Title: Intervention
Fandom: Marvel
Pairing: Loki/Thor, Bruce Banner/Tony Stark, (according to the author, though it reads like Gen)
Categories/Genres: Hurt/Comfort, Torture, Aftermath of torture, Drama, Action, Angst,
Length: Epic (41359 words)
Warnings: Graphic descriptions of torture, Gore, Suicidal thoughts

Author on LJ: asidian
Author Website: Asidian

Summary:

Tony's voice echoed in the cavern, hollow against the walls. “Are you out of your mind? That thing's going to take your head off!”

The snake, however, did not move- did not even seem to be watching his teammate approach. And almost as though in response to his own voice, the sound from before came again, long and trembling- midway between a moan and a sob. This time, when his eyes darted in search of the source, the darkness did not block his sight: the naked figure of a man lay stretched beneath the snake, bound to an outcropping of rock. He was all ribs and sharp ridges of bone, all too-thin pale limbs, all open sores on top from the places the venom had splattered and on the bottom where the rock had rubbed away the flesh. The man's face, directly below the snake's mouth, had gotten the worst of it; it was raw and red, glistening with blood and exposed muscle and the slick of poison. The man shouldn't have been alive, much less moving, and yet he was- was thrashing weakly in his bonds, turning his head as far as it would go to avoid the white liquid as it dribbled down. It was not far enough.

Tony thought he was going to be sick again.

Review:

For those of you easily swayed by pairings, don't be, because Intervention reads very solidly as Gen. For those of you who are triggered by abusive fathers, steer clear. For those of you sensitive to descriptions of gore, give this one a pass.

Everyone else, unless they're a staunch Odin fan, read this fic.

Chronologically, Intervention sits in a strange Jossed limbo post-Iron Man 3 but pre-Thor 2 in which Odin, punishing Loki for his actions during The Avengers, sentences him to spend the rest of forever chained to a rock with a giant snake dripping venom on his face and body.

The bulk of the story follows from that original premise and Thor's desperate plea to Tony to help ease Loki's suffering. Tony, pathologically unable to resist sticking his nose into the whole business, concocts a plan to not just help Loki heal, but to break him free altogether, bringing in Steve and Bruce to assist.

Odin, unsurprisingly, is not pleased.

Speaking of, Intervention spares no expense in portraying Odin as the worst kind of villain, the one who firmly believes justice is on his side and has the power to enforce it. His characterization is almost flat in his determination to think ill of Loki, and his cruelty, when contrasted with the kindness of the very Avengers who Loki attacked, seems brutal to the point of senselessness.

But it's really the Avengers themselves that make this story shine. Tony—flighty, sarcastic Tony—bends his best efforts to the task of getting Loki out of Odin's prison without hesitation, his better nature shining through in spite of the odds that Odin stacks against them. Steve is a steady, solid presence in spite of being unsuited to the subterfuge they're forced to use to avoid Heimdall's all-seeing eyes. Bruce is just the opposite, his notorious calm badly fractured by the whole ordeal, but for the most part he forces himself to cling to control. He spends many of his scenes slightly green around the edges, as Tony observes, and the scenes where he isn't slightly green, he's all green and very, very angry at Odin. Thor, bound by Odin's orders not to aid Loki, is painfully helpless for much of the story, but pours his energy into doing what little he can, namely comforting Loki as he slowly heals.

Loki himself manages to skirt that fine line between suffering and being the overdone woobie, namely by the careful application of the sharp edge of his tongue (once it grows back) and the way he holds his cracked mask of indifference together even though everyone else knows what hides beneath. In fact, one of my few complaints about the fic is that we don't get to see more of his emotional recovery once he finally gains his freedom. I would have liked more of everything, actually, because for all that Intervention is 41k words long, its pacing carries it along at such a fast clip that it feels over barely minutes after it's begun.


Intervention