The Avengers and all other recognizable characters belong to Marvel. I can only claim Erika as mine.
To everyone following this story, I am so sorry about the wait between chapters. I place the blame on my friend, who got me hooked on Once Upon a Time, and all I've done for the last month or so is rewatch episodes and read OUaT fanfiction. It's an amazing show, and I definitely recommend it
This is a shorter chapter, but the next one will be longer. Hopefully.
Nobody saw Loki the next day. Not Bruce, who'd been working in his lab, or Steve, who had been working on modern military strategies (which weren't that different from strategies of the 1950's). Not even Erika had seen him, and she'd been everywhere he usually was.
"I haven't seen him in a few days," she admitted, pausing in her drawing of Jormungand and Hela while they played (or tried to play) games on the Xbox. "Last I knew, he'd gone to hone his butt-kicking skills in the Training Room."
Tony didn't mention his and Loki's confrontation and the reason he was looking for the God, and he gave up and went back to his lab. It was only then that he realized something important, something he should have noticed right away.
His beacon—the beacon he'd been working on to summon the Chitauri—was gone, along with Loki's weapon.
Shit.
"Jarvis, where's Loki."
He should've asked Jarvis first, should have thought to check with the AI, should have—"
". . . . Master Odinson's wherabouts are currently unknown, Sir."
"And why the fuck didn't you tell me?!"
"You never asked, Sir. Also, Master Odinson made it clear he did not wish for you to know."
"And since when do you listen to him?" Tony almost shouted.
" . . . . I'm not entirely sure, Sir."
Tony grumbled something about rewriting Jarvis completely and got ready for a very unpleasant conversation with a very unpleasant man.
"What exactly do you mean when you say he 'took it'?" One severely pissed off Nick Fury asked Tony when given this interesting bit of news.
"I mean exactly that—the beacon's gone, and the tracer I put on him has him pegged somewhere in the Mojave Desert," Tony snapped, not at all ready to deal with the Director. "We need to follow him—we need to get every military unit we can mobilized and—"
"And what" Fury interrupted. "We mobilize out military and what? Go after a crazy Norse deity and get between him and whoever's pissed off at him?"
"We were already planning on getting between him and the Chitauri," Tony argued.
Fury crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. "Well maybe those plans have changed, Mr. Stark. Personally, I see no reason to get between Loki and whatever the hell's hunting him."
Tony stood abruptly from his seat across from the director. "You may be okay with sitting by while a defenseless man gets torn apart, but I'm not."
"Please tell me you're not thinking of doing something stupid," Fury called after him.
Tony didn't answer.
"I'm going after Loki."
"Seriously?" Clint was the first to ask. "After all that little fucker put us through? Why not let this titan dude have him?"
"I thought you were all about putting an arrow in this Big Bad dude's eyeball?" Tony bit back.
"Yeah, well maybe I changed my mind."
"I'm with you, Tony" Steve said, his heroic tone somewhat negated by his bowl of fruit salad and his 'Kiss the Cook' apron. "Loki may have been our enemy, but right now he needs our help."
"Steve's right," Bruce agreed. "The guy's brain is still a bag of cats, but we can't just abandon him."
Tony looked to Natasha, who shrugged impassively, and Clint, who still didn't look happy. "Fine," the archer bit out. "But you owe me."
"I'm going, too."
Tony turned sharply to where his daughter stood. "Uh, no, you're not, actually," he said in a 'don't argue with me' voice.
"Uh, yeah, I am," she shot back. "Dad, I can help," she insisted, and held out her palm. "Look." A small flame appeared in her hand. "I'm learning," she said proudly.
"She is a worthy student, and she is ready for combat," Jormungand said from behind her.
"Every minute we spend here is another minute too late; we need to go."
As the Avengers suited up, Erika pulled aside Jormungand and Hela. "We need to make a pit stop," she told them. "There's no way we can do this on our own."
"What do you have in mind?" Hela asked.
"She means for us to go to Asgard," said Jormungand.
Erika blinked. "It's really creepy when you do that."
Jormungand grinned.
The bifrost was too slow, so they took a direct approach.
"I cannot directly teleport us to the Great Hall, so we will need to make haste once inside the palace walls if we wish to make it to the Allfather," Jormungand warned.
Once inside the palace walls, they were met with resistance.
"We request an audience with the Allfather," said Hela, still wearing a glamour that hid the rotting side of her body.
"None may see the Allfather while he in council," One guard boomed.
"Oh, really?" Jormungand asked. "Not even his grandchildren?" He closed his eyes and a dark shadow shaped like an enormous serpent towered over the guards. Erika watched this and was struck with just how terrifying her half-brother was. The guards seemed to agree with her and let them pass.
Hela motioned for Erika to enter the Main Hall and she took a deep breath before pushing open the doors.
"Who dares disrupt the Allfather?" A powerful voice boomed.
'Okay, Erika, play it cool. You're talking to royalty here, so be polite and respectful.' Erika thought.
"That would be me," was what ended up coming out of her mouth. "There's trouble brewing on Earth—Midgard—and we need your help."
Odin Allfather stood from his throne and regarded the three of them carefully. "Jormungandr Lokison, Hela Lokadottir," he addressed Jormungand and Hela. "Not only have you violated the terms of your banishment, you dare bring a mortal into the Realm Eternal?"
"Hey, are you seriously going to just ignore what I said?" Erika asked in a louder voice.
"Silence!" Odin thundered. "You have no right to speak here, Mortal!"
"Uh, actually, I think I do!" she shot back.
"I said SILENCE!" Odin's voice shook the hall.
"NO!" Erika yelled back.
"Who are you to talk to me in such a way?" Odin growled, beyond pissed off.
Erika took a deep breath. 'Here goes nothing.' "My name is Erika Maria Stark Lokadottir. I am the daughter of Loki Odinson of Asgard and Anthony Stark of Midgard, and I have a right to be heard!"
The silence that fell was deafening.
A/N: Dun-Dun-Duuuuun!