Yordis stood before the full length looking glass in the cold damp cave and shivered as the spray of the waters off the coasts of Asgard misted against her exposed skin. The sleeveless gown she wore billowed a little at her legs, her face was bright red from the freezing atmosphere of the cave, but she dared not move: her mistress would surely call to her soon.

The glass of the mirror was pliant and supple, it moved in a fluid motion with the confines of the golden edges of the mirror. It's elegance was strikingly out of place in the dark and dreary cave.

Yordis' eyes widened in excitement as the wavelike motion of the mirror's glass began to swirl. Suddenly he image of her mistress looked out of the glass at her. She frowned at her disciple, the scraggly and frail appearance of her, and her lip curled in disgust; Hela was not the sympathetic type.

"There is much I have to speak to you of, My Lady."

"And yet you do it think to bow in my presence: the presence of the one who saved your wretched soul and gave you the power to subdue your enemies."

"Forgive me, Mistress. I have forgotten myself." She immediately fell to her knees in worship, not noticing the disdainful eyeroll the goddess exercised as she did so. "You are greatness personified, and the most powerful being in all the realms."

"Indeed. How fare ye in your endeavors, my child?"

Yordis' head lifted quickly at the sound of Hela's voice; she seemed genuinely interested.

"They go so slowly, my goddess. The powers you've endowed me with sustain me and yet, I am unable to proceed with my plans in the manner in which I had hoped."

"We had hoped. Forget not that you act upon my behalf; your plans are my plans and likewise your failures are mine as well... I have bestowed power and will take it, and life, if I am not made satisfied."

"Your wrongs are my wrongs, My Goddess," she said, looking up from her kneeled position into the face of her savior. "and your enemies my enemies. I will destroy the houses of Odin and Iwaldi both...I thought I had done so, but it appears that the other prince, the dark prince, lives."

Hela's eyes narrowed, a scowl crossed her face then quickly faded; she detested set backs almost as much as she detested this Asgardian's underestimation of her knowledge.

"I've realized this. I was informed by a true friend of mine that the prince lived some time ago...and the daughter...I've never lost sight of her, I could not if I tried..."

Her voice trailed off and her fingers traced the rim of her now empty sword sheath; being without her beloved broad sword was a discomfort, a vulnerability the likes of which she rarely felt, but the sword was needed on Earth far more than in Hel. She felt a strange and most unwelcome sensation as she remembered the desperation she'd seen the daughter, her fellow goddess, in. She forgot it as the shivering Asgardian spoke to her.

"I will yet bring her destruction to you. And her head if you wish, my lady."

Hela's eyes flashed red and orange much like the flame ridden atmosphere of her realm; Yordis resisted the urge to cringe as the goddess spoke in deep and menacing tones

"You will not harm the daughter, my child. You will leave her to me; the debt must be paid and the potential harnessed. She is mine." Her black eyes gleamed, her green and black attire seemed to shimmer as she sneered at her disciple. "Tell me of your progress, my child, and I will tell you how to proceed."

Thor paced the floor of Hugo's sorcery chambers and looked impatiently over at his father and the brilliant tutor from time to time. They were working closely on a potion of some kind. He had not bothered to listen as they attempted to explain it to him; his heart has pumping too fast, his mind going even faster. His brother was alive, and the Earth was in danger, he had little ability to think of anything else.

"That should do it." Hugo said, holding up the glass bottle of royal blue potion. "She should be restored to her former glory after she ingests this."

Odin nodded and narrowed his eyes on his son as Thor snatched the tiny glass bottle from the tutor and rushed towards the door.

"THOR." He bellowed, stopping the prince in his tracks. He sighed an exasperated sigh as he turned around slowly. "Use care, and good judgement. Keep your mind on the task at hand. Stay away from the human."

"Of course Father."

Traveling through the light out of Asgard was a thrill Thor could hardly appreciate at the moment. His heart was heavy, for Heimdall spoke in his detached monotone about the events that had occurred upon the earth. What he had seen did not bode at all well for Loki and though the noble gatekeeper had been slow to speak ill of his brother, it seemed to Thor that he was the architect of the disturbance. Heimdall directed the portal to the air that the vehicle that transported Loki on Earth flew through, moments later Thor burst into their atmosphere with a roar, the power of thunder and lightning streaming behind him through the night sky.

Her unconscious body lied on the floor of the aircraft, Steve bent over her, working diligently to stop the bleeding with the box of medical supplies aboard the ship. Her breathing was faint, his hands flew at a rapid pace. It was effortless for him to tear apart the fabric of her now blood soaked uniform.

"Her arm's broken pretty bad." Tony said, a concerned look upon his face as he stood a safe distance away. "Who is she by the way?"

Steve glared in his direction, too intent on saving her life to field his pointless questions.

"You could help me, you know."

"In this outfit?"

Steve barely heard the quip as he poured alcohol onto the wound, cleaning away the dried blood there. He looked hopefully into Sigyn's face, praying the sting of the substance against the cut would jolt her awake. She didn't move a muscle.

"Damn It." He muttered, drying the area carefully and packing it with as much gauze as he could. Tony watched the old man work; he clearly cared a lot for this woman, whoever she was. "Hold This." Though he resented the tone in Steve's voice, he bent to the ground next to him and held a clean bandage over her wound. "Lift her up."

Tony placed his iron clad hand under her back and carefully lifted her from the floor. Her head rested against his armor, he looked into her face; she was really actually very beautiful. He hardly had to wonder why Steve was so adamant about saving her.

"She needs blood."

He said absentmindedly, noticing the pallor of her skin, and the cold read of her body temperature as it pressed against the suit. Steve looked up from the bandage he wrapped tightly around her body.

"She'll be fine. She'll hold on. She'll wake up and heal herself."

He continued to wrap the rest of the bandage around her then pulled her body out of Tony's arms and into his own. He sat with his back against the wall of the plane and held her face in his hands.

"I seriously doubt she'll be waking up anytime soon without a blood transfusion…and a pretty serious morphine drip…and stitches, lots and lots of stitches."

Tony said, standing up from his kneeled position and turning to face Steve. The captain held the woman's face in his hands, his own face twisted into a worried scowl. He held her by the jaw and shook her head from side to side as he spoke loudly to her.

"Sigyn, Sigyn. Wake Up. Come On Doll. I Know You Can Hear Me! Open Your Eyes."

He took a moment to check her pulse, suddenly becoming frantic after he felt a very faint beat at her neck. He shook her head more vigorously. Tony turned away from the heartbreaking scene, only to turn back a moment later, his conscience getting the best of him.

"She's a pretty tough character, I guess. Sneaking up on the deer hunter over there with a mortal would and that massive sword. Unbelievable really, and for a person without an immaculately well built and equipped suit of armor especially. Unheard of." He kneeled at her side and took her vitals with his hand. He read them quickly and looked at Steve. "Her blood pressure's rising."

His expression instantly became more hopeful.

"How do you know? How can you tell?"

"It's all in the suit, Cap."

"Really?"

Steve's eyes widened as he tried to comprehend what that could possibly mean. Tony suppressed an eye roll.

"Yes. It appears she will live, that is if you stop trying to snap her neck. You should really take it easy on her, you know, she's had a rough night." Tony gestured to an empty seat nearby them. "Let's sit her over there, elevating the wound will help her heart rate speed up."

Steve nodded and lifted Sigyn, positioning her in the seat as Tony melted the mechanisms at the back of the chair with a small beam of heat from his hand causing it to recline into a much more comfortable position.

During the entire exchange, Loki kept his eyes focused out of the window. He could not, would not, look in her direction. The apathy he'd felt before had waned slightly, he had never seen her lie so still. Not to mention the rage he felt as the human held her so lovingly, working so diligently to rescue her.

He did not remember stabbing her at all. He could not believe he would ever do that. His conflict of emotions bubbled deftly under the façade of calm and serenity he projected to the world. No one on the plane would have believed it was his one and only love, his soulmate, on the floor barely clinging to her life. He sat, tied and bound to the uncomfortable chair and looked suspiciously at the clouds that had suddenly gathered around them.

"Said anything?"

Fury asked Natasha through her earpiece as she steered the plane through the sudden fog of clouds.

"Not a word."

"Just get him here." Fury replied, his voice even, yet somehow still urgent. "We're low on time."

Steve turned himself away from Sigyn once he was convinced that she was breathing alright on her own and let his gaze fall upon Loki. He stood off in the corner, watching him sit there completely indifferent over what had happened to his wife.

He did not attempt to process the fact that Sigyn was married to this monster or to imagine what that made her. He had a million questions for her, and intended to get an answer for everyone of them, but the time for that was later, the first thing was for her to wake up and be alright. And so he let his mind wander on the situation at hand, the fact that Loki, whose spear was as powerful as any weapon on Stark's suit, had surrendered with such graciousness and now sat quietly aboard their ship, docile as a lamb. This was a man who'd duplicated himself into hundreds of clones and made his clothes appear and disappear at will; Steve seriously doubted the ropes that bound him were too much for him to get out of.

"I don't like it."

He said as Stark stood next to him.

"What? Rock of ages giving up so easily?"

He spoke carefully, not wanting Stark or anyone else to know or assume he knew any more than they did about Loki or more importantly Sigyn.

"I just don't remember it ever being that easy, and this guy packs a wallop."

"Still you are pretty spry for an older fellow." Tony spoke with an arrogant smirk on his face. Steve grimaced; it was hardly the time for jokes. "What's your thing, Pilates?" Steve shook his head; once again he had no idea what the Iron Man was talking about. "It's like calisthenics. You might have missed a few things, you know, doing time as a capsicle."

The self amused smile remained on Stark's face as Steve focused his eyes on him. He grinned a little broader at the thoroughly un-amused expression he wore. Steve was annoyed and suspicious of the self absorbed little man who flew in out of nowhere on a mission that was supposed to be top secret.

"Fury didn't tell me he was calling you in."

Tony clearly heard the accusatory tone in his voice, though it hardly bothered him at all.

"Yeah. There's a lot of things Fury doesn't tell you."

The wispy clouds that rolled in were a small nuisance to Natasha, but it was the thunderstorm that appeared before them all of a sudden that confused her.

"Where's this coming from?"

She wondered aloud. Behind her, Loki leaned forward and gazed out of the window, looking apprehensive at the sight and sound of the storm. Steve noticed his unease.

"What's the matter? Scared of a little lightning?"

"I'm not overly fond of what follows…."

The words were hardly out of his mouth before the entire aircraft shooked. The lights flickered briefly, and everything aboard jostled a bit, the door flung open, and faster than anyone could move or think, a blur entered the craft, grabbed the prisoner by his throat and flew off the ship. It was as though the ties that bound him weren't even there. Steve stood with his mouth agape, totally speechless, Tony just the opposite.

"Now theres that guy."

He quipped, with an epically annoyed eyeroll. He started towards the still open door as Natasha asked.

"Another Asgardian?"

"Do you think he's a friendly?"

Steve asked, the shock of what happened wearing off as his well trained body prepared itself to do battle.

"Doesn't matter;" Said Stark preparing to jump from the plane "If he kills Loki or frees him, the tesseract is lost forever."

"Stark," He said in a commanding tone that annoyed Tony at least as much as the arrival of the other Asgardian "we need a plan of attack."

He tried to reason with the man, finding it dubious that someone would just jump out of a plane without any idea of what to do on the ground.

"I have a plan: Attack."

And with that he was gone, off into the dark night sky. Steve watched after him for a moment, then turned to look at Sigyn. If she were awake and in her right mind she would have off of the plane long before Stark. He grabbed a parachute and quickly strapped it on. Natasha noticed and smiled, his bravery was not exaggerated.

"I'd sit this one out, Cap."

He looked a bit taken aback and thought it about it for a split second before responding.

"I don't see how I can…"

She shook her head at his response then continued in her matter of fact tone.

"These guys come from legend; they're basically gods."

Steve took his turn to shake his head and spoke in a fact based tone all his own as he prepared to jump.

"There's only one God maam…and I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that."