Tony Stark had been well aware of Loki's return to Earth, and he himself had warned Fury that he was playing with fire. And it appeared that his greatest fears had come to light. Someone was blackmailing the President, demanding that the president was to become his puppet, and also the launch codes of the Football, and while nuclear and other power facilities were being shut down all over the world, some in explosions, causing blackouts all across Europe, Asia and America.

The man that appeared to the president was tall dark and brooding, seen entirely as a silhouette, but Stark had seen the footage. The man had a familiar stature, and a familiar hat, and he marched down to his basement in Malibu where one last super suit was stored. This was the mark 666 or Justin (a briefcase suit, in case anyone is wondering), only to be used for one purpose, if he was to fight the devil himself. It was for the return of Loki.

He had donned the armour over eight hours ago when the news had come in, and while the other Avengers were pulling survivors out of the wreckage of power plants, he was flying to DC. There was someone he needed to see, and answers that he needed to find.

Rodriguez was almost like family to him, originally an experiment in biotechnology, he decided he rather liked the quick-witted Marine gunnery sergeant, and kept making better and better upgrades for her bionic limbs. He had even employed all the doctors in charge of her rehabilitation, and when she could walk, he took her to a dance. Of course, the paparazzi went crazy over her, and she was plastered all over TV as the robotic war hero, Robo-Marine as they called her.

After destroying the suits, he was still into green energy and biotechnology, making the most amazing Iron Man inspired prosthesis ranges developed from the original design he had used to keep Isabella Rodriguez alive. The destruction of all his Iron Man suits was all over the news thanks to the paparazzi, not to mention Stacy Davenport who worked for CNN, who he had promoted to his official stalker a few months ago, and the biotechnology business took off. Bella Rodriguez showed up at every Stark Expo with her metal side exposed as a sort of promotional tool for him, and an opportunity for a holiday for her.

She knew all about Loki, because she had stormed the tower independently of the Avengers with a small force of Marines from Ellis Island, that and he told her the details that she otherwise would not be privy to. He was only a consultant, and in the rush to save the planet, SHIELD had never made him sign a non-disclosure agreement. When she was offered the detail, Tony had tried to convince her not to take it, but when the Marine got it in her head that she was going to do something, she had to do it, especially when Tony had told her not to. Nobody told her what to do. She reminded him of someone really annoying . . .

Her car was in the driveway, and he landed carefully on the balcony of the townhouse. He walked inside, but then he realised that if Bella was still here, she would probably be in the basement with a bottle of Jack and a piece of wood. He climbed down the stairs, hoping that he would not wake up Sophia as she slept. It was almost midnight. He entered the basement without an issue to see Bella with the bottle of bourbon in her hand, staring down at her dog tags in her lap.

"Bella," he said. She looked up. Judging by her eyes, she had not been drinking for long, probably waited for her daughter to finally get to sleep, "Where's Bambi?" Stark demanded to know.

"Not here," she swigged at the bottle.

"Yeah, B, I can see that," Tony arched an eyebrow, "where is he?"

"The Rock," She bit back, "for a super genius, you're a real moron."

"I have a right to be skeptical," Tony said defensively, "considering that there's a reindeer-headed freak tearing apart the west coast."

She looked up at him, "say what?"

"You haven't heard about the fire sale?"

"Did I mention Fury took my badge?" she swaggered up to him, "insubordination, so 'e says. I didn't understand half the shit he said. He pretty much accused me of fucking the kid."

Stark rolled his eyes, he had no idea whether that was true or not, and to be frank, he didn't care. What Bella chose to do in her own life was legally none of his business. He sighed, "If it is Loki, we know exactly how to stop him."

"Why are you sure it's him?"

"Why are you sure it's not?" Perhaps there was some truth to Fury's theory after all.

"He's not evil, Tony," she put the bottle of Jack down on the saw bench, "he's a scared kid that's been through hell, and you should stop being an insensitive prick."

Be sensitive? To that guy? He tried to kill me! That was when he decided to think about it logically, "so, if he is responsible, the Rock will be empty. Care to come with?"

"I've been fired, Tony."

"You're the only one the Kid trusts," Tony told replied sarcastically.

"Okay, but you're driving." She got up and walked up the stairs, back up to the second floor where Sophie was sleeping. Stark followed her up. She peeked in.

"Stark!" she shouted, "Tony! Get up here!" he joined her as fast as he could without burning a hole through her hall floor with his flight stabilizers.

A man dressed entirely in black leaned over Sophie's bed and Bella put two rounds in his back. There was a light around Sophia, but then she and the light disappeared. Bella continued to shoot until her clip was empty. All the bullets melted before hitting home.

"Agent Rodriguez," it was not Loki, or any of the other gods she had come to know and despise over these short few weeks, "I have heard much about you, my dear. I condemn myself disappointed."

"You bastard," she hissed, entirely sober, "give me my daughter back or I swear to God I'll rip your lungs out."

"Run to Loki," the man said, "go on, run!"

With a tiny nod meant only for him, Tony Stark discharged his flight stabilizer at him, but he disappeared. The blast instead decimated the room; the only thing left untarnished was Sophia's poster for school, covered in runes, and myths that Sophia had pressured out of Loki over the past two weeks

"Holy shit," she whispered, " I think I know who it is."

She folded herself into the Impala. She was driving, suddenly sobered from the events that had just transpired. Stark folded himself in next to her, and she gunned the engine.

"Who in the name of me was that?"

"Utgardaloki," she reeled off, "some giant king big on sorcery. He used it to protect his kingdom from somebody during one of the great wars. Thor and Loki were sent there about five hundred years ago to try to broker a peace. But he tested them to determine if they were worthy. At the end, Thor tried to crush the man for deceiving them with the tests, but he disappeared. Loki was the only one not angry and got close to finishing his task. Then again, he was competing against his best friend. Needless there was no peace, but Utgarda seemed to disappear after that, along with his castle."

"So, the guy has a grudge," Tony crossed his arms.

"Congratulations, detective, on busting this case so fast," she bit back snidely, "why appear to appear in Loki's form, why would he take Sophia?"

"To set Loki up as the bad guy," Tony concluded, however he really did not believe it. Five hundred years was a bit long to hold a grudge. His longest standing record was only five years. "It makes sense. Get everybody looking at him so they don't see the dude behind the scenes."

"That's what I'd do," Bella said flatly.

"That's what the Wizard of Oz did."

She stopped on the banks of a river. They were here in Arlington. Everybody had a base here, CIA, FBI, and SHIELD. Virginia was technically a commonwealth state, so it was well and truly legal to run these operations from Arlington. She pulled her balaclava over her head.

"Okay, we get in, get the package and get out," Stark gave her a small nod, but she could tell that he wasn't happy with the idea; after all he had been thrown off his own tower by Loki. But one thing was for certain, if Utgarda was back, Loki was the only one that could save the world, and she knew that Tony understood this. He was many things, but 'idiot' was not one of them.

He played the harmonica as his mind whirred, calculating and extrapolating the patterns in the electricity flow, and so far nothing. The pattern was seemingly random, and he feared that he was going to die before solving this. Fury was the type of man to have him executed.

The floor was all but deserted. All he knew was that he had heard alarms earlier and a lot of the guards on this level had left, but the storm was in full fury above him, and he was focusing on the patterns in front of him and the harmonica so he didn't freeze up or otherwise go psychotic. A part of him was expecting his brother to lumber in and beat the crap out of him with Mjolnir.

And then silence, all but the rumbling and his harmonica. He hated silence somewhere between heights and hammer. But shortly later, all he could hear was a massive crack, and rain started pouring in. A figure in black fatigues and a ski mask rappelled down a rope into the room. For a second, he did not know who it was, but the Iron Man, Tony Stark, landed in front of the cage as the figure in black landed and he caught a glimpse of silver colored titanium.

Stark went to one of the control consoles and began to tap away at it as Bella pressed herself to the glass, "the sequence!" she yelled, "do you know the sequence?"

"No," he told her. She glanced over at Stark.

"I'm working on it, Marino," he snapped, "I'm on my way."

She came up behind him, "no, Turkey Neck, we are on my way!" She punched through the console and the whole room shorted out and the door of the Rock came open with a pneumatic hiss. Loki ran to join them. She pulled her hand from the console, the fake skin tearing from the metal of her hand, and she looked down at it for a moment.

"What in the name of the Norns is going on?" he demanded to know.

"Utgardaloki," Bella answered back simply, grabbing the pistols holstered at her hips and handing one to Loki, "you'll need this, bud."

He took the Glock from her in an air of surprise. He had shot with human weapons, but never had someone handed him one in such an air of confidence.

"Bad move, Bella," Stark informed her.

"Quiet, Robit," she snapped, "let's blow this joint."