(((This will be the longest fiction I've ever written, but the ending I've already written will be worth the ten extra chapters from here! Thanks for the birthday sentiments, readers!)))

Chapter 34: A Benign Threat

Drifa shifted and groaned, pulling Loki's sleeve more tightly to her. Loki groaned and felt sleep swiftly drift away from him. He felt Drifa's warmth and small heartbeat against him and he sighed in irritation, rolling his eyes and leaning back against the bedside and gripping his forehead. He felt her breathe deeply and roll to the other side, still laying against him and trying to go back to sleep. He contemplated setting her aside, but was still computing the information in the vision he had been given. It had been more than wonderful to see Frigga again and it had been so very good to see Thor as he had been before young adulthood, before he had joined in with the cruelty of the rest of Asgard, before they had begun to compete for their father's affection. Things had changed, drastically, for both of them.

"Cute kid; where's the mother?" Rogers said, his comment interrupting both the trickster's thoughts and the oracle's attempt to slip back into the peace of sleep. Loki sat more upright and looked at the captain standing beside Brenhin, looking over the servant with concern and obviously having noticed Drifa's presence.

"Her mother is dead . . . I am told," Loki replied softly.

"Oh," Rogers said with a saddened tone taking him. "I'm sorry."

"Whatever for?" Loki asked in confusion. Rogers lifted a brow at him and then nodded toward Drifa. Loki's mind finally put aside interpreting the vision of his mother and brother and then quickly interpreted the notion that the captain thought Drifa was the trickster's child. A look of instinctive horror crossed the trickster's face. "She is not mine," he corrected firmly. Roger's gave him a reproachful glance, clearly not convinced. Loki shook his head and decided that the moment Brenhin was able to walk fully healed or not, they needed to leave and collect Darcy in the process. Once the group was rejoined and refreshed, they could go back and do whatever was necessary to remove Eldred. He liked Sylvanheim and the insurmountable power that naturally flowed through the atmosphere; with Eldred gone he would have everything that belonged to the old man by old laws regarding apprenticeship. In the meantime there was something equally as powerful and troubling to deal with, namely the oracle. He groaned and tried to pull her away from him to set her down. She grunted and clung more tightly to him. He frowned and sighed, standing without taking hold of her. To his chagrin, she remained clinging to him and was able to do it efficiently. "She belongs on Asgard and she's much older than she looks." Rogers shook his head and finished tying off the end of a new bandage over Brenhin's shoulder. Loki tried once more to pull Drifa away. The oracle suddenly sat upright and glared at him.

"I was not done sleeping," she growled. "All of the work put in to try and enlighten you has exhausted me."

"No one asked you to force me into vision after arduous vision," he replied.

She folded her arms and glared at him crossly. "They were not visions, they were recollections of past happenings and you should be grateful for each and every one of them," she huffed. "There's only one left, after all and you're not doing very well in grasping the messages toward meaningful change."

"There aren't any other past happenings I want revealed to me," he said furiously, grasping both her small hands in his, pulling her arms free of him, and then dropping her onto the floor angrily. She let out a tiny shriek which prompted attention from both Rogers and the slightly conscious Brenhin. Loki ignored the instinctive chastising from both; Rogers in that he thought she was a child and Brenhin in defense of any living creature. He glared down at the girl who scowled back defiantly. "Why are you lingering this time? Surely there is someone else you can pester on a deep and sentimental level."

"Now that you're trying to rid yourself of Eldred, I want you as my apprentice," Drifa announced. Loki scoffed at this. The girl narrowed her eyes at him. "Don't you want to learn the finer points of high magic?"

"What do you think I've been doing for the past millennia?" he retorted.

"You've been with that charlatan and you've learned how to turn yourself into a badger . . . little else," she shot back.

"You disrespectful little deviling," he snarled. She remained unmoving as anger completely filled the already frustrated trickster. "I should drag you right back to Asgard and have you beaten for such impudence!"

"You were exiled from Asgard and are incapable of such orders until Odin and Frigga reclaim you," Drifa corrected. She noted the look of terrible sadness that suddenly crossed Loki's face and her expression fell. As powerful as she was, she hated the idea of saying something that made another creature sad and she hoped that by having an excuse to apologize, the trickster might see that no being was infallible. She shrank back a few inches, once again appearing more like a child than an all-powerful seer. "I'm sorry."

"Unless you can heal my friend and retrieve my woman then leave us at once," he demanded harshly.

"Brenhin doesn't want to be healed that quickly, I already asked him," she said defensively. "And Darcy is going to need to see you humbled and powerful . . . that's just not something I can do for you."

"Then you haven't really got anything I want to learn, do you?" he snapped.

"But Odin refused to apprentice you to me after Frigga promised that I would have you to tutor," she continued.

"Then take it up with him and leave me in peace!" he shouted.

"Stop yelling, it's aggravating and it's inappropriate. She's just a little girl," Rogers interjected.

Loki pointed at the super-soldier angrily. "Stay out of this, shield-bearer," he warned and then turned back to Drifa. "And you; either leave at once or I will send you on your way and it won't be pleasant."

"Nothing with you recently is pleasant," she grumbled. He reached out towards her to take her by the collar. Drifa raced forward and snatched the gold circlet from around his neck, withdrawing and holding it aloft for him to see. He growled as she giggled and darted out of his reach. "I've got your necklace, pretty princess."

"You awful little brat," he growled, lunging toward her. She shrieked with laughter and disappeared. The trickster shouted in frustration, turning back to the servant and the captain momentarily. "You stay here, Brenhin, I have something to retrieve from Asgard's oldest nuisance."

"I'm not going to argue with you about that, but do remember that she is as well-versed in magic as you," Brenhin warned as best he could manage. "Please try not to destroy anything in this realm that will earn you another good thrashing."

"You better not be starting something like you did last time; I still want to lay a world of hurt on you," Rogers added.

"Tend to my servant and be glad of the company, misfit," Loki retorted. He knew that was a delicate area with Rogers and wanted to exploit that as much as possible. He could still sense where the oracle had disappeared to and it confused him as to why she had hurtled herself to another part of the city. She was obviously just trying to aggravate him. He willed himself to follow her every movement and she could sense that he was following her. He could hear her laughter as they chased one another invisibly. She came to land in the busy Time Square that he remembered practically destroying several weeks prior. His heart began to race as he settled a few feet away, staring hatefully at her. She held up the necklace again and then tossed it up into the air. As she did so, he noticed that the entire population of humans around them stopped moving. Distracted, he looked from side to side, confused at the image of the humans suspended in time. He turned back to her, lifting both arms in confusion. "What is this? Is this yet another game or is this a display of the limitless power you want to teach me? This is useless at best."

"No it isn't. I'm preventing widespread panic," she replied with confidence and satisfaction. He narrowed his eyes at her as she grinned brightly. She pointed up to the sky and, in the distance, the trickster could see something horrific and entirely unexpected. An enormous boulder was hurtling right for the populous gathering of frozen humans. His eyes widened in terror. It was ablaze, having been ignited as it passed through the noxious layers of ozone. Drifa snickered. "They'll think it's all your fault, too!"

"You imp! This is hardly my doing!" he shouted in reply. "You've gone mad, do you hear? Mad!"

"Not as mad as they'll see you," she replied happily. He looked back up at the meteor, or whatever she had summoned to strike the city in her wake. She clearly wanted him to step in and while he didn't want to give her the satisfaction of prompting him to spring into action, he also knew that the last thing he needed was another travesty being pinned on him while he was trying to reclaim a delicate creature. He shouted and grabbed either side of his head in frustration. She snickered and summoned the golden chain back to her hand and tossed it at him. "Here's your adornment; good luck!"

"You daft fiend!" he shouted as she disappeared. He looked up at the flaming rock still growing close to the city. This is nauseatingly cliché he groaned inwardly. Just what does she expect me to do? Intercept this for them? Ha! It's her pathetic display, she should undo it. He looked from side to side after suddenly hearing a series of screams and the noises of traffic coming back to life. He sighed heavily as the people returned to their previous state and noticed the same danger approaching them. "Damn," he growled. Several officers in uniform suddenly surrounded him and he realized that the people of the city still recognized him. He shook his head and realized that there was only one way out of this. He summoned the casket, prompting yet another series of shouting and screaming from people around him. He ignored this and concentrated on taking care of this quickly and then going to collect Darcy quickly. Wherever she was, it had to be less aggravating than this.

(*)

From the window of the S.H.I.E.L.D. facility's medical unit, Darcy and Selvig glanced outside. They had regrouped after the girl had been taken in to receive medical care. He had been sent for immediately and the two had exchanged both grateful embraces and information about what had transpired in her absence. It unsettled Darcy to think that Jane was in Asgard and that Thor had returned with her rather than coming straight away to try and find her. Then again, there was no knowing the extent of the search for her from the immortal since Loki would have been more important to seek out. Darcy had fallen asleep twice throughout the night with Eric beside her. None of the physicians looking over her knew exactly how she had survived such a hit. Darcy glanced down at her hand and then back at the window, wondering if the magic the object had left on her had protected her somehow. It also bothered her that she might have been easier for Loki to find with this marking. Eric gently grasped her hand reassuringly and the two turned away from the window, looking back at the television screen in the corner of the room. It had been weeks since Darcy had been able to enjoy any programming and it oddly didn't seem all that appealing. Eric noticed the strange passive expression on the technophile's face as he pressed a series of buttons on the remote control. He tuned in to a news station and the two stared in shock at the screen.

"Oh dear," Selvig said anxiously. Darcy gasped. "Is, is that a meteor?"

Darcy's eyes focused on a different figure situated at the forefront of the live feed. "Loki," she whispered, stunned.