~Tony Stark’s Catalina Compound, California, USA, Earth~

“For god’s sake, stop whining, Tony,” Pepper said, brushing a strand of strawberry blond hair behind her ears and rolling her eyes as she placed a dark roast pod in the Keurig brewer. “You don’t have to talk to her.  I know Jane isn’t exactly your favorite person.  You don’t even have to be in the same room.”  

“You think I’m concerned about talking to Pipsqueak?” Tony snorted, raising an eyebrow. “Hardly.  No need to open my mouth since she won’t ever shut up.  You’d think that a fellow scientist, you know, someone who speaks my language, would be able to hold my attention for longer than two seconds.  Actually, no.  Two seconds is too generous.  Oh, and ‘not exactly my favorite person?’  Congratulations, baby.  You’ve just won the gold medal for the understatement of the century.”  

“Your language?” she scoffed. “Science?  Really?  Tony, the only language you speak is arrogance.”

He didn’t look at her as he scrolled through his mentions on Twitter. “I could have you do this, you know?  You should be grateful for the sacrifice I’m making here.  Doing this myself.  I mean there are thousands of these.  Aw, look.  More heart eyes emojis and proposals.  Cute.”

Pepper smirked. “Such a sacrifice for you to see people worship you.”

Furrowing his brow, he pursed his lips.  “What exactly is a ‘bae?’  That word is everywhere.  Thank god for Urban Dictionary.  And what the fuck is with people calling me ‘dad?’  That is so far beyond creepy.  I’m never gonna be able to have kids.  ‘Dad’ is ruined for me.  Maybe I could have them call me daddy instead.”  

He shivered. “No.  That’s even worse.  Ick.  Stop asking me to follow you.  God, how old are you?  Thirteen?” He mumbled something about crazy fangirls, and Pepper, eyes narrowed, snatched the phone from him.  

“I feel like you aren’t listening to me when you look at that thing instead of me.  Actually, I feel like you aren’t listening to me even when you are looking at me.”

Brown eyes glinting with boyish charm, Tony smiled.  “Baby, you know I’m an excellent multitasker.”

“I wouldn’t go that far, Stark,” Agent Coulson deadpanned, walking into the expansive kitchen.

He joined them at the counter setting a transparent tablet in front of the billionaire.  Glaring at the high level S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, Tony swiped his finger across the screen, a holographic image of a blue cube springing up from the glassy surface.

“This thing is really starting to irk me, Coulson.  I’ve been working on extracting the tiniest bit of its energy for months.  It refuses to do what I say, and I’ve nearly been electrocuted ten times.  Actually, I have been electrocuted.  I swear I’ve heard an evil laugh every time it’s shocked me.  It’s worse than Dum-E.  Am I right, Jarvis?  Back me up here.” He looked toward the ceiling, an electronic male voice with a crisp British accent piping up.

“I think it is more likely that the small electroshocks alter your hearing momentarily, sir.”

Fighting back laughter, Coulson and Pepper eyed each other.  

Turning to them, Tony scoffed, “Did that little A.I. of my own making just suggest that I am hearing voices?”

Whistling, his plaid shirt wrinkled and untucked, Erik Selvig then strolled into the room and made a much needed cup of coffee, gesturing to the holographic cube.  

“High stress environments are known for causing auditory hallucinations, Tony, and nothing is more stressful than attempting to control an energy source as powerful as the tesseract many times over without success.  Especially for someone of your genius-”

“True,” Tony cut in with an enthusiastic nod. “I have no equal when it comes to intelligence.”

“-and controlling nature.”  Erik finished his thought.  “She simply can’t be controlled.  She has a mind of her own.  What Jane and I saw in New Mexico had the exact same molecular structure.  Something with that much power is beyond even you, Tony.”

Erik rubbed the sleep from his eyes.  He’d been awake for forty-eight hours now.  He just couldn’t see where the damn thing was pulling its power from.  He’d been trying to understand it for months and was getting nowhere.  The thing really did have a mind of its own.  When would S.H.I.E.L.D. accept that and just lock it up somewhere safe?  Every report he and Stark had filed about the cube described it as unstable and incapable of providing the green energy source that they wanted to distribute for trillion dollar profits.  No good would come of attempting to manipulate it.  As far as he could tell, the agency was led by a bunch of greedy power hungry crooks.  He wasn’t interested in their so-called green energy program.  He had just wanted to find a way to get Jane home, and he was quickly losing hope that the tesseract would help him do just that.  Not that he needed it now, since she had miraculously made it back somehow.

Walking to the wet bar in the main living room across from the kitchen, Tony sighed and running a hand through his hair, he poured himself a shot of whiskey, shaking his head in frustration.

Joining him, Pepper huffed, “Can we get back to the matter at hand?  Jane Foster will be here any minute now.  Rather than scratching our heads and walking in circles about the impenetrable and impossible to control cube, maybe we could get some insight from her.  She was in some alien world that had swept her up with the same energy as the cube, wasn’t she?  I for one want to hear that story.”

“I think we all do,” Coulson said, nodding and putting his hands in his pockets just as something—something big—crashed outside.

Rolling his eyes as several S.H.I.E.L.D. agents dashed into the room with them, Tony looked out the floor to ceiling window.  What NOW?  His jaw dropped at the sight of a woman standing amidst what was left of the metal gate at the entrance to his driveway.

“Did Pipsqueak come back as a fucking she-demon?!” Tony shrieked, pointing out the window. “Look what she did to my gate!”

Erik sighed and ran after Pepper who had left at the sound of the crash.  He hadn’t seen Jane in three months, and he wanted to know where Thor had taken her, and how the hell she’d come back.

---

It hadn’t been that long of a trek to the compound (two miles at most) but Sigyn had still needed to slow her pace for Jane to keep up.  Every few minutes, Jane had yelled for Sigyn to ‘slow down, please!’  Losing what little patience she’d had, she had almost screamed for the tiny shrill scientist to shut her trap.  Instead, she’d simply broken into a full run, ignoring the protests behind her.  

Black and utilitarian with square metal slats, she arrived at the ugliest gate she’d ever laid eyes on.  Upon inspecting the unsightly thing, she couldn’t find a latch or lock.  How did it open?  Should she just climb over it?  Shrugging, she decided climbing was the best course of action.  Just as she set her boot into the metal rod at the base that held the slats together, a blinding white light shone on her, and a voice through a megaphone shouted at her.

“Step away from the gate.  I repeat, step away from the gate.  This is private property, and you are trespassing.”

Approaching her from the other side of the gate, a group of four men and women in black suits aimed their 9mm pistols at her.  Jane came up behind her, finally, and waved her arms at them.

“It’s okay!  I know Pepper!  I’m Dr. Jane Foster and-”

Shutting out the rest of Jane’s words, Sigyn set her jaw.  She didn’t give a damn who these people were or what they considered ‘private property.’  She didn’t know how it was possible, but Loki was somewhere in that house.  Shielding her eyes with the back of her hand, she angrily kicked at the gate with all the force in her right leg.  

It didn’t quite shatter from the contact, but it did bust open loudly, and the metal slat that she’d kicked had a small indention in the shape of her boot.  Shots fired immediately.  Yelping from one of the rounds that grazed her, she hissed and closed her hand over the wound just below the crook of her right arm as the suits came at her.  Were these people completely mad?  She’d just kicked in a gate that probably wouldn’t have dented if one of their trucks had crashed into it!  Had it not crossed any of their minds that she might be more than capable of withstanding a few bullet wounds or a little tackle?  

“Take your hands off me!”  

Cursing under her breath, she struggled against them.  Gods dammit!  They were stronger than she’d thought they would be.  Her smoke was dangerously close to seeping out of the tips of her fingers.  One more hand on her, and she would absolutely destroy them.  She didn’t  wanted to resort to violence (kicking the gate in did not count) but if she didn’t get in there and find Loki in two minutes, she was going to burn them to crisps.

Running to them quickly, Jane grabbed a suit’s shoulder.  He knocked her back, and frustrated, she kicked at his back, surprised by her own brazenness.  Eyes wide, maybe in fear, maybe in shock, she shouted at them.  

“Hey!  Stop!  Let go of her!  She’s with me!”

Scrambling away from Sigyn when Coulson shouted at them to stand down, the suits kept their guns aimed at her as she stood to her feet.  She took a few deep breaths, managing to reel back in the smoke that had just begun to escape her fingers.  Fuming, she shot one of them a murderous look, and to her surprise, he holstered the weapon and raised his hands looking back and forth between Sigyn and Jane.

“Sorry, ma’am, but you kicked in the gate!  That isn’t just an act of aggression.  It’s a downright threat.  We were only doing our jobs and looking out for the safety of everyone else.”

“Oh your little gate can be reconstructed easily,” Sigyn shouted. “I wasn’t going to hurt any of you.  Of course, then you shot me.” Sigyn glared at him and waved off his words.  Who cared about the stupid gate?  This Tony Stark person had billions of that American currency that she’d seen in Jane’s wallet.

Pepper ran to Jane and gave her a quick squeeze as she eyed the disaster. “Long time, no see, huh?”

Jane laughed weakly as Erik wrapped her in a tight hug. “Oh I’m so relieved that you’re alive, Jane!” he said, kissing her temple. “When Thor took you god only knows where-”

“Asgard,” Sigyn answered the non-question and redid the raven side braid that had come loose during the scuffle.  They were wasting time.  She needed to get inside!

“What’s that?” Pepper’s asked, her voice shaking somewhat, clearly nervous.

Jane piped up quickly.  “Asgard is where Thor is from.  It’s his home planet… er…. realm.  Thor was…. or…. is….. I mean…. basically an alien.”

Pepper winked at her old school pal and lowered her voice. “Yeah, the best looking alien I ever saw if the pictures from Coulson’s file are accurate.  To think you slept with him….gotta admit, I’m a little envious.”  

Disgusted by the blond woman’s words, Sigyn rolled her eyes.  They should see Thor now in all of his decided non-glory.  Fucking blond brute.  The thought of these women swooning over him made her want to retch on the ridiculously trimmed grass.  Who kept grass this short?  Why not let it breathe a bit?  She shook her head—Really?  You’re thinking about GRASS at a time like this?  She cleared her throat and all eyes were on her immediately, a small silence ensuing as they looked her up and down.  It was as though they had only just realized that she was slightly.….different.  

Erik was the first to speak. “Can I safely assume that you, too, hail from Asgard?”

“Indeed, I do,” Sigyn said, nodding once. “I was Jane’s…. ride, so to speak.  Dr. Selvig, I presume?” She offered a small smile to the man as he held out his hand.  She looked down at it, brow furrowed in confusion, and put her hands behind her back.  She wouldn’t allow another man to kiss her knuckles when she knew that somewhere within that house was the love of her life.  

Jane elbowed her. “It’s really rude to not shake hands when introductions are being exchanged, Sigyn.”

“Shake hands?”  Sigyn had no idea what that meant.

Jane demonstrated for her and looked at her questioningly. “How do you greet each other in Asgard?”

Sigyn shook her head and shrugged as she took Erik’s proffered hand. “Forgive me, Dr. Selvig.  I did not know.  In Asgard, men grasp men’s forearms.  Women kiss women’s cheeks.  Men kiss women’s hands.” Picking grass out of her hair, she fought the urge to tap her foot and cross her arms like an impatient child.  

“May we come in, please?” she asked, trying to keep her tone kind(ish). “I imagine Dr. Foster is quite cold.”

Hesitant, unsure what to make of Sigyn, Pepper finally nodded. “Yeah, yeah.  Uh… sorry.  Come on in.” Pepper looked at the suits, their weapons still drawn, and then to Coulson who cleared his throat.

“Come on, guys.  I told you to stand down,” he said and turned to Sigyn, cautioning. “I would suggest not pulling any more stunts like that gate one, though.”

Tilting her head sideways, Sigyn smirked. “Or what?  You’ll tell them to stand up?  I assure you, Agent….?”

“Coulson.  Phil Coulson,” he offered.

Nodding, she continued as they approached the front door.  “Right.  Coulson, they have far more to fear from me than I from them.  Therefore, I would suggest they keep their weapons holstered.”

Clearly exasperated, Pepper turned on Sigyn once they entered the absurdly huge white foyer. “I’m sorry, but what is wrong with you?  You helped Jane get back, which is great, but now you seem intent on hurting her friends.”

Jane cleared her throat. “Pep, I wouldn’t exactly call S.H.I.E.L.D. agents my friends.”

Ignoring Pepper’s question, Sigyn hurried through the hall and into the next room.  Where is he?  She spun in a circle, scanning her surroundings, annoyed at how huge the place was.  It would take her ages to get through each room.  The bond was there.  She could feel it.  She was absolutely not going mad.  He was there.  She was certain of it.  Lost in her thoughts, running her hand through her hair absent-mindedly, she pulled her braid unknowingly.  Huffing at the tangles she’d created, she yanked out the tie to loosen it completely.  She wanted to just scream for him.  Would he answer?  If she could feel the bond, surely he could, too.  Was he looking for her?

“Yowza.  Looking for someone?  Don’t bother.  I’m right here, gorgeous.”

She’d heard enough about Tony Stark to assume it was his voice.  Rolling her eyes, she looked up from the floor that she’d dropped to in order to peer under the couch (as though Loki would have been hiding under it, come ON).  She could have facepalmed right there.

Tony approached her as she stood, and brushing off her knees, she blew her hair out of her face.

“Impressive cosplay, sweetheart, but I’m pretty sure you got on the wrong flight.  San Diego is eighty-six miles southeast of here.  That, and Comic Con was two months ago.”

All she could do was stare, one eyebrow raised, completely unimpressed with this man who seemed to think he owned the world.  What made him think he had any right to call her sweetheart?  Mustering the slightest of smiles, she spoke plainly.  

“You must be Tony Stark.”

He smirked and grabbed her hand for a quick kiss. “The one and only.  Seriously.  What’s up with the costume?  I mean, don’t get me wrong.  I’m loving the Lady Morgana look.  Very sexy.  You a Merlin fangirl or something?”

Sigyn brushed past him into the kitchen, his ridiculous words completely lost on her.  Who the Hel was Lady Morgana?  Oh right.  She’d read that one.  Morgan le Fay.  The Arthur Pendragon legend.  That still didn’t explain what a fangirl was, though.  And had he really just called her sexy?  She snorted.  Oh, he was so fortunate that Loki hadn’t been there to hear that one.  The not-as-clever-as-he-thought-he-was billionaire would have had at least six daggers in him.

Tony hurried after her into the kitchen. “Listen, lady-”

“Sigyn.”  She couldn’t believe the manners on this man.  “My name is Sigyn.  Kindly, do call me as such.”  

She stopped herself from opening cabinets as though Loki could fit in the tiny compartments.  She was behaving like a madwoman.  To be fair though, she felt that she was going mad.  Ridiculous thought.  She was not going mad.  There was just a great deal of house to search through and people kept interrupting her.  Coulson alongside Pepper came into the kitchen, ten suits following soon thereafter.  She felt cornered.  She was a caged animal.  She could have pulled her hair out right there.  She needed answers.  She needed to know where he was.  He was close.  She felt as though he was right next to her.  Was he secretly there underneath an invisibility cloak?  

Oh, come now, Sigyn!  Don’t be absurd!—If he were there, if he could see her, he would be on her in a second, his hands in her hair, his mouth on hers.  Shivers shooting down her spine, she gripped the edge of the counter at the thought, the marble crumbling under her hand.

“Hey, easy!”  Pepper ran to her, prying her fingers from it. “Do you have any idea how expensive that marble was?  Good god, what is with you?” She hurried from the room shouting for Jane to explain Sigyn’s presence.

“What is with me?!”  Sigyn called to the shrewd blond woman and dashed after her.  This kitchen was a dead end, and she had a good mind to slap that infuriating woman.

Jane grabbed her hand as she rounded the corner. “Sigyn, I think it’s time that you explain what you’re doing here.  You’re kind of freaking everyone out.  Including me.  I mean, what ghost were you talking about?”

Fighting back tears, unbelievably angry that she could feel him but had no idea where he was, she plopped down on the couch.  It sagged under her weight as she held her head in her hands.  Claustrophobia set in as everyone crowded into the room.  They were only humans!  Why was she so scared of them?!  She answered her question silently.  It was because they had him.  They were hiding him from her.  They must have hurt him.  But how?  What could they possibly have done to subdue an immortal frost giant?

Stupid girl, she scolded herself.  It was perfectly conceivable that they had captured him considering he had fallen through space and time with gaping holes in his side and thigh.  He would have been nearly dead, his body broken, when they’d found him—If they’d found him.  She rubbed her temples.  She didn’t really have any answers.  She was merely speculating, and honestly, none of it made sense.  How could he have survived?  Had he landed here?  Or had someone sent him here?  And if so, who?  And why?  Wiping the tears from her cheeks, trying to calm the fear and anxiety with deep breaths, she finally answered Jane’s question.  

“Loki.”

Jane opened her mouth, but it was Erik who spoke first. “As in the brother of Thor?  That Loki?  The one from Norse mythology?”

Norse mythology?  Oh right.  Midgardian legends of the gods of Asgard.  They were nothing more than myths now, weren’t they?  Sigyn blinked at him before slowly rising to her feet.  

“Yes.  That Loki.  Though he’s not a myth.  He is quite real.  I assure you.”

Running a hand through her hair, Jane laughed dryly. “Seriously?  Your ghost was Loki?  As in your dead boyfriend?  You think he’s here?  Come on, Sigyn-”

“Don’t you dare ‘come on, Sigyn’ me!  You’ve no idea what we shared or what I feel, and if you ever speak of him as my ‘dead boyfriend’ again, consider this-” she pointed between herself and the tiny woman “-over!”

What exactly could she call her relationship with Jane?  Friendship?  Certainly not.  Little thing was annoying as Hel.  Partnership?  Alliance?  Waving her hand frustrated, she fought to hold the smoke in.  A roaring fire was in the hearth not twenty feet away, and candles were everywhere.  This place could go up in flames so easily.

Tony rolled his eyes. “So my house is now haunted with a mythological dead god.  Got it.” He paused, running a hand through his hair. “Why is it always the gorgeous ones who are absolute nutjobs?  What a waste.  Am I right?” Looking to Coulson for a nod of agreement, he threw up his hands when all he received was a shrug and turned to Sigyn.  

“Does this Loki person happen to resemble a little white rabbit?” He snapped his fingers in front of her eyes.  “Alice?  Alice?  Wake up, Alice.  This isn’t wonderland.  It’s my house in Catalina just off the coast of southern California, and I’d love to know how you kicked in my gate and crushed my countertop with your fingers and nearly broke my couch when you sat down just now.  You can’t weigh more than 120!  What, is this like some serious case of roid rage?  What are you on?”

“Stop badgering her, Stark!” Jane said, feeling extremely defensive on Sigyn’s behalf suddenly. “She really is from Asgard, like she said, and Asgardians are crazy strong and live for thousands of years.  Actually, I think they’re immortal unless they get killed obviously.  Thor was like nine hundred years old.” Jane pulled out her phone and scrolled to one of many videos she’d taken during her extended stay and handed it to him.  

“It’s like a completely different planet, but they call it a realm.  Erik, you can vouch for me.  You saw Thor and the bifrost.”

Erik started to speak, but Coulson cut him off. “Stark knows who Thor is and has seen the footage we took from New Mexico.  There’s no need to rehash it.  Let’s just get back to her deal,” he said, pointing to Sigyn.

Hands on her hips, Jane glared at him. “You haven’t seen footage from Asgard.”

Tony raised an eyebrow and flipped to the next video. “So what you’re saying is, this chick is an alien.  A really pretty and really strong alien.  Can she impregnate me?  Is a toothy little monster gonna rip itself out of my stomach?  Although she has more of Species look to her.”

Ignoring Stark’s quip, Erik rubbed his chin. “What I still don’t understand is how you got back, Jane.  Our equipment didn’t read any heat signatures like the one in New Mexico.  We didn’t see the same bifrost, as Thor called it.  How else would you get here?”

Sigyn stared blankly ahead and responded for Jane, her tone flat. “We used a different mode of transport, and do not bother asking what it was.  I won’t answer…. and neither will Jane.”

She closed her mind to their chattering then, uninterested in hearing them discuss just how insane they thought she was.  Reaching out with her mind, she refocused on the magnetic pull of the bond, which was becoming stronger by the minute.  Tilting her head to the side, her eyes landed on the stairs in the huge foyer.  Walking towards them, her vision tinted bluer still.  There—Not the stairs going up, but the ones going down to a lower level called to her.  Moving with purpose she made it to the top step before Tony appeared behind her and grabbed her hand.  She’d been so focused that she hadn’t noticed anyone following her.

“Just where do you think you’re going, Alice?”

Pointing down the stairs, eyes narrowed, she snapped, “I suggest you stop calling me that.  I’m not a character from a children’s story.  Now tell me what is down there.”

Arms crossed, Tony raised an eyebrow. “My lab.  Why?”

“I need to see it,” she said, taking another step down, but he hurried to the step below and pushed her back.

“Let me clarify.  It’s my private lab, and you don’t need to see anything other than a shrink.”

Scoffing (did he really think he could stop her?), she pushed past him and dashed down the stairs where she was met with a glass wall and no visible door.  Frustrated that she couldn’t enter, she peered into the lab.  Tables littered with glass bottles, transparent screens with glowing words and diagrams, various red and gold suits of iron, and other items she couldn’t make sense of were scattered throughout the space.  There was, however, one thing that she recognized immediately.  The Hel?

Glowing blue and looking exactly as its living picture in the world tree room in the palace, the tesseract hovered inside a spherical metal contraption.  What the Hel were they doing with the cube?  Did they have any clue of what it was capable?  How dangerous it was?  Turning sharply to face him, she gaped.

“Dear gods, what are you doing with the tesseract?  Where did you even find it?  Odin himself buried it deep in your realm ages ago!  Why do you-“

“Wait a second,” holding up his hand, Tony cut her off.  “You know what that is?”

Pressing his hand on the glass, it slid sideways into the wall, and she followed him in as the rest of the crew came bounding down the stairs behind them.  Several more suits appeared out of the shadows of the lab, eyes following her every move.  Circling the cube, she nodded.  Had this been why everything looked blue to her?  Did everyone else see it too?  She sucked in her cheeks.  

“Of course I know what it is.  All Asgardians know what that is, and I was promised to the king of Asgard for Hel’s sake.”

Tony’s eyes blew wide. “Wow.  Asgardian royalty, huh?  The costume makes more sense now.”

“It’s not a cos-”

Tony waved a hand. “Whatever.  So Alice-”

Pulling her black dagger from its thigh holster, she put it to his throat. “Call me Alice one more time!”

Holding up his hands in surrender, he nodded to the suits who had drawn their weapons. “Okay okay!” he croaked, coughing nervously as they swarmed around her.

Jaw set, she released him and faced the others. “I truly mean no harm, so long as everyone stops insulting my intelligence and avoiding my questions.  Now,” she turned back to Tony, “what are you doing with the tesseract?  You are aware just how dangerous this is, yes?  Forged from an original singularity of the universe?  Do you even know what it does?”

Erik stepped in before Tony could answer.  “After heavy research, we know that it has the same heat signature as the bifrost, which leads me to believe that it can be used to create an Einstein-Rosen bridge, though I don’t know how to do that just yet.”

Tony shook his head.  “That’s not why we have it.  S.H.I.E.L.D. didn’t hire me or you, Selvig,” he shoved his finger into Erik’s chest, “to open up some wormhole.  The tesseract has enough energy to-”

“Fuel a nuclear bomb?” Sigyn cut him off with a hiss. “Yes, Dr. Foster mentioned that to me already.  Do you mean to use it to make such a weapon?  Do you not already have enough of the dreaded things in this realm?”  

Glaring, Tony crossed his arms. “Listen, I’ve dabbled enough in weapons technology to know that would be an idiot move.  We aren’t making weapons.  We’re trying to utilize its energy to create something sustainable, as in not using up Earth’s natural resources, as in not destroying our ozone layer.  Can you fault us for that?  Who are you to tell us what we can and can’t do with it?”

“I am a nine hundred year old immortal who knows a bit more about the universe than you do, and dabbling in weapons technology is a far cry from wielding the cube.  It’s not meant to provide sustainable energy to power your little earthly technologies.  It’s a powerful transportation device, otherwise known as the Space Stone.”

Erik smiled smugly and crossed his arms. “What did I tell you, Stark?  It does open up wormholes.”

Skepticism creasing his brow, Tony frowned. “You’re telling me that this thing could send me to the other side of the goddamn universe?”  he scoffed.

Beyond frustrated, she ran her hands down her face. “There is no race so arrogant as humanity!  Here I stand before you, showing more strength in my fingers than you in your entire body, Dr. Foster shows you live images of Asgard, Dr. Selvig and Agent Coulson show you footage of the bifrost, and yet you still question the validity of my words!  Don’t be a fool, Stark.” She turned then to face the others.  

“That goes for all of you.  This-” she pointed to the tesseract “-is the most powerful, unstable, and lethal object in your realm.  That is, assuming one of the other stones isn’t hiding somewhere else here.  You absolutely cannot control it.”

Coulson’s voice interrupted the heavy silence that had fallen over the group. “Can you?”  

Sigyn faced him, her lips in a thin line, and shook her head. “No, but the Allfather can, and it belongs in Asgard where it would truly be safe from those who would seek to use it as a weapon capable of destroying your world.  I can get it back there.  Come now, the cube isn’t the only energy source available to you.  You will find something else.  Something less volatile.  You must allow me to take it back to Asgard.” She’d completely forgotten her original reason for coming to the house in the first place, all thoughts of Loki replaced by the cube.

Tony laughed out loud. “Well, slap a nurse’s white uniform on me and call me Ratched, you really did fly over the cuckoo’s nest, didn’t you?  Here-” he strolled to the metal sphere housing the cube “-let me just hand it over to you.  No biggie.”

She could hardly be surprised by his response.  She hadn’t expected any of them to comply with a random woman, Asgardian or not.  Regardless, they were absolute fools.  They had discovered it and were now manipulating it, or attempting to, and had unknowingly alerted every realm of its location.  Exhausted, she ran a hand through her hair and sighed heavily.  She had no desire to discourse at great length how someone could come through the portal right then and there if he or she or it was powerful enough.  

In that moment she realized where the pull had come from.  The lot of them were bickering loudly, weapons drawn and still aimed at her, but she was unaware of anything other than the cube, which was now shooting off small blasts of blue energy in greater strength than it had been when she’d first descended the stairs.  The pull, the magnet, the bond had been calling to her from the tesseract.  

Someone could come through at any moment.

Her hand flew to her mouth as a positively monstrous blast of blue energy shot out of it.  All arguing ceased, everyone jumping back, shielding their eyes from blinding light.  A small glowing blue translucent sphere appeared on the other end of the blast which seemed to be powering it.  It grew bigger by the second until it was big enough to cover the entire back wall of the lab.  Staring at their shocked faces as Tony’s lab was engulfed in the blue haze that had clouded her vision since that moment on the shore, she clutched her chest before returning her gaze to the sphere, squinting.  Was there someone inside of it?  She thought she saw a shadow.  Maybe?  Gods, she needed to know!

Please be him.  Please be him.  Please be him.  Please be him.  Please be him.

Her insides were melting, her legs turning to rubber, and she could no longer stand.  The possibility of seeing him again was too much.  For a moment she thought she might vomit all over Stark’s sterile floor.  Sweat beading on her forehead, her eyes stung suddenly.  NO!—Falling to her knees, she rubbed her temples, her body curling in on itself from the pain.  

Then she heard it.  The most wretched cry of pain ever to reach her ears, even more so than her own screams on the bridge when he’d fallen, filled the lab.  She covered her ears, the sound breaking what was left of her already broken heart.  It was the voice she loved, the voice she adored, but it was twisted and garbled and distorted.  

Everyone dropped to the ground then as the sphere exploded outward, everything in the lab shattering from the blast, save only for the steel wall frames.  Even the safety glass windows had been blown out.  Her ears rung, but at least the horrid pain that had built up in her eyes out of nowhere dissipated.  She managed to raise her head and look at the space where the sphere had been.  On his knees, was a man, his head bent forward hiding his face.  His hair was pulled back at the base of his neck.  

Long raven hair.

Eyes wide, breathing faster, she continued to study him.  He was dressed like the humans: short black leather jacket, dark pants, no gold buckles or silver straps.  His broad shoulders straightened, and he raised his head a bit.  Sharp cheekbones created a shadow across his face.  

Oh gods….

Raising his head further, his features were finally in plain sight.  Defined jawline, long gracefully veined neck, thin lips, straight nose with a barely there indention on the thin tip, pale skin, inky eyelashes, not even the slightest scratch marring his beautiful face.  His eyes, oddly blue in color, danced back and forth.  She knew that face.  She adored that face.  

Loki.  

Frozen in place, she stared.  He raised one dark eyebrow as though trying to get a handle on his surroundings.  He was really there.  Loki was alive and not thirty feet from her.  

Jane’s voice broke the silence. “Oh. My. God.”  

Loki turned his head sharply, eyes squinting to see her better, and pushing up with his arms, he stood to his full height.

Pistol aimed at him, Coulson shouted.  “Put your hands up where we can see them, sir!”  

Twenty guns now aimed at him, Loki raised his hands, palms facing them.  Sigyn, still frozen on her knees, stared as the lump in his throat bobbed and finally spoke, his voice the most beautiful sound she’d ever heard, even more so than she’d remembered.  

“I mean you no harm.”

A shot fired then and Sigyn, shocked out of her stupor, screamed.  “NO!!”  

Wincing as the bullet bounced off his shoulder, he turned at the sound of her voice.  Was he dreaming?  He was in Midgard, right?  Was that….was that Sigyn?  That couldn’t be her!  

She scrambled to her feet, smoke shooting from her fingers.  The suit who had fired the weapon, maybe accidentally in a panic, maybe not, went up in flames then and dropped to the ground rolling until the fire dissipated.  All guns pointed at her then as she turned to face Loki.  They locked eyes, neither believing what they were seeing.

“Loki….” it was more an exhale than a spoken name as tears spilled down her cheeks.

Jaw dropping, he took a step forward, not blinking, afraid that she would disappear.  But she didn’t.  She was really there, dressed in her armor and his jacket, her black hair longer than he remembered, her hands clutching her throat.  Brows raising, he blew out a breath.  

“Sig?”

At her nodding, a small wobbling smile spreading across her wet face, he closed the distance between them despite the warnings from the black suited humans to ‘stay right there!’ and not ‘make another move!’  He could care less.  Why or how she was in Midgard, he had no idea, but dammit if he didn’t need to have her in his arms right then.

“Loki,” she sobbed, clinging to his neck as his arms came around her.  

“Sig, oh gods, love…” he trailed off into her hair, tears soaking his cheeks as she stood on her tip-toes, her hands in his hair, tugging it loose from the tie.

He was saying her name.  She was actually hearing his voice, not just remembering it.  His arms, even stronger than before, pulled her so tightly into his body that she could barely breathe.  She had to be dreaming.  If she was, sweet Valhalla, she hoped to never wake up.  Her nose to his throat, inhaling the most wonderful aroma in the universe, she felt her insides turn to lava, despite the cold of his skin.  His hands moved lower to her thighs, and he hoisted her up, her legs encircling his waist.  It was then that she looked at him—Really looked at him.  She put her forehead to his, their noses touching, and she couldn’t help but return the wide smile that now stretched across his face.

“You’re alive,” she whispered, kissing his nose, his cheeks, his jaw, his eyes, his forehead as he nodded and held her tighter still.

“I am.” Eyes closing, he swallowed back a sob.  

She was real.  He wasn’t dreaming.  Sigyn was back in his arms, and by the Norns, he would never let go.  Why couldn’t he pull her closer?  He’d thought he would never see her again.  It had been an impossible dream, and yet here she was, her legs wrapped around him, kissing every part of his face, pulling at the roots of his hair.

“My god, I missed you,” she said those three words over and over until she had to stop and catch her breath.

“Not as much as I missed you,” he breathed, his heart racing in his chest.  

“Impossible,” she rasped, her mouth hovering over his.

One hand still at her waist, he moved the other up her spine and gripped the back of her neck.  Looking from her eyes to her mouth, he licked his lips and kissed her.  By far the deepest kiss he’d ever given her, it was a kiss for the three months they’d lost.  For three months of death and torture.  Three months of misery, sorrow, grief, and absolutely shattered hearts.

“Oooo-kayyy,” Tony cleared his throat and grimaced, “please tell me they aren’t gonna start fucking right here on my lab floor.”

Pepper leaned to Jane and whispered, eyes wide. “Who is that?”  

Jane bit her bottom lip before blinking rapidly.  “He’s not dressed like he is in the pictures I’ve seen of him, but that is definitely Loki.  Thor’s brother.  Thor’s supposedly dead brother.  And, obviously, her boyfriend or fiancé or whatever.”

Pepper nodded and muttered again.  “How tall is he?  He is uh … gorgeous.”

“I heard that.” Tony glared sideways at her.

Pepper huffed, “Like you care.”

“Maybe I do,” Tony snapped back.

“Good god, just shut up,” Coulson rolled his eyes.  Looking to his team, he nodded for them to holster their weapons once more.  “Somehow, I don’t think those two are gonna cause any trouble for the time being.”  He looked to Jane.  “So this guy was supposedly dead?  Is he dangerous?  Can he do that weird smoke thing that she did?”

Jane shrugged and whispered to him. “I don’t know about the smoke thing.  I never saw Thor do that.  I don’t really know anything about Loki.  I mean he’s Asgardian like Thor, so he would be really strong at least.  But yeah.  He was killed, or everyone thought he was, three months ago.  Huge battle in Asgard.  Like devastating of biblical proportions battle.  Loki was their king since Thor had been exiled and sent here.  Their dad fell asleep or something.  I don’t know exactly what happened.  I do know that they gave him the biggest and saddest and most beautiful funeral I’ve ever seen.  I mean, I didn’t even know the guy and yet I was sobbing.  He was a really big deal.  Thor is king now, and they don’t like him that much…. or at all really since he broke their bifrost and incidentally killed a lot of their people, but Loki was like a hero to them, I think.”  

Jane couldn’t help but stare at the pair and didn’t blame them one bit for the major PDA.  She tried to imagine what it would be like to watch the love of her life die and live without him for three months and then see him again, alive and well.  She’d be having a serious make out session, too.  Plus, he was really good looking.  Didn’t look a thing like Thor, but just as attractive in a different way.  That, and he looked like an incredibly good kisser—Seriously.  That was one epic kiss, and it was still going.  That kiss belonged in a damn movie.  Like Legends of the Fall or The Princess Bride.  Aw!  Westley had come back from the dead, too, in that movie!  Jane had to stop herself from sighing embarrassingly.  

Tony turned to Coulson, “So I’m thinking that the tesseract is not exactly what we thought it was.”

“No shit.  How did that guy come through?” Coulson pulled out his phone.  “There might be some validity to what that Sigyn lady was saying about the cube being a bit volatile.  I mean, that guy looks pretty harmless, other than being a total lady killer,” he laughed at his own pun, and Tony eye rolled himself so hard it hurt, “but who’s to say that someone bigger and badder might not have come through instead?  I’m gonna call Fury.  Rogers, too.”

Tony pulled a face, “Ew, why Rogers?  That guy is a dinosaur.  Oh wait, that’s right.  I forgot you have a total boner for the guy.”  

Eyes narrowed, Coulson scowled and put the phone to his ear. “I do not have a boner for him.  I do have a great deal of respect for him and think he could shed some light on the matter.  Maybe offer some much needed and even humble wisdom.  And Director Fury needs to know for obvious reasons.  He’s our boss.”

Tony held up a finger. “Your boss.  I’ve been doing this for the greater good.”

“S.H.I.E.L.D. works for the greater good, too, Stark.”

“Yeah, you keep telling yourself that,” Tony said with a wink and slapped his shoulder.

Erik came up behind them. “Are you seeing what I’m seeing?”

“What?” Tony looked at Loki and Sigyn who had yet to separate. “Alien mating rituals?  Yeah, I see that.  I’ve been trying to un-see it.”

Coulson chuckled as Tony shivered dramatically, and Erik rolled his eyes.  “I’m not talking about them.  Look up.”

They did as he said, jaws dropping at the sight.  Blue light, the energy blast from the tesseract, had gathered under the tall ceiling and was swirling around the space, shooting out in all directions, growing in size.

Tony frowned, eyebrows knitting together. “That’s not good.”

Coulson turned to Jane and Erik. “Time to go?”

Jane nodded. “Yep.”

Tony put on his fire resistant gloves, and grabbing the tesseract, he placed it gingerly in its protective steel case.  

“Tell me my house isn’t about to explode, Erik.”

Erik found his laptop, which amazingly had survived the tesseract’s energy blast and spoke flatly.  

“Your house isn’t about to explode, Stark.”

Scowling, Tony sighed. “Liar.  Roof.  Now.  Jarvis, I need those birds spooled up stat.”  

Jarvis responded promptly. “Yes, sir.”

“Sigyn!” Jane shouted as she ran to the Asgardians who were still lost in their own little world and grabbed Sigyn’s shoulder hard enough to get her attention.  

Sigyn set her feet on the ground and pulled away from Loki, his growl at the interruption causing Jane to stumble back.

“Sorry, but this place is about to blow,” she pointed to the ceiling, “we’re going to the helipad on the roof.  We’ve gotta get outta here.”

Nodding once, Loki grabbed Sigyn’s hand. “I am not losing you again,” he said, and they dashed after Jane up the stairs, ten suits in tow.

Climbing into one of several helicopters ready to launch, Loki pulled Sigyn into the seat next to him, and wrapping his arm around her shoulders, he addressed Tony.

“The cube is in that metal case, yes?”

Gaping at each other, Pepper and Jane looked as though their eyes were turning into actual hearts.  

Pepper whispered, “My god, his voice.”

Jane nodded and swallowed audibly. “I know.”

Glaring at Loki who had one eyebrow raised in question, Tony stiffened.  He didn’t like this guy one bit.  Pepper and Jane were gazing all heavy lidded at him like he was some sort of sex god.  Come on, he wasn’t that good looking.  Straightening his shoulders, Tony smirked, confidence in place.  

“Nice to meet you, too.  Why do you ask?  You planning on telling us how to use it?  Or how you came through it?  Or why?  You can call me Stark, by the way.”

Small laugh escaping his lips, Loki smirked as they took off. “Well then, Stark, all that matters for the time being is that you have the cube, that it is not lost to you.  There will be plenty of time for answers later.”  He paused, gesturing to the house as they took off. “I suggest you take one last look at your humble abode.”

Tony had to stop himself from punching him—Goddamn prick. “You call that humble?  Who do you think you are?  Royalty?”

Shrugging, Loki turned and kissed Sigyn’s temple. “That depends.  Would you call a king royalty?”

Frowning (he’d forgotten that Sigyn had said she was engaged to Asgard’s king), Tony watched as his massive Catalina compound imploded, the entire western side of the island with it.  Looking down at his hands, he shook his head.  

“Fuck,” he muttered.

Erik turned to face him, a look of sympathy on his face. “So where to now?”

Tony sighed, “Stark Tower Two, obviously.  Hey,” he nodded to Sigyn, eyebrows wiggling, “ever been to LA?”

Brow furrowed, she shook her head, glad that Tony Stark had this flying contraption or else she and Loki would have been toast.  

He smirked at Loki then. “So you think the compound was humble, huh?  You should see a high rise in Hollywood, your majesty.”

Sigyn pressed further into him, his other arm wrapping around her as she spoke in his ear. “You should know that Thor is king now, Loki.”

Sucking in his cheeks, he moved his mouth to her ear, a shiver running down her spine at his cool breath on her skin.  

“He won’t be for long, love.  Not for long.”  

Asgard’s throne belonged to him, and he would take it back, no matter the cost.  Nothing would stop him.  Kissing Sigyn’s hair, their fingers entwining, he looked out the door as the glowing orange sun came up over the hazy Los Angeles skyline.

FINAL THEME SONG: “BABY GIRL” BY SMNM**