Thor grasped the red gem tightly in his fist, then relaxed his hand and watched the scarlet object catch the light from above him in his low-ceiling room at SHIELD headquarters. The room was sparsely decorated, meant more as a guest's quarters than a permanent home. The walls were bare, save for a few bland pieces of art and an electrical box by the door that allowed him to talk to others in the building via live image. Tony had condescendingly tried to explain it to him, but Thor had little patience of late and preferred to ignore the tool. He spent most of his time pacing the plain blue carpeted floor, wearing a path into it in short order. He scowled deeply, summoning Mjolnir to his hand like a magnet, keeping his eye on the stone for any kind of reaction.

Nothing.

Thor laid Mjolnir on its head on the floor with a frustrated grunt. When Odin had first given him this gem in Asgard, Thor could feel the power emanating from it, his muscles tingling and his body and mind awake. Now, however, he felt nothing but a smooth, cold stone in his palm. He pocketed the gem quickly as a knock sounded at his door.

"Enter," he commanded.

Steve Rogers walked in, his shield slung over his back as usual, giving the appearance of a turtle's shell. He was dressed in what Stark called "street clothes," looking tired and stiff. He closed the door behind him with a soft click.

"What do you need?" Thor asked, more harshly than he meant to.

"I came to talk about a plan," he said, though something in his voice sounded different than normal. Unsure, maybe, or nervous, Rogers gave off a less than confident air.
"What plan?"

"For Loki and Lyanne."

"We cannot track them down as of yet."

"Well, don't you have someone you said could see everything? Heimdall? And even your father's crows can be used to spy."

"Yes," said Thor, exasperation creeping into his voice. "But Heimdall cannot locate them – Loki's magic has been strong enough to conceal himself and others for years – and even my father's ravens Huginn and Muninn are incapable of this task. Loki's magic is too strong."

Thor thought briefly of his mother – Loki's mother too, he remembered – and how she would take afternoons to train Loki in her magic and dagger skills in the large, empty golden chamber that faced the sunset. He remembered how everything had looked bright and gleaming, their spells reflected in the shining columns around the palatial room. Thor had usually interrupted these sessions with a jest at Loki's weakness, having just come from a harsh, more physical training session himself. Their mother would usually scowl and patiently reprimand, but Loki's face would look cold – frozen, even. How did I not see it then? Thor scolded himself.

"What about your father?"

"If neither Heimdall nor my father's crows can see them, my father cannot, either," he responded irritably. Thor felt that Rogers was quick enough to grasp these things himself – they had already been discussed at length with Director Fury, and none of them were the sort of man to just "forget" important information or possibilities. Thor glanced over at him, frowning slightly, something coming to him slowly, like a creeping dawn in winter. "But this is not the reason why you are here," he said hesitantly.

"No," Rogers admitted. "It's not."

"Speak your mind," Thor commanded. Normally he is a straightforward man, he thought. This is most unlike him.

Steve Rogers tensed for a moment, as though irritated by Thor's authoritative tone, but decided now was not the time and continued.

"When we went to Asgard..." he started, but Thor turned almost violently on his heels to face him. Rogers continued after a brief hesitation. "We need to know what happened there."
"Who is we?" Thor snapped, calling Mjolnir to his hand.

Rogers stood stoically, his normal proud form and fearless demeanor seeming to return to him quickly in the face of Thor's anger and possible threat. He did not reach for his shield, but slightly raised an eyebrow.

"The team," he explained calmly, but firmly. "We all need to know what happened between you and your father – I'm sure it had something to do with our problem with Loki and Lyanne."

Thor relaxed, but only slightly. He breathed heavily for a moment while he considered. Loyalty to my father and the realm, or loyalty to Earth and the warriors I have befriended here? To my first home, or my second? He briefly considered what his father might do before deciding that he had already acted by entrusting Thor with the gem. He did not say to keep it a secret from those I trust, he mused. But then why did he insist on our meeting being private from them? What would Sif and the Warriors Three do? What would my new friends here in Midgard do? What would Jane do...?

Thor paused a moment to think about Jane with a quiet hurt and longing. Their short time together had burned brightly, and he looked forward to seeing her once more, once things were quieter, safer... until then, he had to wait. But thinking of her had settled the matter.

"Very well," Thor said slowly, a little defeated. "I shall tell you. I know someone who – who would want me to tell you. It would be the right thing."

Rogers looked at Thor expectantly, his blue eyes focused intently on his teammate as he continued.

"Loki and the gems – he's hunting them. We all know that. However, it must be difficult tracking them down – Loki has too many places to look and too few clues to follow for his quest to really be feasible. And yet he has managed to find three of them already – that we know of. I am unsure if he has found more, but the closer he gets, the more dangerous he and Lyanne become. With every gem he acquires, it unlocks another set of abilities and power for him. The gauntlet is still the final piece, but by having Lyanne as a source of power for channeling the gems' energy, he can still achieve terrible things without it."

Rogers was somewhat impatient, having heard all this before, but counted his blessings that Thor was explaining anything at all. He stood silently, waiting for him to finish.

"Perhaps the most troublesome of these items, however, is the red gem – the power gem. It amplifies the other five, making them even more dangerous, especially in the hands of one who would know how to use them. Most of their knowledge has been lost, save for those of great age, but Loki has been across planes and universes I cannot even fathom. When he returned from his journey, he was changed even more from the man I knew – almost tainted by whatever knowledge he had acquired in his travels. This knowledge included the gems – he is no fool, my brother. He knows which of the artifacts is most powerful. This," Thor said, digging into the deepest, most secure compartment in his armor and retrieving the ruby, "This is what he is after most desperately. Without this, he is significantly weaker than we could hope for. With this in our possession, we have the possibility of well and truly challenging him. If only we could find a conduit, and someone who knew how to use it..."

He threw himself down on the bed with an anxious sigh, placing his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands in frustration. Rogers merely stared for a moment as he took in the new information – this was huge – not only a way to challenge Loki, but possibly a way to defeat him as well. But he wondered...

"So, Odin gave this to you, right? That's what your secret meeting was about?"

Thor looked up from his sitting position on the bed and nodded. Rogers balked.

"If he had it in his possession the whole time, why didn't he just give it to us in the first place, when we had to go after Amora? He just left our fight up to chance?" he asked Thor incredulously.

Thor shook his head.

"Odin felt that with eight of us against her, even though she had two of the Infinity stones, we had more than enough power, especially with Banner. Also, he... he didn't trust Loki with it. After all the good things Loki had done then, and father being so proud of his redemption, he still didn't trust him." He paused and heaved a sad sigh. "And he was right not to."

Rogers still felt a little uneasy at the situation.

"So – why now? Because Loki has the other gems? Why would your father only trust you?"

To Thor it seemed like a stupid question, but he indulged his friend.

"He knows me better than any of you – I am his son."
"So was Loki."

Thor scoffed, but his heart ached with the truth of it.

"Father knew deep down not to place too much trust in my brother, I suppose. The lindworm does not change his venom." Thor looked up to his friend and teammate in earnest and said softly, "He didn't want to make the same mistake twice - he regrets his lack of foresight with Loki. The signs we missed for years make sense after everything that's happened."
"Our saying is, 'Hindsight is always 20/20.'"
"I don't understand."
"Twenty-twenty? It refers to perfect vision. As in, looking back everything is clear as day..."

Thor nodded, but his eyes stared off into the distance, watching the breeze rustle the trees outside his window as the sun set beyond the hills.

"So what's the next move?" Rogers asked loudly, purposely breaking him from his reverie. Thor glanced back up at him, his brows knitting slightly.

"How does a man catch the slipperiest of fish?" Thor asked with a small smirk.

"With bait," Rogers finished.