3. Thor and Loki catching up

Original placement: end of Chapter 31 – Midgard

The ruins of a research facility made for a poor base of operations, but Coulson was keen to remain close, so a helicopter was arranged to airlift them to a more structurally sound SHIELD facility an hour away. Romanoff took the co-pilot's seat and Coulson had already buried himself in his lap top before the helicopter had even taken off. The two junior SHIELD agents accompanying them sat at the back, their jaws clenched tight and their fingers hovering over the triggers on their rifles. Without any of the Midgardians to draw their attention, it left Loki and Thor peering at each other.

Thor, as had been inevitable, broke the silence first. 'Why are you back now?'

That hadn't been the question Loki had expected from his brother and he wasn't entirely sure how he ought to answer it. There was the original explanation he had given his family about his decision to leave Asgard, but revelations about his Jotunn heritage seemed like matter of centuries long past compared to the threat of Thanos' coming. And he had already conceded he had become entangled with the Titan during his absence from Asgard. But where to start on that wasn't a simple decision to make.

'Heimdall twisted my arm to get me to come,' Loki said after a pause. 'He told me the servants of Thanos had come to Midgard and that you had come to meet them. I was worried about you.'

Thor scoffed, startling the two SHIELD agents at the back. 'Do you know how much we've all worried about you for the best part of a year now? Mother has been inconsolable. I was about to go find you and drag you back to Asgard myself. It was only father who persuaded me to give you more time.'

'Father is seldom wrong. Here I am, aren't I?'

Loki had aimed to calm his brother down, but his words seemed to produce the opposite result. Thor shook his head, his lips taut, then glared at Loki.

'What did you do to Heimdall?' he demanded. 'The man is supposed to report to the king of Asgard, but you and him had some other agreement I take it. I knew nothing of Thanos or his servants until tonight, yet he must have known something about these people if he went off to tell you about their arrival on Midgard. So he knew of this danger and yet told me nothing.'

'Don't talk to me in that tone. I am your brother, not your lackey.'

'Explain then, brother.'

The helicopter tilted as the pilot made a turn and Loki could see more of the landscape they were flying over. The land seemed to be flat and largely fallow, but bisected by endless straight lines of highways, unpaved roads and power lines. Loki didn't find a single recognisable feature in that landscape.

'Loki,' Thor said sharply, as he fiddled with Mjolnir's leather strap. Patience had never been his strength.

'Don't punish Heimdall on this, I begged him to keep the matter to himself for as long as he could. How would mother have reacted had she find out I had become entangled with a megalomaniac who would take every inch of the universe for his own? He has a grievance with me now, I thought if he was to pursue me, it would be best not to draw his attention to the Nine Realms. Thus I stayed away. And in case, Asgard was of interest to him, I told you to look to the realm's defences.'

'It would've been easier to prepare our defences if we knew what the danger was.'

Loki sighed. 'I had no clue what form Thanos' attack would take or if it would come at all.' He glanced around the helicopter, looking for an alternate topic of conversation. Where Thor was taking this didn't impress him at all and he wasn't in the mood to concede that he had spent half the year drinking, fornicating and trying his absolute best to ignore Thanos' continued existence. 'How is father?'

'Regaining his strength, slowly.'

'Still? It has been months?'

'This is why we needed you back,' Thor replied. 'For the first few months, he couldn't stay awake for more than a few hours and walking past the end of the corridor was beyond him. He is stronger now, but the healers believe he will never regain full strength. The poison on that spear would've killed any weaker man. Of course, his mind remains sharp and he helps me where he can. It's not… Your council and your presence would've been more helpful than I can put into words.'

Loki sensed Thor was entirely correct. There were circles under his eyes and his hair hung limp around his ears. There was an unfamiliar rounding of Thor's shoulders too. And perhaps most telling, Loki couldn't recount his brother ever being so humourless, not in this time-line at least.

'I'm sorry, Thor,' Loki said. 'I've been dwelling too much on my own thoughts of late and very little on the needs of others. For what it's worth, I'm here now and I intend to see this affair through to the end.'

'And after we're done here on Midgard?'

The left corner of Loki's lips drew up. 'I'll come back to Asgard with you.'

Thor beamed and in that moment, he was once more the boisterous youth that Loki had grown up. From there the conversation shifted back, centuries back, when Loki and Thor had been very young and had journeyed to Midgard with their father. There were more stories to reminisce over than could be contained in an hour's helicopter ride, but Loki didn't hurry Thor along. Mostly, he was just relieved that the tension that had lingered between them since his first minutes after arriving to Midgard now fell away and they could enjoy their camaraderie once more.

Why the scene was cut: Loki and Thor had to address Loki's extended absence in some way, but I had a problem with Thor and Loki talking so openly in front of a bunch of SHIELD personnel they barely know. This is why the replacement scene to this one takes place once they find a bit of privacy in the bunker. The other big issue with this one was continuity. Loki made several complaints about Heimdall's behaviour and decisions in chapters 30 and 31; it makes little sense for Loki to now ask Thor not to punish Heimdall.

4. Loki and Steve stranded in San Francisco

Original placement: end of Chapter 33 – San Francisco

The military didn't know what to do with them. After several minutes of heated exchanges among the soldiers, a profoundly irritated major insisted Thor, Loki and Rogers head over to a truck parked by a ditch about a couple hundred feet down the road from the site of the battle. The truck's cab and chassis was painted to blend with the terrain and a layer of undyed canvas formed the roof of the back section. Loki scrunched up his nose as he climbed inside. The back of the truck reeked of stale sweat and swamp water; it was probably best not to dwell on who had been the truck's last passengers. The three of them shuffled to spots on the benches that ran along each side — the same spots they had chosen for themselves back on the quinjet.

'You had best stay in here until orders are relayed to us,' said an infantry man who had positioned himself across the path off the truck. Through the gap in the canvas behind him, Loki could see more men constantly moving about. They weren't officially being held, but they weren't exactly free to leave either.

'Lord Almighty,' Rogers muttered, 'this place actually feels familiar.'

'The back of an unwashed vehicle?' Thor asked while Loki had to stifle a chuckle.

'I've spent a lot of time in the back of filthy trucks. This one does look sturdier than the ones I remember struggling through every pothole in Europe.'

Loki cocked his head. 'How long exactly has it been since they defrosted you?'

'Seven weeks,' Rogers replied, not quite meeting Loki or Thor's gaze.

Thor seemed to be mulling over what should be the appropriate response this information, but studying Rogers' drawn lips and furrowed forehead, Loki got the inkling that Rogers wouldn't appreciate a pair of aliens offering commentary on his situation. Loki crossed his arms together and glanced to the armed man in front of the exit — Esposito, according to his name tag.

'Do you have a mobile phone on you?' Loki asked. 'They gave you one, right?'

Rogers winced. 'They did. I left it on the table back in the bunker; not really used to carrying it around just yet.'

'Where've SHIELD been keeping you?' Loki asked. 'As much as I appreciated the hospitality of the local military, we need to rendezvous with Coulson and his people. Or we can encamp at Stark's? I hear he has a fine tower all to himself.'

'Tony Stark lives in New York. That's where I've spent the past seven weeks also. It's on the other side of the country,' Rogers replied. 'I do have Coulson's number memorised.'

'Well, that's something,' Loki muttered. He rose from his seat and walked over to their unofficial guard, who twitched a little at Loki's approach, but said nothing. 'Private Esposito, is it? Could we trouble you for a phone we could use for a few minutes?'

'Hang on,' the private said gruffly. He called over his shoulder to the soldiers working in the vicinity of the truck. After a few exchanges well-peppered with crude language, someone thrust a mobile phone through the gap between the canvas flaps. Esposito took it and offered it to Loki.

Loki had never actually used one of these though he had seen them used often enough. He glanced at the buttons and the coloured screen. The numbers looked like the standard ones used across much of Midgard, the rest of the symbols left him mystified. He had seen people make phone calls plenty of times, but he had never paid particularly close attention to the process. Swallowing his pride, he handed the phone to Rogers.

'I hope I get this right,' Rogers remarked as he gingerly began pressing buttons. Someone had been intelligent enough to take him through the process, but didn't go over it enough to make Rogers comfortable with what he was doing. After a dozen buttons, Rogers pressed the phone against his ear and waited. Long seconds trickled by. Rogers pulled the phone away. 'There's no one picking up the line, it just keeps ringing.'

'Try again.'

Rogers nodded and repeated the process with the buttons. This time the seconds seemed to stretch out even longer and Rogers' darker. Then he jerked in his seat. 'Hello?'

A crackle on the other side of the line.

'Hello, Natasha,' Rogers said, his voice becoming calmer. 'I was actually after Agent Coulson. We are in a dire need of a lift back to base.'

Rogers nodded along to whatever Romanoff was telling him; the sound didn't carry well enough for Loki to make out the words. After a minute he pressed his fingers over the bottom half of the phone and whispered. 'She's on her way.'

'Good,' Loki replied.

Why the scene was cut: In the first draft of the San Francisco battle, I did have Thor stay back rather than pursue Ebony Maw and Tyr. Halfway through writing this scene I realised that having Thor around offers no benefit – he fades from the scene and you barely even notice. At that point I knew that I had to rewrite the end of the San Francisco battle sequence and much of the aftermath. This scene was the first thing to go. It had some interesting dialogue from Steve, but the rest of it didn't work for me. I couldn't see Loki meekly allow himself to be shuffled into a truck and far too much time is spent on making a simple phone call.

A/N: What do you guys think? Are there any elements in these you would've liked to see in the story itself?