A/N: Thank you to those who have reviewed so far. It helps keep me going, knowing that people are interested in where the story is headed.

As always, italics indicate nonverbal speech.


Chapter 2

When Loki and Erik went up onto Stark Tower to set up the portal device, Jane went too. With Loki standing there, she could do nothing to prevent the proper setup. Instead, she made some programming modifications while trying to subtly deflect Loki's attention from her.

Loki went inside, leaving them to finish up. Jane watched Iron Man land below and go inside. A sharp gasp escaped her when she saw Tony thrown out the window a few minutes later, but she couldn't let it distract her. She hoped he would be alright.

A moment later a soft moan echoed in her mind; a beam of energy leapt upwards from the Tesseract and a tear opened up in the sky. Through it she saw strange stars, space unknown on Earth. And then a horde of monsters began to spill through and Jane knew she was out of time.

Help me! she thought frantically at the Tesseract. Her fingers flew over the device, inputting parameters that she would never have known but for the Tesseract's help at a speed she shouldn't have been capable of. Faster.

As she worked, Jane made note of more voices in the back of her mind. Loki and Thor. Fighting. Part of her heard Thor plead with Loki to stop this, and Loki's answer that it was too late. For a moment, she felt whatever held onto his mind slip its hold and Loki's expression was almost regretful. Then whatever it was tightened its grip on him.

But she had to focus. She had to find a way to make it all stop.

And when she finished, the beam pulsed.

The tear in the sky clouded over before showing a different area of space. Unoccupied space; not a single Chitauri in sight. The beam continued to hold the portal open; she couldn't stop that. But no longer were there enemies pouring through.

Jane could only hope it would be enough.

CRASH!

Jane tore her eyes away from the sky when a horrendous noise shattered the din of fighting below. A monstrous leviathan crashed into a building, its power source apparently cut off when the portal changed. She could still hear screams and the sounds of distant gunshots far below. But the whining sounds in the air lessened until they were lost in the wind, with no more reinforcements coming through.

With a flash of light, Loki appeared on the roof beside her and Erik. "What have you done?" he hissed menacingly. His eyes were fierce and glinting palely blue and he swung his staff around to point at them with obvious threat. Erik moved to stand in front of Jane protectively, habit kicking in before the controlling impulse in his mind could override it. Loki looked at Erik sharply for a moment before knocking him aside. Erik crashed into a boxy shape on the roof and lay still at its base.

"Erik!" Jane cried out, worried for her friend. But with Loki in the way, she could not go to him. Instead she backed away from Loki's menacing figure as the Asgardian's eyes fixed on her intently.

"Do you have any idea what you have ruined?" Loki inquired smoothly, a hidden threat in every word. He paced slowly closer to Jane as she backed away. Her mind raced as she sought a way out of danger. She wasn't expecting Thor to just drop out of the air between them.

"It's over, Loki," Thor rumbled in his deep voice. "Your army is slain. It is time to end this, Brother."

"Time to end?" Loki hissed, his expression twisted with anger and hate. "Oh, no. My time has not yet come."

Jane stepped up to stand just behind Thor's back, Loki cut off from her sight. "Thor," she murmured, hopefully quiet enough for only him to hear. "His mind is being controlled. Look at his eyes."

Startled, Thor did as instructed and was startled to find them blue rather than the expected green. "How can we..? Are you not…?" he began to ask, but he stopped when he felt her shake her head.

"I might be able to try to help him, but I need to get close to him," she said, not really answering the questions he started to ask.

Thor nodded acceptance and took a step closer to Loki. "What is left, Brother? I do not want to hurt you." Thor adjusted his grip on Mjolnir, tensed for a fight but torn. He shifted slowly towards Loki and felt Jane moving with him, keeping behind him as much as possible.

"What mockery is this?" Loki asked venomously.

"No mockery," Thor replied. "You are not yourself, Loki."

"Am I not? Perhaps I am more myself now than you have ever known," Loki spat back. "For once, I am not in your shadow. For once, I am the powerful one. And as always, you cannot stand that anyone else have a moment in the sun!" Loki's eyes showed ageless pain and for a moment the blue receded into green.

Now! the Tesseract's voice urged Jane on, and Jane reacted by flinging herself both mentally and physically at Loki. She lost track of her body as she threw her power at the magic controls within him at the moment they lost their grip. The Tesseract fed her the energy she needed as she struggled with the task of freeing Loki's mind.

Slowly, a little at a time, Jane broke the strands of control. As she broke more and more of them, she began to feel Loki's presence there with her. At first he fought her as well but she reached out to show him her intent and he joined with her instead. Together they cleared the rest of the controlling influence away.

Jane snapped back to her individual awareness abruptly. A wave of exhaustion hit her as she opened her eyes and looked around. The sun was setting and she realized hours must have passed. Loki lay on the roof, and she sat next to him with the fingers of one hand lightly resting on his temple. Thor stood between them and the rest of the Avengers, obviously preventing them from interrupting.

Black Widow held the staff Loki had once wielded, and Jane noticed that the glow had left the stone. The Tesseract sat silent, and the portal overhead was gone. How..? Jane asked her silently.

Erik built a failsafe; the staff was used to close the Portal, she responded. Jane smiled.

"Jane!" Thor called as soon as he noticed her eyes open. "You are well? And Loki?"

"Loki," the God of Mischief opened his eyes slowly as he replied for himself, "is fine. Battered but intact." Jane scooted back from him as Loki pushed himself to a seated position. Their eyes met for a moment and recognition flared between them before Jane dropped her eyes.

"Loki!" Thor dropped down at Loki's side in Jane's vacated spot. His hand dropped heavily on to Loki's shoulder and the smaller man flinched just slightly. But he lifted his chin proudly and green eyes met blue. "You are yourself again!" Thor beamed. "I am glad to see it, Brother."

Loki seemed startled but his mouth quirked in a small smile. Jane noticed that it lacked the malicious edge that all of Loki's smiles had held previously. She thought she might like to get to know this Loki a little better and then realized that she wasn't sure she needed to. She noticed all kinds of little things about him; the way his eyes darkened when he looked around and saw the Avengers watching, how his fingers twitched as if he were restraining the impulse to reach out for something... or possibly someone, the way he drew himself inward as if waiting for a pronouncement of doom to fall on his shoulders. Small reactions that she didn't think even Thor noticed.

Jane realized that, aside from Erik whom she had known all her life, she probably knew Loki better than anyone there. Better than she knew Thor. And all of a sudden she felt guilty. She knew how much Loki valued his privacy, and in her attempt to help him she had unknowingly invaded his privacy more than anyone else possibly could have.

"Are you alright, miss?" a soft voice broke into Jane's thoughts. She looked up to see Captain America crouched down beside her, a look of concern in his eyes.

"I'm okay," she answered. "Just tired and a little overwhelmed."

"I can imagine," he replied, his eyes clearing when she responded. "Would you like some help inside? I'm Steve Rogers."

Jane glanced at Thor and Loki and nodded when they seemed preoccupied by the other Avengers beginning to close in on them. "That would be good. Think we can convince them," she tilted her head to indicate the others, "to move the party inside? It's not Loki's fault, but I suppose they don't know that."

She let Steve help her to her feet and she swayed slightly before catching her balance. She felt light-headed and a little unstable, but she clamped down on the feeling. She wasn't going to be shuffled aside this time. Not when she held too many pieces of the puzzle.


TBC...