Loki felt the air forcibly escape his body once again as Thor landed another powerful blow from his fist into Loki's chest. He gasped suddenly and weakly gripped Thor's forearms as the maddened God picked up the broken God in his strong grip at his shoulders.
"THOR!" Loki was almost coughing as he spat out his words. "Stop! You must... STOP!"
Thor didn't listen, he couldn't listen. Instead he turned violently on his heel and threw Loki with all of his strength against a small cliff edge. The icy sheath that covered the cliff splintered like a rippling spider web as Loki's body impacted the surface and slid down into the soft snow in a lifeless slump.
The jet had finally landed on a small cliff edge just out of range of the battle. Tony, Bruce and Maria ran from the jet and stood on the edge of the cliff, watching in awe as Thor charged like a bull toward Loki.
"Tony," Bruce felt desperate to do something, anything. "we have to stop Thor."
"I know." Tony gave Bruce a reassuring look before focusing on Maria. "Miss Hill..."
Maria tore her eyes away from the gruesome seen and looked into Tony's eyes. She didn't say a word.
"I need you to get the small black leather pouch in the jet. It's tucked under my seat."
Keeping her silence Maria did as she was asked and returned to the jet.
"Bruce," Tony continued. "keep the 'Other Guy' on the leash for a little while longer."
"What? Thor is on a rampage, he needs to be stopped-"
"Trust me." Tony interrupted. "I know what I'm doing."
Loki slowly lifted his head from the snow, his dark hair was wet with snow and ice clinging to the wild locks. Blood dripped from his damaged eye and lips, creating a small red pool on the white ground before him. He watched helplessly as Thor used his large shoulder to smash Loki's already weakened body into the cliff side one more time.
Loki's head slammed hard against the unforgiving surface of the icy rock and his ears began to ring from the impact.
Using his bicep Thor pressed his arm against Loki's chest in an attempt to suffocate the battered God. Thor's eyes were wild and unfocused as they glared straight into Loki. While Loki desperately tried to push Thor's arm away using his tired arms and aching hands.
From atop of the cliff Tony and Bruce watched as Thor began crushing the life out of Loki. "Bruce, wait for my signal. Better yet, wait until Maria comes back with the pouch." Tony quickly slid down the edge of the cliff before Bruce had a chance to stop him.
"Tony! Tony? Are you crazy?!" Bruce shouted after his impulsive friend.
"Probably!" Tony shouted back to Bruce as he reached the bottom of the cliff.
Running toward Thor with no weapon or armor to protect himself, Tony skidded to a halt about twenty feet from the maniacal God. "Thor!" He yelled out toward his former ally, but got no response. "Thor! I'm talking to you!" Thor didn't take his focus from Loki.
Tony had gotten close enough to see how battered Loki truly was. His pale face was paler than normal, his eye was badly injured and almost completely swollen shut. He could also see that Loki was beginning to lose consciousness, either from Thor crushing the air out of his lungs or from the head injury which left a bloodied impact mark on the cliff at Loki's back.
Thinking quickly Tony rolled a snowball and threw it as hard as he could at the back of Thor's head. The white projectile hit its mark and exploded into a small flurry of ice crystals that clung to Thor's blonde hair. Thor suddenly froze, his focus was no longer on Loki. He stood up straight relaxing his arm, allowing Loki to fall back into the bloodied snow. Loki greedily coughed and took in as much of a full breath as he could through his broken ribs.
Thor turned slowly and focused on Tony. Tony saw the crazed look in Thor's eyes and took a single step back, his eyes wide with fear. "I immediately regret this."
"Stark!" Loki looked up and saw Tony standing in defenseless in Thor's sight. "You mustn't..." His broken body was too weak and pained to even speak. "He is mad! Do not... approach!"
"Not going to be a problem." Tony continued to back away. With each step back Thor took a step forward. Being a master tactician Tony immediately recognized this pattern of behavior as a potential advantage. Turning to his right Tony began leading Thor at a controlled pace back toward the cliff where Bruce was still waiting above.
Maria had finally found the pouch under the seat in the jet. The strap on the pouch had become entangled with the metal structure beneath the seat and took her a few moments to free the requested object. She ran back to the edge of the cliff as quickly as she could. "I've got the pouch..." She didn't see Tony anywhere. "Where did he-"
"Good timing!" Bruce acknowledged. "Now, stand back." He put his arm to guide Maria back from the edge of the cliff.
"Wait!" Tony's voice echoed eerily from below the cliff.
Maria looked down and saw him being back into a corner by Thor. "Oh, my..."
"Just wait!" Tony repeated.
Thor had stopped in his tracks. The storm above began to shrink in size but its ferocity remained. The gusting winds blew Thor's blonde hair around his head only adding to the savageness of his appearance.
Loki, who had struggled to get to his feet, wiped the blood from his lip and stared with his uninjured eye at Thor. "No..." He realized that Thor was dangerously close to Mjolnir. "Thor!" Loki began to walk at an uneasy and slow pace toward his Brother. "Thor?" Thor didn't budge.
"Loki!" Tony was still fixated on Thor but could see Loki in the distance. "What the hell is going on?"
"He is mad, Stark."
"Yes, we covered that. But why is he mad?"
Loki carefully maneuvered himself away from Thor's reach as he drew closer to Tony. He could see Bruce and another woman standing on the cliff above. "His soul was condemned in Hel. The prolonged exposure has left him berserk."
Bruce and Maria were able to hear Loki's explanation from above. "Hell?" Bruce repeated. "Didn't see that one coming."
"How do we know Loki is telling the truth?" Maria didn't buy it.
"We don't. But until proven otherwise I'm willing to believe."
The storm continued to swirl in the sky over the hammer. Lightning flashed wildly and brightly and thunder echoed loudly across the tundra. Thor stared at Tony in anger. He began to breath harder and heavier, his broad chest heaving with each breath. The lightning above seemed to be mirroring Thor's actions and grew in intensity with his every movement.
"Stark..." Loki sensed the impending attack as he crept closer to Tony. "You must move... Now!"
As the words left Loki's lips Thor let out an animalistic roar! He titled his head back as he let out his war-cry, he looked like a wolf howling at the moon. His massive arms were taut and flexed outward at his sides and his hair flowed freely in the wind.
A single bolt of lightning suddenly broke free from the clouds and focused itself on a single point on the ground. Tony.
...to be continued...