Another distress call was what had started all the trouble. Loki was sighted far north by a SHIELD outpost, and in these times even a sighting of the shifty god of mischief was reason enough to pursue. Either they would frighten him off to a more easily monitored part of the world or hopefully he would scamper back to Asgard. The latter was only considered for the benefit of Thor, who always seemed to perk up at the possibility, however slight, that his 'brother' would return home.

How far north Loki had managed to get, undetected, was enough of a worry for SHIELD that not only did Nick Fury call The Avengers back together to get the sneaky bastard, but he too wanted to accompany them for some friendly… questioning of the God of Lies and Mischief. He was taking Maria Hill and Phil Coulson (who was only just returning to field work after his framed death, a life model decoy being the Coulson that had 'died' for the sake of motivating the boy band back in the first Loki incident), as they were his left and right hands, eyes and ears at SHIELD, after all.

The team had all responded without hesitation, gathering aboard the Hellicarrier for action all within an hour of the summon. Fury had been slightly surprised at their efficiency especially with Thor's distance, Tony's flippant attitude and Bruce's reluctance to be called to action. Thor explained his promptness regarding the fact Loki was involved and that he had also been on Midgard, coincidentally, to visit some of his friends. Bruce reasoned that if the other guy had to come out somewhere, he'd rather it be in the icy wilderness of the north around his teammates who could handle it. Tony merely gave a shrug of the shoulders and stated something about missing being in action and that Pepper had been out so she couldn't remind him that he was meant to be keeping a 'clean slate' promise.

Natasha and Clint were always easy to find, Clint had been aboard the Hellicarrier already when word was sent out, and Natasha had to just be called back from a mission. Steve too was quick on the scene, having been assisting the government where ever needed after his road trip post New York and his own personal experience of finding, and fighting along the way, his old friend Bucky. The situation was a little calmer now, the two kept a little contact, but there was still a great rift there. Fury hoped Steve could fix that soon, because until all was a little more stable, it put Fury's plans of recruiting Bucky into SHIELD on hold. Natasha and Bucky were rather close, from what he could tell, but he didn't want to put all his chips in that basket. Having the elusive Winter Soldier in a dual locked alliance would be much more secure for SHIELD's aims.

Speaking of Bucky, he was not a part of this mission, but had currently taken refuge and political asylum on the Hellicarrier for a while to hide from his former Russian overlords. But whenever Fury seemed to turn to talk to an Avenger about this current situation during their flight north, he always seemed to see the Winter Soldier lurking around a corner or sitting in the room, always somewhere close enough he could listen in before being shooed away.

Soon enough, everyone was sent to their stations, Fury barked his last few orders to the crew of the Hellicarrier through a microphone as he, Agent Hill, Agent Coulson, and all of The Avenger's started to ready two Quinjets for decent and landing. Clint and Natasha exchange a look and a smile as they slipped on their pilot headpieces and into the driver's seats of separate planes. Thor, Tony, Fury and Hill slipped into Natasha's plane while Steve, Bruce and Coulson took Clint's. Before long the jets were soaring smoothly through the air, leaving the Hellicarrier far behind and above in the crystal sky.

Clint frowned as he glanced to the stats monitor, raising a brow that something didn't quite add up.

"Hey Bruce, you haven't Hulked Out, have you? Though I assume there'd be a lot more panic and yelling if you had…" The archer let that thought trail off before radioing in to Fury in the other Quinjet.

"Director Fury, either the measuring system of the Quinjet is off, Steve ate way more than he usually does, or… We might have a stow away on bored."

Unwilling to land to investigate, Fury scowled, swivelling his head to stare at the patch of wall in the general direction the other Quinjet was soaring beside them.

"…Get one of your passengers to look around, preferably someone who won't freak out and turn green and angry if we're hit while we fly."

Repeating Fury's order, though not quite as specifically, Clint didn't need to choose as Steve had already unclipped and risen, starting to search around the main compartment before slipping into the small back armoury.

A few minutes later, a slightly annoyed voice buzzed in Clint's ear, the Captain not sounding impressed with his findings.

"Found the problem, Fury's not going to like this, seems we've got an extra squad member. Bucky claims he was restocking the armoury to help us out and hadn't noticed we'd boarded the plane. He's sticking to the story he would have got off if he thought he had time."

Clint radioed Fury with the situation and the Director of SHIELD cussed loudly. He should have known something like this would happen-

"Well, I suppose he's coming with. Better be goddamned suited up, I don't need another rooky disaster out here, especially not with Loki. But I suppose we can take all the help we can get."

If only Bucky was just as interested in becoming a SHIELD agent as he was with assisting The Avengers.

A little over half an hour, and the crew were ready for descent, Loki was a little over a kilometre away, and to protect their ships they didn't want to get too close for landing. Thankfully the bright white blanket of snow, and the flakes that currently pelted down were providing an excellent cover as well as a challenge for Clint and Natasha.

As Clint dropped a little too sharply in one moment, as soon as he was steadied and okay, he heard Natasha's laugh chime over the intercom.

"Getting a little rusty there Barton, forgetting things in your old age, hmm?"

He laughed too, just a moment before sitting more alertly over the controls, smirking.

"Not at all, you just know safe was never my thing."

Once both jets were safely touched down, the squads exited and Fury quickly talked strategy. Maria, Coulson, Bucky and himself would stay back in defensive positions with long range weapons, ready to open fire if Loki could not be talked down. Bucky had scowled at this for a moment before Maria reminded him, rather briskly as if being angry he was here, that he was a sniper expert anyway so he shouldn't have a problem with this.

Clint was long distance too, but he would approach, as well as Natasha, in the main body of The Avengers to prove the point to Loki that any future discord and they would indeed all come as one to knock him into next week. Besides, Clint was quick and knew how to turn most landscapes into an advantage, he was an excellent tactician. Natasha would be semi-close range, as she normally was, but would give the big hitters space to really hit Loki hard. Thor, Tony, Bruce and Steve would be the main body. Thor would be granted a chance to attempt to reason with his brother, no matter what he was up to, Cap would then be a last chance warning and the first striker if there was conflict. Tony would be at the ready for this scenario, too, and come in as the second strike all while giving Bruce a chance to suit up and hopefully end the contact all together. A tactic like this, hopefully swift, would help Thor to avoid much involvement in the battle so he wouldn't feel even more guilty about fighting his brother whom he already believed he had failed. And it meant safety for the more vulnerable members of the team who were still only human, despite their extraordinary gifts.

Trekking out to Loki with the plan fresh in their minds, they found themselves lead to the entrance of a large cave, carved in rock and ice in the side of a mountain. Fury frowned as he regard this, a change in tactics that meant his long range team may actually have to move in since there was no visibility on the outside.

"Coulson… Hill, I want you to stay at the entrance." He ordered, and his two agents immediately slipped either side of the cave. Bucky was internally brightened that he wasn't ordered to stay, but let nothing but a calm, stoic demeanour show through.

The group of eight entered the cave, wary and slow moving. It was a winding carved path, that was wide enough to avoid claustrophobia, but was ominous in that you could never see too far ahead or behind due to curves in the walls. After some time, they emerge in a cavern that must have been at the heart of the mountain. Light bounced off the sleet walls, illuminating the vast icy space, this luminance came from various points, pale green glowing orbs all intertwined and connected. They all lead back to one fixed point, where the subject of their search sat, legs crossed, on a rocky alter in the middle of the room.

Loki himself was surrounded in this pale green light, it must have been magic in some form. He looked almost peaceful, eyes closed and mouth a flat line until he tensed. He had noticed the eight people beginning to fan the room under Fury's orders. Bucky and Fury had taken cover reasonably close to the entry, Clint and Natasha were slightly closer, but still towards the edges of the room. While Bruce, Tony and Steve all followed straight behind Thor, at the ready to strike.

Loki, behind his magic field, gave them a smile too sharp to be friendly, his green eyes betraying malice as his mind wandered to last time he had seen these Avengers all together, when they had stopped his attempt on Midgard and slaughtered the Chitauri army. But now was different, the God of Lies and Mischief did not need those pitiful aliens existence, he had tricks of his own to reveal… A new ally who was every bit as cunning as himself, and now their plan might finally blossom into reality.

"Brother, what is it that you are here for, back on Midgard when you know you are not welcome here?" Thor's voice was hard, but there was the undertone Loki could always manage to pick up, the one that almost pleaded to not end in a vicious battle. After his imprisonment in Asgard, Loki had eventually been freed to assist Thor, tracking Malekith the Accursed in an attempt to help his brother thwart a Dark Elf invasion. While his brother had been battling the leader, Loki had scampered, fleeing to a realm that even the Aesir dare not follow him, The Realm of Fire, Muspelheim. The time there had been difficult, especially for his frost giant blood, but it was better than being forced back into a tiny cell in imprisonment or being freed but having to appeal to the people of his home that he had all but wrote off. It was only when he had left Muspelheim, trying to visit an uncharted realm, he had stumbled across a most peculiar place, and met someone just as devious as himself. They had conspired for months, hatching this scheme. Midgard had been their place of planning, but they had been very subtle. He had gone to where their world was and initiated the preparations there, while they completed the work here, avoiding the issue of Loki's sighting being an instant pursuit and detainment.

Speaking at last to Thor, his voice was cold. "Is it that I am welcomed anywhere? Should I care these pathetic mortals do not take to my company? It is not as if I have sought to be among them, let me be here in peace, and keep your nose out of my business, Thor, or else I may have to break it for you a third time." Loki was gambling on angering Thor, in fact, he was almost counting on the team who had thwarted him last time to gear up for an attack. The circle of magic around him rippled, its aura pressing and powerful as the difficult little spell grew only all the more potent the longer it was cast.

Thor's blue eyes flashed electric, the Thunderer's grip tightening on Mjolnir as he shook his head, giving Steve the subtle sign that he would not be able to reason, his temper already rising much too far for the usual 'hit first, talk later' warrior.

The Captain stepped forward raising a glove to point at Loki as his voice sounded, serious and he didn't mess around, getting straight to the point.

"This is your last chance, Loki. You know we won't hesitate to take you in by force, so what's it going to be?"

The God of Lied and Mischief's smile became slightly feral as his eyes glinted at the challenge. "Oh you know I look forward to it."

And so the assault began, though not with half the result Fury had expected. Cap's shield was swiftly thrown, Tony's palm blasters began firing, Hawkeye sent a flurry of arrows, as did Natasha, Bucky and himself except with bullets, but each and every hit was absorbed by that light green glowing sphere around Loki. The smaller points around the room began to flicker and seemed to echo the sounds of the attacks that had passed, Fury uttered a quick order to Phil and Maria to join them inside quickly. While everyone reloaded, Clint readied a trick arrow, Steve got his shield, Tony auto targeted, Thor readied lightning and Hulk finally made his appearance, Loki just began to laugh mockingly at them. The moment Coulson and Hill arrived and trained their trigger on the god, everyone broke into a flurry of attacks, bombarding their cackling target-

At a moment when everyone landed a hit simultaneously on the magical green shielding light, everything suddenly changed.

Loki's barrier, and all the points around it disappeared in a powerful discharge of magical energy, an explosion that shattered the whole carven and sent everyone flying in every direction. The walls crumbled around them, rock and ice showering down as darkness engulfed them. When Steve hit the ground he had enough time and momentum only to fling himself to where Natasha and Clint had been stationed, trying to cover all three of them from falling chunks of the cave. Hulk had similarly smashed his way out of the pile he had instantly been crushed under and charged over to protect Fury, Hill, Coulson and Bucky. Thor and Tony had tried to take to the sky to charge out of the now disintegrating roof, but it was then the second wave of explosions hit, with a force at least ten times greater than the first that sent all of the ground team, and cave rubble, flying out through the broken walls, scattering everyone by at least a hundred metres in radius.

Just an average day of dealing with Loki and his tricks. But the team was yet to see how this was easily the god's most grand scale and difficult scheme yet.


Author's note: Yeah, I know, I should be working on SHIELD Academy, but I've had this idea stuck in my head for ages and find it soothing to retreat too when I've got a writers block for the other one. SHIELD is still my precious most important baby, but here, have some more stuff-

Reviews/faves/follows are always very much appreciated! Thank you for reading! :'D