"You're sure this illusion will hold?" Loki said skeptically.

"I have done this before you know," Alex said irritably, although the effort of disguising himself and Loki as generic New Yorkers had seemed to exhaust him a bit. From their meeting place in a secluded alleyway behind a coffee shop, Alex glanced around the corner at the entrance to Stark Tower.

Loki was not reassured, "I'd feel better if Puck cast the spell."

"Oh, have a little faith in the boy," Puck chuckled from his seat atop a giant dumpster, "True, living transformations are not his specialty..."

Loki glared at Puck as if to tell him that he was not helping the situation.

"Oh, relax, Loki!" Puck exclaimed, jumping down from his seat to land next to them, "You two look perfect. Everything will work out just fine."

Puck turned dramatically towards Alex, "Now, Alex, behave. Remember that he can snap you like a twig, so don't give him a reason to."

Alex grumbled something vaguely affirmative.

Puck turned to Loki, "Now, Loki, behave. Remember that the deal is off if you kill the kid."

Loki nodded grimly. Puck had apparently been reading his mind.

Puck clapped happily, "Well, I'm off to take care of the cameras. I'll make sure to cover you wherever you go in the building. Good luck!" And with that Puck disappeared.

Alex and Loki looked at each other in silence for a moment. When it became apparent that neither had anything to say to the other, Alex sighed and motioned for Loki to follow him, turning the corner towards Stark Tower.

They made their way through security and headed upstairs to the gallery where the artifact would be on display. Luckily, there were very few visitors in this section of the building during the middle of the day, and the gallery itself seemed to be completely devoid of people. Loki was happy for the lack of prying eyes, but his heart sank as they approached the artifact's display case, only to find that it was empty.

"It should be here," Alex said quietly.

Loki could have screamed, but instead hissed in a whisper, "You didn't even check to make sure it would be here!"

"They must have moved it really recently," Alex said, leaning in to examine the display case.

Loki turned away, exasperated, then froze in his tracks as he caught an unexpected sight out of the corner of his eye. He could have sworn he saw a familiar man in a horned helmet and full Asgardian dress walk by the doorway of the next room of the gallery. Confused, he tapped on Alex's shoulder, unable to draw his eyes away from the now empty doorway.

Alex looked up at him, "What?"

"I think... I just saw myself in the room over there," Loki said carefully.

"Really?"

"Yes, I was wearing my Asgardian armor... I even had my helmet..."

He expected Alex to tell him he was crazy, but was surprised when Alex said, "Oh, good. Let's follow him."

Reluctantly, Loki followed Alex into the next room, only to find it empty except for a very obvious piece of red paper lying on the floor. Alex picked up the note and read it to himself:

40.758752, -73.978712
Loading Dock. 10:30am. Hurry.

Loki glanced at Alex questioningly, "What does it mean?"

Alex was thoughtful for a moment, then whispered, "GPS coordinates. That must be where it is."

"GPS what?" Loki hissed, "What is going on? Did Puck leave this?"

"No, I did," Alex said quickly, ignoring Loki's increasingly puzzled expression, "What time is it?" He took out his phone, "Shit. We've got ten minutes. Follow me."

Loki wanted to argue, but Alex was already headed out of the gallery, typing madly on his phone. Loki followed swiftly as Alex made his way to the nearest elevator. "We'll probably need a change of clothes," Alex mumbled as the elevator doors closed.

"Are you going to explain anytime soon?" Loki said, frustration evident in his voice.

"Shut up and let me concentrate," Alex said as he closed his eyes.

Loki sighed and hoped for the best as Alex reworked his spell so that they were now disguised as security guards instead of tourists.

Alex looked at his phone again to check their location as the elevator doors opened, "We're not too far away. Come on."

Loki was now discreetly checking every few seconds to make sure the disguise was still in place. He followed Alex cautiously, eyes darting back and forth scanning the hallways, dearly hoping that they wouldn't run into anyone who might cause trouble.

His hopes were dashed as they came across a large group of security guards. Alex and Loki made their way nonchalantly through them, but Loki grimaced at seeing more in the distance.

A man who looked like a supervisor caught sight of Alex and Loki and approached them, frowning. "What's the deal, guys? You need ground level security clearance to be down here."

Loki glanced at the I.D. tags that they were wearing and realized with displeasure that they were a different color from the other guards around them. Alex must have copied the guards he had seen near the gallery upstairs. Alex seemed to have realized his mistake too, because he tensed up, his mind apparently racing in search of some explanation.

The man was about to say something else when a loud explosion suddenly rocked the building. The echoing boom sounded in the distance behind them. Putting a hand to his earpiece, the man was suddenly shouting, "All units! Code 418 in Warehouse 3! Come on!" He motioned for the surrounding guards to follow him and ran off towards the blast.

Alex and Loki exchanged questioning glances as they pressed themselves against the wall to avoid the waves of guards now exiting the area, all heading in the direction of the explosion.

"If I remember correctly," Loki leaned in and whispered to Alex in the midst of the uproar, "That's the code for a Hulk attack... I didn't know Dr. Banner was in New York..."

Alex's brow furrowed, "Anyhow, let's take advantage of it while we can." He motioned for Loki to follow him.

Soon, the halls were completely deserted, and Loki breathed a sigh of relief as they finally approached the doors marked "Loading Dock."

As they cautiously made their way into the large garage-like storage area, Alex noticed a piece of red construction paper on a table and quickly grabbed it, folding it in half and storing it his jacket. Then he began instinctively walking towards the one delivery truck in the room which stood poised at the open garage door when he was startled by the truck's revving engine.

Loki watched as Alex automatically rushed forward, grabbing hold of one of the large handles on the back of the truck as it began to move away from the dock and frantically motioning for Loki to follow. Loki didn't have time to think as he bolted forward, jumping onto the back of the truck as it sped away from the building.

Loki scowled at Alex, "Please tell me there's a very good reason we're hanging on to the back of a moving truck."

Alex didn't respond. He was already mumbling a spell under his breath. The door to the back of the truck sprung open and they jumped inside.

Alex was suddenly grinning madly, clearly having the time of his life, "I knew this would be fun."

Loki's patience was wearing thin. He gave Alex a death glare, his voice icy and low, "You better have a good way to get us out of this, because if I get caught, I'm going to-"

"Hey, chill out," Alex laughed as he looked around at the boxes stacked in the back of the truck, "Our way out is right-" his eyes fell on a folded piece of red paper on one of the boxes, "Here." Walking over, he picked up the note and read it to himself. A smile flashed across his face, then he pocketed the note and stepped aside. "Would you like to do the honors?" he asked, motioning to the box the note had been sitting on.

Loki frowned. He most certainly would not like to do the honors, but he couldn't think of any reason to refuse. He quickly opened the box, removed the packing material, and looked inside. There was a small shield-shaped object that was about the size of Loki's hand. It had the design of a golden bird silhouetted against a background of blue inlay. Loki carefully removed it from the box, "What is it?"

"May I?" Alex asked with an outstretched hand.

Loki was keenly aware of Alex's sudden politeness. It made him wary. "Tell me what it is first."

Alex looked slightly annoyed, "It's called the Phoenix Gate."

"What does it do?"

"What do you care?" Alex snarled, his temper quickly flaring, "You won't be able to use it anyhow. Now, give it to me like we agreed."

Anger flashed across Loki's face. His body tensed, moving forward slightly, ready to strike. He had half a mind to simply pick up the boy and throw him out of the truck.

The threatening movement sobered Alex quickly, and he jolted backward, putting his arms out in a defensive attempt to calm Loki. Apparently Loki's attack in the apartment was still fresh in his mind. Alex gulped and forced himself to take a deep breath, "Look, I promise everything will be explained soon. For now, please give me the Gate and we can get out of here."

At least the boy can learn, Loki thought, internally amused by the boy's reaction. Calming somewhat, he slowly handed Alex the artifact.

Alex breathed a sigh of relief as he accepted the Phoenix Gate. "So, we're almost done, but we have to help ourselves out first. I think I know what we have to do."

"Enlighten me," Loki said, his voice still filled to the brim with annoyance.

Alex held out the Phoenix Gate, unable to keep a smile off his face as he said the incantation, "Deslagrate muri tempi et intervalia!"


A flaming ball of energy erupted and surrounded Alex and Loki, sucking them into a vortex and spitting them out in the darkened corner of a room. As Loki regained his barrings, he saw that they were back in the adjoining room of the art gallery, the room where they had found the first note. He instinctively looked down at his body, sighing with relief to see that the spell Alex had used to disguise them was still in place.

Alex grabbed Loki's arm and whispered urgently, "Here's the deal. We've gone back in time and we have to help ourselves get to the Phoenix Gate. So, first of all, that means we leave a note for ourselves with the location of the loading dock and you need to walk in front of the door to get your attention."

Loki rolled his eyes. Why did it have to be time travel?

Alex took out the blank sheet of red paper he'd picked up at the loading dock and was now scribbling a duplicate of the note they had received before. He rushed over and placed it where they had found it on the floor. Returning to Loki, he shut his eyes and began mumbling under his breath.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Loki exclaimed, looking down and seeing his disguise melting into his familiar Asgardian clothing.

"You saw yourself walk by the doorway," Alex explained, "So, you have to look like yourself."

Loki's hand went up to his head and felt the horned helmet he was wearing. "Oh, no," he hissed, "I'm not wearing this here!"

"You have to," Alex insisted, "That's what got your attention, remember?"

Loki sighed in exasperation, almost embarrassed by the whole thing.

"Don't worry," Alex continued, "Puck's taking care of the security cameras. No one will know you're here. Now, go over there and get ready to walk by the door," Alex said.

As Loki walked to the other side of the doorway, he suddenly realized that he had no shoes on. He turned towards Alex again. "Seriously?" he hissed, motioning towards his bare feet.

Alex shushed him vigorously.

Loki rolled his eyes dramatically just as two people could be heard entering the adjoining room. There was some whispered conversation, then Loki heard Alex's voice from the other room say something about the Phoenix Gate having been moved. That was his cue, if he remembered correctly.

He walked swiftly by the open doorway, catching a glimpse of two generic tourists, the disguises they had used earlier, in the other room. Joining Alex on the other side, he watched as Alex quickly took out the Phoenix Gate and whispered the incantation again.


The flaming vortex released them in the shadowy confines of a warehouse, surrounded by towering walls of boxes, cases, and canisters.

"Okay, I think you'll like what comes next," Alex said with a knowing smile.

Loki looked doubtful.

"Here's the part where you get to be the Hulk."

"What?"

"We were able to get into the loading dock because the guards there were distracted by the Hulk... but the Hulk was you," Alex held up the note he had found in the truck, "See."

Loki silently read the note: Let out your inner monster.

"Not the most elegant plan, I'll admit," Alex said, seeing Loki's scowl.

"That's an understatement," Loki scoffed, "You don't know what you're asking of me. If I get caught-"

"I won't let that happen."

"Forgive me if I don't have complete confidence in your abilities," Loki sneered.

"Look," Alex said, a note of seriousness in his voice that Loki hadn't heard before, "If you get caught, I get caught. And believe me, the last thing I want is for my dad to find out about this. I have way too much riding on it. There's no way in hell I'm going to fail now."

Loki was struck by the boy's earnestness. Somehow, he had assumed that this venture was some thinly veiled rivalry between two giant corporations, or at best, the fleeting whim of some young thrill-seeker. But hearing how invested Alex was personally, he had to revise his assessment.

"You have to trust me," Alex insisted, "I'll back you up."

Loki held Alex's gaze for a long moment. When Alex didn't avoid it, this seemed to satisfy Loki.

"Besides," Alex continued, "I thought you'd jump at the chance to give Stark a little grief. He's the one who made those bracelets, you know."

Loki did know. Stark had had the nerve to boast about that fact as Loki was being fitted with the damn things.

"Okay," Loki agreed, "but remember that I'm not indestructible."

Alex nodded, "The moment they pull out the big guns, we're out of here."

Loki sighed in resignation, "Let's get this over with."

Alex rubbed his palms together enthusiastically and began to mumble a spell under his breath. Loki's form expanded until he embodied the huge muscular mass that was the Hulk. He looked down at himself for a moment, assessing the authenticity of the transformation, then bent over to within inches of Alex's face and unleashed a monstrous roar. Alex stumbled backwards in fright, and Loki relished the look of sheer terror on the boy's face. "The voice sounds about right," Loki muttered, smirking rather awkwardly through the Hulk's face before turning to move further into the room.

Alex clenched his fists and muttered "Jerk" under his breath before looking around for a good vantage point to keep an eye on Loki, yet be somewhat out of the way. He settled on a stack of metal cases with a clear line of sight to most corners of the room and then began casting as many defensive spells as he could on Loki.

Meanwhile, Loki was quick to find some canisters that looked volatile enough to cause an explosion and was not disappointed when he tossed them across the room and was rewarded with a deafening blast that nearly knocked him to the floor. As the first wave of guards filed into the warehouse, their bullets seemed to be deflected more easily than usual away from him. Alex must have given him some extra protection in the form of a shielding spell. He was soon glad for it as he smashed his way through the guards, feeling himself more and more out-numbered.

Let out your inner monster, Loki repeated in his head. It was easy enough for him to do. He had centuries of repressed rage to let out. Not to mention his frustration regarding his current parole and the man who stole his magic from him, Tony Stark.

A strong blast to his back forced him to stumble, and he turned around to see Iron Man hovering among the guards behind him. Speak of the devil, Loki thought, frowning.

"Now, that I have your attention," Stark said to himself before addressing the Hulk, "Bruce! Dr. Banner! You need to chill out now!"

Loki simply roared and lunged at Stark, but Stark managed to hover just out of his reach.

"Jarvis," Stark instructed as he evaded Loki, "Send out an order to evacuate the building. And get Thor over here ASAP. I'll try to keep the Hulk contained."

Loki grimaced. Although he would have loved to whack Tony Stark around a bit, he could tell that his shielding spell had been significantly weakened, and he did have to admit that the metal-suited man qualified as a "big gun." Besides, he certainly didn't want to be caught here when Thor arrived. Loki may be able to fool Stark into thinking he was fighting the Hulk, but Thor would be another matter entirely.

Turning away from Stark and dodging defensively, Loki quickly scanned the room for Alex and found him, still disguised as a security guard, being pushed back by a line of armored guards attempting to secure the exit behind them. Loki was about to make a move towards Alex when a heavy blow hit him from the side and forced him to tumble into a pile of crates that shattered under his weight. He turned to find himself face-to-face with Iron Man again.

"You're fighting me now, pal," Stark said, raising his hand for another strike, "Leave the others out of it."

Does he ever shut up? Loki thought, gritting his teeth. He crouched and grabbed Iron Man's leg, swinging him into a nearby tower of metal canisters and narrowly missing the energy blast aimed at his head. In no time, Iron Man was back on his feet, and Loki had no choice but to grapple with him to keep him from using his gloves.

"Bruce!" Stark shouted again, straining to escape Loki's hold, "This is really unnecessary!"

Loki tried his best to turn curses into growls of anger as he clumsily struggled with Iron Man. The Hulk's massive body made it impossible to fight as he normally would, and he felt distinctly vulnerable without his own magic. In mounting frustration, he failed to keep a hold of the metal suit and allowed Stark to free his arm long enough to hit Loki square in the face with a blast from his glove. Loki's vision swam in and out of focus as he tried to recover from the hit.

"I'm really sorry about this, buddy, but you're leaving me no choice here," Stark said as he armed a set of small rockets and fired them straight at Loki's stomach. Loki and Stark were thrown apart by the blast, Loki crashing into a stack of metal cases. Badly burnt from the blast, Loki sluggishly struggled to get back on his feet as Iron Man rushed back into striking distance, raising his arm for another volley of rockets.

Alex shielded his eyes as a wave of heat from the second strike blasted against his face. He grimaced as Loki was thrown back into the scattered metal cases. Loki was clearly still disoriented and starting to lose consciousness, throwing punches in a vain attempt to hit Iron Man, who stood just out of reach with his hand raised preparing for yet another strike. Alex saw the tell-tale signs of the transformation spell he had placed on Loki beginning to falter and started to panic. Another hit might undo it completely.

"Damn it!" Alex shouted, reaching out towards Loki.

The loud clatter of a million tiny shards of metal resounded throughout the room. Before Iron Man could deliver another blow, his suit fell to pieces around him in a shining cascade of crimson and gold, as if every fastener and bolt in the suit had suddenly disappeared. Alex had done it without thinking and cursed himself when he realized what he'd done.

The room went silent as Tony Stark stood dumbfounded, looking utterly weak and defenseless in his T-shirt and jeans amidst the remnants of his Iron Man suit, his arm still lifted and pointing at the fallen body of the Hulk. Taking advantage of the fact that the room was frozen in shock, Alex quickly wove an invisibility spell for himself and made his way up to Loki who was now drifting out of consciousness. Alex took out the Phoenix Gate and whispered the incantation as quietly as he could. Through the veil of flames, he could make out Tony and the surrounding guards falling to the ground asleep and Iron Man's suit reassembling itself around Tony's sleeping body.