Chapter 29: Who Do You Think You Are?

"I understand that, Erik, but this is already more than enough for him to grapple with. If we rush things we could lose our connection, and none of us could survive that under our present circumstances," Loki heard Charles' hushed voice coming from somewhere on his right. He was lying face down on a woolen rug, feeling like he'd just been trodden over by a pack of Manticores.

"We may not have the time to ease him into this anymore. You didn't see it, Charles! We're out of time!" Erik argued, not quite as softly as Charles, but at least he was trying. Despite his effort, every word hit Loki like a solid blow to the head, causing him to fidget. "If the others lose containment of Arawn, or if Ons-"

"Don't." Charles' throat sounded taught with emotion. He turned stiffly to watch their host blink up at them from his misery on the Persian rug.

"Wha- Why am I here?" Loki questioned, deciding that he was too disoriented to bother acknowledging Erik's glare. "I feel like I'm being crushed…"

"You are," Erik informed him flatly, returning to his armchair.

"The building collapsed. It was thoughtful of you to shield Pietro. Thank you," Charles told him, eying the kitten dubiously as it jumped up to sit beside him on the couch.

"That answers my other question," Loki remarked, pushing himself up off the floor and dusting off his suit. "I'm not dead…" he verified.

"No. Then we all would be," Erik stated with an exceptionally-vicious, shark-like grin.

"If you'll recall, I asked you for assistance," Loki pointed out, subconsciously rubbing at his waist.

"We both advised you to stay away. That was our assistance," Erik argued back. Loki frowned and looked at his hand to find it bloody despite the lack of any visible wound or even a wrinkle in his suit. He realized that in the tangible world, something must be stabbing into his side.

"Yes, you advised me simply to leave my friend to die. It must be such a mystery to you why that didn't work," Loki responded sarcastically. "You only share the smallest scraps of knowledge with me when you are left without an alternative, and then wonder why I will not trust you. I am just a puppet to you. Charles, perhaps, I might accept as a true friend, but nonetheless I cannot excuse such blatant manipulation!"

"You're right, Loki. I'm sorry-" Charles began, but Erik's shouted response drowned him out.

"Says the man who has repeatedly flirted with mortal danger for the thrill of it regardless of the threat to all our lives!"

"I took calculated risks! I do what is necessary to heighten our tactical advantage while you lounge here and…" Loki made a show of looking around the sanctuary. "Do what exactly?"

"I am the only thing keeping Charles' consciousness from losing his anchor to his body and dying," Erik countered, stepping into the hybrid's personal space. "I am tracking and safeguarding the changes to your mindscape. I am the only defense that either of you have against the Void!"

"And what a marvelous defense you've mounted," Loki sneered.

"Loki, if you would j-" Charles tried again, but the Trickster soldiered on as if he weren't there, slowly advancing on the magnekinetic.

"Forget the creature who rent his way from my loins despite your constant vigil! Do you believe that I could possibly be content with a cold-hearted, brutish parasite like you-"

"He's not a parasite," Charles quietly amended, allowing the kitten to climb onto his lap. He was fairly certain that the others were too caught up in the argument to notice him now.

"- plundering my most intimate thoughts and memories? Are you demented, Mortal?"

Erik summoned the metal tea tray on Charles' right to press against Loki's chest like a shield, halting his approach within arms' reach. "Believe me, Loki, I would be happy to rid myself of your sordid memories… Or you in general," he replied. "You've become so self-involved during this second life. I don't believe for an instant that you would really risk all this for Charles! You've only kept him close to you for the sake of the advantage his power gives you."

"It's as if I'm not sitting right here," Charles remarked to the strangely sympathetic feline in his lap. The Lamp gave a little affirmative mew amidst continued purring.

"In your stubborn attempt to change history, you probably led our enemies straight to him!" Erik proclaimed, leaning into Loki's space as his words hit the Trickster like a physical punch. Charles sucked in a sharp gasp, irked by being used for such a low blow. He and Erik both knew that his demise was a fixed event; nothing Loki did could've changed it.

There was a heavy silence in which Loki and Erik both just stared at each other. Finally, their host regained his voice.

"You're right," the Trickster said with an empty simulation of his silky, superiority. "Clearly I should have followed your example and shot him in the back!"

With a deafening crash, Erik shoved the armored Trickster through the wall with his magnekinesis.

"Aughh…" Loki groaned and blinked at the bright light shining into his eyes. It seemed that he was back in the waking world once more. How lovely.

"Loki?" the tinny voice of Iron Man questioned from just a few feet above, while laser fire arced overhead. There was a muffled thump as he shoved the chunk of wall aside, then Loki could see his metal helmet silhouetted in the opening. "Can you hear me, Buddy?"

"Stark," Loki acknowledged, sucking in another too-shallow gasp. Whatever was stabbing him was also compressing the right side of his ribs enough to deny him air.

"I'll take that," Iron Man accepted, still uncomfortable with the new rift between them.

"This shield is too tenuous to maintain much longer." Loki's statement was accompanied by a noticeable flickering of the veil of green light enshrouding him. "You'd best retreat." He sucked in another, more audible gasp. "I'll push Peter out before it collapses."

"Uh... that sounds ominous," Tony remarked, clearly not a fan of the idea. "Listen, Loki, I'm free to help right now. Wanda's kinda rampaging on the Sentinels, so… You know, just tell me wh-"

"Stark!" Loki snapped.

"What?"

"There is a metal column crushing my side! I cannot weather its weight indefinitely," Loki bit out between sharp inhalations. "Once this shield falls…" He gave the cyborg a meaningful look. "I am out of time."

"Okay. Shit, what's the plan?"

"Five seconds before I send out a blast."

"Won't that drain your energy?"

"Four," Loki threatened.

"Ah! Okay, I'll just um," Tony was fidgeting around, apparently considering the arms of his suit for some reason. "Why do I get the feeling that-"

"Two," Loki breathed, having trouble drawing nearly enough air anymore.

"Fuck it. Fire in the hole!" Tony notified Wanda, taking off the instant before Loki's ice reached the surface of the rubble. Loki wasn't sure why or when he had reverted, but he figured it hardly mattered much now. He heard Tony asking some question about "capacity" to his downloaded AI, just before Loki let off the focused blast. There was a startled sound from Wanda in response to the flash, and Loki shoved her unconscious twin out through the gap, knowing that she would catch him. The Trickster squeezed his eyes shut in a deep wince as his shield, then his body collapsed under the weight of the rubble.

There was a loud whoosh and a clang. Iron Man had dived in through the gap and forced himself between Loki and the steel support. "Ow," he grunted out sardonically. "Can you grab onto me- quickly? Suit's exceeding maximum load here."

Loki managed to twist around enough to grab onto to the armored torso above him.

"Hang on," Tony ordered before rocketing them out of the wreckage with a blast from his repulsors.

They landed in a roll on the scorched grass to Wanda's left. Tony sat up immediately and opened up his faceplate to look Loki over.

"How bad is it?" He inquired, turning Loki onto his back. On Wanda's other side, Peter was already shifting awake with a groan.

"Nothing serious," Loki reassured, then frowned at the limp form propped up against Wanda's legs. "Francis?"

"He was a composite of two pe…" Wanda trailed off. Her face was streaked by tears. "Now Mummy's gone and-" A nearby armored drone imploded with a flash of scarlet. Wanda hadn't bothered to shift her focus from the battle going on before her, unwilling to continue. Two Sentinels littered the ground in front of her, looking like they'd been torn apart piece by piece from the inside out.

"I'm sorry," Loki told her honestly. The Witch simply nodded. Pietro gave the hybrid an assessing look before averting his eyes.

"We've got to move before the rest of the attack force gets the drop on us," Tony said, getting to his feet. "Can you stand?"

"Yes," Loki stumbled upright and winced at the pain in his side. Tony wordlessly ducked under his arm before he could lose his balance.

"Head for the woods," Wanda directed, indicating her younger brother with a jerk of her head. "Pete. You go on ahead. We'll follow."

"I don't want to-" Her twin disagreed as the illusion around them dissolved.

"Take Fluke and go." The Witch's tone brooked no argument.

Peter ducked his head in submission, then scooped Francis up, careful to support his spine, and sped into the forest. Thor swooped down to land just a few meters away, helping to hold off the incoming swarm of drones. They hit a wall of red light that hadn't been there a split second before and exploded in a shower of mechanical parts before they could come within firing distance.

"I'll create an opening for you…" Wanda told Iron Man as two more drones closed in on their location. She reached out a luminescent hand toward one drone and with a wave, hurled it into the one on the left. "Now."

Tony hauled Loki towards the tree-line as quickly as he could and deposited him behind the first cover he could find: a large oak a safe distance into the woods. He probed the bloody patch on Loki's side with his metal gloved hand. Loki batted it away.

"It's inconsequential. The wound is already sealed."

"JARVIS?" Tony verified, drawing an irritable huff from Loki. Someone ran up behind him and he whipped round to aim his repulsors.

"Hey, easy! It's me," Clint said, holding up his hands in submission. The cyborg lowered his arm, glancing past him briefly, to see Wanda and Thor jogging into view. Then Tony returned his undivided attention to the injured Trickster.

"Yeah, the wound sealing might not be such a good thing for you right now," he pointed out, lifting his faceplate.

"There is no point in fretting over poisoning at present. Just go and aid your friends," Loki countered, gesturing back towards the battlefield. A muscle in Tony's jaw tightened.

"We're safe for now," the Scarlet Witch informed them softly, but the inventor wasn't letting the issue drop.

"Look! Loki, I get that you're pissed-" Tony's argument was cut off by an electronic ringing sound.

Loki arched a quizzical brow, and glanced over at the equally incredulous archer standing to his right. Even Wanda looked somewhat confused, which was new.

"Who the hell?" Tony questioned. "Uh, JARVIS, who could possibly be calling me?"

"Unknown, Sir. The call appears to be originating from one of your stockpiled burner phones."

"Well then," Tony conceded, exchanging an intrigued look with the Trickster. "Put it through."

"Tony Stark." A calm, pleasantly-accented voice verified.

"Speaking. I'm kinda busy right now. Can't really chat. How did you get this number?"

"A mutual acquaintance."

"What? Who?" Tony interrogated.

"The number was given to me by your fire-haired companion, who remains relatively unscathed. I require information on your Asgardian companions." The mystery caller replied unhelpfully, prompting Clint to narrow his eyes in suspicion. "The movements of either one will suffice. However, I would prefer the Trickster's whereabouts."

"Okaay. No," Tony said in a patronizing tone. "What do you want him for?"

"What any boy wants from his mother… under very specific circumstances," the caller amended his statement with a trace of humor.

Tony looked askance at a flabbergasted Thor. He didn't seem to know any more about it than Tony did, so he turned to Loki, then arched his eyebrows at the suddenly edgy Clint. Loki, frowning slightly, opened his mouth to speak, but the ex-agent grabbed him and clamped a hand over his mouth.

"Clint?" Wanda preemptively barred Thor's progress before he could start forward. Loki tried to pull out of Clint's hold, more out of irritation than anything.

"No. Not a fucking sound," Clint hissed sharply.

"Who is this?" Tony asked, serious in the face of the ex-agent's freak out.

"You may refer to me as Mr. Wolf."

"That's not a real answer," Tony countered, watching Loki's eyes scanning back and forth as he calculated moves in his head.

"So protective," Mr. Wolf sounded amused despite his waning patience. "As much as I appreciate the sentiment, your aggression is unnecessary. I have no quarrel with you. Just tell me what became of hir once hir tracker went dead- I believe that is the correct term for it?"

"Tracker?" Tony turned back, in time to see Clint squeeze his eyes shut, letting his hand slip away from Loki's face.

"The one which you implanted in hir spine," Mr. Wolf clarified with an underlying growl that didn't sound human.

"Is this true?" Thor questioned in an undertone, already looking ready to smash the forest down.

Loki nodded emphatically; Thor let out a threatening rumble that the sky echoed overhead.

"Ah, that sounds like the Prince!" Mr. Wolf noted. "The device has stopped transmitting, surely one of you must know what became of hir Grace..."

"What the hell do you want?" Tony demanded. "Because you aren't getting at Loki."

"So ze's alive," Mr. Wolf inferred, sounding relieved. "Fine. I have a message for hir. Prince Thor?"

"I am here."

Mr. Wolf spoke quickly and clearly in a pleasant and vaguely-melodic language that none of the humans could retain for even a second. However, the effect of the mysterious message was instantaneous. Thor's head whipped round to look at Loki right before a minor flash of green light knocked Clint and Tony backwards. Loki was already running while the disoriented Earthlings recovered from their surprise. Thor was quick to make chase.

"Brother! Stop!" Thor was hesitant to reach for his hammer for fear that it would only spur Loki on even more. His foster brother had always been a faster runner, though, and his chances of catching up were rapidly diminishing. "This is madness!"

Loki made a hard right and ran into some denser growth, vanishing almost completely from view. Thor drew his hammer, moving to throw it after the escaping prisoner.

"No!" A flash of red blasted the Thunderer off his feet.

"Wanda, this is unwise," Thor warned the Witch running up behind him as he rolled onto his back.

Wanda snapped her fingers and a ripple of red danced over him, knocking him out. "You're not leaving me behind," She called out, firmly, causing the fleeing alien to hesitate even if she couldn't see it. There was a flash of gold beside her and he resumed his flight.

"To accompany me would put you in grave peril," Loki's simulacrum informed her as he blinked into existence, casually resting his forearm on her left shoulder.

"Duh!" Wanda dismissed.

The hologram smiled fondly. "I do like you."

"Which way?" Wanda demanded stubbornly. The others were catching up to them.

Loki's hologram regarded the three Avengers thoughtfully. His expression was guarded, but there was a conflicted look in his emerald eyes.

"We're friends! Friends look out for each other, remember? Tell me where to find you," the Augur persisted, sensing where his thoughts were headed. That seemed to make up his mind.

"I am sorry to disappoint you," the simulacrum said earnestly, glancing over his shoulder at Iron Man and Hawkeye. "You will see me again." And he flickered out of existence, not giving any of them another chance to protest.

Thor jolted awake in an unfamiliar warehouse, sitting upright and taking in his dingy surroundings. A suited Tony was sitting on a pile of crates to his left watching him with his helmet resting beside him. Wanda was pacing back and forth in the open space past Thor's feet, mumbling heatedly to herself and occasionally flickering with scarlet bursts of magic. Clint was watching the madwoman like a street performance while he ate a bar of protein rations.

"My brother has evaded us?" Thor verified.

"Yep. Even the Scarlet Witch here. Pietro ran off too, after the brat woke up." Clint reported. "You wanna tell us what Junior said that had his mom so spooked?"

Thor frowned, "Junior?"

"Our mystery caller. He did refer to Loki as 'mother'…" Tony frowned. "Sort of."

"Loki bore no children. As a Prince in name alone, he was never married," Thor corrected. Tony and Clint exchanged a look.

"Um… Actually he- or... ze?" Clint's brows pinched together uncertainly before he waved off his own query and soldiered on. "Loki has had, at least one child -and I use the term loosely- that we know of - although, this guy sounded different."

"I do not understand," Thor said, not liking the implications of what he was hearing at all.

Tony perked up, beginning happily to explain, "You see, Thor, when a man and a woman-"

"Loki gave birth to a psychotic monster baby in an alley shortly after we all split up," Clint jumped out of his seat and shielded himself at the same time that Thor surged angrily to his feet. "Not an insult, Dude! Literally, literally its first act after being born was attempting to murder its mother! I tried shooting it, but it just sucks everything in like a black hole. It's a miracle we got away from the damn thing."

"Not the same," Wanda observed distractedly, continuing to weave her magic around her in indiscernible patterns. "Would've hurt 'Tasha."

"Who knows maybe he had an affair a while back that you didn't-" Tony flinched away, interrupting himself with a panicked "Don't kill me!" when the Thunderer rounded on him.

"You would dare insult my brother's honor?!"

"Hey! Back off!" Clint snapped stepping between them.

"Son of Barton-" Thor began.

"No. You know what, shut up! We get it: you wanna be the protective big brother, but you know what? This isn't helping anyone! We know Loki's hiding things! He has a secret past here that you didn't know about and by his own admission, your so-called-brother was never too into being a Prince in the first place. So yeah, we're questioning a lot of things! If you really want to help figure this out, then I suggest you tell us what set him off this time!"

Thor stared the surly assassin down for a moment before letting Mjölnir fall to the floor with an earth-shaking thump. He sat down on the pile of crates facing Tony and explained.

"The boy was speaking Jötun. It was an archaic dialect but the All-tongue allowed me a rough translation," Thor muttered something to himself in a language that the others assumed must be Asgardian, then continued. "The hunt has resumed. Spies within the cult…" Thor broke off, his lips thinning in apprehension as he concluded. "Ragnarok is near."

"Ragnarok?" Tony echoed.

"Isn't that the Viking apocalypse?" Clint recalled, clearly hoping to be corrected.

Thor looked up at him questioningly.

"End of the world," Tony translated.

"That is indeed the most common interpretation," Thor confirmed gravely. "Many see our existence as a cycle that will reset, as the leaves are shed from the trees only to return at winter's end. I have never wished to see the truth of it for myself."

"Well, that definitely explains why Loki freaked out. The whole imminent apocalypse thing kinda ensures that response," Tony remarked. "Although the part about 'the hunt' is a head-scratcher. Anything about that in the myths or…"

"Why are you looking at me, Stark?" Clint asked.

"Because you're obsessed."

"I'm not. I don't remember any myths about a hunt…" The Archer winced, admitting. "I was only interested in the stuff about Loki, and that isn't even our- Wait!" He straightened, looking somewhat perplexed. "I do remember something about a hunter. The God of the Hunt, Tyr. His hand was bitten off by one of that Loki's kids, Fenris. Holy shit! Fenris is a giant wolf!"

"You mortals have a very strange way of recalling history," Thor noted.

"I'm guessing he wasn't really a giant wolf?" Tony prompted.

"Lord Tyr lost his hand in the war, that much is true. As for giant wolves… I believe my twin cousins were said to favor the form of Wolf pups when they played. Alas, crossbreeds between Aesir and Jötnar rarely survive past infancy. Apart from my Uncle there was only one other who did not perish and he favors the form of a Serpent."

"What made those two special?" Wanda questioned, finally paying full attention to the others' conversation.

"My father never spoke of it. We only heard of the other children from Mother and Balder's stories."

"Mmmm. Naughty father, spinning tales of woe…" Wanda drifted off onto her own tangent.

"Okay… That was something," Tony observed, watching the witch return to whatever it was she was doing with the webs of red magic in the air. "So. Leaving the confusing identity crisis for later. I suppose what we should be asking is: where would you run to escape the end of the world?"

GRAND CENTRAL TERMINAL, NEW YORK

Loki wove her way through the bustling crowd populating the main thoroughfare. There had been a series of drone attacks and bombings over the past couple days that had driven the underground community into a nervous frenzy. It had been three days since Loki had left the others behind, and despite the tense climate, she was tempted to stay. Ragnarok, she reminded herself, pulling her shawl tighter around herself. The effort is worth it.

I really do hope that you know what you're doing, Loki. Charles urged as they ascended the stairs.

I do, the Trickster reassured. Mostly.

Oh, dear.

I know this old foe of mine very well, Charles. It is not Lord Tyr of whom one should be afraid.

If not Tyr, then who?

Me. Loki replied excitedly, stepping outside into the biting cold. She walked briskly down the all-but-abandoned street, headed back toward Avenger's Tower. She turned the corner at the next defunct intersection and slowed her pace, getting the feeling that she was being observed.

The building across the street on your right, Charles directed. Crouching on the other side of the front steps. Duck!

Loki dropped out of the way of the hunter's flying axe. She got up and pulled it out of the frost coated brick wall, smirking to herself. "Tyr, you shouldn't have," she cooed affectionately, turning to face the middle-aged Asgardian warrior stalking towards her from across the street. "I didn't think to get you anything, myself."

"Prince Loki, you should never have betrayed our trust," the hunter growled.

"Most true," Loki conceded jovially, shifting into his masculine form with a cascade of green. "You'll have to excuse me. I am afraid I wasn't feeling entirely myself at the time, but I'm back now, Old Friend!" He batted his eyelashes at the taller Asgardian, prompting him to narrow his eyes suspiciously. "Did you miss me? Come now, not even a hint of a smile? Just this once?"

"You cannot be him," Tyr denied.

"Now, Lord Tyr, do you not know me? Just a tiny smile, surely you can manage that much after I have come back from the dead," Loki teased, gesticulating theatrically. "What more must I do to please you?"

"What madness is this!?" Tyr grabbed the Trickster by his lapels and hauled him up so they were nose to nose.

"Ha! I got you to react at least!" he crowed victoriously into Tyr's flinching face. "You see! I have missed this!"

Loki! There's another one. It's Fandral but- Oh no… Charles retreated to the depths of Loki's subconscious without further explanation.

"You brought a friend?" Loki asked coldly.

Tyr scowled. "What?"

A familiar blond knight strode out of the alley on Tyr's right and turned towards them, in the process of loading a bolt into his crossbow.

"Sir Fandral? What are you-"

"No!" Loki cried out too late, watching Fandral shoot down the other Aesir as if he were nothing but a practice target. "What have you done?" he noticed the unnatural blue of his friend's once dark indigo eyes and began to back away. "No," he lamented while the possessed Fandral marched forward and pinned him back against the wall. "No, no... Let him go."

"Don't beg. It doesn't suit you," the Void creature responded, uncaring.

"Mara," Loki persisted, catching his captors eye. "Not this one. Let him go... for the sake of the one who birthed you, leave this man be."

Mara ran his eyes over Loki's face for a moment, looking as though he might actually be considering it.

"Do what you wish with me. I owe this man my life, and I will give it gladly once you set him free!"

Mara suddenly burst into peals of laughter, leaning against the nonplussed God of Chaos as he succumbed to the apparent hilarity of his plea. "Oh! Oh, dear. I just-" Another fit of giggles interrupted whatever the creature was trying to say. "I- hah- You really are a hoot sometimes, Loki Darling. Oh, to have a Mum like you, eh? I'm not going to kill you." Fandral's face scrunched up in a parody of repentance. "I tell a lie. I will kill you, but in a bit. Not just yet. We're going to have a bit of fun with you first." He drew Fandral's sword only to drop it in the next split second when Tyr surged up off the snowy ground behind him and stabbed his own blade through Fandral's shoulder.

"Betrayer!" he ground out.

Mara turned and snapped his neck with an annoyed glare. Loki let himself slide down the wall to sit numbly on the frozen ground.

"Damn. Would you look at that," Mara commented. "I really lost my temper there. Tell you what, you're already down three, as of…" he paused to consider. "Ten minutes from now." He then looked down at Loki over his shoulder adding. "SHIELD traced that call. They should be mobbing your little wolf and the Black Widow any minute now. But fair's fair, I'll throw you a bone. This bloke's damaged now anyway." And with that the strange blue evaporated from Fandral's eyes and he fell on his hands and knees, blinking rapidly.

"W-what in the Nine?" Fandral searched his surroundings blearily, then did a double take upon seeing his childhood friend and mentor slumped against the wall. "Loki!"

"Sir Fandral," Loki acknowledged not resisting the other man's attempts to check him for wounds. "It's fine. My shoulder is only mildly inflamed. You have dealt me no injuries."

Fandral's face fell. "I am sorry, Loki, I could not resist the creature. I have not encountered anything of its like ever before."

"I know. It wasn't your fault." Loki let out a resigned sigh as he took his last look at the deceased hunter, then used the wall to push himself up off the ground. "Come. We must leave this place before we are discovered."

HARLEM, NEW YORK

Fenris set down his finished glass of vodka on the dusty counter top and walked out into the living room of the dingy old apartment. He could hear Natasha was still enjoying her no-doubt-frigid bath in the adjacent bathroom, and smirked in amusement. She was tough and tricky, an overall complicated mortal. He could see why Mother would like her. The woman was likely to be annoyed about being locked out of the battle, but Fenris had always had an overprotective streak. He crossed over and turned on the battery-powered radio he had salvaged on their way in. The mortals' modern music sounded so different and strange these days, but he found that he quite enjoyed this particular genre. The fitting theme of the upcoming song being announced made the hybrid smile. 'Big bad wolf' indeed, he thought to himself as his first opponent rammed the door open and led the other darkly armored soldiers in. They were pointing their useless little guns at him and shouting for him to get on the ground.

"All because I am foreign to your realm, really?" he inquired conversationally turning to face them.

"Don't move!"

"Yes, yes. You'll shoot me. I heard you. It seems odd that you would waste your time with such needless conflict, especially considering the agreement that my cousin forged between our realms," Fenris observed.

"Asgardian," one of the soldiers murmured to another near the broken doorway. A couple of soldiers jumped and pointed their weapons at the bathroom door, alerted to another presence by Natasha's attempt to ram the locked door open. The song began to play loudly, fitting the playful, yet dangerous mood of the godling perfectly. He began to move subtly along with the rhythm.

"Don't bother. I have sealed the door with a potent enchantment." He paused to allow the string of colorful Russian insults to pass, then instructed. "I'll not allow any harm to come to her, or the Trickster, and we both know your little weapons will not even wound me. So," Fenris smiled wolfishly. "Leave us in peace; you need not become dinner."

Five rifles shifted to point at his chest in unison. While the sixth soldier, who had recognized his Asgardian origin took a cautious step back to the doorway. "This is your last warning!" the leader threatened. Fenris hummed along with the song on the radio, undaunted.

"Fenris! Lower the shield!" Natasha demanded from the other side of the faintly shimmering door. "They will shoot you!"

"Then I will eat them," Fenris replied enthusiastically, his eyes glowing and beginning to look more animalistic as his canines elongated. One of the soldiers shot him in the chest and he lunged forward with a lupine snarl. His clawed hand ripped through the man's combat gear as if it were made of tissue paper and he spun in place making his actions appear like a brutal dance in sync with the music.

"What hell is that!" One of the men exclaimed. The two closest to him opened fire and Fenris bit through the closer one's throat, then flipped the other one over his shoulder.

"Allow me to introduce myself," he said happily with blood dribbling over his chin as he shoved his disoriented plaything into the wall with enough force to crack it. "I'm the Big Bad Wolf," he pronounced along with the chorus, continuing to howl along as he pounced on the next two to open fire, tearing out one of their throats. The other man scrambled free, attempting to flee along with the soldier who'd long vanished through the apartment door. With a cascading ripple of green light, Fenris shifted from a young man into a massive white wolf and loped after him. The seal on the bathroom door dropped, accompanied by the screams of Fenris' last victim.

"I'm gonna huff, and puff, and blow your house down! I huff, and puff, and blow your house down! I'm gonna ahoo-ooo!" The singer sounded a melodic howl as Natasha bolted out of the bathroom still wet and half-naked, and grabbed up one of the dead soldiers' guns. She paused briefly to assess the state of the abused weapon before chasing her cohort out into the hallway. She found the grinning wolf curled up atop a bloody, shaking SHIELD operative who was terrified but alive.

"Really?" she said to Fenris.

He let out an unrepentant huff of breath, still looking pleased with himself.

Natasha sighed and readjusted her towel to make sure that it remained secure while she knelt beside the enemy agent. "How did you find us?"

"I can't tell you that!"

Natasha pressed the gun to his temple and pulled the trigger. It clicked harmlessly as she'd known it would. She pretended to inspect it anyway. "It's jammed. All yours, I guess," she told the wolf.

"No! Wait!"

"Ready to talk?" Natasha prompted.

"I don't know his name, but the Colonel has an alien informant! I don't know where it comes from. It's not like the Asgardians, or anything we've seen before. Even this thing! God, please don't let this thing eat me!"

"Describe the informant," Natasha commanded, businesslike.

"It looks like it's trying to be human, only it isn't quite pulling it off. It's kind of like a short guy in a suit, but it's eyes aren't right: pitch black, and its skin looks like plastic. One of the sergeants tried to shoot it when it first arrived and it controlled him. Just like Loki did with that scepter. The informant made him shoot himself in the head!"

Natasha stiffened, remembering the incident back at the Tower when Loki's mind had been invaded.

"His eyes, did they turn bright blue?" she verified as she righted the jammed rifle.

"Yeah, how did you… Listen, it doesn't matter. I can't go back there anyway, not after failing like this. Just let me go and I'm gone. I swear! You don't know what they'll do to me once they find out that I talked."

"I'm pretty sure that I do." Natasha almost felt bad for this guy. He still thought he could get away from the Void thing. He had no clue what they were dealing with, or probably even that he had helped to sell out his own planet. "You mentioned a Colonel."

"Yes. I'll tell you his name, but listen you can't let this thing take me!"

"I won't. The Colonel's name?"

"Stryker. His name is William Stryker."

"Stryker died years ago."

"That's what we thought, but about a year ago he came back. He knew things, things that only Stryker could know. They verified his DNA and everything! He's been commanding the sleeper cells ever since."

Natasha scrutinized the other Agent for any hint of deception. He was telling the truth, at least as far as he knew. She straightened to address Fenris. "Fine. Let him up."

Fenris retreated to the doorway, shifting back into his humanoid form.

"Thank you! Oh God! Thank you!" the enemy agent stumbled to his feet and began to limp away down the hall. He didn't notice the sudden chill or the abrupt drop in air pressure around them as Natasha raised her weapon. "I was sure you were going to-" The crack of a solitary gunshot cut off the man's parting sentence and his body collapsed to the ground. The chill faded from the air.

"(What you say)I'm the Big Bad Wolf(What you say) We're the Big Bad Wolves(What You Say)We're the Big Bad Wolves and we're blowing down your neighborhood."

"That was abrupt," Fenris noted speculatively, shrugging off the odd feeling of déja-vu as he pulled a pair of pants on to replace the ones he'd ripped while shape-shifting.

"The alien was about to overtake him. I had to stop it from finding us."

"I know," the Asgardian assured her.

"I still don't understand why it doesn't try to possess me," Natasha admitted, pushing past him into the apartment to get dressed.

"Mother has woven a net of wards over you. I thought that you were aware of it," Fenris shrugged off her quizzical look. "You must not have been conscious at the time."

"If that's the case, why can't Loki stop this thing from possessing him? I've seen it control him. He was even forced to invade the planet. At least, that seems to be case."

"Hir mind was not whole at the time. Once ze has recovered hirself and hir bound knowledge completely, ze will no longer be as vulnerable. The Allfather did us all a great disservice when he endeavored to trick the Trickster, even if he would not admit it."

"You think Odin's the one who damaged Loki's psyche?"

"I know that he did. What I do not know is whether he was the only one. It is possible that Thanos' meddling has hindered my Mother's return. I can only hope that my long wait has not been in vain." Fenris confided. "Without the God of Chaos to aid us in our struggle, I fear that both our worlds will be lost."

A/N: First of all, I feel the need to apologize for the overall tardiness of this update. I am trying to keep this going smoothly, I swear! This was a hard one. Anyways, a big thank you to those still sticking with this. And special thanks to GinHanelle for the reviews. Now without further ado, I must get back to writing...