She sat on a crate and watched as Barton and Selvig spoke to each other. She had no idea how much time had passed, for there were no windows anywhere and she paid no attention to the digital clocks on the devices all around her. Loki took a seat beside her, and much to her surprised held her hand in the utmost affection.

"Do you feel any better?"

He asked as they both continued to stare ahead at the workers in the lab. She gave a small shrug and looked down at the floor.

"I'm alright." He placed his scepter on the floor before him and leaned his head against it looking tired and slightly overwhelmed. "Conquest is exhausting isn't it?"

It felt strange and yet somehow completely natural to tease him, and read his emotions from his gestures and his expressions. His body language was still so obvious to her, she knew what every look and movement meant; he didn't have to say a word. His grasp on her hand was for security and reassurance, his relaxed posture was an attempt to battle his fatigue. He rested his forehead against his hand and smiled at her remark.

"Terribly." He admitted with a laugh that only she heard. "But it shouldn't take too much longer; the humans are a sorely undeveloped breed."

"I would not count on that," she said as Selvig beckoned for her to come and help him with something. "Excuse me for a moment, your majesty."

She stood and left as Loki chuckled at the disgust in her voice as she mocked him. She could be as mad as she wanted but she could not stop the plan from happening, at least not without killing hundreds of her colleagues and other people in the process.

He sneered to himself, very content with the chaotic scene that raced around him; everything was in motion and in the dim light of the underground tunnels Loki could see his plan progressing just as it was meant to. He had the tesseract safely in his possession, and therefore he had quite a bit of power in his hands, both figuratively and literally. He sat on the crate, watching the operation he had single-handedly put into place, and wondered how exactly to proceed.

It was an odd sensation that pulled him, one that seemed like a hook behind his ear that somehow lulled him to sleep and when he awoke just moments later he was in a familiar setting; the barren desolate wasteland of grey sand that was Chitauri. He masked his surprise at being there expertly and looked upon the other with the sneer of confidence and disdain that always hung on his face in his presence. The Other was unperturbed.

"It is good to see you in all your former glory, Asgardian."

"What is it Other? Why have you interrupted my work?"

He peered around, searching for the cloaked figure who had been there before, there was no sign of him anywhere now; he hoped their bargain still stood. His ability to interact freely with Sigyn was a good sign that The Other had been put into place by his supposed ally, but the fact that The Other had called him to Chitauri and now wore an impatient scowl upon his grotesque face did not bode well.

"The Chitauri grow restless."

"Let them go at themselves," he said in his non-chalant way and paced a little. He was relieved for some reason, the creature was obviously agitated and that meant he had no idea what was in store, or what to expect. He was glad to see his nemesis that way, all the power in the world would not make him forget what truly motivated him; his deep and intense desire to see the planet he stood upon utterly destroyed. "I will lead them into a glorious battle."

He rolled his eyes as The Other scoffed. His voice rasped and made Loki cringe with contempt.

"Battle? Against the meager might of earth?"

"Glorious, not lengthy." He smiled to himself as he met the eyes of The Other, his disdain as unmasked as ever. "If your force is as formidable as you claim."

His eyes flashed their signature green for a moment as he recognized the ire he raised within The Other. He almost laughed.

"You question us? You question HIM? He who put the scepter in your hand, who gave you ancient knowledge and new purpose when you were cast out? Defeated!"

The smile on Loki's face faded quickly and the light in his eyes darkned beneath his brow.

"I was a king!" He spat, looking with a fury of his own at the miserable creature that stood before him. He would not have his reign, however short it had been, reduced to nothing more than insult in the mouth of a being too inferior to accurately describe. "The rightful king of Asgard. Betrayed!"

The memory of it came flooding back to him instantly, being hurled off the Bifrost, rejected by Odin, and falling so long and so far. Everything had transpired since was a result of that moment. Everything. His mind raced through memories of all the many betrayals before that moment on the Bifrost, and he felt a rage settle upon his body unlike anything he had ever felt before; it did not provoke him to wrath, but rather to hate. He despised The Other and the Chitauri; he hated Odin and Thor. It was so clear now. The cold metal handle of the scepter he held suddenly felt warm in his hand, he glanced at it, even in the dark he could see the blue energy of his device glowing brighter.

"Your ambition is little; born of childish need." The Other rasped, his disappointment evident in his tone. "We look beyond the Earth, to worlds the tesseract has yet to unveil."

Loki's focus returned to The Other and the task at hand, Thor and Odin could wait. His expression softened as he processed what The Other had said; he was confused by his confidence, he spoke as if the cube were in his grasp.

"You don't have the tesseract yet." Loki said, almost asking a question. His confusion lifted quickly as the creature lunged for him. His strength had returned to him in full force; he wielded his scepter like the warrior prince he had been his entire life, and spoke with the thinly veiled venom and eloquence he was renowned throughout the universe for. "I do not threaten," he spoke as the creature stopped in its tracks, knowing full well what a blast from the weapon was capable of. "But until I open the doors, until your force is mine to command, you are but words."

The Other was visibly agitated, his exasperation evident even as he moved slowly and deliberately towards the Asgardian, who was still on alert though he had lowered his spear.

"You will have your war Asgardian. But if you fail, if the tesseract is kept from us, there will be no realm or barren moon, no crevice where he cannot find you. You think you know pain?" The Other was close upon him now, speaking directly into his ear. Loki furrowed his brows as the reptilian hand of the Chitaurian leader touched his skin. "He will make you long for something as sweet as pain."

"We're about forty minutes out from base, Sir."

Said the pilot to the usually calm and collected Agent Coulson. Steve glanced up from the video he watched on the tablet and noticed the Agent fidgeting a bit with his seatbelt; he raised his eyebrow a bit and returned to the video, it had been quite a while since he'd encountered such an enthusiastic fan.

As the green monster smashed a tank on the small movie screen he held, Steve looked a little astonished, but unafraid. Coulson stood and approached him, Steve spoke, curious about the man in the video.

"So this Dr. Banner was trying to replicate the serum that was used on me?"

"A lot of people were," said Coulson, explaining with a certain amount of admiration in his voice "you were the world's first superhero! Banner thought the gamma radiation might hold the key to unlocking Erskine's original formula."

The video showed the Hulk decimating a jeep. Steve frowned.

"Didn't really go his way, did it?"

"Not so much," said Coulson as he noticed the concerned look on Steve's face. "But when he's not that thing, though, guy's like a Steven Hawking." Steve stared blankly at the agent who was trying so hard to relate to him on a normal level. He appreciated the effort. "He's like a smart person. I gotta say, it is really an honor to officially meet you." Steve smiled in his modest way, humbled a little by the words. Clearly the agent was an important member of SHIELD, but Steve would have been flattered anyway. "I sort of met you, I mean, I watched you while you were sleeping."

Steve looked down, the smile slowly and awkwardly fading from his face as he laid down the tablet and stood, walking to get a look out of the windows as the plane landed. The agent, now a bit flustered, followed him and continued to speak.

"I mean I was…present while you were unconscious from the ice…You know, really, it's just an honor, it's a huge honor to have you on board."

Steve sighed and narrowed his eyes as he gazed out onto the horizon. The landscape seemed to be the only thing that had not become unrecognizable.

"I just hope I'm the man for the job."

As he entered the magnificent interior off the helicarrier and fully took in the fact that they were flying invisibly thorough the air, Steve pulled a ten dollar bill out of his pocket and freely handed it to Nick Fury. The plane had landed and after his introduction to Miss Romanoff and Dr. Banner he'd been lifted into the sky from the middle of the ocean. It took him a moment to recover from the shock. He was glad to feel the sensation of surprise again; somehow this extraordinary occurrence made him feel normal. It reminded him of the effect Sigyn had on him.

Natasha eyed the Captain for a moment and thought she recognized the look of loss that lingered on his face for a brief moment. She quickly took in the scene around them, noticing everyone's movements and demeanor's, a force of habit and an instinct she could not shake, not that she wanted to. The devil was in the details and she tried to stay one step ahead of him if at all possible.

Her observant eyes lingered on the image of Clint Barton that popped up on a computer screen. She did not show the emotion it stirred within her outwardly at all. No one would ever know the worry she felt for her friend, or the determination she had to rescue him from the control of this Loki character. She listened as Coulson explained the work being done to locate him so far.

"We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet. Cell phones, laptops…if its connected to a satellite, its eyes and ears for us."

"That's still not going to find them in time."

She said in her matter of fact way, Dr. Banner nodded his agreement.

"You have to narrow the field. How many spectrometers do you have access to?"

Fury looked bewildered, but quickly recovered; once they knew what a spectrometer wa they would gain access to everyone on the planet or die trying if need be.

"How many are there?"

He asked. Dr. Banner spoke in a calm quiet voice. Steve found it hard to believe that within this man was the beast he'd seen on film.

"Call every lab you know," he said, speaking with authority but not at all in an arrogant way "tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them to gamma rays. I'll rough out a tracking algorithm based on cluster recognition. At least we could rule out a few places. Do you have some where for me to work?"

Natasha followed Fury's orders and led Bruce down the halls to his lab. She almost smiled as she opened the door, anticipating the amazement on his face.

"You're going to like it here, Doc, we got all the toys."

She looked over readings on the energy levels of the tesseract and was dumbfounded, they proved conclusively her suspicions, the only uptakes in its energy outputs were times when she was nearby. She squinted her eyes and shook her baffled head, wondering what the connection between her and the cube could possibly be. She looked down at her still gloved hands, she had tried everything she could think of to remove them, but this leather was attached to her hands by magic, Loki's magic, and in her mortal state she could not undo it. She sighed and looked up from the perplexing work to find Barton and Selvig speaking to one another just as Loki approached the lab. He looked more pale than usual, something she had not really believed possible, but still totally confident and in control of the situation. Before she could walk around the table she was sidelined by a sudden turn in her stomach, the lingering nausea she felt suddenly becoming violent. She gripped the edge of the table and hung her head in an effort to keep herself from retching.

"Are you sick, my lady?"

Asked a concerned scientist, she shooed him away and looked around. Loki spoke to Barton and Selvig and had not noticed her condition. She wanted to hear every word of what they said to one another.

"The tesseract is showing me so much," exclaimed the eager scientist to the man who controlled his brilliant mind. "It is more than just knowledge; it's truth."

"I know," Loki replied as he looked up at him with a genuine smile. "What did it show you, Agent Barton?"

Sigyn watched as her colleague and friend tinkered with the tablet he held in his hands, and was sad to hear him speak his next words.

"My next target."

He said with a satisfied smirk upon his face as he looked down at the screen. She stayed quiet and continued to listen despite the queasiness of her stomach and the dizzy feeling that had returned to her head.

"Tell me what you need."

Loki stood beside Barton and listened intently as he spoke.

"I'll need a distraction," Sigyn's eyes squinted as he picked up his bow, "and an eyeball."

Loki grinned, Sigyn ignored the odd sensations in her body and slowly made her way off the platform of the laboratory and back to the crate she'd been sitting on before. None of the men noticed as she did so.

"Any eyeball, or is there one in particular?"

Loki asked and acted as though he was more intrigued by the idea of stealing an eye than he had been about the tesseract.

"A very particular eyeball, one that opens the door to the room that houses the iridium we need."

"Splendid, who and where is this particular eye we need to retrieve?"

"According to this satellite imaging system I just hacked into….Stuttgart Germany."

Loki grinned even broader and placed his hands behind his back.

"Very well then, to Germany, a land not at all unfamiliar with the antics of my people."

As Loki and Barton turned to leave, Sigyn sprung into action. She let her body go completely limp and slid off the crate, face forward.

"Your Goddesship!"

Cried Selvig, rushing to the side of the goddess and turning her over; Loki walked over and kneeled beside her.

"Sigyn. Sigyn, open your eyes." Her lids fluttered a bit before she opened them completely. She hardly had to try to feign her exhaustion, and added a confused and naive look to her face before she met Loki's eyes. "What happened, Woman?"

"I have no idea, I was sitting on the crate and then…"

"Barton, ready the helicopters and take flight the moment you can. I will travel on my own once the Goddess is settled."

Barton nodded and quickly took off to ready travel to Germany. Loki ran an affectionate hand across her face and looked intently into her eyes.

"I'm so tired, Loki."

She closed her eyes and sighed deeply, he knitted his eyebrows together in concern and thought to lift her into his arms before remembering the scepter he held. He could not bear to part with it for any length of time, but especially not long enough to carry her to a bed and so instead he summoned a guard to lift his wife from the ground. He led them down a hall into a room she recognized as the one she had ducked into before, only now it housed a luxurious bed and was nicely lit. She continued to play sick and tired as the guard laid her on the bed then dutifully and hurriedly left the room. As Loki approached the bed he spoke softly.

"How do you feel now?"

It was impossible not to feel relieved and find comfort in the fact that he still cared about her. She let her head rest on the pillows behind her and pushed her hair behind her ears.

"I don't know"

"Are you yourself again?"

She shook her head no, although in reality she was unwilling to admit to herself that she was actually quite dizzy and tired.

"I must go. You rest and I will instruct the guards not to disturb you at all. I'll check on you as soon as I return."

She nodded. His eyes were still so very wrong, and his scepter was still clutched tightly in his hand, but in the moment as he looked down upon her with his face full of concern and his demeanor conflicted about leaving she grabbed his arm out of instinct and tugged at his sleeve.

"Loki, please, hear me, listen to me. Stay here. It is still not too late." She loosened her grip as he continued to walk away. "Please, see reason."

"You are my reason. I made you promises, Woman, and I intend to keep them all. All will be fine in the end, I assure you. Rest."

He was out of the door without a glance back in her direction, and the moment the door closed completely behind him, Sigyn sprung into action. Ignoring the odd sensations in her body once again, she mustered what energy she had left to clothe herself in invisibility. She wanted nothing more than to curl up on the large bed with its plush bedding and sleep, but that was absurd. Loki was on the move, endeavoring towards the next phase of the plan, and she would be there to stall it at the very least.

She was impressed with herself as she fully maintained her invisibility and moved her body directly through the wall and into the corridor beside it. She had assumed correctly that Loki would place guards at her door, and so she carefully tiptoed past them. Invisibility here was not at all what it was on Asgard, here the invisible left foot prints, made sound and were solid to the touch, if anyone bumped into her she would be instantly found out. She hurried down the hall as quickly as she dared and followed Loki who led a few last minute stragglers to the only remaining helicopter.

She climbed in quickly after the last passenger and clung to the doorframe for dear life on the long ride through the air. Loki had apparently decided to materialize instead of flying; she loathed the fact that she could no longer do the same. The shaking of the helicopter did little to ease her stomach, and the loud mechanical whir of its blades made her dizzy head ache, but still she felt much better than she had in the tunnels. She chalked it up to the fresh air that wafted through the door vehicle. She would not dwell on the pain that lingered within her; she had to focus to stay unseen.

Mercifully the helicopter landed in a discreet location in what she could only assume was Germany. Barton approached the men, who stood at attention as he addressed them. Sigyn lurked completely unseen, always two steps directly behind Clint, watching his every move.

"We're headed out now, Master. The party doesn't begin for an hour, that should give us plenty of time to arrive."

Clint finished briefing Loki and headed to a jeep, Sigyn's eyes rolled, there was no way she could get in without anyone noticing, or sitting on, her. She climbed as lightly as she could to the top of the vehicle and laid on the roof, grasping its edges for dear life as the vehicle rolled down German streets.