A very overdue update. Sorry for the long wait.
Not beta-ed.
It was a bit anti-climatic, really, the supposedly big war against the Chitauris. They had expected it to be big, dirty and with a lot of casualties. None of them had imagined that it would come to this.
The Chitauris had attacked at dawn. Or at least, that was when Jarvis had detected the portal. Earth's mightiest superheroes had gathered at Stark Tower ever since they knew about the threat so that it would be very easy for them to assemble the team for the war.
Jarvis had woken Tony up with an alarm, "Sir, signal anomalies detected. A single portal had opened here in New York."
Tony had jumped out of bed, sleepiness forgotten, "What?! Where?!"
"21.5 kilometers from here, sir," Jarvis has replied while Tony dressed himself, "I have taken the liberty and informed the others. Master Loki had requested everyone to gather at the rooftop."
"Tell him I'm on my way," Tony said as he suit up.
When Tony reached the rooftop, everyone else was already there and they were staring at a very big portal in the sky. No wait, make several big portals in the sky.
"Loki, can you identify which one is the main portal?" Steve asked.
"Yes," Loki gave a short answer.
Loki was standing at the edge of the building while everyone stood in the middle. Tony chose to stand beside trickster god.
"And? Which one is it?" Clint growled.
"Well, little bird, the brightest and biggest one, of course," Loki replied with a smirk.
Steve frowned in confusion, "But where's the army?"
"Oh, they are coming, that is for certain. They are waiting for the portal to stabilize. Any moment now," Loki replied softly.
With that information in hand, Steve had tried to take charge of the situation, "Alright, Natasha, you'll be in charge of evacuation. Take Clint and a lot of agents. Thor, you can..."
But he was interrupted by Loki, "That won't be necessary, Captain."
Steve turned towards Loki, baffled with his comment, "What? What are you talking about? We need to get people off the streets."
To which, Loki only chuckled lightly. Clint, who was already annoyed with the younger god, growled and tried to reach out, possibly to punch the him. But fortunately for Loki, he was stopped by an invisible dome-shaped shield. This information surprised all of them and as they tried to reach forward towards Loki, they too, were stopped by the shield. Only Loki and Tony appeared to be outside of the shield.
"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS? LOKI!" Thor yelled as he tried to break the shield with Mjolnir.
"You bastard! You are helping those damn aliens!" Clint growled as he tried to break through the shield again but was held back by the Black Widow.
"Loki, please, don't do this," Sif pleaded. Surprisingly, there wasn't any accusation in her tone.
"Stand down, Agent Barton! Loki won't betray us," Steve said as he stared at the trickster god.
"Then what the hell is he doing?!" Natasha yelled back at the Captain, even as she restrained the Hawk.
"Yes, Loki. What are you doing? We had a plan," Steve asked softly as he held his gaze. He had a bad feeling about what was going to happen.
Loki gave the Captain a sad smile and said, "No, I have a plan and THIS is my plan, Captain. This is my plan to save your world and to help undo what I did."
"Would you tell me about this plan, Loki? I would like to help. Please?" Steve begged as the bad feeling intensified.
"I can close the portal. I do not require any extra energy to do it. The raw magic in me would help. I only require Stark's help. Only he can get me to the portal," Loki explained softly. Well, Thor could too, but Thor would never agree with his plan. And he preferred his big brother to be in the safe zone.
Steve did not miss the way Loki bit his lip nervously and he knew something was up, "Is this a one way ticket to the portal, Loki?"
Loki kept his gaze on the portal. He heard his brother's gasp of "No!" and he knew he would not have the heart nor the strength to explain it to them.
And so, Tony answered for him, "Yes, Steve. It's a one way ticket this time. He knew the risks, and I do too. But this way, no one else gets hurt."
"Better me than anyone else, right?" Loki asked in a soft voice and he turned to face the Captain. And his brother.
"Loki, please. There must be another way," Thor wailed as he dropped to his knees.
"Without the Tesseract, there is no other way," Loki explained as he tried to fight off tears.
Knowing that Loki would not change his mind, Steve turned to Tony, "Please, Tony, you don't have to do this. You don't have to die this way. Stop him, please."
Stark just gave him a big smile and said, "No can do, Cap. I owe him, remember? And if this is what I need to do to beg for forgiveness, then this is it. Besides, I get to save the world too, right? Two birds, one stone and all that jazz."
"Loki, please," Steve tried again.
Loki just shook his head and then said, "There isn't much time. Stark, if you need to say good byes, it is best you do it now."
Tony gave him a sad smile and said, "No goodbyes from me. Jarvis would know what to do."
Loki sighed and look at the people in front of him. He had nothing to say to Clint or Natasha or even Volstagg and Fandral. He nodded at Bruce and gave him a small smile that the doctor returned. His gaze landed on Hogun next; the warrior was on his knees crying, but he had already said his goodbye to him.
And then it was Sif's turn. "Take care of my brother, Sif. I leave him in your care." "I will, Loki, I will."
Thor. "I am very sorry Thor. And I love you, never forget that. Please, tell mother that I love her too." "No, Loki please." "Please, brother, say your goodbye." "I love you, brother, I love you."
And now, the Captain. "Steve, thank you for your kindness and for your care. I am sorry if I had disappointed you. And thank you for being my friend."
"No, Loki, thank you for being mine. And thank you for saving the world. And I am not disappointed; I am so proud of you," Steve replied as tears flowed down his cheeks.
"Time to go," Loki said softly and climbed onto the Iron Man's back. If the situation wasn't so dire, he would be furious at how ridiculous they both looked.
Without saying anything, Iron Man (plus Loki) took off towards the big portal in the sky. They could still hear the Thunder God wailing for his brother but they did not turn back.
Halfway through the journey, Loki asked Tony if he had any regrets in making this decision.
"I have a lot of regrets, Loki. But this ain't one of them," was the reply.
As they approached closer to the portal, Loki could feel the energy pulling him in, like a black hole.
"Do the world a favor, would you, Stark? Never partake alcohol again, and take care of Bruce and Steve. Do these and you can consider your debt to me paid in full," Loki said as he started to pull away from Tony.
"Wait, what?! What are you talking about?!" Tony tried to turn his head towards Loki but before he could do that, Loki had teleported him away, back to Stark Tower.
Finally, he was alone. He hadn't anticipated the energy pulling him towards the portal and since this was his cross to bear, there was no point in sacrificing Tony Stark.
Without Tony to support him, Loki let the power of the portal to slowly pull him in. He could see enemy's ships now. Hundreds of them. And he knew that he had made the right choice. Midgard wouldn't stand a chance if the armies of Chitauri attacked. Better to nip this in the bud now. His energy could take them all out.
The portals were now ready and he could see smaller ships preparing to invade through the smaller portals.
He had trained hard in focusing the raw magic in him and this was the moment to shine.
Loki murmured a spell and directed it towards the biggest ship. It was too late to turn back now, well, it was not as if he would anyway. With a strangled shout, he released the raw magic in him. The last thing he saw before he disintegrated was a bright light and then many, many, many explosions.
Before everything ended, he gave a small smile. He had won.
A bittersweet victory.
The epilogue will be up soon.
Do kindly let me know what you think. :)