ENDGAME SPOILERS!

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Disclaimer: I own nothing! If I did, Tony would be yelling at me.

Summary: The scales are unbalanced, they have been for a very long time. And someone is getting pissed off that this keeps happening. So she decides to set things right. Very unconventionally...the Universe is not ready for this...no one is. Undying is a worse fate than torture, making you long for the sweet pain of death.

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I'm sorry...I'm horrible at updating...

Chapter Thirteen

Xxx

Avengers Compound

July 8th

1:47pm

Xxx

Loki awoke briefly to voices near him, but not at him. The low rocking of the bed jarring his sleep just enough, that Loki stirred to blink blearily at Thor near the bed. He smirked to Loki, but held a hand over him to steady Katherine as she untangled herself from the blankets to leave. The shadowed shape of one of the Avengers awaited the woman in the backlit doorway of Thor's bedroom. Once she was gone, Loki slipped back into sleep, too interested in the heavy pull and warmth than in the happenings around them.

Instead of the black-out unconsciousness, Loki hovered in the realm of dozing and barely napping, allowing the hours to fade by while Thor did much the same across the room, a growling snore rumbling infrequently as the elder of the two drifted in and out of true sleep as well.

Somewhere, something shifted within the compound, Loki barely noted the faint shift in humming that radiated through the walls like yet another electronic controlled machine was being activated. If anything, it soothed something deep within Loki's aching frame and made it easier to rest.

Xxx

3:30pm

Xxx

Clint nudged Steve over further at the observation window, both of them supervising the activities within the blast chamber especially rigged for what was going on. After Sif's abrupt decapitating the first zombie, for lack of a better descriptor, Stark and Banner had done everything they could to dissect the unliving body before allowing Dr. Strange and another sorcerer Wong to take over. Eighteen hours later, another zombie had showed up near the location of the other's arrival. That one was captured by a mix of Avengers and Wakandan methods when Shuri's ship intercepted the altercation upon the princess' arrival.

Now, the damn thing was locked in the blast chamber, reinforced by Stark shielding and Wakandan buffering technology. The buffer was activated mid-afternoon, after the zombie had almost pushed through Stark's shielding, it dampened it's strength enough to allow better observation.

Shuri had finally been allowed closer to the blast chamber, after the monitoring had proven the buffer was working to ensure everyone's safety. It was at Steve's insistence, that she stayed back, and if it weren't for T'Challa's earlier agreement, Shuri might have forced her way sooner.

Both Barton and Rogers jerked back a bit when the contained zombie bodily rammed into the wall, not seeing to even realize it was still a solid obstruction it couldn't muscle through. This one looked more like a Chitauri body than the last one, but still gross.

Tony growled, flicking his ear piece to wake up the microphone as he stared at the monitors relaying the constant scans of the thing's…vitals? Steve wasn't sure.

"This thing just doesn't stop…all cognitive function for inhibitions or bodily limitations…" Stark shook his head, slamming a hand on the shock button to force the zombie off the wall it was clawing at and damaging itself dangerously, risking the observation getting cut short, "Completely mindless other than its objective."

"Which would appear to be bodily harm against their targets. Though their exact function isn't truly apparent, almost as if they are scouts, with those who have been located on Earth." Shuri tapped in a short command to the digital display in the blast chamber, meant for holographic targets to test weaponry, this one was a display of Scott Lang, someone who had yet to come in contact with any of the zombies and who had never heard of the void let alone interacted with it like Kat.

Shuri swore in another language, going with Stark pulling her aside as the zombie went after the hologram, falling through the projection to attack the windowed wall yet again. The force buffeted the shield so hard, to maintain its own integrity, the blast glass cracked from pressure.

"Well…that's not good." Tony double checked Shuri was alright, before he closed down the scan equipment and retracted the devices into the protective casings of the chamber walls, "Barton, go call Dr. Pym, I want him to look over some of this, gonna send it to Strange too, I don't want to hold this any longer…I…" Tony swore as the window cracked further, "Someone might want to go find Kat! I don't think we can wait-"

"Stark!"

The explosion of glass was enough for the Ironman suit to activate, shoving Shuri aside to blast the zombie back and give them space. Steve pulled the princess through the observation door, trying to shield her when Stark gave up on holding the zombie and just had FRIDAY incinerate the entire chamber.

"Shit…"

Xxx

Judging by the ache in his stomach from time passing, it had to be late evening when Loki finally pulled himself from sleep, hearing Thor fumble around in the bathroom before approaching the bed at the sound of his adopted brother groaning softly.

"Care to join the waking world? I'm sure there's food available somewhere and I want to check on Heimdall, there was apparently another of those creatures found outside the compound and Stark has been trying to determine just what it is."

"Sounds incredibly boring." Loki grumbled, still buried beneath the blankets.

"Thought you were always up to discovering new things."

"Not when it apparently does not agree with the concept of dying."

Thor chuckled, lightly tugging on the pillow Loki was using to get him to appear, "Had enough of that have we?"

Humming softly, he rolled over just enough to begin to see the sunset through Thor's windows, "I'd rather not experiment any further."

"Glad to hear, come…food awaits and you should at least get something in you in case you start to feel ill again."

Loki sat up in agreement, yawning softly while watching Thor hunt for his shoes in the closet. Before, Loki would have waved a hand and righted his appearance, now he had to put the effort in and was debating on how much he wanted to do so. Thor turned just then, glancing up from tying the Midgardian footwear and suddenly stopping after a harsh double take.

"Loki, are you alright?"

"I'm fine, why?"

Standing, Thor approached the bed warily, "Are you sure?"

"Yes?" Loki's brow furrowed, "What is it?"

"FRIDAY," Thor glanced towards the ceiling, a low chirp signaling the artificial intelligence was listening, "Lock down my rooms, no one gets in."

"Confirmed."

Heavy shades dropped over the window glass, the door locks engaging with loud pops while a low light started to increase intensity to illuminate the space.

"Thor-"

"Loki," The hand reaching for him hesitated, while Thor looked a mix of nervous and downright confused, "Loki, what's wrong?"

"What in the nine realms are you-" Loki's hand rose to swipe through his hair to right the messiness of sleep, pausing when the appendage caught his attention; staring at the long fingers, Loki's throat almost closed up again on its own accord.

"What-"

Dark blue skin covered his hand, a slightly lighter, grayish tone on the palm with darker lines. An intricate swirl graced the back and trailed off in thin lines of black up his wrist and under the sleeve. A quick jerk revealed the other hand matched, as did his lower arms.

Loki almost threw himself across Thor's bed, stumbling as he hit the floor and the bare feet were just as dark blue as his hands.

Thor was shouting behind him, but before either of them could stop it, the lights flooded on in the bathroom to highlight the mirror as Loki stared at the grim reflection.

Indigo covered his skin, lighter tones in certain areas with a tinge of grey, etched lines highlighting bone structure and features and curling up to mark the demigod's temples where the marks almost formed a crown headpiece. Deep crimson eyes stared back at him, the smoldering opposite of the emerald the irises usually bore.

Thor's reflection barely registered in Loki's mind when it appeared beside him, especially not as he tried everything to reach his glamours and force his appearance back to normal.

"Loki, why-"

"It's not working-"

"What, brother-"

Loki spun on the blonde, almost about to shove him away before recoiling sharply, "It's not working! The glamour! I can't reach it!"

Thor tried to grab his shoulder, especially when Loki tugged on the t-shirt to follow the lines tracing down his throat and over his limbs, again he jerked away, fear lighting up the red eyes. "Don't touch me!"

"Loki, please-"

"S-stay back-"

"Loki!"

Shaking his head, Loki backed into the shower stall, blocked from any further retreat as he tried to hold up a hand to stop the other from getting closer, flinching away at the dark skin color, "Thor, please."

Thor wasn't listening, not until his voice pleaded just as Loki's had, "Tell me."

"I…" Loki hissed, rubbing at his eyes to stop the tears he couldn't control, "I don't want to hurt you…"

The admittance made the thunder god pause, but Thor did stop his advance, turning instead to the sink, "You won't brother, are you cold? That's what cracked your glamours last time did it not? The casket?"

Nodding, Loki didn't approach the sink until Thor reluctantly backed away further. The water was steaming when Loki slid a hand beneath the flow, watching the cascade cover his fingers. A low hiss slid past his lips, and while the water ran it only increased in temperature to the point Loki had to strain not to react.

The heat wasn't working, and instead of warming back to the normal Asgardian shade, the skin started to darken, reacting to the scalding hot water.

"Loki stop!"

"No! I-"

Thor yanked him back, releasing his hands when Loki flinched but did turn the faucet off and throwing a towel at his cringing brother, "Not if it is hurting you, let me see-"

"Don't touch me!" Loki couldn't hide the frantic whine that time, cradling his burning hand to his chest and trying not to look at the blue skin.

"Brother please…let me help."

"Why?!" Loki's eyes jerked to Thor's, the sting in them more from the tears again as Thor flinched at the gaze, "Why bother! Look at me, I'm a monster!"

That earned a deeper cringe, but Thor's frame slumped in defeat instead of defensively, "No Loki…"

Shaking his head, Thor left, allowing Loki to lean against the shower door and slid bonelessly to the floor. Hissing in pain, he tried to calm his breathing, soothe the panic that was making it difficult to focus on the fringes of the glamours anchored deep in his mind.

Loki did look up when Thor's heavy footsteps returned, this time admitting Brilid behind him who was at Loki's side without an ounce of fear in her eyes.

"What were you two idiots thinking?"

"I didn't do this, I swear-"

Brilid didn't allow Loki to shy away from her touch, tsking at him and outright grabbing his wrist when he tried to lean away. When she didn't flinch away in pain, Loki had to focus on her hands, her skin not reacting like most did when in contact with a frost giant's.

"How-"

"T'is a pity the books within your mother's study were destroyed instead of passed back to the library." Brilid carefully examined the scald burn, a flick of her other hand bringing a cool cloth to her aid as she soothed the aching skin, "Many of which had resided on the proper shelves until Odin decided to bring you back from his warmongering. Then they were removed and stored in the Allmother's rooms for safekeeping. Jotun skin-" Brilid yanked on Loki's wrist when he tried to pull away, not wanting the icy touch to harm her, "Does not actively chill others through touch, not without prompting. It's for defense and as you have not been taught how, nor likely discovered it yourself-" Loki shook his head rapidly, "I am not, nor are any others in immediate danger. Not unless you were truly panicked."

"How do you know this?"

Brilid flicked Loki's ear, reassurance in her smirk when he finally met her gaze properly even if tears were still slowly creeping down his etched cheeks, "I read the books stupid boy, the Allfather had them destroyed after his wife's passing, but I did find time to read them. I was in on the palace's best kept secret long before either of you princes knew."

Thor grunted softly, "I wondered why you never questioned Mother's requests with Loki's training. I thought it was just her way for making up for Loki not keeping pace with the rest of us."

Shaking her head, Brilid guided Loki to stand, sitting him on the tub edge near the vanity so she could better see the burn, Loki just held his arm out for her, refusing to face the mirror even in the slightest.

"No, I was there when Frigga was handed a crying baby who couldn't maintain a proper glamour for more than a few hours. I believe between the two of us, we set the baselines for the cover in the first place, to hold more permanently than what Loki was already doing on his own." Brilid dampened her cloth again, this time manually instead of with magic, pressing the compress over the burn on the back of Loki's hand, "You learned to reinforce those links without even realizing it. And still are holding them tightly."

"What?" Loki still flinched when he instinctively glanced at his hand, a bare inkling of hope that Brilid had been able to trigger the glamour back into place, only to still find indigo instead of pink.

"The glamour is intact, at least its presence, as for why you are not showing such…" Brilid trailed off, "Thor, go ask your friends if any new spells were placed on the building, something changed today and it wasn't my doing, or Loki's."

Complying, Thor left without comment, but did pause long enough to grip Loki's shoulder tightly in support before departing. Even that made Loki recoil, horribly uneasy about the blue skin covering him.

"I can't feel it."

"Feel what?"

"My glamours, any of them." Loki pulled on his shirt collar, revealing blue skin, and scars. Brilid didn't press for a better view, waiting until the fabric was covering the marks again and Loki was a bit steadier in his breathing.

"Does Thor know how deep those run?"

"No, and I don't want him to."

She nodded, not unkindly when she adjusted the compress, "The Titan cut deep, and not just you little one. Thor would be understanding, but I will not say a word without your permission."

"And this?" Loki waved at himself vaguely, knowing his eyes held the anxiety his voice was barely portraying.

Brilid sighed softly, "He loves you Loki, no matter if your glamours are in place or not. And he will love you still even with the knowledge of the scars. And-" She cut off his attempts at protest, "And Thor is not angered, he is worried, we both know your glamours are deeply intertwined and should not have done this. He knows and respects that, in fact I think he's honestly scared for you if something has gone wrong that we can't undo for you. My lips are sealed, as are his. No one will know about this, not unless completely necessary."

She reached for him like when he was young, unsure in his power and needing less than formal reassurance. Only this time, Loki didn't lean into her touch, shying away with a shake of his head. Brilid nodded in understanding, but purposefully caught his chin to look him in the eyes again as if to prove he wasn't hurting her.

Xxx

The lab was silent as Tony worked through the extensive scan results, slowing down every camera roll into micro shots to double check the multiple angles for any further information. No matter how many passes he made through the data, there wasn't anything he could find that they could have done differently. Short of pulling Kat or Strange in to help restrain the zombie-thing, the blast chamber was the last they had for now until Shuri could get a more permanent containment set up established.

So far, everything was focusing on Kat, and as long as she stayed near the compound, it kept others safe. Stark hated using anyone as bait, but if it kept the danger far away from those more vulnerable…it might be a negotiable price if Kat stopped jumping everywhere and wearing herself out before the things attacked her.

As for Kat today, she was hidden deep within the compound, avoiding the latest body's capture and subsequent death. She was resting up to go get Pepper from the Tower as Happy had other plans for the evening for once. After that, she wouldn't be leaving for a while until they had a better grasp on things.

The guardians had taken off for their outer reaches, hoping to gather information from the new scanner Shuri and Banner had put together to track the miniscule DNA fragments gathered from the bodies. They'd hit up a couple close star systems, poking around in case any galactic gossip about the zombies was wider spread than just Earth.

It left the compound quieter, especially since Loki and Thor had yet to appear even after FRIDAY had confirmed both had slept for close to eighteen hours before Tony had gone looking for Kat that morning.

Watching the warning boxes flash over his screens again, Tony sighed heavily, tapping the keys to lock down their controls and leaving FRIDAY to her processing. Wong had already grabbed the second body from the ruins of the blast chamber, and Strange was in the middle of debriefs with Steve elsewhere.

Time to find food, and a new direction for questions.

Reaching the lounge, Tony waved vaguely at those sprawled on the couches, watching the NYC news for the weather forecast and fluff stories, a distraction from the chaos that the compound had turned into.

Romanoff was off with Wanda, going over footage with Wilson on possible other incidents, leaving Rogers, Barton, Barnes and Rhodey in the common area with Heimdall finally released from the infirmary. None commented as Stark dug through the fridge, picking over the leftovers and ignoring the heavy footsteps approaching from one wing of the resident halls.

"Man of Iron."

"What's up Point Break?"

Xxx

"So…" Tony rubbed at his eyes, "Why are you asking about the buffer technology? Thought this-"

Thor cut him off, "I am sorry Stark, but I need to know what all the device does, or if anything else magic rf electric has been changed about the compound this afternoon."

"But why? Not that I mind the curiosity, but c'mon Point Break since when do you care about the tech guarding our backs while we sleep?"

Sighing, Thor fought his temper down, ignoring the pensive look on Sif's face across the conference room, "Stark, I cannot explain that at this moment, but I do need an answer, preferably quickly if you will, what spell was placed over the compound or even just my chambers for that matter-"

Tony waved a hand at a wall of computer screens, "Thor, I've got like sixty different scans and things going all over the place, especially after that zombie thing broke out of the blast chamber. You're gonna have to be more specific."

"I don't care about that, I mean what has been done that is causing-" Thor cut himself off, growling softly and pinching the bridge of his nose, "Where any spells placed?"

He didn't have time for these endless loops of questions and non-answers. After finding Brilid and hastily explaining Loki's…issue…in hushed tones in their rush back across the building, the mage had gently explained the risks of the glamour faults. It was less that Loki would lose the ability, and more he would work himself into such a panic he would actively lose control and could still hurt someone with a touch. After refusing to discuss his concerns in front of too many people, Thor had brokenly consented to Strange and Sif joining Tony and Thor in private.

"None." Dr. Strange's sharp answer cut in behind Thor, stopping Tony's questioning quickly, "Just buffering technology to stop that creature from shifting out of this dimension, it doesn't do any-what happened to your arm?"

Thor paused in idly scratching at his forearm, the sleeve pulled up to relieve the irritation, glancing at it, he found small lines tracing out from an old scar, "Oh, that's always been there, just a scar, it's usually-"

Grunting in shock, Thor yanked on the sleeve to find a couple other marks revealed, all of which shouldn't be visible, "Why has my glamour failed?"

"Your-"

Tony stiffened, glancing at Strange for confirmation, neither could respond when Sif snorted abruptly.

"Oh that is rich! Glamours failing?" She smirked wildly, "I bet Loki is finding this fascinating."

Her tease was met with a growl from Thor, and he did actively nudge her aside when she tried to hip check him.

Tony just stared for a moment, spinning away on his rolling chair to activate a wall radio, "Hey Princess, got a minute?"

Strange glanced at him, "Stark?"

"Glamour isn't like shape shifting, right Doc?"

"No, it's more of a cover, like a film placed over a camera lens."

"What is it colonizer?" Shuri's voice called from FRIDAY's speakers.

"Cute," Tony wasn't finding it funny, "That buffer tech you brought, it's vibrational right?"

"Yes, disrupts the links between planes to break the phasing. I developed it after Thanos was able to appear on Earth without any heavy tech or a ship. The energy output on such an occurrence was easy to displace."

"But what else does it do? Vibrational displacement can disrupt a lot of things-"

Shuri sounded nonchalant, informative as she spoke, "It's Chitauri based technology, meant to break apart the cloaking properties as it is similar to the travel aspect to phase from visual detection and even some scanning equipment. The vibrational disruptions-"

"Break apart light refraction used in the cloaking tech."

"Exactly."

"Tony-"

The genius shook his head, finishing with Shuri before standing abruptly, "A film on a camera adjust the light intake, a glamour is just a fancy film. Light refraction, the damn buffer tech is setting it off all over the compound."

"Breaking any glamours, no one can hide behind the falsehoods." Sif shrugged indifferently, "What is your point Man of Iron?"

"The point Sif," Thor growled, "Is that there are some here who would much rather the glamours remain functional!"

She scoffed, "Is Loki feeling a little blue?"

"Oh shit-"

Tony was running before Thor was, Dr. Strange right behind him, "FRIDAY! Cut all power to the buffer tech now!"

"Initiating shut down."

"Stark! What's going on?!"

"Not now Rogers!" Tony slid around a corner, pushing off from the wall with a growl, "Doc, you check Loki, I got Kat!"

"On it!"

"Doctor! I don't think-" Thor didn't get a chance to continue, the sorcerer flashing a portal in front of them to save time and the thunder god stumbled to a stop in the middle of his bedroom.

Loki flinched when they appeared, caught between angry and nervous as the sorcerer stalked closer. The new humming in the walls abruptly died down, fading out and going silent. It took another minute before Loki's skin started to meld back into the Asgardian visage, Brilid humming softly in approval as first the pink skin appeared and then the scald burn shifted from a purple tinted mark to an actual wound.

Jerking to his feet, Loki almost stumbled in his haste to see his reflection, a hand rubbing at his damp cheeks to check on the integrity of the image.

"Are you alright?"

"I-"

Dr. Strange cut off any protests or accusations, "Are you alright? The new tech Stark activated disrupted the glamours, even Thor's. I want to make sure there's no lasting effects."

Loki shook his head, hesitating only briefly, "No…I don't…I don't think so."

He did lean into Brilid's touch, Thor could recognize that when the mage lightly cupped Loki's cheek and ran her own check since Loki wasn't truly able.

"They're intact, completely. I don't believe they'll fail either, as long as that doesn't happen again." She explained, glancing to Strange in question.

The sorcerer shook his head, "No, not unless absolutely necessary. I won't allow it."

"Why?"

Thor jerked his gaze to Loki, not understanding the confusion, "Why what brother?"

"Why?" Loki repeated, gesturing vaguely at himself, "Glamours conceal and it has never been made more clear to me that the Avengers and even yourself do not trust me, and yet-"

Dr. Strange didn't let him go on, "I know the price of glamours, I don't chose to use them myself, but I know what they mean to others. I will not intentionally pull someone out of that unless medically necessary, or without their consent. I will not force you to do that Loki, try not to stab me for it."

Xxx

Loki was subdued when Thor finally convinced him to go find food together, Brilid backing the elder brother and taking Loki's arm to stop any physical disagreement between the pair. While the two continued to snipe at one another, Dr. Strange ended up escorting the mage to the common area instead, neither breaking up the rather useless argument that was more of a way to destress than an actual fight.

Once out where others could see him, Loki couldn't stop the instinctive need to glance at his hands, checking yet again to ensure there wasn't a speck of blue in sight. No one really cared about their arrival, none but Sif even gave them more than a quick glance.

The warrior was staring, an arrogant smirk growing more bold when Loki's eyes narrowed at her.

She knew.

Swallowing back any kind of retort, Loki tried to focus on the food options available with the odd hour for a meal time. Dr. Strange paused his search, grabbing Loki's wrist to examine the burn after trying to grab a plate elicited a stifled hiss.

A low sigh slid from the sorcerer, before he carefully and quickly wrapped gauze around Loki's hand, protecting the weakened skin, "Here, one less thing to worry about, or hide."

Nodding in gratitude, Loki cradled the bandaged hand to his chest, accepting Thor's silent signal for his brother to find a seat instead of worry about balancing a plate with an injured hand.

Loki eased into an armchair, sinking into the cushions in relief at the settling of the aches that been trying to take over again after the stress undid all of the hard work sleeping had resulted in. A moment of peace, even if only for a moment.

"Loki," Sif taunted, "I was wondering where you were, looking rather-"

"Do you not have anything better to do than-"

She grinned, mockingly, as she took a seat across from him so he wasn't able to look away, "Oh but I really don't, not when all of Asgard's high court is in one place, we cannot have the crown become vulnerable because they are without proper guard now can we?"

"And just what would know of vulnerability-"

"I know plenty," She flicked a wrist, examining her bracer covered arm casually in indifference to the scowl on Loki's face, "And I also know that there's a little trick to your petty glamours, one even mere humans can use to bring down such-"

Brilid cleared her throat, trying to cut off the warrior with a scowl of her own. She was promptly ignored even after stepping close to Loki's chair to get Sif's attention.

"Watch your words Lady Sif-"

She glared back, fingering her sword hilt in warning, "Watch your own words silver tongue, you cannot hide behind magic forever-"

"Sif-" Thor's growl was interrupted by Kat's approach, the woman walking into a building war zone without even realizing it. A metal object clanked loudly on the dining table when she slammed it down, glaring at Shuri and Rogers seated there.

"Turn that damn thing on one more time and I'll blow it up." She snapped, sparks lighting up across her fingers when she pointed at Tony who'd rushed in behind her.

Stark must have caught her up, and she obviously wasn't happy, "Look Kat, we didn't know-"

Rogers stood up, ignoring Shuri's examining the small cube on the table, runes etched over its surface, "The technology is necessary to contain those creatures, I think a little sacrifice can be afforded-"

The captain was lucky Thor had moved to intercept, Stark wasn't enough to stop Katherine from lunging forward. Even Loki reacted, a hand on Brilid's arm in case he had to move her when Kat snarled in anger.

"Then ask! How do you think I've kept myself secure when being attacked by those damn things? They're crossing the Void!"

Ignoring the shock crossing the others' faces, Thor plucked up the cube to see it better, grunting softly as the surfaces twisted and spun beneath his fingertips in fluctuation to someone's touch.

"A rune lock, that must have cost you a fortune."

Kat shrugged, still staring down Steve with her frustration, but her voice was calm enough she was released, "No more than I was willing to pay, it's supposed to stop others from traveling too closely to myself. Safer in the Void that way."

Tony took the small device next, turning the cube in his hands to see all six faces, "Looks almost like binary. Would runes be programmable into a shield?"

"Never had a need to try, do what you will with it, but don't activate that machine."

Rogers stopped Kat from leaving the room, grabbing her upper arm tightly to keep her in place, "We didn't know about the side effects. We can try to adjust the buffering to keep things from happening again, but we can't just throw away that kind of advantage-"

If Rogers thought he was placating the woman, he was wrong. This time there was no magic backing her hand, but that didn't stop Katherine from slapping the Captain across the face with all she had. He swung with the movement, shock stopping him from dodging the blow and instinctively letting go.

"I will only say this once Captain Rogers, because you blatantly have forgotten when I answered you years ago. If there is one thing, that I will not tolerate, it is someone who thinks that glamours are useless. You have no idea what lies behind what you call fake masks and the truth is more often harder to swallow. A mistake was made and it is done, but it better not happen again."

With that, she left, her clothes fading into a basic Midgardian outfit and even her hair shifting colors to better hide.

Tony scowled at her departure, but didn't allow any others to follow, "She'll be in a better mood after she gets back with Pepper. I suggest we all get it into our heads that we don't mess with any glamours in place, got it?"

Sif huffed in irritation, "And just what is your worker hiding then, Man of Iron? She is just a mage-"

"Who is also a capable Siphon and Void Jumper-"

"A trickster-" Sif snapped, ignoring Loki's attempt at an explanation, "What could she possibly do to any of us in her anger?"

"Other than level the compound?" Tony set the cube on the table, flicking it with a finger to make the unearthly metal spin on top of the glass, "She's told be about these things before, rune locks aren't easy to come by."

"They cost a fortune on Asgard, even for the royal family." Brilid jumped in, accepting the device when Tony nodded his permission, "It takes several skilled magic users to form a single device, each facet a shielding curio, connected together to stop anything trying to approach it once activated. I have only seen two others, and neither were in Asgard's possession."

"Not for lack of trying," Loki glared at Sif when the warrior stalked away, "I tried to barter for one decades ago, the owner wouldn't budge."

"Nor did this one," Brilid turned the device so one face was up to the light, "The signature, the group who formed the lock are now dead, have been for nigh on a century. It would not surprise me if this has been passed around until with Katherine's possession. Would not mind discovering just how she acquired it."

Tony shrugged, "Ask away once she gets back, though I'd offer her alcohol in exchange for information. She's pretty volatile right now."

"You noticed it too?" Strange asked.

"More like saw it," Tony gestured back towards the hallway, "Kat's glamours failed horribly and she's pissed, hers didn't come back right away once the buffer tech was shut off. It's not just her combat skills that are misfiring, she's legit having problems."

"What does she look like? Under her falsehood?"

"Sif!"

Before Thor could so much as take a step, Sgt. Barnes was on his feet and yanking on Sif's arm, shocking her with how easily he could get her to move, "You know, I'm not much for magic shit, don't really care either way, but I'm pretty sure you don't go asking stuff like that."

Brilid hummed in agreement, staring Sif down with an authority the warrior was obviously fighting, "I suggest you find elsewhere to be Lady Sif, to better avoid insulting your king any further. Stark, you spoke of using the rune lock to augment your own shields?"

"Yeah, think it will work?"

"I do not know enough about your world to make a guess, but I can certainly read the runes enough to help ease the attempt. And perhaps someone could fill me in on that girl before she returns."

Xxx

10:20pm

Xxx

"So rune locks act as blockers to the energies used in travel, creating a transference dead zone around the user, but it's not always active…"

"Correct."

"And it also acts like a computer firewall to keep out unwanted activities and we're using that as an integration point to meld the spell work with the shield technology."

"How far is the range?"

"A rune lock can maintain security for no more than a ten foot diameter, perhaps more if augmented with other spells but it is taxing to do so. This will possibly follow the shield's capabilities itself without a weakening of its affects, but perhaps not."

"What if a rune lock was made with vibranium? The natural multiplying factors within the metal could strengthen the energies and increase the space."

"But how would we transfer the power? A duplication of the outside won't be enough, there's further rune work within the cube that is unseen and more important than the exterior."

"Then can't we crack it open?"

"Not without risking damage to the ingrained marks Barton."

"Don't gotta be rude about it Loki."

"Just stating a fact."

"I still believe vibranium would boost the power-"

"That doesn't answer the question Shuri, as to how to make a vibranium rune lock if we don't have the knowledge."

"It's not necessarily the lack of knowledge," Loki ignored the glare Barton shot him, waving a hand at the cube sitting innocuolously on the conference table, "More of the lack of skill. Asgard possessed only five seidr users capable of traversing through the Void and a minimum of six are usually required to form a rune lock. If Thor is correct, only two of us are left and I certainly cannot be of assistance, requires magic that I don't have."

"And I've never seen the spell work for this in any of the sanctum's records," Strange moved the cube to his hand with a thought, ignoring the twitches from the gathered Avengers in their surprise, "I've heard about them, but more as a warning as they can interfere with portals if improperly used. To make one, might be more than any of us can handle at the moment."

"It wouldn't be any good to lose someone in the process." Brilid muttered, none too kindly nudging Thor to stop him from commenting.

Steve didn't understand the catch, "How would you lose someone? Kat's mentioned rune work before, the text holding the spell written like a battery."

Dr. Strange spoke instead of Brilid, nodding in deference when she took the rune lock from him, "You're not writing the runes when forming them, it's infusing an object-charging a battery if you will-with the spell and the energies it requires. If I'm understanding this right, a rune lock uses the flow of power used in traveling to shut down the power it comes in contact with, backflow pressure basically. Writing a rune is nothing, forming it ensures it does what it's told and without corruption."

"But why so many people? One for each side of the cube?"

Barton's question earned a shrug from Thor, the thunder god sitting up better with a growl, "There are dozens of ways to travel across realms, the Bifrost-Loki's shadow stepping-Sorcerer portals-Katherine's jumps-and all of them require different levels of skill and different power. The more magic forced into a rune lock to disrupt travel, the more it blocks as very few are capable of multiple forms of travel. Loki has never formed a portal such as Dr. Strange can, and I highly doubt Brilid is capable of Katherine's methods."

Loki scoffed, "I could possibly create one, but that is rather amateur considering-"

"Oh, like you can leave at whim right now anyway-"

"Don't question me half-rate…"

"Loki, not the time."

"Let'em fight Brilid, this is gonna be good-"

"Clint!"

"What is going on in here? Tony, you better not have left Morgan with Bruce all day."

Pepper's sudden appearance in the doorway stopped Loki from snapped back at Dr. Strange, and while she wasn't unusual around the compound, the man behind her was.

"Happy?" Tony stood up, "What the hell, why are you here? Why's it so late?"

Hogan shrugged, "Anders never showed up boss, Pepper was stuck at the Tower til I got back into town and drove her up."

"Pepper?"

"She's not answering her phone, and FRIDAY couldn't track her in my office."

Thor stood up, fists clenched tight, "Then where is she?"

Tada!

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