Coterie

By: Shadow Chaser

Disclaimer:

All Marvel characters do not belong to me, they belong to Marvel Entertainment and Marvel Comics. Liberties were taken with the Norse myths.

Story:

Chapter 10

His ears rang with damning howls, seemingly for eternity until Loki found himself back in the familiar golden splendor of the Observatory, the mechanical whine of the Bifrost powering down. The sound was momentarily abnormally loud, echoing the leftover screams of starlight and Tesseract power. He stumbled a little, surprising himself, and Heimdall judging by the minute widening of the guardian's eyes that he saw. Glaring at the gatekeeper, he straightened and walked around the activation pedestal and towards the exit, noting that horses were waiting for their arrival. He realized he was perhaps a lot tired than he realized to have stumbled from a Bifrost travel which was the least disorienting aspect of going from realm to realm.

He saw his own familiar mount waiting for him and absently petted Svadilfari who whickered and tried to nibble at him, looking for an apple or sugar cube. Loki shook his head to the horse who stared at him before seemingly tossing his head as if to sigh a very human 'oh well.' The horse stamped at the ground, impatient to leave and he mounted him, taking the reigns from the stable boy who had looked like he had not been waiting for a long time. Around him, the others scrambled onto their mounts, but Loki paid them no attention as he set the horse in a fast canter back to the heart of Asgard.

He could hear the Warriors Three and Sif catching up behind him, matching his pace as they formed an escort formation. They arrived in short order and Loki squared his shoulders as he walked into the throne room, noting that Court was in session. From where he entered, he could barely hear that the current dispute was of more the domestic court matter, but the fact that the Allfather and Allmother were sitting meant that Heimdall had informed them of his imminent return.

Most of the time, Loki would not have wanted his mother to be there, but this time, he knew that he at least would have an ally of sorts, or at least a more sympathetic ear than Thor could ever be. Frigga knew of what had happened, and so did the Allfather, but Loki also knew that he would not allow previous happenings to color his judgment of current happenings. Unlike Thor barging in and fumbling in his attempts to request a private audience with the Allfather, Loki waited at the edges of the crowd, knowing that he would be summoned in due time, especially since a few of the courtiers saw him and started to whisper to their neighbors.

Thor's approach had been to announce his presence whereas, Loki preferred to let the whispers of his presence filter through the Court. It made for an interesting glimpse into what popular opinion held sway that day instead of making everyone fall silent with a bold announcement. Granted, a majority of the time he had been summoned, the whispers were of unfavorable opinion, but there were one or two whispers that he had heard near him that seemed to counter unfavorable opinions.

This time was no different as many of the courtiers started their whispers that he had returned; most likely to plead ignorance or innocence before coloring his words with pretty phrases. He had to smile a little at those whispers – it seemed his time amongst the courtiers standing by the Allfather's side had turned many of them cynical instead of the simpering idiots they used to be. How either would be better was not for him to decide, but he supposed that the courtiers' attitude could be worse from the outright hostility they showed when the Allfather declared no punishment for his actions a little over a year ago.

He saw the Allfather finish with his latest audience before catching his eye and summoning him with nary a quick look. Loki stepped forward and the courtiers around him parted easily, allowing him access to the front of the throne room. A few of them held their noses and Loki realized that he still carried the smell of burnt magicks and metal and parts of his clothing was still covered in soot and small burns when the venom had previously exploded. Though he prided himself on his appearance, he also knew that by appearing a bit disheveled, it would be to his advantage. Let the Court whisper of the burns and appearance that he had been conducting another one of his experiments; it only served to prove his innocence in the long run – that he had helped create a cure for the mortals on Midgard.

"You have returned, Prince Loki," the Allfather announced in his quiet voice, letting it echo and silence the Court once more.

"Lady Sif and the Warriors Three were kind," he shot them a quick half-grin to which all glared at him in return, "enough to escort me from Midgard." He did a quick search of the Allfather's stony features, trying to figure out what he was thinking, but could not read him. It was perhaps a lot more serious than what he had pulled from Sif and the others regarding the situation here. But the fact that Heimdall had not wrought a new hole into the Helicarrier to carry him back to Asgard in the three days since he had been summoned meant that perhaps the seriousness only was within the Court itself – which was a mob-like thought process.

A quick glance at the Allmother told him nearly the same story, though her face was lined with what he thought was a tinge of sadness. Sadness for him, or for something else, he still could not identify until he realized a second later that speaking of the cure would not help his cause. The mob that was the Court had already decided that he, with his past associations with the coterie, was guilty of freeing three of them to attack Midgard. He knew from years at the Court and from Thor's recent tales at feasts, that the Court did not care one wit about the affairs of mortals and Midgard. But in this case, it did not matter since they believed that his associations with the coterie were far greater in 'sin' than Thor's misguided adventures with the mortals.

The Allfather lifted a single finger before several guards approached the throne from the side and dumped a wreath of heavy chains that echoed loudly against the floor of the throne room. Loki stared at the chains for a moment, recognizing them as the ones who held Fenrir to his prison. They were obviously broken judging by the twisted wrought iron and he lifted his hand towards it. So far, the Allfather had made no accusations nor did he say anything else, so Loki decided to treat it as if he was still standing by his side, thinking of strategies where none would think of.

He spelled the chains, scanning it and a rueful smile appeared on his face as he recognized the rebound spell as his own work...except, it was not exactly his. Knowing what he knew now, thanks to Hel's generous offer, he could see the minute skeins that made up the mirror aspect of his magick reflected from the chains itself. No one, save for one who knew what they were looking for, could see it...which meant if the Allfather had not accused him outright and instead had just wanted to question it, he had known.

But the real question was: if he had known, why summon him back here?

Surely the Allfather was not blind to the derision Loki loved to inflict upon the idiotic courtiers, to make them think instead of being a sycophantic mob who only thought of the warrior's life. The Allfather was not as sentimental as Thor to think that he needed the support of the Court – the battle with Thanos and the fact that he had known about Thanos, about everything there was and had planned, or at least tried to plan for contingencies – Loki shook his head inwardly.

Still, he suppose the only way he would be able to find out what the Allfather was planning – always constantly planning – would be to state the truth plain and simple. The Allmother at least would be able to provide some insight, having no part in trying to place plans within plans. Loki knew that Frigga had the capability to do so, but he thought her too gentle and too motherly to do something like that to her own sons. At least that was a part of the sentimentality he could count on – and aptly applied to Thor who always thought with a warrior's mind.

"Hel's mirror spell is traceable on these chains," he stated, releasing his scanning spell and stood loosely with his hands by his side. He heard the Court murmur amongst themselves and smiled a little, "Of course, those who cannot understand what such a spell does will not understand what had happened and blame others for the misfortune of having Fenrir escape."

He saw his mother frown and shake her head a little at his jab towards the courtiers, but duly ignored her. The Allfather had not given any indication for him to stop so Loki continued his explanation, still unable to fathom the reason of why he had been summoned back. "It is sufficient to say that the Lady Hel also released Jormungandr from his watery prison."

"Is it defiance?" the Allfather cut in quietly and Loki briefly glanced up, but saw no other emotion to indicate what kind of question or even if it was an accusation towards Loki in regards to Hel's actions and he shrugged.

"Perhaps," he paused for a moment to think. Hel's actions certainly were unpredictable and there had to be a reason why she had freed Fenrir and Jormungandr here and now. She had hundreds of years to do so, but the singular reason why now still bothered him. She had never openly defied the Allfather nor had gone against her duties as the Queen of Helheim, but at the same time, one could not consider this a 'rebellion' of sorts to the Allfather's command and punishment for her.

There were only three people in the whole of the realm who knew of what happened in the throne room that fateful day and it was something that Loki did not want to revisit. How much the Allmother knew was still up for speculation as she never talked about it, but Loki knew that she had some inkling of what happened, even if she had been severely injured and somewhat unconscious in the aftermath. The coterie's plan, if it was anything like that, should have succeeded except for one glaring obstacle...him.

Jormungandr and Fenrir should have easily taken down the Warriors Three and Lady Sif when he had all but abandoned them in the middle of their quest. A part of him had felt guilty for leaving them to face the two, especially Fenrir, but at the same time, he had cursed himself for being so naive to not realize the truth of the plan. He had made it barely in time to stop the rest of the coterie from enacting regicide; even if it was a twisted plan to install him as ruler of Asgard.

A quick covert glance up at the Allfather with his stony look and unmoving countenance, made Loki realize that the whole purpose of the Allfather summoning him back was, in a way, to protect him. A very large part of him sneered inwardly that he did not need the Allfather's protection, he was capable of handling the current situation by himself. The other smaller part of himself felt odd that the Allfather would do such a thing. The Court itself had already judged him guilty, their opinions of his coterie, his actions outweighing what Thor and his mortals' did-

Wait a minute. There was a piece he knew he was missing. Something that did not make sense.

"Why attack the mortals..." he murmured quietly, mostly to himself. Everyone knew he had no love for them, frankly he did not really care for them – after all he had tried to conquer and subjugate them if the Chitauri given to him by the Other working for Thanos-

That was it. Thanos.

He flicked another look at the Allfather and saw that he had mistaken the stoniness on his face as indifference. The stoniness was not just that, it was a clear mask of anger. Not directed at him, but directed at this whole thing. The Allfather was clearly angry that the remains of Loki's coterie had been freed, but the anger was directed deeper into what was clearly about Thanos.

So then what-

Ah...Loki was starting to see the whole of the apple of Idunn. Hel had been talking in double-triple conversation, but there had been a fourth whisper underneath when she had been talking to him regarding Thanos. She had given more than just the offer of her mirror magick. Like her constant unpredictability and seemingly indifference to plans and plots the rest of the coterie had spawned, she had given information freely to him as well as to those she considered under her favor – which made her unpredictable in the first place.

All of this led back to Thanos. It was easy to piece together the whole of Thanos' latest plot, even if he was still trapped in the Tesseract's eternal prison. His lover was Death and Death's daughter was Hel. Hel had obliquely mentioned something about her mother, and Loki's teacher, missing him, but in reality was perhaps missing Thanos. Perhaps she missed the numerous corpses he piled in front of her for his offerings, or perhaps it was something else, but Hel had bidden as her mother had most likely ordered, free the remaining coterie to wreck havoc and eventually kill him.

Loki was sure that the remaining coterie was after him, after all, he had been at their sentencing and they knew who had disrupted their plot and left them all to face Asgardian justice. Sending him to Death, their mutual teacher, and from there most likely to Thanos was the easiest way for them to get their revenge. Vali, Narfi, Angroboda were dead and he knew how close Jormungandr and Fenrir were to them.

But he still felt like he was missing a larger piece of the puzzle. Something in this did not make sense. It was easy to target the mortals, after all, they had done so during their time together; mostly harmless pranks or as Faendral had once pointed out, some display to make the mortals worship them if only for a little while as gods. Hel, in her position should have known by talking with the escorted dead, that he held no love for the mortals. So why would Jormungandr target the mortals, and even align himself with whomever this HYDRA faction was? Clearly HYDRA was related to the soldier Captain Rogers as he remembered picking Agent Barton's mind about. Bothering mortals was more for Thor's-

Loki's thoughts screeched to a halt the last of the pieces fell into place and something ugly wormed its way into the pits of his stomach, souring the taste in his mouth. He would not have named it fear if it was not for the realization of the coterie's goal.

Jormungandr was was clever in his own right, but his older brother Fenrir was far more clever. It had to be Fenrir's idea and like always, his younger brother went along with it – it had to be, he reasoned silently to himself. After all, why align oneself with a nearly-dead faction if not to get to Captain Rogers. And at the same time, take out the one who was more than likely to realize the truth behind the plot, Agent Romanoff?

He sucked in a quick breath in between his teeth as his mind raced with the possibilities. Fenrir must have known, must have been hidden amongst SHIELD for several months, if not immediately after he had been revived by Helblindi and Thanos imprisoned in the Tesseract. Fenrir's greatest strength was his illusionary magick, his ability to not cloak himself in the shadows, but to blend in like he belonged. It had been the only reason why Loki had discovered the original plot of regicide in the first place, planned and executed behind his back so long ago.

Hel must have freed him first, allowed him to gather intelligence and information regarding the mortals who so handily defeated him, defeated the Chitauri, and ultimately helped stop Thanos. From there, Fenrir had most likely set in motion Jormungandr's part of the plan, driving the mortals to distraction, while he waited to make his move-

It was almost instinct and daresay fueled by a healthy dose of fear, but Loki would completely deny it that he had ripped open a portal into the shadows of Yggdrasil for Thor's sake. No, it was for his own sake that Fenrir not be allowed to get to Thor.

Iwillprotecthimforthefearofdeathisnothing...

"Loki!"

He did not meet the Allfather's gaze and instead reacted to his mother's, giving her a hard look at her outburst. "Fenrir is after Thor."

ButIfearforwhatThanoswoulddotohimhecannotbeallowedIwillnotallowit...

He could hear the swell of murmurs and cries of the Court behind him, the distant scrambling of Sif and the others racing back towards the Bifrost, their armor clattering noisily as the mounted their horses and charged off. He heard the caw of Muugin and Huugin flying from their perches, no doubt to warn Heimdall with all haste – but as Loki stepped through into the darkness and abyss, he knew that they would be too late-

ThorwillnotdieIwillnotlethimdieIwillprotecthim

-and stepped into the metallic hanger bay of the Helicarrier. There was only a moment to take a breath before guns were drawn and all pointed at his face.

His brother had only returned for a few minutes, talking about drawing out Fenrir when the intruder appeared out of thin air. Thor summoned Mjolnir without even a second thought and gripped it tightly in his hand. He looked exactly like Loki who stood next to him, hands raised defensively, the faint glow of magicks on his fingertips. Thor was about to strike when Fury's hand suddenly lashed out, stopping him.

"Hold your fire!"

"Director-" Thor paused as he felt it. The distinct magicks of an open portal into the shadows of Yggdrasil like he had felt in London. He did not know how to explain how he felt it, he just did even though he could not hear the whispers.

"Loki- don't-" he reached out and stopped his brother from reacting by placing his hammer across his path and out of the corner of his eye saw him give a dirty look to him.

"It is clearly Fenrir who is wearing my skin-"

"Who the hell are you and why the hell do you look like him?!" Fury jerked a thumb back at Loki who looked annoyed.

"Because he's Fenrir-" his brother started next to him, but was cut off by his doppelgänger.

"Well...this is certainly expected," the other Loki replied as he lifted a hand and gestured with his eyes to what was perhaps an open portal, "may I, before the shadows continue to speak and Fenrir over there, escapes?" Without a second thought and so very like Loki himself, Thor watched as he drew a blue-glowing line down the middle before turning back to them, his hands held loosely in front of him.

He twisted Mjolnir a little as he darted a quick look at his brother who stood next to him. He did not want to doubt that this was his brother, but at the same time, he had to admit that the one standing several feet away had already acted in an eerie manner similar to what he expected Loki to act.

"I do not expect you to believe me," his brother had caught his look and threw a sideways glare at him.

"I believe you," he replied a little defensively and hurt that Loki had dismissed his concerns so easily, "that is Fenrir?"

"If he chooses to reveal himself, yes," Loki replied tightly, "his illusion spells are the best."

"Yes they are," his doppelgänger echoed, seemingly nonplussed with all of the guns SHIELD had trained on him. Thor noticed that even without his armor Tony Stark had fallen into a defensive battle stance. "Why hold your fire, Director?" Loki's double turned to face Director Fury, his voice mild.

"For one thing, both of you arrived out of thin air," Fury replied before glancing over to them, "at least that's what he's claiming."

"And the other?" Loki lowered his hands a little, seemingly mirroring the calm stance that his doppelgänger had taken on, but Thor read the fine tension in his muscles, ready to strike even if he was seemingly standing down. He glanced across to his brother's look-a-like and saw that the other was also tense and ready to strike. There was no reason not to believe that the one standing next to him was Loki, but it seemed that Director Fury thought otherwise...either that, the man was as calculating as the Allfather, as Thor had found out at times.

"I'm presuming geas effects don't translate across doubles, right?" Fury's voice had a hint of dark humor in them and out of the corner of his eye, he saw his brother shake his head a little, a small mirthless grin on his lips. Surprisingly the other one also was shaking his head and had nearly the same smile on his face.

"How little you know of geas, Director-"

"-my part of the bargain has been completed and so your attempts to use it against me is futile," his brother finished his double's sentence for him, "for instance, you have not delivered Jormungandr."

The effect was instantaneous as Fury visibly grimaced, his grip on his gun tightening and wavering in the double's face. But at the same time Thor caught the flash of a frown on the double's face. He thought it was because his brother had answered and had activated the geas' truth within him, but realized that the frown was one of surprise – that he had not expected Loki to use the geas' power. Thor shot a quick look at his brother standing next to him and thought he saw the small mirthless grin grow just a little wider – or was it his imagination?

No...he could not doubt that the person standing next to him was his brother – yet...he could not but doubt that it was not his brother. There was no Bifrost sign of Loki's return just a few minutes before the doppelgänger appeared and Thor knew that his brother had the ability to walk the shadows of Yggdrasil. But at the same time he also knew that his brother did not open the shadows so lightly anymore, not after Thanos. He had never asked why, but after hearing the whispers of what the shadows had said when Thanos crossed them, the unyielding fear within them, he supposed that Loki would not cross them even with Thanos gone.

But the one who appeared before them had crossed it and Thor saw lines of exhaustion on his face. Dark circles were gathered under his eyes, but those eyes were still sharp and calculating, awake in the presence of a threat – a threat that he believed to be Fenrir standing next to Thor.

"But we shall see to the delivery of Jormungandr after dealing with Fenrir here," Loki's double spoke up and the grimacing pain disappeared from Fury's face as he massaged his chest a little and stared at him.

"I'm almost inclined to believe you're the real Loki except, he wouldn't have stopped the geas' effects-"

"Come now, Director, I do have some self-preservation instincts," Loki's double replied with a quick humorless smile, "after all, if Fenrir there, walked the shadows as he has claimed, he should know what the shadows say?"

"And why would I speak of the shadows?" Loki countered, his eyes narrowing a little in anger, "it would only serve to prove nothing. Thor would not know, the mortals would not understand-"

"The mortals would understand if they were to know that you have come here to kill Thor," his double countered, his voice tight with anger, "that all of this was to break Thanos free from his prison!"

There was a moment of tense silence before Loki spoke up, his voice soft and dangerous, "And there you have proven you are not me..."

Thor was about to agree when he frowned, "...No..."

He absently chewed his lower lip as he thought rapidly. Yes the Loki that had appeared suddenly before them was acting quite contrary to what he knew his brother to act; especially in regards to information he knew from a lifetime of knowing his brother that he would never share so readily and so publicly. Loki, like him in ways, did not care to air certain subjects in front of the mortals – but their reasoning had always been different, Thor knew that. He disliked saying things that would compromise what he deemed the integrity of Asgard and also of private matters that was between the Allfather and the royal family. Loki disliked mentioning certain subjects if only for the fact that he believed the mortals would not understand and thus was a waste of his breath.

He caught the tight look of anger and barely hidden hurt in his brother's eyes, but refused to allow the pang of apology show on his own face. This was a dangerous situation and he knew that he needed to keep his composure, especially in light of the doppelgänger's words.

In ways, he knew that his brother, standing right next to him, was right – that Loki would never have spoken of Thanos so flippantly – that this was an assassination attempt by Fenrir on his life. But at the same time, he also knew that his brother would say anything in regards to Thanos, even if he was imprisoned, to ensure that the Mad Titan would stay imprisoned. Perhaps there was the drop of truth in those words that Fenrir, in the guise of Loki, was here to kill him. The question was... "Why?" he wondered out loud.

"Because-"

"Why not you, brother? Why me?" he turned to face him, seeing the anger, the hurt, but the pain in them of his doubts by questioning him. It was hard to keep his resolve in light of the suffering he had seen with his own eyes – the flash of black stitching across Loki's lips in that terrifying battle – and the knowledge that Loki had suffered terribly while all had thought him dead in the year he had been gone.

A quick glance at his doppelgänger across the hanger bay showed nearly the same emotions, but some how, they seemed a little more restrained on the doppelgänger's face. A worm of doubt wiggled its way into the pit of his stomach as he glanced between them. Fenrir, which ever one was Fenrir, was clever enough to know his brother's emotions...and the gravity of the situation grew heavier in Thor's mind. A battlemage with this much power, to impersonate his brother so convincingly...

"Maybe because Loki did orchestrate this whole thing, after all, he was talking with Hel before he made his supposed-breakthrough with the cure," Barton's voice spoke up from the rafters of the hanger bay and Thor looked up to see if the archer would show himself, but saw nothing except for what may have been the small glint of an arrowhead pointed at him – no, pointed at Loki who was next to him.

Silence reigned for a moment in the hanger bay before Thor realized that Barton spoke the truth. Disappointment filled him and he turned to his brother, the grip on his hammer tightening. "Is it true? You spoke to Hel? You orchestrated this?"

"Of course I spoke to her!" his brother snarled at him, but kept his eyes strictly on his doppelgänger, "Hel is a wild card, free to give information to whomever she wants-"

"Her punishment-"

"And what would you know of her punishment?" Loki cut him off, "the sentencing was done in a private audience."

Thor gritted his teeth, frustration filling him as he turned and nearly reached out to grab Loki by his shoulder, to shake and demand answers, but restrained himself from doing so. The constant warnings from Loki that he would receive a knife in the ribs for any manhandling actions echoed in his head, but also the fact that he would get a knife in his ribs for his actions because of the possibility that this was not his brother, stayed his hand.

"Then tell me Loki, did you orchestrate all of this?!"

His brother stared at him and Thor saw an instance of all of the words his brother may say, but they passed quickly before he shook his head, "No."

Thor wanted to say that he was mollified by his brother's answer, but something still bothered him. He glanced at the doppelgänger whose face looked like it could have been carved out of stone and back at his brother. Something still did not add up...and he realized what was truly bothering him. All of the answers given by both amounted to nothing. There was nothing that was spoke that could be countered by the other with knowledge gained from Hel in her duties as the shepherd of the dead or by somehow reading SHIELD's files. The fact that Fenrir, which ever one was him, had clearly known about the geas on Director Fury meant that he had been on the Helicarrier for some time, which also meant that he had access to SHIELD's personnel files...

It was also then that Thor finally realized what was making Director Fury hesitate to shoot the doppelgänger. He had figured it out long before him that one of the two was Fenrir, but like him, could not tell. Fury had realized long before him that Fenrir must have been on the Helicarrier long enough to pick up on Loki's mannerisms and reactions to others.

He also realized to his chagrin that Fury had been hoping that he, being Loki's brother, was able to differentiate between which one was the fake and which one was real. And it was something that Thor was ashamed to realize that he could not tell...at least not at the moment. Just how far had he drifted away from his brother to not know him at the moment? No wonder both wore looks of deep resentment and hurt, but...he had thought that was directed at something else.

He realized it was the doubts growing within him since he had speculated that Jormungandr had escaped his prison and was with HYDRA. The doubt that his brother had nothing to do with this – that he had not freed his coterie and aligned with them. He knew that to make any vow to trust his brother from now on was an empty promise even though a part of him yearned for it. He wanted to trust his brother, wanted to believe him; after all, Loki had sacrificed so much against Thanos, and he wanted his brother to know that he was there for him. Yet...

In a twisted way he realized that his distrust in Loki at the moment was what had most likely stayed Fenrir's hand – which ever one of them was Fenrir. Fenrir, which ever one, was counting on his blind trust, his faith to turn his back and let him sink the killing blow into him. Thor could not show that blind trust to his brother because he knew him. Loki loved to play pranks, loved to trick people, loved to belittle and lord his superiority over them. He was not blind to the implications of those traits, not after his brother had fallen from the Bifrost of his own accord. In a twisted way, it was Loki who had shown him how devious, how conniving he could be and in this case, Thor was more aware of it – even though he wanted to believe otherwise.

This was his brother after all.

"I...want to trust your words, brother," he replied softly to Loki's negative, "but...I cannot."

The reaction was instantaneous as he saw a mixture of pride and hurt flit across the doppelgänger's face while Loki next to him looked more angry and hurt by his answer. Renewed doubts washed over him as he contemplated this change in reaction between the two, but was quashed as the doppelgänger spoke up across the hanger bay.

"You would be the fool I had always taken you for if you trusted me wholeheartedly," he said quietly.

"Then why does Thanos wish me dead?" he looked between the two again and saw the shuttering of emotions behind both of their eyes. Which ever one was Fenrir, he was very good at mimicking his brother in his most closed state. The unspoken question of why would Thanos kill him instead of killing Loki hung in the air. It was not that he wished death upon his brother – once was enough, especially since he had cradled him in his last breaths – and it was something he never wanted to happen again.

"Because you are the favored son," Loki spoke up next to him, his voice monotone, with the hint of bitterness that Thor remembered him speaking with on the mountaintop of the Alps.

Thor opened his mouth to counter that statement before he realized that from his brother's perspective it was true, not for its simplistic truth, but for other reasons as well. While it was obvious that he was the Crown Prince, the heir to the throne that his brother had wanted – perhaps even still wanted now, though he did not know – he realized that on a personal level, Odin Allfather would do anything to prevent his death. It was the Allfather who had imbued Mjolnir with a spell to restore his powers when he became worthy of the hammer. The Allfather had sent him to Midgard at the cost of dark energy to deal with Loki and the Chitauri because he had begged him to do so.

And it was then that he realized that Allfather allowed his adventures with the mortals instead of demanding he become king of the realms at the moment because he wanted to protect him. His death by Fenrir's hands would not send him to Valhalla if Death had her wish. Instead, he would be given to Thanos in this twisted plot. If he ended up in the Tesseract prison with the Mad Titan, the most likely scenario would force the Allfather to release Thanos in exchange for his and Asgard's favored son.

But at the same time there was something contradictory about that statement as he glanced at Loki. "It may be true, but it is also false." Out of the corner of his eye he saw the doppelgänger across the hanger bay start at his words, surprised by them.

"Thanos may bargain for his release with my life if I was to be delivered to him, but why not..." he trailed off as he pieced together why would Fenrir kill him instead of Loki.

There had to be a reason why his brother was not to be touched by the others and it had to do with Thanos. He knew the Mad Titan was furious with his brother; after all he had thwarted him at the very last second with the Infinity Gauntlet and had even claimed his vengeance with a thrown dagger before being imprisoned in the Tesseract. The obvious target of his vengeance should have been Loki if he had been planning this since his imprisonment, but he had deigned the coterie to go after Thor. So then why was he keeping Loki alive?

There was no need to when he could inflict horrific tortures upon his brother after he had died and was delivered to Thanos by Death. Except...

Thor canted his head a little as he remembered what had happened on the Bifrost – he had seen his brother seemingly unable to resist the commands, almost as if moving on puppet strings. He had been willing, even compelled to stop him from attacking Thanos with Mjolnir. Dr. Banner and even Jane Foster had spoken of Loki trying to break free, trying to stop the destruction of the Helicarrier by telling Thanos that the mortals were worthy of such a death.

He knew his brother to be stubborn and bullheaded to resist doing anything he did not want to, but when Thanos had appeared, it was as if he had been compelled, forced, to perform actions he clearly – or at least it seemed to Thor – did not want to. He did not know of any other technology or even through his limited knowledge of magicks-

"...You are under a geas..." he whispered, almost to himself, but in the stillness of the hanger bay it was heard by everyone.

"He's...what?" Stark echoed, blinking once in disbelief. "But...how? I mean...he's acted like his normal self, well you know, non-psychotic-oh-I'm-going-to-kill-you self, so how the hell-"

"I'm guessing the whole falling down dead if you don't fulfill the geas thing is the reason why geas' aren't enacted that much, right?" Fury asked, but received no reply except for stony looks from both, "so probably if you drop dead of a different accord, the geas stays with you until you fulfill your side of the bargain...or you just drop dead from that."

"But...I mean, so for all we know, he could have freed them-"

"No..." Thor shook his head, cutting the man of iron off gently, "I do not know much about geas or geas contracts, but my brother has not acted..." He grimaced a little, "In such a manner that is not him until Thanos had shown up in both cases..."

The implication that it was the primary reason that Loki was not targeted hung in the air, but Thor saw no reaction from either one. One would have taken the lack of reaction as not being true, but Thor knew his brother enough that the lack of a reaction was telling in of itself. He grimaced inwardly – the fact that Loki had enacted a geas with Thanos was bad enough, but added to the possibility that if Thanos got free, he would use his brother once more in such horrific manner – it made him furious. Furious not only for what Thanos would do to his brother or what he would force his brother to do, but furious at Loki for enabling it in the first place.

He opened his mouth to say that his brother had brought this upon himself in the first place, but closed it when he realized that he too was to blame. The blame could not be traced to its origin point since he could easily blame himself for forcing Loki onto this path – if he had been quicker in saving him from plunging off the Bifrost; if he had been clever enough to realize his brother's plans in the first place...if, if, if...

He, Thor, might have been the primary reason why Jormungandr had attacked the mortals through HYDRA, why Fenrir was poised to assassinate him, but it was ultimately Loki who was the target of Thanos' revenge.

"Seems like you've always managed to piss off the biggest boot to kick over the ant hill," Fury commented softly, "and I'm guessing this isn't the first time."

"Perceptive, Director," Loki replied quietly next to Thor, flashing a teeth-filled smile at the Director who returned one with equal aplomb.

"This still doesn't get us anywhere," Stark cut in, his voice tight as he glanced back and forth between the two, "and I'm willing to bet 'Twenty Questions' isn't going to cut, so-"

"Uh...whoa..." Dr. Banner's quiet exclamation from the door made everyone turn and stare back at the entryway that led deeper into the Helicarrier, or more specifically, led to the medical bay section of the floating ship. Surprised silence reigned in the hanger bay for a few seconds before Fury cleared his throat, his gun still pointed at Loki's doppelgänger.

"Doctor, you might want to remove yourself from this situation-"

"But she told me that I was needed down here-"

"Who?"

The last question was from Stark who had taken a defensive step towards the mild-manner scientist, as if to protect him from any untoward action by either Loki or his doppelgänger. Thor, however, was confused as to why Banner had arrived. He was sure that the SHIELD agents up on the bridge of the Helicarrier were well aware of what was going on down here and had taken measures to prevent anyone else from coming down to the hanger bay.

However, all of that was secondary as he caught the triumphant gleam in the doppelgänger's eyes while Loki had wary ones. The fact that his double knew something by the doctor's arrival made Thor grip his hammer tighter and ready himself-

Banner pointed at Loki who stood next to Thor, "Uh...who are you?"

-and that was when chaos exploded.

Loki had only been able to take two steps forward when Fenrir seemingly teleported behind Banner and held him hostage. His forearm was across the mortal's neck, his other hand digging into his hair, bending his head forward a little, a classic neck-breaking hold. The guns that had been trained on him were all now trained on Fenrir and Banner and Loki saw his own image slowly dissolving away, the spell useless in wake of Banner's identifying question.

Furious, chipped ice blue eyes met his own as Loki remembered and recognized the still ethereal quality that set Fenrir apart from the rest of the coterie. Before he had joined the coterie, Loki had heard rumors that Fenrir had a budding career as a mercenary wetworker, using his looks to woo many of his targets before killing them. Adding his mastery of illusion magicks had increased his capabilities to the point where he had always scouted for the coterie or was their chief infiltrator in many of their adventures.

"I will kill him," Fenrir's voice was as light as Loki remembered from so long ago. It was still filled with bitterness, anger, but he also could hear desperation in them and smiled.

"If you had all of this time to read SHIELD's files, then you should know who you hold hostage," his smile grew a little wider as Fenrir pressed his lips together in anger.

"Even if he managed to transform-"

Loki realized that he had never seen Banner transform into the green monster the others called the Hulk. He had thought it a long arduous process, especially since he had only heard the roar of anguish in the bowels of the Helicarrier when Barton had attacked it over a year ago under his command. He knew that the green monster was faster than he looked and certainly held his own weight against Thor matching him strength for strength. But Loki never knew how fast the Hulk was, nor Banner for that matter, until now.

Fenrir had not even finished his threat when he was suddenly yanked by the back of his collar by a giant green blur and unceremoniously smashed into the hanger bay ground. Said green blur roared as he stomped on the crater several times before reaching down and picking up the limp body once more and threw it several feet away, smashing it twice more into the ground stomping on it each time, creating new craters before huffing an animalistic sigh and stepping back, a frown on its face.

"No kill Hulk," the green giant growled into the stunned silence of the hanger bay before he seemingly spotted Thor and marched over. Loki stepped back quietly, wanting not to attract the attention of the monster who had pounded him into the ground of Stark Tower nearly the same way. He watched, a little bit baffled and a little relieved that this time, he was not the ragdoll to the Hulk's rampage, as his brother seemingly grinned and patted the Hulk in the arm. The pats were returned with a little more force than what was given.

The faint sucking sound of a breath made him turn back to see the shallow rise and fall of Fenrir's chest, still alive after all of that. He walked over, reaching the edge of the small cratered pit before the SHIELD agents had begun to react to surround the pit. Leaning down a little, he let the faint amused smile appear on his face.

"One thing not noted in SHIELD's vaunted files is that Dr. Banner has incredible self-preservation instincts," he murmured quietly and saw the those icy-blue eyes turn slowly towards him-

Maybe it was the fact that he had no sleep for the past three days; had walked the shadows of Yggdrasil to reach Thor; or perhaps it was the Bifrost's scream signaling the arrival of the Warriors Three and Lady Sif – or a combination of all factors that Loki belatedly realized he had made a fatal error.

-His arm suddenly burned in an incredible sharp pain as muscle and sinew were torn apart by the force of a blue-black dire wolf's jaw on it, nearly ripping it from its socket. A hissing sound filled his ears before he realized it was his own voice nearly releasing a scream combined with something dissolving on his arm- No, it was his arm that was dissolving, the angry howling roar muffled as he smelled the sharp scent of animal. He suddenly found himself flying through the air and crashed heavily into the side of the quinjet, the pain exploding in the back of his head and arms. He felt the cloths of his tunic and overcoat rip and shred before he found himself staring up at the remains of a metal-jagged thing. Sparking wires hissed their anger as he forced himself to breathe-

And gagged, coughing at the shooting white-hot pain that traveled across his body. He could hear the howl of the dire wolf close by, echoing and reverberating through the hanger bay as he winced and tried to move, forcing himself to sit up. Gunfire and shouts followed by the zapping sound of Mjolnir echoed after the howl as Fenrir had shapeshifted to his wolf-form. He dared not look at his right arm, but was forced to as something smashed into the remnants, making the whole thing shake. He lifted his arms to steady himself and almost threw up at the sight of his mangled arm.

Sinew, bones, muscle hung like tatters and he could see the whiteness of what was probably his forearm bone that looked like it had been chewed through. Black ichor dripped where there should have been red blood and Loki felt incredibly dizzy all of the sudden as his vision swam with black and white spots floating across his eyes. Poisoned...and he knew what kind of poison it was... Fenrir's teeth had been coated in them.

There was an animalistic yelp followed by the brief sound of an explosion before silence reigned and Loki felt her presence and magick.

"Come Fenrir, you will accomplish no more with your injuries," Hel's voice was an imperious monotone before just as suddenly her presence disappeared and Loki knew that she had walked into the void with Fenrir.

"Shit," Fury cursed, "Hill! Get me facial recognition on Hel and Fenrir right now! They can't have gone off planet or anything-"

"Sit rep! Help the wounded, clear off the debris-"

"Where's Loki? Where's my brother?!" Loki nearly fainted as he huffed out a quiet laugh pushing himself forward with his good hand as he took another dizzying step. The poison was certainly already doing its work and as he cleared the edge of where he had been thrown into the quinjet, he saw his brother reel back a step at the sight of him. Even the Warriors Three and Lady Sif with their weapons drawn had stopped where they were.

"L-Loki..."

He shook his head, the black spots across his vision intensifying with his movement, and spotted the Hulk who had growled softly and seemed to war with something within as the green monster saw him. "I hope you have the cure ready Doctor..." he said as the black spots solidified and Loki felt himself falling into the darkness of nothingness.

Author's Notes:

So I have a specific actor in mind to play Fenrir if I was actually casting this. Even though you only glimpse his regular human form before he shifts back to wolf-form, I am imagining Alexander Vlahos who played Mordred in Season 5 of Merlin. If that's not really coming up in google images, just imagine Asa Butterfield who was the previous Mordred (after they aged him a bit). Or be like me and just imagine a slight mix of both in my head – that is Fenrir.