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"Two minutes," Tony said with a brief grin as he went to go get suited up, everyone else going to do the same. Bruce sighed and downed the last of his tea, looking at Lavender.
"Where is he?" |
"Manhattan," Lavender replied, absently putting a stasis charm on her tea to keep it hot and fresh. "Near the shore."
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Bruce nodded and stood when the others returned ready to go.
"Well then, we should go grab him while we can." |
Lavender nodded, even as she put a stasis charm on his tea as well. Then she hurried off to get her gear and be ready to go.
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Once everyone was on the waiting Quinjet (minus Tony), they headed towards the source of the problem, fully intending to catch him this time and be done with it.
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Tony always refused the Quinjet. He had the suit, that was all he needed. And it let him get to the scene first, anyways, and he always liked being first. So when he hit the ground again, he was more than willing to keep the guy in one spot long enough for everyone else to arrive.
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It didn't take long for everyone else to arrive, though Bruce hesitated to join the action. It was one guy, and they didn't need the Big Guy for this, after all. So he hung back to watch and keep an eye on everything while Steve and Thor ran in to join the battle.
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Lavender mostly ran interference, casting shields and defensive spells while the Avengers did their job. She was a bit suspicious when the guy didn't conjure up a mirror shield like he had before, but she wasn't going to question it quite yet.
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When the guy started seemingly babbling in Norse, though, the group exchanged looks. Okay, this was different.
And when he fell out of his perch and didn't try to get up again immediately or blast them all, they knew something had happened. |
Thor could hear the babbling, and was growing concerned.
"This is not about us," he said as he listened. "There is more going on here." He didn't get the chance to continue before the guy fell over and didn't get back up. |
Steve approached him first, shield up, but he didn't need it. The guy was curled up on the ground rocking himself a little, still babbling in mostly Norse with the occasional English word thrown in.
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Lavender crept closer, wand ready, but the guy just kept babbling.
"I don't get it," she said. "Something had to have happened between last time and now to cause this." |
"I don't know." Bruce had crept closer too, frowning as he tried to figure out what exactly was going on. He looked at Thor to see if the Asgardian had any idea.
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Thor looked a bit troubled.
"We should see to it that he is given appropriate care," he said finally. "There is something I must discuss with my brother." |
Tony supervised getting him into the Quinjet. He figured they could take him back to the Tower for now, figure out what was going on, and then (maybe) hand him over to SHIELD.
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Thor was quiet all the way back to the tower. As soon as the jet landed, he was off of it and heading to Loki's rooms. He trusted his comrades to take care of everything else.
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It didn't take Thor long to retrieve his brother, and they both agreed it would be best if Loki could see the man for himself.
Which is how they ended up in an empty room with most of the rest of the team, where the once-villain was still twitching and babbling. |
Even though Loki lacked much of his magic, he could still sense it in others. And he could definitely sense something familiar about the man babbling on the floor.
"What happened?" he asked, glancing around. "He seems to have been burnt out." |
"He was fighting and then he stopped, fell over, and started babbling like that," Lessa said with a shrug after a few moments of tense silence.
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"I see," Loki said. He knelt down in front of the man, trying to pick through the babble. Occasionally, he glanced at Thor to gauge his brother's expression. He stood up again. "I believe the situation has just become a bit... personal."
"Sigyn," Thor said. It wasn't a question. Loki nodded. "Indeed." |
"You might have to explain that a bit more," Lessa said after a moment. "I don't quite think I understand this."
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"I believe this to be the work of Sigyn," Loki said. "For what purpose, I know not, but the seidr residue on this man is unmistakable."
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"So who is Sigyn and why does that make a big difference?" Lessa blinked at him.
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"Sigyn is... For the moment, the most important thing is that Sigyn is Aesir, and a rather powerful sorceress," Loki said. "All Aesir are aware that Midgard is under my brother's protection, so I know not why she is here, but the fact remains that she is."
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"Ah. One of those." Lessa grimaced a bit. "Well, unless you have a way of tracking her down so we can ask her these things, I don't know what else there is to do." She was quiet for a moment. "Is there anything we can do for him?" She nodded to the man on the bed.
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