Loki drew in a long breath before releasing it in a long sigh of agitation. He had been working to align the Tesseract with his newly refurbished Bifrost, both physically and on subtler levels that related to raw energy.

The bridge was perfect, forged anew by the few dwarves who called Asgard home. Odin had specified that they were to follow Loki's suggestions but the trickster found them an unruly lot that often blatantly ignored his commands.

Nonetheless, the bridge was aligned perfectly, a testament to dwarven craftsmanship. What frustrated Loki now was the Tesseract itself. The device responded as if it randomly generated how it was going to work each time he experimented, leaving him feeling as if he made no real progress.

It was true that the Chitauri revealed much of the devices' fuction to him, but being able to draw on and manipulate the power of the ancient relic was a far cry from understanding it. He suddenly wished he still had Dr. Selvig in his pocket; the human was admittedly genius when it came to the complexities of the cube.

But Erik Selvig would doubtless be averse to helping the same being who had caused him so much trouble and ridden his mind like a trained horse. Loki could not help but smile at the thought of it. The smile faded as it always did as he remembered everything that came after. That a handful of humans played and instrumental part in his defeat bothered him to no end.

After all, was he not better than they? Then why were common humans thwarting his efforts with such seeming ease? Loki thought on this often, and so spent much of his time working on Odin's project in a sour mood.

Loki was staring at a readout when Odin's voice startled him from his wandering thoughts, "How comes the Bifrost, Loki? It certainly looks like it will be functioning very soon."

Loki frowned at Odin, "You would know better than any; why pretend that you aren't practically omniscient?"

Odin smiled at him and stood glancing past Loki to see the readings on the multiple transparent view screens that hovered there, "For one, I like to hear you reply to my questions in your own creative way, Bor save me. Two; you well know that things sometimes escape even my notice, or Heimdall would need not watch the realm as he does."

Loki sulked, "I always figured you placed him there so you wouldn't have to bother. Sort of like how you have me working on this so you won't need to, despite how much easier this would be for you."

Odin laughed, knuckling Loki's shoulder. "Of course that is what you would believe." His tone and face became more serious, "As to your work, this is a lesson in itself for you to learn."

Loki waved off the notion, "And what lesson is that; how much of my time can be taken from me?"

Odin smiled, but it was a hard smile, "You know our ways, Loki. Since you have gotten little done, hardly any time has passed, eh? What I hope you're learning is how much effort goes into the things you so casually… blow up."

Loki snarled at that, "I was only trying to save us from the Joten!"

Odin's mirth left his face, "You were trying to impress in much the same way that Thor did, except that you thought it through even less than he did! At least, that is what I hope; that you made a huge blundering mistake, and that you didn't realize what impact your actions would have on the same Asgardians you claim to have been trying to protect!"

Loki paused, knowing he floated in dangerous waters now. "I'll… get back to work."

Odin nodded to him, but his frown remained, "Good." He stared at his son a moment longer and then turned to leave.

Loki fumed as he stared at the readouts, no longer paying them any mind. Why should he allow himself to continue being treated like this? His immediate thoughts on that went to the scene that followed his last attempt at escape.

Loki winced in remembered humiliation, his teeth grating as he furiously thought on the matter. That had been different; he had tried mystical cloaking, and perhaps overestimated his abilities. Odin had seen through the spell of invisibility as if he hadn't even been there.

However, the Tesseract sat across from him, and Odin was now likely far from where he stood… Loki wrung his hands and started to pace nervously. To be honest, he really wasn't sure what Odin's abilities were, and though using the Tesseract to transport himself far away would work, there was no guarantee that Odin couldn't exert his insane Odin-power and pluck him up, pulling him back much as he had done in a more physical manner before…

Loki could almost scream with contained anger and frustration. He had begun work on the machine motivated solely by fear of more brutality from Odin, but the monarch had to know he couldn't be contained in such a fashion forever.

Loki found himself glancing at the wide round door to the bridge often in paranoia, and worked to regain a sense of calm. Finally relaxing enough to think, Loki weighed his options. The prospect of finishing the Bifrost to be done with his debt to Odin and moving on seemed less appealing now.

The trickster's eyes moved to the Tesseract, the glowing blue cube suspended in the air between machines above and below it. Odin gave him access to something so powerful… but was it because he didn't know how Loki could use it or was it because he knew he could retrieve him even if he fled?

Loki continued to grit his teeth as he stared, willing himself to come to the decision he knew he had to make. When it boiled down to it staying was an act of obeisance, and if he was to keep any measure of respect for himself, he could not pretend that fixing the Bifrost because Odin had bullied him was the act of a king.

Loki frowned, his brow drawing down in determination as he stepped closer to the Tesseract. He would become king. Loki reached one hand out, calmly pulling the necessary energy into himself and then philtering it back into the device in the manner he needed.

He allowed a smile to crawl across his face as he felt the world around him becoming thinner, a hole in space opening around him. Loki's smile dropped as the world suddenly seemed heavier, and the hole rapidly faded, everything becoming solid again.

He put every ounce of his considerable will into forcing the door in the universe open again, but he felt barred and was left panting from exertion as it became clear that he was going nowhere. Loki balled his fists and screamed in anger, "Why?"

The huge Asgardian behind him answered in his deep, emotionless way, "Because I did not permit you leave Asgard. All of our people know this simple truth; no one uses Bifrost without Heimdall's approval."

Loki sat upon his knees, looking up at his father plaintively as the powerful Heimdall related what he had seen. Once the tall dark warrior had finished speaking Loki attempted to stand, but Heimdall's firm hand on his shoulder prevented him from regaining his composure.

He appealed to Odin regardless, bristling at the subjugation, "My lord Odin… father; what Heimdall claims is a mistake! I was only experimenting with the Tesseract as you had commanded, and if he had waited but a moment more he would have seen that! I was judged before my actions could prove my course…"

Odin waved off his objection, "Heimdall does not make the kind of mistake you accuse him of, Loki. He is both fair and impartial in his observations, and if he tells me that only his own intervention kept you from shifting away from Asgard, I most certainly believe him."

Loki glanced around the throne room, seeing nothing but condemning stares from every face present. He shouted up at Odin in his throne, "You do not even give me the benefit of the doubt! It is no small wonder then why you would believe I want to leave so badly!"

Odin sat un-answering for several long moments, and when he finally spoke it broke a thick hush that had fallen over them all like a fog. "I wish for you to admit to me, Heimdall, and everyone here that you attempted flight."

Loki's face flushed dark at the simple statement, for reasons he himself couldn't entirely fathom; after all, why would he care more if these random courtesans and Heimdall became involved? His answer was immediate and angry, "I will do no such thing; I'm telling the truth!"

Odin slammed his hand down on his throne, shattering the metal surface as he roared. "I command you to tell everyone here the truth for once in your miserable life! No stories, no excuses; only admission and apology to all parties concerned!"

Loki stared up at him with wide eyes for a moment, frightened by the fire in his father's eye. He had seen Odin this angry only once before, when the monarch had stripped Thor of his powers and hurled the prince to earth.

Loki licked his lips, his face pale, "I-I believe we have gotten off on the wrong foot… I only meant to say there was a misunderstanding…"

Odin launched from his chair and crossed the space from it to Loki in two steps, grabbing hold of Loki by the collar and pulling him face to face. Loki could see from this close that though Odin might be highly upset, his demeanor and voice were nonetheless calm. "The only misunderstanding here is your inability to see the traps you lay for yourself."

Odin pulled on Loki mightily, jerking his son along with him as he returned to his throne with Loki in tow and sat, pulling the trickster neatly into his lap.

Horror instantly asserted itself as Loki's dominant emotion and he turned his head to gawk at his father as the greying All-Father lowered Loki's pants in preparation, "What are you doing?"

Odin paused to give him a meaningful look, "A question as nonsensical as your answers; you know very well what I am doing."

As if the compound the statement and prove that all of it was not just some horrid dream, Loki watched his hand descend and felt the first stab of pain from a well delivered swat. His eyes drifted to Heimdall, who watched with his usual detachment, save perhaps the barest hint of a smile on his lips.

As Loki continued to scan his audience in stunned awe, he saw many reflecting perhaps the same shock that adorned his own face. Others approved enough to smile, laugh, or even clap in applause to Odin's decision to publicly punish him.

Once the initial surprise faded from him Loki twisted as much as he could in Odin's tight grip to look up at his father. He felt a wetness pushing at his eyes even though he knew the pain had yet to get anywhere near its height; without doubt he was more embarrassed than he had ever been in his long life. "Father, cease this madness! You make a mockery of your own court!"

Odin slapped him harder, and Loki yelped, the expression on his face proving that he had not realized that Odin had still held back the lion's share of his strength when first he had punished the trickster. Odin shouted loud enough for everyone in the vast room to hear their conversation, "You make a mockery of my court, trying to use clever words time and again to avoid justice through technicality!"

Loki grabbed hold of the throne with one hand, Odin's leg with the other, as the firm slaps shook him with their power. He gritted his teeth against the sting as his anger rose to combat his hopeless humiliation, "You speak in general terms; when can it be proven that I have evaded legitimate accusations?"

Odin pushed down as Loki tried to squirm from his grasp, his son's increasingly frantic motions betraying how quickly the discipline worked at his control.

Odin barred Loki's legs with his own as the trickster tried to kick his legs up to block the unrelenting stream of swats that bore down on his already reddened ass.

Once he had secured Loki again, Odin replied with a level voice, "We shall use the most recent accusation, in which you attempted to imply that Heimdall had erred to protect yourself…"

Loki screamed out, unable to control his voice properly as the increasing pain from his buttocks mounted, "He did! I am innocent…!"

Loki's protests were strangled as he cried out from a sudden volley of harsh slaps that Odin used to silence him. "Shut your mouth and stop adding to your list of transgressions long enough for me to expose you, fool! As I was saying, you think that only Heimdall monitored your attempt to flee, but I was also watching you keenly as well!"

Loki chocked on the words he had been about to claim in his continued defense. He had not thought Odin cared so much as to be watching him personally at that time, and he couldn't very well argue that Odin had made a mistake…

Odin smiled down at him as Loki lay numbly without words, "No more banter I see. You are finally caught red-handed and now that you see the trap…"

Loki yelled out at the top of his lungs, pulling at Odin's grip even though he knew he had no chance of escape. He could not stop his answer from sounding like a sob despite his best efforts, the strain of everything he now endured too much. "Yes I want to leave; why would I ever want to stay here when this is how I am treated!"

Odin frowned, his brow furrowing, and Loki could tell that his words had not been what his father was looking for. So Odin struck him in silence, only the sound of his calloused hand colliding with the trickster's backside filling the room.

Loki glanced at those present; they were all quiet as the grave, still and patiently waiting until Odin was finished punishing his son, as if this was just another item on the court's agenda. He squinted his eyes shut and ducked his head, not wanting to see them anymore, but he still felt their eyes upon him.

After this had gone on for some time, Odin stopped slapping him and addressed him once more, "Do you have anything you would like to add to your answer?"

Loki opened his eyes and gritted his teeth so hard he felt they might crack. He finally nodded weakly, having known he was defeated before Odin had once more made his demand. "I-I am sorry to have brought shame onto myself and my family, and ask forgiveness of the All-Father and my peers."

Odin nodded, a genuine smile crossing his face. He pulled Loki's trousers back up and allowed the trickster to stand, if shakily. "Congratulations, son; you have administered your first apology."

A cheer broke out throughout the room and Loki lowered his head, burning with shame. Odin held up a hand to quiet them before it could get to out of hand, and continued, "Your request for forgiveness is granted, as it always is, at least by me. Go to your quarters and take the day off from working on the Bifrost to reflect on what a simple admission can save you from."

Loki turned and walked out without looking up, feeling as if he just wanted to sink into the ground and disappear forever…