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The throne room was so full of tension it felt as though one could cut it with a particularly dull knife. The presence of two strong, stubborn personalities was a bit much for the ancient room, which practically vibrated beneath the flinty glares each party was leveling at the other. Father and son stood nose to nose, each refusing to break eye contact until the other gave in to their silent demands. After a long moment, the elder finally broke and turned away.

"What makes you believe that this is the correct course of action?" he rumbled, reminding Thor of an old, grumpy bear. "This idea of yours carries much risk."

Ignoring the second statement, eyes still locked on his father, Thor replied with, "It worked for me."

A snort. "You and he are very different individuals," Odin pointed out. "Why would a punishment that worked for you be effective for your brother?"

"Correct and forgive me if I am wrong," Thor began carefully, "but is not the point of his punishment to correct his mentality? To show him how he strayed from what he once was and to bring him back to that mindset?"

Odin turned to look at his son, thoughtfulness softening his one eye. "Yes."

"Then do this, father," Thor urged. "Compassion comes so easily to most humans – nobody here cares about him aside from you, Mother, and I. If the others think about him it is in anger and hate, and even if it is not he is hardly likely to believe that. And he is still so angry! He is hardly going to learn anything if he remains here, surrounded by love he does not believe in and anger and hatred that feeds his own. Down on Migard, free from all this, he may finally be able to let go of his anger and start to feel again."

The impassioned speech burst from him without second thought, obviously surprising his father. Thor knew very well that he wasn't a great thinker, which was likely what had shocked Odin so, but this was less about logic and more about knowing Loki and how he worked – which, granted, few people did these days. Still, it would take an idiot of monumental heights to spend as much time in the company of his brother as he had and not see just how being in Asgard affected him. From there it was no stretch of the imagination to figure out just what had to be done about it.

"From the mouth of babes," Odin muttered. Thor narrowed his eyes, but forced his muscles to stay relaxed. To someone as old as Odin, everyone likely seemed to be a child, whether they were or not. Taking offense at his words was folly. Odin regarded Thor with an expression of dawning respect. "Wisdom indeed. I am impressed."

Thor refused to bask in the praise. "Will you consent?"

Odin took his time in replying; Thor tried to conceal his impatience as best he could. It seemed to take years, though in reality it was only a few minutes, before Odin finally said, "Very well. I consent. However –" and here he fixed Thor with an impenetrable gaze that Thor was unable to even try to break – "you shall go as well. I am not about to send Loki out from under my supervision without somebody to keep an eye on him."

"He will not like that," Thor murmured.

"He will not have a choice," Odin returned.

Most would-be burglars stayed far, far away from Stark Tower. The building was heavily fortified by all the latest technologies, and some that hadn't even been released to the wealthy public. The most formidable defense that Stark had, however, was his personal little AI program, a program that not only ran the defenses with the watchful twenty-four hour per day attentiveness that only a computer was capable of, but one that had a defined, albeit programmed, personality. JARVIS wasn't an obstacle that most people were willing to come up against, even if they dared risk angering Stark.

Valerie Turner was not most people.

Weeks of preparation had brought her to this point. Schematics of Stark Tower, gotten from a far less than savory source, though trustworthy enough, compiled with her own talent for breaking and entering had gotten the thief all the way into the heart of the place that Tony Stark called home – his main computer system.

Because talking would attract attention, she kept silent as she went about her work, thankful for Stark's predilection for advanced technology, as the touch screens he used did completely away with clacking keys that could give her position away. Though technology wasn't precisely her strong point, her understanding of encryptions was on par with her ability to understand and ferret out deception, which meant that with the proper equipment and no few tricks, it was a complex, though possible, task to steal what she was after.

Hours passed in the darkness while she worked by blue screenlight, occasionally biting her lip in frustration and thought when she ran into difficulties, which, sadly, was often. Though she didn't dare say anything and risk 'waking' up JARVIS, the curses in her head could have made the most hardened of sailors blush if he'd heard them. It wasn't until dawn threatened to poke its sleepy head up that she finally succeeded. With a smirk of pride and glee, she took the specialized USB drive with her stolen prize, and slipped out of Stark Tower.

If anyone had been watching, all they would see was a disheveled woman with a rope of braided blonde hair leaving through the main doors with a touch of reluctance and a shirt that revealed a hickey on her neck. A closer look wouldn't have revealed the makeup origins of the fake lovebite, but nevertheless, Valerie tugged at the shirt to try to cover it up as though she were embarrassed. The best covers never broke, not even when there was nobody around to appreciate it.

It wasn't until she was back in the safety of her own apartment that Valerie relaxed, and with a grin to rival that of the Cheshire Cat himself, she drew her loot from the purse and sank down into her couch cushions, twirling it slowly and holding it up to the light to admire the sleek silver casing that held such a valuable prize. "Well then, Stark," she murmured. "Let's see how much you miss your toys."

A/N: I know, I know, there wasn't really any Loki in this chapter. Don't worry - you'll have your fill of the trickster soon enough. I know for a fact that he'll be showing up next chapter! So, what did Valerie steal? How will Stark react? And just what does Loki have to do with it (since we all know he's going to get himself involved somehow)? Does anybody even care? Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you'll stick around for the rest of the story!