The God Who Cried Wolf

by starhawk2005

Part Four of the Light in the Dark series. Jane and Loki's secret is out….and Jane is about to have a very bad day.

2. Chapter 2

The God Who Cried Wolf (2/3)

Author: starhawk2005

Fandom: Marvel's Avengers

Date: April 2013

Pairing: Loki/ Jane (Lokane)

Rating: Adult (18+).

Summary: Part Four of the Light in the Dark series. Loki explains (FINALLY!) everything that led to his attack on Earth.

Beta: As usual, all thanks and green roses to canyr12.

Disclaimer: Not mine, just borrowing them.

Author's Note: Movie!verse, as per my usual.

Loki's wicked smile makes Jane very nervous. She scrambles out of the bed, wincing inwardly. She knows moving is very stupid – someone could panic and fire on her at any minute – but she can't just sit by and watch Loki attack more humans, even if it is to defend her.

"Wait!" she exclaims, holding up a hand towards the contingent outside, feeble shield that it is. She moves as quickly as she dares to Loki's side, catching at his nearest wrist. "Please, Loki, don't hurt anyone-" but even as she speaks, she remembers his promise to Thor. He'd said that he wouldn't attack any humans, assuming he'd been telling the truth.

Yeah, but you weren't supposed to hear that, remember? You were eavesdropping at the time. So it's not like he'd expect her to know that.

His mouth quirks, his wrist slipping from her grip, but only so his fingers can twine with hers, though his eyes never leave the mass of armed people in front of them. "Fear not, Jane Foster. I did not come here to do battle."

"Really?" asks Fury sarcastically. "Sure looks to me like you were lying in wait for us."

"Appearances can deceive, as I am one to know well," Loki counters, smirking. "But no. In fact, I came to make a deal."

Jane risks a glance over at Fury, who looks entirely unconvinced. "You're assuming I'm in the mood to deal."

"Perhaps you should hear what I have to offer, first," Loki remarks mildly. "It is this: Let Jane Foster go, and I will explain everything that led to my attack on your city."

Fury snorts, but there's no amusement in it. "Maybe I don't actually care about your past reasons. Maybe I'd much rather find out what you're doing here now. Either way, Doctor Foster isn't going anywhere."

Loki chuckles. "I'm afraid you only have two courses of action, Director. Let Jane go-"

"Or you'll kill us all?" Fury interjects angrily. "Yeah, you're tough, and you'll probably win, but we'll fight back, and some of our bullets might take out your girlfriend there. Your armour may be bullet-proof, but her skin isn't."

Jane finds her anxious shakes turning into angry shakes. "Are you threatening me?" she asks incredulously. On the one hand, she can totally understand why Fury is threatening her, or feels he needs to. But on the other….she hasn't done anything!

Loki's fingers tighten reassuringly around Jane's. "I was about to say," he continues in the same calm tones, "If you let Jane go, I will stay and answer any questions you have. If you refuse, however, I will simply magick both her and I away from here, and you will have nothing. And I should point out that it is entirely useless to threaten Jane. Or myself." He makes a small gesture with his free hand, and the air in the room twists and ripples in tiny waves around them all.

Once the effect fades, Jane blinks, not believing her eyes. The men outside the cell mutter and stare at their hands which, instead of guns, now hold….bouquets of pale green roses. She looks up at Loki, not surprised to see him smirking, mischief dancing gleefully in his dark eyes.

Even Agent Romanov and the man with the bow are now holding flowers, but everyone is wearing the same expression of surprise and puzzlement.

"See, my Jane?" Loki asks, his voice pitched lower than the mutterings of the shocked soldiers, "I intend harm to no one."

Jane squeezes her fingers around his and steps a bit closer to him. "Thank you," she says, sincerely. If anyone had died, just because of their 'arrangement'-

"What next?" Fury growls condescendingly, "You turn us all into frogs?"

Loki shakes his head. "I did not come here to fight. I came to talk, assuming you are willing to listen. It is wrong to imprison Jane, as she is blameless. Allow her to go free, and this will put me in a cooperative mood, I assure you."

Fury crosses his arms. "Like I'm supposed to believe the God of Lies?"

"It is entirely up to you whether you believe me or not," Loki agrees. "But know this – you have no means by which to hold either of us." He squeezes Jane's fingers one last time, then releases her hand. Half a second later, he's vanishes from her side and reappears outside her cell, standing right in front of Fury. Before Fury can even react, Loki is back at Jane's side, leaving the group in front of them blinking and muttering in astonishment. "In fact, you never did have the means to hold me," Loki adds, though Jane isn't sure what he's referring to.

Fury looks very disgruntled. "So, it was all a con," he mutters.

"I will answer your questions about that, too. Providing you first release Jane."

Fury's brow furrows darkly, but finally he sighs. "Open the cell door," he orders one of Jane's guards.

"Sir," protests the agent who drove Jane out here, "You can't really-"

"Don't see that we have a choice, Agent Barton. Do you?" Fury challenges him.

The cell door is unlocked, and Loki gently ushers Jane out ahead of him. Jane almost smiles at the reactions of the soldiers around them. They're still looking at the roses, poking at them, and muttering in confusion. But there's an undercurrent of fear as well, and that kills her smile before it can surface.

But Fury is not wasting any time. "Agents Barton and Romanov. Take Doctor Foster anywhere she wants to go. Is that understood?" From the tone of his voice, it's obvious that Fury isn't going to take no for an answer.

"Yes sir," Romanov replies, and the other Agent -Barton, Fury said – nods briefly. Romanov looks at Jane, watching her with a cool, calculating gaze.

Loki takes Jane's hand again, distracting her from the drama in front of her. "Until later, my Lady," he bends down and kisses her fingers (and he does the tongue thing again to the back of one knuckle, the same as the very first time he appeared to her in person). He gives her a quick grin and a wink, and then he swings around, following after Fury with a lazy animal grace that Jane envies.

Jane stands and watches them go, still trying to process everything that just happened. Once they are gone, she turns back to find the room empty of everyone except the two agents apparently assigned to her.

Romanov is still giving Jane that look. "I'm beginning to think," she murmurs, though it's not clear if she's actually talking to Jane or thinking out loud, "that maybe we have things backwards here."

"Come again?" Barton asks. He's still holding the bouquet of roses, and now he tosses them onto the floor with a grimace.

"He obviously cares about your welfare, Doctor Foster," Agent Romanov muses, stepping closer to Jane. "I'm starting to think that maybe you've got the power over him, and not the other way 'round."

Jane's had that very same thought before, hasn't she? But she shakes her head. She's not discussing that with these….people.

"I don't do games and power struggles, Agent Romanov."

"And yet, you're involved with someone who lives and breathes games. Ironic, don't you find?" Romanov presses.

But Jane just shakes her head again. That's when she realizes that Fury is going to hear Loki's story before she does.

What if he tells Fury his story, but then he decides to continue keeping you in the dark?

Jane clenches her fists. No fucking way. "I don't know, and I don't care." Deliberately changing the subject, she continues: "Fury told you to take me anywhere I want to go, right?"

The agent's brow furrows and she steps back, but she's clearly still trying to work this all out in her head. "Of course. Name the place, Doctor."

Jane takes a deep breath. "Do you know where Fury will be …talking to Loki?" Calling it an interrogation doesn't seem quite right.

"Probably in the room where he was 'talking' to you. Or in that general neighborhood. Why?" Barton cuts in, looking miffed still.

"I want to watch it."

"Yeah, I don't think so, Doc," Barton scoffs, although Romanov is looking back and forth between them, and definitely smirking. "I'm pretty sure Fury meant to take you somewhere off the base-"

"His exact words were 'take me anywhere I want to go'. I want to go see what Loki has to say."

"Loki wants you set free. Now. And I'm pretty sure that means somewhere far away from here," Barton insists. Romanov continues to watch the two of them.

"I am free," Jane grits out, losing the last of her brittle patience. "And now I'm walking to where he is. Could you point me in the general direction, at least, Agent Romanov?" Jane turns to her, as she seems like the more sympathetic of the two.

Barton glowers. "I'm pretty sure both Loki and Fury won't like that," he warns.

"Neither of them said I can't listen in. I have as much right to hear what Loki has to say, as Fury does. More, maybe. And I'm not scared of Loki," she adds as a parting shot.

"Obviously not." Romanov agrees, and she's definitely smirking now, oh so slightly.

"Are you going to help me, or not?" Jane asks her again.

"Yes, I think I will."

"Tasha!" Barton hisses.

"What's the harm, Clint? She's right, nobody said she couldn't listen in." The agent's eyes settle on Jane's face, calculating. "I take it he hasn't explained all this to you yet, either?"

This again. "No, and I never asked, and I wish people would just fucking stop bugging me about that!" Jane snarls, anger edging each word.

"I'm sorry, Doctor, I didn't mean to offend you," Romanov apologizes, holding up a placating hand. "Please, follow me."

Jane is aware of Barton's angry gaze burning between her shoulder blades as Romanov leads the way, but Jane isn't going to back down.

Romanov ushers Jane into a small room, Barton following after them. On the other side of a long window on one wall, Jane can see Fury and Loki sitting across a table from each other, Fury's back to Jane. It does look like the same room they held her in, but then again, it's not like there'd been anything distinctive about that room. Or that she'd been in any state to notice, either.

Loki is facing the window, facing her, and a moment after she arrives, his head snaps up. His eyes seem to burn into hers through the glass, his narrowing. He knows I'm here.

He turns his gaze back to Fury. "I thought our agreement was for Jane to be released."

Jane can't see Fury's face, but she can imagine his confused look. "I released her. What game are you playing now?"

"No games. She is watching us from behind that glass." Loki points right at her.

"Excuse me," Fury rumbles.

A second later and he's striding into their viewing room, glaring daggers at Jane and the two agents. Well, mainly at Jane.

"Didn't I say you could go, Doctor?" he scowls, crossing his arms.

"You did," Jane counters, crossing own her arms and mirroring his scowl right back at him. "But I'm staying. I want to hear what Loki has to say." Just in case, she turns and glares pointedly through the window, but Loki's fiddling with his bracer and seems to be ignoring all of them. She's pretty sure that's a front, though. "So no, I'm not leaving."

"Doctor-" Fury starts.

"What part of 'No' don't you understand, Director? The 'n' or the 'o'?" Jane hisses. "I'm staying. Besides, if you want me to work on this Stark-Foster Project, maybe you'd better start giving me a little bit of what I want."

Fury's gaze darkens even further, but Jane meets him glare for glare, refusing to be cowed. She's stood up to a fucking Norse God, she's damn well not going to back down before some one-eyed government bully. Especially not when said Norse God is on her side.

In the end, Fury throws up his hands in exasperation and leaves, and Jane turns to find Agent Barton looking stunned, while Romanov is again smirking ever so slightly. Not that it matters.

"Well?" Loki asks once Fury returns and takes his seat. Loki meets Jane's gaze through the glass once more, eyebrows raised.

Fury shrugs and sits. "As I explained, I did let her go. It's not my problem if she insists on staying."

"Ah," Loki nods knowingly. "Yes, I am well acquainted with Jane Foster's….tenacity." He smirks at her through the glass. As if he can see her (and maybe he can), Jane crosses her arms and glares defiantly back at him.

Just then, the door to the viewing room opens again, but now Erik comes in, his expression still angry. Jane bites her lip, not sure what to say to him, but Loki is starting to speak, and Jane doesn't want to miss a single syllable. Almost relieved that she has a plausible reason to evade Erik, she turns away and focuses all her attention on the conversation in front of her.

"You call me God of Lies, and that is true," he starts. "But sometimes, one must lie for the greater good. You, Director Fury have also lied. You have made decisions that have cost the lives of many."

"Oh, so now we're supposed to be the same, you and I?" Fury retorts.

"Not precisely. But if I have blood on my hands, then so do you."

"Even assuming I agree with you, our intentions are very different. I was trying to save lives."

"It likely does not seem evident right now, but so was I," Loki claims.

"It does not 'seem evident' at all," Fury snarks.

"Then I will tell you the same thing that I told the All-Father and Thor. They did not believe me, but perhaps you will prove wiser than them. I shall begin at the start. I had fallen from the Asbru Bridge in Asgard…"

The vast throne room in Asgard is totally empty of all life, something Loki could never remember happening, not in his lifetime.

Even the Royal Guard had been dismissed. Even Mother (even though she was not, never his), over her shouted protests.

There was only Loki, and his two judges. Odin and Thor.

"Speak," Odin's command rings through the room, as he ignores Thor's pleading look. "Defend yourself, Loki Odinson. Tell us why you allied yourself with the Chitauri, and killed so many mortals."

"I am Loki Odinson no more," Loki spits out harshly. "But I will tell you the tale, if only to see if you have the intellect to credit it. And after that, I am done with all of you. 'Father' and 'Brother', both." he sneers coldly.

Next to Odin, Thor starts to protest, but Odin snarls and Thor falls silent. "Then speak, you foolish child."

Loki starts to insult back, but then stops himself. What purpose would it serve? The sooner he complies, the sooner he is free of both of them, and alone in a cell, he will be free to plot an escape. They cannot hold him, of this he is sure.

So, taking a deep breath, he begins the tale.

Loki had never hated his immortal status before. To live forever, to watch the wheel of time turn over and over, to watch the branches of Yggdrasil as they ever so slowly grew through the millennia, he had always taken it for granted.

Even as he'd fallen after the broken pieces of the Bifröst, tumbling through the cold, vast layers of space and time, the prospect of an eternity that he could never escape had not given him pause. He was in pain, lost, alone, but those things could be overcome. He would come to himself at some point, and he would find a way to get back at all those whom had hurt him.

Thor. Sif. Fandral. Volstagg. Hogun. And Odin. Chiefly, Odin.

He fell, for what had to be at least several hundred mortal lifetimes, he was sure. And he only stopped falling, because they found him.

He would only find out later what they were. That they called themselves Chitauri, that they made it their business to destroy realms, at the whim of their Master.

As a curiosity, they delivered him to their Master.

Thanos.

His first meeting with Thanos was like nothing Loki had ever experienced before. Odin was powerful, Heimdall was powerful, but their strength seemed as nothing before the might of Thanos. In seconds, Loki could feel his defenses brushed aside, and his mind being peeled apart like ripe fruit. All his fears, pains, ambitions, and plans pulled forth to be studied and mocked, before he had a chance to weave a stronger spell around himself and stop the invasion. By the time he managed to do so, gasping and gritting his teeth against the effort, it was too late. All had been revealed.

"So, you think yourself deserving of being a king, Loki Odinson?"

Raw within and without, Loki had winced at the name. Not a son of Odin, not anymore. He did not say it aloud, but Thanos heard it regardless. "Very well. Should you wish to rule, Asgardian? Swear allegiance to me, obey me, and your reward will be just that. I will give you a Realm, one that will call you king."

At first, Loki had refused. He wanted only one thing, one thing in all of Yggdrasil, and he was certain that even a creature as powerful as Thanos was unable to grant him thus – to be truly of Asgard, rather than a Jotun. To turn the great lie of his existence into truth. To be a king would have been a balm, but to rule a people who hated and feared him, how would that be any different from what had come before?

"Think carefully, Asgardian. I have many means at my disposal to….persuade you to agree to my offer. Let me tell you what I would ask of you. Then you may decide."

Thanos' proposal had been simple enough: he desired to have the Tesseract, to increase his power, and increase the reach of his cosmic empire, and it was on a planet, one populated by mortals.

"Surely mortals are no match for you," Loki had pointed out. "Why should you require my help? Go and claim it yourself."

But Thanos had only grinned, at the time. It was only later, after the torture and Loki's apparent capitulation, that Loki had been entrusted with the truth: That the Realm Eternal was the linchpin of Yggdrasil, and Thanos desired to see it fall. And what more amusing, entertaining way to see to that, than to get the fallen son of its ruler to see to its destruction?

Once Asgard fell, the whole of the World's Tree would be Thanos' for the taking.

But all that came later.

At the time, Loki had only known that Thanos desired the Tesseract, and that it was on Midgard. Midgard, which Thor considered under his protection.

Which had made it tempting, so very tempting to go along with Thanos' plan. Not only sweet revenge on Thor, and on the mortals who had changed him, but also on Odin for his betrayal and abandonment, should Asgard fall – and it probably would fall; without a Bifröst, the Asgardians no longer had any means of escape.

And yet, Loki had continued to refuse at first. To crush Midgard with a superior force would not gain the admiration of those he wished still, deep in his heart, to gain approval from. Despite everything that had occurred to him there, it still made Loki shudder to think of Asgard laid waste.

Since Loki had continued to refuse, next had come Thanos' 'persuasion'.

"The humans whom you are apparently so eager to protect, they hold you in no esteem, Asgardian. You know the tales which they tell of you, I am sure." Thanos' grin had widened unpleasantly. "Shall we take inspiration from their ideas?"

And so, Loki had discovered to his agony, to be immortal had some decided drawbacks. To continue to live, even as you are disemboweled and your entrails slowly pulled from your body, screaming until your voice breaks. To be able to stay conscious as you are bound with those entrails, and then to watch through pain-blurred eyes as beings reminiscent of Midgardian snakes take their places over your violated flesh.

To Loki's memory, the Midgardian tales spoke of only one snake, which dripped venom on him until the supposed end of the world. Not of three snakes, which dripped acid rather than venom. One onto his face, another onto his already despoiled belly, and a third….lower. In an area no being, God or otherwise, should wish to feel acid's bite.

Seconds became as sevendays, sevendays as millennia. Pain upon pain upon pain, and being immortal, Death could not release Loki from his torment. He could give in, or he could suffer. Without end.

Perhaps almighty, golden Thor would have lasted longer. Loki, alone and already afflicted with a deep, soul-rending pain before the torture had even begun, had not sufficient strength.

So when Thanos had come to ask him for the fourth time if 'The Asgardian' would join the cause, Loki had agreed, as best he could with his shredded, stripped voice.

But first had come the test. Thanos had given Loki a scepter, an item of immense power, and ordered him to reach across the cold expanse of space with his mind. To find a mortal who would gather information on the Tesseract for them. The scepter's power was vast, but in thrall to Thanos', and so Loki had no choice but to do as he had been bid.

Loki had found the Tesseract immediately – its power was so great, it was like a star shining from the surface of Midgard – but he had been surprised to discover which mortals had placed themselves around it. That Thor's friend Erik Selvig had been introduced to the Tesseract at the precise moment Loki had discovered it….an interesting crossing of paths.

Outwardly, Loki had called on the magic of the scepter, seeing through Erik's eyes, urging him to take the offer to work on the Tesseract.

Inwardly, Loki began to plan. Why would the World's Tree conspire to put this particular mortal in arm's length of the Tesseract? It did suggest that perhaps there was some purpose as to why Loki was here. Perhaps it was to undermine Thanos' plans.

Thanos thought him broken, thought him won to the cause, and Loki had best be certain he gave Thanos no reason to think otherwise.

At first, he had only watched the mortals. He learned of their plans, learned of the Tesseract's potential. And all the while, whenever possible, he increased his mental defenses, so that any plans or schemes he wrought would not be discovered. He would find a way to defeat Thanos.

After several mortal months, despite the toll working with Thanos' magic, and spying on the mortals, was taking on him – perhaps even because of it- Loki's loyalty and his ability were judged proven. Thanos had accepted him into the ranks.

Even as Loki continued to lay his own plans.

Thanos named Loki as 'ally', and ordered the Chitauri and their leader, a nameless creature known only as 'The Other', to follow him. Thanos enjoyed observing the in-fighting between his minions almost as much as he enjoyed causing pain in the Realms he overran, and Loki was all too aware of how Thanos relished the tension between Loki and The Other.

When it came time to attack Midgard, Loki knew what he had to do. He had to act the perfect ally, the perfect servant. So he accepted the scepter a second time, and used it to open the door, emerging on Midgard.

The Midgardians truly did not have the weapons to stop a God. Still, showing mercy would not be tolerated by Thanos, so Loki had to show none.

The aftereffects of the torture, the spying through Selvig, and finally the effects of crossing through between worlds had drained his strength, but Loki was still far stronger than the mortal soldiers.

He used the scepter to claim a few minds that would be useful to him, and to cement his control over Selvig. This would be the mortal who would allow him to open the portal…and perhaps to stop Thanos' army at a later time.

Loki had expected – indeed, hoped! – that Thor would hear of what was transpiring, even as he hoped somehow, no doubt foolishly, that their paths would not cross. But he had not predicted the interference of other mortals, the self-styled 'Avengers'.

They were still no real match for him, though he toyed with them, as that was what Thanos would want, and indeed expect.

Even as Thanos remained ignorant of how Loki toyed with him.

In the end, all had gone as Loki had hoped. Mortals had died, but not many, relatively. Thor, and thus Asgard, was forewarned as to Thanos' presence. The Tesseract would go to Asgard, where it would be better protected. And although he could have escaped easily, Loki decided to allow himself to be taken to Asgard too. Once he had explained his plan to Odin, perhaps they would finally see his worthiness. Perhaps he was not the warrior Odin had wanted, but as a strategist, was he not unparalleled in all of Yggdrasil? He had murdered the treacherous Laufey, and very nearly destroyed a race of monsters already, had he not?

Loki falls silent, his gaze on Fury's face, and Jane twists her hands together. It's so much to take in, and even then, so many things remain unanswered-

"Maybe I'm a little slow," Fury allows, and though Jane can't see his face, she can all too easily imagine his disbelieving expression. "But I'm not sure I see the 'brilliant plan' in all of this."

Loki blinks at him. "Thanos wants to destroy Asgard, and if he does, the rest of the World's Tree will wither and die, including your precious Midgard. But now Asgard is forewarned, and can marshal its defenses."

"So you thought it was OK to offer our planet up on the chopping block, while you bought time for your home world."

A look Jane can't read ghosts over Loki's face, and then he shakes his head, starting to look irritated. "It was not I who put the Tesseract here. If it had been in Alfheim, Thanos would have had me attack them. Though I admit, having it here on Midgard increased the chance that Thor would catch wind of it the quicker."

"I see," said Fury, continuing to sound unconvinced. "So the fact that nearly a thousand of us died, so you could pull your little con on Thanos and Asgard would be warned, that was acceptable collateral damage to you? You don't think very much of human lives, apparently. Does your girlfriend know about this anti-human attitude of yours?" Fury asks, motioning behind him towards the window and Jane.

Loki pauses, taking a deep breath, and Jane can almost feel him restraining his own anger. He is – or was – a prince. He's probably not used to having his judgment questioned.

"I will grant you that I did not always hold humans in the highest esteem…until quite recently." His gaze touches Jane through the glass again. "But I find it strange that you should mock me about my reckoning of human lives, when you so easily relieve each other of those same lives. Mortals kill each other daily, in war, for sport." Loki leans forward, eyes narrowing, a sharp edge to his voice now. "What of the millions of humans dead thanks to genocide, such as your Holocaust? My thousand victims are petty, compared to that. Why am I to be held to a higher standard? Just because it seems easier for me to kill than you?" Loki leans back in his chair again. "If I recall correctly, do not your priests tell you, 'Let he who is blameless cast the first rock'? How much blood is on your hands, Director Nick Fury?"

"I've killed," Fury admits, "but I didn't enjoy doing so. That's the difference between you and me. I feel remorse."

"Would my remorse gain back the lives that I took? No. It is a waste of time and energy. And contrary to what you believe, I did not enjoy doing so."

"Could've fooled us," Fury remarks.

"I was trying to fool Thanos," Loki retorts. "He was observing me the entire time."

"And how would he do that?" Fury asks, sounding skeptical.

Loki rolls his eyes. "With the scepter, of course. Did you not notice how it affected your fellows? How your so-called Avengers nearly came to blows? That was his doing, enacted for his amusement as he watched. As he also watched me, for his amusement, and to ensure that I was doing as he bade me." Loki pauses, then says, more quietly than before. "It is no great contest to defeat those weaker than yourself. Believe me, I did not enjoy doing so. But had I not taunted your Avengers, had I not killed and injured your people, had I not given the Chitauri entry into this Realm….the cost of not doing so would have been much worse. I needed to gain time, for Asgard to be warned and gird itself." He pauses. "And I was successful."

"Yeah, you mentioned that." Fury yawns, sounding bored.

"Were you not listening? If Asgard falls, eventually Midgard falls, as would the entirety of the World's Tree. The fate of your entire planet, and Asgard, and indeed all Nine Realms, weighted against the lives of one thousand mortals. Is that not then a reasonable cost?"

"Well, I really don't understand how this Thanos creature runs his little war games. Why would he even bother taking a dig at Odin? Seems like a waste of time to me, to send an exiled Norse God to lead his army to retrieve the all-important Cosmic Cube." Fury points out.

Fury's barb goes deep, Jane can see it in the tensing of Loki's shoulders, but he doesn't rise to the bait.

Loki shakes his head. "Games, indeed. You speak more truly than you know, mortal. Thanos enjoys relishing his conquests, dragging them out as long as he can, to glean as much fear and pain and bloodshed from each battle. It entertains him. It is not uncommon for him to send one wave of Chitauri, let them do their damage, and then call a retreat, only to attack again months later, once the Realm is starting to think they may be safe again. He may attack two, three, four times, before the final slaughter and conquest. When he has broken his victims." Loki pauses again, stares down at his hands. "In this case, he preferred to sit back and move his chess pieces – myself included – around on the board, to test the mettle of Midgard and of Thor, and to bide his time."

"So you're telling me this isn't over," Fury says, and it's not a question.

Loki shakes his head once more. "In truth, I cannot say. Perhaps he will attack Midgard again, yes. Though I think it is equally likely that he will attack Asgard next, since gaining the Tesseract appears an important task for him." Loki pauses again, brow darkening. "Though again, given how you Midgardians decimated his Chitauri hoard, perhaps he would prefer to annihilate you first after all."

"Is that a threat, Loki?" Fury asks, his voice dangerously quiet.

"No. I am merely giving an educated opinion on Thanos' future plans." Loki's eyes narrow in a calculating way. "Perhaps, if you are sufficiently cooperative with me in regards to Jane Foster, I could be persuaded to help you defend yourselves against Thanos, should he choose to attack here first."

"Our nukes seemed to work just fine against his army. Who says we need you?"

Loki laughs coldly. "That was against the Chitauri. Against Thanos? Be not so certain."

"Funny how you're only offering to help us now."

Loki shrugs. "Would you have believed me, had I offered my help earlier?"

"Who says I believe you now?"

"I did not say such. You merely asked a question. I am answering it. And it is entirely up to you what you believe."

"Given you're supposed to be the God of Lies, I think you can assume I don't believe you."

"Some call me God of Lies, yes. But that does not mean that I lie all the time," Loki points out. He glances up at Jane through the glass, and that's when she thinks: Wait a minute, didn't I say that to Fury myself….yesterday?

Did he hear me say that? Was he watching?

Loki leans forward over the table again. "Are we not both liars, Director Nick Fury? But again, I can only repeat: Sometimes one must lie for the greater good. Just as you lied to your Avengers about Agent Coulson being dead."

Jane gasps her previous thought washed away by the shock, and next to her, she's aware of Erik is reacting in a similar way. What?

Jane wishes she could see Fury's face. "This isn't about me," Fury contradicts, calmly.

"I am not making judgments. I am merely pointing out that we both lie. Though I can well understand your reticence to admit to your 'Avengers' that he is alive – I am sure you would not want that green beast to come after you in retaliation."

Fury snorts. "He did quite a number on you."

"Did he? Again, be not so certain. If that green beast could destroy your flying fortress, Thanos might not become suspicious if the same beast were able to lay a God low. The Chitauri were on the brink of defeat, and Selvig was about to carry out the final part of my plan. It seemed an opportune time to allow myself to be…defeated." Next to her, Jane can almost feel Erik's anger. What is Loki talking about?

But Loki is still talking: "It is the better for all of us, if Thanos remains ignorant of my betrayal-"

Jane is so busy concentrating on Loki, that she hasn't noticed Erik leaving, but now he bursts into the interrogation room, glaring at both Loki and Fury.

"What is he talking about, Director? Is Coulson alive?"

"I assure you that he is. I have seen him with my own eyes. In truth, I am glad he survived. He is perceptive, for a mortal; he saw through my act, saw how weak my 'conviction' was, as he put it. Do not be angry, Doctor Erik Selvig. Your Director needed something to rally his Avengers, and the death of the 'Son of Coul' was convenient."

Erik shakes his head slowly. "We'll discuss that later," he growls, that comment clearly directed at Fury. "I want to know about this 'plan' of yours that I was supposed to carry out." Erik rasps at Loki, his gaze angry enough to melt glass.

Loki raises a brow at him. "Is it not obvious? Your – what did you call it? Your 'safety switch'? – which allowed the portal to be closed by the scepter."

Erik crosses his arms defensively, glaring at Loki. "You're claiming responsibility for that? For making sure there was a way to defeat you?"

Loki raises the other eyebrow too, a slight arrogance creeping into his voice. "You were under my complete control, Dr. Selvig. Do you really think that you could have built that in, without my express knowledge and permission? Even if I did not explicitly say as much to you?"

"You're lying," Erik grinds out between clenched teeth. "I built it into the portal because that's what any good engineer would do. That's how things are supposed to be designed. And now you want to claim it was all part of your brilliant master plan? That's convenient."

Loki smiles, but for once it doesn't seem malicious. "How else could I prevent the Chitauri from doing too much damage, while still appearing to Thanos to be his loyal servant? Does it not seem at all possible that it was I who put the idea into your mind, to create your 'safety switch'?"

Erik shakes his head angrily. "No, I don't buy it. I know what you made me do, and I know that building in an 'off-switch' wasn't part of that plan." He closes his hands into fists and takes a step forward, ignoring the guards starting to walk into the room behind him. "You're a liar, Loki of Asgard, and I don't know what you've done to Jane to blind her to what you are doing, but you can't fool me. I know exactly what you are."

Loki laughs outright at that, throwing his head back and chortling, and Jane bites her lip as a few guards reflexively raise their guns. Fury waves them off, even as Loki gets control of his hilarity. "My apologies for my amusement, Dr. Selvig, but you do not know what I am. But in truth, not many do." He shakes his head and smiles ruefully.

"You are angry," he continues, "and that is understandable. And you fear for Jane, also understandable. I am not angry with you for reporting my presence here to SHIELD. I can fully understand your desire to protect Jane, however misplaced it is. In fact, it is admirable. Not many would risk angering a God."

But Erik's face only darkens further. "Are you threatening me-"

Fury slams his hand down on the table, though only Erik (and Jane) jump. "Enough!" he snaps. "Doctor, this is not the time." Fury beckons a guard over. "Escort Dr. Selvig out. Now."

Erik grumbles and glares, but allows himself to be herded out. Jane waits, but he doesn't return to the viewing room. Jane feels relieved, and then guilty because of her relief.

But Fury is speaking again, drawing Jane's attention back to the interrogation room. "You'll have to forgive me if this all seems just a little too convenient. You attack us, but only because the Tesseract was already here, and in any case, that's a good thing because Thor will notice. You make sure Selvig puts in an off-switch, so we can defeat the Chitauri no matter what. And you get to beat up on Thor and all of us because it's part of your cover, and so on and so on. Thor, last I heard, thinks you are out of your fucking gourd. Crazy. You sure you didn't attack us only to get at him?"

Loki's expression darkens again at the mention of Thor, and when he speaks, there's an ugly edge to his voice that Jane recognizes all too quickly. "Thanos, as I explained, saw into my mind at the start. He knows all, everything about me. Thor and I are – were- not on the best of terms, and Thanos knew it. If I had balked at fighting with Thor, if I had shown any sign at all of being merciful towards you Midgardians, Thanos would have become suspicious, and perhaps attacked Midgard the faster, with an even larger army. He enjoys his conquests, and as I said, he prefers to drag them out as long as he can, savouring every moment, but I believe the Tesseract is too important for him to tarry long. Had he suspected me, your Realm would already have fallen to him."

"You said he still might attack us."

"He will eventually attack, that is certain. But not here first, perhaps. And though you obviously do not approve of my scheme, it did work. Thor and Asgard were forewarned. Was it not Thor himself who told you of the Chitauri army before it arrived? He even suspected there was someone at work behind the scenes, someone above myself calling the dance steps. Since you seem deaf, I shall repeat: Had I not appeared to serve Thanos, both Midgard and Asgard may well have been in flames by now."

"You know," Fury drawls, "I can't help but notice the things you left out. Like what happened in Puente Antiguo. When you sent that giant robot to kill Thor, and you nearly leveled Dr. Foster's whole town? Where does that fit in?"

Loki looks down at his hands, his shoulders tensing again. Jane can practically feel him weighing his words, and her own nails dig into her palms. While the Battle of Manhattan had obviously been bad, Puente Antiguo had been her home for nearly a year, and Loki's attack there hits her closer to home. A lot closer to home.

But when he looks up, Jane realizes he's not going to give Fury – or her – an answer. It's written all over his face and body, even before he says: "It is nothing of import to you. It was – is – family affairs."

"People died, and homes and businesses were destroyed," Fury rebukes Loki, his voice hard. "Therefore it is my affair."

Loki leans back in his chair and crosses his arms. And says nothing.

"Once again, I feel it's necessary to point out how you don't really seem to care about human lives that much," Fury remarks, and Jane knows that comment is really aimed at her, again. And he makes a good point, the negative little voice pipes up. Why should Loki value you so much, compared to all the other people he killed without any qualms? Could it really be your Einstein-Rosen Bridge theory, after all? Makes much more sense than him valuing you just for the whole friends-with-kinky-benefits thing-

"As I said before, I do not see much point in remorse, Director Fury." Loki says, leaning forward and laying both hands on the table. "Instead, perhaps you will permit me to make amends. I can and will help you defend this Realm."

"And if I think you're full of bullshit?" Fury counters.

Loki shrugs. "Surely you must realize by now that you cannot keep me prisoner."

"Maybe not, but I bet I can ruin Jane's life instead. Kind of hard to do research while you're on the run," Fury remarks, and Jane feels her spine stiffen.

Loki laughs darkly. "And yet you prefer to think of yourself as the one with 'good' intentions." But then his expression turns serious. "Jane is innocent. Her only crime is bringing comfort to me, putting her trust in me. Allowing me to warm her bed."

"That doesn't mean you aren't controlling her mind," Fury snaps.

Loki smiles but it's bitter. "Despite what you and Dr. Selvig think, I lack that ability. Well, beyond the capability needed to cast illusions and trick the senses. But controlling minds in the sense that you mean it? That power belongs to Thanos. Without the scepter, I no longer have that kind of influence over the thoughts of others."

"So you claim," Fury says, clearly not won over. "You have an excuse for everything, don't you?" he observes.

"Need I point out that I am hardly the one who convinced her to continue working on her version of the Bifröst? As I recall, it is you and SHIELD who encouraged her to continue her work, and now you want her to work with the 'iron man'. I see only your hands in this, Director Nick Fury. Not mine."

Fury snorts and crosses his arms, but says nothing.

"If I may ask, why do you want Jane to build you a portal? I have not been given the impression that you as a people are truly ready to visit other Realms."

Jane doesn't think Fury will answer, but he surprises her. "If she can manage to build one – and that's a big 'if' – it'll be under our protection. And control."

"Ah," said Loki.

"Besides, your brother is an Avenger. We need a quick way to get him here, if we need him. Probably we will, if your friend Thanos and his alien buddies come back." Again, Jane gets the sense that Fury is deliberately goading Loki.

Predictably, Loki stiffens. "I already promised my aid, did I not? Which is more than you deserve. You should consider yourself fortunate that I have no plans to retaliate against you for threatening Jane with torture."

Jane's jaw drops, as Loki's comment reminds her about her earlier thought. Was he here the whole time listening in, hidden, watching me go insane with anxiety? She'd never told him Fury's plans, so how does Loki know? Her nails bite into her upper arms, but then she makes an effort to calm herself, aware of Romanov and Barton watching her out of the corner of her eye. Later.

If Fury is afraid, he gives no sign that Jane can detect – at least not while staring at the back of his head, anyway. "Assuming I believe you, and this was all part of some elaborate plan," Fury goes on, as if Loki hasn't just threatened him, "If you can pull off a big scheme like that once, maybe you're doing it again, right now. It does seem very coincidental that the last time you were here, you were all about building a portal. And now here you are again, this time in a 'relationship' with the planet's foremost authority on Einstein-Rosen bridges."

Loki looks down at his hands and takes a breath, looking suddenly worn out to Jane. "Even a trickster may grow tired of scheming. And although it may not be apparent, I am under house arrest here on Midgard. Asgard is watching, and if I harm a single human, the hammer will fall," he confides. Then he pauses, and adds bitterly. "So to speak."

"Yeah? Well, Earth is really large 'house'," Fury observes.

Loki shrugs. "Perhaps to you. I have seen the entirety of the Worlds Tree."

There's another long pause, during which the two men seem to be sizing each other up. Finally, Fury says: "You sure there is nothing else you want to attempt to explain to me, to convince me? Because as of right now, I'm not buying it." Somehow, Jane is sure Fury is still pressing Loki about Puente Antiguo, and what made him attack the very first time.

But Loki is done, apparently. "We are going in circles," he asserts. "I have told you all that is needful for you to know. Now you must make your decisions based on that. Jane has had a trying time and needs to rest, and you and I have no further business here." He gets up, staring at Jane through the glass. As a parting shot, he adds to Fury: "I fully understand your reticence to believe me. Like many others before you, you choose to expect the worst from me. However, know that I shall take great pleasure in proving your expectations wrong."

There's a blinding flash of light and Loki is then standing next to Jane. "Let us be off," he says to her, taking her elbow gently. He ignores their audience of Barton and Romanov, even as the former automatically gropes for a weapon he no longer carries.

"Wait!" Fury calls through the glass, and Loki blinks over at him, then motions with his hand. Another flash, and Fury is standing next to all of them. He looks disoriented for a second.

"Director?" Loki asks, a smirk hovering around his mouth, as he watches Fury trying to process what just happened.

"If we need to contact you? You know, for your 'help'," Fury asks, unable to hide a note of sarcasm.

"Contact Jane. She knows how to summon me." Loki waves his hand in an elaborate gesture, still holding Jane's arm, and in another eye-dazzling flash of light, she feels him remove them both from the area.

The moment they materialize – if that is the word – in front of her trailer, Jane braces herself for the worst. Her mind is still awhirl with all of the details she just heard Loki spill to Fury, but for the moment, she's worried about more practical things.

Like the state of her trailer.

First, though, she glances over at the lab. It's dark, thank God. Jane just can't deal with Darcy right now.

Jane steps forward to check her trailer door, her heart sinking as she sees the damage to the lock and the frame. Oh crap. She expected as much, but it still leaves her feeling slightly ill, slightly violated.

She doesn't have a key to the padlock SHIELD left in its place. Double crap. Then again, couldn't Loki just teleport them both inside?

She asks him, and he looks confused as to why she wants to get in there, but he does what she asks.

The mess inside is worse than she expected. Everything that was in a cabinet, closet, or drawer is on the floor. The boxes of notes she meant to take to the lab are gone entirely.

Her eyes sting, but she shoves back the tears. She's not going to let SHIELD win, even in this small thing.

Except, hasn't she already won? Thanks to Loki.

Um, won what, exactly? mocks the negative voice in her head. Your home is trashed, SHIELD may or may not allow you to continue your research, you've probably lost your reputation for good in the scientific community, and you've lost your friendship with Erik. And probably Darcy too, once she finds out!

Messes can be cleaned up, Jane counters. Heck, maybe Loki's magic can help with that somehow. SHIELD will let me continue my work if they know what's good for them. If they don't want an angry God of Mischief on their hands. And as for reputation…what fucking reputation? My fellow academics already decided I was nuts a long time ago!

The friendship loss is harder to rationalize, but it's too late, at least for her friendship with Erik. She supposes she can only keep on reaching out to him, apologizing, and maybe with time he'll forgive her. What else can she do?

And there's no way to know how Darcy will react, so why worry about something that may not even happen? That's a waste of energy Jane just doesn't have right now.

Speaking of Gods of Mischief, hers is looking around at the damage, his expression darkening rapidly with anger. "I take it SHIELD did this?" he asks.

Jane doesn't think she can handle Loki having a tantrum right now – she's barely holding on to her own self-control – so she does her best to placate him. "I think it's what they always do in situations like this. It's not personal or anything. Besides," she shrugs, "I have to move anyway, right? I may as well organize and pack up this mess all at the same time." Fighting to stay calm, she wonders if her lab has been similarly tossed, and whether Darcy is totally freaking out right now. Wherever she is.

Jane feels totally adrift, overwhelmed. There's too much new information about Loki to think through, and the only familiar, safe place she knows is a disaster zone. She needs to just find a calm, clean place to try to work everything out in her head.

"Can you take us somewhere else?" she asks him. "I just need a place to…think. To rest." She wishes they could just go to the new apartment, but although it's clean and is ready for her to move into, that's all. There's nothing there, no bed, no sofa, no table, not even a single chair.

"Of course," he replies. He stops still for a moment, and he looks like he is concentrating very deeply on something, and then there's the expected flash of light.

They wind up in another hotel room. Jane sighs inwardly, but there are no better options available. She collapses on the bed, resting her head in her hands and closing her eyes, as she tries to decide what to say to Loki. The silence stretches between them.

She wants to believe him, to believe everything he'd said to Fury. It doesn't absolve him of everything he's done, but at least she can start to understand, maybe even (eventually) accept his past.

And yet, he's such a good actor. Can she really believe him?

There's so many things she wants to ask him. Where to start? "That was quite a…story." Phrasing it like that makes it sound like she doesn't believe him, but she can't think what else to say.

"You may call it that," Loki replies. He seems calm, but he doesn't meet Jane's eyes. Instead, he walks over to a window, looking out.

Something feels off to Jane. He's such a good actor, that's been established, so why is he making it so obvious that something is wrong?

"Why didn't you tell Fury everything?" she asks, standing up and approaching him hesitantly.

There's a long silence as Loki continues to stare out the window. "I may only say to you what I said to him: It is not relevant." Now he does turn to her, meeting her gaze squarely. "I omitted only two minor pieces of information, Jane Foster. One is between Asgard and myself, and best left there. The other…" He shrugs and turns away again. "Also not of key import."

Jane waits, but he says nothing more, and finally she can stand the silence no longer. She tries switching to a topic that seems safer; maybe she can get him to open up about those 'two pieces of information' sometime later. "'I know how to contact you?' That's kind of news to me."

Loki's brow furrows as he turns back to her. "You say my name, and I come. Is that not sufficient?"

"I called your name yesterday at least once. Probably 'summoned' you in my head at least fifty times. But I didn't see you for hours." Even as she says it, she knows what his answer will be, she already figured out as much from what he said to Fury.

"I was present the whole time," he answers, confirming it. "I knew the moment Agent Romanov made contact with you. I watched and made sure no one harmed you."

"And you didn't think that maybe instead of watching, you should've helped me get out of there, I don't know, right away? Or even just let me know somehow that you were there?" Jane snaps, her voice rising. Her forehead gives a warning throb. She probably shouldn't be arguing with him, her headache wants to reestablish itself, but somehow she just can't let this go.

"You were never in any actual danger," Loki comments, eyes calmly assessing her.

"Yeah, but I didn't know that!" she retorts.

Loki blinks at her, irritation back on his face. "I thought your faith in me would sustain you. Perhaps I was mistaken."

Goaded beyond irritation, Jane starts yelling. "Faith?! What the hell are you talking about?! You promised to keep SHIELD from making my life miserable if they ever found out about us, and then when it actually happens, you let me sit and stew for hours, wondering if you were ever going to show up?! Sitting there and thinking Fury was really going to torture me?! Almost panicking myself into an aneurysm!"

Loki's expression darkens further, but his voice stays mild, that tone which by now only irritates Jane even further, gasoline thrown on her anger. Like he's a parent and she's an irrational child. "I suppose I expected that you would either trust me completely, and thus not fear what SHIELD might do, knowing I would never allow harm to come to you. Or otherwise that you would betray me and cooperate with them. Never once did I think that you would defend me to them with such vim, all while seriously doubting me."

Another spike of pain shoots through her head, and Jane bites her lip hard, fighting for control. She manages to calm down, but only just. "How could I not have doubts, Loki? You've never tried to explain to me what happened, why you attacked us. Never mind the fact that, as everyone has reminded me over and over lately- you're the God of Lies! I thought you'd abandoned me!" Her voice starts to rise all over again.

He looks bemused. "Despite my reputation, why would you believe such of me? Have I ever given you cause-"

Jane shakes her head, her forehead giving another warning throb. "Why should you put yourself out for a casual sex partner?"

He stares at her for a long moment. "I am a God. And I have chosen to have this 'arrangement' with you. And I promised to keep you from harm. Was I not clear? I do not understand your lack of faith. Your kind once worshipped us."

Jane can't help laughing at the ridiculousness of it all, hysteria edging her amusement. "I'm a scientist, Loki. I deal in evidence. Solid things, things you can see and touch and measure. Not faith. Not religion. If you want to call yourself a god, that's fine. Yes, you use magic, and I don't understand how it works, but Thor once told me that magic and science are basically the same, and I can live with that…for now. But expecting me to put my faith in you, blindly….well, that's a tall order."

Loki snorts and shakes his head, turning away from her dismissively. "You Midgardians have lost your way. You scorn religion, but still you worship. The only thing that has changed is what you worship - Money. Identity. Power. Knowledge. And you think that makes you more advanced than those who came before you?"

Jane's not about to get into a religious discussion with him, not with her head throbbing like this. "Don't change the subject, Loki! This is about you and me. I had doubts, yes, but you apparently had doubts about me, too! Did you really think I would betray you?" she asks, throwing his words back at him.

But Loki only stares out the window for a long moment. "Everyone else has," he finally mutters, so quietly Jane is barely able to hear him.

"So you're judging me based on what other people have done to you? Swell. How unfair is that? When have I ever not been truthful with you?" she accuses him, totally offended now.

He turns and takes a step back towards her, eyes narrowed. "You never mentioned to me how Stark was building a power source specifically for your Rainbow Bridge."

Jane rolls her eyes. "Can you blame me? Besides, you didn't ask."

He cocks his head at her. "As you did not ask me what happened before we met," he points out coolly.

He's right, sort of, but Jane isn't in the mood to concede his point. "What's happened to you, that you live your life like this? Always waiting for the other shoe to drop; always expecting betrayals?" It reminds her of how surprised he'd seemed, when she'd chosen him over Thor, the day they'd fought behind her trailer.

But he turns away from her again. "As I said, it is family business, Jane Foster."

Jane is so angry she actually literally throws her hands up in the air. "So I have to trust you implicitly, because you're a god, and yet, you don't have to trust me back." Jane rubs at her aching forehead, then her eyes. Maybe this is really not the best time for this.

If she wants him to open up to her more, attacking him isn't exactly going to accomplish that goal, is it?

After yet another long silence, Loki speaks. "My apologies, Lady," he says stiffly. And rather insincerely, as far as Jane can tell.

Jane finally becomes aware of just how emotionally raw she is. She shakes her achy head, slowly. "You know what? I can't deal with this right now. It's been a long day-and-a-half, and I need some time to get my head on straight." The only private place in here is the bathroom, and Jane totters towards it.

It's probably a bad idea leaving him alone, as she has no clue where they are, and he'll probably blip away from here the first chance he gets. But she's too tired and headachy and wrung out to care.

Before she closes the bathroom door, she can't resist adding back over her shoulder: "I don't want your apologies. I want you to trust me. To be open with me." But she doesn't wait for a reply that she's pretty sure won't come, she just closes the door.

She's all alone now. Except for her headache, of course. Massaging her forehead doesn't help. Maybe a hot shower? She wants to wash off the events of the last day and a half anyway. Erik's anger. Fury's mistrust. And what she had done with Loki in the prison cell – why had she let him seduce her like that?

You really have lost it. No wonder Erik and Fury don't trust you. Do you even trust yourself anymore?

I don't know.

I need to take a shower and forget about all this. At least for a couple minutes.

She gets undressed, dropping her clothes in an untidy pile on the floor, and steps into the shower. She adjusts the water to nearly-scalding, but then the memories start to crowd into her mind again.

A thousand people killed or hurt, all to protect Asgard. And Midgard. And everything. According to Loki.

Coulson alive.

Loki tortured, intestines torn out, acid dripped on him.

Loki getting Erik to build a way out into the portal. According to Loki.

He's the God of Lies, Erik's voice, and Fury's voice, whisper in her mind

It echoes over and over.

Lies.

Lies.

Lies.

It's too much, it's been too much. Her interrogation and imprisonment by SHIELD, the trashing of her home, the threat of losing her research (again!), the probable loss of Darcy, and Erik…

Jane's head feels as if it's going to explode, and she can't hold back the floodgates any longer. She puts her face in her hands and cries, hot water pouring down and sluicing the tears away.

He stretches out a thread of magic to follow after Jane once she closes the door between them, to keep an eye on her, and he can feel her distress. So odd, that he feels so little remorse about the other Midgardians whom he has killed and maimed, and yet her tears move him to guilt. Is she in the process of changing him, influencing him? Is this how she turned Thor from arrogant boy, to the warrior-hero of two Realms?

He had truly not intended for Jane to suffer. His purpose had been two-fold: to see what SHIELD would do, and to see what his lover would do. Had he realized the depths of her internal conflict, he would have intervened faster. Or so he tells himself.

Perhaps his faith in her faith had been misplaced. These Midgardians and their eroded beliefs. They still worship, but all the wrong things, and Jane Foster is no different. No wonder she had not trusted him, despite the fact he is a God.

He is immortal, has seen the universe, and knows just how insignificant the lives of Midgardians are, in the grand scheme of things. Thanos, and stopping him, is vastly more important than a few lives, and a few lies.

And yet, unwelcome as the thought is, he knows that he is being unjust to Jane. He is the God of Mischief and Lies, is he not? Indeed, he has always felt pride over that, over boasting the intelligence needed to wield both lies and mischief. And now his lover mistrusts him, and yet he takes offense? How ironic.

And there is also this: Jane Foster trusts him enough, not merely just to share her body with him, but to yield complete control to him. At least up to the present point.

Loki sighs and rubs his own forehead, feeling an echo of Jane's headache. He is not yet ready to give up his dominion over her, so to speak. And yet, can he yield to her what she most desires – the full measure of truth, every last word and deed?

Surely not.

He can barely tolerate the idea of the monster he truly is, under this illusory skin. Surely Jane Foster, Midgardian and 'scientist', will be terrified and disgusted.

As to the other matter, though…Loki pauses.

If he closes his eyes, it is as if he is back there again. The nightmare so easily made flesh once more, that it disturbs him:

He pins the weak little human male down on the stone table, reaching into his coat pocket for the device which will remove the man's eye. Blank-faced, he plunges it into the mortal's head, but disgust surges inside him at the inelegance of the whole process. Loki is a warrior, he has killed and will kill again, but these mortals are no warriors, there is no glory in this, even to one such as himself-

The scepter suddenly purrs in his other hand, holding the mortal still even as he expires from shock, and almost against his will, Loki's gaze goes to his victim's face. The eye that has been removed, it is the same eye his 'father' lacks-

Yes, remember how your supposed father lied to you, Thanos' voice whispers in his mind, cruel and amused. How he allowed you to grow up believing you were equal to your Asgardian brother, and your Asgardian brothers- and sister-in-arms. All the while, planning to install you on a Jotun throne, a Realm away from the life you had made and that you loved. How he planned to exile you to Jotunheim, to sacrifice your happiness for his 'peace'.

Remember how disappointed he was, how he cast you out, when you should be king, when the Asgardians should fear, love, and obey you. See these humans about you, observe their fear. They fear you and your strength. Does that not make you feel powerful, orphaned god?

It did. And so Loki had given in, smiling cruelly as the humans screamed and ran. He conjured his armour about himself, trailing unhurriedly after them…

And later, locked in Fury's glass cage:

Loki watches Romanov through the glass, listening to her words. She would sacrifice much to get her 'Hawkeye' back. How interesting.

How she loves him, Thanos sneers, so loud in Loki's head that Loki wishes he could somehow cover his ears and silence the hated voice. Dimly, he is aware of the scepter, far away and yet somehow practically in this glass aquarium with him, thrumming subtly.

Nobody cares for you in that way, do they? Or ever did. How could they? God of Lies, and a Jotun. Thanos laughs. But on the other hand, is it not a weakness, to love? Perhaps you should demonstrate such to this mewling bag of female flesh.

Sudden rage fills Loki like boiling water, and almost before he realizes it, he is pressed up against the glass, promising Romanov the horrors he will force Barton to visit upon her…

Even while fighting Thor:

The Chitauri zip by, explosions in their wake.

"Look at this! Look around you! You think this madness will end with your rule?" Thor pants desperately.

Wavering, Loki looks past Thor's shoulder at the destruction.

"It's too late. It's too late to stop it."

Thor shakes his head. "No. We can, together."

And Loki wants to, wants to give in. Perhaps this is where he can start to find his way back to….home.

But Thanos' malice swirls in his brain. They will never allow things to be as they were, he whispers to Loki. They will denounce you for the crimes you have committed, lock you up and parade their children by your cell as a warning. Besides, did you ever have a home? Such childish foolishness. They tolerated you, endured you, as Thor's brother and a Prince, but they never truly cared for you. And that was when they believed you to be Asgardian.

Gritting his teeth, Loki stabs his knife forward, although he's not sure if it is Thor he is trying to kill, or rather the dark voice inside his mind. "Sentiment," he glowers down at his former brother.

Even as he still looks frantically for a way out, one that will not alert Thanos.

With an effort, Loki drags his attention back into the present. Can he trust Jane with this? How can he, when everyone else refuses to accept his words? Perhaps Coulson might – he had seen true, after all, as to Loki's lack of 'conviction' – but somehow Loki doubts the mortal will be on his side, not after Loki stabbed him.

But if he does not give her something of the truth….will she dissolve their 'arrangement'? He does not think he can tolerate that. Out of all the Nine Realms, she is the only being to truly accept him (despite her obvious misgivings), and he does not want to give that up. His last brief foray into madness had cost several Midgardians their lives, and nearly an entire planet full of despised Jotuns. He does not wish to be driven down the path of rage and insanity once more.

She had defended him to her friend Erik, and to Fury. Even in the face of her own doubts. Surely that had earned her the privilege of being taken a little further into his confidence?

Squaring his shoulders, he strides purposefully towards Jane in her artificial waterfall chamber, even as Thanos' voice flits, amused, through his mind once more:

But on the other hand, is it not a weakness, to love?

Followed closely by Romanov's voice:

Love is for children.

And finally, Odin's:

Foolish child.

This is not love, Loki replies to the voices. What it is, he does not know, but he requires it, so he will fight to keep it.

Jane lets the hot water beat down over the top of her head, closing her eyes and trying to stop the flow of tears. It's not just the fight she just had with Loki, it's everything – all the stress and fear she's had to endure over the last day and a half.

Not that this makes her feel any better. In a way, thanks to what she witnessed, she feels like she understands him a little better now. But after that fight, he feels even more closed-off from her. Once she gets out of the shower, will he even still be here? And if not, will that mean he's ended things?

Her forehead throbs mercilessly.

The cheap plastic shower curtain is pulled sharply back, and Loki steps right into the bathtub behind Jane, armour and all. The water patters wetly on him, and Jane almost laughs despite her tears. Some things don't change, apparently – even in this situation, Loki keeps his fucking armour on!

At least for a second. His armour then shimmers and vanishes, and he steps forward to take her in his arms, drawing her a little out of the streaming water.

Jane can't read his expression, and his eyes won't meet hers, but his hands come up, massaging her scalp in small circles, and Jane's eyes flutter shut. He murmurs something against her temple, too low for her to make out, but the pain in her head dims down to a dull, barely perceptible ache, then to nothing. Jane blinks.

I thought he said he couldn't heal other people?

"Forgive me, my Jane," he says, eyes downcast. He leans down, pressing his forehead to hers. His voice is just barely audible over the roar of the water. "I did not realize that events would impact you so severely. Truly, my purpose was to observe what SHIELD would do. Before my two most recent 'visits' to your world, I had not been on Midgard in eons. And in the past, your people had strong faith in their gods. They sacrificed to them, prayed to them, and did not doubt or question." Finally, his eyes meet hers, and Jane thinks he looks a little sad. "I suppose it is all too easy for an immortal to forget how quickly things can change, in a mortal Realm."

Jane sighs. It's not really what she wants from him – she wants him to trust her, not apologize, didn't she tell him that? – but she doesn't want to fight about it. Not now. Not until she feels like she has solid ground beneath her feet.

"Apology accepted," she replies. At least for now, she says to herself. What will happen the next time he goes off on her, if she tries to pry information out of him, however-

His face impassive, Loki reaches past her for the bar of soap and starts to work up a lather. "Turn around," he says to her, beckoning her to walk out completely from under the streaming water.

Jane raises an eyebrow but does as she's told, turning away from him, and even though she's expecting it, it's hard to withhold a soft moan as he works soapy hands around and down her neck and shoulders, then along her arms. He even washes her hands, massaging the lather between each finger.

Jane expects him to reach around and touch her breasts next, but he doesn't. She can almost feel him smirking behind her, as his hands slip and slide down along her belly instead, rubbing the suds across her skin in tiny circles, then around and back up her back, massaging skin and muscle as he goes.

She has to brace both hands against the tiled wall as his hands move lower once more, rubbing slickly in circles on each buttock now. There's a pause in his motions, and she can tell he's kneeling down behind her. His hands move to the backs of her thighs and calves, before he reaches around to soap the front part of her legs. Then he lifts each foot and accords each a thorough wash, and Jane flinches a little, ticklish, much to his apparent amusement.

He stands back up again, pressing his chest firmly to her back, and delivers a soft kiss to the side of her neck. Jane closes her eyes, melting into him, nails digging into tile as his soapy fingers finally caress across her breasts. He spends a long time there, massaging the soap into her soft skin, then working his leisurely way around, one nipple at a time, in tantalizing circles. He finally squeezes each one gently, and runs his fingers down over her breast and belly in one fluid motion.

Jane pushes back into him, moaning and spreading her legs before he can demand it, whimpering when slick fingers start to explore between her legs. He chuckles, massaging the soap into her pubic hair, then he turns her back to face him, urging her legs further apart. His face is level with hers, bright blue eyes drinking in her expression, as he crouches slightly and allows his hand to resume soaping between her folds, circling her clit so slowly Jane has to bite back a curse.

Lust coils hotly in her belly, but when Jane nearly slips on the wet surface beneath her, she decides this really isn't the best place for this. "Let me just wash my hair, and then let's move somewhere where I'm less likely to break my leg," she suggests, and Loki nods and moves back, letting her step under the spray and rinse herself.

He doesn't stay hands-off for long, however, his slim fingers winding through her hair and taking over for her, a few moments after she starts to wash it. It feels really good, Jane decides, relaxing as he scrubs and massages. After rinsing the shampoo away, she decides turnabout is fair play. "Your turn," she informs him, pouring more shampoo into her hand.

He smirks, but dips his head so she can reach easily. "Anybody ever tell you, you could dial back on the hair-gel?" she can't resist pointing out. She loves his hair, and she's damned curious to see what it would look like, and feel like, without all the product….whatever it is. The Asgardian equivalent of pomade, Jane guesses. Randomly, she wonders if this is just another aspect of his control-freakishness, that he has to maintain iron control over his own hair, too. Scary thought.

He looks a little ridiculous with his hair all sudsed up, and Jane has to struggle to suppress a giggle. "Do you mock me, woman?" he growls, but playfully. "And I'll have you know, wench, that it is key in battle to make sure that one's hair does not impede one's view. Hence the 'gel', as you name it."

Trying to picture Loki with a buzz-cut makes Jane have to stifle another giggle, as Loki moves past her to rinse off. Um, yeah, that would not go well with his Asgardian finery, in her humble opinion.

She turns to watch, and he's standing naked, facing her, his skin bejeweled with tiny droplets of water. Jane reaches eagerly for the soap, wanting to feel his skin under her fingertips.

He closes his eyes and braces a hand against the wall, obviously enjoying her efforts. She starts with his neck and then his slender, toned arms, moving afterwards to massage the firm muscles of his chest and down his belly. Copying him, she skips over his most sensitive region and kneels down to soap his legs instead, then she stands up again and orders him to turn.

He opens his eyes and raises a sardonic eyebrow, but obeys. Then he chuckles as she uses her washing as an excuse to give his crazily-firm buttocks a good squeeze. "Do you like what you see, my love?" he smirks back at her.

"It's not bad," she says, pretending indifference as she gives his ass another squeeze.

"Have a care, Jane Foster," he rumbles. "I had no plans to take you over my knee this night, but should you persist…" He trails off suggestively.

She's not really in the mood for that, so instead she reaches around his hip and wraps her fingers around his length, but just for one quick stroke before she takes her hand away. "I think you forgot to cleanse me thoroughly there, minx," he informs her, after a gasp and a cheated glare.

"Did I? Turn around and I'll fix that right now," she coaxes him, and though he turns right away, she makes him wait, deliberately working up a big lather between her palms, before applying it to him.

He braces a hand on the wall again, but this time his eyes are open, his gaze locked on his ministrations. She starts with his balls, gently caressing with slippery fingers. When she can tell he's on the verge of snarling with impatience, she finally palms his shaft, rubbing the soap over the thick veins, working her way slowly up to the hot, pulsing head.

She pumps him slowly, his hips arching into her touch, and finally Loki rasps something Norse – or so Jane presumes – under his breath and turns sharply away from her, rinsing himself off. Then he tugs Jane forward and rinses her hands free of soap too.

The water abruptly turns itself off, and Jane is scooped up, soaking wet. Loki carries her straight out of the bathroom and back to the bedroom, laying her down on the bedspread.

"Loki, what the-" she starts, but he climbs up on the bed, looming over her on all fours. He leans down to kiss her aggressively, beads of water running down his face and onto hers, and falling from the ends of his jet hair to splash onto her skin.

"I hunger, and I will wait no longer," he whispers against her mouth after breaking the kiss. He strokes her throat, and she quivers. It's a little chilly in the room but Jane doesn't care, the heat of his mouth branding itself against her throat. He licks drops of water from her skin, moving lower and lower, eventually visiting each nipple, licking, suckling, tugging with gentle teeth. The water dripping from his body is cooling, the little splashes almost shocking on her skin, and Jane moans and arches her back, tangling her fingers into his hair.

He moves ever downward, continuing to lap the beads of water away, even as his hair trails over her skin, leaving new wet paths in his wake. He reaches up to free his hair from her fingers, once his lips reach the top of her mound.

Loki looks up and gives her the most indecent grin she's ever seen on a man's face, before hooking a strong hand under each one of her knees, lifting her legs up and wide apart. His lips graze tenderly across her folds, and Jane squirms and gasps, heat gathering in her core, her belly, her chest.

His tongue pushes softly into the shallow trough between her thighs, parting her, continuing to lick away errant water droplets. He keeps looking up to watch her reactions as he teases, and Jane digs her nails into the damp bedspread, biting her lip.

He's gentle but impatient, releasing his grip on her legs and pushing two fingers deep inside her, prodding against the spots he knows will get her toes to curl. Jane feels herself clench tight around him, her consciousness shrinking until there's only her, and Loki, and what he's doing to her.

His other hand holds her folds wide open, giving him access to everything, allowing him to sweetly torture every nerve ending, spasms ripping through her when he turns his full attention to the throbbing little nub above his penetrating fingers.

Every single one of Jane's muscles seizes as he eases an orgasm from her.

But he doesn't stop, and although he's not being rough, she's very sensitive and it's exquisite, pleasure-verging-on-pain. Her cries become louder, turning to gasping pleas, and finally to a choked-off scream, as she gives in to pleasure, to him, once more.

Water is still dripping from his hair, his body, as he climbs back over her. Though Jane feels like she's moving through molasses, she forces her reluctant body to move, to push on his chest until he's lying on his back, and she's straddling him.

Out of the back of her mind, a fragment of memory surfaces. Jane runs her fingertips along his belly. No scar, not a trace of what Thanos did to him. He may be immortal, but Jane still can barely believe it, how even he could possibly heal so thoroughly from something so brutal.

Assuming he'd told the truth.

Smiling lazily up at her, Loki makes a small motion of his hand, a foil packet appearing from thin air between his fingers. "Do with me as you will, Lady," he encourages, eyes glinting up at her, amused and playful.

Jane blinks at the condom. "Where the hell did that come from, anyway?"

"Pocket dimension," Loki says, as if she should know what that means.

"So, let me get this straight, you're keeping a pack of Trojans in a kind of interdimensional closet." Jane raises her eyebrow at him.

Loki laughs and shifts slightly underneath her, his erection rubbing against her thigh. "If you wish to call it so." His eyes are darkly green, his skin still glistening damply.

Jane plucks the condom from his hand and sets it aside, then runs her hands all over him again, exactly as she did in the shower. She smoothes the last few drops of water along his skin, and he quivers underneath her like a bowstring when she drags her fingers down the dark line of hair running towards his groin.

She slithers lower and takes him into her mouth in just about one motion and he gasps, hips bucking up slightly to meet her. A few water droplets remain on his balls, and she strokes them gently away, then wraps her hand around the part of his shaft that she just can't fit into her mouth, sucking lightly on him.

He's the one fisting the bedspread now, Jane notes. She's the one in control. Though Loki would probably argue the point, if she dared to say it out loud. The thought makes her smile around him.

"Perhaps," he growls through clenched teeth, short minutes later, "you should consider making use of our condom. Now."

Smirking at him, Jane does as he says, then climbs back atop him and lowers herself slowly, impaling herself gradually on him. He watches her, his breathing getting faster, his skin glistening but with sweat now.

When she has all of him inside her, she continues to move slowly, languorously, teasing him. Daring him.

Wise to her game, he tries to hold out as long as he can, but soon enough Jane finds herself back on the bottom. "Vixen," he hisses in her ear, pinning her wrists to the mattress, as his thrusts become faster, rougher. Jane would laugh, but he's stealing her words and her breath with hungry kisses.

She's too tired and sated to come again, but she doesn't mind at all. It's fascinating to watch him lose control, without any distractions. His eyes squeeze shut and a low groan tears itself from his throat as he thrusts one last time, the harshest thrust of all, before releasing himself into her.

He collapses forward onto her, releasing her wrists. He's heavy and her lungs have to fight to fill themselves, but Jane doesn't really want him to move. He's so warm, all hard muscle covered with smooth soft skin, his still-damp hair brushing against her cheeks.

But he does move away at last, and Jane snuggles up against him, feeling the chill of the room and of the damp duvet beneath them trying to leach away her warmth.

When she shivers, Loki draws her closer. He mutters something she doesn't understand, but she feels gentle heat envelope them, warming her skin and drying their hair and the bedclothes. When everything is dry, he banishes the spell, then pulls her flush against his chest, though his eyes are closed again when she looks up at his face.

Jane closes her eyes, letting herself drift, though his voice startles her back to full wakefulness. "I shall tell you something, Jane Foster, that not only did I not tell Director Fury, but which even Thor and Odin do not know."

He pauses, but Jane bites her tongue and makes herself wait. "It is true, that I seemed to enjoy the killing, the chaos that I caused. But I did not. Would not, had it not been for Thanos."

Jane shakes her head. "I don't get it."

Loki's eyes open, his expression bleak as he looks down at her. "The weapon he gave me, the scepter, through it he could influence the minds of others. This I did tell Fury, you will recall."

Jane nods. She remembers the scepter also from the pictures Fury showed her from the thick file folder yesterday. All gold and bladed edges, with that glowing blue….gem?

"Fury's Avengers experienced this 'effect', themselves, at one point, as I told him this morn. They had the scepter in their vicinity, and nearly came to blows due to its influence. But I, I had to carry it about my person." He takes a deep breath, and exhales shakily, or so it seems to Jane.

"I could remember my plan, and keep the knowledge of it shielded from Thanos, the scepter was not able to influence me to that extent. But through the scepter, Thanos could appeal to my baser, darker nature. Guide my thoughts and feelings towards being cruel and sadistic, just like him. And I, despite my best efforts, after all that I had experienced, I could not resist-" He breaks off, his breathing shaky. Abruptly he lets go of Jane and rolls over, so his back is to her.

Jane wraps herself around him immediately, pressing her cheek to his spine. "You did the best you could. And I'd say you won. We're all still here." Minus one thousand humans or so, the negative little voice mocks. Jane swears at it until it shuts the fuck up.

Loki says nothing, his muscles stiff as if he's trying to defend himself against her touch.

"Why didn't you tell Odin and Thor –and Fury?" she asks, softly. "If even the Avengers experienced this, too-"

"I still doubt they would believe me. They would not have realized his hand in their moods, they are not attuned to the sensation of magic, as is one such as myself. Thor? No. He is ever a warrior, not a mage. Perhaps Odin, but…." Loki shrugs, his muscles moving under Jane's cheek. "He is not inclined to believe anything I say."

He sounds ashamed to Jane. Why? Because he's not as powerful as he wants everyone to believe? Because the 'master strategist' couldn't keep himself from being controlled, even as he tried so hard to control everything else, turn it in his favour? But she doesn't feel ready to ask him. He's too raw. She's no psychologist, or a 'people person', but even she can sense that.

"There was nothing else I could have done, however," Loki continues after a silence. "Had I let the scepter go too far away from me – or worse, tried to destroy it – Thanos would have been alerted as to my duplicity. Had I even been able to resist his attempts to influence me, perhaps that alone would have triggered his suspicions." Loki shakes his head. "The risk was too great."

"I understand," Jane says, and she thinks she does, as much as she can. "Thank you for sharing this with me."

There's another silence, and then Loki moves a little away from her, detangling her arms from around him, but it's so he can assume his prior position, cradling her to his chest again. Though his eyes shift away from hers when she tries to meet them.

"I forgot to say earlier, you did well," he says to her.

Huh? Jane blinks up at him. "At what?" she asks.

"When Fury was questioning you," Loki clarifies.

Jane shrugs. "I just told the truth."

"I know," he says, and Jane can't help finding the whole thing ironic. A God of Lies, appreciating truth?

She wonders if there is any way she can get him to tell her about the other thing. The so-called 'family affair'.

"And the other thing you didn't want to tell Fury about?" she prods gently.

But Loki's mouth hardens, his body tensing all over again, and she can almost feel him debating whether or not to roll away from her again.

"I cannot. But you may trust me on this – it is not relevant."

No, you will not, Jane thinks, but she won't push him further. He's just started to open up to her, slowly. If she acts like it's still not enough, he may just shut down completely. That's not what she wants.

But as a scientist, her curiosity is not so easily evaded. "Can you at least, then, explain to me why you attacked Puente Antiguo that first time? Was it just because you were angry at Thor? You don't need to tell me why exactly you were angry with him," she amends hastily, when Loki's muscles stiffen even more against her. Yes, this is really a sore point with him.

He relaxes, slightly, but says nothing.

Just when Jane thinks this is totally useless, and she should just try to get some sleep, he finally says, haltingly. "All I can say is this: Yes, I was angry at Thor. And others. And my rage and pain were so great, no other's pain or death mattered. And yes, I realize that is an entirely weak justification."

Jane shakes her head. "I'm not judging you."

But Loki laughs bitterly. "Thor and Odin, who have known me my entire life, judge me to be without worth, and mistrust all that I say." He catches her chin, raising her eyes to meet his blazing ones. "You, who have only known me less than two mortal months, why should you trust me, value me?"

Because it seems like the right thing to do, Jane squirms upwards and then busses him soundly on the mouth, much to Loki's astonishment. "I just want to understand," she says simply. "And how could I possibly judge? I don't know anything about fighting battles, or saving planets – or universes! Hell, I barely know anything about our universe, and I've been studying outer space my whole life!"

It's his turn to blink at her, but a smile tugs at the side of his mouth as Jane yawns abruptly. Christ, she's exhausted. She needs rest, needs time to consolidate all this.

Without warning Loki scoops her up (she yelps and clutches at him) and pulls the bedspread and sheets back, then he returns them both to the bed again.

"Sleep," he urges her, settling her against him.

But it seems much like Jane, Loki's mind has trouble letting go of some questions, as only a few moments pass, before he asks: "Despite what he said, do you think Fury actually believed me?"

Jane tries to organize her fatigued brain into a coherent answer. "I don't know," she says. She hopes he won't ask her if she believes him, because she doesn't know what to say.

She wants to, she really does. But he's such a good actor, when he wants to be. Again, there's that irony – she trusts him enough to give him power over her, at least in the kinky sex department, but the rest…

Maybe with time, she tells herself. Time, and a chance to see how he is with SHIELD, and Thor, and her, going forward.

Actions speak louder than words, especially words that come from the God of Lies, right?