I feel like I cut this story into way too many chapters, they are so short. Which is why I decided to publish the next one already. I might actually just post a chapter every day...
Thank you so much for the reviews, favourites and follows, I'm happy you found my story interesting. :)
"Brother!" was – rather predictably – Thor's first word when he entered the room.
"I am not your brother," Loki replied emotionlessly.
"I am very glad to see you alive again," the older god continued as if he didn't hear Loki's retort. It had become something of a ritual to them, the first words uttered almost every time they met. And while they held no less true for their speakers than the very first time they were spoken, both came up to the silent agreement not to persuade the other of their conflicting beliefs lest a long, unwelcome argument started. And Thor usually had other things to speak about – often new ways to appeal to Loki's better nature or ask about his latest scheme in vain hope to gain any information. Either way, the brotherhood topic was not broached outside of their "secret handshake" as Tony called it, or any other time Thor accidentally forgot to withhold the denomination. Though Thor did not understand Tony as it was hardly a "secret" to the Avengers and he obviously did not shake hands with Loki. A Midgardian thing, he supposed.
"Do you?" Loki asked with clearly feigned curiosity. "But you did not wait weeping at my bedside this time," he smirked.
"I had faith in you that you would come back," Thor explained solemnly. "So I went home to ask Heimdall about the situation on Helheim."
"Bothering the sentry with the dark realm? He must have been delighted."
"Do not say such things, Loki. Hela's kingdom might not be well-liked but its stability is important for the Nine Realms – and I do care for her too."
"How touching," Loki snorted. "We do not need your pity, my daughter and I are sufficient enough for the little trouble at hand." His voice gradually hardened.
Thor shook his head with sureness. "Little trouble? That is not what Heimdall saw. I did not ask for details but he said the enemy is strong. You may win eventually but it will take a long time to do so, and the damage will be great. Other realms might not consider the danger serious enough, but I-"
"You what?" Loki interrupted him with a touch of anger in his voice. "I just told you, your pity is not appreciated. You should learn to listen to others – if all the realms consider the matter trivial enough not to help Helheim, there is no reason for the golden prince of Asgard to do so."
"I do not care what other realms might think, I only want to help my b- ...you and my niece."
"And there is no need, as simple as that," Loki stated in a cool voice.
"What is so wrong about wanting to help someone I care about? To help you save Helheim!" Thor shouted, his patience just reaching its end.
"Ah, so that is the reason," Loki let himself make a little insincere smile. "To be a hero of both Midgard and Asgard is not enough any more? Just how conceited can you be?"
"Conceited?" Thor marched up to stand right in front of the thick glass that separated them. "It is not-! Stop twisting my words, I do not wish for fame for this deed! I offer you help so that Hela's work of many centuries is not destroyed and..." his voice grew a touch softer, "...and so that I do not have to see your dead body ever again. I know, it is but temporary," Thor continued before Loki could say anything, if at all he wanted, "but it does not mean it does not pain me so to see you like that! To kill yourself so readily..." Thor went silent for a moment and Loki had no doubts about which memory was just replaying in the Thunderer's head. But he just waited with a carefully blank face for the older god to continue. "I fear the day when I might see you dead and know you are not coming back. And with every of your deaths, this fear just grows..."
"Maybe this is one of my reasons to do so," Loki forced himself to speak up. His voice was strong, not a waver. Good. Actually, there was a cruel amusement creeping up from the darkest depths of his soul. "To see you hurt, to be the reason for your pain. Yes, Thor, I enjoy your suffering – maybe this will help you realize how foolish your sentiment is. And one day, you will wish for me not to wake-"
"No!" Thor slammed his palm against the glass and shook his head ferociously, "Never! I would never wish for your death!"
"So you say now." The chains rattled as Loki stood up from he cot, cold smirk still on his face. "But one day..."
"Such day will come no sooner than Ragnarok itself," Thor promised with confident honesty.
"Keep deluding yourself, Thor," Loki shook his head mockingly and made a step forward, forgetting his shackled legs. The unexpected restraints – this has been the first time his feet were bound as well – promptly sent him down with a surprised little yelp, catching himself on forearms and knees but still hitting the floor with his nose.
"Brother, are you all right?" Thor immediately sounded concerned, as if the conversation a few seconds ago didn't happen, and pressed the button on the control panel to open the cell.
"Not your brother," Loki growled from the floor. "Stark is going to die for this," he muttered angrily in his humiliation and swept a little of blood from his face.
Before Thor could reach him, Loki focused on his magic and pushed out against the resistance, aiming for the weak spots he knew about in the previous restraints and proving to himself that Stark didn't yet become aware of them as the metal cracked and fell from his limbs with a loud clang. In one swift motion, Loki tripped Thor with his left foot and slipped out of the cell before locking it tightly again.
"This was fun," he turned to his not-brother scrambling back on his feet, "but I am afraid I cannot dwindle here as I might be needed elsewhere any given moment."
"Loki-"
"Goodbye, Thor."
As the little swirl of green smoke accompanying his teleportation dispersed, Jarvis' ever polite voice sounded through the room: "Mr Odinson, should I inform Mr Stark of your current predicament or do you wish to went off your anger on your current surroundings?"
"Let me think," Thor gripped the handle of Mjollnir and smashed the glass wall a few times, teeth barred and making something between grunts and growls.
"Just tell him Loki escaped," the god decided in a calmer tone, stepping out, the broken glass crunching under his feet.
It was three days later when Loki decided to remind New York City of his existence once again. Either he believed humans to have a very short memory span or he was bored, which was more likely, considering his newest stunt was jumbling up all the road signs and setting pigeons and other local birds on anyone who tried to put them in order – hardly something to be considered a world domination attempt. Sure, things got a bit more serious when the lamp posts decided to join the birds as unexpectedly fast metal snakes, which was the time when the Avengers finally showed up.
Tony was there first, immediately making his was to the trickster god, perched on a roof near a busy crossroad.
"Alright, Reindeer Games, call your pets off and go buy a hamster," was his way of greeting as he hoovered just about five meters away in front of Loki. "Or a stuffed animal," he corrected himself, imagining what a monster Loki could turn even a hamster into, "Or a-" he stopped himself. "Seriously, popcorn?"
Loki was sitting happily on the edge of the building, munching pieces of the snack he held in a big plastic bowl.
"Trying some cliché this time? Did you bring soda too?"
The god, still in quite a good mood, decided to bless the man of iron with an explanation: "I simply wanted to find out why you mortals enjoy consuming this food so while watching entertainment. It might be one of your better ideas, actually."
"You know, we usually eat it while watching a movie," Tony explained in a tone one would talk with to a mental institution patient. "Ever heard of TV? Or a movie theater?"
"I know some great movies, brother!" Thor joined them enthusiastically, the rest of the Avengers still a little behind. "We could watch them together!" The hope in his eyes was so endearing but doomed to turn into disappointment.
"Not your brother," Loki munched down a handful of popcorn, "and I much prefer this than whatever you might consider quality entertainment."
Thor's face fell but before he could open his mouth, an arrow swished between him and Tony and flew right through the point where Loki had his eye a mere second ago. Now he stood a little away, still holding the bowl carefully.
"Now now, Hawk, where are your manners?" Loki admonished in a voice that was magically carried further than would be normally possible. "I could have spilled it."
"Loki, stop this madness right now!" Steve shouted from the street down below them.
"I am sorry?" the god blinked. "I have heard some people consider consuming larger portions of popcorn unhealthy, but calling it 'madness' is a bit harsh, do you not think?"
"Brother," Thor grumbled, half frustrated, half in warning.
"Not your brother," Loki jumped out of the way of a flying round shield and a few more arrows, hiding the bowl with his snack in some otherworldly pocket, just in time to be able to use his whole body more effectively, as a large green fist appeared out of nowhere. Loki performed a few evasive manoeuvres no gymnast would be ashamed of and then waited for the right moment when both Mjollnir and the repulsor blasters aimed at him. He teleported away just at the right time so the Hulk was hit with them instead, though he shrugged it off easily and looked confusedly around to find the scrawny god. Said god was now standing a few buildings away, sending a flock of birds towards Barton with his stupid annoying arrows.
"I am sorry I did not come across any hawks to present you with an opportunity to find a suitable mate," Loki apologized and waved away a few bullets form Natasha's pistols, "though maybe you are happy with your spider, she is similarly... prickly."
"And what of you?" Tony finally managed to fight off two persistent streetlights, while Thor was fighting several of them at the same time, Steve helping to escape a few of the last civilians still present. "Found a nice, loving deer yet?"
"Deer hold little interest for me, Stark," Loki replied conversationally.
"Horses, then?" Tony's face was hidden behind the helmet, but the annoying smirk, fit more for a teenager, was easy to imagine with the tone in which those words were said. Loki's eyes narrowed.
"Ah, I think I just remembered promising you a slow, painful death."
"It was just 'death,' actually," Tony corrected him, having seen the footage from the cell, "if you are talking about your little trip to Broken Nose Town-" Iron Man was thrown backwards by a blast of crackling green energy and slammed into a concrete wall, leaving an indent in it.
"Do not mock me," Loki growled but then became otherwise occupied by the Hulk and Clint, the rest of the Avengers fighting birds and lamps elsewhere to protect the civilians. He sent a few metal snakes against the raging green scientist and went to deliver a derisive remark about Hawkeye's unsuccessful courtship, when he froze. With a dark frown, he jumped a little away, in the mid-air pulling from the folds of his clothing a small vial.
"We're lucky, guys," Tony informed the others through the intercom, "Mr. Suicide's at it again."
"No!" Thor's growl sounded in the ears of all the Avengers.
"Calm down, big guy, you know he'll be back before anyone begins to miss him," Tony reasoned. Clint's opinion that it actually meant he can stay dead forever was for Thor's sake not voiced – for about the first two seconds, in which the others almost started to worry if something has happened to the archer.
Thor flew to Loki's prone body clearly visible on a nearby rooftop though flocks of confused birds, metallic clangs all around indicating the lampposts returning to their still, narrow forms. The Hulk looked down at their enemy, probably contemplating whether he should try to poke him. He finally decided but by then, Thor was unfortunately already there, shielding Hulk's view of Loki by his own bulky body.
"Stark is right, Thor," Natasha's voice through the intercom sounded not too pleased at the admittance, "Loki will be alive again soon, you know that."
"I do," Thor agreed as he looked at the empty vial, held lightly in Loki's limp hand, "but I do not wish for Loki and Hela to fight this battle alone anymore." Thor, logically more knowledgeable about Asgardian clothing than his teammates, quickly found the pocket from which the first vial was procured.
"Thor, what are you-" Natasha and Steve, too far to see what was happening, heard from their earpieces.
"Fuck, Thor, you're not gonna-"
"No no no stop that!"
"Take it from him!"
"It's-"
"Fuck..."
"Fuck," Tony agreed. Steve froze in shock, dreading the next words. Finally, Stark's voice came through, shocked and angry but also uncharacteristically quiet: "Guys... we got two dead gods this time."