Chapter 44: Germany

A/N: Loki is totally in control here. 100%.

-x-X-x-

Everything was going according to plan. One might not think it, looking at where Loki was now, but that was where the Midgardians would fail. They'd fallen right into her trap, distracted by her little display in one part of the world while her archer and the other soldiers she'd brought under her control had been hard at work in another part. It was one of the most simplistic gambits in the book, but they'd fallen for it hook, line, and sinker.

That said, she did have to admit to being… mildly impressed. The Iron Legion that her archer had told her about were more than she'd expected. For one, their armor was not made of iron. For two, they had not stopped to talk to her or negotiate with her. They'd come in fast and they'd come in hard, taking her down with overwhelming power and securing the safety of their pathetic civilians in the process.

She hadn't even really had to act defeated when it came to them. She couldn't even use the Scepter on them because of their all-encompassing armor, leaving her at a distinct disadvantage when it came to facing off against them in a proper fight.

But then, Loki didn't fight properly to begin with. So what if they'd given her a busted lip? So what if she could feel a black eye forming from where one of them had punched her right in the socket even now? It mattered little how far the Midgardians had come though. Her archer had been confident that this 'Iron Legion' was the strongest force of warriors they had. They would fall before the full might of the Chitauri and the world would fall with them.

That said…

"You are the Iron Legion, yes? Created by Tony Stark?"

There's a pregnant pause at that, before one of the armored men speaks up.

"Stark created the suits. He didn't create or train us."

Mm. How quaint. The men in the armor were proud of their skills then. Proud of their training. Loki smiles wickedly. Might as well get an early start on sowing discord, she supposed.

"Take the suits away and what are you? Nothing more than weak, pathetic Midgardians. You are all-!"

WHAM!

Loki's eyes widen as one of the Iron Legion sitting next to her rears back and slams his fist into her jaw hard enough that she feels it shift. She had thought the Midgardians had more honor when it came to treating prisoners of war… especially women. But the others in the aircraft just laugh, with the one who had done the talking snorting derisively.

"Might want to keep that mouth shut, Silvertongue."

Before Loki can respond, there's a sudden crackling from the suits. Internal communications she realizes, though her enhanced hearing lets her listen in.

"Rumlow."

The one speaking before, who she now knows is called Rumlow, doesn't appear to outwardly move a muscle as he responds.

"Stark?"

Loki has to control her reaction, even as the rest of the Iron Legion shifts back and forth.

"I'm coming up on the plane. Flying my own set of prototype armor. Don't worry about me, just here as backup in case something goes wrong."

"Does the Secretary know about this?"

"Man, why does everyone keep invoking Pierce? Do you think he'll mind? What, I'm allowed to make all of you fuckers armor, I'm allowed to stuff my best friend in a suit, but I can't wear my own?"

"… You're not exactly trained like us or Colonel Rhodes, Stark."

"Yeah? Who says?"

Before Rumlow can respond again, they fly right into a storm. Loki's eyes widen and then narrow and she grits her teeth as thunder and lightning suddenly begin to shake the aircraft.

"Strange atmospheric disturbances, Rumlow. You're about to have company."

Stark's warning proves prescient, because a moment later an impact hits the top of the craft. Rumlow and the others begin to stand.

"Stark? Was that you?"

"Nope. That would be Thor, God of Thunder."

One of the Iron Legion makes a frankly idiotic call in Loki's opinion by opening the back of the aircraft. She watches as her brother lands on the descending ramp and faces off with over half a dozen of the Iron Legion. His eyes blaze with power as he looks at all of them for a moment before his gaze falls upon her.

"Give me my sister."

Thor doesn't wait for a response. He lunges forward and though the Iron Legion moves to stop him… he has always been the better fighter. More than that, the armored Midgardians get in each other's way and Thor's objective isn't to defeat them anyways. At least, that's not his primary objective.

Loki doesn't resist as Thor reaches her and grabs her by the nape of her neck, picking her up like a disobedient kitten. She longs to drive a knife in between his ribs, just like old times, but that would be counterproductive to her plans. Everything is still working just fine… she'd made allowances for Thor's interference, in the end.

With a swing of Mjolnir, Thor flings them both out the back of the Midgardian craft, flying them through the rain and wind and lightning. Behind them, Loki can see the Iron Legion already trying to give chase, but they're not as fast as flight by hammer, it would seem. They quickly disappear into the distance and once Thor has put some space between them and the Midgardians, he lands and sets her down gently.

"Loki…"

He sounds pained, her so-called brother. Brushing herself off, Loki smiles thinly at the God of Thunder.

"Thor."

He growls at her flippant tone.

"I am in no mood for your games, Loki. Where is the Tesseract?"

Rather than answer that, Loki just grins.

"You should be thanking me, Thor. How much power did the All-Father have to spend to send you back to Midgard before the Bifrost was finished being repaired? He risks another Odinsleep and all so you could see your precious mortal friends again."

Snarling, Thor steps up to her, grabbing her by the front of her vest and lifting her bodily off the ground.

"You try my patience, sister. I mourned you. We all mourned you. And now you are here, harming innocent people. For what? Our father-!"

Loki laughs. Mourned her? She knows they didn't mourn her. Thor might not have mentioned it yet, but Odin had almost certainly told him about her origins by this point.

"YOUR father, Thor. Not mine. Never mine. Or did he not tell you of his plans for us?"

Thor's earnest look of confusion causes Loki's stomach to curdle. Odin really hadn't said a word. Disgusting.

"Think, Thor! Why would the All-Father take a female runt, the least of Laufey's children, and abscond with me to Asgard? Why does any conquering king bring a princess back home to be raised as his ward?!"

Even Thor isn't so dense as to not catch her meaning. His eyes begin to widen, at which point he starts to viciously shake his head.

"No-!"

"Oh yes! Odin meant for me to be your bride by Rite of Conquest, Thor! Just as our mother was before me! I was never the spare. I was never meant to rule as Queen of Asgard in my own right. I was only to be your kept woman, to unite our two realms just as Frigga's marriage to Odin brought Vanaheim to heel!"

"That's not… even if that was father's original intention, it's clear he changed his mind, Loki! We were raised as brother and sister for a thousand years! I could never look at you in that way!"

At least he's having the same visceral reaction she'd had when she'd finally realized the truth while flying through the void. For that… for that, Loki decides she can afford to be a little gracious.

"Consider this your one warning, Thor. Leave now. I will never be your bride. Instead, I will be Queen of this pathetic mudball. I will rule it justly and benevolently, with a closed fist. The Midgardians use the freedom afforded them by Odin's negligence to slaughter each other by the thousands daily. They will live much happier under my rule than they do his."

Thor shakes his head at that, quickly recovering from the shocking revelation that their father intended to wed them to one another. Loki expected nothing else from the meathead of course, he was always quick to compartmentalize. What she isn't expecting is the next words out of his mouth.

"You are as foolish as ever, sister. Midgard already has a King. A hidden one yes, but a King, nevertheless. I told the All-Father of him already and Odin has given his tentative approval. Tony Stark works even now to bring peace to Midgard. Your presence is neither needed nor wanted."

What? No seriously, what?! A… a HIDDEN KING?! Blinking rapidly at Thor, Loki sputters.

"What are you talking about, Thor?!"

He gives her a curious look.

"You've seen his power for yourself already, have you not? You attempted to strike him down with the Destroyer and failed. He is even capable of defeating Lady Sif in a duel. He is not like other Midgardians. He is more, just like a King should be. Unfortunately, Midgard started persecuting monarchies a few centuries back. Hence, Tony Stark must remain in hiding."

He says it all so matter-of-factly. Like it just makes sense or something. Never mind that Thor is speaking nonsense. Hidden kings? Persecuting monarchies?! And why was the All-Father even entertaining this idea? Just to placate his perfect son?!

A snarl leaves Loki's lips as her face contorts in anger and rage. Thor was mocking her. He had to be!

However, just when she's about to lay into him, to truly lay into him… one of the Iron Legion slams into Thor from the side, followed by another and then a third. The three armors drag Thor with them, pulling him down into the forest below as they punch and kick and strike at him with energy blasts. Thor roars in anger in response, wrestling right back with them as they pull him towards the ground.

Behind them come three more of the armors who move to join their comrades in trying to secure the God of Thunder. And behind them come a final two, who land on either side of her, staring her down and almost daring her to do something. Loki smiles and lifts her hands in surrender, watching on in amusement as both sides take an ass-kicking down below. All according to plan.

What is not according to plan is the ninth armor that shows up, only to land and split open, letting Tony Stark step out onto the cliff a few feet away from her.

"Stark."

One of the Iron Legion calls out to him warningly, but he just waves them off.

"Oh, don't mind me fellas. Just something I need to check on. Something I want to see."

Then, looking past her to the brawl below, Stark sighs and brings his hand up to his ear.

"Rumlow? Kiddie gloves only. He's technically on our side. I'll step in to calm things down in a moment so treat this like a training exercise until then, 'kay? Want a word with his sister first."

Loki's eyes widen at the man's casual arrogance. The Iron Legion had seemed so certain that they didn't owe their strength to Stark back on the aircraft. And yet, when Tony approaches, her two guards do not stop him. And down below… she sees the change in those fighting her brother as they switch up tactics.

No… it couldn't be. There was just no way-

Stark suddenly grabs her by her jaw, making Loki hiss as he forces her head back and stares into her eyes.

"Unhand me, mortal!"

She goes to bite his fingers clean off, but he's already pulling them away.

"Has anyone ever told you what beautiful blue eyes you have, Loki?"

Stark's murmur is nonsensical. The Iron Legion watching the encounter seem to think so too, because they exchange glances as he stares her down. Loki, meanwhile, just glowers at Stark in confusion. What did he think he was doing, speaking like that to a Goddess? More so, if he sought to seduce her he could at least get her eye color right! Everyone knew her eyes were GREEN!

But before she can lambast the mortal for his words and promise him eternal agony once she took over his pathetic world, Tony has already turned around and started heading back to his armor. She's so very tempted to fling a dagger into his back to try to end him right then and there but he already survived her daggers once, not to mention the Destroyer. As well, she was flanked by two of the Iron Legion, who had already proven to be as violence happy as Thor himself without half of the compunctions about striking a woman.

Stepping into the suit, Tony Stark takes to the air and lances over her head before flying down to the battle below. Then…

"Shield-Bro!"

Just as he said he would, he calms things down and has them all playing nice with one another in mere minutes. Loki watches this as she's escorted back onto the Midgardian aircraft, now with Thor and Tony Stark in attendance as several unhappy and somewhat damaged members of the Iron Legion stand in silence in the crowded space.

And Loki finds herself wondering if Thor might not be as mad as he sounded. A hidden King… it sounded impossible. Surely… surely something like that would not have escaped the Mad Titan's notice, right? Something like Midgard being ruled in secret by one single figure would not fail to pass under the notice of the Other!

There was just no way that Tony Stark was anything more than an up-jumped mortal with delusions of grandeur and a slightly sturdier frame than other Midgardians. But even if he was Midgard's hidden monarch like Thor seemed to think… it mattered little. Because everything was still going according to plan.

-x-X-x-

Everything was still on track. Everything was still going according to plan. Loki might be a woman this time around, but she was still using the same playbook as last time. Get herself captured as a distraction so her minions could complete their work… and cause general dissension and chaos among Earth's Mightiest Heroes in the process.

Except Tony had new information this time. Information he still wasn't entirely sure what to do with. He'd seen Loki's eyes before, back when she'd tried to kill him during Thor's first visit to Earth. When she'd stabbed him in his kidneys and slammed him up against a wall before leaving him to bleed out, Tony had gotten a very, VERY good look at Loki's emerald green eyes.

So then why, pray tell, was Loki sporting big bright blue irises this time? Tony could sort of understand why they hadn't noticed the discrepancy originally. Thor had the same almost unnaturally blue eyes after all. Like they were almost too blue to be real. And Thor wasn't controlled by the Scepter.

But Loki had green eyes when she'd first stabbed him. Tony was confident about that. Now she was here on Earth wielding the Mind Stone in what Tony could only assume was a specially crafted weapon that could utilize the Mind Stone's powers to turn people into mind controlled slaves. Specifically, blue-eyed mind controlled slaves.

Tony wouldn't have thought much of it, except that Thor had told him some of what had happened with the male Loki before Tony had come back in time. Apparently, the Loki from the original timeline had managed to redeem himself before the end, even trying to kill Thanos in an all or nothing sacrifice play that Tony would have never considered the God capable of before.

Hadn't worked out of course, but now it had Tony doubting himself. What if Loki wasn't herself right now? What if she was just as controlled by the staff as the rest of them? It didn't change the fact that she'd tried to kill him not once, but twice before Thanos ever got his hands on her… and yet, Tony couldn't shake that there was a possibility here. Something he should take advantage of.

He could-

Sir.

Tony blinks as JARVIS contacts him via technopathy. No actual audio, technically no traceable connections. Just J's voice in Tony's head.

Yeah J? What is it?

There's a pause before JARVIS finally speaks.

I'm afraid that through a lapse in judgment on my part, Captain Rogers, Captain Carter, and Sergeant Barnes all wound up watching the news coverage involving Loki's display in Germany. They are now asking to speak with you most insistently.

Tony's eyes widen at that, making him grateful that he's wearing Sneaky at the moment so nobody else in the quinjet sees his reaction.

What? I mean… I didn't exactly order you to keep them away from it or anything, but damn, that's… not good.

Not necessarily bad either, Tony supposed. But still very much not good. In fact, it had the capacity to be very, very messy.

Yes Sir. I had spread myself too thin in an effort to crack the code regarding Loki's magic and her ability to hide her compatriots and the Tesseract from my senses. I'm afraid this resulted in my failure to properly monitor the three Super Soldiers. I have failed you on both fronts, Sir. My sincerest apologies.

Tony takes a moment to process that. Yeah, he supposed the secrets of magic would probably be one of the few things left that could truly tax JARVIS' processing at this point in time. Unfortunately, Tony couldn't exactly ignore this. Not because the Super Soldiers might break out of their containment and expose themselves to the outside world if he just left them to their own devices, but rather because they might TRY to break out and discover that in spite of the amenities and nice rooms they'd been afforded, they were actually in gilded cages that they couldn't escape from no matter how they tried.

… Yeah, probably best to avoid them figuring that out. Though there was no reason to freak out, not really. Especially since…

What's their individual reaction like, JARVIS?

… Currently, Sir, the only one truly agitated is Captain Carter. Sergeant Barnes has been urging caution and expressing no desire to leave his quarters as usual and Captain Rogers seems indecisive and torn between the two of them.

Yeah, that sounded about right. And that… that Tony could work with.

Tell them I'll be over to visit ASAP, J. Tell them we've already captured Loki and as soon as she's secured, I'll be there to talk. But making sure she doesn't escape has to take priority.

There's another pause and then…

They understand, Sir. Captain Carter is willing to wait.

But not wait long, Tony suspects. No matter. This wasn't unsalvageable. Not by a long shot. In fact, there was already a fun little plan forming in his mind's eye.

-x-X-x-

A/N: The one thing remaining that can stretch JARVIS' insane processing power to its limits... magic. And in doing so, caused a small lapse on his part. Oops.

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