A strange sense of vertigo induced sickness wrapped it's claws around the pit of her stomach, her head feeling shaken about as if riding a rollercoaster with her eyes shut before weight and gravity became available again. There was a jolt; Kari's rear meeting a cold floor as she mostly collapsed into a heap painfully aware of just how loud she was breathing. The blackness behind her eyelids was both comforting and a terrifying reminder of what it was to be blind. As sensation returned to her skin, prickling and warmth reassuring her she was still alive, melody and accompaniment filled her ears. A string quartet? Not a selection of instruments she had heard in a few years but home sickeningly familiar in a haunting manner.

Opening her eyes, Kari stared at the wall in front of her blinking in its like and rising an eyebrow of relief at finding it to be white marble tiles mottled with black instead of puketastic gold. This was not asgard, the pillar she leaned against was stone, the music she heard was classical, the two women staring at her from across the shadowed alcove they shared adorned in western fashion. Even the garbled chatter, like English spoken backwards, coming from a man on a podium in the centre of the room was so painfully memorable she had begun to weep with joy.

Then there was screaming.

The music halted, the atmosphere growing static and humid as clusters of well-dressed visitors and guests clung together backing up against the pillars. Kari carefully pulled herself up, muscles tense and weary as she fought to stand. A squelching sound permeated her ears making her feel nauseous for the fraction of a second before the people around her were on the move like startled cattle pushing and pulling. She was knocked down again by a gaggle of women, rolling into a ball to escape stiletto style trampling. Shaking all over, suffering from everything bad she could imagine when so hungry, thirsty and fighting the ringing in her ears, she crawled back to the pillar dragging herself up for the second and hopefully last time.

The cold stone brought some relief to her cheeks as she continued to cling, glancing around the room at the stragglers fighting to escape before something caught her eye. A man in a suit, no, golden armour and a green cloak swanning towards the exit with hardly a care in the world. It was good to know even Loki shaped creatures could get on with there lives happily enough after she had been suspected dead for eight years.

Stumbling forward, feet unsteady, Kari limped on ward hissing between her teeth at aches and pains before a groan managed to escape and change the otherwise fatigued atmosphere. The body of a man lying sprawled out on a dual cow headed slab like some offering to a long lost god. Actually, the cows horns carried a certain uncanny resemblance to a helmet she had seen only moments before. Did that idiot think he was a bull? She could not dwell on this for too long, all the blood dripping off the stone altar was starting to make her both queasy and oddly hungry for a beef burger – if only this little get together had come with canapés and not the sofa kind.

With a great hefty sigh she took to a leisurely walk, one step at a time, pausing briefly to pluck an untouched Champaign flute from a tray of many on her way towards the doors. Fizzy wine, it tasted like feet but that was not going to stop her downing the glass and picking up a second for later. This big old building really was rather pretty, the sort of place to have a nice wedding reception at or something. The red carpet to and out of the door was a nice touch also. She had never walked on a red carpet before, not a proper one anyway, that had appropriate gold and red roped pole-fencing stuff. If only she was dressed for the occasion.

Stepping out into the street she paused to take a long drawing of breath, savouring the musky damp scent of earth air. There were even old fashioned, posh people, lamps on the street and proper cars. Oh it had been some time since she had seen a car; a shame really they had not changed much in ten years. Some how she had expected the human race to evolve a bit more by now, there should have been hover cars, new haircuts and automatic doors for every building. The doors to this place were kind of on the heavy side. Where was this anyway? And what was Loki doing behind that upturned car shouting like a madman? On closer inspection, he was literally being a madman.

"-you were made to be ruled." Loki was sounding rather pleased with himself, the swaggering he was doing into a crowd of kneeling midgardians certainly adding to the smug appearance. "In the end you will always kneel."

A pause, the madman faltering in his step as an elderly gentleman rose from the ground differing from his comrades as one without fear. The determination, resilience to subjugation, in his eyes was clear and bright for even Kari to make out from across the street as she watched on with a confused frown. What exactly was going on here? This all seemed rather beneath the prince of asgard she used to know.

"Not to men like you." The old man stated, his tone continuing to mirror the theme of resistance from his poise.

"There are no men like me." Loki chuckled finding humour in a joke he knew the others around him would not understand.
"There are always men like you."
"Look to your elder, people." Amusement continued to permeate the trickster's words, his staff rising in his hand and taking aim on its target with a thrumming blue glow. "Let him be an example."

The weapon fired, the crowd around the two men flinging further to the ground in fear with the added bonus of squeals. Even Kari found her knees giving out, shock and violence proving too much for an already low blood sugar level addled body. A blur of mostly blue hurtled downwards to quick for the eye to focus upon until it was still. Shield up reflecting Loki's blast, and sending it hurtling back at him, the figure of a large and formidable looking man straightened his form to begin a deliberate walk towards the prince fallen to his own knees but rising again.

"You know, the last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everyone else, we ended up disagreeing." Captain America spoke with ease like a well practiced performer of speeches as the fearful crowd around him began to rally confidence and stand.
"The soldier." Loki lifted himself up by leaning on his staff, his tone dark and humourless despite the laughter leaving his lips. "The man out of time."

"I'm not the one that's out of time." He stood stoic, defiant, as an airship came into view somewhere behind the lone avenger.
"Loki, drop the weapon and stand down." A female voice erupted from the ships PA system.

There was a momentary pause, a large gunning system aimed from the ship, Captain America standing strong with his shield and finally Loki glaring his disobedience of the order before taking a shot aimed for the woman seeking to control him. The airship rolled hard to the right, dodging the attack, as the masked hero on the ground threw his shield like a boomerang at the target causing the asgardian prince to stumble and clench his teeth in annoyance. Everything from then on devolved into a fist fight followed by spear to shield combat whilst the now free to leave civilian captives returned to their favoured pastime of screaming and running away.

Captain America was thrown, falling hard on the concrete and sliding back several feet before regaining his feet in a well-controlled roll. Oh, he had done this before. Throwing his shield for the second time, Loki knocked it away before the dance really began. Sweeping strokes of the spear, a super soldier ducking and bending with magnificently springy ease before the inevitable of an equally sprite but better equipped opponent flung him to the ground again. The trickster marched forward, the blunt end of his weapon pushing down on the top of the avenger's head to hold him to the ground.

"Kneel." He ordered his prisoner, the unbridled irritation in the prince's voice growling between his bared teeth.
"Not today."

The soldier proved himself no slow poke, Loki's underestimation of his opponent catching him off guard as he twisted out from under his confine and managed to plant a resounding 'thud' to the asgardians face with his knee. Angered, Loki fought back with his superior strength, lifting the avenger and throwing him away like an unwanted drink can onto the pavement – madman and a litter bug. There was a noise then that distracted him from his task of squishing an annoying insect beneath his boots. Well more to the fact a word followed by music.

"Loki!" Kari shouted startling the prince into a whip around to stare at the dishevelled, venomous, creature on the steps just above the brawling pair.

His eyes widened for a split second, something akin to relieved surprise mixed in with the crazy and confusion taking in her appearance as if an illusion of his mind. Then of course the music started, blaring from the airship loud enough to make Kari hold her ears and Loki remember himself as he turned to face the next threat from the mortal world. Taking that threat right to the chest had definitely not been what he expected when he pivoted and spotted the red and gold blur that was Iron man slamming into him and hurtling him backwards onto the stairs.

The trickster flipped landing awkwardly on his front as the newest avenger member to arrive on the scene steadied his self in an overly choreographed pose. It really would not have surprised Kari if the man inside the suit spent several hours a day practicing ways to look 'cool' for the cameras but that was a worry rather beyond her now as she stepped closer to the fallen prince righting himself to sit.

"Make your move, reindeer games." Iron man mocked, his armour reforming around the arms to hold his hostage at miniature rocket and blaster point as the trickster lifted his hands up in surrender - additionally shimmering out of his fancy evening wear in favour of his casual war lording leather outfit. "Good move." Stark continued, standing down as his fellow avenger came to join him slightly out of breath.
"Mr Stark."
"Cap'n." They finished greeting one another as the only civilian left on scene collapsed onto the step next to the enemy. "Uh, friend of yours?"

"You look repulsive." Loki ignored the man in iron's question to give the strange smelling woman next to him a nose crinkling once over.
"Dragon, mud crabs, zombies." She waved him off too tired, hungry and mystified about what was going on enough to explain herself further, though the trickster seemed to take her three words with a nod of understanding – perhaps having suffered the same series of events at some point himself. "Could someone get me a McChicken sandwich please? And a McFlurry if they still make them?" Kari looked up at the two hero's exchanging glances at the request; her stomach was in dire need of rescuing after all. "What year is it anymore, anyway?"