Lead Me Back to Normalcy

A/N: Hello again! Yes, another non-Tuesday update! I figure I'll post this now since I won't be updating on Tuesday this week since the fourth is on a Monday.

Anyway, I changed the rating of the story. I've been reading some "T" stories that have a lot more gore and adult themes; not to say that isn't coming, but until then I'll keep the story "T."

Anyway, I know I haven't said this for the pass few chapters, but thanks again for the reviews, favs, and alerts! You have no idea how encouraging it is to see them!

Alcohol is the anesthesia by which we endure the operation of life.

Chapter Eleven: Do Not mix Alcohol and Drugs

"The fuck!"

"That's what I said when I tripped over him," Stark informed nonchalantly. He crossed his arms over his white wife-beater shit. The man leaned over Loki, half suppressing a grin but not able to suppress the chuckle. "By the way, I found these next to him, Darcy," he informed. Tony pulled out an empty pill bottle from his jeans. "He'd said—well more like drunk mumbling—that he tried taking a few, but they didn't work. So I'm assuming he took more."

Darcy took the bottle. Her eyes were wide as she stared inside the empty pill bottle. She seemed oblivious to Jane's glare. "Where the hell am I suppose to get a new prescription?" she complained.

"We have bigger problems than your medicine, Darcy," Jane said through an exhausted voice.

She pushed Darcy to the back, away from Loki. Through half angry and half pity she stared down at the god of mischief who lied on the floor in between the computer wires and desks. He was obviously stoned or buzzed or maybe both because he remained in his Asgardian armor. An empty wine bottle was by his side. In his right hand he held onto another, half full bottle of red wine. But the alcohol was the least of her concerns. His pupils were dilated to the point where only a sliver of green outlined the dark doorways to his soul. His cheeks were flushed with blood, giving him a rather rosy appearance from his cold demeanor.

"I—Have I to—told you I haven't been fucked in three years?" Loki mumbled in a haggard voice. "My balls fr—fucking hurt. But these mo—mor—ortals are so…" He gave an unbelievable look to Stark. "They are not pretty. I mean what the hell is up with these things you call zits? You all look like trolls with these zee-zits on your f-f-faces."

Stark only laughed more. "Well, buddy, that's why you have alcohol to make the girls look pretty," he commented lightly.

"Tony!" Jane reprimanded. "This is serious!"

Loki turned his attention to Jane; his satanic horns ripped a handful of wires from the computers. Darcy rushed to hold onto the computer before it could crash onto the ground. Hearing Jane rant about losing more data was no on her priority list. His green eyes lit up as they rested upon Jane. "You made my brother soft, mortal," he spoke in a hushed whisper, but his low tone only added to the venom on each word. "What he saw in you baffles me."

"I told you not to return," Jane remarked bitterly.

He laughed, a combination of her ignorant remark and his drunkenness. "I'mmmmm the god of mischief," Loki slurred. "I don't listen to people's rules; I make my own." He gave her a mischievous smirk. Jane backed away as she saw something malicious glitter in his eyes. "I told my brother I would pay you a visit, Jane. I'm here to fulfill my promise." His hand let go of the wine bottle as he pushed him up. Tony rushed beside Darcy and gripped onto another compute and it teetered near the edge of the desk.

Jane backed away as Loki stumbled onto his feet. He swayed back and fourth uneasily, but his eyes never strayed from her. "More like the god of evil," she retorted. "Now leave us alone."

"Or what?" Loki taunted. "You'll caaall forth those warriors? I'll turn them to ice cream. I can do that, you know?" He cocked his head to one side as his grin grew bigger. "I can do a lot of things, many of which would blooooow your mind." He reached out to Jane, his hand catching hers. Despite his build, the god easily jerked her towards him. Loki could hear Tony and Darcy shouting vigorously at him. Jane could easily smell the alcohol on his breath. "Heimdall!" Loki shouted at the top of his lungs. He shot his head upwards towards the ceiling, staring at an entity that wasn't there. "Summon my brother! I wish him to see his precious mortal turned to something soft … like ice cream."

Without thinking, going on instinct alone, Jane growled, "Then how will you see your wife?" Loki froze in place. His green eyes darted across her face, trying to make sense of her fearful expression and words and dark threat. "You wouldn't be here otherwise. So if you want ever want to see Sigyn—"

"Don't you dare threaten her!" Loki bellowed. His gripped tightened around her wrist. Jane gasped. She felt as if her bones were straining to break underneath the stress. Suddenly that smile he had adorned became a snarl. "I will kill you in ways you thought impossible if you so much as think of laying a hand upon my Sigyn, mortal." He brought his mouth to her ear. "I will make sure that my brother will be watching should that occur."

"Leave her alone!" Darcy yelled. She chucked a keyboard at Loki. It burst into two pieces as it collided against his shoulder armor. The god turned his head to Darcy, failing to notice Tony had left the room. Jane took the moment to jam her free hand's fingers into the god's eyes. With a cry, Loki let go, back up, and losing his balance. He fell over the table and took it with him as gravity's hands yanked him to the ground. The papers scattered to the floor; months' of work disorganized. The sound of a computer screen shattering sounded like thunder to Loki's ears.

Jane looked thankfully to Darcy; in return, Darcy grinned happily. The sound of the broken machinery and paper being crunched caused them to turn their heads back to Loki. He only sat up because his back was pressed into the underside of the table. In a hectic fashion, his right hand sifted through the debris. From underneath the paper and a broken table leg he pulled out half of the tattered bracelet. With a soft jerk, the old leather and string gave way, fraying into several pieces. "No," was all he could whisper. In his drunken state, Loki only pulled harder the old gift, causing it to further split. "No, no, no, no, no, no!" He only pulled harder, this time fraying it to the point where the weavings fell apart, and Loki was left with nothing more than a bundle of frayed leather and string. Inside his chest, he felt his own heart begin to fray and come undone.

From the doorway of the "L" shaped room, Tony remerged in his iron suit. He came in with his hand raised, ready to shoot off as many energy blasts as needed. Darcy moved out of Tony's path, and Jane moved to the side. Loki glanced up from the frayed bracelet to see Ironman staring him down, but instead of matching his gaze as he did all opponents, he let his eyes slid back down to the tattered bracelet. In truth, Loki could have cared less bracelet, but it was the memories he had inscribed on it in perfect detail that were now lost that brought him to his knees. He bowed his head to his chest as the tears came down onto his face.

Darcy looked to Tony before glancing to Loki. Her brown eyes drifted to the bracelet. She recognized it as the very same one he had fondled a few weeks back. She felt a pang of sympathy for him as he curled his hand around it. It must have been important to him… "As much as I am for blasting this creep, he is drunk and high," Darcy spoke. "It would be a little extreme to just shoot him when he can't even think properly. I mean, he hasn't bothered us since you told him to leave, Jane." From her field of vision, she saw as other SHIELD soldiers arrived with their weapons armed. They joined behind Tony and aimed their weapons at the intruder. "It's my fault anyway… I kind've gave him my prescription so that he would chill."

"Why the fuck would you do that, Darcy?" Jane inquired. She stared with deer-large eyes at her friend.

"He was freaking out," Darcy defended. "I—I felt sorry for the creep. I mean, he seems really lonely. He obviously can't go to Asgard, or we wouldn't be dealing with him in the first place." She looked to Loki. "Hey, creep. Are you paying attention?" He did not move. Grabbing a mouse, she chucked it at him and hit the top of his helm. This time, the god raised his head. There was an array of emotions swirling inside his glazed eyes: annoyance, hate, remorse, sorrow, and fury. "Why can't you go back to Asgard?"

He winced at the question, but the emotional pain of it was rather dull. In his state, the dullness of the pain was a bit surprising; though, that may have been because he had asked himself that same question every day since he came to Midgard. "Because I am a fuuuuuucken' failure," Loki slurred. "I am the monster of children's nightmares. I—I have no place among them; I deserve no place among them." His head fell low again as his eyes stared blankly at the bracelet. The look in his eyes was how he felt—blank.

"What about your wife, Sigyn?"

"With them," he answered in a hollow voice. "Where she belongs." Loki dropped the material from his hand so he could force himself to stand. He was oblivious to the weapons as they followed him. The god swayed back and forth, looking as if he would go crashing back down to the ground again. "She is nothing but a child. She behaves like one too. She's so sweet and innocent, and loyal." He smiled at the fondness of her slight hand on his shoulder. Loki grinned silly, staring passed Darcy at someone who wasn't there, but who he wanted to be there. His eyes softened as if he were staring at his wife. "She's so small, so delicate that anything could break her…." His voice trailed as his throat began to close. He looked to Darcy. "I might've broken her."

Loki turned, quite gracefully to all of their surprises, to face Jane. That blank feeling was no more. The fury Darcy had seen in his eyes surfaced suddenly and without warning. "And—aaaand you, Jane F—f—f—foster," he spat hatefully. He narrowed his eyes on Jane. So much of what she had done to his brother had wrecked havoc on him. Oh, had it not been for li'l Jane, Thor wouldn't have objected to his plans. "You destroyed the only thing I had left of her on this damn world! I should have come for Midgard first then Jotunheim!" He didn't grin. Oh no, Loki scowled at her. "I'll begin with you, mi'lady. After all, if it weren't for you, I would still be in Asgard." Loki raised his hand, but whatever act of magic or physical force he was going to do was stopped with short, bright flash of light to the chest. The world disappeared from him before he even crashed through the wall.