Summary: The war between Jotunheim and Asgard draws to a close, but thanks to a horrible twist of Fate (or perhaps not), the nameless runt of Laufey-King is not discovered by Odin and so begins a remarkable journey of life that should not have been. Jotun!Loki AU. Set pre-/during-/after Thor/Avengers Assemble. MCU-verse only.
Warnings: ANGST! Loki-whump! Language, adult situations, violence, child abuse, dub-con, sexual assault (also of a minor), substance abuse, one abortion scene (sort of), slavery, sex trade (maybe), some mild original character/Loki M/M pairings. Also F/M pairings.
Comments: This is not a slash fic. Sorry. It's Loki-centric, although I definitely show the rest of the Avengers and etc. Please review! Constructive criticism welcome.
Disclaimer: I do not own Avengers. Marvel owns it. I do not get paid for this piece of work. Sadly, but understandably. LOL.
Sooo... Once again, sorry about the wait. I've been writing DIT quite a bit while I was on vacay in Thailand with my friends. Thailand - it was my first time - but it was exciting. A manicure, pedicure, two massages, shopping... so awesome. It's great going with friends who've been there before and know what they are doing. I watched Kingsmen, the most funny B-movie I've seen in a long while. (drools over Colin Firth and Jack Davenport - which just shows my age)
Yep, and here we are. I'm probably finishing up two chapters worth now... which is good. So we know there will be an update after this one sooner than later! And now we are firmly in Avengers Assemble. Finally. I know some of you guys are thinking it! I'm feeling it's about time... I'll prolly be done this fic in 10 chapters or so! Maybe 15 if we're unlucky.
This chapter was written with the help of Assassin's Creed I OST. I love "Acre Underworld". So gorg.
Thanks to... wbss21, vincent1875, Chiharu-angel, Basia Orci, InsolentKatt. You guys are few but mighty! Thanks for your encouragement!
Plz note my thoughts at the bottom of the chapter if you wanna get to hear some pro-Loki complaints.
Distortions In Time
Chapter 79
Opening Salvo I
The metal door opened and Loki, turning over, paused at the sight of Thor as his older sibling – not sibling, Loki corrected himself – entered the room. Prying himself into a more upright position, Loki faced the man he had called friend and brother for so long. As he battled his once again rising anxiety, Loki squared his shoulders and rallied his thoughts.
I need Thor to listen. I need him to understand. He has to believe me. We have little time as it is to flee or prepare for war... Knowing Thor, he will no doubt have fallen in love with Midgard again and will want to stay in defense it.
"Thor-"
"Loki," Thor sat down in the small metal chair again, stopped, rose a little, edged the chair forward and eyed his brother. His hand hovered over Loki's for a moment before carefully covering Loki's fingers as they curled around the bed's small white metal railing. Loki froze momentarily at the warm touch of Thor's broad palm. The blonde ex-god frowned, staring at their clasped hands in shock. "You are not icy cold even when blue."
"No," Loki blinked. "That is-" He struggled for a moment before continuing on with an even voice. "That is matter of the will."
"I see." Thor's smile was smaller and a little strained, but it was there. He looked up then. "But you are still cooler than most. As always."
Loki did not know what to say. He looked away, down and then back up at Thor, confusion now written on his face.
"In the end," Thor went on with an uneasy, awkward shrug, "I guess you really are the same." He shook his head and tried again. "Yesterday, Loki... I-I was a fool. Today, I hope I can be a better man and I hope you will forgive me..."
"Forgive-" Loki bristled then as Thor's honest confession and apology sank in. "You – already you think bygones can be bygones?"
"I know it will take a little while for - for the both of us - and it'll take time perhaps for you to forgive my impoliteness and-"
"No, I mean-"
Pause.
"I meant," Loki finally said slowly. "You can so easily forgive what – what I am?"
"You are my brother, first and foremost. My friend." Thor looked down at his hand which now covered Loki's bonier one. "That is the most important thing. It – it is difficult to comprehend – and I am still angry that everyone kept this secret from me... Still, I hope I can be the older brother I was meant to be and I know that I will disappoint you at times... but not – not today."
"So... that's it," Loki sank back in his pillows, eyes shut and voice tight.
For a second, Thor fancied he could see a glisten of tears at the corners of his younger brother's eyes. Loki had always worked hard to hide his emotion and remain the rational, clever prince everyone had come to take for granted. Yet, Thor knew better. Loki's annoyed retorts, his flares of temper, his headstrong nature – these were clues to what existed just below the surface.
Loki is fire, he mused, wild fire, untamed and uncontrollable. That is why the Mages fear him, why the Court gives him respectful distance... and no doubt, that is why Father reached out to him and why Mother shelters him. Below everything, there is a tender, broken, now slowly healing heart...
"Is it so hard to believe?" Thor asked.
"What do you think?" Loki opened his eyes then and gave Thor a dark, bitter smile. "All my life, I feared this day... and now it has come without fanfare, and you ignore all those years of training and tutelage, and you just accept – acce-" He couldn't finish his sentence.
"'All my life'?"
"What?"
"'ALL my life?'" Thor repeated in disbelief. "That is what you said – 'all my life'."
"Well, you have to allow me some poetic license," Loki finally allowed, offering Thor a crooked if watery grin, a dark violet blush rising to his thin cheeks. His red eyes flashed with usual brotherly annoyance. "Some times I do feel like I have spent an lifetime getting you out of trouble."
"And what about the trouble you cause yourself?"
"That," Loki said with put-on hauteur, "is entirely different."
"Indeed," Thor gave Loki a sharp look. "And it looks like you have fallen afoul of some scheme of your own making. Again."
At Thor's half-jest, half-reprimand, at the unspoken question, Loki stilled and for a moment seemed to be in another time, another place. His red eyes darkened to an even deeper shade of crimson and Thor instinctively squeezed his brother's hand in unspoken sympathy as a terrible blankness spread over Loki's face.
"They said you spoke of Thanos," Thor prompted Loki again. "Father and Mother used to tell me tales of a Mad Titan – but I was never certain if they were more than that – just tales."
"Such dark dreams," Loki murmured. "All my life – and I mean all – all my life, I have heard the melody of magick, heard the Voices of the Realms, heard the songs of the stars... and beneath them all... the mutterings of doom."
"You've spoken of this before. The Stars... and the Void, I think you called it."
"Yes. And I have... I have seen the heart of such darkness." Loki turned to Thor and thor, meeting his gaze saw the lingering fear. Pain. His hand. Thor, glancing down, realized that Loki's dark fingernails now dug into his own tanned skin, nearly drawing blood. "It is a Titan, Thor. A relic of when time was not... A Mad Titan who has returned..." Loki added softly and hoarsely. "He... he is coming."
"Here?" Thor clarified, alarm and shock growing.
"Yes. Yes – we have no time – he is coming.'
"Wait – no – why here?"
"Midgard. 'The Realm of Midgard is eternally sheltered, eternally watched and protected, for it is the treasure house of Asgard-'" Loki paused. "That is the truth. What all mages know... There are treasures buried in Midgard – long lost to time and, if found, could be wielded to the ruin of all the Realms. Particularly if Thanos were to – were to successfully attain them."
"The Infinity Gem."
"Among others."
"There is one here?" Thor asked.
"One, two... three?" Loki shook his head. "Who can say?"
"Do you know where they lie?"
"No," Loki eyed Thor calculatingly. "I could attempt to divine the whereabouts of such artifacts, if the Norns were on our side. But..." Loki smiled grimly, "I fancy your allies may know a thing or two already."
"My-" Thor frowned as Loki's implications sank in. His voice lowered and his serious gaze flitted to the two-way window which currently mirrored their side of the rooms. "SHIELD?"
"SHIELD. That is what it is called..."
"SHIELD would never-"
"Would it not?" Loki leaned back then and gave Thor a meaningful look. "Great power changes a man. Midgardians are no different. They have hid the Tesseract from you – what else may they be hiding?"
"The Director is a good man," Thor insisted in a harsh whisper. "He would never allow for-"
"The Director is only one man in control of many and controlled himself by a few. The Space Stone is willful. I have heard it, Thor. I have heard – heard it calling out across the Realm. It's beacon flares brightly and it cares not for any creature, being or man. Any man," repeated Loki. "It is a wild thing and has a mind of its own. To do great things, terrible things, that is why it was created – a repository of the magick of creation... And the Midgardians think they can harness it for some menial task as creating power and weapons-"
"Weapons?" Coulson's quiet voice broke into Loki's rant sharply.
Thor turned and raised an eyebrow as he realized Coulson now stood at his elbow. The look on the agent's face was one of mild interest, incredulity and curiosity. Thor could not exactly define what lay beneath the surface – but he knew better. Coulson should never be taken at face value, Thor sighed and then turned back to Loki. Loki's red gaze, now half-lidded, was a banked fire. Fire against stone.
"I have seen it," Loki finally said. "He is coming. He will be here any minute – and when he comes it will begin with the Infinity Gem – the Space Stone."
"Space Stone."
"The Tesseract as you call it," Loki smiled faintly then at Coulson as though he had seen something.
Thor glanced back to Coulson, then to Loki.
"I heard it, a great distance from here and I followed its call easily enough. Norns know what else is on its way. Thanos, for certain. Thanos is coming with an army of ships – manned by the Chitauri and a small contingent of mercenaries."
"Chitauri?" Thor's voice tightened.
"Chitauri?" Coulson echoed.
"A race of creatures – reptilian-humanoid. Related to the Kree genetically, yet very different in politics and – other things," Thor battled down a rising need to pace. Loki still clung to his hand. Obviously terrified. Something I have never seen him exhibit before...
"We will have to ready the defenses-" Thor said immediately.
"Now, Thor-" Coulson interjected mildly.
"Defenses?" Loki was looking at Thor as though he had grown two heads.
"Your brother has been very ill-"
"I do not see what illness has to do with anything," Loki interrupted coldly. "I am not crazy, Thor. We need to go-"
"Go? Why?"
"Go? How – where could you go?" Coulson asked. "Asgard?"
"Father and Heimdall can be alerted," Thor said reasonably. "They will come to Asgard's aid – and they will defend it easily enough-"
"How – how -" Loki's voice cracked as frustration and panic began to rise to the fore. His fingernails dug into Thor's skin and somewhere a monitor's signal began to increase. Coulson glanced at one of the monitors and raised an eyebrow. "They cannot come – it is – it is my fault – I-"
"They cannot come?"
"The Bifrost-"
"The bridge." Coulson interjected, feeling a little as though he was some repetitive, unnecessary extras in a film.
"It was destroyed."
"The Bifrost was destroyed?" Thor's voice rose in disbelief. "You destroyed the Bifrost?"
"Well, no," Loki paused. "Father – the All-father – he destroyed it to save Jotunheim."
"Woah, woah, woah – guys," Coulson's interruption was ignored.
"This sounds like a long tale," Thor finally said, voice heavy.
"It is-" Loki closed his eyes.
Gugnir rising and falling. The Heimsrsal screeching. The Bridge shattering, spinning, battering, splintering. Light and sound and force erupting. The Observatory tearing away and plunging downward and disappearing into the Void and blasting magick upward into the sky.
Asgard falling silent.
"The All-Father fell into Odinsleep... Mother – she put me in charge of the war effort as she dealt with the diplomatic affairs-"
"And..."
"And I sought to end the war with no bloodshed on our part. A bloodless yet victorious strategy – or so I thought. That was the best course of action... one I researched and considered deeply. Well, as deeply as one could in a matter of days." Loki looked down at Thor and his entwined hands and, realizing for the first time the strength of his grip, released Thor's hand a little. "I was wrong."
"They did not accept your course of action."
"No." A pause. "In a nutshell, no."
"Mother would not be pleased," Thor nodded.
"She was not." Loki's voice sank into a small whisper. "She was so – so disappointed. And... sad." He looked away and then down again. "We said farewell and she cried – but sometimes I wonder... If I return..."
If I return, will there be any welcome for me?
"When we return," Thor smiled at Loki then. "Not if – when – when we return, she will scold us, embrace us, scold us again and stuff our faces with her own handmade dishes. You know that will be so." Thor chuckled then. "I can hear her already. 'Loki, you are too thin! Get another helping of that mint pudding!'"
"And she will pester you about Jane," Loki grinned impishly.
"How did he-" Coulson frowned.
"Ah. You saw that, did you?' Thor looked a little proud of himself. "She is fair, is she not?"
"And intelligent," Loki added.
"Well, someone has to be," Thor replied good naturally.
"Sorry," Coulson louder voice caught the two brothers' attention. "How did Loki know about everything!"
"Loki is a warrior-mage," Thor said matter of factly as though that explained everything.
"Mage as in magic?"
"Yes. He... is skilled in many workings and is gifted in many abilities, one of which being the ability of Sight." Thor shrugged. "When I was younger and less wiser, I had no interest in or respect for the Arts, since most honor is given in battle to those who wield the sword. Or in my case, the hammer. Yet now... after a year on Earth, living among humans... things look differently."
"One of the side effects of the drugs forced upon me for interrogation was heightened perception, particularly in regards to Sight. I... Saw many things..." Loki added and his face sobered immediately.
When his red eyes met Coulson's, the agent of SHIELD felt as though Loki were looking through him – or into him. Coulson stifled a shiver.
"There were dreams and visions and things that are, were... and other things that should never come to pass... I saw Thanos. I saw his army. I saw Midgard – Earth, as you call it. I saw Thor and Jane and a world that was in another time and space. I saw the Space Gem, the Tesseract. I saw what it could bring to Earth."
"But Father cannot come to Midgard's defense, all the more reason to stay," Thor reasoned.
"Thanos comes for the Tesseract."
"Why the Tesseract?" Coulson asked curiously. "Why that Gem specifically? I mean, it sounds like this Mad Titan is all-powerful and has an army and all the weaponry he needs."
Loki laughed mirthlessly, "Ah... You humans and your visions of what can be – how limited."
"Now, Loki, they are a young race," Thor said mildly. "They appear weak and fearful, but they are resourceful – and thinking of weapons isn't so unusual."
"I suppose," Loki allowed reluctantly.
"Weak?" Coulson asked, trying to process Thor's and Loki's apparent disregard for the capabilities of Earth and humans.
"The Mad Titan is indeed powerful – but to travel across great distances is taxing on anyone, including Thanos," Thor explained. "Furthermore, there are many other powerful empires and peoples and races spread throughout the Realms who would interfere were he to stir from his bonds."
"The Tesseract is powerful but ultimately un-tameable," Loki turned his crimson gaze on the agent – wise beyond the years he appeared to be. "What power does Midgard hold?"
Coulson's mouth tightened. Immortals. He looked over at Thor who was now talking about the 'Midgardian's current technological status'. Apparently it needed to be updated. Nuclear weapons were mentioned in passing and labeled as crude devices. Coulson found himself once again viewing Thor with new eyes. Thor is an immortal as well, after all. With the way he behaves, however, it's often hard to remember who – and what – he is...
"Thor," Loki was saying now, "we already established that the ability to weaponize a planet does not equal capability and responsibility to handle something like an Infinity Gem."
"What can the Space Stone do – exactly?" asked Coulson.
"It is... for lack of a better term, a door."
"A door," Coulson murmured, remembering Fury's words, Selvig's reports and his comment. "A door."
"A door between spaces," Loki explained a little slowly and a bit more sharply. "A welcome power for any who wish to reach any place they desire."
"Wormholes?" Coulson hazarded.
"Indeed."
"Not everyone has a Bifrost," Thor added. "Some who wish to reach another Realm could use such an artifact to their advantage... Beings trapped in one Realm, such as Midgard, could successfully stage an attack on another, such as Asgard."
"Exactly," Loki nodded tiredly.
"But wouldn't someone on our end have to use the Tesseract? I mean, if it could be operated both ways, this guy would've been here already, right?"
"Yes. One will come first. It is easy to send one. All-Father used the Bifrost to send Thor here, but he has spoken of Dark Energy – the Farn'a'Dath – wherein he might at a pinch be able to draw one of us to his side. Or send someone. There are other races-"
A blue-skinned race trapped in coffins, powering great colonizing ships. The crazed and the untainted young, the ones closest to the heartbeat of the Realms. The Jotunn mages.
And there are others...
"There are others who can with time, ability, chance or Fate achieve such travel. Not only through space, but also time."
"Like you?" Coulson gave Loki an evaluating look.
"Me? I-"
"Loki is a powerful mage," Thor clapped his brother on the shoulder heartily. "He could channel such power and cross the distances of time and space... but to use an Infinity Stone, brother... Not even you could wield such power to bring us home. It would tear you apart."
Loki looked thoughtfully at the window-mirror before him.
"But you would still try if you could," Thor snorted. "Idiot."
"I would place the Tesseract in a device," Loki quickly reassured his brother with a roll of his eyes. "That is the easiest way in which to use it, I would think."
"No one is using the Tesseract-"
Coulson's calm reminder was over-rode by Thor's quick, heated response: "Loki! We cannot leave them to face Thanos alone!"
"With the Tesseract gone," Loki replied calmly, "the Titan will have neither means nor motive to come. The other half of the fleet may take awhile to arrive, by which time All-Father and the Mages will have been able to use the Space Gem-"
"We cannot risk Midgard-"
"You mean Jane."
"No!" Thor's voice roughened in angry protest. "Not Jane alone. Six billion people and more-"
"Six billion?"
"There are a lot of us."
Coulson was ignored. Again.
"There are many humans living on this planet."
"And some," Loki sighed, closing his eyes and frowning. "By the Norns, they have multiplied. Like insects." He opened his eyes wearily and met Thor's unmoved gaze. "You know what Father will think of Jane, thinks of Jane, assuming Heimdall has been watching you. This... this thing cannot..." Loki shook his head helplessly. "there can be nothing lasting between you, even if you were to save her. You must know that-"
"I know," Thor said quietly. "But that is a problem for another day. Today we have another matter at hand – defending six billion people from an invasion."
"Thor," Coulson interjected. "We need to talk."
"There is no time," reiterated Loki with a groan. It was obvious that he had been pushed to the limits of his capability and with fatigue came the old fears. "He will be here. The mage they selected will be coming at any minute. Perhaps he is here already."
Not through the Tesseract he hasn't, Coulson thought. Although it has been behaving oddly...
"Loki." Thor leaned forward. "As far as I know, as far as we know... no one has come..."
"But – but-" Loki turned away then, eyes squeezed shut. "I – I saw – I thought I saw-"
"Loki."
"I – maybe, maybe I am-"
Crazy.
"Maybe I am still there-"
"Loki – Loki!" Thor rose now and gripped Loki's shoulder as his brother attempted to curl up, his thin wrists jerking at the restraints which lightly held him down to the bed. "No – no – you are here – you are here-"
Over and over, he repeated the refrain, clumsily drawing his brother close. Thor's left hand rose and clasped his brother's neck as was his habit, until Loki calmed down.
"You are here – with me-" Thor slowly drew back and gazed down at his shaking brother. Pressing Loki back against the raised bed and soft white pillows, Thor pushed Loki's dark hair away from his slightly sweaty forehead and tear-stained eyes where the dark strands had caught on his watery eyelashes. "Perhaps there is another reason... another reason for Thanos's lateness. Perhaps his allies were delayed-"
"Or his ships malfunctioned," Coulson offered. "Or, you said you followed the Tesseract's call... and you can jump across space. Well, maybe this is crazy, but maybe you went back in time as well."
Simultaneously, both brothers turned to stare at Coulson. A broad smile wreathed Thor's face as the thought sunk in. Loki just looked thoughtfully into the distance and when he met Coulson's gaze, there was new-found respect in the Jotunn's eyes.
"We may never find out..."
"You'll calculate it on your return to Asgard and you will find Coulson is correct," Thor grinned affectionately at the two of them. "Loki – you are not crazy! Well, a little – but not more so than usual."
"I do not understand your joy," Loki said crossly, a blush rising to his cheeks as he remembered the scene he had just caused a few minutes before. "The Titan is still coming. The Tesseract is still calling and Time is still running out."
Thor gave Loki an affectionate smile, but his blue eyes grew solemn.
"We must laugh while we can, Loki," his heavy voice belied his worry. "I fear that before this quest is over, many lives will be lost."
"I am more worried about my life," Loki said waspishly. "And yours," he added with a sniff.
Thor shook his head and sighed. "Well, I thank you for your worry, Loki – but frankly I think you should focus on yourself." He paused and flashed his younger brother another annoyingly impish grin. "You look like shit."
-0-0-0-
In the end, Thor left with Coulson to speak with the Director of SHIELD. Despite his reasoning, Loki's pleas to take the Tesseract and run were ignored. Watching his brother's broad back disappear beyond his sick room door, Loki fretted. Peevishly, he frowned at himself in the mirror.
Thor is right. I look terrible. His face was thin and pale and his frame looked equally skeletal. Weak and vulnerable. This did not sit well with Loki. Lightly restrained as he was, Loki looked more like an invalid captive than what he was – an invalid guest.
Not that I am worried, Loki told himself for the fifth time. I am in good hands.
Yet old habits of skepticism long-formed, brought into crystal clear focus with the drugs once forced on him and newly purged from his body, clung to the darker corners of his thoughts. The Voice which had haunted him since his childhood was silent – but Loki fancied he could hear it still.
Just run. Run. Get out of here. Get to Asgard. Take the Tesseract and Thor and run.
Fatigue weighed down on his eyes, his bones like anchors. Dark slowly clouded his vision as sleep crept up on him. Attempting to corral his thoughts was futile. There were only mists of fear, uncertainty, suspicion – and suspense.
Voices muttered about him.
-time-
-there is no time-
-time is running out-
-HE is coming-
What does it matter if Midgard is attacked – Asgard, with the Tesseract, could come to its aid quickly enough. Six billion. Six billion... They spawn and thrive in the luxury of Asgard's protection, un-knowning, naive. Like a child – but less. A child can at least know danger when it is coming – they have no understanding. Like insects. Like ants... scurrying about...
With that, Loki fell into uneasy sleep, dreaming of a dead planet swimming with the cruel-eyed, partially bionic race known as the Chitauri. Their boots were spiked metal and hard leather and crushed any sign of life before them. He was there as well – watching, helping - surrounded and trapped and unable to resist.
I was never able to aid the ones I never wished to harm. I was never able to protect the ones I loved.
...FAILURE...
No, love. Frigga took his hand. He gazed in shock as her slender, seemingly ageless hands wrapped around his own callused ones. Not all is loss, nor all is failure. The appearance of weakness hides strength and the innocence of hope fuels passion. Have faith-
-have-
-have faith-
-you have done your part, dear heart-
-you heard our call-
-you spoke for us, Voice of the Stars-
-the people I have birthed and protected-
-will rise-
[...the truth remains...]
[...what is hidden in plain sight...]
[...the weak, the lowly, the innocent...]
[...awake...]
[...and they are strong...]
A long, long, long time ago, when time was a young child and the worlds, the Realms, were young, great beings were born within the embrace of magick – the Asgardians, the Elves, the Celestials, the Jotunn to name a few. They were times of difficulties, hardship and the struggle to survive in the ever changing Realms which shifted slowly into being. Such times have long been forgotten, save by a few.
The truths are hidden in Asgardian annals now covered in dust, in ancient archive of the long-lost Arcona peoples, in the torn, worn pages of Jotunn scrolls. How the Jotunn built a city of snow and light out of magick. How the Celestials spread across the universes, one day to disappear, leaving only the shadows of their greatness. How Asgard rose on foundations of power and invention. How the Titans and the Dark Elves wrestled for power and a return to the dark.
All these tales now remain only in myth – remnants of truth scattered in children's stories and old wives' tales. Yet, sometimes, sometimes...
[...the Unseen borders on the world of the Seen...]
[...realities and truths...]
[...just under the surface...]
Sometimes the gods return to walk the Earth. Myths old and new come to life, in new permutations, warped through distortions of time. Yet even here, there is a semblance to tales long lost to time. These are the days of wonders. The God of Thunder stands to defend the defenseless. The God of Mischief, in another form, plots and plans.
And a Mad Titan, resurrected, rises once again and courts Death.
-0-0-0-
"You believe this?" Fury fixed Coulson with a hard stare as he looked up from his favorite agent's report.
"Yes."
"I also believe Loki speaks the truth," Thor put in. Despite the fact that Coulson had reminded him of the importance of keeping his peace, Thor could not help feel anxiety rise as Fury's inscrutable expression did not change after the crucial information given him. "I trust his judgment."
"Well, that's a matter for me to decide," Fury stared down Thor who merely set his jaw in return and glared stubbornly back. "You are obviously biased."
"He is afraid," Coulson gestured to the video monitor, which now showed Loki sleeping – twitching a little. No sweet dreams for Loki. "Something scared the crap outta him – so much so he's hoping to get Thor and him back home so their dad can take care of it. Frankly, if a god is scared, I'm kinda worried as well."
"A... Mad... Titan," Fury read the name aloud with a note of disbelief. "Dammit. This is crazy. I mean, how am I going to tell the Council this one? A crazy guy on drugs-"
Thor tensed, obvious about to spring to his feet. Coulson, laying a placating hand on Thor's forearm sighed and not for the last time wished he could have left Thor behind with Loki. A crazy paranoiac magician, a protective, hot-tempered super-being and an irate, quick-tempered Director. This isn't going to be easy...
"-shows up out of nowhere – literally – saying a Mad Titan is coming to wipe out humanity – and at the same time, the same crazy coming off drugs is admitting to attempted genocide," Fury paused for effect before continuing. "I know you guys don't think that genocide of Jotunn is all that big of a deal, but you have to admit this doesn't sound good. Damn insanity is what I call it. And even if I were to say, 'Okay, let's prepare for this' – what am I going to tell the Council or the heads of any national security organization?"
"The truth," Thor stated simply.
"They can't handle the fucking truth."
"He's right," Coulson sighed. "The reality of super-humans amongst us – and the mutant thing – was hard enough for governments to handle – and it's still a legislative mess..." He shook his head.. "It's not a simple problem, Thor. Without central government, the responses of the countries on this planet will be varied and often seemingly random and worse, reactive."
"Still – we must do something!" Thor protested.
"We will watch the Tesseract," Fury nodded. "Start clearing the base. We'll add more security. We'll call in our contracted help. We'll..." Fury rolled his eyes and sighed loudly as he added, "We will also ask your brother for specific things he may have... airquotes 'Seen'."
"And if the Tesseract is stolen or opens a door to an angry-"
"Mad," Thor corrected.
"Same difference," Fury shrugged.
"No. He is mad, as in..." Thor paused, searching for the word. "Crazed."
"Crazy."
"In the stories, he fell in love with Death-"
"Death is a woman?" Coulson asked curiously.
Fury gave Coulson his standard 'don't fuck with me' look. Coulson smiled, unfazed.
"Yes. They say Death is a woman. Thanos, the Mad Titan, fell in love with her."
"Okay," Fury eased back in his chair, looking more perturbed than ever. "That is just wrong-"
"And he sends her gifts," Thor went on simply, calmly, but there was a note of horror beneath the matter of fact tone. "Gifts – magnificent offerings numbering in thousands and millions – and billions."
A short, thoughtful pause ensued.
"Or so the tales say," Thor shrugged. "Loki knows more. He has seen the Titan and has heard him – and... has seen him."
"'Seen' seen or... seen?" asked Coulson.
"Both. And the horror remains. It lingers and festers," Thor shivered. "If a mage wanders too long in the shadow, the shadow is all he becomes."
"'Gaze into the abyss and the abyss will gaze back into you?" quoted Coulson slowly.
"Something like that."
"And I'm assuming that when you say thousands, millions and billions of gifts, you aren't talking flowers," Coulson said dryly.
"No. Many races fell into the dark beneath the Mad Titan's... rampages. With the Infinity Gems, he wrecked havoc across the known Realms... It took many great mages and warriors to overcome him and cast him into the Void in which he has been caged... until now."
With that, Thor ended abruptly. If Loki was right – and he is right, Thor reassured himself, then Loki had walked beneath Thanos's shadow all of his life, perhaps, as well as during his exile. Loki's fears, Loki's pleas had come from the recognition of suspicions long ignored now revealed as true. And when Loki is afraid...
Thor shivered.
…he knows no limits...
"Fucking hell," Fury said.
I'm stopping the chapter here. I hope you guys enjoyed it. Next chapter introduces all of the Avengers. We'll be seeing the first 15 minutes or 20 minutes of Avengers. And find out which Mage from Asgard is the villain. LOL.
Well, that's about it. But here's a thought for those interested...
Author's Note/Thought - Loki & Romanov & Gamorrah: Lots of people root for Black Widow and Gamorrah... but if we think about it, both women have done some pretty terrible things. Gamorrah especially. (Those jailed criminals in GOG weren't freaking out for nothing.) So I look at them and see how easily there are accepted as heroines despite their pasts... but Loki still isn't even accepted as an anti-hero. Sigh.
OK. Well that's it!
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Thanks for reading!