AN: I's like to than Tha Lutz Winchester for her support while posting this. She always leaves great feedback and has talked me round when I feel like quitting. This ones for you, Lutz :D
Kinks in this chapter: No sex *gasp* just a little talk of a public humiliation fantasy, fluff and some H/C.
Chapter Ten
Everyone remained in Loki and Grace's room and since their usual distraction was out of the question (and honestly, Loki wasn't sure that Grace was up to another bout so soon) they ended up playing chess. Grace was clearly distracted though, and he needed a way to capture her attention and stop her worrying.
"Why don't we make this interesting," Loki suggested in a low voice.
"What did you have in mind?"
"If I win, you…" he checked to make sure no one could over hear them, "You spend a week naked."
"What?"
"A whole week," he reiterated. "Confined to my rooms, wearing nothing more than the leather straps I might choose to tie you up with."
"What about Vali?"
"I'll bring her to visit you. You may wear a robe while she's there, if you wish."
"And if I win?"
Loki grinned. "You get to do whatever you want with me for one whole night."
"That's not fair, you get a week but I only get one night?"
"Very well, seven nights, taken as and when you wish, and I have to do exactly as you desire."
He saw her eyes light up at the idea and a small smile appeared on her lips.
"Deal."
They turned their attention back to the game.
They had played before and were fairly evenly matched; overall Loki had won just two more games than her but he fully expected her to draw even with him again. Now it seemed that she was desperate to win, and was employing all the dirty tricks she could. She leaned forward, crossing her arms and pushing her cleavage out, sighing suggestively, brushing a finger over her full lips, taking a sip of water and letting a drop leak from her lips, like his come sometimes did, then she let it roll suggestively down her long neck and disappear under her top.
Loki was tempted to let her win, curious to see what she would do with him, but he didn't believe in that and besides, she clearly was giving this her all and if he lost intentionally, it would lessen her victory, even if he never told her.
The game went on for so long that they eventually attracted a crowd of on onlookers and even Thor's arrival didn't detract from the game. Tony suggested the betting and while Natasha, Steve and some guards bet on her to win, Tony, Darcy and the other guards picked Loki. Thor declined to bet, too worried about Jane to engage in such frivolities but he seemed to enjoy the game none the less.
They came to check often but it took four hours until Grace had Loki checkmated. He laid his king down.
"Well done, darling," he grinned, sure that he was going to enjoy whatever she had planned for them. He was certain that she had some fantasies in that brain of hers that he had yet to fulfil.
Grace jumped up and danced around a little, enjoying congratulations from those who were a little richer thanks to her win.
Her enthusiasm was too much though, and she swayed a little as a dizzy spell hit her. Loki was at her side in an instant, keeping her upright.
"I'm fine," she tried to brush off everyone's concern.
"You're not fine, but you will be," Loki assured her. "Come and lie down with me for a few minutes," he suggested, guiding her towards the bed. "And perhaps someone could get her some food?" he asked over his shoulder.
"That's a good idea," Natasha agreed. "None of us has eaten since this morning." She gave some cash to one of the guards and instructed him to get them enough takeout for everyone.
Loki lay on his back, an arm around Grace as she lay snuggled into his side.
"Why don't you think about all the ways you're going to torture me thanks to your win."
She smiled but her heart wasn't in it. "If its torture you want, I was thinking a night of flower arranging."
"Ooh," he pretended to flinch. "And I thought I was evil."
"Well, there's always ornithology, we could build a hide and spend a night twitching."
"Don't you have any sexual fantasies I have yet to fulfil?"
"Not really."
"Not really? That means you must have at least one, or a vague idea of one?"
She buried her head in his chest so she wouldn't have to look at him. "Well, it's more like a recurring dream I had while we were apart, but it was my favourite dream."
"Tell me, darling."
"Well… I'd done something wrong, as in committed a crime, and I was arrested and brought before you, the King, sitting on the throne. I didn't used to know what the throne room looked like, of course, but apparently my imagination is adaptable."
"You're stalling."
"Fine. So I'm brought before you and made to kneel, and the room if full of guards and the public who come to watch trials and such, then the charges are read out and-"
"What was your crime?"
"I can never remember that bit. Something like insulting you, or striking you, bad but not evil bad."
"Go on."
"So, you ask for my defence but I don't have one, I back chat you a bit and you decide that my punishment should be public humiliation, that it will take my ego down a step or two. You have the guards strip me then you conjure some kind of boxy-table like thing and I'm strapped to it, facing the throne so I'm displayed for everyone to see. People are jeering and calling me horrible things, then you spank me, making me thank you for teaching me the lesson after each one. Then you decide that I haven't been humiliated enough and to the jeers of the people, you fuck me there, in front of everyone."
So much for having a vague idea of a fantasy.
"Anything else?" Loki asks.
"When you're finished, you make me sit between your legs for the rest of the day, while you preside over other trials, and in between, whenever the mood takes you, you fuck me again, or have me suck you off, or spank me. In one dream, you even gave me to a guard to fuck once, and in another you threw me to the public at the end. I didn't like than ending."
"Who knew you had such a vivid imagination."
"Hey, I can't control my dreams, you know," Grace huffed. "And just for that, on my first night, I'm going to introduce you to the thrilling world of cross-stitch."
"Okay, new rule, sex must be involved at some point."
"Uh uh, you can't change the rules now, mister."
"What happened too 'my king'?"
"Hey, I'm dying here, cut me some slack."
Loki pressed a kiss to her head. "You are not dying and I will not cut you any of this so called 'slack'. You are mine and you don't get to die until I allow it, got it?"
"Wow." She raised her head off his chest and gave him a slightly disgruntled look. "I think you're taking this ownership thing just a tad too far."
"I don't do things by half measures, as you may have noticed. Ownership isn't just about possession, it involves responsibility; you are my responsibility and I will not let you die, understand?"
"Aww," Grace grinned. "I knew you were a big softy really."
Loki scoffed and rolled his eyes, but he couldn't keep the smile from his lips.
Grace stretched her neck and kissed him softly.
"I want you to know, I love you."
Loki turned serious and raised a questioning eyebrow. "If you expect me to say it back, you will be waiting a long time. I will not say goodbye to you, Grace."
"This isn't goodbye, this is housekeeping, making sure everything's in order in case the worst happens."
"It's your way of saying goodbye, and you know it." He pressed her head down to his chest and she settled back against him.
"Fine," she huffed. "But if I die and you didn't tell me you loved me, I will come back as a ghost and kick your scrawny little ass."
"Agreed." Loki chuckled. "But my ass is neither little nor scrawny."
"Well, that's true."
"Now, tell me more of the tortures you wish to subject me to."
Grace chuckled, surprised to realise that she wasn't upset that he hadn't let her say goodbye and his adamant refusal actually gave her hope.
Natasha stared at the couple on the bed, who after talking in hushed whispers for a while, now seemed to be drifting off to sleep.
"She really did tame him," she said quietly to Thor.
"I do not believe Loki has been tamed, but I think she did remind him of who he used to be, and who he wants to be again. She's been very good for him."
"Are you kidding me?" Tony butted into the conversation. "Everything else that he wants, he demands but when it's food for her, he's all politeness and manners and asks nicely." Tony then slipped into awful impression of an English accent. "Oh, could someone, perhaps, if it's not too much trouble, you know, get the lovely Grace something to eat?"
Thor and Natasha looked at him askance.
"Okay, I was paraphrasing, but that's the gist of what he said."
"He cares for her welfare in a way that he does for few others people," Thor admitted. "But the changes in him are extended to others. For a while, he would never have agreed to help me save Jane."
"I hate to break it to you, Buddy, but its Grace he's saving, not Jane."
"If you think he would obey our father and let Jane die, then you don't know him. He has always revelled in mischief and breaking the rules and has willingly followed me into many dangerous situations, simply because I am his brother. After the revelations of late and what happened when he fell from the bifrost, defying Odin is just an added bonus. He would have helped me, regardless."
"Well, you're the one who has to live with him, so I hope for your sake, that's true."
They turned in unison as a cry came from the bed, and saw Loki in the throes of a nightmare. Thor and Fandral approached, intending to wake him but Grace held a hand up, stopping him. She laid still and began to sing a lullaby that Natasha only vaguely knew, and slowly Loki seemed to relax back into a normal sleep. She didn't stop singing until a smile appeared on Loki's lips, then she slipped from under his arm and off the bed.
She moved to the sofa and exhaled deeply. "Are you all right?" Natasha asked noticing that her hands were shaking slightly.
"I'm fine, it just frightens me when he has a nightmare."
"Why?" Tony asked.
"Because he's dreaming about what Thanos did to him and he woke up once while in the grip of a flashback. He can be… scary for while."
Tony wore a look of understanding, and Grace wondered who had caused his nightmares.
"So you sing him lullabies?" Natasha asked.
"I figure they hold good memories for him of us rocking Vali off to sleep for her afternoon nap. It's worked so far." She shrugged. "He's been a lot better in recent months though; it must be the stress of everything that brought it on."
"Loki has PTSD?" Steve said, sounding surprised.
"If you'd heard some of the things he says when he's dreaming, you'd understand why."
"What does he say?" Tony demanded.
"That's for him to share with you, if he wants to. He won't even talk to me about those events, I only know what I do because I didn't always know how to calm him down, and I had to lie there and listen to him screaming."
"What did it for you?" Tony asked.
Grace met his gaze and realised that he had recognised a fellow suffer.
"I killed a boy. We were fired on while on patrol and had no choice but to fire back but when it was over, I checked for survivors. When I pulled the mask of one of them, I realised he was a kid, maybe thirteen, fourteen years old. His eyes were open, staring at me. I knew I'd killed him because he had a blue shirt on and up close, I saw that it had a superman emblem on it. That firefight has haunted me ever since." She wiped a hand over her face, as if washing without water. "The Army made me get help and it worked, mostly, but I still see his face sometimes. Loki had no one to help him through it."
"Now he has you," Steve said with a surprising level of compassion, and she smiled at him.
The door opened then and the guard returned with food.
"Oh thank God," Tony said, getting to his feet and breaking the morbid meeting up. "I'm starving."
So as not to worry the townsfolk with huge, inter-galactic beams of light, the group trooped out into the desert at eleven thirty to await Frigga's arrival, knowing that Heimdall would see them. They stood around in a semi-circle, chatting in small groups while they waited.
Loki had changed back into his Asgardian attire and stood with Grace beside him, his arm protectively around her shoulder, while hers encircled his waist.
"You will be safe, won't you?" she asked.
"Retrieving the apple won't be difficult. It's facing Odin once we are finished that will be dangerous."
"Don't do it," she said suddenly.
Loki turned to face her, taking her shoulders.
"Don't say that."
"If we do this, we'll all have committed treason, we could all die and this will have been for noting. I don't want your death on my conscience."
"And I can't live without you. I won't."
"Shit happens, Loki, you have to find a way to carry on, we all do."
"Even if I agreed with you, Thor would not. He will do whatever is necessary to save Jane and I will help him."
"Why do you have to be so stubborn?" she demanded.
"So that I have the audacity to put up with you, darling."
"I think you might have that the wrong way around." Grace moved into his embrace and held him tightly.
Frigga arrived at a quarter to midnight, Vali in her arms and to Grace's relief, Vali's old baby bag slung over her shoulder.
Thor greeted her first, with a kiss, then she nodded to Fandral as Loki and Grace approached. Loki also kissed her cheek, then took Vali, who was holding her arms out and calling "Dada".
"I think she knows," Frigga admitted.
"Dada go."
"That's right, Princess, I have to go and get something for your mother."
The avengers watched him cradle the small child with awe.
"Who would have thought the Prince of Perdition could be a good dad," Tony asked rhetorically.
"Thank you for doing this," Grace told Frigga as she embraced her.
"It's my pleasure," Frigga assured her. "I have been arguing with Odin about this since Thor first met Jane, and I wasn't far away from disobeying him and going on my own anyway. Trust me, this is no imposition." she passed the baby bag to Grace. "I brought all the Earth supplies that were left and a few of her favourite toys."
"Thank you."
"Now," she looked to her sons. "Are we ready?"
Loki handed Vali to Grace, then put his arms around them. "Be careful, won't you."
"Promise," she assured him, giving him one last kiss, then stepping back to stand beside Fandral.
Loki looked to Fandral. "You'll protect her."
"With my last breath," Fandral assured him.
Loki turned to Frigga and between them, they managed to open a portal with a green shimmer. Loki took one final look over his shoulder then followed Thor and Frigga through.
Grace suddenly had the feeling that she would never see him again.
"Mama?"
Grace wiped away the tears that threatened to fall and looked to her daughter. "I'm fine, baby."
"Isn't it kind of convenient that the portal opens here?" Tony asked.
"Uh, no, not really," Grace was glad of the distraction. "Puente Antiguo means old bridge and Loki says that before the bifrost, this was the site of a permanent portal to and from Earth. That's why when Thor came to Earth without the birfost being aimed at anything, he landed here anyway."
"Like water, following the path of least resistance?"
"Exactly," she agreed as they headed back to the cars.
"So why exactly will this take them three days?"
"Because the portal to Vanaheim is fixed too, so they have to find their way from there to Idun and her orchard, and Frigga only knows roughly where it is."
"So what do we do now, wait?"
"Yep."
"Wow. Who knew that guarding the Dark Prince's gal pal would be boring."
"Well if you're after a challenge," Fandral offered. "I'd be happy to duel you. I'd like to see the metal suit I have heard so much about, in action."
"Heard about? You mean they talk about me in Asgard?"
Grace rolled her eyes. "Thanks, Fandral, his ego really needed enlarging."
"I gotta tell you, I never thought the Prince of Darkness could have such an adorable kid," Tony said, cradling Vali against his chest. She'd quickly become quite popular with Steve, Tony and Natasha.
"Don't call him that in front of her," Grace chided. She was lying in bed now, since the energy that had infected her three days ago was now taking its toll on her health.
Tony was sitting beside her on the bed, with Vali in his arms.
"Relax, she doesn't understand me, do you, darlin'?"
"Dada," Vali answered with glee.
"See, she's far more intelligent that you might think, Tony."
"But she's so small."
"But half alien."
"All right, fine, I'll tone the nicknames down when she's around, but my point still stands."
Grace wanted to argue with him but she didn't have the strength.
"Hey." They looked to the motel room door, where Steve was entering. "We just got an update on Jane, I thought you'd want to know. It's getting harder and harder to keep her cool, they're going through ice packs like it's going out of fashion but they are managing to keep her temperature to only a degree or two above normal."
"Well, Thor and the others should be back any time now," Grace tried to reassure them.
"Any word from the agents at the portal site?" Tony asked. The guards were taking shifts there, so there was someone there around the clock to bring Thor, Frigga and Loki back here.
"Nothing yet." Steve admitted. "But I'm sure it won't be long now. Do you want some more iced water?" he asked Grace.
"Please."
"Have you eaten anything recently?"
"I think I'd bring it straight back up, just the water, please."
"Sure thing."
Grace closed her eyes.
"Mama?"
"Yes, baby?"
"Mama ba goo?"
"I'll get better soon, sweetie, I promise."
"How do you understand her? Is she like, psychic or something?"
Despite how awful she felt, Grace found a smile. "No, Tony, all parents understand their kid's gibberish."
"Really?"
"Sure. I'm surprised you never had kids. Don't you want them?" With his ego, she would have thought he'd want an heir.
"Partly it was not having met the right woman, then after Pepper, it's the manic life I've been leading recently… Truthfully though, I think my father put me off. I hated my old man. I can't stand the thought that I'll be like him and my kids will hate me."
"I think you'll make a great dad," she said, finding it hard to have a coherent conversation. All she wanted to do was sleep.
"Really?"
"Just look how… you've taken to… Vali."
Tony got up and took Vali over to the couches so that Grace could sleep in peace.
"I have the child's food," Fandral said in a booming voice as he entered, until he spotted Grace's sleeping form. "Oops, sorry."
Luckily the intrusion didn't disturb her.
"Fan-al!" Vali called, grinning at him.
The warrior came over to Tony and Vali, a plastic bowl of baby food and spoon in his hand.
"I must say, you have very odd ways of feeling your young," he said as he sat down. "Whoever heard of potted baby food?"
"It's a jar, not a pot, and it's convenient," Tony answered, angling Vali towards the warrior so that he could feed her. "Means you can take your kids out with you, plus they're nutritionally balanced, which is a worry for most parents."
Fandral fed Vali in silence for a minute until Tony asked, "Do you think this will work?"
Fandral met his gaze for a moment. "I can't speak from personal experience, I have never seen anyone healed with Idun's fruit, but I do know that Loki will do whatever it takes to cure Grace."
Tony sighed.
"Can you answer me this?" Fandral replied, since they were sharing. "Are Loki and Grace correct in their distrust of SHIELD? Would they really take Vali?"
"Yeah, I think they would," Tony admitted. "SHIELD are a necessary evil, but I'd be lying if I said I always agreed with their methods."
"Then why work for them?"
"I don't work for them, I help out when they have incidents that normal means can't handle, like Loki. SHIELD's solution was to try and nuke New York."
"Nuke?"
"The most powerful bomb we have."
"Ah… Killing one's own people is rather an extreme solution."
"Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of good people who work for SHIELD but at the end of the day, you've got to follow your own conscience, a lot of evil has been done by people who were 'only following orders'."
"And if they come for Vali and Grace, what will your conscience tell you to do?"
"Defend them," Tony answered without hesitation. "I may not like her choice and I don't think I'll never understand it, but she and Vali are innocents in all this."
"I'm glad. I should hate to have to kill you."
"Same here, big fella."
They shared a grin.
By day four, Grace was unconscious and surrounded by ice packs, and the motel ice machine was working overtime as they tried to keep her cool. Everyone was on edge. Tony was pacing the length of the room, Fandral stood facing the bed, his gaze rarely leaving Grace, while Steve and Natasha sat on the couch, Vali balanced on Steve's knee. Conversation was minimal.
"How much longer?" Natasha wondered aloud.
"They must have faced difficulties on Vanaheim," Fandral explained.
"What kind of difficulties?" Steve asked.
"It's a peaceful realm but Idun lives in a remote area and of course, it has its share of dangerous creatures. I can only presume that either the journey was more difficulty than imagined, or they were attacked by something dangerous."
"Tem-sure!" Vali said, reminding them that it was time to check Grace's temperature.
"Does it freak anyone else out that the kid is so aware?" Tony asked, taking the thermometer and approaching Grace.
"I think it's sweet," Steve answered.
"It is unusual," Fandral added. "She shows the awareness of a child who is four to six years of age on Asgard. I can only assume that her development age has been halved due to Grace's influence."
"And she's tiny," Tony noted, placing the temperature strip on Grace's forehead.
"But large for an Aesir child."
"If you say so. 101 degrees."
"How long do we wait?" Natasha asked.
"As long as it takes," Fandral answered.
"Fury is still sending Jane's data and samples to doctors," Tony added. "No one is giving up."
A knock came at the door and one of the guards entered, looking to Natasha.
"Ma'am, they're here, they're being brought back to the motel as we speak."
Fandral headed over to the coffee table and began to lay out the magical supplies that Frigga had brought, which they had found packed in Vali's diaper bag. There were bottles of herbs, odd looking liquids, empty bottles, two pestle and mortars, spoons, knives, a cutting tile and stirrers.
"I'll suit up," Tony said. His suit was faster than SHIELD's planes, so it was his job to get the cure to Jane.
Natasha took her communicator out. "I need you to scramble a jet for Thor in ten."
"This is not an easy potion to make," Fandral commented. "It will likely take Loki an hour or two, at least."
"Well, I'll be ready as soon as it is," Tony answered.
Five minutes later the Asgardians swept into the room, looking battered and bruised. Loki spared a pained look at Grace, then his expression closed off and he sat before the lot coffee table, Frigga beside him. On the other side of the table, Loki placed two golden coloured apples.
"What happened?" Steve asked Thor.
"We were attacked by a Nidhogg."
"A what?"
"A sort of dragon."
"Dada!" Vali held her arm out to Loki and Steve carried her over to the table.
"Dada will play with you later, darling." Loki placed a quick kiss on her head then turned back to his task.
"Sae Mama?"
"Yes, princess, this will save your mother."
After that exchange. Vali watched her father and grandmother work in silence, seemingly rapt by their every action.
"How is Jane?" Thor asked.
"The same," Natasha answered. "They're keeping her temperature stable."
"And Grace?"
"She's been unconscious for about a day, we're keeping her stable too."
Silence reigned once more and everyone watched Loki and Frigga work. They ground herbs in the pestle and mortar, added liquids, heated or cooled the results, added more odd ingredients, ground more substances, combined them with previous concoctions, repeating until they had bowl of mushy brown liquid, which Frigga boiled and then strained.
While she did that, Loki finally picked up the apples, dicing them with the precision of a Michelin stared chef, then he ground them under the mortar, pressing the juice from them and collecting it in two clean bowls. When he had wrung all the juice that he could from them, he opened a vein over the juice and let a little of his blood flow into it.
"Is that safe?" Steve asked.
"The potion needs to copy an Aesir's immortality. The potion for Grace will copy mine, and Thor's blood will be used for Jane's potion."
He looked to Frigga and exchanged liquid she had boiled and strained, which he cooled with his powers, for the second bowl of juice, while Frigga took the other bowl and a knife over to Thor.
Loki then combined the potion with the juice and blood mixture.
"This is it," he Loki announced, and everyone took a step closer.
He slowly stirred both bowls and they watched in awe as the brown dishwater turned into a luminous shade of yellow. He carefully tipped the contents of Jane's potion into a clean bottle and capped it, then he stood up and approached Tony.
"Feed it to her slowly if you can but if not, run a tube into her stomach."
"How will we know if it works?"
"You won't immediately. Make sure you keep her cool and if it works, she should begin to recover in sixteen to twenty hours."
Tony accepted the bottle. "I'll call if I have any problems."
"I hardly need say 'be careful with it', do I?"
"Don't worry, Jane will get it."
Loki turned away, dismissing him, picked up the bowl with Grace's potion and approached the bed. He placed the bowl on the besides table and reverently brushed her hair back from her face, then he placed a soft kiss on her lips.
"Not long now, my love."
He raised her head and spooned the mixture into her lips, pleased when she swallowed it. Tony left, then Thor kissed and thanked Frigga, then went to take the waiting jet back to Jane, while Loki continued feeding Grace until the bowl was empty.
"Loki?" Frigga asked once he had finished.
He turned to her.
"Are you still shielding Thor from Heimdall?"
"Of course."
"Good, you must continue to do so. I'm going to return to Asgard now but I want you and Thor to remain here until I come for you."
"Mother," Loki approached her and put his hands on her shoulders. "I can't let you go back and face him alone."
"You can and you will. I am still your mother, Loki, and you will do as I say. Besides, he will not harm me, the people would revolt."
"I wish I could be as sure as you are."
"Trust me." Frigga smiled.
"If I must."
"Good. And you will stay here until Odin's anger has cooled."
"In case you hadn't noticed, I'm not exactly welcome here."
"I don't care, humans cannot kill you; Odin can."
"And how long are we expected to remain here for?"
"A few months at least, possibly as long as a year."
"A year? Mother-"
"No, Loki, I don't want to hear it."
With a sigh, Loki turned to Natasha and Steve.
"It appears I must throw myself on your mercy and request sanctuary." That wasn't actually as hard to say as he thought it would be, he was very surprised by Natasha's reply though.
"I'll see what I can do."
Frigga turned to Fandral. "I'm afraid that includes you too."
"I suspected as much from the moment Idun was mentioned," he answered with an easy smile. "Never fear, my Queen, I shall do as you bid willingly."
"Thank you." She turned back to Loki. "Say goodbye to your brother for me."
"I will."
"And take good care of Grace and Valencia?"
"You never have to ask that."
Frigga smiled, although her eyes were shining with unshed tears.
"Are you certain this is the right course of action?" Loki asked.
"Positive. Everything will work out for the best, Loki, trust me."
He nodded and hugged her tightly.
Frigga then took Vali from Steve and kissed her goodbye.
"My precious angel." She cooed as she stroked her hair, and Vali did her best to wrap her short pudgy arms around her grandmother's neck. "Be a good girl for your parents, won't you?"
"Ba!"
Then Frigga handed Vali to her father and left with the SHIELD guards, who would drive her back to the landing site where Heimdall could pick her up.
"I'll go and talk to Fury," Natasha said.
"I think I'll lie down for a while," Loki replied. "Battling a dragon does tend to be rather draining."
Natasha left with Steve, and Loki shucked his surcoat off and climbed onto the covers beside Grace.
"You're asking us to give sanctuary to a war criminal!" Fury yelled over the webcam link.
"We can't kill Loki, Director, he's too powerful, so isn't it better to have him as an ally than an enemy?"
"Of course it is, but selling that to the higher ups, not to mention the public, will be impossible."
"The council will see it the same way I do, especially since they get Fandral and Thor thrown into the bargain, as well as two new super-powered humans, assuming that potion works."
"And what happens when Asgard comes demanding its traitors be sent back?"
"I don't believe they will, Sir, the Queen of Asgard will do everything she can to sort this out."
"And if she can't?"
"Then we'll reevaluate."
Fury sighed. "We'll need to keep a close eye on him; is Loki willing to work for us?"
"I haven't spoken to him about that but I do believe he's changed. I think that as long as we are reasonable with him, he will be with us."
"I don't like this."
"I know."
"I'll get back to you. In the meantime, make sure he doesn't go anywhere."
"Yes, Sir."