A/N: Hi guys! Two updates in one week, impressive. Right? Well, for me anyway. Okay, well, let's get this show on the road. Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed, I'm glad you're all so excited for this update because I'm pretty excited too. Enjoy!
When Susan woke up she was back in Stark Tower, but the place had been smashed up a bit by the looks of things. She was laying on a couch with the Avengers standing nearby. As soon as she sat up she felt a sharp pain in her head and one by her ribs. A groan escaped her mouth and Tony Stark was the first one to turn around and see that she was awake.
"Hey Jinx!" He chirped cheerfully.
"Hi," She croaked over the throbbing of her head, "What's going on? Where am I? Why does my head hurt? Where's my father?"
"Slow down with the questions, kid," Tony smirked, "Thor threw you off the building, remember?"
"Why am I not dead? Or at least really, really splatted?" She winced.
"Because Thor throwing you off the building was part of the plan. I caught you and dropped you someplace safe for a while and then we took down Loki about an hour ago."
"Oh," She wasn't quite sure how she felt about that. Wasn't she supposed to be serving Loki right now? Hadn't he taken over her head with that scepter? She swallowed nervously when she realized that she had been prepared to die so that he'd become king, "How come I'm not under his mind-control thing anymore?"
"Err…" Tony grinned sheepishly, "You started to wake up a while back and you were going on and on about how Loki should be king and that we'd never be able to stop him so Thor bonked you on the head with his hammer a little and you went back out. Apparently hitting someone on the head is a sure way to make them not be mind-controlled anymore."
A man Susan had never seen before, who was holding a bow and a few arrows grinned down at her and offered his hand for a fist bump. "I was in that boat for a while too. Not a fun place to be, am I right?"
Susan bumped his fist and grimaced again as her ribs had a shock of pain run through them. "Ah!" She hissed.
"Are you alright?" Bruce Banner asked.
"My ribs really hurt." She ground out.
"Hmm… maybe you broke something when Tony caught you. I can look you over if you'd like," The doctor offered. Susan nodded and Banner took a look at her ribs. A moment later he smiled slightly, "I'm not certain, but I pretty sure that you're just bruised."
"Okay, thanks," Susan fell quiet and looked around the room, searching for one face in particular, "Um… where exactly is Loki?"
"You don't have to worry about him," Black Widow said, "We've got him locked up in a holding cell here at the tower."
"I knew it wasn't a waste of money to have one of those installed!" Tony put in and Susan giggled at his enthusiasm.
"Miss Mort?" A deep voice asked. Thor stepped forward with an embarrassed expression on his face, "I hope I did not offend you when I dropped you off of the building…?"
"No, no I get it. I was a good bargaining chip."
"Hey Jinx, you've got a visitor." Tony said, gesturing to a security camera's screen nearby. On the screen there was a very angry Amy Mort yelling at Director Fury. Susan sighed with relief. Her mom was okay.
"Can I see her?"
"Yeah, just as soon as Nick tells her some stuff. Briefing, government documents to sign, all of the usual protocol." Tony said dismissively.
"In the meantime, could I possibly, you know, talk to Loki?"
Agent Romanoff gave her a skeptical look. "Why?"
"I just want to tell him something." Susan sighed.
"Come on, kid, I'll show you the way." Tony offered.
Susan got off the couch, clutching her bruised ribs and hobbled over to the elevator with Iron Man. He pushed a button that took them to the basement of the building and then lead her to a dark room and flicked on the light switch. In the center of the room there was a cage with shimmering, technologically advanced walls. In the middle of the cage Loki sat, bound to a metal chair with his hands behind his back. He didn't look up when they entered the room, just hung his head and sighed. From what Susan could see of his face he was covered in little scratches, scrapes, and bruises.
"Have you come to taunt me, Stark?" Loki asked pitifully.
"Nope!" Tony said, popping the "P", "I did enough of that earlier. I wouldn't even be down here if it weren't for this young lady. She wanted to talk to you."
Susan expected her father's head to jerk up and look at her as he had the times before, but he remained in his depressed, slumped state. He let out a shaky breath, but that was the only noise he made.
"Aren't you going to say hi?" Tony asked.
"Leave me to my mourning, Stark, and stop jeering at me with false hopes."
Mourning? Susan thought, What could he possibly mourning? Losing? What a sore loser.
"False hopes? I would never!" Tony gasped, "If you'd look up for a second then you would see that I am telling the truth."
When Sigrid had fallen off of the balcony Loki reached his hand for her in a pitiful attempt to save her. The Chitauri hadn't come in time and Thor hadn't been bluffing. Before he could see anything else that happened to his daughter, Loki was pulled back by Thor and tossed once more into battle. He hadn't allowed himself to think about Sigrid's death while the battle was going on, but once it was over and the Avengers were crowned as the victors he felt his frozen heart ache. She was dead. Sigrid/Susan Luna Mort had died because of his obsession with becoming king. No! She had died because of Thor Odinson! Now revenge and mourning were the only things on his mind.
Stark was blabbering about a young lady wanting to speak with him. No doubt taunting him with a morsel of hope that Sigrid was alive. This was cruel even for Tony Stark, dangling hope and then ripping it away seemed more like something Loki himself would do. When Stark instructed him to look up Loki didn't want to oblige at first. After all, it was probably just another barb to get him to think Sigrid was still alive. Then, when he did look up the destible man would laugh and jeer some more. However, even though his brain knew Stark was only mocking him, his heart wanted to see, wanted to believe. He glanced up through his matted hair and intook breath sharply.
"Sigrid?" He whispered so softly only he could hear it. He straightened and gazed at the teenage girl before him in disbelief. Surely it must be some sort of technological trick. Stark was baiting him further with a holographic illusion. There was no way she could have survived a drop from the top of the tower.
"Hey," The illusion smiled slightly, "I hope I'm not interrupting your self pity and wallowing."
"How?" Loki gasped. His expression turned dark and he glared at Stark, "What sort of trick is this? Why are you showing me this? It is not enough that you won you must also rub salt in the wounds of a mourning father?!"
Tony put his hands up defensively. "I'm not doing anything of the sort."
The illusion of Sigrid seemed surprised. "'Mourning father?' What are you talking about?"
"Oh that's right!" Tony exclaimed, "Barton suggested that we let Loki believe you died. Since Hawkeye couldn't kill him this was the next best form of revenge I guess."
Loki made low growling noise. "What are you saying, Stark?"
"Surprise! Susan isn't dead! Yay!"
Loki pulled against his bonds and tried to stand, but the chair and chains held him firmly in place. "What?! You let me believe my only child, my daughter, had perished?! All for a petty revenge?!"
"Petty? I'd say it was pretty well deserved," Tony snorted, "But yeah, that's the gist of it."
Sigrid scowled at the Man of Iron and looked at Loki with a soft expression. For a moment he thought she was still under the control of the scepter, but surely that wasn't possible. Perhaps she just pitied him.
"Well I'm not dead. Iron-head over here saved me." She jerked her thumb at him jokingly.
Loki smiled in relief. "So you're alright?"
"I've got a bump on my head from where Thor bopped me, and my ribs are bruised, but besides that I'm okay. At least physically…"
Loki sighed. "Good." He looked once more to Tony Stark and put on his proudest face. "I owe you a thanks, Stark. For saving my daughter."
"She was never really in any danger, Thor and I had the whole thing planned." Loki was no longer paying attention to what the Midgardian said, he was just gazing at his daughter, marveling in the fact that she was still breathing.
"So, I, uh, I guess things didn't exactly go as you planned, huh?"
"No," Loki couldn't help but smirk at the sheer epicness of his failure, "They did not."
"I'm glad," Sigrid admitted, "I think your ego is big enough without you becoming king of the whole planet."
Loki laughed out loud. "Yes, I suppose you're right. I wouldn't want to get such a big head that I don't fit into my 'reindeer helmet'." He felt his heart warm a tad when she giggled at his comment.
"You know, I think it looks a bit more like cow horns."
"That's what Thor says too! I just don't understand, it is a mighty warrior's helmet!"
"That looks like a cow." Sigrid snickered.
"Really, I don't understand Midgardian fashion. How can you walk around wearing such repulsive clothing? Honestly." He shook his head mockingly.
"Oh? What's so 'repulsive' about a T-shirt and jeans?" Sigrid raised an eyebrow, gesturing to her own attire, which was covered in stains, rips, and splotches of blood.
"A young lady shouldn't be wearing trousers, first of all. In Asgard you would be fitted in a gown of silks and gold and you would shine above all else." Loki described, wondering what it would have been like if she had been raised in his home realm. Odin and Frigga wouldn't have approved at first, considering her mother was Midgardian, but Loki thought they would have grown to love her. Just as he did.
"Silks? Pssshh!" Sigrid laughed, "Why? Isn't that just want really rich people would wear?"
"Well you'd have been a princess of sorts."
"What do you mean?"
"Before I fell from Odin and Frigga's graces I was a prince, didn't you know that?" It seemed odd even to him, that seemed like such a long time ago. The days when he was a respected figure in Asgard were gone.
"Seriously? Well, yeah, I guess Thor is the prince and he calls you his brother so… yeah. Wow." Sigrid said as if impressed.
"Yes, but that was a long time ago. I am nothing but the fallen son of Asgard now." Loki's face was dark once more.
"Did Odin kick you out or something?"
"I was adopted."
"I already knew that. Why are you 'fallen'?"
"Because I am adopted!" Loki said bitterly.
"Huh? What, did your parent's not know you were adopted and then kicked you out after they found out? That seems pretty impossible."
"Of course they knew. I just didn't know."
"You still aren't making any sense. Why are you the 'fallen son of Asgard'? Did Odin just one decide he didn't like you anymore and give you the boot or what? Being adopted can't automatically lead to you being kicked out, can it?"
Loki gave an exasperated sigh. Was she daft? "I found out my true lineage and I was disgusted. Odin and I fought a little and I did some 'regrettable' things that made him disgusted with me, including attacking a small town on Midgard in attempt to kill Thor. I went too far there and Odin cast me out and I quite literally fell from Asgard. Do you understand now?"
"So…" She mused, "You tried to kill your brother and did some other bad stuff and they kicked you out? Sounds reasonable. I mean, a parent's love is usually unconditional, but I guess in Asgard things must be different."
Loki was silent, unwilling to admit that it had mostly been his choice to leave Asgard. Sigrid turned to the Man of Iron for a moment and whispered something inaudible to him. Stark scowled and left the room.
"Why were you disgusted when you found out about your heritage?" The girl asked, going over to where another chair was and pulling it in front of the cage.
"Frost giants are the enemies of the Asgardians. I grew up hating them."
"You know what?" Sigrid announced, "I think you were a good person who made a lot of really, really, really, really rotten choices. Have you ever considered asking Odin for forgiveness? I bet…"
"No!" Loki hissed. She jumped in her seat at his sudden outburst, "I will not fall to such a level as to grovel before his feet. I am a king!"
She narrowed her eyes at him. "No, right now you're a criminal and nothing more."
Loki glared at her. "Oh? So am I not even your father any longer? Are we back to this childish denial and hatred?"
Susan cringed inwardly. She'd come down here to make peace before he went back to Asgard and was locked up for the rest of his life. She didn't want him to leave when they were on such bad terms - he was still part of her family.
"No," she said quietly, "You're still my father."
"Yet you say I am nothing more than a criminal." Loki scoffed.
"Poor choice of words I guess. You aren't a king, but you are my father. Can we part as, well, not friends exactly, but as not-enemies at least?"
He looked at her curiously. "What do you mean 'part'?"
"Well, I assumed that since Thor is taking you to prison on Asgard we'd never see each other again…" Susan hoped that was the case, anyway.
"You won't come to Asgard and visit me?"
This caused her to erupt with laughter. "Me? In Asgard? Another world? How would I ever pull that off?"
"Despite the fact that he threw you off the side of the building, I'm sure Thor would be more than willing to take you to your true home. You can leave with us when we go back. I know I won't be able to be a proper father from the dungeon, but at least we won't be in two separate worlds…"
"I knew you were crazy but you honestly expect me to leave everything I know - my mom, my friends, my life, my world - just so I can see you?" She shook her head incredulously, "No way."
"What if you didn't have a choice in the matter?"
"Is that, like, the only response to anything I do that you don't like? Haven't you ever heard about talking something out? Finding a compromise? Diplomacy? You just go right to 'you don't have a choice'." She did a poor impression of his voice for the last bit.
Loki chuckled. "I am the father, you are the child. That's how it goes."
"Didn't you ever argue with Odin? Did you just blindly do whatever he asked of you? Don't bother telling me that you never got into one argument with him, because I know that's gotta be a lie."
"Be that as it may, in this matter you may really have no choice at all."
"What do you mean?" Susan asked suspiciously.
"So far it would seem that Midgardians don't take kindly to finding 'aliens' among them. I heard of an Asgardian from long ago who tried to live on Earth. When your precious SHIELD found about him they imprisoned him. Had he not been killed then there is no doubt he would have been sent back to Asgard as soon as possible. Humans don't want us here."
"But I'm not…" Susan paused. She was an alien. She was half frost giant. Would SHIELD make her go with Thor and Loki when they left? Would she get a say in the matter? Surely they couldn't send a girl who was born and raised as a human to a foreign world. Could they?
"You are. They can send you off with us as easily as they would throw away a scrap of garbage." He said, echoing her thoughts.
"What about my mother? She'll fight to keep me here. In fact, she's in this building, so they can't take me away." Susan cried triumphantly.
"Amy is here?" Loki blushed a little and Susan could imagine how incredibly awkward it would be if she were to bring the pair of them together. She was tempted to just to see her father's reaction.
"Yeah, a SHIELD agent went and brought her here to brief her about what's going on." Susan looked down at her nails and picked them a little, trying to calm herself down.
"I'm sure your mother will make a valiant effort to keep you here, but if SHIELD doesn't want you on this planet then there isn't much she can do about it." Loki commented.
Susan took a few breathes and ran her hands through her hair anxiously. "I thought they were the good guys…"
"They are the protectors of Midgard and if protecting this planet involves sending one person off to another planet then so be it."
"Good grief," She began laugh with hysteria, "I'm such a threat to the Earth. Sheesh!"
"Hey Jinx!" Tony Stark called over a speaker that was in the corner of the room, "Your mommy dearest is going to make a bigger mess than the Hulk if you don't get up here soon - Hey you can't use that!" He was interrupted by a familiar female, scolding voice also on the loudspeaker.
"Susan? Are you okay? Where are you? Get up here right this minute young lady! No Mr. Stark I will not give the mic back, she's my daughter. Susie, please come here, I'm so worried." And just like that Amy began sobbing over the speaker and Susan felt the guiltiest she had ever felt in her life.
Loki raised an eyebrow and gave Susan a questioning look. "You'd best do as she says, Sigrid, believe me when I say that you wouldn't want to invoke the wrath of Amy Mort."
"No kidding," Susan got up from her chair and gave the man in the cage one last look, "If I don't end up going to Asgard then this might be the last time I ever see you."
Loki stared at her and Susan stared back, both with a thousand unsaid words on the tips of their tongues. The father nodded to her.
"If that is indeed the case then goodbye, my Sigrid."
"Yeah, bye Lo- Dad." She'd allow him that title at least once while she wasn't under mind control. She could tell he did care for her, he was just doing it all wrong.
After they'd said farewell Susan stepped into the elevator. She didn't even have to push any buttons because the lift seemed to be pre programmed with the correct floor number. When the doors swung open again Amy Mort was standing at the ready and flung herself at her daughter. The mother and daughter embraced and then the tears started. Tears for Max, tears for New York, and tears of joy for being reunited.
"Susie!" Amy sobbed.
"Mom!" Susan cried back.
Amy pulled back a little and looked into her daughter's eyes and then began the customary mother-checkup to make sure no harm had come to her "baby".
"My word! You have scratches and cuts everywhere! Your clothes are torn! Is that a bump on your head?" Amy clucked.
"Mom, I'm fine. I'm just a little shaken up."
Amy sighed. "They told me that you met your, um, the… err, Loki."
"My father." Susan agreed.
"Susie, I'm so sorry…"
"It's not your fault! How could you have known that when I went to Germany for a while I'd bump into my biological father and he'd try to take over the earth? It is not your fault."
"I should have told you more about your father before anything like this could have happened."
"Did you know that he was from a different world?"
Amy smirked secretively. "Yep. He told me, and I didn't believe him until a giant beam of light came down and transported him right out of Central Park! I never saw him again after that, but, yeah, I knew he wasn't from our world."
"You know, I really think you should have told me that minor detail." Susan laughed.
"Probably," Amy giggled, hugging her daughter again, "So, uh, what did you think of him?"
"Well… he's kind of psychotic. Not really a great role model. He and I get in a lot of fights, but all in all he isn't the worst dad I could have." Susan shrugged and the Avengers exchanged looks. In their minds there was absolutely no one in the nine realms less qualified to be a father.
"You're such an optimist," Amy sighed.
"So, what did you do while I was away?" Susan asked, wanting to change the subject.
"I started the week planning a wedding, but I finished it out by preparing for a," Amy sniffled, "A funeral. And then after that I kind of had to evacuate our apartment building because of the invasion. I was also worried about you for every minute of that time. Not a great few days, huh?"
"No. Not very great at all," Susan agreed, "But we're both still safe and we're together."
"Ahem," Someone cleared their throat behind them, "I hate to break this up," Nick Fury said, "But we have a few things we need to hash out regarding Susan and her father."
"Right, of course. What do we need to talk about?" Amy asked, swiping at a tear that threatened to fall.
Thor stepped forward. "For one, we need to discuss where Miss Mort will be living."
Amy stiffened and glared suspiciously at the group of superheroes before her. "She will be living with me and that's all there is to it. Neither of us has done a thing to suggest otherwise and I assume you will let us go about our lives just as usual."
"Ma'am," Fury sighed, "After Loki's attack and his other actions on our planet Susan might not be safe here anymore. Other organizations may seek her out to harm her because of who her father is. The only way we know we can keep her safe is by sending her with Thor and Loki to Asgard."