Chapter 25

MIDGARD

Tony went over the video feed over and over again, his hands shoved in his pockets. Even without JARVIS online at the time, the surveillance system worked on a completely separate power grid and he was thankful for Pepper's foresight. There were three different fail safes on his program, there was just no way this should have happened. Nor could he figure out why the power crashed but bigger problem first. Natasha Romanoff (Black Widow) and Clint Barton (Hawkeye) were going over the room right now. They were the world's best assassins but they were both SHIELD agents on top of being Avengers, if there was anything suspect they would find it.

Sighing and turning to slowly pace, "Alright JARVIS, open a project in my personal hard drive with encryption and locking codes, file name Janie."

"Yes, sir."

Holding up a single finger, "First priority, I want the launch program triple checked for coding errors." He had to know if this was his fault.

"Running now, sir."

Nodding, "Good. Secondly, I want an analysis of Jane Foster's interactions with anyone in the last 30, no 60 days. Focus the parameters of the search to on or off site. I want a background check down to the DNA of every person." If this wasn't his fault, then no doubt they'd gotten to Jane's research. The easiest way was through her but he wouldn't put it past some asshole using one of her assistants to gain the access they wanted. He was going to have to recheck everyone's background.

"Right away, sir."

"Stark."

Blinking but not even looking up when Natasha's voice came in through the comm, "Yeah?"

"I thought you were out of the weapons making business."

Pausing in his pacing to frown. What in hell kind of question was that? Well, technically it wasn't a question but he heard one in there somewhere. SHIELD wished he was still in the weapons business, "I am."

"Did you happen to get a look at the weapons that discharged in here?"

He winced. Shit. He wasn't sure why he'd been hoping those two wouldn't notice that. It was a given they would since the holes in the glass weren't exactly subtle and he hadn't had the time to switch out the panes. Mama Fury was going to be more of a pain in the ass than a colonoscopy when he got wind of all this, "Nope." Then he frowned at the way Widow worded the question, "Why?"

"No shells or casings. High powered and the rounds the right size to mimic an uzi but no bullets, the holes are too clean." Great. Aliens who went to the trouble of blending in with humans. Just what this world needed was yet another reason to be paranoid. There was a pause and when she spoke next he knew she was talking about something else, "You should come see this."

Waving his hand a bit in the air, spinning on his heels to pace the other way, "Bit busy right now, Tasha, can't you just tell me?"

Her voice sounded befuddled, "The black substance on the arch is inching off the metal and disappearing."

Tony blinked, "WHAT?"

"Sir, I have an unknown analysis that cannot be verified."

Not responding to JARVIS for a moment, "I'll be right there. Stark, out. JARVIS, what do you mean cannot be verified?"

"We have no further background nor DNA data collected on Loki Odinson, sir."

He hated it when his AI took him too literally. He also hated it when he'd been set up to look like an idiot when it was another idiot's fault. Snarling as he picked up a paper weight and hurled it at a window. The glass broke and gravity proved it still worked, "Son of a bitch!"

Tony kept his thoughts to himself for now, looking with silent fascination as the exotic matter was indeed inching its way across the metal like small inch worms. Once at the opposite side the slivers disappeared. His eyes moved around, as if expecting to see that smug bastard's smirking face. God, he hated that Norse idiot. He was going to have to see if he could get 'Gorgeous' to get involved in this. He would give away his entire fortune just to see her wipe the floor with him. He made a mental note to watch the video of Hulk tossing Loki around like a rag doll in slow motion.

Natasha's face was blank but her eyes were intent, "Any idea what is causing that?"

What: nope. Who: he had a good guess.

He tried to pick up a sliver with some tweezers because even he wasn't stupid enough to touch it with his bare hands. As soon as he did, it disappeared. Well, there was no collecting it. And from what he could see, almost all of it was gone. Frowning, "Exotic matter is a bit outside of my expertise. From what I remember, when the arch worked the energy field was keeping it in place and calibrated." He tapped the section that had created the energy field. Everything in the tower was still functioning mostly on emergency power and he'd bypassed his energy clean system to syphon off the New York power grid until he could get the reactor working again, "If I had to guess, this is how this stuff decomposes when it isn't being contained."

"Is there anything I can do?"

Tony turned to give Bruce a small smirk. As tempting as it was to bring all three of them into his theory of Loki, until he had something to go on he would keep it to himself. Not to mention Bruce would probably Hulk out and Loki was already responsible for enough property damage to his building, "Not at the moment. JARVIS is debugging my program, checking for mistakes."

Clint and Natasha shared a look. He knew a lot that he didn't notice passed between the two of them in that one instant, "We'll debrief Fury."

Nodding absently to himself, "Yeah, you do that." He was being petty and he knew it but he just had no interest in sharing with people who clearly had no problem lying to his face. Not to mention the sad fact was that other than file a report there wasn't a whole lot anyone could do. Jane was gone, possibly dead. The wormhole was a bust and he had no idea how she'd gotten her hands on the exotic matter. It wasn't in her notes and no one had a clue. One day she'd simply walked into the tower with a box in her hands and voila. Loki was, for the most part, untouchable as long as Thor was MIA. Damn he needed a drink but he needed a clear head more, at least for a couple of hours. Bruce narrowed his eyes a little to himself but walked quietly away back to his lab. Once they were off the floor Tony spun around, "JARVIS, lock the doors."

"Yes, sir."

Looking intently at the screen, "Show me Loki's interactions with Janie."

Outside of Stark towers, at a local coffee shop, the two shared a table and talked for several hours at a time. Daily. Tony frowned. How could Jane not know who this was? There were some subtle differences but it was a little obvious to him. Or maybe it was because he knew who it was and anyone else could just pass off a similar appearance, "Do we have any audio, JARVIS?"

"Regrettably, no, sir."

Tony sighed and rolled his eyes, "Figures." Frowning thoughtfully, "Is this all the interactions they had together?"

"With the exception of a conference in Norway, yes, sir."

Tony felt his eyebrows hike up even further. The conference that she'd gone with Bruce to? He started getting a bad feeling that Bruce may know more than he was saying. He grimaced. As if he had any room to judge about withholding facts. He exhaled slowly, no. Get the facts and then confess to the rage monster that the Avengers were falling apart at the seams. Gritting his teeth, "Get a closer view of his face." The video feed was magnified, no audio, but Tony watched carefully for facial expressions. The lift of an eyebrow. The crinkling around his eyes as he smirked. Eyes flashing of passion over a specific subject. And then, just as she turned to leave, "Freeze it." Tony blinked in shock, "Well I'll be damned in a tutu." He knew that look and he was suddenly glad he hadn't jumped the gun about letting anyone, yet again, get misdirected by the Loki-shaped distraction. Loki was a coincidence, something else was going on. The look on Loki's face mirrored the same feeling that coursed through his heart every time Pepper stepped into the room, "You have no idea you're in love with her." Tony crossed his arms over his chest and shifted his weight back onto one foot as something occurred to him, "JARVIS, we have video of Janie coming in with the tropical stuff, right?"

"If you are referring to the package containing the exotic matter, then yes, sir."

Grinning, glad that at least his AI understood him before looking thoughtful, "Do we have footage of Loki giving her that package?"

There was a pause, JARVIS no doubt searching through the video footage, "We do, sir, shall I play it for you?"

He exhaled slowly, back at square one. But then something else occurred to Tony and he tucked it into the back of his mind for now. Loki may not be an idiot after all. And if he had the brains to keep up with Janie he had to know his New York plan was full of gaping holes. Not to mention he'd all but given them the location of the portal. Tony had other priorities right now but that thought was going to have to be investigated. Glancing around the room again, "JARVIS, take Loki off the list of suspects concerning Janie's accident but keep digging, also start using the surveillance system from here and work backwards. I want to know where those alien creeps came from."

"Yes, sir." He huffed but headed for the elevator. Time to see why the reactor was still on the fritz.

ASGARD

It wasn't often that Odin went down into the dungeons, in fact the last time that he had was in the dead of night, to see Loki sleeping fitfully in his cell. But this particular errand needed to be handled with discretion. He located the glowing cell easily enough since it had been the same one that Loki had been placed in, just without the accommodations he'd afforded his son.

Amora was feeling decidedly miserable and it hadn't even been a week. How had Loki handled almost a year and not gone insane? The magic containment made her skin itch and the nature of the enclosure left her slightly claustrophobic. There was no one to talk to and nothing to do. It just wasn't fair. A few lies, that was it, and she receives an entire week in the dungeons? Not to mention Loki had done far, far worse things before and not received punishment. It wasn't fair. Somehow, she was going to get even with the All-Father.

She cut off her dark musings when she noticed the king approaching unescorted, scrambling to her feet from sitting on the bare floor and looking suitably pitiful, "All-father."

Folding his hands behind his back as he stopped in front of the cell, "I think sufficient time has passed for a more honest dialogue…would you not agree?"

If it got her out of this cell she would do anything. ANYTHING. Nodding her head enthusiastically, "Oh yes, sire, I will speak on any topic you desire."

Holding up a hand, "Have you encountered Thanos?"

Ducking her head down contritely, "No, sire."

Odin nodded, no surprise on his face, "I thought not. Do you even know if he is on Titan?"

Remorse in her voice, "No, sire." Then brightening, "But I can speak of his emissary, the Other."

Brow furrowing. That name didn't even sound remotely familiar, "The Other?"

She clasped her hands together, "He works on Thanos' behalf…I believe the Chitauri were originally his before he gifted them to his master. He is a bit of a Seer if I'm not mistaken." His expression cleared. Of course. The leader of the Chitauri that had tortured Loki into submission. He'd known what the creature looked like but not his name.

Forming a frown, "And why would Asgard have interest in such a creature?"

Her fingers toyed with one of the bracelets on her left wrist. Loki was a practical mage, everything that he wore having a specific purpose. Amora had several pieces that had no function except for looks, "He plots on Midgard with Thanos' army of Skrulls…I believe he is after an infinity gem for Thanos."

Making a scoffing sound, "The Tesseract was already retrieved by Thor."

Speaking softly while being careful not to let the 'you idiot'she was thinking to escape, "There are six gems, sire."

Odin stood up a little straighter, blue eye glinting and clearly knowing exactly what had crossed her mind. Perhaps she hadn't been careful enough in her tone, "Be wary, Amora, there is much lenience my son was afforded that you shall not be."

Also true. Even at his worst, freshly returned from Midgard and facing sentencing, he'd said things that anyone else would have faced beheading. Clearing her mind and bowing, "Sire."

"Good. Now, to the gem. Do you know this for fact?"

Swallowing nervously, "I know of the number of gems, but not if that is his true plan. Merely whispers and suspicions. But to assemble the Infinity Gauntlet is all that Thanos craves…other than winning death's favor."

Shaking his head, "Thanos is ever more the fool for believing he will ever be granted that."

"Sire?"

Raising an eyebrow at the witch, "Just who do you believe Lady Death is?"

Blinking, "She-…ooh, I see." A crafty smile crossed her lips. She did see. Thanos would be in for a very nasty surprise if he threatened the World Tree with the Infinity Gauntlet. Hela for the most part remained neutral on a great many matters, with the exception of all things Loki. At the same time, threatening the stability of Yggdrasil would cause her to act and she would unleash her army of the dead on the living to prevent it.

Voice gruff, "What do these 'whispers' say concerning this gem on Midgard?"

She didn't even have to guess this part. She'd been on Midgard just long enough to see how fascinated humans were with the internet and YouTube. They must have recorded Loki from long range on more than half a dozen angles fighting Thor on Stark Towers with his scepter. She knew that gem as soon as she'd seen it, "The mind gem, sire."

Nodding, "Very well." He would have to send Thor to retrieve it before the Other, and therefore Thanos, got their hands on it, "One other matter since you spoke of Chitauri. Do you know of there being clusters of them or are all now under Thanos' rule?"

A bittersweet smile crossed her lips, not even considering not telling Odin what she knew…and hoping the truth burned like bile in the back of his throat, "Prince Loki was innocent. The Chitauri follow Thanos' will alone, and your son was nothing more than a tortured puppet."

She wasn't surprised she couldn't see a hint of sorrow. Odin was very good at hiding his emotions when he wanted to. Instead he nodded slowly, "Your penance is ended in the morrow. You will be brought before court and give them the truth of Prince Loki's innocence. Once your duty is concluded you may return to Asgard as a courtier…" His eye narrowed, "If you can refrain from further ploys."

A deep curtsey, "Most assuredly, your majesty, you will not regret it."

He didn't say it out loud, but his doubt was easily seen on his face.

ALFHEIM

Jane smoothed down the dress, checking the back just to be sure Loki hadn't done something to it: like removed the back or something prankster worthy. It was a beautiful, light material of soft blues and ambers and it flowed almost to her ankles. She had no idea where he'd gotten the material but this dress and several others had been in a bureau that had appeared along the wall. There were a few breaches matched to tunics as well but for now it was still warm enough in the day for the dresses. She smoothed one finger over her necklace and tucked it under the material. Slipping on a pair of simple tan shoes that were almost ridiculously soft, she walked through the house and sat down on the porch next to Loki who was looking up at Indel who kept shouting 'Look at Me!' every few seconds and performing gymnastic worthy stunts along the branches. If that were her little boy she would have died of a heart attack several times over by now. From the corner of her eye she could see Loki was smiling ever so slightly, mildly amused and nothing more.

Yeesh. Demi-gods.

Jane let her mind drift away from the ever-present worry of how dangerous her current company was and let herself pretend that this was all a strange dream, complete with dream-Loki whose snark and snarl was much worse than his bite.

"So how does the whole age thing work?"

One of the little chicks rested quietly in Loki's hands. Two of them were tucked into Jane's lap and the fourth one had somehow managed to climb or crawl or jump on to Jane's shoulder. Raising both eyebrows, "Excuse me?"

Huffing, "You're centuries old, right?"

He tilted his head slightly in an affirmative motion, "I am a little more than a thousand years old, correct."

Gaping, "O-okay…geez you're well preserved." He huffed in amusement and fixed his eyes on Indel swinging from a branch like a little monkey, blue tail swishing. Tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, "I mean, how do you age?" He glanced at her and wrinkled his nose just slightly in confusion even though his eyes were amused, "On Earth, uh Midgard, one year is an orbit around the sun. Childhood until we turn 18…how does it work for AEsir?"

He'd figured out what she meant well before now but, well, he was the God of Mischief after all and he liked to toy with people, "Ah. Well, Indel is a primary example. AEsir and elves have similar aging cycles. He is not quite four of your years and he resembles a mortal child of similar age. When he is perhaps five or six his growth will slow dramatically so that several decades will pass before he begins to appear older. As he gets old enough to enter his first proving ground as a warrior, I believe you call it a teenager, the rate of change will slow down even further so that almost a whole century can pass before he appears to age a year. For AEsir and elves, maturity occurs around…well it will be many centuries."

He was dancing around something but she was too excited in learning to dwell, "How many?"

Waving a hand, "Thor. He is one hundred and fifty-two years older than me, but was a seven year old in appearance when I was but an infant." Smirking, "Seven years later his little sibling was not so little." Amusement fading when he realized where his train of thought was leading, "He was old enough for his coronation just before he was sent to Midgard in exile."

Thinking about how Earth royalty were usually crowned, "Huh…so Thor's like 21 in human terms?"

Shrugging casually, "Something to that effect...as adults our appearance of aging slows down even further. Someone with the appearance of a 40 years old will in actuality be over 4,000."

She paused to look at him a little closer to see his expression completely closed off. It didn't take her more than a second of backwards math to realize that by AEsir standards he was a lot younger than she expected, possibly only 19, even though both he and Thor looked to be in their mid-twenties. She thought about asking, but it occurred to her by the way he was avoiding the answer that it would only end with him getting defensive and probably ruining her chances in learning about Asgard and the universe from him. Blinking, "What about your father?"

His stiff posture eased at her acceptance to his unspoken resistance. Yes, he was young for an Asgardian but compared to humans he was ancient. He was not about to be mocked for his youth by a mortal and he appreciated that she respected that. He appreciated it enough that he was willing to answer most of her questions honestly, "Odin is more than 7,000 years old." Jane's eyes widened incredulously and Loki smirked, "Impressive, I know, even by our standards." His smirk faded, "He is approaching the end of his reign, then Thor will take up the mantle and his first born will ascend…etcetera, etcetera."

"How long-…I'm sorry."

Waving his hand lightly, reciting what his mother had often told him, "Death is a part of life." His voice softened, tinged with regret, "Considering the prevalence of his Odin Sleep, if he lives another century I will be surprised." A worry had been rising steadily in the back of his mind that his anger had pushed to the side. Without mother, who would watch over him when next Odin slept? Certainly not Thor. The thunderer never did understand that a sleep not carefully monitored could lead to Odin drowning in his own power and slipping away quietly…not at all a fitting death for such a great warrior.

Indel came bouncing up to them, holding a tree lizard in one hand, "Look what I found, da-…" He looked down at the lizard before scrunching up his face, "Da-a-da."

Raising an eyebrow at his whine, "Yes?"

"He pooped on me!"

Jane slapped a hand over her mouth to muffle her giggles as Loki sighed indulgently, "Let him go." Indel visibly considered the merits of letting the gross lizard go as opposed to keeping him and opened his hand, the lizard dropping to the ground and scrambling away. All four chicks 'peeped' aggressively and gave chase, following the lizard into the forest. Indel moved to wipe his hand on his pants leg and Loki instantly caught him at the wrist, "Wash your hands."

Pouting, "Magic it away?"

Pushing him lightly towards the bathroom, "No. Wash your hands." Indel pouted harder but stomped inside. Jane was frowning a little at him and he sighed, "If I indulged him he wouldn't learn not to pick up everything within reach."

The little chicks returned, one of them walking triumphantly with a lizard tail in its small beak. The rest of the lizard had no doubt been devoured. Thankfully Jane's back was to them but Loki made a mental note to upgrade their diet without telling her. He could already imagine her screaming if she found out what those 'cute' little chicks were going to turn into.

Her brow furrowed slightly, "Where would it go if you 'magicked' it away?"

Smirking, "It depended on the spell I used." She lifted a challenging eyebrow, "The simple spells could apply water to it…or toss it into dimensional storage where it would decompose." That was a simple spell? "If I wanted to be creative I could break it down into individual components…or perhaps just disperse it on an elemental level."

Frowning, "Elemental level?"

Nodding slowly, "Yes, the water that we drink, the air that we breathe, it is comprised of life itself."

Brow furrowing, "Molecules-atoms. You can break matter down to its individual molecules." An evil little smirk curled Loki's lip, as if he found her words amusing…but not that he found them wrong. Jane mentally shrugged and just decided to be blunt, her need to know overpowering her caution. She was in the presence of the expert, how could she pass up such an opportunity? Rubbing her hands together excitedly, "Magic." He raised an eyebrow, intrigued by the brightness of her eyes, "What is it? How do you do it? How long did it take you to learn it-just, tell me everything."

"Everything?" She nodded enthusiastically and he bared his teeth in a very wide, very evil smirk.

OUTSIDE OF THE NINE REALMS

Malekith turned his gaze away from the distant cities burning in ruin, watching the turquoise skies fill heavily with smoke and ash, blocking out the cursed light from the distant devil stars the planet orbited around. He smiled and it was a terrible sight. Soon the end would come and once more the darkness would return. He eagerly anticipated that moment.

Thanos was having a few of his ever present mercenaries line the surviving citizens in front of one another, using one of the weapons he created to accumulate cosmic energies in an attempt to kill them all in one shot. It wasn't the most imaginative method he'd seen but he wasn't going to mention it. Since Lady Death had yet to appear apparently she wasn't impressed either.

He had to keep reminding himself to be patient. He'd waited this long, what was a little longer? He glanced down at his arm and felt the familiar rush of anger. At the audacity of Odinson. At Asgard. And yes, at Thanos. If the titan had a single brain cell in his skull he would have yanked him back from present to past while he still possessed the Aether. That would have made sense. But no, Thanos didn't utilize his brilliant invention until after Malekith had been defeated and seconds from death. One instant there, his death assured and the Aether lost, the next he was yanked back in time by several years and across distant space to Midgard's realm on a scorched moon called Titan and unable to change his defeat.

Something crunched under his boot as he walked. A rock? A skull? It made no difference. The Skrulls dug furiously, already ten feet down and making impressive headway. Supposedly the Gem of Reality was here. He had his doubts but he wasn't about to utter them out loud. Thanos already had the Gem of Souls and the Gem of Power. Once he had the third, he would make his move to attack Asgard and Midgard.

The dark elf paced and the Skrulls toiled. Beneath the layers of thousands of years of dirt and sediment was a thick lining of rock that would take them a month to break through. Beneath that was an entrance to a set of maze-like catacombs that would take them even longer to navigate.

In the furthest chamber, covered in cobwebs and dust, a marble pedestal stood erect in the center with a card lying neatly where once the Reality Gem had been displayed. It might be Loki's writing. It might be Hela's since the two had identical penmanship.

The thought of being outmaneuvered by a mere Jötunn runt must BURN.

See you in Asgard,

Loki

NOTES:

This chapter just loved to give me problems but not to worry, it's all good!

(Tony had an attitude, so naturally Loki had to have an even bigger attitude and Indel just copies everything Loki does...sigh) ;)

NEXT:

Jane hates hunting; Hela and Thor exchange a few...words and drag Odin into it