Above All Shadows [Loki Timetravel fic - Completed]

48. Lies Within Lies

Ebony Maw's flight caught them all by surprise and for a moment, they stood frozen. Loki was the first to react.

'Don't let her out of your grasp!' he shouted to Stark, who had managed to grab onto Gamora.

He wasn't quite a match for her skills or alien physiology. One well-practised manoeuvre and she flipped Stark over her shoulder. He landed onto his back with a dull thud. The Sorcerer Supreme tutted as she unravelled the bright mandalas she had been using as shields and wrapped the cords of magic tight around Gamora's body.

'Thanks for the help there,' Stark grumbled, his words somewhat slurred. There were splits in both his upper and lower lip and one of his front teeth was missing. He motioned towards the Sorcerer Supreme. 'Who are you exactly?'

'Later, Stark,' Loki replied.

He glanced down the mountainside. The fire in the lodge continued to spread and with the growing devastation, it also offered more light. Rogers and Tyr were clearly visible now. Rogers seemed to be dragging the uncooperative Asgardian up the mountainside. Loki chewed on his lip. Tyr was badly injured; Gamora was contained with formidable magic. Surely, Rogers and Stark could handle these two.

Thor seemed to have the same thoughts. As he swung Mjolnir by its strap, he said, 'We can't allow the Maw get away.'

The hammer's momentum pulled him into the air before anyone could respond. The Sorcerer Supreme chose to rely on her astral projection. Loki, however, merely ran. He had a vague notion that the other two would stop Ebony Maw in his tracks and he would come from behind, but he soon regretted his decision. He hit a particularly deep patch of snow and his boots began to sink into the snow almost up to the knee. Even a blind person would have been able to follow the trail of Loki's ponderous trek. Ebony Maw, on the other hand, left far more nebulous evidence of his passage. He relied on his magic to carry him forward, travelling faster than Loki could and leaving only a thin frothed up layer behind where his magic disturbed the snow cover. Then, even that much disappeared.

Sweating through the armour that was enchanted to wick away sweat -- his Jotunn form tolerated his Asgardian garb poorly, Loki summoned an emerald-hued light-ball. He guided the ball above his head, toward the pine branches and examined the area around him more closely.

'I can't feel him any longer,' the Sorcerer Supreme's astral projection said tersely.

'Nor I,' Loki replied. He wasn't exactly surprised. It required a substantial commitment of magic, but Loki knew how to make himself invisible to certain people when he wanted to avoid scrutiny. Why shouldn't Ebony Maw know a similar trick? Unfortunately, the only way Loki knew to tear off that magic involved knowing exactly where the spell's caster was located.

Loki flicked the light-ball lower once Thor landed beside him. He had anticipated Thor would be scowling and fuming with anger -- their adversary had just slipped away from him for a second time, so Loki was caught off-guard when Thor grabbed him and in a single, panicked breath asked, 'This is really you? Loki? You're not an illusion, aren't you?'

I suppose I did put him through the wringer this night.

'I'm really me.' Loki rested his hand on top of Thor's and felt his brother's clenched grip somewhat relax. 'I would've told you, but I couldn't let you risk giving away the surprise.'

'The way your double killed itself. After what you said to me earlier, I --'

Loki shook his head. 'Now isn't the time for this, Thor. The Maw has lost the sceptre, but he's still a threat. We need to find him.'

'He's without his sceptre and without his allies,' the Sorcerer Supreme said. 'He doesn't have a face to easily blend in with the local population of this planet. Plus we do have the other two, who can be persuaded to talk. He can be found, I think.'