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Loki's Spear - Lævateinn
New York during the invasion - after the Hulk slammed Loki into the floor
Loki felt like he was moving through a vat of molasses, everything felt thick and heavy. His thoughts lumbered along like they had been weighed down by mountains, and he couldn't remember what it was he was supposed to be doing.
As he lay there, his mind began to clear, slowly but surely. As it did, he witnessed everything that had happened since he fell off the Bifrost like they had happened to someone else, but he knew it had all happened to him. The more he remembered, the more his anger and hate grew.
A boiling rage churned within, a rage directed at the Chitauri and their 'Master', the Mad Titan.
That foul beast would pay for what he'd done! No-one controlled Loki! Least of all some witless coward who wouldn't command his own army against his enemies, but instead tried to 'use' Loki as if he were some beast-of-burden to be ordered around at another's whim.
With a burst of clarity, his mind cleared like a noon-day sun breaking through storm clouds. He remembered. He remembered everything, and he would show them all, every Chitauri, every Jotun and every Aesir what happened when you angered the God of Chaos.
OoOoO
Tony jerked awake to the Hulk's roar ringing in his ears. He looked up to see Steve and Thor watching him for any sign of injury, and they both looked exhausted and spent.
"Please tell me no-one kissed me," the quip sent them all giggling in relief, before a howl that didn't belong to the Jolly Green Giant beside them made them all pause.
All around them the Chitauri foot soldiers were menacing civilians and chasing them like rats in a maze, while the great whale ships rained destruction down from above with the help of the gliders. Though they had shut down the portal, the Chitauri already on Earth were still here and causing untold damage and loss of life.
Thor almost took Clint's head off as he and Natasha suddenly appeared beside them, out of breath and looking like they gone ten rounds with a grizzly bear. Behind them, the Hulk was shrinking down into Bruce, who looked utterly exhausted and beat.
"So, we shut down the portal," Clint said. "Now what do we do?"
"Now," Steve stood, pulling Tony up with him. "We fight. Until every last Chitauri is stopped. Since we've cut off their reinforcements, I think we stand a chance now."
"Loki," Thor blurted out. "If we capture him, we can force the Chitauri to surrender. An army can't function without their General."
Tony's hand flew up to his ear but realised that he'd lost his com. His gaze darted around until they fell on a bank of screens in a shop window that had miraculously survived the destruction so far, and as he ran past he stole Steve's com from right out of his ear.
"Jarvis! You there, buddy?"
"I'm always here for you, sir," his AI replied.
As the others gathered around the screens, Tony got Jarvis to display the surveillance videos from his penthouse which showed a room littered with debris and rubble, and a hole in the floor with a battered god in it.
"Zoom in," Tony leaned forward to get a better view. There was something wrong with the picture they were getting, for a moment there it looked like Loki's eyes were flickering.
The camera lens focused in on a close up of his face, cuts and bruises showing all over his moon-pale skin, until his unfocused eyes could be seen clearly.
"Let's go get that bastard," Clint snarled, but was stopped by Tony's hand on his arm.
"Wait, do you see that?"
"See what, Man of Iron?" Thor asked. "We must move quickly, even with his injuries, Loki will not stay down long."
Tony shushed him, "Wait, wait." Then he saw it again, that strange flickering effect in his eyes. "There! Did you see that?"
"I saw that," Bruce joined him in trying to puzzle out what was happening.
As they all peered closer, the others saw what had intrigued the two geniuses in their midst. Loki's irises suddenly changed from a blue colour to a bright green, and as they watched, they flickered before settling back into blue. The effect was increasing in frequency even in the few minutes they had been watching, with the green taking over more and more, and the confused expression was clearing.
"Shouldn't we be restraining him before he recovers?" Natasha spoke up, eager to contain a threat that had ruined so many lives, and more importantly, hurt two of the only people she cared about.
"Thor, I need you to think very carefully, now," Tony turned to the one person on the planet that could answer the question. "What colour are Loki's eyes?"
Said Asgardian just looked at him, puzzled, "Green, Son of Stark, they have always been green."
Tony turned to Bruce, excited over solving a puzzle that had vexed him since this whole ordeal had started. "That's it! I got it!"
Before he could expand on what he had 'got', Steve brought their attention back to the god on the screens as he pulled himself out of the indent he had made in the marble floor. As he got his balance, they could see the cuts healing before their very eyes, and the bruises faded away to nothing as they watched.
With a shake, his clothes fixed and righted themselves, before he looked up and focused his attention out the window. The look in his eyes sent shivers down the spine of those observing, it was a deadly, steely eyed glare that showed the rage that burned inside.
He strode over to the balcony, his walk that of an enraged ruler that commanded absolute authority over all he surveyed. As he walked over to the edge that allowed him unrestricted views of a city under attack, his hand snapped out to the side. With a flash of green and gold, a wicked looking, double-bladed spear slapped into his palm after materialising out of thin air, a fact that left most of the Avengers wide-eyed and spluttering about the laws of physics.
"Lævateinn!" came the shocked voice of their friendly Asgardian.
Thor had the strongest reaction of them all. The second he saw the spear that had landed in his brothers hand he knew that everything had changed. That weapon was one of the most dangerous in all the Nine Realms, forged by Loki himself in the great smithies of the Elves. Oak and Elder wood covered in silver and gold, carved with runes and symbols of strength and power. It was a focusing and amplifying artifact of mage powers, but it also had a few unique qualities all its own.
With that weapon in hand, Loki had just become an opponent that was far above the league of the Avengers. He would kill them all in seconds if he allowed them to engage Loki while he still held that spear.
The Avengers were left behind when Thor suddenly launched himself, hammer first, towards his brother with a battle cry. They watched as he closed in, Clint silently cheering him on, hoping for a knockout blow, when Loki turned his attention to the figure racing towards him.
With a casual flick of the hand, he sent a wave of magical energy slamming into Thor that sent him into the ground with such force that it left a crater a dozen metres across in the bitumen. Loki suddenly appeared in a flash in front of the waiting Avengers as he teleported to the ground.
Then his attention was once again caught by the Chitauri that had finally realised that something had changed around Stark Tower, and were closing in.
He raised Lævateinn above his head, focusing his magic through it and lighting up the runes and symbols that covered it. It shone with an inner light that seemed to turn the metal transparent and allowed the carvings on the wood to shine through.
Then the screaming started.
Startled, all the people that were anywhere near a Chitauri watched in fear as they all as one, screamed as though they were being flayed alive. Those brave enough to see, witnessed them writhing wherever they fell as a dirty grey, wispy energy was stripped from them. Every time the energy left one of the aliens, it stopped screaming and fell dead to the ground.
The part that really disturbed the heroes looking on, was that the screaming didn't stop when the creatures died. It followed the energy as it was dragged back to the spear that Loki held, where it swirled around him until it was absorbed into the shaft of the weapon.
Thor pulled himself from the crater, watching on in horror at the magic that his brother was using on what was left of his army. He was soon side by side with the rest of his companions, listening to the questions that they shouted at him from over the racket that the spectres were making.
"That spear is Lævateinn, forged by Loki to be the most feared magical weapon in all the Realms. It rips the souls of his enemies out of their bodies and then absorbs their life energy and incorporates it into the spear to enhance his powers. It is a spell of the darkest of magics, so dark that even Father has never contemplated using it."
"He's taking their souls!" Tony exclaimed. "And the more he takes, the stronger he gets?"
Thor nodded. "Yes, the ability to harness soul magic is what makes him one of the most feared mages. None can stand against him when he wields that spear, it is one of the reasons the Allfather forbid Loki from having access to it. It should be in the Treasure Vault on Asgard."
While they had been talking, the spectres had all been absorbed by the spear, leaving an eerie silence behind. Only the creaking of strained metal and the soft sobbing of frightened civilians could be heard over the soft sounds of a gentle breeze.
Tony walked forward, preparing any armaments he had left and directing them towards the God, and now he can see why primitive man had thought of them as gods, that stood tall and strong, holding the spear that still glowed hotly. "Loki, stand down! This doesn't need to go any further, just surrender and no harm will come to you."
"Speak for yourself, Stark," came the enraged tone of Barton. "I intend to make him see the error of his ways and punish him for Phil."
"All of you, stand down!" Steve came between the two, but his eyes never left the one standing before them. "None of us has the ability to counteract that spear, unless you know how to stop him from ripping out our souls before we even get close."
Cold laughter bubbled up from Loki, uneasiness spreading through those that heard it. "Your smarter than you look, Captain," he mocked. "Now, tell me, where is the Tesseract?"
"Gone, Loki," Thor replied. "It does not belong to you, and you are unworthy of its powers."
But Loki noticed that both Natasha and Tony couldn't help but glance quickly to the top of the Tower that stood behind him. He raised his spear as he turned towards it, calling forth magic to do his bidding and summoning the Tesseract.
With a bellow Thor again threw himself forward, attempting to stop whatever spell his brother had started. But, once more, it took barely a flick of his hand and Thor was deflected away and into the building, smashing through walls and windows on his path. Loki sent another blast of magic after him, magic that disintegrated anything in its path.
With many of its supports broken on a lower level, the entire tower groaned under the strain before, with a shriek of sheering metal, the entire building crumbled.
Tony watched on in absolute shock as his Tower, that he had spent millions on perfecting, fell apart like a house of cards in a strong wind. With another wave of his staff, the entire building suddenly exploded into billions of tiny dust particles, falling down harmlessly around them.
From the dust cloud falls a screaming figure alongside a glowing cube. Steve yelled out to Thor, who followed the direction that the Captain was pointing him in and discovered who it was. Selvig. He swooped in and managed to catch him but missed the falling Tesseract.
The Tesseract continued to fall before it swiftly stopped, hovering lazily over the upturned palm of the God that had already commanded it. It spun gently, pulsing faintly in soft blue waves, eager to do its masters bidding.
As Thor landed nearby and hefted Mjolnir, the rest of the Avengers checked their weapons and prepared for an all-out attack with everything they had left.
The Tesseract's humming changed in pitch and tune when Loki focused all his considerable mind and will on it. It was sentient to some degree, once awakened it was able to read the will of those around it and choose the master it would be willing to serve and to scorn those it thought unworthy. Even with all that had happened to it in the last century, it had still been in the same state of hibernation it had been in since it was lost on Earth millennia ago.
Now though, with the will of the most powerful sorcerer ever born calling on it, it awoke into a world very different to the one that it fell into all those years ago. A pulse of high density energy was released that swept over all those before it, the Tesseract taking the measure and intentions of them all, God, Chitauri and mortal alike.
Sorting through all the information it had absorbed, it felt the gentle nudging of a quicksilver mind, the likes it had not felt in a very long time. A mind that saw all possibilities, drank in information and knowledge like a dying man in the desert would water and had an innate understanding of the universe and the beings that lived there. A perfect mind.
She responded, opening up the pathways long since disused and showed her chosen the truth of the universe and what she had to offer, and then she waited for his response to that offer.
She did not wait long. Loki finally understood many things that had troubled him for many centuries, they had become clear within his mind and he understood the burden the Tesseract was offering. But he also understood the gifts she would bestow as well. With his acceptance of all that she was, the link that had only been tentative for so long, now blazed open in all its fiery glory, sealing their bond forevermore.
The only outwards indication that the Tesseract had chosen a new master was the blue glow that sufficed Loki and the cube together, it pulsed once, and then the Tesseract sank beneath his skin, leaving nothing behind. It was totally absorbed by the god, something that had Tony and Bruce babbling in astonishment at the blatant breaking of the laws of physics.
Fearing that Loki could mount an organised attack if left alone too long, Steve launched his shield at him but it bounced off a shield that surrounded the chaos god. The same happened to Iron Man's repulsors, Hawkeye's arrows and the Black Widow's bullets, many of them ricocheting back into the Avengers causing shouts of surprise and diving for cover.
"Loki?" Thor called tentatively, afraid of what could happen due to Loki's rage at himself and the mortals. "What have you done with the Tesseract?"
"Done, Thor?" Loki turned to the thunderer, his face impassive and cool. "I have done nothing, it was she that chose to gift her knowledge and powers onto me. We are now one, bonded together until such time as Ragnarok occurs."
Tony peeked around the rubble he was currently using as cover from anything that the god in front of them could throw at them, scanning Loki to see if he could see any changes from the Tesseract. He desperately wanted to find out how the trickster absorbed the cube, as to any knowledge on Earth, how he did it was impossible. It shouldn't be possible for a solid object to seemingly melt into a living being and he was dying to study Loki to see how he had managed it. From his position, he couldn't see any differences and he also couldn't see the crazy behaviors that had characterised him during the invasion.
"It is not possible that the Tesseract chose you," Thor was becoming irritated by the continuing problems that Loki kept creating with his deceiving and cowardly ways. "The cube would never find one such as you worthy of its power."
"One such as me?" the glare that Loki directed at the Asgardian prince was deadly in its intensity, the fury behind it was astonishing for the Avengers to see. "And what exactly do you mean by that she would never choose me?"
Thor gestured dismissively at the dark-haired prince, "An Aesir artifact would never choose someone as weak and cowardly as you. Using magic as you do, along with your lying and deceiving ways would never make you worthy of such power-" and then with a yelp, Thor was suddenly thrown backwards from the force of the blow that Loki had landed upon him. With a single sweep of his staff, he sent him through a cement pillar shattered into millions of pieces before he hit the building behind him, knocking Mjolnir from his hand. As it skipped across the road Loki threw his hand out towards it and with a shake, the hammer flew straight into his outstretched hand to the astonishment of all those watching. The look of betrayal on Thor's face as he gazed at his most trusted companion through centuries of adventures as she didn't respond to his calls to return. He glared up at Loki as he stood there, lightly holding one of the greatest weapons of Asgard as if there was no spell that prohibited those unworthy of its might to handle it.
"How dare you presume to hold Mjolnir!" his voice would have shattered glass if there had been any around intact enough to vibrate from the sheer volume of his voice. His hands clenched into fists in lieu of his hammer to hold onto, the rage that simmered just underneath his skin at Loki's obviously devious way of circumnavigating Odin's seal on Mjolnir.
"Oh, I dare, golden prince," Loki hissed out. "You seem to have forgotten that it was I that had Mjolnir created by the sons of Ivaldi and it was my spellwork that gave her life and her abilities."
"What?!" Tony turned to Thor and witnessed the shock of revelation that crossed over his face due to the knowledge that Loki had revealed. "It was Loki that made that hammer? Why didn't you tell us, Thor?! That was information that we needed when this first started!"
Ignoring the bickering coming from the Avengers, Loki tossed Mjolnir off to the side before he started walking off to the largest clear area around causing the others to startle and bring their weapons to bear once more. As he continued to leave them behind no matter what they yelled at him, they came to the conclusion that following him was a better idea than standing around arguing about it.
Once in a reasonable flat area with little debris around to restrict movement, Loki slammed Lævateinn into the ground, splitting the bitumen apart with ease, before bringing his hands up in front of him and summoning the energy of the Tesseract. The Avengers watched avidly at the swirling blue energy that moved to the will of the trickster god, watched as it writhed around his hands and as it coalesced into a bright shining gem floating in between his palms. With a burst of power, a portal opened up before them and out tumbled a giant of a being.
As it straightened from its crouch, it unfurled a burly body that towered over any of those standing there, craggy countenance sneering down at them with such coldness in his eyes that no one could mistake for anything but absolute ruthlessness and lack of empathy for any living creature. The most shocking aspect of the being though, especially to the mortals, was the fact that his skin was entirely purple and that he had the same shining blue eyes that Barton had when he had been under the control of Loki's spear.
"Hello, Thanos," the hatred that bubbled up in Loki's voice took them all aback. Whoever this was, the god truly despised him and wasn't afraid to show it.
Thor gripped Mjolnir's handle even tighter as he raised it to an en garde position, ready for any imminent attack that might come from their unexpected guest. "Thanos. You are the Thanos, the Mad Titan?"
A sneering grin was the answer as the great being swept his gaze over them, dismissing them as unimportant before finding and settling on the trickster god. There was condescension in that gaze, a disdainful look that indicated that Thanos thought that Loki was beneath him in every way, that he expected the god to tremble and cower from the weight of that gaze. But he was to be disappointed, for Loki did not cower or bow in front of the Titan. He stood tall and strong, defiance and rage battling for supremacy in his own emerald green eyes as he stood before the one who had tried to control him.
Drawing himself up, Loki formally challenged one of the most feared beings to have ever graced Yggdrasil. "Thanos, you revel in suffering and torture, you find entertainment in the pain and despair of other creatures and you torture innocents for fun. You, who once threatened the Nine Realms millennia ago, for who all realms united to defeat, come once more to try and claim kingship over all the races of Yggdrasil. The Great Tree herself refuses your claim, deviant one, and on behalf of all the Realms, I challenge you to holmgang for the right to exist amongst her branches."
"Loki!" Thor spun to his brother in shock. Only those chosen to be instruments of Yggdrasil's will within the Realms may invoke her name and only the worthiest of people were chosen, people like Odin and Frigga. It went against all of Asgards ideals that someone as unworthy and deceitful as Loki could even be considered in the same context as his parents on the worthiness of serving the will of the Great Tree.
"Jotun runt," Thanos mocked. "You have failed your task, Liesmith, and for that you will suffer an eternity of agony. Soon you will be begging for death, little god, a death that I will never grant. You will serve me until I decide to gift you to my Lady Death," the jeering taunt sliced through the heavy tension like a hot-bladed knife. A quick twist behind his back released his sword and he brandished it at the one that stood with such defiance before him.
A vicious smile found its way onto Loki's face, emerald eyes flashing with rising power as he faced one of the most feared creatures in the cosmos. "Thanos, the Mad Titan, Son of Saturn and Murderer of Billions. In the name of Yggdrasil, I, Loki, Son of Laufey, King of Jotunheim and Farbauti Cruel-Striker, adopted Son of Frigga, Queen of Asgard, Heir to the Ice Throne of the Jotnar, oldest and most powerful of the races of the Nine Realms, wielder of the Casket of Ancient Winters, I challenge you for the future of the Nine Realms," his voice ringing out with strength and power.
Thor was startled to see Loki's body begin to glow with his own emerald green and gold magic along with what Thor recognised as the white, red and black forces of the Fates and the overwhelming power of Yggdrasil's kaleidoscopic energy. His uncompromising worldview, the very ideals that he lived and was raised by, was collapsing around him as he witnessed proof that Yggdrasil herself had deemed the Trickster God worthy to wield her power in his quest. Nothing he had been taught by his teachers or his father prepared him for the fact that a being that did not live up to Asgardian values could be chosen for the highest honour in the Nine Realms.
Thanos bellowed as he leapt for the impudent being challenging him and he swung his sword in a move that would cleave the god in two if it landed. With a twirl, Loki ducked the blade and took up Lævateinn, spinning the spear about before slashing back and cutting a deep wound across the Titan's chest. Thanos, howling in pain, attacked again in a flurry of blows intended to take the Jotun's head and screaming insults designed to infuriate him beyond control.
But Loki was a trained and formidable warrior with millennia of experience in war and battle, far too in control to allow some insults to distract him from his goal and evaded the Titan's sword with skill and ease. He danced almost tauntingly around the blade with a skill that was breathtakingly beautiful to behold and drew the eye of more than one onlooker. Spinning his mighty spear around so fast it began to blur, Loki's own blows on Thanos' defense began to show, slowly driving the brute backwards and making him strain to deflect the strikes that came at him faster than thought.
Tony exchanged a look laden with heavy meaning with Bruce before moving over to where Thor was watching the battle raging on before him with a disbelieving expression across his face. "Thor?" Tony waited until he knew he had at least some of the Aesir prince's attention. "Who's the purple guy? And what's going on?!"
"That is Thanos, the Mad Titan," Thor's words brought the attention of the other Avengers. "He seeks the destruction of the Nine Realms as gifts to his lover Death for the more deaths he sends her the more he thinks she favours him. He is feared among all the Realms and none may stand against him, his power exceeds that of even Odin Allfather. Other than that, I do not understand what is going on between him and my brother."
Loki suddenly leapt backwards, far out of the long reach of Thanos, and tossed his spear into the air between them. Lævateinn spun lazily a few times before something seemed to catch hold of it, as it suddenly aimed directly at the Titan by itself. Tony's jaw dropped at this blatant breaking of the laws of physics, so casually done before them that Loki looked like he was taking a break with his nonchalant pose that suggested this battle was nothing more than an afternoon skirmish. The spear shot forth at great speed, directly for the mad beasts head which he only protected at the last moment with a frantic slash of his own weapon.
This carried on for some time, Lævateinn attacking on its own, and Thanos barely dodging or deflecting the strikes hastily. The Avengers watched on, observing all they could in case they needed to fight either opponent after their duel was done. Thanos was powerful and strong, even blows that would have crippled or outright killed even Thor only slowed the monster down, and for all his sheer size he was quick too. But it was Loki that surprised everyone the most. Gone were the half-mad taunts and insane plans, the crazy grins and the disparate personality. He conducted the battle with skill and strength, his tactics better than they had ever seen and the experience of thousands of conflicts.
With a great blow Thanos managed to finally hit the spear hard enough that it was knocked through a building or two before being buried more than halfway up its length into concrete and steel. A smug little grin worked its way over his face as he launched himself straight at his now unarmed opponent, intending to rend him limb from limb for his impertinence towards one such as he!
And received a magical fireball straight to his face! Loki didn't waste anytime after that, throwing magical attack after magical attack. First dozens of small knives pierced the Titan's tough hide, followed by blades of ice so sharp they shaved wide swathes of skin straight off his bones and fire arrows raining down on him from above. Thanos was now the focus for the rage of a truly furious Mage. The sheer power that Loki was throwing at his enemy to weaken him was causing the very foundations on which they stood to shake and tremble as if they were in a serious earthquake. The light that previously glowed lightly from him was now brightening as he wielded more and more power against the greatest threat the Nine Realms had ever faced.
"You know," Tony yelled over to the others as they all ducked to avoid falling debris from another semi-deflected attack that took out yet another building, at least all the civilians had long since evacuated the area so they did not have to worry about innocents being caught in the chaos. "I think they've already done more damage than the entire invasion did. This is ridiculous! We have to do something!"
"We know!" Rogers shouted back. "But how the hell can we stop them if we can't even keep up and get close?"
Barton narrowly avoided being impaled by a steel rebar as it sailed past his head, "We need to take out Loki ASAP. Then we can get the other guy, but Loki's the main threat."
"No matter what Loki has done to your world," Thor warned, "it is nothing compared to what Thanos is capable of. Once, millennia ago, he killed more than half of all life in the universe and it took all the armies of the Nine Realms to defeat him and imprison him where he could not harm anyone."
"Half of all life?!" Bruce was beyond shocked. What kind of power allowed someone to kill so many and required multiple planets to work together to stop him.
"Yes. He is the greatest threat to the Nine, it is he we must stop, not Loki. Once the Mad Titan has been defeated we can capture my brother, but right now, Loki is fighting Thanos, not us, and we can use that to defeat the Titan."
"He's right," Rogers agreed. "If this Thanos is even half as dangerous as Thor says then he's the one we take first. We've already proven that we can take Loki so focus on the other guy until he's down, then we can get the would-be-conqueror." After the affirmative nods from the others, even Barton, he turned back to the battle raging in front of him to see where he could join in.
Hissing and crackling filled all the Avengers ears as their com system started working again between them and the Helicarrier. "What the hell is going on over there?!" Fury's voice burst out of the devices at a practically deafening level. "The satellites are showing massive destruction still happening in the middle of New York. Haven't you got that little bastard yet?"
Rogers responded like the obedient soldier he was. "No, sir. After we shut down the portal, Loki killed all the remaining Chitauri and is now fighting a giant purple being named Thanos."
Tony didn't quite suppress the snicker that bubbled up over Fury's response to that. He was certainly living up to his name so Tony left Thor and Rogers to explain what had happened so far and flew up above the debris flying about from the battle involving a God and a Titan. He could still see the multi-coloured flashes that indicated magic (and seriously? Magic?) and spells being flung at each other almost too fast for the eye to see.
A devastating impact from one such attack threw Thanos straight through the building behind him before he crashed into the middle of an intersection, forming a crater where he had hit the bitumen. Loki burst through the remains of the skyscraper as it collapsed into a pile of rubble while materialising daggers and throwing them at the Titan and scoring hits all across his torso and limbs.
Thanos howled in pain and writhed against the stabbing pain of the knives that pierced him, struggling to rise and meet the Trickster for the next attack. Tony was surprised when Loki held out his hand reminiscent of Thor calling Mjolnir and moments later the spear that he had before slapped into his palm. Landing lightly atop a pile of rubble that used to be the top few floors of one of the towering buildings that had once stood around the crossroads where they now stood, spinning the staff through his hands as he focused his will on it.
The curiousity that had been plaguing Tony since Loki had first summoned his spear ramped up even higher when he witnessed the staff and its blades start to ripple, and then the whole thing changed shape right before his eyes. Contorting, shifting and then elongating into an elegant, long curving sword with the very same runes and patterns that were on the spear now covered the sword from hilt to tip, swirling over a metal that shone such a bright silver as to be almost white.
Bellowing in rage and hate Thanos finally made his feet and leapt at the God that seemed to hover above their heads, the Titan's arm outstretched holding his massive sword aimed straight for Loki's heart. With a gravity defying twist he dodged the blade set to impale him and lashed out with his own.
Thanos screamed in agony as Lævateinn cut through his arm like it was made of paper, slicing right through the flesh and bone as if he was cutting air. The Deviant one's arm tumbled to the ground just as the rest of the Avengers made it to the scene in time to see a triumphant Loki poised high above the slumped form of the being that had terrorised entire galaxies.
"Loki! Stop!" Thor bellowed, along with similar demands from Steve and Natasha. "He is to be captured and given to SHIELD, if we do so, they have agreed to allow me to take you back to Father. If you stop and surrender now, no harm will come to you and we can return to Asgard where you will face Asgardian justice as is right."
A mocking disdainful laugh rang out as Loki looked down upon Thor and his companions. "As if beings as pathetic as these mortals have any authority over me. I care not for your petty deals. This thing before me dies today in punishment for daring to think that he can command a God!" and with that, Loki turned back to the Titan that was still kneeling in the road and whimpering from the pain of his severed arm.
He raised his sword high where it started to glow and gather swirling energies about it as he stood high above Thanos, his glare so filled with molten fury that even the mortal Avengers couldn't mistake the utter loathing that Loki was leveling at the being before him. "This is the end Thanos," he hissed. "I will not suffer your tyranny in this world any longer!"
"Jotun runt," a wet laugh was choked from Thanos' throat. "Do you really think that my Lady Death will allow me to fail? There is nothing you can do to stop my gifts to her."
Loki's laughter rang out, surprising them all. "Do you really think that Death likes those that meddle in the natural order, that she will love you?" Lævateinn was still held aloft and continuing to gather energy, multi-hued fire writhing around the length of the blade as it continued to brightened. "I should tell you, that 'Lady Death' your so infatuated with?" Loki's voice dipped as he leaned in closer, "Is my daughter."
Quicker than the eye could follow, even as the shock of Loki's statement was still making its way across the Titan's face as well as the faces of all the Avengers, he brought his sword down in a devastating strike that cleaved Thanos in two and released all its energy into a blast that annihilated the entire intersection and the bases of the surrounding buildings and generated a shockwave that blasted everything around them backwards until they impacted the falling structures. The entire area disappeared underneath a billowing dust cloud that blocked all view of what was occurring.
When the Avengers could finally see what had happened, they were left with a view of a crater where a street should have been. It was a terrible sight to behold, the evidence of the sheer power that Loki had wielded against his enemy, proof that he had not fought them at his full strength no matter what they thought. Loki himself still floated above the wreckage, gently touching down on the edge, his sword slowly transforming back into the spear that he idly spun until it rested by his side as he looked over with all the regal bearing of a prince.
Thor was beyond shocked at the level of power that Loki had displayed in his annihilation of Thanos, the most dangerous threat the Nine Realms had ever faced, and a threat that even his honoured Father could not defeat, only banish for a time. The fact that Loki had managed to seemingly kill the Mad Titan, and thus showing strength and power far in excess of the acknowledged greatest seidrmadr of the Realms, meant that he would not be easily captured even by the God of Thunder and the Avengers, no matter how strong they were.
"Loki..." Thor began, before stopping when Loki's piercing green gaze turned to him.
"So, your still here, then," came the calm and confident voice of the trickster floating above them. With a lazy spin, Lævateinn vanished into his personal pocket dimension, and he finally allowed his feet to touch the earth below him.
The Avengers backed up slightly at this, before a few of them rallied enough to take a step towards the god. "Stand down, Loki. Your coming with us in our custody to answer for your crimes here," the captain said, indicating him to step towards Romanoff who held out a pair of handcuffs she intended to put on his wrists.
The laugh that Loki gave was mocking, how truly inflated were these mortals sense of entitlement and superiority, to think they could hold him with ease. "I think not," came the reply, as they all tensed for violent action. "While I don't particularly care about this backwoods mudbowl, or you mortal creatures that inhabit it, I will not to contained by the likes of you." He turned away, clearly aiming to leave them behind.
"Loki! You can not leave! You must answer Father for your acts here and on Asgard."
Turning back for a minute, Loki looked at the one he once called brother, "No. I need do nothing that I do not wish to do. Odin commands me no more, and this planet should be on it's knees, thanking me for killing the Titan for them." He smiled at the frustrated and affronted expressions that stole across the faces of the heroes gathered before him.
NOT FINISHED YET, WRITER'S BLOCK IS ANNOYING. WILL FINISH WITHIN THE WEEK, BUT IT WAS GOING TO BE DELETED AND I WORKED TOO HARD TO LOSE IT.
Afterward he tells the Avengers that he could care less about a backwards mudbowl, with mortal creatures on it. Then cuts a portal and leaves.