Thor inspected his brother's body, looking for a sign of life. Nothing. There were marks on his neck from where Bob had held him and the many old bruises and cuts, some reopened again, the dressing torn and bloody. His pale limbs were sprawled in the strangest angles and there was a pool of blood forming beneath him. This was so not good.
Thor looked up in despair, hoping to see someone that would help him.
"Doctor Banner...?"
The Doctor was there in no time, examining the god of mischief for anything that told him it wasn't already too late. Loki didn't seem to be breathing but Bruce could find a faint pulse on the pale neck. There was hope.
"He's alive..." Bruce said, feeling Thor's eyes on him "but not for long if he don't do something, now. I'll start the artificial respiration, Tony, you go with Thor downstairs, one of you get me an ambu bag and a gurney while the other preps the ventilator. Now!"
Tony seemed hesitant.
"But Bruce, are you...?" He was interrupted.
"I'm just scratched and this man is dying, go, now!"
Without a moment's hesitation and deciding the stairs or elevator would take too long, Thor smashed Mjolnir into the floor, making a hole big enough for him to pass and landing heavily on the floor. He arrived some metres left to the door of the sick bay, glad that he had not broken any piece of valuable equipment and entered the medical place. Stark soon followed and even if he was a bit shocked by the thunderer's method he didn't complain about his property or made any joke. Now was not the time for that.
Entering the sick bay, he instructed Thor which one of the many plastic devices he had was an ambu bag.
"You go back up ow, your brother needs this. And tell Bruce I'm sending the gurney on the elevator."
Thor took it carefully and started his way up going to the hole he'd made seconds earlier and pointing Mjolnir to the ceiling. Tony was simply amazed. They really were gods and acted like it!
On the other floor, Bruce Banner tirelessly breathed into a lifeless Loki. As much as he has tried, there didn't seem to be much hope left. He didn't know how much the the black-haired god had spent without oxygen and he didn't know what kind of damage Bob had made. Loki's pale skin had a more pronounced grey tinge to it, the shadows under his eyes darker. He was limp as a rag doll, his lips were split, and there was blood under him. There were new abrasions to his forehead and many of his eyelashes were broken or missing.
It was only logical, after being thrown around so much. But Bruce didn't care about that, the same way he didn't care about the odd angle in which his patient's leg was bent. No... he only cared about keeping him breathing, keeping him alive. There was no way that man was going to die while he was around. This skinny broken down guy had saved them all with no weapons. He deserved better.
The other Avengers soon realised there was something wrong.
"Do you need some help?" Steve asked.
But the Doctor didn't answer not wanting to lose focus. Loki's life was in his hands.
Thor soon reappeared, Mjolnir in his hand, holding the ambu bag as if it was the most precious thing in the world. Bruce took it and placed the mask on Loki's mouth and started squeezing it.
"Stark said he would send the gurney on the elevator." Thor's voice said behind him.
"Ok. I'll need your help to lift him when it arrives and you'll have to continue with the compressions, ok?"
Thor nodded, solemn. He would do whatever was necessary to save his brother. Whatever was necessary to ease that overwhelming guilt he felt when he looked at Loki. You handed him over to justice, he thought, and now look at the state of him.
"Will he be all right, Doctor?" Thor asked, desperate for a word of hope.
Fortunately, the conversation was cut short by the ding of the elevator coming. Bruce gestured Thor to take his brother and so he did, carefully taking both Loki and the device that was helping him breathe. They left quickly for the elevator and Thor laid his cargo on the gurney Stark had placed. It was most unsettling to see Loki's movements so limp, so lifeless. How Thor wished this was just a nightmare.
The ride on the elevator was short and soon Banner and him were soon wheeling the gurney to the place where Stark awaited them. While Thor looked, impotent, not knowing what to do, his friends worked on his brother, attaching him to machines and giving him what he thought were medicines.
When Bruce had finally attached their fallen ally to a ventilator, a heart monitor, placed the saline and decided he was relatively stable, he finally breathed. Loki was not out of the woods yet, but at least now he had a better chance at survival. And that made him feel slightly better. Tony's face swam in front of him.
"You okay, Bruce?"
"Yeah, yeah, I am I... I just... This had to be fast, you know? Or else he'd be gone. And I really didn't want the guy to die after what he did for us."
Tony nodded. Even he'd been reluctant at first, he now had to admit that that creepy-liar-sick Loki had saved their asses. In the last possible minute.
"Yeah, who would've known that the fearful prince Belveroth was only a façade of the stupid Bob, huh? Live and learn! Now, why don't you let me look at your scratches, friend?"
While Tony healed Bruce injuries Clint, Natasha and Steve contacted the outside world, to inform them that the threat was indeed people had thought that maybe he would return, that Bob (or prince Belveroth, as most people called him) was just preparing a bigger army. Steve had to talk with a dozen or so military high-ranking men, telling them that he was at least 90% sure that the madman was not coming back. Not after he had people laughing at him and lost all credibility. Not after Loki has exposed him as the unintelligent man that he was.
Amongst them, they had decided not to mention Loki just yet, in case they decided he was too big of a threat and sent forces to put him in jail, just in case. They were not going to do that while the man was fighting for his life. The media were a delicate issue, too. Soon they would be knocking on their door, calling their phones asking how they had defeated the mighty prince when everything looked so grim.
Steve wanted to tell the truth, to say what had happened without changing a detail, but Natasha didn't think it was a good idea. There were some Loki's victim's associations that would probably be offended if Steve portrayed Loki as a hero. Not to mention the recent anti-alien extremist groups that would probably storm Stark tower to finish off the alien scum if they knew Loki was in there. It could bring a credibility crisis, politicians would claim they hadn't authorised that war criminal back on earth and ask for someone to blame. No, this had to be handled more carefully. Play with the public opinion a bit, make the change soft and smooth.
First they would say they had an unexpected ally. Then they would add that he was a criminal and that he was injured. Little by little.
On the sick bay, Thor was pacing incessantly, mighty feet moving from one end of the room to the other. Tony had finished healing Bruce. He wasn't the biggest medicine expert of the world, but he knew more or less how to disinfect a wound or bandage something. And most of Bruce's injuries were bruises so there was not much he could do. After he finished, he helped Bruce setting and plastering Loki's leg (that had been broken, but at least it was a clean break).
Now they were just looking at each other, each one deep in their own thoughts.
Tony could not believe that terrible nightmare was finally over. After all the beatings they had received, after all the gunpowder and all the lives lost they only had to laugh a bit at the guy to win. What would have happened if they hadn't brought Loki in? Or if he'd been too sick to help? Or if he had decided The Avengers were not going to help him and sided with Bob and his impressive army? It was almost too scary to think about. But thanks to the choices they had made everything had turned out all right. No more deaths, no more threats, for now, at least. He would be able to hug Pepper tonight and tell her they had saved the day again. And Tony just loved doing that.
Bruce was still a bit shaken. The explosion caused by Bob's entrance had completely knocked him out, he'd been vulnerable and in pain. And their enemy had had the upper hand, the means, the motivation. This had been the day The Avengers died, Bob had said. And he had been powerless, unable to do something to stop his friends from being killed. They only had Loki and his mind mischief to thank for their lives. He could see from his chair the hole Thor had made with Mjolnir. Now they would had a chance to fix that, fix everything.
A chance to start over again. Another day, another victory for life.
Thor, while he paced, was deeply troubled. The guilt at his actions, at his mere thoughts towards Loki the last years was almost overwhelming. He had been hating and despising him, wishing for the brother he once knew to be back when he was never gone. Yes, he went into the dark side and did terrible things, but was not as irredeemable as Thor had thought. And he had abandoned him. In a hell of disease and solitude, like Loki himself had said. He had probably cried for his help and received naught but silence. And even after he had abandoned him and betrayed him Loki had aided them. What a shameful brother he was. And now... Now Loki could die, if the injuries the prince had caused combined with the disease were too much for his battered body.
He could have prevented this. If only he had known, he would have gone to the Allfather, get Loki a better situation. But he had ignored his brother and now he was at the door of the realm of the dead. One step towards it and Loki would be no more. And the last thing he would remember about his older brother was that he never rescued him from that life in hell. No. He had to wake up and do great deeds, fight on his side once again. This could not be the end.
After a while of silence, Tony got up.
"I'm gonna go call Pepper and the others, tell them I'm okay. If you need something, just tell me and I'll be back in a flash." He said.
"Ok. And thanks for your help, Tony." Bruce said managing to throw an unenthusiastic smile.
As Tony left, Thor looked at Doctor Banner.
"And I shall thank you too, Doctor, as it was your quick action that saved Loki's life."
Banner dismissed it with a gesture of his hand.
"Well, the guy saved our lives first with his quick thinking. It was only fair."
They stood there for a while, not knowing what to do but not wanting to leave. Thor was determined to stay until his brother was well. And Bruce didn't want to go up and face the world again, not yet.
After some time, the still god in the hospital bed started twitching and moving. Bruce approached and saw that some of the vitals were improving and that his hand was moving, if only slightly. He was not well enough to breathe on his own or wake up completely but it was something.
He softly took the hand that moved and whispered on the god's ear.
"Loki? Can you hear me?"
No answer. His eyes remained closed despite the sudden activity.
"Loki, if you hear me, could you squeeze my hand a bit? Just so I know that you are there."
Seconds passed and Bruce felt nothing. Of course, the man was on a ventilator, had been unconscious for hours and after a respiratory arrest...
But then, there it was. The softest of squeezes against Bruce's hand, almost undetectable but there. Loki was still there.
Another small victory.
A/N: And so the whump returned. Did you like it? I hope so! Do let me know what you think, what did you like... And merry christmas and a happy new year, readers!
You know you want to review!