Restraint, Ch04
Series: Thor (Movie), The Avengers (Movie)
Characters: Thor, Loki, Odin, The Avengers
Couple: Thor/Loki
Title: Restraint
Word Count: 3,872
Chapter: 4/?
Status: Incomplete
Rating: R/Mature
Disclaimer: I have no claim whatsoever on any the marvel franchises at all, I'm just borrowing them for my story that will bring me no money whatsoever. I shall be forever broke.
Summary: Faced with no choice, Loki is forced to capture his brother and send him back to Asgard to traitors. Now they must face the wrath of Loki Odinson as he fights to save his family with some extra help.
(Note: I don’t dislike the Warrior’s Three and Sif, I’d like to preface this by saying, but this fic is not going to be very kind to them. I’m not deliberately trying to make them look bad on purpose, but they won’t come out looking good either.)
Loki landed on the inside of the wall and waited for the rest of the Avengers to follow before he half-ran in a crouch to the kitchen window. He was itching, itching to get moving and rescue Thor. The waiting had been almost painful by that point and he didn’t even know why. Something was burning in his chest, telling him to get moving. The sooner he released his brother, the sooner they could rescue his mother and kill the bastard that had attempted to eradicate the house of Odin.
He signaled for them to wait as he dove into the room in one smooth role. Silent as he was, he hadn’t woken the guard and he snuck up, pulling out his dagger and slicing his throat without a sound. He kicked the body off the stool and opened the door to let the others in, as the only ones he could count on being silent through the window would be the two SHIELD agents.
He winced at hearing the sound of the iron suit against the floor and he glanced around, but no one had come. They were never going to make it to the dungeons with that noise alerting every presence. It was a set of armor that was just not designed for stealth.
“Did you have to kill him?”
“Yes,” he said flatly to the captain without looking at him. “Hold still.”
“What are you doing?” Stark demanded, stepping back, but he ignored it. The spell weaved around the man and he hated to do it, his magic would no doubt be like a beacon to the men he wanted to avoid right then, but he had no choice. Better now and have a chance than have to fight all the way through the palace.
“I made you silent. We can’t make it anywhere with the sounds you were making. Now follow me, or stay behind. I don’t care which.”
Not surprisingly they all elected to follow him and he led the quickest way down to the dungeons. There were quite a few more guards here than there had been the night before, which likely meant that Thor was in his cell. Like a sleek cat, he moved forward quickly and with a few strategic strikes, killed one guard. Another was grabbed and choked to unconsciousness by the patriotic soldier. Barton took out a third, leaving them a clear path.
Loki hurried to the cell and slid to a stop. He could hear the Avengers coming up behind him, but he only had eyes for his brother. His strong sibling was kneeling on the floor, arms held to the sides with a board against his back, that which was suspended from a chain in the ceiling. So that’s what they had used it for. There were heavy bruises on his skin and he could see cuts that were healing. His armor was nowhere to be found; instead he wore a pair of ratty clothes.
Although his mind said it could have been a lot worse, an all consuming rage had spread through his bloodstream. He ignored the gasp from someone behind him and the muttered question of how they released Thor. Was he even awake? He braced his hands against the forcefield and damned it all to hell, he didn’t care if his magic would alert the rest of the palace. He was not leaving Thor like this.
He gathered all he could to his fingertips until it strained to hold so much magic before he let it out in a soundless blast. The barrier, meant for Loki, held strong and he did it again, and again, until after the third consecutive blast, it shattered. He wasn’t sure if it was respect or something else that held the Avengers back as he stepped into the cell and knelt on one knee.
His presence seemed to jog something because finally Thor’s head moved, lifted, and the exhaustion and pain in his eyes were dulling the life in those blue orbs. “Loki…?”
Some rage that he could barely control burned in his fingertips and heart and he jerked to his feet. Rather than doing what he had originally planned, which was having one of the Avengers break the chains, he gripped them himself. From his hands his ice spread, encasing link after link until he had covered at least six and felt the magic penetrate into the very foundation of the metal. A few good hits with his dagger and they shattered.
Thor’s shoulders slumped immediately and his head fell forward, bracing against Loki’s thigh. Loki remained still, allowing the man to breathe in relief. Slowly he let one hand rest in his blonde hair before reaching for the manacles that held his wrists to the wood. At first he held his magic back, waiting until Thor looked up at him. It was going to hurt, his eyes warned, because he would have to encase his whole hand.
A soft nod assured him that his ability to communicate with Thor without words was still intact. He repeated the process, ignoring the grunt of pain, and finally they broke just as had their counterparts. Thor fell forward again, bracing himself weakly against the floor. How had this happened? What had the man done with Gungnir to weaken Thor this way?
“Get him. We’re leaving,” he growled. Thor’s condition made it impossible to consider doing an immediate assault against the man that had started all this.
Captain America and Banner quickly took each arm and helped Thor to his feet. There was a bit more sense coming to his brother’s eyes and he wondered if there had been an enchantment on the metal that he hadn’t noticed in his anger. “Loki-”
Loki didn’t want to hear it, not sure what Thor was going to say, and he hurried them out of the dungeon. There was no point in being subtle anymore. He could hear the sounds of booted feet nearby. “Get ready to fight,” he warned. His display of magic had been like a beacon and as soon as he had thrown open the door to leave, four warriors rushed them. He took out one, the two SHIELD agents had one of their own and Iron Man the last. It was over in seconds.
Despite no more need for subtlety, Loki didn’t dare risk going out the front door. There would be too many people to take on and he quickly chose a secondary route. It led through tighter corridors which he didn’t like since only two could walk abreast, but if that was the way it had to be, then so be it. He half-ran them through, coming to crossroads. The area to his left had a short staircase that led out to a long, wide balcony and he headed for it immediately before he found himself thrown against a pillar.
Moaning a bit in pain, Loki shook his head and looked up, feeling a shudder go through him.
“Hey, isn’t that-”
“The Destroyer,” he supplied at the genius and threw a spear of ice to throw off its aim. It stumbled back and he yelled, “Get moving!” Damn, he hadn’t had the time to explain the exits of this section of palace that was fairly unused.
“We’re not leaving you here!” argued the soldier as the female SHIELD agent fired a few shots at the Destroyer.
“You don’t have a choice!”
A voice from behind him on the balcony, gasped in outrage, made him turn. “Loki!”
Sif, and the Warrior’s Three. “For the first time, you have decent timing,” he growled and reached out, grabbing the nearest Avenger, which turned out to Barton, and shoved him toward them, forcing the man to stumble. “Follow them!” he commanded.
“I’m not leaving you,” Captain America insisted as Barton began to maneuver the still weak Thor.
“You don’t have a choice,” he spat as he met every one of the Destroyer’s blasts with ice sheets. “I’m ordering you to take Thor out of here! They’ll lead the way out. Won’t you?” he added, glaring at Sif and the three other warriors demanding their obedience with his eyes. He didn’t care what they felt for him, he would not be disobeyed when something so important was going on.
Much to his surprise, there were almost respectful nods. Sif reached out to touch Thor, but the two Avengers didn’t let him go. Loki ducked under a sweep of the Destroyer’s hand and mentally groaned at seeing some men round the corner at a run from the right as he stood blocking the only way down the steps to the balcony, placing himself between any that would come after Thor. He coated the floor with sheer, thick ice, causing them to slip and fall.
“Go with them, patriot,” he growled, meeting the man’s rebellious eyes. “There’s going to be too much fighting ahead of you as it is and you’ll need all the warriors you can get. Trust me, I won’t fall in battle.”
“We could never be so lucky,” Fandral muttered.
Banner glared at the blonde-haired man and said tensely, “Rather than insult someone, shall we at least get Thor to safety?”
Loki didn’t have time to spare the defense of him from the scientist, too busy distracting the Destroyer that was pretty much destroying the entire hallway. He heard Sif command them to follow her and he felt them leave one by one. Stark stayed as the last one, watching him, but he too left, this time through the sky right next to those running on the balcony.
Allowed now to give his full attention to the situation, he disregarded using clones and mirror images because it wouldn’t affect the Destroyer and the soldiers weren’t dumb enough to not to pay attention to where the monstrous creation was aiming at. He just had to make sure that he gave the others time enough to get Thor out before he could make his escape.
The trickster ducked under a chunk of falling pillar and attempted to freeze the legs of the Destroyer. It did pause him enough and he had a moment of triumph before he caught a blast of red right from the face of the thing and he was thrown back. He spit out a bit of blood as he slammed into one of the decorative pillars of the balcony and he managed to remain on the balcony as the force of the slam knocked said pillar off, falling down a sheer cliff.
As he struggled up, some of the soldiers had managed to get down the stairs and he pulled out his daggers. Close combat it was then.
-0-
Thor struggled weakly as his friends laid him down on a bed in a small one room home. He’d listened to Sif’s explanation that herself and the Warrior’s Three had managed to escape and were part of a resistance, but only with his half his attention. “You must go back for Loki,” he growled at the captain that had discarded his mask, letting it fall behind his neck. With how the magic and torture had drained him, and without Mjolnir, he wouldn’t be any good. That didn’t mean he was going to let his brother die.
“He insisted on staying behind; let us honor his words,” Fandral said, touching his shoulder, but Thor shrugged it away angrily.
“That isn’t why you refuse to return!” he spat.
“Thor!”
Ignoring the angry and admonishing tone of Sif, he turned in supplicant to the Avengers. He had no spare time to question why they were even there. “Please, my friends, save Loki.”
“I’ll go back,” Rogers assured. “I swear I’ll get him back.”
“And I’ll go with him,” Stark added, grabbing his helmet from the table.
“You’re risking bringing soldiers here with you,” Hogun told them. “We have to thank Loki that he stopped those coming behind us so that we could hide here while Thor recovers.”
It was the first time that Thor had ever heard Hogun actually praise his brother and he flashed a relieved, thankful smile, but the warrior merely nodded back. “You’ll never get in without one of us to guide you and I won’t risk Thor’s life by doing so and bringing you back,” Sif said staunchly.
It inflamed Thor that those he had grown up with were willing to let Loki when he’d clearly risked his very life to save his own. Those were not the actions of a man that was unredeemable. “Then I will show them the way,” he growled, forcing himself to sit up.
“Oh shut up, all of you!”
Several whirled as the door was thrown open. “Loki!”
Loki was clutching his stomach as he leaned in the doorway, trailing blood, and his armor and shirt had been shredded. It barely covered his chest, and he wobbled dangerously. Banner reached out and caught his brother when he attempted to walk without support and almost fell. More hands moved to help and dragged the trickster to a chair, sitting him down in it.
Thor didn’t care how badly he hurt, he was on his feet and at his brother’s side in an instant. The Avengers hovered around, and it actually hurt him a bit to see that Sif and the Warriors Three remained apart, not approaching. “Loki. Loki, how badly are you hurt?”
He moved his hands from his stomach and Thor winced. A piece of a sword was clearly thrust in, but not exiting through the back. “A cork,” the dark-haired man gasped. “If I removed it, I’d just bleed out. We need to pull it out, then cauterize it.”
He glanced at the fireplace, but there was no wood to light a fire unless they wanted to destroy the furniture and that would draw too much attention. “Banner, please, the poker. Stark, do your weapons emit heat?”
Iron Man blinked and looked at the jets on his hands. “Well, they do, yes-”
“Then make the end of the poker as hot as you can.”
“You’re not seriously thinking of doing what I think you are…”
“You have a better idea?” Loki spat.
“Yeah, a hospital!”
“Please…enlighten me…as to where we can go…for that right now?”
“Loki does not have the time to find a healer,” Thor said grimly. Loki was still losing blood regardless of whether the blade itself was holding most of it in. “Please.”
It was Barton that interrupted. “Let’s not use the poker, god knows what it’s got on the end. My arrowheads are at least sterile.”
“Hurry then!” he ordered impatiently. “It does not matter what it is, so long as it is metal!”
After a short conference with Natasha, she produced a clean dagger and handed it to Tony. The man seemed a little green about what was going to happen, but he ignited the booster on his left palm and held the dagger over it with his right.
“Loki?” he asked, bracing himself against the chair with one hand to steady himself.
“What?”
The hissed, angry word at least assured him that he wasn’t going to pass out. “You will be all right, I promise.”
“As if you should even care.”
“Should I not care when you cared enough to rescue me?” Their eyes met, pained green to Thor’s serious blue. “I could see what you were trying to tell me when you sent me back to Asgard. You didn’t want to, did you?”
“I think it’s hot enough,” Tony muttered.
Thor didn’t even look behind him and instead, gripped the broken blade and not caring that it was cutting into his own palm. He didn’t stop talking, fighting to keep a calm tone. “I told myself that my hope that you were the same man I grew up with was gone, but it looks as if that isn’t true. I’m remain as foolishly hopeful as ever.”
“At least you acknowledge it,” Loki muttered.
“Bite down, Loki.”
“On what exactly, Thor?”
He looked around, but Barton was already ready, pulling the leather belt from his quiver and holding it out. Loki wrinkled his nose, but opened his mouth and bit down on it hard. There would be indents left in it. Banner took one of his brother’s hand just as Thor yanked it out without warning. There was the sound of pure pain, a keening, muffled sound that almost sounded like a whimpered cry. The dagger was thrust into his hand and he pressed the heated blade against the now freely bleeding wound.
Loki screamed around the metal and Thor buried his face in the man’s black hair. It was painful enough, he knew, but his brother was also Jotun and the heat was likely making it even worse. Loki’s free hand gripped his shirt, but neither cared that he was tearing it. The smell of his flesh burning as the wound was cauterized was unpleasant and there was a gagging sound behind him.
Finally, sure of the closed wound, Thor pulled the knife away. He wasn’t sure who took it from him, but he quickly used that hand to dive into the hair on the other side of Loki’s face, holding the man’s face against his shoulder. He felt the shudders going through his brother and he would help protect his dignity as he let out an undignified cry. If there were tears, he would help cover them. “Rest, Loki.”
He knew his words would be ignored and they were, as Loki remained stiff as he struggled to remain awake, but Thor hadn’t expected anything different. “Move him to the bed.”
“Thor, you should be the one resting!”
He glared at Sif. “Loki has more need of it than I!” Thor stepped back and allowed Rogers and Stark to step forward, each taking an arm and a knee, carrying him over and resting him on the bed. He didn’t waste a moment in sitting on the edge near his brother’s hip.
“The Destroyer is dead,” the man muttered with a soft, pained gasp.
“How could you defeat the Destroyer?” Fandral asked skeptically.
“Are you insinuating I’m lying?”
Loki’s voice was seemingly calm, but Thor didn’t believe that he was for one minute. He glanced sharply at the blonde-haired warrior, who shifted, but at least met his eyes. “Fandral-”
“Okay, let’s settle this right now,” Rogers said, masterfully keeping his face neutral. “Nobody is sure about Loki right now, about where he stands or what side he’s on, or in fact, anything, but we’ve all got to acknowledge that Loki was severely injured because he stayed behind to cover our escape. Without proof that he’s lying, I’m going to believe him when he says he killed that thing. The main thing is that Loki is now injured and he needs to recover, Thor is free, and we have a safehouse for the time being to let them heal up. Arguing is not going to help. So why don’t you explain what you were doing there?”
Sif, as she has always done, took over the explanations before anyone could think to respond. “We were there to rescue Thor. We’d heard he was being kept in the dungeon. The resistance was going to stage a distraction to let us slip inside when a commotion occurred. We didn’t know what was going on, but decided to take advantage of it anyway. We didn’t expect to see Loki. Now, might you explain who you are?”
“We’re the Avengers, from Earth. We were there when Loki grabbed Thor.”
“Why didn’t you stop him?”
Rogers frowned at Hogun. “We tried. We were within inches of grabbing him, but didn’t make it in time.”
“What happened to Jane?” Thor asked and blinked as he noticed Loki was glaring at him fiercely.
“She’s fine, apart from a big bruise.”
“Bruise?”
“Well, Loki smacked her one hard.”
Thor returned the glare now. “Loki!”
“You defend her, but I fail to see why!” the man hissed. “She was demanding of me, as if she had any right! I did not send you back by choice, Thor! I refused to gamble with Frigga’s life and to be demanded answers by someone who doesn’t deserve you is infuriating!”
Thor stared at him. It hadn’t occurred to him that Loki would have a specific reason to dislike Jane other than that she was from Midgard. “Loki… Why do you-”
“She is inferior in every way, Thor! She’ll die in the blink of an eye compared to us and how do you know that her affections are not merely fascination because you are from Asgard?! When has she ever asked anything about you, instead of Asgard or the tree?! Has she asked anything about your childhood? Has she ever acknowledged that I exist, because I am an indelible part of your life?! You spent a mere three days with her before you did not see her for two years! No matter how much you have Heimdall watch her, did you have a burning feeling to return to her or to Midgard?!”
Thor shifted at that question because the answer was not so much Jane, but Midgard itself. Everything that Loki pointed out was…true. He wanted to defend Jane, as they hadn’t had a lot of time together to ask much of anything, but their conversations had always revolved around Asgard and her childish excitement of it. She had never seemed to wonder about how he had grown up with Loki, or his life before her, what he had done. Questions, he now realized that the Avengers had asked him as friends and Jane had not. Did that…mean anything?
Loki’s head dropped back onto the bed and he moaned in pain, hands touching his stomach and then drawing back quickly as if the lightest touch was unbearable. Thor moved the torn shirt he wore entirely, leaving him in just his leather pants. “Let us not speak of Jane anymore,” he whispered, mostly because he had a lot to think about, things that he had just never noticed and now made him wonder. “Loki, sleep, please.”
“You know, Thor, you should probably sleep too,” Tony pointed out. “You’re looking just as bad as he is and you were tortured.”
Now that it was pointed out, he was beginning to feel his exhaustion and he eased himself over his brother’s body, becoming a buffer between Loki and the wall. Loki grumbled, his eyes sliding closed at being jostled, but perhaps it was because he was in so much pain that he didn’t argue when Thor slid his arm under his neck as a pillow.
“…I didn’t really mean cuddle him, but that works…” the genius muttered.
He began to slip into sleep as he heard Volstagg comment that they should send someone quiet to patrol the house and make sure no guards had found it.
Characters: Thor, Loki, Odin, The Avengers
Couple: Thor/Loki
Title: Restraint
Word Count: 3,872
Chapter: 4/?
Status: Incomplete
Rating: R/Mature
Disclaimer: I have no claim whatsoever on any the marvel franchises at all, I'm just borrowing them for my story that will bring me no money whatsoever. I shall be forever broke.
Summary: Faced with no choice, Loki is forced to capture his brother and send him back to Asgard to traitors. Now they must face the wrath of Loki Odinson as he fights to save his family with some extra help.
(Note: I don’t dislike the Warrior’s Three and Sif, I’d like to preface this by saying, but this fic is not going to be very kind to them. I’m not deliberately trying to make them look bad on purpose, but they won’t come out looking good either.)
Loki landed on the inside of the wall and waited for the rest of the Avengers to follow before he half-ran in a crouch to the kitchen window. He was itching, itching to get moving and rescue Thor. The waiting had been almost painful by that point and he didn’t even know why. Something was burning in his chest, telling him to get moving. The sooner he released his brother, the sooner they could rescue his mother and kill the bastard that had attempted to eradicate the house of Odin.
He signaled for them to wait as he dove into the room in one smooth role. Silent as he was, he hadn’t woken the guard and he snuck up, pulling out his dagger and slicing his throat without a sound. He kicked the body off the stool and opened the door to let the others in, as the only ones he could count on being silent through the window would be the two SHIELD agents.
He winced at hearing the sound of the iron suit against the floor and he glanced around, but no one had come. They were never going to make it to the dungeons with that noise alerting every presence. It was a set of armor that was just not designed for stealth.
“Did you have to kill him?”
“Yes,” he said flatly to the captain without looking at him. “Hold still.”
“What are you doing?” Stark demanded, stepping back, but he ignored it. The spell weaved around the man and he hated to do it, his magic would no doubt be like a beacon to the men he wanted to avoid right then, but he had no choice. Better now and have a chance than have to fight all the way through the palace.
“I made you silent. We can’t make it anywhere with the sounds you were making. Now follow me, or stay behind. I don’t care which.”
Not surprisingly they all elected to follow him and he led the quickest way down to the dungeons. There were quite a few more guards here than there had been the night before, which likely meant that Thor was in his cell. Like a sleek cat, he moved forward quickly and with a few strategic strikes, killed one guard. Another was grabbed and choked to unconsciousness by the patriotic soldier. Barton took out a third, leaving them a clear path.
Loki hurried to the cell and slid to a stop. He could hear the Avengers coming up behind him, but he only had eyes for his brother. His strong sibling was kneeling on the floor, arms held to the sides with a board against his back, that which was suspended from a chain in the ceiling. So that’s what they had used it for. There were heavy bruises on his skin and he could see cuts that were healing. His armor was nowhere to be found; instead he wore a pair of ratty clothes.
Although his mind said it could have been a lot worse, an all consuming rage had spread through his bloodstream. He ignored the gasp from someone behind him and the muttered question of how they released Thor. Was he even awake? He braced his hands against the forcefield and damned it all to hell, he didn’t care if his magic would alert the rest of the palace. He was not leaving Thor like this.
He gathered all he could to his fingertips until it strained to hold so much magic before he let it out in a soundless blast. The barrier, meant for Loki, held strong and he did it again, and again, until after the third consecutive blast, it shattered. He wasn’t sure if it was respect or something else that held the Avengers back as he stepped into the cell and knelt on one knee.
His presence seemed to jog something because finally Thor’s head moved, lifted, and the exhaustion and pain in his eyes were dulling the life in those blue orbs. “Loki…?”
Some rage that he could barely control burned in his fingertips and heart and he jerked to his feet. Rather than doing what he had originally planned, which was having one of the Avengers break the chains, he gripped them himself. From his hands his ice spread, encasing link after link until he had covered at least six and felt the magic penetrate into the very foundation of the metal. A few good hits with his dagger and they shattered.
Thor’s shoulders slumped immediately and his head fell forward, bracing against Loki’s thigh. Loki remained still, allowing the man to breathe in relief. Slowly he let one hand rest in his blonde hair before reaching for the manacles that held his wrists to the wood. At first he held his magic back, waiting until Thor looked up at him. It was going to hurt, his eyes warned, because he would have to encase his whole hand.
A soft nod assured him that his ability to communicate with Thor without words was still intact. He repeated the process, ignoring the grunt of pain, and finally they broke just as had their counterparts. Thor fell forward again, bracing himself weakly against the floor. How had this happened? What had the man done with Gungnir to weaken Thor this way?
“Get him. We’re leaving,” he growled. Thor’s condition made it impossible to consider doing an immediate assault against the man that had started all this.
Captain America and Banner quickly took each arm and helped Thor to his feet. There was a bit more sense coming to his brother’s eyes and he wondered if there had been an enchantment on the metal that he hadn’t noticed in his anger. “Loki-”
Loki didn’t want to hear it, not sure what Thor was going to say, and he hurried them out of the dungeon. There was no point in being subtle anymore. He could hear the sounds of booted feet nearby. “Get ready to fight,” he warned. His display of magic had been like a beacon and as soon as he had thrown open the door to leave, four warriors rushed them. He took out one, the two SHIELD agents had one of their own and Iron Man the last. It was over in seconds.
Despite no more need for subtlety, Loki didn’t dare risk going out the front door. There would be too many people to take on and he quickly chose a secondary route. It led through tighter corridors which he didn’t like since only two could walk abreast, but if that was the way it had to be, then so be it. He half-ran them through, coming to crossroads. The area to his left had a short staircase that led out to a long, wide balcony and he headed for it immediately before he found himself thrown against a pillar.
Moaning a bit in pain, Loki shook his head and looked up, feeling a shudder go through him.
“Hey, isn’t that-”
“The Destroyer,” he supplied at the genius and threw a spear of ice to throw off its aim. It stumbled back and he yelled, “Get moving!” Damn, he hadn’t had the time to explain the exits of this section of palace that was fairly unused.
“We’re not leaving you here!” argued the soldier as the female SHIELD agent fired a few shots at the Destroyer.
“You don’t have a choice!”
A voice from behind him on the balcony, gasped in outrage, made him turn. “Loki!”
Sif, and the Warrior’s Three. “For the first time, you have decent timing,” he growled and reached out, grabbing the nearest Avenger, which turned out to Barton, and shoved him toward them, forcing the man to stumble. “Follow them!” he commanded.
“I’m not leaving you,” Captain America insisted as Barton began to maneuver the still weak Thor.
“You don’t have a choice,” he spat as he met every one of the Destroyer’s blasts with ice sheets. “I’m ordering you to take Thor out of here! They’ll lead the way out. Won’t you?” he added, glaring at Sif and the three other warriors demanding their obedience with his eyes. He didn’t care what they felt for him, he would not be disobeyed when something so important was going on.
Much to his surprise, there were almost respectful nods. Sif reached out to touch Thor, but the two Avengers didn’t let him go. Loki ducked under a sweep of the Destroyer’s hand and mentally groaned at seeing some men round the corner at a run from the right as he stood blocking the only way down the steps to the balcony, placing himself between any that would come after Thor. He coated the floor with sheer, thick ice, causing them to slip and fall.
“Go with them, patriot,” he growled, meeting the man’s rebellious eyes. “There’s going to be too much fighting ahead of you as it is and you’ll need all the warriors you can get. Trust me, I won’t fall in battle.”
“We could never be so lucky,” Fandral muttered.
Banner glared at the blonde-haired man and said tensely, “Rather than insult someone, shall we at least get Thor to safety?”
Loki didn’t have time to spare the defense of him from the scientist, too busy distracting the Destroyer that was pretty much destroying the entire hallway. He heard Sif command them to follow her and he felt them leave one by one. Stark stayed as the last one, watching him, but he too left, this time through the sky right next to those running on the balcony.
Allowed now to give his full attention to the situation, he disregarded using clones and mirror images because it wouldn’t affect the Destroyer and the soldiers weren’t dumb enough to not to pay attention to where the monstrous creation was aiming at. He just had to make sure that he gave the others time enough to get Thor out before he could make his escape.
The trickster ducked under a chunk of falling pillar and attempted to freeze the legs of the Destroyer. It did pause him enough and he had a moment of triumph before he caught a blast of red right from the face of the thing and he was thrown back. He spit out a bit of blood as he slammed into one of the decorative pillars of the balcony and he managed to remain on the balcony as the force of the slam knocked said pillar off, falling down a sheer cliff.
As he struggled up, some of the soldiers had managed to get down the stairs and he pulled out his daggers. Close combat it was then.
-0-
Thor struggled weakly as his friends laid him down on a bed in a small one room home. He’d listened to Sif’s explanation that herself and the Warrior’s Three had managed to escape and were part of a resistance, but only with his half his attention. “You must go back for Loki,” he growled at the captain that had discarded his mask, letting it fall behind his neck. With how the magic and torture had drained him, and without Mjolnir, he wouldn’t be any good. That didn’t mean he was going to let his brother die.
“He insisted on staying behind; let us honor his words,” Fandral said, touching his shoulder, but Thor shrugged it away angrily.
“That isn’t why you refuse to return!” he spat.
“Thor!”
Ignoring the angry and admonishing tone of Sif, he turned in supplicant to the Avengers. He had no spare time to question why they were even there. “Please, my friends, save Loki.”
“I’ll go back,” Rogers assured. “I swear I’ll get him back.”
“And I’ll go with him,” Stark added, grabbing his helmet from the table.
“You’re risking bringing soldiers here with you,” Hogun told them. “We have to thank Loki that he stopped those coming behind us so that we could hide here while Thor recovers.”
It was the first time that Thor had ever heard Hogun actually praise his brother and he flashed a relieved, thankful smile, but the warrior merely nodded back. “You’ll never get in without one of us to guide you and I won’t risk Thor’s life by doing so and bringing you back,” Sif said staunchly.
It inflamed Thor that those he had grown up with were willing to let Loki when he’d clearly risked his very life to save his own. Those were not the actions of a man that was unredeemable. “Then I will show them the way,” he growled, forcing himself to sit up.
“Oh shut up, all of you!”
Several whirled as the door was thrown open. “Loki!”
Loki was clutching his stomach as he leaned in the doorway, trailing blood, and his armor and shirt had been shredded. It barely covered his chest, and he wobbled dangerously. Banner reached out and caught his brother when he attempted to walk without support and almost fell. More hands moved to help and dragged the trickster to a chair, sitting him down in it.
Thor didn’t care how badly he hurt, he was on his feet and at his brother’s side in an instant. The Avengers hovered around, and it actually hurt him a bit to see that Sif and the Warriors Three remained apart, not approaching. “Loki. Loki, how badly are you hurt?”
He moved his hands from his stomach and Thor winced. A piece of a sword was clearly thrust in, but not exiting through the back. “A cork,” the dark-haired man gasped. “If I removed it, I’d just bleed out. We need to pull it out, then cauterize it.”
He glanced at the fireplace, but there was no wood to light a fire unless they wanted to destroy the furniture and that would draw too much attention. “Banner, please, the poker. Stark, do your weapons emit heat?”
Iron Man blinked and looked at the jets on his hands. “Well, they do, yes-”
“Then make the end of the poker as hot as you can.”
“You’re not seriously thinking of doing what I think you are…”
“You have a better idea?” Loki spat.
“Yeah, a hospital!”
“Please…enlighten me…as to where we can go…for that right now?”
“Loki does not have the time to find a healer,” Thor said grimly. Loki was still losing blood regardless of whether the blade itself was holding most of it in. “Please.”
It was Barton that interrupted. “Let’s not use the poker, god knows what it’s got on the end. My arrowheads are at least sterile.”
“Hurry then!” he ordered impatiently. “It does not matter what it is, so long as it is metal!”
After a short conference with Natasha, she produced a clean dagger and handed it to Tony. The man seemed a little green about what was going to happen, but he ignited the booster on his left palm and held the dagger over it with his right.
“Loki?” he asked, bracing himself against the chair with one hand to steady himself.
“What?”
The hissed, angry word at least assured him that he wasn’t going to pass out. “You will be all right, I promise.”
“As if you should even care.”
“Should I not care when you cared enough to rescue me?” Their eyes met, pained green to Thor’s serious blue. “I could see what you were trying to tell me when you sent me back to Asgard. You didn’t want to, did you?”
“I think it’s hot enough,” Tony muttered.
Thor didn’t even look behind him and instead, gripped the broken blade and not caring that it was cutting into his own palm. He didn’t stop talking, fighting to keep a calm tone. “I told myself that my hope that you were the same man I grew up with was gone, but it looks as if that isn’t true. I’m remain as foolishly hopeful as ever.”
“At least you acknowledge it,” Loki muttered.
“Bite down, Loki.”
“On what exactly, Thor?”
He looked around, but Barton was already ready, pulling the leather belt from his quiver and holding it out. Loki wrinkled his nose, but opened his mouth and bit down on it hard. There would be indents left in it. Banner took one of his brother’s hand just as Thor yanked it out without warning. There was the sound of pure pain, a keening, muffled sound that almost sounded like a whimpered cry. The dagger was thrust into his hand and he pressed the heated blade against the now freely bleeding wound.
Loki screamed around the metal and Thor buried his face in the man’s black hair. It was painful enough, he knew, but his brother was also Jotun and the heat was likely making it even worse. Loki’s free hand gripped his shirt, but neither cared that he was tearing it. The smell of his flesh burning as the wound was cauterized was unpleasant and there was a gagging sound behind him.
Finally, sure of the closed wound, Thor pulled the knife away. He wasn’t sure who took it from him, but he quickly used that hand to dive into the hair on the other side of Loki’s face, holding the man’s face against his shoulder. He felt the shudders going through his brother and he would help protect his dignity as he let out an undignified cry. If there were tears, he would help cover them. “Rest, Loki.”
He knew his words would be ignored and they were, as Loki remained stiff as he struggled to remain awake, but Thor hadn’t expected anything different. “Move him to the bed.”
“Thor, you should be the one resting!”
He glared at Sif. “Loki has more need of it than I!” Thor stepped back and allowed Rogers and Stark to step forward, each taking an arm and a knee, carrying him over and resting him on the bed. He didn’t waste a moment in sitting on the edge near his brother’s hip.
“The Destroyer is dead,” the man muttered with a soft, pained gasp.
“How could you defeat the Destroyer?” Fandral asked skeptically.
“Are you insinuating I’m lying?”
Loki’s voice was seemingly calm, but Thor didn’t believe that he was for one minute. He glanced sharply at the blonde-haired warrior, who shifted, but at least met his eyes. “Fandral-”
“Okay, let’s settle this right now,” Rogers said, masterfully keeping his face neutral. “Nobody is sure about Loki right now, about where he stands or what side he’s on, or in fact, anything, but we’ve all got to acknowledge that Loki was severely injured because he stayed behind to cover our escape. Without proof that he’s lying, I’m going to believe him when he says he killed that thing. The main thing is that Loki is now injured and he needs to recover, Thor is free, and we have a safehouse for the time being to let them heal up. Arguing is not going to help. So why don’t you explain what you were doing there?”
Sif, as she has always done, took over the explanations before anyone could think to respond. “We were there to rescue Thor. We’d heard he was being kept in the dungeon. The resistance was going to stage a distraction to let us slip inside when a commotion occurred. We didn’t know what was going on, but decided to take advantage of it anyway. We didn’t expect to see Loki. Now, might you explain who you are?”
“We’re the Avengers, from Earth. We were there when Loki grabbed Thor.”
“Why didn’t you stop him?”
Rogers frowned at Hogun. “We tried. We were within inches of grabbing him, but didn’t make it in time.”
“What happened to Jane?” Thor asked and blinked as he noticed Loki was glaring at him fiercely.
“She’s fine, apart from a big bruise.”
“Bruise?”
“Well, Loki smacked her one hard.”
Thor returned the glare now. “Loki!”
“You defend her, but I fail to see why!” the man hissed. “She was demanding of me, as if she had any right! I did not send you back by choice, Thor! I refused to gamble with Frigga’s life and to be demanded answers by someone who doesn’t deserve you is infuriating!”
Thor stared at him. It hadn’t occurred to him that Loki would have a specific reason to dislike Jane other than that she was from Midgard. “Loki… Why do you-”
“She is inferior in every way, Thor! She’ll die in the blink of an eye compared to us and how do you know that her affections are not merely fascination because you are from Asgard?! When has she ever asked anything about you, instead of Asgard or the tree?! Has she asked anything about your childhood? Has she ever acknowledged that I exist, because I am an indelible part of your life?! You spent a mere three days with her before you did not see her for two years! No matter how much you have Heimdall watch her, did you have a burning feeling to return to her or to Midgard?!”
Thor shifted at that question because the answer was not so much Jane, but Midgard itself. Everything that Loki pointed out was…true. He wanted to defend Jane, as they hadn’t had a lot of time together to ask much of anything, but their conversations had always revolved around Asgard and her childish excitement of it. She had never seemed to wonder about how he had grown up with Loki, or his life before her, what he had done. Questions, he now realized that the Avengers had asked him as friends and Jane had not. Did that…mean anything?
Loki’s head dropped back onto the bed and he moaned in pain, hands touching his stomach and then drawing back quickly as if the lightest touch was unbearable. Thor moved the torn shirt he wore entirely, leaving him in just his leather pants. “Let us not speak of Jane anymore,” he whispered, mostly because he had a lot to think about, things that he had just never noticed and now made him wonder. “Loki, sleep, please.”
“You know, Thor, you should probably sleep too,” Tony pointed out. “You’re looking just as bad as he is and you were tortured.”
Now that it was pointed out, he was beginning to feel his exhaustion and he eased himself over his brother’s body, becoming a buffer between Loki and the wall. Loki grumbled, his eyes sliding closed at being jostled, but perhaps it was because he was in so much pain that he didn’t argue when Thor slid his arm under his neck as a pillow.
“…I didn’t really mean cuddle him, but that works…” the genius muttered.
He began to slip into sleep as he heard Volstagg comment that they should send someone quiet to patrol the house and make sure no guards had found it.