Disclaimer: Don't own.

Chapter 14

Everything was going according to plan, there was nothing, absolutely nothing that could stop the cogs turning as they were supposed to. He couldn't help but smirk as he passed the room the monster in man's clothes was in.

And that's when he saw them. Two animals that resounded with his own energy. And another man who exuded power of a different sort.

He stopped, ignoring the grumblings of his 'guards', as he looked at the animals. A young wolf pup and a grey horse. No.

It couldn't be.

Odin would not let his children here, would not be separated from the powerful mount that Loki himself had given birth to. But the connection was there, he could feel it.

He could also feel a fledgling connection between the two animals and the strange man.

Loki was prodded back into moving by the butt of one of the Midgard weapons.

This... this could be slightly troubling.

Harry yawned as he and Bruce were escorted by another agent back into the conference room. There was something different about this woman, though, as opposed to every other female agent on board this ship plane thing. She sat with them at the table meant for Fury's little project.

Harry settled the once again sleepy Fenrir into his lap, and ran his hand down Sleipnir's silky nose. Both of his companions were anxious. Fenrir had spent the last fifteen minutes scratching desperately at the wall he had seen his father pass by, tiring himself out. Sleipnir, older, wiser, calmer, just seemed confused that their father had paid them any mind.

Father had never paid his plight any mind, the horse god thought. He had been a slave to the man who smelled of anger and power for as long as he could remember, father visiting very rarely. It had been odd when the stranger who smelled of a different sort of power came, and Sleipnir felt the forced bond between him and the angry powerful man break. He was given to the stranger, but no new bond was forcefully forged. His younger half brother was willingly creating his own bond with the stranger, calling him packmate. Sleipnir had decided to do the same. Father was not considered in his decision, father never cared about him. Stranger was Family now.

Fenrir snuffled slightly, settling into packmate's lap. Something was wrong with father's scent. Whenever father had visited him in the woods, he had always smelled of anger and loneliness, but they were pure feelings. Now they were tainted, and were the only emotions in father's scent, obliterating the other things he could have felt, such as love, and happiness. Fenrir reveled in packmate's calming scent, packmate could help father. Packmate could fix him.

Harry ran his fingers through the animals' fur, and looked at the woman across from him who was pulling up a screen. On it, they could see Loki in a large glass cylinder.

He was alone for now, but Harry doubted he would be for long. The woman had pulled up the scene for some reason, probably expecting a show of some sort.

Deciding to introduce himself before the show could begin, Harry smiled at her. "Hi, I'm Harry Potter."

The woman raised one eyebrow. "I know." She said simply, and turned her attention back to the screen.

The wizard frowned. That was unnecessarily rude. Beside him he heard Bruce sigh.

"Natasha, this is Harry Potter, he's here to get Thor and Loki back to Asgard after the Tesseract is found. Harry, this is Natasha Romanoff, spy."

The woman didn't even bother to look up this time. Harry just shrugged. Wouldn't be the first time someone had been less then enthused about meeting him, probably wouldn't be the last. Besides, the expecting show was starting, as Director Fury walked on screen. He grinned as the Captain sat down on his other side to watch too.

Fury smirked at his captive, obviously enjoying the fact that the man was here. "In case it's unclear, you try to escape- you so much as scratch that glass-" He pushed a button on the panel he was standing in front of, and Harry's eyes widened as the floor beneath the cage fell away, and the wind screamed into the room."Thirty thousand feet down in a steel trap. You get how that works?" He shouted over the sound, gesturing to Loki. "Ant." Then the panel. "Boot." The hole was then closed.

If the god was scared at all, it didn't show on his face or in his posture, and Harry was starting to get suspicious. Something wasn't right about this situation...

"It's an impressive cage. Not built, I think, for me." Loki said calmly.

Fury nodded slightly. "Built for something a lot stronger than you."

"Oh I've heard. A mindless beast- makes play that he's still a man." He looked directly at the camera, and Harry snarled slightly. "How desperate are you, that you call on such lost creatures to defend you?"

He ignored what Fury was saying as he turned to Bruce. "He was going to put you in that thing?! I am going- I'm gonna turn him into a toad!"

Bruce raised both eyebrows (never having mastered the art of only lifting one), "Could you blame him? ... and how would you turn him into a toad?"

"The floor drops out beneath it if you hit it! You could die all because he's worried that you might cause some damage to his precious helicarrier!" He raged. "And never you mind the last part..."

Thor frowned, "The world-traveler never told you about his other abilities?"

Steve frowned. "That does seem like overkill. It's not like you can control yourself in that form." He pointed out. "And... other abilities?"

Fenrir sat up, scenting his packmate's anger. Where father's was always directed at others for himself (never for the plights of his children, but Fenrir let that thought go), packmate's anger was for the one man who smelled like two.

Harry sighed and settled into his seat. "I didn't want to mention them, because to these guys it would make me too similar to Loki for their comfort but-"

Cap shook his head. "It doesn't matter right now, besides, even if you have the exact same powers as Loki, I know you wouldn't do what he does. Glen Harper wouldn't do it."

Harry smiled bashfully, even as Bruce patted his hand. He did not miss how the agent, Natasha, was eying him warily, though.

"Anyway, Loki's going to drag this out. So, Thor, what's his play?" Cap continued.

Thor sighed. His poor misguided brother... he was lucky that the time-walker's anger was focused on the man known as Fury for now. He answered the question. "He has an army called the Chitauri. They're not of Asgard, nor any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the Earth, in return, I suspect, for the Tesseract."

"An army, from outer space?" Poor Cap, he seemed pretty much out of his depth here. He was so used to threats from his own world, that the fact that aliens were coming had him boggled.

Bruce hummed thoughtfully. "So he's building another portal. That's what he needs Erik Selvig for."

That caught Thor's attention. "Selvig?"

Bruce frowned slightly. "He's an astrophysicist."

"He's a friend." Thor answered simply, and the other man winced slightly.

For the first time, the woman that was on the other side of the table spoke. "Loki has them under some kind of spell- along with one of ours."

Harry frowned. "A spell? What kind of spell?"

Romanoff seemed slightly unwilling to answer, so Bruce did it for her. "A mind control spell of some kind."

Harry bit his lip. "How do people act while under it?"

Bruce shrugged, and attention was turned back to Natasha, who frowned. "I have heard that they act much the same, except all of their actions are for the other side. I wasn't there to see it personally. Why do you want to know?"

"I, well... you know what? I don't want to explain this more than once, so can we hold off on the rather long back story until Director Fury comes back?" Harry asked.

Steve smiled at him, and clapped him on the shoulder. "Sure, no problem." The woman did not look like she agreed, but said nothing. Getting serious again, Steve said to no one in particular, "I wanna know why Loki let us take him. He's not leading an army from here."

"So I'm not the only one who finds this suspicious then?" Harry said. "There's something he wants here, and I want to know what it is."

Bruce shook his head. "I don't think we should be focusing on Loki. That guy's brain is a bag full of-" Harry tuned out the ensuing conversation.

"What does he need Iridium for?" Bruce said thoughtfully, probably just thinking out loud because no one else at the table would have the slightest clue of the answer.

Thus they were all surprised when a new voice answered, "It's a stabilizing agent."

That's Chapter 14! I know, not much Loki, but Fury had to talk to him first, before Harry could. But hey, a cookie if you remember who just answered Brucey's question! More Loki in the very very near future, and finally some Harry and Loki interaction! See you Monday!

Lionna