Hey, guys! I am so sorry for not updating! I've been super busy. I'm packing to leave for college and actual adult life, and I went up to my uncle's cabin at the lake to visit some family where we had no internet at all. Sorry again!
I won't keep you guys any longer. So without further adieu, I give you Chapter 13.
Disclaimer: I have no claim to these characters. All rights belong to Marvel Studios.
Chapter Thirteen
"That's enough, Brother," Thor seethed, rushing towards me and pulling me up from the floor. I cried out as he roughly pulled on my sore arm. I wasn't sure if I was feeling the Hulk's beating or if everything I should have felt since I took hold of the scepter was crashing into me all at once.
Thor dragged me out of the parlour and back onto the terrace. He pointed his hammer towards the sky, and clouds gathered above us. Lightning came down towards the hammer, and I winced at the light and the sound-why is everything so bright and loud? The electricity soon dissipated, and Thor was left holding a long chain and a muzzle that Asgardians used for prisoners who could use magic by speaking. He took my wrists and bound them with the chain before putting a hand on my shoulder and staring at me with an expression I couldn't decipher. After a moment of what looked like hesitation, Thor lifted the muzzle, and I didn't fight him as he secured it over my mouth.
Now that I was bound, Barton lowered his bow and glared at me for a moment before marching up to me and punching me. "That was for the mind control."
My cheek stung and throbbed with the rest of me, but I suppose I deserved the pain, now that I could see the destruction for what it was. I don't know why I couldn't before.
"Great," Stark exclaimed. "Now for the Tesseract."
Stark activated the flight capabilities of his scratched and dented suit and flew shakily up to the Tesseract and Selvig's machine. Eric was up, and he helped Stark place the Tesseract in a silver case. Stark gripped the back of Selvig's shirt and took the case, flying down unsteadily until he dropped onto his circular landing pad, which gradually removed the pieces his broken suit as he walked down it. Selvig glared at me heatedly while Stark handed the Tesseract to Thor.
The Hulk gave off a roar as he shrunk down, changing back into Banner, his enlarged trousers were so loose that they instantly fell off. I looked in any other direction as he groaned.
"Woah!" Stark shouted. "Showing a little too much there, Banner!"
Some scrambling sounded and then Banner muttered, "Thanks. And sorry."
I glanced back and found Banner standing awkwardly, huddled in a blanket.
"Let's get you some clothes," Stark suggested, dragging Banner away. They both returned moments later with Banner in a poor-looking, Midgardian outfit of a t-shirt and khakis. "And now for shawarma," Stark stated.
What in the Nine Realms was shawarma?
"Stark, I'm sure that-"
"Ah, ah, ah!" Stark shouted, holding up a finger to cut off Thor's statement. "You promised that after we contained Reindeer Games that we could go for shawarma. And I nearly died. I deserve it."
Thor rolled his eyes, though a smirk tugged at his lips. Rogers snorted as he strained to contain a laugh. Stark turned around and went towards a lift, and the others followed. Thor shoved me forward, and I winced at the sharp pain that coursed through me, not that anyone could hear.
The Avengers guarded me as we walked through the streets and met Director Fury surrounded by other members of SHIELD, including Agent Hill. "Excellent work securing the Tesseract," the director congratulated.
"Thanks. It's not like we nearly died several times over or anything," Stark muttered.
If Fury heard the comment, he ignored it. "But I assume that you need the Cube to take Loki back to Asgard."
"Yes, sir," Thor answered. "And I'm afraid that you will not be getting it back anytime soon."
"Take it," Fury permissed, waving his hand. "I don't want that thing touching my planet again."
Hill nearly jumped. "Sir-"
"Thor left before we could catch him," Fury interrupted, "taking Loki and the Tesseract with him." Thor nodded in thanks. "Though we'd still like to keep Loki with us overnight. See what he has to say."
Thor glanced between Fury and I before shoving me forward. The muzzle around my mouth suppressed the pained gasp I made when his hand shoved my shoulder.
"Now let's go before he changes his mind," Stark ordered, taking off down the road. The rest of the Avengers followed. Thor gave me one last look before going with them.
Several SHIELD guards surrounded me and led me aboard the jet that waited behind Fury. They pushed me down into one of the seats and stared me down the entire flight. It wasn't long before we landed in the same half-destroyed floating fortress that they kept me in before. They imprisoned me in a different area and removed the Asgardian muzzle from around my mouth.
Fury stood staring at me through the thick, glass wall. "Why did you even come here?" he demanded, though I didn't answer. He asked question after question as to why I was on Earth and what I was trying to do here, but I never answered. I didn't have the energy to. All I wanted was to sleep, and I couldn't stop thinking about what would happen when Thor returned me to Asgard. Odin would either imprison me for the rest of my life or have me executed for this, and there isn't wasn't a single chance that he would believe me if I told him what the scepter and Thanos have done.
SHIELD kept me for the whole day. They brought me a meal, but I hardly touched it. When Thor, Selvig and the Avengers did come to take me away, they looked much better than the day before. Most of their cuts had healed, and their clothes were changed, though purplish bruises coloured their skin in sudden, bright splotches. SHIELD opened the cell, and Thor re-secured the Asgardian muzzle over my mouth. They brought me to another jet, and Thor shoved me down into one of the seats-making me silently groan in pain-and sat next to me as Romanoff went to the cockpit and ignited the jet's engine, taking us up into the sky. We flew for only a few minutes before she set us down and let the ramp drop, shutting off the engine again.
Thor pulled me from the jet and the others followed after. We walked through a scenic park until we came to a brick platform. Selvig picked up a glass cylinder with golden handles and Asgardian markings and opened a silver case, revealing the Tesseract. Banner took a pair of tongs and carefully lifted the Cube from its case while Selvig opened the glass cylinder. Banner slipped the Tesseract into the container, and Erick locked it. Thor walked up to Selvig and took the glass cylinder from him with a gentle smile, while Romanoff leaned closer to Barton and whispered something in his ear that made him smirk.
Thor walked back up to me and held out one of the golden handles of the glass cylinder. I had no choice but to take it, but I a dulled part of me was afraid of going back-of seeing Odin and Frigga again. I took the handle, and Thor glanced around at his friends for what would likely be the last time. He twisted his handle, and the Tesseract's glow brightened until it consumed us both, taking us up to Asgard.
The blue light of the Tesseract dissipated after a moment, and Thor let me go the instant it did. Guards rushed about me and dragged me through the palace and down to the dungeon. They threw me into a large cell and removed my chains and the muzzle. The guards left me alone, and gold-yellow shields appeared on the three open walls of the cell-my cell.
Guards and medical personnel came into my cell every now and then, checking me over and healing everything that had broken since I fell through the void. But mostly, they curbed my illnesses. A few days after I was thrown into the cell, I caught some form of a cold. It got worse and worse until everything I ate came back up again. Every part of me ached, and I was always unbearably hot.
"I don't understand it," a smooth, feminine voice muttered. I inched closer to one of the golden walls of the cell and put my ear to it, straining to catch more of the conversation. "Everything I'm seeing from him says that he's going through withdrawal. It's like he's addicted to something."
"Do you have any idea what?" a second voice wondered, and I easily recognised it as Thor.
"No," the same woman answered. "Last time we had to look him over was after you took him, Lady Sif and the Warriors Three to Jotunheim about two years ago. He was normal then. There was nothing in his system that shouldn't be. Did he take anything after that?"
"Not that I'm aware of." There was a deep silence before Thor spoke again. "But I may have an idea." Footsteps sounded, and Thor soon came into view. We stared at each other for a moment, his expression more guarded than I've ever seen it. "Loki," he slowly addressed. "What exactly was in that scepter?"
He thought I was physically addicted to the power that the Mind Stone contained? Looking back over all that happened, that might be true, but I couldn't let him know that. He couldn't know how weak I was. "Wouldn't you like to know," I muttered.
"Loki. You must tell me what-"
"Why?" I interrupted. "So you can take it for Asgard?"
Thor tensed and breathed deeply before shaking his head and going back the way he came.
SHIELD had the scepter and the Stone now. They would hide it from Thanos, sending him back where he started. No one should have the power of those Gems. They destroyed you from the inside out.
Guys. There's only 2 chapters left to go. Should we celebrate the end?