Every Villain is a Hero

Chapter Nine

Norse Proverb: The brave man well shall fight and win, though dull his blade may be.

Chapter Nine

“What’s he doing here?” Stark demanded as Loki entered, with Fury, Lisa and Jane in tow

“I’m here to find my brother,” Loki answered, his voice daring Stark to take issue with it.

“How do we know it wasn’t you putting ideas in Jane’s head, or creating one of your illusions, I hear you’re good at those.”

“Stark,” Jane gave him a warning look. “He saved my life.”

“Thor really did this to you?” Stark asked, looking through the admission report and the pictures SHIELD had taken at the hospital, prior to Loki healing her.

“I don’t think he meant to hurt me,” Jane tried to explain.

“Maybe you could tell us what, exactly, happened?” Banner suggested.

“I still don’t really know,” Jane admitted. She had regained most of her memories, she just couldn’t make much sense of the events. “We went into a little Italian restaurant, sat down, ordered drinks. We were ordering our main courses and Thor just seemed to… I don’t know, zone out. I called his name but he didn’t react, then he got up to walk out. I sort of walked backwards, trying to get him to talk to me but he wouldn’t. I stopped when we got to the door and he just… brushed me aside.”

“He did all that damage just pushing you out of the way?” Natasha asked.

“The police report says he threw you into a wall,” Steve noted.

“Thor’s strength is on a par with your Hulk,” Loki explained. With his index finger and thumb, he picked up a ceramic coffee cup that Steve had been drinking from. “We all learn to be careful as children because an unthinking action-” the coffee cup shattered, “-can do a lot of damage.”

Lisa shuddered. ‘I’m suddenly thinking that rough sex wasn’t a very good idea.’

‘You needn’t worry, I haven’t broken a paramour yet.’

‘Well gee, that makes me feel all warm and snuggly inside.’

Loki gave a mental chuckle.

“I still don’t think we can trust Russell Brand here.”

“We have to keep cool heads about this,” Steve said. “Loki might be able to help us.”

“Thor is not in his right mind,” Loki explained.

“We already know you want Thor dead, so why should we believe you?” Clint asked.

Loki stood up to his full height, which was actually pretty intimidating. “Because Thor is my brother and if anyone is going to kill him, it will be me. As for his mental state, have none of you noticed Mjolnir?”

The avengers looked to the coat hooks by the door, where Thor had hung his hammer.

“Thor rarely goes anywhere without that thing and he can summon it at will. The problem is, Mjolnir can only be summoned by someone worthy of its power, so for Thor not to be able to call the hammer, he must not be in his right mind.”

“So what does that mean?” Banner asked. “He’s being possessed?”

“That or something very similar,” Loki agreed. “That would also explain why you have no memories of your rampages, because someone else was in control of your body.”

“If that’s true, why did they let Bruce go?” Steve asked.

“Maybe Thor was the real target all along,” Natasha suggested.