"You are the ruler of this place?" Kennara asked as Loki stood before him.

"I am," he said, his voice full of well faked arrogance, "And now I command you to leave and not return, lest you find yourself turned into a particularly grotesque turnip."

Kennara looked confused for a second, wondering what a turnip was. He decided it was an insult and he should act suitably offended.

"You, you are nothing, you are but a tiny mortal to me," Kennara said, raising his weapon and firing.

Loki staggered back a few steps as the bolt hit him square in the chest, a ragged hole appearing front and back as it passed right through him. Thor screamed and hammered on the side of protective bubble, calling Loki's name.

Loki stopped, his feet back square on the ground now, his head down, blood pouring down his damaged armor.

"No," he replied. The blood flow stopped and Kennara's mouth dropped open as he watched Loki's flesh begin to heal, the wound closing over, followed by the cloth and the trickster raised his head to look the shocked alien in the eye. "I am a god."

Loki raised his hands and the ground began to shake. Kennara began to lose his footing, his ship rattling and vibrating till it threatened to break into pieces.

"What are you doing?" he shrieked as the concrete behind him began to break open and shift backwards, taking his ship with it. A giant green, scaly foot emerged, followed by another and they landed with a thud, one each side of Kennara, as a giant green dragon with golden horns hauled itself from the ground, raised it's head to the sky and roared.

Other emerging dragons roared back in reply, anywhere there was open ground they were tearing their way through it, being birthed from the very Earth itself. The Neffari troops panicked and started shooting wildly at them, the energy pulses bouncing harmlessly off their thick hides, serving only to enrage them further as they took to the skies on golden wings.

The Avengers, still trapped inside their protective bubble of magic, watched with awe as the dragons wheeled in the sky, attacking the Neffari on the rooftops, raking at them with claws, ripping their bodies to shreds as they fell in to the street below in a rain of body parts and blood spots. They landed on the small spacecraft and used their giant teeth to chew them into pieces, swallowing the metal fragments, leaving no trace of the alien invaders. Others flew over the soldiers in the street, breathing fire down the sidewalks and roads where they ran, screaming, and fleeing for their lives.

The first, and largest dragon of them all, still stood behind Kennara who watched with horror as his army were decimated. It waited for it's master to issue the final command to end this.

"You know not what you have done," Kennara screamed. "If you kill me my people will destroy this world, we have the power to blast it to dust!"

"Shall we test that theory?" Loki said plainly and a simple movement of the fingers was all it took to make the giant green and gold beast reach down and swallow the alien ruler in one gulp.

A noise issued across the city, blowing out every window in a half-mile radius and causing the very buildings themselves to shake on their foundations, as massive doors under the Neffari mother ship began to open.

Loki pointed his hands towards the ship and as one the contingent of dragons flew towards it. They reached the ship and used their claws to puncture it's metal lining, they blew fire into the holes they had created and incinerated the occupants of the sections within reach. The giant dragon hung underneath it using its teeth and claws to eat away the weapon that was emerging from the doors, while others concentrated on the ships engines, tearing away their metal coverings and eating the circuits inside.

A giant plume of sparks and fire erupted from under the ship as it began to list and groan under its own weight with one dead engine, the others no longer strong enough to hold it stable in the sky.

"Oh my god," Stark said inside the bubble. "It's going down."

"Tony, if that thing hits the city a hell of a lot of people are going to die," Steve said.

"You're right," he said. "Thor, you have to tell him, he needs to push it out to sea, he can't let it hit the city, thousands, hundreds of thousands will die."

Thor nodded and shouted, "Loki! Loki, brother!" Loki glanced over his shoulder briefly, seemingly listening, "Stark says you need to push it out to sea, you can't let it hit the ground. Many will perish!"

Loki nodded and The Avengers watched as the dragons clambered over the giant ship, bracing their feet against it to push while others propped their heads underneath the damaged engine. They pushed, they beat their wings frantically seemingly forever, until with a deep sound of shrieking metal the ship began to slowly move, gently gathering speed.

Loki turned and smiled sadly at his brother, the strain at using this much magic at once etched on his face and Thor's joy at seeing his brother so powerful, creating such beautiful creatures out of nothing, turned to terror as he saw the wound on Loki's chest slowly peel back open. Cloth first, followed by skin, as if using so much of his magic to power the dragons meant there was none left for himself. The blood started to flow again, sluggish at first, but as Loki concentrated, willing the dragons to make one final effort push the mother ship up to speed, he coughed and bubbles of blood formed on his lips.

"Loki, you have to stop!" Thor shouted, beating his hands against the bubble and as the ship increased in speed, finally reaching the open water the avengers watched as one by one the dragons blinked out of existence, only the largest remained to give one final push as the craft began to lose height, slowly descending before the final dragon fizzled out and the ship slid elegantly into the sea.

They watched with horror as Loki sank to the ground.

"Brother!" Thor shouted, hitting the barrier once more, it fizzled and then finally collapsed.

"Loki!" Thor bellowed as he ran to his brother and gently cradled him, removing his helmet and passing it to Steve. "Brother you must use your magic, you must heal yourself."

"Can't," Loki whispered, as a thin trickle of blood ran from the corner of his mouth. "All gone."

"That cannot be."

"Sorry," Loki said, as Steve uselessly placed his hand over the wound in Loki's chest, trying to stop the blood spilling out of the gaping hole, but as it oozed between his fingers he noticed the pooling blood on the ground that was leaking from the matching wound on his back.

Tony paced the ground, on the comm, trying to get medical help sent down as the rest of The Avengers knelt on the ground next to their friend.

"They're sending a transport now," Tony said as he joined them, kneeling.

"Thank you, Stark," Thor said as he gently stroked his brothers cheek, "But I fear they will not arrive soon enough."

"Did you see them Thor? They were magnificent," Loki said, smiling weakly, his face growing deathly pale and his breathing accompanied by a sickly wet sound.

"Aye brother I did, your greatest creation yet," Thor said, tears clouding his vision. "Tales will be told of your bravery for a thousand years."

"I did it Thor," Loki whispered with his last breaths. "For all of us."

"Yes, Loki," Thor said, hugging his brother close, listening as his heart beat slowed, then finally stopped and the unshed tears spilled.

For a long time the group remained silent, their only movement a comforting hand slid onto a friends shoulder until finally Thor sat back.

"My brother has died a warriors death today. Mother and father will see to it that he is accorded a warriors funeral," he said, his breath hitching. "I would be honored, my friends, if you would accompany me when I take him back to Asgard."

"Thor," Steve said, "The honor will be ours."

Too late, the medical transport helicopter flew across the upper bay, snaking its way past the island and around the statue of liberty whose golden horns still shimmered in the sun.

~o~

This story is now complete, so no more updates sadly, sorry!