Who. James Fox (w/ an NPC Logan Fox) What. The final confrontation Where. A few different places, ends in New Mexico When. Sunday night, November 10th 2013 Warnings. Violence and an NPC character death
For James, Halloween night had been an eye opener for him. For months, no, for years he'd been under the delusion that his brother, while always deeply troubled, could still be saved. Through the darkest of times, especially recently, James had clung to that belief because he had nothing else to go on. Just the naive hope of a man who still loved his brother as much as he had growing up together. The hard truth was, he still loved Logan, but things were different now. James could no longer consciously look the other way knowing what he knew. Everything had changed. After everything he'd done, after everything that had been done to others and to James in the name of mischief, this was the point. This was the point of no return.
Among the ghostly visitors on Halloween had been his mother, and the truth of how Logan had killed her finally came out. James was still reeling, but by the time the sun rose on November 1st he was being driven by something much deeper than shock. It was rage. He'd set out to find Logan at all costs, knowing his brother would be aware of his approach and expecting a chase. It was a long one, over a week of following Logan's trail from one end of the Earth to the other, and cleaning up the destruction his brother left behind.
It was in New Mexico when James finally wore him down. It was here where brother against brother finally reached its inevitable end.
"HOW COULD YOU DO THIS? HOW COULD YOU KILL OUR OWN MOTHER?" Logan only laughed at his older brother's distress, both faces bloodied but only James looked the least bit sorry about it. This isn't how things were supposed to end, but this was the only way it could ever end for Loki and Thor. The God of Thunder had long grown wise to Loki's schemes of betrayal, but this wasn't something James could stomach. Not yet.
The two brothers fought each other until there was nothing left except the two of them and a lot of destruction in their wake. Logan unrelenting, James hesitant but forceful. The fight soon carried them out into the desert, dusk becoming night until the first rays of the next morning's sun started to peak over the sand covered horizon. Logan's tricks were waning, James was growing tired, and yet the stubbornness of the Fox brothers drove them both on until there was nowhere left to run but face the truth.
"Logan... please..." James's face was contorted in a mixture of heartbreak, betrayal and rage. He couldn't forgive Logan for what he'd done but even now he couldn't help thinking, couldn't help hoping that there was still some hope for his brother. That if it weren't for Loki, Logan would not be as rotten as the man he'd become instead. "Don't do this. I can still help you. We can end this together. Please, Logan. Don't make me do this."
Logan let out a cruel laugh from where he was half slumped against a rock, covered in as much bruises and blood as James but still going, almost like he was fueled by James's pleas. Everything about James's slumped posture suggested defeat, but he still stood strong over Logan with hammer gripped tightly in both hands. For a moment he even let himself hope Logan would say something, anything that would change his mind, but that hope quickly sank as soon as Logan opened his mouth, so much hate in his brother's eyes that James actually took a step back.
"Never, brother. I'll never stop. You might as well kill me now because I'll never stop coming after you and everyone you claim to love. You think killing our mother was the worst thing I could do? Just you wait. Just wait until I've picked off every single hero on that pathetic team you call the Avengers, just wait until I've killed Shane, make their deaths the worst sort of torture and agony you could ever imagine. Just you wait-"
THUNK.
The full weight of mjolnir came down on Logan's head, the scream of grief and anguish that ripped from James's throat almost louder than the sound of contact as he released the hammer and fell to his knees. It was over, and yet it wasn't. Hadn't Loki and Thor been here a million times before? It always ended the same. For James, it only meant one thing.