The next few days the Avengers poured themselves over the information they had just intercepted from Loki's day at the amusement park. Theories flew like paper airplanes in a classroom.

"What did he mean when he said that?"

"Maybe it's something to do with Asgard?"

"Perhaps he's just given up all together"

The Avengers soon spent most of their time in the war room, until finally they stopped leaving. They took their meals over their chairs, just so they could continue planning their strategy against Loki…and it always ended the same way.

"That'll never work." Iron Man would say.

"Why not? It's the perfect plan." Hawkeye would counter.

"We don't yet know the limits of his power. You saw how he dealt with us last time. He wasn't even trying." Steve would have to hold himself back. It took every ounce of military discipline he had not to rip the chair from under Tony's butt and smack him over the head with it.

Even worse was the fact that Thor was no help at all. All he did for the most part was holding that stuffed alligator. Its green fur was starting to get creases where his fingers had been.

Black Widow leaned back in her chair, her hair covering her eyes like a veil. "We still need more information."

But over the past few weeks Loki had just stopped showing up completely. What once were small sporadic appearances, drinking coffee at a bistro in Paris, or picking up flowers at a shop downtown, had stopped. Hell, they couldn't even be sure if Loki wasn't visiting Earth. He might have found a way to mask his form and his energy signature completely. Natasha hoped that wasn't the case, they couldn't have lost their first lead so soon.

It was easy to see everyone was on edge, and why shouldn't they have been? This was Loki. They still weren't sure if this was some kind of scheme. They couldn't be sure of anything and that was what was driving Natasha up the wall. It was one thing not to know what you're enemy is planning, but it was another not to know anything at all. Damn…it was so much easier reading Loki when he was back on SHIELD headquarters in their custody. This was like reading book with no words.

"Damn it. Thor, there's gotta be something we're missing." Steve said, nearly shouting. His voice filled the room like thunder…it even made Thor jump.

"I am sorry captain, but I do believe my brother is without scheme this time. What exactly does he have to gain?"

"Driving us all nuts." Hawkeye said, his arms folded over his chest like armor.

"Let's go back to what we do know." Natasha said, "He said he needed a change, and when he said that he looked as if he were afraid." Natasha tapped her finger against the desk. "Is he running away from something? And what about that cat. Why would a megalomaniac get a cat?"

"I dunno Widow, he kind of seems like a cat person to me." Tony's lips curved into a sneer. "You know, all mopey and anti-social."

But that was just it. Loki wasn't being anti-social. He was being downright friendly. Even Thor took note of his sudden change of heart. But what could have been so drastic as to change the god of mischief?

"Thor," Natasha began, "Has Loki ever fallen in love with someone? Had a girlfriend…or a boyfriend?"

Thor's body tensed at the thought. "No, Loki's never been much in the way of love. Mother and I have asked him numerous times but he always says he has no interest in the affairs of the heart." Thor's eyes began to light up. "Why? Do you believe there is someone who holds my brother's attention?"

Tony had to hold back from chuckling, the light from his arc reactor made his face glow. They think Loki got a girlfriend? Come on! This was Loki. But as to why he had a cat was an interesting question. Everyday Pepper kept telling Tony that he should get some sort of pet, she says it'll teach him "responsibility", as if running a company and saving the world wasn't enough. But he knew that was just something she told him. In reality, she thought he was lonely. She thought having some kind of pet would help lighten the mood around his own home.

Could Loki have been lonely?

"We can't rule out that possibility, even if it does seem unlikely." Steve said.

Hawkeye shook his head. "I pity the chick who got stuck with him."

"Are there any other theories?" Natasha asked, hoping to finally draw this meeting to a close…they all needed showers.

"I have a question," Tony said, raising his hand like a school boy. "Say we do get Loki, and say we do finally get him into custody, and say he does have a girlfriend, how exactly are we gonna convince him to go back to his role as god of mischief?"

Steve stood straight up. "We'll just force him."

Tony leaned back again. "How?"

And then there was silence. How exactly were the going to convince someone to return to a position that made them unhappy? That'd be like trying to convince Tony to return to making weapons.

"Well, if he does have a girlfriend we can try and convince him that his actions are hurting her as well." Steve said as he slowly sat down.

"That is, assuming he has one. What if he doesn't?" Hawkeye asked.

"W-we'll just cross that bridge when we get to it."

They had been to that bridge multiple times and they were still nowhere near getting to the other side of it. What? Were they just going to beg Loki to return to trying to enslave mankind? Their only option was to hope that Loki had found someone in his life that made him happy…so they could guilt him somehow. It was dirty, but this was Loki after all.

"Now, how do we find him?" Came the question, they had been in that room for so long, it almost became impossible to distinguish one person's voice from another, hell, Jarvis could have asked the question for all they knew. It couldn't have been Earth (or at least they assumed not) and it couldn't have been Asgard, from what Thor told them if Loki had stepped foot on that terrain Odin would have known about it. So what was left?

Seven other realms, plus a whole multitude of worlds that they may have never heard of. Even if they had managed to locate which one Loki was one there was no way they could get there. Such travel required great magic, something Thor did not have.

"So our best course of action is really just waiting for the enemy to come to us?" Steve asked.

Natasha sighed. "There doesn't seem to be any other way."