Sigyn rematerialized back into the room that they had recently been sharing. She couldn't help the smile that had crept its way into her features during the transportation of the spell and fixed her husband with a look, even if he couldn't see it while he had his feet propped up on the desk and a book in hand. "A goat? Where did you even get one?" she asked and failed entirely at keeping the laughter out of her voice.

"From outside the city, of course," Loki replied. He turned another page and made a note of some sort on the parchment at his elbow.

"And what will the goat's owner think when they realize that said goat has been misplaced?" she asked, her amusement turning to laughter when he simply smiled at her. "Nevermind. Tell me about it afterwards."

"Perhaps," was his only answer before he returned his attention to the book.

She stood there and watched him for a moment, absorbing the sight of him absorbed in the learning and making of something new. It was something she had taken for granted before, but with the way their lives had been going it had been become clear that not everything could be taken for granted. She was drawn forward towards him like she had ever been.

He didn't flinch when her hands found his shoulders and she leaned in to press a kiss into his hair. Flicking a glance at her, he wasn't surprised to see the fractured expression that she wore, eyes closed. One too many upheavals had occurred for her in the weeks since her awakening. She could fight nearly anything and would fight Amora to the end of time to protect those she considered hers, but there was only so much chaos that she could endure at his side. He was trying to find the words to express the thoughts flitting through his head when she opened her eyes and her expression changed to one of curiosity as her hands slid forward so that she rested her forearms on his shoulders instead.

Her gaze was fixed intently on the page that he had been taking notes on. It was nearly filled from top to bottom and he remembered, with a kind of electric jolt, that she was one of the only people alive that could decipher the script he wrote in.

"Runes for blood, death, terror, and binding," she read, her chin coming to rest on her forearm as she leaned closer. "Further notes on how to anchor and twine their effects." The sidelong glance she shot him was met with one of equal blandness. "Have you considered the base material for the carvings?"

That earned her a blink and she grinned at him, withdrawing just enough to lean on his shoulders with her hands again so that she could read the page he had left off on. It was an old tome lecturing in lofty tones about the dangers of anchoring different runes together while still giving descriptions on how to do it. She was still reading it when Loki said, "The scepter that you were given is made of ish'ra, a metal found in the core of Jotunheim's volcanoes before it was a frozen wasteland. I had assumed that you kept the pieces." That swiveled her gaze back to his.

"Yes," she said slowly. "The scepter…it's gem…" her eyes were searching his when he stood and turned to face her, leaning against the desk and catching one of her hands as it fell away. Wariness was too kind a word for the emotion that was lancing its way across her face.

"Spell resistant, dual layered, strength enhancing, spell enhancing, mind enslaving." There was another pause as he studied her and saw the wariness, the suspicion, the pain leech away and she relaxed again. "I am aware of what it is. It is safer in your hands than mine, Thanos', Odin's or that of the humans who were fumbling with it before."

The shift that occurred in her with the new name was something that stole his breath. Predatory was also too kind a word for this sharp, focused look that settled on her. "Thanos? That is the name of the one who captured, tortured, and enslaved you?"

"It is a fight for another day," he replied.

"Our fight for another day," she said and the look faded. "Tell me what you desire to do with these runes and how you think it will affect the scepter?"

In the darkest hour of the night, a woman smiled and a husk twitched. It was time.

The dinner the next day was of a fairly civil tone even when everyone had gathered and broken into little side groups to have their own conversations. Sif had been commandeered by Darcy and Jane and were having a technical conversation over some sort of device and the longer the conversation went on, the deeper Sif's frown got. Hogun and Clint were quietly discussing weapons and the different types of poisons that could be found between Asgard and Earth. Tony, Pepper, Bruce, Steve, and Sigyn had gathered around the counter to both discuss Amora's coordinates and the different merits of both the options that Sigyn had offered to help Pepper while cleaning up the dishes leftover from dinner.

After a final attempt to dislodge the dishtowel from Sigyn that they had been stealing back and forth, Steve gave up and retrieved his own to help her wash and put the dishes away. At the moment, they were discussing the merits of simply ignoring the clones and using Sigyn's shielding techniques.

"In the initial phases of introducing the serum into a host's body, limbs were shown to be restored and in the battles that were fought with the others who were similarly affected they reformed their bodies despite using themselves like a bomb," Bruce said.

There was a long pause after that one and the steady clink of dishes being washed while the other conversations gently overlapped. Sigyn glanced at Pepper's drawn expression and could almost see the thoughts running through her head. "But in the end, when the serum destabilizes in the host they turn into a bomb capable of destroying everything within at least a thousand feet," Sigyn said and Pepper met her gaze. They were neither of them sure how close Pepper was to being just such a bomb.

Tony, for once, had nothing to add to that.

"So…barring the source, the clones are the safest option," Steve said, giving voice to the conclusion the others had reached.

There was another silence as everyone glanced at Sigyn and she returned the look. In that silence, there was the gentle overlap of the other conversations and the quiet clinking of the dishes as Steve set aside the dishes he had been cleaning. Sigyn dropped the towel and held out her palm face up. A shimmer was all the warning they had before the golden scepter dropped into her palm, as whole as it had been before her battle on Asgard. She set it gently on the counter where they could all see it.

Hogun and Clint paused in their conversation at its appearance. Clint looked torn between coming closer and bolting for the hills at the sight of it. Seemingly to contradict the mood of the room, Sif, Darcy, and Jane's conversation became more involved as Jane's gesturing became borderline emphatic.

"You remember this and what it was used for," she stated. "You remember what it is capable and yet you still gave it to me. Even knowing who my husband is." She waved a hand over the scepter and it vanished. "Tell me how this is different."

"It is and isn't different. You're indirectly asking us to trust the health of one of our own to him," Clint said and she ran a hand through her hair. "You're asking us to set aside what he did and trust him, but this is Pepper's decision. It comes down to what she thinks."

Sigyn met Pepper's gaze. "If this turns out to be one of his mad plans, will you help us?" Pepper asked.

"Yes."

"Even if it means fighting him."

A pained expression flitted across her face as she closed her eyes briefly. Opening them again, she held Pepper's gaze. "Even if it means fighting him, I will help you should Loki turn this against you. It would not be the first time." A tingle like static electricity shot across the nerves of her left arm before it fizzled out.

"Then, after you have dealt with Amora, will you assist us in this?" Pepper asked.

"With pleasure," Sigyn answered. "But it would be possible for us to leave the clones with you in the meantime to allow Tony and Bruce to work on the different possibilities."

"With proper shielding," Bruce muttered.

Tony and Pepper shared a look and then Tony asked, "Three should be sufficient. How long-"

"Sir," Jarvis cut in. "Containment protocols have been put into effect on the sixth floor lab with the appearance of three life-like structures that appear to look like Ms. Potts."

Tony gave the room at large a suspicious glare. "Scry still active?" he asked Sigyn.

"It is."

There was a pause that stretched ten heartbeats before Tony decided to ignore her last words. Steve was giving her a measured look. Bruce was making his excuses to go look at the clones and Sigyn picked up the towel again, but hesitated when the tingle ran up her arm again.

"So, Amora's last estimated location was-" Tony was saying, but cut himself off when she grunted and gripped her left arm as the muscles spasmed. "What? What is it?"

"Hold on, Tony," she said, leaving the kitchen to cross the room to the window where she threw her right hand up to encase its surface in a thick layer of ice that was her height. Her left came up and across the surface of the ice, bringing to life the grizzled features of an older gentleman with white hair braided down his back and blood running down one temple. Behind him, what had once been a peaceful, stunning palatial garden full of every flower known to Vanaheim was a ruined mess as flashes of energy were parried back and forth and the bodies of the attackers and defenders alike were trampled beneath the fighting.

"Princess," the male said.

"Cypress," she answered, her eyes sliding across the carnage behind him.

"This is but one center of battle, princess. Marauders have invaded. We are barely able to hold them back and Asgard is silent. We need you, princess. You and your husband. Will you aid us?"

She had to visibly gather herself. "What are your words, general? That I may know this is no trap."

Something fluid ran off his tongue that hardened her expression and had her nodding. "What of your queen?"

"Silent."

"Who leads them?"

"Malekith.