One More Time

The Landing

Distant voices. A musty smell. A light so bright it it could make anyone squint. Hard sandy ground. Footsteps. Louder voices. What were they saying?
"Uh, I think you should come look at this..."

"What now?"

"Right now it's 108 degrees Fahrenheit. But about a kilometer that way, it drops. To 21 degrees."

"Huh?" Oh why wouldn't they just shut up! Every word pounded and hurt. A sensation of melting into the ground, like a popsicle...
Booming footsteps. Piercing ears. Scraping ground. Burning eyes. Just stop! Oh finally, an ounce of relief. A cool sensation. Until it was all ruined.

"Who the hell- LOKI?!" boomed a voice. "How? That's not! Your-! What?"

"Stark, do yourself a favor and stop babbling. It's embarrassing."

"Shut up wizard, you've not been much help." Tony Stark said in an acidic tone.

"Except for the fact that I got us here."

And then more quite. Well, more like blacking out. It was quite, and cool. Until that idiot started shaking the body vigorously. And then Loki was wide awake again to hear the end of a conversation.

"No! Maybe! I mean, he seemed so much older at the time! And more menacing..."

"Stark! You still fought a kid!" Strange chided. Now it was Loki's time to cut in.

"Who are you calling kid? I am prince of Asgard! Over one hundred years old! I am, I am-" that's when his ears started ringing. Bad. His head was thumping. Finally Loki took in his surroundings. They were in a desert. The sun was burning Loki's eyes, he had to close them not to burn his retinas. Or at least that's what it felt like. Every sound felt amplified. The hard land underneath him was burning up, and scratching him. It was hot. So, so, very hot. Loki tried to stand up to continue his somewhat lecture, but as soon as he stood, he fell, with just enough time for Stark to catch him.

"Well, Strange, since you have all the answers, what should we do with him?" Stark asked, highly annoyed.

"I propose we take him back to the tower." Strange said in a tone that basically said, 'My way or the high way.' "C'mon Stark, I'll bring us back." Strange said with a smirk.

"What? Why would we ever bring him back to the tower?"

"Well, Stark, why don't we just leave Loki out here to die? I'm sure when the team asks about the strange disturbance in the middle of nowhere, and we tell them it was Loki, everyone, including Thor, will be exquisite to know we left the presumably dead Loki out to die- again?" Strange said in a mock sweet tone.

"Oh god No. Fine! Well take him back! But know this, wizard, I'm doing this out of my own free will!" Stark told Stephen, picking Loki up in bridal fashion. "I just hope he doesn't wake up and stab me in the back..."

A/N: Hey! Off to a bit of a quick start! I hope your loving it so far, can't wait to write the next chapter! I won't always write an author note, but just wanted to say hi and thanks for reading! Remember to check out Kogla on Instagram, who had the initial idea of this story and created all of the lovely art! Thanks!