Wanda's eyes blinked open blearily, her face snuggled into the gold and silver pillows that she was laying upon. Yawning, she stretched, and sat up, holding the sheets to her pale skin, using her free hand to push the hair from her face delicately. She swung her feet over the edge of the bed, noting that her lover was not there.

Her bare feet went across the stone floors, her blue eyes looking to the windows. She moved to take a look outside, a small smile on her face. Despite everything, she was still happy to be here, even if it was under less than ideal circumstances.

Her eyes spotted a note left on the table in the room, and she picked it up, reading over it.

"Beloved,

I'm sorry I could not be there when you awoke. I had matters to attend to with my brother.

There is a dress in the wardrobe. I hope you like it. We are all meeting for breakfast at 9am your time. Knowing you, you will be up well before that.

I will see you there.

Loki."

She smiled fondly, and moved to the wardrobe, discovering a undergarments and a silky red dress with gold trimmings, and a gold sash to go with it. Her headpiece was there with it, and her fingers trailed the metal alloy that made up her headpiece. Moving from there to the attached bathroom, she turned the shower on and got under the hot stream of water, allowing her thoughts to wander as she washed herself.

So much had happened lately…

She had lost Pietro, but she had found someone who her soul resonated with. She had discovered how to control her magic, and had become an asset. She was finally more at ease, and it showed in the way she controlled her abilities.

She grabbed the sponge in the bath, and thoughtfully smiled. Hopefully things would stay as good as they had been recently. That was all she could hope for, to be honest.

Finishing her shower, she dried herself with a fluffy towel, and moved back to the clothes.

As she pulled the clothing on, she reached to the nearby dresser and grabbed a brush, sitting and pulling the knots from her hair. A knock at the door caught her attention, though. She stood, and walked over, a pleasant look on her face that turned to concern when she saw who was at the door.

"May I enter, Miss Maximoff?"

She backed up to allow the ruler of Asgard, the Allfather himself, into the chambers, bowing her head respectfully. He waved, a sign for her to drop the formalities.

"What can I do for you?" she asked, trying to portray confidence in her voice.

He gave her a look, before taking note of her attire. His features grew more cross as he noted the distinctly Asgardian attire she was wearing.

"We need to have a discussion about my son, Miss Maximoff." he said, giving her a direct look. She nodded. She could, after all, appreciate someone who was direct to the point. "As you more than likely know, the way my son is after all, his brother Thor's woman is expecting a child. He is unable to take the throne when I will inevitably need him to."

She gave him a questioning look. "Why not? You raised children, and took care of your kingdom? Why can't he do the same?"

He gave her another cross look. "Because my children would not age and die in the time span that it took me to fight in a battle. "

There is was. She straightened, her eyes growing more cross, if that was possible. "That should have nothing to do with that… and if I'm not mistaken, you did not exactly raise two pure blooded Asgardian sons either…"

He advanced towards her a step, causing her to raise her chin in defiance. "I saved Loki's life. Were it not for me, he would be dead. And I did my best to fix the problems of his parentage." he said, as she scoffed. She was not going to be respectful to someone who treated her like garbage.

"You made his adult life a living hell. You dangled the throne in his face like a carrot on a stick, and then you yanked it up and away. You fostered a hatred between Thor and Loki and caused them to be at each others throats. You brought war into your own household! And for years you lied to him! You told him he was something he was not, and caused him to have an emotional and mental breakdown! But he should be grateful?"

With that, Odin let out a sound of rage and moved towards her in anger, ready to strike her down where she stood. However, she raised her hand and pushed back against him with her magic, stopping him in his tracks.

"You will not speak to me that way, woman! You think you will treat me like this in my own house?!"

She shook her head, but kept the webs of red magic flowing around her, her eyes glowing a deep scarlet. "Not at all. You came in here and decided to tell me what I should do, and put down your own son."

He scoffed. "Typical. You cannot stop and think about the future. I need a son who is clear-headed to take the throne. That is not Thor any longer. You need to step aside and allow Loki to ascend to King of Asgard. Without you. He needs an Asgardian wife, who will bear him immortal heirs, not heirs who will die before he has even aged a day in your eyes. What will you do, woman? When you are frail and old, and your husband is still young? When you and I look alike in age, while my son stays the same? You are a plaything to him!"

With that, she roared in anger, before her magic exploded from her hand and threw him out the door, right as it opened back up to reveal Loki, who had been standing there listening to the end of the conversation and who was now shaking in repressed anger.

As Odin stood up, Loki held his staff down, and motioned for Wanda to come out of the room. Wanda went to him, but stood strong beside him, causing Odin to give her a strange look.

"I had thought you could go no lower, father…" he said, causing Odin to give his son a slightly sympathetic look. "You are never satisfied. Father, you know what? We do not need your plans to stop the Jotuns. Thor and I have an idea on putting a stop to all of this madness on Midgard… and then he, and I, will return there with our women. Strip us of our immortality, I care not and I know Thor would not care either. But you will not interfere."

With that, Loki allowed Wanda to walk in front of him, and as they both reached the end of the hall, he stopped. His head turned around slightly. "You once loved Mother with all of your soul. She was not of Royal blood, but you told us you had defied your father to be with a sorceress, because her power of magic and her beautiful heart made up for anything she lacked. Perhaps, Thor and I see something in Wanda and Jane that you cannot, because you have become clouded in your vision like your father before you." And with that, they left, leaving Odin to stand and stride away, both angry and thoughtful.

Once Loki and Wanda were well away from Odin, he turned to look her over, concern across his face. "Wanda… are you alright? You were not hurt at all, were you?"

"No, I am fine. Annoyed, but fine… your father is a complete bigot against Midgardians! He sees no worth for us at all, does he?"

Loki's head dipped down, but moments later he cupped her chin with his hand and had her look into his eyes. "What his views about you are, are irrelevant. I find value in your kind, as does Thor. You are important. You are powerful. One day, he will see the error in his judgment, and will, as your people put it, kick himself in the ass for it." he said, causing her to chuckle, as he got a mischievous smile on his face.

"Now, you are dressed far too beautifully to let that go to waste. And I'm sure you're hungry. Let's go to breakfast. I think the others are waiting for us there, and Thor and I have a plan to get that device from the Jotuns, but it will require everyone working in tandem."

Over breakfast, the planning was going about as well as could be expected.

"You two are out of your minds… The last time we dealt with those things, according to you, Clint Barton was put under your mind control. No offense." Tony said, sitting back with his arms crossed.

"The power in these artifacts… gems, to be more fair… is astounding. Each one has different gifts. The one I had gave me control over the mind. There is one that we recently found which gives one control over time. I believe, according to a vision Thor had, that there are six of the stones total. In fact, I think one of them, the one I had used, is in Vision's head." Loki said as he paced around the table.

Vision nodded. "He is correct. And I believe his and Thor's theory is in fact a sound one. The power of the gem and the darkness that has been witnessed with it, all seems to depend on who has the gem in his or her possession. I am not evil, and I have a gem inside of me. It is a plan worth attempting."

Natasha gave Loki a look. "Ok, you have experience with this… explain how we'd use these gems."

Thor grinned and stood up. "Actually, we only need the one. If Jane can get a machine up and running, which can harness the power of the gem we currently have, the one which controls time, then we can halt time for only the Jotuns. It's, as you Midgardians put it, like hitting the pause button, but only for them."

Loki picked up where Thor left off at that. "And once that has been done, all we'd need is a catalyst… I can manipulate ice over there, because of the Casket of Ancient Winters, and I have no idea if it would effect the powers of the 'time gem', as we can call it. So we'd need another person who can wield sorcery to control it's effects."

Wanda looked at him and nodded. "I'm guessing you mean me."

Loki nodded. "You'd come with us, but you would be our catalyst. Jane could transfer the power of the gem to you, in controlled amounts. You would then halt time for the Jotuns, stopping them dead in their tracks. We would be in and out before they knew we had even arrived, literally."

Steve nodded, having listened to the whole plan before coming to any judgments. "Sounds pretty good, but all of the mystical stuff is a bit confusing… are you sure that this time gem would be able to do this?"

Bruce, who had also been quiet, smirked. "He has no idea. Do you?" he asked Loki, who gave him a look.

"We've been experimenting with the gem, and we have some idea of what it does."

"But you aren't fully sure that it's going to work like you think it will, are you?"

Thor interjected at that. "If anyone can understand and make this work, it will be Jane. She is one of the best scientists that I know, and has actually been researching this first hand since she came into contact with the power gem, which we called the Aether. We are, slowly, beginning to figure out what each gem does, as we come into contact with them and their power remnants can be studied. Jane can do this."

With that, there was silence, as everyone thought the idea over. They would not get many chances, and their time was running out… the armies of Asgard were smaller than they once were, while the armies of the Jotuns had grown, according to the intel they had gotten.

This may be their only chance.

Steve looked up, his eyes hard, but determined. "We'll do it. We try this. We have no other ideas, and we're running out of time."

And running out of time they were. As the little gem in the science wing of Asgard glowed, far off in another part of the Galaxy, five explorers, a ragtag little group, were tracking down the power coming from the gem in waves, and had set a course, in their new ship, directly to Asgard, hopping across the realms at a swift pace.

On the ship, one particular, scientifically oriented, and adorably furry, individual was taking readings from the gem with a smirk on his face. Adjusting his gun on his hip, the small but fierce little creature looked down at the incredibly small, wooden child-like individual next to him, and chuckled.

"Looks like we're getting ready to get another one of those damn stones. We've only been looking for one for months now. You ready for this, buddy?"

The smaller of the two had a smile on his face, and his eyes shone with innocent excitement. He uttered three words.

"I am Groot!"