Loki oneshots

Earth's New Defenders (What If...? s01e03)

A/N This fic takes place at the end of What If...? episode 3 ("What If Earth Lost Its Mightiest Heroes) after the Asgardians take Pym to Asgard 

"Alright, Loki." Nick Fury turns to face his new ally, content with the knowledge that the Asgardians can take Hank Pym from here. "I think you've got it from here."

Loki furrows his brows. What? "No, this can't be it." He looks around, like some missing piece of the puzzle is going to fall out of the sky. (Needless to say, it doesn't.) "There must be something more to do."

"Like what?" Fury asks, puzzled. "Your brother's killer is in your custody. Unless you want to kill him here and now, I don't see what's left to do."

"He will be executed shortly after his arrival in Asgard," Loki says. "He's as close to dead as the living can be." Be it when his father wakes from the Odinsleep or when the throne is handed to him, Hank Pym will be killed before the week's end.

That just serves to confuse Fury more. "Then, what, you think he had a partner?"

"No, I don't think so," Loki says. He didn't strike him as a team player. No, this was all him.

"Then what are we missing?" Fury asks.

"I don't know."

Fury just looks at him in exasperated silence for a few moments. "Look. You're overcomplicating this. You have your killer. It's over now."

"No, it's not," Loki insists.

"Yes, it is!" Fury says. "We caught him! There is literally nothing left to do because we caught the killer!"

"No, we're not done," Loki says. "It's not over. It just — it can't be."

Fury folds his arms over his chest. "Why not?"

"Because I don't feel better!"

Fury's expression softens at that. He doesn't speak — he probably doesn't know what to say — but at the very least, he seems sympathetic.

"I just don't get it," Loki says with a sigh. "I caught him. We caught him. I know he'll face Asgardian justice in the worst of ways. I should be happy. I shouldn't feel like..." He shakes his head. He hates this. Catching Thor's murderer was supposed to be a weight lifted off his shoulders. It feels like the weight got a lot heavier instead.

"I know," Fury says quietly.

"I don't think you do."

"Hey, don't forget," Fury says, "he was killing my people, too. Those were my colleagues; my friends. I under—"

"No, you don't, because you didn't get them killed," Loki snaps. "Thor's death was my fault. Their deaths weren't yours. I assure you, director, there is no comparison." He spits the word like an insult, like it's a dishonorable position. Deep down, he knows there's much more honor in Fury's position than his own.

Fury scoffs. "Dr. Pym said he killed them because they worked for me. He did it specifically to get to me. So, trust me, I feel that responsibility just as much as you do. But beating yourself up over something you didn't do isn't going to help anyone. It's Pym's fault and only Pym's fault. Your brother just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"He wouldn't have been at the wrong place if it weren't for me," Loki says. "He should be on the throne of Asgard right now, not rotting away on a metal slab." If only he'd let the coronation go on as planned. He never should have conspired with Laufey. He never should have coaxed his brother into reigniting the war with Jotunheim. His selfishness and his arrogance got Thor killed. How does he come back from that?