Note: I have realized over the last few chapters than Steve is sort of the McGuffin of this piece: it's nominally a story about trying to get a curse off Captain America, but Steve and his problems have become a minor element. Sorry, Steve, I really thought I'd be giving you more to do.

Loki's comments on how the PM is addressed in the House Of Commons may or may not be accurate: I'm extrapolating from what happens in Ottawa.

Also, thank you so much to everyone who is reading or reading/responding to this story. It's so nice to know you're out there!

Chapter Eleven

"It's… amazing," George said dreamily, gazing raptly at Excalibur, which lay on a folded blanket in the middle of the conference table. He made no effort to touch it, nor had anyone else, including Loki after he laid it on its makeshift mantle. At the moment, Loki was sitting at the far end of the table, in clothes damp from lying on the bottom of the boat in the rain, river water still dripping off his hair, huddled into Thor's red cape. Loki appreciated the cape because, as chilly and uncomfortable as he was, he could not seem to tear himself away from Excalibur long enough to soak himself in a hot shower and put on clothing that was truly dry.

George leaned forward in his chair, reached out a tentative hand, and then drew it back. Loki wondered whether that was purely in reverence, or whether George could also feel the magic pulsing from the weapon. Loki could sense it from the far end of the table. He suspected he would be able to feel it from anywhere in the helicarrier. The power from the sword seemed to throb in time with the beat of Loki's heart. His mouth was dry, and his skin prickled uncomfortably within his damp clothing.

Presumably, wherever he was, Mordred could feel it, too.

"Okay, now that we've got it, what are we going to do with it?" Coulson asked, practically.

"The Lady said that with it, we could remove Steve's curse," Loki said, trying to keep his voice neutral. "I have been giving that some thought." He had indeed, and was proud of himself for being able to think as rationally as that when every nerve in his body yearned toward Excalibur. "After that, I think the best course is to place guards, or wards, upon… it." He had nearly referred to the sword as "him."

"You think our guards will be any use against Mordred?" Fury said.

"Oh, no," Loki replied, startled. "Not human guards. Magical ones. I have… a thought about that, as well." Cautiously, because he was not at all sure his suggestion would be taken kindly, he said, "We will need to take both Steve and Excalibur down to earth."

"You want to leave the helicarrier? With Excalibur?" Fury asked, in the tone Fury took when he was daring you to repeat the incredibly stupid thing you had just said.

Loki did. "I think we need the… the local magic to assist us. I believe I can use Excalibur to pull the curse from Steve to myself, but the question is, what happens after that? I am a little concerned that, if the curse has nowhere to go save into me, we may simply exchange one terrified person for another. And I would prefer to have all my wits about me when Mordred comes to find us."

"So you want to send the curse into the ground. Literally, ground it," Fury said thoughtfully. Loki nodded. "When you put it that way, it seems reasonable. What about the magical guards?"

"Again, if I can use magic from the realm itself, that will reduce the demands placed on my own sorcery, and will make the wards a great deal stronger than I could fashion them on my own."

"You've done this kind of magic before, though, right?" Fury asked.

"You mean, placed a protective spell on something?" Loki replied. "From childhood. Ask Thor whether he was ever able to enter my chambers when I was not there."

Thor, who had been looking worried, laughed suddenly. "Ask Loki how pleased Mother was, to have her elder son transformed into a chicken when he tried to spy on her younger."

Loki grinned. "I had forgotten that particular incident. You were a most handsome rooster. I was almost sorry to change you back, before the spell wore off on its own."

"But since Mother could not very well punish a rooster for spying, you had to do so," Thor pointed out.

"So you're saying the local vampires were lucky, just to be threatened by rhinoceroses when they tried to enter the school grounds," Mitchell spoke up.

"Yes," Thor said, glanced at Loki, and went into a peal of laughter. "It got so that Sif and the Warriors and I used to dare one another to try and break into Loki's chambers, just to see what would happen to us. We only quit when- " Thor stopped laughing.

"You quit when you could no longer be sure the magic would do no lasting harm," Loki finished the sentence. He had not known their persistent efforts to get into his rooms sprang from such a harmless motive. If he had, if he had taken their efforts in a different spirit, would anything have been different? Well, it was too late for regrets. Glancing around the table, he said lightly, "You may all be astonished to learn that I can be rather spiteful."

"Well, you had little reason to trust our motives. Repeated trips to the healing rooms will eventually do that to a person," Thor admitted. "The spite was not all on your side. And it was certainly not right, that we did not let you know it was a game to us. I am quite sure now that it did not feel like one to you."

It had not. It had felt like Thor and his friends were unable to leave him in peace anywhere, and he had been sure that when they did break in they would make an end of everything that was his. In fact, knowing them, that really might have happened if they had "won," as a way of showing him as much, though they probably would not have intended to go quite so far. It was in angry desperation more than spite that he'd finally set a charm on his doors that could easily have killed someone. Very fortunately, Hogun was remarkably quick.

As Loki recalled, that was the end of Loki-the-quarry and the beginning of Loki-the-silently-endured. He winced at the memory.

"Well, please let them know, if they are ever in Bristol, that our door does not explode when knocked on. When we get our door back," Loki murmured.

"I'm never going to live down wrecking your house, am I?" Stark said, in cheerful resignation, and changed the subject. "So, you can place a protective spell on Excalibur that may or may not involve chickens, rhinos, or something blowing up. Right?"

"Right," Loki replied, grateful to the Iron Man for the diversion. "I will try to be creative. The thing is… it is probably best if the wards also prevent most of us from handling the sword. If one of you is captured, there is really no telling what kind of magic might be brought to bear against you. Against me, too, but obviously I have more experience with sorcery and might be better able to defend myself, or at least withstand it." Loki paused, waiting for the argument.

"So you should probably be the only one who can handle the sword?" Coulson shrugged. "That makes sense to me." He glanced at Fury, who looked dubious for a moment, but also nodded.

"Hell if I'd know what to do with it, anyway. Say, you and Thor?" Fury suggested.

"That seems reasonable to me," Loki said tentatively, looking around at the others. Thor was the only other of the group with any experience of magic or swordplay, so it was extremely unlikely anyone else would have reason to handle Excalibur.

Except…

"George, perhaps you would like to hold it, before we place any magic upon it," Loki suggested quietly. George, who had been gazing at Excalibur the way Loki thought one might gaze upon their firstborn, eight-legged foal or not, looked startled.

"Are you-?" He looked around for confirmation that nobody objected, then reached out and lifted the sword in both hands. It was obviously heavy. George turned the weapon gently in his hands, studied the intricately-worked hilt, then looked at Loki. "You should probably be the one to take it out of the scabbard. There are stories that its blade casts a blinding light- that has to be magic. It's probably safer if it's you."

"Certainly," Loki said quietly, trying to conceal the thrill that hummed in his chest at the very idea. He stood, casting Thor's cape onto the back of his chair, and walked around the table to take Excalibur from George. No one moved to stop him.

The sword was indeed very heavy, but at the same time vital, like something alive. Loki could feel energy passing into his hands and wrists as he took hold of it. He knew his expression changed, he could not help it. He flicked a guilty glance at Thor and saw his brother look away, face anxious, but he could no more have put the sword down than he could have used it to cut off his own arm.

Loki took a breath and, as he exhaled, gently drew Excalibur from its leather scabbard.

The light was not a blinding flash, more like the intense warm glow that had accompanied the Lady's disappearance from Loki's sight. Loki was faintly aware of the others shielding their eyes, but not drawing back or seeming alarmed. He placed the scabbard on the table and held Excalibur in both hands, never taking his eyes from the shining blade. The glow intensified but somehow did not blind him or hurt in any way. In the edges of his vision he could see the others, bathed in radiance, and they were beautiful, so beautiful…

The light became almost unbearably bright, and then, as the magic sang through his body, Loki felt himself become larger and more powerful, filled with love and a protective anxiety for the realm and all who dwelt within it. It was dizzying.

After a moment the light faded. Loki gently laid Excalibur on the blanket next to the scabbard and, with a hand that trembled slightly, wiped inexplicable tears from his eyes. Fortunately, everyone else seemed to be looking at Excalibur, too.

Except for Thor. Thor's eyes were fixed on Loki, and as Loki looked up, he glanced away, once more wearing the expression of anxiety that hurt Loki to look at. There was no wonder, of course, that he should fear what Loki might do if power was returned to him. It was not as if Loki had not given Thor plenty of reason. It still stung.

"Wow," Steve said softly, his voice a welcome distraction. Loki looked up and saw Steve pass a hand over his own eyes. He seemed to be the only one aside from Loki who was affected so.

"You could feel it, too?" Loki asked.

Steve nodded. "I suddenly understand why the person who carries that sword gets to be king. It's as if the sword itself wants to…"

"Wants to what?" Stark asked, his tone more interested than suspicious. "The sword wants to rule?"

Loki shook his head. "The sword wants to protect. It's… remarkable." Even under enchantment, inanimate objects did not normally want.

"I didn't feel anything," Fury remarked. "I assume Rogers did because he's under a spell himself?"

Loki nodded. "Yes. It's the same reason he can see Annie, he is carrying magic with him. Unfriendly though it may be, it still makes him sensitive to other forms of enchantment." He looked at his housemates. "You really did not feel anything- ?"

George shook his head regretfully. "Different kind of magic, I expect."

Stark spoke up again, his tone diffident. "So, that thing is pretty powerful, is it?"

"Yes," Loki agreed unguardedly. "Combined with the magic from the realm, one could…" An image popped into his mind from a book of fairy tales, and he laughed. "One could transform the Houses of Parliament into gingerbread."

He knew the laugh was a mistake the moment the words were out of his mouth. He should have said nothing at all: he was not in a position in which it was wise to joke about what he could do with a powerful magical device, though he truly had been joking. Loki looked around, and flinched when Stark pointed at him, his expression registering sudden clarity.

The Iron Man's words were, however, anything but clear:

"Top Gear!"

"What?" Loki asked, bewildered, as he tried to think of a way to explain that he had simply been illustrating what Excalibur's power could do, not tipping his hand regarding his own nefarious intentions. And, really, how nefarious was gingerbread, anyway? It was not as if he was threatening to roast the Members of Parliament in a giant oven.

Do not say that out loud! Loki told himself in a panic. He was going to talk himself right back into those accursed restraints if he was not careful.

Stark, fortunately, was laughing.

"You're exactly like the guys on Top Gear," he insisted, which still meant nothing to Loki, but Stark's amused expression at least was reassuring. Stark looked around at his comrades. "Oh, come on. Don't tell me I'm the only one of us who watches that show."

"I think you are," Coulson said patiently. "What about it?"

"It's a BBC program about three guys who are nuts about cars. They test drive new models, stuff like that. I've actually been a guest twice, I hold the lap record for two different 'reasonably-priced automobiles'." Stark looked around, saw nothing but incomprehension, and sighed. "The point is: the guys on the show don't want to steal the cars they review, or keep them forever, or do anything evil with them. They just want to… wind them out. I just realized that's who Loki reminds me of when he gets near powerful magic." Turning back to Loki, he said, "You don't want Excalibur to rule the world, you just want to find out what that bad boy can do. Take it for a spin, so to speak."

With a rush of relief, Loki realized that, although he still understood only about half of what Stark was saying, the Iron Man was actually defending him.

"I have no wish to rule this realm," Loki addressed the part of Stark's speech he had comprehended. "I have seen, on the television, how the Prime Minister is shouted at in the House of Commons." Midgard was so large, and its politics so varied, that lately when Loki spoke of "the realm" he really only referred to "his" part, the United Kingdom. Raised as he was in an absolute monarchy, Loki thought the British system of government was one of the funniest things he had ever encountered. Overall he approved, if only for the entertainment value, but he felt one would have to be mad indeed to wish to take an active role, grateful as he was the MP responsible for his own little corner of Bristol seemed to view him as part of her responsibilities. Still, the position seemed to offer comparatively little power for comparatively enormous headaches, so he considered it best to let the humans govern themselves, and remain an amused observer.

"Well, that's good to know," Stark said cheerfully. "It'd also probably be a good idea not to actually do the gingerbread stunt, either." Loki opened his mouth to explain that he had been kidding, then decided Stark, at least, already realized as much.

"Top Gear," Coulson said thoughtfully, then nodded as though the information had been appropriately filed and his full attention returned to the matter at hand. "So, are we going to get that curse off Steve before Mordred shows up?"

Fury stood. "Right." He glanced at Loki. "You're blue," he said abruptly, which made Loki start in alarm before he recalled the Midgardian idiom for "you appear to be cold and uncomfortable." Fury went on, "Everyone who was on the river trip, go get changed into something warmer. Loki, I'd appreciate if that wasn't a polar bear. Or a pot of tea. We'll head out right after."

Loki was unsure what it meant, for Fury to be joking, but he hoped it was a good sign.

~oOoOo~

Truly, there was no need for everyone to come along. Everyone came along regardless. Loki thought it was not that they did not trust him, more that Steve's friends felt he might find their presence beneficial. In Steve's position, Loki would certainly want Thor and the housemates with him. And possibly Tony Stark.

"How will you know if this works?" Fury asked as they walked toward the clearing where the magic had manifested itself.

Steve let out a dry chuckle. "Trust me. I'll know."

"For one thing," Coulson said thoughtfully, "once we get out of the magic zone, if the spell's gone he won't be able to see Annie anymore. Sorry, Annie," he added, looking in the wrong direction entirely.

"That's right," Steve said unhappily. "I hadn't thought of that."

"Well, it's not like you have any choice about it," Annie said bracingly.

"I don't know," Loki said thoughtfully. "I think one could eventually become accustomed to living with such a spell." This earned him a teasingly approving look from Annie, a stage-whispered, "Oooh, good one!" from Mitchell, and laughter from George, Thor, and Steve. Loki smiled as though he had been making a joke.

The humour faded as they approached the clearing and the magic began to make itself felt- Coulson, once again, signaled it with a greeting to Annie that Fury echoed with a nod and Stark with a smile. The scent of damp earth and the taste of granite returned, but not the angry buzzing. The hum at the edge of his hearing was not as powerful as it had been the day he promised they would stop Mordred, but it was there.

Loki stopped in the middle of the clearing, and the others halted as though at a signal. Coulson scanned the ground and it took Loki a moment to realize the agent was, finally, looking for his lost knife. He had just started forward to help him when Coulson found it, tucking it into his pocket as he straightened.

"Sorry about that," he remarked. It was unclear whether he was apologizing to Loki for interrupting, or to the clearing for leaving the hated iron behind.

Excalibur, too, was of iron, but forged by the Lady or her servants, with love of the realm. As Loki unsheathed it, the humming sound he took for approval- and he certainly hoped he had not misinterpreted that- grew louder.

"All right, Steve," he said, "let us see what we can do."

"Okay," Steve agreed gamely. As he stepped forward, Annie intercepted him.

"Good luck," she said, hugging him.

Steve hugged back. "Thanks, Annie. And the rest of you guys, too," he added, smiling around at the housemates. He looked quite confident that what Loki had in mind would work.

Loki had given this considerable thought and was almost confident in his own plan. He drew Excalibur from its scabbard, held it in his right hand, firmly by the hilt, blade pointing downward. He gestured to Steve step forward, into the glow of the blade, and place his hands on the hilt, then wrapped his own left hand around Steve's. He smiled encouragingly, then pressed gently down until the point of the blade made contact with the ground.

There was an immediate sensation of cold rushing up his arms, followed by a moment of absolute, disorienting terror. Loki clenched his hands, resisting the urge to throw Excalibur aside and simply bolt... anywhere. He looked at Steve and saw a smile of relief break out on the other man's face, swiftly followed by a look of concern as he realized what was happening to Loki.

And then the terror was gone, passing harmlessly into the ground, to be absorbed and diffused and then buried. Loki inhaled and exhaled, making sure it was really gone, let the feeling of gratitude pass through him and also into the earth itself. Then he took his left hand off Steve's, who released him.

"Are you okay?" Steve asked, genuinely upset. "I could see it hit you."

"I am fine," Loki replied, "but I am very sorry for making light of learning to live with that curse."

Steve smiled wryly. "You could probably do it, though. Motivation is a great thing."

"Speaking of motivation," Nick Fury spoke up. "You feeling motivated to go get this guy?"

Steve nodded. "Let me at him."