Disclaimer - All the usual Yada Yada Yada. I don't own any rights to any characters in this fic save for my OCs. Don't sue me.
Anywho, without further ado - read on.
Earth-6161 [May 2012]
Thor Odinson
He stewed in his own frustration as the Midgardians loaded up his brother after he refused to have him imprisoned in the magic of a witch, a Midgardian Witch from the looks of it, something that he didn't know was possible.
If only he was strong enough, he might have been able to convince his brother to give up his foolish endeavor, to convince him to give up the Tesseract and come back to Asgard, to make sure that his brother was never in a position to be subdued using a foreign witch's magic, and yet, that was all he could. Stand there, and mount some argument so as to not seem the weaker party.
Because that's what he was. In that single moment, he, Thor Odinson, Crown Prince of Asgard, was the weaker party in a combat standoff, something that very rarely happened as he grew older and was given Mjolnir. The last time he felt so powerless was when his father stripped him of his powers and all he could do was watch.
Even when he was nearly killed, no, the Destroyer did kill him, he didn't feel that powerless. The witch sitting in front of him with her eyes closed made him feel danger the likes of which he had never experienced outside of his father, Odin the Allfather, something that was supposed to be impossible.
If this old Midgardian frail woman was even nearly as strong as his senses were telling him, she should not have been an unknown. Her tales should have spread across the Nine Realms and more importantly, his father most certainly would have warned him of her.
After all, he had been warned of many things when his father sent him here but none of those were severe warnings, instead only telling him to focus on the Tesseract first and leave everything else for later because getting the Bifrost up and running was the top most priority of Asgard right now.
It did hurt him that retrieving Loki was not the top priority for Odin but that was okay, Odin was King and those were the kind of responsibilities that a King has to bear to be a worthy King for Asgard's people. Kingdom before Family. The curse of ruling, as his father put it.
He sighed and closed his eyes, trying to get a sense of the witch in front of him. He had never been that good at sensitivity to magic, that was Loki's forte but if the woman was as powerful as he knew her to be, she should be giving out magic in droves, even if she was not using it.
His brows furrowed as he felt…nothing. Nothing at all. It was as if the woman was invisible to his senses. His eyes widened a bit in realisation as to how Loki was imprisoned by this woman. Loki relied on his senses, the magical senses far too much, something that was told to Loki by his mother many times but so far, on any battlefield, it had not hurt Loki much. In fact, in many environments where they couldn't rely on sight, Loki had been the one to bail him out, with his senses that could not be impeded by the geography of the battlefield.
It was probably that habit of his that did him in. The woman was strong, that much he was certain of, and she was also invisible to magical senses, creating an ideal situation to take down Loki without any issue.
He breathed out and opened his eyes, to see the woman still in that meditating pose. He could tell that she was meditating because of her breathing and also because he could no longer feel her attention on him.
It was unpleasant, to have the attention of someone capable of defeating him soundly.
"We will be landing shortly." A woman's voice came from the ceiling, where Midgard kept their sound emitting devices known as Speakers.
He looked to the side, to see the other Midgardian, the man of Iron, someone with a very impressive looking piece of armour around him, glancing at the woman sitting beside him multiple times.
He wanted to ask him about the witch but thought better of it, once they were in a private setting because he would be obligated to inform Odin about an Allfather-level powerhouse seemingly hiding in the Nine Realms, without Adgard's knowledge.
With a slight jerk, the flying vessel landed on a larger flying vessel. The doors were ripped apart and a squadron of armed Midgardian soldiers marched into the place. He tensed as they put their hands on Loki but remembering his earlier deal with the witch, he let them be but not without a stern glare and a pointed movement from Mjolnir, indicating what would happen should Loki be harmed in any way.
"Keep him safe. He is to be judged in Asgard's courts, not Midgard's." He told Romanoff who opened her mouth to reply but then just nodded, not having the authority to guarantee something like that to Thor but playing along until they reached Fury, who also did not have the authority to do so but could probably get away with doing it if need be.
Thor turned around and was about to ask where they were taking his brother when he stiffened, not seeing the witch anywhere.
"Looking for water lady, Thor?" He turned to the Midgardian whose face plate had been removed.
"Yes, I have words for the Witch."
"My name is Tony Stark, by the way. Also, that seems like a derogatory term, and trust me, you do not want to refer to old black women with derogatory terms, they will whoop your ass in the case of his woman, she would whoop all of our asses."
He looked confusedly at the Midgardian who spoke in a strange language. "I do not understand that reference."
"I do." The man with the star spangled outfit spoke in the background with his finger raised.
_____xx_____
All of them were led to a conference room, where all of the people in the Jet as well as a warrior from the flying ship were sitting, waiting for the captain of the ship. It made sense to negotiate with someone higher up in the chain of command; the pilot of the Jet probably did not have the authority to guarantee Loki's eventual return to Asgard.
"Greetings. I am Director Fury of SHIELD and I want to thank you, all of you for bringing in Loki. He is a criminal, who is being charged with too many crimes to–"
"He is of Asgard." He stood up, making sure to chime in because he needed to make sure that Loki was coming back with him. While Allfather's instructions didn't specify Loki at all, he had to bring Loki back, if not for his relationship with Loki then for his mother. She was devastated when Loki fell off the rainbow bridge, falling straight into the void.
She would be most happy if Loki returned, alive and well to her, even if he did end up being a permanent resident of the dungeons for as long as Odin was King.
"He killed 60 people in two days," The agent from the flying ship chimed in, making the rest of the Midgardians look at him strangely.
"He's adopted?" He offered weakly in defense.
"We can argue about who gets to keep Loki after we have something that makes nukes look tame in comparison, back in safe hands."
"Oh, and whose safe hands are we talking about? Because you were the ones who lost it in the first place. Speaking of which, what were you doing with the Tesseract?" Stark stood up and accused the Director.
"You don't get to talk to me like that, Stark. Up until a few years ago, I was the one who had to clean up messes that your stolen weapons left behind. Weapons, might I remind you, were being sold under the table by the one person you gave full authority to run your father's company." The Director countered back, and he sat back down in the very uncomfortable chair.
This was getting tedious. They were now arguing with each other on who gets to keep the Tesseract and what they were doing with it, when in fact, Asgard would be the one who gets to keep both Loki and the Tesseract, something that is an immutable fact, because Midgard was one of the Nine Realms under the protection of Asgard and not the other way around.
Asgard didn't ask for permission. They took, they were warriors. He was a warrior, first and foremost, not a diplomat or a noble with a silver tongue.
That was all Loki and now because of Loki, he was forced to be in a position to employ diplomacy, something that was destined to doom because he knew how to explain with his hammer best.
In the middle of the Midgardians arguing, something that was getting more and more unbearable by the second, a hesitant voice spoke up, that seemed to make everyone in the room freeze and tense considerably, as if they were standing before an active volcano, about to erupt.
"Uh–is this a wrong time? I-I was told to come here." An unassuming looking Midgardian with spectacles took a single hesitant step into the room.
Everyone in the room looked at each other before the Director responded, "Not at all, Doctor Banner. I am just glad you were able to join us. Fortunately, we are done with this meeting so Stark can join you in the Lab."
The redhead rose from her seat, "Come on, Doctor. We have all the latest toys, you are going to love it here."
"This is not over," Stark remarked pointedly before he too left the room.
A/N -
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