Disclaimer: Don't own.

Chapter Nineteen

Harry didn't even have time to open his eyes before he was getting an earful.

"Are you an idiot?! Why in the world did you sacrifice yourself?! I gave you that warning so it wouldn't have to come to that! Why didn't you just summon him?! Idiot!"

The wizard pried his eyes open with a groan, and immediately closed them again. "Please stop yelling. I've got a headache, and you're not helping." Nor was the blazing white room they were in.

Death crossed her arms, once again having forgone the cloak she wore upon their first meeting, though her scythe stood obediently beside her. "It's your own fault, Master Idiot. And you didn't answer my question. Why did you not summon the Agent?"

Harry sat up carefully. His head felt like a very industrious demolitions expert had decided that his brain was set for blowing up. He squinted at her, and with a thought the snow white walls and furniture all turned a soothing shade of deep blue. "Had I summoned him, I might not have been able to activate the spell before Loki stabbed him. Thus, he would have suddenly been jerked to the side, making the wound, already most likely fatal for normal humans, even more dangerous."

Death rubbed her face roughly. "You and your hero complex." She groaned. "Fine, fine. You're lucky, you idiot, that upon activating all three Hollows and becoming Master of Death, you also activated an advanced healing ability." She scowled at him. "So you're not dead, but you could have been, leaving my bro- those poor animals alone."

Harry tilted his head. Her bro... her brothel? Bronchitis? ... Brothers? His green eyes widened. "Hel?" He asked, and he knew that hi vague hunch had been confirmed when the girl scowled.

Death cursed, plopped down beside him, and pouted as any teenager can. "You weren't supposed to figure that out yet." She huffed. "Me and my big mouth."

He grinned. "Well, I was already considering it before, but your slip of the tongue just sealed the deal. So, Hel... you look a lot different than the legends say you would."

"What, half black and half flesh colored. Pah. They just wanted people to be afraid of coming to me, making me sound like a freak. After all, who would be scared of a little blonde, curly headed girl?" She tossed said curls. "The Death before me took me on a an apprentice when she found me in my realm. She was the closet thing to a mother I had growing up." She sighed mournfully.

Harry frowned. "I thought you said she retired... You make it sound like she died."

Hel put her elbow on her knee, and rested her chin in her hand. "That's how Death retires. When a new Death is trained to the point that they are acceptably able to take on the role, the former Death joins the river of souls that churn in and out of the death realm. After a few thousand years, the job gets so tiring that they are glad to do so, to be sent to the reincarnation chamber."

"So the woman who trained you is a human now? Somewhere? Or maybe she's become a being of another planet."

Hel's grin was decidedly mischievous. Harry was struck by how many of her features came from her father. "Oh, no, she is human, one on the world your body is on. You know her as," A pause, obviously meant to be dramatic, but Harry let her have her moment, "Natasha Romanoff."

He blinked. Then blinked again. "You're kidding." He deadpanned. She shook her head. Harry rolled his eyes. "Well, alright then. That's a bit unexpected."

"Not really. Hades wanted to meet you so badly that she probably made sure that her soul went to a world you would visit soon."

"Er... I thought Hades was a guy."

Hel shrugged. "Myths get twisted a lot over the years that the mortals toss them around. Hades found it really funny that the humans thought she was male. I'm thankful they've at least kept my gender straight."

Harry laughed and bumped her shoulder with his. "I'll make sure that they all know they're wrong, and that you're really a big hairy man, with warts and-"

"You wouldn't!" Hel shouted, sounding scandalized. Harry just grinned with no comment.

They sat in silence for a few minutes before the dark haired man spoke again. "So, you said my body is back there on Earth, or Midgard, or whatever. So why am I here, and why did I have such a huge headache when I got here."

Hel flinched a bit. "Well... I didn't really explain your new healing very well. You got stabbed in your heart by that scepter, which I still think you're an idiot for jumping in front of, and it cut quite a few blood vessels that go to your brain. So your brain was starved for oxygen until the blood vessels healed themselves, which took... eighteen minutes?"

"So I was legally dead for eighteen minutes? And I had a headache because I wasn't actually supposed to be able to think at that point, my brain being dead and all."

The girl nodded.

"Well that's just great. You didn't answer my first question."

She sat back and looked up at the deep blue ceiling, which had somehow become dotted with small lights that looked like stars. "Well, this place? It's a defense mechanism, mainly. The first time you saw it, it looked like that train station."

Harry looked around. "You're saying that this is the place I met with Dumbledore? And what is it defending against?"

"Brain damage. You've actually been here a few times, but you're normally unconscious when it happens. The only reason you're conscious now is because you're the Master of Death, and becoming so rewired your brain a bit." She told him.

"So... this is inside my mind? The why are you here?"

"Aren't you just chock full of questions? I'm here because you are my Master, and I go where ever you need me. Which just happens to be here. When you activated all three Hollows, it sent such a jolt through your brain, trying to change it to accommodate what you would need, that you passed out and came here. I was here because you needed me to explain what happened. And I'm here now because you needed someone to yell at you for being a self sacrificing idiot." She smirked at him, and he swatted at her.

Harry fought the urge to stick out his tongue at her. He was eight hundred years old, for crying out loud, and finally said. "One last question, then. What's going on back in reality?"

Coulson was torn between looking through the hole that Loki had been shot through, and the man who had most likely saved his life.

It's the lack of movement in Potter's chest that decides him. He kneels by the man, desperately pumping on his abdomen. "Come on, Potter. Do clock out on us. You still got work to do, right?" He called, but there was no reaction. He pried one of the green eyes open, and winced when they were blank.

"What happened here?" The director swooped in behind him, looking at the slumped figure of the wizard.

Coulson frowned sadly, and stopped all movements of trying to get the dark haired man's heart restarted. "Loki was aiming to shish kebob me. Potter jumped between us and took the hit instead." He sighed. "He looks like he's just a kid, boss. I know he said he's eight hundred years old... but he looks like a kid."

Director Fury pulled Coulson away from the body as the medical team pushed past them. "Mr. Potter is down." He said over the radio.

A distracted sounding Agent answered, no doubt uncaring because Potter himself wasn't a part of SHIELD, "A medical team is on its way to your location."

"They're here, they called it." He said heavily, knowing how this would affect the team.

Bruce sat up, his eyes wide. Sleipnir, who was standing beside him, let loose a screaming whinny even as Fenrir howled in a desolate manner.

Captain America's face crumpled, and his knees hit the ground as the last connection to his own time was severed, and Tony Stark hesitantly put his hand on the larger man's shoulder.

And in a cold room, on a cold slab, the wizard's body slowly recuperated itself. And the heart monitor gave a single, but shocking, bleep.

"I didn't know him for long, but he seemed like a pretty cool guy." Tony said slowly, and Rogers blinked at him as if he had just noticed his presence.

"He was... the most loyal man I have ever met, and a soldier I was proud to stand by." The blond said after a while.

Thor took that moment to appear, and neither man had ever seen him that furious looking. "My brother has gone too far." The god hissed.

Rogers got a thoughtful look in his eyes. "I know we haven't gotten along lately... but can we set our differences aside long enough to... Avenge Harry?" The sadness was pushed aside by anger, and he welcome the hot rush. Loki would pay.

Tony shrugged. He didn't really have any connection to the man whom he had only known for a few hours, but that didn't mean that he would let the guy's death go unpunished.

Thor nodded resolutely.

"Where would Loki go next?" Rogers asked, directing the question to Thor, who only made a noncommental noise. He had no idea.

"He's made this personal..."

Rogers made a low, growling noise in his throat. "He's made it more than personal." He said.

"No, that's not what I meant. He hit us all, right where we live. Why?"

"To tear us apart." Rogers offered, and it went unsaid by the man, though the others could hear it as if he voiced it, 'Like I'm going to tear him apart'.

Tony ignored the unsaid threat to the god. He had no doubt the guy deserved it at this point. "Yeah, to divide and conquer, but he knows to take us out to win, right? That's what he wants. He wants to beat us, he wants to be seen doing it. He wants an audience."

Rogers nodded shortly. "Right. I caught his act in Stuttgart."

Tony frowned. "Yeah... That's just the previews this is... this is opening night. And Loki, he's a full-tail diva. He wants flowers, he wants parades, he wants a monument built to the skies with his name plastered- Son of a bitch!"

His sudden exclamation caused his two companions to jump slightly. They both looked at the grim faced man.

"I know where he is."

Chapter nineteen, ladies and gents, and hopefully the last bit of angst in this story. Boy is Sleipnir and Fenrir going to be pissed at Harry. On that note, I'm plotting world domination. Anyone wanna help?

Lionna