Chapter fifteen

Happy reunion

Loki tied Ward up and followed Coulson to the little interrogation room they had. He put up a few spells to make sure he didn't escape before they returned to the main room where everyone was in a state of either shock or anger. He returned to Darcy's side and watched as Coulson told his team that they didn't have time for hurt and anger, they had a crisis on their hands and their emotions could be dealt with later. Then he turned to Loki.

"You need to explain everything," Coulson said. "From your little trip to these blue things."

So he did.

It was quite tedious, really, having to recount the details, but these mortals would help him fight whatever it was that Hydra had in store for them. Loki used his magic so that Coulson could contact some Victoria Hand. What a strange surname.

"Agent Hand, I don't know why our bus is heading to the hub, but you―" Coulson started.

"Why? You are Hydra, and we will not be fooled any further," Agent Hand said.

"We're not Hydra. Agent Garrett is. We're sending you a video of exactly what happened…please watch it all," Coulson said.

Agent Hand stared at Coulson, but seemed to relent. The connection dropped and now they just had to wait, hope that Agent Hand believed them. Not that Loki thought he needed some agent's approval, but as many allies as possible were preferable.

It wasn't long until Agent Hand had re-opened the connection and staring grimly at Coulson.

"If we are to believe Loki, then we might be in more danger than we thought. Can we really trust him?" Agent Hand asked.

Loki stepped into view. "I swear upon my magic that you can trust me," Loki said. Darcy came to his side as well.

"Yeah and swearing on his magic then breaking the oath would probably rid him of his magic…and seriously, why would you wanna do that to yourself?" Darcy asked. Loki chuckled. She was quite an amusing little thing.

"We will accept your word for now," Agent Hand said. "Is there any chance you can speed up the plane?"

"Yes," Loki said, casting the spell. Thankfully it would feel no different. "Done."

"It…doesn't feel any different," Skye said. Loki grinned.

"That is the beauty of magic…the outside can move quickly, but the inside can feel as if it moves slowly," Loki said.

"So…could you make something bigger on the inside?" Skye asked.

"I feel you and Darcy would make good friends…I assume there is some Midgardian reference there? I dare say Darcy has made too many already," Loki said, a little playfulness in his voice. He could see Darcy sticking her tongue out at him out of the corner of his eye.

"Er, yeah, it is. Guilty as charged," Skye said.

"In answer to your question, well, take a look," Loki said, finding his pocket and pulling out a sword that clearly could not have been stashed there. He took the blade end and offered it to Skye. She took the hilt and studied it.

"Screw Dr. Who, I want a Mary Poppins bag," Darcy said.

Loki ruffled her hair. "Maybe one day when the world is not ending you can show me all of these dreadful things you keep referring to," Loki said.

"They're not dreadful. You guys don't even have TV, that's dreadful," Darcy said.

"That's pretty dreadful," Skye said.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but please, do you have any idea why they have taken Jemma?" Fitz asked.

"Your fallen comrade? I am unsure. As I have said, they have a few different kinds of people. I know not who has been taken from Svartalfheim, but most have something about them. Who was this Jemma?" Loki asked. "What is important about her?"

"She's brilliant, she's a very intelligent bio-chemist," Fitz said.

"A scientist. It makes sense. They have also taken two Princesses, one of which is a healer and the other a warrior. They have taken a Vanir healer, who will be well-versed in most general magic. A warrior, Sif, a psychic, presumably the Clairvoyant. And, strangely, two children. It does not bode well, for children are, usually, pure of heart. And I would assume they have also taken a Dark Elf practised in dark magic. It is quite unsettling. It sounds a lot like a people-version of a potion or spell. Children are often ingredients of awful dark spells," Loki said.

Fitz grimaced and he couldn't blame the man. He clearly cared for his team mate more than a mere colleague or friend. Loki would say it was love. At least they would be alive for the time being. There was little sense in faking their deaths, only to kill them soon after taking them. Not that evil doers generally made much sense to those who were good, but no one ever generally liked to take a chance. Darcy reached up and hugged him.

"We'll do this," Darcy said.

Loki patted her back. "You will be staying out of it," Loki said.

"I will not. I've survived so far, I think I can do this. I mean, I did get through the mind cave and illusions," Darcy said. Loki rolled his eyes.

"Your head was not filled with so much to hurt you with and you have been mostly contented with your life, there is a difference," Loki said.

"So you think I'm useless?" Darcy asked with a glare. Loki cupped her face and leant in close to her.

"No, I just wish you to be safe," Loki said.

"You used magic to protect me, you could do it again," Darcy said. He sighed. She was a stubborn one.

"We will see," Loki said. Darcy folded her arms and gave him a look that told him that he was in trouble. Silly mortal girl, becoming so dear to him. If he were cliché, he would accuse her of bewitching him. He looked up at the others. "Perhaps now would be a good time to rest. We know not when the next chance will be."

"I don't think that's safe," Coulson said.

"With my magic it will be," Loki said.

"Alright. Everyone, rest up. We have two spare rooms, so Miss. Lewis can use Simmons' room for now, Triplett and Loki can use the spares," Coulson said, leading each to the designated room. Loki spotted Skye stepping towards her own and he waved his hand as she opened the door. She gasped and turned to him.

"Seriously? It's kinda fucked up considering what you've done, but…that was kinda cool," Skye said. He winked at her and stepped into his own, magically enhanced room. He only had to wait a couple of minutes before Darcy entered his room.

"Do you mind?" Darcy asked.

"Not at all," Loki smirked, pulling her flush against his body before leaning down to kiss her. If the world ended tomorrow, he would at least have one last tumble in the sheets with her. She opened her mouth, inviting him to kiss her deeper and he was rarely one to pass up an opportunity. He lifted her up and placed her onto the bed, phasing out of his clothes and making hers disappear as well. Her body was beautiful, neither chubby nor too thin. A nice shape. Loki slid his hands down her sides and kissed down her body. He could feel her shudder as she knew exactly where he was going. He used his mouth in such a way to drive her wild before he kissed back up her body and smirked as she moaned her want for him, that he was driving her crazy. That was exactly what he wanted to do. He gave her mercy, though, and he was rewarded with her moaning his name.

There came a knock at his door and they froze, bodies still very much connected. He was amused to see that she was annoyed and he rewarded her with another push of his hips. He created a double that walked towards the door.

"Fear not, no one will see or hear us," Loki murmured, carrying on with their pleasurable activity while his double opened the door and stepped out of the room, clicking the door shut. It was Fitz.

"Sorry to disturb you, I just…please, is there any way to know if Jemma is alright?" Fitz asked. The poor boy was smitten with this Jemma and he had a feeling that his feelings were not returned. Loki could tell that in a person quite often, for he had felt such feelings in the past.

Loki waved one hand and a black marble circular dish a few centimetres deep appeared in his hand. "I will need something of hers, preferably hair or something from her body," Loki said.

"I don't…wait, we have samples of our blood collected together, wait here," Fitz said, rushing off. The young man was desperate to find his lady love. He turned to look at the door, knowing that he would likely do the same for Darcy. He turned back, closing his eyes as he felt the waves of pleasure currently heating his body. Darcy was nearly finished…at least in this round.

The boy was back and gave him a tube. Loki opened it and poured it into the dish with the water inside. He gave the empty tube back to Fitz and waved his hand above the dish. Crystalline glass domed the dish and he placed it in Fitz's hands.

"If your Jemma is hurt, the dome will start cracking, the more she is hurt or becomes hurt, the worse the cracking is. If it smashes into tiny pieces…then I am sorry to say that she is dead. This dish will never break any other way, so do not fear dropping it," Loki said.

Fitz stared at it with wonder, the dome perfectly unbroken. He looked up at Loki with gratitude in his face. "Thank you, it…thank you," Fitz said, rushing off to his room.

Loki re-entered the room and they had already finished. Darcy looked over at Loki's double and shook her head.

"I can't even imagine how you can have two consciousnesses at once," Darcy said.

"A lot of practice," Loki chuckled. Then he smirked.

"What's going through that head of yours and do I want to know?" Darcy asked.

Loki's double came to sit on the bed and pulled her up, kissing her mouth while Loki went down on her again, earning a rather delectable moan.

It was fun being him.

Loki woke up the next morning with Darcy in his arms and he kissed her head. Oh how he enjoyed seeing her like this in the morning and hated to have to wake her.

"Darcy," Loki said.

"Mmmff?" Darcy mumbled.

"We need to get up," Loki said.

"Uunghhfff," Darcy groaned, blinking awake. She got up blearily onto her elbows and looked down at him for a few moments before dropping down again. "Too tired."

"Come now, we did not even go all the way the second time…" Loki smirked. His smirk turned into a grin when he saw her turn red.

"Shut up," Darcy said. "I'm new to all of this."

Loki wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to him, sitting up in a swift motion. "Once the world is safe, then we will have more time to explore," Loki said, kissing the back of her neck.

"I would like that. Who needs a threesome when you have someone who can create doubles of themselves?" Darcy asked. "Now, care to give me clean clothes?"

Loki phased them both into clothes and led her out of the room, finding the others all gathered in one room in discussion, eating food. Loki sat down and conjured food for Darcy and himself. It would be a long day.

"We are nearly at the hub," Coulson said. "Once there, we need to help sort through Hydra and non-Hydra agents. According to Agent Hand, Fury is dead and Steve Rogers along with Agent Romanov and others have taken down three helicarriers that were set to cause a lot of deaths."

"Do they live?" Loki asked.

"We haven't heard much else; Steve Rogers has been pretty MIA for a while and on Hydra's watch list," Coulson said.

Loki nodded. They were soon at the hub and he was predictably met with a lot of wary glances and much suspicion. Loki made sure all of Hydra's agents were safely locked up so that no one could get out or break in to get them out. They were trapped there and it was a good feeling, actually a good feeling, to do something to help. However, there was no time to pat themselves on the backs for locking up the Hydra agents for the alarms were suddenly blazing and they had whatever trouble up on the big screen.

Footage of large hellicarriers much like the one he had been on in the past coming out of some holes in the ground. Various different locations and many ships. The sky became littered with these ugly great things and he knew this was only the start. Other screens became full of various other locations and all pointed directly at the sky. One screen had those satellite image things upon it. Loki watched one of the screens and something caught his eye. He made sure it came up on the big screen.

Something gold materialised in the air high above New York city. A large and rather familiar-looking, domed structure that suddenly had six glittery somethings shooting out from it. He managed to get a closer look and his eyes widened.

"They have recreated the Bifrost!" Loki growled. "How on…"

"Bifrost?" Agent Hand asked.

"Asgard has an observatory at the end of the Bifrost bridge, a bridge much like a kaleidoscope and with magical properties. That golden dome in the sky with six bridges shooting out of it is something of a recreation…a bastardised one at that," Loki explaind.

"With it they could travel to other worlds?" Coulson asked.

"Yes…though I know not how they could have accomplished such a feat," Loki said.

"Perhaps the blue people are connected somehow? You said other beings were kidnapped, maybe their knowledge has been used?" Fitz asked.

"That is a good theory…and I am guessing the six bridges have something to do with the six tentacles," Loki said. "We are in trouble. Having six Bifrosts will make it ever so powerful, if it works and I unfortunately believe it will, and they…are likely trying to get to the other realms."

"What do we do?" Darcy asked, panicked.

"Prepare for battle. Retrieve your heroes, as many other fighters as you know…I need to warn the other realms," Loki said.

"Hey, what about me?" Darcy asked.

"You…you are safe nowhere, but I will give you the Soul Gem, that you will be safe," Loki said.

"You bastard, you don't think I'd be of any use, do you?" Darcy asked.

"Darcy, this is no time for such petulance, you must stay here where you can better help," Loki said.

"With what? I cannot fight," Darcy said. Loki sighed.

"Fine, you may come along if it will keep you better focussed," Loki said. This girl would be the death of him. He looked at Coulson. "How far away are your heroes and have you found any more?"

"No, just the ones you know of. We should get back on the bus," Coulson said. "They'll target this place."

"And I can fortify the ship," Loki said.

He teleported the whole ship to New York where they beamed up Iron Man, his girlfriend and the War Machine. Naturally they were a little surprised to see him. He held up his hands just as Coulson explained the situation, including telling him to wait until a better time for the why-is-he-still-alive story. Apparently he needed to write one of those autobiographies mortals were so fond of. Loki would need quite a few books to fill if he were to take up such a bizarre notion as that.

"I can't believe you're on side," Tony said.

"I cannot believe you are one of those we have to rely upon," Loki said.

"Likewise," Tony said.

"That was a rather lame come back," Loki said.

"I know," Tony said with a sigh. "Brucey shouldn't be too far away…"

"Where?" Loki asked. Once he knew exactly where, he transported the man. While he was a little reluctant to face the sometimes big and green man, Dr. Banner did not seem quite as phased as the others. Loki supposed that once you turned into a big and green beast, nothing much fazed you anymore. He could tell that Darcy was getting pretty excited at meeting the heroes. Especially at the prospect of meeting Captain America, who she apparently had admired years ago and still did. Loki felt a twinge of jealousy because he knew he could never compare to them. Never be as great as them, especially the Captain. Loki took a seat out of the way of it all and tried not to watch as she spoke to Tony and Rhodey. Captain America along with Natasha Romanov and a guy he didn't recognise were soon brought on board and Darcy had to step in front of him to stop Natasha going for him. Not that the woman would have won, but it was a sweet gesture. All of these explanations were becoming tedious, but the worst was still to come. Barton hadn't been located yet. It made little sense that the man wasn't around. Loki used his magic and managed to find him, plucking him from some far off island where he had been relaxing.

Needless to say his arrival was met with much excitement.

"Relax, I am on side," Loki said. Barton didn't want to put his bow down, he could tell.

"I don't believe you," Barton said.

"Clint, it's true…Agent Coulson said so himself," Romanov said.

"Even you, Nat?!" Barton asked. Romanov shrugged.

"Look, we don't have time for this, we have the Hydra problem to deal with," Romanov said. "After that, we can deal with Loki." Barton huffed a little, but relented.

"Perfect! Now, if we can get back to business," Loki said, rolling his eyes. Things calmed and he felt another pang of irritation when Darcy started talking to both Steve and his friend. Then he mentally shook himself of this nonsense and remembered that she loved him, despite all odds. He was being stupid.

"So what exactly is going on? Do we have a chance?" Tony asked. He had gotten out of his suit for the time being and Loki noticed his lady friend carried a suitcase as well. Three metal people…Midgard had become bizarre. Loki stared out of the window at all of the ships making their slow ascension towards the Bifrosts and grimaced.

"Ships for plunder, torn asunder. From the belly of the three headed beast, bears those who will point east. War will come for all and the skies will fill with fire, the ground will turn to ash and even Death's chariot will fall," Loki said.

"What the hell?" Tony asked. "Whatever that was sounds morbidly cheesy…just plain awful."

"It was a shortened poem of old. Translated, of course. We do not know what the exact original was, but it was a little less…cheesy," Loki said.

"What was it for?" Tony asked.

"The poem of the end, of Ragnarök, of doom and glory, of the apocalypse," Loki answered.

"You're saying that this sounds like Ragnarök to you?" Romanov asked.

"Aren't you the one who causes that?" Tony asked.

"In your mythology, yes. Our mythology does not mention me at all. However, it was vague enough that we did not even know what it would be. All we knew, if it was indeed a true prophecy, is that we would know when we saw it," Loki said. "And the three headed beast is Hydra, and there are many ships."

"Shit," Tony said.

"Indeed," Loki said.

"Do you still have all of those suits?" Romanov asked.

"All those ones were destroyed after I decided to make a fresh start. I did, however, make more, just within a reasonable time frame. No more late nights," Tony said.

"Wait, can Loki not do that…magic thing, you know, when you had like five copies?" Steve asked.

Loki thought for a moment. "Possibly. Stark, bring out your suit and let me see if it will work. The sceptre had no effect on you…which must be your little mechanism, but maybe the suit itself can be replicated," Loki said.

Tony did as asked and soon Loki was poking at it, feeling it out with his magic.

"Hold on a sec…where is the sceptre?" Steve asked.

"In the Fridge," Coulson replied.

"…The Fridge has been compromised," Agent Hand said.

"Then we are in trouble. How long?" Loki asked. She shook her head.

"Since Hydra was hiding, there's a good chance they have infiltrated it long before they came out of the shadows," Agent Hand said.

Loki managed to replicate the suit. He made the gauntlet appear and touched the arc reactor on the original suit and the copy. "Do you know morse code?" Loki asked.

"Yeah, you do?" Tony asked.

"Do you think my visit two years ago was my first? Of course not," Loki said. "I am versed in most Midgardian languages, though this phone speak is a puzzle to me."

"Anyway, tap for a dot, scratch for a dash. Morse code how many copies you need and they will last for as long as any of your suits will last in battle," Loki said.

"Wow, neat…there goes my need to build anymore," Tony said.

"Thank God," Pepper said playfully. Loki sorted out Pepper and Rhodey's suit as well.

"What are we going to do?" Fitz asked. "There are too many out there…we're only one ship!"

"I need to go to Asgard and warn them. Warn the other realms and see if I can get Vanaheim to provide Midgard with magical barriers for its cities just like it will its own. For now, I will fortify this ship with magic and it is already invisible," Loki said.

"This…this is crazy, oh God," Darcy sighed.