Final Frontier (A Post Endgame Loki Fanfiction)

prologue

The Tesseract slid right to my feet.

I looked around quickly to see if anyone was paying me mind. They were not. Several events had just taken place to put me in this possition. First, Stark's glowing chest-piece seemed to malfunction, causing him to fall to the ground and drop the precious case which held the Space Stone inside. Then, the case was shoved across the room by a force unbeknownst to me, and picked up by a rather suspicious looking guard. And then finally, Dr. Banner, in the form of his raging green alter ego, burst out from the stair well and knocked the case open, causing the Tesseract to land perfectly in front of me.

The fates must have been in my favor.

However, I now had a choice to make. Should I pick up the Tesseract, and try my best to escape with it? Or should I remain where I am?

I'd never used the Tesseract to create a portal without the help of highly advanced technology. I'd been told how to do it by...one of Thanos' minions, but knowledge is usless next to experience. And of experience, I had none.

If I stay here, I thought. I'm as good as dead. I'm defeated, captured, and sure to return to Asguard to face Justice. What's worse however, is that Thanos is still expecting a space stone from me. And I may have the ability now to, at least, make good on our deal.

I'd rather have died than face his wrath again.

I wouldn't have to travel far. Just far enough to leave the chaos behind and figure something out.

"NO STAIRS!" Hulk screamed.

Everyone was distracted. I made my decision. It was now or never. I picked up the Tesseract with my bare hands and scanned the room one more time before I made my move. Still, nobody seemed to care about the fact that I was standing unguarded in the midst of everything, holding the Tesseract.

Perfect.

As I understood it, there was some sort of psychic link between the Tesseract and I, and that's what I would have to lean into, in order to get out of here. The Tesseract has a sort of...mind of its own. We'd been seperated for the last few days however, and our bond had begun to falter. I just hoped it forgave me.

I let the Tesseract have free range of my mind and soul. I tried to emphasize my longing to escape, my desire to keep the Tesseract out of SHIELD's hands.

I suddenly felt the Tesseract fill my entire entity once again. And I welcomed the pull I felt when a portal suddenly opened behind me and encompassed us. I didn't have to travel far, just far enough to buy some time. The world around me fully dissapeared, and I tried to navigate the empty, violent, pull of the vortex.

There wasn't much to describe about the vortex. I wasn't in there for more than a mere moment before I broke out. It was all so fast I didn't get to register much.

When I broke out of the vortex the first thing I noticed was that I was freefalling. The Tesseract was still clasped tightly in my grasp as we plummeted towards the ground below. All I could see was white, and judging by how cold the air was, I could only assume that it was snow. I saw what looked like trees in the distance, but below me was a solid sheet of white, like a clean canvas. I had no way of knowing how deep or fresh the snow was as I rushed towards it, and I calculated all the possibilities I could think of.

I could have bounced off the ground, and I probably would have lived, but It would've hurt worse than the Hulk and I really didn't fancy any more impact that day. It could've been that the snow was deep, but old and hard. It would absorb my fall more than the frozen ground, but the landing still wouldn't have been desirable. Or the ideal situation, would be that the snow was fresh, and deep enough to absorb my fall. I didn't have time to think much more because the ground raced towards me at a heart-stopping speed, and I only had time to close my eyes and brace myself for whatever lied below.

The impact of hitting the ground not only knocked the breath from my lungs, but shocked my body so greatly that besides not being able to breathe, the landing of my fall was completely void from my memory.

The next thing I remember was opening my eyes and not being able to see for the cold surrounding me. Then it registered with my skin. The freezing water around me sucked away what little strength I had left. Granted, the cold wouldn't effect me greatly because of my cursed Jotun blood, but it was still a great shock.

I registered something else next. I was sinking and seeing as the impact left me breathless, I had no air, and while my skin burned with shock, my lungs burned with need. I tried to kick my way to the surface with desperation, but seeing as how I was weighed down with not only my heavy battle armor, but also the imensly heavy handcuffs, and I had no air to help me, I still sunk.

I felt the weight of the water crushing down on me as the need for oxygen became greater. My head was pounding. My thoughts slowed down. I could feel the tips of my fingers revert to thier Jotun form, followed by my arms.

But I didn't care.

I knew in that moment, and accepted the fact, that this dark, cold, pit of despair would by my watery grave. The light from the surface grew dimmer by the millisecond and my body felt as if it would be crushed by the weight of the water around me.

But just when I was about to give up hope of ever breathing again, the most peculiar thing happened. I saw something above me racing down to my level. It was very small, and almost unnoticeable, but it sped towards me with vigor.

It looked like a small, hook-shaped object. That's all I could tell underwater. My vision was getting fuzzier and my head was pounding for oxygen. With one last, desperate move of survival, I extended my arms, and latched onto the hook by the chain of my handcuffs.

That's the last thing I remembered before I lost consciousness.