Loki returned to Midgard when he was certain Eirlys would be occupied for long enough not to notice his absence. He arrived quietly, stepping through the portal with none of the dramatic entrance he might have preferred. This was not the time for spectacle. He needed the Tesseract, and he needed to leave without creating unnecessary complications. The trail led him to the S.H.I.E.L.D. facility where Erik Selvig had been studying the strange blue cube. Loki watched from the shadows for a while, taking in the security measures and the people surrounding the scientist.
The Tesseract was exactly as he remembered it, beautiful, dangerous, and powerful enough to change everything. Loki's fingers tightened around the scepter he had been given. He already knew what it could do. The weapon's influence had helped him bend minds to his will, and the people inside the facility would be no different. He stepped from the shadows. Confusion erupted almost immediately.
Agents raised their weapons, but Loki moved faster. The scepter struck with bursts of energy, throwing men aside and disabling those who tried to resist. Within moments, the room that had been controlled and orderly became chaos. Selvig barely had time to understand what was happening before Loki stood before him.
"You have been studying this."
Selvig stared at the cube. "Yes."
"Then you know what it can do."
The scientist hesitated but Loki smiled. "That makes this considerably easier."
Clint Barton arrived soon after, weapon drawn and ready to fight. Loki turned his attention toward him, recognizing another useful mind before him. He did not need to overpower everyone in the room. He only needed the right people. The scepter touched Clint, and the archer's resistance weakened beneath Loki's influence. Whatever loyalty he had carried into the facility was gradually replaced by obedience. Selvig was next. With both men under his control, Loki finally approached the Tesseract.
The cube pulsed with blue light. For a moment, Loki simply stared at it. This was what he had come for. Power. The kind that could place him beyond anyone's reach. He reached toward it. The room filled with an eerie blue glow as the Tesseract responded, its energy vibrating through the machinery surrounding it. Loki could almost feel the possibilities waiting within it. He had spent his life being measured against Thor. The better warrior, the stronger prince, the obvious heir, and the one everyone expected to stand at the centre of Asgard.
Loki had learned long ago that if he could not be given power, he would find a way to take it. And now he had found something far greater than a throne. The Tesseract could open the way to forces beyond Midgard, beyond Asgard, beyond anything the Nine Realms understood.
He looked once more toward Selvig. "Prepare it."
Selvig obeyed as Loki turned toward the portal equipment as the first surge of energy began to build. Somewhere far away, Eirlys was probably still occupied with her own realm, believing her husband was merely handling matters elsewhere. The thought made him pause for one brief moment, he remembered her face. Then Loki looked back at the glowing Tesseract. He could not allow sentiment to interfere. Not now.
The portal opened, blue light flooded the chamber. And Loki stepped through with the Tesseract's power behind him, leaving Midgard unaware that the first move had already been made. By the time anyone understood what had happened, Loki intended to be far beyond their reach.
The plan had begun beautifully but it ended in chaos. New York had become a battlefield, the sky torn open above the city as the Chitauri poured through the portal. Loki had stood above it all, watching the invasion unfold with the satisfaction of someone who finally believed the universe was being forced to acknowledge him. But then the Avengers came. One by one, they turned his carefully arranged victory into something far less certain.
The battle became increasingly difficult to control. The Hulk tore through his forces with terrifying ease. Iron Man attacked from above. Captain America and the others moved through the city with a coordination Loki had not expected from such a mismatched group. And then there was Thor, his brother. Loki had faced Thor before, but never like this. Their confrontation was brutal. Loki struck with magic and fury, forcing Thor back, but Thor refused to stay down. Every time Loki thought he had gained the advantage, his brother returned with greater force.
"You could have stood beside us," Thor told him.
Loki's expression hardened. "Beside you?" The words came through clenched teeth. "I was never meant to stand behind you."
Thor's answer was a swing that sent Loki crashing through the wreckage. For a moment, Loki remained motionless. His body ached everywhere. His clothes were torn, his hair disheveled, blood marking his face where the fighting had caught up with him. He pushed himself upright anyway, breathing heavily as he looked toward Thor. He refused to let his brother see him broken. So he attacked again, it changed nothing.
Thor finally overpowered him, forcing him down and taking the weapon from his grasp. Loki struggled, but his strength was rapidly failing. The accumulated exhaustion of the battle had begun weighing heavily on him. The Tesseract was gone from his reach. His portal was closing. Everything he had built was collapsing around him.
Then the Hulk appeared, Loki barely had time to turn. The next moment, he was grabbed and slammed into the ground. Once. Twice. Again. The world became a blur of stone, dust and pain. When Hulk finally threw him aside, Loki lay stunned among the wreckage, staring blankly at the sky. For several seconds, he couldn't move. His ribs felt as though they had been crushed. His head rang violently, and every attempt to breathe deeply sent another wave of pain through his body. Maybe I should have kept my mouth closed instead. How dare that green thing call mea 'puny god', the audacity.
He heard footsteps approaching, Thor Loki slowly turned his head as his brother stood over him. There was anger in Thor's face, but beneath it was something Loki did not want to acknowledge. Concern.
Thor crouched beside him. "Brother."
Loki managed a weak, bitter laugh. "Still calling me that?"
Thor said nothing, he simply reached down, Loki tried to resist but his body refused to cooperate. There was no clever illusion, no hidden escape, no final trick waiting beneath his sleeve, he was simply exhausted, beaten and caught. Thor hauled him upright, securing his arms before Loki could attempt another spell. Loki's head dropped briefly. His breathing remained uneven, his face bruised and swollen, his once-perfect appearance reduced to something painfully mortal.
The battle was over, the Tesseract was secured and the invasion had failed. Loki, who had come to Midgard believing himself powerful enough to rule it, was now being marched away in chains by the very brother he had spent so long trying to surpass. As Thor led him toward the waiting passage home, Loki glanced back once at the ruined battlefield. His jaw tightened, he had lost. But somewhere beneath the humiliation and pain, one thought remained stubbornly alive. This was not the end.
And far away, in Vanaheim, Eirlys still knew nothing of what had happened. Even with her place demanding nearly all of her attention, Eirlys could not stop thinking about Loki. The healers needed her. The illness spreading through the realm had left too many people frightened and too few hands available to help. She had spent hours moving between patients, checking remedies, answering questions and reassuring people who desperately needed someone to tell them that things would eventually be all right.
Yet whenever there was a quiet moment, her thoughts returned to Asgard, to Loki. She knew him. Perhaps she did not know every part of him yet, but she knew enough to understand that leaving him alone with his thoughts was rarely a peaceful arrangement. Loki could turn a quiet afternoon into a complicated scheme if given sufficient time and motivation. And lately, he had seemed unusually distracted.
He had been secretive about his journeys to Midgard. He had insisted there was nothing unusual happening, and Eirlys had wanted to believe him. Still, something in her refused to settle. She wondered whether he was safe. Whether he had eaten or sleeping. Or whether he had somehow managed to find trouble despite promising her otherwise.
A reluctant smile crossed her face at the last thought. "That man," she murmured beneath her breath.
Then the smile disappeared. Because beneath her amusement was a persistent uneasiness she couldn't explain. Loki had always carried darkness inside him. She had simply begun believing she might be able to reach the part of him that did not want to surrender to it. And now, being separated from him, she could only hope that part was winning.
On the other hand, Thor did not speak much during the journey back to Asgard. Loki was in no condition to argue anyway. His brother was bruised, exhausted and barely maintaining his usual composure. The once-perfect black-and-green garments were torn and stained, his hair disordered, his face marked by the violence of the battle. Yet Loki still managed to glare at anyone who looked at him for too long, Thor almost smiled. Some things, apparently, could survive anything. When they reached Asgard, Thor escorted him through the palace rather than allowing the guards to drag him along.
Loki's steps were unsteady, though he stubbornly refused assistance. "You're enjoying this," Loki muttered.
"No."
"Liar."
Thor ignored him. The doors of the dungeons opened before them. Cold stone surrounded them. Thor finally released his grip only once Loki was safely inside the cell. For a moment, the brothers simply looked at one another, then Thor stepped back. Loki's expression hardened. The door closed between them with a heavy metallic sound, Loki was truly alone.