Chapter Fourteen

Loki remained at the house the next day, while Lisa took her family into town to shop. Still feeling resistant, her father would only let her buy him a second pair of trousers, two shirts and some underwear.

Lisa was far more open and despite her father's disapproval, bought herself the best part of a wardrobe and many accessories.

Lisa had packed a bag before she left New York but she also bought herself a few things; they had left the farm house in a rush after all, and she hadn't thought to bring a few items. Given recent events, she certainly wasn't going to willingly return to a house owned by SHIELD any time soon.

They stopped for lunch in a small café and after a few more purchases, Lisa drove them back to the villa.

"So, why didn't Loki join us?" Tim asked, seemingly nonchalantly, but Lisa could tell he was still very unsettled.

"When we went to Asgard, he was given his mother's diary, he's trying to read it."

"Whoa!" Sarah stuck her head between the front seats. "You went to Asgard? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Um, I wasn't hiding it," Lisa explained. "It's just that so much has happened, I forgot to mention it."

"You forgot? You don't just forget something like that! What was it like?"

"Sit back and put your seatbelt on and maybe I'll tell you."

Sarah did as she was told. "So?"

"It was odd. Almost everything seems to be made from stone or gold but the most beautiful thing was the rainbow bridge, which connects the bifrost to the city. It's made from some kind of crystal and almost thrums with power, like its alive or something. I've never seen anything like to before."

With that talk of rainbow bridges and gold cities, her father was now quietly convincing himself that Lisa was delusional, and Loki was sharing in her delusions.

"Can I go with you next time?" Sarah demanded.

"I don't know if there'll be a next time, and if there is, I don't know if I can bring you. I'll ask though."

"Cool. So if you're an alien, can you do magic like Loki, or can you just read minds?"

"Well Loki sais I can do as much magic as him, with practice, and according to the clan I come from, Loki says I should have the ability to shapeshift."

Tim was now wondering if Loki wasn't some kind of cult leader who had indoctrinated Lisa with his lies. A bit like scientology, but worshiping Norse gods rather than aliens.

"Oh, that would be so cool!" Sarah said. "What can you change into? If you can turn into a dog, we can play fetch, or if you become a horse, I could ride you! That would be amazing."

"Easy, girl," Lisa laughed. "I've only known I'm an alien for about two about days."

"Oh, come on, you must be able to do something!"

There was one thing. Loki hadn't had a chance to teach her much yet, but he had showed her how to do this on Asgard, the only thing she worried about was how her family would take it. Well, she was worried how her father would take it. Still, he needed shocking out of believing her insane.

"Well, once we broke the curse that was keeping me human, Loki showed me what I would have looked like if I'd been raised among my people. I can't do much else but can change to and from that pretty easily, if you want to see?"

"Yeah!"

"You sure? It's very… different."

"Lisa, just show me, plea-se."

"Okay, but we're nearly home so let's wait until we're behind locked gates; I don't want to be causing any car accidents."

As soon as she put the car in park, Sarah was out of the car and opening Lisa's door.

"Show me, show me!"

Lisa glanced at her father, took a deep breath, and adopted her Frost Giant appearance.

Sarah seemed almost on the verge of hyperventilating, but from excitement rather than from fear. Her father on the other hand, appeared to have been shocked into a catatonic state, even his thoughts seemed frozen.

"Oh, this is so cool! Next Halloween we are getting you a dark braided wig and you are so going as a Na'vi from Avatar."

"Right, because being an actual alien isn't good enough, I have to dress as a fictional alien," Lisa teased.

"People don't know what a Frost Giant is, they do know that a Na'vi is though. Or Star Trek had some blue aliens, I think they even have white hair too, so you wouldn't need a wig, just some antler things."

Lisa smiled as she reverted to her human appearance, then pulled her sister to her and kissed her forehead. "You are crazy, you know that?"

"Takes one to know one," Sarah said, employing one of the time honoured arguments of sisters since time immemorial.

"That it does. Give me a hand with the bags in the boot, will you, I think Dad might be out here a while."

"It's called a trunk over here," Sarah reminded her.

"And you clearly watch too much American TV," Lisa argued as they got their purchases from the boot-slash-trunk.

"Dad will come around, you know," Sarah said quietly as they headed inside.

"I hope so."

"He will. Remember when Cousin Barry came out as gay a few years back? Dad was totally shocked and appalled, but he attended Barry's Civil Partnership two years ago, I even got him to sign a petition in favour of gay marriage last year. He's just old and stuffy, it takes him some time."

"I know." Lisa put her arm on Sarah's shoulder to stop her. "Thank you."

"What for?"

"For being the best little sister about all this. I know it can't be easy."

Sarah grinned. "Please, I grew up watching sci-fi, this is like the best thing ever."

She did have a remarkable thirst for science fiction, a hobby that Lisa had never shared to a great degree (other than her penchant for watching horror films late at night) but she had sat through more than her fair share of sci-fi and fantasy shows and movies, all in the name of being a good sister.

"Still, you're an amazing young woman, Sarah. You've handled everything life has thrown at you with such grace; I really admire that about you and I don't think I tell you that enough. I love you."

"Don't go all mushy on me," Sarah teased. "I have a reputation to uphold, you know."

"As what? The Biggest Fangirl-slash-Geek on Planet Earth?"

"Yup. And BTW, you should totally audition for the next Star Trek movie, they'd save a bundle on make-up because you can look like a freak for free."

"You know, you should be more careful about what you say now that you're healed, I'm not afraid to fight you now that you're healthy again."

"Yeah, right, you couldn't beat up a hamster."

Lisa was baking chocolate cake. They'd been here for five nights now and things were still uneasy, so Lisa had been baking enough cake and cookies to feed a small army to help her relax. Thankfully, Loki adored her baking and was happy to devour anything she made.

She also realised that back at the SHIELD house they had stayed in, it had been Loki, not Thor stealing her cakes. She didn't mind, in fact although she didn't mind how much he ate since she made so much, she still hid some of it for him to find. Since they were always telepathically linked now, she gave Sarah the task of hiding the treats but to date, Loki somehow always found it, leaving only the plate and a fork behind. One day she'd figure out how he did it.

She was mixing the frosting for the cupcake currently in the oven, when her father came in.

"How are you?" she asked him.

"Oh, fine. I've, uh, had a few chats with the university now; they haven't filled my position but they have arranged cover until the end of the school year. They say we should meet when I get back."

"What did you tell them?"

"I told them we'd had to go to America for an experimental treatment for Lisa; short notice, generous benefactor, not thinking clearly, that kind of thing. They were quite supportive, actually, especially once they heard that Lisa was in remission. I think they'll take me back."

"Good, I'm glad. And Lisa's not in remission, they assured me she was cured, the cancer won't come back, ever."

"Look, Lis, I just wanted to say, I'm sorry. I, uh, I've never been one for flights of fancy and, well frankly, everything you've told me sounds like something out of an HG Wells novel."

Lisa opened her mouth to reply but Tim held a hand up.

"No, no, I know it's real; much as a tired to dismiss the stories from New York last year as mass hysteria and a terrorist attack, I can't deny the truth any longer but I, uh, I'm just going to ignore the bits I can't deal with and treat you as my daughter-"

"I am your daughter."

"-and maybe things can get back to normal."

"I'm not sure I was never normal, Dad, but you've put up with my weirdness so far, so I'll try and keep any additional weirdness to a minimum around you."

"Thank you."

"Do you want to hug? I'm covered in flour and icing sugar but-"

"I can handle a bit of flour."

He stepped towards her but before they could embrace, a blinding flash light outside the window distracted them.

"Was that lightening?" Tim asked.

"Uh, I don't think so." She had a bad feeling that she did know what it was, and made her way outside through the back door.

"Lady Lisa, there you are. You look well."

"Thanks, I am."

"And you must be?"

"Oh, god, sorry. This is my father, Tim Mason. Dad, this is- oof!"

A dark haired ball of energy barrelled into her. In a split second Lisa had a choice to make, remain standing and risk Sarah hurting herself (running into a Frost Giant was rather like running into a wall), or absorb the momentum and allow herself to fall to the ground. The instinctive desire to protect her family made her choose option two and while it was ungraceful, she wasn't hurt. Sarah somehow managed to remain standing.

"Oh my God, you're Thor!"

"Indeed I am. And you are?"

Lisa manoeuvred herself into a sitting position and gestured with her hands. "My sister, Sarah; Dad, Sarah, meet Thor."

"Thor," the dry tones of Loki reached them as he came out of the house. "You always did like to make an entrance," he said, offering Lisa a hand to help her up.

'Thanks.'

"Brother, it is urgent that I speak with you." Thor explained.

"Brother? You're Thor's brother?" Sarah stood with her mouth agape as she looked at Loki, then she looked to Lisa. "So you're like, Thor's sister-in-law? Oh my god!"

Loki tried to ignore Sarah's, as Lisa called it, fanirling, and faced his brother. "The humans have this wonderful device, Thor, they call it a telephone. I'll show you how it works if you'd like."

"This is not something that can be discussed over the phone, brother. We need to talk."

"Oh my g-" Lisa put her hand over Sarah's mouth. Now was clearly not the time for hero worship.

"What's wrong?" Loki asked, becoming serious.

"I believe SHIELD has been compromised by Hydra, and Fury is dead. There is chaos and-"

"What about the Avengers?" Lisa interrupted.

"Captain America and the Black Widow have been branded traitors and their whereabouts are unknown. Stark has gone to Germany in search of an old Hydra base from World War two, which he believes may have some answers."

"I hardly think that will be much help," Loki said.

"Apparently Hydra has been part of SHIELD since its inception, so there might be something," Thor explained.

"Go on."

"Hawkeye's whereabouts are unknown, and Banner is laying low, trying to contact Rogers, Romanoff and Barton."

"What can I do?"

"Banner believes that there may be another Hydra base in New York, one with more recent information. He wants us to try and find it."

"Then let's go." With a green shimmer, Loki's black suit transformed into his armour, but without the cape and helmet.

"Let me come," Lisa added.

"You are not trained for battle," Loki said softly, taking her aside.

"No, but I am a skilled telepath, and this is a hidden base, right? Besides, Hydra are just humans and I'm pretty much indestructible now. Let me help."

"Her gift could be very useful, Brother," Thor agreed.

Loki knew when he was defeated. "Very well, but no unnecessary risks," he sad to Lisa.

"Agreed."

With a wave of his hands, she was wearing the battle armour he has conjured for her once before and she turned to her family.

"Stay here, do not leave, do not answer the phone and do not let anyone in, okay?"

They nodded.

"Jarvis?"

"Yes, Lisa?"

"Look after them, please?"

"Of course. Rest assured, the house has enough security to survive a sustained assault, and there is a bomb shelter in the basement capable of withstanding a nuclear attack."

"Thank you."

She quickly kissed her family, then ran to join Thor and Loki on the bifrost landing site.

"I hope Tony has an Act of Aliens clause in his insurance," she said as she entered the scorched circle the bifrost had left.

Thor looked to the sky. "Heimdall?"

"Oh, the first batch of cakes need to come out in ten minutes!" Lisa remembered to yell at her family before the bifrost enveloped them.

Sarah and Tim watched in awe as white light surrounded the three, and then they were gone.

"Oh wow," Sarah said in awe. "I can't believe she knows Thor. And Loki is his brother! I love that leather look too, so cool! Way better than that stuffy suit he's been wearing. I need to get some leather trousers, or pants as they call them. Oh my god, this is huge! Massive! I have to tweet about- damn it, I still don't have a phone."

"Um, what just happened?" Tim asked.

It had been a long few days. Hydra had been stopped but there were casualties, lots of casualties. Everyone was battered and bloody from the events, even the Asgardians, although they had fared well compared to most of the humans.

"That was fun," Loki told Thor. "I haven't had that much enjoyment since, well, a long time."

"You call that fun?" Lisa asked.

"Tell me that wasn't thrilling, Dear Heart?"

Lisa tried to remain po faced but she couldn't. "Okay, maybe there were times when it was… perhaps, possibly a little bit… exciting."

"It was a good battle," Thor agreed with them. "I am only sorry that we did not learn of events sooner; we might have saved more lives."

"We did everything we could," Banner assured him.

They were meeting below Stark's newly rebuilt waterfront house, where there were no windows for anyone to see that the Avengers had assembled, all except the Black Widow and Hawkeye. The criminality of their actions as part of SHIELD was still being debated, so while Natasha was defending herself to congress, Clint thought it was best to lay low for a while.

"And SHIELD is gone now," Steve added. "I didn't always believe in their methods, but they did their best to protect this planet. What do we do now?"

"Come work for me," Stark offered.

"As what? A scientist? A receptionist?" Steve asked.

"As Avengers; global security has just been privatised, gentlemen. And lady. At least for the time being."

"Thanks for the offer but I'm not sure how viable that is," Bruce said.

"Viable, yes. Legal, no. Needed, definitely. I'm the only one of us with the resources to continue the good fight.

"Feels like jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire," Steve said. "No offence, Stark."

"Anyway, offer's there for anyone who wants to take me up on it."

"Thank you, I shall consider your offer carefully," Thor said.

"I'd like to get back to my family," Lisa added. "Perhaps we can think it over for a few days? If you don't mind us staying at the house a little longer?"

"Take as long as you need, I don't think I'll have the time for a vacation for quite a while."

"Fury is hunting down rogue Hydra operatives," Steve added. "I've got a friend to try and look up, then I think I'll try and find Fury, help him to round them up."

"I should also probably warn you all that my office is fielding a lot of calls over the events of the past few days," Stark added.

"What do they want?" Bruce asked.

"The usual; the TV people want interviews and the government types want to blame someone."

"What should we do?" Thor asked.

"My office are giving the standard 'no comment' answers and I suggest we leave it that way. Right now, SHIELD are the bad guys and we're the good guys. Anything we say could change that, which might hinder us going forward."

"Well, you're the one with a PR department," Lisa spoke up, "so I'm happy to defer to your judgement."

"Thank you. Finally, some respect."

Lisa saw Loki stifle a smile.

"So, what do we do now?" Lisa asked.

"Leave me a way to contact you all and go about your lives," Stark said, then turned to Lisa. "You should probably call your family sooner rather than later though, you appeared on TV being thrown through a couple of buildings."

"Can I be recognised?" Lisa asked.

"Probably by those who know you. I'm answering 'no comment' to everyone who wants to know who you are. I don't know if this is good or bad, but people have already realised who Rock of Ages is. Given Banner and Thor's recent rampages though, they seem willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. You even have a fan-club on facebook, apparently, where people share stories of your saving them."

"You think no one will want justice for my actions in New York?" Loki sounded incredulous.

"Some will, the majority seem okay with you though and you have most of the news media in your corner, and that's half the battle. If push comes to shove, I'm sure we can spin some tale of mind control or an evil twin or something."

"And you really think people will believe that?"

"People used to think Norse gods and aliens were fictional. After all that, you'd be amazed what you can get people to believe now."

"And what about all of you?" Thor asked. "You have worked with Loki out of necessity so far, but are you willing to trust him in the future?"

"Thor, whatever your intentions, I have no plans to become one of your band of merry men," Loki said with derision.

"Well, I had no plans to become Iron Man, things change, Loki-Lou, you gotta role with the punches. As I understand it, this is going to be your home for the foreseeable future and I don't know about you, but I get pretty pissed when someone threatens my home."

Loki gave stark an incredulous look. "Wasn't it you who told me that you would avenge the Earth?"

"Well, turns out you weren't a very good conqueror, so nothing to avenge there. Now that we know Coulson's alive too, it's kinda hard to blame that on you as well. Plus, you saved my life from Thor so… Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't trust you any further than I could throw you, but then I felt that way about SHIELD too. Sometimes you have to make a deal with the devil."

Loki smirked. "Well, since you asked so nicely, I might consider it."

"Great. Well Pepper's coming in from Washington, her plane should be landing any minute, so if no one has any other business…" Stark looked around the table. "Great, meeting adjourned. Don't forget to leave your contact info on the way out and you can PM me on twitter if you find any important information." Stark left the room.

No one spoke for a while.

"I don't know what the future holds right now," Steve said. "But under the right circumstances, I'd be happy to work all of you again. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a flight to catch."

"And I have what passes for a life to get back to," Banner said. "I'll walk you out."

"Can we go home now?" Lisa asked Loki and Thor. "I'm dying for a hot bath, and I'm pretty sure I have tarmac in my hair."

"Take my hand," Loki told her, holding his other hand towards Thor. "Are you joining us?"

"No, I must return to Jane, she will be worried."

"You're leaving me to my own devices?"

"I was never your keeper, Brother." Thor smiled. "She was."

Thor followed Steve and Bruce out and Lisa swivelled her chair to face Loki.

'You're not going to get all weird about this 'keeper' business, are you? Because I swear, that was never part of the bargain I struck.'

'I think, Dearest, he meant that you are my conscience.'

'Oh, okay, good, 'cos you know, bondage isn't really my thing.'

Loki chuckled.

'Can we go home now?' Lisa asked.

'Darling girl, I am home.' The smile he flashed wasn't his largest, by far, she didn't even see any teeth, but it was heartfelt and genuine. 'But I shall return you to your family.'

She knew what he meant, that wherever she was, was his home. She knew that without a shadow of a doubt, because she felt exactly the same way.