(Louise O'Reilly: 2009 May 14th)

Louise was sitting in the lunchroom of the newly built Stark Tower, which was basically a building to house an arc reactor that offered free power for a number of research and development projects that Stark had in mind. She had a frown on her face, something that was far too common in the past few months, a few months that had been mostly her friend saving lives from random accidents and investigating in vain for the location of the deadly Doctor Octopus.

And so the young woman was waiting, waiting impatiently for Pat to arrive. This would be the third time this month alone that the super-powered reporter had been late to meet her, the trend that was being formed caused Louise's blood to boil.

But only a little.

Given that he was probably late because he was busy stopping a crime or staving some life. Louise couldn't really bring herself to get mad at him. What did cause her blood to start boiling, was just how smug he could be about it now.

"Louise!" Hearing her name, she looked over, finding her old school friend, Becca, running over to her with her boyfriend, Rick, being practically dragged over to her. "It's been so long, I haven't seen ya since we graduated."

Louise gave her a little smile, motioning her head to signal for the smaller woman to take a seat. When the duo was finally seated, Louise finally spoke up;

"Oh, sorry about not calling you or nothing," The Redhead shrugged, her shoulders rolling up slightly as she rolled up her sleeves on her shirt, preparing to start eating regardless of the lack of Pat at the moment. "I've been busy with my new job-"

"And your new secret boyfriend?" Becca interrupted her, the grin the other girl was wearing slowly melting away as Ricky jabbed her with his elbow. The girl turned her eyes toward him and her boyfriend shook his head hard.

Becca took a long hard look at the way Louise gripped the table, watching the skin around her knuckles turn pale. Even though the other woman had perfect control over her facial expression, the hands never lied for Louise.

Louise just took a deep breath, in and out.

Then so she wouldn't have to speak about the subject, Louise took a large bite out of her lunch, crunching down on it as if she had been starving herself for the last month. It was so much and so fast that the other woman started to feel guilty over starting that reaction.

So she decided to change the subject.

"So… how's your dad? Heard his new job has been going well?"

This brought a small smile back to the redhead's face.

"Yeah, he's been doing great, the work's been real good for his health," Louise said after swallowing her food. "There are far fewer late nights… " she trailed off as she leaned in and whispered. "And fewer people shooting at him, which would be the big plus even if he didn't rake in more money than three mob enforcers combined."

Becca sighed in relief before morphing her face into a smile that matched her friends.

"That's great," Rick was the one this time to speak up, for the first time since he'd entered the room. Rick had always been a quiet guy, something that Louise was thankful for, but right now his voice sounded like nails on a chalkboard. "I'm still trying to figure out my-"

"Yo."

Suddenly, as if literally jump-cutting to the last open seat, Pat appeared, he was wearing some sort of blue leather jacket, with white accents, his hair had grown longer, having been uncut for the last few months, now stopping around his chin, framing his face while it was still clean-shaven and his smile was smugger than ever before.

Something that didn't go unnoticed as Louise rolled her eyes at him while both Becca and Rick jumped slightly from fright, their knees hitting the table and causing it to shake.

"Pat."

Was Louise's rather subdued response, as she went back to munching on her meal. This caused Pat to frown for a single second before he leaned back on his chair, a hand going into his pocket.

"Don't be like that," he spoke, his jovial tone matching his overall body language, light and unguarded. "I was busy with a car crash down a few blocks."

"That's horrible, was anyone badly injured?" The only other male at the table asked.

Even while Louise didn't give any response to this, Rick couldn't help but ask about the crash. Pat just turned slightly, his grin much softer and could be better described as sheepish.

"Yeah, it was no bother, I can stop car crashes with a single finger," he bragged, moving forward in his seat once more, so Pat could get a better angle to talk to the other man from. "Let me tell ya, the bigger problem isn't stopping the crash… It's how grateful some people are afterward. Some of them are a wee… bit too grateful."

Becca and Rick shared a glance before the two realized what the man had just said.

"You're that-"

Before Becca could even voice her revelation, Pat shushed her, his left hand coming out of his pocket in a stop-motion, a quick wink. It wasn't like it was hard to figure out that the man in blue was the legendary super-powered reporter.

Over the past year, the reporter had been doing as much stopping crime as he was reporting on it. Though, the large majority of his actions was rescue work, helping out with burning buildings, stopping traffic accidents. That sort of thing.

Very few people were out robbing banks in this day and age.

New York's accident rate was down to levels many had never seen before, to a rate that made some wonder if there was any real danger to speeding anymore. But those people were morons, and shouldn't be listened to.

At least, Louise thought so.

It was then that the young woman found that she hadn't anything left to eat from her meal, nothing to hide the fact that she didn't want to talk. Instead, Louise was stuck staring at her fingers while Pat continued describing his morning of saving lives.

If it wasn't for all the gloating, Louise would've felt proud, she still did feel a little proud of her friend. But that wasn't something the O'Reilly woman was going to tell him, not in the mood she was in.

"... and that was when I appeared, matching the speed of the car, catching it with me hands and bringing it to a safe stop." Pat ended his story in a soft whisper, his hands moving forward in a mime of the event. "That's why when it comes to catching most large objects, matching their speed is usually the way to go."

"Wow, that's intense," Becca replied, her eyes practically had stars in them when her boyfriend elbowed her once more. This time he motioned his head slightly, bringing Becca's attention back to the cross expression that Louise was wearing.

"You know… maybe we should be… leaving…" Rick supplied much to Pat's apparent amusement. With a gentle hand, he helped his girlfriend up and left the table, the duo leaving the room within seconds.

So the two were left alone… or, as alone as a crowded lunchroom could be.

"Hey," Pat spoke, after having waited through a long period of silence. "I'm sorry about being late again. I just let myself get caught up in everything, even just patrolling the city itself is a massive job. I'm letting myself get overwhelmed, so I had a thought…"

He let himself trail off, giving Louise a smile, a small hesitant thing that even on the face of a six feet tall man couldn't help but be shared by the woman herself.

"You had a thought, it sounds dangerous to me," she grinned, feeling uplifted somewhat before the O'Reilly girl waved him on.

"So, I had been flying about, and there was this cat," He put his hand on the table, his hand miming the actions of this animal. "Accidently, I picked him up, and for a second I was like… Oh no, she'd be dead… but no, she was fine, even at the fastest I could move." Pat's face lit up in a massively childish smile. "So how about this, I'll take you anywhere you want to go."

Now, this got Louise's attention, she could recall the man's concerns over whiplash when she had once asked to be given a lift.

"How long will it take to get… to London?"

Pat leaned forward, an action that Louise mirrored, the two of them nearly directly in the other's face.

"Only a short half an hour," he responded, before adding on. "Just let me finish my fluff piece, then we'll figure out the place time, with time zones being considered, and this place finally being done and we'll get going, no need to pack for much, I can have you back before you know it."

It was at this moment that a large bang hit the table. Pat was the first to turn and face the noise, his grin much smaller now and stained. When Louise turned around at a normal human rate, she couldn't help but groan at the sight before.

"Agent Morse," Pat spoke, leaning back on his chair casually. There was a grimace on his face, a twitch that lasted less than a microsecond but that was more than enough for both Bobbi and Louise to pick up on it. "What can I do for you?"

"There's been a situation," Bobbi slid a folder towards Pat, the man catching it with a single finger and spinning it to face him.

Louise didn't get to peek inside it, as Pat leaned forwards, his eyes now glaring down at the page below him. He tapped against it before closing the folder and standing up, leaving it on the table. Something that the SHIELD Agent seemed to leave be.

"Sorry for cutting this short, L," Pat said, turning as he started to walk out of the lunchroom, SHIELD Agent in tow. "But the big leagues are calling, and I'm stepping into the ring."

"Stop mixing metaphors!" Louise spoke out, knowing that even as he had already left the room, that his super-powered ears could hear every word she spoke. "It's not as cool as you think!"

(Pat Doyle)

Loki has come to Earth, blown up a SHIELD Laboratory, and stolen some artifact of great power, for no doubt nefarious purposes that included conquering either Earth or Asgard. Noice, that was something right out of the comics, and since Loki was down here and making a mess.

Thor wouldn't be far behind.

I should keep an eye out for a blond doctor with a cane. Since where there is Loki, his brother Thor can't be too far behind, ready to take out his evil adopted brother like a mighty... hammer of justice.

No, that was too lame… even for me.

We weren't taking long to get to the destination, especially given we took what I would call "Air-Lugh" to get there, I even had the time to get changed into my Lugh outfit, a blue hoodie that a white shield with a blue sun with three bursts coming out of it in the center. This was topped off with a blue domino mask.

These weren't the only clothes I had for Superheroing, but it was the only set that I had on hand. The other suit was for… special occasions, so I didn't bother to carry it around with me. And the only reason that I even knew where I was going to was the folder I had been given earlier, and that place was… a SHIELD Carrier.

Now, as I came down to the thing, I was able to see the inner workings of this ship. The sight of the gears, the large turbines, and many other technical features revealed to me that this wasn't a normal carrier.

This was an airship.

Memories of the nineties Spider-man and the flying ship that SHIELD used in that came to my mind first, followed by the one in the Ultimate line of comics in Marvel. The SHIELD Helicarrier, if I recall correctly.

It's impressive tech, relative to the normal stuff that the world has access to at least.

We landed without a bang, it was a fast but soft landing. It was a showcase of the power that I had at my command, that I could move that fast, but still not make a sound as I landed on their deck. Also… and this is something that I found really odd. No matter how fast I went, I never seemed to make a sonic boom… like what the hell is up with that?

Before anything else could happen, I spotted a familiar pair stepping off a helicopter, a very familiar pair.

"Dr. Banner, Dr. Ross, it's good to see you guys again!" I walked up, Morse running up to my side.

I took a long look at the pair, they were glowing in that metaphorical sense. And it didn't go without saying that Bruce was looking a lot better than he had been the last time I saw him, were before his clothes were hanging off him, obviously, he either couldn't get his hands on clothes that could fit him at the time or he was underfed and meant that clothes that should've fit didn't.

"It's good to see you too," Banner replied, his right hand caught in the grip of Ross's own hand as the two walked forward. "You… look colorful?"

"Bruce," Betty spoke up, elbowing the man lightly as she giggled. "Don't be rude."

"Hey, it was just an observation," he exclaimed with a smile. "I didn't mean anything by it."

Whatever the pair was about to say, I didn't pay it any heed as I instead my attention was grabbed by a stunning redhead walking up behind them, she didn't even make a single sound whenever her feet hit against the ground.

Interesting.

"So they brought you guys in on this, what's the stitch?" I asked the pair, deciding to pretend that I hadn't noticed the redhead.

"Well, from what we've been told, the Tesseract produces gamma radiation," Betty responded, walking forward toward the entrance to the carrier's interior. "So given that between Bruce and me, we're the foremost experts on gamma radiation in the world, they've brought us in to track it."

Bruce's facelifted into a smile as a blond man, built better than I currently was, stepped into view before us. He was tall enough, around my same height, but the broader shoulders he had made him out to be bigger than I was in spite of our similar structure.

It turns out that I was staring at him but given the amused eyebrow raise from the man, I doubt I was that creepy doing so. Maybe he was just used to people staring at him.

"Steve Rodgers," he put his hand out, waiting for me to shake it.

So I did.

"Patrick Doyle," I shook his hand, remembering his name from what little Marvel trivia I could recall. Far more memorable than the Hellicarrier was in the Spider-Man animated series, Captain America wasn't a man one would forget. Given there was an entire arc around him.

But hopefully, this isn't the same kind of Captain America as the "This A on my forehead isn't for France!" Ultimate Marvel version. Given the variation of Nick Fury I met with, that was a big concern for me.

"I've heard of you," Cap replied with a small grin. "The superpowered reporter; heard that you've been doing some good work. It's nice to meet you."

It was said so earnestly that I couldn't imagine this man saying the most infamous line of the Ultimate Version. So earnestly that I could help but share the grin as we shook hands. We didn't have much else to say to each other, so I let the good captain introduce himself to the gamma pair.

While the Cap and I had been talking, Morse had introduced herself to Banner and Ross, the two of them quietly giving each other the gentle exchanges of polite glad to be working with you.

"Dr. Banner, Dr. Ross," Rodgers' tone was of deep respect. I could only presume it was respect for their intellect and supposed skills, given that the man had yet to meet them before today.

"Oh, yeah," Banner looked around as if he was surprised that the Captain was talking to him of all people."Hi, they told me that you were coming along."

"The word is that you're the man that can find the cube."

"Is that the only word?"

"The only one that matters to me."

"Gentlemen, you may wanna step inside in a minute. It's gonna get a little hard to breath."

The redhead spoke up, catching my attention once more as we entered the Helicarrier. This was the moment that I could feel the ground start to shift and shake slightly as the place started to lift up.

"Huh, it's not as impressive as the tech sheet makes it out to be," I mumbled, grabbing Morse's attention who couldn't help but give me a side glare. "I'm just saying, this thing can't go high enough to give me trouble. Talk to me when you've got a space-Helicarrier and then I'll be impressed."

(Loki: Some Underground Bunker)

He watched the humans roam about the room, preparing for what was to come, the opening of a portal, and the unleashing of his army of Chitauri upon the people of Earth. Loki was originally going to study the people that Barton had informed him would be sent after him.

But his body still ached strangely and his vision would swim at times, it was if he was still recovering from his fall.

So instead he sat down to rest, he was in no rush to complete his task as things seemed to be running ahead of schedule. This was especially odd, even with the information that the Mind stone had granted Selvig from Loki's own mind, the man shouldn't have been able to design the mechanisms that fast. It was almost like he was working from blueprints he had already seen.

Things were going much faster than Loki had planned.

As if summoned by his unconscious mind, Barton stepped forward, a tablet in his hand.

"Sir," he said, his tone a mix of stiff and professional. "I've acquired the files on the final member of the Avengers for you."

"Oh, is that so?"

Loki leaned on the scepter, letting his weight be held only by it rather than his own legs, trying to mask the burn he could still feel raging through them. There was a few seconds that the god had to think on things once more while Barton seemed to fumble with the tablet, files on the capabilities of the hero going by the title of Lugh.

Real name wasn't known, but he also went by the name Patrick Doyle. Apparently, the former title was a failed attempt to hide his identity from the mortals on Midgard, but it wasn't his terrible skills at hiding himself amongst the natives that concerned Loki.

"Well, isn't that interesting," His mind erupted in excitement at the conclusion all this data appeared to give him. "I was under the impression they were all dead. It seems that the universe is just full of surprises."

Finding one of those people here was more than surprising, it brought memories of his days in the libraries of Vanaheim, where he would study the various races within the Nine and without, he would love to discuss this Lugh's culture with him. His people had been isolationists, so there wasn't much information out there about them and how they lived, what did they like to eat? How did their society function?

Democracy? Monarchy?

So many questions that could be asked.

And this would be the first sign of them since the destruction of their world. A race thought dead, discovered to be alive on Midgard, Loki wondered if Heimdall had kept this secret from all but the All-Father?

Still, the thoughts of meeting such a member of such a famously elusive race caused him to be reminded of the days where he'd be stuck in a book, while his brother would come by to recruit him into some wild adventure of some sort, something that he enjoyed just as much.

Battles won by strength of arms, but also won by the skills and tricking their enemies. Battles that played to the strengths of Asgard's Princes.

It was a joyous time and the worst time of his life, as Thor's little brother, his lackey.

His mind supplied these thoughts as if they were a poison towards memories of joy… it shifted things to the time on the bridge, of being thrown off the shattered Bifrost. Rage only built up as he was reminded of the betrayals that Asgard had heaped on him.

"Sir?" Hawkeye spoke, confused at the sudden silence from his new boss.

"There's been a change of plans," And what changes they would be with such a destructive force on Midgard to take advantage of. "Tell me… does he have any enemies of note on Earth?"

(Natasha Romanoff)

They had walked all the way from the deck to the main bridge of the Helicarrier, Director Fury was in the middle of the room, letting himself peer over everyone and keep an eye on the Agents working. While Rogers sat behind Fury, where he listened in as both Banner and Ross were discussing ways to find the missing Tesseract.

What was Natasha herself doing at the moment?

She was being slightly confused as she stared at the sight before her, so much so that after a moment Natasha shifted her focus to Bobbi Morse. The other woman shrugged though, a rather small smirk on her face.

"Is he always… so… " Natasha waved her towards the viewing screen where Doyle was miming not being able to breathe while still standing on the outside of the Helicarrier as it started to rise into the air.

"Childish?" Morse finished for her, raising an eyebrow. "Only when he gets excited, it mostly comes with the whole flying thing I think, because neither Rogers nor Banner acts like this."

"Maybe it's because his girlfriend works for Stark?" She questioned, bringing it up in jest.

"You think it's contagious?"

"Well, we're sure he was more mature before O'Reilly started to work for him."

At this moment, Doyle stopped miming, his face turning around back to the camera and he gave it a rather unamused stare. Natasha turned from the display, a question on her lips;

"He can'-"

"-hear you," Doyle's voice spoke up, right beside her. "Yup, even over the wind outside."

Even with the sudden surprise of the man arriving next to her before the interior sensors picked up any movement, Natasha didn't react with any outward surprise to his sudden presence.

"Impressive, any other trick you got, big guy?"

Even though he appeared to be attempting to tower over her, using his superior height to intimidate her. Natasha was sure that wasn't the case here. Doyle's stance was too casual for that.

Must've grown up with a taller than average family.

Doyle had an odd stare, at least when looking at her like he was looking through her skin and searching her insides, and somehow still judging her for something. Natasha was used to being judged, by other members of SHIELD, by normal people, it was just how life was.

Though the SHIELD Agent was more used to people at least aware of her work in general before they started to judge her.

"A few," he eventually shrugged. "But I usually save the x-raying till the second or third date."

"If you're done, Mr. Doyle?" Fury spoke up without turning, his back to them still. "I think it's about time that you got to the matter at hand."

Natasha just walked slowly after the man, Bobbi taking up space standing next to Rogers while she continued to take in the super-powered reporter's body language. It was the odd mix of relaxed and stiff that caused her some concern.

He moved as if he owned the place as if he was untouchable, which as far as the SHIELD Agent was aware, he was. But at the same time, his eyes were darting around the room searching for any threat.

Interesting.

"So… then," Doyle spoke up, his eyes stopping at Rogers, the two Enhanced individuals now sitting around the same table. "What's the plan when we catch up to his royal hornyness… " he trailed off at the sight of Natasha blinking, Rogers blinking, Morse blinking and if it wasn't for his eyepatch she would be sure that Fury would've been blinking as well. "... what?"

"His royal hornyness?" Rogers spoke up first.

"Yeah… because of-" he placed his fingers near his forehead and pointed up. "Because the horns… he wears."

Even though his face didn't seem to show it, Natasha knew that the man was now embarrassed. It took the man down another grade from that point onward, but it also revealed that he knew the kind of clothes Loki liked to wear.

"You know him?" Fury pounced on the other man.

"Only a vague idea of him," Doyle squinted his eyes. "And what I do comes from what I'd was told about Asgard from nearly two decades ago."

"What, did you take classes on Norse Gods in elementary?" Morse supplied.

"Classes on the political figures in Asgard," Doyle replied, seemingly revealing his alien origins to anyone with two brain cells to rub together. Even Rogers, for all his good boy, never been to high school vibes, caught onto it. But it wasn't important at the moment, so no one asked any questions about his exact origins… yet. "We didn't know a lot to be honest, so what details I do have are… sparse."

"That's more than we know," Rogers interceded. "Lay it on us."

"Well," The reporter rolled his eyes up to the right. Part of her brain that was still a killer, noted that this was a common action by people that are trying to recall something, rather than someone that was making something up which would be him looking up the left if that behavior was compatible whichever Doyle was. "He's the brother of Thor, a shapeshifter, not sure the limit on what he can transform into. He's a sorcerer of some renown, what that exactly means I'm not sure, and he's around a thousand years old-"

"-Legend says that he's been around for longer than that," Morse spoke up. "At least two."

"Well," he responded with a roll of his eyes and roll of his right hand to go with it. With every word, Doyle would gesture as if he needed to act out every word's meaning. "Legend is obviously wrong, the guy is like born near 500 or 1000 AD… from what I recall. But that's about it, never had too much interest in a guy that I would never meet."

"Well, you might regret that soon," The blonde Agent replied. "Going up against someone who could be capable of a third of Thor's destructive force without knowing what their abilities are will be trouble."

"That's a pretty big gap of information, very vague," Banner spoke up in the room for the first time in several minutes, his eyes focused on a laptop he had set on the table, he and Ross were working out a program to be used in tracking the Gamma signature of the Tesseract. "I didn't see you as a poor student."

"Well, I've got to be bad something don't I?" Doyle grinned while kicking back on the chair and started to balance on the back legs. It was the way that his eyes shifted down, it told Natasha about how uncomfortable the man seemed about the prior subject. "Life wouldn't be interesting otherwise."

"As interesting as that exact line of conversation is," Morse spoke up, finally taking a seat herself. "It does reveal a rather concerning ability that Loki has."

"Depending on how it works I should be able to see through any disguise he can take… if his insides don't match at least."

"Well, this meeting has been nice and all," Ross interceded, "But Bruce and I really need to get to a lab so we can start working."

Quickly Natasha was sent off with the pair to show them the lab that they would be working on. And for the first time since the three enhanced men had arrived on the SHIELD Helicarrier, she was sure that the reporter wasn't watching her anymore.

Natasha wondered if Fury had kept Doyle's alien origins under wraps or the man truly hadn't known.

(Loki: Germany)

Given the range that SHIELD had in terms of support and surveillance, Loki wasn't sure why Barton thought that this sort of distraction would work. Especially given that he was targeting a man that had the capability to enter the facility that Barton was getting the needed Iridium from.

It seemed like the second place that they'd check given Loki was forcible holding the man down at the moment and using a scanner to read the needed details from those pupils to pass security.

As Loki left the man gasping in pain and exited the museum, there was something off about the area, the humans were becoming less in number by each passing second. Where once there were hundreds of them, now there were only a few dozens left.

"Ah," Loki chuckled as he realized what was going on, slamming his scepter into the ground, a blue haze erupted over the area. a blue figure tripped, sliding across the near-empty courtyard causing more screams to come from the humans.

Loki took in the man's details, he was about the same height as Thor. Slimmer built, but not by a lot. His code of dress was remarkably Midgardian for something of his power and stature, a blue hoodie with a pair of blue pants and a symbol he couldn't recognize gracing the front of it.

Blue… he was blue.

Not the most important detail of this Lugh, but it was a detail that reminded Loki of his purpose.

"No reason to make this too easy," Loki thought with a grin.

"Well, that didn't work out like I thought it would," The figure known by some as Lugh hopped back to his feet with a light bounce to his steep, a tight smile on his face. Loki considered attacking him while he was down, but it wasn't yet time to make such bold moves. "So… I'll ask you once, drop the scepter and no one has to get hurt."

Loki didn't, but he did aim the tip else while he started to pace in circles with the man. The two of them like lions waiting for the first sign to strike.

"I wonder why someone as mighty as you would protect such pitiful creatures?"

That got a raised eyebrow from the man and a roll of his eyes.

"You've got power, then it should be the service of the people, not yourself."

Loki couldn't help but laugh at that sentimental crap, it reminded him of the lies that Odin would tell him when he was naught but a child, things about ruling, rules about life, and how they were to help each other through it all. But life had taught him the truth that…

… freedom was a lie.

"Ah… a fool then," Loki had no use for a fool. "Pity."

With a speed that many humans couldn't have reacted to, his scepter struck out. The blade heading right for Lugh's head. While Loki had briefly thought that he would try and tank the blow, relying on his race's incredible durability, instead the powerful fool moved back out of reach before his fist leapt at out at Loki with the same kind of momentum that Thor's hammer would have.

With an elegance that came from centuries of training, Loki managed to maneuver the scepter to take the blow instead of his face. But still, the attack took him off of his feet, throwing the Prince all the way to the museum steps.

Instantly Loki shifted forms, his body growing skinner, smaller but somehow much longer. Scales came next as Lugh's fist hit the area that once contained Loki's head.

"What?" Lugh exclaimed as he pulled his fist from the concrete ground.

The, now snake, Loki slithered around the scepter left on the ground, the head now pointed at the confused opponent. Then a blast of raw blue power slammed into the equally powerful blue man and embedded him into the ground nearby.

Screams erupted from the peasants around them, many of them running out of sight but those with some steel in their hearts stayed within view of the two.

Loki only just resumed his true form but Lugh was already on him, a blow to his stomach this time hitting him directly. Once more, the Asgardian Prince found himself comparing the blow to something his brother would give, but for once found his brother falling short.

As he coughed and groaned from the sensation, Loki felt his rage overtaking him once more. Even though it went against his plans, Loki predicted the movements of the much faster Lugh with a grace that came from his centuries of combat experience. Meaning this time when the scepter came for Lugh…

… it cut through his jacket and into his skin, cutting right into his left arm.

From shock alone, Lugh leaped back a full six meters. Loki didn't waste the opening and attempted to blast him once more, this time the other non-Midgardian slapped the blast upward and harmlessly to the sky.

"So that's how it works," Loki smirked, haven figured out the mechanism that his opponent's invulnerability worked. "Good to know."

With a sideways swipe, Loki brought the Scepter sliding at the man's feet but found that such a thing wouldn't work as the pole of the weapon bounced off him rather than anything else. Using the force of the failed blow to his advantage, Loki let himself hop back away from

Once more Loki launched himself forward with a spin, more for aesthetics than for a purpose, the blade of the scepter spinning outward. Rather than move, Lugh simply smiled and raised a hand, an action that even Loki's great Asgardian eyes could only barely make out due to his spinning.

Then it hit him.

Rather he hit him.

"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to surrender," The soldier out of his time spoke, his tone full of self-righteousness, his famous shield had taken the Scepter's blade without a scratch, instead the collision caused Loki to be knocked to the side. "Drop the scepter and hand over the Tesseract."

"Ah, the dreaded Captain America," Loki rolled his eyes, getting up slowly but leaving the scepter on the ground as he did. It wasn't like he couldn't reach for it at a moment's notice. If Loki thought that the blue of Lugh's outfit was annoying.

He found the blue of Captain Roger's to be more so.

Even as he searched around the area, no peasants to terrorize and a Midgardian vehicle circling around him with its weapons aimed right for him and a catchy Midgardian melody starting to come from its speakers.

Yet there was only one threat to him at the moment.

"I'm afraid that isn't an option-" Before Loki could finish his witty remark, a beam slapped him back on his ass once more.

"Stay down, Reindeer Games," In his famous metal suit, Tony Stark came thundering down from the sky, having shot the Asgardian with his repulsors. "You won't like it if you get up."

Slowly, Loki raised his hands, feigning defeat but smiling on the inside as his armor returned to the pocket space that he kept it in. Now only in his leathers, the God of Mischief knew that his plan of distracting his enemies was hitting off without a hitch.

Now that he had their attention, next it was time to break them.

Or give them a common enemy.

Author's Note: Okay, how're things with everyone. I hope that this update is good, it's the first time that I've ever written Loki, and I'm trying to strike a balance of how he was in Thor 1 and how he acted in the first Avengers movies.

He's fairly different between the two films, which given his other mental breakdown at the end of that film isn't saying much to be honest. What really got me when I was re-watching it was the retcon that slipped by the first time that I watched it.

In the end credits of Thor 1, Selvig looks to a reflective surface, sees Loki and the two speak in unison. Implying that he's got the good doctor under his control already… but he doesn't? Like he has to hit with the scepter mind whammy at the beginning of the Avengers like he had to Barton.

So… that's weird, which combined with how Thor doesn't protest to throwing Loki off the Bifrost(what was left of it anyway) made me question just what happens in the version of Thor 1 that actually happened?

I don't think Loki would lie?(About this part, any good liar would tell you to tell the truth whenever you can) But maybe if Thor thought he was mental, he'd just let it go? I'm going with that.

Otherwise, I'm keeping things mostly loose with Loki here, everything is his plans… but if he's even really thinking about how things fit I'm leaving that up in the air.

So I'll catch you guys next time, after you all stop arguing power levels anyway… lol.