-.-

Beneath

Chapter One Hundred Seventy-Seven – Contact

The pinprick lights he'd seen, it turned out, were stars amidst the black vastness of space. Loki had a brief view of it before his perspective shifted and Thanos filled his vision. He pulled back and looked about for himself, finding the projection leaning over with hands gripping the unseen countertop, determined expression on his face, but an instant later his perspective shifted again and he was flying backward, landing on his back with a pained grunt, Thanos again filling his vision. Just visible over Thanos's left shoulder was the echo of the real him; Loki fought to hold onto the echo instead of letting it fade away as it always had. Thanos, however, seemed insistent on retaining his complete attention. A hand came down over his neck, not squeezing, put pressing down hard enough to hurt.

"We had an agreement."

"We did," Loki agreed, as calmly as he could manage. "And as I already explained to your lackey, the army you provided was undisciplined and inept, and seemed not to realize whose orders they were expected to follow. You failed to hold up your end of the bargain."

By the time Loki saw the fist coming it was already striking, and his ears rang and vision swam. His nose felt soft and wet and the left side of his face was numb. He tried to get his eyes to focus, finding a blurry image of himself exactly where it had been before. A dark figure emerged from the rocks then and brushed a hand through the vestige of the real him, which then flickered and disappeared. Loki grimaced. He hadn't known for certain, but he'd hoped that as long as he hung onto the vestige – a visual sign of an escape route – he would be able to extricate himself from this place at will. His vision cleared further, and he realized it was the lackey now hovering nearby. Wonderful, Loki thought, before the fist came down again.

"You think you can run from me? You think you can hide? I will always find you."

"I've heard that before, actually. But with more creativity." The left side of his face exploded into pain; he was certain bones had broken this time, and not just cartilage.

"You failed to obtain the Tesseract, and you lost the scepter. And you decimated my army."

"And there's the problem. I thought it was my army. But consider this – at least you can tell your mistress that they're offerings." With the fourth punch, Loki felt the force of the impact more than any actual pain.

"You entered into a bargain and failed to carry out any of what you agreed to. You are the failure your father knew you to be, both of them. You shouldn't have kept from me what you did to your other brother. Had I known of that betrayal, I would also have known that you are an unreliable, treacherous cur."

Loki swallowed blood. "Come now, Thanos, you already knew I am an unreliable, treacherous cur. You wouldn't have been so fond of me if I wasn't. You knew exactly what you were getting into. I wasn't your guest, I was your captive, and I was shown what would happen if I didn't cooperate." This time the pain came only from the back of his head; his face, he figured, had lost all feeling.

"Do you need help remembering again? You entered into a bargain freely. With enthusiasm. Pathetic worm."

"Your actions" – Loki paused to swallow more blood, and noted the unnatural slurring of his words – "are those of one who doesn't realize he still has a bargain."

The fist came forward, but this time it paused. Thanos released his neck, and Loki found himself able to move again. He took a moment to run his tongue around his teeth, and sure enough at least two of the upper front ones were gone.

"Speak."

"That would be easier if my mouth was whole again," Loki said, the th's and s's not coming out right at all.

"Fine. You look disgusting anyway."

Loki imagined he did. But when he ran his tongue around his teeth again, everything felt as it should. He pushed himself back onto his feet. "I lost the Tesseract and the scepter because the Chitauri failed miserably. And I never walked away from our agreement; I was captured, and I have been a prisoner of some sort or other ever since. I'm very close to regaining complete freedom now, perhaps mere days from it. And when I do…I'll have another opportunity."

"Brokk will get the Tesseract. He will succeed where you failed."

Loki laughed out loud…but not for long. He'd played that particular game long enough and the experience of having his face turned into a bloody misshapen mess was not one he wished to immediately repeat. "He hasn't been updating you on current developments? The war is over but for a signed treaty. The Tesseract will remain on Asgard. Brokk isn't on Asgard. I am."

Thanos's face contorted in something Loki thought was anger, there for a moment and gone. Cold, calculating, cajoling, mocking, and all sorts of falsehood were common displays, but they were all just that: displays. The flash of anger, Loki thought, was real.

"How will you obtain it?"

"I'm not certain yet. I'll have to find the right time. But I'm confident that opportunity will arise. I won them the war you started, you see. I have won favor for that, and with favor comes freedom. Odin himself has guaranteed my freedom. Once I'm able to do as I please…the Tesseract will be mine, and we can strike a new bargain. Another world, perhaps. Midgard no longer interests me. But I won't be able to do on Asgard as I did on Midgard. Creating a portal there with the Tesseract won't be possible; I'll have to leave as soon as I obtain it. Where is this place? I'll need to know where to deliver your trinket."

"Stop trying to hide from me, and you can update me on your progress easily."

"Everyone seems to think I've been hiding. I haven't. And if you can't reach me, how am I to find you?"

"Were I to tell you where I am, you would not understand."

"I'm more than willing to try. Once I relieve the Aesir of their treasure, I'll be forced to flee. I'll need somewhere to flee to."

"When your hands are no longer empty, I will tell you where to go and what to do. Until then, you-"

Loki drew in a sharp breath; Thanos shimmered and for an instant a smooth dark gray surface appeared in his place.

"-position to ask questions, much less demand ans-"

Thanos and the blackness of space beyond him shimmered again, the sensation of intense pressure returned, and this time Loki fought to remain with Thanos. It was useless, though – in less than a second he was back in his real body, eyes fixed firmly on the dark gray bathroom counter as he pulled in a breath that seemed not to go past the top of his lungs. And then he realized the pressure on his arm wasn't going away. He wasn't alone.

Loki immediately spun to his left and drew back his right arm, but Steve Rogers just as quickly stepped back, hands out, fingers spread. Loki stopped, and forced himself to relax his muscles. He had no qualms about striking Captain America, but Loki had not lost sight of why he was here, and who was here with him; these were not the circumstances for starting a fight.

"What's going on here?" Steve asked. Behind him, just inside the open doorway, stood Jolgeir watching with the sharp gaze of a Chief Palace Einherjar, a shoulder in front of Tony Stark.

"Hm. That's exactly what I was going to ask. Do you not afford a man privacy in the bathroom here?"

"JARVIS said you weren't using the bathroom," Tony put in. "He said you were just standing here, staring into space."

"What a pleasant thought. JARVIS, I didn't realize you engaged in such perversions. And here I thought we had gained a mutual appreciation."

"Don't answer him, JARVIS. I told him to keep an eye on you, and that means everywhere. Back to the beginning now. Steve asked you a question."

"I had a headache," Loki said, turning to Steve with his most polite smile. "I thought if I took a few minutes to myself, it would pass. And it has. Thank you for inquiring after my wellbeing. How very thoughtful of you."

"A headache," Steve repeated, his tone manifesting doubt.

"Yes. I didn't mean to interrupt the gathering. Please, return. I'll rejoin you in a moment. Unless I'm no longer permitted the use of your bathroom, Tony."

Tony stared, and Loki stared right back. Loki knew Tony didn't believe him, but he also knew Tony had no grounds to challenge him on. "You're permitted," he finally said; Loki smiled his victory. "But I'm going to need you to pay for that."

"You require payment for the use of your bathroom facilities?" he asked with a smirk.

"Nope. I require payment when you turn chunks of concrete into dust," Tony said, pointing.

Loki followed the direction of Tony's finger, and saw that where he'd gripped the counter, at some point he had managed to crush it. He hadn't felt it; his hands were numb. He swallowed. It was a very, very bad headache, he thought, but saying it wouldn't help convince anyone. "I didn't realize your construction was so weak. I apologize. I'm certain Asgard's king will gladly make reparations."

"Uh-huh. You realize this isn't the first time you've turned concrete into dust at my place here. You just did it without the Hulk's help this time."

"Thank you for the reminder. I might have forgotten, otherwise. Now, please, return to the meeting. I'll rejoin you once I've washed the dust from my hands."

No one moved. No one looked comfortable. Tony, the furthest from him, was the first to break the impasse. "Don't be long. I'll start to miss the witty repartee," he said, before turning to go.

Jolgeir glanced after Tony. "Are you sure?"

"Are you all right?" Loki heard. "Yes. Go. You're the one who should most be out there."

Jolgeir nodded and left; Loki turned to the sink – motion-activated, he realized – and began to rinse his hands, though he was conscious of the fact that Steve was lingering.

"If you wouldn't mind," Loki said crossly, gesturing to the hand towel that the captain was blocking.

Steve stepped aside, but still didn't leave. "You're different," he said.

Loki looked up at him from drying his hands. "You wash and dry your hands in some other fashion?" he asked in a disinterested tone.

"No, pretty much the same. I meant your attitude. Your whole demeanor. You don't even look the same."

"I look exactly the same," Loki said, choosing to ignore the rest. "I'm merely dressed differently. Is this more familiar?" he asked as his attire shifted not to what he'd been wearing upon his arrival here, but what he'd worn when he fought Captain America. He left the illusion in place for a few seconds before reverting to the simple black tunic and pants.

"You know I wasn't talking about your clothes. And we all know that this" – he pointed at the areas of crumbled concrete – "wasn't a headache. We knocked, said your name, opened the door, came in…you didn't react at all until I touched you. It's like you weren't even here."

Loki dropped the towel on the counter. He suspected Steve had no idea how close he was to the truth. Then again, maybe, somehow, he did. "If we must talk, I'd rather talk about you. You're again toying with artifacts you don't understand, aren't you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about. What artifacts?"

"The scepter. What else? You've brought it here, close. An army, surrounding this building? Or just a few who've learned how to use it?"

Steve gave a slow nod of understanding. "Not quite an army. More than a few. I'm sure you understand we have to take precautions."

"You would be foolish not to," Loki said with a curt nod. "And the scepter? Who would seek to control me?"

"Nobody seeks to control you. But if we had to…the general consensus was that it should be me," Steve answered, one corner of his lips pulling into a wry smile.

For a flash of a moment, Loki pictured this mortal ordering him to kneel, and himself whole-heartedly obeying. He couldn't imagine a worse fate. "Not Agent Barton?"

"He doesn't want anything to do with the scepter. I'm sure you can understand why."

"Mmm. And what would you do with me, once you'd enslaved my will?"

"We don't do slavery here. We know the antidote to that thing being used on somebody."

"Do you?" Loki asked blandly. If only you were correct, Loki thought. For enslavement of the will, yes, they'd found a way to break it, obviously. His circumstances were different.

"A solid knock on the head does it. A shock to the brain, or the nervous system…something like that."

Loki was mildly surprised. He hadn't thought it was that easy. "It wouldn't work on me, anyway," he said. It wasn't true; he actually had no idea if a mortal would be able to control him through that scepter, but it was at least possible. If he could dissuade them from ever trying, though, so much the better. "Regardless, you would be wise to abandon all use of it."

"You know, when I was asked about the Tesseract, I said something along similar lines. But it was too late then; you'd already taken it. Is using the scepter dangerous?"

Loki smirked and flared his eyes. "Yes." And then he had an idea. "I still have a connection to it. I felt its presence nearby. You've seen how Thor can draw his hammer to him, yes?"

Steve took a deep breath, but did not otherwise react when understanding dawned, which, truthfully, was a bit disappointing. "Is that what this was about?" he asked, gesturing toward the damaged counter again. "You were trying to draw the scepter to you?"

"I was trying not to. A temptation I prefer to resist. My interests have moved on, Captain Rogers. Your world is no longer among them. More than that, I have no wish to disrupt these proceedings. If you value peace here, you will see that the scepter is kept far away from me."

"I'll convey that. Loki…they think the effect of exposure to the scepter is cumulative. You were around it longer and in closer proximity than any of us…did it affect you, too?"

"I once studied a law of the natural environment. In simple terms: everything affects everything. In the way that you mean, though, no. I am not weak like you, to be so easily manipulated."

"Can you just stop? Sheesh, it's almost like talking to Tony. Seeing you out there, I know you're capable of being civil."

"That is out there. You followed me into a bathroom and you expect civil? There's a large mirror right here; I suggest you take a look in it."

Steve looked to the side – a glance to the mirror – and gave a quick laugh. "Okay. Fair point. Look…what I'm trying to ask is…that war I fought in, World War II? We're friends with the countries we were at war with then. Even during the war, I met a few German soldiers, not the leaders, guys at the bottom of the chain. Guys who were cold and hungry and scared the same as our soldiers. They were just fighting for the wrong cause, whether they personally believed in that cause or not – that wasn't up to them. Tony said your mother told him somebody else was in charge of that whole attack on Earth, not you. So what I'm wondering is…were you fighting for someone else's cause?"

Loki's head swam, mind running in too many different directions to immediately follow any to their conclusion. Steve Rogers was very different from Tony Stark, and Loki had interacted little with him before. Tony he understood, more or less. Steve was harder to figure out. "A living hero and a symbol of hope. A good man. Strong sense of justice, and right and wrong," Clint Barton had told him, among other things. "Seems lonely. Pretty much everybody he ever knew is dead and gone." "Are you looking for new friends?" Loki finally asked.

"I didn't say that. I watched you very nearly kill an old man who wasn't armed with anything but courage. But if there's more to the story…I'd like to hear it."

Loki shook his head. This wasn't what he'd come here for. And he had no need to share any stories with Captain America or any other Avenger. "I don't fight for others' causes. I don't fight others' battles." Not anymore, he almost added, but he thought the captain might be confused about which battles he was referring to. Then he thought he wasn't entirely sure himself. "And this battle is over. As I said, your world no longer holds any interest for me in that regard."

"Understood. I'm glad of that, at least. But I get how war works, and how battles are planned and fought. And with what we've learned since your attack, it's obvious there's a lot you aren't telling us."

"One could fill a library full of volumes of things I'm not telling you," Loki said over a dark chuckle. "And I am under no obligation to tell you any of it. I'm here to listen, not to speak." He stepped forward, coming close to Steve – he was a little taller than the once-frozen warrior – and stared down at him.

"Fine," Steve said, backing up and out of the bathroom to let Loki pass. "But if you ever change your mind…I'd give you a fair audience. You might not find many others who can honestly say that. We need to know who else is out there, who might still be interested in our world. Whoever that other person or people are, would they ever peacefully sit down with us here to learn about prosthetic limbs?"

Loki blinked heavily, taken aback by the question, trying to picture it in the instant his eyelids closed. He laughed, eyes wide and wild, and he suspected – but didn't care in the slightest – that in that moment Steve might think him mad. "No." He considered, and saw no reason not to continue. "He would more likely provide his own version of prosthetic limbs, whether you needed them or not. But he has no way to reach your world at the moment, so you have no cause for fear."

"At the moment? What if he finds a way?"

"Then, Captain Rogers, you would have cause for fear," Loki said, then returned to the sitting room and took his seat again. Steve followed, and Loki watched out of the corner of his eye as he conferred with Tony, who then started typing into his phone. Sending the scepter far away, he hoped, to prevent Loki from supposedly calling it as Thor called Mjolnir and for some inexplicable reason putting everyone here under his control. That it was illogical was irrelevant; he just needed them to believe it was possible.

"I'd begun to think you were napping," Eir said in a quiet aside from the chair to his right; Loki felt the weight in the sweep of her gaze over him. He shook his head.

"Depends on the company making it, and what your insurance is willing to pay for," Kelvin was saying. "The three of us, we're lucky. We got to be part of this study with DARPA that Mr. Stark's company-"

"Not my dad and not an officer."

"Tony. Sorry, man. That Tony's company's working with. We've got high-speed low-wake prosthetics, and when the ones they're working on now come on the market, we'll be the first to get them. But a buddy of mine, his skin is lighter than the darkest one he can get, and the next one is already too light. The company he's stuck with only makes like four skin tones. So his legs don't match. It really bugs him."

"JARVIS, look into that, will you? Might be an easy win there," Tony said while Jolgeir nodded thoughtfully.

"Can I… I wish to ask…"

"Go ahead, brother," Kelvin said. "We've all been in the same boat. Nothing's off limits."

"Yeah, it's cool," Eddie said. "That's what we're here for."

"I'm in a support group where people ask about underwear chafing," Amos added. "I don't think you could ask anything that would shock any of us. Shoot."

"Why do you seek to make your prosthetics so indistinguishable from natural limbs? Are you ashamed of your injuries? They're considered signs of…weakness, or defeat, on your world? I assure you on Asgard they are not; I mean no insult."

Loki listened as the men answered, filing their responses away for further reflection later. They spoke of wanting to look and feel "normal." Of growing weary of being stared at. Of wanting clothing to fit properly. Of wanting others to feel at ease with them. Of wanting to be seen as a whole person, and not solely or primarily as an amputee. And also of a friend who loved to entertain others by grilling meat over an open flame and putting his metal claw hand directly into the flame to turn the meat. Not everyone chose to use prosthetics, and not everyone who did chose to use ones that looked real. It was strange, Loki thought, but he could somewhat relate. These men – and women, they had mentioned – did not always feel comfortable in their own bodies, changed as they were, and had to decide how to deal with that, which course of action to pursue, knowing that nothing would fully return to them what they'd once had. Loki didn't feel comfortable in his own life, and would soon be faced with deciding on a course of action. And he didn't have an insurance company, prosthesis company, or DARPA laying out a set of options for him, or arbitrarily limiting them. He was going to have to figure them out himself.

And Loki knew what it felt like to want to look normal. To want to be normal.

Today's reunion with Thanos and the lackey had at least given him something else to occupy himself with, in addition to the South Pole visit he hoped to make, the meeting with the ambassadors, and whatever he was going to tell Thor about the use of prosthetic limbs. He huffed a quiet laugh. Putting it in writing might be the better course of action, since speaking to each other usually didn't go very well.

"Something funny?"

"You," Loki said, pulled from his thoughts as the others exchanged farewell pleasantries. "Are endlessly entertaining," he added with a smile that would look perfectly friendly to any who didn't know him and what he actually thought of the endlessly aggravating Tony Stark.

Kelvin, Eddie, Amos, and Dr. Zeb left, and Tony produced a one of those small electronic information devices Loki had seen before on Midgard. Tony said it contained everything they'd seen in the presentations today, plus all of the relevant current research. Eir took it; she was the only one of them who would understand it. Tony slipped away then, back into the elevator, and Steve sidled up to him.

"Loki…could I have a moment?"

Loki turned. "I do believe you are still a man out of time." He was more concerned about what Tony was up to than whatever it was Steve wanted.

"It's just one question," he said, voice growing quiet. Finnulfur and Jolgeir went over to Tony's bar to inspect its contents in an obvious effort to give them some privacy.

"You may ask. I make no promises I will answer."

"If you had information that suggested we were in danger of attack, would you tell us?"

Loki laughed. "And here I thought you were the rational, reasonable one. Only in comparison with Tony, you understand. You, personally? Or do you mean your little group of Avengers? Either way, the answer is no."

"What about our planet, our realm?"

"That's two questions."

Steve nodded, gaze fixed unwaveringly on Loki.

"I might," he answered after a moment, realizing that a more fully honest answer would take considerably more thought than he was willing to give it here. He would certainly not stand by and allow Jane to come under attack, but it wouldn't be as simple as whisking her away, because he didn't think he would be able to stand by and allow his fellow Polies to come under attack either – most of them, anyway – and in a few more months they would be scattered. "But why do you ask? You have no reason to trust anything I say."

"Maybe not. But it doesn't hurt to ask, and look into a man's eyes when he answers. And like I said, you're different from before."

"Oh, yeah, haven't you heard?" Tony asked, striding back into the room from the elevator. "It's all in the Prose Edda. Says you're capricious, unreliable, unpredictable, fickle…you know, depending on the translation. The upshot is, your loyalties change with the wind. Anywho, there's something I've done several times for my esteemed Aesir visitors, really for Thor, figured I might as well do it for you, too. Here."

Loki stared at Tony, expression stormy. He'd lowered his voice as he approached, and maybe he'd thought Jolgeir, Finnulfur, and Eir couldn't hear, but there was no way they hadn't. Loki's fists were clenched – it would be all he needed with this mortal – and ready to strike, for he could not stand by and do nothing in the face of such insults in front of others. But his hands remained at his side, for he was not Thor…and whatever control of himself he'd once lost, he'd regained. Mostly. More importantly, Tony was holding out a satellite phone.

/

/

"How's it going?"

Jane looked up from the song list she was going over with Tristan and Brody. Drew stood beside their table in the galley, hair mussed from an apparent trip outdoors. "Good. Hey, can we sign you up to play Robin Hood in Prince of Thieves?"

"Huh?"

"For the GIFs," Tristan clarified.

"Yeah, sure, why not?"

"Great," Jane said, penciling in his name. "We're going to get as much of the filming done today as we can."

"Who's filming?"

"Elliott," Tristan answered. "He operates a camera at his church, knows how to use one of those better than anyone else here."

"And Sue and Jeff are working on costumes in the Arts and Crafts Room."

"I know. I just swung by there. Gillian's in there painting. Hollywood scenes, backdrops…she's really going at it."

"Gillian?" Jane asked, echoing the others' disbelief.

"Yep. I think everybody's in a mood to celebrate and have some fun."

"I didn't know she painted," Brody remarked.

Jane nodded; she hadn't known either. But it was true; everyone was coming together for this. Mid-Winter. It was in just over a week now. Volleyball had gone all right, a little awkward at times, but nothing major. Wright had helped her for a few hours out in the DSL, then she'd slipped away to work on boxing up Loki's stuff again, making good progress this time – though those bloodstains weren't coming out of the mattress – and then she'd returned for a quick lunch and joined everyone else in Mid-Winter planning.

"Did you just get back from skiing?" Jane asked.

"Yeah," Drew answered. "Well, a few minutes ago. I think Lucas was pushing me more than I realized. My pace was way slower today, and it was hard to keep going."

Brody barked out a laugh. "I bet he was pushing you! That guy is not normal-person strong. I ran into him a couple of times in the Weight Room early in the morning. He always left when I got there. He was probably doing one of those Superman superspeed running things or something, like with the blurred legs and the smoke and all."

Jane laughed.

"No?"

"No. I mean, he's strong and I'm sure he's fast, but I don't think there's any blurred legs or smoke."

"It'd be cool if we could see how fast he can run. Or how much he can lift. Iron Man and Thor and the old guy were bench pressing a building."

"Forget that," Ronny said, joining them. "I want to see what he can do with the Force or magic or whatever. Him just levitating off the ground like that, like a Jedi or something? That was insane."

"No more insane than Thor giving that column a whack with his hammer and fixing it just like that," Paul said with a snap.

It was weird. Others working on their own Mid-Winter projects had overheard and drifted over, and there was smiling and laughing. About Loki. Thor too, Iron Man too, the others from Asgard too. It was weird. And it made Jane smile.

/

/

Loki's gaze drifted down to the phone. It was a normal one, a thin cell phone rather than the wired phones and the bulkier restricted-use satellite phones at the South Pole. But Loki knew Tony could route that phone anywhere, and he knew where this one was routed.

/

/

Jane's radio crackled.

"Jane, this is Rodrigo. Pick up? Over."

"Hey, Rodrigo," she said, ducking away from the crowd with the radio. "What's up? Over."

"You still got that sat phone? Over."

"Uh…yeah. In my room. I'm in the galley. Over."

"Can you go get it? Tony Stark's calling for you again. Is everything okay? Over."

"Yeah, as far as I know," she answered, wondering why Tony would be calling her now. Maybe just to check in. And while a normal person would send an e-mail or something, Tony could afford the constant satellite connections. "Oh, sorry, over," she said, and let go of the button.

"Okay. Well, better go get the phone, huh? Over."

Already on her way to her room, Jane thanked Rodrigo and clipped the radio back on her belt. Before she got to her door, she could hear the phone ringing. She broke into a run for the last short distance. "Hello?" she said as soon as the phone was on.

"Good afternoon, Dr. Foster. Jarvis speaking. Please hold for a call from Mr. Stark."

/

/

If he took that phone, Tony Stark and probably all of SHIELD would be listening to every word he said. Recording it, replaying it, discussing it, dissecting it, analyzing it for every single bit of information they could get from it. It wouldn't be a real conversation but rather one for show, one in which he would have to analyze his every word just as carefully before he spoke it, every inflection, every expression. And for all he knew, Tony had already primed Jane to ask about what had happened in the bathroom.

"You know who this is, right? I thought you two were all Ron and Leslie now. Parks and Recreation? Never mind. Bad example anyway. Thought you might like the chance to say hi. Catch up."

"For your entertainment?"

"You want privacy? Go to another floor if you want."

"There is no privacy here at all, Tony. You surely cannot think me that much a fool. You may tell her I send her greetings, if you like. And that hostilities have ceased between the other realms. She would probably appreciate knowing that. That will suffice." He turned to find the others seemingly engrossed in Tony's alcohol collection and talking among themselves. "Let's go," he said in a louder voice.

/

/

"Hi, Jane."

"Hi, Tony," Jane responded, brimming with questions but having no idea where to start.

"How's your day been so far?"

"Okay. Pretty good actually. Is it going to stay that way?"

"I'm not calling with bad news. Just wanted to fill you in on what's been going on here."

Jane listened with relief as Tony told her about the war on Asgard ending and plans being made for a formal treaty, then with wide eyes as he told her about his second meeting with Asgardians for the day, with Jolgeir and Eir and someone she'd never heard of before and Loki. And some vets who'd lost limbs and a researcher in prosthesis technology and Captain America and Loki. Tony's explanation was that Thor thought it would be a good idea. Jane had a hard time seeing that, given their history and how antagonistic they remained toward each other, but apparently it had gone okay. Except for the "but."

"He looked totally zoned out. Like he was in a fugue state maybe, or…or on some kind of weird drug or something, I don't know. Crushed my countertop where he was holding on to it. JARVIS observed the whole thing, said he didn't do anything, just went in there leaned over the sink, and said, 'Heimdall, watch me.' I know who Heimdall is, gatekeeper and cosmic travel agent. Steve got a little more out of him, told him he knew we had his scepter and were ready to use it, that it was near. He-"

"Hold on, what? You were ready to use it? Against him? Take over his mind?"

"We sure were, if we had to. It's SOP now. Easy way to neutralize a threat, if we can get it close enough. So he-"

"Oh no. We're not done with that. Tony, I don't know if you've seen Erik, but you must have seen Clint Barton, right? Surely he's still struggling with what happened to him, too? How could you-"

"If and only if he became a threat, Jane. He was well-behaved all this time at the South Pole, great, good for him. His jaunts around New York have been a little less benign. We have to take precautions."

"Okay, precautions, fine, but come on, Tony. Mind-control? How could you even consider it? It's cruel. And you'd have him…I don't know, dancing the Macarena, just to humiliate him."

"What would you rather us do? We can't match his strength, and regular bullets don't seem to have any effect on him. The Hulk took him down before, but that comes with a lot of collateral damage. We'd have to go for heavy fire power. We might end up killing him. I think a little Macarena – thanks for the idea by the way – is the best among a lot of bad options. But this is all moot anyway, because it never came to that."

"Thank God."

"Okay, getting back to what actually did happen, he told Steve that he could make the scepter come to him like Thor does with the hammer, and that he was resisting the urge, something like that. And he was speaking in his normal cryptic who-knows-what-he's-talking-about-but-it's-probably-not-good way, saying if the guy he was working with in the attack on Midgard could reach Earth, we should be afraid. We really don't know what to make of any of it. And I'm hoping you do."

Jane shook her head as she considered it. Loki had never said he could pull the scepter to him, or anything else, for that matter; she was skeptical of that. He'd never said much about the scepter at all, really. The guy he was working with – Jane thought "working for" might be more accurate – she knew was called Thanos, but Loki had told her what it seemed he'd told Tony and Steve Rogers, that he had no way to reach Earth. And why he'd zombied-out in the bathroom, she had no idea. "I don't know, Tony," she finally said. "I don't know anything about the scepter, or what he can and can't do with it, or what was going on when he crushed your countertop. He didn't crush any countertops while he was here. But I think it's probably better if you keep that thing away from him. Away from everybody. Maybe you should give it to Asgard. Let them deal with it. Maybe they could destroy it. Or at least lock it away somewhere so nobody can use it."

"It's not actually me that has it. It's SHIELD. And I'm pretty sure they're not handing it over to anybody. It's not my call. Believe me, I don't want to be anywhere near it myself. Gather up a bunch of world leaders with that thing in the room? You could probably start World War III."

"That's a comforting thought. I think you should ask Thor what to do with it."

"Thor doesn't know anything more about it than we do. Did. But like I said, it's not up to me, anyway. So just to confirm, you don't know any reason why Loki would be standing around looking like his brain had checked out of his body?"

"No," Jane said, but in the same instant, she knew she was wrong. She had seen him looking like his brain had checked out of his body, but he hadn't been standing. He'd been lying down. Sleeping. Trapped in a terrible nightmare he couldn't wake from unless she touched him, which he reacted violently to. "How did he come out of it?"

"We don't really know. Steve reached for his arm, maybe that reminded him that he wasn't alone and he couldn't keep doing whatever it was he was doing."

Maybe that pulled him out of a waking nightmare. Loki didn't want anybody to know about those nightmares; that was surely why he soundproofed his room at night. And Thor had said Loki didn't talk in his sleep or wake up shouting; when she'd mentioned such a nightmare to him, he'd immediately dismissed it as deception. So these weren't normal nightmares. And maybe it wasn't just because he was thinking about terrible things when he was awake, like trying and failing to save Baldur's life through time travel. Maybe it was triggered somehow. Something to do with the scepter. And the effects were a lot stronger when he was physically closer to it. Strong enough to pull him into a nightmare even when he was awake.

"So…any more ideas?" Tony had asked in the meantime.

"I don't know what's going on either, Tony. Loki told me about a lot of things, but that's not one of them. All I can say is, I think you're better off keeping it far away from him. Thor may not know anything about it, but Loki does. Surely you can convince Nick or Maria or whoever you need to convince that bringing a weapon like that into the presence of the one person out there who really understands it isn't the brightest idea, and is probably outright dangerous. You guys like to push each other. What if it goes too far?"

Tony sighed; Jane guessed that he wasn't happy with her conclusion. "Yeah. Okay. I'll talk to them. They're actually both here, I just haven't let them in yet. Debriefings, you know. I offered to let Loki call you, by the way. I was hoping he'd take the phone."

Jane closed her eyes for a moment as a jumble of emotions sparked through her. "You mean take the bait," she finally said. As much as she would have loved to be able to talk to Loki, about so many things, this conversation told her exactly why Tony had made such a supposedly kind and generous gesture toward Loki, who she was pretty sure Tony still considered an enemy.

"Yeah, well, can't blame a guy for trying. He said to say hi, by the way. And to tell you that the fighting had stopped, but I already told you that."

"You were expecting 'and here are my future plans for attack'?"

"Not really. But you never know."

"I get it, Tony. I know you think I don't, but I do. You know him from another context than I do. I've seen that side of him, too, and-"

"You have? What happened?"

"No, not…I just mean I've seen his temper, I've heard him say a few things that were pretty vile. A few times, I admit, I was scared. But those were the earlier days. He made friends here. And some of the Polies, they've started getting over the shock and the anger, and just a few minutes ago, a few of them were laughing and reminiscing and actually wishing they could see him again. Okay, maybe mostly out of curiosity, to see how strong he is and what exactly he can do with magic, but it's just…it was a different experience here. And this was more recent. I guarantee you he's not planning an attack on Earth. I'd stake my life on it. How was he otherwise? Did you two just spend the whole time trying to one-up each other?"

"Not the whole time. Besides, there's no real contest there, obviously."

"Funny, I can hear him saying the exact same thing, with the exact opposite interpretation."

"Yeah, but I'd be right and he'd be wrong. Anyway, actually he was…well, you could almost say 'helpful.' We had a bit of a cultural divide going on there – you know they basically don't believe in prosthesis? And Loki helped bridge it. I mean in an annoying and egotistical way, but it's Loki we're talking about here. And it's pretty obvious he's been on Earth for a while, he was helping the visiting team out with some of the local lingo. It was creepy. There were times you could almost forget it was the same person who first showed up blasting away at people and turning them into puppet slaves. Oh, sorry, Jane. Didn't mean to make it personal."

"It's all pretty personal at this point, Tony. It's okay."

Tony asked how things at the Pole were going and how the elevated station was doing and Jane filled him in, then they said goodbye.

Loki had done it. He'd said he'd win a war in two days, even though he had no idea how he was going to accomplish that, and somehow he had. He must have some incredible stories to tell, and she hoped – no, she knew – she would hear them someday. If nothing else, she had a practical reason for him to return, or for at least someone to return. And that gave her an idea.

"So, Heimdall, not an emergency or anything, no need to worry, but I'm really hoping you can pass on a message for me." Jane didn't pray, not in a conscious, deliberate way, not like this, and she briefly wondered if this would feel less weird if she did. "Can you tell Loki I'm sorry that I missed him when he was in New York, but that I understand? I don't mean to treat you like a cosmic answering service, I know that's not your job. I just don't know any other way.

"Also, we don't have magic trash disposal here, or any kind of trash disposal, really. Everything has to be flown out of Antarctica. Loki left behind a ton of stuff – we'd almost need a separate flight dedicated just to his stuff if he really leaves it all here. I should have thought about that before, when he was still here, but, you know, I was distracted. So if you could let him know that somebody needs to come from Asgard and pick it all up, that would be great. It would be better if Loki could come himself, because he said he didn't want any of it but I really think he should take a look through it before just tossing it all, there might be a few things he'd want to keep. Not now, obviously, I mean, I know you're still trying to officially end a war and all and South Pole waste disposal isn't your number one priority, or even your number fifty priority, but just, you know, when the time is right. Sorry, I think I must sound like Tony. But when there's no one there to jump in, to interrupt you, or give you a look or even an acknowledgement, not that…I know you're there, you're just not here, and… Sorry. I'm sure you're really busy and here I am talking your ear off, and for all I know you're not even listening to me, in which case I feel even more like an idiot than I already do. So…if you're listening, I'm sorry for rambling on. I'm a better conversationalist in person, I think. I hope I get to meet you in person someday, and not just have these one-sided conversations that feel really awkward. Oh! And…maybe you have some way to magically remove blood stains? Because Loki…" Jane shook her head. It was like talking to an answering machine, in the old days. She rambled uncontrollably on those, too, right up until the beep cut her off.

"Never mind. Um…goodbye?" She winced at how her ears had perked up and her eyes had shifted around as though some response, some sign that she'd been heard, was forthcoming. It wasn't. She left her room and headed back out to rejoin the Mid-Winter preparations.

/

I have been threatened with spoiler-spilling if I didn't get this chapter released. So, here you have it. :-) Those of you lucky enough to be able to see Ragnarok this week, enjoy, take pity on those of us who are punished with later release dates, and please remember us, your fellow fans, and try to hold off on posting spoiler material for a while.

"fourdevils" - I gave goosebumps, YAY! :-) / "C" - Now I'm thinking about how cool it would be to see this blockbuster Hollywood movie loosely drawing on Norse mythology...in a Nordic language! Ha. Loki is IN trouble and not causing it, love that, yeah. Too bad Loki is about as stubborn as it gets and would never let on to that. But you can imagine an alternate version where he collapses and is in physical distress so that it's taken out of his control. :-) Also, Loki was really just a bit squicked due to different cultural attitude toward transplants and it coincides with The Other finding him due to the proximity of the scepter and beginning to pull. BUT, "Titans Bearing Gifts" is part of "Beneath's" backstory, and it also works to imagine that what he's observed there contributes as well (not something I wanted to try to get into here in this scene). And, you see, threats can be effective! :-) Especially when well-timed to a chapter being readied for release.

Thanks to all reviewers, favoriters, followers, newbies and long-timers...it's so weird how this story falls further and further from canon - when I started it was intended to be 100% in line with canon (and still is, through Avengers), but alas, Marvel chose to do things like make Svartalfheim a poisoned and uninhabited world and kill Thor's and Loki's mom, instead of, you know, sending Loki to the South Pole and such. :-)

Previews for Ch. 178: Loki ponders a barbaric and bizarre Jotun custom; Loki and Heimdall are probably never going to be Best Buds; Loki's day is marked by successes, but by new challenges as well.

And excerpt:

"Well?" Loki asked as soon as he stood alone with the gatekeeper. He saw no need to mince words. "What did you see?"

"A very broad question, Loki. But I know what you ask. What did you want me to see?"

"Where I was. Who I was with. Where I was."