WARNING: This chapter includes depictions of violence, character death, nudity, and the mistreatment of creepy children.
Chapter 22: All Those We Leave Behind
AVENGERS TOWER
Loki waited until Dr. Banner had retreated to the other end of the lab with Dr. Foster to discuss their findings, or lack thereof. He then opened his eyes and sat up, swinging his legs over the side of the worktable that he was sitting on.
"Didn' think you were really asleep," an accented voice confirmed softly. Loki looked over at the bed tucked into the corner on his left. Marie was awake and watching him.
"As you likely should be," Loki replied, keeping his own voice equally hushed as he crossed over to the young woman's bed. "I understand that you have been through quite an ordeal."
"You look familiar," she noted when Loki knelt down beside her. "Aren't you that alien who led the invasion of Manhattan?"
"Yes. To use a Midgardian turn of phrase: it is a long story." He reached up and rested a hand on her blanket-covered shoulder out of curiosity.
"Sure. Hey, be careful! My skin's kinda dangerous," Marie warned.
"I'm not bothered," he replied, then sobered and gave her a questioning look. The girl wasn't physically wounded, but emotionally she was in tatters. "You've lost someone?"
Marie bit her lip, putting on a brave face. "What'd you care?"
"I do not know," Loki admitted truthfully. He suspected that it was Charles' influence again, or perhaps just a lack of anything better to focus on. It was easier than fretting about his own predicament.
"My mom. She died tryin' to buy us time... tryin' to buy me the the time to get away," Marie's lip trembled and she tried to swallow down her tears. "She told me not to look back and then she turned herself into me. When the soldiers surrounded her she pulled the pin on a grenade and..." Marie stopped and hastily wiped the ears away from her eyes. "Shit!" She sniffed, trying and failing to compose herself. "I don' know why I'm even tellin' you this."
"I am sorry for your loss," Loki told her, the old reassurrances he himself had heard time and time again flowing through him reflexively. "She died well, a truly honorable death."
Marie snorted. "Honorable my ass! She was a criminal. I hated her for most o' the time I knew her. She was just tryin' to make it right, an-" Marie stopped and angrily wiped more tears away. "It's all bullshit! For the past year I've had people dyin' on me left an' right. Now all I got left in this world are Francis, an' the twins, an' maybe his Dad if he ain't already dead yet, and in a few weeks we'll all be dead too. Her death was fuckin' pointless!" Marie paused, adding, "Just like this conversation," before rolling over and turning her back on him. Loki remained very still for a beat, too distracted by his own sudden revelation to notice that he was being observed.
"Which one?"
Marie looked incredulously over her shoulder at him. "'Scuse me?"
"Your uncle. What is his name?"
"Charles Xavier," Marie answered, sounding as if she'd just watched him grow a second head.
Loki closed his eyes, taking a deep, calming breath. He rested a hand over her covered wrist. "Your mother did not die for nothing, and you will not join her." He got up and slipped silently out of the lab, lost in thought. Marie watched him go, then looked incredulously at the astrophysisist who'd nearly followed after him.
"What was that about?" Jane inquired.
"How the hell should I know?" Marie answered, at a loss.
ASTRAL PLANE
Charles stormed into Lord Loki's cell, straight past the exiting Einherjar. The impossible prisoner waited patiently from his perch at the foot of his cot while Charles stalked the area around him distrustfully. He knocked the washbasin off of its pedestal to test its solidity, muttered a rude word of Scottish to himself and dropped down into the chair opposite Lord Loki.
"You're taking this well."
"What are you?" Charles demanded.
"A dead man," Lord Loki replied, undaunted by the telepath's coldness. "You may call me a shade if it suits you. Labels are so constricting, don't you agree?" He sobered, relenting to Charles' continued stone-faced regard. "It will take some time for you to accept me..." His face lit up again with a playful smile. "I'm sorry, it's just so good to have company. The other one is so negative, it hardly counts for anything."
"What are you doing inside your nephew's mind?"
"Yes," Lord Loki approved, leaning forward into the space between them for emphasis, only to retreat in the next breath. "It is odd, isn't it? One might say it is impossible, but I've never been a stickler for rules."
"You've been dead for over a thousand years," Charles said, hoping to steer the conversation in a more constructive direction. "What have you done to him?"
"Me?" Lord Loki objected, looking genuinely affronted. "I've not laid eyes on the child since before his birth. Tell me is he in some sort trouble? No one talks to me these days."
"You expect me to believe that you had nothing to do with this. Someone simply placed you here centuries ago and no one noticed?" Charles argued.
"I do hate to disillusion you, Professor, but I am dead," Lord Loki persisted with false solemnity. "It tends to limit one's agency somewhat to be... vitality challenged?" He scowled at his own joke. "I can do better than that. Bear with me. A great deal of time has elapsed since I last held an audience. People spare little attention for the dead. For those whom the Gods forsake, this is doubly so. "
Charles narrowed his eyes. "What happened between you and Odin?"
"I don't know. Ask him."
Now it was Charles' turn to lean into the other man's personal space. "What do you mean you don't know?"
"You seem awfully preoccupied with my nephew's affairs. Should I be concerned?"
"You live in Loki's mind and yet you can't tell what's happening to him? How is that?" Charles half asked, half considered aloud.
"I reside here, but it seems that it will take me time truly to awaken. As you said: it has been over a thousand years," Lord Loki conceded.
Charles leaned back in his seat, steepling his hands in front of him.
"Or who knows, perhaps not. I am the Liar, after all."
"That's Loki's title. You're the God of Fire, and Michief. Prince Loki is the God of Chaos and Lies," Charles amended, pinning him with an attentive gaze.
Lord Loki shrugged. "Oh, fair enough. I am not myself these days," he dismissed as if it were a trivial slip of the tongue and nothing more. Charles doubted that anything he did could be trivial.
AVENGERS TOWER
Clint found Loki in the gym, fifteen minutes after his sudden bolt from Banner's lab, kicking the shit out of a punching bag. Clint ambled over to watch for a minute before engaging the venting demigod. It was obvious that was what he was doing. Considering the way that their morning had gone, it wasn't exactly unforseeable. Still, it seemed like weird behaviour for the Trickster.
"Dare I ask what this is about?"
"You are a free man," Loki responded unhelpfully, leaving a detailed indentation of his fist in his inanimate victim.
"What, do you want to fight me?" Clint countered.
Loki stilled for a second, then kicked the bag in front of him so hard that it flew off of its fastening and burst against the wall. "I have no desire to see you dead."
"That's interesting, if true," Clint allowed, walking up to stand beside the remaining punching bag that Loki now had in his sights.
Loki regarded him impatiently, obviously wanting to be left alone.
"Jane said that you were hassling Rogue, then you stormed out," Clint prompted. "Want to explain yourself?"
Loki studied the archer, attempting to decipher what the assassin was on about. "I somehow doubt the accuracy of your wording."
"Look. I'm giving you a chance here. Take it or leave it," Clint pointed out, and Loki deflated a little.
"She reminded me of someone," he relented, retreating to sit on the edge of the sparring ring. "It served as an unwelcome reminder that my mind is not my own."
"Who'd she remind you of?" Clint asked, surprised. He was also averse to engaging the more obvious aspect of Loki's answer, considering their history. It was too much, too soon for him to acknowledge their common predicament aloud.
"Another of her kind whom I encountered before. I do not wish to involve him in this," Loki answered, giving no outward sign that he was hiding anything. "When we spoke last night..."
"You're an emo drunk. We don't need to get into that again."
"What is an emo?"
"Basically, you when you're drunk," Clint failed to clarify, enjoying Loki's frustration. Loki shook his head, letting the matter drop. Then he looked back up at Clint, a faintly apologetic smile playing over his tired face.
"As you are in such an amicable mood, I hope that you will find it in yourself to be merciful," he angled.
"You switched to an illusion when you switched punching bags," Clint stated, unaffected, drawing an approving expression from Loki's facsimile.
"Precisely as you say. Yet you did not move to pursue me. May I ask why?" Loki's projection inquired with an intrigued flicker.
"Call it a test of your character. Besides, I can drop you anytime I want, whether or not you can escape the lockdown."
"Ah. How will you accomplish that?"
"Try me and find out," Clint offerred.
"I would rather not."
"Smart guy," Clint approved, then looked up at the speaker system built into the ceiling. "JARVIS, locate the real Loki for me, would ya?"
"One moment, Sir."
Clint and the projection regarded each other in an oddly comfortable silence while JARVIS worked.
"It appears that Mr. Loki has circumvented the security measures in the isolation level," JARVIS reported, causing Hawkeye to snap into crisis mode.
"You son of a bitch!"
"Before you 'drop me' as you so succincly put it, I would ask that you take the context of my actions into account," Loki's illusion requested, dissipating in a flash of gold as Clint ran through him on his way to intercept the real Trickster.
"JARVIS, alert the others!" Hawkeye ordered, foregoing the elevator. He pulled a phone-sized metallic device out of his pocket as he ran, running his thumb over the glowing red button at its center. He pulled his finger away from the button and pocketed it. "What is Loki's current status?"
"He appears to be waiting to be noticed outside Mr. Xavier's cell, Sir. Vitals and brainscan remain within normal parameters, however his adrenal levels are slightly elevated."
"Yeah. I bet they are," Clint scoffed, bursting out of the stairwell.
ASTRAL PLANE
"Do you know how I was killed?" Lord Loki asked, idly running a feather-quill through his slender fingers as he stared up at the ceiling of his cell.
"Were you?" Charles replied. It looks as though that guard is staring at us. He can't be watching us. He's watching us.
"I was. It was painful," Lord Loki remembered. "Our peoples tend to romanticize death. They speak of dignity, and honor, the Noble Martyr. It is none of these things. There is no great epiphany, no Valkyrie, no redemption. It hurts, serving at best as an unpleasant shock to the senses, and then you are gone. I do remember feeling a sense of acceptance, at the very end. But then, that had as much to do with the events which led me there...not to mention the irony."
"Why? How did you die?" The lights in the cell block began to go out one after another.
"No matter," Lord Loki decided, rising from his cot. "It is a story for another time."
The absence was returning along with the impenetrable blackness. Charles looked over at the staring guard in time to see his eyes turn black as pitch and his expression turn artificial and puppetlike. Lord Loki rested his hands on Charles' shoulders.
"You will look after them until the next time. Now you'll want to brace against it; do not," Lord Loki instructed quickly. "It is better to relax. Do not fight the fall."
"What? What fall?"
Lord Loki smiled obligingly down at Charles, grabbing fistfulls of his cardigan. Outside on the other side of the barrier, the shadows began to flow and stretch. "I said: relax." Lord Loki shoved Charles backwards and away from the encroaching darkness. He fell through the floor into a brightly moonlit forest to land on his back on a slab of solid ice.
"Aughhh." Charles coughed a couple of times and sat up. The world around him was frozen and quiet. At first he thought that he must be alone, but to his utter surprise, he saw a small, naked figure dart across the path ahead carrying a velvet wrapped parcel in his arms. The pounding of hooves rumbled louder as a hunting party neared in hot pursuit of the nude youngling.
Charles picked himself up off of the frozen ground with a shudder and joined in the chase. The little boy running ahead of him looked to be anywhere from six to eight years old by human standards. His porcelain skin seemed almost to glow in the moonlight, standing out in stark contrast with the dark, dripping-wet ringlets that fell over his eyes as he ran. Charles found himself doubting the child's sanity; it was definitely well below zero tonight and dropping, yet the first fluffy white snowflakes falling over them prompted the quirk of the runner's lips to stretch into a wolfish grin. He leaped up over a formidable peak in the root formation they were passing, then slid to a halt on the sheet of ice beyond, spinning to look behind him as he did. A toe-headed girl darted out of the trees up ahead and scooped him up into her arms, wrapping him in her furs. The wild look in the boy's blue green eyes flashed with a spark of amusement when he saw the silhouettes of riders appearing in the distance.
"Look Hella! I did it! I beat them!" The boy exclaimed. Hella shushed him, taking the parcel out of his arms and tucking it away in a hidden niche under the tree trunk. The riders were almost upon them.
"Fen?" Hella whispered urgently, her ruby eyed gaze darting anxiously around them.
The little boy stretched his face up towards the starlit sky and howled. It was an inhuman sound, almost like- There was a rustling in the shadows behind them, echoed shortly after from a rock formation on Charles left; he moved to stand beside the two youths just as two wolves' voices echoed the runner's call. The hunters urged their horses to halt in front of the mismatched trio, fanning out to partially surround them.
"Enough of this farce, Milady. This chase is over. Hand over the scrolls and return with us peacefully, and the Allfather's punishment will be lenient," said the lead hunter. Charles recognized him as the councillor who had unwrapped the newly delivered Mjölnir back in the warcouncil's chamber.
"Odin told you that himself, did he?" the teen responded lightly. Charles had to agree, this guy was pushing the boundaries of believability with that promise. Although, now that he could see him close up, he was fairly certain he recognised the little boy as Lord Loki's premature baby. The one the Allfather had sent a spy to check up on.
"Do not make things worse for yourself, Lady Hella. You are already flirting with multiple treason charges. You need not drag down the rest of your kin along with you," the hunter warned, ignoring his comrades' startled jerks to draw or aim their weapons at two dark shapes closing in on them from the shadows. Judging by the predatory glint in the wolves' glowing eyes, they weren't here to mess around. "If they come any closer, kill them."
Fenris' smile shrank somewhat, he stuck out his tongue at the hunting party.
"You've never held any love for us, have you, Lord Tyr?" Hella snorted in dark humor. "If you will allow us an audience with father as well- before the Allfather passes his judgment, I will surrender." She paused to consider Tyr's face, adding. "The scrolls will remain with the family."
"You dare try to negotiate terms, you treacherous-" the blond warrior at Tyr's side objected, only to be cut off by twin menacing growls from the wolves. Tyr held up a hand to stop his men from firing on the creatures, pinning his soon-to-be prisoner with a challenging look. The closest wolf snapped at him.
"Bróðir," Hella prompted.
The naked godling let out a long, low-pitched whistle and the wolves looked questioningly at him. He shook his head and they hesitantly retreated into the shadowed forest. He returned his attention to the hunters, enjoying their obvious discomfort. "I expect that you'll make me put some clothes on now." He sounded inexplicably unenthusiastic about the idea.
Hella smiled fondly down at him. Charles thought that perhaps his Loki, if he did turn out to be related to these people at all-which Charles strongly suspected was the case- would be the sane one. It was a sobering thought.
AVENGERS TOWER
Francis stood in his reinforced, plexiglass and carbon micropolymer cell, and stepped up to the window to face his unauthorised visitor.
"And to what do I owe this honor?" he inquired dryly.
"I still await an honest answer to my last question," Loki reminded him, folding his hands neatly behind his back. "Why did you break into the SHIELD facility? It was aimless, rash, and not at all like you."
"And how would you know what is or isn't like me?"
"You exchange a question for a question, hardly an incentive for transparency," Loki countered, pacing around the other side of the pane like a cat awaiting treats. Francis wasn't sure what to make of this behavior so he outwardly disregarded it. There was something so impossibly familiar about Loki, but the young mutant could find no trace of him in his or either of his progenitors' memories.
"How do I know you?" he finally asked, seeing Clint run into view on the other side of the reinforced mechanized doors behind Loki, with his gun out. The corner of his mouth twitched upward. "You haven't gotten permission to interrogate me."
"I have not," Loki confirmed, as Thor and the Cap joined the assassin on the other side of the sealed doors. He turned back and winked at them over his shoulder before continuing, "We are both prisoners here."
"One of us by choice, it would seem," Francis accused.
"Are you?" Loki countered.
"Why are you helping them?"
"Why are you not? This has to do with Mummy," Loki smiled when a slight shift in the teen's expression confirmed his assertion. "How does he relate to your attack on SHIELD?"
"How do you know about Mummy?"
Behind Loki, Clint released the locks on the first sealed door and darted to the next one, gun drawn. Steve jogged after him and grabbed Clint's shoulder, his eyes still glued to the conversation going on ahead of them.
"Wait."
"Cap?" Clint questioned. Thor had already lowered his hammer as he joined them. To be honest, the demigod doubted that he would've actually used it against his brother again even if this had been a prison break.
"JARVIS, can you relay an enhanced audio of the isolation area, please?" The Captain's unnecessarily polite request drew mild amusement out of Clint, but he didn't comment.
"Streaming now, Sir."
Clint arched his brows inquisitively at the the supersoldier as the live feed began to play.
"Look where you are, Francis. You are wasting our time with such pointless questions. Tell me about your attack on SHIELD."
"...They are a threat."
"As they have been for some time now. Something changed. You've only attacked them now, regardless of the war. ...You allowed yourself to be captured. Why?"
"Answer one of my questions or you'll get nothing more out of me."
"I know you."
"How?"
"You asked for an answer to one of your questions. Now you reciprocate."
Clint let out an amused scoff. "Your brother's a real piece of work," he remarked to Thor.
"Indeed. He has always been unpredictable," Thor agreed, relaxing the rest of the way out of his battle ready stance.
"This is personal. I needed to understand who and what I was up against."
"In order to eliminate the threat at its source," Loki finished for his opponent. "Why not ask your siblings for their aid in this endeavor?"
"Reciprocity, Mr. Odinson," Francis challenged.
There was quiet in the isolation area while Loki considered Onslaught. Then he smiled to himself. "I see. Thank you. This has been most illuminating."
"We're not done," Francis denied, watching Loki walk away toward the security barrier.
"I am." Loki tapped on the window between himself and the three Avengers. The Cap typed in the code to release the security seal. Loki looked at Clint as soon as the door separating them rolled aside. "How do I measure?" he inquired pleasantly.
The two blond Avengers looked questioningly at Hawkeye.
"Jury's still out," he replied, not bothering to explain their exchange to his friends.
Loki accepted it with a half nod.
"Come on," Steve ushered him out of the secure section, with much unnecessary assistance from Thor. "You've been holding out on us a little too much."
"Hey! What did I miss?" Tony gasped, stopping outside the doorway. "Did you do something naughty?"
"We're secure," the Cap assured.
"It is obvious to me now that Onslaught's perfomance was not an act of terrorism, but an offensive tactic. He did not alert you to his true intentions in an effort to keep Wanda and Peter at a safe distance," Loki explained, as soon as the final security door sealed behind them.
"And where did you get that? The little psycho couldn't care less about anyone else's safety," Clint objected.
"It is true that he is incapable of empathy. However this would qualify as a matter of personal interest," Loki explained, glancing up at Thor. "After all, what is a shadow without the light to mark its source?"
"Sounds pretty; is there a point?" Clint said flippantly.
"SHIELD has changed its standards of late. I believe Onslaught is acting in defense of one whose capture would endanger all his kin."
"You think that this is about Professor X," Steve inferred.
"It would explain their presence in London as well as their choice of targets," Loki agreed. "The Maximoff twins, Marie and her mother-"
"Whoa, whoa! They got Mystique?" Tony interrupted.
"Killed," Loki confirmed.
"Wolverine went missing three weeks ago, then we stopped getting any reports about the Brotherhood, and now Mystique," the inventor recalled, the revelation slowly dawning on his face. "They're taking out his safety net, getting rid of everyone who would back him if- Guys, it's Doomsday!"
"I do not follow," Thor admitted.
"We used to talk about it when the war first started building - what would be our failsafe? An analog network that we could each fall back on if the unimaginable happened, if someone managed to corrupt JARVIS' network, or occupy Xavier's Academy, or even wipe out one of our teams - there would always be the Doomsday list. Mystique, Wolverine, the Twins, the Brotherhood... They're terminating Xavier's list."
"Okay," Steve began solemnly after they'd all taken a moment to digest Tony's dark epiphany. "Say you two are right and they're going after the Doomsday list. There's got to be a way to confirm it, before we decide to let that maniac back out again."
"Simple enough," Loki assured. "I assume that Mr. Stark can still recall the other individuals involved."
Tony nodded.
"Then all we must do is see who is dead, or being marked for death, and match them to the list."
"'We,' Brother?" Thor echoed hopefully.
"The only chance that this world has of defeating Thanos is as a united front," Loki clarified. "Humanity's greatest potential has always been achieved by the many fragile, short-lived, and diverse individuals coming together to form a far greater cooperative whole."
"I didn't realise that you'd taken such an interest in human acheivements," the Cap said doubtfully, although he seemed to approve of the overall sentiment behind Loki's words.
"When did Loki start having the fantastic ability to pull relevant information out of his ass?" Clint added.
"My brother was ever the clever one, even when he was only small," Thor praised, clapping a hand on Loki's shoulder.
"Being smart is one thing, but I've noticed that you overlook a lot of inexplicable shit when it comes to him."
"What are you implying?" Thor asked darkly.
"Case in point. You- No one even questioned how he knew, or cared about Mystique!" Clint snapped.
"Actually-" Steve began, but Thor talked over him.
"I'll have you know that Loki is a talented healer, and though you may not understand it, many in Yggdrassil have found his appearance to be a comfort."
"You're right, Thor. I don't understand it. How can this," Clint waved a hand in front of Loki. "Be therapeutic? This is terrifying."
Loki endured the entire exchange with a flat, bored expression on his face. On the arguing pair's other side, Steve rubbed at his forehead, in preparation for the oncoming headache.
"How dare you!" Thor objected to Clint's insulting description. "You will not speak of my family in such a way!"
"Hey. Tweedledum and Tweedledee," Tony stepped in between them. "Wanna try to find a happy place and focus before the Iceman cometh? You might not like him when he's angry."
"Dude. That was like reference Inception," Clint remarked, his rage dissipating in response to the random pop culture bomb.
"You even included the Green Beast," Thor offered.
"I mean it was fullspread too, book to theatre. If I didn't know him I'd say he had to get out- No. You know what? Tony, Buddy, you have to get out more," Clint commented, while Loki hid his smirk in response to just how quickly the cyborg's distraction had worked.
Steve in contrast, dropped his face into both hands. "I am surrounded by children."
"Uh huh." Tony gave the edge of Loki's sleeve a fleeting tug. "Come on, let's get you back upstairs. I gotta start checking that list."
Loki followed quietly after him until they were out of earshot. "Am I correct in suspecting that your name also graces this 'Doomsday List'?"
"Oh yeah. I'm next," Tony confirmed, trying to sound like it didn't bother him. Loki's green eyes pierced right through his faltering front. "I have a lot of friends on that list. If I ever wanted to be wrong more..."
"And this academy of his? If we can reach it first I might be able to help you save those who are left." Loki offered. He doubted that it would work, but then, this was the offer that he wanted rejected.
"Nice try. Even Thor wouldn't trust you that much yet."
"As you wish."
"Loki?" Tony began as the lift doors shut.
"Stark?"
"Second question of the day, if you wanted to escape the tower right now without being tracked. How long would it take you?"
Loki remained silent long enough that Stark almost lost his nerve and retracted the question. "About half an hour to escape. One hour or twice that measure to vanish completely." He answered honestly.
"Just two hours?"
"Vanishing is not the challenge. The true feat is managing to survive once I have departed."
ASTRAL PLANE
Fenris sat slumped against the wall of his cell, begrudgingly enrobed in what was basically a blue and gold child's version of the vest and leggings Loki's projection had sported during his prison time. Charles had wandered all over and around the godling's prison, searching for some hint of why he was here. In contrast the boy himself had barely moved, his gaze locked, unwavering, on the entryway beyond the barrier. He really was beginning to remind Charles a bit too much of a puppy waiting anxiously for the return of his master. There was a muted thump and two guards marched into the walkway, Tyr following stoically behind them. Charles was getting that horrible sinking feeling again. Something was very wrong here, and he found himself wishing that he could do something to help. This is only a memory, he reminded himself.
"It is time," one of the Einherjar announced, lowering the barrier to the cell across from them and beckoning Hella to join them.
"I was promised an audience with Lord Loki," she stated, allowing the guards to shackle her wrists.
"This one too." Tyr nodded toward Fenris.
Charles backed away to stand with the little boy as the barrier was dropped. Something definitely wasn't right about this. Fenris let out a feral growl when the guards stepped forward to chain him.
"Come now, Little Lord," one guard coaxed, moving to grab him. Fenris surged to his feet and shoved him away. "Where is he?"
"My Lord!" The guard warned, lunging in order to pin the angry young boy. Fenris shoved him away with both arms. Despite the child's small size, it was forceful enough enough to crack the wall on impact, causing Charles to flinch away in shock. The other guard grabbed his sword.
"Stand down, Lieutenant!" Tyr took the shackles from the red-faced guard who was sprawled stunned on the floor against the wall, keeping his attention on Fenris. "You wish to remain with your sister?" he asked Fenris, holding up the shackles. "This is merely a precaution."
Fenris looked past the Lord to his sister who nodded encouragingly.
"I pose no threat to him," Fenris muttered, but allowed himself to be chained up. Tyr led them out of the dungeons and down a broad columned corridor, turning down hall after hall. The longer they walked, the more suspicious the godling felt.
"Where are you taking us? Father's rooms are that way, as are the meeting..." Hella considered the unreadable expression on the councillor's face. "We had a deal. If you take me to trail now, I will show all the court how lightly you break your word!"
"He's betraying us," Fenris quietly observed, jaded beyond his years. Just like Loki...
"We shall see." Tyr rested his hand on Hella's shoulder.
"This is the way to the throne room. Unless he would see me in Heimdall's..."
Fenris stopped paying attention to his sister and jailor and sniffed the air. "What is this?"
Tyr nudged him toward the throne room and he continued at a slow, almost aimless march. There were Einherjar and other soldiers milling around the archway to Heimdall's observatory. Hella pushed towards the crowd then stumbled to a halt and stared, disbelieving. The guardian was kneeling down, looking at something being carried in by two soldiers. Fenris sniffed the air again, as the guards beside him moved to drag Hella away. Charles could see tears forming in his eyes.
"No..." Hella sped her pace, stumbling at first.
"Sister, don't."
Hella wasn't listening anymore, too busy wrestling herself away from the guards. Fenris averted his gaze.
"Wait! Stop her," Frigga's voice called, sounding mortified. "Keep them away!"
Hella broke into a run and dropped to her knees beside Heimdall. There was a body on the stretcher, blackened and charred beyond recognition if not for the familiar gold, serpentine embelishment still discernable over his understated, black armor. Lord Loki's armor. Heimdall caught her under the arms and holding her while she screamed. Frigga looked on in horror while she struggled and thrashed in Heimdall's grip. The Queen lifted a hand to her mouth only to remember the coal-smeared rag that she was holding and yank it away. Fenris' canines elongated with a soft click and his pale skin rippled momentarily into white fur and back. He watched wide eyed as Hella's struggles became more and more deranged. Frigga darted forward and grabbed him, shielding him in the nick of time before, with an inhuman shriek, a blinding pulse of light exploded out of Hella, enveloping the Bifrost chamber.
Most of the warriors who were touched by the strange light died immediately. Heimdall and a couple of others were merely wounded, covered in a strange spreading ash that steamed when they moved.
Charles lowered his arms away from his face to look at the two huddled royals, and that's when he saw it. The piece of burned and tattered silk was still clutched in Frigga's hand. Embroidered into it, most likely the remainder of a larger pattern, were two golden runes: an angular looking infinity and under it an equally triangular B. Fenris was staring at the chaos unfolding before them with a blank expression on his young face, but his eyes had aged a lifetime in that last jarring moment. Frigga put a hand to the side of his face and turned him away.
"Don't look. Shh, don't look. There is nothing we can do now."
"I will wait," he answered in quiet monotone, letting the Queen pull him into a protective embrace.
AVENGERS TOWER
"I know the others aren't going to want to let you in on this. They're wrong," Tony said, looking over the information streaming across the computer screens in front of him. "I'm pretty sure that we're going to need you, so..."
Loki stepped up to the other side of the pane-like computer terminal, only to freeze when Charles' consciousness swept through him. He was searching for something and Loki was quick to track his movements. Fenris. Charles sifted through that part of his memory centers and deemed 80% of what he found to be lies. Then he disappeared into Loki's subconscious again as abruptly as he had surfaced.
"I shall see what I can find," Loki determined under his breath.
"Hey, Loki. Are you even listening?" Tony called, straightening up to look at him.
Loki looked up to meet his gaze, his expression carefully controlled once more. "But of course. You have my undivided attention." The slightest traces of a smirk teased his lips. The game at last, was back on.
A/N: Happy New Year guys! I hope you enjoyed this spooky present. Lol. Thanks for reading either way. Special thanks to icanhearthedrums and hangwan000 for reviewing. Let me know what you think.