Author's Note: Loki gets his parts, but it starts out as Jane-centric. You might recognize the forbidden spells. I kinda borrowed them from another book series. *cough*

Untold Power

Ch 2.

Jane Foster had a headache. After losing Thor, after the government had make it clear they were still interested in her, Darcy's rambling about her iPod and how they'd totally erased songs from it…she was about to snap. The encounter with that government agent at her favorite fast food place had really took it out of her. Agent something. It started with an L. She couldn't remember, but she knew she hadn't seen the last of him. She almost slapped her car door shut with a normally-un Jane-like gesture when she saw a large African amercan man approaching, along with her mentor Dr. Selvig.

Perhaps Agent L hadn't been lying. Still, it irked her to see them, when she had just lost the love of her life, and possibly all of her research to these goons, now that Selvig was working with them.

"Go away. Get away, now. I'm really not in the mood. For either of you. Sorry, Doc, I mean no disrespect and all, but you know what happened. More than Mister Whatshisface here does, so you know I'd really prefer to be a lone." Jane had barely gotten her ramble out when the large, imposing man interrupted.

"Miss Foster, we are sorry about your…loss…but we think we can help. Dr. Selvig has been telling me about your research. About the wormholes. We think we can find a way to open it again." Nick Fury was skeptical about this Jane woman. Selvig had been insistent that she be let in on the operation, however.

Jane sighed. "Look, one of your guys, Mister Laffrysan or something, already tried this shit. It didn't work. Do you think you could do better?" She glared at them, as if daring them to question her.

Nick Fury pursed his lips. He hadn't expected Laufeyson to confront Jane so soon. This made matters worse. She would think his agents were simply hounding her to get her to work for him. "Pardon me, Miss Foster. Agent Laufeyson works with an entirely different branch of the government. He doesn't work with or for me."

Jane snorted. "You expect me to believe that? He was all sleek and cleaned up nicely just like one of your filthy little SHIELD people. Lie to me all you want. I'm not working with you, not even if Selvig is."

Dr. Selvig gave Jane an almost pleading look. "Jane, please, this is the opportunity of a liftetime! You could have Thor back! Not to mention the-" Fury cut him off with a sharp look. The cube was not to be discussed in public.

She sat at a nearby table, head in a hand. "You can't just spring this on me. You can't just say 'we can bring Thor back' and expect me to jump up and work for you. I'm hurting, can't either of you see that? Especially you, Erik!" She glared at the man who had been more than a mentor, almost a father, to her.

Selvig looked at the ground, not answering. Why HAD he agreed to work with Fury? What had possessed him to agree to the research on the cube? Vanity, perhaps. Curiosity, maybe. Either way, he wanted to know what it was…what it was capable of. An almost-un-Selvig-like thought, certainly, but still…how else could he explain it? Nick Fury certainly had no psychic powers. He wasn't manipulating him. Had just brought him in to see something top secret.

Even Erik Selvig couldn't pass on an opportunity like that. Still….the thought of…Its worth a look….that wasn't him thinking, he knew it. But what was he going to say without Fury thinking he was insane? He just went along with it anyway. He really had turned out to be curious about the cube anyway. Untold power? That would certainly solve so many of the world's problems. It could cure cancer, it could end world hunger…the possibilities were endless. Right now, though, he needed her. He needed Jane to work with him on this. He hated using her love for Thor against her like this, but the same voice that told him to look at the cube had also told him this was the only way to convince her to work on the cube with him.

In another part of town, Loki was grinning to himself. Things weren't EXACTLY going as he'd planned, but he had had to pull most of it out of his ass. According to some, they would call him a Chessmaster. And so he was. They were all pawns playing right into his hands in the end. Selvig would convince Jane to work on the cube, he would slip past the guards, take them both, and torture her until she revealed all to him. Everything it did. Everything it could do. He could read minds, but some humans were naturally resistant, like Nick Fury and those agents at the fast food place the other day.

He'd tried to read the younger, Thorish looking one's mind and had met a very forceful resistance, almost as if he were being forced out. Loki snorted derisively. Humans didn't have magic. That was impossible, of course. He was just strong of mind. Putting the young agents out of his thoughts, he turned back to thinking of the many ways he would torture Jane.

Once he got her away, he would threaten her friends, her family. If that didn't work…well, he was very skilled with the knife, and magic. He knew a spell that inflicted the most painful thing imaginable on a person. That was forbidden to use in Asgard, of course, as was the killing spell. The one that killed with a thought, no weapons needed at all. So were mind control spells. All the fun stuff, forbidden. No wonder the Asgardians were so boring and his real people were so much more powerful. They didn't forbid any type of magic, no matter the cost. A lot of them couldn't use magic, but some could, and those who did were very skilled at it.

Using his fake ID and some small mind control, he'd managed to buy an apartment near where Jane lived and was currently perusing some books on Norse mythology he'd found at a local bookstore. So many things they got wrong…and so many things they got right. Like the punishment of his innocent children. Fenrir would have had no reason at all to harm Odin had the Allfather not sought to chain him, so the books said. Loki knew it wasn't really Odin, however. It was all Tyr and Freya. The books got that wrong. He sneered and drew a thick black marker over that part of the story. How wrong, how dreadful. Making Tyr and Freya look like blameless victims. He smirked as he got to the part in the story where he called out all the gods on their faults.

He would have, too. Had he but known what was to befall him. Freya was a whore and a bitch. She had even lain with her own brother, such was the vileness of the woman. Freyr was stupid and gormless. Giving up his sword, a powerful, mighty weapon to rival even Mjolnir, for the love of some stupid woman. A FROST GIANT woman at that. Loki giggled a little at this part of book. In reality, Freyr hadn't married anyone, much less a Jotun. The part about Freya was very, very true though. She was a whore in every sense of the word. Disgusted with these lies, finally, Loki threw the books into a corner as if they offended him, which they had in a way.

They made him look like a villain. An evil without a purpose, only to destroy. They didn't know the truth. He only wanted to destroy Asgard, to kill Thor and Odin, even Jane and Freya, for what they did to him. If they had just let him be, let him live his life the way he wanted, there would be no Loki Laufeyson seeking to torment Jane Foster. There would still be Loki Odinson, loyal to his new king, Thor. Now, the thought sickened him. What he had done in the name of Asgard…all the Jotuns he had killed…and all along, Odin had known and had not seen fit to tell him. Tell him that he was…MURDERING his own people. He wondered how Thor would feel if he had been killing Asgardians for years without knowing he was one of them. If Thor were raised as a Jotun and to hate Asgard, eventually finding out he was one of them.

No, Thor would not have had the brains for that. He would have simply called whoever claimed he was really Asgardian a liar. Loki knew better. He had know when they went to Jotunheim on the day of Thor's supposed coronation. One of Thor's lackeys, Volstagg perhaps, had screamed to not let the Jotun touch them, for they could freeze with a touch. Volstagg's arm had been wrapped in heated pads for weeks before he had recovered.

But not Loki. A Jotun had grasped Loki squarely by the arm, attempting to use his powers to freeze him in place. Loki had been undaunted. His own skin had turned blue. At first, he'd though it was freezing. Then it had dawned on him after Volstagg's yell. Loki wasn't cold at all. It hadn't felt like freezing. It had felt….right. Normal, even. From the reflection he'd seen in the Jotun who'd grabbed his arm, his eyes had also turned. Red. A deep, wicked red. Not their normal, shocking green that even Thor marveled over. Loki had been terrified. Thought he was cursed. A monster, even. He had screamed at his father, yelled, clutched the Casket of Ancient Winters and it returned him to his true form. He had turn on Odin then, and screamed and screamed until Odin had fell….at first, Loki had felt fear.

No, not at the thought of Odin dying, but at the thought of being blamed for it. He knew what he was now. He wasn't going to hide behind the farce of an Asgardian anymore. No, when Loki Laufeyson was alone, it was his true form he wore. The reflection on the blank TV screen in front of the Jotun reflected pale blue skin, red eyes, and pointed ears. The heat bothered him far more as well. He had turned the air conditioner up as far as it would go and he was still hot. Even in human or Asgardian form, this still plagued him.

Thor had constantly joked that Loki was cold blood when they were children because the cold didn't bother him in the slightest when it snowed or when they went on an adventure to Jotunheim. If only Thor had know . If only Thor could see him now. What would his precious, righteous, wonderful older brother do now? Oh, try and redeem him. Try and bring him back as a prince of Asgard. That would never happen. If he were to rule anywhere, it would be Jotunheim. Or…Midgard. He grinned at the thought.

Laufey wouldn't hold the throne of Jotunheim forever. If Loki could prove he was Laufey's heir, he would have control all the Jotuns. His mastery over magic, and his immunity to their frost powers made him more powerful than any of them. He imagined himself sitting on Laufey's throne, the pleasant, frosty chill surrounding him.

And of course Midgard. Despite the unpleasant heat, his powers and his frost magic would make all bow before him as king. And there would be nothing Thor nor Odin could do to stop him. Bifrost was gone. Midgard belonged to Loki. And only Loki knew the passages in and out of Asgard that his 'brother' and 'father' didn't. He grinned again, blue reflection in the TV grinning back.