Disclaimer: In no way do I own the Avengers movie or the Marvel universe.
If there was one thing that Loki always had, it was a convoluted and complicated plan. To pay the debt that he owed, he had crafted and plotted and schemed in the ways that would give him the freedom to search, to find, to pay. The attempted genocide, the fall, the invasion, the punishment, everything had been for one purpose. The Chitauri had been an accident, a miscalculation that had worked almost in his favor but for their own goals.
Redemption wasn't the goal. He had never cared much for Asgard. Only Thor and Odin and Frigga had kept him there. The revelation of his true heritage had whittled that number to Thor and Frigga and even they had not been enough to hold him in place, keep him from his search.
A betrayal? Yes, but no worse than the ones he had been dealt already. What did the deaths of his sons mean to the revelation of his blood? Certainly their deaths had hurt a great deal more than coming to find out he had been born a Jotun. That he was a monster not only in name but also in heritage and blood was no surprise. It was just a confirmation of expectations long felt. No, revenge had also not been the purpose for which he had committed such sins.
The Tesseract had been the goal, but only for the momentary power, the vision and truth it had given him. It was all he had needed, all he had wanted from it.
For the atrocities he had committed, he had been once again sentenced to be bound to a slab of stone and have snake venom dripped into his eyes. It had been torture, agony, unbearable without her, without the presence of another to even try and catch the venom, but the vision was worth the agony, the unending pain. His flesh was melted from his face, eyes eaten away, bones blackened and cracked. Only his magic, the magic that all of Asgard despised him, her, them for allowed him to survive, allowed him to be healed one layer of flesh and bone at a time.
When it was done, with the chains removed, he accepted the grief of his mother, the weariness of his brother, and the exile that Odin bestowed upon him. He left in darkness, slipping through the shadows of the realms to seek, to search, to follow the vision. The twisted paths between led him to the heart of the universe, into the very Void that had swallowed him so very long ago.
A debt to be repaid, a single person, individual, woman, to be found. Once wife, once lover, and once confidant, she had never wavered, never forgotten, never left. No, not even the deaths of their sons Narvi and Vali had been enough to drive her away, but their deaths had been enough to break her faith in him, and the love she had given him was soured in some ways. Even after Odin had turned them on each other, even with love and faith broken, she had remained until the Allfather had cast her into the abyss to remain until she reconsidered her path, her choice, her loyalty. Darkness within the space of time and reality was where she had been placed. It was the crossroads of all possibilities, the heart of the abyss where she had cocooned herself in sleep to save sanity.
Sigyn.
She drifted, unaware, and unconscious of him. There was no weight, no gravity, only the force of his own will, her will, that kept them from disintegrating into the abyss around them. So like the first time, but now he knew where the paths lay, where the darkness met. There would be no Chitauri to find him, pull him from the depth of his fall, no torture to make him bend, no Thanos to plan around. This time, it was only the warmth of her in his arms, the memories of better times wrapped around them, the payment of the debt he owed her.
He took the path to Midgard, to Earth, to Thor's treasured planet. It was the only realm truly left oblivious to them, ignorant enough not to hunt her for her ties to him.
Strings and lights and sounds and shapes materialized around them. Her body became a subtle weight in his arms, her dark hair a light brush against his skin. Looking around, he was almost unsurprised to find that the point of arrival was the very city his invasion had failed to take. What had it been called? Ah, yes, New York. Some of the buildings were still damaged, some of the stone beneath his feet still shattered, but there were signs and sounds of recovery, of resiliency. Humans hurried around him, almost not seeing him, certainly not remembering. They walked into some buildings, out of others, talked to devices they held to their heads, shuffled around the tools and operations of repair. Noise and life flared around him, but the only thing he truly noted was the tower rising above all other buildings with the single A to adorn its face. The place of his defeat, home of the one called Tony Stark, one of five to call himself a Shield Brother to Thor.
Thor, who claimed Midgard was under his protection. Brother and once companion, the only one he might still be able to trust with Sigyn. Thor, who was likely still in Asgard, the place where he would never return if he had his say. For the moment, one Tony Stark would have to do.
Tony was going over the blueprints again with the architect he had contracted to repair the marble where Hulk had smashed Loki into the ground. As much as he cherished the memory, nine months of skirting around the damage was more than enough time to appreciate the space where the invasion had been stopped. Truth be told, it was also an eyesore and a little annoying, especially when the window had been so very easy to fix.
The architect was trying to convince him to change his plans, that the entire floor needed to be ripped out and redone rather than just smoothed over. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, contemplated firing the man and instead ordered him off the premises. The man scowled, but rolled up the papers and left with them tucked under his arm.
Alone in the silence of his home, Tony could only sigh and turn to the bar. Maybe Pepper would say it was too early in the day to drink, but she wasn't there to admonish him and the prick had been a little difficult to deal with. Times like these, he was almost sorry he and the other Avengers had scared the terrorists and other evil doer organizations underground for the time being. Bored wasn't something that came to him easily, but there were only so many times he could upgrade the suit and so many parties he could attend without finding some sort of pattern, some sort of normalcy to them all. Of course, he might reflect later, normal wasn't such a bad thing.
His first warning came when Jarvis said, "Sir, you may wish to vacate that area. I am detecting high atmospheric disturbances."
The air had actually begun to shimmer when he jumped away from the bar and tripped over the carpet between the rooms. The force of his land drove the air from his lungs. As he gasped air back into his lungs, Loki-dressed in full battle armor right down to his horned helmet-shivered into existence before him with a woman in his arms. He scrambled back and called, "Jarvis, sound the alarm!"
His eyes shot to the bar where he had set the bracelets for the Mark VII just before the meeting, regretting that he had parted with them for even a moment. It didn't matter that there had been no threat for almost a year, no hint of danger since the invasion. He was calculating the odds of his being able to reach them and actually deploying the suit when Loki moved in front of the bar, blocked his path and said, "Not today, Stark. I'm not here for more battle."
"Sir, SHIELD agents will be here in approximately six minutes," Jarvis informed them.
Loki lifted his eyes to the ceiling and narrowed his gaze at it for a long moment, then apparently disregarded the AI as a threat and turned to the bar to gently set his burden upon its surface, though he still cradled her head in the crook of his arm. "I am not here to fight, Man of Iron, not unless you make the first attack."
"Funny, last I remember you were the one that brought an army to our planet. That spoke all kinds of hostile intentions," Tony shot back. Slowly, he rose to his feet and edged around Loki and the woman he had brought. For the moment, he wasn't sure whether or not to classify the woman as a threat, but she appeared unconscious so that made her only half not a threat. "If you're here for another attempt at taking the Earth, you might want to consider another career path. Part time villain really isn't working out for you with the record you've established."
Loki grinned, more teeth and snarl than an actual smile. "If I wished your precious planet to be mine you would already be kneeling, Tony Stark. As it is, you and your team served your purpose beautifully."
Tony stood rooted to the spot for a moment, then strolled forward towards the pair and leaned against the bar, reaching for a bottle. "Really, and what purpose was that? Did you mean for us to kick your ass? Because the Hulk did that wonderfully well. Or did you intend for Thor to take you back in chains to face daddy for crimes committed?" He raised the bottle and made to also grab a glass, which was conveniently positioned beside the metal circlets that would summon his suit.
The fallen prince crooked a finger at one of the bracelets and caught it when it was pulled towards him. He slid it onto the woman's wrist and looked at Tony, a half smile touching his lips. "I remember that little trick of yours, Man of Iron. Clever, very clever. Thor was right to choose at least you."
The silence stretched into an eternity between them as they held each other's gaze. Tony lifted the glass from the counter, leaving the other bracelet where it lay. "I still owe you that drink. What's your poison?"
"Certainly nothing that you have here," Loki said.
Tony seated himself on one of the barstools. "Suit yourself, but I'm going to have a drink," he said, pouring the alcohol into the glass and raising it in a mock salute. Once he had drained the glass, he asked, "So, if your plan wasn't world domination, what was it?"
"To obtain the Tesseract. It has the power to reveal your dearest desire and the truth that surrounds it," Loki said, tilting his head a little to study the other man. "Falling into the hands of the Chitauri was never part of my plan, but you and your team countered them perfectly. I-" he stopped, weighed his words, and looked at the woman cradled in his arms. "Sigyn has never been anything but loyal to me and when Odin cast her into the abyss I vowed to get her back, no matter if I had to shatter the universe in the process. Everything I did was to retrieve her from the endless nothing. "
Pepper flashed across his mind, but he pushed her away and turned back to the situation at hand. Motioning towards the woman, Tony said, "I'm going to assume that that is Sigyn. So you have her and now that makes her as much of a threat as you. Why come here?"
If he wasn't going to survive the encounter, then at least there would be video of this conversation. At least Pepper would be smart enough to access the feed and give SHIELD the data he managed to extract before he got himself killed.
"Thor calls Midgard his and he has chosen a band of warriors that he calls comrade. That means he trusts you and his judgment of character has always been…interesting, but not wrong in the judging of good and evil," Loki said, easing Sigyn's head and shoulders onto the tiles of the bar. He stepped away. "That you have tried to engage me in a game of wits twice tells me something of your character. You're more than just brawn."
"Four minutes, sir," JARVIS said.
Loki chuckled. "Plenty of time, then. What I want is simple. You will take Sigyn and care for her as one of your own. Do so and I will never harm your planet again."
It took Tony a moment to process that and absorb the implications. "You want us to provide asylum for a possibly deranged lunatic who could very well aid you in whatever scheme that you think up next? In exchange for a promise of words that you won't attack the Earth again? Knowing that our myths mark you as the God of Fire, Mischief, and Lies?"
"Essentially, yes," Loki answered, eyes glinting with amusement. "I've nothing to offer beyond words and you have no reason to trust me. Let Sigyn's actions speak for her and know that if she is imprisoned or tortured, I will hunt down all who harmed her or had a hand in her captivity and repay them that pain tenfold."
At that moment, the glass behind them shattered as bodies crashed through. In the shower of glittering glass and reflected rainbows, Loki smiled at him and faded into the shadows.