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Loki kept his hand pressed against his side to keep from bleeding out. Something he wouldn’t normally do. But for his punishment Odin had turned him mortal and sealed away his magic.
He hadn’t truly realized how weak mortals were until he had gotten shot. Though the person who shot him had terrible aim and the bullet did not hit anything too important; it still hurt.
He pulled the jacket of his suit off and wrapped it around the wound. He winced as he pulled it tighter around his waist.
Loki grabbed his dagger off the floor and spun it for dramatic effect. He continued down the hall, looking for the next Hydra agent.
The mission was supposed to be simple; infiltrate the Hydra base, survey what they are doing and look for weak spots. But of course things had to go off plan, as they had found that Hydra was attempting to use the Mind Stone for their own gain. Though the Avengers did not know it was the Mind Stone, they only knew it as His Scepter. Which caused emotions the Avengers were pushing down about him to come bubbling to the surface, causing some yelling and the subsequent finding of the hiding spot.
After that, it was a blur of fighting, and Loki had got separated from the group. They probably believe him to be looking for the Mind Stone, or attempting to betray them another way. When in reality he was trying to get out of this damned Hydra base in one piece and with enough blood to survive.
He grimaced as another pang of pain shot through him, he had survived living on the Sanctuary with barely any reminders of his time there, he could deal with a bullet wound. Despite that fact, it still hurt.
He cursed his mortal body as he flew into battle with some Hydra agents that crossed his path. Reflexively aiming for spots on the body that would incapacitate them and were not lethal, but they did not grant the same mercy towards him. So when one of them punched him right where he was shot he kicked them into a wall. A snapping of bones indicating he would not up and fighting again.
He breathed harshly, leaning on the wall. It took extra energy in a fight to not kill someone, and he was running on adrenaline alone. It was times like these that made him wonder why he didn’t go for a lethal hit.
Because you are a coward who feels guilt for every life you take , a voice at the back of his mind whispered. He sighed, that was why. He lived in a warrior culture, yet he hated being the cause of death.
As he pushed himself off the wall he began to wonder, the Frost Giants do not feel remorse for their kills nor do Aesir. So why does he ?
Just another reason why he is different, even an oddity from the race of monsters he is from . He thought, carrying down the hallway. As he walked down the halls he grew annoyed at the flashing red emergency lights, though he was grateful the sirens stopped a while ago. He wasn’t sure who or what turned off the sirens, or if they did that automatically. If it was an Avenger he supposes he would express his thanks, they were already quite mad at him when brought face to face with the Mind Stone and the memories of his past actions, and there was no doubt in his mind that they would be mad that he ‘ran away’. So it would be best if he thanks them to make them less angry, since he was in quite a precarious situation.
He was mortal and they could easily harm or kill him. It wasn’t that Loki was afraid of death, no, after the Void and the Sanctuary he would welcome death with open arms; but he couldn’t do that. While under Thanos’ care Loki had died many times, he just couldn’t stay dead. It was an awful mix of his biology and magic keeping him alive, to anyone else it was a blessing, to live a long and happy life, devoid of the fear of death. But Loki wasn’t anyone, and he had been through so many terrible things, and he was exhausted . He was so tired of it all, he only wished for a moment of rest, but the Norns were cruel and would not allow him one, not even in sleep. And even if he could stay dead, he couldn’t. He was the only one who knew of Thanos’ plan that wished to stop him. (Though, while he was on the Sanctuary he tried to break or at least test the loyalty his ‘children’ had for him. He only managed to put doubts of Thanos into the mind of one of his ‘children’. The rest scheduled him for more torture for daring to question The Mighty Thanos.) And he wasn’t scared of pain, no he was a friend to pain. He just, didn’t want to go through the annoyance that it would come with. Like he stated before, he was tired .
In his musings he did not notice an Avenger right in front of him. A flurry of red hair and then a gun to his head. He raised his hands quickly, a sign of peace.
Agent Romanoff huffed, lowering the gun and taking a step back, “Loki.”
He inclined his head, “Agent Romanoff.”
“Where were you?” She demanded.
He shrugged, lowering his arms, “I suppose I just got a bit lost.”
“Right,” she said, turning around. Obviously not believing him, she started walking down the hall. Loki trailing behind her, not even trying to defend himself, because why would they believe him?
“Do you know the way out of here?” He asked after a moment.
“Yes.” She did not elaborate.
As they traversed through the halls many Hydra agents lay dead at their feet. The Avengers did not deal with the guilt of killing someone, unlike Loki. Well , Stark did show guilt for the innocent lives caught in crossfire and the ones killed by his weapons. As did Banner, for all the death and property damage caused by the Hulk. But not truly anyone else. Which he supposed made sense; the Captain had fought in a war, which would cause you to detach yourself from the death all around you, Agents Romanoff and Barton were assassins, and Thor was… well Thor . He craved battle like a moth craves light, which had decreased while he was in the company of Midgardians, though not truly significantly but still . Which grated on Loki’s nerves, he had spent centuries trying to make Thor sedate his bloodlust, even a little bit, but a few mortals were able to do it in days ? It made no sense to him.
Speaking of Thor…
“Loki!” He boomed, striding over to him, “Where had you gone ?” He pointed Mjolnir at him, though he didn’t understand why Thor did, pointing Mjolnir at him, that is. Human or no he could easily dodge any lightning blast or if swing from Mjolnir.
He gave the same answer he gave Agent Romanoff, “I had gotten lost.”
Thor narrowed his eyes, “I know you had attempted to acquire your scepter.”
Loki sighed, resting a hand on his forehead, “You have once again foiled my nefarious plot! Whatever will I do?”
Thor did not appear amused, though Stark laughed, so Loki counted that as a win. He then grabbed Loki’s shoulders, dragging him down the hallway. Which aggravated Loki’s wound, so he grit his teeth and followed Thor like a lost puppy. Though he was not one, he was just in pain.
They walked out of the Hydra base, and towards the Quinjet. Where Loki saw Doctor Banner fiddling with something, once he noticed Loki thought he spun around quickly and blocked whatever it was with his back.
“Hey,” He waved awkwardly.
Thor nodded in greeting and pushed Loki down onto one of the seats, which hurt . Nevermind that Loki was now a human , which Thor kept “forgetting”, and Thor as Aesir, so getting pushed with the type of force that he would normally barely budge from sent him tumbling into the seat, his bullet wound wasn’t healed at all and still bleeding sluggishly, (What was the Midgardian expression? Ah yes-) hurt like Hel .
He discreetly, well, as discreetly as he could, pressed a hand to his side, and brought it to his face, he hadn’t bled through his jacket. Which he thanked the Norns for, he didn’t want to anger the Avengers any more than he had.
As he began to buckle himself in, and the rest of the Avengers made their way inside, he glanced at what was behind Doctor Banner. He had an inkling of what it was , though without his magic he could not double check. But he didn't need to, as once he glanced at it everyone was eyeing him. He pretended not to notice, and checked his nails. There was some blood stuck under a few, but he was quite practiced at getting blood out from under there, so that shouldn’t be a problem. But what was a problem was his chipped finger-nail. He frowned, he did not spend lot’s time to look presentable only to get a chipped finger-nail.
Once they began their takeoff, and flight back to Avengers Tower, Stark had to ask, “Hey Rudolph, what’s with the jacket around your waist?”
Loki rolled his eyes, but didn’t design to answer him. Despite his reputation as a liar, he had never been quite good at making things up on the spot. (Mostly his reputation as a liar came from the fact he also spoke uncomfortable truths, or revealed secrets about others, and no-one wanted to believe him.) Though if he had planned the lie out he would become the greatest actor in the Nine Realms. But he had not, so he did not answer.
Stark huffed but didn’t pry further, so once again Loki thanked the Norns. They were being unusually gracious, but he supposed they would after they just got in shot , but there was nothing to be done, only to hope this luck would last.