It didn't take long for Loki to discard his disguise and the cleaning cart, not too surprising really.

At first as Thor and Loki walked through the building, they were cautious, but soon… Loki couldn't help himself but actually address one of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, almost teasingly.

Thor, not one to be left behind by his little brother, soon did him one after and asked a SHIELD agent for directions, and the agent willingly applied, seeing nothing odd about it at all. He was even smiling and was genuinely being very kind. Commenting on how maze-like the facility could be and Thor agreed in a pleasant smile.

That only made Loki lighten up and soon Thor and Loki were nearly running across the facility snickering to each other as they acted like they belonged there.

The god of mischief had no issue helping himself to other peoples' coffee, switching around name tags and innocently asking an agent when the last time there had been any intruders.

As the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent assured him no one had ever been stupid enough to intrude on a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility. Loki only smiled and Thor turned his head away to hide his snicker.

"But what would happen if someone did break in?" Loki asked innocently.

"Oh I pity such a fool," the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent assured.

"Really?" Thor asked, hanging an arm on Loki's shoulder. "Any special torture or something?"

"Only if the intruder refuses to cooperate!" The agent assured.

"Oh dearest me, let's hope such a poor fool would be wise enough to do what he was being told!" Loki stated.

"Yes! EXACTLY!" the agent exclaimed.

"But... If a person is dumb enough to try and get in here. You really think they'll actually cooperate?" Thor asked and the agent blinked. "I mean, what is the logic there, going through the bother of getting in only to sell out?"

"Right." The agent straightened up. "Poor fool! As I said!"

When Loki and Thor finally left and rounded a corner, they were nearly breaking from laughter. Like a couple of children finding such joy in just getting away with it.

In the back of his mind, Thor knew he should take this more seriously, but it just felt so good playing around with Loki like this. They were so easily joking with each other! And laughing too! Really laughing at each other's stupid jokes and small dares!

They hadn't done that for hundreds of years! And bonding with Loki so they could work out their issues was only good, right?

They needed to acquire a level S security card, it was done as Thor distracted a high ranking agent and Loki just swiped it, they were both snickering once they were in a lone corridor again.

Finally they stood in front of a big metal door, filled with locks of all kinds.

Loki was smirking. "I am going to say, you are actually not that bad at directions after all," he complimented Thor.

Thor blushed slightly as he reached forward and swiped the card, then swallowed as he looked at the keypad… If he got this wrong, just one time, all the alarms would go off. He would be forced to punch himself through the door after all.

Don't get this wrong, please… Thor had no doubt they would still be able to get the Tesseract but, people might be hurt and Loki would surely think he was stupid.

Thor swallowed and then pressed the numbers he thought he remembered. He was shaking, his heart beating and then… a beep and the light turned green as the door unlocked.

Loki glanced at Thor, his eyes honestly looking just slightly impressed.

To think, Thor had gone an entire lifetime and his brother had never been that impressed with him, that is until right now when he showcased the skills Loki appreciated the most.

Wit… cleverness… Forward thinking.

Thor opened the door and walked inside, followed by Loki, then closed the door after Loki, and they both turned around.

Thor's eyes widened, the first thing his eyes were drawn to was a table. On the table was what looked like a big cylinder-like container. What was inside of the container though, was… Ice. Kept cooled down by the container, it seemed, and inside of the ice.. a man wearing an old soldier's uniform.

His eyes were closed, but his face was unmistakable.

"Steve," Thor breathed.

Loki blinked, then looked down. "Someone you know, Thor?" he asked.

Thor nodded. "Aye," he replied. "Steve Rogers is… a great friend. A great leader and a good man. He taught me much."

"In the other timeline, I assume," Loki commented as he stepped forward, looking down. "Huh… did you do something to change the timeline? He seems kind of dead."

Thor shook his head. "He's not dead. They are going to unfreeze him shortly," he informed.

"Ah." Loki looked up. "I see." Then he turned. "It's nearby… The Tesseract. The energy is filling the room."

"The second we get it, we should probably hurry out of here." Thor said. "There are people we don't want to run into."

"Midgardians?" Loki smirked, amused. "What threat would they be?"

"You would be surprised," Thor sighed.

Just then, an arrow came zooming directly towards Loki, but Loki reached up and grabbed it before it made impact with his face. Loki rose an eyebrow. "Really?" he asked.

Thor knew what was going to happen even before it did, the delayed effect, he couldn't even warn Loki as suddenly the tip exploded and, wide-eyed, Loki stumbled back.

Thor turned his head and looked in the direction the arrow had come from… How ironic, it had to be him.

Slowly, a man stepped out into view, wielding a bow and arrow he now aimed at Thor. "Intruders," he stated. "Surrender peacefully or prepare to fight. I am not joking!" His arrow was aimed right at Thor's chest.

Thor raised his arms looking at his old friend, Clint Barton. A professional assassin; he aimed to kill. Of course there was no way that ordinary arrows would be able to kill Thor. But still. "Look," Thor tried. "I do not believe you wish to do this, this is a fight you can't win."

Clint smirked. "Want to test that?" he asked.

Loki hissed as he stepped forward. "That," he seethed, "was annoying!" he exclaimed in an angry tone.

Clint halted, wide-eyed, he looked at Loki whom didn't have a single scratch on his face, if anything it seemed like it was the shock rather than the blow that had made Loki stumble. "How?" Clint asked.

"You are in the presence of gods, mortal, you ought to listen to my brother. You have no chance of winning this fight." Loki smirked, crossing his arms.

Clint's eyes narrowed. "All I see are two intruders who won't surrender. You asked for it!" he exclaimed as he grabbed an arrow and fired at Loki again, whom this time vanished from the spot, making Clint blink, then Loki reappeared next to Clint and kicked the man, sending Clint to the wall.

Loki grinned as two daggers appeared in his hands and he ran for Clint, Clint was ready though as he rolled aside and kicked Loki in the shin.

However, Loki was untouched as he turned back, aiming one dagger at Clint's side which Clint dodged, then the next into Clint's shoulder and Clint screamed in pain as the dagger was now buried deep into his flesh.

Yes, Clint was good... Really good. But Loki was a god.

Loki grinned, lifting a dagger for the finishing blow.

"That's enough!" Thor shouted, grabbing Loki's hand which was holding the dagger.

Loki hissed in annoyance. "He is going to compromise us."

"We are compromised anyway!" Thor exclaimed. "Let's just grab the Tesseract and go."

"You do know he's effectively an enemy now, right?" Loki asked. "He is going to come after us again."

"You said it yourself, we are gods, he is but a mortal. Are you truly that scared of him?" Thor asked.

Loki's eyes narrowed at Thor.

"All life is precious!" Thor stated. "I shall only kill if it is to protect, who is being protected here?" he asked. "Us? He is no true threat to us, there is no point."

Loki seethed. "Fine," he stated as the daggers vanished, then he walked away.

Clint hissed as he was holding his shoulder while blood was pouring out through his fingers. Sadly Thor looked at him. "I am not going to thank you," Clint hissed.

Thor sighed. "I am aware," he stated. "Look, it may not look like it right now. But we are on the same side," he assured. "We are trying to save the world."

"He doesn't seem like he cares much for the world," Clint commented, hinting at Loki whom snorted.

"Loki himself is a part of the world," Thor replied. "He may not care for you humans, but at least we can be assured he cares about himself and his own people. I shall keep a close eye on him, I promise, that's why I am here."

With a hand wave, Loki made the safety box explode and there it was, the blue cube, the Tesseract.

At the mere sight of it Loki's eyes were lightening up, a grin on his face.

It all seemed much too familiar, Thor could not say he liked it… Why do Loki and the Tesseract always find each other like that?

And why does Loki always react like this?

There was no stopping it though, as Loki reached out and took the Tesseract in his hands once again, his eyes filled with something that almost looked like greed.

Thor stepped backwards. "Loki, let's get out of here. We've been compromised, it will probably be rougher to get out."

"Oh, but Brother," Loki stepped up beside Thor. "Now that I have the Space Stone in my hand, it needn't be so complicated," he pointed out.

Thor blinked, then Loki grabbed Thor's arm and suddenly they were gone from the room, and instead they were… not in the S.H.I.E.L.D. facility, not in the forest outside. But all the way back in New York, in the bustling street.

Wide-eyed, Thor looked around.

Loki, though, was grinning while looking at the cube in his hands.

Frowning, Thor looked at his little brother, then reached out his hand. "Give it to me," he commanded.

"That's not fair, you already have one Stone! Look, we can just share. You take three and I take three. That's fair, yes?" Loki asked.

"Loki, you had that thing in your hand for less than ten seconds and already you couldn't resist the urge to use it!" Thor stated. "Give it to me."

Loki hissed, annoyed, holding the Tesseract tight. He looked outright protective of it already.

"Those Stones are the fabric of this very unstable universe, correct?" Thor asked. "Is it safe to use them so frivolously?" he asked.

Loki quieted and looked down, his quiet, though, was answer enough.

"If you keep it, will you be able to resist the urge?" Thor asked. His voice serious, his eyes steady.

Loki hissed, squinting his eyes.

"Loki!" Thor demanded.

Loki's eyes were squinted shut, then though, to Thor's absolute surprise, he offered the Tesseract to Thor.

Thor honestly couldn't believe it as he took the cube and then stored it in his pocket dimension again. "Thank you," he breathed, he was still shocked… Really shocked.

"So." Loki pouted. "What's next?"

"A man by the name of Stephen Strange had the Time Stone in the other timeline," Thor informed.

"So, now we just need to find this Stephen Strange?" Loki asked. "Sure, there's only 7 billion people on this dumb planet." He rolled his eyes.

"Ah," Thor nodded. "Maybe I should get a bit more information, huh?"

"You think?" Loki asked. "Well, we just had a long day. I'm hungry, where did you get that sushi thing before?"

Thor smirked. "I thought you said it was only decent."

"Decent is still better than utter trash!" Loki snorted. "Like the first thing you tried to feed me! The warm dog."

"Hotdog," Thor corrected him.

"It was awful!" Loki exclaimed.

Thor shook his head. "I'm sure we can find something to your palate in the area. The midgardians are very diverse." He looked around. He wanted to treat Loki to something new and nice, Loki had willingly given him the Tesseract after all. This was not to be taken for granted... Honestly Thor had a hard time grasping what that actually meant.

He would not have done that in the other timeline, not ever. It was rocky, but they were moving forward. "Come on, the fancy district is in this direction." He started to walk.

"By the way, Thor, how are you paying for this?" Loki asked.

"The dwarfs of Svartalfheim sometimes travel here for rare materials. Using some of the branches like you do. They have Midgard money. I purchased from them before we left," Thor informed.

"Huh… Thinking ahead again," Loki commented.

"Well, Loki… For a long time I didn't have you to do that for me anymore." Thor sighed. "I was on my own."

"Must have been the first time for you," Loki reflected.

"Aye. It was," Thor admitted. "For far too long I relied on others to do the thinking for me. You... Mother... The Warriors Three. No more." Thor shook his head. "It was difficult. But that is when you have to either learn to persevere or..." he let it linger.

Loki smirked. "You know, there have been times when I have been wondering if we were brothers at all," he commented. "I mean, what do we have in common? Seriously?" he asked.

Thor halted.

"Perhaps though we do have things in common." Loki smiled lightly.

"Ah." Thor swallowed.

"It has been a pleasant afternoon." Loki winked at him. "Brother," he added, warmth actually present in his voice.

Thor's smile was awkward, he was happy that Loki finally seemed to willingly accept their bond and yet, there was something so awkward and hollow about it.

Thankfully Loki's eyes weren't even on him but on the street. "Well then, lead the way," he asked.

"Right." Thor nodded. "This way," he said, and they started to walk.