🥀 27 🥀

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Loki grips the sides of the chair that the man before him is tied to with a weary determination.

Blood and sweat pours off both the men's faces, mixing together as one. Unsure whose is whose.

"How much longer we gonna play this game man? Just kill me already." Brock spits out a wad of saliva onto the floor as he tries to breathe through broken ribs and a nose.

He knows he's a goner. But what he doesn't understand is why he's still alive over twenty four hours after Steve and Thor had dragged him to an abandoned warehouse and left him with the deadlier of the two Odinson brothers.

Loki feels his exhaustion kicking in, his adrenaline wearing off. He was so desperate to distract himself from the fact Lyla wasn't answering her phone that he does what he always did best; filling the hole with violence and bloodshed.

All he knew was the job. And that's what he was doing now. Trying to treat this like any other job, but he knew he'd slipped into dangerous territory. This time it was horrifically personal.

This vile being before him had hurt the woman he loved most in the world. Precious, sweet, fiery Lyla. The woman he'd dragged into his world knowing full well of the outcome. Either she'd be scared off, or she'd die.

He had to be glad it was this rather than the other. That much he was grateful for.

"I'm quite enjoying our time together Rumlow. I don't have any plans on cutting that short any time soon. There's still so much I want to know." Loki speaks back with a chilling tone.

Rumlow had tried to act tough, they all did when it first began. But it never took long for them to crumble. Especially with Loki's skills.

"What the fuck did she ever see in you? You must've blackmailed her or something right?" Rumlow laughs but wheezes through the pain.

His right eye is so swollen he can't see out of it.

Loki moves away, turning away from Rumlow so he doesn't see his face grimace. His patience was never his strong suit. And right now he's struggling to stay that way. But he doesn't want to make this quick. He knows that Lyla wanted to do this properly, call the cops, let the most useless force in the country handle it. But he couldn't take that chance.

He couldn't let him hurt her ever again. Even if it meant he was hurting her in the process. He swore it many weeks ago when he found that note by Lyla's bedside, and when he realised he first loved her.

He knew when Odin demanded Lyla was invited to Zemo's that this could never work. Not for him. Nothing good could ever work for him.

He tries to take a deep breath in, cracking his knuckles as he reaches for his blade. He'd refrained from using it this long, not wanting him to bleed out too quick. He'd already tourniqued his gunshot wound.

Odin. Just thinking about him boils his blood further. After everything that had happened, Loki had not left the warehouse. He'd deal with his father later, but the fact that Rumlow knew where Lyla would be was no coincidence.

I'm sorry I let him hurt you Lyla. I'm sorry I hurt you too.

Loki turns back to Rumlow, ignoring his previous question and dragging his dagger up the inside of his neck, just under his ear where his jugular vein connects to his brain. A slice here would be lethal and the excitement of plunging his knife into flesh and hearing the gurgling screams would please him ever so much right now.

Rumlow grins under his blade, knowing he's under Loki's skin, knowing he's seen Lyla one last time before it all and feeling smug as fuck he's rattled a member of the New York Mafia.

"I'll ask you this one more time you piece of shit. How did you know about the party? Who were you working with?" Loki demands as his voice lowers into practically a growl.

Brock was trying to play it off, but now that he was staring into the green eyes of the devil himself, he had to admit he was beginning to get scared that this was going to last a lot longer than he'd like before death was his release.

"And I've told you Odinson, I'm not saying anything. I have to take something to the grave with me. Might as well be something that's gonna piss you off for a long time." Rumlow snickered as Loki felt the blade pierce further into the skin, seeing the dark liquid trickle out in a satisfying way.

He'd always found blood so beautiful, such a contrast to the faces of the men he'd hurt. The scent of iron filled his lungs as he presses even harder.

Rumlow cries out in pain now, unable to hold his reaction back from Loki.

"Wrong answer." Loki sings in a mocking tone as he suddenly withdraws the dagger and sinks it back into Rumlow's side of his stomach.

The bloodied man gurgles out a shriek and Loki feels himself smile widely at the noise. This was for her. This was for all the times he hurt her. He deserved so much worse.

He leaves his dagger in him, stemming the bleeding for now to continue their affair.

"How are you any better than me? Look at you right now. You get off on this. Maybe we aren't that dissimilar after all." Rumlow's voice rasps out and Loki feels blind rage at this, landing another crunching punch to his jaw.

"I would never hurt the person I love." Loki hisses back, getting close into Rumlow's beaten face and gripping his jaw where he's likely broken it, making Rumlow wince.

"I think you already have buddy. Besides, how did you really see this working out? Both of you ruling New York and the Mob together? You and I both know Lyla. That girl hasn't got the balls to do anything in her life. She's still in that same deadend job at the library with that old bitch. She doesn't even have the guts to live her own dream or do anything for herself." Brock spits out as he thrives on Loki's reaction.

His nostrils are flaring, his eyes are feral and he looks like he could put a bullet between his eyes and end it all.

"If I remember correctly, Lyla had the guts to do this." Loki kicks his foot harshly, reminding Brock of the bullet still lodged in there.

"Lyla is smart. And beautiful. And empowered. She is kind to a fault, despite what the world has done to her. What you've done to her. She has so much to give when she's had so much taken away. She's...she's too good for us all." Loki sighs the last part as he realises he might've just seen her for the last time.

Held her for the last time. Kissed her for the last time. He wants to cry but he can't, he's so consumed by violence that no tears could come out if he tried. His mind was shutting down again, like it always did.

He thinks of his father watching Lyla, James leering over her, Hell even Steve's eyes wandered every now and then. He thinks about how he brought her into the lions den and how she would always be a target where he was concerned.

He didn't have it confirmed but he knew in his gut his father had helped Brock somehow. It was too much of a coincidence. He liked to play games. He'd got a checkmate this round, but the war was still yet to be won.

It was for the best. This was always how it had to end. He just hopes he's shown her enough that she's worth loving and that she deserves more. He wants her to be happy.

That's how he knows he truly loves her. Whilst it may have been written in the Fates for them to meet and fall in love, it was never written in the Fates for them to be bound for eternity.

Loki needed to end this, to keep Lyla safe, and he needed to get this family and organisation sorted once and for all. How dare his father threaten him with Lyla.

He needs him dead.

To take the throne that is rightfully his. Not Thor's, not Zemo's or Bucky's. His.

Maybe this was all for the best.

Rumlow breaks through Loki's inner thoughts.

"I'll admit, if I could go back and change some things I would. She was damn pretty I'd give her that. Always so obedient too. Hard to find a girl like that now. But she just needed reminding sometimes of her place. She deserved most of what she got." Brock grins, his broken tooth from Loki's prior punch on display.

Loki feels any last part of his morals slip away as he pulls his phone out of his pocket and smashes it against the wall, slipping his sociopathic mask back on that he wore so well.

"And you deserve this." Loki whispered before grabbing the dagger out of Brock's side and slicing his jugular.

——

His room was destroyed.

Getting back from the warehouse to his house where it was filled with reminders of her physically wounded him. He had to shut this off soon if he was too survive.

Was he even still alive? Maybe he died with Brock and he was a ghost now. He felt like it.

He had ripped the books from the shelves in his room, throwing a table against the wall just to feel something. He had tried screaming but now he just felt numb. Realising he is still covered in blood and grime, Loki drags himself to the shower.

Loki's thoughts are interrupted by a knocking on his door. He shuts off the shower, looking down at the blood pooled by his feet in the water and climbs out, wrapping an Egyptian cotton towel around his lower half. Brushing his hair away from his face, he shouts.

"Enter." He demands as he sits on the edge of his huge bed.

Steve opens the door cautiously, unsure what mood his boss and friend will be in and fearing whatever it may be before seeing that he is oddly calm looking but takes in the chaos of the room and the state of Loki's. Steve clears his throat awkwardly.

"It's all sorted. He'll never be found." He says as as Loki nods at him before looking away.

Steve hasn't seen him like this before. It's like he's not even mentally there.

"Can I sit a minute?" He asks anxiously as Loki once again nods his head, waiting for the sandy haired man to take a seat opposite him in a leather armchair at the end of the bed.

He watches how Steve bites his lip, unsure what to say and the way his knee slightly bounces. He despises people who mince their words or beat around the bush.

"Speak Steve. I know something is on your mind." Loki orders and Steve looks up to his employer, his friend and advisor.

His eyes are full of concern.

"What happens now'" Steve asks.

Loki frowns. "What do you mean Rogers'"

"I mean, Lyla obviously left with Barnes, which is in itself a concern, and it's been nearly three days since you've heard from her. Is this it'" Steve asks sadly.

Loki narrows his eyes, looking directly at Steve now. "What concern is that of yours Rogers? Going to miss her company if it is?" Loki hisses, regretting his cold tone at his friend but unable to bring himself to take it back.

He was falling backwards to who he used to be again. He'd accepted it.

"Boss, I'm speaking frankly here. She didn't want this. She wouldn't want you to have done what you did to him. What are you going to do if she asks?" Steve presses, trying to help him see clearer.

Loki laughs, but it's cynical and cold.

"That would matter to me if I were to see her again. And chances are I won't. It's for the best. You know her Steve. She doesn't belong in this world."

"So that's it? You try for a couple of days and give up? Loki that girl is the best thing that ever happened to you." Steve says more boldly this time, knowing Loki could fly off the handle at any minute and fearing it when it comes.

Loki's knuckles go white as he picks up his dagger from the side of his bed, not a trace of blood left on it which was a shame. But he couldn't let it rust.

"No. She was a distraction. I need to focus on Odin and getting rid of him. He's a plague on this family, and things are slipping. And I can't let my baboon of a brother take over. I need to concentrate without a girl to worry about."

Steve flinches back at Loki's chilly tone. He's completely shut himself off again. He saw it happen before when they were younger when his mother died, and this is the same. He's protecting himself by hurting others. Steve looks at him carefully before getting up and shaking his head.

"Steve-" Loki suddenly says, his tone wavering for just a split second before he checks himself.

Steve turns around to look at him before he reaches the door.

"Just...is she ok? Physically I mean. My brother must know from Miss Romanoff. That's the last thing I wish to know before it's done." Loki says quietly and Steve rubs his forehead tiredly.

Thor had mentioned that Natasha had taken them to see her mother on the other side of the city and that Lyla was not eating or sleeping.

"She's doing the same as you. Although you're showing it very differently." Steve says harshly before he leaves the room.

Loki lurches his dagger into the wall by the door where Steve just walked out of.

He had a new distraction now, a new mission. One to bury himself in and forget how much pain his ice cold heart was currently in. He gets up, pouring himself a neat whisky and thinking about Brock and the party.

He was going to take Odin down.

——