It has been four years since Loki's takeover. The Battle of Manhattan, as the press had taken to calling it, had lasted far longer than anyone had anticipated, and the outcome was not what most had hoped it to be. Fury, who had been shot by a stray bullet on the Hellicarrier, had not been able to warn the Avengers of the incoming nuke, and as such, most of them had been taken off guard by the sudden nuclear explosion. Natasha, Clint, and Bruce had been immediately obliterated by the nuke, and the energy of the blast had melted Tony's suit, while he was still inside of it. Steve and Thor, however, were unaffected by the blast, but at the same time, neither were the Chitauri nor Loki. Quickly out gunned and outnumbered, the Captain and the God surrendered, and were taken away by the Chitauri. A majority of the buildings in Manhattan were destroyed by the blast, but some still remained, including what was left of Stark Tower, and as Loki made his way back to the tower where the portal was located, he sent the Chitauri to finish his plans.

And it was as if he had let loose a plague upon the world. Millions of more Chitauri swarmed from the portal and took to the skies in different directions. The world by now knew what was going on, no matter how much the US government had tried to hide it. And as the Chitauri began to appear across the world in every country, there were many different reactions to their unannounced guests.

Many Chitauri were greeted with weapons drawn and angry faces. Those countries soon found themselves looking, in the end, as Manhattan did: a barren waste land covered in ash and ruined buildings.

Some Chitauri were greeted with open arms. These countries could see the good in being ruled by a single king, especially if this king was truly a god. These countries were normally smaller, and poorer, but were left mainly alone by the Chitauri.

And then there were those that welcomed the Chitauri with silence and puzzled looks. These countries did not know what to think of their newly declared king, or his army for that matter, but they knew that fighting would get them nowhere, especially against an army that had destroyed the Avengers.

And this continued on for almost a year until all countries were under Loki's rule, by force, hesitant alliances, or by their own free will. Things began to slowly go back to the way they were, however, with only some differences.

Any leaders that had once ruled a country were now called Lords, or Ladies in some cases, and reported directly to King Loki of all of the happenings all over the world. The Lords and Ladies made up his Court of Advisors, of which they help advise him on how tasks should be run. Of course, he never has taken any of their advice, though he does praise them on occasion for some of their less tedious ideas; mustn't make them feel too unwanted, now.

As the years passed, more and more countries began to see the good in having a single ruler, even if he did enforce his rule with an iron fist. There was less poverty, and wars had been reduced to minor skirmishes.

And while the countries eventually settled into a slightly welcomed routine, there were still rebels in every country; those who would always defy Loki's rule. Most of which were remaining S.H.I.E.L.D agents that were not on the Hellicarrier. They had spread themselves out in the world and rallied people in order to fight back against Loki, though it was never enough. Each skirmish was always put down by Loki's own army, one that consisted of both Chitauri and humans.

And so it continued on, Loki ruled the Earth from what used to be Stark Tower in Manhattan, and the world regrew. But one thing always remained the same.

Loki was still alone.

"Ah! King Loki! What a pleasant surprise! What brings you to the market?"

"I thought I'd wander for a bit, stretch my legs some."

The market vender bobbed his head and patted his brow with a cloth.

"If you'd like, my King, I could show you the newest wares I have. Just came from overseas, and I haven't even put any prices on them yet."

Loki held in an infuriated sigh. He had just told the Midgardian he wished to wander, not look at any wares he had. Though, the venders around here usually didn't get wares from overseas, so the thought was slightly intriguing…

Loki nodded his head, and the vender smiled before motioning for Loki to follow him into the building behind his stall.

"If you'd follow me, my King, I'll take you to them."

Loki breezed past the dingy stall and through a set of curtains that hid the inside of the building from the world, only to pause once he was inside. Exotic animals of various sizes and species lined the walls in cages of all sizes. The sounds of roars, screeches, squawking, and braying would have been deafening had not most of the animals been wearing muzzles, which Loki noticed as he followed the vender past a row of parrots.

"These up near the front, my King, are some of the more common animals that I got, but here in the back are the real beauties."

Loki silently agreed with the mortal when he was led through another curtain. These cages were much larger, as were the animals held within them. Most of the animals in these cages were endangered animals, or just not found in North America. Loki spotted a kangaroo a few cages down, and the gorilla next to him was banging away at the cage door, causing him to sneer in its direction.

The brutish beast reminded him too much of Thor.

Loki strolled after the vender as he continued to point and prattle on about each animal they passed, until his eye caught a flash of white some cages down. Ignoring the vender, Loki continued down the line until he stood in front of one of the largest cages in the building. Inside the cage, pacing the back wall, was a large white tiger.

Loki looked down at the vender, who had finally caught up to him.

"What of this one?"

"Ah…", the vender dabbed his forehead again with his cloth, "She's a pure blooded white Siberian Tiger, only one of her kind. Most white tigers people see in zoos are crossbred with white Bengal Tigers, cause it's impossible to get a full blooded white Siberian, but my source caught her a few months back somewhere in Russia. Source said she was pretty docile with him, but I haven't been able to get into the cage with her without her trying to gut me, so I'm not sure what I'll be able to do with her…"

Loki had stopped listening somewhere after the first sentence or two, and continued to stare at the creature in the cage. As she continued to pace the back wall, he could see every muscle in her large, feline body tensing and relaxing as she walked, and her nails softly scraped against the hard concrete floor when she turned. He noticed that, on occasion, she would look over at the vender and give a low growl, twitching her long tail in a jerking motion before she would turn to pace the other way. And then her blue eyes would land on him, and her pacing would slow before picking back up again once she looked back at the vender.

"Has it been fed today?"

Suddenly, the vender began to stutter, "U-uh, n-no, my King… s-she's been e-extremely moody r-recently, a-and I haven't b-been a-able to give her, her m-meals."

And it was truth, as he spotted a pile of containers stacked next to the cage that were labeled with the various numbers. He assumed it was her ID in this hell hole.

"Fetch her meal."

"M-my King?"

"Now!"

The vender scrambled over to the containers and plucked one of them up, removing the lid and pulling out a large chunk of meat. The vender hurried back over to Loki, trembling beside the God of Mischief as he removed the black gloves that adorned his hands.

Thank the stars that it isn't covered in blood…

Loki took the meat from the trembling mortal and, with a wave of his other hand, unlocked the cage door with his magic. By now, the tigress had stopped her pacing and stood in mid stride, watching Loki through the bars.

Walking through the cage door, he waved his hand again and let the door shut behind him. Standing in the middle of the cage, Loki stared across at the white tigress, which was now scenting the air in his direction.

Slowly, she made her way over to him, cautiously, as her eyes constantly darted around her. Soon she stood in front of him and carefully reached out with her jaws towards the meat he held in front of him. Her teeth slowly sunk into the meat and she gently tugged the meat back towards herself.

Loki released the meat and watched as she stepped back before lying down. Pinning the meat down with her powerful front legs, he watched as she tore into the meat, occasionally looking up at him before turning back to her meal. She was done quickly, however, and stood up licking her slightly pink muzzle. Padding back over to Loki, she bent her head down to sniff the hand that held the meat. Seeing as he didn't have anymore, though his hand was still covered in the scent, the tigress licked his hand clean from any juices before bumping her head against it.

Loki chuckled and patted the tigress on the head. Her head came a little past his waist, so he did not find himself having to bend over to reach her. Carefully, with delicate touches, Loki slipped his hand farther down her head to the base of her neck and continued scratching. He felt her tense for a moment before eventually relaxing again. He continued down the length of her body, feeling her muscles twitch under his fingers as he felt along her body for any abnormalities. He had to move in order to get to her back legs, as he estimated her to be about two meters long, and that was without the length of her tail. The powerful muscles of her legs shuddered under the white and black striped fur as one hand gently held her tail while the other smoothed the soft fur.

Loki chuckled again and gently tugged on the end of her tail when he realized she was falling asleep standing up. The tug caused her to give a small growl, though it was neither loud nor threatening, so it was ignored.

Behind him, the vender gave a small cough.

"S-she's also pretty smart, my King. T-the boys were saying how they had to put a lot of locks on her cage when they were transporting her, cause she kept picking them open with her claws. 'Course, she never went far before they found her, but still…"

Loki glanced back at the tigress and spoke over his shoulder at the vender, "I shall be taking her with me. Send the cost of her to my tower within a day, and you will get your payment."

Ignoring the sputtering fool behind him, Loki's hand glowed green with magic. Slowly rotating his wrist, he drew a circle in the air in front of him and watched as his magic began to form. When it was complete, it looked to be a large golden metal collar that merged into a decorative chest plate.

He made it similar looking to his own helmet, with various lines engraved around the 'collar' portion, and they all met on the chest piece, where an engraving of Yggdrasil was carved into the center of the hard golden metal. In the details, though, there were different colored orbs of light on the tree that represented each of the nine worlds. Walking in front of her, he lowered it until it was eye level with the tigress before slipping it over her head. Imbedding some of his magic inside of it allowed it to stick to her, preventing it from falling off. His magic also subtly persuaded the tigress to stay near him. Didn't want any unnecessary violence now, did he?

Turning back to the cage door, he opened it again with his magic and stepped out before turning back towards the tigress.

"Come."

The tigress watched him for a moment before walking out of the cage and heeling on his left. Loki smirked down at the large feline before looking up at the vender and arching an eyebrow in question. The vender stumbled over himself as he led Loki and the armored tigress back out of his building. When they finally reached the open street, Loki watched the tigress as she seemed to take in her surroundings. Once he was sure she wouldn't try and attack any of the mortals, he tapped her once on the crown of her head to gain her attention.

"Stick close to me."

He could have sworn he saw her nod, though that could have been his mind playing tricks on him, but neither the less, he made his way through the crowd with his pet. He could normally part the crowds by himself, but it seemed, with his newest addition, that the crowds stayed even farther away from him than normal...

Good.