I own nothing of Marvel's. The OC, however, is a brain-child of my poor, misbegotten imagination.

Stark Tower. For all the money in the world, Tony Stark's amazing tech couldn't counter one thing... boredom. Loki lounged in his cell, divested of his armor and scepter. His neck and wrists were manacled by some Midgardian technology which drained his power. Though Loki couldn't quite figure out how the manacles drained his energy (yet), it quite adequately served to sever him from his magical abilities. Happily, Thor had bartered with SHIELD to get the muzzle off of his face, but while Loki was allowed to hear what happened outside his cell (which, unless someone came to deliver food, was nothing, as he had no visitors) no one was permitted to listen to him. More specifically, no one *wanted* to hear from him. His small cell was lined with thick, energy-charged material, providing visual access to him from all sides. The cell contained only Loki, his cot, and a very visible and in-no-way-could-he-ever-have privacy toilet area, furnished with a loo and a sink. Computers and video cameras watched his every move. Guards came by to drop off food in irregular intervals, and no doubt monitored his every move by camera.

Though he was the center of attention at Stark Tower, he has completely isolated. And bored.

He hated it.

Even now the twisted rage that had filled Loki's mind for months swirled through his thoughts. How dare they imprison him, a God, in such squalid manner? Tue, his plan to rule Midgard had been thwarted - quite painfully - by the "Avengers" (a stupid name, Loki sneered to himself) but this was not just cruel. They sought to torture him as well.

No, not the usual type of torture, with deliberate application of pain and attrition. No, they sought to break his mind. Stark piped in inane children's shows such as some monstrosities entitled Barney and Friends and Sesame Street. The reasoning, Stark said, was to instill some humanity into Loki. However, given the self-satisfied smirk on Stark's face when he explained his "entertainment" to Loki (through the energy-charged barrier, of course) Loki reasoned that this his torture... and it was. Oh, it was. Only Stark didn't realize that he was dealing with the Mad God of Asgard, and Loki embraced his madness gladly, tuning out the inanity of the children's shows with ease. He focused instead on his plans: with the Midgardian invasion a failure, the Other would be displeased. This displeasure often showed itself in unique, painful ways. Loki was determined not to allow that to happen again, so he plotted and planned.

A few days later, the shows abruptly stopped, and he was provided some reading material to while away his time. No one explained it, but Loki thought Thor had probably argued on his behalf again. It reminded Loki of his formative years on Asgard, when Thor would stick up for him. But rage continued to cloud his mind, overshadow his thoughts, and draw him further down the rabbit hole... into madness.


Rift was furious. Stark had slammed the door in her face. Again. She had finally, finally asked for help, and he refused her. Flat-out, no questions. A power problem the likes no one could solve, and he refused to speak to her. SHIELD had also recommended Dr. Banner, but after the incident in New York, he had taken another Sabbatical. So she was left with Stark, and he wouldn't talk to her. Her "magic-y mumbo-jumbo wasn't in his realm of science" (his words) so, well, sorry 'boutcha, here's the door.

As her anger swelled, her power surged, and Rift realized she'd have to ground herself again. That was her problem, her curse. Powerful raw energy flowed through her veins, but it was too much. Like a reactor constantly near critical, Rift's energy needed to be grounded - released - so that she wouldn't explode. And her episodes were becoming more frequent of late: years ago it had been once every few months, then every couple of weeks; now it was a once-daily occurrence at least. Even more when her emotions surged, like today.

Magic had always been a part of her life. Unfortunately, Rift was so powerful as a child that most teachers were afraid of her (a constant excuse was her "lack of control", but how could anyone learn control without a decent mentor...?) or wanted to use her power for their own gain. She'd finally found a few tutors brave enough (or foolhardy enough) to teach her the basics, and quickly donned Archmagi robes. But no one could have predicted how volatile her power was, and no one had a solution for her still ever-growing power. No one with her issue never survived to adulthood; how could they? Power accumulated from the very energy in the surroundings; it was EVERYWHERE. Forget to ground just once, or be overtaken with power, and the resulting explosion that would rival Chernobyl. The results were catastrophic. Rift knew this all too well.

It had happened to her more than once.

Usually, if a magic user lost control, they flamed out, causing damage to their surrounding area. The results were almost always fatal. Rift managed to survive three flameouts, through regeneration abilities and last-second dimensional hopping. No one was sure how she managed it, least of all her. But here she was, and her power was still growing exponentially.

And no one would help her.

She'd gone down the magic-users of her realm, but with numbers dwindling, there was no luck. She'd scoured all the available texts, but since her condition was extremely rare, there was little documentation power surges and their maintenance. The Magi coven went so far as to "help" Rift with experimentation. For months they drained her for their own use, and in so doing nearly ripped a hole in the fabric of time itself. The results had been disastrous - for the coven - once Rift had realized what they had planned. Her power was so damn useful to everyone but herself.

She'd been everywhere looking for answers, with little to show for it. She'd worked her way through magical charlatans, true magic-users, and moved up the ranks of the Gods themselves. (The Greek gods were her last hope, but they had grown so old and decrepit, all they remembered were "the good old days" and narcissism. Ah, the classics.)

Resigning herself, she'd tentatively requested help from SHIELD. She probably should have done it sooner. Cautiously she approached SHIELD through one of her friends, who returned with a list with two names. Dr. Bruce Banner. Tony Stark.

Useless. Effing useless. One stupid Stark lackey, who had answered the door to Stark's Tower, had managed to point out that the Avengers were busy with the clean up of New York, and no, they did not have time to see her. Obviously, if it were that important, she would have made an appointment, wouldn't she? Fantastic, but what happened if Rift had a critical moment in that very city? Didn't they understand the severity of the situation? Her unease, mixed with anger and frustration, weren't helping her control. Rift could feel the signs of an impending overload - her dark hair was swirling of it's own accord, and she felt surrounded by static electricity. The only thing that would help (aside from using a lot of energy immediately) would be to ground herself.

Frustrated, Rift teleported out to a vacant field in upstate New York. A quick scan let her know that no one was immediately in the area. Sighing, she sat down and released her energy into the ground. Her emotions calmed, and a sense of peace settled her mind. She knew it was temporary; energy accrual led to heightened emotions. Heightened emotions led to faster energy accrual. It was a vicious cycle.

Calmly, Rift re-evaluated her options. No one on this planet knew how to solve her issue. She'd looked everywhere. The Avengers were busy cleaning New York... the wheels in her mind started spinning. True, no one from THIS planet knew how to help her.

But maybe someone not from this realm did.

Author's Note:

Hi guys. So, this is my first fanfic to publish… ever. I'm going to be releasing them on a weekly schedule (or attempt to) but I'll likely pop Chapter 2 up shortly, just to get things rolling. Reviews are welcomed, and I'll try to keep up with any questions or comments as best as I can.

I'm sticking roughly to the Marvel world, with some Norse cannon thrown in, but I reserve the right to go off the rails whenever I please, because I can.

I hope you enjoy the ride.