Above All Shadows [Loki Timetravel fic - Completed]

53. Endgame

The sceptre sent veins of cyan-hued energy trailing over and under Thanos' skin. Loki laughed. He had forgotten the potency of the soaring satisfaction the mind stone imparted upon its wielder and the euphoria that coursed through your veins when you reached out to snatch another's mind.

The blue reached Thanos' temples; memories that weren't his own flashed before Loki's eyes. A busy, prosperous city bursting with people, all of whom rushed past a ragged wisp of a child begging for water. Two girls - undoubtedly Gamora and Nebula in their younger days - argued over a bag of candy. A firestorm vaporised all in its path, roaring out towards a dark horizon where no sentient creature would ever walk again. Loki pressed the sceptre further. He was close, soon he would have Thanos at his mercy, but he wasn't yet there.

Thanos roared. The mind stone's energy seemed to convulse, something Loki had never witnessed or heard of it doing before. Before he could react, Thanos had already pushed the sceptre out of the way with enough force to send it flying out of Loki's hands.

He advanced on Loki. 'You'll pay for that.'

Horror took place of the glorious elation of the previous moment. Loki backed away from Thanos and his feet slipped off the stair he had been standing on. He tumbled off the dais.

Loki scrambled back onto his feet. Between half-chocked up breaths, he dropped the illusions he'd woven over himself, found the sceptre and clung onto it with every ounce of strength he had. Only one thought remained as he edged closer to utter panic - he needed to keep Thanos away from the mind stone. Loki continued scrambling back and sent a blast from the sceptre in Thanos' direction, but that only left the Titan snarling with fury.

This is it. Really it.

A whir that Loki had never welcomed half as much as he did now became audible. A second later, it grew louder. Then, with a thunderclap that made even the massive statues above them tremble, Thor held up Mjolnir. Loki sucked in a breath. Thor was here, it wasn't over just yet.

If Thor's fists couldn't quite do the damage that Thanos' could, Thor was more agile and Mjolnir was a powerful weapon. Had they been matched one-to-one, Thor might well have struck a serious, if not a decisive blow. But they were in the middle of a palace occupied by Thanos' troops. The tumult of the fighting carried and Outriders soon poured in through the open doors.

Hissing out a string of curses, Loki used a spell to slam all the doors shut. Yet there were dozens of soldiers already inside. And loud thumps came from the corridors; the soldiers on the other side of the doors would force their way inside soon enough.

'You're a fool. You both are,' Thanos sneered as he threw a left hook at Thor's face. 'Asgard will pay the price for your mistake.'

Thor ducked under Thanos' fist, but if he offered a response to Thanos' threat, Loki never heard it. Three Outriders converged on him, the muscles of their many arms taut and ready to tear him apart. Loki swung the sceptre in a wide arc. He didn't dare to try mind control in the middle of a battle - that required a degree of finesse that he didn't have time for with the numbers stacked so heavily against him and Thor, but he was liberal with the energy the sceptre could channel from the infinity stone.

The energy pulse tore through the Outriders advancing towards him and they all slumped to the ground. Yet that hardly solved Loki's problem. Outriders had been bred to pay no heed to the fate of their comrades. Once the heat of battle subsumed them, they pressed upon the enemy with the furore of rabid wolves. Loki would have to kill every single one of them before they stopped coming.

The door to Loki's left exploded, sending shattered fragments of the heavy door flying in every direction. More Outriders poured in.

The longer this goes on, the worse it's going to get. This palace is teeming with Thanos' people.