Difficult Changes to Make

Chapter 7

It's been a few months since Loki had arrived at Avengers tower, and he feels as if he's found a place where he truly fits in. The public accepted him better than they had hoped, and all were surprised by his wide fan base. Loki smiled, remembering back to when his firs fangirl had rushed him.

He had been walking through the park with Clint and Thor when all of a sudden a high pitched screech filled the air. They all became alert, fearing someone was in danger.

A young teenage girl came running up to them and practically threw herself in Loki's arms. "Oh my gosh it's you! It's really you oh my gosh! I love you so much!" she said excitedly. Loki gave her a charming grin. "I love you too love," he said in his smooth English accent. The girl suppressed a squeal.

"Oh my gosh I love all of you so much! Can I have a picture?" she asked excitedly, to which they all agreed. When she left she hugged all of them before going, and just to be nice, Loki pecked a small kiss on her cheek. She squealed once more before running off.

"I had no idea you were so popular with the ladies brother," Thor stated cheerfully. "Well, then there are many things you still don't know about me brother."

"Seems as though your fan base is bigger than all the rest of ours combined," Clint said as he walked. "Jealous?" Loki asked in a teasing tone. Clint scoffed, "You wish." The three of them headed back to the tower.

Now it wasn't an uncommon occur acne for something like that to happen. He handled it all well enough and was always extremely kind to them. He even had stayed calm when one particular fan flashed him.

"You may want to keep your shirt down; this isn't Mardi Gras, and I don't want you taken into custody for public display of nudity," he said smoothly.

Because the public adjusted to him fairly well, he was allowed to go out on missions with the rest of the team. At first he was restricted to the tower, but gained his freedom. That's why when a fire sorceress was wreaking havoc on New York, he was there helping the team.

"Damn she's strong," Tony said as he quickly tried to make repairs to his half melted suit. So far, Loki was the only one making any progress in fighting her, his ice powers neck and neck with her fire.

While Loki was shooting ice blasts at the young woman, Clint shot a flame resistant arrow at her back. It hit its target, embedding between her shoulder blades. She screamed, yanking it from her back.

Her body was then engulfed in red flames, burning anything that dared near her. It was amazing how much damage one person could cause. Tony knocked her down with a repulser blast. She glared at him with red eyes and slowly started walking forward. When she saw Clint load another arrow, she shot a fireball and burnt his hand. He yelped in pain, holding his charred hand.

"Give up, this town is as good as mine. You might as well surrender now," she spoke. "There's one thing that you can be sure of, and it's that no matter what, we will never surrender to you," Steve said. The witch started fake gagging. "I'm sorry, I'm allergic to patriotism."

Steve actually got close enough to sock her in the jaw, but she only laughed, rubbing her mouth. Steve hid behind his shield when she tried to shoot fire at him.

When the team came to close to encircling her, she made a ring of fire around herself. They all backed up, trying not to get burnt. Loki got mad and shot ice at the fire causing her to cry out in agony. Loki then realized her weakness. You don't try to take her out: you try to put out the flames.

"Her weakness is the fire! Try to put it out!" Loki screamed, trying to inform the rest of them. Her burning gaze fell on Loki. Before she could do anything, Thor hit her with Mijolnir. This gained her attention, and she started gaining energy to shoot flames at him. Thor started swinging his hammer, getting ready to hit her, but it was clear who would deliver the deadly blow.

"Thor!" Loki yelled his brother's name, but he neglected to listen as he was trying to summon strength. As she struck at him, Loki pushed Thor out of the way, but failed to protect himself. The blow was a fatal one, and Loki was left charred and burnt. His skin turned blue around the burns, revealing his true form once more.

"Loki!" Thor cried and rushed to his aid. "Brother, you'll be alright. Stay with me, don't go, everything will be alright," Thor tried to tell him, but the life in Loki's eyes was fading fast. A blast of heat does more damage to a frost giant than one would think. "Thor, enough with the lies," he tried to tell him.

Thor tried to tell him words of comfort, but could find none, as what Loki said was true. No more lies. "B-brother. I-I'm sorry. F-for everything," Loki stuttered on his words, beginning to choke on his own blood.

As this was happening, the others were working hard to put out the flames. They finally succeeded, bringing her down and rendering her powerless. She was then taken into SHIELD custody, and that was when the rest of the team noticed Loki.

He looked horrible. His pale skin was scorned with black and red burns that had blue skin around the rims. His eyes that were once so green and vibrant were now dull and glazed over. A trickle of blood ran from his mouth as he sputtered and choked.

Thor held his small frail body in his muscled arms, not daring to let go. Loki died there, on the battle field on the sidewalk of Broadway Boulevard. Thor wept over his brother's limp body while sirens blared in the distance, drawing nearer.

Steve's hand rested on Thor's strong shoulder and patted his back. No one dared to interrupt the silence, except for a few broken sobs. Natasha's shoulders shook as she sobbed silently. Tony looked down in disbelief, and a single tear left Clint's eye. You never know how much you truly care about someone until they're ripped away from you forever.

The EMTs arrived, and after much yelling and debating, they took Loki's body away, refusing for anyone to ride in the ambulance. Of corse nothing they tried worked. They advised that since there was nothing they could do, it was best that they head back home. The Avengers began a remorseful tread back to the tower. One without their beloved mischievous comrade.