"What if...."Frigga Stayed

Battle

The Avengers and the royal family sat at the long-table in the dining hall. A feast was set out before them and they were all digging in.

"No way that happened! Uh-uh," Tony yelled with his mouth full.

"Indeed, my brother tells the truth!" Thor boomed.

Natasha and Clint were laughing so hard that they were having trouble breathing. Nat took her fork and pointed it at Loki. "You're telling me that Thor actually dressed up like a girl to get his hammer back from a bunch of giants."

"Yep!" Loki said, popping the 'p'. "And it wasn't even my idea!"

"What?!"

"It was Heimdall's!"

The avengers burst out laughing and even Odin gave a little chuckle.

Loki touched the lip of his wine glass to his lips and took a gentle sip with a smile on his face.

"Loki hasn't even told of how we-"

BOOM!!!

A explosion shook the castle and the Avengers, Loki, and the Soldiers sprang into action. No other shots had been fired after the initial. They all ran to their armor and weapons and reconvened in the courtyard. Odin was already waiting at the fore of the army staring down a giant black ship in the distance. It hovered above the far end of the bifrost bridge.

Odin raised his hand and the soldiers fell into formation. Loki drew his daggers and called on his magic while the rest of the Avengers readied their weapons and abilities.

As soon as the ship became close enough to shoot, the ranged attackers began their assault on it. Clint had worked with the Asgardian smiths to make sure all the archers had a few explosive arrows in their arsenal along with their anti-spacecraft guns.

The explosions rang out around the ship and almost immediately the ship started to fire back. The ship was able to land on the bifrost and open its hatches to let its army out. Odin brought down his hand and the true battle began.

The armies raced towards one another, with Asgard's archers taking out whomever they could, which seemed like a lot. Tony started to send mini missiles from his suit into the fray before he had to go into a more melee state. The hulk threw some of the chitauri over the edge of the bridge to either drown or fall into deep space. Thor sent shockwaves on the solid ground, dispersing the enemies.

Loki found himself on the outers of the battle, concealing certain areas in a smoke only the enemy could see, sending bolts of magic into the hearts of his enemies. He dispatched of them quickly, but more came every time he did.

The battle raged on and many had fallen on Thanos' side but there was still no sign of the titan. The Asgardians were holding their own, but they were becoming weary. Many were now starting to be felled and the Chitauri just kept coming.

Loki sat on his ledge, doing his best to kill the oncoming army.

"This can stop little one."

Loki swiped up behind him with his dagger, only for his hand to be carelessly knocked away. Thanos pushed Loki back down onto the ground and held his head to look at the losing battle. "You are causing this. All of this pain and suffering is because of you. But you can stop it."

Loki was breathing heavily as he struggled against the titan's grip.

"If you surrender, I promise no one else has to get hurt. They can live long, happy lives. But only if you give yourself up."

Loki thought about all of the people on Asgard fighting for him right now. In that moment, he knew what had to be done.

I'm sorry Amma...

"I surrender."

-----------------------------------------------------

Steve and Tony were killing chitauri left and right, when suddenly, the began to retreat. Steve touched his earpiece. "You guys seeing this?"

"Yeah, I'm seeing it,"Clint responded .

"What the hell is goin' on?" Nat ran up to them, shouting.

The chitauri ship took off from the bifrost and went into the evening sky. The rest of the Avengers and Odin came rushing up to meet them.

"They just started retreating, what happened?" Bruce asked, now transformed back into himself.

Steve quickly realized something. "Has anyone seen Loki?"

----------------------------------------------------

Frigga hugged Thor when she heard the news. Odin rubbed his hand over his forehead, then rested it on his wife's shoulder. "We will get him back."

"How could we have let this happen?" Steve asked.

Frigga placed a hand on his shoulder while not letting go of her other son. "It is not your fault. It is no one's fault but that titan's."

Steve nodded solemnly.

-------------------------------------------------------

Loki groaned as his arms were stretched above his head. Heavy wrist chains attached to a hook hanging from the ceiling of the cell. His ankles and knees were secured to the ground through rungs in the floor, forcing him to constantly kneel. A collar rested on his neck that prevented him from using his magic completely.

Upon his arrival he was stripped of his clothes and made to wear a pair of loose grey pants, which only went down to his mid calves and were ripped in several places. They beat him until he couldn't walk and then threw him in this cell.

As of the current moment however, he was staring down the Other and one of Thanos' daughters, Gamora.

"You could never have hid from us. Now, you will experience true pain!" The Other held out a glowing rod and Loki paled. It rounded the restrained god and pushed the rod into the back of his left shoulder. Loki ground his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut so that he wouldn't scream.

The rod was taken off of his back, but the burning sensation was still there. Then another one was placed below the first. Loki lasted until the third rod before he started screaming.

Seven rods later and the Other finally let up and left the cell, having had his fun for the next few hours. Gamora stared sadly at Loki, who had tears streaming down his face. She tore bit of fabric off of an old tablecloth in the corner. She grabbed the bucket of water next to it and set it down behind the trickster. She wet the cloth she had ripped off and laid it on the wounds caused by the branding irons.

Loki tensed at first, but relaxed a little once the cooling effect of the water hit him. He felt gamora run her hands through his hair to get some of the grime out. His eyes started drooping and as soon as he felt her stand up to leave, his world turned black.