Chapter 3

Odin's throne room was quiet, save for the heavy footsteps of the heavily armored guards and their prisoner. From his throne, Odin watched with little emotion as the person who he had been longing to see, and at the same time hesitant to, being escorted towards him in chains. Nearby, his beloved wife, Queen Frigga, watched with both hopeful and sad eyes as the prisoner drew closer, his hands cuffed and guards pointing their spears at him in case of any escape attempt.

Looking up at his father, Loki gave a cocky smile, a look that a normal person would never give in this kind of situation. But Loki was far from a normal person, given his background and recent actions. Behind him, Lady Sif, Asgard's greatest warrior after Thor's untimely passing, followed closely, sword ready in its holster in case the mischief god attempted any escape. She glared at her longtime enemy, boring holes into the back of his head. Loki just casually glanced back at her, giving her a smirk that she merely sneered at.

"Loki..."

Loki glanced over at Frigga, who looked at him sadly, her hands folded. He gave her a smile. "Hello, mother. Proud of me?"

"Please Loki." Frigga begged her only remaining son. "Don't make this worse."

Loki lifted an eyebrow, and glanced at his 'father', who continued to stare down at the prince of lies. He chuckled, glancing back at his mother. "Define worse."

"Enough." Odin spoke up. He turned to Frigga. "Please. Leave us."

Frigga looked torn, but sighed and left nonetheless. Odin then turned to Sif, giving her a look of appreciation. "Thank you, Sif. You have done well. You may leave now."

Sif bowed. "Yes, AllFather."

She gave Loki one last look of spite, before leaving the proceedings. When both Frigga and Sif were out of earshot, Odin turned his disappointed gaze back to his 'son'. There was a long, uncomfortable silence as the two stared at each other, waiting for the other to say something.

Eventually, Loki's grim demeanor fell, and he tittered darkly. Lifting up his shackled hands, he looked up at his 'father'. "I really don't see what all this fuss is about."

Odin just frowned at the prince of lies in disappointment. "Do you not truly feel the gravity of your crimes? Wherever you go there is war, ruin, and death."

"I went down to Midgard to rule the mortals of Earth like a wise and benevolent god..." Loki said, feigning innocence. He grinned at Odin. "... just like you."

Odin sighed. "We are not gods, Loki. We are born, we live, and we die. Just as humans do."

"Give or take another five-thousand years." Loki replied cunningly.

"All this because Loki decided he wanted a throne." Odin spoke, amused and ashamed at the same time.

Loki's face immediately grew sour. "It is my birthright!"

"Your birthright, was to die as a child!" Odin bellowed furiously, glaring down at his adopted son with his only remaining eye. Loki shut up, but still glared at the man in contempt. Odin, regaining his composure, calmed his voice, but there was still an edge to it. "If I had not taken you in, you would not be here now to hate me."

"If I'm to die, then for mercy's sake, just swing it." Loki hissed, stepping forward. The guards behind him moved forward, pointing their weapons in warning, but Loki paid them no mind.

"It's not that I don't love our little talks, it's just..." Loki stopped short, thinking, and then looked up at Odin helplessly. "I don't love them."

"And here I thought Thor was always the ignorant one." Odin said, shaking his head. "You think I would kill you? That I would end the life of what little family Frigga and I have left? It is not just because of her that you are still alive."

"Oh?" Loki said, eyebrow raised in mock curiosity. "And what reason would you have, for keeping this so-called 'stain of your honor' amongst the souls of the living? Could it be that the wise, proud, and all-powerful Odin has grown soft?"

"No. Not soft, Loki." Odin said. "I am merely being merciful. In recent events, the chaotic actions you have stirred, the tumult you have wrought on your family..." this elicited a growl from Loki, "have introduced our people to some very insightful individuals. Their words, coupled by the crimes you have committed, have opened my eyes to more meaningful approaches."

Loki's eyes furrowed in confusion, before going wide for a moment. He glared at Odin in bemusement. "You can't be serious. You're taking the words of a pathetic mortal girl to heart? That is why you're sparing my life?"

"I am giving you a second chance." Odin growled. "And you are so bold to incite mockeries of Darcy Lewis. As I recall, it was your affection for her that drove you into attacking Earth in the first place. Was it my neglect and mistreatment of you what instigated your actions? Was it embarrassment at being bested by a mortal? Or was it more?"

Loki's eye visibly twitched, and Odin smirked in satisfaction. "Could it be that an ambiguous prince sought the attention and respect from another?"

Loki was silent, fuming, trying to hide his powerful contempt for the man who he had been forced to call father for so long.

"You don't know what you're talking about, old man." Loki said darkly. "All these years of battle and war have eaten away at your insights."

Odin shrugged. "Perhaps. But until the day comes where you finally see just how wrong your crimes were, you will wait in the dungeons, contemplating. Frigga will visit you whenever I permit it, but I am not as lenient as to let these visits be frequent."

Odin then faced the guards. "Take him away."

Taken aback by this confrontation, Loki felt his legs begin to tremble. His brow was nervously shifting, and his eyes were darkening. When the guards began to pull Loki away, he did not budge.

He turned his gaze up to Odin. "Why are you doing this? After all that I've done. I ruined our peace with Jotunheim, allied with a race of savages, killed thousands of mortals, and instigated the death of your son. Why are you punishing me like this?"

"You think this is a punishment?" Odin said, frowning. "Has your contempt for me grown so deep, that you think I intend to torture you by keeping you alive?"

Loki was silent, and Odin continued speaking. "It will take months, maybe even years to undo the damage you have done. I should hate you. I should consider you a monster for your crimes. But I've wasted to many years of my existence being ignorant."

Loki's eyes grew wide. He had never expected to hear words like that from anyone. Odin of all people. This was getting to be to much.

"I failed you, Loki." Odin said sorrowfully. "When you fell from the Bifrost, I had lost both my sons. I realized the amount of mistakes I had made. I turned you into what you are now. But I assure you, I will not make those mistakes again."

Everything was silent after that. For once, Loki had no rebuttal. No way of responding to Odin's words. His face was a mixture of shock and denial, and when the guards ushered him away, he did not resist.

As he watched his adopted son leave his presence, Odin let out a long sigh, and slumped in his chair, sadly, yet proudly, as all good kings do.

ooooo

Heimdall was a man of little personality. For millennia, his one true purpose was to keep watch over the Nine Realms, remaining vigil in case any form of chaos threatened the sanctity of the worlds.

But currently, the all-seeing Asgardian was in denial. Not long ago, a mysterious call of alien nature was sent out across the Nine Realms, rippling across the psychic plain. Many Asgardian sages experienced the strange visions, shaken and disturbed by the bizarre images of death.

Heimdall was currently blocking out these images, unable to discern them let alone pinpoint their exact location. All he knew was that the proximity of the call's location was somewhere in the Nine Realms. But Heimdall, who never made mistakes, could not locate it.

This scared Heimdall to no end.

"Heimdall?"

Opening his eyes, Heimdall gave a small smile. "Lady Sif."

The Asgardian maiden smile at her friend, and came up to his side, looking at him in concern. "You are troubled?"

Heimdall chuckled. "Am I so transparent? The situation must be troubling me more than I let on."

Sif sighed. "Have you found the source yet?"

"No." Heimdall said, frowning at the great caste of stars before him. "It is so incredible frustrating Sif. To have been able to gaze upon all for so long, only to lose sight of something so little. I wish so badly to put an end to these mental assaults. But I cannot."

"You will in time, Heimdall." Sif said, putting a hand on his shoulder. He gave her a smile of appreciation.

"It has been some time since we've spoken, Sif." Heimdal said. "I admit, I had my worries when you set off to Midgard alone. I never once turned away from you as you fought alongside the mortals. They are the last people I would ever expect you to work with."

"I... misjudged them." Sif said. "A lot has changed on Midgard since the war against the Frost Giants. They have grown stronger. Even if I had not gotten involved, Loki probably still would have failed."

"If you had not gone, relations between Midgard and Asgard would have gotten worse." Heimdall pointed out.

"Point noted." Sif responded.

"You've done a lot for Asgard in these past few years, Sif." Heimdall said, smiling at her. "Thor would be quite proud of you."

Sif's smile faded, and she looked down in sadness. "Yes... He would."

Heimdall sighed. "I know you still grieve, Sif. But you cannot cling to him for long. In time you must let go."

"I know, Heimdall." Sif said. "You are not the first who has said that to me."

"Darcy Lewis. Yes." Heimdall said. "I saw your interactions with the mortals. You learned quite a few things. Some of them... you probably weren't so willing to here."

Sif's heart froze up immediately, and she looked up at Heimdall. "... It's not true, is it? Surely he was lying?"

Heimdall didn't face her, he merely kept looking out into the stars. "The universe is a dark, unwelcome place. There are secrets to everything. Some best left undiscovered."

Sif gulped, and turned to leave. "It was nice speaking to you again, Heimdall."

Heimdall watched Sif leave, and sighed, turning his gaze back to the stars.

ooooo

Xegh Hikesh frowned at the woman sitting across from him. Hikesh was currently on the Bus, the flying command center that his human girlfriend, Soladat Wrekk, aka the Avenger known as Archangel, used with her team of specially trained agents. Shortly after the battle of New York, Director Fury had given Soladat clearance to form a team to investigate paranormal disturbances

The team had originally been conceived and handpicked by Agent Coulson before his unexpected demise at the hands of Loki. In an attempt to honor Coulson's ideals, Soladat had agreed to take up his position as head of the team. The team had a good run so far, having dealt with several cases in the past few weeks.

Hikesh was currently getting a free lift to London, where he would meet with Jane Foster and Darcy Lewis.

However, the newest recruit on Archangel's team, a young woman named Skye, was currently getting on Hikesh's nerves.

"... so your people controlled over a thousand different planets? That's so cool! Did you encounter any other spacefaring races?" Skye asked excitedly.

Hikesh sighed. "Of course we did. I'm pretty sure that would have been obvious."

"Right, right. Sorry." Skye said, shaking her hands. "It's just well... this is just great, it's fantastic to meet you. You were awesome in New York by the way."

"Thank you." Hikesh said.

"So, the Chitauri. Did you ever encounter them when..."

"Skye. Are you bothering our guest?" Hikesh and Skye looked to see Soladat enter from her office. She was clad in a jean jacket and black pants, with a white t-shirt underneath. Her curly hair was tied back into a ponytail.

Hikesh gave Soladat a smile of appreciation, while Skye started defending herself. "No of course not, Hikesh and I were just getting to know one another is all. Right, Hikesh?"

"Sure." Hikesh said. He turned to Soladat. "So what's the situation? Have your scientists finished the blockers for that broadcast?"

Soladat smiled. "Yup. Fitz just finished tuning the old factory blockers. Once they've been activated the broadcast will be cut off in a fifteen mile radius."

"Great." Skye said. "Now I can use my laptop without images of death popping up on my screen."

Soladat rolled her eyes at Skye, and then looked at Hikesh. "Xegh, can I talk to you for a second?"

Hikesh frowned, and then nodded. "Sure."

Skye watched as Hikesh got up from the table and left with Soladat. "Sure, I'll just stay here then."

Soladat and Hikesh entered the former's quarters, which was small, yet spacious enough for the two to fit. Hikesh looked down at Soladat when she closed the door.

"So what is it you wanted to ta... Umph!" Hikesh was silenced when Soladat pulled his head down to her's and gave him a deep, passionate kiss. If he were capable, Hikesh's face would have flared up into an enormous blush, but he eventually just fell into the kiss with her.

After a few more minutes of cross-species affection, Soladat pulled from Hikesh, and looked at him with a warm smile. "It's been a while. Nick sure has kept us busy recently."

Hikesh smirked. "It makes you wonder if he's doing it on purpose."

"Come on. Nick's not like that." Soladat said defensively. "Well, not all the time."

Hikesh just chuckled. "Just enjoy the moment, Soladat. It will be some time before we get another chance."

Soladat laughed, and hummed in content as she and the Prothean touched foreheads, just enjoying the rare, tender moment.

And there's chapter three. Next chapter, Hikesh meets with Darcy and Jane in London, where crazy shit starts to go down. Meanwhile, Sif leads the Asgardians against the rebels in the Nine Realms, and with Thor absent, the battle will be much more difficult than before.

For those of you who are curious as to why Odin's conversation with Loki was different, in this story, Darcy's berating of Odin in Thordis coupled by the loss of Thor caused Odin to have some kind of epiphany, making him realize just how much of a terrible father he really was. So, now he's attempting to be much more forgiving of Loki with hopes that he may find redemption. And yes, the cast from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will play a role in the story. Review pleaz.