A/N: Happy belated birthday to GreenLoki!

Part Ten.

"You look like hell," she said as she swung around, a spear that had been aimed for her head just barely missing. She shifted to the left, then to the right, and finally took her attacker's head off with on swing. This gave her time to turn to look at the man she'd been speaking to.

"I'll hold, but I do need your help in it," Loki answered with his hands raised in a fashion that spoke of his suspicion that he might be Sif's next target.

Another one of Keir's soldiers came at her and she downed him within two strikes, frowning at the length of time. "Do you really think that he could be powering it?"

The dark haired prince tilted his head, as if weighing the idea of speaking his mind on the subject. A sword came at him and found only a double, the trickster now standing just a few feet away as if nothing had happened. "I think he's… pulling from the Tesseract maybe? Perhaps through something else? He'd most likely need to shift the power through a subject so that he wouldn't be killed in the process. I'd think the boy, but a human could hardly stand it."

"But killing him should do the trick?" the goddess of war pressed.

"It should. No matter who or what he is using to keep the door open, if he's dead it should immediately cut it off."

"So I'm the distraction?"

"Unless you're suddenly feeling at ease with taking someone from behind."

"I'm no coward," she snapped, swinging the sword in her hand in an arc and taking off a head and landing the blade in the next attacker. She glanced back to see green eyes looking sharply at her.

"Nor am I," Loki said firmly, "but a win is a win, no matter how it comes. If you're suddenly taking on Thor's childhood charm of arrogantly thinking that everything can be handled with a straightforward blow…"

"I see your point. Very well."

Loki flashed a smile. "I am in your debt, m'lady."

"Very much so, because I heard you tell your brother that you were taking the human over to the opening and bringing her back, nothing more."

"I promised no such thing."

Sif frowned, both knowing very well what Thor would have heard. "Give me a moment to set my soldiers straight," she murmured and stepped away, finding a captain to speak with.

Green eyes watched and when he was satisfied that she would situate everything appropriately they turned back to the battle. Keir had brought in troops that looked to be from all the Nine Realms and beyond. Many rushed forward with an unnatural glow to their blue eyes. It was a strange thought that some were potentially Midgardians that had simply just disappeared from their day to day lives, perhaps to be killed for their new puppeteer. No one back home would be the wiser.

"Are you sure you're sure you can do this?"

"I have to. He's already echoed my skills. I can't allow Thor to get close to him."

Sif nodded as if the thought had already crossed her mind. She gripped her sword and gave him a pointed look. "Just don't get yourself killed. I will not be the one to explain to our sitting king that his brother has met his demise."

Loki offered her a broad grin. "Admit it, Lady Sif. You would miss me if I were gone."

"You forget that for a year you were gone as far as we knew."

"And you missed me."

"Well, it was much quieter."

"Are these people all under some form of hypnosis?" Ward called over the roar of the battle. He turned sharply and planted an elbow into a would-be attacker's nose.

"It certainly appears that way," Thor answered as he swung his hammer around, taking out multiple opponents.

"You think your brother got Skye over there? I haven't seen any change."

"They do seem to be endless." The blond stopped, not at all bothered by the attacks he could easily side step. They were a distraction, dispensable to Keir who had something else in mind. The Tesseract, but to what end? It was more than just a power source to the Echo, he knew that much, but he couldn't seem to work out exactly what it was to him.

"They should have been back by now," Coulson called over the fray. "Or at least something."

"You want me to go after them?" Ward yelled back, dodging what he was sure was another human wielding a sword. Electric blue eyes looked wildly at him, but closed when the bullet sunk deep between his eyes and the agent frowned, pushing back the creeping emotions. Now was not the time.

Coulson looked to be weighing his options, hazel eyes squinting into the distance where the door stood broad and open. "Go," he said at last. "And Ward? I want both of you back alive, you got it? That's an order."

The younger man nodded and started out, an Asgardian soldier stopping him some five steps forward and offering him the reins of a beautiful horse. He frowned only momentarily, muttered something unintelligible, and swung up onto the saddle to start for Skye.

"Quite a team you have," Thor murmured and he didn't miss the brief look of utter pride that flashed across the mortal's face.

"Yeah. There's something special in them. They know it when it counts."

"M'lord!"

Both immortal prince and SHIELD agent turned to see a runner, out of breath and covered in blood, though it didn't look like his own. He took a couple of deep breaths. "M'lord, the Lady Sif sent me."

"What is it?"

"They hold steady on the southeast corner, but your brother-"

"What of Loki?"

"The Lady said he is unwell and he has it in mind to face the Echo himself."

Coulson watched as the Asgardian prince's expression shifted from worry to anger and then finally evened out. "Thank you," he said at last and the man was gone. Thor ran a hand through his hair, obviously trying to suppress an outburst. "Every time," he growled out at last and turned to the agent. "I must go to my brother."

"We'll hold things down here," Phil promised. "And Thor? Make sure my people are safe?"

"Of course."

It was like setting up glass pieces on a on a very rickety chessboard that might topple at any moment. Skye was in place to transfer the power in the opposite direction when the power source was cut. The Warriors Three had been littered throughout the battlefield, assuring that the brunt of the force was well away, far enough to create an opening for he and Sif to come through. And Thor… Thor was as far away from this place as he could get him at this point. He would have prefered opening up a portal and shoving it through, dealing with the anger and the retrieval process later, but that would have drained his already limited magical resources even more than they already had been.

Loki felt a knee give out under his own weight and he just barely caught himself, hand going immediately to stitches that pulled in his side.

Sif reached out to steady him, her dark eyes holding more worry than she would have preferred to show. "How far have you thought this plan of yours through?"

"To the point that it keeps my brother out of harms way and rids Asgard of this nuisance," the second prince rasped. "Thor would rush in here, hammer swinging and the Norns only know if Keir could echo that or not." He paused, gathering himself. "Are you still with me on this?"

"I am."

"Then let's do it and be done."

He watched her as she started forward, all confidence and power held out for the world to see. She had to, as the words often thought less of the lady warrior than her male counterparts. She proved them wrong though. Every time.

It didn't take Sif long to fight through the guards around Keir, the Echo watching her every move with sharp curiosity and the tilt of his head. He seemed intrigued, but most likely he was simply soaking up every step that she took, every swing of her blade, and every ounce of strength that he could find within her, so that when she reached him - and he had to have known that she would - he could meet her face-to-face.

When her sword clashed with his spear, Loki sprinted forward, a desperate push from his magic cloaking the pains from his injury and silencing his steps. His boots made no sound against the grassy hill as he circled around back, holding to the sight of Sif meeting his blows, even if it was with greater effort than he seem to be using.

The goddess of war let out a frustrated yell and pushed hard, actually sending the Echo stepping back. A smirk perked her lips and she took a swing, only to be caught by a sudden burst magic that hadn't used on her yet. "I think we're done playing," he said and swung around, spear clanking loudly against Loki's own staff. The trickster's green eyes went wide, as he'd been sure that he'd approached with the utmost stealth.

"You think I didn't sense you, Laufeyson? I could feel your presence since I stepped foot on this world." His next blow threw the staff from Loki's hands and the next took the prince to the ground, his name on Sif's lips a few yards away, but she stopped when Keir reached a hand out, palm outward, and placed a foot on the injured Asgardian's chest, pressing down to keep him against the dirt. "Step away, Lady Sif, or I'll put another hole in him." A smile stretched as his order was heeded and he leaned closer in, Loki not able to keep the pained sound from escaping as his ribs shifted dangerously.

Keir reached a hand down, fingers reaching wide and a soft, faint glow extended from them. The prince felt his eyelids grow heavy and he struggled against it.

"Don't bother, though I am sorry that you hadn't quite got it yet. It seems you figured out that I can't pull a power as great as the Tesseract directly. Have you figured out who I'm using yet?"

A short cry bubbled in his throat and Loki's entire body gave a violent jolt, even pinned as he was.

"Nothing? Not even a guess?" Keir asked in almost a teasing manner. "I'll give you a hint. My… potential admiration for your cleverness is not all that has saved you from meeting your end here. It would have been easier, in some ways, but I needed a creature with the aptitude for channeling great amounts of energy. As the Allfather is not here, well… Though you may not be of his blood, you do hold many of his talents, do you not? Perhaps he didn't leave you entirely without inheritance after all." He paused, head tilted again in his way. "I have another wave of soldiers, Laufeyson, and I need you to keep that door open for me. You really don't have a choice in the matter, but I thought it was polite to at least make a play at asking. After all, it will most likely kill you."

Loki felt like he was being ripped apart, mind body and soul. He heard a scream that he thought was his own, and then suddenly it stopped and for half a moment he thought he might be dead. Gasping painfully he opened an eye to see the Echo's interest peaked elsewhere, and he looked to be straightening just as something collided fully with him and took him off his feet and drove him into the ground a distance away.

The object came whizzing back by and Loki heard his brother call to him.

TBC