The Quinjet cut silently through the dark, turbulent sky over northern Europe at cruising altitude. Its heavy engines were a steady, vibrating hum beneath the deck plates.
Loki sat completely relaxed in the rear restraint chair, his pale wrists bound in heavy, specialized steel cuffs that Tony Stark had personally designed. He looked incredibly comfortable. The chilling, deeply satisfied smile had not left his face for a single second since his surrender in the plaza.
Steve stood near the cockpit beside Natasha. He kept his arms firmly crossed, watching the prisoner in the back. His body still ached from the brutal fight on the cobblestones.
"He gave up too easily," Steve said quietly to Natasha.
"I noticed," she replied, keeping her eyes fixed on the illuminated flight instruments.
"If he is as powerful as the SHIELD files say, those restraints will not hold him for long."
"They won't."
"So why is he just sitting there smiling?"
"Because he wants to be exactly where he is." Natasha tapped a glowing display on the console to adjust their heading. "Which means wherever we are taking him is exactly where he wants to go."
Steve absorbed that grim logic. "I don't like it."
"You shouldn't."
Tony leaned casually against the fuselage behind them. His faceplate was flipped up, and he was deeply engrossed in studying the glowing energy readings of Loki's Scepter on his holographic display.
"The Scepter is putting out some very interesting gamma signatures," Tony muttered, mostly to himself. "Low-level but incredibly consistent. I honestly cannot wait to study it in a proper lab."
"Is this really the time for science?" Steve asked, turning to look at the billionaire with a tired frown.
"It is always the time for science, Cap. Science doesn't take breaks. Science doesn't care about your schedule."
"We have a highly dangerous prisoner who intentionally let himself be captured, and you want to talk about gamma readings."
"I can do both. It is called multitasking." Tony tapped his temple through the open faceplate. "You should try it sometime. There are some great tutorials online if you can figure out how to use a mouse."
Steve looked back at Natasha, completely unamused by the banter.
"Welcome to the team, Captain," she said smoothly.
Tony stepped a bit closer to the cockpit, keeping his voice pitched low to ensure the Asgardian could not easily eavesdrop. "What exactly were Fury's specific instructions regarding this situation?"
"The Director told us to bring him in," Natasha replied softly. "Nothing else."
Tony scoffed quietly. "Then let Fury deal with whatever this supposed god has planned. Let the man with no smile and a thousand contingency plans handle the man with horns and a bad attitude."
Steve glanced back over his shoulder. Loki had not moved. He was watching them from the restraint chair with that same small, knowing smile, as though he were a guest at a dinner party who had heard a mildly amusing joke at the other end of the table and was deciding whether to be polite about it.
Steve turned back to the others. "He's watching us."
"Let him," Natasha said.
—
The lightning came completely without warning.
It was not distant, rolling thunder. A single, enormous, blinding bolt split the dark sky from horizon to zenith. The Quinjet's dim interior went stark white. Deafening thunder followed immediately in a massive concussive boom that physically shook the heavy aircraft and made the flight instruments flicker wildly in protest.
Natasha's hands were already tight on the controls, expertly steadying the violently bucking jet.
Loki's smile vanished instantly.
"What's the matter?" Steve asked, noticing the sudden, sharp shift in the prisoner's arrogant demeanor. "Scared of a little lightning?"
"I'm not overly fond of what follows," Loki said quietly, his green eyes darting upward.
The jet shook violently again, accompanied by a heavy, metallic thud—exactly like someone massive had just stepped onto the exterior hull. Tony immediately snapped his faceplate shut, fully sealing his armor to meet the sudden threat.
"Opening the back." Tony hit the release button for the rear hatch.
As the heavy metal ramp began to lower into the howling, freezing wind, a massive figure flew straight inside the cabin.
Thor didn't hesitate. He swung his hammer, casually swatted Tony aside like a bothersome metal insect, grabbed Loki violently by his armored collar, and flew straight back out the open hatch into the stormy night.
The entire sequence happened in less than three chaotic seconds.
Steve stared blankly at the empty chair. The broken restraints were left swinging loosely in the freezing wind.
Tony pulled himself up from the metal deck with his armor whining in protest. "And now there is that guy."
"Another Asgardian?" Steve asked in disbelief.
"Thor. Our prisoner's brother and Arthur's good friend." Tony stepped toward the open ramp, the storm whipping fiercely around his metal suit. "I should probably go get our prisoner back."
"Stark, wait. We need a plan of attack."
"I have a plan. Attack."
Tony fired his thrusters and dove headfirst out of the hatch, disappearing into the dark, stormy sky.
Steve watched him go. Then, without a word, he turned around and marched toward the equipment bulkhead with grim determination.
"I would sit this one out, Cap," Natasha warned without turning around from her pilot seat."You cannot fight another battle in this battered state. Thor is said to be even stronger than his brother. He is literally the God of Thunder."
"I can still move." Steve grabbed a heavy tactical parachute from the wall rack and strapped it on tightly over his uniform. "And, ma'am, there is only one God. And I am pretty sure he doesn't dress like that."
He ran to the edge of the ramp and jumped blindly into the stormy night.
Natasha watched him fall out the back of her aircraft and sighed through her nose. She adjusted the Quinjet's heading to follow the plunging men at a safe distance.
She was not especially worried. Thor was Arthur's close friend. Because of that crucial connection, she knew there would be no real, lethal danger for Tony or Steve. It would just be a lot of loud, destructive posturing.
She keyed her comms and began calling it in to the Helicarrier.
—
Thor landed incredibly hard on the rugged top of a mountain cliff, throwing Loki roughly into the dirt. The God of Mischief groaned, catching his breath as the storm raged violently above them.
"I thought you dead," Thor said, his voice thick with complex emotion.
Loki laughed breathlessly, slowly pushing himself up from the rocky, wet ground. "Did you mourn?"
"We all did. Our father..."
"Your father," Loki spat back with sudden, venomous spite. "He did finally tell you my true parentage, did he not?"
"We were raised together," Thor said, his voice softening with desperate sincerity. "We played together, fought together. Do you remember none of that?"
"I remember a shadow. Living forever in the shade of your greatness." Loki sneered, pacing around the rocky outcrop. "I remember you tossing me into an abyss. I, who was and should be king."
"So you take this world I love as a recompense for your imagined slights?" Thor shook his head in sorrow. "No. Midgard is under my protection, Loki."
"And a fine protector you are." Loki turned and walked a slow half-circle around his brother, his boots crunching on the cold black gravel. "Tell me, how exactly did you get here? The Bifrost was destroyed. You destroyed it yourself to stop me from drowning Jotunheim in ice. Odin would have to burn half the treasury and most of his strength to send you to this realm."
"Nothing so dramatic," Thor said evenly. "Heimdall sent me. Through the Bifrost."
Loki stopped walking.
"How." It was not a question. It was a demand. "I saw its destruction with my own eyes."
"It is getting repaired," Thor said. "It is not completed. But Heimdall could use the restored fraction of it to send me here today."
Loki's sharp mind was already working through the impossible implications. "Repaired so quickly. Wait. Asgard has the Tesseract?"
Thor smiled broadly now. "No, but a very good friend was kind enough to give us something remarkably similar. I heard you foolishly destroyed something like that a few days ago."
Loki snarled, genuine anger finally breaking his careful composure. "The wizard again. Where is he? Now that I have finally appeared, should he not come and capture me himself? With you and him combined, you might actually have a chance to defeat me."
"Arthur had to be away."
Loki's smile thinned. "Convenient."
"It was not. He had promised to bring me here when you were found. Something pulled him away. I do not pretend to know what." Thor paused. "Mother says he will return stronger than before."
The mention of Frigga did what the mention of Arthur could not. Loki's eyes flickered. Just for an instant. Just long enough for Thor to see it.
"But none of that matters tonight, brother. Because you are not staying here to face him. Come home with me. Everyone is waiting for you. Mother. Father."
Loki turned his back on Thor. "I am not going back."
Seeing Loki remain entirely unconvinced, Thor stepped forward and grabbed his brother's arm with crushing force. "Loki, come back. You do not need to do the bidding of the Mad Titan. Asgard is your backing."
Loki flinched, pulling his arm free. "How do you know that name?"
"Arthur told me," Thor said, his voice full of pity for his fallen brother. "He told me that your reckless journey through the void led you to be captured by the Mad Titan. He sent you here to subjugate Midgard and get the Tesseract for him."
"The wizard knows far too much, but he is completely wrong about my motivations," Loki spat, his green eyes flashing with defensive pride. "Subjugating Midgard is my own objective. No one forced me to do that."
Thor looked at his brother with profound sadness. "You will fail."
Loki laughed cruelly into the wind. "And who will stop me? You, brother?"
"Yes. This planet is under my protection, even if it does not really need it."
Loki raised an elegant, mocking eyebrow. "So Midgard has other warriors than these fragile mortals and the absent wizard?"
"Arthur told me this world has many hidden guardians. That if you harm it, you will face its true protectors, and everything she hides." Thor paused."I did not believe it at first. But then Father also said it was true."
Loki glared at Thor, entirely refusing to yield to reason or cosmic warnings. His blind ambition and bitter pride had deafened him to reality.
Seeing that Loki would not agree to come back peacefully, Thor reached back and took firm hold of his hammer. The sky rumbled in immediate, violent response to his rising anger. He was ready to take Loki away, one way or another.
"Listen well, brother," Thor began, lifting Mjolnir high into the storm.
Before he could finish the sentence, a streak of red and gold slammed violently into him from the sky.
Iron Man crashed into the God of Thunder with the force of a meteor, sweeping Thor completely off the cliff edge and sending them both plummeting into the dark, dense forest far below.
Loki watched them disappear over the rocky edge. He calmly sat down on a nearby boulder, resting his hands gracefully on his knees.
"I am listening," he said to the empty air.