Chapter One

A rush of air swept past Loki's face – the last sensation he felt before his whole body was consumed. The black hole enveloped him like a deadly mist and slowly he allowed himself to drift and flow through space and time. It felt like being torn in pieces and crushed and stretched all at once.

But he knew he would survive – after all, he was essentially immortal. The notion that his God-like strength protected him from certain death calmed him… but also made him anxious - an emotion he had not felt since his infancy.

But now he was grown, thousands of years of experience and life behind him. There was no room for childish anxiety or fear. There was only hate. And where his future was normally uncertain, as he now plummeted through the unknown, he felt a resonating clarity. He knew exactly what his future would hold.

Betrayal. Deceit. Trickery. Lies.

Death.

As it always had.

As his mind floated, ephemerally separated from his body, he began to plot his revenge. He knew not where he'd wake, nor who he would meet, but he knew his revenge would come swift and resolute.

No matter the obstacles, he would avenge his pride. He would be his brother's equal. And he would make his so called father pay for denying him what was rightfully his.

He would nurture his hate – something he had been so afraid to do before, but now reveled in with ease – and would set it loose on all the nine realms.

Utgard-Loki cracked his fingers, watching the icy tendrils of cold bend away from them. He had heard of the stranger's arrival, and waited for him on his frozen throne. His attendants were hidden in the pillars and cracked shadows which surrounded him. He would not be fooled by the visitor's apparent weakness. He would be ready for any trickery.

The events of the past weeks had been warning enough. Dealings with the God of Mischief, whether he was one of them or not, were always going to end in destruction. Their home - already marred by the battles and acts of war which preceded Loki's antics - was in ruins. But after the Bifrost was set loose upon them – by none other than the one who had sworn to rebuild their once beautiful home – Jotunheim was nothing more than a frozen wasteland of devastation.

Utgard-Loki clenched his icy jaw. No, he would not be decieved again, like his predecessor.

The visitor was close. He could sense the footsteps of one lithe and limber, plotting his way across the icy rubble at his feet. He was a god… an Aesir… someone familiar…

"Loki…" he rumbled, watching as the figure approached his throne. The man in question sauntered through the pillars in all his deceitful regality; chin high and eyes glinting in the cold light.

"What madness drives you to enter my hallowed halls, betrayer?" his crisp voice was ice and daggers, growling through the hall and setting his subjects' on edge. Loki smirked – flirting with danger.

"Only the madness of revenge," Loki said softly, his cold green eyes glinting.

Utgard stiffened, "you seek your revenge here? After all you have done to us – what could you possibly hope to obtain? What could you possibly want to avenge? We have done nothing against you..." the King's anger was thick and rolled off him in chilling waves.

Loki watched the walls, not meeting his kin's dead, red eyes, completely ignoring the seething hatred which boiled around him. He said softly; "It is not on you I wish to place my revenge," he brought his hands up to his face to check his nails. He held that pose, staring down his long, aquiline nose at the grit beneath his bone. After a moment he looked at the king apathetically.

"I have come hoping that you will aid me," he bowed awkwardly.

Utgard laughed – a sinister, callous growl which echoed along the hall. His subjects joined him, tensing for retaliation to the traitor's words.

"Foolish prince," Utgard hissed, "we shall give you nothing except a slow, calculated death," he flicked his fingers at his two closest guards who began to stride menacingly towards the small, seemingly vulnerable Loki.

But the Prince simply shrugged, watching the guards with obvious boredom, "I suspected you would be so simple as to respond that way, Utgard-Loki. I hoped, seeing as we share a name, that some of my intellect may have rubbed off on you… but I am clearly mistaken," he smiled like the mischief-maker he was.

Utgard growled, "you dare insult me?"

"I think, instead of making idle threats, you should broaden your mind and consider the reason as to why I have insulted you, King of the Frost Giants," Loki said impatiently, now walking towards the king with gravity. "I am not a thief. In exchange for helping me there is much for your people to gain."

Loki let the bait sit as he now stood before the King's throne, just one step away from being level with him. It was taking all the self-control he possessed not to eliminate the deluded King where he sat in an instant – how dare he presume he could challenge Loki – the Prince of Lies!

"What are you speaking of?" Utgard rumbled. Loki grinned.

"I seek revenge on my brother… and 'father,'" he sneered at the mention of his family. "They have done me a grave wrongdoing and I wish to see it undone."

"And just how do you plan to do this?" Utgard asked, perplexed and slightly interested, though still trying to keep up an air of bitterness.

Loki smirked, seeing through his mask; "I seek to avenge my dignity by eliminating my brother and the All-Father, taking my rightful place as King, and proceeding to rule over the nine realms…" Loki said simply, boredom thick in his voice as if this were all in a day's work.

"I also seek to hurt my brother," he continued, licking his lips with disdain. He was facing away from the King now, not showing the pure bitterness which adorned his sleek features. With a small sigh he whirled back.

"I need your people to do this," Loki said patiently, "And I hereby swear that if you do so choose to aid me in the destruction of Midgard, then it will be yours for the taking in the aftermath. Your rule would then stretch through two realms, and you would be free to do with the mortals what you will." Loki swept his arm, "The multitude of beings on this planet, once amassed, could destroy all of Midgard in a single day," Loki grinned triumphantly.

But Utgard was confused, "Midgard? Why would you waste your time with that mortal filth? Why not just take over Asgard and leave that realm be?"

"Because… my dear King," Loki now stepped up to the throne, baring his teeth in a grimace. He let out a mirthless, breathy laugh then said with devious relish:

"…that is where my brother's lover is."

UGH, get my out of here.

I'm so over these meetings. What the hell is the point. I get it that Jane needs to sit in and take notes and whatever but me? I have no part to play in this crap.

Darcy Lewis slumped in her chair, staring daggers at the head of S.H.I.E.L.D: Nick Fury. His one good eye surveyed the little crowd of agents and scientists and superheroes or whatever, as he droned on and on. Something, something Avengers… something, Evil villains… something, something… I'm a big fat retard.

Darcy sniggered, catching a dark glance from Agent Coulson who sat down the aisle from her. She resisted the urge to poke out her tongue – even though her presence here was completely pointless and totally unnecessary, she still needed the job. Might pay not to piss off the superiors.

"…and so we must protect it with our lives. The cube's power is astronomical… infinite. The Avengers have been assembled to prevent that power from ending up in the wrong hands." Fury then gestured to the right, where a little band of pretty average looking individuals started filing into the room. Darcy recognized Stark from T.V. – Hasn't that guy been on Letterman or something? She knew he was some super-rich, super-smart dude with lots of high-tech stuff. But the rest of the group were foreign to her.

I don't care, she thought. She'd heard all about S.H.I.E.L.D.'s plans. She knew they'd found some uber-powerful cube thingo, which if some baddie got a hold of, would be able to take over the world… twice-over.

But she also knew S.H.I.E.L.D. was the most powerful agency in the world – with more veto than the White House apparently. And as Fury started introducing all the superhero spandex-club people, she knew they were probably the most powerful people on the planet, too. She felt pretty reassured that the cube would be fine. Not like she really gave a crap anyways. Who would be tripped out enough to go evil and try steal from S.H.I.E.L.D and The Avengers?

She forced herself to pay attention to Fury – purely out of boredom. Jane seemed riveted… maybe the dude did have something interesting to say.

"There is one issue I would like to address… and it pertains to a certain group of people within our organization," Fury shifted his steely gaze towards Jane and the other sciency nerds which apparently included Darcy. Ew.

Wait, us? What the hell?

"As most of you are well aware, thanks to the Foster theory and the Foster-Selvig research, we've been able to study the possibility of life outside our planet. The being Thor was here for a time, but is now lost to us in the astrophysical expanse that is time and space. According to some theories, the usual method of travel known as The Bifrost is otherwise broken, thus rendering his usual method of travel impossible. Our top researcher, Jane Foster, is working on worm-hole technology to bring Thor back to us. This is vital to our operation."

Understanding slowly sunk in. I get it. Thor would be perfect for saving the world. He had that whole defender of the innocent, protector of the weak, noble shit going on. Yeah, bring back Thor!

"The cube is of Asgardian nature… according to past files and witnesses… if there was anyone who could understand, and protect, the cube efficiently, it would be Thor."

Jane started nodding eagerly beside me. Oh Jane… you are the epitome of fan-girling.

"And so our future projects will be thus – the agents and the Avengers will protect the cube against all who would seek to misuse it, and those under Jane Foster will continue their research, and eventually find a way to bring back Thor."

People started clapping – Oh, oh shit, we're clapping. Clap, clap, clap, yay Fury! Pay attention Darcy - and the meeting was finally over. Darcy sighed in relief and slumped in her chair even further.

She watched as the rest of the agents started moving out. The spandex-club, though, remained and started to assemble around Fury. He seemed to be addressing each of them individually, suddenly gesturing towards where Darcy and Jane were sitting. Hmmm.

She was vaguely aware of Jane bubbling away excitedly beside her and turned to tune into her rabbling.

"… know what this means, Darc?"

"Huh?"

"I said, do you know what this means?" her voice was super high. Oh no. Super-high-voice Jane was super excited Jane who Darcy didn't particularly like conversing with.

She grimaced, "Whaaaaat?" she asked cautiously.

"It means," Jane grinned, "we get more funding! And man-power! And support from S.H.I.E.L.D. for crying out loud."

"I thought we already had that," Darcy said.

"No, no, not like this. They were just housing us, basically, and making sure we weren't up to no good. Now we can actually get things done. We can bring Thor back, Darc!" and then Darcy saw a glimmer of a tear in Jane's eye and remembered she really did love the big air-head.

"That's great Jane," she tried to sound genuinely excited. "I'm sure you'll get to see your boyfriend real soon."

"Oh… oh well… he—he's not really my boyfriend," she was going red. Cute.

Darcy laughed, "Come on, now that that boring meetings finally over, we can go get some coffee. And some proper coffee this time, not that S.H.I.E.L.D. crap. It tastes like dish-water."

They stood and started walking out of the room, when suddenly some massive wall of meat was blocking them. Darcy looked up, slightly put out, only to see a huge muscle-man standing in their way.

Move bitch, get out the way!

"Uh… can I help you?" Darcy asked the giant politely - with a huge dollop of sarcasm mixed in.

"Oh… sorry, I just wanted to introduce myself," the meat-wall said. It had the ability to speak. And it was friendly. Great.

"Well, nice to meet you, but me and some seriously scrumptious coffee have a date, so I really gotta get going," Darcy tried to push past the man, but he put his hand out to stop them. The bitch put – his – hand – out. Oh hell no.

Darcy was pissed now. No one got in the way of a coffee date. "Listen buddy, I'm not jok—"

"I'm sorry Miss Lewis. Miss Foster. But by introducing myself I mean… I'm assigned to you…"

"What now?" Darcy arched her brows.

"I'm… your personal body guard… so I'm assigned to protect you," the man flashed his pearly whites. The guy certainly had a nice smile.

But hang on… what? Personal body guard?

"Uh… Jane? Why do we have a personal body guard?" Jane seemed pretty perplexed.

Suddenly Nick Fury appeared beside them, and gestured to the meat-wall with an emotionless smile.

"This… is Captain America. I've assigned him to your case, Miss Lewis. Seeing as you're affiliated with our top researchers – which are therefore our top priority – we cannot have anything going wrong. Steve here will make sure of that."

The man called Steve grinned again and Darcy fought the urge to roll her eyes. Come on, are you serious?

"Um… that's great Nick but I'm pretty sure I don't need a body guard… it's Jane who'll need protecting," Darcy really didn't want some WWE wrestler following her around everywhere. She was not a people person, even though she did have over 500 followers on Tumblr. And that totally counts.

"I'm afraid you are mistaken, Miss Lewis. As Jane's closest confidant, you, too, are in danger. What better way to undermine Miss Foster's research than through her assistant?" Fury smiled a victorious smile. Darcy scowled. Whatever pirate, you may have won this little battle, but I shall return… armed and ready…

Darcy let her mind wander as she imagined herself winning word-battles with the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent in various scenarios which always ended with her winning some trophy or prize or whatever. Fury noticed her distraction and cleared his throat noisily.

"Anyhow… Rogers will accompany you wherever you go, Miss Lewis. As for you Jane, I have assigned Hawkeye to your protection. However, he is currently in Guatemala… so you'll have to try and stick around the Cap as much as possible until he comes back."

Darcy arched her brow – Guatemala? Yeh coz that was totally normal for people to skip off to Guatemala… well maybe when you're a super-hero it is normal… whatever.

"Whatever," Darcy said rudely, she was completely impatient by this point. "Come along Cap… you can shout us all coffee," and with that she grabbed Jane's and Steve's wrists and dragged them out of the room.

This day sucks. Not only did I have to sit through this boring meeting, but I also have to drag two of the most ditzy, annoying Labradors around with me. Ugh. She just wanted to enjoy her coffee in peace without any people around like the sociopath she was.

They came to the carpark, and she whipped out her keys. Well... at least she'd gotten a pay-rise. She'd been totally stoaked with that. Ever since Jane hired her as her personal assistant, she'd been getting more moneys. Not tonnes, but enough to buy her own car and a little apartment.

She sighed – it was definitely not the year she'd planned. First the internship, then the whole Thor stuff, then S.H.I.E.L.D. getting involved which really dampened her chances of ever continuing Uni. And once she'd dropped out at S.H.I.E.L.D.'s request – regrettably and not to mention pretty pissed-off-edly – Jane had then offered her a nice job as her assistant. Sure, it was the totally wrong science she'd wanted to be working in, but at least she got to get all the S.H.I.E.L.D. perks.

Such as total know-how on secret agent stuff, and superhero stuff, and Norse mythology stuff which was pretty much fact rather than myth.

Yeah, she was comfortable in her job – although she got pretty aggravated at the people and was often an outcast because she had nothing to offer – either in the nerd department or in the super spy department – she was still relatively happy.

And although Jane was a total Barbie and a constant pain in the butt-cheeks, she loved her like a sister. They'd been through a shed-load of stuff together. That did things to a relationship. She genuinely liked working for Jane. Although she had to give up some stuff for it, it was the best decision of a bad lot.

Ah wells, at least I got a wicked car, She thought to herself with a grin as she opened the door to her off-red 1973 Mini Cooper. Her baby.

"Ah, sweet retro bliss," she crooned as she swung herself into the drivers' seat, patting the silky leather grip of the wheel affectionately. She had yet to come up with a cool name… but for the moment it was just Baby.

"Uh…" she heard a small noise from behind her and realised Steve Rogers was trying, with serious difficulty, to get into the back seat through the front door. She stifled a giggle.

"Oh yeah… crap… I didn't think of that," she bit her lip. "How about you ride coach and let Jane hop in the back. She's twiggy enough to fit through the gap," Jane scowled.

"Oh… but I couldn't let a lady ride in the back…" Rogers seemed genuinely put out by this.

"Um… it's not 1940 anymore Cap… this is the 21st Century. Chicks and dudes are equals now, bro, she wont die if she gets thrown in the back."

Rogers blinked, slightly startled, then resigned, defeated. "Whatever you say, Miss Lewis," and he stepped back for Jane to clamber into the back seat.

Okay so maybe the whole Mini Cooper thing was a bit of a bad idea with the whole three door situation… but at least Darcy looked like a boss when she drove around town.

Rogers squeezed in next to her, trying to shrink as he fit his long legs in, then his enormous shoulders. His choir-boy haircut brushed against the roof as he ducked.

She felt a little bad, "Sorry bro… I'm not used to having WWE wrestlers for company," she scrunched her face up by way of apology and he just smiled confusedly.

"What's WWE? Is it a modern war?"

Darcy narrowed her eyes, "you know what… never mind. Let's just go, my caffeine stocks are seriously depleted." She turned back to address Jane, "anywhere in particular you wanna go Janey? The Buzz? Or are you in a mainstream mood and wanna head to Starbucks?"

Jane shrugged, "I'm not too fussed…"

"How 'bout you Cap? Are you eccentric or mainstream?" Darcy asked.

He just blinked, "Uh… the decision is yours Miss Lewis, I'm simply your body guard."

"Ugh," she turned the keys in the ignition agitatedly, "I hate making executive decisions," she mumbled, then reversed rather eagerly, racing out of the carpark and into the hot New Mexico sun.

Skel: So, new story guys :D let me know what you think I'm so into this story.. I've planned it all out and I've written about five chapters already, hehe. I dont think I'll ever be able to stop writing Lodar fic, it's way too addictive :P