Helloo! Finally got this chapter out. Took a bit because I had an end goal but not the in-between so had to rewrite several sense or delete them entirely because I didn't like them entirely. I also just got a 10 week old puppy so he's eating a lot of time and i won't be able to write as often as I did. But anyway, hope you enjoy!

Shout Outs!:

WeAreNumberOne

Yeah, it's an easy thing to overlook/forget. Thanks, I thought it pretty slick, Wakanda will stay hidden.
Hehuh, oh you'll just have to read and see. Well, opening scene here for that!

CHSHiccstrid

He should but he's not gonna. Tony needed a moment to get it out of his systems. He wanted to make sure they'd stay safe :)

Journal 2, Entry 37: "Avengers Pt.3"

Loki grit his teeth, but a groan still escaped him as he slid across the rocks Thor threw him against. Despite everything, a laugh bubbled up from his chest.

Thor frown grew into a scowl, spinning Mjolnir in hand as he stalked closer. "Where is the Tesseract?"

"O-oh. I missed you too." Loki chuckled, not even lifting his head.

"Do I look to be in a gaming mood?" Thor snapped.

Loki raised an eyebrow as he sat up. "You should be thanking me. With the Bifrost gone, how much dark energy did the All-Father have to muster to conjure you here? Your precious Earth. Have you made a stop to see that new lady friend?"

Mjolnir fell to the ground with a ringing clang as Thor surged forward and yanked Loki to his feet. He grabbed him by the back of his head and neck, as he had often done in the past as a friendly gesture. "I thought you dead."

Something panged within the scepter's control but was smothered. Loki hummed while staring impassively at his brother. "Did you mourn?"

Thor's eyes misted as he stared at his not-dead brother. "We all did. Our father-"

"Your father." Loki corrected. Even with the scepter's goading to stand alone, he knew that was truth. He lowered the finger he pointed at his brother and smirked. "And not everyone did. My Chosen's people knew I was not dead, refused to believe it. They searched for me, something I'm sure Asgard never did."

Thor frowned but Loki couldn't tell if it was at the rejection or the mention of his Chosen's descendants. "Loki…what has brought this on? We were raised together, played together, fought together. Do you remember none of that? I kept your secrets from father and treated you as my brother. Despite your heritage—you are my brother."

Loki took several steps away as emotions swelled and the scepter's magic latched onto them. "I do, I remember a shadow. Living in the shade of your greatness. Nothing I ever did was acceptable in his eyes. Odin is not my father, he never has been."

Thor frowned and gestured vaguely to his side. "So you take the world I love as recompense?"

Loki's face twisted in rage. How dare he! "You love?! Midgard was mine a millennia before you ever thought to step foot on it for anything other than entertainment! What did you do when the humans slaughtered each other in droves during their world wars? Even when they thought us gods, you never cared about them! I did! That was me! This Realm is mine! Mine to protect, mine to rule!" Loki yelled, beginning to see red.

"You think yourself above them?" Thor asked coolly, stuck between how much more Loki had always cared for Midgard—well, always since Hiccup—and his recent exploits that finally drew Heimdall's attention. How they utterly contradicted each other.

Loki paused his immediate response to look at Thor oddly. "Well, yes." Even the people of the Archipelago and Hiccup's children recognized that.

Thor shook his head and took a step closer to Loki. "Then you miss the truth of ruling, brother. The throne would suit you ill."

Loki bared his teeth and pushed past Thor to the rock's edge—he couldn't very well tell him why he must rule Midgard. "I mean to rule then and bring them into an era of peace they could never have dreamed of. Despite your claims, Odinson, I have grown in my exile. I have seen the true power of the Tesseract and when I wield it-"

Thor followed his brother up the narrow cliff face, deep concern suddenly overcoming him. "Who showed you this power? Who controls the would-be king?"

"I am already a king." Loki hissed. He was king of Asgard—if only for a short time—and he was king by conquest of Jötunheim.

"Not here! You give up the Tesseract, you give up this poisonous dream." Thor snapped, closing the distance between them and grasping his head again. "Come home."

Loki smiled sadly. "It's not on Asgard; it has not been for centuries."

Thor backed off, lips curled in a silent snarl and called Mjolnir to his hand.

Loki barely withheld a laugh. "You need the cube to bring me to Asgard, but I sent it off I know not where."

Thor leveled Mjolnir to Loki's chest, rage constrained with a great deal of effort. "You listen well, brother. I-"

Repulsers filled the air the second before a red blur tackled Thor and carried him away from the cliff. Loki continued to stare at the empty spot, inwardly cackling. "I'm listening."

Meanwhile, Tony threw Thor to the ground and pulled up to skid across the ground. He lifted the mask as supposedly-Thor stood and glared at him.

"Do not touch me again."

Tony frowned, equally unamused. "Then don't take my stuff."

"You have no idea what you are dealing with." Thor shot back but didn't move to instigate a fight, yet.

Tony looked around the wood they crashed in, biting back his knee-jerk reaction of telling Thor for taking his only link to finding Hakon. "Uh…Shakespeare in the park?"

Thor's face pinched further in irritation.

A tiny smirk pulled at Tony's mouth. "Doth mother know you weareth her drapes?"

Thor full on scowled at him now. "This is beyond you, metal man. Loki will face Asgardian justice."

Tony frowned, head tilted. "Uh…as far as I know of, all the crimes have been committed here—on Earth not," he waved a hand at Thor, "Asgard. Besides, he still has the Tesseract and several good men attached to his puppet strings. If he gives those back, he's all yours. Until then," his mask snapped back down, "stay out of the way."

Thor looked away and Tony turned to go back and grab Loki, hoping he hadn't taken the chance to run again. Something was fishy if he hadn't, and he was going to do something to Thor if he had and they lost their chance at finding Hakon. His uncle did mention Thor was soft for his hammer. He shook the thoughts away—thinking about Loki and what might be going on in his mind—or lack thereof—right now was a good way to give himself a headache.

He muttered "Tourist," in irritation. He did not envy Phil right now—the thought was interrupted by a metallic humming and he turned just in time to get a chest full of Mjolnir. He crashed through several trees and his HUD flickered.

"Okay." He seethed between his teeth and stood, ready to take out some anger on the person clearly itching for a fight.

Up on the thin cliff, Loki watched them with amusement. He had no delusions that Thor would win but he was curious to see what Hiccup's godson could actually do in such an outmatched fight.

Thor recalled Mjolnir and began spinning it only to get blasted as Tony knelt to stand up. Thor flew back into the trees while Tony quickly activated the repulsors and slammed into Thor with his knee. Thor flew back through another tree and looked up at Tony with a glare. Had he not been in a suit, his shoulders would have fallen. Seriously, not even a scratched or slightly mussed hair?

Thor stood before Tony could attack again and lifted Mjolnir, calling lightning from nowhere and aimed it at Tony.

Tony lifted his hands against the brightness of it and grunted with the impact—it was surprising how forceful lightning could be. The HUD flickered and grew brighter before correcting and JARVIS chimed, "Power at four-hundred percent capacity."

Tony hummed, grateful for the new arc reactor—the old one would most certainly have fried. "Huh, will you look at that?"

Loki continued to watch them from the cliff and scowled at his brother. Here Thor was, claiming he loved this Realm and her people, yet he just struck against a Midgardian with lighting, a very lethal amount for them. All because of a mild insult. He beamed when Tony hit back harder, using the power from the lightning in the attack.

To Tony's dismay, Thor landed on his feet then launched at Tony who reciprocated. They took off with the power of thrusters and a swinging hammer that stumped Tony on how the physics of that could possibly work, magic or otherwise. They traded blows in the air and tried to ram the other into a cliff face before circling back to somewhere near where they began. Tony proudly threw Thor off in a heap against a tree but he wasn't much better off as Thor kicked him at the last moment.

The brawl continued once more on the ground in a fist fight, Thor crunching the armguard of his suit a worrying amount before he made Thor back off with a hasty repulsor to the head that Thor dodged, releasing his hold. Thor slammed his head forward and head-buttedTony, sending him backwards while his helmet pinged and scans showed a sizable dent in the armor.

Good Thor, how strong are these guys? He looked up at who must be Thor and frowned as he took flight then swung Thor into a downed tree. Might need a different way to swear, that could get weird.

Thor was on his feet far too quickly and proceeded to beat Tony around like he was a limp noodle. Tony got in another shot while he was on the ground, sliding backwards and tripping the mountainous man.

They were about to trade fists again when a blur of red, white and blue bounced between them with a metal tang! "Hey!" A reddened leather gloved hand caught the shield and strapped it back to his arm. "That's enough."

Steve jumped down from a splintered tree and glared at both but mostly Thor. "Now I don't know what you plan on doing here-"

"I've come here to put an end to Loki's schemes." Thor defended, glancing up to the ridge where Loki still sat, head resting on a hand as he watched.

Steve's eyes narrowed but said calmly, "The prove it. And put that hammer down."

Tony's helmeted head whipped around to Steve. "Uh, yep, no! Bad call. He loves his ham-" He was cut off by a strike to the chest from Mjolnir.

"You want me to put the hammer down?" Thor yelled then leapt at Steve, Mjolnir raised and Steve ducked behind his shield.

Tony's eyes widened behind his mask—thinking this isn't going to end well—and curled into a ball, remembering all too well some of the mishaps involving GIV. Even with the helmet filtering sound, his ears still rang as the shield and hammer met—echoing like thunder with a flash through the forest and leveled the immediate area.

He sat up and looked at the destruction and hummed. Make a note that GIV and Thor's powers or Mjolnir are an explosive mix. Steve grunted near him so he offered a hand to stand which Steve took gratefully, still winded from Loki's attack.

All three looked around in silence, Thor eyeing Steve in a new light while the latter asked, "Are we done here?"

Thor nodded belatedly and after another moment the three turned to gather Loki before flying back up to the Quinjet that circled around the forest. Together, they made their way to regroup with SHIELD.

Hakon peeked up as a large blueprint was slapped onto the table, covering his tinkering.

Selvig stood next to him with a slight frown. "Barton's got the Iridium."

Hakon briefly looked at the blueprints, showing close-ups of the Iridium conductor for the Tesseract. "Okay. And you decided to disturb my solitude…why?"

Selvig's eyes narrowed, the unnatural blue in them flashing. "We know something's wrong with you, Hakon. Loki brought you to help and yet you've done nothing when you know more about the Tesseract than anyone."

Hakon's nose wrinkled and Tor's lips curled. "Maybe I serve a different purpose than you think. Either way, it's not my business to help you with that machine."

Selvig pointed to the design. "We're all here to bring truth to Earth, starting with this. Now, I think my design is adequate but I want to know if it can be improved—wider portal, stronger shields…"

Hakon scowled at the blueprint and stood, a dismissive reply at the top of his tongue when a truck rolled in and Clint jumped out.

He frowned upon seeing the feuding scientists. "What's wrong?"

Selvig turned to Clint but kept an eye on Hakon. "Where's Loki? Hyse is becoming quarrelsome and I don't think the scepter showed him anything."

Hakon couldn't help the slight sneer at the Thor forsaken object. "Loki never gave me orders to help."

Clint glared at him. "He shouldn't have to."

Hakon grabbed the paper in a wad then shoved it back at Selvig before snagging the pieces he was messing with. "I have different orders than you, any of you. And they are not to help build the portal device."

Clint frowned and strode up to Selvig, handing him the case with the Iridium. "That's the only reason any of us are here."

Hakon's eyes narrowed at him. "Well then, where is Loki?"

Clint sighed near inaudibly as he walked over to the stack of crates having been given to him and pulled out a new quiver full of arrows. "With SHIELD, as per the plan. Are you going to start working with us or are you going to become a liability?" He asked, voice lilting dangerously.

Hakon growled and Tor instinctually mimicked him. With a huff, he ripped the blueprints away from Selvig and barely glanced over them. "Your wiring could be changed to optimize the connection better."

He shot Clint a look. "Happy?"

Clint snorted and checked his bow over. "It's Loki you'll have to contend with."

Hakon rolled his eyes and muttered angrily in Norse.

Clint and Selvig shared glances, then Clint left with a handful of others, but not before glancing back at Hakon in concern. The underground base became a flurry of motion as the equipment was packed and loaded into the truck. Hakon was herded along with Selvig into the truck before being locked in, Torbjörg growling at being enclosed and cramped in the vehicle.

The truck rumbled as it set out and almost immediately Selvig began working on the portal device again. Hakon watched him closely but continued to fiddle with the small machine he'd cobbled together while 'staying out of trouble'.

Selvig opened the case of Iridium. As it passed over the Tesseract, the cube pulsed and Hakon bit back a hiss as it brushed against his magics, showing him a terrifying image of a roaring, inhuman army. He shuddered as he watched Selvig insert the Iridium and the machine glowed a soft red and hummed perfectly, signaling that the metal was accepted. Selvig started running calculations again, preparing to begin basic tests with the Tesseract.

Hakon thumbed the gizmo he put together then threw it to the floor while clamping a hand over his and Tor's eyes.

Everyone in the trailer shouted in pain and staggered back into the walls, holding their eyes after the flash bomb blinded them.

Hakon shot out of his seat and punched a guard who was stumbling forwards to attack the defector. Selvig blinked rapidly and reached out for the case with the Tesseract only for Tor to pounce on him and throw him into the wall, knocking him out. Hakon grabbed the Tesseract—barehanded—and whistled for Tor.

Tor sprang to his side as another scientist yelled for him to stop. Hakon dug his fingers into his familiar's fur and connected his magic with the Tesseract. The cube sang and wrapped its magic around Hakon and Tor, vanishing them with a swirl of blue and hungry mist.

In a SHIELD lab, Tony watched Bruce closely for any twitch after being lightly zapped but there was nothing other than an unamused frown. "Nothin'?"

"Hey!" Steve barged into the room, caught between glaring at Tony and watching Bruce warily. "Are you nuts?"

"Jury's out." Tony answered, barely turning to spare him a passing glance before focusing on Bruce again. "You really have got a lid on it, haven't you?"

Bruce shook his head but a wry, tiny smile graced his lips. Tony smirked at Bruce, the man reminded him a bit of a Monstrous Nightmare. "What's your secret? Mellow jazz, bongo drums?"

"Is everything a joke to you?" Steve asked irate.

Tony shrugged and looked over Bruce's shoulder at the readings he was taking of the scepter. "My way of coping with stress." He chuckled. "If you can't handle this, you don't even want to know what 'jokes' I cracked in the cave in Afghanistan."

Steve's face lightened a fraction but it still remained hard. "Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny. No offense doctor."

Bruce held up a hand and smiled weakly. "I-it's alright. I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle pointy things."

Tony shook his head, looking at Steve. "They really never told you any of the stories of what Hakon used to do, did they?"

Steve's frown deepened. "We were at war—kind of like we are now."

Tony chuckled and walked away from Bruce while grinning at Steve. "Yeah, but I figured you guys swapped some stories over a drink on leave or something."

Steve's eyebrows rose. "I never had leave, not in England anyway. Closest I ever came was when I ditched the metal ceremony to put together the Commandos."

Tony nodded with a hum. "Disappointing. Uncle H has a few that would drive you up a wall, dad found them amusing. Apparently Commander Phillips threatened to lock him in his room more than once."

Steve couldn't help the tiny smile from poking through his annoyance. That did sound like Hakon.

Tony beamed and pointed the stick he was holding at him. "See! Tension relieved. Gotta do it some way or you'll be gray before your time…" Tony looked Steve over. "Well, you should already be grey so maybe you need the stress to catch up."

Steve frowned again and turned away with a soft huff.

Tony turned his head back to Bruce as he walked over to another computer. "You're tip-toeing big man, you need to strut."

Steve took a breath before looking back at Tony, desperately reminding himself that Tony wasn't a soldier. "Have you made any progress, Stark?"

Tony's shoulder's fell as he ripped open a bag of blueberries. "Back to being overly formal, huh? Oh well. Well, Capsicle, not much. And if they're keeping the cube shielded, we're not gonna have much—ever. Maybe if we can crack the link between the scepter and Tesseract, but we only have half the puzzle to figure it out so work's gonna be slow…if at all." Tony walked away from the scepter to fiddle with the computers again, doing decidedly not 'finding the Tesseract' related activities.

Steve tilted his head as he tried to follow Tony's work, mouth down turning again. "And you're never going to find it if you don't actually focus on finding it."

Tony huffed and looked up at the ceiling. "I already have algorithms running. There's not much else I can do with the information SHIELD has given me—I can't do the equation unless I have all the variables. I want to know what else Fury isn't telling us…though I already have some pretty good ideas."

Steve looked down in thought before up again at Tony. "You think Fury is hiding more than what he had Hakon and Selvig working on?"

Tony snorted. "Captain, he's the spy. His secrets have secrets. I know a few of them—though I shouldn't—but now I'm going to find every dirty little secret that SHIELD has before it comes back to bite uncle H in the back—again. It's bugging him too, isn't it?" Tony asked Bruce.

Bruce held up a hand and shook his head, not wanting to join the hazardous discussion. "Uh…I just want to finish my work here-"

Steve's chest constricted, especially at the word again. "Doctor?"

Bruce sighed and stopped working for a moment, removing his glasses. "A warm light for all mankind. Loki's comment to Fury about the cube."

"I heard it." Steve nodded along.

Bruce pointed at Tony. "Well, I think that was meant for you." Tony smirked and offered him the bag of blueberries he was snacking on, to which he shrugged and took a few. "Even if Barton didn't tell Loki about the tower…it was still all over the news."

Steve started to place the tower, thinking of how ugly it was in his tastes. Unconsciously, he voiced his thoughts aloud.

Tony turned with a frown but it wasn't necessarily directed at him. Of course Loki would be the one to point out SHIELD's less than honest intentions for all to hear. He could only wonder if he just meant Fury's intentions or the deeper rooted snake pit within SHIELD.

Bruce continued on, explaining the arc reactor to Steve so he fully understood Loki's jab. "…So it'll run itself for, what, a year?"

"It's just a prototype." Tony admitted, popping a berry into his mouth.

Bruce nodded. "Why didn't they bring him in on the Tesseract? What are they doing in the energy business in the first place? It's not exactly in SHIELD's MO."

Tony pulled out his phone to check the progress of his hack before closing the algorithm screen to help JARVIS along. "I should probably look into that, once my decryption program finishes breaking into all of SHIELD's secure files."

Steve's eyes widened. "I'm sorry, did you say-?"

Tony nodded without looking up. "JARVIS has been running it since I hit the bridge." He looked up and pocketed the phone. "Look, Steve, I've been burned one too many times by SHIELD—by them withholding vital information until they deem it appropriate to give. I almost died because of it. I'm not letting that happen again, and especially not with uncle H's life possibly on the line. I know a lot of dirty little secrets about them that I shouldn't and there's a few I think you would like to know too and many of them are one's you'd want to know before selling your soul to them. Now,"

He looked up at a stunned Steve and crossed his arms, "You can either keep pestering me and looking down your nose at my hacking ways that contradict with your perfect soldier boy persona, or you can get out of my hair and possibly discover a few yourself. There's a curious lack of information despite a heavily locked and encrypted door down in storage bay five."

Steve shook his head. "And you're confused as to why they didn't want you around."

Tony laughed and popped another berry into his mouth. "Oh, I know why. They're an intelligence agency that fears intelligence, or at least intelligence not working for them and obeying their every whim without question. Which, historically, is not awesome."

Steve shook his head to dispel Tony's words. "I think Loki's trying to wind us up—he's already got you wound up tight. You never did tell me why that fight was so personal. And it wasn't just about him kidnapping your uncle."

Tony's nose wrinkled and turned away. "That information you are not privy to. Not even SHIELD gets to know that."

Steve frowned at Tony, squaring his shoulders. "This is a man who aims to start a war. If we don't stay focused, he'll succeed."

Tony kept his attention away from Steve, focusing on the computer, but said, "Look Captain, it's not just that it's personal to me, but it's also deeply personal to Hakon. I'm not about to say anything about it without his approval. And I know, while we're within SHIELD's camera range, he would never give it. Try asking again once he's free."

Steve sighed and relented. "Fine, but try and stay focused or else Loki'll succeed. We have orders. We should follow them."

"Following isn't really my style."

Steve shook his head sadly. "And you're all about style, aren't you?"

Tony's shoulders shook with a silent laugh and he peeked over at Steve before turning and resting against the table. "Of the people in this room, which one is A: wearing a spangly outfit and B: not of use."

"Steve," Bruce chimed in, expression truly worried, "tell me this doesn't smell a little funky to you?"

Tony looked at Steve, brows pinched. "Capsicle, don't tell me uncle H never told you he had some misgivings about SHIELD?"

Steve glanced between Bruce and Tony, hands fisting. "Just find the cube." He said, then walked out.

He stood in the hallway for a moment, trying to gather his bearings. What Tony and Bruce were implying…it shook him more than he wanted to admit. He'd known a little what SHIELD was, what its goal was…but they were right, Tony was right—Hakon didn't trust SHIELD in the slightest and that should have been his biggest red flag. A lead stone sank in his stomach, Hakon had implied something was rotten within SHIELD even if he never said it explicitly. Should he follow Tony's breadcrumbs?

He huffed and snarled as he walked through the hallway. He'd never been the perfect soldier anyway; that's one reason why Erskine chose him. Howard had never led him wrong before, he prayed his son wouldn't either.

Hakon tensed, eyes shut, as the blue mist of the Tesseract engulfed him and Tor. Several sharp inhales and roars of surprise echoed from around them as the cool and silent grasp of the Tesseract dissipated. He opened his eyes and gasped, dropping the Tesseract as he launched at Astrid, letting his form shift back to normal.

Astrid held him tightly and couldn't speak, burying her face in Hiccup's neck. Hiccup held her equally as tight, nose in her hair. Finally, they broke apart and she asked, "Oh gods, Hiccup. What's going on?!"

His lips thinned and didn't move as he answered. "Loki's here and being mind-controlled…didn't Folke tell you?"

Astrid shook her head and pulled away. "No. Loki showed up and closed the border. We can't get out with Yggdrasil or by flying across our borders, Wakanda lost a plane trying to get in, and Jörmungandr has been raging at the border for a day now— since Loki locked us in. Not even communications can get through. We've been blind for a day now. Did you know the warding stones could completely seal us in?"

Hiccup shook his head with a deep frown. "Where did he shut the border from? Maybe I can reverse it."

Astrid threaded her fingers through Hiccup's and led him away to the branch. His eyes widened when he spotted all three of his children there together for the first time in ages.

Nuffink spotted him first and shouted, running down the path to his father. Hiccup gratefully took his son in his arms, then was swamped with his daughters joining the hug. Hiccup laughed deliriously, holding his family tightly, ready to cry. Eventually, though, Hiccup had to break it up and see to the branch.

They crowded near him, many of his descendants watching as well, as he tried to decipher just what Loki had done. After a time he felt Toothless shove his way in and lay his head on his rider's lap, huffing contently.

It took an hour of him feeling around the ward before he found the activated runes, so small and inscribed on a single stone—like a keyhole to the doors of Berk's Great Hall. He prodded it but it refused to budge. His closed eyes pinched more as he focused harder, connecting with his part of the magic in the runes and slowly forcing his way through the lock.

It trembled and those around him breathed in awe as the air far above them trembled with a green shimmer. Hiccup sucked in a pained breath when part of the barrier, not fully opened yet, was wrenched apart. Loki's magic within the wards flared at the sudden rip and slammed shut again. Hiccup winced and clutched his chest as he was thrown out, staring out to the ocean worriedly.

Astrid knelt and gripped his shoulder. Hiccup shook his head and grabbed her hand. "It started to open up, but then something tore through it and reactivated it again—his magic kicked me out. There's nothing I can do now."

Zephyr held out a hand with the Tesseract sitting in it. "What about this?"

His eyes widened and carefully took it from her hand. It started humming happily again but remained dormant. "It overrode the barrier before…" His brows pinched in thought. "If we can adapt a few of the Ygg-Hops to store some of the Tesseract's power—where are the batteries we snatched from Hydra?"

Nuffink and Zephyr shared grins. Hiccup smiled weakly, chest feeling lighter than it had in months—two years, truthfully.

*O*

Tony sat next to Bruce, calmly talking shop as they waited for the algorithms to find something. Be that the Tesseract or some juicy SHIELD secrets, Tony wasn't picky. He'd already found some fascinating ones and was curious if uncle H knew of these yet….probably.

Fury suddenly marched in with a righteous fury, however, Tony suspected it wasn't so righteous. "What are you doing Mr. Stark?"

Tony looked away from Bruce and up at Fury. "Uh, kinda been wondering the same thing about you."

Fury frowned, bordering on a glare. "You're supposed to be locating the Tesseract."

"We are." Bruce defended, watching Fury critically. "The model's locked and we're synching to the signature now." He pointed to the large screen that had a circle moving around, showing the different areas it searched. "When we get a hit, we'll have a location within half a mile."

Tony huffed, rolling his eyes away from the screen. "If we get a hit before Reindeer Games makes his big play. He and his brainwashed band have gone through enough trouble making sure it's been well shielded so far. They'd have to be idiotic to mess it up now."

The computer beeped, turning all heads but Tony's who had expected it. "What is phase two?"

Fury had his hands on his hips, a deep sigh working its way up his throat.

Something metal crashed against a lab table, easily capturing their attention. Steve stood next to the table that now supported an odd, almost futuristic gun, glaring scathingly at Fury. "Phase Two is SHIELD uses the cube to make weapons. Sorry, computer was moving a little slow for me."

Tony beamed at the spangled man while Fury's ire built. "Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract. This does not mean we-"

"I'm sorry, Nick." Tony cut in, not at all sorry, and turned the screen he'd been using for his own personal interests. On it, flashed a mock-up of Tesseract weapons, the graphic shifting with every new design, currently showing a warhead. "What were you lying?"

Steve held his belt buckle and stared disappointedly at Fury. "I was wrong. The world hasn't changed a bit."

Thor and Natasha walked in and Bruce asked them, Natasha mostly, if they knew about SHIELD's plans. Natasha didn't answer but tried again to get Bruce out of the room.

Tony frowned at her, wondering what her cockamamie reason was now. Bruce was the only one actually following orders and only doing his work around here. He snorted when he looked back at Fury, crossing his arms with an unamused grin. "Sorry One Eyed Willy, do you really expect me or Steve here to believe that sorry lie when SHIELD hired Arnim Zola?"

Fury scowled at Tony but Steve's eyebrows disappeared into his bangs. "You did what!?"

Tony held up a hand with a grim smile. "Ease off on the Pirate a bit. It was my dear ole pops and the Commander who voted to bring him in—Hakon almost left over it. He only stayed to make sure a new Hydra didn't spring out of it."

Both Fury and Natasha shot him glares while Thor and Bruce watched in confusion, Bruce only understanding a tad more than Thor.

Tony glanced back at the shifting weapons schematics. "Guess he didn't quite succeed."

They were at a standoff and Natasha made her move, again asking Bruce to leave the room.

He frowned, bewildered why she, thus SHIELD, was trying to pull him out of a situation they went to painful lengths to put him into. "I was in Calcutta, I was pretty well removed."

Natasha frowned. "Loki's manipulating you."

Bruce, Steve and Tony's eyebrows all rose—the former asked, "And you've been doing what exactly?" Natasha tried to argue gently but he dismissed her, favoring putting distance between them and pointing to the screen now next to him. "I would like to know why SHIELD is using the Tesseract to make weapons of mass destruction."

Fury's lips curled in then pointed at Thor without looking at him. "Because of him."

Thor, who'd been silently watching with arms crossed, looked over in surprise. "Me?"

Tony fought down an amused chuckle with a strange looking frown.

Fury nodded with a flat stare at Thor then turning to Bruce. "Last year, Earth had a visitor from another planet that had a grudge match that leveled a small town. We learned that not only are we not alone, but that we are hopelessly, hilariously outgunned."

Tony nodded to the side then shook his head, bowing it to hide his blooming smile. Fury and the Council would have a heart attack if he knew the extent that Hakon and the New Archipelago dealt with, outside Realm threats and all. Not to mention, they weren't outgunned. He suppressed a shiver. He didn't want to think about what they would do if they ever learned about the weaponry of the New Archipelago or Wakanda…They had enough of a tizzy with just his meager suit.

Thor's arms fell, brows drawn close in confusion. "My people want nothing but peace with your Realm."

Fury turned and took a few steps closer to the Asgardian. "But you're people aren't the only ones out there, are you?" Thor was silent and it was answer enough. "And you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people who can't be matched."

Tony lifted his chin with a disapproving stare while Steve fought back a glare into the same disappointed scowl. "Like you control the cube?"

Thor took a step closer to the group, finally having something he could chip in with, and pointed angrily at the ground. "Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies. It is a signal to all the Realms that Midgard is ready for a higher form of war."

Fury gestured frustratedly at the window showing a small glimpse of sky. "And is Loki alone in his sentiments about Earth? I've found that these people are never alone in how they think. I heard it was while he was king when he sent that thing and leveled the town."

Thor's face turned red in anger. "Loki has always defended Midgard with more zeal than any Asgardian previous. I do not know why he is attacking now, and like this! He despises mind-control after his own debacle with it and its hand in causing his child's demise."

Natasha's eyes widened and faced Thor fully. "Child? Did he have descendants?"

Thor's eyes ballooned and promptly clamped up.

Tony watched with interest, curious as to how Thor was going to wheedle his way out of this mess. He observed, nerves fluttering in his chest and praying Thor didn't say anything damning.

Thor shook his head quickly, raising a hand to Natasha to dismiss the idea. "Do not go looking for them."

"So he does." Fury said with intrigue.

Panic began spreading across Thor's face. "Alright, yes, Loki had a child, who also had children. But do not go looking for them to use against my brother!"

Fury now glared at Thor who was attempting to shoot down possibly one of the only advantages they had if the psychotic god cared for them—and given Thor's prior comment about Loki's previous protectiveness of Earth… "And why not? If they can help us-"

"He will annihilate you for even thinking of it!" Thor argued vehemently. "He's undoubtedly already taken steps to ensure they will remain out of the war when he took Hyse-"

"Hyse is one of Loki's descendants?!" Fury roared, stuck between disbelief, indignation and fury.

Steve hummed and looked thoughtfully at nothing then nodded slowly. "That—oddly makes sense."

"I-" Thor started, surprised by Fury's reaction, "I am nearly positive. It is-was his Chosen's name. At first I thought it might be him, with being called Hakon, but—no, it's impossible." He shook his head and finished softly, an old guilt rising up again. "He was murdered, and the blood of thousands attest to that."

"What?" Fury hissed. "Did Loki kill them?"

Thor blinked confusedly at Fury. "Yes, but it was his right."

Natasha's eyes widened, even her hardened assassin's heart shocked at that innocent statement. "How is that anyone's right? And that many…"

Thor frowned, not understanding why they were so horrified. "They knowingly and willingly attacked and killed a Chosen, a being protected by Asgard."

Tony rolled his eyes with a huff. Might as well join Thor and try to help him out of the ugly hole he dug. "Even if Loki didn't go after them, ancient-Hyse's tribe and allies already were. He was killed as a mind-controlled hostage in a full blown war. There was going to be a bloodbath either way—Loki just made sure there was less on Hyse's side."

Fury's trembling hands stilled suddenly and rounded on Tony while Thor looked delightedly at him. "You knew! About Hyse—this Hyse and the old?"

Tony shrugged, hands shoved in his jeans' pockets. "He is my uncle."

Fury marched up to Tony and looked down at him. "And why have you neglected to inform me of such vital-"

"Because it's none of your business." Tony snapped, glaring at Fury. "And before a day ago, Loki was only a myth to most and a speculation to you. And besides, they're useless if you're thinking about trying to bring them into the fight. I tried contacting them after I saw the recordings of Loki brainwashing uncle H, but I got nothing. And when I mean nothing, I mean a total lockdown—nothing's getting in and nothing's getting out. Loki made sure they were staying out of the fight."

Thor nodded. "That is something Loki would do. He has done it before." He frowned as he thought back over the previous conversations. "But why was one of them working with the Tesseract? They knew it would only bring trouble and unwanted attention."

Tony snorted, looking sympathetically at Thor though it was really for Hakon. "He didn't want to. Again, he only agreed to to keep Fury from doing something stupid with it."

Steve's frown never wavered. "Lot of good it did."

Fury dimmed his anger to a controllable level so he could look impassive again and stared at Thor. "You forced our hand. We had to come up with som-"

Tony shook his head with a chuckle. "A nuclear deterrent. Because that always calms everything right down."

Fury turned, eye amused but mouth annoyed. "Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark?"

"And I'm sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck deep in it." Steve frowned at Fury. His friend Howard made weapons of war but from what Hakon said, even he was smart enough to experiment and use the Tesseract sparingly and not for weaponry.

Tony's nose twitched but he was more irked at Fury than Steve's comment. "Yeah, and remind me just why I got out of that business?"

Fury's eyebrows rose. "And just what do you call that suit of yours?"

Tony rolled his eyes. "Watch the hearing. I'm tired of explaining it."

Thor frowned at the squabbling Midgardians and commented to himself, except he said it aloud. "I thought humans were more evolved than this…"

Fury spun with a glare. "Excuse me, do we come to your planet and blow stuff up?"

"But these are your champions, in whom you are supposed to have trust implicit." Thor argued.

Natasha rolled her eyes. "SHIELD monitors all potential threats…"

The room descended in chaos, every voice trying to be heard over the others—about threats and SHIELD's mission—until it was nearly impossible to hear or be heard, yet still they argued.

"You speak of control yet you court chaos!" Thor thundered, finally silencing the group and restarting one person talking at a time.

Bruce crossed his arms, brows furrowed. "That's his MO, isn't it? I mean, what are we, a team? No, no, no. We're a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're-we're a time bomb."

Fury's eyes narrowed onto Bruce, Loki's prior comment about releasing the beast ringing fresh in his mind again. "You need to step away."

Tony glared at Fury. "Come on, why not let the guy blow off a little steam?"

Steve's eyes widened at Tony. "You know damn well why. Back off."

Tony turned to Steve, looking him over carefully. "You know, uncle H's people have something called Berserkers—don't want to make them mad. But when they do get mad and need to let off steam, they do or else they explode and go on a rampage, hurting innocents."

Bruce looked at Tony in surprise while Thor nodded. "Berserkers were always very feared warriors among the Norse. I am surprised such a tradition continued." He glanced over the still scowling group. "Well…maybe not."

Tony snorted. "They like their traditions…sentimental lot."

Steve frowned at Tony. "Bruce isn't just some traditional man with a thick head-"

"No, but he's still human. It cannot be healthy to always be suppressing every heated emotion you get." Tony argued.

Steve shook his head. "No, but he's doing it for the team. You're a big man in a suit of armor, take that off and what are you?"

Tony looked Steve in the eyes and said without pause. "Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist."

"I know guys with none of that worth ten of you."

"Maybe, but they're not here." Tony said flatly. "In fact, most of them are dead now."

Steve continued to stare flatly at Tony. "I've seen the footage. The only thing you really fight for is yourself. You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you."

Tony snorted. "I think I would just cut the wire—then we're both happy and alive."

Steve shook his head. "Always a way out."

Tony tilted his head to the side in acknowledgement. "Yup. And you wanna know who taught me that? Hakon. The reason I am here. You say I don't fight for anyone but myself. I fight for him."

Steve flinched and blinked, as if coming back to his full mind.

However Tony was only spiraling more. "You want to know why I was so pissed off at Loki? It was because he kidnapped and brainwashed someone he never should have, because he's hurting someone who's pretty much his own kid and hurting someone I care about! You want to talk about making the sacrificial play? I protected Hakon from another Thor forsaken super soldier, and nearly died doing so! I damn well know about making a sacrificial play when a gun is to your chest and a knife to your throat."

"What?" Steve whispered in shock and horror.

Tony laughed and Fury stepped closer, looking at the black haired many warily. "Stark."

Tony grinned manically at the Director. "So you never told him? Did you ever plan to?"

Now Steve turned to Fury expectantly.

Thor chuckled as he watched the argument. "You people are so petty, and tiny."

Tony blinked and wiped his forehead, confused as to why he was sweating and feeling—he didn't know quite what, but it felt off, not quite him.

Fury ignored Steve's silent question, thus answering it, and asked for Bruce to be escorted out—again.

Tony didn't pay attention to the people as another argument broke out, Bruce leading it this time—his sole and wide eyed attention was focused on the scepter which glowed more brightly than it had since they took it from Loki. His stomach turned unpleasantly at the thought. To his muted horror Bruce grabbed the shaft, seemingly unaware but the others weren't.

Steve took a step, hand out. "Mr. Banner, please put down the scepter."

Bruce looked down at his hand, surprised to see he was holding the scepter. He looked up to give a reply when the computer pinged and Maria spoke. "Director, sir? Erik Selvig is on the line."

The room fell into silence then Fury ran over to the console. "What? How is-" The room shook then the world around them exploded.

*O*

New Berk was a flurry of new commotion as people ran about collecting pieces and technology—Hiccup and Zephyr bunkered down in the labs with the Ygg-Hops and the Hydra batteries. It wasn't long before they had a prototype sketched out and Hiccup left to check on Nuffink who was rejiggering his old Tesseract shielding system into a way to collect the energy for the Ygg-Hops.

He entered the lab and started to call out to his son with a light expression when he froze, eyes widening as he felt a rush of glee from Loki, but it wasn't Loki. He gripped the wall as it overwhelmed him then left abruptly, leaving a painful hole. Toothless was by his side in an instant, irises narrowed slits.

Hiccup's eyes soon matched Toothless and he ran over to the Tesseract, ripping it off its stand much to the machine's consternations as it beeped and wailed loudly.

Nuffink whirled around, a questioning demand at the tip of his lips.

Hiccup shook his head and shapeshifted himself and Toothless back to their guises. "Loki. Something-something's very wrong."

Hakon held the cube and thought of Loki, as he had when he'd been searching throughout the universe. The Tesseract beat and spread its misty fingers around him and Torbjörg; all was silent and cold for a brief moment.

Nuffink reached out to try to stop his father, but was too late. He cursed and turned to the technicians helping him. "Have we gotten enough out of it?"

An older man nodded with a shrug. "Enough for a few."

Nuffink ran out, shouting for his elder sister.

*O*

The Tesseract deposited Hakon on grated decking and to a terrifying sight. Thor in a clear cage that looked ready to drop into the atmosphere below while Loki stood next to a console watching Phil who stood only paces away from the trickster, holding a very bizarre gun aimed at said god.

Hakon instantly noticed the way Loki moved and without even needing his magic, he knew it was an illusion. His head snapped to the place the real Loki stood undetected by all but him and saw Loki behind Folke, scepter poised to stab him in the back.

Hakon dropped the Tesseract and was running almost the moment he appeared.

"Wanna see what it does?" Phil asked, utterly unaware.

"No!"

Phil only started to roll his eyes towards the familiar voice when Hakon slammed into him and took his place.

Hakon grunted and his breath shuddered as something stabbed into his back with painful familiarity. Just like last time, there was no initial pain—but with the shock of nearly being stabbed through the heart, the scepter still lodged in his back, he shifted back listlessly.

Habitually, from last time, he looked down expecting to see the dagger but it wasn't there—there was nothing there. But it was there in his chest. He could feel a strange warmth spread from the spot and his knees weakened, falling to the ground once the scepter was removed, only for Loki to catch him before he hit.

"Hiccup!" Loki cried out in horror as Hakon suddenly appeared and the scepter speared him instead of Phil. Hakon—now Hiccup slid off the scepter as it dipped in his stricken shock and Loki caught him before he could collapse fully.

Tor howled from the walkway and bounded over to his other half, whining pitifully.

Hiccup gasped as the world quickly began to darken, only seeing Loki's tear filled face and reaching over their bond pleadingly before the seeping warmth in his back dragged him away and he saw no more.

Thor stood in astonishment in the cage, Mjolnir falling to the floor, eyes locked onto Hiccup—Hiccup. The alarm never left him but it started to give way to anger. Just what had Loki done?

Phil pushed away from the wall and stared, open mouthed at Hiccup—trying to form words and utterly failing.

Grief filled Loki as he cradled Hiccup, the scepter warring for control as Loki fought desperately to just end it all right now. The scepter won and he reached out towards the Tesseract, magically pulling it to his hand.

Phil stuffed down his despair and building sorrow and scrambled for the gun, aiming it at Loki. Tor growled as the weapon was aimed in the direction of his gravely injured other half, taking a step closer to warn the man—Archipelagan or otherwise. Phil ignored the Night Fury turned dog and pulled the trigger but by the time he fired, the god had disappeared in a puff of blue with Hiccup in hand.

Merry Christmas! Hope you guys have a good one and I'll see y'all soon!