I read somewhere on Wikipedia that the Chitauri are shape shifters in the comics, I kinda went with that in the last chapter! I'm trying to make chapters longer but I enjoy a good cliffhanger so most of the time I work towards the cliffhanger and when I get there I stop and begin a new chapter Thank you all for reviewing/commenting it keeps me writing!
"So we gonna draw straws on who's gonna start explaining what happened first?"
Loki's not listening, Thor looks confused, Steve's staring at Thor, Natasha at Clint and Clint looks like he's not in the mood for Tony's humor, which is ridiculous of course, Tony's humor is the best there is and you can't not be in the mood for it. Tony sips from a whiskey (one he thinks he deserves thank you very much) and leans on the counter he had leaned upon a few months back when Loki was still a psycho with an alien army at his back.
Tony doesn't know about the psycho-thing anymore but he's pretty sure the aliens Loki brought don't have his back anymore.
"Jarvis how's it going with or one-eyed-not-friend?" At least Jarvis answers when Tony says something to him.
"Mister Fury will be here in 10 minutes, sir." The Ai replies.
"So, Thunder guy, you wanna start? Things have been a little hectic lately but you still have some explaining to do." Tony doesn't like awkward silences. Both Natasha and Clint look up, they too want an explanation. Loki's still not listening or he's pretending. Bruce who's been standing at the sidelines till now looks up too.
Thor nods but he doesn't look happy about it.
"We did not manage to find out how the accident happened or what triggered it." Loki looks up for a moment like he's heard what Thor's said but he's not looking at Thor. Tony doesn't know if he's listening or not but he has a feeling he is.
"But the realm has not forgotten Loki's crimes," Thor looks ashamed and he bows his head,
"The All-father has called on the Council, the decision lies in their hands." Tony needs another drink.
"Wait, what?" Steve looks around and seems relieved when sees everyone else has the same expressions on their faces as him, confusion.
"Yeah, "Tony chimes in, "You might want to elaborate on that one princess?" It's not Thor who answers though.
"The Council of the Realms, the All-father has decided that my crimes, whatever they are, have affected more than three realms as a result he is forced to call upon representatives of each realm to come to a decision about my fate. A Council meeting like this, it takes weeks to prepare." His voice is quiet, his hands are fidgeting with a piece of paper and he looks distracted. Tony can see that he's not here with them for the full hundred percent.
"So some representative of earth is gonna decide what's going to happen to you?" Tony doesn't like the idea. What if they want Fury? Tony really doesn't like the idea of Fury representing every human being on earth.
"Midgard will be asked last, I assume your direct connection with the Bifrost makes it easier to summon you." Loki shrugs.
Tony still doesn't really understand one look around and he can see none of them do.
That awkward silence reigns over them again and Tony doesn't know how to break it this time, his head is still reeling, Chitauri warrior attacking earth again and now their former enemy turned into a child and also some kind of Council with the gods on the agenda, it's all a bit much even for a genius. A sudden movement catches his eye (which was previously staring at his now empty glass); Loki turns around sharply to look at Clint. Barton looks him in the eye and the awkward silence takes a new level of awkward.
"You were the one who shot that arrow, who pulled me back." It's a statement and from the looks of it Loki had been itching to get it out.
"Why? You hate me, I am very certain that you want me dead, your threats made that very clear, so why?" He stands up and when Clint moves (to cross his arms) Thor jumps and stands before Loki, like he thinks Clint's going to attack him, a few minutes after saving him.
"Whatever that Thanos guy wants from you I bet it's not good for earth." He says, voice monotone, face a mask. "I don't believe you but I'm not sacrificing millions because I don't like you."
Loki tilts his head and then he laughs. He actually laughs, like Clint has just told him something unbelievably funny and for a moment Tony can see the madman again. The psycho who attacked earth but then that moment's gone because he realizes it's just a bitter laugh, it's strained and forced. Yes Tony will get that drink now. He moves to the fridge while listening to the conversation if you can call it that. Everyone is exhausted and the conversation is terribly tense and no one's in the mood for this.
From the corner of his eye Tony can see Loki shake his head and he steps from behind Thor, placing a hand on his brother's side as if to reassure him.
"And you didn't ask yourself the obvious question yet? Thanos wants me so alive so badly! Don't deny you have thought of it, the easiest way would be to kill me." Loki steps to the middle of the room, away from the protection of Thor and turns in a circle looking at all of them.
Thor looks shocked that his brother even suggests such a thing but no one else moves or reacts. Their faces and their reactions (or the lack thereof) say enough. They have, all of them including Captain America stay silent and their silence alone is confirmation enough.
Tony has decided he'll take a double.
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To be honest, Clint's not entirely sure himself why he did it. He doesn't really know what overcame him when he shot that lifeline to Loki. Clint isn't a hero, he's not some do-gooder, he's a killer it's really that simple so why did he save Loki? When he answers that question to Loki he doesn't know whether he's telling the truth because the truth is that he has no clue.
When Loki drops the bomb (and points out the elephant in the room too while he's at it) Clint's not surprised because that's exactly what he had thought and if the roles were reversed he would've thought about it just as quickly as Loki had. The silence stretches on but not for long because the same guy who caused it breaks it.
Loki smiles but it's a sad smile, one that makes this young body look like the adult they had encountered a few months back. It's a weird sight on the face of a twelve-year-old.
"Don't be ashamed of it, friends of Thor, it was my first thought too." Again no reaction and Loki continues.
"But perhaps I need to explain why Thanos wants me alive in the first place? He wanted the scepter," his eyes flicker to Clint for a second before he goes on, "because inside was the Mind Gem." This only gets a reaction from Thor and Steve because all the others just stare at him blankly.
Steve looks like he's about put his finger in the air like he's a student sitting in a classroom asking the teacher a question but manages to not put his finger in the air at the last moment because that would have been ridiculous.
"You told me about that a few days back, right? Something to do with Infinity Glove or something like that?"
Loki doesn't answer but Thor does. It's almost like they're tuned in to each other like they complete one another. For a moment Clint sees two brothers who've been living together for a very long time and know each other inside and out but then he's reminded again that this is Loki and Thor and he are not brother anymore, not really.
"The Infinity Gauntlet, tis inside the All-father Treasure Chamber. Thanos once wielded the Infinity Gems brought together by the Gauntlet but they were destroyed or shattered, how did Thanos get a hold on the Mind Gem?" He looks at Loki as if expecting an explanation but Loki just shrugs and shakes his head.
"I do not know, what I do know is that the Gem has not enough power to take over anything stronger than a mortal, no offence to you," he gestures to all of them.
"Your minds are weaker," his eyes flicker at Clint again this time a little longer. Clint doesn't feel offended or anything he had figured already anyway. With demi-gods and ice Giants apparently running around it was to be expected that they were weaker.
"But the Tesseract could give the Mind gem power, enough to control all the mortals or a few Aesir. However he can't get to the Tesseract, he can get to me, whatever happened when we were experimenting on it, I took a bit of the Tesseract's power with me."
Tony who's still drinking (how many glasses does that even make?) nods.
"The Chitauri said something like that when we Skyped"
Loki nods, Clint's pretty sure Loki has no idea what Skype is but Loki doesn't seem to think it necessary to point this out and he resumes. "Indeed, and I take you can all guess why he wants me then?"
"So with the power you took from the Tesseract inside you he can power up this Mind gem to control some of you gods what is he planning? What's the point in all this, controlling some gods won't do anything major right? I mean if it's only a few?" Tony puts his glass down and looks at both Thor and Loki.
"I do not know what he plans to do next but his endgame is not hard to guess…" Again none of them have a clue expect Thor.
"He wants to destroy everything, like he wanted thousands of years ago." Thor says, he still doesn't look like he believes what he's saying's true.
"Who there big guy, I'm not following this I think, he wants to destroy everything what's up with that?"
Loki swirls around, and looks at tony, Clint can't see the look on his face but his voice tells him everything. It's disbelieve, like he can't understand that Tony still doesn't get it.
"He's a mad titan," Loki explains, he sounds like a snobby kid who thinks he knows better than you even though he doesn't. Well in this case Loki does know better but that's not the point.
"He can't die and for some reason he developed a fascination over Death, he courts her, believes that because he cannot die he should give her gifts in return."
Roger's eyes widen when realization strikes, Clint's already figured it out and he knows Natasha has as well, both keep their faces blank and emotions in check, like they're trained to do.
"The gifts are dead people?"
XxXxXxXxXx
Nicholas Joseph Fury does not like the way things are going. He's been in Stark tower for like 10 minutes and the only things he's heard till now are that there's gonna be some major Council happening of which he had not been informed at all and he has no clue how it will go or how the representative of earth is going to be chosen.
Then he hears that there's some crazy titan who wants the de-aged psycho god manic who tried to take over earth a few months ago, alive to power up some crazy stone that controls people and then said mad titan wants to obliterate the world destroy and kill everyone and everything because he has some unhealthy obsession over Death and instead of buying her flowers he gives her some dead people. Yes, he certainly does not like the way things are going right now.
Also they can't kill the de-aged dem-god the previously mentioned mad titan wants to badly because the Tesseract energy is unstable and if they kill Loki or mortally wound him, it could affect said energy, blow up in their faces, or, once freed from the prison that is Loki's body could turn into raw energy and materialize. Meaning it could turn into a gem itself or perhaps even fly to Thanos or something. Short version: 0iklling Loki is not an option. (But Fury's pretty sure Thor wouldn't allow it anyway even if it was an option)
On top of all the previous stated problems there was something in the back of his head, something bothering him. The warehouse the scepter was found had been owned by a criminal organization that smuggles Chitauri technology to potential buyers. Now there are more organization like that after the battle of New York, the black market must've blown up with all the illegal and also very dangerous weapons suddenly found everywhere in New York City. The list of buyers had been odd though.
Some science project to do with insects, a company that had ties indirectly with the technology business of Cybertek and all kinds of other fishy stuff. The report of agent Romanoff also had been worrying. The idea that these people had manages to keep a facility like this hidden from SHIELD (not specifically from SHIELD) makes matters all the more troubling. The thoughts of this particular issue are erased from his mind however when he steps in Starks living room and hears the conversation.
"Something's not right, shouldn't your eh father know of this? Isn't he like the king of everything so he should know about this Thanos guy right? Why not just stop him with his army and be done with it?" It's doctor Banner, they've just told Fury about everything in a nutshell and there are still a lot of questions going unanswered.
"Thanos is hidden even from Heimdall." Fury doesn't know much about this god crap but he's read some of those Norse mythology stories it seems ridiculous but really what other option is there? It's not like they can call Thor over for a visit and some extra explaining about the entire universe. He's heard the name Heimdall before, some guy who can see everything, literally like everything, if you can hide yourself from a guy who sees all you must be quite the enemy. Fury doesn't like it, obviously.
"He is in the Void," Loki's looking down at the paper in his hands like it holds all the answers, evidently it does not. Fury wishes it does though.
"No one can see there for there should be nothing."
"How do we take a mind controlling alien in space out?" agent Romanoff leans back against the table.
No one answers because no one knows, Fury's not done yet though.
"Apart from the crazy alien who wants to kill everybody, what else have you been keeping from me?" He glares at agent Barton and Romanoff because they are his agents they should have kept him updated on all of this.
"Because yes I did get a message from you, agent Romanoff that Loki's on earth, you didn't bother with the details however, like he's a kid and he had energy from a stone with infinite fucking power? Or maybe that there's some Council going to happen and we have no idea what to expect?" He slams his first down on the table to make sure everyone gets his point.
"With all due respect, sir I expected Thor to come back sooner and fix all of this all of this is news to me too." Romanoff crosses her arms and Fury can swear he sees Barton grinfor a split second before his face is emotionless again.
"Look we don't have time for you whining about some communication mistakes Mad-Eye Moody we've got some bigger things to worry about like the end of the world for instance."
Fury hasn't even opened his mouth yet when Rogers cuts him off.
"I hate to admit it sir but Stark's right we've got bigger problems."
"No you do not." They all look at Thor, even Loki who's been trying to stick to the sidelines and had been staring at the piece of paper in his hands.
"This is not your problem, friends, I do not wish to burden you with it, we will go back to Asgard and inform the All-father of this threat, he will deal with it, Asgard will deal with it."
Fury wants to object to that because hell, the end of literally everything is kinda their problem too but again someone's faster than he is.
"You told me I could not return to Asgard for it is not safe." Loki has let go of the little piece of paper and stands looking up at his brother. Or not-brother… It's all too confusing right now why can't things be less confusing and complicated?
"I will protect you brother but you cannot stay here, you will only endanger the mortals, Asgard shall have to deal with it after the threat of Thanos is dealt with."
"Excuse me but I think the end of the world IS our problem and I want to make-"
"We will leave immediately!"
"-Now listen to me, earth owes you a lot but you cannot-"
Thor isn't listening, Fury is talking for Christ's sake, and it's not to the wall it isn't.
"Thor think about this first, we nee-" all of them are ignored, Thor just grabs Loki and practically drags him out of the room, to the rooftop.
"Wait! My roof!" Stark yells and he scrambles behind them, just like the rest of them do.
XxXxXxXxXx
Loki doesn't resist as Thor grabs him by the arm and roughly guides him to the rooftop, Loki actually wants to go back because he has missed Asgard a lot, he's missed mother but Loki's worried to. His crimes against Midgard, against Jotunheim, hell even against Asgard they had been severe and horrible, the Asgardians are not known for their forgiving nature and Thor had told him Asgard wasn't safe. Midgard isn't much better but here he knows what to expect, in Asgard even though it's his home no, no it's not it never has been He shakes his head not now there's no time for this, Asgard is unknown territory right now two thousand years have passed, a lot can happen in such an amount of time.
He stumbles after Thor the best he can, he can hear Thor's friends running behind them and then they're at the rooftop, faster than Loki had expected.
Thor looks up to the sky, at some point in their conversation it had begun to rain, only know Loki realizes this. Rain and Thor, quite fitting actually. The thought has just formed in his mind when lightning strikes followed by the roar of thunder. It's so loud they can't hear what the Midgardians are yelling even though Asgardians hear better than humans do.
"Heimdall!" Thor yells, like yelling is even necessary, Loki thinks to himself with a small smile, Heimdall hears all even the faintest of whispers.
"Open the Bifrost!" Thor's voice is louder than the thunder is, it's almost deafening to Loki who stands next to him. Loki narrows his eyes, squinting to look at those foolish Midgardian friends of Thor's, they're not going to reach them in time, the Bifrost will soon transport them away.
Loki looks up to the sky to, expecting a yellow blinding light to descend, transport them away and leave the signature mark on the roof of that Iron Man.
Nothing happens
Ow yeaaaah another cliffhanger guys, I tried to stretch it but this is it! This will probably the last chapter I've prepared in advance, whether there will be another depends on all of you entirely, review/comment if you wants me to continue this story, I want to complete it but if no one's interested there's really no point eh :p A big THANK YOU to all of you who HAVE reviewed/commented/bookmarked/left kudos/favorited/followed, I love you all and I would hug you all if it were possible.