A/N: Time frame wise, this is set 8 years after Burning Curve, for reference. :)

So updates might be a little slow as I deal with some big personal stuff. If you're interested you can read about it at my Tumblr. megaranoelle . tumblr . com

I don't own The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.

Bruce sat on the end of his bed, staring at Tony for a moment. "Bruce, I need you to focus." Tony snapped his fingers. "Loki is gone, and I have a horrible feeling that-"

"That the creator of the Universe did it," Bruce finished. "I'm in shock, but I can still listen. He gave you the baby first?" He lifted his eyes from Tony's stomach to his eyes.

"He doesn't have full control over all of his powers when he's pregnant," Tony explained. "I thought we would have had more time before Adir came looking for him, but the man moves fast. I guess he really has no limits."

"He killed a Norn, right?" Bruce asked and Tony nodded. "I don't think he cares about collateral damage. I have to wonder though, can Loki really become as powerful as he thinks?"

Tony wrinkled his nose a little and shuffled his foot into the ground. "It's possible. I mean, from the information that I was able to glean from the Norn, he's one of the only other beings that can't have his exact future told." Tony let out a little sigh and ruffled the ends of his hair a little. "Everything that they've predicted for him, he basically spit on it and did his own thing. Unintentionally, of course, but all the same."

"That almost doesn't make sense," Bruce said, leaning his chin on his hand, elbow on his leg. "Wouldn't they have seen some of it if he was meant to be with you? You still fall under the rules of Fate, right?"

"In a way." Bruce raised an eyebrow. "Okay, this all kind of conjecture, and just info that I've gotten since, I guess, becoming a part-time Norn. But, only some of my life events have been foretold. The arc reactor? Taking that Nuke into the Void? Having kids? All foretold. Getting married to Loki? Not foretold. Fate doesn't control every little thing that happens, but my life is still a little more loose in the big book of life."

Bruce snorted a little. "Figures." Bruce watched Tony, noting that his foot was shuffling, and his fingers were tapping against the side of his leg. "How long until you mentally check-out?"

"That obvious?" Tony asked then sighed. "I don't know, honestly."

"Well, we've probably got a little bit before Melisande wakes up, will you let me do a check up on you?" Tony nodded and walked with Bruce down to the lab. "About how far along was Loki?"

"Around 24 weeks, almost into the third trimester." Bruce glanced at Tony. "Yeah, I know what to expect. I'm gonna feel it moving around, getting no sleep, back is gonna start to hurt-"

"We can see if it's a boy or a girl," Bruce threw in, and he saw Tony's smile a little.

"Thankfully, Loki's big clothes are here, so I won't have to go out and try and find something to wear." They walked into the lab and Bruce headed for the equipment to set up while Tony took a seat. "I have a feeling that I'm not going to be leaving the mansion anyway. I'm going to be focusing on this little one and my other little one upstairs, and trying to find Loki. The sooner we can get him back, the sooner he can take this back."

"Not enjoying pregnancy so far?" Tony shot him a look and Bruce motioned for him to lay back. "You could have Alex come over as well to help. He'll know more than I will."

"Give me a couple of days to actually process that I'm carrying something in my body." Tony took a breath, looking up at the ceiling. He needed to process everything that had happened, period. Bruce watched him for a second before starting the ultrasound.

Adir and Loki hit the ground, stumbling, and falling down a hill covered in snow. Loki kicked out, pushing himself to the side, trying to put some distance between him and Adir. He stopped rolling and pushed himself to his feet, spell on his hands, keeping low. He saw Adir getting up a few feet away and he started to move

Judging by the cold, they had actually landed somewhere in Jotunheim. It was much too cold for anywhere on Midgard, but he didn't know if he was anywhere close to the capital. Loki ducked and skid to the side when Adir appeared in front of him. A spell sailed over his head and he heard a laugh behind him.

"You're not actually going to get away from me." Loki grit his teeth and rolled forward in the snow. "I'm almost impressed that you were able to disrupt our location, but you won't make it." He landed in front of Loki and reached to grab the back of his shirt and his hand passed through his body. Loki was already running the other way.

"You seem to be making a lot of assumptions," Loki called out, not stopping in his run. "You don't actually know that much about me, or else you would have been more prepared." He stopped abruptly, inches away from running into Adir.

"I feel that is a very apropos statement." He smirked a little and reached out but Loki lifted his arm to smack away Adir's arm, turning on one foot to land a kick to his chest. Adir moved back out of reach of Loki's foot, but also out of reach of grabbing him as well.

"I hope you didn't think that I was just going to let you take me away from my family," Loki told him as they stood facing each other, just out of reach.

"I really don't deal in the hopes of others. Usually, what I say goes, I have that power to make it happen." Adir watched him, his body completely loose and uncaring, while Loki was coiled and ready to spring, to attack.

"No, but you must feel something, because you obviously feel threatened by me." Adir raised an eyebrow at him. "If you didn't, you wouldn't be working so hard to remove me from the picture."

"I don't like seeing that there might be a possibility that there is someone who would change everything that I have made." Loki snorted and rolled his eyes.

"You're a terrible liar, you know that right?" Loki watched him, silently working a spell to try and get him to the palace. "If I had wanted to do that, I would have done it already."

"There could still come a time," Adir started, taking a step closer. Loki took an answering step backwards. "Time flows, things happen. One day you could feel that you were wronged, something could happen to your family, and you will want to change that. With your connections to your realm of the dead, to the realm of the living, with the power that freely flows through your veins, you could make it happen." Adir tilted his head to the side, still keeping eye contact with Loki. "Do you know how untapped your potential power is?"

"If I do, then I don't care," Loki shot back. "I was content with my life as it was. A lot has already happened to me that has made me want to change it all, but I obviously never did." Loki tilted his head right back at Adir. "Are you perhaps overcompensating for something?"

"I think that maybe you have spent too much time on Midgard." A hand clapped down on Loki's shoulder from behind tightly. "You're picking up some of their foul humour. You'll forget about that soon though." Loki grit his teeth as he felt the travel spell, this time he was unable to disrupt it as Adir took them from Jotunheim.