No Good Deed
"—cannot allow this to continue!" Thor all but snarled.
Loki would have groaned at the wave of nausea that rolled over him. Trust the oaf to be loud enough to wake a draugr from its slumber.
Wait… Did that make Loki a draugr?
"—listen to us, he is a criminal," Loki heard the tail end of Steve Roger's answer.
"For the last time," said Thor and Loki was a little thankful that he had lowered his volume, "My brother has more than proven himself to all of Asgard. There is a bigger threat on the horizon and we will need his help in facing it."
"How can we be certain he won't just turn around and stab us in the back though?" wondered the Black Widow.
Strength slowly returned to Loki's leaden limbs, every breath he drew coming a little easier than the last. His head still pounded in synchronicity to his beating heart but it had lessened to more manageable levels. And that was when he became aware of the cool weight around his wrists and ankles.
"I do not have to stand here and listen to my shield-brethren doubt my word, over and over again," Thor argued as Loki tested the strength of his bonds without alerting anyone.
He highly doubted this was his brother's idea but how many of Thor's 'shield-brethren' had been in favor of chaining Loki up?
There was a hiss as a door slid open and Loki counted two pairs of footsteps entering the room.
"I had believed,” Thor started to say, sounding equal parts incensed and saddened, “that we had garnered enough trust to—"
"Trust?” Stark piped up, cutting Thor off. “Ha! You're missing out on quite a lot of history there, Thuderbro. Trust is a commodity we're running extremely short of these days."
Loki cracked an eye open to take stock of his surroundings. Thor squared off against his so-called shield-brethren at the foot of Loki’s bed, Steve Rogers and the Black Widow at the right and his brother to the left. Stark and the second-rate sorcerer had come through a doorway directly across from Loki’s feet.
"Tony, what did Shuri say?" Steve Rogers asked and a flash of annoyance crossed Thor's face. It was a show of surprising restraint on his brother's part though when he masked his expression and did not retaliate. "Can you guys save Vision?"
Stark ignored the question and approached Thor instead.
"How's your brother doing?" Stark asked and Loki was surprised by the concern in the Midgardian’s voice. Huh…
"Still no change,” Thor admitted.
"He goes into a healing coma when close to death," said Bruce Banner, sounding fascinated and Loki tried not to tense up as he realized he hadn't noticed the man's presence at his side. "It’s very fascinating, really, I didn't have access to any equipment to take readings when it happened on Saraab but—"
"Yes, I'm sure it's all very fascinating," Stark cut in, a little impatient. "Unfortunately, we don't have time for that."
"What's the matter?"
"General Ross is on his way down here to arrest a certain group of people," said Stark, pointedly not looking at Steve Rogers and the Widow, "which is why Houdini here, has agreed to create a portal for all of you to skedaddle out of here."
"What about Vision?" asked Steve Rogers again and was promptly ignored by Stark.
"Can you release the binds on my brother?" Thor asked.
"Binds?" Stark sounded confused as he approached Loki. There was a pause before Stark turned around. "Okay, who was the genius who thought shackling a man on his deathbed was a good idea?” he demanded as he pulled up an interface and Loki heard the distinct click as the restraints unlocked.
“Tony, we still don’t know if we can trust him,” Steve Rogers insisted.
“You’re talking about trustworthiness?” Stark finally turned to address his teammate, “You? Don’t make me laugh, Captain.”
“This isn't the time to be holding on to grudges, Tony,” the Widow spoke up.
“Loki was more helpful than the two of you during the attack,” Stark shot back, waving a dismissive hand in their direction as he turned away from them. “Anyway, I don’t have time for any of this right now, so why don’t you and the captain just use Houdini’s portal service and leave. And take Maximoff with you.”
“What about Vision?” Steve asked and Loki was surprised to see the pained look cross Stark’s face.
“Princess Shuri has a few ideas on salvaging him using a fusion of Wakandan tech alongside Stark’s,” Strange answered instead. “I will be delivering Vision and some equipment at her lab while Stark deals with the situation here.”
“Boss, General Ross has just crossed the external perimeter,” a disembodied female voice announced.
“I think that’s your cue to leave,” Stark told his unwelcome guests. Loki was surprised to find that he had included Thor in that statement.
Then again, all things considered, if Thor were to be found in the company of a wanted criminal such as Loki, it would bode ill for the Asgardian refugees.
“I cannot leave my brother behind,” Thor declared boldly, “And seeing as he had yet to awaken, we cannot move him from this spot.”
“You should make nice with the Midgardians, Thor,” Loki said as he finally cracked an eye open, fixing his brother with a stern look. Or at least, he hoped it was stern and not exhausted.
He pushed himself into a seated position, ignoring the way his muscles screamed and the world spun around him. Darkness encroached at the edges of his vision but Loki couldn't afford to show any weakness and so he pushed through it through sheer force of will.
“Loki!" Thor happily declared, grinning despite the seriousness of the situation. "You’re awake.”
“You should go with the rest of your mortal friends," Loki said, holding up a hand before Thor could grab him in a crushing hug.
"We can both go together, Loki," said Thor, his grin dimming at being denied a hug. Loki felt guilt itching at the back of his mind but he quickly tamped down on it. "If you're worried about being recognized, you could transform into Loptr."
Loki frowned at the suggestion. Why was Thor coming up with anything that was even remotely clever? Besides, why was he even considering trickery? Plans involving anything remotely deceptive in nature were Loki's forte, not Thor's. Besides, hadn't Loki been upset with the oaf when they had last spoken?
Loki tried not to look too closely at how he'd reacted when he'd thought Thor to be dead. Of course, he'd been upset. With Thor dead, Loki would have been the one saddled with the thankless task of negotiating a home for the remnants of their people and he would much rather not destroy what little chance the Asgardian refugees had of being allowed to stay on Midgard by acting as their representative. Afterall, the mortals still remembered him as the failed invader who had brought death and destruction upon their world.
That had been the only reason why Loki had acted the way he had, attacking Thor’s old flame.
"I don't think your friends would like the idea of me tagging along, disguise or no," Loki said, noting that the other mortals had already departed. Including, it seemed, Banner.
"Then I'll stay here with you," Thor boldly declared. "I'm sure I can speak with this… general and explain the situation. We can sort this mess out."
Loki shook his head. "No, Thor. You shouldn't be found in the company of someone like me. Especially since you have the rest of our people to consider."
"Loki, I don't–"
"Be their King," Loki cut in with an encouraging smile, "Negotiate a home for them. I'll be fine. Although, the mortals will require a spark of the Mind Stone's power to reignite the soul that resided within Stark's construct."
"A spark of the… you mean Wanda?" Stark turned to Loki in surprise.
"Indeed."
"Boss, General Ross is outside the compound," announced the disembodied female voice.
"Thor, buddy," said Stark as he patted Thor on the shoulder, "if you're planning on leaving, now is the time."
Thor gave him one last pleading look and Loki looked away. He heard the oaf sigh before his footsteps retreated.
"Right," Stark announced loudly, clapping his hands as he turned to Loki, "now to deal with you."
Loki bared his teeth, gathering his seidr and hating the way it burned through his flesh. Had all this been a ploy to get Loki alone? Weakened?
"Calm down, I'm not going to attack you," Stark sighed and for the first time, his confident mask cracked just enough to show the exhaustion he hid beneath. "Sit tight and let me deal with the general. If you want, you can pretend to still be comatose or something. Or if you can go invisible, that would be even better."
"Boss," the disembodied voice said and Stark hurried towards the door.
"Just don't draw attention to yourself and I'll get rid of him," Stark promised as he vanished through the doors.
Loki frowned after the mortal.
Did he take Loki for a fool? Pretend to be comatose? Make it all the more easier for the Midgardian general to spirit him away?
Loki swung his feet off the cot, gritting his teeth as pins and needles stabbed him all over his legs.
"Please return to the bed, Mr. Odinson," said the voice.
Loki ignored it in favor of trying to remain upright, battling vertigo as the world darkened along the edges of his vision.
"The Boss doesn't want General Ross to know you're present here," she said.
Still Loki ignored her as he reached for his seidr.
It burned through his veins it only ever did after a bout of magical exhaustion though it hadn't been this bad since he'd fallen off the Bifrost–
No! Don't think about it. Don't think about it.
Loki shoved the rising flood of memories back into the corner of his mind that he'd relegated everything from his time in that place to.
Focusing on the seidr, Loki cloaked himself and left a double behind to follow the instructions given by Stark's… servant?
He was going to regret the aftermath of what came next but Loki knew he had no other choice. As if he'd trust a mortal to not throw Loki to the wolves in favor of protecting his own hide.
Loki knew better than to rely on anyone but himself.
Pushing himself this far after the state Loki had been in wasn't the smartest of strategies, but something pushed him to follow after the Man of Iron. Cloaked in invisibility and his strength bolstered by seidr that continued to burn, Loki travelled through the hallways following the locator spell until he found the open door to the meeting hall where Stark stood conversing with the one presumably named General Ross. The general stood in the threshold, keeping the doors from fully closing as he made rather uncreative threats towards Stark's person.
Loki slipped past the mortal and came to stand next to Stark.
"-let them leave despite their flagrant disregard for the Accords. Maybe we should have you arrested for collusion."
"General Ross, I don't know how else to put this," said Stark, and Loki was surprised to see the touch of exhaustion in the mortal's gaze though his tone remained hard as steel, "none of them ever set foot in the compound. Did you expect me to abandon injured teammates, in favor of apprehending those fugitives?"
"I expected you to do your damn job!" Snarled the General, going purple in the face with rage.
Loki had to admit, he was impressed. He didn't think it was even possible for humans to turn that color.
Nevertheless, Loki forced himself to focus on the words being exchanged.
"Speaking of invasion, none of the avengers had been granted permission to set foot in Europe," continued the man, "your flagrant disregard of the Accords is just as bad as those–"
"Let me cut you off right there, Ross," Stark interrupted, incredulous. "Did you expect me to wait around while an actual invasion was happening? The accords have provisions for emergencies and I followed the procedure set in place for–"
"Just tell me where you're hiding them, Stark," the general interrupted again. "The fugitives were seen accompanying you and the… android to this location."
"I don't know where you get your intel from, but you should fire them," said Stark flippantly. "There's no one here but me."
"You mean to tell me you did not bring the Asgardians here?"
Stark gave the man a baffled look. "What Asgardians?"
"Thor and Loki and whoever that woman in the armor with them was!"
"Nope. They took off to lands unknown around the same time as the fugitives."
The general pinched the bridge of his nose, veins at his temples visibly throbbing before he seemed to reach a decision. When the man looked up, it was with an expression of faux regret.
"I had hoped it wouldn't come to this," said the general, looking as though he'd hoped for nothing else, "by the authority granted to me by the Accords Council, I'm placing you under arrest Stark and seizing control of this compound."
"On what grounds?" Stark demanded.
The man smirked. "Obstruction of justice, aiding and abetting known fugitives, hiding war criminals. The list is quite extensive, really."
"None of those will stick and you know it," Stark countered, and Loki wondered why the man wouldn't just give up the Captain and his cohorts to this man and save his own skin. After all that Loki had witnessed him being put through by his so-called shield brethren, Stark would have been well within his rights to do so.
Yet here he was, still trying to protect the ones who had repeatedly broken his trust.
As if you haven't done the same, little trickster? Whispered Hela in the back of his mind and Loki frowned.
He was nothing like Stark!
"We'll see about that, won't we?" said the general, looking triumphant.
"Boss, I am detecting several armed groups approaching the compound," announced the voice and Loki was surprised by the alarm on Stark's face. And beneath the alarm, was exhaustion.
It was at that moment, Loki considered leaving the way he had come and simply portaling away once out of the midgardian’s sight. He did not want to wait around long enough for Stark to consider offering up Loki as a means to appease this general and secure his own freedom.
"FRIDAY," said Stark, his expression smoothing over, "initiate lockdown procedures."
Loki halted in his steps, turning back to face the two mortals in interest.
"You can't do that, Stark," warned the general.
"Watch me, Ross,” Stark threw back coolly. “Do you remember what I did to that favorite bar of yours? Or what happened when you and yours tried taking the armor from me. That didn't exactly work out in your favor either, did it? I agreed to work within the bounds of the law when I signed the accords but this? This was never part of the deal and if you think you can use a bunch of trumped up charges to try and take my things–"
Loki wasn't sure what came over him in that moment and he would beg temporary insanity till his dying breath for acting on an impulsive decision.
Loki summoned Chaosmaker to his hand in the form of a wicked dagger and stepped up behind Stark. Letting the invisibility spell drop, Loki held the blade to the mortal's throat.
Stark tensed under the sharp edge pressed up against his jugular and Loki threw a wicked grin in the general's direction, who- to his credit- looked quite concerned for Stark's safety now.
"As amusing as it is to watch you and your petty squabbles," said Loki as he summoned the tesseract in his free hand and created a portal two feet behind his position. Still grinning madly at the pompous general, he continued. "I have need of Stark, so I'll be taking him now."
And with that, Loki forced Stark into the portal, the general's shouts to stop chasing after them as Loki let the portal collapse.
The burning in his veins grew beyond his tolerance and Loki let go of it all before he could pass out again from exhaustion. He'd pushed himself far beyond what was deemed acceptable seidr usage after a bout of magical exhaustion, which was the only reason why Stark managed to do what he did next.
"What the actual fuck?" Stark yelled just as Loki was hit in the jaw with the same strength as a blow from Mjolnir.
As he flew back, Loki's body arcing gracefully through the air, he caught sight of the armored gauntlet covering Stark's right arm, palm glowing with a blue light. Loki crashed into the bookshelves lining the wall behind him, breaking the aged wood and sending a rain of heavy tomes crashing down on his head.
He really should have left the stupid mortal to his fate on Midgard…
Darkness that he'd been fighting so hard to keep at bay, rose like a wave to swallow him whole, Hela's cackles chasing him into unconsciousness.