"This is exactly why I did not want you here," Loki sneered.

"You said you needed my help. Many times," Black Widow reminded him. "So be quiet and let me help."

"Not here! It would be far easier for you to steal from your employers than for me to do so."

"And who brought me here? It's not like I can teleport."

The tall creature had been quietly watching them until now. "You brought her here?" Baruka asked.

"Is that really important right now?" she asked.

"How?" he pressed.

"The 'loud one' focused on you and here we are."

"Silence!" Loki yelled. With a swift hand movement, he summoned and grabbed an ornate blue box from nowhere. It was the Casket of Ancient Winters, not that anyone in the nearest seven realms would know. He could feel the enchantment fade away starting with his hands as a vortex of icy winds shot from the Casket onto Baruka. Unsurprisingly, he screamed. Then the Kybant began swiping at the air and his arms glowed. The mist around them started to solidify in combination with the shards of ice into a wall. The wall grew until it curved around him, becoming more like a dome. Loki sent the Casket back to its pocket dimension with another wave and his enchantment returned.

"Well, that was a waste of time." She saw a dark shape through the dull ice standing quite still and walked over to the smooth wall. Black Widow punched through with a little electrical shock from her gloves.

"Must you emasculate me at every turn, Natasha?" Loki inquired.

The rest of the dome crumbled into nothing around Baruka. "I still do not have what I need, loud one," he said, stepping closer.

Loki punctuated his words with attacks. "Nor," a flurry of thrown knives evaporated, "do," a staff summoned for an instant to slash him batted away, "I!" and a kick easily deflected.

"Loki, I know you're used to doing things your way, but that hasn't been working out, has it? There was that one story you told us, about Baruka and his mother. Chitoba."

"Ah yes." Loki asked, "Whatever became of her? Before her untimely demise, of course."

"I do not know. I have not seen her in so long... I am now to meet my end and hers must have come by the time I began to search for her."

"It's kind of nice you still want her back," Black Widow sighed.

"I have tried to bring her back, and almost succeeded with my aunts. Perhaps I do not have enough power?" Baruka lifted his large arms with hands upturned, a strangely human gesture.

"If you don't, I doubt any being alive could help you. Not that they would desire to," Loki said.

Black Widow glared at him. "There's nothing wrong with loving your mother."

"I know that!" he retorted.

"Do you know of any other Kybant?" she continued asking Baruka.

"I have avoided them after what I did to the village. They would not react well to seeing me."

"So no one else was around to tell you anything."

Loki interrupted, "I tire of your methods. Baruka's actions are his own."

"That's the first thing; Baruka's not actually male."

'She' turned to Black Widow and listened intently.

"And how did you arrive at this conclusion?" Loki asked.

"It should be obvious." Black Widow looked at him expectantly. "No? Puny god. That story is an allegory. You've never actually met your mother, but you have her memories, right?"

Baruka opened her mouth but did not speak, staring with a new fascination. Loki looked unimpressed.

"There might be a Kybant version of this, but on Earth there's an idea of a phoenix. It's a bird that dies and comes back in an endless cycle. I think Chitoba was your previous cycle."

"If that were true, then what of the stranger? And how would she have created," he paused and glanced at Baruka, "her while being the same creature?"

"You're too literal. Though that is an interesting point about the stranger: maybe it's some ancient traveller who was waiting for some preordained cataclysmic event. Or maybe it was some slightly-too-observant idiot in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"How, as a species, does that make sense? Each person would be their own familial line and when someone dies, the whole species' numbers decline. An entire village was destroyed! That would have had substantial impact."

"Maybe that whole 'bursting into flames' thing got taken a bit too far. It's unfortunate but also, judging by what you've said, happened a very long time ago. Not much we can do."

"Then why are we here?"

Black Widow rolled her eyes, then turned to Baruka. "I'm sorry, but you can't resurrect your mother."

"That is sad."

"And I understand that this is a shock for you, but that can't excuse taking several people who had the bad luck to be connected to Loki. Could you please return them?"

"They will be with you when you leave this place." After a solemn pause, Baruka said, "Thank you. You have given me peace in my final days and I hope my child will have some of your spirit."

"I wish you twins," Natasha smiled.

"So, not only was I removed from Earth without my consent, it was all pointless," Loki pronounced.

"I really shouldn't be surprised that emotional fulfilment means that little to you except I would have thought that, with your daddy issues, all this might be helpful," Natasha gestured towards the rest of the strange space.

"Your utter disregard knows no bounds."

"And you're the height of civility. All the time."

It was odd adjusting to the practicalities of having three S.H.I.E.L.D. agents collapsed on her floor, but Black Widow immediately set to checking them for injuries and making the necessary calls for pick-up.

"I suppose in light of greater revelations this is a trivial one, but beyond the fact that Chitoba was obviously female, how did you guess Baruka was as well?"

"You don't think of yourself as a woman—"

"No."

"And you're the only person she'd made a real link with, so how would she know any different?"

"Nonsense." He still wrinkled his nose to begin with, "She spoke of others who knew the Kybant's tales less fully than I did."

"And most probably weren't obsessed as kids."