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*****
"He's just unconscious!"
Seeing Thor's look of utter devastation, Fini couldn't help but chime in. "I held back, you know!"
Thor glared at Fini.
To be honest, his initial impression of Fini hadn't been great. After all, being threatened and forced to admit defeat was a level of shamelessness that Thor—a young god only a few centuries old—found hard to fathom.
While the "Sumire-style Fried Chicken Rolls" had earned Fini some goodwill later on, it only barely balanced out the prior resentment. Their relationship was, at best, that of teammates who were slightly better than strangers. Compared to his beloved brother, Fini was ten thousand leagues away in Thor's heart.
"He is of Asgard! How could you treat him like this?!" Thor roared at Fini, his voice thick with fury.
"And why shouldn't I?"
Fini narrowed his eyes, replying flatly, "This is Earth, not Asgard. Even if I had killed him, it would have been self-defense."
Thor choked on his words, unable to find a retort. Finally, he lowered his voice in sorrow. "He... he just made some mistakes."
Fini ignored Thor and turned to Tony. "Where's Hulk?"
"We didn't want to fight in the city, so we led him to the outskirts with that other guy. We're hoping he can cool his head out there for a bit," Tony answered before glancing around. "What's the situation here?"
"Nothing much. Loki opened a space portal, I went through to check out the enemies, and then I closed it," Fini stated simply.
Because of Fini's involvement, the Avengers were far less harmonious than in the original timeline. Captain America and Tony still couldn't stand each other; Banner and Hulk lacked the stabilizing influence of Natasha's favor; Hawkeye hadn't been mind-controlled, making his presence feel somewhat redundant.
Thor, in particular, felt that Earth was a place of pure malice because of Fini's actions. They hadn't learned to understand one another, hadn't helped each other through a common struggle, and lacked the "brothers-in-arms" bond that usually formed during a crisis. Crucially, they missed the shared righteous fury sparked by Coulson's death.
They hadn't even had the chance to fight a Chitauri army together. They were merely a group of powerful individuals forced into one place—far from a cohesive team or organization.
Hearing Fini's brief summary, Tony didn't grasp the true difficulty of the feat. He genuinely thought it had been that easy. Looking at Loki, who was being cradled in Thor's arms not far away, he curled his lip.
"This 'Bambi' doesn't seem like much after all."
"That's because I was here," Fini retorted.
If it weren't for him, who knows what the Avengers would look like right now? At the very least, destroying the Chitauri mothership would have been a tall order for anyone in the group, including Tony and Thor.
While Fini was dealing with Loki, Nick Fury hadn't been idle. With Steve's help, they had quickly regained control of the Helicarrier and caught up on the situation.
"Is he... alright?"
Learning of Loki's miserable state, Nick Fury frowned. If Thor weren't there, he wouldn't care if Fini had beaten Loki to death. But with Thor present, this became a matter of Earth-Asgard diplomacy.
"He won't die, at least," Fini replied after a moment's thought. As for whether the god would be left with permanent psychological trauma or scars, he couldn't guarantee that.
"We're heading over now," Fury decided. He needed to see Loki's condition for himself and discuss the resolution with Thor—not to mention the issues regarding the Tesseract and the Scepter.
After hanging up, Fini looked at Loki, who had regained consciousness and was being tended to by Thor. After a moment of hesitation, he walked over.
Seeing him approach, Loki—whose face was so swollen and bruised he was barely recognizable—shuddered and instinctively tried to scurry closer to Thor.
"Eat some. It helps with recovery."
Seeing Thor's protective, wary stance, Fini shrugged and summoned a few Fried Chicken Rolls, handing them over. Since things had reached this point and Loki was inevitably going back to Asgard, there was no need to keep the relationship at rock bottom.
Aware of the rolls' healing effects, the wariness in Thor's eyes softened. He took them and muttered a hesitant "thank you" before trying to feed one to Loki.
"I... won't... eat..."
Loki's refusal was slurred. Several of his teeth had been knocked out by Fini. Under such humiliation, how could he bring himself to eat anything given by his tormentor?
"This is delicious, and it heals wounds. Just try a bite!" Thor urged.
Before coming to Earth, Thor had intended to give Loki a stern lesson, but he never imagined it would be this severe. Even Odin had never beaten them like this!
Loki stubbornly turned his head away. How could he, a god, eat such common fare?
"Eat it, or I'll beat you again."
Fini's voice was casual, drifting over from the side.
Loki flinched. Recalling the shadow of death that had loomed over him earlier, he slowly reached out and took the roll from Thor. Wincing in pain, he forced his jaw open and took a bite.
Though Loki was eating, Thor felt no joy. Instead, a faint ache throbbed in his heart, and he became even more determined to get Loki off this planet as soon as possible.
Before Loki could even finish one roll, Nick Fury arrived in a hurry.
"This is... Loki?"
At first glance, Fury was startled. He almost didn't recognize him. He knew Fini had been rough, but he hadn't realized "rough" meant "unrecognizable."
"Loki will be taken back to Asgard to face punishment!" Thor stated immediately. He wasn't a fool; he knew Fury's intent. He stepped forward with a counter-offer: "As a Prince of Asgard, I give you my word: Asgard shall forever be an ally to Midgard!"
"Deal," Fury nodded without hesitation.
First, even if he disagreed, no one on Earth—save for Fini—could likely stop Thor from taking Loki (Fury was, of course, unaware of the Ancient One). Secondly, keeping Loki was of little use. Imprisonment was a waste of resources, and dissecting him for research would yield diminishing returns compared to the diplomatic fallout of harming a former prince.
Fury decided it was better to do Thor a favor. Letting Loki go would win Asgard's gratitude and buy Earth time to develop. He had considered asking for Asgardian technology as a price, but decided against it for now. It was better to maintain a strong link with Thor—the sole heir to the throne—and seek help later when they truly needed it.
"Call the medical team up!" Fury turned to Natasha. He had prepared a team as soon as he heard Loki was seriously injured.
"No need. We are returning to Asgard immediately," Thor replied. This trip to Earth hadn't been as fun as the last one. Besides, he trusted Asgardian technology far more than Earth's medicine.
"I need to take the Tesseract back. It belongs to Asgard," Thor continued, turning his gaze toward Fini. "You may keep the Scepter as your spoil of war."
"Don't mess around," Fini said, his right hand gripping the Mind Scepter while his left held the Tesseract. He shook his head slowly. "I'm taking everything."
If the earlier events hadn't happened, he might not have been so attached to the Tesseract. But with his revenge still incomplete and the "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" still needing a power source, there was no way he was letting that cube go.
(End of Chapter)