Hello again. Intermezzo is a series a shot one shots that fill in the gap between Prelude and Cat's Paw (which I promise is going to be finished after some heavy rewrites). The one shots will go back and forth between the Avengers on Earth and Loki and Reagan in her realm.

Once again I own nothing of the MCU.

Discovery

The Asgardians discover that Loki has escaped and the Avengers prepare for the inevitable attack on Earth.

Although Thor and Odin were down in the dungeons minutes after the Chitauri began their attack it was too late. All that awaited them was the cooling bodies of the dead guards, three very mangled Chitauri warriors and blood, lots of blood The back wall of the cell had a crack in a spider web pattern and was covered in blood, blood was splattered around the cell. While the Asgardians easily established that the mess around the bodies was that of the dead, the mess in the cell was Loki's. This worried them whoever or whatever took Loki had not been gentle and beyond the mess in the cell there were no other clues as to who or what. It was if Loki had just been swallowed up by the shadows.

"Go to Midgard and warn your allies, that Loki has escaped." Odin commanded. "They need to be warn in case he tries to conquer Midgard again."

Thor nodded , he didn't want to think about the other very real possibility that the Chitauri had taken Loki because they wanted to punish him for his failure to conquer Midgard. Despite all that had happened between the two he still cared about Loki and he hoped his brother was alright.

Several hours later on the Helicarrier...

"You have got to be kidding! He's escaped! Loki's escaped and you don't know where he is? You lost him!" Clint exploded.

Thor frowned this was not going well. The Avengers were not happy to hear that Loki had vanished.

Captain Rogers leaned forward "Do you think that he'll make another play for Earth?" asked getting straight down to business.

Thor shook his head "I do not know my friends. The All-father sent me to warn you in case Loki attempts to have his revenge but I must return to Asgard to continue the search."

Nick Fury nodded his assent for Thor to leave "Keep us informed of any developments."

Once Thor had left the remaining Avengers gathered around to discuss this turn of events. "If Reindeer Games is on the loose then he's going to come here. He can't not come. He's got too much ego to let his humiliating defeat go." Stark argued thinking back to his thoughts on Loki's invasion nearly two months earlier.

"Well I know that I'm looking forward to any attempts that Loki can dish out." Agent Barton grinned savagely.

The Black Widow leaned forward "SHIELD already has agents run simulations on the most likely scenarios and have increased our surveillance."

Bruce fidgeted with his glasses "From the data collected from previous encounters, there are a few energy readings that could be scanned for that might give us an indication of where Loki is."

"Whatever happens we'll be ready." Stark proclaimed confidently.

A bit of irony there, the Avengers are preparing for Loki's attack while Loki is millions of miles away asleep in Reagan's bed. If anyone has suggestions for scenarios they'd like to see feel free to send them to me. I'm always up for a challenge.