Of Numbers and Strange Friendships

Chapter 13

Peter was on the floor, sitting against the wall, bleeding from multiple bullet wounds. His friend was on the floor bleeding. Loki hadn't been able to stop it. He hadn't been able to keep his friend safe. He was supposed to protect Peter while they were out. It was his responsibility, but he was usually so good at defending himself, or at least being out of the way. He never got hit, never got hurt. Between Karen in his suit and his own good reflexes... but then again, they rarely dealt with men with guns.

Peter was bleeding.

Loki's friend was bleeding.

"Loki," the small word was scarcely more than a whisper, a frightened injured boy begging for help.

The child's fear struck a memory from centuries upon centuries ago. Loki and Thor were children, playing some stupid children's game in the royal forest. It was supposed to be safe for the two princes to play there, even unsupervised. They were much older, of course, but they looked to be around ten Midgardian years old at the time. They were chasing each other with wooden swords and making all sorts of noise. Neither of them were paying attention to the forest around them. Neither of them noticed the bilgesnipe until they had already angered it. The giant antlered beast chased the two princes who could do nothing but run from the angry beast.

Loki tripped over something, a root or rock, it didn't matter. He went sprawling and the beast lowered it's head as Loki scrambled back to his feet. He was hit by the creature's horns and went flying. He crashed hard into a tree, his runty body bleeding and broken by the impact.

He didn't understand Thor's reaction at the time.

Thor had roared in anger and pain. Loki could feel his fear, could feel his rage. The atmosphere was charged. It felt like a thunderstorm, though the skies were clear. Thor held out his hand in the direction of the palace as lightning crackled around his small outstretched fingers. For the very first time, Mjolnir came flying to him. His eyes glowed the blue-white of pure lightning as a bolt came out of nowhere from the sky, not striking any of the trees, which were all much bigger than the child Thor and should have attracted the lighting, but hitting Mjolnir, held high above Thor's head. He pointed the hammer toward the charging bilgesnipe and roared as the lightning flowed from the sky to the creature, though Thor without harming him. The creature exploded in a rain of blood and guts when it was struck with that much uncontrolled lightning.

Thor and Loki both stared in horror at the carnage Thor had made.

In the next instant, Thor dropped the hammer and ran to his brother to check on him. He lifted Loki onto his back to carry him back to the palace, fretting the entire time over his brother being injured.

Loki hadn't understood the reaction then.

He understood it now.

And these mortals would pay for harming Peter.

Peter wasn't his brother. Not officially, but he was Loki's closest friend. And these pieces of walking carrion had hurt him.

Things moved quickly. Too quickly for the doomed mortals. Loki teleported to Peter's side, summoning clones to keep the gunmen occupied and disarm them. He threw up shields around the building and the civilians, keeping everyone inside and the civilians safe.

With them both safe, he could attend to his friend. He didn't have a lot of healing magic, but he could manage to help Peter until he got him back to the tower. So he used a modify shield spell on the bullet wounds to keep them from bleeding until he could do more work later. He placed a hand on Peter's forehead and knocked the kid out temporarily. Peter didn't need to see what Loki was going to do to these pieces of walking carrion.

He wouldn't approve.

Not one tiny bit.

Loki stood to face the criminals. "I am Loki of Asgard," he informed them too calmly. "And you have injured my blood brother. You will all die for your crimes against me and mine. Whoever gives up the one who shot him will have an easy death. That is the best offer you will get from me," Loki snarled at them, drawing a dagger in one hand and a bolt of magic in the other as it sparked in his hands,"

The criminals looked terrified. Loki could feel their fear wafting off of them. The civilians surprisingly weren't afraid. They trusted that Loki and Spiderman would save them. They weren't prepared for what was going to happen. Most of the city had put the alien attack behind them, convinced it was mind control. Which it had been.

This wasn't.

This was revenge.

And these men would pay.

"It was him!" One of them shouted, pointing out one of his fellows.

Loki inclined his head too calmly and stepped over to the snitch. "Smart man," he told the man calmly. The poor mortal thought he was getting out of this alive. Poor idiotic mortal. Before the mortal knew what was happening, Loki had snapped his neck and thrown the body to the ground in disgust.

The others looked sick with fear and the realization that Loki was known as the dark prince for a reason. They were finding out why now. Loki glared at them and they tried to shoot him. He scoffed and turned the guns into snakes, which the men yelled about and dropped while the snakes slithered around them. Rude

Two of the men rushed Loki with bare hands.

Or they tried.

Loki turned all of the bones in their bodies to sand from the neck down. They fell in horrific blobs of flesh to the ground and would die eventually.

He never said he was killing them quickly.

The last one, the one who had harmed Peter he lifted by the throat, and proceeded to rip limb from limb, using magic to keep him alive while his legs went hither, his arms went yon, and his head remained alive to answer questions from the police.

Some of the civilians were horrified.

All of them and all of the villains learned to never harm the little spider who Loki cared for.

Do not harm what Loki cares for, for he is vicious in his revenge.

Nor did Loki care what trouble he got into for this stunt.

The men who harmed his blood brother had to pay with their lives.

And so they would.

Slowly.

Loki dropped the shields on the civilians and building, allowing the civilians to leave and the police to enter. Though he wasn't up to deal with either. He had more important matters to attend to.

Loki went to Peter and lifted him into his arms easily, carrying the kid bridal style to take him home and get proper medical attention. Peter wouldn't approve of Loki killing the people who hurt him. Poor kid just didn't understand. He still had too much innocence. And Loki wouldn't be the one who destroyed that. So he carried the kid from the bank before he'd risk letting him wake.

"Loki?" The kid asked when he stirred during the walk back to the tower.

"Hush, arachnid. You're safe,"

"The men?" He asked in a small scared voice.

Again, Loki thought of Thor's reaction during the bilgesnipe battle.

"Taken care of. No one harms my brother and gets away with it,"