Okay, I've gotten a few questions and I'll answer as many as I can.

First: Why do I refer Dean and Loki as two different people, despite sharing the same body?

A: Because they are two different people. Dean's like the mortal version of Thor, with all the possessiveness of Loki. The only reason they can even be in the same body is because they're both the same at a base level. They're both possessive, they both understand the supernatural at a personal level, and they're both unrepentant pranksters.

Second: Why is Loki having "Dean" perform the trials?

A: Blame Sam. By forcing his mortal shell and his brother to perform the trials, he's giving Odin an opening to turn Sam into an Asgardian. Angels can't possess Asgardians like they can humans...not only is the physiology too different, but the fact they are part of a different pantheon means they can't just take over without some serious consequences. The only thing Yahweh (God) did was nudge where Loki would end up...not enough to get into trouble, but enough to cause a few changes.

Third: Is Thor going to wise up?

A: In bite sized bits. Remember, he IS a bit dense.

Hope that clears it up.


Dean's face twitched. Sam looked like he was torn between groaning and burning the evil book in his hands.

Loki. Well, Loki was cackling madly in amusement and because it was obvious that a Seer had apparently become fixated with the brothers, even if it was only a matter of time before they accidentally revealed Loki had been reborn as one Dean Winchester.

Dean had come perilously close to accidentally revealing his true nature as the Asgardian god of mischief Loki when Zachariah had abducted them without much warning and stuffed them into a position that wouldn't have looked out of place in a Dilbert comic strip. With Zachariah playing the part of the pointy-headed boss who lived to make the lives of his employees hell.

Or possibly Catbert.

(It was at that point Dean realized Loki spent far too much time reading, and he vainly thought of trying to get Loki off his comic kick. Then he compared Loki to Dogbert and quietly snickered at the mental image. If they weren't sharing the same body Loki would have kicked him. Hard.)

At least Dean got something out of that irritating experience. He had conceded full control to Loki, who gleefully used his wide and very colorful array of insults on the pompous windbag.

Naturally the look on Zachariah's face as Loki insulted him, both overtly and subtly without missing a beat had gone into Hel's growing expansion of things she could watch for a good laugh.

Dean thought it would have been even funnier if Loki had revealed himself, but considering they hadn't regained their full powers as Asgardians it wasn't worth the trouble it would unleash.

Either Dean earned his position as an Asgardian with minimal help from Loki, or they didn't go back at all.

Back to the book though.

'There are times you suck, Loki.'

Loki just kept on cackling like the vengeful god he was. Then a thought occurred to him.

You do realize that if Fury gets a hold of these books he'll quickly realize that you're still alive and put two and two together, right? And that Thor will undoubtedly read them all once he learns of them.

Dean cursed in several dead languages, causing Sam to look at him.

"Thor. Reading these. Learning about us without our permission."

Sam blinked twice before he swore as well...in Latin.

"This isn't another test is it?"

"I think we can blame the angels for this one. They're supposed to be in charge of all true Seers," deadpanned Dean. His twitching face spoke volumes. "I think we need to pay this idiot a visit and explain to him about keeping a certain pain in the ass quiet."

"Agreed," said Sam.

If Dean had known exactly what he was walking into, he would have started banging his head against the wall. Preferably a brick one.

Apparently angels had 'marked' the strongest Seers and declared them "Prophets", to the point that they knew their names like their own. These "Prophets" acquired angelic bodyguards, usually an arch angel, the moment the previous one was 'de-activated' for lack of a better term.

And considering all the hubbub around the Winchester brothers from above and below, it was little surprise that this "Chuck" had picked up on it to the point he was able to sell their story for a profit.

Chuck, fortunately, didn't need much persuading to keep his mouth shut about Loki. Considering what happened in New York, he might lose a decent chunk of his limited fan base speaking about the Asgardian in a positive light so soon.

Yes he could allude to Dean actually being an Asgardian under punishment by Odin, but Loki's actions were still far too fresh for people to accept it.

In any case, Dean was heartily glad the angels still hadn't picked up on the fact he was actually Loki's mortal shell.

Sam looked at his brother and mouthed the word 'trial'. Dean asked Loki, then shook his head. This had been going on too long to be part of the trials.

Didn't mean he had to like it though.


The second trial was one of the blood. It was considered one of the most difficult. And it was rarely used, considering the general rule of 'no outside influences allowed'.

However this was on influence that had nothing to do with Asgard or Loki personally.

Dean, when he found out about Adam, put to good use his extensive swearing vocabulary.

It only reaffirmed his stance that Bobby was closer to being their father than John Winchester had ever been, much less Odin.

The trial was undoubtedly how Dean would handle the information...and protect his newly found half-brother from the danger of ghouls.

Either way, Dean was not happy that Adam had gotten to live a life he wished he and Sam could have lived, at their expense.

Loki found himself agreeing, even if in the end it was Sam who killed the ghouls and spared Adam and his mother from their fate. It wasn't their fault John was a bastard who thought they deserved to be shielded from the cold hard truth of his real job, but not his legitimate sons.

They left that area after giving them the basics...and setting up some magical warding to prevent a repeat...along with Bobby's contact number.

If, after the trials were over and they were both allowed to go to Asgard, Dean would tell the Avengers about the two and hopefully have them put the two under protective watch with someone already versed in the supernatural.

Unseen or felt by Dean/Loki, Odin made another check towards his son having learned his lesson. What puzzled him was that unlike Thor, Loki seemed to prefer his 'mortal' shell and refused to switch to his true form. Ever. Even when he had to have known that the angels were gone if only for a brief time.

Odin was slowly beginning to realize that Loki had apparently attached himself to the mortal that his human form called Brother like one would a lifeline.

Sam Winchester was intelligent, and despite the fact that he had the taint of demon's blood inside his veins he was more often than not the voice of reason and restraint for Loki's vengeful tendencies. He also clearly knew that his brother wasn't entirely human, but kept his secrets and accepted Loki's nature as a matter of course.

He might frown whenever Loki became too dark, or his vengeful side nearly overrode his good nature (and he did have a good side which had been buried), but he still cared for Loki as if he were blood.

It was also becoming very, very clear that Loki would not return to Asgard freely unless his mortal brother was allowed as well. And, failing that, there was every chance that this Sam Winchester wouldn't hesitate to enlist the aid of Thor's devious friends the Avengers to get him to Asgard if only so he could be by Loki's side, rules be damned.

Fortunately Odin could claim that Sam participated in the trials alongside Loki's mortal form Dean Winchester. If they managed to pass the last one, then he would be able to bring both to Asgard without much fuss...though it was questionable how Thor would react to the possibility of having a second younger brother.


"Hey Dean, doesn't Cas seem different to you?"

Dean's face went stony.

"Dean?"

"He was Cas, now he's back to being Castiel," he said neutrally.

Castiel had grown on them, to the point Loki openly called him "Cas" instead of his full name. But after they found his vessel wandering around without an angel inside...and then had to watch Castiel retake his vessel only to vanish...well, Sam wasn't the only one to pick up the not-so-subtle change in Castiel's behavior.

It was obvious enough that Dean had reverted to calling him Castiel, and refused to call him Cas.

Sam blinked twice, before looking at his brother.

"What do you mean he's Castiel again?"

"Castiel was beginning to sympathize with humanity too much. So a certain pain in the ass we both hate equally decided he needed to be...retrained."

"Why does that not bring up warm and fuzzy feelings?"

"They essentially brainwashed him, much like the Black Widow was once a loyal weapon of the Red Room. Unlike her, at least he's not being used to kill indiscriminately...but he is used to keep an obvious eye on us."

"Do you think they..."

"No. I definitely would notice if they suspected about me. I think this was more to keep Cas in line than us. Aside from having a few easily explained abilities, we've done nothing to make them suspicious. And Loki is so a part of my personality that they never register when we switch, or when we happen to be merged as one person."

"You two have the weirdest case of split personality I've ever heard of," deadpanned Sam. Dean/Loki snorted, because honestly they agreed.

Completely.

"So what do we do? I mean how are we supposed to break whatever they did to him?"

"If it hasn't broken by the end of the last trial, I'll drag him to the Black Widow myself and explain why I need her...expertise. Out of all the Avengers she's the one most likely to understand. Then he'll be corrupted by Tony and we'll know he's back to normal."

Left unspoken was that dragging Castiel to the Avenger with them was his way of trying to make amends for his actions. The Widow had done a lot of 'foul' deeds like the one in Brazil. Deeds that would easily bar her from heaven if she didn't find a way to wipe enough of it off. As she had once said, she had red in her ledger she'd like to wipe out.

Loki could relate, even if his ledger had been more or less wiped clean from the fact he spent forty years with his mortal form in Hell, not Helhiem where he should have gone upon death. Castiel had wiped the slate clean when he brought both parts of Dean back and Loki had no intentions of dirtying his soul a second time.

It was only fair he offer Natasha a chance to do the same.

As for Clint and the numerous others he had left bereft of family during the invasion...well, if and when he got his Asgardian body back he was going to offer two full days for them to take out their anger or pain on him. They could even kick him in the balls and he wouldn't retaliate.

Being able to hit the cause of your loss wasn't going to bring them back, but it would be a decent start.

Sam could sense that topic had run to the ground, so he changed it with ease.

"So what did you do with the rock that was powering the staff?"

"I hid it. I don't need the Infinity Stones and there's no way I'm letting Thanos keep one. Besides it'll piss the bastard off immensely knowing that the one he gave Loki went missing."

"...What's an Infinity Stone?"

"Six stones that embody certain aspects of the universe. Even one stone is more than any normal mortal could handle, never mind someone like an Asgardian. As Loki, I might be able to handle the power but right now I'm not interested in collecting the damn things. The tesseract that opened the portal in New York was one."

Sam winced at the implications.

"What happens if all six are collected?"

Loki turned to face Sam, his expression absolutely serious.

"Any soul who collects all six of the Infinity Stones and is able to harness even a fraction of their power would quite literally become on par with God himself. You could rewrite reality, time, traverse space without thinking, manipulate souls, awaken powers and expand your mind to the point you would be on the same level as an angel connected to the heavenly plain. However it takes a strong mind to harness those powers and a human's body would disintegrate if it ever came into contact with even one. Hence the reason I've hidden the Mind Stone where humans wouldn't be able to find it, much less take possession of it. It's bad enough they still have most of those damn weapons."

The unspoken possible side effect being that the stone might accidentally give it's hiding place sentience, but that was a risk Loki was willing to take.

Sam was about to reply when something hit them with all the subtlety of a freight train, and it wasn't a big rig truck...again.

One moment they were talking, the next Sam woke up with no memory of how he had gotten there with Dean still unconscious... and much to Sam's horror, surrounded by demons on all sides.

Somehow he had the feeling this was the last trial...the only question was if they would survive it.


In the Avengers Tower

Thor was anxious, and for good reason. Loki had, much to the surprise of many including Frigga, managed to pass the first two tests not as himself, but as his mortal form of Dean Winchester. In fact outside of correcting Sam Winchester's spell choice, Loki remained hand's off.

But the third and final test was always one of the hardest, and from what little Odin had been willing to tell Thor, Loki was currently in the middle of a large group of demons that included a powerful and very cruel one by the name of Lilith.

From what he had been told, Lilith planned to break the final seal on Lucifer's cage, and because there was no need to delve into the inner workings of the Catholic/Christian/Jewish mythology they had no idea of their little prophecies.

Though knowing Loki he had delved deep, deep into their mythos the moment he realized what he was dealing with. Or tried to, anyway.

Since Thor had a general location of his brother, Tony was unashamedly borrowing satellites in the area to monitor it from afar.

Naturally everyone was almost thrown back from surprise...and the sheer power...that came from the screen they were all pretending not to be watching, either from concern or a desire to have a heads up on whether Loki would be an alien nuisance again.

The pillar of light took out three satellites directly underneath, but Tony somehow managed to maintain the visual.

Thor might not know much about the religion that took over where his pantheon left off...but he did recognize that feeling pretty damn well.

"Lucifer..." he said without thinking, causing Steve Rogers to turn to him with wide eyes and shock.

Thor had run into Lucifer once. And it was an experience he would remember for eternity. Lucifer wasn't exactly a big fan of humanity, but he had still been in his Father's good graces. Thor had heard rumors that the arch angel had done something to piss Yahweh off and that his brother had locked him in the mortal's hell...but he had no idea the rumors were real.

If Lucifer had been locked away by his brother Micheal, then he was almost definitely going to be out for some payback against Micheal.

And if that wasn't enough, Thor felt a surge of something hit the Earth. He recognized it for what it was immediately.

"Loki has passed the trials. His power will be restored shortly," said Thor with absolute certainty.