The instant our eyes made contact, I sensed weakness.  And, another sense, from another body.  More weakness.  Deprivation.  Lifelessness.

"Brother, what have you done?"  Thor's voice was filled with intense anger and shock.

I continued to stare into Loki's eyes, a dark red.  They stared back at me, with none of his usual wittiness, no more sass, no more humor.  He rolled over onto his back with a shallow cough.  His skin was blue and alien.  Frost Giant.

Bunlei's body, now a corpse, was lying beside him.  It was iced over, like Captain America was when he was found almost seventy years after he crashed.  But, this time, the victim was dead. 

"He never told you," Loki gasped.  "The presence of a Frost Giant...pre-prevents the use of his...of his powers, yes."  He blinked, holding his eyes closed for several seconds before opening them and speaking again.  "But the actions of...actions of...a Frost Giant, the infliction of every...ounce of their cold energy upon him can...can..."

"Loki.  No.  Not again."  Thor was kneeling beside Loki, weeping over his adoptive brother in a way that he had done twice before.

"At least you won't have to worry about finding a way to lock us up."  Loki's eyes fluttered closed.

"No.  No, Loki.  Open your eyes.  NO!  LOKI!"  There was a weakness in Thor, a ripping apart, showing me a side of him that I had never seen before.  I never wanted to see it again.  None of us had gone through such intense heartbreak over the same person so many times like Thor.  Tears began to form in my own eyes as I watched.  Nick was silent, as he had been the entire time. 

Something tugged at me.  I listened.  A tingling in my skin.  A sensation.  I was sensing something.  It was faint, but there.

"He's still alive."  Thor looked at me longingly, a small flicker of hope behind his eyes, which were poisoned with grief.  "How do we save an Asgardian's life?"

"Take him to the emergency room.  Hook him up to all of your devices that you would use on a human.  I have to retrieve something for the IV."

Thor sprinted out of the room.  Moments later, I heard him exit through a wormhole.  Back to Asgard.

Nick and I did as Thor said.  As the doctors and nurses, reluctantly, hooked him up to a heart monitor, I cocked my head with curiosity.

"Does an Asgardian have a heart?"  The faint beeping of his pulse answered my question.  "What is their healthy heartbeat?  Faster?  Slower?  The same?"  Nick shook his head, not knowing any more than I did. 

I watched the line slowly go up and down.  Hang in there, Loki. 

It flatlined.