"With great power comes great responsibility."

Loki scowled at the TV, specifically at some masked man they called Spider-Man talking to the Midgardian Press.

"Oh, shut your gob," Loki muttered and grabbed the remote next to him on Thor's couch. He changed the channel and on came what Jane Foster called those cardboard things she consumed in the morning: his guilty pleasure. A Gilmore Girls rerun was on. He supposed if he had to spend some time with Thor and Jane because he wasn't "trustworthy" and was considered a "threat" all because he'd once tried to take over the world, he could do worse than Gilmore Girls.

He heard the hum of the vacuum cleaner coming closer to Thor's Midgardian living room and he bit back the growl that was forming. The thing with Gilmore Girls was that if you didn't pay close attention to their rapid fire conversation you missed so much.

Jane was now in the living room and he pressed on the volume until it sounded like Rory was shouting at her mother. Jane just looked at him. She knew the drill. This was what happened when she interfered with his television. At most they'd get a complaint from the neighbors, but it would be done in a meek kind of way. No one really felt they could complain if the God of Thunder who was also part of The Avengers (and owned the building thanks to Tony Stark), played the TV a little loud.

When Jane finished vacuuming, Loki slowly turned the TV down. He loved it when she would shoot him warning looks as she cleaned. The looks that said I know you're taking your time turning the volume down, Loki.

There was something so satisfying about annoying Jane Foster. Probably because Thor just ignored him as a way to deal with him and Jane Foster still reacted. Every. Single. Time.

When she got to the coffee table, she sat down next to him and began tossing red Solo cups into a trash bag. Apparently Thor had had some of The Avengers over the night before and the place had gotten a little trashed. Just as Jane had been about to start cleaning, Thor had been asked to tend to a problem downstairs with one of the tenants in the building.

"You could help me," Jane said flatly.

"I could," Loki drawled. "But I won't."

"You're such a freeloader, Loki."

"If that means something derogatory I will be very upset with you, Jane."

"It means that you contribute absolutely nothing and mooch off Thor and I."

"Ah, well, yes, then I am a freeloader."

She let out that heavy sigh that was really a cross between a sigh and a growl. He heard her mutter something about Thor's stupid hammer as she cleaned around it and he smirked. "Have you ever tried to lift it?" he asked her.

"No, why would I do that? I already know I can't. I'm not 'worthy'. Have you?"

He had once. "No. I think you should try it."

"Why?"

He shrugged. "Why not? Are you not a little curious to see if you could?"

"I've watched every single one of the Avengers attempt to lift it, Loki. I know I couldn't do it."

"I thought you were – what are those women called that yell at men in the street for opening doors for them?"

She was trying not to laugh now. He could tell because the ends of her mouth would begin to curl up and she'd bite her lip as if to stop herself from just letting the smile come. One day Loki was determined to get a full smile out of her.

"Feminists," she said. "I am one as well, Loki."

"But you don't yell at Thor."

"No, I only yell at you."

"But not for holding the door open for you."

"You never hold the door open for me."

"That's true," he said. "Try it. Come on, just try it once."

Her eyes narrowed and she turned to face him. "Care to make it interesting?"

His eyes narrowed as well. "How?"

"I'll try it, but only if you help me clean."

Loki shook his head. "Forget it. You won't be able to lift it anyway. I don't want you to try it that much. I'm not about to do menial work when I know you won't be able to lift it."

She made that half sigh half growl sound again and continued cleaning. Loki got up and wandered into the kitchen to see if he could find something to snack on. He brightened when he saw the chocolate cake on the counter. He cut himself a hefty slice, poured some milk, and then hummed as he began to walk back into the living room.

As he passed through the doorway he found Jane with her hand wrapped around Thor's hammer. He expected to see her struggle as he did. To pull and pull and think maybe just maybe with one hard yank…

But no.

She just lifted it.

Then came the crash of thunder and lightning, striking her and Mjolnir. When all was clear, Jane still had Mjolnir in her hand. Her eyes were wide, her mouth dropped open, and her hair in disarray.

Loki dropped his milk and cake. Jane slowly looked at him, hearing the crash of plate and glass smashing together on the carpet. She glared at him and used Mjolnir to point at him. "You are so cleaning that up."

And then she looked down at the hammer and dropped it as though it was burning her hand. It broke the coffee table. Jane's hand shook, her whole body trembled really and she looked at Loki. "What did you do?"

He gaped at her. "What did I do? What do you mean what did I do?"

"You're the sorcerer here, Loki, not me! You wanted me to pick it up so badly and I did. I just fucking picked it up. What did you do?"

Loki opened his mouth to answer her and then snapped it shut when he noticed the whirlwind swirling around Jane's knees and the couch cushions, remote, and plastic cups that were now levitating up in the air. "Jane," he said evenly. "I didn't do anything. I can't make you be able to lift Thor's hammer. No one can do that. It deemed you worthy."

"Who else has it deemed worthy?" she asked, her voice getting shrill.

"No one but Thor has ever been deemed worthy. Not even I can pick it up."

"Shocker. And you lied. You did try."

"Shocker. I lied, yes. It's what I do." He held up his hands. "Right now, Jane, I want you to look down."

She did and then gasped when she saw the whirlwind around her knees. Then she caught sight of a cup floating in the air around her. "Loki, what's going on?" She looked and sounded scared.

"I don't know, but it's part of you."

"What do you mean it's part of me?"

"The power that is causing that whirlwind and those objects to levitate. It's you doing it."

"How is that even possible?"

"Mjolnir did something to you."

The door banged open then and Thor came bounding into the room. He stopped abruptly when he saw Jane. He gaped at her and then went for Loki's throat. "What did you do to her?!" Thor roared and pinned Loki against the wall.

"Thor, no, it wasn't him!" Jane shouted. She looked down. The whirlwind was spreading wider and getting taller. Also, the fucking couch was beginning to lift off the floor.

"You did something and I want you to stop it!" Thor shouted.

"I'm not doing it you giant oaf!" Loki shouted back. "She lifted your hammer, Thor!"

Thor all but dropped Loki and turned to Jane. "What?"

She nodded. "I did. Loki dared me and I lifted it."

"But that's not possible," Thor said and moved closer to her. "I'm the only one that can wield it. I'm the one that's worthy."

"Not anymore," Loki said, sounding gleeful.

Thor stared at the hammer on the floor and looked at Jane. "What did you do?" he demanded. "How did you lift Mjolnir?"

"I just did," she said. "Are you mad? You look mad."

"You should not be lifting my hammer," Thor growled and stalked over to Mjolnir.

The wind around Jane picked up. Loki looked on, fascinated. It was up to her chest now. Both the TV and the couch were floating. The hum in the air from Jane's sudden power was addicting. It smelled like honeysuckle.

Thor lifted Mjolnir. "I am still its owner," he boasted. "Not you."

"Can you stop worrying about your worthiness for a minute and tell me what the hell is going on!" Jane shouted and that's when the whirlwind broke loose and lifted Thor in the air and flung him against the far wall.

He went through it.

The neighbor in the apartment he just went through screamed.

The couch, TV, and the other objects that were floating plummeted to the floor.

Loki took a step toward Jane, who looked positively wrung out, when a shimmering bright white and gold light coming from the balcony caught his eyes. "Jane," he said and pointed.

She looked. "What is that?"

"I don't know, but I mean to find out."

Jane looked at Thor who climbed through the Thor shaped hole in the wall and then out the window. Where did she go, where did she go…? Fuck it. She wanted to know what was outside. Loki hurried out and Jane followed.

She blocked her eyes from the light that seemed to come from the sun itself. There was a metallic hum in the air and then all at once the hum and the light ceased.

Loki gripped her hand. "Jane."

"I see it," she murmured. A sword stood – yes, stood – in the middle of the balcony. The tip was to the floor and the handle shimmered with threads of gold and silver. She had to put her hand on it. She had to hold it. That was all she could think as she moved forward slowly, reaching out, feeling waves of energy course through her the closer she got to the sword. She slipped her hand around the handle and closed her fingers around it one by one and then lifted. The sword was not as heavy as she'd thought it would be considering, well, sword. It felt balanced as Thor's hammer had. Most of all, it felt right.

Jane couldn't take her eyes off it. Energy pulsed through her hand, up her arm, and she looked frantically at Loki.

"What is it?" Loki asked.

"I feel energy coursing through me," she told him. "What's happening?"

"It's connecting to you," Loki told her. "Let it happen."

Her heart was racing and though she thought perhaps she should drop it and just walk away from it, she couldn't. This was hers. She knew it instinctively. A flash of bright gold and white light encompassed flashed and pushed Jane backwards.

I am yours. You are my keeper. I am your weapon. I am your shield.

She gaped at the sword. Did it talk?

She looked up at Loki and then Thor and they gasped. "What?" she asked, scared again. "What is it?"

"Your eyes," Loki said. "They glow like amber."

"What's happened to me?" she whispered.

"If I'm not mistaken," Loki said. "You've just been made into a Goddess."