Chapter 3

Loki blinked sleepily, but then his eyes widened in shock, when he realized, that five unfamiliar faces were watching him. He shot up into a sitting position and stared back at them like a deer in headlights. "Who are you," he demanded shakily.

Pepper held up her hands in a calming gesture. "It's okay Loki, we don't mean to harm you. My name is Pepper, I'm your friend, okay?"

Loki did not look convinced. "Where am I?"

"You're in New York," she said. "It's a big city on earth- I mean Midgard," she added, when she saw Loki's confused expression.

"Midgard?!" He looked bewildered. "Why did you bring me to Midgard?"

"We didn't bring you to Midgard," Pepper explained. "You-"

"I don't believe you", Loki snapped. "Bring me back! I am the son of Odin Allfather and if you don't give me back, my father will come and crush all of Midgard," he asserted with all the courage a six-year-old could muster.

"Please Loki, listen-" Pepper tried to calm the upset boy, but Loki wouldn't let her finish. "I want to go back home," he said, his words now more a pleading than a threat. "I want back home to my mother and father and Thor."

"But I am here Loki. I am here. I am Thor." The thunder god had not spoken and watched Loki with worry, but now he looked the little boy in deep in the eye.

Loki eyed him warily. "You are not Thor," he said. "You're old."

"But Loki I-" Thor stepped a little closer and held out a hand to touch his shoulder, but Loki crawled away from him as far as he could and pressed his back against the backrest of the couch. "Don't touch me!"

Thor yanked his hand back as if he had burned it and his face contorted, as if in pain. "I think it's best if you all go now," Pepper said. "I'll take care of him."

So they left. Thor followed them reluctantly.


"He doesn't seem to remember anything," Steve said, when they sat in the kitchen.

"It could be an act," Natasha replied.

Steve shook his head. "No, I don't think so. I didn't seem like one to me."

Tony sighed. "To me neither, but he's the trickster god. It wouldn't surprise me if it was. What do you think Thor? Thor?"

The thunder god didn't say a word. He sat there, with a dark, sullen face and stared vacantly at the opposite wall. "I don't know," he finally said.

"So, do we tell Fury that he's here?" Natasha asked with a hint of irritation in her voice.

Tony raised an eyebrow. "Fury and kids? Naw, I don't think so."

Natasha sighed. "You know all this could cost me my job?"

Suddenly the door opened and Pepper came in. "How is our trickster god," Tony asked.

Pepper sighed. "He won't say anything anymore. Not much anyway. I've made a bed for him, but he's refusing to leave the couch."

"And now?"

Pepper shrugged. "I think we'll have to wait until he falls asleep."


It was well past midnight, when they all went to bed. Loki still sat on the couch, in the dark, clasping his blanket and staring out of the window façade of the Stark Tower, onto the Skyline of New York.

"Loki," Pepper said, to not startle him. He didn't react. She walked to him and crouched down before him. "Don't you want to go to bed? You look tired."

Loki did not move. His gaze remained fixed forward, as if he tried to stare right through her. "We do not mean you harm you know?"

No reaction. Pepper sighed. "Tell you what, I'll sit here with you, until you're tired and then I'll bring you to bed, okay?"

Loki did not reply, so she sat down, a little away from him, to not upset him and waited. From time to time Pepper glanced at him from the corner of her eye and she could see how his lids got heavier and heavier, but he never said a word.

At three in the morning he had finally given in to sleep. He had sunken to the left side of the couch and breathed evenly and when Pepper looked into his face his lids were closed. He did not wake, when she lifted him from the sofa and carried him upstairs to the room she had prepared for him. She put him into bed and pulled the thick feather-bed over him. In his sleep he mumbled something she could not understand.

She left the room and closed the door quietly behind her. "Jarvis, if Loki wakes up, he is free to walk in the house, except for Tony's workshop and my office, but most importantly; don't let him go outside. Is that understood?"

"Yes Miss Potts," Jarvis replied from somewhere above her.

"Good." Now she could finally go to bed.


Pepper woke early the next morning. She had never been a long sleeper and all the excitement yesterday had not helped her sleep either. So she got up and went to the kitchen to make some coffee.

As she had expected, she was the first one up. She enjoyed having the first few moments of the day for herself, before Tony got up and bent her ear and since he had joined the Avengers and the others were around on regular basis, it hadn't been exactly quieter in the house.

Pepper sat down with her cup of coffee and skimmed the paper. Not long after her Steve came down. "Morning," he said and sat down on the chair opposite to her.

"A cup of tea," she asked.

He nodded. "That'd be nice."

Pepper stood up and put on some water. "Can I," he asked, pointing at the paper. She nodded. "I've just finished."

Pepper liked Steve. He usually got up not long after her. He was pleasant company in the morning. He usually drank a cup of tea or coffee, read the paper in silence and left her to her thoughts.

"How's Loki," Steve asked.

Pepper shrugged. "I don't know really. It took me until three to get him into bed and he still won't talk to me."

"It must all be very unsettling for him."

She nodded. "I've told Jarvis not to let him out of the house. That's what we need now; a kid-Loki running around in New York."

"Right."

"How is Thor," Pepper asked. "He seemed pretty upset yesterday."

Steve sighed. "To be honest, I think he's taking all this almost as bad as Loki."


Thor stared up to the white ceiling of his room. He had spent all night tossing and turning in his bed, while his thoughts had somersaulted in his head. They still did.

The last few hours didn't feel real to him. It was, as if it all had only been a dream, as if they had passed him by and he had only watched them happen. But it was not a dream. It had happened and in one of the rooms in this house his brother, his somehow de-aged brother, was slumbering peacefully- or so he hoped, not remembering all the terrible things he had done. Also Loki didn't seem to remember him (or at least not his current self) and it had pained Thor than he had expected. It meant that Loki had forgotten most of the things they had been through together, that they didn't even share the same memories anymore and it had shattered a part in him.

But a question, which kept nagging in the back of his mind, was; was it only a trick? Was it one of Loki's plays, to fool them out and set him free? Or was it really his little brother? The little brother whom he remembered to be afraid of the dark and of frost giants stealing him in his sleep? That fear now seemed like a cruel joke of life to Thor now. He wanted to seek his father out for help or better even his mother, but he could not get back to Asgard. Why? Had anything happened? Was Asgard in danger? Where his friends alright? All these unanswerable questions made his head spin.


When it was about midday he decided to get out of bed and ask Lady Pepper for something to eat and this wonderful, brown liquid that was called coffee. Down in the kitchen sat Pepper, trying to solve one of these world-riddles in these papers that were filled with news from the happenings in all Midgard.

"Good day Lady Pepper," Thor greeted her.

Pepper looked up from the paper and smiled. "Good morning Thor. So you're up too? Are you hungry?"

"Actually yes," Thor admitted.

"There are some pancakes in the frying pan," Pepper offered. "I'll get you some," she added, remembering Thor's last attempt to get himself some breakfast and stood up to get him a plate.

"Where are the others," Thor asked, noticing that it was unusually quiet in the house.

"They have gone to pick up Bruce from the airport."

"Ah, yes." Over the events of yesterday, he had completely forgotten that Bruce Banner came by for a visit today.

"Here." Pepper put down a plate with pancakes before him. "You look like you could use it," she said, setting down a cup of coffee beside it.

"How is Loki," Thor asked and picked up his fork, but didn't begin to eat. Pepper sighed, wiping the counter with a cloth. "I tried to get him down to have some breakfast, but he refused to leave his room. I think he is terribly scared."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you feel bad," she told Thor, when she looked up and saw his darkening face.

Thor made a dismissive motion. "It's alright. I hadn't expected anything else."

"Do you want to go up and try to get him down?"

He looked at her darkly. "You've seen how he acted yesterday. He's afraid of me."

Pepper gave him a sympathetic look. "Thor I'm so sorry."

"It's okay," he said, even if it didn't sound like it. "We don't even know if it's for real."

"You think it's only an act?"

"You don't?"

Pepper shook her head. "No. He seemed truly scared to me."

Thor didn't say anything.

"Is that good or bad," she asked.

"I'm not sure." He sighed desperately, burying his face in his hands. "I don't know what to do."

The thunder god looked up startled, when he suddenly felt a warm hand on his shoulder. Pepper gave him a reassuring smile. "Let's take it slow and do the only thing we can do."

"And what is that?"

"Try to make Loki feel better. Whatever this is, Loki is no use to us, if he hides in his room and decides to go into hunger strike."

Thor looked up at her and when he saw her confident expression, he felt a little better for the first time, since Loki had appeared in his room.


Not long and Bruce and the others returned to the Stark Tower. Thor greeted him with a bone crushing hug. "It is good to see you again Banner."

Bruce smiled fondly at him, rubbing his ribs. "It's good to see you too Thor. I heard Loki is back?"

The thunder god nodded darkly. "I fear he is."

"And as a child I hear?"

"Yes."

"And you have no idea why?"

"No Banner, we told you," Natasha replied in Thor's place.

"Maybe you could check on him," Pepper suggested. "He won't eat or drink anything and I think he is scared."

Bruce nodded. "Of course"

So they went up to Loki's room. When they came in, Loki sat huddled up on his bed, staring vacantly at the wall, refusing to even take notice of them coming into the room. Bruce approached him carefully. "Loki?"

He did not react.

"Loki?" Only when Bruce crouched down before him and lightly touched his shoulder, he flinched and took notice of him.

"It's okay Loki. My name is Bruce, I'm a doctor. That's what you call the healers in Midgard. I just want to check on you, if that is alright with you."

Loki stared at him.

"I can send the others out if you want," he added, when Loki's gaze wander to the others, still standing by the door. Especially the sight of Thor seemed to unsettle him. Loki nodded.

"I'll just take his plate down with me," Pepper said and wanted to reach for the plate she had brought up for him earlier. He hadn't touched it.

Bruce stopped her. "No, no leave it. He can have something later if he wants."


A few minutes later, Bruce came down with Loki's still untouched plate in his hand. "Have you got milk," he asked Pepper.

She nodded. "Yeah sure"

The others looked impressed. "How did you get him to accept it," Steve asked.

Bruce shrugged. "Patience?"

"However you did it, I'm glad you did," Pepper said, handing him a glass of milk.

"What do you think Banner," Tony asked. "Is Magic feigning it all or is his fear for real?"

"It's definitely real. His pulse was quickened, he was jumpy and he's got his guard up, even if it might not seem like it. You can't fake something like that."

"Will he be alright," Thor asked, obviously affected by his words.

"I think so. Just give him time. He's upset; he understands this just as little as we do, maybe even less. Be patient and I think he might come around."


Clint Barton lay hidden in the undergrowth on a small hill outside a parade ground in Russia. He had been watching it for days. All he could see were Russian soldiers at shooting practice, testing a new rifle. No sign of a new explosive, strong enough to blow up a whole continent.

But suddenly the sky opened and a bright blue light, like a lightning hit the parade ground. A spaceship broke through the cover of clouds, so big it made the World Trade Centre look like a dirty cubbyhole.

Soldiers screamed and shouted, pointing up into the sky, but before they could do anything else, the spaceship landed on the parade ground, tearing down the barb wire fence, dangerously close to Barton's hiding spot, burying every single one of the soldiers underneath itself.

Clint watched in horror, how a huge entrance opened and a ramp drove out. Hundreds and thousands of men, stormed out of the spaceship, onto what had been a practice ground only moments before.

They were lean and tall in silver armour. Some of them carried, what looked like small iron bows. Most of them had long hair and… pointed ears? What the fuck? Had he gotten himself into some sick Sci-fi version of "The Lord of the Rings"?

Too late he realized that one of the pointy-eared warriors was heading straight towards the undergrowth he was hiding in. Damn he had seen him! Clinton grabbed for his bow, but the creature stood before him in one quick motion and knocked him out with one strong hit with his iron bow. "I've found one of them!" was the last thing Barton heard, before his world turned black.


I am so, SO sorry I haven't updated in ages and I haven't even got a proper excuse… or maybe a tiny one? I've been working on my own story with a friend and it kind of kept me occupied. So again, I'm terribly sorry. I hope the length of this chapter makes up for it (a little)

As always: I would appreciate it if you told me about minor grammar or spelling mistakes or if I used a word wrongly, since English is not my native language. Reviews are always welcome! :)