Disclaimer: I still don't own anything here

Loki didn't even fight as the two agents lowered their weapons and instead took a tight grip on his upper arms, dragging him forcefully. He did snarl petulantly down at them; this was no way for royalty, (and he was still royalty) to be treated, let alone by faceless men that were no more than grunt-workers for an already measly organisation. But he didn't fight. It wasn't as if he had better places to be, and if nothing else, this strong and silent reaction to his wandering proved that he was bothering Fury.

"I do not require your assistance." Loki hissed at the stony faced man on his right, "Remove your hands from me at once."

This only made both men tighten their grip, and Loki was pushed aggressively forward, making him lurch ahead of them as they rounded a corner.

"What d'you think you're doin'?" a sharp, all too recognisable twang called. A single glance as he regained his posture informed Loki that Rose was rapidly approaching, her jaw set in frustration. He was a little surprised to see that she was accompanied by that…man in the knitted garments that had clung to the detective; Sherlock! That man's name had been Sherlock, though Loki wasn't sure of this companion.

"We're returning the prisoner to Director Fury." One of the agents answered. Loki immediately hated how bored he sounded. Rose shook her head defiantly, and surged forward to grasp Loki's arm, yanking it from the agent. Loki smirked at the man, making no secret of the pleasure that Rose's possessiveness brought.

"I mean pushing him around like that!" she snapped, batting away the advances of the guard. The knitted man stayed warily to the side, and Loki was only partially aware of how his eyes followed his every move; watching Rose, ferocious as she was, was far more satisfying. With Pete's World, as she had been calling it, being at peace, it was only on rare occasions that he truly saw her angry at anyone that wasn't himself…and what a treat it was.

"Ma'am, we have orders." The other agent justified himself. With only minor jostling, Loki found himself being held in place by Rose's hands on both of his arms, while she glared at the agents. He was surprised and impressed at how she managed to do that, seeing as he was nearly a foot taller than her, and blocking the space between them.

"Surely you've heard of the laws regarding prisoner treatment." The woollen man interjected. He still hadn't neared, and seemed to hate his own words, as if they were distasteful.

The agents shared a look, and Loki watched the group around him with detached bemusement, aware that it was written across his face. There was nothing more entertaining than watching others debate, and there was something wonderful about the sheer amount of mixed feelings that he seemed to produce in Rose's most recent companion, who at that moment was tapping his foot with what could only have been supressed rage.

"Just go and tell Fury that I've got my eye on him." Rose was instructing the agents. Her brown eyes was wide with determination, and her grip on Loki's arms was vacillating as her fingers squeezed nervously. The agents looked as if to argue, but the knitted man stopped them before they were able.

"It's alright, I've got a gun." He assured them, making sure to meet Loki's eyes pointedly; definitely one of Earth's soldiers then, and one that really wasn't pleased with him. And that was just typical, Loki fought not to roll his eyes, Rose had gone and befriended a sanctimonious pest, "I have no qualms about shooting him if he gets out of line."

Well that was just charming.

The agents, with much grumbling, eventually departed, leaving Loki alone with the pair. If he were sentimental, he'd say that the air had grown a bit stagnant; if he were still devoted to the poetry of the spoken word, as he had been when he were young, he would announce that the tension between the three, the animosity and the frustration, was like the collective holding of breath as a small town awaited the lightning strike and the thundering hand of a storm. Then again, that didn't stop him thinking it with a restrained smirk.

Rose was busy tutting away at the shackles about his wrists; her hands skirted over Loki's bare wrists, and she threw him a dissatisfied frown.

"You know, if you'd just behave yourself for five minutes, they wouldn't need to chain you up." She informed him, and then in direct opposition to her otherwise caring behaviour, hooked her arm through his and began pulling him in the direction he had just come. The knitted soldier followed, visibly gritting his teeth.

Loki turned his attention back to Rose; he had missed playing with her.

"You don't like me in chains?" he teased, never taking his eyes off of her face. She closed her eyes, her expression tensing as if she were either biting back a retort or a smile; her cheeks did go a wonderful shade of red. Instead of replying, she addressed the other man.

"Thanks for sticking up for me John." She said pleasantly, peering around Loki to smile at the man. Before he could respond, Loki interrupted, glancing down at the soldier, his expression the epitome of curiosity.

"John? Is that what I should be calling you?"

"It's Doctor Watson." John snapped, his chest heaving momentarily before his hand darted upwards to squeeze the bridge of his nose, "Just…I'm not here to deal with troublemakers."

"Are you still sore that I tried to lead an army against your planet?" Loki mock whispered; he couldn't help it really. There was a certain type of person that just couldn't seem to stop themselves from being so easily riled up.

John's sigh changed half-way through into a growl, and he nearly ground to a halt as he tried to turn to address the god.

"You're lucky I haven't just shot you for the good of-"

"Boys!" Rose raised her voice and the two of them fell silent as she extracted herself from Loki and whirled around to face them down, "Can you focus on the whole stopping the world from ending gig."

"Sorry." John muttered, folding his arms across his chest and looking sheepishly about the empty hall.

"And for what is it that you require my presence?" Loki grudgingly inquired; it was true that he wanted to know what was happening, he was naturally inquisitive, something that had driven his mother to despair when he and Thor were children. However, he had spent centuries perfecting his air of indifference, and it would be unwise to seem like he was interested in the actions of 'Earth's Mightiest Heroes'.

A strange expression flittered across Rose's face before she turned on her heel and began striding away from them. Loki felt John's hand push roughly at the small of his back and, not without a sharp glare and snarl in the doctor's direction, followed.

"I've said that you'll help them with their Bifrost thing." Rose explained hastily; with a familiar pang Loki realised why she was deliberately refusing to meet his eyes. She knew he wouldn't agree to this; and why should he?

"I will do no such thing." He retorted resolutely, turning his nose up. Rose threw a glance over her shoulder, but didn't stop walking.

"You'll help, or you'll be stuck on a planet where everyone is dying." She said coldly, "Including you."

Neither Rose nor John said anything after that, and Loki could only grimace at whoever made eye contact with him as he was escorted towards one of the laboratories.

He supposed that he might as well cooperate for now; dying on Earth wasn't something he was particularly inclined towards.

To say that Loki was unimpressed with the gathering in the laboratory was an understatement.

On one side of the room, Tony Stark and Jane Foster were huddled over various holographic screens, while listening to Thor try and explain, in his own abstract way, how the Bifrost worked. The swell of affection that the exaggerated arm movements, and stuttering pauses brought was immediately, and deliberately swallowed by frustration, as Loki told himself that the idiot didn't even know how it worked in reality, and was just saying things. He wished that he could hate Thor, the feeling was so real, so visceral, but the voice in the back of his head saying that 'everything's good now', 'Thor's there', 'isn't he such a lovable fool' was hard to silence. It was like a knee-jerk reaction; the very thought of such made the hatred ever more present.

On the other side of the room, Sherlock was bent over what looked like most of a chemical lab, computers whirring around him, plastic glasses pushed high on his nose. Loki recognised a lot of the equipment from the science supplies his minions had stolen the last time he had been on this Earth.

As Rose darted over to join his brother's entourage, Loki observed with mild curiosity as John strolled across the laboratory to join Sherlock; loathe as he was to admit it, the friendship between the two men, who were on first glance monumentally different, did pique his interest.

"I thought you were helping them." John remarked, gesturing to the others as he joined the detective and pulled up a chair to peer at the various samples and analytics flitting about him.

Sherlock didn't even look up at his friend when he replied, instead reaching hastily for another glass beaker and a small pipe, and continuing to so intricate things underneath a large microscope. His entire being was one of intense focus, the kind that drew people in. Loki chose to remain a few feet away, watching, analysing the raw intelligence that radiated from the work station.

"Physics was never my area John, though I do understand it." Sherlock said swiftly, without an excess of emotion, merely a flare of arrogance, "While they take care of that, I'm working on the biological and chemical part of the plan." He muttered; the sample that he was examining was thrown across the lab, shattering on the floor as another algorithm was pulled up and more glass containers were mixed and swapped and stacked, "I've been testing the effects of Bruce's DNA when spliced with that of a healthy human's in the manner that I expect Moriarty to, if he's still working with any kind of logic, and I'm close to finding a way to reverse it-TONY!"

The switch from cool and focused to shouting over his shoulder was smooth, and even as Tony looked up in shock, and made his way across the room, sourly telling Loki that he 'wanted a word' as he passed, Sherlock was back to work, his face scrunching disdainfully at whatever he was looking at.

John shifted his seat closer to Sherlock's side to allow Tony room to squeeze behind them and peer over their shoulders.

"What d'you need?" Tony asked quietly; for once the sarcastic humour was absent, and Loki wasn't sure if he was pleased at that development, or worried that it foreshadowed greater danger. He glanced towards Thor and Rose, who were motioning for him to join them, but rejected their requests with an abrupt shake of his head.

"But what if the experiments have gone ahead?" John was asking when Loki turned back to the trio; the man, he noticed, still wore his disbelieving put-upon expression like a badge of honour, "How are you going to get this to however many people without getting too close?"

"That's something else you can help me with Tony." Sherlock muttered; his entire conversation seemed to take a backseat compared to his work, "If I can make this into a respiratory drug, is there a way we could distribute it over a whole city?"

"Of course we can." Tony replied, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips, and a renewed excitement loosening his limbs, "We can do it the same way they put out forest fires-fill a few jets up with whatever you're making and they can release it from a height."

"So what you're saying is if we don't get into their hide-out fast enough to stop the experiments from taking place, then we can reverse it by gassing them?" John verified, looking between the two geniuses, his eyebrows knitting together.

"So long as SHIELD is quick in replicating my formula." Sherlock remarked confidently.

"Who are these people that the Timelord wishes to mutate?" Loki inquired; it wasn't until the three men were looking bewilderedly back at him, that he realised that he hadn't been a part of the conversation, nor should he be trying to be. With a deliberately self-deprecating smile, he righted any misconception. "Mere curiosity, you understand."

Both Tony and Sherlock looked pointedly at John before turning back to the chemicals, Tony occasionally pointing something out and sticking his hands in the way. John sighed and grudgingly made eye contact.

"That's what Rose and I have been doing." He explained, tilting his head towards the two blondes across the lab, "Scanning the news and government sites. Turns out that across England and Wales there've been loads of disappearances in recent months, but they haven't been called up because it's all students who never call home, or the homeless, and no one really notices. There've been four times as many in London in the last month, all homeless people under sixty."

"So they are using the useless serfs of your society." Loki remarked, nodding to show that he understood perfectly.

John's expression turned sour and he straightened defensively in his chair.

"Hey! I don't know how things are where you come from, but just because someone's worse off here, doesn't make them…peasants, or…useless!" he argued; this earned a sideways glance from Sherlock and a loud 'SHHH', but Loki scoffed haughtily.

"Where I come from, people like you would know how to behave when talking to their superior." He sneered. John opened his mouth, but to his disappointment Loki didn't get to hear what the man would have said, as Thor called out wearily from across the room.

"Loki…do not cause trouble, this is not the time."

Loki turned his back on his brother completely.

John had swivelled back around in his chair, and was listening to Sherlock and Tony's discussion. The detective had leant back, his hands steepeling in thought as Tony leant across him to jab at the analytics projected around them.

"But Banner's been working on this for years and never gotten anywhere," Tony stressed, gesturing emphatically at a new set of readings, "What makes you sure that this is going to reverse the effects of the genetic manipulation?"

Sherlock smirked as he looked up at Tony; Loki was almost glad that he wasn't the only one taking unnecessary joy from the situation. If Rose felt the need to scold him, he would just direct her straight towards the detective.

"Because the way Bruce has been going about things is the wrong approach for now." Sherlock explained, and John briefly cut across him to criticise his cryptic response, "Look at it this way. When Moriarty and the Master splice this DNA with the normal human DNA that they have, the 'Hulk Gene' will act as an invader, like a virus. It stands to reason then, that like a virus, it can be fought with antibodies; I have used Bruce's DNA, extrapolated it, and found a particular strain of enzymes that can be added to the bloodstream that when combined with human anti-bodies, which will contain and reverse, and in time kill the 'Hulk Gene'."

"Like a vaccine." Tony breathed, and then looked concerned, his forehead crinkling, "But if it was in his DNA already, why hasn't Banner cured himself already?"

"Because it wouldn't work." Sherlock responded, and it seemed as if he were actually sad for a moment, the way his face softened, and he didn't elaborate at all.

"What do you mean?" Tony asked; his pallor had if possible, paled even more, and his whole being had slumped. It was only then that Loki realised how hopeful Stark had been only moments before. It was strange, how loyal he was to the monster.

Sherlock's hands dropped, the tips of his fingers dragging down his lips as they fell; he swallowed awkwardly before speaking careless, measuring his words.

"To do these tests, I examined Bruce's DNA, and then my DNA with the 'Hulk Gene' added. The end result is not the same, which is why these mutated people could be saved, but Bruce cannot." He clarified, keeping his eyes down; Tony didn't say anything, but waited for Sherlock to continue, "When the genes are added, they exist much like a virus, on top of the normal human DNA. With Bruce…he has been like that from birth, whether it was active or not– the 'Hulk Gene' isn't added to his DNA, it's a part of his genetic make-up. To take away the Hulk, would be to take away a part of him. It can't be done."

There was no response. Tony had closed his eyes and was running a hand over his face, slumped miserably over the desk as he was. It sounded as if he were muttering something, something about a promise of some sort, but Loki couldn't make it out, and neither Sherlock nor John looked as if they were ready to disturb him. They were probably afraid of hurting his feelings; more likely that the detective didn't know how to deal with the situation emotionally.

"How will you avoid killing your beast amongst the others that you…gas?" Loki asked into the frigid silence. Tony looked up in disbelief, shaking his head, his mouth opening and closing.

"We'll need to find some way to remove him from the area." Sherlock answered plainly; so far, he was the only one who had willingly met Loki's eyes and not been blatantly filled with dislike, "I'm sure one of the larger members of this 'team' will manage that." He nodded towards Thor.

Loki nodded in understanding. Their plans were a shambles at best, but they were pulling together far better than they had when facing him.

Tony stood up straight and shook himself imperceptibly, his face taking on a cold sort of half-smile, and he projected false cheer.

"Well, that's all good. You get on the gas, have SHIELD replicating it." He patted Sherlock's shoulder as he squeezed out of the work space, "I'll get on the dispersal jets." Tony clapped his hands together in a 'done' motion and then turned his attention to Loki, "You, get over here and help us with this."

For his small stature, Stark packed some force as he gave Loki a push from behind. Fighting the temptation to swat him around the back of the head as he skirted around him, Loki grudgingly followed Tony to join Thor, Rose, and Jane around a gathering of holographic screens and piles of scrap metal and wires.

He wasn't sure why Rose bothered; she knew nothing of science really, only vague theories about the universe that had no real grounding, and this much was clear as she rested her weight on one of the many desks and watched, her hand under her chin, as Thor and Jane discussed intergalactic travel.

Thor greeted him with a wan smile, his eyes lighting up as he extended his arm and swept Loki into the group to stand beside him. Loki brushed off his brother's arm but didn't move away, lest he end up between Tony and Jane.

"Brother! I need you to verify for Jane what I have told her about the Bifrost and the way that it functions." Thor instructed him, waving a hand at one of the fuller screens.

"Why would I do that?" Loki sniped, although he couldn't stop his eyes being drawn to the data before him. Loathe as he was to admit it, Thor had covered most of the necessary points, although not thoroughly, or with any true understanding as to how they would facilitate interstellar travel.

"Because of all of Asgard's scholars, you are the most knowledgeable in the passageways of Yggdrasil." Thor replied sternly, moving himself so that he was looking Loki directly in the eyes, and his brother could not escape, "And because if you do not, we may lose our home and those we love."

Loki refused to dignify that with a response; he couldn't have come up with one if he had tried, and the mournful way that Rose was watching him did not help.

"So…" Jane, Thor's annoying and perky woman was watching him warily, a strained smile stretching her cheeks and making Loki want to strangle her a little bit; relentless cheeriness was as bad as stupidity, "It's all here," she pointed at the information that Loki had already examined, "I just wanted to check that this was all correct…maybe get some more exact information to work with, because this is great, but it's still theoretical…I don't know how I'd get it working – or use it to close another portal…"

"Spinning metal…speed…and power?" Loki read off some of the main points on the screens, drawling sardonically and meeting Thor's eyes with a smirk; it was nice for a moment, mocking him as they were wont to do, with Thor looking down guiltily.

"That is what the Bifrost is." Thor defended himself, taking a moment to glare at Tony as a snort emanated from the scientist, "I have spent some time with Heimdall since the Bridge was destroyed, to understand the rebuilding process."

"As a good king should." Loki mocked and leaned in to touch the screen in front of him, only to have Thor grunt (graceful as always) and Tony swat his shackled hand away.

"The Doctor said something similar when he was here." Tony corroborated with Thor, messing with the holograms himself, "Something about spinning metal space fish that made portals." Then when he caught sight of Loki's scepticism, "You were asleep on the table."

"I wouldn't put it past the Doctor to have seen that." Rose mused, "I mean, that sounds entirely plausible compared to some things I've seen with 'im."

"You!" Tony exclaimed suddenly, pointing at Rose, "How've you been hopping from place to place?"

"That wasn't a portal, that's just teleportation." She replied, shaking her head, "That's all power, and no help to us here."

"This is good!" Jane said loudly, gesturing at what they had, "This here is theoretically possible, and I've got actual science to back it up. It's just…building it making it work…uh, Loki?" she looked beseechingly at the god, and he thought that she might be either afraid of him, or hate him, "Do you think it would be possible to make something work like this, sort of soon?"

Loki didn't take his eyes off of hers, but he was thrown off guard slightly.

"Well…yes." He answered slowly; he was sure the disbelief was evident on his face, but he didn't care. He looked between the group, at the bewildered and expectant faces of Thor, Rose, Tony, and Jane, and it began to occur to him why they were still standing around discussing, "I already did."

"What?" four voices echoed off of the steel interior of the lab. Well, that was a turn-up.

They actually hadn't caught up yet. He could have just kept quiet, but the look in Rose's eyes, and more importantly the overwhelming need to prove his superiority, made him speak slowly, bemusedly, as if at any second it might emerge that they weren't all truly that stupid.

"I have already had a device…much like the one you desire…built." He elucidated; the vacant expressions prevailed, and Loki was hit by the sudden memory of how much he enjoyed being the cleverest, being the schemer, "I would have thought that you'd have remembered," he said slowly, wringing out the moment, "I gathered that you were all…well, quite upset with me."

Tony's and Thor's eyes widened at the same time, and Tony's mouth dropped open in realisation.

"We've already got a portal maker." Tony cursed, then turned on Jane, "You've been studying it!"

Jane raised her hands in front of her body, but her face set determinedly.

"They brought it in a few months ago – but it doesn't work!" she insisted.

Loki rolled his eyes and sighed exasperatedly; even the smartest people on this planet were imbeciles.

"It's missing its main power source." He provided, not missing the confused, but pleased look on Tony's face. He pointedly ignored the proud smile on Thor's; it wasn't like this was the first time he'd been helpful.

Jane did not look as happy.

"Where are we going to get a new power source? I don't have a spare Tesseract lying around!" she enthused. Loki had to admit, he was also at a loss for how that problem could be solved, but…he didn't really care. It wasn't his problem, and he'd been quite helpful, all things considered.

Rose opened her mouth to speak, raising her hand before her as she did so, and then stopped. And then started again.

"We couldn't…I mean, he'd be really mad that we had, but…" she stuttered, but she looked between them all confidently, "We couldn't hook it up to the TARDIS could we? You know, the blue box we arrived in." she clarified at the blank stares, "I've seen the Doctor use her as a power source before, and the whole point of her is traveling through time and space!" at this she looked to Loki for assurance, and he wished she hadn't because this was beyond his grasp of the science, "If we connected the machine you used to the TARDIS, would that help open a portal?"

Again, everyone looked to Loki. Why weren't they waiting for Stark's opinion? He was intelligent too. Loki tried unsuccessfully not to shrug his shoulders.

"I don't see why not." He eventually drawled. His machine was no work of genius; any old power source would work – or blow it up. He wasn't entirely sure; Selvig had built it.

"Great!" Tony exclaimed, and he delved into his holograms, sweeping them aside as he finished with them and pulling up new ones, "I can have the stuff brought here lickedy-split."

"Wait!" Jane all but shouted, making Tony freeze, "So we can open a portal. And once you're on the ground and in their computers you can delete the programmes or destroy their machine, or whatever…but this doesn't help us shut down a portal to Asgard if they've already opened it."

Before Rose or Tony could look to him, Loki shook his head.

"I can't help you there." He assured them coolly.

"Think." Tony muttered, Loki assumed more to himself than anyone else, "Think!" He repeated this over and over. Rose shrugged; he hadn't expected much of her anyway.

Loki thought he might have been hallucinating when he heard Thor, Thor, clear his throat.

"Would it not be possible to just…open a portal where they plan to?" he asked, looking between Loki and the two scientists. Loki inhaled sharply as he realised what Thor meant, and actually felt a pang of pride (How long had he been trying to get him to use his brain!) for his brother; he was making it so hard to hate him…but that didn't mean Loki forgot everything that had happened.

"You've lost me big guy." Tony said dryly, motioning for him to continue. This was a hard demand for Thor to obey, Loki knew only too well, but to his credit, he attempted it.

"I thought that…it would be impossible for them to open a portal, if we have done so already." He explained, "If you will have access to their information, then you will know the exact destination of their portal."

"But that still leaves us with an open portal for things to escape through." Jane noted; her eyebrows had pinched together and she was obviously not on board with this plan.

"No." Loki cut in; he didn't know why he was helping his brother. The man was a pain…but this plan could work. And…if they lived to see the end of this debacle…these new assets could prove useful, "That is not how this science, practically a magic, works. If you attempt to open a portal, where another portal already exists, there are only two possibilities that I can see." He explained, meeting Rose's gaze; she looked so pleased with him, "It is possible that they could implode…not the best outcome, but I am sure that the Timelord technology can prevent that; they added so many fail-safes into their technology. The other is that they cancel each other out, and the machines are both destroyed."

There was a moments silence, and then Tony broke it in typical style.

"So we have in our hands a sure-fire way to prevent the Master and this Moriarty from getting away from Earth?" he asked, fixing Loki with a burning stare.

"Yes, I believe so." Loki remarked, stepping back from the group at last and creating some space between them. Tony nodded and then called across the laboratory.

"Are you guys making headway with that gas thing?"

"The formula's done, I'm just replicating it." Sherlock called back without even looking up.

A grin took over Tony's face, and it seemed to spread from him to Rose to Thor, until all of the idiots were grinning away to themselves.

"Hell yeah!" Tony exclaimed, "We can so totally do this!"

Finally! It only took me most of today, but here it is.

Yet more discussion and science, but it's good discussion and science.

Also, I realised that this started as an exciting, but generally lighthearted fic, and has sort of delvolved into a darker more serious story.

Hope you enjoy though (and what is even happening in Loki's head atm?)