Chapter 9
(Loop #156)
(Warnings: Suicide (to restart a loop) )
Loki blinked- and he was back again. He stared at the mortals in front of him. And stared. And stared. And stared.
They looked the same each time. Every try. Every failed attempt- because something always went wrong. They all looked the same.
Barton with his bow raised and that cautious but curious look in his eyes, which would soon turn to hatred and anger. The Director with his eyes filled with the same suspicious gleam that would turn into cold fury (pun not intended) soon. The ginger Agent he still didn’t know the name off- mainly because he died every time, be it by Loki, the collapsing building or anything else.
They looked the same. The same every time. They never changed. They we’re predictable. They reacted the same. They had the same likes and dislikes, the same fears, the same families, the same opinions- the same everything.
They were so blissfully unaware of what was going on. So unaware of his glorious- it didn’t feel very glorious- purpose. His mission. His chance.
His curse.
Loki thought back to his previous attempt, and wondered what had gone wrong. It had seemed to work out so greatly. The Avengers were, with long practiced methods, completely convinced of his selfish noble goals. They believed him. (Would they still if you told them the truth?) He had prevented Ultron this time-, and later their stupid fight- when it had restarted.
Why?
Was there something else going on he wasn’t aware of? The try he had spent watching had not pointed to it, and he had gotten trough that already often.
Maybe he interfered to much? Did he change to much, so that people choose completely different paths, which lead to completely new disasters? He hadn’t heard of anything though, and he had his spies (read: controlled people) in everything, be it SHIELD, HYDRA, the varying governments or the police or that wizard cult or- whatever, didn’t really matter right now.
Point was, he hadn’t heard of anything going wrong. Or anything going on at all (well, expect that stupid fight of his te- the Avengers. They weren’t his team this try.)
Nothing had been happening.
Was that it? Not anything happening? No, no, that made no sense. Time was repeating because he had to fix things after all. His glorious not glorious Purpose Curse.
Unless he had been wrong about that.
Did he not have to fix things then? What else could it be, then? Nothing. Something must have happened last try. This wouldn’t make sense otherwise. (Please there has to be a way to get out of this-)
Loki sighed, then straightened.
The Mortals were talking to him, trying to get him to react, but he ignored them. He had spent too much time thinking this time. They would be suspicious of him now. (He tested it- if he spent more than 2 Minutes and 4 seconds staring into nothing and thinking, they wouldn’t trust him. If it was any longer than 5, they arrested him on the spot.)
He waltzed over to the Tesseract and they started shooting at him- like every time.
Loki scoffed.
It didn’t work last time and it wouldn’t now.
He grabbed the Tesseract, opened a Portal, and appeared onto the Stark tower.
He stared down a bit.
Next time he would do it right. (He would find a way to end this curse. He had to.)
He placed the Tesseract on the floor next to him, looked at the city below him- and took a step forward.
He fell fell fell fellfellfell-
Then he heard a sickening crunch together with an a short moment of pain in his head- then everything was dark.
He closed his eyes and opened them again to familiar words.
“Sir, please put down the spear.”
This time he would succeed.
***
(Loop #161)
(Credit to: Various people)
“Loki! Stop this madness! The people are dying!”, Thor shouted at him desperately. Loki stilled and looked at him in confusion.
“Who?”
“The Civilians- The Innocent people! You’re killing-”
“Cares?”, Loki said with a smile that would have lesser men running.
Thor roared and threw himself at Loki.
Loki stared at the Hulk.
The Hulk roared at him- but Loki didn’t even flinch. Instead, a-not-only-slightly-mad-looking grin spread onto his face.
The Trickster flickered his wrists and the Hulk froze in place. Then, Loki proceeded to to pick up the hulk like he was a axe. He swung and yeeted the Hulk at Rogers, all while shouting a loud:
“ANGRY SHREK ATTACK!!!!”
Tony blinked, Turned and decided he was hallucinating.
Clint observed his boss through the vents, as he had instructed. Sneaking into the Helicarrier was laughably easy if you worked there- which made all this a lot easier.
Loki was currently clicking around on a pen he had pulled from somewhere only god knows- literally.
As for Clint, he was currently listening to the morse code the god was doing, growing more confused as he listened.
Why the fuck did his boss want to invade Cuba???
Loki was looking at the phone he had snatched from Barton. He had typed in ‘A good Father’ and searched, mostly out of fun. Now there was the buy option and it reminded him so much of that one meme- he just couldn’t resist.
He summoned a car and pulled up next to Barton.
“Get in loser, we’re going for a drive.”
He then proceeded to fail miserably at driving a car by crashing into everything and everyone he saw and wondered why he had never bothered to learn driving while Barton was screaming and clutching at the seat like it was a lifeline.
“Stop saying your life is a joke.”, Loki said.
“I never said that-”, Stark interrupted.
“It’s not. Jokes actually have a meaning.”
The offended squeak Stark made was worth being shoved out of the window.
Thor fell to the floor with a crash.
Loki let out a shocked gasp.
“Floor, Are you okay?!?!”
Yup, his brother had definitely gone mad.
***
(Credit to: Veta)
“Get in, we’re going to Therapy.”, Loki said, pointing at the portal next to him.
“Loki?! You’re alive?!”, Thor exclaimed.
“It would seem so, wouldn’t it?”, he said with an eye roll. “Now walk through the damn Portal. You too, Mother. Father.”
“Loki-”
“Get in the fucking portal.”
“Son, how are-”
“Oh by the Norns! Am I speaking a different language?!?”, Loki snapped. “Get in the fucking portal!”
That seemed to shut them up. Thor eyes the portal suspiciously.
“…Where does it lead?”, he asked hesitantly.
“I already told you. To Therapy.” Odin’s bows furrowed in confusion. As did Thor’s.
“What is an Terra-pay?”, the All Father asked.
“Therapy. It’s something off Midgard- Basically a session with a Therapist- someone who’s basically paid to help you with issues of the mind- where you basically talk about your problems.”, he explained with a deadpan.
“…Why would we need to go to this Therapist?”, Odin and Thor asked at the same time. Loki and Frigga shot them annoyed- but not surprised- look.
“Are you serious right now?”, he asked with a raised eyebrow. “This Family is a walking package of issues. From the fact I tried to wipe out Jotunheim because I thought you’d be happy about it to the sister you banished decades ago. Actually, now that I think about it, most problems are your fault, father, but we’ll talk about that later. Now, hop in, please.”
“What? Sister- what?!”
Loki groaned.
“Oh my god, we’ll talk about it at Therapy! That’s what it’s there for- so you better drag your asses in there-”- Frigga gasped- “-or I’ll magic your asses in there. I’m sure we all know what’s more comfortable for you.”
“I doubt you would be able to curse our parents.”, Thor interjected. “You’re simply not powerful enough too.” At Lokis look he added. “No offence.”
“Actually-”, Frigga started, but Loki beat her to it by swiping his hand, making all of his family freeze in place with a green glow.
He then proceeded to swipe his hand, making all of them drop through the portal one by one.
He wiped his hands after he was finished, sighed and hoped through the portal too.
Heimdall, who was watching the exchange with an amused expression, could no longer contain his laughter.
***
“My Friend!”, Thor greeted. “Have you perhaps seen my brother around lately? I cannot seem to find him anywhere.”
Tony looked at him with an surprised expression.
“You have a brother?”
Thor frowned in confusion.
“Of course! Loki, you know?”, he elaborated and Tony tilted his head.
“I don’t. What does he look like?”
“But…you know him.”
“Erm, I’m pretty sure I would remember knowing your brother, Point Break. I didn’t know you had one until now.”
Thor frowned.
“He tried to take over this planet last year? How can you not remember him???”
“He did what?!? When- how did no one notice that?!?”
“You did?? You defeated him in New York! In 2012! He had a mind controlling sceptre!”
Tony looked vaguely concerned now.
“Do you mean Palpatine? That Maw or whatever guy?”
“Who???”
“How do you not remember him??? He attacked New York with an alien army! You were there!”
“Loki did that, not this Maw!”
“No, Maw did!”
“My brother did that!!”
“Your brother is Maw?!?”
“NO! BY THE NORNS WHO IS MAW?!?
—
“Sir Rogers!”, Thor shouted, successfully getting the mans attention on him.
“Oh, Thor! You’re back again!”
“Indeed I am, but I have an important question for you.” Rogers frowned at that.
“What is it?”
“Who attacked New York in 2012? Maw or Loki?”, Thor asked very seriously.
“Maw of course. Who’s Loki?”, the Captain answered easily. Thor sputtered.
“Loki is my brother. And he attacked New York in 20120, not whoever Maw is supposed to be!”, Rogers straitened immediately.
“Maw was a scapegoat? Was he under the sceptres control too? Or was he just working for your brother?”
Thor grabbed the nearest object, the captains shield, and threw it out of the window hard. The glass shattered, before Thor realised what he had thrown.
“Shit.”, Thor cursed, then threw himself out of the window and after the shield.
One very baffled looking Captain America remained.
—
“Father, Mother.”, Thor greeted, bowing in front of the king and the queen.
“Son.”, Odin greeted back.
“I cannot seem to find Loki anywhere, do you happen to know where he is?”, he asked. Odin frowned, as did his mother.
“…Loki?”
“Yes, Loki, my brother.”, he confirmed, Now they both seemed concerned.
“Dear, you don’t have any siblings?”, Frigga asked. Thor chocked on nothing.
“Excuse me?”
“You don’t have any siblings.”, Odin repeated. “Are you well, son?”
“But- Why does no one- I have a brother! Black hair, green eyes, always wears green for some nornsforsaken reason? Stabbed me with a dagger for the first time when we were around eight?”
“Dear, Sif stabbed you that day. It was an accident in training. You and the Warriors three had been training with actual weapons, not that we allowed it, and she stabbed you on accident.”
“What.”
“Dear, are you-”, Thor interrupted her.
“Why does no one remember Loki?! What is going on?? WhY IS THIS HAPPENING?!?” Both his parents looked at him with shock and concern.
“Son, I think you should accomplice me to the healers. Now.”
Thor just stared at them. Then, he slowly turned away from them. Frigga blinked in confusion-
And Thor fucking bolted.
“Guards!”, Odin shouted in alarm. “Get him! He needs to go to the healers immediately!”
—
“SIF!”, boomed Thors voice. Sif, who had been been sharpening her sword , looked up to see Thor ran and sputter to a stop next to her. He seemed out of breath, there was even sweat on his face. She frowned.
“Thor?”, she asked, worrying.
“Sif, answer me this honestly.”, Thor said seriously and Sif straightened. “Do you know who Loki is?”
Okay, what?
“Loki? As in your brother Loki? Second Prince of Asgard Loki? Why would I not know him?”, Sif asked, very confused. Thor breathed out in relief at that.
“Thank the Norns. Sif, you have to help me. No one-”
“There he is!”, interrupted a guard from from the distance. Sif frowned in confusion. A guard was after Thor? Why would he- oh my Norns.
The sheer army of guards that rounded the corner made her freeze in spot.
“Thor. Thor what did you do?”
“No time to explain.”, he said as he grabbed her wrist with one hand and Mjolnir with the other. “We need to go. Now.” He began swinging around his Hammer.
Sif realised what he was doing to late.
“Thor- Thor wait-”
***
(Credit to: MidnightDremur)
Fury stared at the man- god- whatever in front of him. The man-god-whatever stared back.
“Where is the Tesseract.”, Fury asked, voice colder than any winters will ever manage to be. Expect those on Jotunheim, not that he knew that.
Loki just shrugged.
“Somewhere.”, he said, dead serious.
“Where is the Tesseract.”, Fury repeated.
“In this Universe.”, Loki said, still dead serious.
“A closer location would be appreciated.”
“One of the nine realms.”
“Where on the nine realms?”, Fury gritted out.
“Midgard.”, Loki answered easily.
“Where on Earth is it?”
“In this country- I forgot its name to be honest.”
“Where in this country?”
“In this building.”, Loki said with a shrug. Outside the room, instructions were being thrown around and agents rushed of to search the building.
“Where exactly?”, Fury asked.
“Somewhere.”, Loki repeated.
“Where exactly is it in this building?”, he corrected himself.
“This room!”, Loki said cheerfully.
“Where in this room.”, Fury grit out like the impatient ass he was.
“…In my Stomach.”, Loki said.
“What.”
“In my Stomach.”, Loki repeated slowly, as if he were talking to a small child. “I ate it.”
Fury fucking sputtered.
“You ate the Tesseract?!?”
“Yes.”, Loki confirmed, and as if one cue, a blueish energy pulsed under Lokis skin for a moment, before it disappeared.
“What the fuck. Why??” Loki shrugged and looked him in the eye.
“It looked tasty.”
“What the fuck is wrong with you.”
“Everything.”
“I don’t know why I even fucking bothered.”
***
(Credit to: various people)
Loki happily skipped down the streets of New York. All around him, people were scrambling to run away from him and while doing so kept falling over again and again and again. It was really funny to look at, actually.
He slid down the street, still happily watching the civilians fall over, when someone spoke up behind him.
“S-Sir, stop r-right there.”, it said, stuttering but firm. Loki turned, facing the sheer army of SHIELD agents standing behind him. They were decked in clothing and had spikes on their feet to stay sturdily, but they were still all shaking anyways. To his respect though, all of them were holding their guns at him with determination in their faces.
The one who had spoken was Agent Phil Coulson- he recalled his name only because they had spent an entire loop stuck in a bunker together- it had indeed been a funny loop.
“Yes?”, he asked innocently. “How can I help you?”
“How a-about undoing t-the ice-age?”, Phil said firmly, even though his entire body was shaking from the cold.
Loki tilted his head.
“I thought that this planet is- was overheating, no? You won’t have that problem anymore for the next few thousand years. You’re welcome.”
“D-Don’t get me wrong, I’m just-just as c-concerned about it as w-well, but this-”, he gestured to the Town, which was completely frozen in ice and snow that was falling steadily from the sky, where people kept falling over when trying to walk. “-t-this is an o-overkill.”
Loki raised an eyebrow.
“Why, I do not think so! In fact, this environment has just the right temperature. It could be a bit colder…but whatever, this is fine too.”
It was true. Loki found that this weather was perfect for his Jotun form. He had even toned the temperature down a bit so the mortals wouldn’t die, but no they were complaining. Ungrateful lot.
The mortals kept talking, but Loki was now focusing on focusing his magic on the snow, effectively making a giant snowball, which was slightly bigger than the mortals. He calculated, flickered his hand with a green shine, and the snowball flew straight into the group of mortals.
There were yelps and screams as they all fell over like dominos. Soon, the army that had been so big it hadn’t fit on this street and had to move to two others to achieve so was on the floor, struggling to get up on the ice.
Loki hummed, turned, and continued skipping down the street and admiring the scenery.
—
Loki had just been sitting on Starks tower, when the sky got darker. Snow was falling rapidly and the wind was picking up- under him he could hear some of the very few people still outside hurrying into the nearest building.
Then Loki was already getting grabbed by the collar, grinning as Thor growled at him.
“Where is the Tesseract?”, his brother growled, angrier than usual. He guessed it was either because he already caused quite the chaos, or because he had dropped the glamour to look Aesir.
Personally, He would bet on the later.
“I’ve sent it off, I know not where.”, he answered, choosing to stick with the script.
“I do not have time for your games-”
“I do.”, Loki said, something bitter slipping into his voice. “I have all the time of the world.”
Thor seemed to see see something in the way his eyes had darkened ever so slightly, and faltered.
“Loki? What is-”
“Anyways! I’m not dead! Bet that makes you very happy.”, Loki said, voice dripping with (false) sarcasm. Thor did not even hear the fake sarcasm.
“Of course Brother! I mourned you. We mourned-”
“Sentimental, all of you.”, with that, he teleported away, because if Thor was going to say one more speech about his grief, he would probably quite literally kill him.
—
Loki was walking around the park, when a Snowball hit him in the head. He whirled around- to see a kid standing there, a playful grin on his face.
“Got you!”, he cheered.
Loki just stared at the kid as he made another snowball. He was deeply confused, because who the heck would let out a kid into this weather alone.
And maybe he was also confused because the kid did either not realise he was a Monster, or didn’t care.
He could not fathom how he wouldn’t be scared of a monster like-
His thoughts were stopped by another Snowball hitting him square in the face. He blinked in surprise.
“Don’t think so much!”, the boy commanded. “I can basically hear you overthinking.”
Loki then and there decided that he would adopt this child. (Especially since there was something familiar about him…but he couldn’t place his tongue on it.)
***
Loki points the end of the sceptre at Starks chest, only for it to not work. He frowns.
“Usually this doesn’t work- damnit!”, he cursed at his mistake. Stark looked at him with wide, confused (and kind off amused) eyes.
“Did you just-”,
“Not. A. Word.”, he grit out as he pulled out a board titled mistakes and added the third stroke. Then he let it vanish again and turned back to Stark.
“Anyways.”, he cleared his throat and went back into acting.
“This usually works.”
—
“If it’s all the same to you, I’d have that glass now.”
Silence.
“Wait- Godamnit!”
The Fourth stroke.
—
“Did she die?”, he asked.
Thor looked confused for a second.
“Loki-”
“No, no wait, I meant suffer. Did she suffer?” Loki corrected himself as he pulled out the board and added yet another stroke. It had been going so well.
—
“I did it for him- oh GODAMNIT. EVEN WHEN I’M FUCKING DYING??”
Thor looked very confused at his sudden outburst. Loki pulled out the board and added a stroke, hid it again and closed his eyes.
He cleared his throat, which promptly resulted in him going into a coughing fit because he forgot he had gotten stabbed.
—
“Everything was going Thor- OH GODFUCKING-”
Asgard, already used to their kings- princes- whatever’s- sudden outbursts, just waited for a second. Thor though looked very confused.
“Just give him a moment.”, someone said to Thor. “He’ll ‘go back to script’ in a second, just wait a bit.”
—
“Where is the All Father-”
“You said that wrong.”
Thor frowned.
“What?”
“You said that wrong.”, Loki repeated, pulling out a board titled Mistakes (Thor), and pulled a stroke, looking very delighted with himself.
“Uhm, was it my Grammar?”
“No, its just not in the script, try again.”
“Uh, Where is the All Father?”
Loki stared.
“You just repeated. Try again.”
“He won’t stop until you get it right.”, whispers one of the servants. Thor gulped. What could be wrong about the sentence? Ah!
“Who is the All Father?”, he asked.
“What-NO!”
“How is the All-Father?”
“NO!”
Thor thought for a moment, then he nodded.
“I know now. Why is the All Father?”
Loki continued adding strokes to Thors board until deep into the night.
—
“Kneel before me, brothers.”
“Beg you little bitch- OH WAIT THAT WASN’T IN THE SCRIPT LIKE THAT!!” Thor just sighed, already used to Lokis strange obsession with everyone wording things in an exact way, whilst Hela just looked at him bewildered.
While Loki frantically searched some papers, Hela pointed at him with her weapon.
“What’s up with him?”
“He has this weird obsession of people saying everything a certain way. Calls the right version script, too. My guess is that those papers show the right answers.“, Thor explained.
“Does this happen often?”, Hela asked, frowning.
“Well, just yesterday he had me recite the same sentence about my Mortal dumping me until I got it right. It was very depressing.”, Thor shuddered at the memory.
Hela just snorted.
“Your mortal dumped you?”
“Indeed, though I do recommend focusing in my brother now, he doesn’t take kindly to being ignored.”
Hela shrugged, then looked at him with curiosity.
“How many of these wrong strokes do you have?”
Thor shuddered.
“91.”
“That’s not too bad actually-“
“He started my list three days ago.”
“-Ah.”
***
“I will ruin any happiness you posses. And I’m going to make it slow. And painful.”, Thanos growled.
Loki blinked in surprise.
“I have happiness???”
Now Thanos was blinking.
“I’m happy??? Thor!”, Loki said, turning to his chained brother, who looked to be laughing silently. “Did you hear that? Apparently I do have Happiness somewhere!”
That was the last straw as Thor burst out laughing. Between laughing and catching air he grit out: “N-Now we just-just have to find it-”
Loki nodded, newfound determination in his eyes.
“I will find my Happiness.”, he beamed, then put a finger on his chin. “Where could it be hidden though?”
Thanos sputtered and Thor burst out laughing again as Loki though intensely.
“It’s probably hidden somewhere between my trauma and my desire to kill everyone in the universe. Or under the mountain of Daddy Issues.”
Thor fell to the floor as Thanos sighed and turned.
This was exactly why he hated interacting with the God of lies and Mischief.
He was so fucking difficult.