Chapter Text
Tony was holed up in his work shop working on a new prototype for a suit. It was just passed two in the morning when Jarvis informed him that he had an incoming call from Fury. Tony nearly fell out of his chair from the abruptness of it.
“Jeez, Jarvis, give me a warning next time.”
“Sorry, sir, I’ll be sure to inform you more quietly from now on.” Tony proceeded to insult Jarvis under his breath. “Tell Fury to fuck off.”
There was a moment of silence as Tony continued tinkering with the machine and then, “He says it’s urgent, sir.” Tony sighed, put down his tools and asked, “What kind of urgent?”, in the most exasperated voice possible. “An ‘Avengers Assemble’ kind of urgent.” Jarvis responded. “Damn.” Guess vacation’s over. “Where am I headed, Jarvis?” “The Redwood Forest in California, sir.”
———
Steve and Bruce, who had been staying at the avengers tower, stepped out onto the landing pad to boarded the jet. Tony begrudgingly agreed to go on the jet instead of flying to their destination by himself. Natasha and Clint had been on a mission when they got the call. They agreed to halt it and head out as soon as possible, but they were going to be a few minutes behind.
Once they were all in the air, Fury called to brief them on the situation. About fifteen minutes ago, a magic source suddenly popped up on shield’s radar, and it seemed to have an uncanny resemblance to a certain god of mischief. They didn’t have an exact location, but they narrowed it down to the Northern part of the redwood forest.
“So, what, is he here for a rematch?” Clint asked over the speakers. “I don’t know,” Steve said. “Thor told us he went missing from his cell nearly a year ago. Why would he wait so long if he planned to attack us again?” “Maybe he realized he sucked at world domination and started training,” Tony suggested. “You know what,” Clint started,”I don’t care. I just hope I get to beat the shit out of him this time.” Bruce spoke up,”I won’t stop you, but you should keep in mind that Thor will be pissed if you kill him.” “I’ll keep it in mind,” Clint said agitatedly.
Once they finally arrived and stepped out, darkness greeted them. “I hate time zones,” Tony started,”We left at two in the morning, flew for three hours and it’s still two in the morning. My sleep schedule is going to be screwed now!” “You say that as if it’s usually normal,” Bruce pointed out. “Yes, but now I have an excuse for it,” said Tony. Bruce sighed, contemplating if he should argue. “Bruce,” Steve interrupted his thoughts,”you stay here unless we need back up.” Bruce had no complaints. “Tony we should split up, we’ll cover more ground that way. If you see anything at all let us know.” Tony saluted him,”Roger that captain.” “Please don’t do that.” Steve groaned. “Alright,” Tony began,”let’s go find ourselves a crazy god.” With that, they turned on their intercoms and spilt up.
Over thirty minutes passed and they hadn’t found anything. “I’m starting to think this is a wild goose chase.” Tony said as he glided around some of the enormous trees. “Why would shield send us on a wild goose chase?” Steve asked. “Not from them, Steve, from Loki. Just because he was here a few minutes ago doesn’t mean he’s still here. If he was even here at all.” “Well, what are you suggesting we do?” Bruce asked.“If there’s no reason for us to be there then we should just head back,” Natasha said.
Tony sighed, ”I don’t know I just-“ The sound of screaming disrupted him. A moment of silence goes by. “Tony, what is it?” Steve asked urgently, thinking something had happened to him. “Sshh” “Tony-“ “If all of you don’t be quiet I’m turing off my intercom.” No one said anything. Good.
Tony followed the screams, careful to be alert to anything suspicious. This could very well be a trap, but as he got closer he highly doubted that was the case. Eventually, he found the source of the cries. They belonged to the person who was trembling on the forest floor. The person was rolling and thrashing. Clawing at the ground and shoving his head into the dirt, obviously in an immense amount of pain. Though they were still screaming, it had died down to mostly loud groans and occasional whimpers.
The dark made it hard to make out any details, but it was definitely Loki. It took Tony a moment to fully grasp that. I mean, just a year ago he had tried to concur earth. Back then he was intimidating. With no helmet or armor, just ragged garments for clothes, he looked feeble. But Tony new better than to let his guard down. “Guys, I found him, but not in a way any of us were expecting. Jarvis, give them my coordinates.” “I’m on my way.” “We just landed, heading there now.” Tony got closer to Loki. He was still shaking and groaning. ‘What the hell happened to you?’
———
All of Loki’s focus was on the enormous amount of excruciating pain he was in. “Overwhelming” was an understatement. He couldn’t tell if his eyes were closed, but either way everything was dark. He couldn’t feel anything other than pain, but he knew he must be thrashing. He couldn’t hear, but he assumed he was screaming. For a moment, he thought he was in the void, but if that were the case then surely he couldn’t have felt anything.
It felt as if hours had gone by when the pain finally died down to a deep ache. His body still shook from tremors every minute or so. He still let out the occasional groan or whimper. However, his senses were starting to come back to him.
His body was sore and his skin felt as if it were humming, due to the adrenaline rush. But after a moment, he could tell he was lying face first on ground. It was solid, but not uncomfortable. Dirt, he deduced. He heard the rustling of leaves from an above breeze. Trees, so he’s probably in a forest. The air smelt refreshing. The gentle wind was relaxing. If the place he just escaped was hell then this was Valhalla. Although, he highly doubted he would enjoy the real thing.
In that moment of calm, he got his breathing under control. He waited. He allowed his body to completely stop seizing and his heartbeat to slow. After that, Loki opened his eyes. What he saw when he opened them made his heart nearly jumped out of his chests.
“Hey there, Reindeer Games,” said the man of iron as he stood over Loki, staring. His faceplate was up, revealing his cautious and concerned expression. ‘There’s no way this is real. This must actually be Helheim.’
“What’d ya get yourself into this time?”
‘Definitely Hel.’