Surreptitious Entry

Chapter Two: Infiltration

A knock sounded at a door somewhere and Loki woke, lurching upright, uncertain where he was. "Ah," he muttered aloud as it came back to him. Emily's bedchamber. Sweet, trusting, enthusiastic, fiery, young Emily. He didn't know her last name; she'd never revealed it. She didn't know his real name at all. The roommate – Selina, he remembered – would not be home this weekend.

He heard another knock as he smoothed out the bedcovers. He hurried out to the door, running his hands through the hair he'd lightened to a short sandy blond then plucking a pair of black-rimmed narrow frame glasses from the air and putting them in place. A quick glance down at his clothing as it reverted to what he'd physically put on this morning – casual black slacks and a long-sleeved black T-shirt with "Kaisers Orchestra" written over a logo of the Norwegian band – helped remind him who he was here today.

"Hi, uhhh…Kaisers Orchestra!" the short curly-haired brunette young woman at the door exclaimed, getting over her surprise at the stranger who opened the door. "I love them!"

"They're really cool," Loki agreed with a grin. "I'm glad to meet a fellow fan. You must be here for Emily's event?"

"Emily? Yeah…that's so weird. I'll always think of her as 'Loki Lover,'" said the woman in blue jeans and a filmy white shirt.

"So will I," he said with a laugh, his heart leaping a little at hearing that moniker said aloud. He'd said it aloud enough times himself – it rarely failed to give him a laugh or at least a little burst of warmth to melt some of the frost that encased his heart. "Please come in. 'Loki Lover' isn't home yet. I was arriving from rather far away and she was kind enough to allow me to come over early. She should be here in" – he checked the black-face TAG Heuer watch he'd taken to wearing – "about half an hour."

The girl followed him in, and he held out his hand in the method of the Midgardians of this part of the realm. "Martin Rendahl. Also known as 'SHIELD Is Evil.'"

"'SHIELD Is Evil!' Oh my God I'm so excited to meet you! I never thought you'd be so…you know…tall," she said, suddenly embarrassed; Loki gave her an easy smile as if he had no idea what she was really thinking. "I'm 'Old Norse Fan.' Known in the face-to-face world as Veronica Tandy."

"Ah, yes. The Scandinavian Studies student. I've very much enjoyed your insights from Norse mythology. Truly enlightening. I'm pleased to meet you as well."

"So, Martin Rendahl, huh? Is it Norwegian, by any chance?"

"It is!" Loki exclaimed. "How did you know? Well, of course you would." He'd chosen it specifically for this. He had other aliases for other activities.

"Nah, lucky guess. It could be from other places as well," Veronica said with a bit of a blush. "So are you Norwegian?"

"Originally, yes. But I've lived all over. Currently I call Atlanta home." There was, after all, no need to be entirely honest here. "And you?"

"I grew up all over, too. My dad was in the Army. Now I'm at Yale."

"You had a journey to come here then as well, did you not?"

"Oh, no, not much of one, it's not that far. Not compared to your trip," Veronica said, and they continued chatting, settling down on the worn brown sofa.

The reason for their presence here, though, never came up, by unspoken mutual agreement. That would come later. Loki was eager for it, and at the same time – though he would never admit it to anyone – rather nervous. Infiltration was hardly a new concept for him. Infiltration of this sort though…this was new indeed.

The sound of a key fumbling in a lock interrupted Veronica's story of joining other children from her school in performing a song called "We Are the World" – rather a presumptuous-sounding title, Loki thought – for German children at a school in Kaiserslautern. Kaiserslautern, as far as Loki could tell, had nothing to do with Kaisers Orchestra, whose music was in fact not so bad. He would have to look up this location later; Loki always did his homework.

Both he and Veronica were standing by the time the door opened and a plump curvy young woman with red-tinged blond hair stepped through, arms laden with thin plastic bags, keys dangling from a hand. "Oh, you made it! Martin? And…?"

"Yes," Loki said quickly, stepping forward to take some of the bags that were digging into the woman's fingers and wrists. "Martin Rendahl."

"Veronica Tandy. 'Old Norse Fan,'" the brunette said, taking the rest of the bags.

"Oh, Old Norse Fan, I'm so glad you could make it. And you, Mr. Shield is Evil. Emily Mack," she said, sticking out her hand.

"'Loki Lover,'" Loki said with a smile hinting of mischief. He switched the plastic bags to his left hand and took hers gently, as sensuously as he dared, brushing the knuckles lightly with his thumb where he would have instead brushed his lips had he not been in disguise. He'd had an effect on her, he knew – her eyes lingered a little longer on his than one might have expected, given the fact that her hand was now in Veronica's.

"So, you guys want to help me set up? Everyone else should be getting here soon. Your, ah, your trip was okay, Martin? You didn't have any trouble finding the place?"

"No problems at all. Your instructions were perfect," he said with a warm smile. It had been far easier than she could imagine. He might be living in St. Augustine now, but he'd become very familiar with New York City over the last few years.

Ten minutes later the snacks Loki had brought – salted nuts and Chex Mix, which he'd grown rather fond of – along with those Emily had were set out, and Akari "Make Love Not War" (Loki really didn't see why, in principle, it couldn't be both) arrived. She was a short brunette, and dressed entirely in black leather, something Loki had not seen terribly often on Midgard. Ten minutes after that it was Gina "Rainbow Sprite," who walked with an odd hitch to her gait, and five minutes after that it was Tanner "Viking Vagrant" with the spiky black hair and a leather and metal choker around his neck – one place where leather was not worn on Asgard – and then it was dark-skinned long-legged long-skirted Briona "Sky Dancer," and before long there were thirty-four people crowded into Emily's living room, most in their twenties but ranging in age from late teens to early fifties, most of them on the floor. Loki sat on the end of the two-seater couch with four other people. It was a bit of an invasion of the personal space he preferred to keep around him, but these circumstances should be safer than most. If anyone had snuck a weapon in here (other than him, of course) it was well-hidden, and if anyone was a plant from SHIELD he or she was masking it expertly. SHIELD did, of course, have such experts – an image of Natasha Romanov came to mind – but Emily had also taken great care with whom she chose to invite to this gathering. Loki had done his homework here as well, carefully reading each person's contributions for hints to true identity, and paying close attention to everything each person said this afternoon to ensure that it matched. So far, everyone seemed genuine. It was little short of thrilling.

"Love your shirt, by the way," Garnet "Blindfolded Masses" leaned down to whisper in his ear from where she perched on the arm of the sofa, pressing in close to him.

"Thanks," Loki said, angling his head up and giving her a warm smile. He didn't mind the closeness. He now knew for certain she had no weapon on her left side.

"Okay, okay, I think probably everybody's here now. 'Don't Believe The Lie' called and said he had an emergency and he couldn't make it," Emily said, standing up in the middle of the room on the other side of the weathered coffee table, now covered with drinks and cups and bowls of popcorn and pretzels and nuts and Chex Mix and some kind of colored sticky sweet things shaped vaguely like worms that Loki could have happily lived his life without ever sampling. Sounds of disappointment came up from around the room; Loki joined them. "Don't Believe The Lie" was a dogged researcher who occasionally came up with tidbits of information that even Loki had not managed to obtain. "Yeah, I know, I know. He apologized, but stuff happens, guys. Anyway, how about we get this thing officially started?"

Loki watched Emily as the group called out their assent. She held herself with sufficient confidence and strength that Loki could imagine her in Asgardian garb, though in fact she simply wore jeans and a light blue T-shirt with the Columbia University logo on it. She was a student there in the Master of International Affairs program, though in her free time she may as well have been pursuing a Master of Interrealm Affairs degree.

"All right then. Right off the bat, I want to go ahead and say it, out loud, with my real name attached to it, Emily Mack. I want to say why we're all here today. Why we all gravitated to each other and formed an online community. First: We don't trust SHIELD. They spoon-feed us what they think we ought to know, and half of that is a lie."

"Ninety percent," Garnet stuck in.

Emily nodded, but wisely did not comment. Loki had gone out to meet an associate one day after someone had posted "How much of what SHIELD lets leak to the media do you think is true?", and when he'd come back there were six hundred and eighty four responses debating percentages and intent and the role of the media and the extent of the Avengers' involvement in the deception. The latter, Loki had thought was ridiculous. Thor couldn't have lied to the media without tripping over every other word, the Captain was too upstanding to tell bald-faced lies to his own countrymen, the green beast's human form tended to flee to remote undeveloped villages when the media tracked him down, the Black Widow faded into the shadows the instant a camera appeared, Hawkeye had developed a bit of a chip on his shoulder and had once shot an arrow into one of those larger cameras, and Tony Stark…Loki had seen the YouTube video of him gleefully announcing his own biggest secret to the entire world through the media, against all instructions, according to what Loki had heard. He was used to living his life in public, in the open, and Loki couldn't see the man serving as SHIELD's lapdog in covering up truths he'd only be too glad to proclaim.

"Second: The Avengers, although we know they've protected us in some ways, they have become a narrative construct, a monolith we're meant to put our trust and faith in, and that construct was created by SHIELD. Therefore, as a construct, we don't trust the Avengers, either."

"Third: We believe that the existence of the Avengers construct has put us all at greater risk. They're seen as a challenge to groups and individuals with malevolent intent, and they therefore draw those groups and individuals to us and encourage them to attack. And when the Avengers respond, they do just as much damage as the attackers."

"The Hulk destroyed my brother's office."

"Iron Man burned holes through my apartment and all my furniture and stuff."

"My whole neighborhood flooded after Thor destroyed the water main from all that pounding with his hammer."

Loki winced at that one. It hadn't been entirely Thor's fault; Loki had essentially manipulated him into destroying the water main. If Thor electrocuted himself with his own lighting from standing in a giant puddle, he could hardly accuse Loki of violating their agreement.

"Fourth: We want to spread the word," Emily continued. "We refuse to stand idly by and make ourselves complicit in the lies. But we can't move until we know enough to formulate our own counter-narrative – when we release what we know, we want it to be big enough to put a permanent end to SHIELD's chokehold on the free flow of information."

There was clapping, and a few enthusiastic "yeahs." Loki sat in awe. If he couldn't rule Midgard, he would vote for Emily Mack to do so. Or perhaps marry "Loki Lover" and have her rule at his side. She was even more of a phenomenon in person than she was online. He wondered if this was how Midgard's near-daily revolutions and government overthrows started.

Emily sat down and turned the floor over to Garnet, who reached down to place a hand rather high up on his thigh to help push herself up. It was terribly presumptuous of her, but he was in a good mood and couldn't say that he minded.

Garnet spoke even more passionately, but with considerably less polish. Others followed, but for Loki it began to grow dull; much of what they were saying was the same rhetoric they used on their encrypted discussion forum. "I hate SHIELD, blah blah blah blah blah." Loki was soon distracted with the unexpected realization that he truly was growing bored. Bored of idly hating SHIELD. Pointlessly fighting the Avengers. Not that he now liked SHIELD, or wanted to go out for a round of golf or a night of carousing with the Avengers. Just that it wasn't quite as satisfying…fulfilling…as it used to be.

"The question is, when are we going to act?!" Emily said, slamming her hand down on the coffee table and startling Loki from his thoughts. "We've gathered a lot of evidence over the last few years. We know SHIELD isn't being honest with us. Our numbers keep growing, and we have vetted members in 38 countries now. Gathering information is good, and we need to keep it up, but when are we going to take the next step?"

"We have to be careful," Gina "Rainbow Sprite" said. "If SHIELD realizes how much stuff we've got on them, they'll come after us. They'll shut us down."

"Or worse," Loki added. SHIELD was far more ruthless than most of them knew. The world did not know that the organization – or the shadowy council behind it, Loki didn't bother distinguishing between the two – had tried to drop a nuclear bomb on Manhattan. And though he shared some of the information he gained with this group, he didn't share all of it, including this little tidbit, which he was holding onto for a rainy day. If the group moved toward taking some sort of real action against SHIELD, that might just be rainy enough to make him "discover" SHIELD's intention during the Chitauri attack.

"Or worse," Emily said, nodding at Loki. "But the right thing and the safe, easy thing don't always coincide."

"I think we should try contacting Loki again," Briona "Sky Dancer" said. "He was last seen in Paris."

The suggestion received murmured mixed reactions. "That didn't go so well last time," Tanner "Viking Vagrant" said. Many heads nodded; nearly all eyes turned to Emily.

Nearly half a year ago the group had begun making a concerted effort to target him, he now knew, focusing on New York since many of its members lived in the area and Loki had been seen there several times. A couple of months ago, when Loki heard his name called and saw someone running toward him, almost upon him, he'd lashed out, sending the figure flying back before he realized that his "attacker" had no special abilities and was armed with nothing more than a piece of paper which she'd held out to him with a sprained wrist and wheezing breaths as he approached out of curiosity. He'd felt bad for hurting a woman who hadn't meant any harm, and being in a generous mood for some reason, after tucking the paper in his coat he'd healed her cracked ribs and was starting on her wrist when Iron Man showed up and he had to attend to other matters.

The "attacker" was Emily, and the sheet of paper was an invitation to meet with their group. Loki hadn't met with them – not until now – but he'd joined them not long after that, as Martin Rendahl, or rather, "Shield Is Evil."

"Maybe not, but he took the flier. It's something."

"We've never heard from him. It didn't get us anywhere," another member, Michael, said.

"We don't know that," Veronica said. "It could have planted an idea. Maybe we just need to contact him again. There has to be more to his story. I mean, come on, we all know mythology isn't the same as history, and even more so a mythology recorded on Earth isn't a history of another planet. But the Loki in mythology is nothing like the irredeemable evil incarnate Loki we're told tried to take over New York."

The world, my dear. I tried to take over this entire world. My plans have always been ambitious. Loki frowned. Until recently, when his plans had faded from little more than pranks to annoy SHIELD and its Avengers to strolling along Ponte Vedra Beach and trying his hand at golf.

"I still say we should try again," Briona said. "If we want to go after SHIELD, Loki probably has just the information we need. He could help us do it."

Michael shook his head. "Look, I know some of you guys – and by guys I mean girls – you think Loki's just some misunderstood kid who would fight for truth and justice and get the world out from under SHIELD's yoke if he just had a hug, but you can't deny he's killed people."

"That's low, Michael," Garnet said.

Yes, Michael. Low. Who asked you? Who even let you into this group? It couldn't have been "Loki Lover."

"Nobody's denying that," Veronica said. "But that was then, and this is now. You can't deny that SHIELD cast him in the lead villain role, when we know there were others involved. Remember, SHIELD is nothing but a big propaganda machine with a bunch of big guns. And nothing Loki's done since has caused anywhere near that much damage. Half the time the Avengers cause more damage than him. Think of it this way. If he's mad at SHIELD, and he must be, what if we can give him another…like another way to channel his energy? Something more positive, but that will still give him something he wants, or at least something we think he wants. He can join us and go after them with words and with information, instead of weapons and violence. Isn't that a win-win?"

"Make love, not war," Akari "Make Love Not War" said with a grin and a snappy nod.

Discussion buzzed around the room, and Loki found himself considering Veronica's words. There was a certain logic in them. A certain appeal, too. He'd already agreed not to try to harm Thor (much), and now he'd agreed not to initiate any attacks on Midgard until after Jane gave birth. By attacks, surely it was understood that he would not engage in violence, that he would not do something that would require Thor to abandon his pregnant wife to swing his hammer around and stop what Loki started. An attack on SHIELD with information…that was another thing entirely. What would Thor have to do with that? Still, it wasn't Thor who'd entreated him to cease his activities, not ultimately – it was Jane. And she would probably be perturbed by him going after SHIELD in this other way as well. Even after the baby she could whine about nursing, or insufficient sleep, or a whining toddler, or an impressionable child…it conceivably could go on until the child turned twenty. By which point there would probably be another child or two. Loki rejected this entire line of thought. What she wanted had nothing to do with him. Thor might be Jane's whipping boy, but Loki was not.

That settled, Loki focused on the conversation around him again, in time for an argument about colors, for some strange reason.

"They're blue, I'm telling you."

"Did you not see that picture I posted? They're green."

"Who cares what color Loki's eyes are? Can we get back to the point?"

Loki wrinkled his brow. They're arguing about my eyes? What difference does it make? His eyes were basically blue, but depending on the light, or what he was wearing, they could appear different shades, including green. It hardly mattered, though, it wasn't like either was his true eye color.

"Speaking of pictures, look at these," Emily said, handing off her laptop. She'd stepped away for a moment after her phone dinged. "'Don't Believe The Lie' just sent them. To make up for missing the meeting, he said."

"Wow," Tanner said, followed by other exclamations and epithets as the laptop was passed around.

Loki couldn't hold back his grimace when it came to him. There were three photos, each from Paris, the last time he'd encountered the Avengers. Two photos showed him twirling Captain America's shield – it really was an obnoxious-looking thing – and the third was a blurry shot of him holding the same shield over his and Thor's heads when a wall he'd thrown Thor into started to collapse on him. As soon as he'd realized what he was doing, he'd shoved Thor away and thrown the shield hard at Hawkeye, who'd simply evaded it and tossed it back down to Captain America.

"'Don't Believe The Lie' says this confirms for him that Thor and Loki are really brothers."

"They weren't brothers in mythology, but that might not mean anything," Veronica said.

Or it might.

"If they're brothers and they're having some kind of détente, how come Loki didn't get to go to his own brother's wedding? Remember, I talked to the photographer. Loki wasn't there," Gina "Rainbow Sprite" said.

Of course I was there. I was invisible and entirely lacking an invitation, but I was there. Did the photographer tell you about the three glasses of champagne Thor managed to spill on himself? I was at the one on Asgard, too. Not so invisible anymore, not after Thor finally figured it out when he started inexplicably spilling mead on himself, too. They may not really be brothers, but there was still no one Loki took greater delight in tormenting.

"If you want to try to contact Loki again, I might know a safer way to do it," Tanner "Viking Vagrant" said.

"Yeah? Well, don't keep it to yourself, dude, spill," Garnet "Blindfolded Masses" said.

"I was doing some trolling online, and I came across this alternative physics group. Total nerds. I don't mean that as an insult. Anyway, on their board they were talking about rumors that Jane Foster would be a keynote speaker at a physics conference that's about a month from now at MIT. If she really does go, then one of us can go to the conference and get a note to her."

"That's a great find, Tanner, thanks. I'd be willing to give that a try. But I don't know if she ever even sees Loki. Even if he and Thor are brothers," Emily said.

"He wasn't at the wedding," Gina reminded them again.

Yes, I was!

"Well, she would probably tell Thor, and Thor would probably have some way to contact Loki…maybe," a blond named Rachel said.

"SHIELD provides security for Jane Foster on the rare occasions that she makes public appearances and Thor isn't there," Loki put in. "If you want to do this, whoever goes will probably have to pass a security check, and anyone who approaches her will have to know enough about physics to be able to participate without drawing attention. I happen to have a degree in physics, as some of you may recall, and I'd be happy to volunteer to attend the conference." And he would be happy indeed. It would give him an opportunity for some mischief, to toy with Jane, and he couldn't deny – to himself, at least – that he was curious to see what Jane looked like, as she began to plump out with Thor's child. She was so tiny he wouldn't be surprised if she wound up confined to bed soon. He would take a tongue-lashing – and quite possibly a pummeling – for it from Thor later, but that was all right, he was quite used to that.

"Martin, that would be awesome," Emily said, and Loki beamed at her. "Okay, all in favor of another attempt to reach out to Loki, raise your hand."

Loki grinned and raised his hand, along with all but two of the others in the room. It wasn't exactly what these people would have described as "democratic," for their membership was much larger than the people in this room, but far be it for Loki to point out the questionable legitimacy of the vote.

"The ayes have it. I'll work up a mock letter or something, and post it up for comment, and get to it to you in time for the conference, Martin. You should go ahead and register for it now before it gets booked."

Loki nodded, and felt a thrill of excitement race up his spine. This, oddly enough, could be the most interesting thing he'd done for some time now. A clandestine meeting, in disguise, with Jane, during which he would ask her some question about the Foster Theory and then ask her something along the lines of, "and by the way, how is my little niece or nephew doing?" He couldn't wait to see the expression on her face. He grimaced then. What if she went into some kind of panic, thinking he was there to harm her or her half-breed progeny? What if that in turn did harm her or the baby? That wouldn't do at all. Much as he enjoyed mocking her to Thor, she wasn't so bad, really. She'd stood up admirably to those Asgardians who'd seemed less than thrilled that of all the worthy Aesir women Thor could have brought home, he'd brought home some fragile little mortal instead. When Odin had shown up for the wedding and spoken to her with surface politeness and a tone that did not even attempt to hide his true feelings, she'd delivered him a five-minute lecture on how much she loved Thor, and respected him and his family and his realm and his traditions, and how Thor felt the same about her, and how she expected to be treated with no less respect by his family, regardless of what realm she came from and who her family was or wasn't.

And Odin had apologized.

Odin Borrson, All-Father, (former) king of Asgard and protector of the Nine Realms…had apologized. And treated her with the utmost respect afterward. It made him hate Jane in an altogether new way, but it made him admire her, too.

In any event, even at the peak of his rage – he had come to realize with some surprise, not so long ago, that it was in fact now past its peak – hurting innocent women and children, even Midgardian ones, had never been among his intentions…Jotun women and children though, he supposed, he still wouldn't lose much – any, really – sleep over. Certainly not if done from a distance. He still regretted his failure to completely destroy Jotunheim. He occasionally thought about how he might attempt it a second time…but even that was fading.

So, he thought, as the discussion continued around him, he would go see Jane at this conference next month, but instead of toying with her and trying to frighten her, he would reassure her that he meant no harm, that he simply wanted to see how she was doing and reiterate that he was abiding by his agreement with Thor and would continue to do so. Then he would have to work in something about what a hen-pecked weakling she'd turned her husband into; there had to be some fun in it for him, after all.

And then he would reveal himself to this group, somehow. He frowned. Who knew how long it would be before they gathered in person again? This was the first time in some seven months that they had done so.

"Martin? Are you comfortable with that?"

Loki's eyes jumped up to Emily's. Loki Lover's. He tried to recover what they'd been saying while he'd been lost in thought. Something about using his real name to register for the conference, and thus putting SHIELD on his tail if Jane reported his actions to them. Not exactly a problem, he thought. They can hunt down Martin Rendahl all they like.

"If you aren't, just say so. We'll figure out another way to get you in, or somebody else, without using real names."

"I'm perfectly comfortable with it," he said, and the group started talking about backup plans, since it was only a rumor in the first place that Jane would be at the physics conference.

He tried to pay more attention, but his thoughts remained deeply divided. He could reveal himself at some unknown point in the future, lying low and growing so bored that he tried out everything from surfing to bowling (though he would never, ever put his feet into shoes worn by 5,000 other people before him).

Or, he supposed, he could do it right now.

/

Not what you expected, I'm guessing? Hope you enjoyed it! One more little chapter to go.