Landing heavily on the packed snow and ice, Loki looked around. He'd been to Jotunheim before, and even to this particular place. He'd discovered that particular connection between worlds while still a Prince of Asgard. Well, he'd been here before he'd tried to destroy Jotunheim using the Bifrost. The terrain had been… significantly altered. Before, this had been a carefully sculpted ring, surrounded by uplifted ice crystals which had reflected blue light in a fashion that had been both impressive and somehow tranquil. Though he had said nothing at the time, he had been a little impressed that such bestial creatures had managed to create beauty from the barren wasteland of ice.

He hadn't known what to expect this time – perhaps even nothingness. Instead, the tumbled rock, snow, and ice had created a new, jagged landscape, barren, but with its own complex beauty. Loki shook his head to clear it for a second. Lingering here was not part of the plan. Making another complex gesture, he withdrew the Tesseract, and went in search of the staff. As he left, a boulder shifted, a shadow lengthened.


Tony ran through the lounge into the first bedroom door he'd opened, calling out, "JARVIS, initialize Mark VI, emergency procedure. Also, Avenger protocol, sub-program Cap." As the inventor entered, a portion of the wall slid back, revealing an Iron Man suiting mechanism. While he was quickly encased, a second panel had opened in the main room, revealing a copy of Captain America's shield. Steve grinned and grabbed it, before the panel closed again. The three Avengers moved together back into the workroom, in time to see the metal case completely vaporize, and at the same moment, a flash of green on the far side of the table alerted them to the sudden presence of Loki, obviously prepared for battle in full armor, with the Tesseract in his hands.

A moment later, the staff blazed brightly blue, sending strange shadows throughout the workroom, then disappeared, leaving the three Avengers and Loki stunned for a moment, simply looking at the empty surface of the lab table. The temporary truce of mutual astonishment didn't last long. Loki assumed a defensive stance, tucking away the Tesseract and coming out with another blue box.

Tony stepped forward. "I thought your brother had grounded you to the palace or something. And I don't see an army this time. Just checking, but…"

Loki sneered at the reference to Thor. "No, Mighty Thor just barely had the bravery to tell me that his father had sentenced me to an eternity of torture. Sadly for the family unity, I felt disinclined to submit tamely. If necessary, I have the ability to defend myself, mortals, but now I seek the staff that I may revenge myself upon the Chitauri. I do not suggest withholding it from me." The menace rolling off the Asgardian was palpable.


He hoped the Midgardians accepted his words as true. He did his best to project a glamour of strength and will that would convince them he was far too dangerous to cross. The truth, of course, was that between a month's starvation, and the free use of his own powers during the escape, he would be lucky to go another hour standing without collapse. But especially before these mortals, there could be no weakness. He knew they would happily return him to Thor's custody for return to Asgard and torment. Or, perhaps, although counting on this would be foolish, to their own SHIELD facility. While it would be preferable to Asgard, it would still require another escape, and the energy he had wasted on following the staff to Midgard, only to watch it disappear again, made him briefly want to kill everyone present in a fit of pique, then put his head down and cry. This reaction, though, was unworthy and only the result of starvation and a too-free expenditure of energy.

Whatever they had done to the staff to keep it from him, they would soon regret. To a certain extent, he could call on the energy of the Tesseract, though relying too much on that would be dangerous. He needed reserves of personal energy to control the raw elemental strength of such powers, or he risked being torn to shreds by uncontrolled interdimensional energies.


Bruce watched warily, his hands held at his sides by seeming force of will. This was not yet a battle situation, but could become so at any moment.

Steve Rogers looked over at Tony and quietly shook his head. Stepping forward, he held up his hands. "We don't have it. When it disappeared just as you appeared, I had certainly assumed you to have taken it. Certainly, last time you came, you were able to retrieve it fairly easily. Frankly, when it began glowing and nearly going off, I believed that you were probably on your way and we brought the staff here, which is unpopulated, in the hopes that we would be able to stop your plans before you made another mess on our planet."

Loki looked carefully into his face, searching for even the smallest hint of falsehood. "My plans, at present, involve Midgard only insofar as you had the staff. If it is not here, I will seek it where it lies, that I may be avenged upon those who took advantage of my position when I was betrayed." He glared at the Avengers, raising his hands to once again retrieve the Tesseract.

At this, Tony again made his presence known. "Wait a second, there, Houdini. Okay, yeah, you want the staff, but then what? I'm not really wanting to say 'Yeah, you go for it and get the staff and we'll wait here like nice little subjects while you do.' It seems to me, from our perspective, that we have a known war criminal here and should try to, I don't know, put you in something better than SHIELD had last time. I mean, I've got a whole missile base here – including a reinforced silo attached to this building. I bet we could come up with something. But what we shouldn't do is wait here while you get another weapon and another army."

"Wait." Everyone turned as Bruce spoke, his tone as usual soft, almost hesitant, but his face was intent, staring at Loki. It was surprising to hear him speak so softly, this man who could in an instant become so very different. "You don't look good. Last time, Fury said you arrived looking… feverish, but it's not even that. You look like…" The physicist shook his head with frustration, trying to express himself clearly. "When's the last time you ate something? I…" He smiled in his diffident way. "I know something about dealing with inner demons, and you don't want to try on an empty stomach. We have survival rations here. Why don't we call a truce? You can tell us what you mean about avenging yourself, and we'll feed you something." His eyes slid sideways on the comment to catch Steve's. The soldier nodded, and some of the tension left the two Avengers.

Loki looked wildly at both faces, eyes narrowed. "What trick is this? Do you seek to keep me for Asgard? I can use the Casket of Ancient Winters to defend myself. Or the Tesseract."

"No tricks. Just food, if you need a rest, what have you… and a chance to explain why you need to be avenged. Maybe this is a mistake. Maybe you're manipulating me somehow. Maybe you're not, but you'll still find a way to use it against us. I honestly don't know, but I don't like to bring the other guy into a situation if I don't have to. And you don't look good. Frankly, I've seen healthier faces on people who were dying. You look pale, tired, and even thinner than last time I saw you. I have no idea what happened in Asgard, and we have no way to hold you here if you want to leave. You showed us that last time you were here."

Steve took over. "Sir, we have neither the means nor the current authority to detain you, though it would take one call to get the latter. But, like Dr. Banner, I suspect that even were we to detain you, it wouldn't succeed without your cooperation. Your presence here proves that, I think. But I also think it would be a good idea for everyone to understand what is going on."

Eventually, Tony put up the faceplate on the Iron Man suit, relaxed from battle stance, and turned for the kitchen. "Let's go look, guys."


Fifteen minutes later, everyone had picked a bag with menu printed on the side, and meals were warming inside chemical sleeves. Bruce had grabbed a crate from the stack, and opened it to reveal a selection of heavily packaged meals. He rapidly selected his, gave advice on the flavors available, and then had shown the others how to activate the chemical tabs. "I had to eat a lot of these when I was working in the refugee camp. One of the big human rights campaigns sent us a few pallets. Made for a great break from the usual rice and dry milk rations. Save the nut raisin mix packets; they're good with the crackers – not as good as the old freeze-dried fruit bars, but nobody provides those anymore. If it's too much food, save the crackers and spread for later. They're meant for snacking. But the fruit drink mixes are really bad the first few times. Loki, you're getting oatmeal - don't eat too much. If you haven't eaten in a long time, eating too much could do damage."

As everyone began to eat, Steve smiled. "These have gotten better. At least it's not just hash or stew."

Loki, his helmet dismissed into ether, looked suspiciously at the beige mush in front of him, then reluctantly took a spoonful. It was true, he hadn't eaten in far too long, and the mere feel of food in his mouth was almost too much sensation. He savored each bite, though careful to keep the bag protected within the ring of an arm draped on the table, as he watched the three Avengers eat. He finished the oatmeal quickly, and began to take the packages of crackers the others had left in the middle of the table. Eventually, he got up and took another bag from the shelf, opening and eating the contents cold.

Bruce looked over with a concerned expression on his face. "I know you're hungry, but the amount you've eaten already would kill an ordinary human who hadn't had enough to eat for a long time. I don't want you to be hurt from the food."

Loki turned an edged grin, nearly feral, on the physicist. "It's unlikely I will be, mortal. Our digestive systems are unlike yours. Once, for a bet, I ate an entire banquet, including an ox." Grabbing another few bags, he returned to the table. "I used a great deal of energy escaping and travelling. It will be good for me to have energy again."

"So, about that vengeance thing…" Tony looked straight at Loki. "I thought we were the ants, you were the boot, the Chitauri were, what, the sole?"

Loki's expressive face turned cold. "You speak of what you do not understand, mortal. I suppose Thor has told you he is my brother?" The others nodded, cautious in the face of Loki's changing mood.

"When last I saw him before my most recent visit to Midgard, we were both hanging from the remains of a bridge. This was shortly after I had discovered the truth of my parentage. I fell into a wormhole and found a way to travel to the planet of the Chitauri. They found me and decided to use my… difficulties to control me, giving me the staff that has just gone missing. I have had time to realize the extent to which the staff was used to influence my behavior, just as you," here he looked directly at Bruce. "- were influenced briefly while aboard the ship where I made everyone's acquaintance. I am unwilling to allow such coercion to go unanswered." The green eyes flashed with a fierce determination, as Loki opened another bag and began to eat the contents.


Clint Barton swung down from the cockpit, grabbing the sheath as he went and shrugging into it. Reaching back up, he pulled the bow from the rack inside and snapped it into position as he activated the door closing mechanism. Fury had said the staff had been moved, and that, alone, would have had him tracking it. He still awoke with cold sweats, remembering the feel of another mind pressing on his own, the futile struggle to maintain his own identity in the face of the relentless coercion of Loki and the staff. He still comforted himself with the thought that it had been his arrow that had distracted the bastard so that his craft had crashed. It would have been even better to have actually managed to put the explosive arrow through an eye socket, but at least Loki had been taken to another planet, where they would be able to hold him secure.

When Fury had let him know that Tony had most likely taken the staff here, he'd gone cold. Had Loki somehow escaped? Clint could hardly believe even the arrogant engineer would somehow conceal something that important. Whatever was going on, Clint would do his best to stop it. Setting his jaw, he took off at a low run in the direction of the bunker listed for the property.


"So it was the Chitauri who wanted you to be king?" The skeptical look on Tony's face was echoed by the other Avengers present. Loki was working on yet another survival meal. The pile of wrappings beside him had grown, despite his crumpling everything and sticking it back into the original packaging. Tony thought he'd even seen him eating the chemical packets, though he couldn't be sure.

"The Chitauri were pawns." Loki waved dismissively, his long fingers elegantly flicking away any suggestion that the Chitauri were worthy of his time or attention. "There was another, more powerful. I believe it was he who controlled the staff, and he who will surely be seeking another to use it." Here he turned to Bruce. "There are two ways the staff may control someone. One is the obvious way, through the blade, but the other is more subtle and works with the angers and impulses of the wielder. Thus it was that you were influenced, and even I have felt that power. I do not choose to allow such manipulation to go unanswered."

"But why invade Earth?" Steve leaned forward, his shield now propped against his chair while his attention focused on the pale Asgardian.

"As Thor told you, Midgard has shown that it aspires to a higher form of war. There are those who will oblige such aspirations. The Chitauri learned of Midgard through seeking the Tesseract and it was that which drew them. You have it no longer." Again, an airy gesture dismissed the subject.


Using the override code given him just before landing by SHIELD, Clint let himself into the bunker in time to hear an all-too familiar voice. Edging silently across to the doorway into the kitchen, he drew an arrow and notched it. Peeking around the doorway, he saw Loki, seated at a table with the other Avengers. He was making a gesture with the long hands Clint still saw in nightmares. Somehow, despite the pile of food wrappings, the barren surroundings, Loki looked like a prince granting audience, lounging at his ease while dispensing favors.

A cold certainty gripped Clint's heart. Somehow, Loki had managed to enslave the others to his will, just as had happened to him the last time. He would not, could not allow that to happen. Ignoring the hard knot that formed in him, the cold fear collecting in his spine, he pivoted in a smooth motion through the doorway, keeping his arrow trained at every second on the monster who haunted his dreams.


Pure exhaustion: that could be his only excuse. While he had been free to sleep in captivity, the starvation had not only depleted his reserves, but had made sleep more fitful as well. The food, despite its low quality, had helped, but he was still far from strong. He had not seen any way the others could have alerted SHEILD, but here was an agent, nonetheless, who had managed to get so close. Escape was his only option. As Agent Barton began to pivot through the doorway, Loki stood, gesturing the Tesseract into his hands.

Steve noticed the movement and with the extraordinarily fast reflexes granted by the serum, flung out an arm to prevent whatever Loki was preparing to do. It took both of them by surprise when his arm contacted Loki's just as the Tesseract began to pull him back to Jotunheim, chosen because it was easy to envision and deserted, unlikely to contain more enemies.


"Oh, shit!" Tony stared at the space which had just contained Loki and the super soldier, both now gone in a burst of blue light. Only after a second did he realize that he'd just heard someone else saying the same from the doorway. He looked up into the cold blue eyes of the marksman and asked, "Is there any reason at all why I lock my doors when SHEILD can just waltz in any time they choose?"

Clint stared at Tony, looking into his eyes in the hopes of seeing how deep the influence went. He had no idea how he would manage to create a deep enough concussion through the Iron Man armor, were Tony deep under Loki's control. He turned the unspent arrow to the open faceplate of the suit, keeping a further eye on Dr. Banner as he edged into the room. "Where has he gone? Or didn't you need to know, either?"

"What? I have no idea where he's gone or what that bastard will do with Steve, now that he's got him! We had a truce, sort of, where Loki was eating a week's worth of survival rations in return for telling us mostly that he was pissed at the Chitauri, and maybe there was somebody else involved in the invasion. Only we never got to that part, because somebody broke into my place and made him take a hostage." He glared significantly at Hawkeye, then turned and faced Bruce. "You were right, though. After that little show, even I can't imagine that the reinforced silo would have done jack to hold him."

Clint lowered his weapon. Neither Avenger seemed to be under Loki's influence, though he would watch, just to be certain. His own time in thrall had taught him exactly how sneaky and manipulative the demigod could be. "Okay, so Fury sent me to find out what you were doing in the middle of nowhere. He thought it probably had something to do with the staff, since his best guess was that you had it, then suddenly you grab Cap and fly out here."

"I don't know if you've had lunch. Help yourself to a pouch. Loki didn't quite finish the case, and we've got more cases, although I really hate this stuff. JARVIS, arrange for some dinner tonight – have whoever's got the helicraft bring some take-out. And write a memo to me that I want to figure out something else to stock this place with."

Tony sighed. "We were trying to prevent another mess from happening in Manhattan. Bruce found an energy signature similar to the one before the Tesseract went critical and the two of us decided it was time to book, just in case we had another meltdown scenario. We wanted to be able to contain the mess as best we could and grabbed the Avengers who were still in the Big Apple to be the first line of defense. I admit I wasn't overly eager to involve Fury if I could avoid it. And Thor's probably still cleaning up whatever mess Loki made there when he escaped."

Clint glanced at the meal pouches left, grabbed the pot roast, and began to activate the chemical sleeve as they settled in to discuss possible scenarios.


Steve felt the tingling energy from the moment the edge of his hand made contact with Loki's armor. A moment of dizzying disorientation as the breath was knocked from his body, and then… even as he tried to draw a breath to replace what was gone, he choked, finding no breathable air. Loki grabbed him, and again, he felt the tingling electricity from the demigod's hands, seeming to flow into his shoulders, through his body, and he began to breathe again, noticing as he did so that the atmosphere had gone from bone-chillingly frozen to a more moderate temperature. Loki himself, however, looked on the razor's edge of collapse, and whatever else had just happened, Steve knew that somehow Loki had saved his life. He grabbed hold of the swaying shoulders in a fireman's hold, noticing as he did that his hands and arms were blue – not the solid blue of his uniform, but a crystalline, cold blue, the same blue that was beginning to infuse Loki's features, revealing whorls and patterns of deeper blue covering his skin.

Looking around the desolate landscape, the soldier noted where two leaning slabs of ice formed a sort of rough cave. Half assisting, half carrying Loki, he headed for the shelter, wondering briefly where they could find food in this wilderness, even as the cold did not seem to be affecting them as badly as it should. In some ways, that fact alone was worrying, as perhaps this was some mental effect of extreme hypothermia. In addition, his body felt unfamiliar, stiffer than usual, with a strange feeling of dislocation, similar to when he'd tried to adjust to his new body after the serum.

As they collapsed together inside the cave, Steve looked down at the trembling creature beside him. "I thought you were going to strike someone down, so I moved to stop you. What happened?"

Loki's face was somewhere between a snarl and a bark of cruel laughter, strange red eyes boring into the captain's face. "I sought to escape, but your arm's contact with me dragged you along for the ride. Fortunately for you, despite also transporting you, when I arrived, I still had enough energy to transform you, at least temporarily, to Jotun. Your pathetic mortal body craved a familiar atmosphere and temperature. A Jotun body, no matter how debased it is, is at least able to survive."

"Thank you. But…" The soldier blinked for a second. "You've tried to kill me before this. Why did you spend your energy to preserve me, rather than let me freeze or choke to death?"

"Debased I may be. Jotun, monster even, I may be. But I pay my debts and you saved mine by agreeing to the truce on Midgard. If I had not eaten then, I would have risked my life in attempting to use the Tesseract again. The fact that I am so weak now is proof of that." At that, he gave a bitter laugh as his head sagged back again and he closed his eyes. Steve Rogers looked out on the harsh landscape and resigned himself to being on watch until the demigod awoke.