Steve walked through the hospital hallway, all the while the staff stared at him. He should be used to this by now. Even when he does decide to go out for a while, all he gets are stares. He wasn't the bad guy in all of this. He was trying to make it right, that's what his job was, right?

"The sentinel of liberty."

There were times back in the war when Steve wanted to save everyone. He wanted to give everyone a fighting chance…but who'd have thought all of his work…all that he fought for could be undone by one liar.

Steve knew that the time for patient info gathering was over, no matter what the others said, he needed to return the world back to normal, anyway that was necessary.

The tower wasn't too far from the hospital, and within minutes Steve found himself at the front gate, with Tony waiting there for him.

"Steve…we need to talk."

Steve rolled his eyes. Tony was giving him that look that said "There's a problem." Why was Tony getting so worked up over it? Yes, Steve burned down the apartment, but he made sure no one was occupying it. No one got hurt and Lok…Luke, would move in so they could further study him. It all worked out fine, and really, given Tony's checkered past he had no right to judge anyone on anything.

"Tony look, I-"

"We have visitors."

Tony led Steve through the gates, and the hallway to the team's living room. There sitting against the couch were three very men. One was considerably larger than the other, his red beard fell down to his shirt (possibly hiding a stain), the second had a grim smirk on his face (he looked as if he didn't quite know how to smile) and the third (for all intents and purposes) was very handsome.

"Uh…hello." Steve said as he walked further into room.

The man with the beard stood and smiled. "Yes. You are the noble soldier. I am Volstagg the Valiant." The man bowed. "That," he said pointing to the handsome man, "Is Fandral the dashing, and that jolly fellow in the corner is Hogun."

Fandral stood up and smiled. "We are the Warriors Three, companions of the son of Odin and great adventurers from Asgard."

Steve raised his eyebrow, so these guys are friends of Thor's.

"We have come with great purpose Avengers." Fandral said. "The great all-father has sent us to retrieve the trickster."

"Hold on." Natasha said as she walked in from the hallway, Thor walking beside her. "Loki is our job. We've already set a plan in motion to capture him." She turned to Steve…and it almost looked like she glared. "Isn't that right Steve?" Her eyes burned into Steve's chest.

"Friends," Thor said as he walked up to the warriors three, "Father entrusted me with Loki's return. He has…changed." Thor's hands fell to his sides, and his voice dropped to a whisper. "This process requires a delicate hand now."

"Great Thor, we understand, but the Nine Realms can no longer wait for the return of chaos. Action must be taken now. For the betterment of all."

Thor sighed, his breath sounding like a thunderstorm dying down. That was the only way, wasn't it?

"Avengers," Hogun spoke, "Please tell us where Loki is now."


Luke sat against his hospital bed and stared out the window. It was getting late and Luke had told his friend Matt to take Leon back home. Matt protested, saying something about not wanting that star-spangled douche to come back, but Luke insisted. Visiting hours were over anyway.

"Mr. Luke, you have some visitors."

…or maybe not.

"Visitors?" Luke asked. It must have been some of the guys from the bakery, or maybe Dr. Stewart decided to stop by and say hello. The nurse disappeared behind the door, and in her place stood Thor. Luke's eyes brightened at the sight of him.

"Hey Thor. What are you doing here?" Luke tried to lean forward (sitting back while talking to someone seemed rude), but his body wouldn't listen to him. "Wish I could shake your hand, but I'm having trouble getting up."

Thor tried to smile. "Hello Luke. I must apologize for what has happened to you."

Luke shook his head. "Hey, it was an accident, sometimes buildings just catch on fire. Luckily no one was hurt."

"Y-yes. Luke, I-"

"Where is he?" Hogun burst through the doors, and axe in hand, and following him came Volstagg and Fandral. The warriors three stood in front of a small man, his hands wrapped in bandages, and his frame so small it could be snapped in half without so much of an effort.

"This is he?" Volstagg asked stepping forward. "This is the trickster?"

Fandral stepped closer.

"Hello." Luke said. "You guys must be Thor's friends. I-I'm Luke, it's nice to meet you." Were these guys part of the Avengers as well?

Volstagg drew his sword. "Enough of this. Loki you are summoned to Asgard, the All-father wishes to have words."

Loki?

"Oh, that old thing again?" Luke laughed. "I'm not Thor's brother, but apparently I look an awful lot like him, don't I?"

"Friend Luke, my companions and I wish to take you to Asgard." Thor said. Whether Luke agreed to go or not wasn't important, he was going to go, but it would be much easier if they could get him to comply. If he were open to Asgard maybe he'd be opened to learning more about his old life, and maybe they could jog some old part of Loki deep within him. With any luck this trip could be the answer to their problems.

"We believe we have some medicines that can aid in your healing." Thor said…he was getting better and better at lying with each day.

"Oh, well that would be nice. Then I could get back to work a little quicker." Luke looked around the hospital, and it a little change of scenery would be nice. He never did like the look of hospital rooms. "Sure. When do we leave?"

Thor smiled.

"Immediately."