Author's Notes: Hold on to your popcorn; this one's action packed! I'm taking some extreme liberties with Thanos' power and personality as I haven't read the comics in decades…consider it artistic license. Please see my Tumblr account (same user ID) for a picture of Kara's new fighting tunic and also for a poll on a future female character name. Now, back to the story!

… …

"Oh my God." James was really glad the suit had a system for dealing with urine output because he'd peed himself for only the second time in his entire career. Come to think of it, the first time had been wearing this same suit when he'd realized Ivan had hacked it and was sending it to kill not only James' best civilian friend, but thousands of innocent expo attendees. "That is one scary ugly bastard." Looking around, he couldn't see the god of Mischief and Lies anywhere. "Junior, where's Loki?" he asked the suit's mini AI. The HUD flashed a location behind a fallen leviathan. "Discretion is the better part of valor, I guess. You'd better be planning something, buddy because I'm fresh out of ideas."

Going high, he tried to curve over and behind the approaching force without being noticed. It seemed to work, but then he realized they'd seen him, but dismissed him entirely. The entire group was focused on one thing. Loki. "Why didn't we get you wired up when we knew we were expecting trouble?" he griped.

"Power levels at thirty-nine percent," the AI's monotone voice reported.

"That's not good. Come on, Tony; S.H.I.E.L.D.'s scientists opened up a bridge to Asgard before, we've got a piece of Asgard here and he's in deep trouble, so where's the damn bridge?" Suddenly three sleds all lashed together came roaring out over the fallen leviathan and headed right for the advancing force with what appeared to be a target made out of some kind of slime painted on the front of the center one. "Now that looks like an invitation." He lined up the shot and waited. The sleds were almost directly below big, purple and ugly when an energy weapon discharged from behind the cover of some large rocks. That had to be his signal. Lining up the shot he gave it a full-force blast.

The sleds exploded; shrapnel and blossoming energy taking out all of the troops near the main enemy. Big and bad himself was on the ground, sitting on his ass and looking around, his stony jaw dropped in disbelief. "Find him!" he bellowed.

"Oh, Loki, you've got balls, my friend, and you are some kind of genius. Junior, everything we've got on my mark," he told the AI as he focused on his target. A minute passed, then two, and another sled zipped out from behind the rocks, all weapons tracking the purple giant and firing salvo after salvo. "Mark!" James yelled and grinned as the Mad Titan, as Loki had called the guy, was hit with a barrage of weapons fire from two directions. He hovered near cover as he waited for the dust to clear, ignoring Junior's report that power levels were now down to twenty percent. "Oh, shit." The purple bastard was climbing to his feet. His golden armor wasn't so shiny anymore and his bluish outfit was smudged and ripped, but other than that, he seemed to be in one piece. "That ain't good." The big impervious bastard took a few steps forward, limping. "All that and we only got a stinking limp out of it? We are so dead."

… …

Thanos was limping and rather profoundly. Loki smiled, counting it a great victory. It wouldn't make a too much difference in the end, but the Mad Titan would remember him. He'd remember that he'd made an enemy of a god of Asgard and that even stripped of his most effective powers, that god had hurt him. "And I'd hurt you a great deal more if I had my power," he sneered as he moved behind the cover of the downed leviathan again to prepare part two of his attack. The mortal had read his intentions well. If they survived long enough to speak, Loki would make certain that Rhodey knew that he was impressed. It was an honor to fight with such an intelligent and effective warrior at his side. "Tony does pick his friends well, it seems. If Odin's Valkyries still chose mortals slain in combat for Valhalla, you would surely be amongst those selected once this battle is done. Not that I'd see you there. After my mistakes, I'd be fortunate to be welcomed in Hel's domain." Moving hurriedly in and out of the fallen leviathan, he spliced wires, rerouted circuits, and began overload sequences on the beast's mechanical portions. Satisfied that all was as ready as he could make it, he shrugged off the remains of the black tuxedo jacket and slipped off the white silk shirt. He clambered out of a hole in the top of the beast and waved the shirt in the air.

"You seek to surrender, Laufeyson?" Thanos asked, sounding highly amused. "Why should I not just kill you now?"

Certain that even the Titan's madness would not make him do such a thing when he had the opportunity to inflict prolonged torment instead, Loki stood and faced his enemy. "Because you like your revenge served up cold, Thanos. I will give myself over for that revenge, on two non-negotiable conditions."

The eyes that shone with insanity narrowed. "And those are?"

"First; you keep me alive. You may torture me; make me your slave, whatever pleases you; but do not kill me. Second, you open a gate and send the mortal safely home. He has no quarrel with you, or you with him. His job was to keep me on Midgard to ensure my sentence was served and he was simply trying to do his duty. Even he would agree that being in your custody is a worse sentence than any his people would impose."

Thanos stared at him, brooding. "An ant has no quarrel with a boot; yet it will die when that boot steps upon it. I will keep you alive, never fear, but I will give no favors to a mortal who has damaged so many of my loyal subjects," he said as he stepped up onto the downed behemoth and moved towards him.

Loki didn't bother to hide his smirk. "Wrong answer; I told you my conditions were non-negotiable." Turning, he ran and leapt off of the leviathan's back onto the sled he had waiting and took off at full speed. A deep rumble warned him and he ducked down under the edge of the sled's front and spun it around as the great beast exploded. The Titan's bellow of pain and outrage was music to his ears.

… …

"Eyes on him at all times," Frigga ordered as she left the guard company in the dungeons. "He has magic using allies that may brave our defenses to free him. I want those allies caught." The guard captain bowed as she swept past. That was the best they could do with Tolthe for the moment; there were far more pressing concerns. Returning to the Valhöll, she detoured to the Great Vault while Freya took Elénaril to the Hall of Weapons. Brunnehilde stood waiting, flanked by two of her Valkyrie. "Ah, good; you received the message."

The Valkyrie Commander bowed. "I have a full company on the premises, my lady. I've dispatched others to the locations of the cube and the casket."

"Good thinking. Do you have the ritual prepared to summon the Einherjar should such be needed?"

Brunnehilde gave her an uneasy look. "Yes, my lady. They can only be summoned once though; should we really use them for this?"

"If the Mad Titan breaches Asgard's other defenses and gains the Gauntlet, we shall never see true Ragnarök."

"And if we win against him, we should have a great many heroes to choose from to rebuild the Einherjar's ranks; yes, that does make sense." The Valkyrie grinned; "as always, your majesty."

"Sassy girl. You're very nearly as bad as my new daughter. You two should meet…or perhaps not. She gives Odin enough grief without your influence, my friend."

Brunnehilde laughed. "Oh, my queen; I most definitely wish to meet her, then."

… …

James watched in horror as debris from the exploding leviathan struck the sled piloted by a shirtless Loki and trashed it. Loki leapt from the contraption as it exploded in turn and fell through the air. "God or not, that's gonna hurt," he muttered as he flew to intercept the falling man. "Gotcha," he crowed as he scooped Loki up midair. "Damn, you're heavy," he muttered as the HUD registered a whopping five-hundred and fifteen pounds of dead weight and Junior advised him that his power levels were down to fifteen percent. Landing beyond the rocks he set the god down on the ground and looked him over. Other than moderate bruising and a cut over one eye he seemed to be in awfully good shape for someone caught in an explosion. "Come on, buddy, wake up."

Those emerald green eyes opened, if you could count narrow slits as being open. "Is he moving?"

"Uh, yeah. He's sitting up, holding his head. He looks maybe a little worse for the wear than you do, but I've got to tell you, that's not saying much."

"We're fortunate we've hurt him at all." Loki accepted a hand up and looked slightly down into his eyes once he was vertical, despite the six inches or so added to James' height by the suit. Damn, the man was tall. "You are a valiant and skilled warrior. It's been an honor to have you by my side in this."

James frowned; he'd always been quick on the uptake. "You don't think we'll get out of here alive."

"I much doubt that I will; but I will do everything I can to get you home before I die."

Oh, sweet Jesus. "Loki? Look, I know enough about your story to understand that hope is pretty much a limited commodity for you; but me? I got hope. There're people back home that are not going to give up on us and I'm sure as hell not going to give up on us. We're in this together. Either we both get out or neither of us gets out because I am not going home and facing your wife and telling her I left you here. That woman scares the hell out of me."

"Not afraid of facing Thor?"

"Man, he's not nearly as scary as Kara. I met her at Tony's when she first came to S.H.I.E.L.D. and watched her toast one of Tony's suits. He tells me she's a lot stronger now. Besides that, she's a redhead." He shuddered, thinking about the typical redhead's temper that Kara had displayed during another visit.

"So she is. Very well, then we both get out."

James frowned as Loki's gaze slid away from his when he made that statement. "No bullshitting me; you've got to believe it or we've lost before we start. That's how hope works."

Loki's expression was bleak. "I've ever been a realist, Rhodey. Realistically, I cannot see how we can stay alive much longer if I do not surrender."

"We just have to stay alive until they get that bridge reopened. You know they will. All we need to do is hang on long enough." The damn god didn't look hopeful, but he did look determined. That was a start. "Just chill and we've got this."

The green eyes widened and a sly smile tugged at Loki's lips. "I have an idea." Now he sounded hopeful.

… …

"What do you mean, they're sending one man?" Nick glared at the display where Agent Hill's annoyed expression stared back at him.

"Apparently they've recently lost their leader and one of their founding members and are regrouping but are having problems with a renegade mutant group. Ms. Munroe insists that they can't spare anyone else."

"Did you impress upon her the gravity of the situation?" He closed his eye. "Never mind, of course you did."

"If we can't contain the problem, the rest of their team will break off what they're doing and head out here, but other than that, this is the best they can do for us."

"Wonderful. Dr. Foster, Dr. Selvig, what have you got for me?"

"It's still open; there's been no fluctuation since they went through. I'm not sure if that tells us anything," Jane Foster responded.

He tried not to sigh and refrained from making a facetious comment. The scientists were doing their best. Nick just really wished so much wasn't depending on the fucking loose cannons known as Tony Stark and Loki of Asgard.

… …

Loki walked out from cover and stopped in front of a more or less recovered Thanos. The Titan stared at him, no doubt shocked that he dared approach. "Let's try this one more time, shall we?" he told his tormentor. "Let the mortal go home, and short of ending my life, you can do whatever you like to me, I shan't resist it."

"God of Mischief, you are a fool!" Thanos told him as his huge hand shot out and took Loki by the throat. He let himself go limp in the Titan's grasp. "I do what I want, when I want."

"Not on my watch," Rhodey said as he stepped out on top of the rocks and posed dramatically.

"Ah, an even greater fool. Our princeling doesn't want to die, mortal. Surrender or I will kill him now," the Titan said, pulling him hard against his body.

"Yeah, not happening."

"No? Have I forgotten your kind already? If he lives, he has hope. Should I kill him, all hope is lost and you are doomed. Surrender or…"

Loki smirked, delighted as the words were choked off. He pulled the frozen fingers from his throat, breaking them in the process. "Is he dead?" Rhodey asked.

"No, we are not that fortunate. I'm certain this won't hold him long, but I really couldn't resist." He frowned up at the Titan. "You knew of my heritage," he said conversationally. "Did it not occur to you that shifting to my Jötunn form would not require access to my power? Hmm, you've made yet another mistake."

"Uh, Loki…maybe while he's frozen you might want to get out of his reach?"

"I wonder how long he'll stay frozen if I maintain physical contact."

"Experiment some other time; his eyelids are moving."

An ominous cracking sound warned him that the Titan was breaking free of the ice. It seemed he had frozen over but had not been frozen through. Ah, well; it was worth the attempt. "LOKI!" Thanos bellowed as he smirked and hurried away.

… …

Kara winced as heat enveloped her left wrist. She yanked off her gauntlet to see the green crystal in her bracelet glowing. "What the hell?"

"Loki's been attacked with magic and has been protected by the ward on the crystal," Odin told her.

"But I thought that potion made him immune…oh." Closing her eyes she concentrated. "Yes! It wore off. Oh crap; how long will it take to get to him?"

"His power?" Odin asked. "He is not within the Nine Realms so I do not know," he said, managing to look concerned and thoughtful at the same time.

… …

He'd never get used to this. It wasn't the relatively smooth travel via tesseract; this was like the bridge Jane had created to Asgard, except it didn't have a native of the destination to anchor it. That made it far worse. "Jarvis make a note; add in accommodation for vomiting in the next model."

"Yes, sir."

"Oh, good, you're still with me."

"Only minimally, sir. I shall have to download this experience into my main memory once we return."

"Got it; when we return, good positive thinking, J." Tony looked around for Thor. The blonde god was down on one knee looking as queasy as Tony felt.

"LOKI!" an absolutely horrifying voice bellowed.

"Which way, Jarvis?" His HUD lit up, indicating a location over a rise. Thor was on his feet facing that direction. "Come on, Surf City; it sounds like your baby brother is stirring up trouble." They flew to the top of the rise and found Rhodey just over the top of it, manually lifting boulders and throwing them at the real live and oh-so-fuckingly-terrifying MT. "Wouldn't the repulsors work better?" he asked.

"Tony, thank God. I'm down to seven percent power, enough to move, but not much more."

"Been there, hated that." He looked over the field. Freaking Loki was Jötnar blue and was running away from the MT, laughing his ass off. Ice littered the ground around the big purple bastard. A blast of power suddenly radiated out from the MT and Loki went tumbling. "Shit." He grabbed Thor's arm. "Hold up, look."

Loki climbed back to his feet, still laughing. "Is that all you've got, Titan?" the trickster jeered. "Come now, Cosmic Power not what it used to be, or are you simply having performance issues?"

"Hey, he stole my line," Tony complained. Thor and Rhodey stared at him. "It was mine first; when Loki tried to use the Glow Stick of Destiny on me and it didn't work I ribbed him about performance issues."

"Odin's spelled bracelet protected him once it will not protect him again," Thor growled, shaking him off. "We must…" he broke off with an inarticulate cry as another energy blast exploded from the MT.

"Oh, shit that's…" Tony stopped as a green dome of light suddenly sprang up around the blue god and the radiating energy struck it and dissipated.

"Yes!" Rhodey yelled. "It wore off!"

"Good deal. Thor, you wanna grab that battery out of that compartment and just touch the gold end to Rhodey's reactor?" Tony asked, popping it open. "He's about out of juice. Rhodey, the plan is grab Loki and head slowly back to Earth while Goth Barney follows."

"Wait; you want that thing to follow us back to Earth?"

"Yeah, we've got one hell of a welcoming committee waiting for him. The trick is going to be to herd him through the gate and leave most of that," he explained as he waved a hand at the hovering army of Chitauri air sleds and leviathans, "behind."

… …

It was back! Power surged through him and just in time. He formed a hasty shield and hoped for the best as Thanos blasted him again with Cosmic energy. It held! He laughed at the furious expression Thanos favored him with. "Revenge will be sweet, Titan; and it will be mine." Holding out a hand he summoned his scepter from the Tower. It didn't come. What in the Nine? Kara must have collected it. He sent a light pulse of power to find her and tried again. This time he was rewarded by the heft of the weapon in his hand. "Ah, don't be so gleeful," he told the enemy as the Titan's lips stretched in a hideous grin. "It's free of your taint." He leveled the weapon and sent off a blast of the purified energy of the tesseract straight to the bastard's chest.

Thanos bellowed in outrage as he ended up on his backside for the third time in an hour. "Laufeyson!"

"Odinson, actually," Loki informed him smugly. A blast of lightning caught his attention. Thor stood on the rise, Mjölnir held up in the air, channeling lightning which seemingly came from the opened gate. Ah, this asteroid's mystically generated atmosphere had no capability for storm fronts so Thor's power was calling it through the void. Interesting. His jaw dropped in shock as he realized that the lightning was being directed at Rhodey. "What are you doing?" he shouted, horrified.

"Powering him up, it's cool." Stark landed heavily behind him. "The battery we made needs to be retrofitted to work on Rhodey's reactor. I tried to tell you we were here, but I guess you don't have your ears on."

"I don't have a communications device if that's what you mean."

"Yeah." Stark popped open a compartment. "Kara actually thought about that. Reach on in and grab it, my fingers are too big," he said, wiggling the gauntleted digits to demonstrate.

"Is she…"

"She's fine, Lokes. Pissed as all hell and she put the hammer down on Tolthe, but she's good. Helblindi and your dad are watching her back; she's waiting for you to come back home to her."

"She must be frantic."

"That's a good word for it. Her attention span has been zilch. Damn girl is bloodthirsty, did you know that?"

He laughed and then smirked as the Thanos growled at him. "It's not blood thirst; it's a highly developed protective instinct. She's as fierce as a dragon when her loved ones are threatened. Now, shall we get out of here before the Titan stops playing cat and mouse with me? I should like to get back to my lady relatively intact."

"Yeah, about that…we're going to goad him into following us and then cut off his army behind him."

Loki stared at Tony incredulously. "What degree of insanity have you reached that makes you believe that to be a good idea?"

"You're going to have to blame this one on Mommy and Daddy Dearest. It's a combination of some foresight and tactical scenario they came up with. Hey, I don't like it either, but I didn't have a better idea when they spelled out the alternatives. Odin figures the MT will rip the gate back open and do permanent damage to space and time if we close it in his face."

"He…likely would." Loki realized that he couldn't really argue with that. "They'd best have an army of their own waiting."

"Several. How do you want to do this? You know this piece of shit better than we do."

"I'll need a ride."

… …

It was good to hear his brother's voice, even if he was simply snapping instructions. Stark had picked Loki up and they were hovering in midair. While Loki could have duplicated the feat with his sorcery, he was conserving his power for a full strike. The Iron Patriot, or Rhodey as Tony Stark was calling him, was flying away from them in his newly reinvigorated armor. He had no ammunition remaining for aught but his energy weapons, but for what Loki had planned, that would be enough. Thor grinned nastily at the evil monster that had tortured his brother. This was going to feel good, however little actual damage they might do to him. "Ready," he said as Stark queried their status.

Raising Mjölnir he concentrated on calling more lightning through the void. It was a taxing effort, but worth it if their plans were furthered. He felt the energy build and moved the mystic hammer forward as was his agreed upon signal. "Now!" Loki called out. He let the lightning fly at the same time as Stark and Rhodey fired their energy weapons and Loki simultaneously used the scepter and cast one of his sorceries. A veritable barrage of energy struck the Mad Titan and exploded.

Moving to his designated point of retreat, Thor peered out and waited. It seemed cowardly, to hide like this, but he understood the strategy. "Son of a bitch," Stark cursed as the dust cleared. Many of the Chitauri were destroyed, but Thanos was climbing back to his feet, roaring with fury.

Their true objective was achieved; a number of the air sleds were now unmanned. Loki leapt onto the nearest one that was out of the enemy's line of sight. "Have you gotten into their systems?" Loki asked Stark over the communications devices.

"Yep. We're a go on that. I've got these three ready." Three of the empty sleds closest to Loki's location rose slightly, under the control of the machine entity called Jarvis.

"Excellent." A moment later images of Loki, in Æsir form wearing full Asgardian armor as was Loki himself now, appeared on the sleds. "I will only be able to control their speaking and to keep them connected with the sleds. You will have to steer them away from any incoming attacks. If an attack goes right through them, our hand is tipped," Loki instructed.

"Got it, Machiavelli; let's go hook us a Titan and reel that big fish in."

… …

"At last, a nickname I can tolerate," Loki told him, his voice approving.

Tony grinned behind his helmet. At least he wouldn't have to expect payback on that one. "I aim to please…speaking of aiming, should I concentrate on the leviathans? Sure, Bruce could take them down if they get through, but they'll do a hell of a lot of damage."

"Excellent; Thor, go after the individual sleds; draw lightning if you can, use Mjölnir otherwise. Rhodey…"

"Just follow me, my War Machine buddy, I'll teach you how to disembowel a leviathan, no ammo required."

Loki glowered at him. "I need him to stick with the sled I'm supposedly on to give better credence to the illusion. He's been fighting beside me all this time; even the Titan would find it strange for him to suddenly abandon me, or me him, as I'm crossing back to Midgard."

"You're no fun, Lokes. Rhodey, I'm transferring sled control to Junior then. Jarvis, can you…"

"Colonel Rhodes, I have overridden your rather handicapped AI and will be assisting you," Jarvis announced. "Your power levels are currently at three hundred percent, Colonel."

"Yeah, now that's what I'm talking about."

"Kind of low, Rocky Horror, you losing your touch?" Tony had to ask.

Thor gave him a stern look. "You were not all but powerless when I hit you, Man of Iron."

"Good point."

"If you are all done playing, shall we get on with it?" Loki asked, and man was he annoyed.

"Ready," Tony responded contritely.

"As am I," Thor agreed.

… …

"Call it, boss," Rhodey told him. Loki grinned. He'd gained the mortal's trust and allegiance, in this at least, with no coercion or lies. Definitely an achievement his family would be proud of.

"Let's go." Thor and Tony spilt off to the points were they would begin separating the Titan's army from their leader. "Move the first decoy out," he told Rhodey and Jarvis. If all went well, they wouldn't need the other two. The sled began to move out with his image at the controls, Rhodey shadowing it protectively. He clenched his jaw, trying not to worry; the mortal was the most vulnerable of them at this point, despite the power of his armor. Loki was counting on Thanos' obsession with him to keep the man relatively safe. He carefully allowed his consciousness to be reflected in his image, using a tendril of sorcerous power to see from the image's viewpoint.

"More toys for me to play with, Loki? How considerate a pet you are."

"Save yourself and your pitiful army and kneel to me now, Thanos. I have won." Loki put on his best condescending smile while Thanos roared with laughter. "You think I jest; well, you have ever underestimated me."

"You are a child, Laufeyson," the Titan said. Loki knew he used his birth patronymic to taunt him. Should he pretend to rise to the bait? Oh yes.

"As I told you; it's Odinson. The All-Father has confirmed to all that I am his son by adoption and that he has forgiven my mistakes."

"He lies to you, poor pitiful prince. Asgard will never accept a monster such as you in their Royal House. It was his doing that brought you here, back into my grasp. Had you not realized that?"

Loki knew quite well who the liar was. He was whole and strong and his senses easily picked out the untruth in Thanos' voice and demeanor. The first time the Titan had found him, he'd been so damaged by his time falling in the Void that he had not been able to discern the difference until it was far too late. "What?" he said, feigning acceptance of the lie. "No, that can't be! My mother assured me…"

"She is no more your mother than he is your father, foolish boy. How pathetic you are to cling to that notion. No one loves you, you are useless. Take your revenge upon them all!"

"Seriously? Does he really think you're going to fall for that garbage again?" Tony asked quietly over the comm.

Loki broke the vocal connection to his duplicate and made it seem to be leaning against the sled in anguished thought before responding to Stark and the others. "He has never experienced me healthy, Tony. The Titan plays at being omniscient, but is far from it. Were I still in the state I was when he first found me, I would be weak enough to, if not believe him, at least strongly doubt what I thought to be the truth."

"Gotcha," Tony said. "You gonna play along?"

"For a few moments more only. Then I will shatter his delusions and goad him into following me through the bridge. Rhodey, make sure you are between the sled and the Titan, once you get well into the path, my image will disappear. He cannot be allowed to see that happen or he'll know it's a trick."

"I'll land on the sled behind your image to go through; there's no way he'd be able to see past my armor."

"Perfect."

… …

He glared at the agents that watched him suspiciously as he strode off of the plane they told him was called a 'Quinjet'. It was a piece of crap next to the Blackbird, but it got the job done, he figured. The pilot had told him that the Avengers had their own Quinjet that Stark Industries had retrofitted with a shitload of special systems with advanced capabilities. It probably still didn't measure up, but the pilot had sounded green with envy. Snorting at the thought he strode through the park to the group of really tall and bulky rejects from a Ren Faire who had to be the 'gods of Asgard' that waited near S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Director Fury. "You called for help?" he asked disinterestedly.

The man was dressed in black leather from bald head to toe, even his eye patch fit the theme. What an ass. The director looked him up and down, focusing a moment on the X-Men logo at his belt before nodded. "We did; I'm Director Fury, S.H.I.E.L.D., and you are?"

"The Wolverine, but I go by Logan until you piss me off."

"And is that easy to do, Logan?" Fury asked him.

Giving him a smirk, he nodded. "Few people don't manage it within the first ten minutes."

The lone eye narrowed and Fury's gaze flicked over the others standing close by. "Hellbringer, introduce yourself to Logan and bring him up to date. Take him around so that the Asgardians know he's with us. My people have been briefed already." The asshat turned on his heel and joined a couple of scientific types that were hovering over an array of equipment.

A striking redhead wearing gear reminiscent of the stuff the Asgardians were kitted out in, but with a more modern look to it, nodded and gestured to him to follow. "Kara Gunnarssen," she said, offering her hand. He stared at it, keeping his arms folded. "Oh, please, don't give me attitude. I'm really not in the mood."

She looked stressed as all hell. "Logan," he said, unfolding his arms and shaking her hand briefly. The woman had a strong grip. "Known as Wolverine."

"I've heard of you. If your team could only send one man, I'm glad they sent the strongest and most durable, we need all the help we can get."

Logan snorted again. "They sent me because I'm a liability in the fight they've got going. The renegade mutants giving them trouble are led by Magneto. You heard of him?"

"Power over magnetism, exponentially greater than even most electromagnets."

"Yeah. Adamantine is great stuff but it ain't immune to magnetism. If he got it into his head that I was better off on the disabled list, he could pull my skeleton inside out."

Her already creamy skin paled. "Ouch." She flushed at his disgusted look. "Sorry, that's an understatement, I know, but it's just my gut reaction…no pun intended."

Okay, that was better. This Kara Gunnarssen was sensitive, at least. "So, why do they call you Hellbringer?"

"To start with, I'm a pyrokinetic. If something is even marginally flammable I can not only set it on fire, but pretty much blow it up in, well, less than a minute now. If it's not marginally flammable it will take a bit longer."

Shit. "You can make stuff that doesn't burn, burn? Anything?"

"Almost anything on Earth, at any rate. We're really hoping I can do it to something not from Earth, but not counting on it. I haven't tried adamantine; it's too hard to get hold of a sample."

Small comfort. "So, why the armor?"

"I'm vulnerable otherwise. Well, kind of; not so much as I used to be before Odin married me to Loki." Oh shit. This was the chick in the news; the one that was on her way to becoming one of those…uh…He frowned at her. "Æsir is the word you're looking for," she told him.

"You a telepath, too?"

"Empath and healer."

"Ironic combination with the other stuff." She nodded. "So, your Asgardian god husband got snatched by an elf for some alien badass, huh?"

… …

James smiled grimly as the image on the sled straightened, its cheeks streaked by tears. He thought Loki might be overdoing it, but by the way the Titan's eyes glittered with what looked like glee, maybe not. "I will give you your revenge. All of Asgard will grovel at your feet, begging the one they showed none for mercy. Isn't that delicious?"

The tears stopped as though a faucet was turned off. "No, it's ludicrous. By Yggdrasill, I thought Thor was the worst liar in the universe, or maybe Captain Rogers. But no, it's you, there's no doubting it."

The Titan stared at Loki's image as his words sunk in. "You little worthless piece of flotsam!" he bellowed. "I will crush you; I will turn your blood to acid and your bones to dust!" Big and ugly was literally foaming at the mouth as he raised a hand and let loose with another energy blast.

James gritted his teeth and tried not to flinch. Sure enough, a green bubble of energy flared up around him and the sled 'ridden' by Loki's image. The god of Mischief laughed…mischievously, of course. "Oh, Thanos, you'll have to catch me first. You'll never reach Midgard, you'll never reach Asgard, and you'll never reclaim the Gauntlet!"

Over the comm Loki said "Now, head for the bridge. Rhodey, get ready to land on the back of the sled."

"Copy that."

"What?"

"Will do," he clarified. Damn, the guy was so good at strategy he'd forgotten he wouldn't know jargon. The sled, piloted by Jarvis, rocketed past his position. Catching up to it, he carefully positioned himself behind the image and held on. "Ready," he reported.

The image leaned to the side and looked back at the Titan, smirking. "Imagine that; I've made a fool of you yet again!" it yelled gleefully. The Titan roared in anger and began to follow, flanked by dozens of Chitauri sleds and several leviathans. The bulk of the army staggered behind them in orderly units. It might be easier to cut them off than they'd expected.

"All right, wait until my signal to start attacking the rest of the army. The Titan must be fully committed to crossing over the bridge before we do so or he'll turn back. Rhodey, give me a steady count. When your signal breaks off, we'll know when to attack."

"Got it. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven…"

… …

"…eight, nine, ten, el…"

"That's it," Loki told them. "Now wait for it; the Titan was fifteen seconds behind Rhodey." Tony looked over at Thor. The blonde god was all but chomping at the bit. "Now!" Loki ordered.

"Hot damn, take that, you bastards," he crowed as he let loose on the nearest group of sleds. They broke away as several of them plummeted to the asteroid below. "Come to papa Tony," he said as one of the leviathans on their side of the bridge opened its huge maw.

"Stark, don't…" Loki's voice was cut off as he flew down the thing's gullet, grabbing everything he could reach on his way through. He punched out the other side and watched in satisfaction as it lost altitude and crashed. "You idiot! When we go, it will have to be immediately and you're out of touch when you're inside. Don't do that again!"

"Fine," he huffed and went back to taking out sleds. Thor used Mjölnir to take to the air and landed on the back of one sled. After throwing the occupants off, he piloted it in the path of a leviathan and set it to hover, then took up a stance and swung the hammer a lot like a homerun slugger swung a bat. The ensuing racket as he connected was earsplitting, or would have been if Jarvis hadn't buffered the decibel level for him automatically. "Homerun with bases loaded; nice shot, Beach Boy!" he called out as the half-living airship took out several sleds as it fell.

"Rogers explained baseball to me," Thor told him. "But he did not explain beach boys."

"Discuss it later," Loki told them from his covered position as he fired blast after blast of energy from his scepter. "Jarvis, send the other sleds into the mêlée to confuse our enemies. Tony, Thor, keep them from the vicinity of the bridge as much as you can. They can't enter it, but once they discover that they'll work all the harder to destroy us."

Tony risked a glance at the bridge. It looked the same to him. "J? Why can't they cross the bridge?"

"Prince Loki has shielded it to a degree. The power is registering on my sensors."

"Why isn't it green?" he wondered. "Open comm. Loki, why isn't the shield green?"

"I layered it with an illusion of the unshielded bridge."

"Genius."

"I know."

… …

"This is the Iron Patriot, can you read me?"

"This is Director Fury, go."

"The Mad Titan is coming through on my six; he's got some of his army with him. Thor, Iron Man and Loki are keeping the main part of it busy until they can sneak through behind him. Don't close the bridge until you hear from Iron Man. I repeat; do not close the bridge until you hear from Iron Man."

Fury looked up and saw the Iron Patriot burst through the bridge opening on a Chitauri sled. He briefly contemplated telling them to close the damn thing with the Titan still inside. Briefly. "You heard the man," he told Foster and Selvig.

"Wise decision, Director," the dark skinned god they'd introduced as Heimdall told him. Looking into those creepy golden eyes he came close to pissing himself.

… …