._.

Beneath

Chapter One Hundred Eighty-Five – Brokk

"If this works," Thor said, matching Loki's brisk pace, "we'll have to go wherever the signal leads immediately." His cloak billowed behind him, as did Loki's; servants had just caught up with them to deliver them. It wouldn't do for either of them to be seen off of Asgard already searching for Brokk.

Loki bit off a sarcastic response; he had told Thor he would try to stop insulting his intelligence. "The sun typically rises in the morning, too." I said I'd try. Here he was, off on another critical urgent task, forced to take Thor along with him again.

"We don't know what we'll face, and we won't have any time to prepare. I hardly know anything about Brokk. We were taught to know the enemy before entering battle, which this may turn into."

"We were? Imagine that. I don't recall you asking any such questions before you led us into Jotunheim. Since when do you care about knowing the enemy?"

"Since when do I care? Since I led us into Jotunheim. Loki, I want to be a help to you in this, not a hindrance. But you barely ever even let me meet Brokk. What can I expect if we find him?"

Thor had a point. This wasn't like seeking out the Frost Giant princes on Jotunheim, where they were both equally ignorant of their destination and its inhabitants. "All right," he said, swiftly running through what he knew of Brokk that might be useful for Thor to know. It was calming actually, and probably useful for him as well. "I don't know where he is, but I suspect he's stayed on Svartalfheim. He hasn't traveled as extensively as you or I, and I think he'll feel more comfortable hiding and blending in on his own realm. That means he's probably underground, too, so it's a good thing we're using the Tesseract and not the bifrost," he added, having just thought of that himself. If they arrived by bifrost they would remain above ground while Brokk used the talisman to escape elsewhere and immediately abandon it so he couldn't be tracked again.

"He may have set traps," Loki continued.

"What kind?"

"Any kind. Physical or magical. Beware of any candles you see. They may be merely providing a pleasant bit of warm light, but Brokk often uses them to channel magic. I wouldn't recommend taking up any weapon you find lying about, either. He found a way to enchant them not to harm him, and to unfailingly find the person who attempted to use it against him."

"What kind of weapons?"

"You're repeating yourself. Any kind. And beware injury from any of his weapons. He's thrown another enchantment onto at least some of them, perhaps all – wounds from them heal slowly and resist the use of magic to speed it."

Thor nodded, the first thing he'd heard that he understood; weapons imbued with magic to not behave as normal weapons made no sense at all. "The wound you came to Asgard with, in disguise."

Loki nodded perfunctorily. "I do speak from experience. Brokk can make himself invisible. He isn't as good at transformations and illusions as I am, but he can manipulate light. You can't trust your eyes. Essentially," Loki said, realizing the same could be said of him, "pretend it's me."

"Loki," Thor said, grabbing his brother's arms and forcing him to a halt. "I won't do that. You're nothing like him."

"Is that so?" Loki asked after taking a second to regain his bearings after the unexpected shift in subject. "Made a bargain with Thanos in exchange for a gift, started a war on another realm, failed to win the war and uphold the bargain, became a war trophy, wanted on multiple realms…does any of that sound familiar?"

"Broad stroke commonalities do not make you the same."

"Broad stroke would be, both male. Both unmarried. Both currently alive. I think the commonalities I named were rather specific."

"You're being deliberately obtuse. Would you go out of your way to drive a nineteen-year-old girl to the brink of madness?"

"You know the word 'obtuse'?" Jane had once told him the same, though as he recalled, she'd hadn't exactly been wrong at the time.

"I grew up with you for a brother. Of course I know the word 'obtuse.' I'm especially familiar with it being attached to the word 'deliberately.' And thank you for making my point."

"You're welcome. And you're being overly literal. I also wouldn't care to live underground, and I have absolutely no desire to grow my hair out long enough to wear it in a braid down my back. My point was that if we encounter Brokk, if he strikes, it won't be with his fists. Be prepared for an attack from anything, from any direction, and don't trust your eyes."

"Oh." Perhaps he'd overreacted, then, but it still bothered him, what Loki said. "You have given me some experience with that. But I'm still better with my fists."

"Which is why I'd be better off saddled with Maeva instead of you."

"Maeva?" Thor echoed in surprise. It had never occurred to him that Loki might choose to go with her as his Asgardian cover. It reminded him of his earlier speculation. "Do you find yourself thinking of her again?"

"Constantly. I don't know how I've lived without her these last centuries. I'm uncertain of the best way to express to her the renewed flowering of my affections, though. Perhaps you have some ideas? Why don't we go somewhere and discuss it thoroughly? Pursuing my most hated enemy can wait."

"It was just a question, Loki," Thor muttered when he got his jaw to unclench. And despite again becoming the target of Loki's condescension and sarcasm, he wondered if all of that could be meant to obscure actual feelings that Loki was, unsurprisingly, unwilling to share with him. Loki's words and the truth often had little in common.

"If your questions are not about the task at hand, please ask yourself if they have any merit before deciding to give them voice. I'll give you a hint: the answer is always no."

"Can you tell me anything else about Brokk that might be useful, then?"

"Impossible to say what might be useful. He has a discerning taste for red wine and a less discerning taste for ale from Muspelheim. He doesn't eat seafood of any sort. He finds beauty in flames." Loki allowed space for it, but Thor said nothing. There had been an "incident," the incident that had resulted in Brokk being banned from Asgard. Loki, too, had once found beauty in flame. That had changed, later, after what happened to Aunt Jora and his cousins. But at the time, when Brokk was toying with spontaneous combustion, he'd been fascinated by fire and all its properties. "He was wearing the talisman around his neck on a short chain when I saw him last. If he still has it, then he's probably still using it for his own purposes, and will probably also still be wearing it on his person, but if not, he'll have it close at hand."

"We'll need to get it away from him right away."

"Yes," Loki answered tensely. He still bristled at the unwanted "we," but whether he wanted it or not, Thor was coming. Ignoring that fact would be to his own detriment.

"You'll create a distraction, I'll go for the talisman?"

"Yes," Loki repeated. It was a typical tactic for them, and for that reason Loki chafed against it. But as they continued walking, now nearing the temporary observatory where Heimdall again stood watch with the Tesseract, he could not think of a more effective plan, given how little they knew about where they were headed, and effectiveness was far more important to him right now than avoiding falling back into old patterns. It was a typical tactic because, when something more than "hit first and hit hard" was needed, it usually worked.

"Anything else?" Thor asked as they approached Heimdall.

"Nothing more comes to mind."

"Heimdall, you've been listening?"

"Since I heard my name, yes. Your idea has merit, my prince. If the amulet sends a signal which is visible to me, it will lead me directly to the linked talisman. If I cannot see the signal, then I will have to search. I will search quickly, but I cannot promise that I'll find the talisman before it's deactivated or destroyed, should the bearer choose to do so. And of course, Brokk may have already done so, or he may no longer have the talisman at all. If it does work as hoped, though, I will send you to the talisman's location immediately. You should get into position before activating the amulet so that no time is wasted."

Thor and Loki moved to stand next to the Tesseract, which Heimdall lifted from its protective container, and raised a hand to hover above it. Loki gave a twist of his other hand and the yellow amulet appeared in his palm.

"Your Majesty, I would be remiss in my duty if I did not point out that we are still technically in a state of war."

Thor had thought of that, but he wasn't going to let it stop him. "My father can easily step in if needed. He should be back at the palace by nightfall, and you can call him back earlier if need be." He pulled up the hood of his cloak, and Loki followed suit.

Heimdall accepted that with a nod. "When you are ready."

Loki glanced at Thor, who gripped Mjolnir in his other hand. He saw no reason to delay. With thumb and forefinger he pressed in the tabs on either side of the amulet's bronze setting as Bragi had instructed, then pinched the flat center in a tight squeeze.

"I see it," Heimdall said, eyes distant. "Svartalfheim. I cannot see the termination point. It's hidden…but I can tell where it must be."

"Send us," Loki said. The words were barely out before Asgard disappeared in a blinding flash of blue.

/


/

Orientation didn't take long. To Loki's right, the rough silver frame of a portal lit up the unknown site, crackling with energy. He immediately turned and broke into a run, chasing after the sounds of invisible feet.

"Loki, stop!" Thor shouted, just managing to grab onto Loki's elbow.

Loki spared him no words – the response would come later and it would not involve words – and wrenched his arm free, a bit of cloth ripping where Thor's grip slid from his elbow to his sleeve. He'd made it only a few more steps toward the portal when the air around him came alive with electrical charge. Loki jerked and nearly fell when lightning struck him, a thousand needles pricking from the inside out, but he knew from experience – and the fact that he was able to stay on his feet – that he'd suffered only a few stray bolts slamming into him; he hadn't been the target. As the ringing in his ears lessened, he caught the tail end of a scream from the source of the other footfalls, one less familiar with that particular form of pain. Lightning arced from the upper edge of the portal, clearly Thor's target, into something not far from it, something that bent the light in unnatural ways but was itself not visible. Loki threw himself at it.

Beneath him something clattered and someone struggled. Electrical discharge grew in a screeching crescendo, followed by a deafening boom, a biting sting in his arm, and an unforgiving pressure on his ankle. He held onto his prize despite the maelstrom, and in the next second his stomach lurched as he became airborne, tumbling backward in a jumbled snarl of limbs, his own and a second unseen set. His back hit a hard surface an instant before his head snapped back and did the same, and then he was scrabbling forward, grappling with his invisible foe, searching for the knife that had cut him, and finding it, unfortunately with the palm of his right hand. At least now he had a better idea of where it was. With his left he found the wrist, and with his slippery right he managed to pry fingers from the handle. The knife fell, but clattered away before Loki could grab it. Finding an invisible knife again wouldn't be easy, especially so once he realized Thor was kicking it further away, but he didn't have to; he had his own. Before he could draw it, Thor was lifting his prey up and away.

Loki made to grab for him before he could be pulled out of his reach, but Thor quickly turned to put himself between the two of them and it was too late.

"Loki, we've got him, you can stop now. You're injured."

"Yes," he said, pushing himself to his feet. "And I mean to return the favor." His palm, he saw in the low light – the portal had been the greatest source of light and was now gone – had been sliced open. He couldn't quite extend his fingers out all the way, but the hand otherwise seemed functional. His upper arm had been pierced just below the extra layers of leather protecting his shoulder; a quick check revealed no damage of consequence.

Feeling around searching for the talisman, Thor hissed as something burned his hand. A moment later he was holding onto a garment of some sort instead of a person. Loki was barreling in from behind, tracking the sound of the footsteps and diving in for another tackle. He watched as his brother again tangled with their target on the ground, but Thor didn't join in. Instead, he took Mjolnir in hand and looked up.

Loki inhaled dirt and dust and choked on it, tucking his head in and holding fast to his prey, who coughed in his grip. He blinked away more dirt from watering eyes and saw what Thor had done. He saw Brokk. The clear outline of much of him, anyway, covered in reddish-brown dirt that Thor had knocked free from the earthen ceiling, which he'd struck with Mjolnir. He'd worry about structural damage and the possibility of the ceiling collapsing later; the struggle with Brokk wasn't much of one anymore, but that could change again in an instant. Lying on his side on the floor, he got Brokk turned, pinned against his chest, arms hooked around his and pulling his shoulders taut. "Get the talisman," he told Thor.

"I tried that. It burned me. Hold on." Around his burned right hand he wrapped whatever it was that Brokk had slid out of, and felt around again on Brokk's chest. It wasn't hard this time; he could even see a protrusion that he suspected – correctly – was the talisman. He felt the heat through the layers of cloth, but yanking the artifact off of him didn't take long. It was invisible, too, of course, and wrapping a burning-hot invisible talisman in a similarly invisible piece of cloth seemed unwise, so Thor removed his cloak and wrapped it in that instead.

That taken care of, Loki rolled and dragged Brokk to his feet. For the first time he carefully surveyed his surroundings. They were in an empty circular chamber, large and unfinished, more like a cave than an actual dwelling. The ceiling was minimally supported, a single wooden beam marking the space's diameter and embedded in the walls – something to keep an eye on. Stairs made only of the same compacted hard soil of the ceiling led along the wall up to the next floor, which might have been above ground, or another underground level; no stairs led further down. A couple of thick books were stacked a few steps up, and next to them, a simple metal plate of the type used for field cooking held a crust of bread. A basic wall sconce with a burning white candle was mounted by the stairs, with three others evenly spaced around the area. They appeared to be nothing more than a source of light for a windowless chamber, but Loki was wary of them, and caught Thor following his gaze to them and lingering, too. A few feet from the stairs, closer to the center of the room but not precisely in the center – if it had been precisely in the center Loki would have eyed it with even more suspicion than he already was – stood the only piece of furniture in the chamber: a simple camp chair made of metal supports and rope-net seat and back.

The net gave Loki an idea. He dumped Brokk into the chair and, one hand around Brokk's throat, with the other started to draw out his old net.

"Allow me," Thor said, extending Mjolnir out before him, toward Brokk.

"I thought you wanted to question him," Loki responded, before stepping to Brokk's side and gesturing Thor forward.

Ignoring the comment – he knew that Loki knew what he intended – Thor carefully sat Mjolnir atop Brokk's lap. "Heimdall, we're-"

"No," Loki said sharply, more sharply than he'd intended, preferring to remain calm in front of Brokk. "We can't go back yet."

Thor hesitated; he hadn't forgotten, but no one else had any idea they'd ever been here. They could conceal themselves on Asgard and easily ensure that no one knew when they'd captured Brokk. But if Loki wanted some time first, Thor decided he wasn't going to try to stand in his way. He looked down at the vague form Mjolnir rested on. Brokk wasn't going anywhere, whether by magic or by physical movement. And this moment was about Loki, for Loki. Thor got out of the way, as far as he could, against the wall, arms crossed over his chest, and dropped the cloak-wrapped talisman to the floor near his feet. He gave another glance at the candle in the sconce a couple of feet away from him. Loki didn't seem overly worried about them, so he supposed he shouldn't be, either. Nevertheless, he kept it in his peripheral vision.

For a full minute, Loki merely watched Brokk. His outline was less clear, with much of the dirt that had fallen on him shaken off now. He was clear enough though. He wondered why the silence. Brokk hadn't silenced himself through magic; he wasn't terribly good at that. But other than a short grunt when Mjolnir was placed across his thighs, he'd made no sound. "You may as well make yourself visible. It's not as though it's a mystery who you are. Or where you are."

More dust fell, amid sounds of shuffling in the area of his feet – Loki resisted looking down, suspecting it might be an attempted distraction for something else – and a moment later Brokk was visible, and visibly dirty, in simple brown-and-beige clothing.

"Congratulations. I knew they were searching for me here. I can't say that I'm surprised that you joined in the hunt. Or that King Nadrith has obviously helped you out, though I'm sure the idea was yours. He must be in such a miserable state. If I had to guess, I'd guess that you didn't even have to compel him. Overplaying one's hand drains the coins in one's pocket, eh, Loki?"

Loki recalled what Brokk had said about difficult challenges turning out to be easy, one of those seemingly random things Brokk said that hadn't turned out to be random at all, but rather a private jest about Loki showing up uninvited at his house when Brokk had been searching for him in vain. He wondered if Brokk was speaking only of Nadrith, or trying to suggest that Loki had overplayed his hand in some way, and if the latter, whether he truly meant it, or was saying it simply to make him paranoid, to cause him to make a mistake. Each of his senses crackled with awareness; he had Brokk, and he did not intend to lose him.

Brokk shifted, or rather tried to; under Mjolnir his legs wouldn't budge, and only his feet and upper body managed a bit of movement. "I knew this thing was heavy, but this weight is unnatural."

Loki ignored him. "You need to put more effort into your decorating. Your furnishing, too. What is this place? You can't be living here."

"It's a stepping stone. I do have a taste for finer things, as you know, but there's no need to cover stones with finery."

"A stepping stone to where?"

"'Where' indeed. A fine word, that. Simple little word for embracing the entire cosmos. The possibilities are endless. And exploration can be such fun."

"Endless? I'd say they are very few. A treaty is in place which specifies the only place you'll be going: an Asgardian prison cell. If you have a preference for its orientation – near the center, or on the corner, perhaps? – I suppose now would be a fortuitous time to lodge that request."

"So Asgard isn't even attempting to pretend that its laws have any bearing on its so-called justice?"

"There'll be a trial," Thor put in, not moving from his place against the wall. "And it will be in accordance with the law. But we have more than enough evidence of your crimes. Your fate is in no doubt."

"How helpful for you, Loki. To have your big brother coming along with you, doling out words to provide the weight that he apparently believes yours lack. You must be so pleased to have his support."

Loki smiled. Brokk had just given something away. "You want him to leave? Why? You're perhaps thinking that we could work out a bargain, just the two of us, without him getting in the way of everything?"

Brokk's smile turned brittle for a moment. "You and I do have a history. We'll continue that into the future, too, don't you think? We've always had our little disagreements. And eventually, we get past them, because we understand each other in ways no one else ever has and no one else ever will. I know I was harsh before – and you have to admit that you deserved it for what you did to me before that – but we both know that I'm not your real enemy. What's between you and me is between you and me. Not for public show," Brokk said with a pointed look at Thor.

Loki saw the look, but kept his eyes on Brokk. Loki didn't want Thor here, either, and he could probably convince him to step away for a bit if he went about it in the right way. If Brokk wanted him gone, though, then Loki would put up with him being here a while longer.

"Thanos, Loki. Thanos would see you suffer for all eternity. He would see you humiliated. Remember what his odiferous little friend said? Thanos wanted your torture to be at the hands of the Jotuns, because he knew you would fear and despise that the most."

"I should make a deal with you, then? As I recall, you were quite willing to assist him in his aims."

"Do you really think I could have done otherwise? When you first met Thanos, did it occur to you to tell him you weren't interested in his plan?"

"It did, in fact. And I did."

"And how long did that last?"

"Until he mentioned a part of the plan I was actually interested in. If you're trying to suggest that you were some unwilling pawn you're wasting your time. Pawn, yes. Unwilling, no. This entire war was your idea. Thanos isn't interested in politics. He doesn't know or care about Gullveig's vanity, or the complexities of the relations between Svartalfheim and Alfheim, or Nadrith's ambition and political vulnerabilities. You know those things. The idea to seize the Tesseract and house it on Vanaheim, guarded by wielders of swords and of magic? Yours. How long did you intend to actually perform the duty you would ensure you were assigned?" Loki paused to laugh. "No, wait, I have an actual question. How long did it take to convince Asgard's greatest ally of a path to war?"

"About as long as it took to tell him he wouldn't be fighting alone, and Asgard would receive no external assistance."

"And Nadrith?"

"A little longer. I did not anticipate him trying to set himself up as some kind of Nadrith All-Father, though. Ljosalf weasel." Brokk cleared his throat, then twisted as far as he could and spat over his shoulder while stomping twice in quick succession with the ball of his left foot; Loki figured he wasn't quite able to lift his heels enough to use the entire foot, per custom among the more superstitious of Dark Elves. He'd never known Brokk to be particularly superstitious, though, and glanced around warily in case the display had been a signal of some sort.

Nothing happened, though, so Loki decided to press forward. There were questions that needed to be asked, and it was now or never. "What exactly did you think you were going to get out of your bargain with Thanos? 'Raw power' you said. What kind of raw power? You didn't think he was going to let you keep the Tesseract, did you?"

"I knew I wasn't going to keep it. I was going to steal it and give it to him. But he's gathering up a number of such powerful 'trinkets,' as he calls them. To gift them to his imaginary lover, to use them to destroy worlds for her, who knows. He's quite insane. But as he worked on his collection, I was to be permitted to experiment with whatever he already possessed. Starting with the Tesseract. Everything had become dull, monotonous, I'd been growing restless and bored, and it was the most exciting thing to happen to me in ages. And I know that you understand that. You and I, Loki, we're two sides of one and the same coin. We like a little chaos. A little danger. A little risk. And we don't like boundaries. When I found Thanos…it was as though the boundaries of the very cosmos boiled away."

"And what are his boundaries? Where is the collection of drifting rocks that he calls home?"

"You've been there. Physically, even, unlike me. You would know better than I."

"How were you planning to make all of your little visits for experimentation if you don't even know where he is?"

"I presume he would've given me directions once I had the Tesseract. He would still give me directions if I had the Tesseract, Loki." He dropped his voice to a whisper. "If we worked together, we'd master its space-folding abilities more quickly. He wouldn't need to know how I obtained it. He wouldn't need to know I was bringing you with me. I have no love for him, you know. You can do as you will."

"An interesting plan. It has a serious flaw, however. Thanos already knows that the war is over and you've failed."

Loki watched with satisfaction he didn't show as Brokk's expression changed from that of a man who still believed himself to be in control to one who was beginning to realize he wasn't. "He has no way of knowing that. You have no way of reaching him."

"Not on my own, no. Nevertheless, I had a little chat with the lackey recently. I assured him that the Tesseract was staying on Asgard, and that you had utterly failed and were now wanted across the realms. So you see, he'll know it's a trap if you contact him and tell him you're ready to bring him the Tesseract."

Anger flashed over his face. "Then you've cut off your own arm with your sword, haven't you?"

"Perhaps. But that still leaves me with one good arm, and you with nothing, doesn't it?"

"No," Brokk answered, and Loki could see the new plan developing before he spoke it aloud. Brokk, he understood then in a moment of newfound clarity, had never been good at deception. He'd rarely even attempted true deception. When he hid something, it was usually in plain sight, "hidden" only by the giddy zeal and bedlam with which he pursued his generally unsanctioned aims. All of that was stripped away now, and the direction of Brokk's thoughts was clear. He was afraid.

"What does it leave you with, then?" Loki asked, ready to play along for a moment, to see where this led.

"You know I have my own way to find him. Him and his servant. It isn't physical, but you and I, if we put our heads together, we could figure it out. You must want retribution, and apparently you've turned him into my enemy as well now, so we have common cause. He would never expect us to be working together; that gives us an advantage we can find a way to exploit. I can teach you how I reach his world, and how I return from it of my own volition. I wouldn't ask you to rely on me for that."

"All right," Loki said, lips sliding into a sly grin. "I am your eager student. Teach."

Brokk laughed. "While trapped here under your brother's hammer? Don't be ridiculous. If you're unable to get rid of him, then I suppose he could stay – I'm sure he's incapable of understanding any of it anyway. But I'll need to demonstrate a few things. And I'm afraid this," he said, momentarily hooking a finger into the hammer's strap, the only part of it that could be moved, "will make that impossible."

"Actually I think you can manage from right there. Tell me what you need. I'll get it," he offered with false indulgence. "Candles, I presume?" Loki could almost feel Thor's unease, without even seeing him. Thankfully, though, he kept his mouth shut.

"That would be a start. But you do realize you can't do this alone, don't you? If you confront him alone you'll ensure your own defeat. He would destroy you, he and his friend. You cloak yourself in such confidence, as though you're invincible, but I've seen with my own eyes that you aren't. Beneath that arrogant smirk are a million cracks, and he knows about every single one of them. I watched him shatter you, reduce you to little more than a wounded animal, desperate and terrified, incapable of defending much less attacking. It took him less than a minute. I don't know how he came to know you so deeply, but I do know that you are incapable of facing him alone, and he knows nothing about me except that I had harnessed enough power to travel as I do. We need each other, Loki, even if it's not the most pleasant idea for either of us right now."

Loki laughed even as he seethed. "What you observed was a moment of surprise," he said. They both knew exactly what Brokk had seen, of course, but these words weren't for Brokk's ears; unfortunately, Brokk probably knew that, too. Loki studiously did not look in Thor's direction even with peripheral vision. "Your attempt to take a few threads and somehow weave an entire tapestry is remarkable. Nevertheless, while I'm generally thrilled to learn something new, in this case I spoke in jest. I don't have time for lessons."

"Oh? Why the rush? I know for a fact that you're a fast learner."

"I have a little deal with Odin, you see. I single-handedly win the war for Asgard, tie up all its bothersome little loose ends," he said with a pointed look, "and he looks past my attempt to destroy Jotunheim and that misguided endeavor on Midgard."

Brokk clasped his hands over the end of Mjolnir's handle as he chuckled. "You do have your talents, Loki, I would never deny that. But you're telling me you brought an end to this war, all by yourself? I don't think even you know where your lies end and truth begins. Hubris, my friend. You define the word."

"I can understand your skepticism. But didn't you wonder how it all came to an end so quickly? One minute you thought victory was in your grasp and all the Nine Realms were dancing on your strings, and the next…the war was over and even your own people had turned on you. You didn't manage to hear how it happened? You should have been there; you would have loved it. I fed him a story that he happily devoured," Loki said, tipping his head over his shoulder vaguely in Thor's direction, "and he opened up the Weapons Vault for me." He paused to laugh, and it was funny, even if he wasn't actually feeling particularly amused at the moment. "Then I distracted him – frighteningly easy, when you think about it – and I stole the Ice Casket right in front of him. The idiot had no idea at all." This time he turned around to actually look at Thor. "Do you wish to contradict me?" he taunted.

Thor clenched his jaw and said nothing. He had no clue where Loki was going with this – if anywhere at all, beyond an inability to resist a serendipitous opportunity to belittle him – but he couldn't contradict him no matter how much he wanted to.

As usual, Thor wore his feelings plainly, anger driven by humiliation, averting his eyes after a moment; Brokk barely knew Thor, but he knew him well enough through Loki, and he was reasonably observant of others. Brokk would know Loki had spoken truthfully. Loki had a valuable deal with Odin, and Brokk's imagined path to escape through sharing magical secrets with Loki – or at least pretending he was going to – did not exist. "Give me something, then. You seem to want to bargain, but you're no fool. You know I'm not going to let you go upon some promise of all you'll do afterward. Ignore Thor. I do. His presence here is immaterial. He'll dance to my strings if I so wish. He already is. See how well he's behaving over there?"

"Like a well-trained goat?" Brokk asked with a toothy grin that could not at all be called a smile.

Loki gave a little shrug. He hoped the point was sufficiently made; the goat's patience and discipline had much improved, but it was not infinite.

"What are you asking for? There is little I can give like this," he said, wriggling a bit to demonstrate the limitations of his movement, as if Loki had somehow forgotten.

"The girl. The item you placed under her bed. Entirely inappropriate, by the way," Loki said with a conspiratorial smile that reflected nothing of what he really felt about that. It was a fine bit of mischief, actually – done to an adult. Not to a girl under the age of twenty.

Brokk deflated a bit at that, and let his hands fall from Mjolnir. "You discovered that, then? I was starting to suspect. The information she brought me didn't seem to bear as much fruit as it did in the beginning."

"I observed you meeting with her." Abusing her. "I turned you in. I was rather angry with you at the time. You understand."

"I do," Brokk answered with a wry smile. "What about it, then? You want to know how it works?"

"I know how it works, more or less. I want to know how Thanos got it to you."

Brokk looked confused for a moment; Loki thought it was genuine. "You think he delivered it to me in some way? You're still trying to find a way to physically reach him, aren't you? My way is the only way, Loki, unless we can still find a way to tempt him with the Tesseract to reveal his location. I didn't get that artifact from Thanos. It was already on Asgard. He told me where to find it. His directions left a little something to be desired, but it was more or less where he said it would be. You see? We're both on his wanted list now, and the only way we're going to get to him is by working together."

"You found it where, exactly?" Brokk seemed to be telling the truth, but the answer was not what he'd expected.

"Buried in the ground, under a house near one of your villages. Thanos's helper told me it was in a field, but his location was correct, even if the description of it was off."

"And you obtained it from under this house without anyone noticing how?"

"I shut off the fire suppression, burned it down, and started digging once the ashes cooled and the crying stopped. All while shielding myself from Heimdall's spying eyes, of course."

"Of course," Loki said with a nod. Once the crying stopped? Did you wait until the family wasn't home to start the fire? He thought again of Uncle Villi's family, who had died in a fire. The flippant attitude behind Brokk's phrasing scraped hard against a long-forgotten, long-healed wound. "How did it come to be buried underneath a house?"

"I suppose it was buried in a field, and then someone built a house on top of it. I don't know. I didn't care how it got there, only that I could find it, and use it to get some inside information. My goal wasn't to make Asgard suffer, not even Vigdis. It was to try to make sure that the war was over as quickly as possible."

"So kind and compassionate of you."

"Kind and compassionate," Brokk echoed with a chuckle. "The sooner the war was over, the sooner I could get my kind and compassionate hands on the Tesseract. To the extent you're actually concerned, by the way, I didn't know the girl was not of age."

"She does look older than she actually is." You chose her because she was not of age. Because she lacked maturity and confidence, because she was vulnerable to you, and had the access you needed. Loki's careful projection of smug indifference and casual amusement faltered, gone in one instant but back in place in the next. The mask was now as though nothing had changed, but behind it, Brokk and the entire history of their association flashed through his mind, filtered through an entirely new light. For all the times he'd warned Thor about getting too close to Nadrith, or about an amorous woman who wanted the name Thor Odinson more than she wanted the person…he'd been blind to it himself. He'd grown disaffected, increasingly frustrated with the confines of Thor's shadow; he'd been vulnerable in his own way, and Brokk had recognized that small weak spot in him, just as he had in sniveling Vigdis. What better access than the supposed son of Odin All-Father himself?

He had known – learned early on, at least – that Brokk was underhanded, that he was not particularly kind or compassionate. But for Brokk everything was a game, a fun one free of responsibility. Loki had been drawn to that, and neither kindness nor compassion had been chief among his concerns, either. He'd imagined the two of them as rebels against the heavy hand of Odin and expectations and strictures and standards that Thor seemed to ignore without consequence, leaving Loki to try to rein him in and temper the outcome. Brokk had provided an outlet for Loki's darker impulses, punctuating the tedium and frustration with bursts of exhilaration and mischief that pushed the boundaries of what Loki normally involved himself in on his own, at least earlier in his life. It was probably Brokk who had helped accustom him to pushing those boundaries right up to the edge. And in the end, he'd fallen over.

Brokk hadn't led him there, much less pushed him, of course. Brokk hadn't made his decisions for him; Loki had joined in clear-headed, glad of a means of rebelling in secret, the only way he could in those days. And Brokk by no means had been a part of every bit of mischief Loki had stirred up. But Brokk, Loki now knew with certainty, had always thought of him little different than he had of Vigdis. In that, though, he'd been mistaken. Loki was no Vigdis. And Brokk had already answered all of his questions. Loki smiled.

"There's no need to overthink this. You and I, Loki, we're so much alike. I understand how badly you want your freedom. How badly you need it. Neither of us was meant to live in a cage, be it figurative or physical. We work best outside all limits. Work with me. We can do this together. We're both uniquely qualified to take care of Thanos. Afterward, I'm sure we can find something amusing out there to occupy ourselves with. The cosmos is full of entertainment and adventure for those who seek it out."

You are disgusting. And you have nothing more to offer me. "That does sound appealing. But I'm afraid I'll be seeking it out without you. Where do you think you could hide? You're now reviled and hunted across the Nine Realms, and beyond. On your own realm, this realm we both know you hold dear, here they hate you most of all. Do you think they're going to someday forget that level of betrayal? This is the most you could ever have here – perpetually shrouding yourself in a half-constructed empty shell of an underground hovel. That doesn't matter, though, because you're never going to see freedom, at least not until your old age. And even then, another realm will probably stake another claim on you. You're going to spend the rest of your life in a prison cell, unless Svartalfheim claims you after Asgard, and here the magistrates are much more inclined to execution. And I know you, Brokk. I know your love of escape. It's precisely because I know you that you won't escape. Any cell you're kept in will suppress magic, and you'll be granted no personal implements that conduct magic, no amenities that function through magic you can twist and repurpose. I will personally ensure that your cell is impervious to all physical and magical assault. You keep trying to suggest that you are of some use to me. You are in fact of no use to me," Loki said, stealing a silent step closer.

Brokk's shoulders fell along with his gaze. He flicked his middle finger against Mjolnir's handle.

Loki heard Thor shifting his position behind him, but he wasn't approaching. Loki waited.

When he looked back up, all trace of amusement and banter and game-playing was gone; in its place, raw bitterness, anger, malevolence. Loki thought he'd never seen Brokk quite like this, not even when they'd made their joint out-of-body visit to Thanos, not even when Brokk had temporarily trapped him in his house afterward.

"I should never have wasted my time on you. You're right to speak of use. We were never friends. We used each other. Your strings are laughably easy to pluck. And I had such high hopes for you. To sink my nails into a son of Odin? A frustrated, whining little brat, no less? Nothing was ever good enough for you, you always wanted more. You had more, more than almost anyone else throughout the realms, and you were never satisfied, because you didn't have as much as him," Brokk said, jutting his chin out in Thor's direction. "You asked about Nadrith. It should have been harder, really. A Dark Elf talking a Light Elf king into allying with Svartalfheim? But it was easy. I'd never met him, but I felt like I knew him. He's just like you. So much, and yet someone had more. The same someone, even. Neither of you could put down your measuring sticks."

Loki flexed his fist, feeling for something that wasn't quite there. They had an audience, and Loki needed more. Brokk's words didn't actually bother him. He was only saying things that Loki had already surmised, and exaggerating them for effect. But he was certain there would be more. He waited, and Brokk didn't disappoint.

"It's true I got some use out of you; you teaching me how to mask myself from Heimdall has proven advantageous a time or two. Watching you vacillate between groveling for your father's approval and getting involved in things he might disown you for was good for a spot of laughter. And when I heard about that misadventure on Midgard…you really went off the rails, didn't you? Now I know why, of course. No wonder you never had your father's favor. Reviled by those who said they loved you, isn't that how The Other put it? I thought I was getting a son of Odin. Alas, it turns out you were nothing more than a son of a Jotun whore."

At last, he thought as the dagger took shape in his hand. In the same instant, though, he registered movement, and stood there stunned as Thor barreled forward. Brokk tried to twist away when Thor grabbed for his vest but escape was impossible and Thor's fist slammed into Brokk's face.

Thor drew back to strike again, but Brokk's arms surged upward and with them a ring of flames that surrounded him and lit into Thor. Startled by the fire and alarmed by whatever it was Brokk was doing with his hands, Thor let go of him and reached for Mjolnir instead. The second the weight was off him, though, Brokk was up from the chair, ducking and darting through the fire past Thor, who spun and grabbed for him a half-second too late.

The talisman, Loki thought. Palm out toward Thor, he tracked the direction of Brokk's focus even as he charged to intercept the elf. "Brokk!" he shouted when he was almost upon him. Brokk kept running, but looked his way, and it changed the angle just enough. Still lunging forward, Loki drove the blade in hard between the ribs, stumbling with Brokk who twisted and staggered with the force of the attack. They wound up against the wall, Brokk's back to it, the talisman at his feet. His eyes were wild; he had not given up. He began to tilt, not in collapse but in reaching downward. Loki placed the heel of his right palm to the dagger's pommel and pushed, then gripped it with his left hand and made a quick sweep to the left. Brokk gave a choking gasp, and Loki took him by the shoulders, turned him, and started guiding him back to the chair, where the flames had died away. When Brokk didn't seem to be able to use his legs anymore, Loki gripped his sides and lifted enough to maneuver him where he wanted. When he dropped Brokk back into the chair, the elf's eyes were fixed on the bundle holding the talisman, still on the floor where Thor had dropped it. A few seconds later they drifted up and fixed on Loki. A few seconds after that, they fixed on nothing at all.

/


Sooooo...if the FBI really did watch people's Google searches, here's one where I'd be in trouble, ha.

This chapter was really kicking my tail, it took forever for me to get through the final edit because once I got there it was clear some things that made perfect sense in my own head at the time didn't actually work, and it required some rethinking of things at a level I'm not usually doing at that stage, with the next chapter already written and such. Special thanks to "Theowyn of HPG" who helped me think through what was going wrong, and provided an idea to help make it go right. So here it finally is, and I hope you enjoyed it.

I mentioned on Twitter that Marvel *clearly* hacked my files and stole a moment from this chapter. Did you notice? :-) The first time I saw that on the screen (A3) I was like "hey! I already wrote that!" Because of course that idea has never been used before in the history of page or screen.

If you haven't heard back from me from a recent review or PM you will! The last few weeks have been extra busy and tiring and I'm still trying to get my head above water again. Getting this chapter out helps!

Previews for Ch. 186: Do you recall what I said I wanted the plot of Thor2 to be, way back when? I just realized, that's what this is, pretty much.

Excerpt:

Loki headed over to the stairs and lowered himself to the second one from the bottom. He twisted his hand and plucked an orange out from storage, then tossed it into the air a few times. Thor's eyes were back on him now. "What? You didn't come prepared with snacks? Take this one. I have plenty more." He drew his arm back to throw, but Thor was shaking his head, face pinched. Loki shrugged. "Don't say I didn't offer." He peeled the entire orange, then carefully pulled out a section and popped it in his mouth.

(AKA: "Loki has epic pockets." -Tom Hiddleston)