Pulling a Loki

4/19/13

"What the hell do you mean, you lost him!?" Fury yelled, a vein bulging on his neck.

Thor looked down at his shoes in shame. It was a few weeks after the New York Incident, and things weren't even close to being "back to normal" yet. Thor had returned via the Bifrost - newly repaired with data gathered from the similarly functioning Tesseract - with the shocking news that Loki, or what was believed to be Loki, had disappeared in a puff of smoke upon entering the gates of Asgard.

The Helicarrier had been repaired quickly after it's near-fatal encounter with Loki's henchmen and, subsequently, the Hulk. The engine destroyed by Hawk Eye's exploding arrow and, just for safety, the one that Iron Man had kick-started were replaced, and the whole craft floated steadily in the air.

Tony, Bruce, and Steve had been on the Helicarrier talking with Fury about rebuilding and restoring buildings that had been damaged in the attack when Thor had appeared with a crack of thunder. Clint and Natasha were away on a mission, something about crime lords in Brazil.

"My brother must have discovered how to create solid illusions," Thor explained. "He must have... switched at some point."

Fury cursed, then turned and started giving orders through his headset.

"Gaawd," Tony whined, throwing an arm around Bruce's shoulders, seemingly just to make him uncomfortable, "Doesn't that guy ever take a break?"

"When could he have done it? His illusions can't take a punch, right, Thor? They disappear?" Asked Steve.

"Aye."

"I mean, I was going to go to Malibu. Now, I can't. Thank you, Psycho Reindeer God!"

"Stark, would you please-"

"The crater," Bruce said suddenly, cutting Fury off.

"Elaborate," Thor demanded.

"After the Other Guy bashed Loki around, he left him in a crater, which is where we found him... hours later," Bruce clarified.

"That would have been the perfect opportunity for him to get away," Tony realized. "Which he did, but he also left us a decoy to...to what? Crack a joke and stall for time?"

"It is likely," Thor replied gravely.

"We could use the facial recognition software we used last time," Steve suggested.

"A step ahead of you," Fury responded, "But do you really think we're going to find anything? The only reason we located him last time was because he wanted to be found. He's not stupid enough to-"

"Sir, we've found him!" A voice came through Fury's headset loud enough for everyone to hear.

"What!?"

"Really?"

"Where?"

The voice was quiet when it responded, so only Fury could hear it.

"Why the hell would he be at a diner in the Bronx!?" Fury spat. "You've got the wrong guy!"

Silence.

"Fine," he snatched off the headset. "Agent Peters says it's a 84-percent match. Anything that high, we gotta check out. Normally, I'd send an agent to check it out, but this is Loki we're talking about. Thor, Rogers, Stark, you go and see what's up. Take a quinjet, and report back anything you find, immediately. Dr. Banner, you're on backup. Got it?"

"Yes, sir."

"So be it."

"Whatever."

Tony landed the quinjet in a vacant parking lot near the diner. Once there, Thor addressed them.

"Friends, I would like to confront my brother alone."

"Yeah, 'cuz that worked so well the first time," Tony snarked. "We're in this together, Goldilocks. Not gonna happen."

"He's right, Thor," agreed Steve, ignoring Tony shout of 'Stop the presses! I was right!' in the background. "Loki's too dangerous for us to lose the element of surprise."

"You think there is no hope for my brother," Thor stated sadly.

Steve and Thor exchanged glances.

"You have not known Loki as I have," Thor pleaded. "I have known him for a thousand years and more. You see him only now, at his worst, but I have seen him at his best. I have seen him kind, caring, playful, sentimental. I have seen him avert war with a few well-placed words, and save my life with less. I have seen him as a cunning strategist and a skilled fighter. Loki can be saved."

There was silence as Thor's words sunk in.

Steve pursed his lips, "We can't just let you go in alone."

"How about a compromise?" Tony suggested. "We all go in, but nobody shoots and/or attacks Loki until you've tried your 'convincing' strategy, okay?"

Thor nodded.

Steve hesitated, then sighed, "Fine."

"Thank you, my friends," said Thor, setting one hand on each of their shoulders, "It gives me great comfort to know that even if this ends in bloodshed, you trusted me, and believed in Loki, enough to give us this chance."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Tony reminded, breaking away from Thor's baseball mitt of a hand to open the hanger, "This might not even be Loki, you know."

"Yeah, why would he be hanging out in an old diner?" Steve asked as they crossed the street to said diner, eliciting stares and points from the scant population.

"Well, let's find out!" Tony declared as he shoved the doors open.

Thor stepped in, and his eyes immediately locked onto a familiar face.

"Loki!"