Chapter 1
So Loki just appeared. In the middle of the night, right in the middle of the living room. Of Tony’s tower.
Sorry, the Avengers tower. Tony still hadn’t gotten used to that.
Of course, being caught alone in the middle of the night by a super villain did not sit well with Tony, who immediately called his armor to himself and held him at repulser point.
“How did you get here? What do you want?!”
Loki almost didn’t react, taking a second to look up at Tony with an expression of confusion before it was masked with indifference.
“Thor. Where’s Thor?”
His voice came out thin and gravelly, nowhere near the preachy “You were made to be ruled” tone he seemed so fond of using. Only then did Tony pause to actually look at the god.
For one thing, Loki hadn’t stood up yet: still on his knees, head angled away from Tony, avoiding his gaze. In the dim light of the room, Loki's skin appeared clammy and pale, well, paler than Tony had ever seen it before, a stark white against his darker garments.
Even his garments were less extravagant: plain, deep forest green, with shades of gray and black. No gold and no fancy Asgardian leather.
An illusion to make him appear weak? Some sort of trick?
But there was also the fact that his breathing sounded . . . off, almost like a fish out of water. Loki struggled to get it under control, but whatever deep breaths he took didn’t seem to be evening out, shuddering and stunted.
The sound reminded Tony of the way he felt when he had anxiety attacks.
He lowered his arm.
Why was Tony suddenly concerned for the god again? Relatability? If it weren’t for Loki, there wouldn’t be anything for Tony to relate to, but however much he wanted to listen to the voice in his head screaming not to care, Tony couldn’t stop thinking:
What happened to him?
Loki stood up, knees shaking and eyes strangely glossy and unfocused.
He stumbled, and Tony went to catch him, “Loki, if you’re—“
“Get away from me!” Loki shrieked, writhing in Tony’s arms, frantic to get away from him. He backed away, visibly drawing himself together, “Take me to Thor.”
Naturally, Tony couldn’t leave the two Asgardians alone. That was just asking for trouble.
Instead, he called a meeting with the rest of the Avengers. Loki wasn’t thrilled, standing silently in a corner of the boardroom as he waited for Thor to arrive, but Tony figured he’d rather not risk pissing off the group again.
As soon as he arrived, Loki started speaking directly to Thor, ignoring the rest of the group in the room. Steve, apparently, wanted to change that, jumping at the first chance to ask questions.
“Jörmungandr?” He asked, picking out a word from the conversation, “Isn’t that one of your uh . . .” He stopped in his tracks, his face turning a faint shade of pink.
Loki, of course, caught some sort of implication, turning to him with a smile, “My what, exactly, Captain?”
Steve didn’t answer.
Jormungandr, why did that sound familiar?
“Oh right!” Stark snapped his fingers, saving Steve from having to answer, “Your kids! Jörmungandr was the snake, wasn’t it?”
“Ragnorok prophesied it, yes.” Loki answered, tone nonchalant, “The Norns wrote it in your myths. Unfortunately for them, I have nothing to do with snakes, wolves, or otherwise.”
“But you will eventually?”
“Stark.”
“What? I’m just saying.”
Thor shook his head, “Those are merely stories passed from generation to generation to provoke fear of Ragnarok.”
“Not everyone believes they are mere stories, Thor. There’s a reason so many want me dead.”
Clint, who'd spent the majority of the meeting silently glaring at Loki, cut in, “You mean the fact that you tried to rule an entire planet?”
Loki turned to address the archer.
“Do you really think the Asgardians would care about a planet such as Earth?" he asked, sounding genuinely taken aback, "Even Odin believes that humans are beneath him. Just ask Thor why he broke up with Jane.”
Tony didn’t think this would be the time to mention that they’d recently gotten back together, but the look on Thor’s face implied that he didn’t feel the same way.
“Loki—“ Thor tried to protest, but Loki kept talking.
“Thor is one of the exceptions, I’m afraid.”
Bruce spoke up for the first time since they sat down, “So who is this Jörmungandr, then?”
“A fearsome league of warrior assassins to protect Asgard,” Thor explained, “led by my father’s brother.”
“Never heard of him.” Stark said promptly.
“Baldur. He’s not much to speak of,” Thor said, pausing to wave a hand for Loki to continue, “Usually.”
Before he could speak, Clint remarked, “That seems kinda cold, coming from the god who refuses to believe that Loki is completely evil.”
Thor glanced guiltily out the window, “We haven’t exactly been close lately.”
“He’s dead, Thor.”
“What?”
“Jormungandr went rogue. Tyr’s leading them now. Even Heimdall is unable to find them.”
“How do you know they’re after Thor?” Steve asked.
Loki exchanged a glance with Thor.
“Tyr was . . . entrusted to watch over me.”
Tony blinked.
Entrusted to watch over? What kind of punishment was that?
The way Loki hesitated, struggled to find the right words, Tony had a sinking feeling Tyr wasn’t just babysitting the war criminal.
“And he let you go?” Stark asked, unconvinced.
Loki turned to meet his gaze, “No. He took me with him.”
“So you escaped? You know where he is?”
“Yes, Br—Thor, but I can’t tell you. They don’t just want to kill you. Their goal is to overthrow Odin. They will torture you for answers. Secrets. Perhaps even for things you can’t imagine.”
“I can handle—“
“No. You can’t, Thor. You can’t just hammer your way through this. You need to listen to me.”
Thor smiled, “What’s your plan?”
“Go to Yggdrasil.”
The slight smile on Thor’s face disappeared, replaced with an expression of disgust and rage, “Are you mad? I can’t just run and hide!”
“You have to! Thor, you don’t know how dangerous they are,” For the first time, Stark could see desperation and real fear in the god’s expression,”What they did when I—Thor, I—Please.”
Thor seemed to note the expression as well, as his expression immediately softened, “I’m not going anywhere, Loki. Neither are you. We can stop them together, Brother.” He tried to draw Loki into a warm embrace, but the younger god drew away.
“I’m not your brother.” He scowled, but the words didn’t hold their usual bite, “If you refuse to listen to me, fine. Perish for all I care. But never say I didn’t try to warn you.”
“I think we should bring this to Father. He will take care of it.”
“No, you don’t think at all, do you? I told you, Heimdall can’t see them!”
“You can show us—“
“Are you insane? Last time Odin—“
“Last time Odin gave you a punishment, as he should have,” Thor said, his voice stern and cold, “We’re going.”
He grabbed Loki by the arm. The whole room tensed, expecting Loki to lash out with magic. If he escaped and teleported to the tower, he must've had access to it, right?
But he didn't.
“Wait, what are you—Stop!” Loki struggled in his grip, but Thor had always been stronger. Loki frantically glanced around the room, but no one protested as Thor dragged him out of the room, headed for the rooftop. “Let me go you oaf! Odin was the one that sent me here!”
Thor stopped in the middle of the living room floor, and turned to stare at something outside the window.
“What?”
Two ravens hovered outside the window, squawking. One tapped on the window insistently. Puzzled, Thor moved to prop the window open.
“Huginn,” he murmured.
“Hey, hey, hey!” even as the birds flew in, Tony yelped indignantly.
Loki rolled his eyes and held an arm out for the other bird, Muninn. The bird landed gracefully with a swift flurry of wingbeats.
“It’s alright, Friend Stark,” Thor said as the other raven settled on his finger, “Huginn and Muninn are my father’s ravens. They won’t cause any mischief.”
He went to stroke Huginn's feathers, but the raven bit him. Thor merely chuckled, “Usually.”
“Next pain,” Huginn croaked.
Half of the team jumped. The Captain’s eyes widened; the Widow blinked, her normally unimpressed expression surprised for once.
“Thor is a Disney princess confirmed,” Hawkeye said, the only one of the group that seemed amused instead of shocked.
“God. Help.” Muninn added.
Loki glared at Thor, as if to say “See?”
“Alright,” Thor grumbled, and turned back to the raven, “Huginn, how long?”
“Life,” Huginn warbled in response.
“Hey, Buddy, wanna clue us in?” Tony asked, “What’s going on?”
“Loki is to serve his next punishment here on Midgard.”
“That bird said life,” Tony responded slowly, “So what, a life sentence of 20 years?”
“For as long as he shall live.” Thor’s grave voice fell heavy on silence.
Steve was the first to break the silence, “ . . . So why is he here?”
“He is to be a servant and ally to the Avengers.”
“No.” The Avengers, save Thor, voiced their unanimous opinion in various shapes, colors, and pitches. Bruce, looking a little green, excused himself from the room.
“You can’t change it,” Loki said, somehow sounding even less happy with it than the Avengers themselves.
“Regardless if you will come with me or not,” Thor spoke finally, “I ought to speak with Father about Jormungandr.”
He turned to go.
“Tell Mother to leave Asgard,” Loki spoke abruptly, grabbing Thor’s arm before he could leave, “She would not listen to me. As long as she is in Asgard, she will not be safe.”
Thor nodded.
“I trust you will keep my brother safe in my absence?” Thor addressed the Avengers, but directed his gaze towards Hawkeye.
“No promises,” he mumbled, but after a sharp nudge to the ribs from Natasha, agreed, “Fine, we’ll keep him safe.”