The Throne of Asgard

by History101

A.U. 'fix it' series of events, set after Loki is given the throne when Odin falls into the Odinsleep in 'Thor' (2011). Based around the idea that Loki is not 'evil' and what happens after he is made king. Will cover events from 'Thor', 'The Avengers', and 'Thor, the Dark world.' Each chapter will have its own summary since they won't necessarily be written in chronological order.

10. The Chitauri Decsend

The Chitaruri Descend

Summary - A year after Von Doom's attack brought the Avengers together, Loki brings grave news of a strange race of creatures which plan to bring war to Earth.

---

"The Tesseract has awakened. It is on a little world, a human world. They would wield its power, but our ally is ready to lead...and our forces, the Chitaruri will follow. A world will be hers. The universe, yours. And the humans...what can they do but burn?"

---

It was a cold, dark day in the middle of the Arctic circle with heavy snowfall and a harsh, bitter wind strong enough to fell even the most toughened adventurer. In this unforgiving environment, with a flash of bright green light, Loki, the Norse god of Mischief, appeared out of thin air.

His Asgardian armour was damaged and his coat was ragged and torn, for once, it may be beyond even his repair this time. He had landed on his feet but in an instant, he had crumpled to the snow covered ground, silently, his skin turning blue at the first touch of the snow.

It had been over a year since Iron Man had perfected his technology which had allowed him to track Loki and the second that the Norse God of Mischief had returned to their planet, he'd been the first to know.

"JARVIS, get Thor on the line for me, would you?"

"Of course, sir," the AI answered. It had taken Tony some considerable effort to encourage the God of Thunder to use a phone. Not only had the Asgardian broke at least five in attempting to use them, but whenever he answered them, he tended to shout, very loudly no matter how many times he was told that it was unnecessary.

"Thor, can you hear me, buddy?" Tony asked aloud.

"I hear you, friend, what is wrong?"

"JARVIS picked up Loki's trail...he's in the Arctic circle," Tony said, "And he's not moving...he hasn't moved since he just...appeared there...about ten minutes ago. I'll send you the location...you remember how to..."

"I believe so," Thor said quickly.

"I'll meet you there then."

"I will be faster alone," the Asgardian said.

---

"Loki!" Thor bellowed, striding through the snow, "Loki! Brother!"

Although he didn't feel the cold as badly as humans did, he wasn't meant to endure sub zero temperatures. Asgard had no winter, or at least, it never saw anything like this. He could feel his skin freezing through his armour and his cape didn't provide any warmth at all as it billowed out behind him.

Had Loki been in his Asgardian form, Thor probably wouldn't have noticed him at all, but because his skin was a deep blue amidst a see of white snow, he was much more visible.

"Loki!" Thor cried, running over to the fallen man and kneeling beside him.

Thor had waited for many years, since learning of his brother's adoption, to see Loki's true form but now that it was before him, it felt more than a little bittersweet. Loki was unconscious which meant that his transformation was involuntary, but it was likely the only thing that had allowed him to survive in the snow.

Without thinking, Thor touched his brother's blue face to trace the slightly raised markings there and his hand was frozen on contact. He cursed in frustration before he, much more carefully, removed his luxurious, red cape and wrapped Loki in it so that he could safely hold his brother in his arms without fear of being frozen at the slightest touch of his Jotun skin.

Loki's blue brow furrowed and Thor felt elated, "Loki, 'tis I, you are safe now, my brother. Open your eyes...I beg you."

With great care, Thor brushed the dark hair from Loki's face and tightened his strong arms, as though trying to protect his brother from even the cold air around them. "Who has done this to you? Tell me, brother and I will rid the Nine of their every trace," he vowed.

"Hhhhmmmm," Loki winced, the pressure of Thor's hold waving him from his sleep. "Wh...Thor?" he murmured, recognising the voice, "Where?"

"What? Where...oh, Midgard, Loki, we are on Midgard...I believe this is called the circle of Arctic."

Loki let out a deep sigh of relief as he managed to open his red eyes. To Thor's credit, he didn't look shocked or even disgusted as Loki expected. "...Good," Loki breathed.

"Good? Indeed, but why?" Thor asked, as his brother stirred, trying to stand up. Thor tried to stop him but Loki was stubborn.

"...Argh..." Loki hissed, his every muscle aching.

"You should not move so, Loki," the blonde Asgardian declared.

With a snort of irritation at his weakness, Loki raised his hand weakly and saw that it was blue. He tried to use his magic to enforce his pale Asgardian skin, but he was much too tired. It fizzled away with a space flash of green. "Damn..." he grumbled.

"I will take you away from this place," Thor said, standing slowly with Loki wrapped in his arms.

"Thor..."

"Do not think of protesting, Loki, if you do, it will fall on deaf ears."

"But I...I am..." Loki said merely, raising his hand to indicate his skin. He stared at his blue hand with a look of deep disgust while Thor did not. Instead, he used his cape to cover the hand and then he wrapped his own larger palm around it.

"I care not."

For a moment, Loki could only stare in stunned silence, his reputation as 'Silvertongue' deserting him. "We...we have no time, you must let me go!" Loki said suddenly.

"Never."

"If you do not, this realm and all who inhabit it will be destroyed!"

"...What?" Thor frowned, confused.

"There is an army ready to invade and your precious S.H.I.E.L.D has the key to opening the doors for it. There is no time, Thor! Release me at once!"

"An army...what?"

"I must go, you cannot follow me! You will doom us all, if you do!"

"If there is an army, I will not let you face it alone!"

---

In a highly classified location, was a building, it was large, intimidating and high tech. Designed to house Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S it had one goal in mind; to investigate phenomena beyond the range of conventional scientific understanding. Erick Selvig and Jane Foster were some of its principal scientists.

There was a bustling evacuation in progress but amidst the controlled chaos of fleeing people and vehicles, Agent Coulson stood calmly waiting for a helicopter it land before him. When it did, Director Fury and his second in command, the formidable Argent Hill, stepped off and strode quickly over to him.

"How bad is it?" Fury asked him over the quietening engine.

"That's the problem, sir, we don't know," Coulson replied. "Doctor Selvig read an energy surge from the Tesseract four hours ago," he explained as they began to descend into the bowels of the underground facility.

"NASA didn't authorise Selvig to go to test phase," Fury frowned.

"He wasn't testing it. He wasn't even in the room. Spontaneous event," Coulson added at the Director's confused look.

"It just turned itself on?" Hill asked.

"Where are the energy levels now?" Fury asked.

"Climbing. When Selvig couldn't shut it down, we ordered evac."

"How long to get everyone out?"

"Should be clear in the next half hour," Coulson replied.

"Do better," Fury ordered and Coulson nodded, turning to leave them

"Evacuation may not be possible," Hill told him once the Agent was gone.

"We should tell them to go back to sleep?" he scoffed.

"If we can't control the Tesseract's energy there may not be a minimum safe distance," she said over the sound of a klaxon sounding in the distance.

He said nothing as he met her gaze for a moment before he walked into the lab to see Selvig and Foster packing away their work efficiently. "Talk to me, Selvig," he said on entering.

"Director," the scientists greeted.

"Is there anything we know for certain?"

"The Tesseract is misbehaving," Selvig said simply.

"That's supposed to be funny?" Fury frowned as did Jane.

"It's not funny at all," she shook her head "The Tesseract is active and we don't know why."

"I assume you pulled the plug?"

"She's an energy source. We turn off the power, she turns it back on," Selvig replied, "If it reaches peak level..."

"We prepared for this, Doctor. Harnessing energy from space."

"We don't have the harness, my calculations are far from complete and she's throwing off interference, radiation. Nothing harmful, low levels of gamma radiation."

"That can be harmful," the Director remarked. "Where's Agent Barton?"

"The Hawk? Up in his nest, as usual."

"I see better from a distance," Barton told him on their comms.

"Doctor, it's spiking again," a young woman reported suddenly and Selvig ran across to the monitor.

As he finished speaking, the Tesseract began to emit a bright, cracking blue light which shook the entire facility. It shot out a burst of energy and it culminated in one area, making a large spherical shape which then exploded in blue flames, knocking everyone in the room to their knees.

Fury quickly ordered his men to advance on the Tesseract when the flames died down instantly, but it had left a lone figure standing where the light had been seconds ago. She was tall, slim and had long red hair. She was dressed strangely in ancient looking armour which left little to imagination and she held a golden spear with a glowing blue gem embedded in it.

"Ma'am, please put down the spear!" Fury cried.

The woman smiled serenely and then looked down at the spear, then she thrust it forwards and it glowed brightly, emitting a blinding light and with it, a powerful blast of energy.

Before it could incinerate the men and objects nearby, a green flash of light emerged and it clashed violently with the blue energy. It threw the lab into chaos, throwing the metal equipment around in a small hurricane, making the agents and the scientists duck for cover.

It settled quickly and when it did, Thor and Loki, who now looked a sticky shade of grey, stood opposite the woman, between her and the mortals.

"Well, well," she smiled, "The Princes of Asgard come to stand in the presence of a lowly prisoner."

"Thor, do not look at her!" Loki hissed, forcibly shoving the Asgardian to gain to attention.

"He doesn't have to look at me," she said, "You remember, don't you, Thor? You remember me."

"Thor, you fool!" Loki growled when the blonde seemed to be instantly captivated, even going so far as to drop Mjölnir to the ground.

Loki clutched a small but lethal dagger from inside his coat and spun like a viper, scratching Thor across the cheek with enough force to break the sorceress' hold over him. "Think with your head for five minutes, or we'll all be doomed!" he hissed, his breathing laboured.

"...I am sorry, brother," he said in disgrace.

Loki threw up his hands, frustrated when suddenly, the beautiful woman, leapt forwards and within two seconds she placed the tip of the spear against the chests of several S.H.I.E.L.D agents and their eyes turned blue.

"Lorelei! Stay this madness!" Thor cried. *1

"You know her?" Fury demanded, hiding his surprise at seeing the Asgardians.

"She is one of our people," Thor answered him.

"An Asgardian," the Director frowned. "We have no quarrel with your people," he told her.

"An ant has no quarrel with a boot," she replied.

"You planning to step on us?" Fury asked her.

"Oh, I come with glad tidings," Lorelei smiled, walking towards them hypnotically, "Of a world made free."

"Free from what?" Selvig asked.

"Freedom," she answered. "Freedom is life's great lie. Once you except that, in your heart, you know peace," she said, turning quickly, pointing the spear at Selvig.

But Loki acted quickly and threw one of his daggers at her, it dug into her shoulder, piercing through her bullet proof armour and made her leap back before she could take control of the scientists' mind.

"You say 'peace'...I kinda think you mean the other thing," Fury remarked.

"My lady," one of the S.H.I.E.L.D agents, whose mind she now controlled said, "Director Fury is stalling. This place is about to blow and drop a hundred feet of rock on us."

"The portal is collapsing in on itself," one of the controlled scientists reported. "We've got maybe two minutes before this goes critical."

"Well, then," she smiled and one of the agents turned his gun towards Fury and shot.

Once again, Loki threw a dagger and the bullet was knocked from its course before the man was shot in the chest. She glared at the dark haired Prince, and ordered her puppets to shoot him, despite knowing that the bullets wouldn't harm him.

The barrage of projectiles did manage to make Loki sway on his feet slightly and take a step back but that was all. "Loki," she sighed, "I was told to expect you. I know you covet the sceptre, but you will not have it. The Other failed with you...you managed to escape without it. I have orders to kill you for trying to steal it."

"I thought you didn't take orders," he replied calmly.

As they spoke, Fury acted quickly and placed the Tesseract into a secure briefcase, all while intending intently.

"I've changed," she shrugged, "I've been promised a world which will kneel at my feet."

"You're a fool for believing him. He does not share power."

"We could...together," Lorelei smiled at him, she began circling him, predatorily.

"Your spell craft does not work on me," Loki grinned at her.

"This will," she replied, brandishing the spear and raising it to his heart.

Loki gripped it quickly and forced it away from him. It began to glow and it sent him flying backwards through one of the thick metal walls with a loud crash.

"Loki!" Thor bellowed as the sorceress tilted her head towards him.

"We don't need him, Thor, you and I...we have each other," she said, placing her hand on his arm.

"...Yes...we have...we..." Thor frowned, his brow furrowing.

"Thor!" Jane called, taking a low step forwards.

"Stay out of this, mortal," Lorelei warned, sending a blast of energy towards her and the other scientists. They managed to jump aside but they were thrown by the explosion from the equipment that was hit.

"...I...what...Jane!" Thor said, shaking his head.

"Enough of this," Lorelei hissed, "You, get the Tesseract!" she ordered her men. "Thor...do not move," she said, hypnotically, raising the sceptre.

"I..." Thor muttered.

Fury acted quickly and shot her but of course, she barely even flinched as she retaliated, knocking him off his feet with the power of the spear. Though at least he had prevented the sorceress from gaining control of Thor's mind

Lorelei got to her feet and looked at Agent Barton, she'd landed right next to him and at the same time as he pulled a gun on her, she touched the sceptre to his heart.

"You have heart," she said.

"Agent Barton, move!'" Jane shouted, weakly pushing herself up onto her knees. Despite her efforts, the agent seemed to ignore her as the spear touched his chest and his eyes turned a bright blue. He put away his gun and stood to attention before Lorelei.

"The Tesseract, get it," she ordered him and he strode off towards Fury.

"Oh...of course," he muttered.

He strode off and as Thor moved to stop him, Lorelei shot him back in the same way she had done to Loki and bought herself a good few precious seconds. He was sent flying through metres of reinforced walls and she used that time to advance on Jane.

"You could be of use to me," Lorelei stated. Before anyone could stop her, she took control of the scientists' mind.

Her men had now overpowered Fury and Coulson and now, Jane stepped forwards to take up the briefcase containing the Tesseract. All of the remaining S.H.I.E.L.D agents who went controlled or dead were unconscious and useless to stop them from walking out of the room.

Loki stumbled as he tried to run after them, but he was far too weak and even if he did catch up to them, he didn't have the strength to stop the agents she'd controlled, not after all he'd been through.

He'd gone looking for the spear which held the mind gem and found himself in a world between worlds. It had been filled with Chitaruri Warriors and a being called the 'Other' who answered only to his master. Loki had been discovered and it had been almost impossible for him to fight his way out. It had taken all his strength but not before he learned of their plan and of their puppet, Lorelei. The spear would come to Midgard and so too would he.

As he stumbled to his feet, Loki was knocked back down again when the building shook violently again and he winced, frowning up at the crumbling ceiling.

"Thor!" he hissed, "An exit would be much appreciated! Thor!" he yelled, but his brother seemed to be frozen at watching Jane walks way from them. "Oh," Loki rolled his eyes in frustration and raised his dimly, glowing hands.

---

With the Avengers assembled aboard the concealed Helicarrier, Loki slept fitfully, his skin now an impressive shade of dark blue with intricate patters crossing over his limbs.

"Why is he blue?" Tony asked Thor who was sat beside his sleeping brother.

"It is his true form...he was adopted," Thor reminded him.

"Oh, it looks...kinda impressive. So he uses his...magic...to look different?"

"Yes."

"Any idea when he's gonna wake up?"

"No. He was weak when he arrived, he is even more so now...because I was did not save us. Loki transported us all out of the S.H.I.E.L.D facility before it collapsed. He warned me not to follow him to the base. Told me I would be a hindrance. But I did not listen."

"He's tough, he'll be alright," Tony said with confidence.

"I am worried for him, but I worry also for Jane. Lorelei is vengeful and she is powerful," Thor lamented.

"We'll get her back, big guy," he vowed, "We'll get her back."

---

Not long after, a very tired and frustrated Loki awoke and met with the Avengers, Fury, Hill, Coulson and Selvig around a large table. His illusion was better than it had been, his skin was no longer blue, but he looked a sickly shade of light grey instead. Wisely, no one chose to comment when Thor glared at them all, as though daring them to cross him when he walked in beside his brother.

"You're all weak fools," Loki muttered. "Because of you, she escaped and now she will never be..."

"Who were the ones who got thrown through a wall?" Fury raised an eyebrow.

"I'd just escaped from another dimension from a furious army of Chitauri, torn a hole though into another world and nearly froze to death in your Arctic Circle. Forgive me if I didn't meet up to your standards of godhood!"

"You did well, Loki, without you, we would not have known and it could have been far worse," Thor said to clam his brother down. "But what is the sceptre? And where did Lorelei obtain it?"

"It contains the mind stone, didn't you see it? Now, even those who would normally have been able to resist Lorelei's sorcery will not stand a chance. Women can now be forced under her control. Or were you too busy pining after your mortal that you failed to notice her new abilities?"

"No, no, I know...she took Jane, she has Jane and friend Barton and I did nothing!" Thor cried.

"I don't even know if I trust you," Fury said to Loki, suddenly. "Last time there was a spear involved, you stole it, broke it and gave me one half as present. I know it was you. You know how much trouble I got in for that?! How do we know you're not just here to take that thing? She said you were in someone's bad books for trying to take it. You're nothing but a thief."

"I could have left you to die in your own building, I could have let you be buried alive but I used what little power I had left to save you and your people," Loki hissed at him, "A simple thank you would not go amiss."

"He's right," Erik Selvig said kindly, "You did save us. Thank you."

Loki slowly turned his attention to the scientist, seemingly shocked that he'd even been thanked, like it never happened. After a moment, he gave a polite nod of acknowledgement and the man smiled. "I assume," Loki began with a cough, "That you haven't been idle this last hour?"

"You assume right," Fury said, standing up. He began to lead them all up the main command deck where people were talking loudly and rushing about all before the large curved window which showed the clouds moving past them. "We're cloaked and untraceable, she won't find us up here," he told them, taking his place before the windows.

"We're sweeping every wireless accessible camera on the planet. Cell phones, laptops...if it's connected to a satellite, it's eyes and ears for us," Coulson told them. "And we've got every lab on the planet scanning for signs of gamma radiation. The Tesseract emits a small amount of it. If it passes by then, they'll know."

"She has been told of all this. The Other knew about all of you and about your technology," Loki sighed.

"Who is this Other?" Fury asked.

"He serves Thanos..."

"Thanos!" Thor exclaimed, "The Titan?!"

"Yes..."

"And for those of us who skipped mythology 101?" Thanos, is?" Tony asked.

"Trouble," Thor said simply.

"Thanos is a powerful being, a Titanian Eternal, who cares for nothing other than death and destruction, and because of your organisation, his sights have turned to your planet," Loki told them. "How he acquired one of the gems is..."

"And the gems are?" Natasha asked.

Rolling his eyes, Loki continued, "The Infinity gems are artefacts of great power individually, but combined they make the Infinity Gauntlet and they would make him unstoppable. From what I saw, he is trapped and he cannot escape his prison without the Gauntlet. They needed a puppet to bring them the Tesseract and Lorelei is that puppet." *2

"Okay, but why is she trying to take over the planet? What's this mad idea about making us 'free from freedom'?" the Selvig asked him.

"That's what she wants, a place to rule, she has always seen herself as a queen and the Other and Thanos know this, somehow," Loki said.

"Asgard imprisoned her centuries ago and bound her spell craft. I thought she was a prisoner still," Thor shook his head.

"Clearly not," his brother shrugged, "No prison is ever inescapable," he said with confidence. "But she didn't seem to be using her own powers. She could have easily bewitched you to do her bidding without having to resort to using the sceptre..."

"Sir! We've got a hit! A 67% match," one of the agents watching the monitors reported.

"Location?" Coulson asked as they rushed over.

"Stuttgart, Germany, 28 Königstrasse. She's not exactly hiding," he said, looking at the beautiful woman on the cameras walk confidently in a black dress and high heels, smiling at them from across the world.

"She can control minds," Fury sighed, "I don't want to send anyone in there unless we have a way of protecting ourselves...but we don't exactly have a choice. Loki...can we trust you?" he asked the dark haired man.

"They gave me such a warm welcome when I landed on their prison planet, I wish to return the favour. Director Fury...trust my rage," Loki said with a cold grin.

Fury nodded, "You said she had other...powers, what kind of powers are we talking about?"

"Mind control. She doesn't need the mind gem to force men to do her bidding simply by speaking. Women were immune though. I suppose it's possible that she has abandoned her own sorcery in favour of the sceptre, after all it has much more power than she."

"So she doesn't necessarily have to use the sceptre? Great," Fury sighed. "In that case, I want you there in case things go south. You're immune to her little mind tricks, right? But don't engage unless you have to," he said, taking in the god's tired state.

---

Lorelei left the building, walking out onto the street in her Asgardian armour amidst the panicking people who ran and screamed, still in shock at what she'd done inside. She had been successful, attacked a man, used his eye to attain the Iridium and now, she was about to make a point.

"Kneel before me," she ordered the people. "I said, kneel!" she yelled, her voice echoing. "Is not this simpler?" she asked them once they had all done as ordered. "Is this not your natural state? It's the unspoken truth of humanity that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power, for identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel."

"...Not to people like you," an old man declared, standing up.

"There are no 'people' like me," Lorelei replied.

"There are always people like you."

"Look to your elder, mortals. Let him be an example," she said, as the sceptre began to glow.

The light that shot from it was headed straight for him, but it bounced off the star emblazoned shield of Captain America who leapt before the old man. The blast was sent back at Lorelei, who fell to the ground.

"You know, the last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everyone else, we ended up disagreeing," Steve said to her as she scrambled to her feet.

"The Solider," she smirked, "I was told of you. The man out of time."

"I'm not the one who's outta time."

"Lorelei, drop the weapon and stand down!" Natasha ordered from the Quinjet she flew down into the square.

Merely snorting elegantly at the order, Lorelei attacked the jet which moved quicker than she anticipated and Captain America's shield was thrown at her, knocking her backwards as the man himself ran at her, catching the shield as he moved. He punched her in the face and she swung the spear at him in retaliation.

It clattered against his shield but she was able to knock him backwards, sending him reeling onto the hard ground. Throwing his shield like frisbee, Steve leapt core tads just as she cast it aside and they began a lethal dance around one another but again, Lorelei proved that she was stronger and he was pushed away when the spear winded him.

"Kneel," she ordered, placing the end of the sceptre at his throat.

"Not today," he declared, jumping up and spinning around.

---

"He's all over the place," Natasha said from inside the jet, watching the Asgardian throw Captain America across the street again.

"Perhaps I should aid him," Loki raised an eyebrow, "No mortal is a match for her, I've told you this."

"Brother, you are too tired, you need to rest, I can..."

"Brilliant idea, Thor," Loki rolled his eyes, "And when she takes control of your mind, what then?"

"She has not taken his mind," Thor glanced down at Steve Rogers.

"He could be immune to her normal charms, it is possible you know, and she has not used the sceptre to take his mind yet. You have proven many a time that you are more than susceptible to her. What if I was wrong about her not using her own powers? At least he she does control him, he will not call down the heavens on us..."

"I cannot just watch..."

"You are not going to..."

"Yes, I am," Thor declared, standing up, but Loki pushed him back down, or at least he tried to.

"No, you are not. If you insist on this stupidity, I will end this myself," Loki said, vanishing from his seat.

---

Loki walked calmly through the street below the jet, his golden helmet, armour and green cape appearing with a flash of light. He watched Captain America being tossed effortlessly onto the stone steps across from him and he sighed.

With a second flash of light, Loki's hands let lose a blast of green power and it knocked the sorceress to the ground, the sceptre falling from her hand. "I'm afraid we've seen enough," he declared, as she hissed.

"You cannot stop me, you are weak, Loki, I..." she snarled at him as she got to her feet.

Her angry speech was cut short when Loki punched her with enough force to render her unconscious before she had landed back onto the ground. He turned with a raised eyebrow under his helmet, to stare at Captain America who was now walking, slowly on aching muscles to stand beside Loki.

"...I could've handled it," Steve announced meekly.

---

"If you so much as scratch that glass," Fury told Lorelei, "It's 30,000 feet straight down in a steel trap. You get how that works? Ant...boot," he said, gesturing to the drop below and then to the controls.

"It's an impressive cage," she laughed, "But not built, I think, for me."

"Built for something a lot stronger than you."

"Oh, I've heard," Lorelei grinned, looking around, "A mindless beast. Makes play he's still a man. How desperate are you, that you call upon such lost creatures to defend you?"

"How desperate am I?" Fury repeated. "You threaten my world with war. You steal a force you can't hope to control. You talk about peace and you kill because it's fun. You've made me very desperate. You might not be glad you did."

"It burns you to have to come so close," she said, staring into his eye. "To have the Tesseract, to have power, unlimited power. And for what? A warm light for all mankind to share? And then to be reminded what real power is."

"Well, let me know if 'real power' wants a magazine or something!" Fury said, leaving her alone.

---

"She's nuts," Tony announced, turning off the monitor on which they'd been watching the conversation.

"I wanna know why she let us take her. She's not leading an army from in here," Steve said.

"I don't think we should be focusing on Lorelei. Her brain is a bag full of cats, you can smell crazy on her," Bruce replied. "I think it's about the mechanics. What do they need Iridium for?"

"It's a stabilising agent," Tony declared. "It means the portal won't collapse in on itself. It also means the portal can stay open as long as she wants. That man is playing Galaga!" he announced, pointing across the room suddenly. "The rest of the raw materials, brainwashed Legolas can get his hands on pretty easy. The only major component he needs is a power source of high energy density. Something to kick start the cube."

"When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" Hill asked him.

"In the last few hours. I couldn't go to Germany, apparently, I'm too susceptible to a pretty woman," he glanced at Fury. "I had to do something," he shrugged.

"Does Lorelei need any particular kind of power source?" Natasha asked.

"He'd have to heat the cube to 120 million kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier," Bruce answered.

"Unless, Jane figured out how to stabilise the quantum tunnelling effect."

"If she could do that, she could achieve heavy ion fusion at any reactor on the planet."

"I miss our talks, science bro!" Tony grinned.

"Getting back on track," Fury sighed, "I want to know how that sceptre turned two good people into her personal flying monkeys."

"Monkeys?" Thor repeated, "I do not understand."

"I do!" Steve exclaimed happily, "I understood that reference."

"Shall we go play?" Tony asked Bruce and Selvig who nodded before they left, noticing that the agent who had been playing Galaga, had at some point, continued.

---

In the largest lab in the Helicarrier, Bruce scanned the sceptre which was plugged into several pieces of equipment as he looked up at a monitor. "The gamma readings are definitely consistent with your reports of the Tesseract," he said to Erik, "But it's gonna take weeks to process."

"If we bypass their mainframe and direct route to the Homer cluster we can clock this at around 600 teraflops," Tony said.

"Hmm, all I brought was a toothbrush," Bruce laughed as Tony standing by his own miniature lab he'd brought with him. "Lorelei said...a warm light for all mankind," he said after a moment.

"Yeah?"

"I think it was meant for you. Even if Barton hasn't told her about your tower, it's still all over the news. Powered by an arc reactor, a self sustaining energy source. It'll run itself for a year, right?"

"It's just a prototype," Tony shrugged.

"It's impressive from what I've seen," Erik remarked," So...why didn't S.H.I.E.L.D bring you in on the Tesseract project?"

"I should probably look into this once my decryption program finishes breaking into all of S.H.I.E.L.D's secure files," he replied calmly.

"I'm sorry, what?" the older man scoffed in confusion, "You're doing what?"

"JARVIS has been running it since I got here," Tony said, "In a few hours, I'll know every dirty secret S.H.I. has ever tried to hide. I've had my doubts since we were first called in about this Tesseract."

"I think Lorelei's trying to wind us up," Bruce stated, "She wants to start a war and if we don't stay focused...she could succeed."

"Tell me this doesn't smell a little...funky, to you?" Tony asked him.

"...Let's just...find the cube," he muttered back.

---

"It was no accident for Lorelei to take Jane," Thor said. He was at on the cold, metal steps in the command centre, his hands clenched together, his elbows resting on his knees. "I dread what she plans for her once she's done," he said.

"She's a good woman," Coulson replied, taking a seat next to him, "Talks about you a lot. You changed her life. Changed everything around here."

"Things were better as they were. My father should never have sent me here. It did me good, but it did no good for humanity. We pretend on Asgard that were more advanced, but we come here battling like bilge snipe."

"What?"

"Bilge snipe. You know, huge, scaly, big antlers," Thor explained, using his hands to gesture to his size and antlers.

"Not on Midgard, Thor," Loki reminded him from across the room, standing before a cluster of monitors.

"Ah, of course," Thor nodded, solemnly.

"You think you can make Lorelei tell us where the Tesseract is?" Fury asked Loki on entering the room.

"Perhaps," Loki shrugged, turning towards them. "It's not just power she wants, it's vengeance, upon us," he said, gesturing over at Thor for a moment. "We were but two of the Asgardians sent to defeat her but we were the only ones who survived."

"What are you prepared to do?" Fury asked.

"Brother, I know you too crave vengeance as much as she," Thor said quickly, seeing the cruel grin that appeared on Loki's face. He moved to stand beside his brother. "But she is a prisoner. Do not..."

"I get the feeling she wanted to be here. And I don't like it," the Director frowned.

---

In the cage, Lorelei turned slowly to see Black Widow standing before her, "I didn't think it possible for a mortal to sneak up on an Asgardian," she remarked.

"But you figured I come?"

"After. After whatever tortures Fury can concoct, you would appear as a balm, as a friend, and I would cooperate," she said. "I'll admit I'm surprised to see you before the tortures."

"I wanna know what you've done to Agent Barton," Natasha demanded.

"I would say, I've expanded his mind."

"And once you've won, once you're queen of the mountain, what then? What happens to his mind?"

"Is this love, Agent Romanoff?" Lorelei laughed.

"Love is for children, I owe him a debt."

"Tell me," the Asgardian said, sitting down patiently.

"Before I worked for S.H.I.E.L.D, I...err...I made a name for myself. I have a very specific skill set. I didn't care who I used it for, or on. I got on S.H.I.E.L.D's radar in a bad way. Agent Barton was sent to kill me. He made a different call."

"And what will you do if I vow to spare him?"

"Not get you out," she replied quickly and Lorelei chuckled.

"No, but I like this. Your world in the balance and you bargain for one man."

"Regimes fall every day. I tend not to weep over that, I'm Russian, or at least, I used to be."

"And what are you now?"

"It's really not that complicated," Natasha began, walking up to the glass again. "I got red in my ledger, I'd like to wipe it out," she said.

"Can you? Can you wipe out that much red?" Lorelei asked, standing up. "Dreykov's daughter. São Paulo, the hospital fire? Barton told me everything, men always do. Your ledger is dripping. It's gushing red and you think saving a man no more virtuous than yourself will change anything? This is the basest sentimentality. This is a child at prayer. Pathetic!" she snarled, coming to stand right before the human with only the glass between them. It suddenly didn't feel very secure to Natasha.

Lorelei pounded her fists against the glass, shocking the unflappable Widow backward a step. "I won't touch Barton," she growled. "Not until I make him kill you. Slowly. Intimately. In every way he knows you fear. And then he'll wake just long enough to see his good work and when he screams, I'll split his skull! This is my bargain."

"You're a monster," Natasha breathed, quietly.

"Oh, no," she laughed coldly, "You brought the monster."

"So...Banner, that's your play? Natasha asked quickly making the Asgardian furrow her brow.

"What?" she shook her head.

"She means to unleash the Hulk," Widow said with a hand at her ear as she stormed from the room, "Get everyone to the lab, I'll meet you there."

---

At the same time, Loki, not one to trust lightly, had sent an invisible copy of himself to scour the Helicarrier and it was at that moment, that he found the boxed and hidden weapons. He could sense that they had at some point, made contact with the energy of the Tesseract.

"A bright light for humanity, indeed," he muttered to himself before vanishing on the spot, taking the weapon with him.

---

"What's this?" Bruce asked suddenly, staring down at one of the tables in the lab.

The weapon that Loki had found had magically appeared there and now, Tony was able to access S.H.I.E.L.D's hidden files. "Looks like...ones of these weapons. They're building weapons," he said, reading the file on the monitor, "Of mass destruction."

"Maybe I was wrong," Steve sighed, "Maybe the world hasn't changed as much as I thought."

"Doctor, do you wanna remove yourself from this environment?" Natasha asked Bruce as she and Fury joined them all.

"I don't think so," he replied quickly, "I'd like to know why S.H.I.E.L.D is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction!" he said, pointing at the monitor.

"Because of them," Fury answered after a moment, looking over at Thor and Loki.

"Us?" Thor asked, confused.

"A few years ago we didn't even know that there were other worlds out there," the Director said. "And now that we do, we need to be prepared. You might be our allies, but not all your people are. Lorelei is a prime example. She has all your strength and she has some magic powers that we don't understand without even mentioning that sceptre. We are hopelessly, hilariously, outgunned."

"My people want nothing but peace with your planet," Thor declared.

"Obviously not all Asgardians are on the same page or we wouldn't be standing here. The world's filling up with people who can't be matched, that can't be controlled."

"Like you controlled the Tesseract?" Loki raised an eyebrow.

"Your work with the cube is what drew Lorelei and her allies here," Thor said. "It is a signal to all the realms that the Earth is ready for a higher form of war!"

"We had no choice," Fury sighed.

"A nuclear deterrent, right? Because that always calls things right down," Tony muttered.

"I thought humans were more evolved than this," Thor said.

"Did we come to your planet and blow things up?" Fury asked, sarcastically.

"You treat your champions with such mistrust," the blonde Asgardian said, his anger rising.

"Are you really that naïve?" Natasha asked, "S.H.I.E.L.D monitors potential threats."

"After all we've done, we're all still a threat?!" Tony exclaimed.

"We all are," she replied.

"Wait, you too?" Bruce asked her.

"You speak of control, yet you court chaos," Thor said to Fury.

"That's his M.O, isn't it? I mean, I thought we were a team, but we're just a chemical mixture that makes chaos," Bruce said, "We're a time bomb."

"You need to step away," Fury told him.

"Why shouldn't he let off a little steam?" Tony questioned.

"You know why," Steve said quickly.

"You people are so petty, and tiny!" Loki hissed. "Your own organisation, that you claim stands for the good of your planet, was keeping secrets..."

"Did you find this thing..." Tony asked him.

"Agent Romanoff would you escort Doctor Banner to his..."

"Where? You rented my room?"

"The cell was just in case..." Fury began.

"In case you needed to kill me," Bruce nodded, "I know. But you can't, I tried. I got low. Didn't see an end. So, I put a bullet in my mouth and the other guy spit it out. So I moved on. I do used on helping other people, trying to do good..."

"Banner," Steve said, calmly speaking over him, "Put down the sceptre."

In utter bewilderment, Bruce looked down to see that he had, at some point, picked up the glowing sceptre. He slowly moved to place it back on the table when one of the computers began to beep loudly.

"We found it," Tony announced, "It's..."

Before he could say anything further, a loud, violent explosion rocked the entire Helicarrier and the lab exploded, sending broken glass and burned metal flying everywhere.

"All hands to stations!" a klaxon sounded, "All hands to stations!"

"Hill?!" Fury question, sitting up, wincing in the burning lab.

"External detonation," she reported, "Number three engine is down. We've been hit and it's impossible to make repairs while we're in the air. Someone needs to get outside to patch it up."

"Stark," the Director looked to him.

"On it," he ran off.

"Coulson, initiate defensive lockdown in the detention section, then get to the armoury. Romanoff?"

---

"...We're okay," she reported after a moment, "We're okay, right?" she turned to Banner who had fallen down through the floor of the lab with her. "Doctor? Bruce...you gotta fight it, this is just what Lorelei wants," she said to him. "I swear on my life I will..." she stopped talking once she saw this his skin was ready turning green. "Oh, no," she sighed, trying to free her leg from the heavy metal debris trapping her there.

After a second, she was able to pry herself free just as Bruce was fully transformed, he took one look at her and she ran. Sometimes they knew that even the most tried and tested method wouldn't calm him down, and for some reason, this was one of those times.

---

Engine three had been completely decimated and it was still partially on fire or crackling with exposed wires and cables. The wind was sipping everything around because they were still high in the air.

"You need to get over to that engine control panel and tell me which relays are in overload position," Iron Man told Steve while he was hovering right beside a particularly bad are of damage to the ship. "What does it look like in there?" he asked after a minute.

"...It seems to run on some form of electricity," Steve reported, cluelessly.

"Well...you're not wrong."

---

Natasha had run as fast as she could, avoiding the worst of the attacks from the angry Hulk but she had been knocked to the ground violent in the hangar bay but before he was able to finish her off, Thor leapt at him, throwing him across the large area. They both landed violently as they rolled to a stop.

"Get up," Loki appeared in front of her and offered his pale, sickly hand to help her up as Thor got to his feet, circling the Hulk.

"We are not your enemies, Banner...try to think!" Thor hissed through clenched teeth, trying to hold off Banner's huge green arm when it descended on him. His inaction cost him dearly because he was then thrown across the room, clattering through a hard metal wall and quite possible, more along the way.

When he landed, he was able to scramble to his feet, running back through to where they still were before the Hulk could attack his brother and Natasha. As he ran, he held out his arm and caught Mjölnir as it flew towards him. He swung it at Banner and knocked him backwards into a jet, breaking the tail clean off as he blundered through it.

"Thor, you're just making him angrier!" Natasha shouted as he ducked to avoid the large green fist that destroyed a jeep behind him.

"The mortals will not thank you for this damage, you know," Loki added at the same time.

"Thank you for the commentary, it's not at all distracting!" the Asgardian huffed. He then threw Mjölnir and Banner caught it, of course, he couldn't lift it so with his hand wrapped around it, he fell to the ground, trying with all his might to raise the weapon and failing.

Thor ran forwards and kicked him in the face, deftly swinging around to pick up Mjölnir, he climbed on Banner's back and got his arms wrapped around the thick, green neck .

"We have a security breech!" the klaxon sounded again, "Hostiles are in S.H.I.E.L.D gear!"

The Hulk managed to leap upwards, taking Thor with him as he crashed through the ceiling, leaving Loki and Natasha to stare after them.

---

"We have the Hulk and Thor on Research Level 4. Levels 2 and 3 are dark," a man said over the tannoy on the command deck which was now overrun with hostiles and had been host to several grenade explosions.

"The Hulk will tear this place apart!" Agent Hill cried.

"Get his attention," Fury replied.

"Escort 6-0, proceed to Wishbone and engage hostile," she ordered, "Don't get too close."

"Copy," the jets flying around the Helicarrier replied as they flew towards the Research lab, now with Banner in their sights. "Target acquired. Target engaged," one of the polite said before shooting.

The main window was shattered instantly and Thor ducked for cover as glowing bolts shot from the jet, each one hitting the Hulk, but none doing any damage. "Target angry! Target angry!" the pilot yelled when the Hulk leapt through the air at him, landing in the nose of his jet. He ripped open the canopy of the aircraft and forcibly pulled the pilot from his seat.

"Loki! Get the pilot!" Thor cried, not looking around to see if his brother was been there.

"What's the magic word?" a disembodied voice suddenly whispered in his ear.

"Loki!"

"Close enough, I suppose," Loki sighed, teleporting away.

He more or less, leapt from the shattered window, and though he couldn't actually fly unless he turned into a bird, Loki could leap great distances so he landed on the flying aircraft and teleported into the air where the pilot was still rapidly falling. After managing to catch the human who had been spinning too much through the sky to open his parachute, Loki transported them back beside Thor in the destroyed lab. The human fell to the ground unconscious, unused to the power of teleportation and Loki fell to his knees from exhaustion.

Thor placed a gentle hand on his back, "Thank you, brother," he said.

"You owe me," Loki dead panned, raising his head to look at the blue eyes, which conveyed only gratitude and fondness despite the cuts and blood.

"I am well aware."

---

In the confusion of the bridge, Barton, from his concealed hiding spot, shot a special arrow into one of the computers and in an instant, all of the screens went black and Engine One suddenly went offline.

"Engine One is now shut down!" the voice on the tannoy reported, "Prepare for uncontrolled descent."

As he spoke, the aircraft began to spiral out of control and it fell through the sky at an alarming rate. "It's Barton, he took out the engine and he's heading for the Detention Level, does anyone copy?!" Fury called.

"This is Agent Romanoff...I copy," Natasha said. She was standing in the ruined doorway of the Research Lab, watching Thor help Loki up from the ground. "You have to get to the cell," she said to them, "I'm going after Barton," she declared, running off.

"No!" Thor cried, watching as the door to the cell was opened by one of the mind controlled men at the controls. He ran forwards to stop her from leaving it just as Loki shouted out.

"Thor, it's an illusion!"

But Thor said the have time to process his brother's warning before he fell straight through the image of Lorelei and into the cell, he scrambled to his feet just in time to see the door close behind him.

"I was told you'd fall for that," the real Lorelei said from in front of the cell. "And I was told you wouldn't," she turned to Loki.

Her men, all ten of them, pointed their guns on the weakened Loki and Thor growled from inside the cage. He hit the glass with Mjölnir and it only made a small crack, but the bolts began to loosen, threatening him with a long 30,000 foot drop to the ground below.

"The only way out, Thor, is down there," Lorelei laughed, "These mortals really are quite creative when they're afraid. They also think us immortal. Should we test that?" she asked, giving a small wave of her hand.

Without warning, all of her men shot Loki simultaneously. His armour and dense skin were enough to protect him but the projectiles still flew at enough force to knock him backwards.

"Loki!" Thor cried uselessly, still trapped.

Loki moved quickly once they'd stopped, using the daggers he had left, he began to fight back, cutting past the mortals like a viper, dropping them lifelessly to the ground. But there were ten of them and he was already very tired, so it would take him a good few minutes to best them all.

In the meantime, Lorelei approached the controls of the cage and began to daintily press random buttons and levers. The floor below the cage opened and the force from the wind rushing up was staggering.

"Don't move," Coulson said, entering the room with a large weapon in his hand.

The men attacking Loki slowly put down their guns and backed away while Loki himself breathed heavily, leaning against the wall. "You like this?" the agent asked, raising the gun. "It's nice right? But even I don't know what it does," he said, "D'you want to find out?"

"Or...we could do this differently," she said, tentatively. "You put down your weapon, and I don't kill him," she explained, her form disappearing again.

She re appeared now behind Loki, holding one of his own blades to his throat, she applied pressure so that a trickle of blood began to seep down his pale neck. "Move," she whispered into Loki's ear, "And my men send brother dear down for a swim," she said.

"Friend, Coulson, please...do as she says," Thor begged him, his nails scraping the glass in his frustrated desperation at seeing his brother threatened.

"Don't believe her lies, you fool," Loki hissed.

"You're one to talk," she grinned, running her nose lightly down the side of his face. "You know, we could have been great together, Loki. We're not like the others, you and me."

"I'm flattered," he grimaced.

"I know you wanted to kill me all those years ago, but I forgive you," she said.

"You really shouldn't."

"Oh, but I do. I've seen the error of my ways and I'm here to do good. These mortals need subjugation, can't you see that? Loki, you are the second son, you are expendable, you know this. You will never rule Asgard...but you could rule here, with me."

"Do not listen to her, brother!"

"And...say, you succeeded," Loki began smoothly. "The Other is satisfied and leaves you to rule this planet...what of the mortals who opposed you?"

"Traitors must be executed," she said, matter of factly.

"And we rule what remains?"

"Equally," she kissed his cheek, "You and I Loki. The Other will forgive your transgressions, if you but aid me now. You will have a place here."

"And then?"

"The other realms will bow at our feet. It is only natural for the weaker realm to fall first."

"First Midgard..."

"And Alfheim," she smiled sweetly, "Asgard, Jotunheim, Vanaheim, Muspelheim, I suppose, Svartalfheim and Niflheim. Think of it. Eventfully we will rule over Hel itself. You are no fool, you know it would be wise to join us. Why give your life for these weak, pathetic creatures when they don't even care?"

"Perhaps it would be wise," Loki acquiesced, "Perhaps you are right."

"Loki," Thor lamented, staring at his brother, "Loki, please, do not..."

"Odin will never see me as King. I will never rule. I have always been second best."

"It does not matter. When we take Asgard, I will give you pleasure of killing him yourself. Odin's power has weakened while yours has grown. He is no match for you, great sorcerer."

"I could be King," Loki grinned.

"Yes," she nodded, "You will be King."

"All the Nine will answer to us," he told her, "Staring with Midgard. These mortals are weak, they are pathetic," he said, slowly and gracefully moving so that the blade was no longer at his throat. His words and calmed her and stroked her ego so she lowered the weapon, staring into his eyes with greed.

"Yes," she repeated, eagerly.

"But I'm afraid," he said, leaning towards her and wrapping his long fingers around her thin wrist. "So are you," he whispered, swiftly prizing back his knife and slicing her across her stomach with it. He was able to pierce through her armour where bullets had failed. "Shoot her!" he ordered Coulson.

Coulson acted quickly and fired at her, the golden light that exploded from the weapon sent her reeling back. She fell over, falling next to the open floor and before she could stop herself, she fell through the hole, plummeting to the ground.

"So that's what's that does," Phil remarked, "Nice work...had me going there," he said to Loki.

"God of Lies," Loki rolled his eyes and together, he and the Agent incapacitated the remaining men under Lorelei's control.

"I don't suppose you can let me out now?" Thor spoke out.

---

With the aircraft stabilised, but badly damaged, Fury met with the others in the ruined command deck, standing with Hill before the window.

"We're dead in the air up here," he stated. "Our communications, the location of the Cube, Banner...I got nothing for you. Yes, we were going to build an arsenal with the Tesseract. I never put all my chips on that number, though, because I was playing something even riskier. There was an idea, you knows this, called the Avengers Initiate. That's why I called you all together the first time to stop Von Doom. Bring together a group of remarkable people, see if they could become something more, to fight the battles we never could...and you did. Good people died today believing in that idea. Now, it looks to me, like we're falling apart at the seams here, but we don't have that luxury."

"That fall will not have killed Lorelei," Thor explained, "She is still out there and now she will do all in her power to destroy the Earth."

"And she has the sceptre," Clint said, walking into the room.

"Whoa, whoa, mind controlled minion, over here!" Tony exclaimed.

"He's fine," Natasha told them, "He's back."

"How?" Steve asked, warily.

"Cognitive recalibration...I hit him really hard on the head," she answered.

"Well, if you're...you again...do you know where she would've gonna after getting the sceptre?" Fury asked him.

"No, I didn't need to know. I didn't ask. She'll make her play soon, though. Today," the archer answered.

"We must stop her," Thor said.

"It would make me feel better if I put an arrow through her eye socket," Clint remarked.

"Great, he's back," Tony leant forwards in his chair, "So...Lorelei wants to beat us, she needs an audience."

"Right, we caught her act in Stuttgart," Steve nodded.

"Yeah, that was just the previews, this is opening night. And Lorelei, she's a full tilt diva, right? She wants flowers, she wants parades. She wants a monument to the sky with her name plastered...Damn it..." he broke off.

"What?" Fury asked.

"The tower...my tower! She's gonna use my tower! It's got the perfect power source for the Tesseract too!"

"You're not going down there..." Fury began.

"Why not? It's my tower!"

"She can control men, did you forget that?" Natasha asked him.

"I believe that she has," Loki said suddenly.

"What?" Thor frowned.

"She is relying heavily on the magic of the sceptre. What she did before, those illusions, they are beyond any power she has ever displayed. The Other and Thanos have given her powers she could never have dreamed of and I believe that she now sees her own powers as obsolete. She is merely their puppet now. As long as you don't allow the sceptre to touch you, I don't think she can control you any longer."

"You are sure of this?" Thor asked.

"Mostly," Loki nodded.

"Well, that's comforting," Tony said.

"It is for you, metal man," Loki replied. "The mind gem works by controlling a persons' heart before their mind and from what I've heard, you literally have no heart..."

"Hey, I know I've been called heartless before but..."

"I meant," Loki rolled his eyes, "That your heart is metal. If she is only relying on the sceptre for mind control, then you cannot fall under her spell, it will not..."

"The glow stick of destiny won't work on me...that's brilliant, Reindeer Games," Tony exclaimed and looked around when they all stared at him. "What? You saw the footage of his helmet back in Germany, right? He's a total reindeer!"

"Do not say a word," Loki hissed quietly, listening to his brother chuckle.

"Why, what'd you call it?" Tony laughed.

"Thor, I'm warning you, I swear by the Nine, I will..."

"A cow!" the blonde burst out laughing and Loki sighed heavily.

He leaned forwards and rested his forehead on his hands on the table and listened to them laugh. Loki himself, couldn't help but smile a little, he was ultimately, the God of Mischief after all. "Loki, 'tis only a jest, brother," Thor said, sobering suddenly.

"'Tis larger than yours," Loki shot back and Tony laughed even louder.

Even Agents Hill and Coulson were repressing chuckles of their own at Thor's look of shock and horror until Fury glared at them.

"Go, Reindeer Games!" Iron Man laughed.

"Aren't we forgetting something, people?" the director sighed. "Tower. Imminent destruction of Earth," he said.

"Party pooper," Tony muttered.

"Time to go," Fury told them as their laughs quietened. "Go be heroes," he said.

---

Iron Man flew on ahead of the Quinjet and hovered above the roof of his tower, watching as Jane Foster worked at a computer hooked up the Tesseract.

"Shut it down, Doctor Foster," he ordered.

"It's too late," she shouted over the wind. "It won't stop now, it can't. It wants to show us something. A new universe."

"Okay," Tony muttered before attention to shoot at the Tesseract but it was shield by its own barrier and it sent back his attack, sending him reeling through the air in his damaged suit. Jane was knocked out from the force and she landed on the ground.

"The barrier is pure energy. It's unbreachable," JARVIS told him.

"Yeah, I got that," he replied, looking down and seeing Lorelei standing waiting for him, "Plan B," he muttered before descending.

His suit began to remove itself and he walked step for step across from her, neither breaking eye contact as they moved towards the sliding glass door.

"Please tell me you're going to appeal to my humanity," she said when they were both inside.

"Actually, I'm planning to threaten you," Tony replied, walking towards the bar.

"You should've left your armour on for that," she smiled.

"Yeah, well, it's seen a bit of mileage, and you've got the erm, the glow stick of destiny," the billionaire shot back, watching her stare, almost in awe at the weapon for a moment. "You want a drink?" he asked.

"Stalling me won't change anything."

"No, no, threatening. No drink, you sure? I'm having one," he said, pouring himself a generous drink.

"The Chitauri are coming. Nothing will change that. What have I to fear?" Lorelei asked, staring off at the impressive panoramic view of New York.

"The Avengers," Tony replied.

"Yes," she smiled condescendingly, turning back to look at him, "I've met them."

"Yeah," he smiled back, "I think it takes us a while to get any traction. But let's do a head count, here. We have two Princes of Asgard, a super soldier, a living legend who kind of lives up to the legend. A man with breath-taking anger management issues, a couple of master assassins...and you, diva, you've managed to piss off every single one of them."

"That was the plan," Lorelei said.

"Not a great plan," he shot back, walking towards her, "When they come, and they will, they'll come for you."

"I have an army."

"We have a Hulk."

"I thought the beast had wandered off," she frowned.

"You're missing the point. There's no throne! There is no version of this where you come out on top. Maybe your army comes for us and maybe it's too much for us, but it's all on you. Because if we can't protect Earth, you can be damn sure we'll avenge it."

"But how will your friends have time for me, when they'll be too busy fighting you?" Lorelei asked, stepping up to him and raising the sceptre to his heart. It shone blue for a second but it didn't seem to take control of his mind, "This usually works," she muttered, trying again.

"Well, I'm sure even women have performance issues..."

With his hiss of anger, Lorelei grabbed him by the throat, lifted him off the ground and threw him across the room as though he weighed no more than life size rag doll. "JARVIS," he muttered, "Anytime now."

"You will all fall before me," she growled, before throwing him out of the window.

Luckily, his new suit deployed just in time and it shot right out after him, knocking the Asgardian off her feet in the process. He flew back up to the top floor and shot at her as she was standing back up. She dropped the sceptre in the process but it was already too late to stop the Tesseract above them from opening the portal. It shot up a bright blast of blue energy and turned the sky and clouds around it an ominous black.

It created a worm hole like vortex and within an instant, hordes of flying Chitauri descended, riding chariots as they plummeted from the sky.

"Right...army," Tony muttered, stunned. He flew straight up, shooting at as many as he could while the people below stared up in horror at the explosions. Unfortunately, Iron Man couldn't stop them all and soon, the people of New York were attacked with bolts of disintegrating blue power and the streets were ablaze with fire.

---

Lorelei stood at the highest point of Stark Tower, watching the chaos unfold with a cruel smile on her face.

"Lorelei!" Thor bellowed, landing on the tower, "Turn off the Tesseract or we'll destroy it!"

"We?" she raised an eyebrow, watching as Loki appeared beside his brother wearing his helmet, golden armour and green cape. "Ah, well, there is no stopping it. There is only the war," she explained.

"So be it," Thor said heavily.

She leapt down from her high perch and swung the sceptre at Thor, he parried her with Mjölnir but she shot out a strong blast of blue energy, knocking him back and dislodging several of the large letters on the tower.

Loki conjured a silver sword and blocked her next blow before she could release another energy blast and they exchanged blows for a good minute before Thor had an opening to take over from brother.

She shot down one of the engines of the Quinjet that was now hovering by them piloted by Natasha and Clint. The aircraft spun out of control and with part of it ablaze, it plummeted to the ground.

A much larger ship, like a fish with a mouth and pointed teeth descended form the portal above their heads and Loki was torn between watching Thor fight and waiting for an opening, to watching the gigantic ship take over the sky. It probably carried over a thousand Chitauri, all of them armed to the teeth and ready to swing down onto the streets below.

---

"Stark...are you seeing this?" Steve asked on the ground.

"Seeing, still working on believing," he replied, following the large ship as it seems to swim through the air. "Has Banner showed up, yet?" he asked.

"Banner?"

"Never mind, just keep me posted."

---

"Look at this!" Thor yelled, gritting his teeth as he and Lorelei were locked in a test of strength. "Is this what you wanted?! Asgard imprisoned you, take your revenge on us if you must, but these humans are innocent!"

"It's too late," she said, "It's too late to stop it."

"No, you can. You are cruel, you have done terrible things but you can make this right. You can end this now."

"Thor!" Loki yelled right before she stabbed him straight through his armour with a small blade.

"You're a fool, mighty Prince," she scoffed, as Thor dropped his hammer and fell to the ground. He stood up almost instantly, lifting her up and tossing her back down only to watch her fool off the side of the tower, landing on a flying Chitauri aircraft.

Thor removed the small blade from his side and was about to fly after her with Mjölnir, but Loki placed a hand on his arm to stop him.

"Leave her," he said, raising the sceptre which she had left in her haste to escape. "We have the sceptre, that was the plan. Now I can at least try to close the portal. You are needed down there," he added, glancing at the chaos below.

"Jane is up there!" Thor exclaimed, looking over to the Tesseract and seeing the unconscious woman.

"You don't have the luxury of concerning yourself with just one mortal," Loki stopped him from flying off again, "I will see to it that she is safe. Now for the last time, go!"

"You are right, but..." Thor sighed. "Very well...You will be alright?" he asked.

"Aren't I always?"

"And you see to it that Jane is..."

"Go!" Loki yelled, pushing Thor aside but of course, it had little effect.

---

"Loki get the sceptre?" Steve asked when they were assembled on the ground, around him, Thor, Clint and Natasha stood anxiously.

"Yes, he says he should be able to close the portal," Thor nodded.

"Great. We've got Stark up top, he's gonna need us to..." Steve began but stopped when they saw Bruce ride up to them on a motorbike.

"So, this all seems horrible," he said, simply.

"I've seen worse," Natasha replied.

"Sorry."

"Oh, no, we could use a little worse," she replied.

"Stark, we got him," Steve declared.

"Banner?"

"Just like you said," Captain America nodded.

"Tell him to suit up, I'm bringing the party to you," he said, leading the flying ship back towards them.

"I don't see how that's a party," Natasha frowned.

"Now might be a really good time for you to get angry," Steve said to him.

"I'm always angry," he replied, walking forwards and changing winning a split second.

The Hulk punched the front of the ship, knocking it down and bringing it to a crashing halt, flipping it over him so that Iron Man could destroy it with a small but powerful rocker before it crushed their team. It fell in pieces around them as the angry hoards of Chitauri growled at them.

Before they could attack, there was another bright flash of light, this time it was golden, it fell from the sky and hit the ground not far from where they had gathered in a protective circle.

"Oh, god," Tony sighed, "Please don't tell me that's another portal of death!"

"It looks different," Steve observed, warily, holding up his shield.

"It is the Bifrost!" Thor exclaimed. "My father has sent reinforcements," he said just before Sif and the Warriors Three appeared before him.

Behind them, row after row of Asgardian Warriors materialised, one after the other, each person wearing golden armour and armed with swords, axes and lethal arrows.

"My friends!" Thor smiled. "You arrive at the right moment," he said, glancing around at the Chitauri surrounding them.

"We always do," Sif nodded.

"Prince Thor," General Hadir stepped forwards, "What are your orders?"

"See to it that that tower," he pointed over at Stark Tower, "Is protected. Loki is attempting to close the portal and Lady Jane is up there. Most mortals are defenceless, your priority is to protect them."

---

Thor flew up to the highest point he could find and he shot of a bolt of lighting up into the portal just as two more of the large metal creatures were flying out of it. Using it as a conductor, he called as much thunder and lighting as he could and after a moment, both creatures exploded.

"Loki?" he asked as he leapt to the ground, joining the confusing fight beside a group of Asgardian Warriors. "How do you fare?" he asked.

"I am working as fast as I can, Thor," Loki snapped back, his voice was accompanied by a fizzling and crackling as he tried to break through the Tesseract's barrier with the sceptre.

"How is Jane?"

"She is alive," her replied, which was technically, not a lie. "Now stop distracting yourself, and me, and focus on your fight. I will focus on mine!"

---

Once some of the worst of the fighting was done, from his high vantage point, Barton saw Lorelei fly past on one of the Chitauri's vehicles and with a smile, he shot out an arrow right towards her eye. She caught it in her hand deftly but couldn't predict that the projectile was rigged to explode. It knocked her off the air craft and she landed back onto Stark tower with a painful crash.

The Hulk leapt up from the ground and crashed in through one of the windows, throwing her back and straight into one of the walls, making her fall back down to the ground.

"Enough!" she cried, leaping to her feet. "You are, all of you, beneath me!" she growled and the Hulk stopped as she spoke. "I am a queen you dull creature and I will not be bullied by a..."

Evidently the Hulk didn't want to listen and he grabbed her by the ankle and swung her around, slamming her into the ground over and over with enough force to sent large holes in the floor. He left her there, broken and bleeding and he left to join in the fight again.

---

"Stark, do you copy?! You have a missile headed for the city!" Fury told him from aboard the Helicarrier.

"How long?"

"Three minutes, max. It'll wipe out midtown."

"Guys, you hear that?" Tony yelled. "Missile, three minutes, big boom!" he cried, wiping out the last of the Chitauri around him and flying up into the sky, speaking to the team on their communications.

"I can handle it," Loki declared. He had driven the sceptre through the barrier of the Tesseract and as they had been fighting, he had been working on controlling the power of the cube.

"How the hell can you deal with a missile?!" Tony yelled back.

"Where is it?" Loki asked him simply, "You must show me where!"

"Why?"

"Do it!"

"Okay, got it," Iron Man said, flying off as quickly as he could and let off a small but powerful rocket to act as a distress flare in the trajectory of the missile. "You see that?" he asked.

"...I see it," Loki answered.

He swung the staff and the portal, created by the unending pillar of blue light, mimicked his actions. It too moved through the sky and the portal swallowed the missile whole the second before Loki closed it.

"What the...what just happened?" Tony muttered after they all watched the light explode and dissipate, leaving nothing but blue sky and clouds remaining.

"...We won," Steve declared, breathlessly, "I think."

"Alright, yay! Hurray, good job, guys. Let's just not come in tomorrow. Let's just take a day. Hey, Loki, have you ever tried shawarma?" he asked.

"I have not," Loki said, kneeling beside the still unconscious Jane Foster using the sceptre to prop himself up on his weak legs.

"There's a shawarma joint a both two blocks from here," Tony said, " I don't know what is it but I wanna try it."

"Thor...your mortal," Loki breathed, ignoring Tony, "She...is unresponsive."

"Jane!" Thor took off into the air.

"We are not finished yet," Fandral said suddenly.

"...But then...shawarma after?"

"We have to get Lorelei," Sif explained.

"So...no shawarma?"

---

As the Avengers escorted the battered and beaten Lorelei down from Stark Tower, Thor stood with Loki, his Asgardian Warriors friends beside him and Jane in his arms. She was unconscious. "What did you do to her?!" he demanded.

"Noting more than what was done to me," she replied. "This is my revenge against you. If I cannot have this world, I can at least be glad in the knowledge that I destroyed you", she said as S.H.I.E.L.D lead her away.

"Despite the devastation of what has been confirmed, an extraterrestrial attack, the extraordinary heroics of the Avengers, and what we now know to be an army of Asgardian Warriors, has been to many, not only a cause for comfort, but for celebration," a man reported.

But the atmosphere aboard the Helicarrier was anything but celebratory. They had boarded the damaged air craft while S.H.I. questioned Lorelei but Fury agreed that he wouldn't stop Thor when he tried to take her back to Asgard.

But Thor was more worried for the sleeping mortal he loved, more than any prisoner. Jane Foster wouldn't wake and no scientific explanation would explain why. The others under the control of the mind gem had been freed when Loki had expelled her control using the sceptre but no matter what he did, the mortal wouldn't wake. She had strange cuts, that had appeared with seemingly no reason at all, on her arms, hands, even her face and she was whimpering and crying quietly.

"Why is she injured? And why does she not wake? Why is Jane still..." Thor demanded, pacing around her bedside.

"Lorelei told us," Sif spoke, calmly, "Her revenge, this is her revenge, against you, against us."

"Can you not do something, Loki, free Jane's mind from this..."

"The power of the gem is..."

"Brother, please," Thor begged. "Jane is...she is, the most amazing woman I have ever met. She has a mind that even you would respect. She knows no hate, only compassion. She does not deserve this. If Asgard had dealt more carefully with its prisoners then this would never have happened! You suggested all those years ago when Lorelei was first captured that she was better off dead, not imprisoned and you were right! You were right, Loki!"

"Whoa, hey, I know you're upset, but..." Bruce began.

"She'd deserve it," Natasha shrugged, "Least if she's dead, we don't have to worry about her escaping again."

"That is what I told Odin the first time, but he did not listen to me," Loki remarked.

"And now this is the price of our mercy. Innocent people are dead and Jane is trapped within her own mind!"

"'Tis worse than that," the dark haired God frowned, holding his hand over the closed eyes of the sleeping woman. "She is trapped within the Realm of the Other. No mortal stands a chance against him. It is why she is injured. The world of the mind is as real as this one."

"You barely escaped that place, right?" Natasha asked him and he nodded.

"I...underestimated their forces," he admitted, "Nevertheless, I was able to escape."

"Jane has not your power, brother, she is mortal. How long can she possibly last there?"

"Their forces will at least, be depleted now but it's still no place for a mortal. If she is strong...and fast...perhaps she could survive a day at most," Loki answered after a moment.

"It has been hours!" Thor exclaimed.

"Yes."

"Can you not..."

"Thor, she is mortal," Loki stated slowly, as though speaking to a child. "Even if, by some miracle, I was able save her, she will still die. A day. A year. A decade. These are but the blink of an eye to us..."

"Hey, we're standing right here, Reindeer Games," Tony grumbled.

"Why such loyalty for a mortal, Thor? You will watch her wither and die while you will live on for millennia."

"I cannot change what is...but I can appreciate the time we have together. I cannot accept that we will have no more. It is too soon."

"Huh," Loki scoffed, "Sentiment."

"Aye," Thor sighed. He gently placed Mjölnir onto a table at his feet and walked over to his brother. Taking one of Loki's smaller and paler hands in his own, he looked deeply into the familiar green eyes. "Brother..." he breathed simply.

Loki pulled his hand free with a shaky sigh. "You realise, beside the fact that mind magic is not one of my better talents, that my power is drained as it is. I am more likely to fail at best or damage her mind even more at worst," he said.

"At least you will have tried," Thor replied, "She...would understand that."

"Will you...when I fail? Will you understand? You put too much faith in my abilities when it suits you best, Thor. As much as it pains me to admit it, I have my limits. I cannot fix every magical problem..."

"I love her," Thor admitted, "I beg you...please...try."

With a purse of his lip, Loki knelt beside Jane, gracefully moving his cape aside for he was still in his full armour, only his helmet had been removed and it lay uselessly on one the work surfaces. He hadn't wanted to waste magic in removing his armour. "Hand me the sceptre," he said holding out his pale grey hand expectantly.

"If we stick around much longer, there's gonna be people coming to take that thing away," Fury told him as Tony placed the weapon in Loki's hand. "The higher ups are
breathing own my neck...it needs to be under lock and key."

"And it will be, along with the Tesseract and Lorelei," Thor vowed, "Once Jane awakens. I will not leave this world for even one moment until I know she is safe."

"Well, they're still not gonna be happy that I'm just letting you take them all..." the Director began.

"Be quiet...and whatever happens, do not interfere or you doom us both," Loki spoke over him, closing his eyes. In his right hand, he gripped the sceptre and the blue gem glowed brightly, making them all a little wary as he placed his left hand on Jane's forehead. He grimaced as he entered her mind.

---

Loki was in darkness. Jane's mind was trapped in the same prison world he himself had landed on and it was a barren wasteland of rock and dead plants. The sky was black and the only difference between then and now, was that there was a distinct lack of Chitauri Warriors around him. Or so he thought.

Suddenly, he heard a familiar cluster of growls approaching and the frantic footsteps of someone running. It was Jane Foster, she was unharmed, but she was clearly terrified as she ran for her life from something that Loki couldn't yet see.

"Lady Jane," Loki greeted her, lightly grabbing her arm to stop her from running.

"Let me go! They're coming!" she cried.

"Well, fear not, I am here to free you. I am Loki..."

"Loki...of Asgard?"

"The same," he gave a polite nod, regardless of their situation.

"How? I don't even know where we are, I..."

"There is no time for explanations," Loki said. "You are right, they are coming, for you and now for me, but I..."

"Look out!" she screamed.

Loki pushed her aside as a lone Chitauri warrior swung a sharp blade at them, he leapt aside but not quite fast enough because the tip of the weapon grazed his cheek, deeply cutting the skin and muscle. He spun rapidly and snatched the blade and then skewered the warrior with it, effortlessly.

Back on the Helicarrier, Thor watched a deep cut on Loki's face appeared out of no where and his blood trickled down his already scratched face.

"Am I seeing this?" Tony asked, "That just happened right?"

"It did...Loki said...that the prison world is dangerous," Thor said, sitting down against the wall and burying his face in his hands. "I have risked my brother's life to save Jane's...what manner of brother am I?!"

"He will be well," Hogun told him, "If anyone can save her, Loki can."

"Loki!" Jane exclaimed, watching as two more warriors emerged from the shadows and attacked him. Another appeared and grabbed her but Loki had made sure to remain close to the mortal and he stabbed the Chitauri in the neck, forcing him off Jane and tossing his to the ground.

"Stay down," he ordered her and she nodded, "Use this only if you must," he added, handing her one of the Warriors guns. It was the only one he'd come across and perhaps it would have been wiser to keep it for himself, but he could fight, the mortal couldn't.

"Prince of Asgard," a deep voice spoke, "You will pay dearly for what you have done."

"'Tis a threat I have heard before," Loki hissed, defeating another warrior and moving onto the last one. It unfortunately managed to throw him aside and graze his leg, cutting through his leather armour and greaves and cutting the skin of his calf. The warrior raised its jagged sword but before it could finish Loki off, Jane shot the warrior with her gun held in her shaky hands.

Loki nodded at her before he clutched at his head, his magic was failing. "We must leave...now," he said, his voice weak.

Jane knelt beside him and he wrapped his hand around her wrist, "Do not move," he ordered her.

"There's more of those...things heading this way," she said after a second.

"Do not move!" Loki repeated, more strictly, trying to ignore the battle cries of the approaching Chitauri

They vanished in a flash of blue light and the Warriors were left stunned. The last thing Loki heard before they vanished was the angry cry of the Other.

---

Jane awoke with a deep breath, rising up from the bed and looking around frantically with tear tracks stained down her face.

"Jane!" Erick exclaimed, running towards her, "Are you alright?"

Loki, meanwhile, dropped the staff and fell to the floor, clutching his wounded leg with a hiss of frustration, cursing at the Chitauri warrior that had managed to strike him.

"Loki!" Thor knelt beside his brother. "I am sorry, I should not have asked you to..."

"Your mortal is awake, Thor, go to her. I am well," Loki said, shaking his head.

"How can I ever repay you..."

"Go! I cannot bear to hear your gratitude," Loki said, in mock disgust. Thor only smiled and brought his strong arms around his brother in a hug. "And now you torture me further! Have I not done enough for you this day?!"

"Hush, Loki, your brother is hugging you, it is not a torture," Thor said, stroking the back of Loki's head.

"...Thor?" Jane questioned, looking down at the Asgardians.

"Jane," Thor said, slowly releasing his brother and helping him to sit down on one of the computer chairs.

While Thor hugged the mortal, Loki eyed the sceptre which was lying harmlessly on the ground. It would be easy for him to take it, yes, the mortals would know but why should he care? It was a powerful weapon and it was why he'd gotten into this whole mess in the first place. He'd done his part, wasn't he entitled to a reward? All attention was focused on the shaky Jane Foster so Loki sneakily took up the sceptre and stared at the glowing gem.

"Loki?" Fury spun to look at him, "What are you doing?"

"It's rightfully mine," Loki said. "I aided your people and now I claim my reward."

"The sceptre is bound for the vaults of Asgard, Loki," Thor said, "You know it is for the best."

"How is it for the best to allow such power to fester in a darkened vault?"

"Lorelei said you were after the sceptre, she wasn't wrong, was she?" Fury asked.

"Unlike you mortals, I can control its power. I used it to save your world, does that not prove my worth?"

"Brother, this is unwise. Thanos, you claimed, will search for the other gems, unless this one is locked away he may be able to free himself and next time we could be defeated."

"I care not for the Eternal," Loki sighed, tightening his grip on the sceptre. "There is no weapon to suit me better than this," he said.

"You desire a weapon?" Sif questioned.

"And I have found one."

"You cannot keep the sceptre," Thor said calmly, "I believe you know that."

"Don't tell me what I know!"

"You have no need of a powerful weapon, you never have and you certainly are better off without an Infinity gem."

"You know nothing of the gems," Loki shot back.

"We know that they bring death and destruction," Fandral said.

"Not in my hands, it won't."

"What if someone takes it from you? What if they use it to bring the Chitauri back?" his brother asked

"I will close the portal as I did this time," Loki answered.

"It is not usually my responsibility to talk you out of a bad decision," Thor remarked, gently moving the shaking and silent Jane, who was still naturally in shock from everything she remembered, from his arms and into Erik's so that he could stand up. "But this is not a good idea," he said.

"You fear what your father will do, perhaps?" Loki inferred, "To you? To me?"

"I fear what others will do to you to obtain the sceptre," Thor clarified.

"Thanos' forces are weak now, he has barely enough Warriors to chase down a mortal in his own realm," his brother scoffed, "He cannot harm me."

"Not now. But when he recovers his forces? When I found you, I feared you dead!"

"...I made a mistake..."

"Then do not make another."

"Look, here," Fury began, "You helped us out, and we're grateful for that, but no way in hell can you take that spear."

"You think you could stop me? I escaped the entire Chitauri army, you think a mortal one could do what they could not?"

"You look like you're about to keel over, Reindeer Games," Tony remarked.

"He is right. What you need is rest, Loki, not this sceptre," Thor said, moving over to his brother and placing his hand over Loki's which still clutched the staff. "If you desire a weapon of your own, we will find one...but not this one."

"I am suited to no other," Loki told him, "It was made for me."

"This is a Chitauri weapon powered by an Infinity gem. You could not have a worse choice," Thor said.

Fury reluctantly shook at his at Natasha who had given him a wordless signal, asking if he wanted her to remove the staff from Loki's hands, but the last thing S.H.I.E.L.D needed was to get on the wrong side of an alien that had fought with them only hours ago as an ally. He wasn't one for trusting people, but he knew that Loki had been left with more than one opportunity to take the sceptre of he'd wanted to.

"You could've run off with that thing whoever you wanted," the Director said.

"He is right," Thor nodded. "You have had ample opportunity to take it if you wished. You could have left after you closed the portal but you didn't. Because you know this is wrong."

"I don't care," Loki huffed, petulantly.

"Yes, you do...but if you don't...why don't you simply transport yourself away?"

"Fool, you know I used whatever power I had left saving your lady from her own mind," he hissed. He glanced down at his hand for a second and saw that it was beginning to turn to a light shade of blue from the sickly grey it had been for hours and he looked away, disgusted.

Loki had hated every minute of this exercise in torture. His life had been far simpler before he knew that he was a Frost Giant, at least in some aspects it had been. Before he knew what he was, his illusion had literally been effortless, now, especially because he was tired and weak, it was a constant, uphill battle. He supposed that because he had spent the majority of his life always within close proximity of Odin, that his power must have been supporting the illusion as well so it was a double strain on Loki's power. It was as though he was wounded; it wasn't the moment of injury that hurt the most, it was the moment of awareness. The second a person looked at the damage done to them, it became real and then, shock set in.

"Exactly," Thor smiled at him. "Because you are a good man, brother. Now, please, this is not what you need, or what you desire," he said, gesturing to the sceptre.

With one last, deep sigh, Loki let go of the sceptre and it fell into Thor's hands, "So be it," he muttered. He began to take slow steps away from them all towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Thor asked him.

"...To rest. Wake me when you are bound for Asgard if you must, but do not expect me to accompany you," Loki said. "And Thor...as much as you wish otherwise, the lady is mortal and she is no warrior. It may take some time before she recovers from her...ordeal," he added before he walked away.

"...Do not think I did not see you," Thor said to Fury once Loki was gone. "Had Loki chosen to take the sceptre, you would have attacked him...and I would have had no choice but to defend him," he warned, taking his place next to Jane again before he handed the sceptre to Fandral.

"I hoped you'd talk him down," Fury replied, "I don't wanna make enemies out of either of you...but I will if I have to."

"My brother is unpredictable, yes, but at heart he is good," the blonde Asgardian said.

"If he wanted the sceptre, truly wanted it, I believe he would have taken it," Volstagg added, "When Loki wants something, he won't hesitate."

"Aye," Thor agreed, "We all know this."

"Then I'm glad you did talk him out of it," Tony said, "It'd kinda suck to have to fight him after...y'know...kicking Chitauri butt together."

---

Sometime later, Loki was awakened, but not by Thor, it was Director Fury standing before him. He'd taken up residence in one of the rooms in the Helicarrier which had taken some of the worse damage. Logically, no one would pass through so he'd be left alone and it wasn't as though the cold wind would bother him much.

"Are you come to arrest me?" Loki asked, opening his eyes for a moment, only to close them again.

"No. I think we both know that'd be a bad idea," the man replied.

"Because Thor, the sentimental fool, would see me as the damsel in distress and tear you apart."

"Something like that," Fury chuckled lightly. "But speaking of 'sentiment'...what you did back there...you seem to care about your brother more than you let on. You did a good thing for him, I wasn't sure you had it in you," he said and Loki scoffed. "You know...I'm sure that all this, helping save the earth and all, I think it wipes the slate clean. I'd say we're even now, you and S.H.I.E.L.D."

"How wonderful."

"I don't know how you got involved in this mess with the sceptre and all and I know you won't tell me even if I asked, so I won't. Now, I know everyone's got their own agenda, you got yours, I've got mine, but you did good here, you helped save the planet. Does that mean anything to you, or are you more concerned that you didn't get your 'reward'?"

"Why shouldn't I have a reward? I could just have easily have aided Lorelei instead of you," Loki stated, "I could have been ruling this world instead of having to listen to your insults."

"You saved your brother's girlfriend, I don't think he's ever gonna stop trying to pay you back for that, and from what I've heard, that's gonna be a long time."

"He won't be thanking me in a mere few decades when she succumbs to infirmity," Loki snapped.

"You got a pretty low opinion of us, don't you?"

"I don't believe you really care about my opinion one way or the other."

"No, I don't."

"You are here only to assertion if I am a new threat to you now that the larger threat has been dispatched."

"Yeah," Fury nodded.

"And? What is your conclusion? You have been observing me since I arrived, have you not? I trust you have something to show for your efforts. Are you here to declare war on me or not?"

"Not today," the Director answered, "Unless you wanna start a war, then you can be damn sure we'll fight back."

"You will attempt to fight back even if I don't initiate a war," Loki said, "You will never trust me. You can't even trust your 'Avengers'," he scoffed at the name.

"It's not that I don't trust them. I believe in being prepared, whatever the cost. We don't have an Asgardian's strength or magic to rely on when things get tough and now we know there's other...beings...out there, we can't just sit back and do nothing."

Loki nodded slightly at the logic, he couldn't deny that it was wise to be prepared for any eventually.

---

Thor stood outside in the sunlight in a large, open area on the street where many walked past and started or even waved at him and his Asgardian friends. Lady Sif and the Warriors Three stood beside him. Lorelei was in chains with a golden necklace around her neck, it had an unusual collar that covered her mouth and prevented her from speaking.

"Rest easy, Son of Fury," Thor said to the Director, "She will face Asgardian justice."

"It won't go down well, but I won't stop you. I don't want her on my planet," he said, handing Thor a metal briefcase which contained the Tesseract. "You better take this before S.H.I.E.L.D knows I'm letting you do this."

"You will not suffer because of your actions?"

"Oh, I will...but it's better this way," Fury replied and Thor nodded.

"You will care for Jane until my return?" he asked Tony.

"She'll be fine, Pepper's with her," the billionaire answered, "They're on their way to California. The tower was pretty trashed, so," he shrugged.

"Thank you."

"Y'know, I think we should actually be worried, Point Break, those two get on so well," he added and Thor couldn't help but smile.

"Then I am leaving her in good hands," he said and turned to Loki.

Loki was stood apart from the others, leaning against one of the cars they'd used to travel from where they'd landed. He had discarded his Royal armour and cloak but his clothes were still rather torn and his complexion was far from healthy. Thor handed the briefcase over to Sif before he walked across to his brother. "And you, Loki? What will you do now?" he asked.

"Not accompany you," Loki reiterated his earlier statement.

"Why? You could recover your strength far more quickly at home and mother would be glad of your company."

"...I will not go," he shook his head.

"Very well," Thor sighed. "I will not stay long. I wish to return as quickly as possible, but...you will be here, will you not?"

"Perhaps," the younger shrugged.

"That will have to suffice," Thor nodded, resting his hand on Loki's shoulder, "I will tell father of what you did here today."

"I didn't do it for him," Loki admitted quietly.

"...I know," his brother smiled, patting his shoulder before he lead Loki back over to the others. Thor then took his place beside his four friends and their prisoner and looked towards the heavens. "I hope to see you on my return, brother...Heimdall, take us home!" he called and with a dramatic flash of golden light, they vanished.

"Hey, Reindeer Games, you could bunk with us, there's plenty of room, I mean, I've already been running some kind of Avengers hostel for years, so...you're more than welcome, as long as...y'know...you don't magic my mouth shut again," Tony said, standing next to Loki.

---

*1 I needed a villain that obviously wasn't Loki and after watching the first season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D I think Lorelei was the best option.

*2 I don't even know if Thanos was technically trapped in the 'prison' world, I just made It up for my story.