Ben Wolf (agoodman) wrote in doorslogs, @ 2012-09-09 22:28:00 |
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Entry tags: | door: marvel comics, loki, thor |
Who: Thor and Loki
What: Loki had something Thor wants.
Where: Near Puente Antiguo, New Mexico, United States, Midgard, Marvel Door
When: After Jane's abduction
Warnings/Rating: Loki's horny again?
Thor had to wait long enough for them to trace the phone call and as soon as they mentioned the crater, not far from Puente Antiguo, he was in the air, Mjolnir lending him flight as he shot for the town. Thor remembered it, had even been back a couple of times since with both Jane and Darcy, but the crater was something else entirely. He'd never been back there, never wanted to go back to the place where he'd failed to reclaim the hammer in his hand. Few things in his life had ever hurt as much as that failure, but the growing rift between he and his brother was growing towards that, only slower, like an ache that would never leave.
As he neared the crater, his cloak bright and flapping behind him, he slowed and began looking for his brother.
As soon as Loki had uttered the ultimatum, Thor had known what he was going to do. No matter how many times Loki lied, Thor believed he was capable of exactly what he promised and that he would kill Jane if not released. If not her, there would be others. His brother would not stop and Thor would not fail her. While the word love had never crossed his mind, she had changed him for the better and he would not leave her to die in agony because of one of Loki's schemes.
Loki stood dead center in the crater, turning, turning slowly, looking for Thor on the horizon. He would come. Loki had faith enough in that. Whether he loved the girl or not, she was a human life, and such things were precious to this new, softer version of his brother who had come back from Earth changed by it. And by the girl whose life was now in his hands.
The sound of Thor’s approach came before the sight, and Loki turned, eyes squinted against the afternoon sun. His brother approached in a blaze of glory, that ostentatious hammer dragging him along. What a contrast they made, Thor in all his regalia, Loki dressed in Midgardian castoffs, tired and smudged with desert grit. There was red spattered high on his pale cheeks, against the bone. The sun on this realm was most unforgiving.
Loki did not bother to gesture to him. He was the only soul there - Thor could not fail to miss him. He tossed Jane Foster’s phone into the dirt, flinging it aside without care. He wouldn’t need it now. “In the nick of time,” he said. “She only has a few more hours.” His gaze was sharp, body continually moving, a sign he was indeed very tired, and intended to anticipate Thor’s strikes, if they came. He would not be able to do much more than dodge, after all, if his brother made the unexpected decision and sacrificed Foster’s life. The manacles by now had badly chafed his wrists, and beneath the metal, red rings shone on his skin, chapped and raw.
His brother was easily spotted and Thor landed in a spray of sand a few feet from Loki. This close, one thing was readily apparent: Loki had lost even more weight than last time, his bones poking at his skin as if they intended to cut themselves free. The red gave some illusion of color, but given Loki's haggard appearance, it made him look feverish instead of healthy.
"Loki," Thor started, worry in the line between his brows before he stopped himself. His brother was sick, his eyes too bright, too restless for Thor to be sure of his health, mental or physical. The sooner this was done with, the sooner he could get Loki to Asgard, kvidr be damned, and into the healing chambers. A few weeks of hearty Asgardian fare would surely put some weight back onto his slender frame and he would no longer look like a strong wind would carry him to the ends of the realm.
"Where is she?" He asked, Mjolnir at his side, his other hand splayed wide, palm turned towards his brother. There was nothing in his posture to indicate an incoming attack, not while Loki still had Jane in his possession.
Loki ignored the question for a moment, and the look of concern, turning to look down at the small spire of rock where Mjolnir had landed. The humans had excavated around it as it lay in the ground, so now the indentation of where the hammer had been was clearly visible, even this many months on. “I have not seen you fail many times in my lifetime,” Loki said, staring down. “Not many. Your greatest failure occurred just here.” He pointed to the indentation, and looked up. His brow raised. “Or will it be today? I suppose that depends.”
He spread his hands out toward Thor, in a mockery of Thor’s own gesture, displaying the manacles, the chain, the binding that cut him in so many ways. “I have already told you once. Take them off, and I will tell you where to find her. I will even tell you the quickest way to travel there, if you require directions.” His gaze narrowed, voice rasping close to a growl. “Take them off.”
His greatest failure had not occurred here, but happened at some indefinable point in time that he did not now. Too many moments perhaps, all lost somewhere in their shared history, things that Thor had never known, never seen, but they had been the shards that brought his brother to this. Thor's greatest failure would not occur here, but it was still happening, no matter how he tried to stop it.
"Tell me where to find her, how to save her, and then let me take you home," he pleaded. He had to trust that Tony and Captain, on the other end of the earpiece, could hear and get to Jane while he was taking care of his brother. "The kvidr can wait, you are not well -- I will remove the bindings but let me take you home to Asgard." The chafing around the manacles, his gauntness, the hot edge of madness in his eyes -- Thor had never seen him in worse physical condition. His brother tended to be thin, but this was far beyond that. "Please. You have my word."
Loki's gaze darted across Thor's face, and he laughed, abrupt, not entirely confident. He was still smiling but there was a wavering edge of suspicion to it, a lack of surety. "You are joking?" he said, a statement as much as it was a question. "You really think I would go willingly to punishment? Have we not suitably covered this ground already? What kind of a fool do you take me for?" He stepped forward. “Undo them. I will make you no promises, except a chance to save that girl’s life.”
"I am not jesting," Thor said quietly. It had been a tenuous hope and one that he still clung to, the laughter ignored. "The worst punishment of the healing chambers is that you must remain still." It was an old bit of humor amongst the warriors of Asgard. "If you will not go, then tell me now, and you may leave as soon as you are released." In truth, Thor did not know how long it would take to free Loki from the manacles. He had always assumed that his brother would have fought back enough from the lack of his magic that he would have broken them already. He'd never even had a key made. But now he had given his word and he would remove them, even if he had to take Loki back to the dwarves of Nidavellir to have the spells on them released.
Loki watched Thor for another moment. “I will not. Remove these things and I will require no help from you or anyone else.” He trusted Thor to stand by his word. Thor always stood by his word, or he always had in the past. But to submit to return to Asgard and be healed would be to accept help from Thor, to throw himself on his mercy. He was not so weak to need his assistance, not when he had his magic again, and the very idea of needing a hand from his brother cut him.
“Now,” he said, brushing aside the bile and mixed, lingering feelings those thoughts brought on, “Remove them. Open them, or crush them with that hammer of yours. I have seen it break much harder links than these, and the magic in them should be of no consequence.”
Should be. The words were hardly reassuring and the longer Thor waited, the less time he had to find Jane. He finally nodded slowly and went to stand by the stump, misshapen yet still standing where Mjolnir had fallen. It had already felt his hammer, striking the chain between the manacles there would cause it no more damage than when it had come hurtling out of the Bifrost.
"On here." It was thin enough that Loki could put his hands on either side and well away from the blows he would surely land. There were no more pleas for him to come home, not today. Thor knew he would not agree. Nor did he make any pleas to his brother's better nature – he knew it still existed, somewhere, no matter how his brother would deny it – as he knew it would not sway Loki. His eyes were not lit by madness any longer, but full of it and Thor did not know if his brother would ever make it back out again.
Loki stepped forward. As he knelt next to the rock and laid the heavy links over top, he noticed his hands were shaking, and he closed his fists to still them. He did not fear Thor, did not fear his hammer coming down on his own head instead of that chain, but he imagined it, still, what it would be like if Thor chose to do the right thing, the thing he had been told he ought to do, rather than what his heart dictated.
He looked back up at Thor, anticipatory, if anything afraid only that the hammer might not be enough, afraid only of the hope that tantalized. To be free. Anything for that.
The options had already been weighed, the decision made long before Thor ever came to this spot. He would not let Jane die. His gaze darted to Loki one last time, to where he knelt before him. For all that his brother might spew hatred about being forced to kneel before him, to bow to the will of Asgard, it was not a place he ever wanted to see the other God. They were equals, if nowhere else than Thor's mind.
Of this he said nothing, only, "I'm sorry," before raising Mjolnir high and swinging it hard against the links. The first blow scored them, but they did not break. A second blow came and then a third, each successive strike only frustrating Thor, thunderheads gathering overhead until it felt like the air was buzzing with electricity. This time when he raised his hammer high, he waited for the lightning to connect and drove it straight down to the links, one of them finally blowing apart, the magic in them severed.
Loki watched the first hammer blow, but turned his face away at the sharp sound it made, uninterested in being blinded by sparks. Then the second blow came, just as heavy, and Loki felt a sudden, wild, irrational fear that Thor would bring the great hammer down on his hand, only inches from the length of chain, rendering him even more useless.
The final blow of the hammer, along with the crack of lightning that came with it, was explosive. Loki was blown back by the force of the electricity and magic released so suddenly from where it had been confined. He was knocked through the air, rolling unceremoniously across the ground, trailing smoke, smoke and something that appeared to be green flame - then he was gone.
It was like he had never been there a moment before. He disappeared before he even hit the ground, or came to a complete stop, dropping from existence mid-air. Then, a long moment later, there he was again. There was the zipping sound of magic tearing through time and space, and the end of a raw shout, and he stumbled forward from nothing, eyes wide, breath short.
To have his magic taken had proved a painful prospect indeed, and bringing it back had been much of the same,so much pain and overwhelming sensation that his mind, scrabbling for a grasp on it, had brought him briefly to some far edge of space, a dunk in cold water that brought him up short and kept the abruptly released power from overwhelming him completely. He found his footing, wavering for a moment, and looked down at himself. His midgardian clothes were singed, and pale green fire wicked away from the edges of his fingers, soft bits of light carried away by the wind and winking out. He stared, and then laughed, short and incredulous. Painful, yes, it had been painful, but oh, it was like having a missing arm attached to his body again. He looked up, lifted a hand, and twisted it into the sky. Some of that pale fire wreathed up from his hand like a live creature, wrapped around itself, and became solid, became metal, burnished gold.
The object, now tangible, dropped into his hands. His helmet. The arcing gold horns cast a long shadow on the red dirt beneath his feet. He grinned at it, revelling for just a moment in a pure, unadorned sensation of joy. Freedom. Finally.
The final blow and the explosive release of Loki's magic had blown Thor back as well. He barely had time to realize that Loki was gone, vanished, before he was back again, green flame everywhere.Rolling onto his feet, his cape bright against the pale sand behind him, he silently regarded his brother.
This was what he had done to save Jane, he reminded himself. Loki was free and he reached up, checking to make sure the small piece was still in his ear. Though he had fought with Pepper about wearing it, he was glad of the connection now and that the men (and woman!) he trusted were on the other end of it.
His hand dropped down, the other still tight around Mjolnir's handle as Loki summoned his helmet back to him. Once he could have gone over and affectionately plucked at the horns while calling Loki cow. He couldn't now, standing in the same place where he thought he had lost everything.
Standing slowly, Thor waited, his gaze on Loki. There was no doubt in his mind that they would fight again, as they had been since Loki had fallen. "Where is she?"
Loki rolled his shoulders, loosening the joints with a satisfying crack. He slid the helmet over his head, brush a thumb over each wrist. The manacles, devoid of power, cracked and dropped to the ground, and the raw skin beneath closed up smooth. "New York," Loki said. The Midgardian clothes, lightly singed and held together so crudely, began to fade, warp, darken and brighten, shimmering around the edges as his armor appeared again in layers. Metal folded into fabric and leather as he stood there. "She is in the basement of a building by the name of Regency in one of the poor districts in that place." He certainly hadn't been able to teleport without his magic, but the door served just fine as an intermediary between places. All it had taken was a quick step out from New York, and then dragging Louis back through, thinking all the while of New Mexico. He'd done the same when he went after the girl in the first place. Loki tipped his bare palm open to his brother. "My scepter," he said, his eyes intent, a little too bright. "You stole it from me. I want it back." Not up for debate, not after all he'd gone through to get it.
"New York, the basement of the Regency building," Thor repeated, more for the benefit of the men on the other side of the earpiece than because he would have any problem remembering it. "And the poison?" He asked, insistent, ignoring the question about the scepter. Right now, it was safe in Asgard, held within the weapons vault and Thor was not going back to get it before he found out how to save Jane from whatever Loki had given her. Jane was the priority, but watching his brother armor himself again had Thor wary.
Not afraid, never afraid, but wary, alert for another one of those knives that Loki so favored. That too bright, too mad look in his brother's eyes was not for peace as much as Thor wished it was and coupled with the armor, Thor knew a fight would happen sooner rather than later.
Loki tugged at the edge of one of his sleeves, verifying all was in place and as it should be. He felt right for the first time in weeks. He still wanted his scepter, still lacked that to be absolutely back to full power, but he was still a force to be reckoned with, even without it. He was in the game, again. "The antidote is a simple solution of salt and water. Saline, I think they call it here. Inject it into her heart to stop my poison from slowing it to a stop, and she'll live." He smirked. "Just try not to slip."
He glanced over Thor again. "Try to look happy for me, Thor," Loki admonished, with a harsh grin. "I am free from the chains you put on me. I am no longer less than what I ought to be. Your woman will live to see another sunrise. There is so much to be grateful for."
"Saline? Into her heart?" Thor repeated to make sure he heard it right and to ensure that the others on the opposite end of the communication device heard him correctly. "Directly into her heart," he repeated quietly before his eyes narrowed at his brother.
"I would be happier if you came home, Loki, and put these poisonous dreams behind you." But the wild glint in Loki's eyes, the harshness of his grin, Thor knew it was not likely, but he would still try. If logic, if his pleas could not win Loki over, perhaps sheer bullish stubbornness would. If not, then they would come back again and again to this place, perhaps not this crater in Midgard, but they would always stand apart, facing off like foes instead of standing side by side as the brothers they were.
The heart bit wasn’t purely necessary, but he never could resist a good old fashioned trick. “Into her heart,” Loki said again, eyes lit with furious pleasure.
His smile twitched higher. “Poisonous dreams? If my dreams are poison to you, I am not surprised. They do involve you being less than the complete arbiter of all things and winner of every battle. I feed on poison. Having tasted so much of it, no longer can it sting. What would kill another man cannot kill me, so I will take the poison, as you say, as much of it as I can.”
Loki fully expected they would be in this place again sometime soon, and for a moment that drove a sharp, harsh pain through his triumph at being freed. But no, he would let nothing spoil this, not now. “I will return to Asgard with you when I am its king, and not before,” he said. “Tell your compatriots they will hear from me again very soon.” With that, his body was swathed in vague fog, swirling up to obscure his form, and then collapsing in on it, leaving nothing behind.
That fury, the way it colored his brother's eyes and his words only led Thor to one conclusion. Whatever madness had abated for the time that Loki had been in the cell was back to the fore. They had been, almost, like brother's again and that was gone, like the fog that his brother had conjured around him. There, and then gone again.
He could not wallow. Loki had promised and Thor knew better than to hope that there would not be a delivery on those threats. "Have you found her?" He asked into the comm as he took to the air, leaving the same way he had come.