Watching as Thor and his friends walked away, Loki couldn't help but smirk, only to remember what he had to do next. The smile falling from his face, Loki turned and walked towards the shadows, barely flinching as a dog bounded over to him, closely followed by a snake.

"Don't look at me like that." Loki crossed his arms and glared at the pair, "Where is she then?"

As Fenrir growled at him, Loki felt a slender hand grab him by the chin and turn his head to the left.

"Loki…" Hela cooed, "… What exactly happened here?"

At his silence, she growled. "I was expecting you to recruit some men for the takeover and here you are… with no-on else in sight.

"I gave it all I had, but none of them wanted to join your little war." Loki shrugged, "I told you, nobody wants to go to war with Asgard."

"Fine, fine, fine… instead of subtracting two years from your sentence, I'm adding two on. Any more opinions?"

Loki rolled his eyes, "It's not my fault. They got scared off by Thor."

Both Fenrir and Jor shrunk back, trying to look as small as possibly, clearly recognising the name.

"… What was that name again?" Hel hissed

"Thor. Big, blond and dumb." Loki noticed the tension, "Easily dealt with though, all men are the same."

Seconds later, Hela's hands were darting out, grabbing a whimpering Fenrir and Jor, pulling them closer. "So, you took care of him, hmm?" She hissed, "Dead as a doornail, wasn't that your exact expression."

The pair whimpered and hissed in protest. Were they human, they would probably argue that Thor was a common name or something?

"I…" Hel began, frustration oozing out of her voice as shadows crept along the walls, "… am about to rearrange the cosmos… and the one schlemiel who can louse it up… is waltzing around IN THE OPEN!"

The alleyway went completely dark for a few seconds, until Hel finally managed to calm down. "Fortunately for you, we have time to correct this rather egregious mistake… and this time, no foul-ups."

….

"I've often wondered how one city can have so many different problems." Tony mused as they walked through the streets.

"I think we attract them." Clint shoved a mouthful of pizza into his mouth, "Like a circus game. You know you're going to lose, but you might as well try just in case."

"… Are you saying we're rigged?"

Narrowly avoiding an 'end of the world' preacher, Clint shrugged, "We have Captain America, Iron Man and the Hulk on our side… and Nat, obviously. It's obviously rigged." He then clapped Thor on the arm, "And now we might have a God!"

"All we need now, is a catastrophe."

….

"Why is it so quiet today?" Tony groaned, "Not even a bank robbery!"

The group were standing on the sidewalk, their conversation broken by the continuous requests for selfies and autographs. Knowing that they would probably be there a while, Thor headed into the nearest alleyway, resting his back against the wall and sliding to a seated position.

"Hey…"

He glanced up at Natasha, who smirked down at him.

"… you'll get a chance to prove yourself." She stated, "Nobody ever stays quiet in this city for long. I think all of Tony's villains have been people he ignored once at a party, and trust me, that happens a lot."

Thor just shrugged. Usually he would laugh but, without the opportunity, he wouldn't get the chance to prove himself.

Unless there was a miracle of course.

For a moment, there was silence, until Thor felt someone kicking at his leg.

"Hey… Hey!"

Thor glanced up, brightening up slightly when he realised who it was.

Loki.

"You want to be a hero, right?" Loki asked, nudging at his leg again, "Well, there are two kids trapped in the quarry who could use one of them. Here's your chance to shine."

Before Thor could answer, there was a triumphant shout from the entrance as Tony and Clint rushed in.

"Perfect opportunity!" Tony clapped his hands together eagerly, "Children trapped in a quarry!"

"You're really cut up about this, aren't you?" Loki raised an eyebrow, frowning when Stark tapped his watch and armour moulded all over his body.

"Come on Your Royal Gothness." Tony grabbed Loki under the arms, "Clench up and hold your breath."

"What do you- AAAAH!"

….

They reached the quarry in record time, where a crowd was already gathering, alerted to the place by the sounds of children calling out for help.

As Loki moved away, disappearing into the crowd, Thor made his way over to where the children were trapped, a large boulder preventing them from leaving a small cave, with only a small gap for oxygen.

"HELP! We can't breathe!"

"HURRY! We're suffocating!"

Thor knelt near the gap, keeping his eyes on the two children. "Everything is going to be alright, small ones. I shall free you in merely a moment!"

"We can't last much longer!"

Thor gripped the bottom of the boulder, gritting his teeth as he started to lift it into the air, eventually raising it high above his head.

"Savour your freedom!" He cheered, as the children rushed out, the crowd begrudgingly clapping.

"Jeepers Mister, you're really strong!" exclaimed one of the kids.

"Merely be more careful next time."

"We will!" "We will!"

As he threw the boulder to one side, Thor failed to notice how the kids didn't go rushing off to their parents or anything… they went clambering up onto a ledge, where a figure was waiting for them.

"Bravo." Hel clapped her hands slowly, "I was really moved."

As they changed back into their original forms, Fenrir turned to Jor and rolled his eyes, "Jeepers Mister?"

"Midgardian children speak like that?"

Hel ignored them, tuning to the young man by her side, "And two thumbs up for you my little trickster, I knew you had it in you."

Loki sent her a fleeting smile, before turning and glaring at the blonde dunderhead, "Get out of there you idiot, while you still can." He muttered under his breath, lowly enough not be heard by anyone else.

Unaware of the conflict going on above him, Thor strode confidently over to the other Avengers and puffed out his chest, "One heroic duty done!"

"Yeah, yeah… you're awesome, blah, blah, blah." Tony rolled his eyes.

"Do you not hear the applause Man of Iron?"

Before any of them could say anything in reply, there was a long, loud growl that came from the cave he'd just unblocked.

"Awww, monster no."