Above All Shadows [Loki Timetravel fic - Completed]

Deleted Scenes 2/3

3. Thor and Loki catching up
Original placement: end of Chapter 40 – Midgard

The ruins of a research facility made for a poor base of operations, but Coulson was keen to remain close, so a helicopter was arranged to airlift them to a more structurally sound SHIELD facility an hour away. Romanoff took the co-pilot's seat and Coulson had already buried himself in his lap top before the helicopter had even taken off. The two junior SHIELD agents accompanying them sat at the back, their jaws clenched tight and their fingers hovering over the triggers on their rifles. Without any of the Midgardians to draw their attention, it left Loki and Thor peering at each other.

Thor, as had been inevitable, broke the silence first. 'Why are you back now?'

That hadn't been the question Loki had expected from his brother and he wasn't entirely sure how he ought to answer it. There was the original explanation he had given his family about his decision to leave Asgard, but revelations about his Jotunn heritage seemed like matter of centuries long past compared to the threat of Thanos' coming. And he had already conceded he had become entangled with the Titan during his absence from Asgard. But where to start on that wasn't a simple decision to make.

'Heimdall twisted my arm to get me to come,' Loki said after a pause. 'He told me the servants of Thanos had come to Midgard and that you had come to meet them. I was worried about you.'

Thor scoffed, startling the two SHIELD agents at the back. 'Do you know how much we've all worried about you for the best part of a year now? Mother has been inconsolable. I was about to go find you and drag you back to Asgard myself. It was only father who persuaded me to give you more time.'

'Father is seldom wrong. Here I am, aren't I?'

Loki had aimed to calm his brother down, but his words seemed to produce the opposite result. Thor shook his head, his lips taut, then glared at Loki.

'What did you do to Heimdall?' he demanded. 'The man is supposed to report to the king of Asgard, but you and him had some other agreement I take it. I knew nothing of Thanos or his servants until tonight, yet he must have known something about these people if he went off to tell you about their arrival on Midgard. So he knew of this danger and yet told me nothing.'

'Don't talk to me in that tone. I am your brother, not your lackey.'

'Explain then, brother.'

The helicopter tilted as the pilot made a turn and Loki could see more of the landscape they were flying over. The land seemed to be flat and largely fallow, but bisected by endless straight lines of highways, unpaved roads and power lines. Loki didn't find a single recognisable feature in that landscape.

'Loki,' Thor said sharply, as he fiddled with Mjolnir's leather strap. Patience had never been his strength.

'Don't punish Heimdall on this, I begged him to keep the matter to himself for as long as he could. How would mother have reacted had she find out I had become entangled with a megalomaniac who would take every inch of the universe for his own? He has a grievance with me now, I thought if he was to pursue me, it would be best not to draw his attention to the Nine Realms. Thus I stayed away. And in case, Asgard was of interest to him, I told you to look to the realm's defences.'

'It would've been easier to prepare our defences if we knew what the danger was.'

Loki sighed. 'I had no clue what form Thanos' attack would take or if it would come at all.' He glanced around the helicopter, looking for an alternate topic of conversation. Where Thor was taking this didn't impress him at all and he wasn't in the mood to concede that he had spent half the year drinking, fornicating and trying his absolute best to ignore Thanos' continued existence. 'How is father?'