He watched the humans roam about the room, preparing for what was to come, the opening of a portal, and the unleashing of his army of Chitauri upon the people of Earth. Loki was originally going to study the people that Barton had informed him would be sent after him.
But his body still ached strangely and his vision would swim at times, it was if he was still recovering from his fall.
Or something much worse.
So instead he sat down to rest, he was in no rush to complete his task as things seemed to be running ahead of schedule. This was especially odd, even with the information that the Mind stone had granted Selvig from Loki's own mind, the man shouldn't have been able to design the mechanisms that fast. It was almost like he was working from blueprints he had already seen.
Things were going much faster than Loki had planned, too fast for his liking.
As if summoned by his unconscious mind, Barton stepped forward, a tablet in his hand.
"Sir," he said, his tone a mix of stiff and professional. "I've acquired the files on the final member of the Avengers for you."
"Oh, is that so?"
Loki leaned on the scepter, letting his weight be held only by it rather than his own legs, trying to mask the burn he could still feel raging through them. There was a few seconds that the god had to think on things once more while Barton seemed to fumble with the tablet, files on the capabilities of the hero going by the title of Lugh.
Real name wasn't known, but he also went by the name Patrick Doyle. Apparently, the former title was a failed attempt to hide his identity from the mortals on Midgard, but it wasn't his terrible skills at hiding himself amongst the natives that concerned Loki.
"Well, isn't that interesting," His mind erupted in excitement at the conclusion all this data appeared to give him. "I was under the impression they were all dead. It seems that the universe is just full of surprises."
Finding one of those people here was more than surprising, it brought memories of his days in the libraries of Vanaheim, where he would study the various races within the Nine and without, he would love to discuss this Lugh's culture with him. His people had been isolationists, so there wasn't much information out there about them and how they lived, what did they like to eat? How did their society function?
Democracy? Monarchy?
So many questions that could be asked.
And this would be the first sign of them since the destruction of their world. A race thought dead, discovered to be alive on Midgard, Loki wondered if Heimdall had kept this secret from all but the All-Father?
Still, the thoughts of meeting such a member of such a famously elusive race caused him to be reminded of the days where he'd be stuck in a book, while his brother would come by to recruit him into some wild adventure of some sort, something that he enjoyed just as much.
Battles won by strength of arms, but also won by the skills and tricking their enemies. Battles that played to the strengths of Asgard's Princes.
It was a joyous time, the best time and worst time of his life, Thor's little brother, his lackey.
His mind supplied these thoughts as if they were a poison towards memories of joy… it shifted things to the time on the bridge, of letting go being thrown off the shattered Bifrost. Rage only built up as he was reminded of the betrayals that Asgard had heaped on him.
"Sir?" Hawkeye spoke, confused at the sudden silence from his new boss.
"There's been a change of plans," And what changes they would be with such a destructive force on Midgard to take advantage of. "Tell me… does he have any enemies of note on Earth?"
(Natasha Romanoff)
They had walked all the way from the deck to the main bridge of the Helicarrier, Director Fury was in the middle of the room, letting himself peer over everyone and keep an eye on the Agents working. While Rogers sat behind Fury, where he listened in as both Banner and Ross were discussing ways to find the missing Tesseract.
What was Natasha herself doing at the moment?
She was being slightly confused as she stared at the sight before her, so much so that after a moment Natasha shifted her focus to Bobbi Morse. The other woman shrugged though, a rather small smirk on her face.
"Is he always… so… " Natasha waved her towards the viewing screen where Doyle was miming not being able to breathe while still standing on the outside of the Helicarrier as it started to rise into the air.
"Childish?" Morse finished for her, raising an eyebrow. "Only when he gets excited, it mostly comes with the whole flying thing I think, because neither Rogers nor Banner acts like this."
"Maybe it's because his girlfriend works for Stark?" She questioned, bringing it up in jest.
"You think it's contagious?"
"Well, we're sure he was more mature before O'Reilly started to work for him."
At this moment, Doyle stopped miming, his face turning around back to the camera and he gave it a rather unamused stare. Natasha turned from the display, a question on her lips;
"He can'-"
"-hear you," Doyle's voice spoke up, right beside her. "Yup, even over the wind outside."
Even with the sudden surprise of the man arriving next to her before the interior sensors picked up any movement, Natasha didn't react with any outward surprise to his sudden presence.
"Impressive, any other trick you got, big guy?"
Even though he appeared to be attempting to tower over her, using his superior height to intimidate her. Natasha was sure that wasn't the case here. Doyle's stance was too casual for that.
Must've grown up with a taller than average family.
Doyle had an odd stare, at least when looking at her like he was looking through her skin and searching her insides, and somehow still judging her for something. Natasha was used to being judged, by other members of SHIELD, by normal people, it was just how life was.
Though the SHIELD Agent was more used to people at least aware of her work in general before they started to judge her.
"A few," he eventually shrugged. "But I usually save the x-raying till the second or third date."
"If you're done, Mr. Doyle?" Fury spoke up without turning, his back to them still. "I think it's about time that you got to the matter at hand."
Natasha just walked slowly after the man, Bobbi taking up space standing next to Rogers while she continued to take in the super-powered reporter's body language. It was the odd mix of relaxed and stiff that caused her some concern.
He moved as if he owned the place as if he was untouchable, which as far as the SHIELD Agent was aware, he was. But at the same time, his eyes were darting around the room searching for any threat.
Interesting.
"So… then," Doyle spoke up, his eyes stopping at Rogers, the two Enhanced individuals now sitting around the same table. "What's the plan when we catch up to his royal hornyness… " he trailed off at the sight of Natasha blinking, Rogers blinking, Morse blinking and if it wasn't for his eyepatch she would be sure that Fury would've been blinking as well. "... what?"
"His royal hornyness?" Rogers spoke up first.
"Yeah… because of-" he placed his fingers near his forehead and pointed up. "Because the horns… he wears."
Even though his face didn't seem to show it, Natasha knew that the man was now embarrassed. It took the man down another grade from that point onward, but it also revealed that he knew the kind of clothes Loki liked to wear.
"You know him?" Fury pounced on the other man.
"Only a vague idea of him," Doyle squinted his eyes. "And what I do comes from what I was told about Asgard from nearly two decades ago."
"What, did you take classes on Norse Gods in elementary?" Morse supplied.
"Classes on the political figures in Asgard," Doyle replied, seemingly revealing his alien origins to anyone with two brain cells to rub together. Even Rogers, for all his good boy, never been to high school vibes, caught onto it. But it wasn't important at the moment, so no one asked any questions about his exact origins… yet. "We didn't know a lot to be honest, so what details I do have are… sparse."
"That's more than we know," Rogers interceded. "Lay it on us."
"Well," The reporter rolled his eyes up to the right. Part of her brain that was still a killer, noted that this was a common action by people that are trying to recall something, rather than someone that was making something up which would be him looking up the left, if that behavior was compatible whichever Doyle was. "He's the brother of Thor, a shapeshifter, not sure the limit on what he can transform into. He's a sorcerer of some renown, what that exactly means I'm not sure, and he's around a thousand years old-"
"-Legend says that he's been around for longer than that," Morse spoke up. "At least two."
"Well," he responded with a roll of his eyes and roll of his right hand to go with it. With every word, Doyle would gesture as if he needed to act out every word's meaning. "Legend is obviously wrong, the guy is like born near 500 or 1000 AD… from what I recall. But that's about it, never had too much interest in a guy that I would never meet."
"Well, you might regret that soon," The blonde Agent replied. "Going up against someone who could be capable of a third of Thor's destructive force without knowing what their abilities are will be trouble."
"That's a pretty big gap of information, very vague," Banner spoke up in the room for the first time in several minutes, his eyes focused on a laptop he had set on the table, he and Ross were working out a program to be used in tracking the Gamma signature of the Tesseract. "I didn't see you as a poor student."
"Well, I've got to be bad something don't I?" Doyle grinned while kicking back on the chair and started to balance on the back legs. It was the way that his eyes shifted down, it told Natasha about how uncomfortable the man seemed about the prior subject. "Life wouldn't be interesting otherwise."
"As interesting as that exact line of conversation is," Morse spoke up, finally taking a seat herself. "It does reveal a rather concerning ability that Loki has."
"Depending on how it works I should be able to see through any disguise he can take… if his insides don't match at least."
"Well, this meeting has been nice and all," Ross interceded, "But Bruce and I really need to get to a lab so we can start working."
Quickly Natasha was sent off with the pair to show them the lab that they would be working on. And for the first time since the three enhanced men had arrived on the SHIELD Helicarrier, she was sure that the reporter wasn't watching her anymore.
Natasha wondered if Fury had kept Doyle's alien origins under wraps or the man truly hadn't known.
(Loki: Germany)
Given the range that SHIELD had in terms of support and surveillance, Loki wasn't sure why Barton thought that this sort of distraction would work. Especially given that he was targeting a man that had the capability to enter the facility that Barton was getting the needed Iridium from.
It seemed like the second place that they'd check given Loki was forcible holding the man down at the moment and using a scanner to read the needed details from those pupils to pass security.
As Loki left the man gasping in pain and exited the museum, there was something off about the area, the humans were becoming less in number by each passing second. Where once there were hundreds of them, now there were only a few dozens left.
"Ah," Loki chuckled as he realized what was going on, slamming his scepter into the ground, a blue haze erupted over the area. a blue figure tripped, sliding across the near-empty courtyard causing more screams to come from the humans.
Loki took in the man's details, he was about the same height as his brother, Thor. Slimmer built, but not by a lot. His code of dress was remarkably Midgardian for something of his power and stature, a blue hoodie with a pair of blue pants and a symbol he couldn't recognize gracing the front of it.
Blue… he was blue.
Not the most important detail of this Lugh, but it was a detail that reminded Loki of his purpose.
"No reason to make this too easy," Loki thought with a grin.
"Well, that didn't work out like I thought it would," The figure known by some as Lugh hopped back to his feet with a light bounce to his steep, a tight smile on his face. Loki considered attacking him while he was down, but it wasn't yet time to make such bold moves. "So… I'll ask you once, drop the scepter and no one has to get hurt."
Loki didn't, but he did aim the tip else while he started to pace in circles with the man. The two of them like lions waiting for the first sign to strike.
"I wonder why someone as mighty as you would protect such pitiful creatures?"
That got a raised eyebrow from the man and a roll of his eyes.
"You've got power, then it should be the service of the people, not yourself."
Loki couldn't help but laugh at that sentimental crap, it reminded him of the lies that his father Odin would tell him when he was naught but a child, things about ruling, rules about life and how they were to help each other through it all . But life had taught him the truth that…
… freedom was a lie.
"Ah… a fool then," Loki had no use for a fool. "Pity."
With a speed that many humans couldn't have reacted to, his scepter struck out. The blade heading right for Lugh's head. While Loki had briefly thought that he would try and tank the blow, relying on his race's incredible durability, instead the powerful fool moved back out of reach before his fist leapt at out at Loki with the same kind of momentum that Thor's hammer would have.
With an elegance that came from centuries of training, Loki managed to maneuver the scepter to take the blow instead of his face. But still, the attack took him off of his feet, throwing the Prince all the way to the museum steps.
Instantly Loki shifted forms, his body growing skinner, smaller but somehow much longer. Scales came next as Lugh's fist hit the area that once contained Loki's head.
"What?" Lugh exclaimed as he pulled his fist from the concrete ground.
The, now snake, Loki slithered around the scepter left on the ground, the head now pointed at the confused opponent. Then a blast of raw blue power slammed into the equally powerful blue man and embedded him into the ground nearby.
Screams erupted from the peasants around them, many of them running out of sight but those with some steel in their hearts stayed within view of the two.
Loki only just resumed his true form but Lugh was already on him, a blow to his stomach this time hitting him directly. Once more, the Asgardian Prince found himself comparing the blow to something his brother would give, but for once found his brother falling short.
As he coughed and groaned from the sensation, Loki felt his rage overtaking him once more. Even though it went against his plans, Loki predicted the movements of the much faster Lugh with a grace that came from his centuries of combat experience. Meaning this time when the scepter came for Lugh…
… it cut through his jacket and into his skin, cutting right into his left arm.
From shock alone, Lugh leaped back a full six meters. Loki didn't waste the opening and attempted to blast him once more, this time the other non-Midgardian slapped the blast upward and harmlessly to the sky.
"So that's how it works," Loki smirked, haven figured out the mechanism that his opponent's invulnerability worked. "Good to know."
With a sideways swipe, Loki brought the Scepter sliding at the man's feet, but found that such a thing wouldn't work as the pole of the weapon bounced off him rather than anything else. Using the force of the failed blow to his advantage, Loki let himself hop back away from
Once more Loki launched himself forward with a spin, more for aesthetics than for a purpose, the blade of the scepter spinning outward. Rather than move, Lugh simply smiled and raised a hand, an action that even Loki's great Asgardian eyes could only barely make out due to his spinning.
Then it hit him.
Rather he hit him.
"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to surrender," The solider out of his time spoke, his tone full of self-righteousness, his famous shield had taken the Scepter's blade without a scratch, instead the collision caused Loki to be knocked to the side. "Drop the scepter and hand over the Tesseract."
"Ah, the dreaded Captain America," Loki rolled his eyes, getting up slowly but leaving the scepter on the ground as he did. It wasn't like he couldn't reach for it in a moment's notice. If Loki thought that the blue of Lugh's outfit was annoying.
He found the blue of Captain Roger's to be more so.
Even as he searched around the area, no peasants to terrorize and a Midgardian vehicle circling around him with its weapons aimed right for him and a catchy Midgardian melody starting to come from its speakers.
Yet there was only one threat to him at the moment.
"I'm afraid that isn't an option-" Before Loki could finish his witty remark, a beam slapped him back on his ass once more.
"Stay down, Reindeer Games," In his famous metal suit, Tony Stark came thundering down from the sky, having shot the Asgardian with his repulsors. "You won't like it if you get up."
Slowly, Loki raised his hands, feigning defeat but smiling on the inside as his armor returned to the pocket space that he kept it in. Now only in his leathers, the God of Mischief knew that his plan of distracting his enemies was hitting off without a hitch.
Now that he had their attention, next it was time to break them.