What Happens Once Can Surely Happen Again

This will not be a good day. Thor thinks looking down at the trembling form of his brother. Not good at all.

It had started out with a mission, and a rather straightforward one at that. Yet another power hungry war monger was causing trouble and hurting innocents, and they had been called in to deal with him. But this time their foe had proven far more lethal than any of them could have predicted.

SHIELD informed them that the madman had planned to use nuclear weapons, but even they had not known the force which the man possessed.

It happens in an instant. The warlord, bleeding and subdued pulls what looks like a cigarette lighter from his pocket. Only Natasha Romanov and Clint Barton know what it is, and they surge forward, three arrows already loose in the air before anyone else can process.

But it is too late, and everyone watches in horror as a streak of metal tipped flame cuts into the night sky.

"No. No! NO!" Tony prepares to go after it and is only saved by the grip of the Hulk on his leg. The green beast shakes his head, the look of sorrow so out of place on his face.

"He's right Stark." Natasha says, struggling to hide the tremor in her voice. "There's nothing you can do this time."

"I know that model." Clint murmurs, eyes never leaving the missile as it travels higher and higher. "It was designed by a maniac, one of the guys bent on total annihilation. No matter where it hits, the rest of the world will feel it."

Suddenly, Thor feels Loki's grip, iron tight and desperate, on his arm, and he immediately senses the intention behind that painfully strong grip. They are brothers after all, and years of fighting beside and against each other have eliminated the need for words. Loki can fly, but not as fast as Thor and he would never be able to catch up on his own. So Thor grips his brother's arm back and swings Mjollner round and round until they are speeding towards the warhead, the rest of the Avengers watching them leave with shock.

Loki has already started intoning the incantation; this shield will be the strongest he has ever made, reinforced by the language of the Ancients and strong enough to contain a force that would level the world if it were allowed even the smallest opportunity.

They fly high above the missile's path and Thor squeezes his brother's arm, saying through his grip all of the things there are not enough words or time for him to express in language, and then flies away, leaving his brother to face down the mortal's death machine because Loki is the only one who can.

They speed towards each other and for a single heart wrenching second Thor thinks that maybe, just maybe Loki intends to do nothing, and allow himself to be swept away and destroyed.

Then Loki casts his arms forward, green flame licking at his fingers, saying something in a language lost even to Thor.

The missile pauses before him, and then, explodes.

The rest of the Avengers watch from the ground in awe and terror as the mass of flame and death fills the sphere of Loki's shield, battering against the walls with unheard of force. Loki holds on for as long as he can against the maelstrom of power, feeling the energy within shrink slowly, slowly, and then, when he has almost reached his breaking point, he teleports it away, allowing the rest to dissipate out into space or burn out in earth's atmosphere.

When it is done, Loki sags, barely able to float downwards. He stumbles when he hits the ground but somehow manages to keep standing.

Thor is about to rush to his Brother, to support his weight with one broad shoulder and clap him on the back. To make sure he's still there. But he freezes when he fully catches sight of the figure below him.

Oh no.

The rest of the team run forward as well, but they too pause as they draw closer, not quite able understand what they are seeing.

Loki stares at them, and for a second, he is confused, but then he realizes just how cold he feels. He holds up a blue tinted hand to his face, red eyes belying barely repressed terror.

Oh no.

As always, Tony is the first to break the silence.

"Why is he blue?"

Thor moves to silence the ever tactless idiot but the Hulk beats him to the punch, literally.

The problem with glamour is that once it's slipped, even a little bit, it unravels entirely. The spell Odin cast on him is strong, strong enough to completely change his Jotun physiology to that of an Aesir's. It is eternally bound to him, feeding on his own magic, and drawing its potency from the small part of his mind it has been linked too.

For the most part, it can be left unattended, ignored in the wake of more important things, but never forgotten.

But the shield had depleted Loki's magic and for a moment the entirety of his mind had been devoted singularly to contain.

You knew this would happen someday. Loki thinks to himself, straightening under the scrutiny of SHIELD's cleanup crew as they regard his new form. You've prepared yourself for this.

But no, another, darker, part of his whispers, you really haven't.

It is painful for Thor to see his brother like this, but he knows there is nothing he can do but just that, watch as is brother closes in on himself and his doubts once again.

They had come so far from those first dark days of ire that mark Loki's return to Asgard. Thor has finally been able to catch glimpses of the brother he had once known the man that stands before him; a Loki not haunted by the remains of his bond with the Chitauri.

And now it is all for not, any progress Loki has made is dashed to pieces upon the white ridges on his skin.

Thor feels his grip tighten around Mjolnir's handle as his brother further closes himself off, eyes darkening as yet another disdainful stare is leveled his way. He wishes that he could do something for his brother, but Loki has always been the one who handles words and Thor doubts his hammer will be of much use today.

The woman is no one of great importance, just a low-level agent called in for cleanup because she is the closest person to the explosion that SHIELD has in its register. She knows nothing of the details of this mission or any of the others, none of the many, many services Loki has done for her tilted little world. All she knows of him are reels of footage from the New York attack and of the paper scar that Loki has left behind.

It is no surprise then, that when she sees him, exposed and vulnerable, she sees an opportunity to take vengeance. Her lip curls in disgust and her eyes flash with malice.

"Wow." She drawls, clucking her tongue in disapproval. "I guess you really are a monster."

Loki says nothing, casting his eyes towards the ground.

Thor growls.

"Is there a problem ma'am?"

Both she and Loki are surprised when Captain America approaches them, his face stern.

"Y-yes!" She finally manages defensive. "Why is this cretin here?"

Captain America pauses for a second. "So you have a problem with the Avengers?" He says, finally, expression stony.

"W-what? No!" She stammers. "I just have a problem with him!" She stabs an accusing finger at Loki. "He is the problem!"

"See, that's the thing ma'am." The Captain says, ever the polite American boy. "We're a team, and if you have a problem with one of us, then you have a problem with all of us."

The rest of the team has gathered while the Captain is speaking. They converge on the spot, moving to stand beside Loki as the nameless woman looks on, shocked.

"With all due respect ma'am, you might want to back off."

She stalks away, thoroughly cowed, the back of her neck flushing an ugly shade of red.

They watch her go and then the moment passes and everyone begins to make their way back to their individual stations.

Loki watches all of them leave with wide, luminous eyes, listening as each one throws yet another wisp of support over their shoulder.

"I've always dug the smurfs."

"At least you stay the same size when you change color."

"Personally, I think Night Crawler is sort of sexy."

"Hey, compared to your Reindeer costume this thing looks normal."

"Sort of looks cool if you ask me."

"I've always been a fan of red, white and blue myself."

Finally, only Thor and Loki remain, Loki looking up at his brother with anxiety.

Thor only smiles and claps his brother on the shoulder, ignoring the frigidity of his Jotun skin. "Come Brother, you have done good work today, if any of us deserve a rest it is you."

Loki mouth trembles and Thor turns, watching a full-blown grin blossom across his brother's face from the corner of his eye.

Part 1 of the first (and probably only) two-parter of Hazing!.

Completely unedited so sorry for any typos or bad sentence structures.

-Schyzotypal X