the people who have reviewed/commented you made this fic possible
"I could have done it father for you for all of us"
There's only darkness, and falling. How long has he been falling, he doesn't remember why is he falling, words and meaningless images keep flashing in front of his eyes but he can't really see or hear them. He knows they're there. And he knows he's falling
"So, I'm no more than another stolen relic? Locked up, here, until you might have use of me!"
He can feel the ghost of a hand holding his own, the hand lets go, why did that hand let go?
He's not falling anymore but he hasn't hit a surface, he's standing on nothing but at the same time he's not standing at all. Everything is so dark, it's too dark his eyes hurt and his head feels like it is going to explode.
They're looking at him he can feel their gazes but they are hidden he wants to scream, demand to know where he is, why isn't he dead?
There's no one who asks him but he answers anyway, is he losing his mind? Is he hearing voices? They are not words he hears, they are thoughts.
"I am Loki of Asgard," is that his voice? He doesn't want to say more but he does as if driven by an unknown force, he keeps talking but he doesn't know what he's saying, he's not him anymore it's like he's outside of his own body, the feeling he has when he makes a clone of himself however he has no control whatsoever over anything.
He can feel the power, the pressure radiating around him and finally he can control his own actions again, he slowly moves each muscles and for once he's happy when they scream in protest. He licks his lips and his mouth curves into a smile, he has his voice back. His voice is all he needs.
"I will get you what you desire…" he doesn't have to see for himself for he knows he's schooling his expression to be genuine.
"… For a price."
He is the father of lies after all
XxXxXxXxXx
"I know what they want."
Bruce almost jumps out of his skin and the chair tips over. He falls ungracefully on the ground, legs flailing. Bruce looks up, rubbing his head, at Loki with surprise obvious on his face. He must have fallen asleep.
"Me too," Bruce answers indignant, he fell of his chair for this. "You and the Tesseract both of which we're not giving him."
Loki's head turns around to look at Bruce, eyes widening in surprise.
"What are you-"Loki shakes his head as if to say Mortals
"He's not looking for the Tesseract," Bruce picks up the chair and shakes his head.
"If it's not the Tesseract or you he's looking for, then what is?" Loki probably hit his head a bit too hard; he's not even trying to make sense.
"He's looking for the scepter." Loki swings his legs off the bed. Bruce doesn't let him,
"Wooh, there big guy, you're not well enough to start running around the tower yet." He pushes Loki back into the bed as gently as he can with Loki resisting.
"Unhand me; I don't have time for this I need to speak with the leader of your realm." He tries to swat away Bruce's hands.
"Wait a second there Loki, explain it to me first and then we'll go to Fury okay?" Only now has the meaning of Loki's words actually sunk in.
"He's looking for the scepter, your scepter?" Loki glares at him because he can't get up, Bruce's hands are still pushing him back.
"Yes, unless you know of some other scepter?" The sarcasm drips from his voice and he stops resisting.
"We don't have time for this, healer Bruce if we do not hurry we might be too late!" Bruce has backed off from Loki to give him some space, wrong move, he sees the green spark when it is already too late, Loki let's go of the energy he's gathered and Bruce is blasted away against a wall. He can vaguely hear Loki apologize and when his vision clears Loki's gone.
XxXxXxXxXx
"You cheated!" Thor is glaring at the game of battleships he only has one left and Stark still has all of his. He doesn't like these Midgardian games at all and this has nothing to do with the fact that he has lost every single one of them.
"It cannot be that your ship has not passed the spot I have been repeating the last few minutes!" Tony frowns
"Wait you've been moving your ships?"
"Of course I have! Ships sail do they not? Are Midgardian ships different?" Tony stares and on the couch not far from them Clint is laughing his ass off. Since the battle in Detroit he has been much more relaxed, still a bit tense but not downright grumpy like he had been before, it's as if he's trying to make up for now that Loki is in de medical room and he hasn't seen him since the battle.
Fury's gone back to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, he had hurried away, there had been mass chaos and a good cover story was needed. From what Clint knows, he hasn't asked about Loki's…particular condition yet but Clint's very certain the question will come.
"I don't think you understand the game that well Thor." Tony says grinning. They are interrupted by Loki practically running in the room with a night apron.
"Brother!" Thor jumps and grabs his little brother, hugging him and smiling like an idiot.
"I'm happy you're awake, brother!" Loki slaps his brothers back and is unsuccessfully trying to get away.
"Let me go you idiot I can't breathe!" He's beginning to look red by now.
Tony can't stop grinning and his grin just widens when he sees Bruce, leaning against the doorframe out of breath. Thor has finally stopped crushing his brother, he's still holding him however. Loki glares at Thor before he notices who else is in the room, Hawkeye.
XxXxXxXxXx
Steve is jogging (duh), not in central Park since it's still being rebuilt but on the streets. He passes by some other joggers who all look at him in awe when he jogs by but Steve tries to ignore them. The city is bristling with life, like there hasn't been an explosion not 5 days prior, like there hasn't been en attack from outer space a few months ago. It never ceases to amaze Steve how easily the people of New York seem to bounce back into their normal everyday lives no matter what tragedy has struck.
He's just jogging but it seems as if jogging is just asking for trouble because his phone starts to beep and when he doesn't answer it just beeps louder, it's a phone made by Stark, of course it has an attitude.
"Steve Rogers," He sighs, he just wants to run a few miles why does the universe hate him for that?
He's running as fast as he can to Stark tower, yes the universe does hate it when he's jogging.
XxXxXxXxXx
"Black Widow do you copy?"
"Yes"
The place is abandoned and dusty she had been the one closest to the warehouse so she has arrived first, it would be at least 15 minutes before the Avengers got here. Natasha creeps further, silent and alert to any noise but she has already investigated three quarters of this place and she hasn't encountered any enemies yet.
"The base is underground you have to get to the scepter by any means necessary."
She doesn't reply, she had been planning to do just that already anyway, she scans the area again if the base is underground how is she supposed to get there as fast as possible? She can blow the floor up but there's no telling what's down there, if there gas right underneath her feet it would be like signing her own death warrant. Natasha presses at the earpiece and the infrared scanner covers her left eye immediately. She looks down, there are people everywhere but a closer examination makes her correct that statement, there are a lot of people but they're not all human.
A sudden noise makes her look up, footsteps from down the hallway, the machines gathered in this storage are enough she climbs them with ease and flings her body on the ceiling and sticks there thanks to Stark's new and improved suit with magnetic fibers.
Two men come in, no one man and some other creature she knows this for the heat signature isn't right, it's deformed and it shimmers like a projection that's not working properly. The two are talking she strains her ears to hear what they're saying.
"And so far there have been no problems?" it's the deformed creature that speaks, without the infrared scanner she would never have been able to guess he wasn't human.
"SHIELD doesn't know anything, we've made sure of that, the investigation is going well. I still don't understand sir, why are you here? There is no reason to worry I assure you we have everything under control!"
The man speaking has a lab coat on and glasses that look like they weigh at least a pound, he's constantly moving it up because it keeps sliding down his nose and in his right hand he holds a clipboard. He looks nervous and even from so high up Natasha can see the sweat on his brow.
"With everything that happened in Detroit he just wants to make sure everything's moving according to plan, doctor." The answer is clipped, annoyance clear in the voice. The creature posing as a man fastens his pace and the doctor can barely keep up.
"This way please," he says, he quickly steps to the other side of the room and pushes a few buttons at a control panel, steam comes out of it and it moves aside with a creaking noise.
Once they're both gone the control panel moves back to its original place. Neither of them notice her slipping inside with them, they're too busy talking, well the doctor is, the other guy just occasionally grunts in annoyance.
XxXxXxXxXx
"It's here alright," Tony says looking up from his tracking device;
"Spiderwoman activated the tracer inside the building." They're standing outside the warehouse in the dessert. Inside the jet, Bruce is looking at the cameras installed in their clothing.
"Stark's right, it's here the base is underground." All of them can hear him. They all have an earpiece except for Loki and Thor. Thor because he says he can hear Bruce just fine without it and Loki because he's standing next to Bruce in the jet. They had all agreed (except for Loki) that Loki could not fight because of two very obvious reasons: one, the Chitauri were after him, letting him enter would be like presenting him on a silver platter and secondly because Loki is still not healed yet and is still wearing his night apron.
"They're here." He says, looking through the window of the jet. "And so is the scepter." He's staring in a direction Tony can only guess, where the scepter is.
"So we just march in and take the scepter, yes?" Thor's swinging Mjolnir and he looks happy at the thought of a battle.
"Of course not, we have orders we can't just march in if we want to know who's behind this all we have to be subtle." Tony doesn't have to look up to know it's Steve. He looks at the scanner again.
"Hey, guys?" He mumbles. Clint interrupts but says what Tony had wanted to say anyway.
"Stealth isn't an option anymore, they are here and they have the scepter."
XxXxXxXxXx
She doesn't know how they know but they do. She passes them in disguise yet some of them glance up at her when she does. It's only the ones she knows are not human that do but they don't react when they look up, they keep working. She's wearing a lab coat from a hanger in the hallway and glasses that are actually infrared scanners, her hair is tied in a bun and in her hands she holds a clipboard much alike the doctor's. She blends in perfectly and the real humans don't notice her.
Her cover might be blown to fool the Chitauri but she's still tricking the humans and since the Chitauri don't attack her or reveal her true identity she ignores them and pretends she doesn't notice. Her glasses show her that the Avengers have arrived, she's almost reached the room with the scepter in, it's the room her glasses have difficulty with to project, if the scepter is anywhere in this building it's there. She moves her hand to her mouth to pretend she's coughing and to tell Clint to stand back, she's got this when the infrared scanner on her glasses show her what's happening in the room with the scepter in.
Loud noises come from the room and soon gun shots are heard. She doesn't have time to react because then the Chitauri drop their disguises and attack her.
They move to her like one big creature, Natasha dodges them easily, shooting with her guns the whole time.
"Cover's blown!" she yells to Clint via the microphone in her suit. One of the Chitauri tries to punch her but she ducks, grabs his arm and uses his body to open the door that is certain to be blocked. It was anyway, its body crashes into the doors and skids a few feet further in the room.
She's still shooting but she stops when she sees the scepter, in the hands of that disgusting alien she had seen in Detroit and he smiles at her.
"They have the scepter."
"Warning your pathetic mortal friends, female?" The words are foreign, it's an accent she's never heard but it talks more clearly than his minions do. He's covered with armor and with the blue glowing staff in his hand he looks sinister. He makes a simple gesture with his hands and two of his minion start shooting at her.
Natasha ducks throwing herself to the ground and killing the enemy at her right. She rolls over the ground and with one swing of her leg, knocks the creature's legs from under him and shoots that one too. The ground starts to shake and all the machines hanging from the wall start beeping an alarm is blearing and more Chitauri warriors fill the room. The ceiling collapses and she can see the Chitauri leader use the distraction to slip out of the room while his soldiers are crushed under the weight of both the ceiling and the Thunder god standing on it.
XxXxXxXxXx
Clint dives after Thor, one quick glance at Natasha who's still shooting the Chitauri tells him she can handle herself. Thor is swinging his hammer and laughing all the while, like a child on a swing. He doesn't wait until the other get there though, he's seen one of those aliens slip away, with the scepter in his hand.
He runs after it, shooting every Chitauri warrior that stands in his way. There are humans too with guns but he tackles them or knocks them unconscious very easily. They're much more fragile than the Chitauri are and it's almost too easy to overpower them.
He makes sure he doesn't lose sight of the scepter but with all the twists and turns in this place it's harder than you'd think. His bow is more of a nuisance than it is useful right now but he still doesn't let go. The alien he's chasing barks something at his soldiers, they start shooting the ceiling. Clint knows what they're doing and he's shooting almost all of his arrows at them but it doesn't stop them, they keep shooting and by the time he gets there, part of the ceiling just collapses he has to jump out of the way to avoid being squashed, some of the Chitauri who had been shooting are not as lucky and are crushed under the rock.
Clint doesn't hesitate he takes an exploding arrow and fires. He doesn't wait until the smoke clears he runs through the hole he's made and keeps running. He runs as fast as he can, there are no Chitauri warriors blocking his path anymore, they must not have though he could get through, but he's still not fast enough when he gets outside he can see the alien with the scepter enter a space ship. He fires the rest of his arrows but it is in vain, the moment the ships takes flight is the moment it blends in with the background and just disappears.
XxXxXxXxXx
Loki hates it that he's just standing there doing nothing while the other might already have the scepter and get away with it. He doesn't understand what Thanos is planning to do with it yet, he knows Thanos was the one who gave it to him in the first place, if he had why make so much effort to get it back? However if the scepter hold what Loki suspects it does he can already guess and if he's right no good can come from it.
He hears the distinct sound of something exploding and knows it must be Thor. The healer is pressing a lot of buttons and keeps talking to the director Fury but Loki doesn't pay attention to what he's saying. It's awfully silent for a few seconds, a new explosion shakes the ground.
It's the Other Loki realizes, and when he sees the blue glowing light coming from the object the alien holds his eyes widen and he has the scepter.
Loki immediately runs to the exit of this flying device but when he tries to open it it's locked. He doesn't think about the consequences he just blasts the door open with all the magic he has left inside of him but it's weak and the door is only partly destroyed, there's a hole but it's not big enough to get through. He calls upon his magic once more but then he sees the other boarding his ship and by the time Loki's managed to collect enough magic the ship's already disappeared and the scepter with it.
But he's seen the scepter, he had remembered the scepter but not what it was, he had remembered the concept, using it but not he hadn't realized what it was back then. Now he does, the power radiating from it is different now, there's more, it's bigger. There is no doubt about it, it is the Mind Gem, with more power but not quite enough. And Loki knows why Thanos wants him so badly. It needs another boost before it can take over the mind of an Aesir, it needs the Tesseract, or when the Tesseract is not around, a piece of its power will suffice.
I had to think long and hard about the plot, how I was going to make this all seem logical. I'll try to explain: Thanos somehow made Loki believe that the scepter was not the Mind gem when he attacked earth. The Mind gem had not enough power to take the mind of an Aesir but it did have enough power to control a few mortals. The Tesseract could power the Mind Gem up enough to control the mind of one of the Aesir. So basically the only thing Thanos need now is the energy inside Loki to get what he wants.