Loki
Loki was, for the most part, having an alright day. For starters, the Grandmaster had agreed to let him hide out on his dustbin of a planet for a while. Then he got to watch his brother be, rightfully so, humiliated and lose those golden locs of his. To top it all off, he had box seats to watch as his brother was pitted against whatever backwater champion the Grandmaster had managed to find for his gladiatorial games. While Loki was more than sure of his brother's ability to slay whatever hulking beast was placed against him, he planned to get a bit of joy in watching the battle.
It was nice not to be the one being used as a punching bag. Or just used in general honestly.
Maybe that was why he was enjoying being here on this nowhere planet. Here, he was just Loki, Trickster God and possible consort of the Grandmaster. Well, at least if the Grandmaster had his way he would be. There was no Odin, may he forever rest in Valhalla, to dictate his role in life. There were no Asgardians he felt bound to protect and ensure the safety of. There was no unknown sister trying to kill him due to the machinations of his father. There was no…Thanos and his vile children trying to break him and force him to bend to the will of a mad Titan.
Thanos. The name alone was almost enough to make Loki ill as he took his seat in the box above the arena. There were some smaller matches going on, none of which caught his attention. Instead, his focus was all on the Mad Titan. Thanos was coming, determined to remove half the universe in a bid to make it ‘perfectly balanced’. As he sat there, watching the cheering crowds and the bloodshed down below, it hit him that he was the only person who truly knew what was coming. Perhaps the only person in all the Realms who understood the power that Thanos held, and the power he was seeking to gain.
Loki couldn’t stop the sinking feeling that was starting to draw him in. The edges of his vision flattened, the sound of the crowd vanishing away. Slowly it vanished until all he could see or hear was the utter silence of space.
The lack of sound was among the many things that haunted Loki about his fall from the Bifrost. Hearing his brothers cry reduced to an echo, and then to nothing. Watching as he helplessly plummeted into the abyss of darkness below him. Asgard. The Bifrost. Thor. His mother. Odin. All of them became distant in his mind. Time stopped having meaning. Life stopped having meaning. As he drifted with no control over his direction, it was as if Loki had stopped existing. Stopped living. Truthfully, he may have.
This lasted for an unnoticeable amount of time, until he found himself being roused from a forced hibernation, his natural blue skin starting to fade back to his much-preferred pigmentation in the presence of warmth. He thought he may have finally made it to Hel, were it not for the fact that where ever he was lacked the oppressive heat that Hel was known for. That, and the fact he was resting upon a comfortable enough mattress.
“No need to feign being asleep, you are in safe hands,” came a voice, somewhere in the darkness. It was low, mildly condescending. A haughty tone that spoke of someone who believed their power to be unmatched.
Loki would have to correct them of this notion.
Carefully he sat up, his eyes adjusting to the mild darkness that filled his current lodgings. Reaching out with his magic, he could feel the gentle motion of a ship slowly orbiting around something large. The tendrils of his magical awareness also picked up the lifeform that was in the room with him. He could feel the edges of something powerful coming from its mind, as if it were sending out waves that were seeking out his own magic.
“ Careful, Your Highness. I would hate to put you down before you have even set eyes on one of the Children of Thanos,”
Loki pulled in his magic, not wishing to start a fight before having a full grasp of just whom he was dealing with.
“And just who is this Thanos and why must I busy myself with a conversation with his progeny and not the man himself,” the arrogant sneer may have been filled with false bravado, but it helped center Loki. Helped him feel in control.
From the shadows, the being chuckled, the sound just as haughty as its voice. The figure began to move into the dim light, hovering a few inches above the corrugated metal of the room. His face was withered, ancient. How such an elder became known as a Child was beyond the grasp of understanding for Loki. His skin was a molted grey, a multitude of wrinkles adorning his face. Wispy white hair barely covered his head. Overall, the creature looked held together but its will alone.
“Thanos is not one to be questioned by the pitiful nature of a so-called God. Instead, you will talk with me, Ebony Maw. The Eldest of Thanos’ children,”
Before Loki could even respond, Maw, as he refused to call that wrinkled grey thing Ebony, had a simple twitch of his fingers. Within a moment, metal came peeling from the walls and floor, swiftly binding Loki in its grasp. His arms were bound tightly behind his back, several bands pulling tightly until his elbows touched. His fingers were forcibly curled into fists, leaving him little chance of conjuring the magic of his own. More bands wrapped around his legs and thighs, all the way up to his neck and mouth. A thick band of metal tightly constricted his neck, while another kept Loki from uttering a word.
With barely a word, Loki had been rendered helpless. Helpless and at the mercy of someone who wielded mental powers far greater than he had ever seen before. Though he told himself he wasn’t afraid, Loki did feel a small bead of cold sweat run down his face.
“ Now, come along my packaged God, Thanos has asked I deliver you to him. However, he never said how long to take,”
Loki couldn’t flex a single muscle as he was pulled by Maw’s mental powers, hovering behind him, not unlike a pet on a leash. His green eyes glared at the back of Maw’s head, wishing for just a spare moment to bury a knife deep into that skull. His magic seemed to like the idea as well, flaring up with his irritation.
That was a mistake.
Loki felt his body get flung at high speed towards a wall, slamming with enough force to leave him winded and seeing stars in his vision. Maw was standing between the twinkling lights, his disgusting visage twisted up with a vile smile.
“ You would do well to control that magic of yours, my packaged God, lest you incur my wrath,”
Maw reached up with a single hand and slowly began to close it before Loki. As he did, the bands around Loki’s body began to press inward. Agonizingly slowly, the metal bands constricted tighter and tighter. The one around his neck was the tightest, digging into his skin, drops of faintly blue blood running down the sides. Loki couldn’t breathe, his lungs unable to expand under the growing pressure of the bands. Not even a gasp of pain as a rib cracked under the pressure could escape his lips. All he could do was watch with wild eyes as Maw took a sick pleasure from making him hurt.
“ Now, be a good God, and do not cause me any more trouble,”
The pressure relented, though Loki was unable to sag in his bonds in relief. He could only stew in pain and shame as Maw peeled him from the wall and continued on with his walk. Loki couldn’t help but notice the tightness around his neck hadn’t truly let up. Maw was slowly making it onto his kill list, that was for certain. He banished the thought before his magic reacted to his emotions again. Even if he told himself that he refused to kowtow to the whims of Maw and whoever Thanos was, it didn’t mean he wasn’t smart enough to do what he was told if it meant avoiding pain.
He wasn’t going to give in to them and their actions.
Maw made sure to keep Loki supremely uncomfortable during his tour of the massive ship they were on. He would take great glee in banishing Loki’s head against a low beam or moving him just a hair too close to a plasma beam. By the time they eventually made it to an empty room, housing only a single throne in the center, Loki was covered in bruises, bleeding, and looking very worse for wear.
As he was brought before the throne, the metal bonds began to fall away, Loki collapsing to the ground on all fours, though the one around his neck refused to budge.
“ Kneel as you are graced by the glory that is Thanos,”
The metal under Loki’s body shifted, swallowing his arms and legs, while the collar forced him to look upwards at the throne. A beam of light filled the air and as it cleared, a hulking purple giant sat upon the throne. In his hands was a double-bladed weapon of some kind, freshly stained with blood. The being carefully removed his helmet, revealing a face filled with indifference as cold, calculating eyes looked upon Loki on all fours before him.
“And what, Ebony Maw, have you brought for me today? Another stray to add to our ranks,”
“No, my Lord. I bring you something far more worthless than a stray. I bring you an Asgardian God. The one they call Loki,”
If Thanos had ever heard of his name or of his deeds, it wasn’t displayed upon that impassive face. If anything, there was more curiosity about it as he regarded Loki as one would an interesting insect.
“Clearly you must be mistaken, Maw. I have heard tales of Loki and his cleverness. Surely this whelp of a creature isn’t one and the same,”
Loki was seething with rage. How dare they conversate about him as if he weren’t even in the room. As if he were nothing more than some mangey cur they found roaming their home. He wasn’t going to be spoken about like that. Even if he was trapped, Loki was going to make it clear that he wasn’t one to be ignored.
While it required drawing on his limited pool of Terran magic, Loki was able to summon enough energy to pool around one of the many daggers he had hidden on his person. With careful concentration, he looked Thanos in the eyes and let his rage spill forth, fueling his magic. The dagger sprung from seemingly nowhere and went flying for Thanos, on track to stab right between his eyes.
At least it would have, had he not knocked the blade away with a simple move of his blade.
“Miserable wretch! You will pay for daring to attack Lord Thanos,” yelled Maw, wrenching Loki from the ground in one pull of freighting physic energy.
The collar around his neck began to tighten, faster this time. He could feel the metal cutting deeper into his neck. It seemed Maw meant to sever his head from his body and all Loki could do was feebly paw at the strip of metal that was moving ever closer to ending his life. All the while, Thanos watched on with an impassionate stare.
“That’s enough Maw. Let your plaything down for now,”
Thanos’s word was law, and Loki dropped to the ground mere moments after the command was given. While his Frost Giant and Asgardian physiology was already healing him, it did little to comfort Loki. As the pain radiated across his body, Loki didn’t notice that Thanos had moved closer toward him, standing over his prone form. A single hand reached down and grasped Loki’s chin, gently pulling it upwards until Loki was looking directly at the Titan.
“ You are a proud creature, I can apricate that. Unwilling to be talked down to. Unwilling to bow of your own free will. Unwilling to cave to the whims of others. Yet, I know what truly lurks behind those steely eyes of yours,”
His voice was soft, almost soothing in the way he spoke to Loki, disarming the God after the cruelty he had experienced at the hands of Maw.
“ Fear. Cold and inescapable fear. You act out in order to gain attention, to ensure you will never be forgotten. You live in constant fear of being abandoned, much like you are now. The universe is not fair. It is not balanced. With all of your power and knowledge, you could not tip the scales in your favor. However, I believe I can give you just that. A way to balance things,”
Loki looked up at Thanos, those eyes cutting right to his very soul. He had no idea if the Titan had some powers of emotional manipulation, but his words were working their way into his mind. Burning beyond his defenses and striking true at his own personal insecurities. His words were a truth to Loki’s misery, and yet an offer of power to change that.
“What shall I do for you, oh mighty Lord Thanos,” Loki uttered, his eyes misting over ever so slightly.
Thanos gave merely the ghost of a smile as he gestured to Maw, who once again used his powers to pick up Loki from the ground.
“What you will do shall come later. For now, we must ensure that…spirit of yours is suitably dealt with,”
Ebony Maw twirled Loki around until they were once more face to face.
“Yes, my Lord,” Maw hissed, glee spreading along his face, “I shall ensure our new...acquisition is taken care of,”
The smile that was shown towards Loki left him feeling cold and fearful once more, as Maw dragged him away from the throne and back into the depths of the ship.
It was the loud cheer of the crowd that brought Loki out of his flash-back, reality popping back into his vision. Looking down onto the field he could see his boastful brother brandishing the paltry weapons that the Grandmaster had seen fit to give him. It was a far cry away from his hammer, but Loki was confident that Thor would still pose a challenge to them regardless.
Not that he was directly rooting for his brother of course. Loki just knew when to place a bet on a winning side.
“Looks like Sparkles is hyping up the crowd down there,” The voice of the Grandmaster was lofty in his ears, as the eccentric Elder of the Universe took a seat beside Loki, practically falling into the Gods’ lap as he did so.
“Well my brother always had an irritating knack for drawing attention,” Loki drawled, doing his best to try and avoid the Grandmaster's lecherous hands.
Loki was no prude, but he had no intention of being played with while in front of a planet’s population. At least not anymore.
“Yeah, well let’s see how he drums up attention with his, uh, death. Bring out my champion,” the Grandmaster commanded, as he reclined on the sofa, his head firmly in Loki’s lap, “Now, start feeding me those tasty grapes, bloodshed always gives the munchies,”
Loki rolled his eyes but obliged all the same, not wanting to irritate a man who had someone on standby for melting those who irked him. Said person was glowering right at him, her hands tightening on that staff of hers.
Yeah, best to stay on the Grandmaster's good side.
The crowd’s uproar suddenly tripled as a thunderous pounding shook the arena. A metal wall was starting to give way as large fists slammed into it over and over. With every thud, Loki felt a tingle crawl along his spine. There was something all too familiar about those strikes and that loud roar that accompanied them. The color green flashed in his mind and Loki felt himself pale ever so slightly.
“It can’t be,” he hissed as the metal door exploded off its hinges, and out ran Earth’s green Avenger, The Hulk.
The massive giant let out a crowd-pleasing roar, seemingly drinking in the rabid applause his appearance brought. The creature was just as much an attention hound as his brother. No wonder the two worked so well together in their bouts on Earth.
Thor seemed just as pleased as the crowd was to see the Hulk, abandoning his weapons, and the fact that this was supposed to be a fight to the death, to run up to the creature joyfully. His stupid face was lit up with glee, far too happy to be face-to-face with the Hulk. Clearly, he had never learned of the creature's terrifying power. It seemed he never would, as the Hulk appeared to be listening to whatever prattle Thor was sprouting off. Then, one of those green arms lashed out and began to thrash Thor about.
“Now you know how it feels brother,” Loki shouted, leaping out of his seat as Thor was tossed around like a rag doll, his body leaving craters in the ground.
“Oooh, so fiery and tempestuous at the sight of Sparkles getting hurt. Perhaps you are a fan of pain yourself,” The Grandmaster hissed, draping is arms around Loki’s shoulders and hissing into his ears.
You love the pain, don’t you?
A memory hissed its way into his mind, making Loki flinch at the Grandmaster’s touch.
“Only when it is my brother at the receiving end, I assure you,” he quickly adjusted, though the Grandmaster gave him a lusty glance all the same.
“Perhaps we need to change your mind. But, uh, after your brothers’ demise. It seems my champion has him on-on the ropes,” the Grandmaster stammered, drawing their attention back to the fight.
Indeed, Thor was on the back foot, the Hulk taking advantage of his size to dominate the fight early on. Thor wasn’t one to let strikes go unanswered, retaliating with blows that staggered the beast. Only just, as Hulk recovered and delivered a strike drove Thor into the ground. What felt like a pang of worry raced along Loki’s spine as Thor didn’t suddenly jump up from the blow. He merely lay there, unmoving as Hulk continued to batter his body.
“Get up, you useless oaf,” Loki hissed under his breath before he even realized what he had said.
As if spurred on by his words, crackles of lightning began to fill the air, the very atmosphere becoming charged with electricity. Even Loki could feel it prickling against his skin in the booth. A war cry worthy of Odin himself echoed as Thor caught the Hulk’s fist in his own hand, before delivering an uppercut that was charged with lighting.
The Hulk was lifted up and away by the blow, bolts of lighting arcing in his wake before he slammed into a wall. Thor climbed to his feet, eyes alight with fury and power. Loki watched as Thor flew under his own power, colliding with the Hulk with the clap of a thunderbolt. If the battle was once in the Hulk’s favor, it was clear that Thor was more than a match now. The two traded blows, their fight growing fiercer by the second. Even so, a grin was plastered across the Hulk’s face as he fought, clearly glad to have a challenge. So much so that the green beast slammed his fist into Thor’s stomach, sending him hurtling through the air.
Loki watched as his brother managed to control himself, before summoning forth a tempest, crackles of lighting and terrible winds swept through the arena as he flew down towards the Hulk, fist ready to strike.
“Right? Hey, uh, Val. Valkyrie could you,” the Grandmaster mimicked an electric shot toward the woman who had brought Thor in earlier.
How Loki missed the great Valkyrie was beyond him. Then again, as she drunkenly pressed the button for the device that kept his brother in check, perhaps her greatness had long since left.
Loki couldn’t help but chuckle as the God of Thunder was stopped by a simple shock to his neck, the storm vanishing and Thor plummeting to the ground. Even as he tried to resist the shocks, the Hulk helped in his pacification with a single punch to the head, sending his brother flying across the arena where he slumped over, knocked out.
While the crowd roared in delight at the unexpected way the match turned, the Grandmaster was clearly doing some plotting of his own, as he gestured for Loki to follow him, his guard closely following behind.
“It, uh, seems your brother there really can, uhhh, pack a punch. Why don’t you see if you could convince him to, perhaps, stay here on Saakkar? I mean, I’d do it myself but I don’t think Sparkles really likes me,”
“And he, probably, likes me even less. How shall I tempt him to stay and fight for you Grandmaster,”
“Please, just call me Master. And I’m sure you’ll find a way. If not, I know someone who is really eager to see if she can melt Gods,”
There was a growl from the woman holding the melting stick.
“No rush, we have as much time as I want us to have. Go, talk with your brother. Just be sure to be back for the Orgy, I’ve been wanting to show you off to a few other friends of mine,” The Grandmaster gave a playful smack to Loki’s rear before taking his leave.
Loki repressed the urge to dry heave as he watched the man leave. Perhaps being his consort wasn’t an ideal to aspire to.
As luck would have it, once Loki had found his way to the Hulk’s sleeping quarters, his brother was already scheming for a way to escape.
“Of course, this all hinges on your knack for treachery, brother,” Thor fixed Loki with a knowing look. As did the others in their little band, a now reverted Banner and a still-drunk Valkyrie.
“Wait a second,” Banner kicked in, his voice somehow striking a tone that irked Loki more than his green alter-ego did, “You can’t be serious Thor. You know Loki is just going to stab us in the back,”
“I feel affronted that you would even think such things. I thought you were intelligent, or does your green beast hold your brains as well as brawn,”
Predictably, Banner took the bait, looking ready to fight as himself, before Thor stepped between them.
“Clearly Loki will, at some point, attempt to betray us,” Thor assured Banner
“Ye of little faith,” Loki retorted
“Yet, is it not better to have the man who will betray us in front of us? Better to see how he plans to betray us,”
“How Father wanted you to be King with logic that sound is beyond me,” came the ever so predictable snark of Loki
“Well if you weren’t so hellbent on controlling everything, then maybe he would have given rule to you,” Thor ragged, rising to his Loki
“You don’t even want the throne. Do you know how well Asgard was prospering under my rule,” Loki met his brother, his green eyes set with indignation, “I could have led us into a new golden age. While you would drag us back into battles just like Odin would. And just how Hella wants,”
“Then prove you are better than both of them. Join the rest of the Revengers and help us wrestle control of Asgard from Hella’s grip,”
Loki wanted nothing more than to leave. To vanish right then and there instead of having to confront the ghost of a past that wasn’t even truly his. If Hella wanted to rule Asgard, then who was he to stop her? Clearly, he couldn’t take the throne away from her if he wanted to. And that was the crux of it. Loki didn’t care about the throne or the power of ruling over his adopted people. Not anymore. All that would accomplish was putting him in the same seat as Odin once held. When he masqueraded at Odin it was clear the people of Asgard loved the man more than any change Loki could ever bring to the realm.
Yet, he knew what they did not. That Thanos was coming, bringing with him a terrible power that Asgard could not hope to weather on their own. Even with the might of his brother and the strong green beast lurking within Banner, they may not be enough to stop Thanos. Perhaps, with his help though, they may stand a chance. After all, he had gotten a taste of Thanos and his strategies before. May as well put that knowledge to use.
You’ll always be a hero to me, Laci.
The vocal memory was sudden, a rush of someone’s voice echoing in his brain. It felt familiar, hauntingly so, yet he could not place it. It was as if there was something blocking him from recalling it. And as quickly as it came, any notion that he had even heard anything was gone from his mind.
“Very well. I shall join this team of yours, but only if you pledge yourselves to follow me into battle regardless of the cost,”
“Yeah, how about not,” came the slurred speech of Valkyrie, “I barely want to follow this Odinson into battle and I am not about to follow the one that has a knack of getting beat,”
“Right, so it’s settled then,” Thor clapped Loki’s back a bit too hard, making his brother wince from a slight and sharp pain, “The Revengers will go back to Asgard, get revenge on Hella, and be celebrated as heroes before Asgard. This is the perfect plan,”
“He is so going to get us killed,” Banner noted as he shook his head at Thor’s seemingly boundless optimism.
“On that, Doctor, we can agree,” Loki added, before letting out a breath he wasn’t even aware he was holding.
This was probably the most foolish idea he’d ever gone along with. Which was just like old times when it came to him and his brother.
Hopefully, they would come away from this just as successful as they had before.