Using Khan's transporter device, they appeared in the heart of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s base.
"Hey!"
"Freeze!"
The pair turned and Loki charged the passing agents, letting the bullets bounce off of him harmlessly. With a quick elbow blow to the head of one and a punch to the other, the agents fell unconscious. Khan was quick to grab the first and Loki held the other, before letting them silently fall to the ground. With Loki's sorcery, he turned their appearances into the likeness of the agents, and hid the real ones in a nearby closet.
"They shouldn't wake for a while now," Loki said, closing the door. "Now, where to?"
"It's hidden, of course," Khan spoke slowly, adjusting to his new voice. He looked around and thought for a bit.
["Agent Coulson, come in Agent Coulson; do you copy?"] a voice buzzed from Loki's waist. He plucked the handheld from his side and looked at it with question. Khan snatched the radio from him and held down the reply button, raising it to Loki's mouth for him to speak.
"Yes I copy," Loki said hesitantly.
["Coulson! Where are you? You were supposed to be in here an hour ago. The Tesseract is having fluctuations in activity, we'd like your opinion."]
"R-right. On my way!" Khan lowered the radio and handed it back to Loki.
"You figure out where it is, and get there quickly. I'll find the power supply and shut it down. You'll have about five minutes before their back up power kicks in. That should be enough time. We meet five miles outside of this base, where I showed you, got it?"
Loki nodded. "How do you expect me to find them?"
"Figure it out," with that, Khan took off down the hall and down a flight of stairs. With a little bit of knowledge about building layout, he should find the power supply in no time.
The trickster, on the other hand, was severely under prepared to find the cube on his own. But then he remembered the energy of the Tesseract; if he could focus on it he should be able to narrow its location. Closing his eyes, Loki breathed in deeply and let his mind focus. He could feel it, the glow of the power.
Down the hall to the right. Loki followed his lead for about a minute until he came to a large set of doors. Now what? There was no visible way to get in, at least not for a human. And a godly grand entrance would be a bit much right now. He fiddled around on his person, locating the S.H.I.E.L.D. i.d. for Agent Coulson. There. Pressing it to the pad on the wall made the metal doors slide open with a hiss.
There it was, the powerful cube. Its blue glow softly illuminated the room, which was filled with equipment. Many monitors showed data of the cube's activity. From the moment Loki entered the room, the Tesseract spiked.
"Whoa there!" A dark-skinned man clad in black clothing was standing behind one of the monitors.
"It must like you," a voice came from behind Loki, who was still standing in awe by the doors. He spun around. "Agent Coulson…" The man extended a hand and Loki took it, shaking it firmly. The sneaky character looked to be an archer, Loki noted, observing the quiver full of arrows on his back. "Director Fury is, well, fury-ous, that you've taken so long," he joked with a straight face.
Loki sighed. "Right," with caution, Loki approached the Tesseract, not knowing what to do until Khan cut the power. "Hello, Director Fury," Loki extended his guised-figure's hand.
"Agent Coulson!" Director Fury looked at him with his eye, "You, sir, are late." He took his hand regardless.
"Apologies, it won't happen again."
"It better not, I've got my eye on you," he said with a chuckle. Loki gave a weak smile in response. Is every human this dry?
"What can I do for you?"
"Well," Fury turned back to the monitor, "it started two weeks ago; it just had an odd spike in energy. Then a few days ago, it started acting up again. Not often, just every once in a while."
"Did it now?" Loki asked, trying to stall. "Any ideas why?"
"We think it has to do with that Asgardian that fell through to our world, the one Starfleet froze and sent off without letting us know. It's a long shot, but we're working on getting them to let us near the bastard. To just, you know, ask him a few questions," The director eyed guised Loki. "Speaking of questions, Coulson, are you alright? You don't look too good…"
Loki let a faint smile play on his lips, even though he could hear the nearly silent pull of a bow-string behind him. These mortals were no fools after all, but nor was he. He wasn't about to blow his cover, not until…
There! The lights went out.
"Hey!" Fury heard Loki move with god-like reflexes towards the Tesseract.
"I've got him sir," the archer switched on the night vision in his glasses and aimed for Loki, who converted back to his original form. An arrow whizzed through the air, but the god teleported out of the way, and reappeared next to the Tesseract. Fury and the agent stood still, fearing that with just the slightest touch from the god, the Tesseract would surge. It was already pulsating with energy, reacting to Loki's presence.
"Farewell fellow Midgardians," Loki carefully handled the cube out of its resting place and vanished, teleporting to the meet-point.
When he arrived at the snowy hill, Khan was already there, sitting on an ice covered rock. Loki looked at him cautiously, slowly revealing the Tesseract to him.
"Is that it?" Khan breathed, standing abruptly at the sight. He moved swiftly towards Loki, brushing his gloved finger across the cube's edge. Its power surged within his hand for a minute. But oh how good it felt! This is what he needed all along. He knew: Thisis what will bring him glory.
"Yes…it is wonderful isn't it? You have no idea the benefits this has for us," Loki grinned.
"No…," Khan said shortly, "But perhaps someday I'll let you know how it goes for me," The super being took hold of the Tesseract firmly, not minding its slight burn through his gloves. With a powerful kick, he sent the trickster down the snowy hill. Loki gained his composure half way down, but when he looked up, Khan was already disappearing in the familiar swirl of golden lights. With a scowl, he lunged towards Khan in a desperate last attempt. Instead, he landed in the empty snow.
Loki breathed angrily. He was fooled. The trickster god himself, fooled by a mere mortal!
"…You filthy humans…oh how I shall make you pay…"