"Where did you find all these people?" Selvig asked Barton happily.

"SHIELD has to get its people from somewhere Doc," Barton said shortly, plainly and without any emotion. "I got these folks from some of those places. This what you need?" he asked, holding up a screen that had a display of iridium across it.

Selvig confirmed that just as Loki joined them, and the old man waxed poetic about how the Tesseract had granted him more than knowledge.

"It's Truth," he said reverently, and the capital T could be heard in the way he said it.

"Yes I know," Loki agreed passively, then turned to the younger man he had liberated from the agency that had previously controlled the cube that had facilitated his arrival on Midgard. "What did it show you, Agent Barton?" Loki asked him.

"My next target," Barton answered nearly mechanically, just a hint of his usually sarcastic tone seeping through.

"Now now Barton," Loki scolded lightly. "I'm the god of mischief. I enjoy chaos. I do not condone killing." Even when it had put him at odds with all of Asgard, save his mother, he had never condoned killing. "I want to rule a happy, thriving realm after all. Not sit atop a throne of corpses."

"Understood," Barton agreed, and moved from checking over his regular arrows to the ones that were equipped with knock-out drugs, like the darts used by scientists and rangers on wildlife preserves.

"What do you need?" Loki asked.

"A distraction," Barton replied as he double-checked the dosages. "And an eyeball."

"Hmm," Loki hummed thoughtfully. "An eyeball?"

Barton shrugged. "The iridium that Dr Selvig needs, the best chunk I'd be able to get for him is in a safe with a retinal scan required for access."

"This cannot be... what is the Midgarian term... hacked?" Loki asked.

Barton shrugged. "Sure," he allowed. "Anything with microchips in it can be hacked, but my skills with computers don't go much further than typing reports, and downloading shit off the net. If someone tells me to hack something, I'm inclined to reach for a machete."

Loki winced.

"Sorry Boss," Barton apologised. "The Tesseract is teaching me a lot of stuff, but what I learn, and what I understand... I'm much more a hands-on learner than a guy who can process info-dumps."

"That's alright, Agent Barton," Loki allowed with an only mildly frustrated sigh.

Then the quiet of the bunker where they were was interrupted by a feminine voice calling out from Agent Barton's pocket.

"Oh my god, this is going on facebook," the voice said. "Oh my god, this is going on facebook," it repeated, and began to repeat itself again as Barton grabbed the phone and flicked it open, halting the voice.

"Agent Barton?" Loki asked, curiously.

"My girl," Barton answered, a hint of possessive fondness making it into his tone. "Sends me regular text messages to make sure I'm still alive. Since the last she knew I was on a mission where I'm supposed to have no contact with the outside world, she's been restricting herself to just once a week. Fury let me answer those texts because he didn't want to deal with her storming the compound demanding answers."

Selvig chuckled.

Loki, however, was confused. "Fury fears this girl?" he enquired.

"Everybody with sense does," Selvig supplied with a smile. The man was truly happy, under the influence of the Tesseract, and was often grinning with pleasure as he took to his assigned task with great zeal. "Darcy is a force of nature."

"She also hacked SHIELD the last time Fury refused to tell her, even in vague terms, what was going on with me," Barton supplied, even as his thumb glided over the buttons of his phone, creating an answering message. "Alive and under new management" it would read when he finished typing.

"The girl has skill with this?" Loki enquired. "With hacking?"

Agent Barton nodded in confirmation.

"Does she also work for SHIELD?" Loki pressed.

This time, Agent Barton shook his head.

"Darcy turned the organisation down flat," Selvig supplied. "Said she was going to get her PhD first, and then that she would think about accepting their offer," he said with a chuckle.

"Darcy disapproves of the way SHIELD 'plays at being a global Big Brother', direct quote," Barton supplied. "She'd do anything for me though."

"Where is she now?" Loki demanded before Barton could hit the 'send' button.

Barton's head snapped up from his study of his phone screen. "Yeah," he said vaguely, catching on to what his boss had in mind. "She'd be able to hack that."

He added "How do you feel about Germany? I can be there to pick you up in an hour." to his text quickly before he sent it off.

He didn't ask how she'd feel about causing chaos. He knew she'd be all for it. He didn't ask how she'd feel about changing the world order. She was a Political Science major, that was something she'd wanted to do for years. He didn't even ask if she was free in an hour to be collected from her dorm at the campus of her college. He knew perfectly well that Darcy didn't have any classes on Fridays, and that Spring Break would start on Monday. She'd have been packing up to go home to her parents' house two cities over anyway.

A few minutes later, Loki was grinning in anticipation, because the text that Barton had received back from his girlfriend said, very simply "YES!"and he'd headed for the door, intent on borrowing an unmarked helicopter (from a HYDRA base that no one was suppose to know existed, but which was just across the road from their own base) to go and pick her up from her campus.

She'd know it was him.

"Agent Barton," Loki called out just before the man reached the door.

He stopped and turned back.

Loki smiled. "You may have an extra hour for dalliance with your fair maid before you return," he allowed.

"Thank you sir," Barton answered, a pleased smirk sliding onto his face as he headed out of the building. It was the closest he'd come to truly smiling since he'd been captured in the thrall of the power of Loki's sceptre.

~oOo~

Barton landed the chopper and brought the rotors to a halt. Once they'd stopped spinning, he stepped out of the craft just in time to catch Darcy around the waist as she leapt onto him. Her arms went over his shoulders, hands locked behind his neck. Her legs wrapped around his waist, ankles crossed over his tail-bone. The delighted grin on her face was only visible to Clint for a few seconds before her mouth was slanted over his.

Clint was more than happy to shift his hands down lower over Darcy's denim-covered rear to hold her in place while he reciprocated.

"Why didn't you text me sooner, if you're not working for Big Brother any more?" she demanded as soon as she withdrew from inspecting his tonsils with her tongue – and allowing him to likewise inspect her own. Then she narrowed her eyes as she studied his face.

Her man normally had blue eyes, but they were a blue that changed in certain lights to look more grey, or more green, and occasionally more black or purple. She loved his quietly intense, stormy-blue eyes. Currently, she was looking into a pair of peepers that more resembled a cloudless sky at high noon. Way too bright a blue.

There were dark circles starting to show up under his eyes as well, and for as much as normally he could hold her like he currently was for a good fifteen minutes before even thinking about saying something about not being as strong as the blonde behemoth that had kinda-sorta facilitated their introductions to one another (he'd been the agent that had returned her ipod, and given her a fifty dollar card for the itunes store right along with it), she could already feel him shaking a little.

"Didn't really have time," Clint said with a hint of an apologetic tone.

"When was the last time you ate?" she demanded. "Or slept?"

When Clint's response was "Uh..." Darcy unwrapped her legs from around his middle and dropped herself back onto the ground.

Darcy chucked her bag into the back of the chopper, then turned to her boyfriend. "You me, the Chinese take-out on the corner, now," she ordered. "Since I'm guessing you don't have time right now to take the nap I can tell you really need."

Clint smiled at her fondly and locked up the helicopter. "The new boss gave me an hour to just be with you before I gotta hustle you onto the bird," he said.

Darcy smiled at that. "Well, then he's doing something right," she decided. "Maybe we should take back enough take-out for everybody?" she suggested lightly, even as she tugged him along, away from the chopper and down the street.

Clint blinked at that for a moment, even as he moved willingly behind her. "Yeah," he agreed after a moment. "That's a good idea. I have no idea what the other guys would like though, and I don't think Selvig actually eats Chinese, does he?"

"Erik?" Darcy asked, surprised.

Clint nodded. "Same one," he confirmed.

"He'll happily go through about five full-sized egg-rolls," Darcy declared. "How many other guys are there?"

"About thirty of us, plus the boss, and you if you want in. It's just a small operation for now," Clint answered.

Darcy smiled. "Gimme the sales pitch," she ordered happily.

"Big on the chaos, low on the destruction," Clint started with a smirk, knowing just how to sell it to his girl.

"I like," Darcy confirmed.

"Upsetting all those Big Brother organisations you hate so much," he continued.

"It gets better," Darcy cooed up at him.

"And we'd be leaving for Germany tomorrow," Clint said. "To not-entirely-legally obtain an element that will allow Selvig to do that thing that Foster has been so keen on making happen the past couple of years."

Darcy's eyes went wide and her mouth dropped open a little. "Apart from the NEL part -"

Any time Clint said something that could be hyphenated together, Darcy always, always, turned it into an acronym. He was used to it after dating her for two years, so he knew what she meant when she said that.

"- I'm sold. Now, why NEL and why does the boss want me on board?" Dary asked as she pushed open the door to the Chinese place.

"Selvig needs an element that in its largest concentration, and that about the size of both my fists together, is kept in a retinal-scan access vault by a guy who doesn't even know the value of what he's keeping in there," Clint explained. "As for why you? Well, in part because of your computer skills -" he meant hacking skills and they both knew it. "- but, and I'm guessing this bit, as soon as the boss knew I had a girlfriend, I think he was thinking of a legitimate reason to have you around for my sake."

Darcy smiled. "Aww," she cooed. "Nice boss."

Clint chuckled. Distance from the sceptre and the Tesseract allowing more of his personality to come through. Especially since he had Loki permission to 'dally' with his girlfriend.

"He's new to the whole thing," he allowed. "Doesn't really know about all that we mere mortals need, but he's figuring it out as he goes along, and he does his best. I don't think he's slept since he hired me though."

Darcy frowned at that. "I don't think you've slept either," she accused him, poking him in the chest as she did so. "I'm in," she decided. "If for no other reason than to be the person who makes sure you all eat and sleep often enough. Lord knows I can recognise the signs after being an intern for Jane and sharing dorms with all sorts of people."

Clint smiled. "You're perfect Darcy," he told her. "Now, what do you want to eat? I'm thinking I should probably get one of everything for the guys back at the base though..."

"Can you afford that?" Darcy asked.

Clint raised an eyebrow at her.

Darcy face-palmed. "Right, amazing government salary, no taxes and no major expenses. Of course you can afford that," she muttered to herself.

Clint smirked and stepped up to the cashier.

~oOo~

Darcy carefully slid down in her seat as they touched down on the roof of a building. She recognised the shifty looks Clint was throwing every which-way. He was looking out for hostiles.

"Clint?" she asked softly. "Why is your head on swivel right now?"

Clint smirked back at her. "I may have stolen this he-low from the HYDRA base across the road," he admitted easily and with a quick nod in the direction of a place that looked like it had been condemned some fifty years ago.

Darcy, having been briefed on SHIELD's main enemies when she started dating one of their major assets (for her own safety, as well as Clint's peace of mind), allowed a smirk to creep across her face as her eyes danced with mirth at the antics of her boyfriend. HYDRA was an organisation that did things that could seriously be great for the advancement of the human race – but they had no morals about how they went about getting the results that could benefit the human race, and they didn't share. So, HYDRA was full of scientists who didn't give a damn about who they killed on their way to getting results, among other even less pleasant people.

Not nice folks, basically. SHIELD agents were all handed – on pretty much the day they joined their own shadowy organisation – standing orders to make life hell for any HYDRA operatives if they had an opportunity to do so and it wouldn't disrupt an important mission.

"And I may have set a few explosives in their basement before take-off, so any HYDRA agents that are still hanging around will be keeping an eye out to see if I bring their chopper back," Clint added, more seriously. "Got your taser?"

"Always."

Clint nodded, satisfied. "I gotta teach you how to use a real gun one of these days," he muttered as he shut down the rotors.

"Actually, I've been practising with nerf and BB guns," Darcy offered. "I know it's not the same, but I figured it would be a good start. I've also been going out to the paint-ball range on weekends when I had time but wouldn't get to see you."

"The BB gun was a good idea," Clint praised. "So was the paint-ball. Don't think now is the time to teach you the differences between those and the real thing though. Come on," he urged, and grabbed up the bags of Chinese from the back. "Time to feed the men and introduce you to the new boss."

Darcy nodded in agreement, grabbed her bag, and followed her man to the roof access door. They'd essentially set down on top of a warehouse that (fortunately for the helicopter) had a flat roof. In the warehouse were a bunch of guys outfitting a truck, Clint whistled sharply at them, hefted one handful of the bags of Chinese when he had their attention, called food, and kept moving once they'd acknowledged his message and he'd set a couple of the bags on a table.

Clint then led Darcy down some steps into a basement level of the warehouse. She damn near asked why a warehouse had a basement, but then she remembered that they were across the road from a (now ex-) HYDRA base. Of course the warehouse had a basement.

And it was in this basement that Erik Selvig was working, along with a bunch of other scientists and scientific engineers, with a glowing blue cube that was set in the middle of a still-under-construction thing. Their activities were being supervised by a handsome guy dressed in black and green, and who had a very peculiar sceptre/spear thing in one hand that was glowing to match the cube.

And, Darcy noticed, every single person had the same colour eyes: blue as the sky at noon on a cloudless day. Even the guy holding the sceptre/spear thing had that colour eyes.

The same colour that the cube and the spear/sceptre thing were glowing.

"We come bearing food!" Darcy called out, forcing her worry aside for now. She had people to take care of. Every single one of them had circles under their too-blue eyes, but they were still powering on like they didn't even notice their fatigue. "And you," she said, rounding on Clint. "Nap. Now. I don't want my boyfriend burning out before he can give me a tour of the bedroom we'll be sharing tonight."

"Let me introduce you to my new boss first," Clint protested, even as he set the bags of food down for the scientists to get at. He'd eaten at the Chinese takeaway place with Darcy before they'd climbed back into the helicopter, so he wasn't hungry.

"Okay," Darcy conceded. "That's probably a good idea."

Clint guided her over to the man with the black-and-green wardrobe that actually reminded Darcy a little bit of the stuff Thor and the Warriors Three had been wearing back when all the crazy had been happening in New Mexico.

"Darcy, this is my boss, Loki," Clint presented. "Loki, my girlfriend and one of the top ten hackers I've ever had the pleasure to be forced to read a file on, Darcy Lewis."

"Flatterer," Darcy teased, and planted a kiss on his cheek before she turned to her boyfriend's new boss. "So, Loki. Pleased to meet you," she offered, and held out her hand to shake.

Loki took her hand, but turned it to kiss her knuckles rather than shaking her hand. "A pleasure," he agreed.

"Cool. Alright, you've introduced me," Darcy told Clint. "Off to bed with you."

Clint chuckled, kissed her temple tenderly, nodded professionally to his boss, and excused himself from them.

Darcy turned back to her boyfriend's new boss and visibly narrowed her eyes in consideration at the (very tall) guy. "When was the last time you slept?" she demanded of him (as politely as she could, but it was still a demand for knowledge). "Clint said he didn't think you had since you recruited him for your project, and I get the feeling that was at least forty-eight hours ago." Behind her glasses, her eyes narrowed further. "And I get the impression that you probably hadn't been exactly sleeping well or often before then either."

Loki blinked in surprise, as if he had simply forgotten what, exactly, sleep was. "Ah," he said softly. "I see that you have value even further than I had been led to believe. We have all been very dedicated to our tasks here," he said with a gesture to the scientists who had converged on the food, eaten quickly, and returned to their work as soon as the food was gone. "Things like food and sleep fell by the wayside."

Darcy pursed her lips at the man. "That's not a good thing," she said plainly. "If you don't get enough food and rest, then body and mind will give out. Is there a rush on getting this project done?"

Loki shook his head. "Not particularly," he allowed. "At the current rate, it should be possible to get the project completed by Monday, provided we can find a suitable power-source to kick-start the process."

"And that's with no-one sleeping or taking breaks to eat," Darcy guessed.

Loki confirmed her statement with a silent nod.

"Well, let them get some sleep, have regular meals, you'll still be done before the week is out," Darcy suggested with a shrug, and smiled up at the guy. "I'm good at nagging people to get the food and sleep they need," she added. "I don't mind being in charge of babysitting everybody along with hacking that safe for you."

Loki bent his head in gratitude for her assistance, unaware that he was also bowing in deference to her expertise in mothering people into taking care of themselves with the same motion. He hadn't even lifted the sceptre to her chest to claim her loyalty to his cause yet, and he had done that immediately after introductions for all the other personnel that had been brought to him by Agent Barton. Darcy simply hadn't given him a proper opening to do such.

Darcy was a smart girl, and as much as she had little to no information as to what was going on, she had quickly come to the conclusion that the glowing cube was the root of whatever was going on, the spear/sceptre with it's glowing bit was dangerous (quite apart from because it was pointy), and she was going to check her eyes regularly to make sure they stayed that pretty grey-green colour that she was used to seeing whenever she looked in the mirror.

"So, Clint's a really great agent, which means I feel safe betting that he only gave me the bare bones of what you're actually up to here. It was certainly carefully vague. Since I've agreed to do your bit of hacking already, can I know the full details?" Darcy asked hopefully.

Loki gestured for her to take a seat on one of the packing containers that were lying about – there was no furniture, except for tables, anywhere down here – and once she was seated, Loki followed her example, claiming another packing crate as his throne.

"It is my intention to see a new Bifrost created here on Midgard -" she'd known he was as much of an ET as Thor! "- and claim kingship over the realm."

"I'd like to say that I'm fully behind the first point," Darcy said. "And personally not entirely opposed to the second, since I'm fairly sure that having a singular ruler over the entire planet would solve a whole mess of political problems. However, I can tell you right now that a lot, and I mean a lot of people aren't going to even think to look at it that way. Right here, for example, America. Our country as a whole has some serious issues with monarchies. The system that we use is really quite crap, but the only place royalty is acceptable is when they're from other countries, works of fiction, or children playing pretend."

Loki frowned and leant forward on his seat. "How do you come to this understanding?" he enquired.

"I'm a student of political science," Darcy explained. "That means that I study the what, where, when, who, how and why of every governing agency of this planet. Or at least I try. Some regimes there isn't as much info on."

"Interesting," Loki decided.

"What's your game-plan?" Darcy asked. "And please don't say you've got an army and intend to conquer the earth," she requested as Loki opened his mouth to answer. "Because that really won't win you any favours. Coups, that's when some country's army takes over their government by force, are never given good press. Ever. Even when the ruler the armies were removing needed to be removed. And the public reaction to the army of a foreign nation coming in to try and 'fix' a country's problems is iffy at best."

Loki closed his mouth and studied Darcy for a moment, searching for any hint that she might be lying to him about this. He soon realised that she wasn't.

"Damn," he decided.

Darcy face-palmed. "Seriously, you can't become King of the World in a week here. We've got seven continents, just shy of two hundred countries, and a whole bunch of those countries have a butt-load of different tribes and people-groups, a majority of which have their own language that no one else speaks," she explained frankly. "And even a few city-states hanging on. There's the United Nations of course, which is where most of those countries are represented as a sort of world-governing body, but not every country is represented there, and you can't really defeat a committee in armed combat and take the ultimately non-existent crown from their collective heads."

"Damn," Loki repeated. "I had rather hoped this to be a quick transition," he admitted.

Darcy shook her head. "Nope, sorry. If you want to rule the world, then it's going to be a slow and difficult process. I mean, unless you can just brain-wash the entire world, but I don't think even other-worldly magic can do that," she stated plainly.

Loki smirked. "Oh, but it can," he corrected happily. "You are the only mortal here who I have yet to lay claim to," he stated, and twirled the sceptre in his hand just a little bit threateningly.

Dary's eyes flashed. So that was it. That was why everybody had blue eyes that matched the eerie glow from the cube and the definitely-a-weapon that Loki was holding.

"A free and willing follower is worth, in the long run, more than ten reluctant slaves," Darcy said, paraphrasing one of the many things she'd learned in her time studying political science as she very carefully didn't so much as hint to the pure fury she was feeling. Mind control! She was very much for people's right to do whatever the hell they wanted – so long as they were prepared to face the consequences.

"I think that would depend entirely on the slave, don't you?" Loki countered smoothly. "For example, your Agent Barton is certainly proven to be very worth-while an acquisition."

"But if he were free, and willing, and passionate, and loyal to your cause for his own reasons," Darcy countered as evenly as she could, "you would have a much more valuable ally, rather than simply a useful servant."

Loki considered the young woman before him. This young woman who was not yet captured in the thrall of the Tesseract. This young woman who had already pointed out a number of crippling flaws in his plan for the conquest of Midgard. This young woman who had already freely agreed to hack into a safe to fetch an element needed by Selvig simply at the request of her lover.

"Could you guarantee Agent Barton's loyalty to me if I released him?" Loki asked her directly.

Darcy shrugged. "Maybe," she admitted. "Clint takes my opinions seriously when I voice them, but he's also very loyal to SHIELD." Darcy raked her eyes over Loki. "He's also a bit vindictive when he feels like he's been wronged," she added. "And mind control would count as 'being wronged' in his book." She left it blatantly implied that she sure as hell didn't think it was 'right' either, and would be completely onside with her boyfriend.

Loki winced in recognition that he'd have to atone to Barton for that transgression if he wanted the man as a willing accomplice. "What of Doctor Selvig?" he suggested.

"Erik's a bit easier," Darcy allowed. "He doesn't much care about SHIELD, but he's big on science. His line in the sand is purely ethical. As long as you give him lots of science to play with, the funds to play with that science to its fullest extent, and don't push him to do things that he's morally against, you should be okay. He might be a bit prejudiced against you for the mind control bit, but a carefully worded apology will go a long way to sooth those ruffled feathers."

Loki nodded. "Thank you, Lady Darcy," he said, and stood. "I will allow the thrall over Agent Barton to weaken over the coming days, and I will consider the power I hold over the rest of the team he collected for me in that time. However, we will go to Germany for the element that Doctor Selvig needs before the weekend is over. Even if my plans must be reconsidered, I will see the new Bifrost built and operational by the end of the week."

Darcy nodded in agreement to those conditions. "I'd suggest politely introducing yourself to the UN folks and setting yourself up as the global representative to the other realms for a starting point," she offered.

Loki nodded thoughtfully.

~oOo~

The new gateway was, theoretically, complete. All that remained was a secondary power-source to kick-start the cube, and they would have the new Bifrost from Midgard. Of course, it wasn't the same as the Bifrost of Asgard. It had been created by a different mind, influenced by different ideas, and was subject to different limitations due to what materials were available.

Having read over all the details that Selvig had provided him with, Loki was inclined to think that the Midgard Bifrost might, in fact, be better than the Bifrost of Asgard – and not just because the Bifrost of Asgard was currently broken.

Where the word 'bridge' was quite applicable to the Asgardian Bifrost (whether that be Einstein-Rosen Bridge or Rainbow Bridge), the expression 'wormhole' or 'portal' suited the Midgardian Bifrost much more. Particularly 'portal'.

Loki was extremely amused by the game that Darcy had been playing on her laptop in some of her off-time where similar portals were utilised. Over the communal lunch that had become instituted by Darcy with her arrival, Loki had suggested that, with the scientific advancements that Doctor Selvig had made, such a thing as a 'portal gun' just might be possible.

"I don't think it would be a good idea for us to call ourselves 'Aperture Science', however," he'd added with a wry smirk.

"Or 'Black Mesa'," Clint rejoined with an amused if slightly derisive snort and an agreeing nod – impulses that were easier for him to act on now that he had been mostly released from the thrall of the Tesseract.

Clint had really torn into Loki about mind-control as soon as the thrall had been weak enough to allow it, but he had accepted Loki's apology after only a couple of days of sulking about it. Loki was still wary of releasing the man completely, considering his loyalty to SHIELD as well as that blow-up about the mind-control, but with the thrall only affecting that one aspect of the man now, they had been able to become somewhat-friends.

Loki just wanted to be certain that he would be able to retain Agent Barton's loyalty if the man was released completely.

Presently, however, Loki had allowed himself to be 'captured' by SHIELD. He had matters to discuss with various members of that organisation, and that would be more easily accomplished if they believed they held the upper hand in some way.

"In case it's unclear," Fury said once the door of the cage shut between them. "You try to get out, you do much as scratch that glass," he informed the trickster, and pressed a few control buttons that caused a hatch beneath the cage to open. "You will be dropped out of here in that steel trap."

He closed the hatch again.

"Ant," he said with a gesture to Loki. "Boot," he impressed firmly with a similar gesture to the control panel.

"It's an impressive cage," Loki praised with a smile. "But not built, I think, for me."

"Built for something a lot stronger than you," Fury informed him.

"I've heard," Loki agreed, and directed a smile to the surveillance camera. "And how does that genius feel about knowing you have such a cage, just waiting for him should his temper get the better of him?"

Fury gave no answer.

"How desperate are you?" Loki asked softly. "That you call for defence from those you do not trust?"

"How desperate am I?" Fury repeated. "You threaten my world with war. You steal a force you can't hope to control. You talk about peace, and you kill cause it's fun. You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad that you did."

"Ooh," Loki said, amused. "It burns you, doesn't it?" he asked, pleased. "To have come so close? You had the Tesseract, and it is unlimited power, but what could you do with it?" he taunted with a smile. "And I will have to correct you, Director Fury. I have killed no one. Not directly or deliberately, at least. As for the Tesseract and its power, I assure you, it is very much under control now. I must say that it was a relief to us all when Dr Selvig completed that 'harness'. The Tesseract was altogether too capable of creeping into the minds of those who had contact with it. As for my threats against your world... well."

Fury's single eye narrowed at Loki dangerously, even as Loki's own grin stretched further across his face.

"I shall certainly suffer for it, but I have informed the Chitauri that I no longer require their army, which I am certain will please you and your superiors," Loki said plainly.

"What are you going to do instead?" Fury demanded.

Loki grinned. "Oh no," he said. "You still haven't answered my question, Director Fury. What would you have done with the power of the Tesseract? Created a warm light for all mankind to share?" he pressed cheekily. But then the smile fell away from his face. "No, not when you know what real power is."

Fury frowned right back. "Well, you let me know if 'real power' wants a magazine or something," he quipped, and marched off. He had better things to do than talk to prisoners, even if that prisoner was Loki. SHIELD had plenty of people who specialised in interrogation, and he knew just who to send.

Loki, with nothing better to do than wait, decided that he might as well inspect the cell he had been given. There wasn't much. A bench of a bed, off the ground and opposite the 'door', and bracketed on the ends by a privy and a shower space. Both very small. He may have been short for a Frost Giant, and less than the tallest on Asgard, but he was still a person of impressive stature compared to a good portion of the inhabitants of Midgard.

It was a few hours after he had been abandoned to his very exposed isolation when he sensed another presence.

"There's not many who can sneak up on me," he informed the woman with a hint of praise.

"But you figured I'd come," Agent Romanoff replied surely.

"After," Loki confessed with an easy smile. "After whatever tortures Fury could concoct, you would appear as a friend, as a balm, and I would co-operate."

"I want to know what you've done with Agent Barton," Romanoff stated, a little fiercely.

"Among other things? I'd say I've expanded his mind," Loki allowed.

"And after you've won -" Loki liked the certainty of that statement. "- when you're king of the mountain -" he liked that she said 'when' and not 'if' there as well. "What happens to his mind?" Romanoff wanted to know.

"Is this love, Agent Romanoff?" Loki asked curiously. If it was, he was certain that Darcy wouldn't appreciate that, though, he was fairly sure that it wasn't. Still, confirmation.

"Love is for children," Romanoff answered. "I owe him a debt."

Loki nodded slightly to himself. "Tell me," he requested, palms out to her in a gesture of minor submission, even as he backed away from her to sit on the bed provided to him.

Romanoff claimed the chair that had been set by the door of his prison.

"Before I worked for SHIELD, I, uh, well, I made a name for myself," she admitted. "I have a very specific skill-set. I got on SHIELD's radar in a bad way. Agent Barton was sent to kill me. He made a different call."

"And what would you do, if I were to vow to spare him?" Loki enquired curiously.

"Not let you out," Romanoff answered almost instantly.

"I know, but I like this," he declared with a grin as he eagerly leant forward. "Your world, hanging in the balance, and you bargain for one man."

"Regimes fall every day," Romanoff pointed out. "I tend not to weep over that, I'm Russian," she explained. "Or I was," she added.

Loki continued to smile at her, though it was a more gentle smile now than the mad grin of moments ago. "Hm. Well, Agent Romanoff, you will be pleased to know that Agent Barton is very nearly himself again already," he informed her. "I still hold his loyalty, but otherwise his mind is his own, and I have not forced him to kill anyone. He speaks of you with great fondness, as though you were his sister."

"He -" Romanoff choked, eyes wide with surprise.

Loki chuckled softly. "However much I believe myself to be something of a monster on a purely biological level, I was always the god of mischief, Agent Romanoff, not war. I enjoy a bit of chaos, but I do not much care for killing where it can be avoided. Violence for violence sake was always more Thor's modus operandi than mine. Agent Barton is safe," he assured her. "He may wish to put an arrow through my eye-socket when I release him from the last of the thrall though. He certainly yelled at me for a few hours when I initially allowed the thrall to weaken, and he gave me the silent treatment for a while."

Romanoff blinked in shock, and her mouth had fallen slightly open as she stared at him.

"And as much as I still wish to rule your planet, the Lady Darcy has convinced me that this is something that will take time and greater subtlety than an extra-terrestrial army to accomplish," he added easily. "Please pass on my apologies to Thor, but I have no wish to see him, and also to Doctor Jane Foster. I'm afraid my little team has rather stolen her thunder and created that Einstein-Rosen Bridge she was so very excited about building herself."

"You, what?" Romanoff asked, stunned.

"I wish to improve your world, Agent Romanoff," Loki said simply. "I would prefer to do so from a position of power, and you yourself said that regimes fall every day." He sighed, closed his eyes, and rearranged himself so that he was reclining on the bed. "Any individuals affected may be completely freed from the thrall of the sceptre by its destruction, or by a strong enough blow to the head. I can control how tightly held in thrall they are, as the one who captured them in that thrall in the first place, but I expect you would rather have assurances of your own."

"And where is Agent Barton? And the Tesseract?" Romanoff asked. "Physically?"

"Agent Barton is on his way here," Loki replied easily. "Selvig's calculations are complete, as is the construction of the apparatus. He and most of the team are taking the Tesseract to Stark Tower in New York, though they will of course wait politely in the lobby, rather than simply invade the building. I allowed my capture so that I could speak with Director Fury, however indirectly and however unwilling he is to listen to what I have to say."

"Truly?" Romanoff pressed.

Loki snorted indelicately. "Whatever Thor may say about my being incapable of sincerity, I assure you, I am sincere in this," he answered, though he did not open his eyes and remained lying on his back on the bed, legs bent because the bed was too small for his frame.

~The End~