I know, it's been crazy long since the last chapter and I'm so sorry! I just had so much to do, moving, changing university, sorting shit out... But whatever, I finally found some time and motivation :)

"Loki?" Through the dust emanating from the destroyed wall Loki saw something that couldn't be there. Surely this was just his imagination playing a cruel trick on him for he could swear he was seeing Skye, his mortal, standing at the end of the hallway.

While the filth sank to the ground and his sight became clear again the trickster realised that this indeed was no hallucination of any sort. There she was. The mortal who, other than the whole of Asgard, had tolerated, even liked, him in spite of all his flaws. The mortal whose trust he had first gained only to betray it by killing her with his own hands, willingly or not, because that was the fate of Loki; destroying happiness and faith and good intentions. Tainting them. It was his nature as the unloved son of Odin Allfather, the trickster, the liesmith.

And yet she was there, as if it – as if he had never happened.

Before he realised it she was coming nearer, she ran towards him and the god stood there and waited for her to get to him. Getting near enough for him to embrace her, though, she vanished. No, not vanished, the girl had merely thrown herself to the floor and was sliding though his parted legs before getting into a crouch and round-house kicking his feet from under his body. Loki landed with a thud on the floor. Why was she attacking him?

Slowly but gracefully Loki got to his feet again and turned to face the mortal. Skye, having taken a defensive stance, looked defiantly up to him. Did she expect him to attack? Carefully he took a step towards her which was a wrong decision as the trickster soon had to perceive; Skye had taken the movement as an intention to strike and quickly reacted by aggressively delivering punches and kicks. Blocking all of her assaults, Loki avoided hurting her but after a short while her attacks became more complex and she was whirling around him like a hostile cat.

For any observer their sort-of-fight could look like a dance, smooth and somehow coordinated. Strangely Loki even enjoyed this little battle, though he knew he could easily end it whenever he wanted to. This was god against mortal, after all.

While he was still contemplating this whole strange and very much unexpected situation he heard two other sets of footsteps approaching. In a second Loki decided it would be better to end this one-on-one now and swiftly snatched Skye's wrists, swung her around and pinned her to the ground. Finally being able to take her appearance in fully, Loki noted that, while she was essentially definitely the same as before, there were certain differences. The woman in the catsuit that lay beneath him, smudged with dirt and a grim expression on her face looked rather lethal, while his Skye always was gentle and harmless, but undoubtedly able to be feisty.

And then, just as Loki saw a major change, Black Widow and Hawkeye sprinted around the corner. Swiftly Loki conjured a concealed shield of energy around him and Skye while the assassins, guns and bow directed towards the trickster, skidded to a halt.

"You? Seriously? Thor said you died!" Clint spat at Loki with obvious disdain for the god as Natasha directed her attention towards the agent beneath him: "Skye, are you…"

"Shut up!" Loki screamed at the agents, rage welling up inside of him for these were the people responsible for her death and his pain. "You have no right talking to her, you mewling quim!"

Clint wanted to throw something nasty back at Loki but Natasha signalled him not to, whereas Loki spoke to Skye now: "What happened to your hair?"

Skye found herself lost for an answer to the Asgardian's strange question. "I… what… what do you mean?"

"I mean, dove, why is your hair so short? It wasn't like this before… before…" he didn't finish the sentence and Skye just looked more confused.

"I'm sorry, I think you're mistaking me for someone else. I always have my hair like this." She didn't even know why she apologised to Loki, he was evil, and obviously confused. But the brunette could also see a mixture of sadness and desperation in the god's emerald eyes. And strangely this moved her, made her feel the need to help although he was a crazy alien-prince who tried to conquer earth.

The assassins threw each other disbelieving looks as they watched their teammate and enemy talk about hair.

"Are they serious?!" whispered Clint even though he didn't exactly know why.

Natasha looked at him for few seconds, thinking, before she took a deep breath and shouted: "Loki!"

Startled by the sudden noise – he had totally forgotten about the other agents – Loki's head snapped up and he stared at the assassins intently as if trying to evaporate them where they stood.

Skye took this chance, as the god was occupied with staring her teammates to death, and tried to wriggle herself out of Loki's firm grasp; to no avail of course, as Loki's strength was far superior. Stupid alien-god-guys.

"Let her go, Loki, or we will shoot." Romanoff threatened but the Trickster only chuckled. As if these Midgardian weapons could possibly penetrate his shield. He concentrated on the mortal below him again. S.H.I.E.L.D. must have done something to her so that she had forgotten him, something felt… off… about her mind. It seemed scattered, troubled. As if there was something interfering with the natural order. And that meant that it was very possible that her real memories were still there.

Before Loki could do anything about this situation though he was distracted by the sound of advancing reinforcements and a gun shot, but somehow different, smoother. The next thing he knew was that his shield flickered feebly and vanished.

Skye, using his momentary distraction, kicked the god off of her and quickly joined her teammates. Meanwhile Loki, having decided on a plan of action, shot jets of magic at the agents surrounding him and teleported away only to reappear moments later behind the reinforcements and knocked them out.

"I have a proposal for you, agents."

Tony didn't have a good day. First thing in the morning he had to sit through one of the most boring meetings ever. Old men talking about boring budgets and economy while Tony just wanted to sit in his workshop and work on the suit or sleep or drink or do anything, really. And after that dreadful morning some punks decided it'd be a great idea to break into his fucking tower. Midday. God, how he hated stupid people.

As if that wasn't enough for one day Clint had just called him to tell him that they would need a cell in the tower to hold Loki because, apparently, that batshit crazy god wanted to be locked up. Again.

So now Tony and Bruce, who had just so happened to visit him after the call, were working on a Loki-proved cell. Fun. Yay.

"Alright Jarvis, run the simulation again."

"Certainly sir. Running simulation. The structure should be able to hold Mr. Laufeyson." The AI responded swiftly.

"Yes! Finally! Hey, science bro we're done." Cheerfully Tony slung his arm around Bruce's shoulders and awkwardly side-hugged him. The doctor patted his friend on the back before trying to get out of this hug. "Yeah, great Tony. Then let's call it a day and wait for the others."

"Right. Wait for the others… to bring a homicidal alien and a woman with false memories here. Great."

Sitting in the quinjet with the god of mischief bluntly staring at you, hardly blinking, was indeed a new, weird, experience for Skye. Still unable to process what was happening around her she tried to slowly go over it in her mind.

First, they find Loki in London and kind of fight him but it's really weird because he says strange things that don't make any sense.

Second, Loki offers them a deal. He comes quietly, but only to the Avenger's tower and only if he was allowed to talk to Skye whenever he wanted.

Third, Natasha agreed and put him in cuffs. Though that might've just been for show since ordinary cuffs won't hold Loki if he wanted to escape.

Fourth, they are in the quinjet on their way to the tower with Loki nonstop staring at her like she was a strange creature that some scientist had just created.

The flight seemed to be taking forever and all four passengers being on-edge didn't improve the situation at all. At least this made the moment when they arrived at their destination all the better. You could almost hear the simultaneous sigh of relief from the agents. Relief that nothing terrible had happened. Yet.

Tony and Bruce were already waiting near the landing platform, both sporting grim expressions while they watched the group walk towards them.

"Cell's ready. We also contacted Cap and Goldilocks so we're gonna have a nice little party." The billionaire stated sarcastically when the others were in hearing range. To his disappointment they just nodded in response, so the heroes continued on their way to get Loki to his new 'home'.

Thank you for reading, I hope you liked it :)

Have a great day!