With that Coulson whisked them off to a SHIELD helicopter and they spent a while flying over the ocean. Loki's eyebrows rose when they came to what looked a Navy ship. Since this was a SHIELD vessel it had to be more than what it appeared.

"Welcome to the SHIELD helicarrier. Director Fury would like to see you two in private for a moment and then he'll bring you to the rest of the team," Coulson informed them.

A reaming for hiding myself. Oh joy.

"Why does a prince leave his home for here," Fury asked.

"Your psych people profiled me correctly Director. I'm with Tony because he has a lot of the same 'issues' I have," Loki replied cheekily.

Tony smiled cheekily and Fury glared at him.

"That is not a cheerful image. Stark, you've been hosting a self-exiled prince who happens to be an embodiment of mischief and chaos for months. I shouldn't be surprised," Fury muttered.

"I know quality when I see it and Loki is quality. Does that help with the self-esteem issues Reindeer Games?"

"Indeed. I'm so alone and only Tony understands. Woe is me," Loki replied with a doleful face.

Fury glared at him now.

"Alright I get it. It figures that one of the only people Stark could have a functioning relationship with is an alien. Moving on, I appreciate you telling us. What can you tell us about the tesseract, this Malekith person or the mind altering power he has?"

"The tesseract was the Allfather's. I don't know how it got here. It is secretive and dangerous from what I have read. Malekith is the worst of the dark elves. I came forward because I could not risk being able to fight him and hide from you at the same time. The mental powers sound like a lost gem from the Infinity Gauntlet. That jewel gives the power to change someone's mental calibration to fit the wielder. They see the wielder as being the center of their universe. I would imagine that, to break the spell, you would need to be able to affect someone mentally. For lack of a better suggestion I suggest hitting them on the head hard. That should act as reset procedure," Loki suggested.

"Thank you for your help. It's time for you two to meet the rest of the team. Coulson mentioned Bruce Banner. You've already met Agent Natasha Romanov. Another person is the agent under Malekith's control. I want to save him if possible. Agent Barton, aka 'Hawkeye', is the world's best archer and a nearly matchless fighter. The last member of the team is someone we managed to find after a long time. Stark, I don't know what your father told you about Captain America," Fury stated.

Tony's eyes hardened. Loki knew Tony felt about Captain America like Loki did about Thor. Captain America was the one his father complimented and invested his time in. Tony knew now that his father had been proud of Tony but it still rankled.

"Whatever your issues you've got to stow them Stark. Loki, no pranks," Fury commanded.

Loki looked at his friend.

"I guess the whole saving the planet thing has to come first," Tony conceded with a sigh.

Loki hid a smirk. Tony hadn't said anything about no pranks after they saved Earth.

Fury led them into a meeting room. Loki's eyes were drawn immediately to Agent Romanov. She was her usual determined self, but something about her seemed at once harsher and more brittle than usual. Anyone else would not be able to discern it but Loki could. Loki respected her because they were a lot alike in some ways. The idea of her in pain was wrong. It was clear that this Hawkeye was someone who meant a lot to her. He thought how he would feel if someone he cared for, like Tony or Pepper, was taken in such a way. It made him want to reach out to her. He knew what it felt like to be alone. He also knew what it felt like to be helped and know you weren't alone. He went and sat next to her.

"It won't be pleasant, but the first thing you must do when you see him is to hit him on the head very hard and it will turn him back to normal," Loki consoled her.

She blinked and then nodded calmly. He saw a spark of hope enter her eyes. Tony sat next to Bruce Banner.

"I love your work. I also love how you lose control and turn into a giant green rage creature," Tony greeted.

Banner looked at Tony like Tony was nuts. Loki held back a laugh. Fury sighed.

"That is Tony Stark. He is Iron Man and good with computers," Fury gave by way of introduction.

"Good! Come on, Nick, I'm great!"

Loki held back a groan and a laugh at the same time. Besides Tony, Thor was the only person to have caused such a mixed reaction at times.

"This is Loki. Yes, that Loki except the myths don't capture how skilled and serious he is," Fury added.

Captain America looked at Loki with the curiosity of someone who had read mythology extensively at some point. Dr. Banner accepted him with the weariness of someone who was used to accepting the odd. Agent Romanov didn't look a bit surprised. Loki wouldn't be surprised if she was the one to make the suggestion he really was Loki. The psychology comments probably came from her too. She was quite skilled.

"We need to find Malekith quickly. Reports state he recently stole some iridium. The only reason we know it was him was because Barton missed one of the cameras," Fury informed them.

Banner spoke up.

"Malekith would need that to stabilize the portal."

"If he played it right he could use it to make the portal bigger too. Doc, it's so good to find people who understand the important things in life," Tony added.

"Malekith is either taking us very seriously or not at all. If he is taking us seriously he is trying to evade us and succeeding. If he is not taking us seriously he doesn't think revealing himself to test our skills is worth his time," Loki commented.

"Either way, we need to stop him before he opens that portal. Get going," Fury ordered.

The meet and greet established Fury let them go off to make their preparations. Tony and Banner went to a lab to start building a machine to track the tesseract's gamma radiation. Loki managed to commandeer a room high up with a view of the ocean. He sat down, pulled his staff from a pocket dimension and balanced it against his knees. Having its power and remembering what it symbolized emboldened him. Loki had a chance to help the realm which had given him so much. Yes, he made lots of donations and had helped SHIELD here and there. This was the first time, however, in which he would be fighting openly as himself. He would prove himself useful. Fury and the others would be glad of his presence and have reason to defend him should the need arise.

He subtly reached out with his magic and tried to find the tesseract. He didn't know if Malekith would know about Loki from Hawkeye. At any rate he would not want Malekith to know if Loki found his location. He worked hard at it, but scrying was not one of Loki's strongest abilities. This was especially true as Malekith had to be trying to hide the tesseract from everyone especially Heimdall. Surely leaving the mortals to face a dark elf alone would be seen poorly. Unless Odin already knew Loki was here and deemed Loki enough. When has he ever had faith in you? No, he does not know you are here.

It turned out Tony and Dr. Banner found the tesseract first.

"It turns out he's in the middle of nowhere. The nearest place is a small town called Puente Antiguo," Dr. Banner revealed.

Loki frowned.

"Can I see this place on a map?"

When he saw it he cursed himself for a fool. Of course Malekith would want his army to come there. Then he would have a chance to kill anyone from Asgard as they stepped out from the Bifrost point to help.

"That is a Bifrost point. He could ambush forces sent from Asgard to help us in the battle. The Allfather made an oath that humans would be free to grow without being endangered by the other realms. He would, if he knew what was going on, probably send assistance," Loki stated.

I say 'probably' because he lied to me every time he called me 'son'. I have no faith in his abilities to keep oaths. Think about father issues later and defending the Earth now!

"At any rate this is near where the Bifrost could open. I learned the points for most of the nine realms when I traveled," Loki added.

"The myths call you 'sky traveler'," Captain America put in while giving him an interested look. Loki could understand why Tony would look disgruntled. Loki was Tony's shield brother and not this man who stole Tony's father's attention. What surprised Loki was that something seemed off about Coulson. Hmm. Coulson was rather determined to serve. Perhaps Captain America had been a role model. Now Captain America was paying Loki attention and none to Coulson. Loki had never been in a situation like this before. He had always been the one neglected. He would be lying if he didn't admit it felt nice to be the one paid attention to. Was this how Thor had felt, did feel? Remembering how being neglected had felt made it easy for Loki to not enjoy the sensation too much.

"They did but remember I am far different from the myths. Back to the subject at hand. We need to get that town evacuated," Loki put in.

Fury nodded to Coulson who left the room already starting to give orders.

"Will we get there in time," was asked by Captain America. Tony, Loki and Banner exchanged looks. The uncertainty they felt did not help things.

"We can only try," Banner answered.