Part of the banter is taken from the avengers movie, which i dont own. Also, looking for a beta reader, as i've gone this long without one and think it's about time.

MysticWolf71891- Thanks! There's so much they don't discuss about Loki in the movies, and if I have my way he'll be discussed again, along with his other kids. Maybe even Balder, though i havent fully gone through that scenario yet.

Ashley and the others are led deep into the Helicarrier, Tony breaking off at one point to follow Agent Coulson somewhere, promising to meet back up with her when he gets the chance. Steve promises to keep an eye on her, something that has Ashley rolling her eyes, though secretly she's glad that she won't be completely alone. She spends most of the walk taking in her surroundings, something she learned traveling with Winchesters, in case she needs to remember her way around. Of course, it won't help if the stupid thing is in the air, or in the water considering she can't swim, but she maps it none the less.

They are all finally taken to a large room, likely the central hub considering the mass amounts of computers and people, as well as the enormous window overlooking the outside, clouds going by indicating that they are, in fact, airborne. They seat themselves at a circular table towards the back, joining a man with black, greying curly hair and a dark purple button up shirt, eyes halfway focused on a screen towards the middle of the table, though he's momentarily distracted by the entrance of the others. She gives him a little smile when his confused glance lands on her, sitting next to him while the others take a seat as well, then offers him her hand. "Hiya, I'm Ashley. Were you snatched up too?"

"More or less." He says after a moment, taking her hand for a brief moment and giving a tentative but firm handshake. "Still iffy on whether I should have came along or not. What about you? Uh, Bruce Banner, by the way."

She doesn't recognize the name, though can tell by the way he draws back a bit that he expects her to react to it for some reason. "Oh, I just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Or right, whatever way you look at it. Either way, I'm lucky Tony came along, or I'd still be stuck in Germany with no phone or passport." Suddenly she looks at the screen and frowns, turning her entire attention to it. "What exactly are we watching?" Steve and Romanoff turn towards it as well, faces serious, while Thor takes one look and turns away, just listening with a pained look on his face.

"That would be Fury putting Loki in the cage he built for me." Bruce says in a slightly amused tone, and she gives him a brief considering glance.

"You don't look the type to need a Hannibal Lecter type cage, though I've been wrong before. You hiding super strength or insanity under the ruffled smarty look?"

"Something like that."

When he doesn't elaborate, she looks back at the screen, Loki and a bald black man staring one another down while exchanging commentary with one another. She notices his eyes are staying green at the moment, though his skin is a pallid white, and he stays quite smug looking while talking. "Who is Loki talking to?"

"That's Fury, he's the director of SHIELD." Steve offers, face a calm mask as he takes in the scene. "He calls all the shots here."

"Yea? Well he looks like an angry goth pirate." Ashley says matter of factly, noticing the little smirk that appears on not only Bruces face, but Romanoffs as well. She goes silent as they take in the rest of the conversation, listening to talk of ants and boots and real power. She flinches at the mention of killing for pleasure, and can't help but glance for a moment at Thor, seeing his face grow more and more closed off, though his eyes tell just how sad he actually is. When Fury finally walks out after telling him to ask if he wants a magazine, they all sit back in their seats, minds whirring.

"He really grows on you, doesn't he?" Bruce says from the spot he ended up standing, leaning over his chair with his hand on his chin in contemplation.

"Loki's gonna drag this out as long as he can." Steve says, looking around at everyone at the table area. "So, Thor. What's the play?"

"He has an army, called the Chitari." Thor says, not facing the group as he stares off at the window. Ashley listens in, not filled in completely yet and ready to know what to expect. "They're not of Asgard or any world known. He means to lead them against your people, they will win him the earth. In return I suspect for the tesseract."

"An army. From outer space." Steve deadpans, and she would have laughed if it wasn't such a serious situation.

"Another day, another Apocalypse." She mutters to herself, gaining a curious look from Romanoff. "I swear, if this was Doctor Who, Earth would basically be the England of the Universe."

"So, he's building another portal then. That must be what he needs Selvig for." Bruce adds in. "Since we don't have a TARDIS on hand." Ashley throws him a surprised grin, happy someone understood what she was talking about.

"Selvig?" Asks Thor, confused. "Eric Selvig?"

"He's an astrophysicist."

"He's a friend. And what is this TARDIS? Could it be of help?"

Ashley hides her laugh behind a cough. "Eh, no. It's from a TV show…hasn't really been invented yet. A man uses it to travel through space and time."

"Ah. I know not what this TV show is, but it is a shame this TARDIS is not readily available. You should look into building it right away. For now, where is Selvig?"

"Loki has him under some kind of spell. Along with one of ours." Romanoff offers.

"I wanna know why he let us take him." Steve throws in. "He's not leading an army from here."

"I don't think we should be focusing on Loki. That guys brain is a bag full of cats." Bruce says, taking off his glasses as he paces.

"He seemed ok at the museum." Ashley throws in, causing everyone to focus on her. "He didn't threaten me, hurt me, insult me or anything like that."

"Perhaps he thought he could get something from you?" Romanoff suggests, and Ashley glances her way with a frown.

"I…I don't think so. He seemed more curious than anything. He answered my questions, told me the two headed unicorn table was a fake, even admitted he was about to do what he considered a bloody bit of mischief. Hell, he warned me to wait to leave until he was done so I wouldn't get trampled by the freaked out masses."

"He was oddly polite to her on the jet, as well." Steve adds in, face thoughtful.

"And he never once tried to use his staff on you?"

"The blue glowing one with the weird power coming from it? Nope. I think he was mainly thrown off by the fact I didn't think his using magic was unseemly, in his words, and that I have a friend a lot like him. He doesn't have many friends back in Asgard, does he?" The last part she aims at Thor, who frowns at her.

"Not really, no. And take care of how you speak of him Banner, he is of Asgard and my brother."

"He killed 80 people in two days." Romanoff says icily.

"…He's adopted."

"Geez. No wonder he acts the way he does. You can't pick and choose when he does something disagreeable." Ashley says with a scowl." Either he's your brother or he isn't. Adoption doesn't matter."

"Getting back on topic, what do they need the irridium for?" Banner asks.

"Stabilizing agent" Says a familiar voice, and Tony pops up from a hallway with Agent Coulson, whispering something to him about flying somewhere. Ashley takes the chance to, while Tony takes over as the center of attention as he's prone to do, to switch the screen back on and peek back at Loki, messing with her ring as something niggles away at the back of her mind. Loki seems to be pacing calmly back and forth inside the cage, glancing every one in a while up at the camera with an eerily calm smile. He reminds her so much of a mix between Gabriel and Lucifer it's scary, and she wonders what all happened to him to make him this way. She has a good starting idea, stemming from Thors muttering about adoption, as well as her talks with Loki in the jet, but knows that there has to be something else in between those things to finally make him snap. She feels eyes on her, and glances up, Tony's voice still droning on in the background, something about a big green rage monster, and finds Romanoff looking at her intently. Staring back at her she continues to fiddle with her ring, eyes sad and confused for the man in front of her, only looking away when her attention is yanked back.

"I understand that reference!" Steve had said loudly, causing everyone to look at him for a couple of seconds.

Tony just cocks his head at him before turning to Bruce. "Shall we play, doctor?" Then, after Bruce nods, he glances over at Ashley. "Come, food assistant, we're off to do Science!"

When she rolls her eyes and stands to follow the two, Fury stands in her way, blocking her from the two. "Just one damn minute Stark. I need to have a little talk with your assistant here. You go on ahead, and I'll send her your way when I'm done with her."

Tony looks as if he wants to argue, but Ashley stops him before he can. "Go on, Tony. You sciencing is what's important right now. I'll catch up to you in a little bit. Me and the pirate need to have a talk, that's all."

"Fine. But if you hurt her, Fury, you'll find I'm a very bad man to cross, even if you have your own army." Tony says, pointing at his own eyes then pointing at Fury, who just stares back impassively until Tony leaves.

"Follow me." Fury says, then turns to start walking. Ashley follows close behind, surprised when Romanoff comes as well. He leads them both up a level and into an area accessed by thumbprint and eye scan, then into what must be his personal office, and she sits in one of the two chairs on the guests side of the desk. Romanoff takes the other, and both stay quiet as Fury settles himself into his own chair, then joins his hands and stares at the girl for a couple of moments. "So. You must understand our position. You just happen to show up at the exact place that the person we're tracking is, a friend of Tony Starks, then catch a ride back with us, all the while being the one person Loki is decent to. You see where I'm going with this?"

"Yea, I see it. And honestly I have no explanation for most of it, at least ones that will satisfy you that is. Something I have no control over decided to transport me halfway across the freaking globe, right in front of a guy wanting to carve another guys eye out. I consider myself pretty lucky Tony showed up, because I don't have a phone or ID on me, and the idea of a German jail sounds horrible."

"How about Loki being nice to you? Care to explain that? Because if it wasn't for the fact your eyes aren't glowing blue I would think you're one of his brain washed minions."

"No clue. I'm nice to him and don't treat him like a freak, for one." She says, a bit angrily, and his eyes narrow. "Look, I don't have any revealing answers for you, other than the fact that because of a friend of mine, I can't be possessed or brainwashed. I don't know Loki's plan, and he likely wouldn't tell me, no matter how much he seems to not actively hate me. All I can tell you is that to me, I don't think he's all that well. He looks almost like he's sick, and may not even be in his right mind. So unless you have any more questions for me, I can't help you."

Fury stares at her for a couple of seconds, silently as he contemplates her, before taking a manila folder from Romanoff. "I believe you." He finally says, opening it up. "Ashley Roeswood, 28 years old, no priors, left home for Beacon Hills when her sister died. Teaches music variety at a high school, recently seen in the company of one Dean Winchester and Sam Winchester. Seen involved in the strange happenings a couple of months ago, which stopped all of a sudden after a series of mysterious weather and deaths. Known for helping in the hunt of several unknown creatures as well as being in the company of several beings of unknown origin and powers." He closes the folder and looks back up at her. "Sound about right?"

Her hands had tightened around the arm rests on the chair as he spoke, face going white. When he finally stopped speaking she seriously considered taking out her blade and going for his other eye. "You do this thorough of an investigation of everyone who's a guest on this flying oil rig?"

"All part of the job. You should see how deep we go for employment."

"Yea, no thanks. Sounds like you know everything about me already, so what else could you possibly need?"

"Considering your involvement in the last series of events that happened around the globe, it seemed almost too much of a coincidence for you to show up this time as well. However, since the Winchesters don't seem to be around this time, or any of your other friends that for some reason we can't seem to identify, I thought it would be easier asking you instead locking you up. So, what do I need, exactly? I'd like to know what happened a couple of months ago, and if it has anything to do with what's going on now."

"And then I can go back to Tony?"

"You may."

"How do you know I won't lie to you? Do you plan on strapping me to a lie detector?"

Fury smirks, a frightening sight. "There'll be no need for that. If between myself and a trained assassin we cant tell if you're lying or telling the truth, then we don't deserve our jobs."

Ashley looks over at Romanoff, who gives her a brief nod, then gulps, readying herself. "Fine. I'll tell you what I can, but there's a chance you might not believe me anyway. Well, maybe you will. How much do you know about the creatures I helped the Winchesters hunt?"

"Varying strengths and powers." Romanoff says from beside her. "Thought at first to be mutants, however we aren't quite sure about that. The ones hunted generally left trails of bodies in their wake, as well as other strange and often bloody patterns. Not as often, others have been briefly caught healing or helping someone, changing forms or just straight disappearing without a trace. We've asked Charles Xavier for help tracking them as the leading mutant authority considering his school, but nothing ever comes up."

"Well, you have part of it right." Ashley says with a sigh, leaning back a missing her wolf, her Gwaine. "He wouldn't be able to track them because they aren't mutants, not in the way you classify them that is. They are generally classified as monsters, or supernatural creatures if you want to use the nicer term. Vampires, demons, shape shifters, werewolves, witches…all real. Basically anything you ever heard a legend or scary story about is pretty much real. I was traveling around with the Winchesters learning how to hunt and stop the bad ones."

"You're right." Fury says with a scowl, staring hard at her. "You don't seem to be lying but I'm finding it hard to believe the stuff coming out of your mouth. And what do you mean bad ones? Wouldn't any monster be a bad one?"

"No." She says, scowling right back at him. "And I had to push that same thought out of Sam and Deans heads. Not all supes are evil. Half the time they're regular people turned against their will and fighting the urges tooth and nail. Sometimes they're adopted by parents who have no idea they aren't human and are instilled with the same ethics Steve has, and other times they just want to blend in and be normal. I have a whole group of turned teenage werewolves back at Beacon hills who just to be able to complain about their homework and be awkward around the opposite sex like normal kids, but instead they spend most of their time defending the town and themselves from crazy murdery people. That's actually what we were doing right before I got beamed to Germany."

"Teenage werewolves?"

"That's the only thing you got from all that? Yes, teenage werewolves. Ones who don't crave raw meat and who only bring out the claws when they need to. Also, go after them and I promise you'll regret it."

"Is that a threat, Miss Roeswood?"

"That's a promise. You go after my kids, I go after you."

"I'll keep that in mind. As long as they don't cause problems, they'll be no need to look into them. And what happened a couple of months ago?"

She smirks. "The Apocalypse."

He stares at her, an epic bitch face if there ever was one. "You've gotta be kidding me."

"Nope."

"As in end of the world? Angels coming down and smiting everything? Straight from the bible? That Apocalypse?"

"Yep. Some angels are just huge dicks like that."

He glares at her, something that should intimidate her but she's seen Derek do it one too many times for it to affect her anymore. "Then why exactly aren't we all dead? The world turned to ash? Me in heaven not having to deal with dumb asses anymore?"

"We stopped it. Duh."

"You know, I can see why Tony likes you. How did you stop it?"

"We….convinced the main antagonist that he needed to give humanity a chance. After that, all we had to do was convince his brother that total destruction and an epic angel vs demon battle wasn't necessary. Not that he listened at first, but he eventually saw the light."

"You hesitated. Is that all?" Romanoff asks quietly from beside her, and she turns halfway to face the redhead.

"Remember what I said on the jet? About Steve only being part right?" Romanoff nods after a moment. "I have a very good reason for knowing that." When it dawns on Romanoff what she's implying, her eyes go wide for a moment before settling back down into their usual state, and Ashley turns back to Fury. "And no, as far as I know it has nothing to do with what's going on now. If it did, there's a good chance I would have some more friends here by now, cussing everyone out and causing more mayhem and headaches than Tony ever could. And that's everything I know."

Fury stares at her for a couple of seconds, good eye twitching as she sits there with her arms crossed. "Fine. Romanoff, take her back to Stark. And I'm warning you, anything strange goes on around you and I'm throwing you in with Loki."

"Not really a threat to me." She throws back as she exits the room, smirk on her face as she waits for Romanoff to finish speaking with Fury. Once the redhead exits as well, the both start making their way quietly down the hallways. It's once they enter an elevator that Romanoff finally breaks the silence.

"You were talking about angels, weren't you?" She says quietly, and Ashley peers over at her, a bit surprised. "You said it was supposed to be an epic angel vs demon battle, then that angels could be dicks as well. Was it an angel trying to start the Apocalypse?"

"Yea, it was." Ashley finally confirms, looking back forward. "The archangel Michael and angel Zachariah, to be exact. They thought it was Gods will for the battle to happen, and tried to force Sam and Dean into accepting roles that would help it go through. Those two are stubborn as hell though, and for once it was a good thing. Both refused no matter what, and with the help of a couple of others we finally put a stop to it."

"More angels?"

She looks over again with a chuckle. "Yea, you're definitely a spy. Yes, we had help from angel. We also had help from a demon, an archangel, our friend Bobby and…well…Lucifer." Romanoff snaps her gaze on Ashley this time disbelievingly. "I know, farfetched sounding as it might sound, it's the truth. I convinced him to give us mud monkeys a chance, and when he tried to protect me from Michaels attack God showed up outta no where and made him an archangel again. That's how I know it's not connected with what's going on now…if it was they'd tell me."

"That's a lot to try and believe at once, you know."

"Considering you just met Loki and Thor, I'm pretty sure you can manage. By the way, should I just keep thinking of you as Romanoff? Or is there an actual name I can call you?"

"You can call me Natasha." She finally says, turning to face the elevator doors once more, Ashley following suit. "No wonder you weren't afraid to poke Thor in the chest, if you faced down what you told Fury. You would make a good agent."

"Not at all, I'm horrible with authority figures most of the time, I tend to yell back, or poke back as you saw. And Thor's got nothing on Luci. Gabe either, for that matter, he'd distract him with pop tarts that he probably roofied then just wait for him to drop like a beached whale while chomping on a snickers."

"I hate to ask…but what would Luci do? And I'm assuming you're calling the devil Luci."

"Not the devil any more, but yea. And Luci? Luci has bit of an anger problem, so would probably just beat him over the head until he was knocked out while verbally emasculating him."

"….Is it bad I'm actually interested in seeing both of those things happen?"

"Not at all. Stick around me and it probably will."

***********( )*************

Natasha drops Ashley off in front of a sliding door, telling her that she'll be back after doing an assignment that Fury gave her, leaving her to the clutches of Tony and the cute but scruffy Bruce Banner. Readying herself, she walks in just in time to see Tony prodding the other with some sort of electric zapper, causing Bruce to jump.

"Care to explain why you feel the need to agitate poor Bruce?" Ashley asks from the open doorway, leaning against the frame with her arms crossed. "Because I'm pretty sure that has nothing to do with science."

"Charlies angel! You escaped the clutches of Fury!" Tony says with a grin, turning away from a relieved Bruce. "And I'll have you know this is totally for science! I'm trying to see how much it takes to get the good doctor here to let loose, break out of shell, and whatever other figure of speech I can eventually come up with for releasing the beast."

"Why, exactly?"

"That's what I keep wondering." Bruce says weakly, moving slowly away from Tony to get to another computer screen hanging in the air. "He probably won't like it if I do."

"Whatever. Can't actually find out if I don't meet the guy. Blueberry?" Ashley takes the offered snack, sitting on a high stool and watching the two move around the room with purpose. "So what did the dread pirate want? He threaten you any? Because I'd love a reason to throw a virus or 4 into their mainframe and watch it eat itself."

She gives a soft laugh, fully believing he would. "Nothing I could take seriously, don't worry. He was mainly showing off the fact he had a folder full of information on me, and wanted to know what happened a couple of months ago, if it was connected to what's going on now. I told him what he needed to know then high tailed it out of there. I like Natasha though…she hides a sense of humor under that scary assassin façade."

"She's also a spy, and trained to make people see what she wants when it comes to herself. Don't trust her too far, she'll use it against you."

"Yea yea, I get ya. Don't trust the scary spy in the skintight leather cat suit. On another note, why is it bad if you, as Tony says, lets loose the inner beast? Some times it is good to let loose a bit."

"See!" Tony says accusingly, or says as well as he can with a mouth full of half chewed blueberries, pointing at Bruce.

"Yes, but there's a difference between Tony letting loose and me letting loose." Bruce says, taking off his glasses and polishing them on his shirt. "When Tony does it, he gets drunk and wakes up where ever he happens to land."

"You know, I should be offended by that, but it's honestly the truth."

"When I let loose…well…do you remember when Harlem got destroyed a while back? Well, that was me."

She frowns, hopping off the stool and walking up to him, looking into his confused face as if looking for something. After a while she smiles. "You don't look like a giant green destroyer of cities. Is like a Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde thing?"

He looks surprised when she doesn't back away in fear, instead acting like it's no big deal. "Err, a bit. When I get angry or injured the other guy usually pops out, goes on a bit of a rampage. Certain members of the military see me as a threat because of that, so I usually stay hidden."

"Which was it in Harlem?"

"What?"

"I remember you fighting someone else big in Harlem, looked like you were trying to stop him. So which was it, angry or injured?"

"I…actually changed on purpose that time. I convinced the General who captured me that I was the only one who could stop him, after they went to the trouble to create him by mixing the super serum with some of my blood and injecting him with it. It made him mutate and go insane."

"What's the big deal then?" She asks, walking back over to her stool and jumping on, throwing another blueberry in her mouth. "You did a bit of damage because you were trying to stop a crazy guy from hurting people, sometimes that's impossible to prevent. Sounds like you were the good guy in that respect."

Bruce stares blankly at her, mouth gaping like a fish. "That's not the popular opinion." He finally says weakly. "But it's a nice thought. You wouldn't think it if you actually met the other guy, though."

""I'll decide for myself when I meet him, thank you very much." She says, causing Tony to grin like an idiot at the other man. "So, Tony, any chance you can bring up the video feed from Loki's cell?"

"Duh. Any reason why?"

"Just a weird feeling I guess. Something keeps niggling at my brain that I should be able to see, but it just won't pop up, and it has to do with him."

"Whatever. Keep watching reindeer games if you want, I'll be over here doing stuff that would make your brain hurt if I tried to explain. Oh, and watching my little bug break into all of SHIELDs files. And it's two against one Banner!" He yells at Bruce before pressing a number of buttons and bringing up a screen in front of her.

"Thanks Tony." She says, getting a dismissive wave in return. She turns to the screen and gives it her full attention, noticing that Natasha is standing behind him, Loki not sensing her there yet. He stands there, hands clasped behind his back, eyes downcast as he seems deep in thought. Once more, she finds herself wondering how he could have started down the road he was now on. It had to be more than simply finding out he was adopted. Perhaps something happened when he fell off the now shattered rainbow bridge? Natasha had told her a bit about it when they exited the elevator, and it just didn't make sense to her. On the screen, Loki finally turns to face Natasha, a tiny smile taking up a corner of his mouth.

"There you are you naughty girl. Do you know you have two freaked out archangels looking for you?" Ashley starts, nearly falling off of her stool, then spins around to face an amused looking Balthazar. "And here I find you on this floating military base, watching the strangest soap opera ever. What ever is to be done with you?"

"Balthazar!" Ashley cries, surging forward and hugging the surprised angel tightly. "What are you doing here? Not that I'm complaining, it's good to see your scruffy face!"

"Don't forget handsome and charming." He says with a smirk. "And I was in the neighborhood below, just happened to sense you. Which is strange, because apparantly Gabriel can't, and you're connected to him by that bit of grace he stuck in you."

"Dude, I have no clue, I've sent prayers their way a couple of times, but no answer. They mentioned my grace might be developing a couple of quirks, maybe it's blocking them?"

"Uh, Ashley? Can I assume this is another angel buddy?" Tony asks from behind her. "Because if so, I already like him better than trench coat angel. No offense to him, but this one is snarky, and I like snarky."

"What? Oh yea, this is Balthazar. Balthazar, this is Bruce Banner and Tony Stark, scientists extraordinaire. Tony here picked me up from Germany when I somehow crash landed there."

"Charmed, of course."

"Not to be the voice of reason or anything, but how exactly did he just pop in like that?" Bruce asks, skin looking faintly green but slowing fading back to normal.

"Tony, think you could fill him in?"

"Come'ere Doc, I'll give you the low down on why her nickname's what it is…" Tony says, pulling Bruce away and handing him a granola bar pulled from who knows where.

"So why haven't they taken you home yet? And what's with the peep show?" Balthazar asks, looking at the screen curiously. "Because my brothers are having kittens looking for you."

"They're having a bit of an issue here I was kind of dropped into. See that guy down there? He's trying to bring an alien army here through a portal. Everyone thinks he's just insane and revenge driven, but something else seems wrong, something I just can't put my finger on. I'll probably kick myself once I figure it out, too."

"I swear, you lot just can't catch a break. One problem gets solved, then two more pop up. I do say though, he seems to be antagonizing the redhead. Oh, hello there big boy, something I can help you with?"

Ashley glances over to see Thor entering the room, looking downtrodden still, like a kicked puppy. "Oh, hey Thor. You ok?"

"Aye. Something off seems to be coming from the room, and I felt the need to check on your progress. Is the Widow trying to question my brother? It will not work, he is a master of mind games."

"The off you're feeling is likely that bloody rod. I know my weapons, and that thing is meant to start messing with your sensitive human emotions." Balthazar says, gesturing to the scepter on the table. "I suggest locking it away before it can, or destroying it."

"What, you mean the glow stick of Destiny?" Tony asks, glancing over at it.

"If that's what you're calling it, then yes."

"Do you have something we could put it in, block off whatever it is?" Ashley asks the angel, glancing up with a pleading look. "Pretty sure this is a very bad place for emotions to be messed with. Please?"

"Well, since you asked so nicely." Balthazar snaps, and the scepter is immediately enclosed in a gleaming silver box, sigils carved on it. "That should work, I use it to keep the more dangerous weapons in. Any of you feeling better?"

"I actually do." Bruce says, looking surprised. "It was as if there was a whispering in my mind that suddenly stopped."

"Same here. The need to poke you has gone down considerably. Still there, just not as strong."

"Oh good, always glad to help. By the way, the redhead looks upset. I think the goth said something to her."

"He's not a goth. And thank you for the box." Ashley says, looking at the screen again, noticing his eyes have gone that sickly blue again. Suddenly something is jarred, and she remembers her talk with Fury. More importantly, she remembers a small part of it. "Hey Thor? Can I ask you a question?"

"Of course Lady Ashley. What is it?"

"What color are Loki's eyes? Did he ever change their color?"

"Not that I can recall. Mother always told him how much she loved his eyes, so no matter what form he took, he would keep his eyes the same, just for her."

"As much as his shapeshifting eye color interests me, and I mean every bit of sarcasm in that, is this going anywhere?"

"Oh for the love of….Tony, look closely at the screen." Tony cocks his eyebrow at her but does as asked, coming forward and peering closely at the screen. "Tell me, what color are Loki's eyes now?"

"They look like they're blue…so what?"

"Aren't you supposed to be a genius? Thor just his eyes are green. What was the first lesson we taught you when we saved you from the demon that took over your body?"

Tony concentrates for a second. "Let's see…you had me get my tattoo, keep salt on me…when someone's possessed their eyes turn black…" His eyes go wide as he finally gets her meaning. "Holy shit, you think Prancer is being possessed?"

"Maybe not by a demon, but I definitely think someone else is pulling his strings. Every time his eyes go blue he gets mean and cruel, and when he's fighting it is when he starts looking sick. What if when he fell from the bridge, something got a hold of him? Something that wants the Chitari here?"

"It's very likely." Balthazar says contemplatively. "Demons aren't the only beings that can control the mind, and you lot are far from the only beings in the universe. Hell, that's not even taking into account other dimensions and alternate realities."

Both Tony and Bruce stare at Balthazar as if he's grown another head. "When all this crap ends, we're going to have a very long session of picking your brain."

"As long as there is an acceptable wine, I'll take up that offer."

"Have you met me? I can afford whatever you might think up."

"Why are we still talking? We must get this being out of my brother!" Thor thunders, voice echoing in the tiny room. "This injustice must be avenged!"

"But how? I don't see Fury letting us perform an exorcism. Hell, he barely wants me in the Helicarrier." Tony says, and Ashley glances at the screen for a moment as Natasha struts from the room, making a split second decision.

*Balthazar. Can you get me into the cage with Loki?* She sends Balthazar, getting a curious look and a nod in return. *Good. When I stop talking, send us there, then make sure no one interferes. I have an idea, but can't go through with it if they open it up before I'm done. They can enter the room, but no other interference.*

"You've gone awfully quiet." Bruce comments, looking over at her as her and Balthazar silently communicate. "Do you have an idea?"

"I do…just, don't freak out at what I'm about to do, okay?" She says, right before Balthazar puts a hand on her shoulder and they both disappear. All three man look around in confusion for a couple of seconds, not quite understanding what just happened.

"Um, where did they go?" Bruce asks, scratching his head.

Tony goes pale and looks back at the screen, where Ashley has suddenly appeared in the cage with Loki. "Oh fuck, what are you thinking?" He growls. "She's in the cage with Loki. We need to get down there now!"

"My brother might hurt her in his current state, it is not safe for her!"

All three of them race out of the room, heading towards the direction of the cage, passing Fury, Natasha and Steve on the way but not bothering to answer any questions, just telling them all to shut up and follow.

Well, Tony tells them, anyway.