Chapter Text
He didn't want to save them, didn't want to help them or even get involved.
At least until he spotted some newly formed witch tossing a heated stone of purple flames and red poison at Clint.
The man may have been good at his aim and his sight, but Loki knew some arrow wouldn't get rid of the pain.
He stepped closer, eyeing it as it came nearer, before teleporting alongside the male.
He pushed the other to the side, pulling an arm gauntlet up to lessen the damage to his body, a shimmering shield forming over his body.
Though he misinterpreted this witch's strength and his own disadvantage of having lesser magic than he used to.
"Lo-"
He clenched his eyes shut and hid his face partly behind his green gauntlet.
The large explosion went beyond his shield, spreading like fire over his skin and prickling each armor piece and clothing into smithereens.
He stood there like a burned child, undergarments tattered but covering the important parts.
The leather was aflame and drifted into ash through the air, his armor torn and drifting into ash.
His black tight sleeveless undershirt and thin black leggings remained, tattered and shredded, but survived and intact for the most part.
His labored breathing came out fast and the witch snickered at him, shooting yet another in his direction.
"Why, the Prince of Asgard," her accent was sharp and threatening, but not as intimidating as a protective Loki, "what a pleasure to murder you! I'll tell dear Odin your goodbyes."
"Silence yourself, wretch! You shall pay for your crimes of daring to lay such a hand on me," he snarled.
A small ball of blue ice slithered along his outstretched arm, flaring through the air and pausing momentarily in front of her face.
She stood in pure shock and terror, watching it leave a trail of clear, sharpened ice in its path.
It broke past her own attack, flicked through her defenses, and grew in strength as it slammed into her chest and torso.
It spread across her body and convulsed against her, shattering through her flesh with no problem.
She fell to her knees, convulsing a painful death, gurgling blood from between those sullen lipstick lips, and her eyes bulged before rolling back into her head.
She collapsed a mere second later, gurgling blood still, even after her death.
Clint stood behind the mage, breathless and full of shock.
The damage Loki had taken would have scorned and damaged the mortal's body permanently.
"Do not speak of this," the mage ordered, glancing over his shoulder at the other and narrowing his eyes in emphasis.
He teleported away fast, casting more armor upon himself.
His green eyes barely met with the soft brown ones of the engineer.
He popped into existence behind Tony, a hand slipping down the other's back from between his shoulder blades.
"Do not move," he ordered, pulling his daggers out and alerting the other Avengers nearby, including his brother.
The engineer seemed to trust him enough to stay still, despite hearing the obvious unsheathing of the blades.
Clint stood stock still, watching with eager eyes but with confusion and curiosity, yet he took on a defensive stance.
Cap and Nat stepped closer, narrowing their eyes with venom and shouting at the mage.
Loki huffed, raising a dagger as soon as the sparks appeared to his side.
"You will not walk around the King of Jotunheim so easily, beast!"
As soon as he swung his dagger out, an enormous black wolf with fire tinted fur appeared.
Several others appeared, more like ten to twenty, a few near the Avengers and staring back at them with snarls.
His dagger slid deep into its neck, it's paw lashing out in retaliation.
The deep flaming claws dug into the mage's porcelain skin and poisoned his blood fast.
The scorn marks from the witch a mere ten minutes before were visible beneath his dispersing illusion spell.
The mage flinched and let out a grunt of pain as two more dug their claws into his body.
They moved back momentarily, licking his blood from their sharpened claws.
The engineer didn't move, the wolves appeared to not to see him.
"Nobody move, do not move and they will not approach you! Stay! Still!"
Tony's voice barely reached Clint as he rose his arrows and bow.
A couple struck the wolves around the mage, some digging deep enough to kill the demons.
Loki's daggers slashed out, striking deep in the darkened ash fur of these otherworldly beasts.
He downed quite a few in no time at all, but more were crowding his space.
One snapped its jaws, urging forth and chomping deep on the mage's dominant arm, trapping and encasing it against his chest.
He collapsed onto the ground in a heap, one pinning his arm to his chest and two bracing to slash at him once more.
A tear left his eye at the excruciating burn, he'd decline it later, along with the scream that tore from his throat.
A lovely fourth joined the part, snapping its jaws from his left and prepared to tackle him.
He formed a couple balls made of swirling ice cold waters to toss onto the fire beings, smoke smoldering from their fur and whines eliciting from their snarls.
The two with their claws outstretched flopped to the ground, but the biter remained, digging deeper when the water contacted its fur.
Loki fell back onto his other arm, a leg swooping up and around its neck as he forced it to release him.
He flipped himself over, snapping its neck with his legs and slipping a dagger through his mouth for good measure.
The fourth snarled, pulling back and launching forward.
The trickster reached up with his injured arm to brace for impact.
A blast appeared in his peripheral and he launched his uninjured arm against the beast's side.
The flamed beast flipped onto its side, the blast directly hitting its skull and downing it within minutes.
The mage huffed, looking over his wounds in the mean time.
The venom bubbled in his skin, not quite lethal enough for his healing spells not to work for.
He let out a few labored breaths, switching from sitting on the dead beast to kneeling next to it.
He slipped further closer to the ground, relaxing on his backside as his legs slightly outstretched to release some tension.
He yanked the fangs from his injured arm, dropping his daggers and huffing with pain.
The mage hovered his left hand over his injured arm, the venom bubbling and hissing as it seeped from his body.
The orange, fire hot liquid slipped from the wound so simply, a small green wave directing it from his veins.
The other Avengers had set to work, eradicating the other wolves with almost complete ease.
The mage slipped to his hands and knees, moving up from his unguarded position on the ground.
Loki's healing slowed with the upkeep as well as the tension stretching through his muscles and veins.
He stabled himself for a moment, closing his eyes and correcting his center of balance for a moment.
When he exhaled slow and opened his eyes, he suddenly was surrounded by the Avengers.
The venom had finished slipping from his wound by now, the skin stitching itself slowly back together on his arm.
He stepped back a bit, nearly running into the engineer, Tony Stark.
A quick incantation of a teleportation spell entered his mind but his spells were busy enough trying to heal him and keep the pain away.
He offered a liesmith kind of smile, "Hello, gentleman, lovely to see you here."
Cap was the first to speak, pointing an accusing tone at him, "What are you here for?"
Loki bit his lip, thinking of something, anything, to get him out of their sights possibly.
"Just strolling by," he offered, quickly snapping his fingers and flashing away with a breathless chuckle.
Cap nearly got struck by the devilish horns of the ice demon.
"How do you get yourselves into so much trouble for one day," the mage spoke slow, labored and nearly breathless, as he appeared beside the Captain.
His skin was paled more than usual, and his magic had weakened its color by a spectacular amount.
This time, if they all attacked him, they might even be able to take him out.
However, he moved fast despite seeming ill and weakened and vulnerable, moving to push the Captain out of the way.
Steve landed on his knees in the dirt, shield laying down in front of him.
He glanced up at the mage when the shout tore from his throat.
His eyes widened immensely as he spotted the frozen horns tearing through flesh and one, ripping several layers of tissue and muscle.
The pain looked excruciating as it froze the inside of his wounds.
Luckily, the male's illusion spell disappeared long enough for him to show off his blue frost giant form for a split second as he tore his planet's demonic being's head off and shoved his clawed fists down its throat.
He ripped apart it's body before forming back into the pale skin and human body.
Within minutes, the mage fell to his hands and knees.
Blood dripped from his mouth and nose, eyes unfocused and confused before he fell face first into the grass and dirt.
The demon from moment's before simply shattered into ash and dispersed into a portal.
His body dropped it's illusion spell, leaving Odin's own spell of keeping him in human form but showing off each and every burn mark, bruise, cut, slash, and gash he'd gracefully accumulated in the past few hours.
The Cap stumbled as he picked himself up, looking around to ensure nothing else was coming for them.
He quickly picked the male up in his arms, gathering up the lengthy limbs and bleeding body into his bulked up suited arms.
His shield dangled on his back as he jogged towards his partners and squad.
The first name on his mind shot from his lips, the broken body in his arms seeming lighter than it should be for a God.
"Tony!"