Thor was literally bouncing on his feet.

His brother is alive!

'Stop it Thor, you are making the table shake.'

'Sorry.'

'Right, you are saying, this Lady Hela revive Loki.'

'You can put it that way.' Clint muttered.

Thor could see that Fury was trying very hard to keep his temper down and not live up to his name. He was probably happy that Loki was dead.

'Fine then. Hill, go send someone to bring him to the facility so he would stay out of the way, along with Elixir.'

'Nat said that Hela told us not to touch them.'

'Do I look like I care?'

'You should,' Tony raised a finger to state a point. 'We are talking about a goddess of death that can revive people and snap arrows with bare hands.'

'And crush guns. Nat told me she needed a new one immediately.'

'Yeah, and that.'

Fury was indeed getting on his furious side.

'Fine, leave them alone, but if they step in the way, you have my command to get rid of them.'

Thor along with the other Avengers nodded, but none of them intended to actually do so.

'Well then, moving on to plan of attack.'

'You mean defense?' Steve called out, but quickly covered his mouth when Fury eyed him meaningfully.

'Fine, plan of defense-'

'I have one,' Tony interrupted at once. 'Defend.'

He then threw his head back and howling with laugh. Everyone groaned, and Steve face palmed.

Thor scratched his chin.

Must have been another Midgardian thing he didn't catch up.

OOO

'Why can't I go alone?'

'Because, father, you will have to take care of Elixir before he wakes up.'

'You can take care of him! This is my own business. What they want is me, not him or you or the others!'

'Father.' Hela warned sternly, her dark eyes glittered. 'You are not handing yourself over.'

'I didn't intend to.' He muttered indignantly, with the flash of lie even so hidden behind his bright green eyes.

Natasha still hadn't gotten over the fact that Loki, the evil god of chaos that they took so long to control last year, was now standing in the middle of the street in a white t-shirt and camouflage pants and being scolded by his daughter.

While Hela and Loki continued to argue back and forth, Natasha took a look at Elixir in Loki's arms, who was dead or sleeping she couldn't tell. The wound was indeed healed.

Some of the pedestrians gradually think something was up. Natasha shot them deadly looks and made them look away.

'Why here?' Natasha asked the gods.

'Simple.' Loki said. 'With the Tesseract is currently in your hands, it wouldn't be possible for them to use it to open portals wherever they wish. They will have to use the natural breaks in the World Tree. And this is the one I fell through, so they definitely knew of.'

'So, there are others?'

'Some might have changed, some might have emerged.' Hela mumbled. 'But if you are asking for ones that will definitely be there, I think there's another one on what you call Beijing-'

'What?'

'And North Pole, Los Angeles.' Hela counted off with her fingers.

'Yellow Stone.' Loki added.

'Wait.' Natasha took the intercom off from her ear and pointed it at Loki and Hela.

'Say your list again.'

OOO

No one stood still for more than five seconds in the entire building. Agents ran around like lunatics and helicopters shot off into the sky from the top. Fury had already made a billion phone calls and emergency conferences. No one seemed to believe a word he said, but no one wanted to take chances.

Chinese agents set up camp near the Great Wall while tourists were evacuated from the national park. Tanks and trucks filled up normal civilian streets and ships cut through icy waves, scaring away seals from icebergs.

'This is not crap you motherfucker!' He shouted through the phone once more at one idiotic officer. 'This is full on war I am talking about! If you don't want to listen get out of the way and get someone with more brains to move his butt over!'

The officer didn't argue or interrupt for the next ten minutes as Fury ranted out all the data and facts and orders.

OOO

'Director is going mad, isn't he?' Hill whispered to Coulson as she stared at Fury dancing around and yelling swear words into the phone.

'I wouldn't look any better if I am in his situation.' Coulson replied lightly as Fury tripped over Steve's cat and tumbled to the floor.

The cat yelped and scampered from the room.

OOO

'What do you mean you will have to send me to Stark Tower? I am missing out on the fun!'

'Whatever you say Peter, my boss said so.' Pepper said briskly as she tried to weave through the traffic. It seemed like the alien invasion news slipped and everyone was heading out in different directions.

Peter sulked. A bus horn blared from behind.

OOO

Elixir felt like he was in a very different place filled with lots of noises. He opened his eyes.

'Loki?'

Loki looked down on him.

'You awake?'

'So it did work?'

'Surprisingly.'

'Then I don't need to do all the stuff you said from two.'

Elixir slipped out of his grip and brushed himself off. He was covered in dust.

'You alright?' Hela asked.

'Light-headed.'

Loki smiled.

'Because there's only you inside.'

'So, the blue one is-'

'Destroyed.' Hela replied.

'What are we waiting for here?'

'To see if the portal opens up and the Chitari comes.'

'We have visitors.' Loki tilted his chin up at a helicopter gliding over the city towards them, very much like the one Elixir saw before.

But the chopper didn't land. A man jumped off and landed in the streets, cracking some of the bricks.

Loki's eyes widened as the man started towards them. Elixir immediately stood in the way.

Thor stopped in front of Elixir. His hammer in his hand.

'Step away from my brother…' He growled.

'Elixir.' Loki tapped him on the shoulder. 'This is not your business.'

Elixir gave Thor a warning look and stepped away.

Thor leapt at Loki and crushed him into a bear hug.

'You are alive!' He squealed and shook Loki around like a doll.

'Thorrr~~~' Loki hissed and flailed around trying to escape his tight grip.

'Uncle, you are suffocating him.' Hela said calmly, secretly pleased with the not-violent reunion.

Thor finally released him. Loki immediately stepped back from arms reach, just in case he would hug him again.

Elixir simply overlooked the scene with a sense of longing and sorrow. Loki should be grateful that he at least had a family, somewhere he could go back at anytime to rest and be happy.

Only Hela seemed to notice this and quietly gave him a pat on his shoulder.

An echoing boom suddenly sounded from the skies.

'Thor?' Natasha gaped upwards.

'Not I.'

'Army.' Loki muttered.

Then the skies seemed to tear open to reveal a part of a dark sky and millions of Chitari soldiers.

'Father, will you be alright?'

'Don't worry about me!'

'Elixir, take him somewhere safe for him to recover a bit of strength first-'

'I am fine!' Loki insisted.

'Then don't get too hard on yourself. Elixir, you keep an eye on him.' Hela snapped her fingers and disappeared. Then something appeared on top of a building close to the wave of scooters and shot out dark jets of fire, disintegrating whole squadrons on contact.

Thor whirled his hammer and flew off into the middle of the army.

'How do you think we should do it then?' Loki asked Elixir, smiling. He snapped his fingers and the Midgardian clothes morphed into the familiar slender green, black, and gold leather and buckles.

'Don't know-'

'How about Dragon?'

Elixir's jaw dropped.

'You said it shouldn't try it again!'

'Well, desperate times calls for desperate measures.'

'What if I loose control?'

'I will personally knock you out.'

'You better.'

Elixir turned and ran out into the middle of the street. He will need more space for this. Cars stopped and people scampered at the sight of aliens coming from the sky.

Flames. Warmth. Scales. Fire. Breath. Humongous.

Fire. Fire. Fire.

He trailed long gashes across the solid tar with his sharp claws. His wings stretched and scraped the buildings at the sides. The spikes of his tail impaled an abandoned truck and sent it into a block.

Oops.

He noticed someone waving at him from below. He lowered his great head and allowed Loki to climb on and rest between his ears.

'To battle!' Loki shouted.

He let the wings fall in its natural rhythms. Up, down, up, down. He rose above the shops and the apartments, and headed straight for a large monstrous Leviathan flying down on the city.

OOO

Loki formed a shield around Elixir's eyes, for Dragon eyes are its only weak spots, or what Midgardians may call 'Achilles' heel'. He shot spell after spell at any lone scooter that dared to challenge him.

Fire. The scooter melted and sent its rider screaming down.

Water. Another got blasted out of the way and crashed into one of his comrades.

Mist. The rider floundered around the white smoke and flew straight into the Dragon's hide, smashing into bits.

Jelly. Turning into a shade of transparent green, the machine obeyed gravity and went splattering down somewhere below.

The Dragon locked combat with the Leviathan, biting and scratching. Loki quickly slipped down his neck onto the joint between his wings for cover as chunks of flesh and ripped metal armor rained down around him.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he could make out Thor smashing down scooters, while Hela remained on the building, burning anything that came close enough. The agent was evacuating the people, sending them down to the subways.

A shriek ran out through the army as their Leviathan was sent crashing downwards into the ruins, and didn't get up again. Low moaning followed as three more of the gigantic monsters glided though the opening in the sky. Thor immediately summoned the lightning and electrocuted them, temporarily blocking the hole.

'Loki!' He shouted. 'Is there anyway of closing this?'

'It's doesn't need a sustainer to open up!'

'But we must fix this!'

'Maybe we can use something to trigger the closing.' Loki muttered to himself and shot down some more. 'From both ways…'

'Loki?' Thor shouted again. 'Do you have a way?'

'Yes!' He yelled back over the roar of the Dragon. 'After we go through, count ten seconds and then fry it!'

'Go through?' Thor was confused for a second, then realization dawned on his face. 'You cannot do this brother! There must be some other way!'

'Elixir,' Loki climbed back up on his head. 'Go through the portal. Don't listen to what Thor says.'

The Dragon turned and shot straight up, its wings bashing unfortunate scooters out of the way.

'Loki!' Thor bellowed from behind, but was cut off when a Leviathan attempted to use him as a chew toy.

The portal was a lot bigger than Loki imagined when they got closer. Through the portal was the permanently dark sky of Jotunheim.

'Don't stop.' Loki whispered in the Dragon's ears again. He sped up and folded its wings to fit through the portal easier.

There was a woosh, and they were not in Midgard anymore.

OOO

'What do you mean Loki and Elixir ran off?'

'Not run off, Tony, more like 'I am going somewhere with a purpose'.'

'Right, Nat. Remind me again what was happening.'

'Like last time.'

'Crystal clear.'

'Tell Goldilocks to stop summoning lightning randomly, he narrowly missed me.'

'I think he lost his intercom.'

'Damn it.'

OOO

Tony veered off to dodge another streak of light. He had no idea why Loki going through the portal on a flying reptile would make Goldilocks so upset.

Oh, not flying reptile. Elixir.

'Hey Tony!' Peter's voice chirped.

'Peter!' He stopped in mid-air in shock. 'I thought I told you to stay at mah house!'

'You can't boss over me.'

'Fine then.' Tony eyed the amount of scooters noticing him and swarming. 'Do we a favor and make one of those really big spider webs you are good at making.

'How big?'

'Like, between two buildings big. And leave a hole somewhere I would fit.'

'What?'

'Just do it!' He shot off the opposite direction of the chasing Chitari.

OOO

Peter frowned and pulled on his mask.

Why such a big spider web?

He started on his work.

OOO

Thor forgot how many seconds passed since he was interrupted by a rude monster, he quickly flew closer to the portal and gathered the storm clouds.

Several of the smarter Chitari noticed this and went after him, but Hela took care of them nicely.

Brother… Thor thought, then raised his hammer.

OOO

'The web is finished Tony!'

'Great, watch out for the catch.'

'Catch?'

Tony saw the web stretched between the two towers. If you don't look closely, you might not even notice it. He then pin-point on the hole in the middle and zoomed off, his unwary chasers at his tail.

He went through the hole and turned to see how his plan went.

Scooters and snarling Chitari collided with the net. And stayed. The Chitari tried to slice apart the threads with their knives, but only got them stuck in there as well.

'Did it miss anything?' Tony asked Peter through the intercom. He saw him waved at him from top of one of the buildings.

'None missed.'

A shatter of noise thundered from the dark clouds. A million trail of light shot straight for the dot in the air, the bounced off towards the portal.

OOO

Loki was actually glad he is Jotun, for ice already formed around the Dragon's scales for its inability to adjust.

'Elixir.' Loki cued him, but he didn't answer and growled.

'Elixir!' He shouted more loudly in his ears.

The Dragon snorted, then white flames crawled up its sides. Loki closed his eyes to avoid them getting blinded by the light. The edgy scales under him morphed into something softer. The warmth of the flames tickled his sides and died away.

'Get off-' Someone gasped from underneath.

Loki opened his eyes and realized he was sitting on top of Elixir, his face buried in the snow.

'Oh, sorry.' He quickly scrambled off and helped Elixir up and dusted him off. 'Are you alright?'

'I am fine.' Elixir jerked himself away. 'How to we close the portal?'

'No, I am closing it, you are going back.'

'What?' Elixir cried out. 'But you can't just be here alone with the Chitari!'

'Shh!' Loki slapped a hand on his mouth and locked his other arm around his neck. He pulled him into the shadow of an ice cliff. A lone Chitari scout arrived a second later to check out the portal. After a few more moments peering down through the hole, he left.

'I did say in the start this is my business.' Loki said quietly into Elixir's ear without taking his hand off his mouth. Elixir struggled, but the taller god got the advantage. 'You will go and not come back for me. You will follow what I said after two.'

Elixir tried to kick him in the shins, but missed.

'You promised.'

Loki dragged him over to the side of the gaping portal in the ground, and flung Elixir down it. He looked up into the skies.

'Mundus Ligno, adiuva me.' He whispered and opened his arms wide. A green aurora surrounded him. He brought his hands together and focused the power.

'Claudite ostium.'

Green light shot out from the tips of his fingers. The light spread like a web, covering the entire opening with a green haze.

Thor. He scowled. Did you forget to count this soon?

OOO

Elixir wouldn't have bothered to scream, since he could just turn into a bird and fly off, but he was screaming because 1) Loki was alone and 2) Thor sent a blast of lightning at him just at the same time he was falling on him.

He quickly turned himself into something small, something small enough to make escape cascades of lightning.

A shock jolted through his body.

When he opened his eyes, he doubted that he was still alive, but he was. Then his hearing came back.

Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz~~~~

How he hated this flimsy form. And the noise! The noise that seemed to go on for eternity and never fade, like some torture.

Elixir looked up and see the portal seal shut in a flash of white and green.

Loki.

The black clouds rumbled.

He allowed himself to transform back.

And fall.