Tracking Spell
The sensation of his power surging back to life in his veins as the magic binding cuffs encircling his wrists were removed was incredible for Loki. It always was. Over the centuries, it had been easy to grow so accustomed to his own magic and its strength that he had at times taken it for granted, but in recent years where that magic had quite often been locked away from him, he had developed a new level of appreciation for it.
He breathed out slowly, then opened his eyes. Thor, Tony, and Steve were present in the relatively small and plain room with him, Thor to keep an eye on him, and the other two as added security — mostly for the sake of their own paranoia. A large window, a few lounge chairs, a coffee table, and a rug placed down on the floor were the only major objects in the room. It was clearly just an extra space in the large tower, but today it would serve the purpose of being where he would perform the tracking spell to locate the Scepter.
He gave no acknowledgment of the two extra Avengers in the room, seeing as he wasn’t particularly fond of either of them, but nodded briefly towards Thor. Thor returned it and actually looked quite calm, seeming to trust that Loki wouldn’t try anything — for now, at least.
Loki turned away from the men, trying to ignore their presence as much as possible for his own concentration’s sake. He took a seat crisscrossed on the rug, then closed his eyes and began to focus himself inward, breathing deeply.
Meditation was a skill he had long since mastered, having practiced it since he was a child as part of his magical studies. Still, that initial sensation of complete calmness coming over him like a warm blanket on a chilly day never ceased to amaze him. To let go of all of life’s worries and pleasures and complexities and for a short while simply be was one of the most rewarding feelings he had experienced to this day.
He continued to sit, letting everything drain away. The three Avengers observing him no longer existed. Neither did the tower that they were in or the rug on which he sat. Soon even reality itself melted away until all that remained was his breathing, his magic, and his intention. Now he could begin.
There were multiple ways to perform a tracking spell, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. However, when looking for something so overwhelmingly powerful as an Infinity Stone, assuming it wasn’t veiled — such as the Soul Stone was, which, to Loki’s knowledge, people still hadn’t managed to locate — the easiest course of action was simply to feel outwards with magic until he found it. Under most circumstances, this approach was hardly practical since, although the stones’ power reached across the entirety of the universe, searching outwards far enough to pinpoint the precise location of one when it could easily be galaxies away would take far too long. The difference here was that Loki already knew that the Scepter was on Midgard, and thus, not too far away.
Having decided the method he was using, he guided his magic outwards. It followed his lead, flowing from him and slowly reaching out over the ever expanding fabric of reality with the mission of locating a single thread. He could feel the universe around him, moving, growing, thrumming with power. Some energies were more noticeable than others, but nothing sang louder than the Infinity Stones, whose power rippled out over every corner of the universe.
Almost immediately, a specific energy point stood out to Loki. He felt at it more thoroughly, gently poking at it with his own energy in hopes of confirming it to be the Mind Stone, but his brow furrowed as he realized it was not, in fact, the Mind Stone. Its energy was unfamiliar but no less powerful — a stone he hadn’t encountered yet. It felt extremely close, within this very city even. This was quite shocking for Loki. Six Infinity Stones in an entire universe of space, and he had somehow managed to come across four of them in just a couple of years.
He tried to push this revelation of a new stone to the back of his mind for later consideration. Right now he needed to focus.
He pushed his magic out a bit further, guiding it until he finally found what he was looking for. The pull of the Mind Stone on his own mind was noticeable immediately. Its energy called out like a sweet siren song trying to lure him in. He resisted that song, knowing better than to listen to it again. All he needed was its location, and he didn’t need to connect with its energy to link with the physical object.
His mouth began moving in silent words. Green, shimmering runes formed and danced in the air around him. He could feel them in his very soul, familiar and powerful. They weaved tightly together at his bidding, slowly becoming a single ring of spellwork surrounding him instead of many individual parts. He murmured one last word and the spell activated.
When he did this, as if sensing his familiar energy, the Mind Stone reacted in a way he hadn’t anticipated. Its energy lunged, latching onto his own. Suddenly, it felt like the breath had been sucked out of his lungs. Images flashed through his mind in rapid succession, too quickly for him to truly process. There was a young man and woman, a symbol of some kind, Chitauri armor, a forest—
Loki gasped and doubled over, feeling like he’d just been struck with the full force of Mjolnir. Then there were hands on his shoulders. Thor’s face slowly came into focus.
“Loki!” Thor said firmly with an edge of anxiety. His eyes held a mixture of confusion and concern. Tony and Steve stood behind him with cautious expressions. Loki panted for several seconds before his mind began to clear. He breathed out slowly and let his head fall forward for a minute. Thor spoke again. “Loki, what happened? Did the spell work?”
Loki lifted his head to look at his brother again as Thor’s question managed to register in his mind. Did the spell work? He’d never had a tracking spell respond like that before. Then again, he’d never tried to track an object that he had previously been telepathically connected to. He focused on his magic, trying to find the tether that would suggest he’d been successful. Soon he found it. He tried to suppress his immediate dread. Something didn’t feel right about it, not like it should for a simple tracking spell link. It didn’t feel like a telepathic link either, but it still didn’t feel right, and that made him nervous.
Still, the spell had worked. Loki nodded his head in response to Thor’s question and closed his eyes as his temples began to ache. It was a familiar feeling. The stone was trying to connect with his mind again. No. He wouldn’t allow that to happen. He focused on his mental barriers, strengthening them. The headache slowly faded, and he let out a relieved breath. He opened his eyes again.
“It worked,” he said confidently. “I can lead you to the Scepter.”
Tony looked him up and down briefly and raised a brow. “Do you normally look like you’ve just been hit by a truck after doing that or is it just an occasional thing?”
“It can happen, yes,” Loki answered dryly. That was partially true. Some spells could have some pretty nasty side effects even when done properly. However, he left out the fact that he’d never experienced such a thing with this specific spell.
“Where’s the Scepter?” Steve asked.
“Oh, that I can’t tell you,” Loki responded.
Tony’s eyes narrowed slightly. “What do you mean you can’t tell us?”
Loki shrugged. “Using a tracking spell is like tying a string to an object. One can follow that string to get to the object, but judging exactly where it is just by pulling on the string is quite difficult, and I don’t really know your realm well enough to give you even an approximate location. I can tell you that it is far though.”
Tony nodded. “‘Far’. That helps,” he said sarcastically.
“Yes, well, it would have been quite humiliating for you if it was sitting buried under some boxes in the building next door,” Loki responded, a sassy edge to his tone.
Thor rubbed a hand over his face, looking like an exasperated father trying to control his children. “Stark, rest assured, my brother can and will lead us to the Scepter.”
Steve turned to Loki. “Do you think you could give us a general idea of where it is if we got you a map?”
Loki was silent for a moment, then nodded. “Yes. Assuming there are distance measurements, I can do that.”
Steve nodded in turn. “Alright then, let’s get you a map and see if you can at least make a guess at where ‘far’ is so that we know where we’re going.” He and Tony turned, leaving the room to go find a tablet or computer.
Loki watched them leave. Once they were gone, he untangled his legs from the crisscrossed position and got to his feet. A sharp pain went through his skull, and an image flashed in his mind’s eye. It was the same young woman from before. She had brown, wavy hair and an almost sickly appearance to her. She stood face to face with the Mind Stone, which was detached from the Scepter for the first time in the couple of years that Loki had known of it. It floated motionlessly in front of her. He inhaled sharply and squeezed his eyes shut as the image vanished again.
This caught Thor’s attention. His brow furrowed. “What’s the matter?” He asked.
Loki quickly opened his eyes again and straightened up. “Nothing,” he said a bit too sharply before correcting his tone. “Nothing. It’s just a small headache. Probably from having not used my magic in a few years,” he lied, not wanting to reveal the actual answer, that the Scepter was trying to mess with his head — again.
Thor seemed to accept the response well enough. He looked a bit suspicious but not outright disbelieving. There was a brief silence between the brothers. Then Thor reached for the magic binding cuffs, which had been set aside while Loki had been performing the spell.
Loki immediately looked annoyed. “Really? You do realize I could just teleport away right here and now.”
Thor grinned. “Of course I do, but they don’t,” he said, nodding over his shoulder at where the two Avengers had exited from. “Besides, you’re still the God of Mischief and a slippery snake. I can’t exactly be too careful, now can—“ Thor cut off, and his expression immediately turned to alarm as he made contact with Loki and the Trickster’s form shimmered out of existence.
Thor’s head quickly turned from side to side, checking the room with mild panic. His shoulders deflated in relief as he turned to see Loki standing directly behind him with a triumphant smirk on his face and his arms crossed over his chest.
“‘Slippery snake’, am I? You wound me, brother,” Loki said with feigned hurt.
Thor rolled his eyes. “Yes, I’m sure,” he responded, lips turning up into a slight smile. He reached out and closed the bands around Loki’s wrists. “And that is exactly why we’re keeping those on.”
Loki huffed, staring at the cuffs with an unimpressed look as he felt them lock around his magic once more. His face softened slightly as he felt that itch of the Mind Stone in the back of his head disappear. Perhaps the cuffs had an advantage after all.
Just then, Tony and Steve reentered the room with a tablet in hand. They both took note of Loki’s restored bindings and looked somewhat relieved by this. Tony held the tablet out to Loki, who stared at it for a moment before reluctantly reaching out and taking it. On the tablet was a world map with distance measurements on it, just as he’d specified.
“Will this work?” Steve asked.
Loki didn’t answer. His mind was already working, approximating the Scepter’s distance through the link — which he could still sense even with his magic bound — first into Asgardian measurements and then into human miles, a skill he had acquired a few years earlier while attempting to conquer the realm.
“It is somewhere in this area,” he finally said, circling the western side of Europe.
Tony looked perhaps a bit impressed, though he kept it mostly hidden. “That’s still a pretty large range,” he pointed out.
Loki rolled his eyes. He was pretty sure this man was just being difficult out of spite, and he had to resist the urge to throw him out another window. “And you could do better?” he challenged.
“Enough,” Thor said firmly, quickly stepping in. He turned to Tony. “An approximation is all you need for now, yes? Loki will be able to lead us to a more specific location once we’re in the jet,” he said, almost defensively. Loki didn’t miss that defensive edge, and he raised a brow.
Tony looked between the two brothers, then nodded. “Well then, let’s get things ready so we can leave bright and early tomorrow morning.”
For a moment, they all just stood there. Then the four men turned and headed for the exit. With a location acquired, it was time to suit up and go steal back the Scepter.