The Loki Chronicles: Treasured Moments

Moment 19: "The M Word" (May 21, 2022)

[This short story was inspired by Marvel HQ's 10-part animated series "Marvel's Avengers Mech Strike: Monster Hunters" currently available on YouTube. Although it takes place in another multiverse, I decided to bring elements of it into mine.]
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"We're bringing him home."

I had never been so overjoyed to hear those words.

Or so I thought.

A week ago, Loki had gone missing during an assignment with the Initiative. Although being vetted by SHIELD, I understood some missions were still classified.

Whatever the mission was, frankly I couldn't have cared less.

All I wanted was for them to find my friend - alive and well if possible.

Currently, Loki wore a wrist tracker, which was in part for a special probation he had with SHIELD. How he despised that device. I also found it distasteful, but the reasons he was made to wear it we both understood.

I thought it would make things easier to locate him.

However, on the day of his disappearance, there was no signal coming from his tracker. Knowing that Loki was more than aware of the consequences if he dismantled or removed it, I suspected there was something else going on.

Foul play.

And I had never felt so helpless and worried.

Agent Coulson requested me to come and stay at the facility for my safety while they got this situation sorted and would keep me apprised.

He also assured me they wouldn't rest until they found Loki.

When he spoke those words, I couldn't help but feel there was another meaning behind them. Perhaps it wasn't from Coulson himself since he and Loki had gotten on better these days, but I suspected it was SHIELD's default to go on high alert when a potential threat to Earth - despite them seeking redemption - went off the grid.

But Loki going missing wasn't the only problem.

A few days later a real threat presented itself.

The Green Goblin.

While I didn't exactly know who the Green Goblin was short of seeing an article here and there in the newspaper and on TV, Coulson requested my presence to attend a briefing about the situation. Although this wasn't about Loki, there wasn't much else I could do for now except bide my time.

I decided to attend.

Meeting up with my friends from the Initiative and seeing some agents with which I was familiar, Coulson got the briefing started.

"I'm going to show you a clip from cameras installed in the new mech suits Tony Stark created for the Avengers," Coulson said. "This team was on assignment in an area of New York when unexpectedly they ran into the Green Goblin. Then the situation escalated. Take a look."

Coulson pressed a button on a clicker he had been holding in his hand. The lights in the room went out and the video began to play on a big screen on the wall in front of us.

Wearing their mech suits, the Avengers who were assigned to the area grappled with the Green Goblin, who was to them, a familiar supervillain. However, they noticed, almost immediately, that his appearance had drastically changed. From what I remembered, the Green Goblin, usually a scary sight to behold, now looked downright ghoulish!

He even called himself "Monster Green Goblin."

And, his powers seemed to have become much stronger in his new form.