Chapter Eleven: Brotherhood

As soon as Loki finished speaking, a shield flew straight at his face. He swung his staff to deflect the sudden attack, and the rebounding shield returned to its owner’s hand.

“The last time I came to Germany, there was someone else who tried to stand above everyone else. It ended badly for him,” Captain America said, approaching Loki at a measured pace. As a close-combat fighter, he certainly wasn’t going to stand at a distance and take hits.

“A soldier,” Loki sneered at the man clad in the American flag, his control over Agent Barton making him well aware of who this human was. Loki gave a scornful smile. “An obsolete relic.”

Captain America’s face remained impassive. He saw nothing impressive about the man before him. “At least I’m not about to become a dead relic.”

Up in the sky, Natasha piloted a Quinjet, the onboard guns locking onto Loki. “Loki, drop your weapons and surrender immediately.”

Loki looked up at the jet, raising his hand to unleash an energy blast. The Quinjet dodged nimbly, and Captain America rushed forward, engaging Loki in combat.

The two traded blows, and to everyone’s surprise, Captain America’s close-quarters skills were no match for Loki’s. To this day, it remains a mystery why Loki, the most powerful sorcerer of the Nine Realms, possessed such formidable physical prowess—a testament, perhaps, to his unhinged mind.

Natasha, unable to provide backup as Steve was embroiled in battle with Loki, grew anxious until Iron Man’s voice crackled in her earpiece.

“Hey, Agent Romanoff, did you miss me?” Tony’s flippant tone brought a faint smile to Natasha’s lips. With Iron Man joining the fray, she was certain Loki would soon surrender.

Iron Man’s suit roared in from the distance, a blast from his repulsor cannon knocking Loki onto the steps.

“Come on, little reindeer,” Iron Man taunted, every weapon locked on Loki. If Loki chose to keep resisting, Tony was ready to blast him to kingdom come—after all, it wouldn’t kill him.

Loki dismissed his armor and helmet, raising his hands in surrender. “Now that’s more like it.” Tony retracted his weapons, exchanged a greeting with Steve, and brought Loki aboard the Quinjet.

…

‘Artanis, I can sense Loki’s presence now.’ Thor flew among the clouds, his connection to Loki growing stronger. Though the sense could not confirm Loki’s true body, it would suffice to lead him to his brother.

‘Good. Where are you now? I’ll be there at once.’ Artanis halted his flight path. Having left Kamar-Taj, he had been heading toward Europe, searching for Loki via telepathy. Before coming to Earth, Frigga had finally told him Loki was undercover with Thanos, though she refused to elaborate.

Artanis had also suspected the artifact might be in Thanos’s possession. He had heard of Thanos—the last of the Titans, wandering the cosmos. But when an Elder went to investigate, nothing was found, so for now, it was just a suspicion.

Regardless, finding Loki was the top priority. Only then would answers to the coming darkness or the Protoss relic be revealed. After Thor’s reply, Artanis quickly altered his course. Since Thor was still moving, Artanis couldn’t set precise coordinates to teleport directly to him.

‘Once you find Loki, stay where you are. I’ll be able to teleport to your location.’ Artanis gave Thor a few instructions, only to have an impatient Thor cut off the communication.

Artanis shook his head helplessly. Though he hadn’t fully mastered the combined powers of light and shadow, cloaking himself with void energy was an easy feat.

Meanwhile, Thor had already locked onto the only possible target in the vicinity: an aircraft in flight.

Aboard S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Quinjet, Steve and Tony were discussing Loki’s uncharacteristic behavior when they became aware of the growing thunder outside.

Seeing Loki peering about anxiously, Steve asked, “What’s wrong? Don’t tell me you’re afraid of thunder.”

Loki rolled his eyes. “I just don’t like what usually comes with the thunder.”

With a crash of thunder and lightning, Thor landed atop the aircraft. The others felt the impact from above; Natasha tried to shake off their pursuer by accelerating, while Tony donned his suit and opened the rear hatch.

“What are you doing?” Steve asked, confused by Tony’s actions, as Tony aimed his repulsor at the newly arrived Thor just outside the hatch.

With a single blow, Thor sent Tony sprawling and seized Loki with his other hand, swiftly flying off with him.

Tony scrambled to his feet and watched Thor depart. “Great, just what we needed—a wild card.” With that, he prepared to leave the jet.

“Another Asgardian?” Natasha found it hard to believe, but her access to some of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s files meant she knew of Thor’s existence.

“Is he on our side?” Captain America, who hadn’t yet reviewed the relevant files, finally realized the significance of Thor’s sudden appearance and, seeing Loki taken away, turned to Tony for answers.

“That’s not important,” Tony replied. “Whether he kills Loki or absconds with him, we’ve lost the Tesseract.”

“Stark, we need an assault plan.” Steve wanted Tony to hold back, but Tony was already at the hatch. “I’ve got a plan: attack.” With that, he flew off.

Steve gritted his teeth, quickly grabbing a nearby parachute. “If it were up to me, I’d stay out of this, Captain.” Natasha tried to dissuade him. “They’re all from the realm of the gods—basically gods themselves.”

“I can’t do that,” Steve replied as he strapped on the chute. “There’s only one God, ma’am, and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t dress like that.” With those words, he jumped from the plane.

Natasha could only watch as her two combat specialists left, resigned to adjusting the aircraft’s course and preparing to land. No matter how fierce their battle on the ground, they’d need the plane in the end.

Thor, having reached the ground first, slammed Loki down. “Where is the Tesseract?”

“I missed you too,” Loki replied with a smile, already scheming how to make Thor pay him back.

“I’m not joking!” Thor’s voice rose, anger flashing in his eyes.

Loki picked himself up, dusting off imaginary dirt. “You should be grateful. If not for me, Odin wouldn’t have sent you back to your beloved Earth.”

Thor set aside Mjolnir, grabbing Loki’s collar, his eyes damp. “I thought you were dead.”

Loki hesitated a moment. “Did you mourn for me?”

“We all mourned you. Our father—” Loki cut him off, raising a finger. “Your father.”

He brushed off Thor’s hands and ignored the pain in Thor’s eyes. “He told you the truth about me, didn’t he?”

Watching Loki walk away, Thor’s heart ached. “We grew up together. We played, laughed, shared everything. Don’t you remember any of it?”