Imitations Carved Deep: Chapter 20
So after some serious writers block (2 weeks worth!), I woke up this morning and realized I hadn't even finished this chapter. However, I refused to keep you in suspense! I sat down and finished it. :)
Please enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own them...so sad.
Warnings: Severe angst. Torture (in the past). Implied rape (in past). Don't read if any of these trigger.
Pull
"No!" Thor rushed to the edge of the Tower, the other Avengers not far behind. The first thing he saw when he looked over the edge was a quickly growing group of screaming people gathered around an impact site. It made his stomach lurch.
Steve laid a hand on his shoulder as he too leaned over to look. The soldier winced at the sight, then he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. Steve pulled Thor's head back just in time for him to not get hit square in the forehead with the scepter. The weapon came flying back over the railing and landed a couple feet behind them.
Immediately, Tony flew up and over the railing. He cursed when he found Kira dangling from a curved edge thirty feet down. He carefully flew closer to her.
"Kira, I need you to reached out and wrap an arm around my neck, so I can take you back up." When she didn't respond right away, Tony called to her again. "Kira?" The inventor finally noticed how Kira's eyes were clenched shut. She looked terrified.
"Kira, it's alright. I'm not going to let you fall." The Goddess of Mischief slowly opened her eyes and turned her head to get a better look at him. Tony saw her nod shakily and got as close to her as he could. Kira took a deep breath, before finally reaching out. She managed to hook one arm around Tony's neck and with a tiny cry she let go of the ledge with her other hand and swung her other arm around.
Tony swore he could hear his armor groaning from how tightly she was squeezing him.
"Hold on," he told her, before he carefully reascended back up to the Tower balcony. They were back on solid ground in a matter of seconds, but Kira didn't let go immediately. Even through his suit Tony could feel how bad Kira was shaking.
Natasha and Clint were heading down to the street to make sure Calder was still a splat and not climbing out of the hole in the sidewalk. Steve was asking Jarvis to send Bruce up to them, and Thor was rushing over.
"Kira, are you alright?" His words brought Kira out of her head, and she pulled away from Tony.
"Y-yes. Sorry, I just…" Kira shook her head and in the next moment it was Loki standing before them. He looked a bit more pulled together than Kira, but was still more pale than usual. Loki cleared his throat. "I'm not a fan of falling off things anymore, considering where I ended up last time."
Loki suddenly found himself being pulled to Thor's chest. The Thunderer had one arm wrapped securely around his brother's back, while the other slowly healed.
"Uh…should that thing just be lying around?" They all turned to look at Bruce who was pointing at the scepter lying on the ground. They were shocked when Loki growled.
"Oh, I can take care of that thing." He pushed out of Thor's hold and stalked towards the object that had caused so much strife. Steve gripped his shield a little tighter when Loki lifted the weapon. The Trickster didn't spare a moment looking it over. He raised it above his head and smashed the gem on the ground, shattering it into a hundred pieces.
Loki scowled at the shards and threw the now useless scepter on the ground. Then a glittering yellow caught his eye.
"Captain, don't!" Loki tackled Steve just in time, to prevent the man from picking up the yellow gem. Steve shook his head to clear it and clutched his shield.
"What is that thing?" Loki stood and quickly summoned a container for the stone.
"This, Good Captain," Loki stooped and with a light wave of magic, slid the stone into the container and sealed it. "This is an Infinity Stone. Much like the Tesseract."
"Loki, are you certain?" Thor laid a hand on Loki's shoulder and eyed the yellow gem warily. His younger brother scoffed.
"Of course, I'm certain." Both Asgardians looked up in confusion when Tony gave a lofty, put-upon sigh and flipped his face plate up.
"I'm assuming this means you'll be taking it back with you to Asgard and I'll never get to study it?" Loki rolled his eyes. He waved his free hand above the container and it disappeared.
"There is absolutely no way I'd let you study one of the Infinity Stones, especially not the Mind Stone. Believe it or not, I actually do care for your wellbeing."
"Was the Tesseract an Infinity Stone," Bruce asked. He was curious but he knew better than to want to get his hands on any of them. Loki cocked his head to the side, considering it.
"I believe so, if what I have read is correct. If I am not mistaken, it is the Space Stone. The one held within the scepter was the Mind Stone. There are six in total, and monsters like Thanos wish to master all of them and destroy the universe." Steve stepped closer.
"So you're saying they should never be together or used in any way. Great. Where did you send the Mind Stone?" Loki, starting to feel exhausted from the magical energy he expended, gestured inside towards some seating. The others readily followed. Loki practically fell onto the couch, Thor falling beside him. Steve and Bruce took the arm chairs, while Tony got his suit removed.
Once the inventor was finished and had a drink in his hand, Loki answered the Captain's question.
"I have placed it in a void, where I can carry things without them having to physically be on my person. I can summon objects from this void whenever I have access to my magic." Loki brought the Mind Stone back and then banished it again to demonstrate.
"Ah, but can you pull a rabbit out of a hat?" Loki raised a brow at Tony's strange question.
"Why would I want to do that?" Bruce rolled his eyes and smacked Tony on the back of his head.
"Ignore him. It's a trick human magicians are known for. They pull a rabbit out of a hat." Loki was perplexed for a moment before he understood.
"I see. These magicians you talk of are actually illusionists who do paltry imitations of real magic to entertain Midgardian children." Tony snorted.
"Well when you put it that way-" The inventor was interrupted by Jarvis.
"Sir, Agents Romanoff and Barton are inquiring where the best place to put Caldor would be."
"Tell them the seventh floor is fine. Give them the access code in." Tony waved his hand in the not so general direction of where he was talking about.
"Very good, Sir. Also, Agent Barton expressed his concern over Caldor still retaining magic…" The AI trailed off, waiting for a reply. Loki sighed and stood.
"I can take care of it. I will put a block on his magic that only I can release." The Trickster blinked in surprise when everyone else in the room stood and made to follow him. He raised a brow at them
"I will do as I have said and nothing more. There is no need to supervise." Tony shrugged.
"Honestly, I just want to watch, see how it's done." Bruce nodded.
"Same." Steve strapped his shield more securely to his arm.
"I'll be there to make sure Thor and Clint don't beat the prisoner to death. This whole thing has been pretty personal for both of them." Loki snorted.
"And it hasn't been for me?" Steve raised a brow at the God of Mischief.
"If you were going to kill him, you wouldn't do it now in front of all of us. Besides, I believe that you'll make the right choice and be the better man in this situation." Loki rolled his eyes and muttered under his breath, something about goody-two-shoes blondes. He crossed his arms and turned to Thor, awaiting his reason.
"I understand that you can fend for yourself, Brother, but you are still my family. I would be by your side as you confront this villain." Loki threw his arms up and walked away. The sentiment in the room was getting overwhelming. Before he knew it, everyone would be hugging each other and declaring their undying love.
Moments later found all five of them standing in Tony's abnormally large elevator and going down to the seventh floor. The only outward sign Loki gave of not being entirely calm was clenching and unclenching his fists. Thor noticed but made the wise decision not to comment.
The elevator announced that they had reached the seventh floor and the doors slid open. Tony directed them to the right and after a short stretch of hallway they came upon a large glass holding cell. Loki recognized it from the security videos as being a near spitting image of the one Caldor was held in on the SHIELD aircraft.
Natasha and Clint didn't look away from Caldor as the other Avengers approached. The man in question was sitting cross-legged on the floor in the middle of the cell. He was glaring at all of them, but his battered appearance took away any intimidation factor.
Luckily, when Kira shoved Caldor over the edge and Loki shattered the scepter, Caldor's illusion as 'Loki' fell. Instead of looking at himself, Loki found a beaten man with the same height and shape as himself. However, Caldor had dark brown eyes and unwashed, lanky brown hair that reached his shoulder on one side and was haphazardly chopped off on the other. With a glance Loki could see that Caldor never broke his disgusting habit of chewing his nails until they bled.
He seemed to be more or less in one piece, though blood and bruises covered nearly every inch of him. The few cuts on his face seemed to be slowly healing though.
Natasha and Clint had placed shackles on his wrists and ankles, and had managed to scrounge up another metal gag similar to the one used after the Battle of New York. The two assassins didn't look away from the villain as the others lined up in front of the glass. Loki met Caldor's glare head on with an impassive expression of his own.
Tony laid a hand on Clint's shoulder like they were just companionably watching a game.
"So, Loki's gonna work his magic so our new friend here can't work his." Clint finally looked at Tony and then at Loki, skepticism written all over his face. Caldor's eyes widened in both fear and fury as he glared even harder at the Asgardian Prince, daring him to try.
Loki rolled his eyes at the archer's distrust.
"I want him as chained as you do. Without his magic, he is mostly harmless." Natasha raised a brow.
"Mostly?" Loki smirked at the red head.
"Yes. You must be careful. It's a good thing you got the gag on him. He bites." At that Caldor lunged forward, though he couldn't really do much. Loki turned his smirk on Caldor. "Not so much fun being on that end of things, is it? You know, Caldor. You are not the luckiest of people. A few months ago and I wouldn't have hesitated to kill you. Now," Loki narrowed his eyes. "You will feel the pain of being cut off from your magic as I was and spend the rest of your miserable life rotting in an Asgardian prison. If Thanos doesn't somehow get ahold of you."
The villain shuddered at the Titan's name. Loki felt a hand land on his shoulder.
"Loki," Thor chastised. The Trickster rolled his eyes. He forgot. Being a 'good guy' meant he wasn't allowed to threaten murder or torture…at least not so blatantly.
Loki turned to Stark.
"Well? I need to be in there to cast the spell. Open the door." Tony eyed Caldor warily, and his lips settled into a hard line.
"Can't you work your magic from out here? It's just glass between you." Loki was about ready to bang his head into said glass, he was so tired. He had to use a lot of his self control not to snap at the inventor.
"The spell I am going to use requires skin-to-skin contact. That means no. I cannot 'work my magic' from out here. So, please. Open. The. Door." Tony muttered, Bossy, under his breath, but told Jarvis to do as Loki said.
The Avengers parted to allow Loki to enter the chamber.
"Jarvis, seal the door behind me. I do not want to give dear Caldor any false hope." He could hear the Avengers protesting, but the AI did as he requested. The Avengers calling to him was muffled once the door was shut.
Loki stood inside the cell and observed Caldor for a few moments. The man did nothing but glare at him with the utmost hatred. Finally, Loki sighed and stepped forward to crouch in front of the man.
"We were friends- once upon a time, Caldor. I used to wonder how you could have turned so…evil. Now, after my own downfall, I understand." Something other than complete rage flickered in Caldor's dark eyes, before being shut out again. Loki stared into Caldor's eyes for a few moments longer, before conjuring a knife.
He heard the Avengers begin frantically pounding on the glass and snapped. He growled at the heroes.
"If you do not stop that infernal noise I will kill him just to spite you! Now, silence!" Turning his back on them, he used the knife to cut open the sleeves on Caldor's ripped leather armor without having to remove the man's shackles. He banished the knife and then sat crossed-legged directly across from his once-friend.
Loki grabbed hold of Caldor's bared forearms despite the man's struggles and began his casting. It was like searching for a particular string that was slightly thicker than the others that tangled together to form Caldor's life energy. After a few minutes of digging around, Loki finally found it. He took a deep breath to fortify himself, for what he was about to do would not just hurt Caldor.
He mentally grabbed ahold of the string representing Caldor's magic…and pulled.
Kind of another cliff hanger, but hopefully not as bad as the last one. ;P I think Loki/Kira deserves a nap. And so do I!
Please review:)