Coterie

By: Shadow Chaser

Disclaimer:

All Marvel characters do not belong to me, they belong to Marvel Entertainment and Marvel Comics. Liberties were taken with the Norse myths.

Story:

Chapter 4

The thought that Hill was perhaps trying to make him confused by the Helicarrier's layout by leading him through a series of winding corridors was briefly in Loki's mind. But he push passed it realizing that it was truly SHIELD protocol that those who had been poisoned and survived were under the strictest of isolation, or quarantine as Fury had put it. He had seen such isolation a few times in the thousand and something years he had been alive, poisons that were created within the realm's natural defenses, cultivated from the various plants on planets within the realm itself. Or even magical spells that had not been tested yet, but had created situations where it had spread like contagion.

The soldiers on guard within the Helicarrier did not seem as surprised to see them, but Loki easily read their hostility in their body languages as they stayed at their post. He only smiled gamely, not bothered by their attempts to provoke him. Surprisingly, Thor followed silently behind, though he had banished his armor along the way. Loki had not worn his armor at all, having left it on Asgard, but he was beginning to wonder if he should have brought it.

The poison cloud he had dissipated on top of Stark Tower had traces of his magical signature, but he still was not sure if it was truly Jormungandr. Mentally shrugging to himself, he reasoned silently that with armor, he was probably more vulnerable as speed was of the essence when dealing with the Midgard serpent.

"So, Loki, you know who we're dealing with?" Hill said suddenly as she walked ahead of them.

"I have theories," he replied after a moment of trying to sense whether or not her question had any hostility or untoward meaning. "But I cannot be sure until I am able to verify a few things."

"Theories you probably don't want to share right now, right?" she asked, not even glancing back at him and he snorted lightly.

"I have my secrets, you have yours," he replied.

"Loki, I do not think this is a secret that should be kept," Thor rumbled quietly behind him, but he ignored his brother's request.

"Want to enlighten me, Thor?" Hill's ears were sharp even with Thor's near-whisper and he frowned.

"I…it is a delicate matter that I do not think improper-"

"Impropriety was always your strongest suit, Thor," Loki shot back, "and you would only be filling her head with speculations and wild accusations that may lead to nowhere. For all we know, it could be a mortal sorcerer who has done such a thing. After all, was it not a mortal who discovered the Tesseract in one of their wars?"

"So if it isn't?" Loki turned his head back around to see Hill stopping by a door and punching in a keycode.

He brushed the pad discreetly as he had done before the last time he was on the Helicarrier and memorized the code she put in even though she had clearly shielded herself in front of it. All the while, he had to acknowledge her astute capability of listening for things not said versus things said. At the same time he knew that she was hoping he would answer her trapped question and deigned not to reply by quickly brushing past her and into the isolation ward.

"The fucking hell is he doing here?!" Clint Barton's pointed finger and accusation made him stop and spread his hands out as a smile graced his features. Loki felt a bloom of dark amusement at how riled up the archer got even after his absence all these months at his presence.

"Stand down Agent Barton," Hill squeezed past him, one hand on the butt of her holstered gun, her other hand held out in an attempt to ward the archer away. He saw Barton reach behind him as if to draw an arrow and string it before he himself, realized he was not wearing his arrow pack and bow. Instead, he changed tactics and drew out a small handgun and pointed it straight at him – or rather straight at Hill's head as if he could magically shoot through her to get to him.

"Barton!" Hill barked, but the man did not twitch, "Stand. Down."

"What's he doing here, ma'am?" Barton's voice was tight with deep-seeded anger, "I thought we were done with fuckers like him-"

"Language!" her sharp voice cut him off and Loki was inwardly surprised at the venom they contained. For a moment, she sounded like Queen Frigga in all of her royal glory and the Queen was someone not to be trifled with when angered – even Odin Allfather avoided angering her.

"Ma'am…"

"Stand down and I will tell you why," Hill continued, dropping her voice into a quiet calm tone.

For a moment Barton seemed to war with the conflicting emotions within before he finally breathed out a noisy sigh and holstered his gun, but did not step back.

"Thank you," Hill nodded once, "Loki is here because Thor brought him here."

"What you couldn't call him on the Bifrost phone and talk to him? You had to bring him here?" Barton's voice was still tight with anger.

"Maybe Loki knows what's going on Barton," the voice of Steven Rogers made everyone, the archer excluded, turn to see him rise up from where he had been sitting further down the isolation ward.

"Or maybe he created it," the archer shot back still trying to burn holes into him with his glare, "just like he did the whole thing with Thanos."

It was odd, how nearly the same comment did not even bother Loki when it came from the archer instead of Stark. He supposed it was probably because he knew that Barton would forever hate him and while Stark held perhaps the same amount of animosity, he also did not really know the depths of Stark's hatred – unlike Barton's. It was easily ignored and pushed aside as he moved towards the beds.

"Loki, what-" Agent Hill started, but before she could get in another word of protest, he cast his spell, splaying his fingers out towards Romanoff who was lying on one of the beds.

He heard everyone around him seemingly panic for a moment as they scrambled for weaponry or were shouting, but ignored all of it as he concentrated on his spell and on Romanoff. She was paler than he had last remembered her, her red hair hanging limply across her closed eyes. A breathing contraption of sorts had been placed over her nose and mouth as well as multiple tubes and wires that seemingly beeped at steady intervals. It only took him a moment to realize that they were monitoring her brain waves and heart rate.

For all he knew, she could have been sleeping, even with the wires and tubes eliminated from her pale form, but with his spell, he was able to see just below her skin. An energy web of sorts seemingly crisscrossed the blue of her veins, just below the surface, like shooting stars across the night sky. They bloomed and ebbed with each minute explosion, seemingly sending even more sparks across her pale prone form. He studied it, tuning out the noises behind him as he weaved his spell a little tighter. He needed to be delicate in this process, or else the trace would be long gone. He gently bent the tip of his index finger as he traced one particular synapse, watching it as it traveled from her jawline down to her neck where it burst into pieces across her shoulder.

Several paths traveled down her arm and back up it again, while more spread across her body. He saw past the flimsy gown she had been put in, tracing the path through her body's core. A part of him murmured that it was a violation of her privacy, but Loki dismissed it as he continued to watch its path progress all the way down to her hips where it traced the main lines of her nervous and muscular structure. There were traces of some foreign material mixed in as it had traveled from her heart downwards; but he flicked the tip of his pinky finger to push it aside for further study as the original trace continued its journey towards her knees, where it burst into another million pieces. Some headed back up, affecting other parts of her body, but he traced the original source where it ended at the tips of her feet and straightened his index finger.

Frowning a little, he looked towards her pale face once more and focused in on her nose, his thumb twitching a little as he brushed the surface layer with his spell. It was not much, but it was one of the entry points, the concentration of the poison greatest there and also within her mouth. Even her eyes had traces and it was perhaps a testament to either her health or maybe the mysterious foreign material he had traced that she was still alive.

There was one more test he could do, but he also knew that to try it, especially with Agent Barton here, was tantamount to suicide and Loki had no inclination of facing the wrath of everyone in SHIELD. Even Thor would have turned against him and he would rather not be pinned to wherever by Mjolnir.

Releasing the spell, he turned to the other bed that Rogers had been sitting next to and deduced that this was Agent Ward, the other person who had breathed the poison in, but had not perished. He cast his spell once more and traced the clusters, his frown deepening as he bent the crook of his index finger, finding it a little harder to receive a solid read on his trace. Ward must have not breathed in much, but breathed in enough that he was affected. He did not know the circumstances of what had happened, but could only guess that Romanoff, for all of her aloofness and claims of lack of attachments, perhaps stopped Ward and Rogers from making her fatal mistake.

"…Loki," Rogers' voice was quiet, but he canted his head in acknowledgment as he continued to trace his spell over Ward. "I know this is probably not a good time to tell you this, but….the others, the HYDRA soldiers who were also caught in the effects, they fell to the ground like they had been shot, point blank."

He heard the hesitation in the enhanced soldier's shuffling of his feet as he traced a small cluster to Ward's hip bone where it surprisingly did not travel downwards as much as it did upwards back through the man's intestines.

"Continue," he murmured quietly, half puzzling over this new development compared to what he had scanned Romanoff for.

"They bled out, their blood like black thick, dripping sludge. I don't know if it was acidic, but I thought it was burning me. There weren't any traces on my armor, but I thought it was burning my skin through my armor, almost like venom from snakebite or something," Rogers gave his information in a factual manner, but Loki picked up on the distress that the Captain had to have been feeling. There was guilt at leading those under his command into the situation that landed them like this, but at the same time, there was a hopeful resignation that something could be done. The resignation that if there was nothing that could be done, then that would be two more soldiers that perished under his command.

At the same time, he could feel a worm of not quite guilt, but rather resignation of what the Captain had described. Damn, this was not what he wanted it to be, but Rogers' words had fit what he had dreaded to hear and to know. There were a few more things he needed to confirm, but what he had described…it had been described by Thor once before.

He released the spell on Agent Ward before moving over to the third bed and scanned the unconscious agent, frowning again as had to dig a little deeper to actually pick up on the signatures. He had thought they had been imprisoned for good, that it was a mercy compared to what the Allfather could have done. It was for the best and it was the best considering the circumstances. And now…

He finished up his scan and released the spell, taking a moment to compose his features into one that would show nothing. He turned around and saw that Barton had moved to the foot of Romanoff's bed and had his arms crossed defensively, but was staring at him with sharp eyes. Hill had stayed back, watching him with narrowed eyes while Rogers waited patiently next to Ward's bed. Thor was by the doorway, his eyes desperately searching his composed face for any answers, but Loki refused to given an inch.

"Excuse me," Banner's muffled voice came by the door way and all turned to see the scientist squeezing past Thor's bulk.

Loki ignored his entry and turned to Agent Hill, "I will need vials of blood-"

"Err, I'm actually picking mine up-"

"Fresh ones, not the ones you will be conducting your tests with," he countered, "from each of the poisoned patients, including the Captain here."

"Wait what?!" Rogers balked and Loki smiled grimly at him.

"You are the second being in all of the nine realms to describe what has happened to those who breathed the poison in," he did not meet Thor's gaze as his brother started at the revelation.

"Uh…."

"Perhaps it is you who is the modified mortal soldier that has been able to survive," he speculated, "but you have breathed the poison in."

"I…I feel fine-"

"Agent Hill, please take me to those who have perished," he brushed past Rogers and made his way towards the entrance to the isolation ward before he heard Banner start to talk to Rogers about perhaps he being the cure. He wanted to tell the two of them that Rogers was not the cure, but at the same time something prevented him from doing it. It only took a moment for him to realize that he oddly did not want to dash that hope, not just yet and wondered when he had become so sentimental towards the mortals. They were nothing except parasites and leeches that died and lived in brief flickering candled lives.

As the female agent regained her composure, he saw her touch her ear, "Director, Loki says that Rogers is also compromised. Banner's going to see if he can make a cure out of Rogers' blood, but hopefully we have a lead."

"Is it him?" Thor rumbled behind him, but Loki ignored him and continued to walk deeper into the Helicarrier.

"Loki-" he felt Thor reach out to grab him and spun on his heel, pinning him in place with a warning glare not to touch him. "Is it him?"

He turned back around and continued to follow Hill who had stared at them with curious, but calculating eyes. Let her draw her own conclusions, he sniffed quietly; she would never understand what was going on. They soon reached a sparely populated area and Hill keyed in another set of codes that Loki brushed with a spell and memorized. The door hissed open, releasing cool misty vapors and Loki could feel the temperature drop a little as they stepped inside, past several hanging plastic barriers.

"This is our morgue area. We keep most of the deceased SHIELD agents here, but we picked up a few HYDRA ones too from the base since we didn't know what we were dealing with," Hill explained as she tugged hard on a large drawer of sorts. It slid open with a cool hiss and Loki saw that it was a black-clad soldier with an emblem that had snake-like heads over a stylized face.

Before Hill could protest, he pulled a dagger from its place in his boot and stabbed it deep into the layers of fabric and cold, dead flesh. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Thor holding Hill back, implicitly trusting him as he went about his work. Dragging the dagger down the body, he only had a split second warning before he immediately let the dagger go and brought both hands up, enclosing the body in the same barrier spell he had conjured when Dr. Banner had thrown the small marbleized poison at him.

"Shit! What the hell?!" Hill cursed as a loud noise started to blare at the sudden release of a black plume of gaseous ichor from the dead body. Loki felt his hands shake as he gritted his teeth and reinforced the barrier, forcing his magicks to contain the poison.

"Loki-"

"Shut the noise off! It is distracting!" he growled out through clenched teeth as he forced himself to concentrate.

"What's-"

"My brother has it contained, please turn off the alarms," he could barely heard Thor through the cacophony of annoying noise, but a moment later the noise stopped and Hill's voice was unnaturally loud in the morgue.

"-yes sir. It seems like the situation is contained-"

"It is," Thor's voice echoed loudly.

"-will update. No, no sir. We do not need a containment team here…yes, sir, I will let you know what's happening as soon as-"

"I believe my brother is dissipating the spell once more like he did on the rooftop of Stark's building."

"Wait, he did what?!"

"The poison capsule exploded when it was handed to my brother by Dr. Banner through no fault of his own. It was keyed to magicks and apparently inevitable. A clever trick that Loki says would prevent those who wielded magicks to use it against its creator," Thor continued.

"Uh, sir, Thor's saying that the grenade doesn't exist anymore," Hill said, "yes, sir, I know sir…Stark or Dr. Banner knows the details of what happened…"

Loki tuned out the rest of what was most likely an interesting conversation between Hill, Thor, and Fury as he forced the poison to dissipate. It congealed and lashed out as if it was alive and Loki smiled grimly. A clever trap and one if he had not been familiar with would have walked right into it. But with new added knowledge of what was happening, he was able to direct the seemingly poison that was a swirling maelstrom within the decaying body towards the only thing that it could lash out at, a tempting target…

He watched as the poison swirled angrily before leeching itself onto the dagger still embedded into the dead body, discoloring it into a hideous matte black color that glittered with webs of energy much like what he had scanned through Romanoff, Ward, and the unnamed agent in the isolation wards. It was seemingly organically alive, inviting if one knew what to look for, but Loki watched it completely colored the once silvery-gold dagger completely inky black before just as suddenly, the body exploded underneath the embedded dagger.

Loki reinforced the barrier as chunks of dead flesh sizzled against the barrier and dissolved into nothingness. After a few minutes, all that was left was the blackened dagger that toppled to the tray where the body had been held in.

"Is it…over?" Hill ventured to ask a few seconds later.

"Thor," Loki ignored her as he tried to keep his hands steady, feeding the barrier spell. The decompression of the dead body had nearly made the barrier collapse, "Set Mjolnir on the dagger."

He heard his brother's heavy footsteps move closer to him before Thor hefted Mjolnir into his line of vision and hesitantly lifted it to the edge of the barrier. Mjolnir crackled against the barrier itself, small arcs of electric magicks playing across the surface. He was about to open his mouth to remind Thor not to set his hand within the barrier, but before he could say anything, Thor dropped Mjolnir directly on top of the dagger, covering the dagger as a whole.

Loki immediately released his barrier as a crackling sound erupted from where Mjolnir itself was fighting to keep the poisonous dagger at bay. The smell of ozone and burnt electric arcs started to fill the area as wisps of smoke wafted upwards from where the dagger met Mjolnir.

"…Loki…"

He pulled a modular he had kept within the spaces in between out and cast several barrier spells upon it before opening it and letting it hover near Mjolnir. "Thor, on my mark…"

"Understood," he knew he should be thankful that Thor had not even asked a word of what was going on or what he needed to do as his brother was wont to do at the most inconvenient times. At least Thor understood the seriousness of the situation without Loki resorting to snapping at him.

He kept one hand free, hovering just at the edges of where the electrical field Mjolnir produced kept the dagger at bay. He could feel it weakening already, the magical artifact itself not designed to contain such an organic, viscous thing at bay. His other hand held the open modular and he took a deep breath. He would have to be quick, quicker than the viper's strike of poison. Steadying his breath, he calmed himself to strike-

"Now!" even as the words left his mouth, he was already moving, feeling the break of Mjolnir's electrical field and slammed the modular down, grinning as the dagger was trapped within.

"Now it is over Agent Hill," Thor rumbled as Loki picked the modular up and held it up to his eyes to stare at the poison that had corroded and eaten his dagger up.

"Is it safe in there?" Hill asked, taking a step forward, her eyes focused on the dagger contained within. Loki could feel his magicks at work keeping it at bay, but with the reinforcement of the modular itself, he did not have to exert as much as when he cast the spell directly.

"If there are any more bodies around, do not bury or burn them. Freeze them or else you will have more poisoned," Loki said, not bothering to look at her as he rotated it slowly before placing the modular within the space in between and headed out of the morgue. He heard Hill scramble to talk to Fury over the comm. piece in her ear, as he swept down the long halls and headed back towards the hanger bay.

"Loki! Answer me! Is it him?!" Thor hurried to catch up to him, his heavy footsteps thumping behind him, but Loki did not answer as he focused on getting to the hanger bay. He pushed aside SHIELD personnel that did not leap out of the way with a flick of magicks from his fingers, making some of them yell and scream. He could hear Thor apologizing behind him, but pushed it out of his mind as he inwardly started to seethe.

It was him, and all of this…it was supposed to not be like this. They knew the consequences of their actions. He needed to consult the Allfather, needed to make him understand that it was not- He shook his head…he had read the hesitation and slight mistrust, the questioning within the Allfather's gaze as he had asked to rectify the situation. And now…proof at hand that it was the worst scenario ever. He needed to petition the Allfather-

"Loki!" Loki had reacted on instinct and summoned a dagger even before he completed his spin around, throwing Thor's hand off of his shoulder before he stopped himself.

"What," he said flatly, annoyed and irritated as they arrived at the hanger bay.

"Is. It. Him?" Thor asked again and Loki glared at his brother.

"What do you think?" he snapped back, his patience wearing thin.

"I cannot see what you see, Loki," Thor replied back, his voice tight with barely contained patience, "I only see what is before me and while my instincts sometimes have led me astray, I do not want to make the mistakes that have courted war."

"This is not a war," Loki laughed bitterly; "this…this is a mistake."

Thor seemed to consider his words for a few seconds before nodding gravely, "Then I shall inform my friends and be discreet regarding such information."

Loki snorted, "No need to be polite on my account. You give away information freely about Thanos and of what has happened without second thoughts."

"Yes, but in this matter, it is one which…has affected us both. You are my brother Loki-"

"If this is a sentimentality you plan on using to try to make us what we used to be, then you are sorely mistaken," how many times did he have to tell Thor that they were never going to be brothers again? At most, perhaps wary allies and members of the court, who occasionally fought common enemies, but that was it.

"It is a stubbornness that you seem to deny as much as I seem to uphold," Thor shot back and Loki shook his head, but allowed Thor the victory of his words – for the moment. There were other ways to shut down Thor's attempts to be brothers once again.

"Then if you insist on continuing the farce, I will need a workstation when I return," he said and before Thor could get another word in edgewise, jogged to the edge of the hanger bay where the wind whipped at his hair and his tunics. "Heimdall open the Bifrost!"

His vision was soon engulfed in the starlight pressure of the Bifrost as he returned to Asgard.

Loki forced himself not to take a deep gulping breath as he landed in the golden hues of Heimdall's Observatory. He never really had trouble using the Bifrost, but wondered if his time in the voids of Yggdrasil's roots had changed that. Pushing the thought aside for another time, he walked past the golden-armored man and took the reigns of the horse brought before him.

"My Prince, I have not seen Jormungandr in his form amongst the land masses. It seems he may be disguised or have taken on another appearance," Heimdall called out behind him and he turned his horse a little to acknowledge his words.

"And word on the others?" he asked, hoping that Sif and the Warriors Three had not yet made their report. He did not want to face the Allfather's wrath if they had returned with news of either their escape or continued confinement.

"They have not yet returned," Heimdall's voice was decidedly neutral and his golden eyes said nothing, but Loki had the distinct feeling that the gatekeeper was a little sympathetic towards him. Even though they had their differences and Loki would not hesitate to disable the gatekeeper if it meant an end to his goals, he felt oddly touched by the seemingly extended olive branch and took it for what it was.

He heeled his horse and galloped off, making haste for the golden spires of the throne room and court of the Allfather. He could have easily pulled at the skeins and webs into the hidden paths within Yggdrasil's shadows, but Loki did not want to walk the shadows since Thanos' imprisonment. He had reasoned to himself that the frivolous use of magicks would only serve to drain him, and especially with the confirmation that he had received back on Midgard, he would need all of his reserves.

Dismounting as he arrived at the edges of the throne room after galloping across the Courtyard of Wonders and startling several Courtiers and guards, he hurried in and saw to his relief that the Allfather was only holding a meeting with General Tyr and Erikur. The young healer who had lost his sister Hilde in the beginning skirmishes with the Chitauri had been promoted to Archmage due to his actions in the battle to trap Thanos months ago. It was a title comparable to a General like Tyr, but one that would never see the light of day due to the Court's mistrust of magicks and the like. All they saw was a healer, one who was not quite using magicks, but nonetheless was able to cure whatever ailed an Asgardian.

He waited at the edges of the small audience, waiting for the Allfather to acknowledge him, but when it became clear after several minutes that the Allfather would not do so, Loki started to fidget. He would not burst in and announce his business like Thor did in his boorish way, but there had to be a way, save sending a familiar or ghostly familiar, to let the Allfather know that he had returned with urgent news.

Finally after several more minutes of waiting, the Allfather lifted his head a little and dipped it slightly in acknowledgment for him to come forward. It had also quieted both Tyr and Erikur who stepped aside as they saw he was there. Loki thought he caught the amused twinkle in the Allfather's eye of making him wait and gritted his teeth in annoyance. This was not a trifling matter, could Odin not see that?

"What is it you wish, Loki?" if there was one thing that Loki was grateful for, was that no matter how public the audience, the Allfather never acknowledged him with words of affection like 'my son' or any of that nonsense that Thor always insisted upon. It had been a silent agreement of sorts between the two of them and Loki had taken it to heart that in a way, perhaps the Allfather had started to see his value and gifts that he had not previously seen or had seemingly dismissed.

"To petition a request to travel to Helheim," he said quietly, keeping his gaze even upon the Allfather's lone eye.

A single white eyebrow rose as the Allfather sat back to contemplate his request, "Judging by the lack of your brother's presence, I would have presumed this was not Jormungandr's work, but your petition states otherwise. To what reason? I have already requested Heimdall to transport Lady Sif and the Warriors Three to Helheim after they have finished in Lake Amsvatnir."

"Jormungandr would not have access this easily to the deceased souls of Helheim if it not be for Lady Hel," he brought out the contained dagger and saw Erikur immediately back away from it, gagging on seemingly invisible pressure and stench of noxious magicks that swirled within the container. Even though it was perfectly contained, there was still the actual feeling of such nauseating magicks that even he could feel while holding the modular containment field. He supposed it was because he had dealt with this type of magicks before that he was able to not be repulsed by it.

He knew the Allfather also felt what Erikur felt, but was perhaps too well versed in different forms of magicks to react as violently as he had.

"Archmage-"

"Calm down General, it is only the more natural reaction," he shot a look at General Tyr who had not moved. It was clear that those who did not wield the magicks were immune to its effects, which made the poison within all the deadlier.

"I am…I am sorry," Erikur took several deep breaths as he tried to compose himself and shuffled forward once more, but also shied away from where Loki stood with the modular in his hand.

Loki wanted to hold the field out some more to see Erikur squirm a bit in mild amusement, but instead put the modular back in the spaces in between all the while rolling his eyes at the loud sigh Erikur exhaled upon its disappearance.

"Your petition is denied," the Allfather suddenly said and Loki blinked, shocked.

"But-"

"General Tyr, Archmage Erikur, you will both go in the Prince's stead. Seek out Lady Hel and bring her before me to answer for this," the Allfather addressed to the two and Loki saw both nod, though Erikur looked a little nauseous at the prospect of traveling to Helheim.

"Allfather-"

"You are dismissed," Odin ignored his protest and addressed the other two who bowed and left the throne room.

Loki could not believe that his petition had been denied. He was sure that the Allfather would have allowed him to travel to Helheim, but at the same time he wondered if Odin did not trust him as much as he had thought. Did he suspect that he had something to do with Jormungandr's escape and access to the souls of the deceased? The thought hurt and he gritted his teeth in anger. "And what of me?" he grounded out quietly.

"I give you leave," the Allfather replied and Loki glared up at the lone eye, wanting to yell at him, to shout that he was innocent.

However, at the same time, he could almost imagine seeing the Allfather seemingly agree with him, but ready to keep him imprisoned on Asgard in order to keep an eye on him. It would be as bad as having the Warriors Three, Lady Sif, Thor, and even his mother follow him around when Thanos was playing his tricks. No, he would take advantage of those words and do what he must in the meantime. He nodded once, sharp and quick, before spinning on his heel and marching out of the throne room, heading straight for the healers wing.

He would prove to the Allfather that he had nothing to do with this.

Author's Notes:

Thank you to those who have read, reviewed, favorited, or alerted this fic. You guys rock! Delving deeper into the norse myths now! Also, since this is posted on Oct. 31st, please do not spoil Thor: The Dark World for me as the U.S. won't be getting the movie until Nov. 8th.