AN: Hiya, all! I'd like to thank everybody for reading so far! Your reviews motivate me to continue this story. The chapters should be getting a little longer now that we've gotten past the initial place I had changed. Props to anybody who can name the song I get my title from, because I am using song lyrics. I know, so original. Remember, if you see any mistakes, feel free to inform me via PM. I'd appreciate the feedback!
So, here's the next chapter. Happy reading!~
Chapter 3 ~ Who is in Control?
Loki woke to Bruce standing over him, gently patting his face.
"Hey, Loki, you alright?" He asked, giving his cheek another soft slap. Loki grunted and pushed the doctor off.
"Very," was his reply, mixed in with a sharp exhale. "Ow." Bruce smiled weakly.
"You've got quite the concussion, that's for sure," Bruce mused, helping the god to his feet. Loki slowly lifted his head to feel his temple, the source of the blood that was dripping down his face.
"Nothing I can't handle," Loki replied, forcing his tone to be light despite his pounding head. "Where is everybody else?"
"Up in that spaceship," Bruce replied, pointing towards the sky. "Strange was taken by that alien guy. Tony and the kid went after him." Loki turned his head to spit out a bit of blood that had filled his mouth while Bruce spoke.
"Oh, stars above that's just delightful! Now what are we supposed to do?" He asked, throwing his hands up into the air. Bruce blinked a few times.
"I heard about Thor," Bruce sighed. "I'm sorry."
"It doesn't matter, now," Loki snapped. "What are we going to do?"
"I've got to make a call," Bruce mumbled, before picking up an older looking Midgardian Cell-phone from the rubble. Loki watched in confusion as he pressed a button, then held the device up to his ear.
After a few moments of Loki standing there with his arms crossed and Bruce holding the phone up to his ear, the doctor lowered it and sighed.
"It keeps going to voicemail."
"Who were you trying to call?" Loki inquired, raising one bloodied eyebrow.
"Steve Rogers," Bruce replied with a sigh. "But instead, we'll just have to go to that new Avengers compound everybody is talking about." Loki let out a small groan.
"Seriously? You're an Avenger. Why can't you just call him yourself and save us the trouble?"
"Well, before you came crashing down from the sky, Tony kind of told me the Avengers had broken up," Bruce began wearily. Loki couldn't help but burst into laughter.
"I knew that group of yours wouldn't last!" He wheezed, wiping a tear from his eye. Bruce, however, did not look amused.
"As I was saying," Bruce interrupted his hysterical laughter sternly. "Steve is a fugitive now. Nobody knows where he is and there is no form of contact with him besides this phone he gave Tony."
"Whatever, then, lets head to this stupid compound. To make our lives much easier, do you have a general location of this building?"
Bruce thought for a moment, before murmuring, "Tony said that it was somewhere upstate." Loki nodded.
"If this doesn't work and we end up in some random mortal's home, I blame you," Loki hummed, before focusing on the location he was given and the Avenger's stupid logo. With a snap of his fingers, they were standing in front of a modern white building, a slightly dark gray 'A' plastered on the side.
"Woah!" Bruce exclaimed. "How'd you do that?"
"Magic," Loki replied. "Let's get this over with, now, shall we?" With that, the two entered the building.
When they got inside with no trouble, Loki couldn't help but comment about Stark's bad security. They made through the empty halls with ease, not seeing a single person. Until they found an African-American man with braces on his legs. Loki raised a brow. He didn't look familiar whatsoever. But he was to Bruce.
"Rhodey!" Bruce called, and rushed over to give him a hug.
"Bruce? What're you doing here? You went off the radar two years ago!" A slightly confused and surprised Rhodey replied. "And who the hell is that?"
The question was obviously directed towards Loki, so he smiled and responded, "I am Loki. You may have heard of me—" Before he could finish, the man had a gun pointed at his head. Loki took a step back and raised his hands in surrender.
"You're the fucker who led that alien attack on New York a few years ago," Rhodey snarled. "What the hell is he doing with you?"
"Uh—he's on our side now!" Bruce replied quickly, lowering the gun in Rhodey's hand. "Don't worry. He's here to help us face Thanos."
"Who the hell is Thanos?" Rhodey asked, switching the gun to his other hand and pointing it at Loki's head again.
"The Mad Titan who wants to obliterate half of the universe," Loki answered calmly, his hands remaining in the air. "Unless you are prepared to watch your loved ones die, I suggest you lower the gun and hear me out."
At that, Rhodey slowly lowered the gun. "Oh. That doesn't sound too good."
"No, it doesn't," a new voice agreed. Loki spun around to find himself face-to-face with none other than Steve Rogers.
"Loki," the captain greeted with a nod. Beside him was who he thought was Agent Romanoff, though her hair was dyed blonde. Behind the two Avengers was another African-American, a woman with long brown hair and, sandwiched between them, a humanoid robot. What immediately caught his eye, however, was the glowing yellow stone embedded in the robot's head.
"Who thought taking the stone out of my scepter was a good idea?" He snapped, pointing at the gem. "That'll only make it easier for Thanos to get his hands on!"
"Too bad," Romanoff snarled. "Wasn't your decision to make."
"Who the hell is this guy?" The African-American whispered.
"That's Loki," the woman replied with a slight accent. Loki smiled at her and noticed that for a brief moment, her brown eyes had a red tinge to them. Huh. Interesting. "Me and Pietro watched the attack on New York. He was at the head of the invasion."
"Indeed I was," Loki agreed. "Glad to know I was not completely forgotten." Rogers narrowed his eyes, clearly not pleased at all to see his former enemy alive and well, not to mention out of chains.
"What are you doing here, Loki?" The Captain demanded.
"Ooh~! Straight to the point, now, are we?" Loki hummed, a grin flashing across his face. "If you'd all just make yourself comfortable, me and Doctor Banner shall explain everything." At the mention of Banner, Romanoff's face lit up.
"Bruce?"
As his name was spoken, Banner stepped out from behind Loki.
"Nat," he greeted with an awkward smile. "I, uh, like the new hair. You look good as a blonde."
"Well I think she was better suited as a red head," Loki muttered.
"Oh, shut up!" Romanoff snapped, her gaze hardening.
"Shutting up," Loki replied absently, making his way over to a table and chairs. The rest followed suite.
Everybody settled in around the table; during this event, Loki learned that the second African-American was called Sam, the robot was called the Vision, and the girl with the sometimes-red eyes was Wanda. Loki settled himself in a chair and threw his feet up onto the table.
"Bruce, if you'd be so kind as to start," Loki prompted. Bruce cleared his throat.
"Uh—yes. So, when I went missing two years ago, I'd actually been sent to this planet called Sakaar. I stayed the Hulk those entire two years, so I don't remember much. But I met Thor there." At Loki's glare, he quickly added, "and Loki."
Everyone around the table was nodding slowly, and Rogers murmured, "go on."
"We went off to fight Thor and Loki's evil sister, Hela—"
"Wait, a sister too?" Romanoff interrupted. "I thought It was only you and Thor, Loki."
"Yeah? Well, so did we," Loki shot back, crossing his arms. "Our father's last-minute secret spilling revealed we did, indeed, have an older sister. The Goddess of Death, Hela."
"You've got one fucked-up family, dude," Sam muttered, shaking his head.
"Tell me about it," Loki sighed. "Carry on, Banner."
"Ah—yes! So, we had to start a thing called Ragnarok, which is the destruction of Asgard. We got all the people on a ship and flew away moments before the whole planet exploded."
"Asgard? You've been there?" Rogers asked, it being his turn to interrupt. "What was it like?"
"Uh, very golden and on fire," Bruce replied. "But I'm sure I just saw it at its worst."
"Mm, not really, no," Loki sighed. "That's about how it always looks."
"We're off track again," Rhodey informed.
"Right," Banner began again. "Anyways, we came in contact with this huge warship on our way to Earth. Turns out it was Thanos and his crew coming after Loki who had somehow," he turned his gaze onto the trickster who was leaning back in his chair casually, "obtained the Tesseract from Asgard's vault before it exploded."
Everybody's eyes turned on him, and he slid his feet off from the table and chuckled nervously.
"Well, you see, Thanos would've gotten it anyways if we'd just left it there."
"It would've been destroyed with Asgard!" Banner argued.
"You can't just destroy an infinity stone, genius!" Loki snapped. "Otherwise, I would've gotten rid of the Tesseract long ago! And, besides," he added, his tone calming down slightly, "Thanos would've come if I'd had the Tesseract or not."
Wanda raised her eyebrows expectantly. "Oh? And why would he do that?"
"Oh, I don't know, maybe because I failed to bring him the mind stone and the Tesseract in the first place?" Loki sighed, shaking his head slightly. "You don't just fail the Mad Titan and get away with it. Oh, no, far from that." His gaze hardened. "He was already hunting me the moment I was imprisoned on Asgard. I could feel it."
"Well why didn't you just tell someone the about the threat?" Vision asked. It was the first time the keeper of the Mind Stone had spoken, and Loki narrowed his eyes.
"You think the great Odin All-father would've believed me?" He spat. "Of course not. No, he would've just thrown me to Thanos to be slaughtered like the beast I am!"
"And why should we trust you?" Wanda countered. "For all we know, you could be lying to us to save your sorry ass!"
Loki couldn't hold back the rage before it bubbled over. He slammed his hands on the table and stood, glaring at the girl.
"Because my brother died in the hands of this madman, and I want to watch him burn in return!" Loki exploded. Everybody around the table, save Bruce, frowned.
"Thor's dead?" Rogers croaked. Loki curled his lip into a snarl.
"Yes. Thor is dead." Loki wasn't expecting his voice to waver, but it did, and he swallowed hard.
The room went into silence.
"I still don't trust you," Wanda murmured. Rhodey agreed quietly, along with Romanoff and Vision. And, for some reason, Loki was caught in a memory.
…
"I wish I could trust you," Thor murmured, lowering Mjolnir. As his adopted brother took a step back, revealing the dark sights of Svartalfheim once again, Loki straightened. Thor walked away to check on his maiden, Jane, and Loki lowered his gaze.
After a moment, he raised it again and replied, "Trust my rage."
…
Why did that come up now, of all times? Loki frowned, gaze sweeping over each of the Avengers. They all had their eyes on him expectantly.
They want me to accept that I'm untrustworthy, Loki thought sourly.
The rage and grief he felt in him was similar to when Frigga was slaughtered. The feeling that it was his fault. That he could've prevented it somehow.
For this reason, Loki murmured, "Trust my rage."
Everybody around the table exchanged glances. The room lapsed into silence, everybody rearing back in surprise. Loki slowly seated himself back down and kept his gaze firmly on his folded hands in his lap.
"Let's just get back to what happened," Romanoff suggested. Loki nodded, leaning back in his chair once again and shaking off any signs of weakness.
Bruce cleared his throat. "Thanos slaughtered half of the Asgardian refugees, and the few we managed to get onto escape pods before hand managed to escape with their lives," Bruce began again. "This guy tossed Thor to the side like a rag-doll and beat the Hulk unconscious without really trying!"
Rogers winced. "So he is really a large threat, then, huh?"
"Yes! Yes, he is a huge threat! He invades planets, slaughters half the population, takes what he wants—we are talking entire civilisations, Steve!" Bruce continued.
"So what does Thanos want?" Rogers asked after a moment of silence.
"He kills and calls it mercy," Loki growled. "Thanos' main objective is to collect all six infinity stones. Once he has them, he can wipe out half of the population with a snap of his fingers." To demonstrate, he snapped his fingers and mouthed the word 'boom.'
"So we just need to keep him away from the stones?" Sam asked.
"It won't be such an easy task," Loki warned. "Thanos is the most powerful being in the universe. Stopping you lot will be like swatting flies to him."
"You said there was no way to destroy an Infinity Stone," Vision murmured.
"Yes, that is right," Loki confirmed. "Why?"
"There must be a way. Perhaps a power similar to it's own.." He trailed off, his eyes wandering to Wanda.
"No, Viz. I'm not doing it. You'll die," the girl replied stubbornly.
"It is the only way," Vision whispered.
"We don't trade lives, Vision," Rogers spoke up, his gaze resting on the android.
"Well, we could get the stone out another way," Bruce supplied. "Vision is made out of a bunch of different parts—Jarvis, Tony, me, the stone. If we were to take away the stone.."
"There would still be some of Vision left," Sam finished with a smile.
"Can you do it?" Rogers asked, turning his eyes to Bruce.
"Not here, not me," he murmured, lowering his gaze.
"Well, what're we going to do now?" Rhodey sighed. After a few moments, Rogers stood and addressed everybody.
"I know a place."
…
"So, this Wakanda place has the correct technology to remove the Mind Stone safely from the robot's head?" Loki asked as they all piled onto the Quinjet. Loki let his gaze wander; it was a similar shuttle to the one he had been in when he had been dragged away from Germany.
"Yeah. They're the most advanced on the planet," Rogers answered, taking a seat. Rhodey and Sam went to the front of the jet and sat in the pilot and co-pilot seats.
"And then once the stone's out," Wanda added, "that's when I destroy it."
"Sounds like a good plan to me," Loki murmured, sitting down as well. Bruce followed Nat to a seat, and they started whispering to each other. Most likely Bruce getting caught up on all the events he'd missed. Wanda sat next to Vision, and the two started up a conversation.
The jet started, and Loki could see the blue light coming from the engines moment before the ramp closed. With that, they took off. Loki sighed and began playing with his magic, letting the green wisps flow between his fingers and curl up around his wrist. After messing around with it for a good 15 minutes; balling it up in his palm, twirling it between his fingers, and letting it run along his arm, he looked up and noticed the Captain watching with interest.
Rogers met his eyes and Loki raised a brow.
"Can I help you?" He prompted, letting the magic retract back into his body.
"No," the Captain replied. "I just never knew you could do.. that."
Loki smiled. "Its traditional magic," he supplied. "A craft that had been dying out over the centuries. I'm almost positive I'm the only traditional magic-wielder left." His mind wandered to Frigga, sitting with him in the palace library, telling him to keep his chin up as he attempted to hold the magic in his hand for the first time. Why did thinking about that hurt? Loki blinked rapidly, bringing himself back to the present. Rogers was eyeing him with sympathy.
"I don't want your pity!" He wanted to say. "I don't need sympathy! I am a god, you mewling quim!"
"You said something about failing Thanos back at the compound," Rogers murmured. Loki blinked.
"Did I?" Must have just slipped out.
"You did," Rogers confirmed with a nod. "What did you mean by that?"
Loki frowned and didn't respond. If I said anything to this mortal, would he believe me? Or would he take it as another lie? Only after carefully picking his words did he reply.
"Thanos found me and offered me something I wanted. In return, I was sent with the scepter to Midgard to retrieve the Tesseract for him. When I failed, I was hunted down like an animal."
Rogers nodded, satisfied with the answer. He looked suspicious, as if he knew there was more to the story than that, but he didn't pry. Thank the stars for that.
After another hour or so of silence, Rogers motioned for Agent Romanoff, Bruce, Sam, Wanda and Vision to have a 'quick chat,' as he'd called it. Loki narrowed his eyes, and instead of listening in, found himself lost in deep thought.
...
A young Loki—maybe about the age of 8 in Midgardian years, followed after Frigga through the grand halls of the palace. He clutched a book against his chest, and Frigga gracefully held three books of her own stacked on top of each other.
"Thor and his friends say that magic is a womanly art," little Loki murmured to his mother. "That isn't true, is it? I can do magic, too!"
"Yes, darling, of course you can!" Frigga assured, sending her son a warm smile.
"Then why do Thor and his friends keep calling me Lady Loki?"
At this, Frigga frowned. "I'm sure they are just teasing you, dear. Don't listen to them. When you master magic, you'll prove Thor and his friends wrong."
"That's right!" The young Loki agreed happily, all previous uncertainty vanished. "I'll be as good as you one day! And then I'll show them just how amazing magic is!"
A few moments of silence, and then, "I will be as good as you one day, right mother?"
"Well, of course you will, my dear. I wouldn't expect anything less."
…
A slightly older Loki—now about 13 Midgardian years, circled around Thor, who was about 15 in Midgardian years.
"Come at me, brother!" Thor taunted. "Show me what you've learnt in your month of training!"
It wasn't exactly a fair fight; Thor had been training for two years longer than Loki, and Loki had only been training for a month. Yet, Odin had insisted the two brothers partake in a spar. Loki held two wooden knives, their blades dull, and their handles sanded down. Thor was wielding a wooden sword, the blade also blunt. Loki flung a dagger at his brother, who rolled out of the way and charged. Loki braced himself for the attack. Thor swung his sword at Loki, who blocked it with his dagger and knocked his brother back.
"That all you've got, Thor?" Loki asked mockingly, a smirk forming on his face. A strand of dark hair had fallen into his face. Thor laughed.
"Oh, brother, I'm just getting started!"
Thor lunged, and Loki barely dove out of the way. Thor charged again, not giving his younger brother a chance to regain his footing. Thor tackled Loki back to the ground, and the two rolled around the clearing.
On the sidelines, Thor's friends cheered him on. Odin, too, was watching his sons spar. Undoubtedly, he too was cheering for his eldest son.
Thor finally pinned Loki to the ground, and Loki struggled beneath him.
"Have I won, father?" Thor asked, turning to look at Odin. Before the All-father could reply, Loki kicked Thor's heavier weight off of him and stumbled to his feet.
"I'm still able to fight, brother!" Loki announced, regaining the wooden dagger he had thrown at the beginning of the match.
"Not for long!" Thor declared, lunging again. Loki took a deep breath and stepped to the side. He was pleased to see that a perfect clone of himself stood where he once did, and Loki quickly disappeared from sight. Thor charged right into the fake Loki. When he went straight through what he thought was his brother, he looked around in confusion.
Loki took that time to tackle his brother from behind, pin him, and hold a blunt dagger to his neck. Thor struggled, but Loki kept him pinned. Thor laughed.
"Well done, brother!" He praised. "That was a good trick."
"No, it wasn't!" One of Thor's friends, Sif, called from the sidelines. "No true warrior uses magic!"
"Sif is right," Odin agreed, stepping forwards. His eyes were narrowed coldly. "Loki cheated, and therefore has lost the match."
Loki's heart sank. "But, father—"
"No buts, Loki. I expect more out of you, being the Prince of Asgard. I should have never agreed to let your mother teach you magic!" Odin snapped, and Loki kept his mouth shut. There were so many comebacks brewing in his head, but he stayed silent. Odin let out a grunt and turned away. "From now on, you will spend all of your time practising fighting instead of magic! I do not want to see you continue your studies in magic."
Of course, Loki practised anyways. Late at night, he'd sneak out into the garden with one of his mother's spell books and practice. Frigga noticed, but she didn't dare give her son away to the All-father. Loki had a right to be treated as fairly as Thor, even if he was different.
…
"Hey, Lokes, you look like shit." Rhodey's voice broke him from his thoughts.
"Thanks for the compliment," Loki sighed, running a hand along his face.
"No, I mean, beat up and stuff. You too, Bruce," he added, looking at the doctor who was whispering to the other five Avengers.
"What?" He asked, looking over.
"I said you look like shit," Rhodey repeated. "You two should sleep. We won't be at Wakanda for another few hours."
Loki grumbled an agreement, and Bruce excused himself from his conversation to sit next to Loki.
"Move over," Bruce ordered. Loki narrowed his eyes and slid over until he was at the edge of the line of chairs. Bruce lay down on the row of seats with a sigh and closed his eyes. Loki frowned, before resting his head against the wall behind him and closing his eyes as well. He latched on to one of his happier memories, and he soon found himself in a light doze.
ONE FAVOURITE = High Fives from all the Rogue Avengers
ONE REVIEW = Loki obtains a pack of ice for his concussion