As he spoke to Fandral and Volstagg, Thor glanced over towards the yard every few seconds. Loki and Hena were sparring near the ice pile that had still yet to melt. He didn't seem to be able to concentrate on the conversation with his friends with the two of them out there.
"Thor." Fandral said and the God of Thunder looked back at him.
"Is Odin coming to meet them?" his friend asked, referring to Hena and the others of Anaheim. He had changed the subject, but no one seemed bothered to mention it.
"I believe he will." Thor replied with a nod "I don't know when. He hasn't said."
Loki and Hena were both fighting with long thin knives and moving with incredible speed. They flowed from being on the offensive to defensive very smoothly. Loki would lean back to avoid Hena's very well timed lash and then she ducked out of the way of his. They appeared very familiar with each other's techniques.
"Should we return to Asgard in the meantime?" Volstagg asked. Thor shook his head.
"No. Not yet."
"There haven't been any signs of another attack." Volstagg reminded him "We might be useful elsewhere."
"We came very close to losing one of our own last time because there weren't enough of us here to defend this home." Thor replied "I don't want that to happen again."
"Who knew that Loki being a frost giant would ever be an advantage to us." Fandral said, putting one hand casually on the sword strapped to his side. Then he paused "I don't mean that how it sounded."
"I know." Thor replied.
"I am still surprised that you were able to hold off as many frost giants as you did before we arrived." Fandral said "There were only two of you."
"It wasn't just Loki and I. Fortunately." Thor responded "Otherwise we could have lost a few of the others."
"Yes, the metal man and Captain America can fight." Volstagg said with a few nods "They seem formidable. You do have a rather unique group of friends here."
"But don't worry." Thor said, placing a hand on his shoulder "They can't take the place of my friends on Asgard."
"I wasn't worried." Volstagg assured him.
"Well. Perhaps you were a little bit." Fandral said, glancing at him. Volstagg opened his mouth to protest, but a small amount of commotion in the field cut him off. Loki and Hena stopped fighting for a moment as the two of them exchanged words. One of them must have won that round. Soon enough they started up again.
Sif and Hogun were also out in the field by the pile of unmelting ice, clearly examining it.
"Hopefully the frost giants saw that they had no battle to win here." Fandral said "I'd much rather fight them with fewer mortals around myself."
"Agreed." Volstagg said "Honestly only because I'm worried I will hurt them in the process of killing frost giants."
Hena's knife suddenly caught the side of Loki's lower arm, leaving a nice clean cut. She immediately pulled back to stop the two of them from fighting.
"Oh, I'm sorry." she said, teeth pressed together in a nervous expression.
"It's alright." Loki replied, only looking down at it briefly "We're sparring. It's bound to happen sooner or later."
"Yes, but you never cut me." Hena asked, eyes guilty and narrowed at the same time "I feel bad. You don't have to be as careful as you are."
Loki just looked back at her with raised eyebrows "Alright."
"That sounded like it had sarcasm behind it." Hena said.
"Not at all." Loki replied. She still looked unconvinced after this, judging by her expression.
"We need to do something with that." she said, gesturing at his arm. Loki glanced down at it briefly, rotating his arm to see all of it.
"I'm alright." he said.
"You're bleeding." Hena maintained with a bit of indignation.
"It's alright." Loki replied.
"Yes, it's alright, but are you the most comfortable you could be?" Hena inquired.
Loki just shook his head at the ground, trying not to smile. Hena leaned down to see his expression.
"Yes. Thank you." Loki replied very clearly "I am fine."
"The attack is finally on the news." Hawkeye's voice came from inside the house. Thor glanced back and then turned to walk in. Hena looked after him, even though she wasn't close enough to hear anything. She looked over at Loki and seemed to ask a question.
"Are they seriously going to broadcast that to the world?" Captain America asked, walking over to Hawkeye with an uncharacteristic lack of urgency.
The SHIELD agent stared at the T.V. with folded arms and expectant eyes.
"They aren't giving up SHIELD, but they are offering a reward to anyone who can shed light on what happened." he said "Probably Fury's idea. Trying to get some video footage."
"Would there be any?" Captain America asked.
"Only if Tony's interference failed." Banner said.
"Or someone had a camera nearby." Tony added "And now days that isn't too uncommon."
"They're trying to get some dirt on us." Captain America said "How many of them know about Loki?"
"Only Fury." Hawkeye replied.
"Do you think he believes Loki took the scepter?" Thor asked.
"Fury did ask, but we provided an alibi." Hawkeye assured him "Even so, it isn't like Fury doesn't know Loki could have vanished from our sight for a moment without us noticing. He'll be suspicious for a while."
"We'll need to get this scepter to a safer location." Captain America said "Preferably to Asgard if possible."
"I will tell the guards to send word to Odin when they return home." Thor replied "But I wouldn't count on that happening at the moment."
"Well, do what you can." Captain America said. Thor nodded slightly and turned around to go talk to the guards right then. Volstagg hadn't fully entered the house after Thor, so he simply backed up to follow his friend when he came out.
"Speaking off that attack, I seem to be the only one who was surprised that Loki stopped you from being taken by those beings?" Volstagg asked.
"What?" Fandral asked in surprise.
"I will explain in a moment." Volstagg said, then returned his eyes to Thor "Are you?"
The God of Thunder shook his head slightly and paused a moment before responding "No. He had to protect the scepter."
"Yes, but why?" Volstagg asked "If those things were sent by Thanos, Loki should have been happy for them to take it. In theory."
"If those things were sent by Thanos." Thor echoed "We assumed they were, but we don't know that. I will seek answers from Loki."
"Perhaps that would be best." Volstagg replied "It is something to think about."
Thor nodded "I agree. It's good question to ask. They looked similar to Chitari, but they may be entirely different." Then he took a deep breath "They didn't attack Loki either." he left the conversation at that and headed down the stairs. Volstagg then began to explain exactly what had happened during the attack on the SHIELD base.
Hena was walking in the direction of the house, staring at the frost giant ice as she passed by.
Thor watched her from the corner of his eye as well, curious. She saw him and raised one hand to wave. Thor waved slightly in return, but he didn't smile like she did. That didn't appear to bother Hena because she went right back to looking at the ice. After a moment, she stepped onto it with one foot. Sif was watching her with a bit of a scowl, but she didn't say anything to her.
Hena had both of her feet on the ice now, just standing and looking down at her reflection.
"Ice is slow incredibly slick." she said.
"Yes, it is. Be careful." Loki replied.
"I've only seen ice one other time in my life." Hena said, looking up at him with a tiny bit of excitement in her eyes "But I've never been on it."
"How is that possible?" Sif asked, as if genuinely curious.
"Our weather is very controlled on Anaheim." Hena explained "We've only had snow once in my lifetime."
Sif's eyebrows went up briefly even though Hena didn't notice. The Anaheimien woman walked down a little farther and beckoned at Loki to come onto the ice with her.
"Come on!" she said.
The God of Mischief shook his head slightly "No, thank you."
"Oh, come on, please?" Hena begged "I'll fall without someone steadying me."
"You have much better balance than that." Loki said.
"When I need it. This is just for fun." Hena replied, beckoning him.
"I'll hold your hand from here." Loki responded with a small smile.
"Fine." Hena conceded and held out her hand to him. He took it as she began to let her feet slide. For a few moments, she was remained in the same spot, but then she began to drift farther into the ice.
Loki was leaning out slightly to make sure she didn't fall still. However, the inevitable finally happened and she began to slip out of control. She grabbed Loki with her other hand, almost pulling him down too since he now had one foot on the ice. Hena half-squealed, more out of amusement and surprise than anything else. Loki barely managed to keep his balance and prevent her from hitting the ground at the same time. After a second, he carefully pulled her back to her feet so both of them didn't end up on the ground.
"Graceful." he said.
"Well, you're a Jotun, I thought you would have natural instinct on ice!" Hena replied indignantly.
"There's no ice on Asgard!" Loki responded irritably, holding her steady "Now, will you please get off the ice before we both end up on the ground?"
Hena stepped off the reflective surface and Loki let of her.
"If that wasn't so cold, I would believe it was glass." Hena said, still peering at it. The ice had yet to melt at all in the past few days.
Hena tapped on the ice one more time. Then she turned back so she was facing the house. Her face appeared slightly distracted for a moment. Thor had finished speaking with the guards and looked over. It looked like Hena was staring at him, but after a moment, she turned back to Loki.
"My father is wondering if Odin would like to meet with him." she said. To the untrained eye, that would have seemed like a random statement. But, it was easy to spot telepathic communication once you were aware it existed.
"I suspect so." Loki replied "We can ask Thor for certain."
Hena glanced at him, eyes warm "He seems very kind."
"Yes. Now." the God of Mischief responded. She turned to him and observed his face for a moment, arms folded.
"You don't like that." she said.
Loki glanced at her for a moment and then looked ahead again "It's not that necessarily. Everyone knows him as he is now. No one cares what he was before."
"I can see what he was before." Hena said with a mischievous smile.
"I know you can." Loki assured her.
"It's the same way with you." Hena said, her voice sympathetic "You think people only see you now that everything has happened. Not how you were before."
Loki didn't reply to that. They stood in silence for a moment before she looked over at him.
"Well, for what it's worth, I still think of you as the Loki I have always known. If you give it some time, Thor will too."
Loki raised one eyebrow at her, eyes more amused than before.
"I doubt that."
"Why?" Hena asked with a smile "It's already happening." she glanced briefly at the house "I know what you did. For Hawkeye. Or Barton, whatever you want to call him. That doesn't seem like something they would forget."
Loki was quiet for several seconds "Hm." he muttered, without much enthusiasm "That's not what I'm supposed to be."
"And what are you supposed to be?" Hena asked "You don't have to live up to be the monster you think you are. Frost giants aren't monsters. Frankly, it irritates me that you all have such a horrid perception of them. They probably live in a community just like Asgardians. They, and you, are capable of compassion."
Loki stayed silent at the words and after a moment just gave a small, acknowledging nod at her, the emotion he really felt covered by another. Hena stared him for a moment, aware that he wasn't quite convinced, but she didn't press it any further.
Later that afternoon, when the Asgardian soldiers had rotated their shifts, Thor had sought the reply from Odin about the scepter.
Unfortunately, the king was not as helpful as they wanted. He still opposed the scepter coming to Asgard. At first, Hawkeye had been very irritated with that, but the guards had continued to explain.
Keeping Asgard out of the conflict as long as possible would help to ensure their advantage over the dark beings at any given time. When they inevitably attacked, whether it be Midgard or any other realm, they might not be expecting Asgard to come to their aid as quickly as they would.
"But then again, there's always the chance that they attack and Asgard doesn't come in time." Banner said. He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes.
"Then we'll just call a Code Green and wait it out." Tony replied.
"You forget that we have an all-seeing watchman." Volstagg replied to him "If anything happens on Earth, Asgard will be the first to know."
"Does he get alerts on his binoculars telling him where to look?" Tony asked dryly "Not that I'm protesting. The scepter seems fine where it is. In fact, we seem to be having less trouble now that it's here. Perhaps there was something to blocking it's existence from the rest of the universe."
"Loki said it was not that simple." Thor replied "But, I do agree that the attacks have lessened since we retrieved it."
They quieted slightly as Hena came up the steps to the door. As she came in, she looked around, obviously worried about interrupting something.
"Sorry." she began hesitantly.
"No worries, come in." Hawkeye said, beckoning her.
Hena stepped into the house "I was actually coming in to talk to Laura."
Hawkeye turned and gestured at the stairs "She's up there with Lila."
Hena nodded slightly "Thanks."
They all maintained their silence for a moment as she went up the stairs. Thor watched her in particular, arms folded. He then leaned to look out the window. Loki still stood outside.
"Laura makes all sorts of friends doesn't she?" Tony asked. He shrugged "It's good. It's very very good. Gods and goddesses on your side, There's nothing wrong with that. Works for this group. Right, buddy?" he placed a hand on Thor's shoulder. The God of Thunder glanced at him.
"Yes, yes of course."
"What's on your mind, Thor?" Captain America asked.
"Oh, Volstagg and I were just talking over a few things. I'm going to ask Loki if those beings that attacked us are of the Chitari." he said.
"My vote is on yes." Tony replied "Ugly face, weird screech, it's all part of the family."
"Hey." Hawkeye said, holding up a hand slightly to bring the attention to him "I just had a thought. Did Loki ever mention if he serves Thanos? He said that Red Skull did, but he never said anything about himself."
"That's true, but I think that was implied." Captain America said.
"Served, hopefully." Thor replied, looking at the ground. He glanced back up "I believe he did. He should know if those beings were working with Thanos."
"That could mean Thanos has his eye on us. Right now." Tony said "Pleasant thought."
There was obvious movement upstairs and then Hena appeared on her way down. Thor gestured at the others to wait a moment.
"Hena?" he asked, making her slow before she reached the door. She glanced back expectantly, eyes bright.
"Yes?" she asked, obviously happy to talk.
Thor seemed to check out the window in case Loki should be coming along. Hena followed his gaze and then stepped closer towards him, almost as if wanting him to be aware he could speak freely.
"Your father mentioned when Loki came to Anaheim." Thor began, sounding slightly unsure "I was wondering if you would be willing to tell me about that."
"When we met Loki?" Hena asked and Thor nodded.
"Yes, I can." she replied, her voice vaguely confused "It doesn't need to be a hushed conversation though."
"I would rather Loki didn't know I asked." Thor maintained.
"Alright." Hena replied, without asking why "He came to Anaheim a few years ago. Actually, he fell to Anaheim."
Thor blinked a few times in a row, causing her to pause. However, he didn't say anything so she continued.
"I remember him landing there. I was visiting a family in our kingdom and on my way home. It scared me badly. I could tell he was of Jotunheim immediately."
"How?" Volstagg asked in surprise.
"I can see auras." Hena said "I could also read his mind better then than he allows me to now. It was a bit shocking, I will admit."
"I can understand that. Frost giants are not friendly." Volstagg said.
Hena tilted her head slightly "I had no such experience with them. I wasn't afraid of that. I should hope your apparent hatred wouldn't come across that way if had met him like I did."
"They're our sworn enemies." Sif said, giving her a hard stare "What else would you expect?"
"I believe you only ever fought them once at that time." Hena replied, scowling back at her "Does having history with them make them worth any less?"
"They're monsters!" Sif said sharply. Hena bristled at that, but Thor put out a hand quickly.
"Hena, Hena." he said, voice commanding silence "Please continue."
Hena let out a deep breath, taking her eyes off of Sif and returning them to Thor.
"Well, Loki was obviously surprised and a little angry that I knew about that himself. He asked me where he was. He obviously hadn't expected to survive that fall from the Bifrost. I told him where and then he began to walk away from me. He didn't look like a threat, to be honest, so I stopped him and told him to explain himself. He was hurt and I could tell he was distressed about something. I asked him to explain what happened."
"Hurt badly?" Thor asked.
"No, but I could tell he'd been fighting. I know it was you now." Hena replied, but there was no accusation in her tone "I couldn't even get him to tell me his name at first, but when he finally did, I knew he was from Asgard."
"You'd heard of him?" Thor asked, tilting his head.
"Most realms have heard something about Asgard." Hena said "If you aren't aware, you are the general leader among us. I had heard the name at some point or another. I think our fathers met in the past."
"Yes, I think they have." Thor nodded "My father knows of Anaheim. Sorry, go on."
Hena took in another deep breath "I wanted to know how he got to Anaheim, but he wouldn't tell me. I'm not sure he even knew." she said "He needed a healer, so I took him to one. Although, even that was a struggle."
"You didn't take him to your father?" Fandral asked quizzically.
"No, I brought my father to him." Hena responded "Not that it helped. Loki wouldn't talk to him either. He was very angry at the time. And sad, if you looked hard. I remember being really surprised that my father didn't press him. He just let the healer tend to Loki."
Thor didn't want to interrupt her again, but he was definitely surprised at the difference between how Anaheim and Asgard treated uninvited guests.
"That's how we intitally met him." Hena said "My parents had him to dinner so they could find out other details. We weren't completely ignorant to the fact that he could have been a threat. My father could tell he was a frost giant and Loki knew that. I think my father was actually more impressed at the magic that made Loki appear Asgardian."
"Odin did that." Thor said.
"I know. Loki told us that later." Hena replied "Anyway, we showed Loki somewhere he could rest for the night."
"Did he explain what had happened?" Thor asked curiously.
"Not really. Keep in mind that all of us can see memories though. Loki can stop people from reading his mind, but memories are another matter. Those are a bit more tricky to block because they aren't conscious thoughts." Hena explained "But memories don't tell the story. Nor could we even see everything that happened in such a short amount of time with him."
"Was he confined to those quarters?" Volstagg asked.
"No." Hena said with a small shake of her head "We didn't have a reason to do that. His thoughts showed no malice towards us."
"How long was he on Anaheim?" Thor asked. He glanced back out the window again.
"Around seven months or so." Hena replied.
Thor nodded. So Loki had been with the dark beings the remainder of the two years "You're family obviously became very close."
Hena smiled briefly "Yes. We did. I wasn't sure we would see him again after he left."
"Why did he leave?" Volstagg asked.
"Well." she paused "Loki had studied dark magic and my father mentioned something about the dark beings outside our realm. He regretted saying it immediately because it caught Loki's interest. To put something concrete to things he had studied. I don't believe he left with intentions of never returning."
"He went to them?" Volstagg asked, but he didn't sound angry.
"It's much more complicated than that." Hena replied, voice slightly worried "His agency was not heeded at all times."
"I can speak to you later on the matter. You do not need to speak now." Thor told her. Many of them in the room looked at him in surprise. First because they might have wanted to hear more, but also because the statement had the thoughtfulness of someone well past the maturity of a prince.
Either way, Hena nodded "I cannot see his memories after a certain point. Loki will not allow me in to view them. I know what happened when he left, and then there is his time on Earth. There is no in between that I can breach. But I know that they are there and that they are terrors. Not memories. He made wrong decisions, but you don't know what he's been through."
"He dragged others through a lot too." Captain America muttered. He looked at Hena seriously "He killed people in cold blood."
"I know." Hena replied "He knows that too, just so you are aware. It goes against everything I know, but you don't know the whole story behind it."
No one had a response to that so the room fell silent for several moments. Thor finally stepped forward with a deep breath.
"I must speak to my brother." he said "Not about this, but about the creatures who attacked us while retrieving the scepter."
"Do you want me to come?" Hena asked pointedly.
Thor shook his head "No, I should speak to him alone."
Hena remained where she was as he began to walk past. Her face was slightly more hard than it had been when she first came in.
Nathaniel and Cooper were both trying their very best to climb a tree close to the house. It didn't have any branches at the bottom for them to grab though, so they were sliding down each time.
Loki was facing the opposite way of them, reading his book as per usual. Thor approached him silently, contemplating exactly what to say. The God of Mischief turned once he was a few yards away. Obviously he hadn't been expecting Thor. His eyes drifted towards the house for a moment.
"She's inside with Laura." Thor said, answering the question before it was asked.
"I didn't ask." Loki responded "What are you doing out here?"
"I needed to ask you a few questions about those things that attacked us. The ones trying to get the scepter." Thor said. He set his hammer on the ground.
"What about them?" Loki asked.
"Obviously they looked like the Chitari." Thor replied "Are they related?"
"Are you asking if I've seen them before?" Loki asked testily "Because if so, just ask."
"I want to know more than that, but you can answer that as well." Thor replied.
"Not that rendition of them, no." Loki said, sensing this was going to be a longer conversation.
"Rendition?" Thor echoed.
"Version." Loki said.
"I know what the word means, thank you." Thor replied irritably, giving him a look.
"The Chitari aren't individualistic. They were engineered. The ones you fought getting the scepter are an early version of them." Loki said.
"And Thanos is in control of them?" Thor asked pointedly.
"If you go far enough up the command chain." Loki replied.
"Is it possible that he knows what's going on here?"
"Yes." Loki said, without blinking.
"I would appreciate less vague answers, Loki." Thor said.
"That was very straightforward." his younger replied pointedly.
Thor sighed "Yes, but you know it wasn't helpful."
"The Allfather did not bargain for that information. I'm not obligated to tell you anything." Loki said with a scowl. Thor let out a very frustrated breath. Just when he suspected they were breaking through, the wall seemed to be built back up.
"Fine." Thor said with very forced patience "Then I will just have to assume you're giving me what information I need under your own promise to Odin. Do you think Thanos sent them to get the scepter?"
"Potentially." Loki said.
"And if he did, would he know where it is now?" Thor asked, ignoring his safe answer.
"Maybe." Loki replied, voice getting annoyed "Thor, those beings are under his control and they wanted the scepter. There is absolutely no way for me to know if he knew where it was or if he knows where it is currently. If you haven't noticed, I'm here, not there with him."
"That doesn't mean you can't give an opinion." Thor replied.
"Opinions in this circumstance mean nothing." Loki's face was expressionless as he stated this.
"Unless they're guided with experience." Thor replied, taking a step back and turning as he did so.
"That fact that Red Skull came here is bad news." Loki said, without looking after his brother. Thor paused. "He's not a mindless servant. He can observe and report. He may even have said what he did to get us to go after the scepter."
"That would explain why there was a group there waiting." Thor pondered, putting the pieces into place.
"But that is speculation." Loki replied "I have no doubt that he relayed information about what happened here. However, we may also have simply been fortunate enough to get there right before they did."
"Logically we can assume Thanos knows what's going on here then." Thor said "At least partially. And he sent Red Skull to observe."
Loki inclined his head "You asked why beings kept appearing here. There's your answer."
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