Brotherhood - Loki & Thor ♡

41. somewhere in the distant night, the hounds howl

Trigger warning for disturbing content.

The government secretly experimented on an unknown virus in their underground laboratories. Thing got out of hands when said virus - or creature of mysterious species or whatever it was - killed twelves of their scientists, and indicated no sign of submission. By the time they burnt down the entire place, with the thing still inside, in attempt to cover up their mess, the result wasn't what they hoped for. The virus spread like wild fire; civilians who failed to evacuate in time met with gruesome death. In the end, the entire city was abandoned; left with not a single life and declared forbidden. The only thing keeping the culprit from escaping and infecting the rest of the world was the thick glass dome, Stark technology, surrounded the place, keeping it that way, which shouldn't be a problem anymore. Until it was.

Peter Parker exposed himself to a worrying illness, not the virus, of course. But the medicine the kid needed happened to be available in only one place; the dead hospital that was located in that town.

Loki went there to get it. Despite Thor's dismay. Despite Thor insisting to go with him. "I'm a God. It's only reasonable that I'm the one traveling there. These mortals are too weak, they wouldn't stand a chance. Besides I grew quite fond of the Spider Child, it would be a shame, if he were to die so young," "no, Thor, you can't go with me. You know why; they need you. If worst did come to worst.... if worst did come to worst, it would have to be me. They need you," Loki had said in a tone that left no room for argument.

He came back with the vaccine. Peter was going to get better. His (Loki's) test result came out negative, according to Doctor Stephen Strange, he was clean.

Until Loki started noticing something was wrong with his body.

///

It was just an insect bite mark he got from his trip to the dead town. Loki didn't even know when it bit him, didn't know they still lived (hadn't it been reported no life survived there? Perhaps those bugs were immune - Loki had read from somewhere that some insects survived in conditions that were impossible for others)

He just shrugged it off, and made a mental note to go talk to Thor later (not a serious talk, more of a complaining because it itched) but he simply forgot about it, and it was nothing, anyway. He only acknowledged it after he returned to the Avengers compound and it itched.

~~~

Loki woke with a start in the middle of the night. The damn bite mark itched like a bitch, and Loki scratched at his arm frantically until his skin turned red, threatening to bleed. He looked at it, apart from the red-around-the-area his nails inflicted, the mark looked the same; just a small spot that was almost unnoticeable. They had a lot of those annoying bugs on Midgard, and Loki hated it. There weren't any on Asgard.

He groaned and debated with himself whether he should go get some salves. Though he was too tired and sleepy to leave the comfort of his bed. Loki closed his eyes and, disregard the itch, fell back into unconsciousness within ten minutes.

~~~

The first thing that greeted Loki when he woke the next morning wasn't the sunlight filtering through the gap between the curtains but the unbearable itching that radiated through Loki's entire arm. He reflectively gasped and clawed at it without looking first. It got worse over the duration of one night, evidently. Eventually, Loki did look, pulling his arm out from under the blanket and rolling up the sleeve. What he saw was.... unnerving to say the least. His skin around the tiny spot, where he got bit, had grown dark shades of green and black.

"Ugh," Loki made a sound in his throat, staring blankly. He had been bitten by bugs before, when his missions required him and the team traveling into the woods, but it was never this bad.