Backfire

Disclaimer: Not mine, but I'm glad to have the chance to borrow the characters for a bit!

Summary: Following his defeat in Midgard, Loki escapes the punishment brought upon him by Odin so that he can exact revenge upon the Avengers. Not everything goes according to plan, however. No romance or pairings.

AN: I don't know if what becomes of Loki after the Avengers movie is known or not… so I'm taking liberties and inventing things. Yay!

It had been several months since the Avengers had defeated Loki and since Loki had been taken back to Asgard to be dealt with by Odin. The Allfather had, not unexpectedly, felt a great deal of anger and a sense of betrayal toward his adopted son. Loki felt much the same for his own reasons, and his quiet explanations only served to fuel Odin's disappointment.

Thor had watched from the sidelines as Odin dealt Loki his punishment for attempting to destroy Midgard. He could see Loki clenching his fists in anger, and Thor knew that his little brother had not viewed the events as being destructive to the realm of Midgardians. He hoped that this would teach his brother that what he had attempted was not in anyone's best interests.

Loki's punishment seemed similar to Thor's at first. The Trickster was stripped of his weapons and armor, but added on top of that was the loss of some, but not all, of his magical ability. At this action, Odin explained why he had left some of Loki's magic. "While I believe that you are no longer deserving of these abilities, I do not wish for you to be completely unable to defend yourself magically. You will lose your ability to travel through space and time, among other things. I'll not have you fleeing your punishment prematurely."

Thor hadn't known what Loki's punishment would be, so he was surprised when Odin declared that Loki would be sent to Jotunheim to pay for both his previous crimes against the Jotuns as well as the more recent ones against Midgard. Though he was just as angered by Loki's actions as Odin was, Thor couldn't help but feel a bit apprehensive. Jotunheim wasn't the most hospitable place for even a group of the best armored warriors.

Realizing that any protests would only worsen his fate, Loki kept quiet and focused his stony gaze on the floor at his feet. After Odin's declaration, Loki was led to the Bifrost in silence. There were no parting words between the brothers. Loki disappeared without even a single parting glance at his family. Thor stood watching the space that had last been occupied by his brother and hoped desperately that Loki would return someday and be the way he was before all of the lies had been found out. He nodded respectfully to his father as the Allfather left the Bifrost, believing that Odin would know what was best for his sons.

Thor left for Midgard shortly after his brother's departure. He felt no vindication or satisfaction from his brother's fate, only a sense of resignation and regret that his brother went down the path that he did. Part of him wondered just what kind of affects would befall Loki during a stay in Jotunheim. Though Thor couldn't help but worry about what this would lead Loki to do later on, he tried to focus on how Loki could change for the better. It got harder to think positively about the situation the more he thought about it.

Regardless of his reservations, the rest of the Avengers celebrated Thor's news of Loki's punishment. Tony had no shortage of thankful comments and sarcastic remarks about the situation. Without the "menace," the Avengers were practically on a holiday.

"You know what, Thor?" Tony asked one day over his drink. The man always seemed to have a glass of some sort in his hands when he wasn't working. Tony didn't bother waiting for a response before he continued. "I almost miss your brother. Without him around, I fear I may just die from boredom."

"You complain about him as if he's your long lost love, Tony," Steve joked over one of Pepper's fashion magazines. "All this whining makes you seem a bit…"

"Oh sure, this coming from a guy reading a Vogue magazine! And not even the swimsuit or lingerie pages. You sicken me," Tony stated flatly.

"I'm pretty sure Thor would go get him if you asked nicely enough, Tony," Steve added. "Then again, I wouldn't be all that surprised if he showed up here tomorrow after finding some sneaky way out of… What did you call it, Thor?"

"Jotunheim. And I highly doubt he'd be able to pull something like that off in only six months. He'd need to find an entirely new way of traveling that doesn't rely on the Bifrost or his magic."

"Either that or find someone stupid enough to help him," Tony said, standing to refill his drink. As he did so, a great crash sounded throughout Stark's mansion. Everyone felt the vibration and leapt to their feet immediately.

"What the hell?" Tony exclaimed, already getting a hold of JARVIS to see what was happening.

"We appear to be under attack in the east end of the building, sir. Either that or you have acquired yet another highly destructive friendship," JARVIS reported. Steve snorted at the computer's tone, wondering how Tony gave it such character.

"Which one of you forgot to knock on wood?" Tony muttered exasperatedly as JARVIS provided a more detailed report of just where the attack was taking place.

"Why would I knock on wood? I am already inside the building," Thor stated, once again confused by yet another modern idiom.

Tony ran off toward the racket, followed closely by Thor, and Steve, who had come running when they saw Tony take off. The closer they got to the east end, the clearer the damage became. Smoke filled the air in parts and orange bursts signaled parts of the building that were still on fire. As they passed into one hallway, they ran into Clint who had pulled on his vest and grabbed his bow upon hearing the sound.

"So it's not you, Thor. That's good, I guess," Clint joked as he jogged alongside the others.

At some point during their rush, Tony must have grabbed his suit, which everyone was thankful for as a large blast almost felled a wall on them. Tony held it up long enough for them to clear the area, and then they came face to face with the cause of all the trouble.

"Brother!" Thor shouted in surprised greeting upon seeing Loki standing amongst the ruins of one of Stark's many bedrooms. "How are you here?"

Loki glared out at Thor with more contempt than he ever had before. Before he could respond, Tony cut in with his own snarky comment.

"And what the hell happened to you? You look worse now than you did the last time we kicked your butt back to Asgard."

It was true that Loki looked terrible. His clothes were torn in places and had stains on them that looked like blood. They could see a number of bruises on Loki's exposed flesh and the small group vaguely wondered what was hidden from them. Judging from the way that he wavered and swayed where he stood, they imagined that the man was definitely not up to battling them, which only confused them more.

Loki growled at them and said, "You shouldn't concern yourselves with how I am here, but rather how long it will take the tin man to rebuild his precious home."

There wasn't much of a warning before Tony's repulsors let loose a blast of energy towards Loki. The Trickster used some of his magic to try to block the attack, but he still had to jump away from it to avoid getting injured. That single move started a battle that grew progressively louder and larger as more and more of Stark's mansion was damaged or destroyed. Thankfully, Bruce was not currently staying with them, so a good portion of the building was able to stay standing.

After nearly thirty minutes of blasts and explosions followed by falling debris and panicking Stark employees, the group had finally pushed Loki to the perimeter of Tony's mansion. Nearly everyone, including Loki, was injured to some degree and growing tired of the fight. Steve looked around at those that he could see while wrapping a hand around his left arm. It had been injured during an attempt to free some of Stark's employees from the rubble that had fallen down around them.

Hawkeye wasn't faring much better, having had one of his arrows turned back upon him, which lodged itself deep in his upper leg. As annoying and painful as that was, however, he felt better at the thought that one of his arrows had hit Loki in the shoulder not long after he himself was hit.

Tony was helping Hawkeye get to a safer location when Thor threw his hammer towards Loki, who barely dodged it at the last second. Thor rushed towards his brother, grabbing a broken metal bar that used to support a computerized feature of Tony's and swinging it at Loki. Magic flew from the man's hands as he attempted to defend himself, though Tony and Clint could both see how much of a struggle it was for him to draw forth that much magic.

"You will not succeed here, brother!" Thor's voice thundered over the noise. "End this madness while you still can!"

"End it!" Loki screamed back at him, looking as if he wouldn't be able to find the logic in that idea if he sat and thought upon it for hours. "And pray tell, dear brother, what will become of me if I do that? Will you take me back to Asgard where father can banish me to a realm that wants nothing more than to see me dead and gone forever?"

"You did not leave him with much of a choice, brother," Thor answered, still using the metal rod to try to subdue Loki, since it was obvious that he would not willingly end this fight without at least destroying Thor.

"I didn't leave him a choice?" Loki raged incredulously. "Just like how I was given a choice about my heritage, or how differently we were treated? If you wish to see a bad choice, brother, then just go back home and take a good look at your father!" Loki's words were shot out with such venom and hate that everyone within hearing distance cringed.

Tony took in the sight from a ways off with Clint leaning on him. Loki was filled with anger, and Thor almost seemed resigned and saddened by Loki's words, rather than more upset by them.

"I never wanted to destroy this realm before and you know it, Thor!" Loki ground out at his brother. "But I assure you that this time around I'll destroy this entire realm for what you've done to me!" Loki hissed and lifted his hands to draw together his magic. Flickering bursts surrounded his hands and he stumbled slightly from trying to use so much power when he obviously didn't have access to it.

Thor stepped forward and spoke loudly enough for Loki to hear him over the crackling of his magic. "Brother, you don't have the strength for this. Come with us and we will –"

"Stop calling me brother!" Loki growled, sounding less like himself every second. He pulled something unfamiliar to Tony out of one of his pockets. It grew in size and he clutched it fiercely.

"What in the world is that?" Clint leaned a bit closer to Tony and asked quietly.

"Not sure," Tony replied, "But judging by Thor's expression, it's not something he's supposed to have."

Thor's booming voice interrupted them, "Tell me how you acquired the casket and just what you plan on doing with it!"

Clint broke in quietly again, "Please tell me that thing isn't an actual casket that's filled with dead things."

Tony rolled his eyes and said, "When did you decide to go with such a masculine look, Pepper? You could almost pass for Clint… aside from all the girly and squeamish thoughts you seem to be filled with."

Clint groaned and shoved away from him while muttering, "Damned tin can…" He quickly reached for Tony's shoulder as he realized that his leg ached too much to support his weight. Tony didn't bother responding as everyone's attention was drawn towards Loki and the casket. The object shone with a brilliant blue light while Thor raised his hand to call back Mjolnir, flinging it towards his brother the second it arrived.

Loki dodged the hammer without dropping the casket, but he wasn't able to move out of the way on its return trip to Thor's hand. Mjolnir hit Loki's already injured shoulder, making him cry out in pain as the casket was thrown from his grasp. Thor caught the hammer as it returned to him and strode towards the casket.

Loki removed his hand from the injured shoulder and threw a dark blast of energy towards Thor to stop his advancement. Thor merely deflected Loki's attack with his hammer before sighing heavily at his brother and saying, "Enough, Loki."

If Loki hadn't been thoroughly enraged before, then he was about to explode with anger at Thor's words which so closely echoed his father's damning words on the Bifrost a few years before. His hands began to glow with blue energy that seemed to be mirrored around the casket. He smirked and swept his gaze across the Avengers as the burst of energy grew around his hands and the casket which still lay on the ground.

"You ignorant fools!" Loki laughed. "You think taking the casket from my grasp will stop me? I'll freeze you all to the places on which you stand! People will come for miles to see the mighty Avengers ice statures! Perhaps SHIELD will finally earn something worthwhile from you by charging money to come see the amazing Avengers!"

Clint shook his head lightly and said doubtfully, "Now he's going to use the little dead things to freeze us all?"

"Don't worry Pepper, I'll protect you," Tony said, tightening his hold on Clint's shoulder.

Clint winced and ducked away from Tony while saying, "Not so tight, damned robot."

Tony rolled his eyes from within the suit but loosened his hold on his fellow Avenger nonetheless. Ahead of them, Loki looked as if he was losing himself to the stress and Tony hoped that Thor wouldn't be idiotic enough to try to reason with his so-called brother.

With a growl, Loki pushed more of his magic towards the casket. Suddenly, a forceful wave shot out from it, nearly knocking all of them, including Loki, off of their feet. When the blast hit Tony and Clint, the two immediately felt a freezing chill fall over them, despite their respective armor and protective clothing. They shivered while looking around and seeing that everyone else was affected in much the same way.

Loki continued to try to draw power from the casket, though when he flung an arm out to the slowly advancing Thor, the chilly magic did little more than form a thick layer of frost at the feet of the two brothers. It was made apparent to the Avengers that the magic was not responding in the way Loki desired when he turned his glare upon the casket. He flung his hand towards it in another effort, seeming to grow more drained from the energy it took, but all he achieved was another layer of frost.

The more Loki tried this, the more frost accumulated around him. It also continued to grow colder than a winter's night. Pretty soon, even he was shivering from the cold. This only served to fuel his now completely metaphorical fire which made him push with all he had towards the casket. The second he did so, Loki felt another force pushing against him from the casket, and it wasn't one of the Avengers. Thor seemed to sense the new power as well since he suddenly was looking at Loki with a fair amount of worry.

"Loki! Pull away from it at once!" Thor shouted, and Loki could've destroyed him without a second thought for sounding – no, pretending to be – so worried. His brother's reaction confused him and as loathe as he was to admit that Thor's warning was warranted, he knew that he would never concede to defeat by giving up.

Another demand from Thor burst through Loki's tormented mind. "Brother, listen to me! The casket is turning on you!"

Loki squeezed his eyes shut tightly as Tony and Clint looked on from their vantage point several meters away from Thor and his brother. It did indeed seem like the casket was turning on Loki. The magic in the air connected the two and, through that connection, the casket was sending a chilling force back at Loki. The ground beneath the Trickster appeared to be a solid sheet of ice now and they could see Loki's skin getting paler while frost grew on his clothes and hair.

They watched as Thor grew more nervous before he finally flung his hammer towards Loki, hoping to literally knock some sense back into him. Just before it hit, Loki opened his eyes and a huge sheet of ice shot up and deflected Mjolnir away from him enough so that the hammer didn't actually hit him.

Appearing completely aggravated at Loki's actions now, Thor stepped forward and ground out, "Loki, you'll freeze if you don't stop this!"

Clint heard a quiet snort from Tony followed by the words, "And he wanted to make popsicles out of us… Looks like he'll be trying that look out before we will."

"Shh!" Clint whispered back at Tony in an effort to hear Loki's response. Over the distance between them, they were unable to hear it. Thor, however, could hear his brother's response perfectly.

"I can't, Thor," Loki whispered loud enough that only Thor could hear. He shivered violently and continued speaking. "Besides, who ever heard of a Frost Giant freezing to death?" Even as he spoke the words, the chill intensified to a new level. Loki kept his gaze on Thor, determined not to show in his expression how angry, surprised, and completely cold he felt.

Not a second later, the chill increased and Loki shut his eyes. The frost that now covered him entirely turned into a very thin layer of ice and then everything went still. The blue energy that had emanated from the casket wisped out of existence until the only thing that moved were the steamy breaths from the various Avengers as they stood in the freezing air.

Nobody dared to move in the moments that followed. Thor stood completely still, just a couple short meters from Loki's frozen form. His brother's last words, ones which even Thor recognized as being highly ironic, rang through his mind in the chilly silence.

Meanwhile, Tony and Clint were looking about to assess the damage that had been sustained. Any fires that had arisen had put themselves out due to the layer of frost, which Tony was grateful for. He really didn't want to rebuild the entire mansion.

"I think you're going to need a new bar," Clint commented, pointing behind Loki to the wall of one of Tony's bars that had a massive crack running through it. Tony stood up and looked in time to see a very expensive bottle of scotch slide off of one of the shelves.

"No no no no no!" Tony darted forward in a futile attempt to catch it but was nowhere near quick enough to save it. He came to a stop near Thor and let his shoulders slump in mock defeat.

"That's it. He ruined my scotch. I'm gonna kill him," Tony grumbled. He glared at Loki momentarily before firing up his repulsors, taking aim, and firing out a deadly shot of energy towards the Trickster.

Everything happened at once. In the same second that Tony's repulsors fired off at Loki, Thor reached out to try to stop him or block the attack. Thor's attempted intervention earned him a singed hand which he hardly felt as the noise of a small explosion hit their ears. Neither Tony nor Thor looked to see the results of the explosion before Thor tackled Tony, suit and all, to the ground.

"You dare to fire upon him when he is defenseless like this?" Thor raged and began to raise Mjolnir so that he could ram it into Tony's helmet and knock some sense into the egotistical man. He swung the hammer down and only barely missed Tony as he twisted out of the way the best he could in a metal suit. Again Thor raised the hammer and brought it down.

The descent was stopped by Steve, who had run forward upon Tony's attack. The captain swung his shield and propelled Thor off of Tony, who groaned and whined as he did so. Before Thor could protest, Steve shouted at him, "Thor, your brother is fine! Look!"

Thankfully, the god of thunder listened and turned to look at Loki, who looked exactly as he had before Tony's attack. The thin sheet of ice still covered him.

Behind Steve and Thor, Tony could be heard muttering, "Yeah, he's fine. Being a frozen popsicle is normal. Also, I'm actually a turtle. But still fine, I'll have you know."

"Either you've hit your head," Clint said as he limped forward, "or you're feeling better than usual. Come on up." With that, he attempted to pull Tony up, but soon joined him on the ground when it became obvious that his injured leg would not support himself, Tony, and a heavy metal suit.

Steve shook his head at them in exasperation before gazing at Thor again. The god dropped Mjolnir to the ground and stepped forward towards Loki. When the two brothers were only a foot apart, Tony spoke up from behind Steve. "Careful Thor, just because he's a popsicle, it doesn't mean he won't freeze you anyways."

Thor ignored him and lifted a hand towards Loki's face, and Steve could barely hear him whisper his brother's name. Slowly, Thor placed his hand against the ice on Loki's cheek and everyone held their breath while they watched the ice melt gradually.

Beneath the ice, Thor noted, Loki's skin felt as though it were a piece of frozen granite. There wasn't a single speck of warmth, nor any kind of pulse or life to be detected.

Sighing heavily, Thor withdrew his hand and watched as the melted ice reformed into a thin layer of ice and frost over Loki's skin. In the hours that followed, Thor's worry about the state that Loki had driven himself into only grew larger.

So, my first Avengers fic! Please review and let me know what you think, how terribly I wrote the characters, or what you'd like to see. Have a great day! :)