Of Numbers and Strange Friendships

Chapter 53

Loki gave his companions a moment to gather themselves, a moment to adjust their weapons and magic. A moment was all they got. They were so close and Loki wasn't going to give Hydra a second longer with Peter than they already had.

Thor stepped up beside Loki, an unspoken signal that he was ready. The brothers had fought side by side for centuries. They knew each other's strengths and weaknesses, and, when they weren't trying to kill each other, an unstoppable team. Usually, it was Thor leading the way into battle, this time, this time it was Loki who was leading the charge, leading the attack.

And Thor didn't begrudge the lead to Loki at all.

Loki burst into the room, his rage knocking the doors off their hinges as he stormed in, magic crackling around him. Trust my rage. He wasn't in the mood to play games. He wasn't in the mood for mercy, or kindness, or any of the things he had learned from his beloved mama or Peter. He was going to kill every single person who had laid a hand on his little brother. No matter the cost.

The sight they were met with stilled Loki's heart as terror filled him. Not terror for himself, but for Peter. There were agents around the walls of the circular room, all pointing their weapons at the door, but they weren't what had stopped Loki's heart.

No, that horror belonged to Peter.

Peter was in the middle of the room, being held by one of the Hydra agents, a huge man who was holding a knife to Peter's throat. The boy looked dazed, drugged, or worse. They'd had him less than a day and he was already haunted and weak.

What the Hel had they done to him?

Loki would find out as soon as he put all of the Hydra agents in the ground. "Don't move or Spiderman gets it," the agent holding Peter snarled, shifting the knife against Peter's throat. Peter whimpered softly, very clearly out of it, as a thin line of blood dripped from the wound on his neck.

Loki growled while Stark, Thor, and Strange stiffened, unwilling to risk the teen's life. Strange's magic vanished and Stark's weapons deactivated. They didn't know what to do.

Loki did.

And Loki was out of fucks to give about any of the men in that room besides Peter. And his companions if he was being generous. Without even blinking his eyes, he killed all the agents around the edge of the room. They dropped to the ground in unison. Their deaths were quicker than Loki would like and much less brutal as he'd simply broken their necks, but it was worth it to get to Peter faster. His companions gasped, though the agent holding Peter didn't move, even as all of his companions died.

With the others dead, there was only the one with the knife to Peter's throat to deal with. That would be more difficult. Loki couldn't vanish Peter while the agent was holding him. Nor could he vanish the blade for the same reason. It was a limitation of magic. Loki had to get Peter away from the agent before he could do anything.

"Let him go," he snarled, his magic crackling around him. The others were too afraid to move to do anything useful.

"Pete?" Tony asked, wondering why the kid wasn't moving or fighting. His identity was clearly compromised and he didn't have to hide his powers from the bad guys. So why wasn't he fighting back?

The agent laughed. "We stripped him of his powers and gave him something to keep him calm while we study him," he grinned, pleased at outwitting and outmatching the Avengers. He had them by the balls and he knew it.

"What do you want?" Loki demanded, his temper at the killing edge as he tried to find some answer to how to get Peter away from the agent without Peter dying in the process. He went through every spell he could think of, trying to come up with a way, but there wasn't much he could do until the agent was convinced to let go of Peter.

"The kid. He'll make a good agent when he's been trained up," the agent said with a smirk.

"That will never happen," Stark growled with the others. They weren't going to let Peter stay in Hydra's clutches. None of them were. They just had to get out of this standoff.

As one, they all moved, raising their weapons and magic to blast the agent, careful not to hit Peter with their attacks. The agent went to the ground with him, kneeling over the boy. "You should have done as I said-" he snarled before he stabbed Peter in the stomach, dragging his blade to cause the most damage.

"NO!" Loki roared and blasted the agent across the room with his magic.

He ran to Peter and knelt beside him, letting the others deal with the agent while he tried to stop the flow of Peter's blood. The wound was bleeding heavily. With Peter's powers stripped, his healing factor was doing nothing to help.

"Loki?" The teen asked weakly as his eyes tried to focus on the god.

Peter's blood continued to flow through Loki's fingers. Loki poured his magic into healing the boy, but it was no use. Loki didn't have his mother's healing skills. He could only hear minor wounds. Peter's wound was far, far worse than the minor healing Loki could do.

"I'm here," Loki breathed, terrified for Peter. "You'll be alright," he promised, though he didn't know how. The words were empty, a comforting lie at best.

The light in Peter's eyes started to dim. "I knew you'd come," he said to Loki.

Loki's heart shattered at that. Peter had believed in him, depended on him, and he had failed him. He'd promised and now Peter's life was slipping away.

And there was nothing Loki could do to change it. The wound was too deep, his blood spilling too fast, pouring faster and faster with each pulse of Peter's heart. Tears filled Loki's eyes. "I'm sorry," he whispered to Peter as he stroked the teen's hair away from his face.

"I'm so, so sorry. This is all my fault," he said and leaned down to kiss Peter's forehead, using his magic to ease the teen's pain. It was the least he could do, and all he could do.