SHIELD wasn't fully prepared when Thor finally showed up. His arrival came at a terrible time, Ironman was doing a press tour in Europe, Capitan America was off with director Fury on a top secret mission in the middle east and Agent Coulson was on a pretty good date. Therefor there was no one to stand in the thunderers way as he stomped around the carrier looking for his brother, shrugging of SHIELD Agents as minor annoyances during his search.
Loki had heard the thunder that signaled his brothers arrival, but there was little he could do. In a panic he considered a variety of options based on what he had access to in his little cell. The chair could be broken into a sharp wooden stick. All the furniture could be used as a barricade for the door. Perhaps he could somehow set the bed on fire. But in the end it would all be useless and just make him look pathetic. If he had full use of his magic he could have greeted his brother with an illusion of himself, and then slip out the door as Thor entered, but with his powers dampened by the damned collar there was no way he could make a plausible version of a full grown man. When Thor finally showed up at the other side of the glas the only thing Loki could do was try to keep his composure and trust in his verbal skills.
"There you are brother!" Thor exclaimed rather cheery for someone who was being fired at by his co-workers "What lies have you spun to make them act so?"
"Speak to the Son of Cole, brother, and he shall tell you this is not part of any trickery" Loki replied steadily, using Thors version of Coulsons name "We have an agreement, and they are simply honoring it"
"There is no honor to be found in putting others in harms way, Loki" Thor said gravely while undoing the many locks that kept the cell door shut "Which is what you are doing by simply staying here with whatever creature you have produced"
"She is a danger to no one!" Loki almost shouted.
"Sir, step away from the door please" Thor completely ignored the small woman who Loki recognized as the guard who had favoured his daughter with a smile once.
"Your weapons will not harm him" Loki directed his plea towards the female guard "Do not fire, just get Stark, or Agent Coulson to explain…"
He cut himself off when the door to his cell swung open and Thor entered. When his brother headed for the crib Loki flung himself in his path in an attempt to stop him that was so useless Thor actually laughed. It wasn't a mean-spirited laugh, but it reminded Loki how painfully weak he was compared to his brother when it came to raw body strength.
"Brother, if this bothers you so, why do you keep birthing these cruel jokes?" Thor asked, amused, pushing Loki aside to reach the crib "What is it this time? Another serpent? Perhaps a giant spider to unleash on Vanaheim?"
"A child!" Loki screamed "Like all of your other nephews whose suffering amuses you so!"
"Your tricks do not amuse me Loki, nor father" Thor replied sternly "And your creatures were given kinder fates than your disgrace required"
"Death would have been kind in comparison! Do not touch her!" he screamed as Thor lifted the small child rather briskly from the crib "Brother, Thor, I beg you, leave her!"
"It worries me that you would take this charade so far" Thor said and held up the child for inspection "Your hunger for power I can understand, but this. Look at the creature, Loki. It is no child"
"Yes, look at her! Really look brother!" Loki begged, arms stretched out in an attempt to reclaim his child "Look at her eyes! Those are my eyes! Look in the eyes of Sleipnir, you will see them there as well. Had you bothered to look all my children in the eye before you made japes with your friends as they were taken from me you would have seen my eyes in all of their faces!"
"You are only making things worse for yourself" Thors hand rested heavily on Lokis shoulder before he shook it off "Perhaps if you stopped disgracing yourself in this way father would…"
"HE IS NOT MY FATHER!" Loki screamed and Hela made a scared noise where she hung in Thors careless grip "And contrary to popular belief not everything I do is to attempt to spite him. Give me back my child! You can not take her!"
"I must" Thor said, gently showing Loki aside "This is for your own good. And I will be back for you shortly, Father wants you close. These humans can hardly contain you for long"
"Sir, release the child!" the woman bravely stood her ground as Thor exited the cell, showing Loki back in as an afterthought when he tried to follow.
"Do not stand in my way" Thor said gently to the woman as he shut the door on a furious Loki "This has to be done. It is none of your concern"
"Whit all do respect, sir, it is" the woman calmly explained "Mr. Laufeyson has an agreement with SHIELD which includes the protection of his child. If you would just stay long enough for Agent Coulson to get here…"
"I will speak with him later, but this matter is urgent and needs to be handled before it causes any harm"
"Hela" the woman said, as Loki sank down on his knees inside his cage "Your niece's name is Hela. And she's caused no harm"
Thor gave the woman a curious look before he looked over to Loki, who pressed both his hands against the glass.
"Brother, please…" he pleaded, but Thor was already leaving down the long hallway "Just look at her! JUST LOOK!"
Since he carried the child the remaining SHIELD agents did everything in their power to stop Thor without firing their guns. Needless to say, it was futile. When Loki was sure Thor was gone, he quickly got on his feet and picked the real Hela up from one of the dresser drawers where he had hid her among his SHIELD-assigned clothes.
"How long until reinforcements arrives?" he asked the female guard who had come back to check on him and the locks on his door.
"So that wasn't..?" she started but Loki interrupted her.
"My brother will be triumphantly returning to Asgard with a pillow" Loki could not help but gloat, even when weakened and frightened he was still able to pull tricks on his brother, but his smile quickly faded. "The spell will not hold for long and when he returns there will be no tricking him with simple illusions. Not with this collar still on"
"Agent Coulson is inbound on a helicopter"
"What about any of the warriors who might actually be able to stand their ground against my brother?"
"They are currently otherwise occupied, but agent Coulson…"
"Will be as useless as the rest of you" Loki growled and moved closer to the glas "Know this human, if you fail to hold down your end of this bargain I will tear this ship apart piece by piece with all of you still on it!"
"Mr Laufeyson, I understand you feel frustrated and scared for your daughter" the woman answered calmly "But threatening us isn't going to do you any favors, I'm afraid. We had everything under control"
"Does that word mean something else on Midgard?" Loki hissed "Because from here it seemed like you were able to put up as much resistance as leaves against a storm!"
The woman simply pointed to one of the small, black objects with a blinking red light that was imbedded in every corner of Lokis cell.
"You forget that we watch everything you do" she explained "We weren't trying to stop him, we were buying you time."
"So your idea of protection is to stand idly by while I protect myself?"
"No, we had a back up plan should yours fail" the woman explained "But we considered your plan to be plan A, since we didn't want to hurt Thor. He's an Avenger, after all, and most of us like him. We hoped you might be able to convince your brother to wait and talk to Agent Coulson, since you're the Trickster and the God of Lies. We assume you don't get those kinds of epithets for no reason"
Before Loki could answer she turned away to respond to something that was being said in her ear piece. Loki looked down at the child in his arms and his own eyes, only slightly darker, looked back at him.
"You are such a clever girl" he whispered to Hela "So clever and brave not to cry"
He looked up to find that the female guard was watching him. He felt a prick of annoyance but he beat it down.
"Thank you" he said quietly "For telling my brother her name"
"For what it's worth Mr. Laufeyson" the woman replied "I hate you, and everything you've done to this country. You deserve to rot away in the deepest hole we can find. But your kid ain't no monster"
Strangely enough, Loki felt that her words was actually worth something to him.
When Thor returned, red faced and angry, SHIELD was ready. Agent Coulson met him on the out door flight deck with his usual courteous smile and a small army of soldiers specially equipped with prototypes of the rods Stark had been developing to handle Loki. As Thor strode towards the door Agent Coulson walked up to meet him alone.
"Do not attempt to stop me, Son of Cole" Thor said angrily when they closed in on each other "I do not know what Loki had done to persuade you to protect his spawn but believe me when I say it is dangerous"
"I will have to attempt to stop you, I'm afraid" Agent Coulson said with a smile "I would really like not to have to, though. I hoped you might allow me to show you something?"
"Stalling me with gain you nothing" Thor replied.
"No, but it might gain you something" Agent Coulson retorted while falling into step behind the thunderer.
"I fail to see what that would be" Thor did not even shorten his stride when he approached the line of soldiers waiting for him.
"A brother"
Thor stopped and turned to face the agent and a howling wind gripped his hair and cloak as he stared grimly at Coulson.
"All I ask is fifteen minutes of your time" the agent elaborated "The child is still very little, I doubt it will bring about chaos in the next thirty minutes. If you would follow me, this way please"
And Thor did, to the relief of every soldier on site.
Authors note: Next up, Thor being less of a jerk! Yay!
