Loki/OFC Rated M (may go up to E in future chapters) Trigger Warnings: Angst, talk of suicide, therapy, unhealthy family dynamics, mention of torture and mind control

Chapter 1,Chapter 2,Chapter 3,Chapter 4

Loki’s plans to conquer and rule Midgard have come to a disastrous end. After being captured by the Avengers, he is being held on Earth. Odin has refused to interfere, and the outlook for the God of Mischief appear bleak. His only hope may lie in one mortal woman, a Psychiatric expert brought in to interrogate him.

Dr. Caroline Thorpe is intrigued by Loki and thinks that more lies beneath his actions than is commonly known. Can she find out the truth before he is shipped off to die for crimes against the Earth? And can Loki bring himself to care?

@yespolkadotkitty@just-the-hiddles@hopelessromanticspoonie@wine-and-whines@arch-venus25@caffiend-queen@devilish–doll@enchantedbyhiddles@hiddlesholic@i-do-not-fangirl-i-fanwoman@kellatron55@ladyoftheteaandblood@latent-thoughts@yespolkadotkitty@maryxglz@myoxisbroken@nuggsmum@nildespirandum@pedeka@redfoxwritesstuff@sinfully-lustful-darling@vodka-and-some-sass@wrathkitty@kingtwhiddleston@wolfsmom1@poetic-fiasco@shiningloki@dangertoozmanykids101@bookworm-christina@amwolowicz@delightfulheartdream@frostbitten-written@what-a-flammable-heart@tom-hlover@nonsensicalobsessions@myraiswack@loki-yoursaviourishere@ghostypau@ms-cellanies@colorfulfreakstudentpizza@mareebird@colorfulfreakstudentpizza @szycha22@chokemedaddyloki@queenofallhobos​@just-the-hiddles-reads​  @alwida10

Caroline’s thoughts raced as she strode down the hallway. What should she do?

At first, she had considered going to Pierce with her discovery of Loki’s history, but she just as quickly jettisoned the idea. The Secretary had made it abundantly clear that he considered Loki nothing more than an alien war criminal deserving of the harshest sentence possible. She would never be able to explain to him the layers of trauma, not to mention the brainwashing, that had led to his actions on Earth. All she would achieve by going to him with her concerns would be getting herself removed from this case for losing her perspective. Pierce wanted Loki killed and he wanted it now.

Who then? Reaching into her pocked, she grabbed her cell phone and scrolled through her contacts until she found the number she sought.

“You have reached the voice mailbox of Director Nick Furry. You know how to leave a message, so do it. If it’s important enough, I just might get back to you.”

“Hi, Director Fury,” she said, cursing silently that he wasn’t there. “This is Doctor Thorpe. I just had a breakthrough with the patient, and I really need to talk to you. Please call me back at his number as soon as you can. We have to stop Pierce from taking Loki to the raft. Also, it looks like there may be a new, even more dangerous threat waiting for us out there.”

Damnit! Fury was the only one who might be able to pull rank on Pierce. She was not sure what the hierarchy was, but she would not want to face down the SHIELD Director if she didn’t have to. Hopefully, the thought of a new danger would warrant a call back. From what Loki had told her, Thanos was something they would need to prepare for sooner rather than later, especially since two of the stones he was looking for were in this very building!

In the meantime, who else was there? Thor? He might be brought to believe that his brother had reasons for his actions. A part of him must hope for Loki’s rehabilitation or he would not have insisted she be allowed to treat him. Perhaps he could be of help.

“Excuse me, but have you seen Thor?” Caroline asked a passing scientist as she made her way to Fury’s office on the off chance the Director may just be holed up there ignoring his calls.

“He’s gone,” the man said, eyes doing a quick once over of her.

“Do you know where?” she asked, a sinking feeling in her stomach but smiling none the less. She had found over the years that a friendly smile could be a disarming weapon in places like this. People were taken aback by a show of openness, and often replied in kind before they knew what they were doing.

“I think he was sent on a mission,” the man told her, glancing around to see if the hall was clear before continuing. “I heard a rumor there was a bit of a dust up earlier. Thor actually yelled at Secretary Pierce!”

“Really?” she asked, trying to look surprised. “About what?”

“Something about his brother. The select team that guards the prisoner were all furious about it. I heard Pierce had Thor sent on some drummed up mission to get him out of the way. Not that I blame him - I wouldn’t want to get on Thor’s bad side! When Fury tried to take the cube from him the other day for us to examine, I thought he was going to use that hammer of his on the Director’s head!”

“The cube?” was he talking about the Tesseract? Caroline had heard just enough about it that she knew it was central to Loki’s story.

“Yeah, some Alien tech. Thor wanted to bring it to Asgard, but Fury wanted it to stay here.”

“Who won?” Caroline was truly intrigued.

“It was compromise, I guess,” the scientist looked about nervously again. “They locked the cube up in Fury’s private office along with some other mysterious artifacts. In return, Thor got some concessions for his psycho brother. Now that he’s gone though, I wouldn’t bet on Pierce keeping Fury’s terms. He’s really got it in for the would be king of earth.”

“Can you blame him?” Caroline laughed, not wanting to show how anxious she felt with the man confirming her own belief.

“After he tried to take out New York? Not one bit. Hey, I have to get going. I’m supposed to be working on the cloaking mechanism.”

“Sorry to keep you.”

“No Worries. I’m Marc, what’s your name?” the man asked, smiling and once more letting his eyes roam a bit more than she liked.

“Laura,” Caroline answered, giving him her sister’s name as she had often done with men over the years. “See you around!”

He looked a little annoyed by the brush off, but Caroline didn’t take the time to worry about it. She rounded a corner, ducked into a stair well, and scrolled once more through her phone. As she dialed the number, she prayed to all of the Gods including the one sitting not far away that she would not get voice mail again.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t my favorite head shrinker! What’s up Doc?”

“Stark, thank God!” Caroline breathed a sigh of relief that someone was answering her call.

“I knew you couldn’t stay away from me. Let me guess, all your other patients are mind numbingly boring after me, and you just can’t wait to get me back on your couch so you can probe me further.”

“Actually, I have a pretty interesting patient right now,” she said, thinking about Loki. “He might even give you a run for your money!”

“That’s it, I’m hanging up now,” Stark said, offended.

“No, wait! Tony, I need your help!”

“Fine. But only because you are the only one who likes to listen to me talk about myself as much as I like doing it.”

“That’s because I get paid by the hour,” she laughed, unable to help herself.

“Touche, and ouch. What do you need?”

“Okay, you can’t ask me why, but do you by any chance have the lock code to Director Fury’s office?” she held her breath.

“Uh, one question. Why?” he asked automatically.

“I can’t tell you. All I can say is it is vitally important that I get in there, and Fury has gone awol.”

“Yeah, a little bird told me he was off planet at the moment.”

“Fuck me!” Caroline swore before she could stop herself.

“Is that a serious invitation? Because Pepper -”

“Tony, do you have the code or not?”

“If I did,” he began, giving her a glimmer of hope, “it would be for emergency use only. Or playing a really good prank.”

“This is an emergency. And in a way, it might be considered a prank,” it was stretching things, but she was desperate.

“You swear to me that you are not doing anything to put yourself in danger?”

“Why Stark, I didn’t know you cared,” she was honestly flattered.

“I don’t, I just don’t want to have to break in a new therapist. Okay Doc, I am trusting you. And I trust that Fury will never know where you got it from. Also, when you’re in there, you have to move all of his pictures so that they are just barely at an angle. I will drive him nuts deciding if they’re off or if it’s just his impaired vision.”

“That’s awful!”

“So is breaking and entering.”

“Good point. I will tilt them all.”

“Not too much. Don’t want to give it away. Alright, I am sending you the sequence. Don’t make me regret this, Caroline.”

“You are my favorite billionaire patient!” she told him.

“Aw, I bet you say that to all the oligarchs. Talk to you later. And I mean that. I’m having my office call to schedule a tune up. I have some teenage years stories about my dad I am just dying to get off my chest!”

“I look forward to it,” she told him as the call went dark.

She felt a small pang that she would most likely not be able to make that appointment. There was a very good chance she would be in jail before too long. Still, she had a duty to the patient she was treating now, and that took precedent over Tony’s lifetime of family issues.

By the time she made it to Fury’s office she had heard the ping alerting her that the info from Stark had arrived. Just to be on the safe side, she knocked several times and called out the Director’s name. It would be a disaster if she broke into his office only to find him sitting there eating his dinner. When she was certain he was not, she copied the code from her phone into the keypad next to the door. She knew they updated the codes frequently, but she trusted that Tony would somehow have the most current one.

To no surprise, Caroline heard the small click as the lock released and she pushed the door open and slipped inside. The office was smaller than she had expected, and almost completely empty. A shiny metal desk was bare of anything more than a lamp and a single pen. There were no drawers or cabinets that secrets could be stored in anywhere to be seen. One chair sat behind the desk and two more, much less comfortable looking, in front. On the one wall opposite the desk hung a few memories. That was it, the sum total of Fury’s workspace.

Caroline looked about, uncertain what to do next. There was nowhere to search, and to be honest she was not even certain what she would be looking for or why she had come. She knew she needed to help Loki, but beyond that, she had very little in the way of a plan and was instead acting off of sheer instinct. Halfheartedly she felt along the underside of the desk for a hidden button, but as expected there was nothing there.

Oh well, she decided, she might as well keep her promise to Tony, after all he had gotten her inside. Of course, as he likely knew the contents of the room that was no harm in that. With a self-depreciating shake of her head, she walked over to the decorated wall. The three items hanging there were a strange collection. One was a framed copy of the Shield insignia, above it a picture of youthful looking Fury, Coleson, and a blond woman Caroline didn’t recognize, and finally a slightly out of focus picture of an orange tabby cat staring balefully at the camera. Caroline had to stop herself from pausing to decipher what she could from these pictures. She did not have the time to dip into Director Fury’s subconscious, but boy would she bet money it would be an interesting swim! Instead, she one by one tilted each of the photos so that they were slightly off-center, thinking as she did how juvenile Tony Stark could be.

The moment she tilted the photo of the cat, Caroline jumped back in surprise. The wall to her right, with no audible sound at all, began to slide. Where once a blank off-white barrier had stood, now the space opened up into an area twice again as large as the one in which she had begun, and it was as different as she could imagine.

In one corner, stacked with alarming haphazardness, was a pile of what she took to be some sort of advanced weaponry. Caroline gave that section a wide breadth. Boxes of documents, filed and loose, sat on the floor containing who knew what secrets. A map on the far wall of the world had small lights gleaming in different colors. As she approached it, she discovered from a legend on the bottom that each light represented a member of the Avengers, or some other enhanced person. After a moment, the map zoomed out so that instead of depicting just Earth it showed what she gathered was a map of different planets. Additional colored lights gleamed in locations she could not give names to.

After staring at the map for a few moments, Caroline wandered to the long table in the center of the room. She would bet money that these were the alien artifacts that Fury and the Avengers had taken off of Loki, at least those not being studied by SHIELD scientists. Now her interest was truly peaked. if there was something that could help her patient, chances are it was here. She had no idea what most of the clutter was, but her eyes were drawn to a pair of keys made in the same metal that composed Loki’s manacles. Upon closer inspection, she saw that the long keys were etched with letters and symbols from some language she was ignorant of.

Ignoring a touch of fear, she grabbed the keys and put them in her blazer pocket. Loki was a prisoner, and for good reason. He had committed acts of atrocities on the city of New York and beyond. And yet, she was sure that he was not now a threat to humanity unless they pushed him to that point. He had been under duress when he made war on them, and not acting of his own free will. In addition, he had years - centuries - of trauma that he hadn’t begin to come to terms with. Given time and a willing ear to listen, it was possible he could process these experiences and come to terms with his life, but he would not get that opportunity if he was shipped off for a show trial and put to death.

Could she act so recklessly as to free a confessed murderer? Would she be able to live with herself if she did not?

Randomly, Caroline reached over and opened a shiny silver briefcase that sat next to the keys. She drew back a bit as she looked at the glowing blue cube that sat inside. There had been enough gossip going around that she knew what this cube had to be. Loki had spoken of the Infinity Stones, and of alien who was seeking them. With this and the scepter here at the compound, how long would it be before they were attacked by a force led with more conviction than Loki had shown?

Acting on impulse, she slammed shut the briefcase and grabbed it as well. This might be the most insane thing she had ever done in her life, not to mention treason against her whole planet, but her decision was made.

***

Loki was in a better mood than he had been since his capture. There was an odd lightness inside him that he could not provide a reason for. He decided to avoid trying to - he only had a few hours of life left, best not to poke too hard and ruin them.

Instead, he set about making himself more presentable. He might be a prisoner and trapped in cuffs that prevented him from full use of his arms, let alone his magic, but Thor had removed the other chains, and he had enough range of movement to tidy his hair some, smooth out his clothing, and try to present a more appealing appearance. He had a lady he wanted to impress after all.

He knew it would not be easy. Caroline might be attracted to him, but she was a professional and he would guess highly ethical. Well, Loki’s silver tongue had worked its way around others’ ethics before. More concerning were the men sitting outside his cell. Loki paced near the glass, glaring at them, and to his amusement they looked away. He pointed to the light above and raised a speaking brow, hoping they would think he meant to try to sleep. One of them seemed to catch on to this idea, for after a moment the lights in his cell dimmed. That was better. He was not completely averse to public displays, but he doubted that Caroline would consent to be part of one. With the lights down, the guards would have to look hard to see what they were doing on the other side of the room where his bench was. 

Yes, it was not a perfect situation, but it was workable. An evening spent attempting to seduce his lovely therapist would be far more amusing than one spent with nothing more to occupy him than counting down the minutes until death.

When he saw her enter the outer area Loki sprang to attention in more ways than one. It seemed his body was quite taken with the distraction he had in store. Caroline had a silver brief case in her hands that was similar to the one Selvig had used for the tesseract, and Loki wondered fleetingly what SHIELD equipment she was hauling. Most of his attention, however, was caught up in noticing once more how shapely her legs were and how the buttons of her blouse strained slightly over her breasts.

The door to his cage opened and Caroline entered. She seemed jittery to him, and he wondered if she sensed what he was up to.

“Ah, my darling doctor. Come to ease my pain some more,” he purred, standing near to her and breathing down her neck.

“Loki, I have a couple of questions for you,” she said in a clipped voice.

“And I for you,” he smiled. “To begin with, what is it that gives your hair that delicious smell of strawberries?”

“Shampoo, I guess,” she waved him off, much to his annoyance. “Loki, if the cuffs were off of you, you could access your magic, yes?”

“If the cuffs were off, I could do many things. But even with them on, I can still manage quite a few I would wager you would enjoy.”

“Stop that! Focus!” she glared at him, and he took a step back.

This was not going at all how he had envisioned. Was she so devoted to her work that she would insist on exploring more of his sins? 

“Could you use your magic.”

“If the cuffs were gone? Yes, I could.”

“And you could get out of this cell, out of this base without injuring anyone? And I mean ANYONE.”

“There might be a few cuts and bruises,” he looked at her oddly. “What is this about, Caroline?”

“I have the keys,” she said, then took a big step back as he moved towards her instinctively.  “Wait! Loki, I do not believe Pierce means to give you a fair trial. He has sent Thor away and Fury is off world. I believe he means to kill you, tomorrow if not tonight.”

“You are right, of course,” he agreed, laser focused on her now, wondering where she had hidden his keys. “Although I had hoped for tonight.”

“I am beginning to doubt you have that long,” she took a deep breath and looked up at him. “Loki, you have done some truly terrible things, but I do not think that you deserve death. The extenuating circumstances far out way your crimes. I cannot, in good conscience, allow them to kill you. If I let you go, do you promise to leave quietly and with no casualties? To go find somewhere to heal?”

“As I said, there may be one or two small contusions, but I can avoid anything fatal. You would really do this Caroline? Why?”

“I told you,” she said, looking at the floor.

 "And that is the only reason?“ he asked, unsure why he was pressing. His freedom was at hand! He should grab it run.

"I like you, Loki,” she admitted, blushing as she looked at him. “I think if you were just shown a little bit of compassion, you could be a remarkable person.”

“Ah, Caroline, what a shame our time is so limited,” he found he meant it. “You have my word.”

“Alright. It’s good the lights are low, that will hide us a bit from the guards. Go sit on the bench. I will sit next to you in a moment and pretend to be taking your vitals. As I do so, I will unlock your bonds and you may escape.”

He could not believe his luck. Maintaining a calm demeanor, excruciating given the circumstances, he strode to the bench and sat down, pulse racing. Caroline went to the table and took out a contraption of some sort, still holding on to the suitcase he supposed must contain the keys. A moment later she sat down next to him, her knee bumping against his. Again, he felt a moment of disappointment that they were not to share the evening. She set down the case and wrapped the medical device around his arm. Once she had his wrists in hers, she slipped a metal key out of her pocket and began feeling along the cuffs for the slot to put it into.

“Caroline, love,” he murmured, seeing movement outside, “best hurry. We seem to be expecting more company.”

“I can’t find where the key goes,” she grumbled, feeling along the other cuff.

As Loki watched, a squad of men led by the human who had carried his chain before, entered the outer room and then the lights in his cell brightened.

“Damnit! I don’t know how these work!”

“Step away from prisoner and bring us the Tesseract!” a voice from outside demanded as one of the guards began punching in the access code.

“The Tesseract! Caroline, is the Tesseract in the briefcase?”

“It is. I thought you could take it somewhere safe away from earth.”

“Oh, my darling doctor, you are my angel!” he said, meaning it.

Reaching around her, Loki grabbed the case and popped it open. There, bright and blue as before, was the Tesseract. He was free!

“The hostile has the cube! Open fire!”

As the door opened Loki saw the men draw their guns. Acting on pure impulse he grabbed the Tesseract and holding it in his manacled hands slipped his arms over Caroline’s head and around her neck.

“Hold tight,” he told her, “this might be a bit bumpy.”

A moment later the cell, the guards, and SHIELD were all gone as the space stone swept them away.

Therapy Fit for a God Chapter 1

Loki/OFC
Rated M (may go up to E in future chapters)
Trigger Warnings: Angst, talk of suicide, therapy, unhealthy family dynamics

Loki’s plans to conquer and rule Midgard have come to a disastrous end. After being captured by the Avengers, he is being held on Earth. Odin has refused to interfere, and the outlook for the God of Mischief appear bleak. His only hope may lie in one mortal woman, a Psychiatric expert brought in to interrogate him.

Dr. Caroline Thorpe is intrigued by Loki and thinks that more lies beneath his actions than is commonly known. Can she find out the truth before he is shipped off to die for crimes against the Earth? And can Loki bring himself to care?

@yespolkadotkitty@just-the-hiddles@hopelessromanticspoonie@wine-and-whines@arch-venus25@caffiend-queen@devilish–doll@enchantedbyhiddles@hiddlesholic@i-do-not-fangirl-i-fanwoman@kellatron55@ladyoftheteaandblood@latent-thoughts@yespolkadotkitty@maryxglz@myoxisbroken@nuggsmum@nildespirandum@pedeka@redfoxwritesstuff@sinfully-lustful-darling@vodka-and-some-sass@wrathkitty@kingtwhiddleston@wolfsmom1@poetic-fiasco@shiningloki@dangertoozmanykids101@bookworm-christina@amwolowicz@delightfulheartdream@frostbitten-written@what-a-flammable-heart@tom-hlover@nonsensicalobsessions@myraiswack@loki-yoursaviourishere@ghostypau@ms-cellanies@colorfulfreakstudentpizza@mareebird@colorfulfreakstudentpizza @szycha22@chokemedaddyloki@queenofallhobos​@just-the-hiddles-reads​

What the Hel were they waiting for?

As he sat in his cell, refusing to give the agents he knew were watching him the satisfaction of seeing him pace, Loki was very well aware he was living on borrowed time. After all, he had just led a murderous alien army against one of their largest cities. He had rolled the dice with the Chitari and lost in humiliating fashion. He knew what his punishment was certain to be, no matter what fantasy Thor tried to peddle. He wished they would just get on with it.

He heard her heels clicking along the tiled floor before she came into view. Plastering a superior sneer onto his face, Loki looked up to see a surprisingly youthful, if not exactly young, woman in a navy skirt suit and pale pink blouse approach his glass cage. With a smile she flashed her badge at the pair of guards flanking the door. He could not hear their words, the prison was soundproofed, but it seemed some sort of disagreement was taking place. Much to his amusement it was the soldiers who finally backed down, punching the code to open his cell into the panel. Weapons drawn they escorted the woman into the enclosure where the God was being held.

As if they needed the weapons. With the inscrolled cuffs binding his wrists, Loki was incapable of accessing his magical powers. Hel, he could not even move his arms far enough to cross them over his chest as habit suggested he do. He supposed he could have used brute strength to muscle his way out, mortals were easy enough to subdue even manacled as he was, but to be honest he didn’t really care enough to try.

The woman flashed him an incongruous smile, only slightly tinged with insecurity, and made her way to the table across from him. Director Fury had been the last person to sit in that seat, and his smile had been very different. It seemed one eyed men of all realms agreed that Loki was beyond redemption. Fury had taken great pleasure in informing Loki that Odin had failed to lift a finger to retrieve his adopted son from the vengeance of Midgard. Thor, that soft hearted oaf, had begged for mercy on his behalf, but when had Loki ever been shown mercy?

“Hello,” the woman greeted him, sitting down and opening a large file folder. “My name is Dr. Caroline Thorpe. I have been contracted by the powers that be to conduct a thorough examination and debriefing of you… I see in my notes that you are listed variously as Prince Loki Odinson, Mr. Loki Laufeyson, Loki God of Mischief… How would you like me to address you?”

“Your Majesty would be acceptable,” Loki drawled, crossing his ankles in front of him as he spread out on the bench indolently. “My King, Your Worship, My God… any of those will work.”

“Prince Odinson it is,” she said with a small smile.

“No!” Loki surprised himself by his vehemence. “Not that. Odin is no father to me, as he has made very clear of late.”

“Very well. Why don’t we just stick with Loki then.”

“And shall I call you Caroline?” he asked, making his voice a purr.

“If you wish,” she shrugged, ignoring his attempt to disconcert her.

“Just what are you a doctor of, may I ask?”

“I have phds in Psychology, Neuro Development, and Trauma Therapy,” she told him.

“And you work for SHIELD.”

“Not officially. They bring me in from time to time. I helped Mr. Stark after his experience in captivity, and have worked profiling other threats, real and perceived, from various individuals. But this is not about me. This is about you.”

“Are you here to determine if I am sane enough to stand trial?” he snarled, leaning forward now and narrowing his eyes. “I assure you I am ready. I find I tire of Midgardian hospitality, and if the only way to end it is via the axe, then for gods’ sake, let them swing it.”

“Is that what you want?” she asked, resting her chin on one hand.

“What?”

“The axe. To die. In short, are you suicidal?”

“Suicide is a coward’s way out,” he snapped.

“Maybe,” she still sounded unphased. “Or it’s a desperate man’s way out. When pain is so intense that living seems the lesser trial. You suggested earlier that I call you your majesty. You served as King of Asgard for a time, did you not?”

“I was the rightful King!”

“And how did that come about? Your father – excuse me, Odin, is still alive.”

“You wouldn’t understand.”

“Try me,” she leaned back in her chair, raising her eyebrows.

“When one lives for thousands of years as we do, rather than the pitiful lifespan of your kind, and one exerts the amount of power that Odin wields, from time to time a rest is required. It is called the Odin Sleep. Pretentious, don’t you think? In any event, he had fallen into it. Thor was banished, and so I became King.”

“Thor was banished? Why?”

“For the good of Asgard! Had he been allowed to remain and to rule, it would have been nothing but genocide and war across the nine realms!”

“My goodness! How fortunate for all of us then that Odin saw that.”

“Odin,” Loki sneered, standing up and pacing despite his best intentions. “Odin was a fool,  blinded by a father’s fancy. He never saw Thor for what he was. No one did. They were all ready to give the realm up to him.”

“And yet, he was banished.”

“Ah, I see your game. It is not enough to convict me for my crimes here on Midgard. You want to tar me with my prior acts as well. Very well, I confess. I am not ashamed of it. Thor was a danger to the nine realms. No one else was going to stop him, so I took matters into my own hands. I allowed in a small group of Jotun soldiers to the vault. Not enough to steal anything, mind you. The destroyer was more than a match for them. Just enough to delay the ceremony and give my short tempered brother a match to light the flame of his temper. And what could be more predictable than that he went roaring in, hammer flying, to try and take on an entire race with nothing more than a mere handful of companions. We would be dead if I had not alerted the guard to his intent! But do I receive thanks for that? No. All I got from halting the ill thought assault on the Jotunheim was condemnation, betrayal, and pain.”

He had not meant to reveal so much. The memory still caused pain, in as much as he allowed himself to feel anything. He had saved them, all of them, only to be accused of jealousy and worse by those who were supposed to be his friends. He had needed so much at that time to feel that he was one of them. Loki had always struggled with the knowledge that he was an outsider, only allowed because he was Thor’s brother, held in the blond God’s affections like a beloved pet. With Thor gone and his own true parentage revealed, Loki had been more alone than ever. He longed for one of them, anyone, to reach out to him. Not that he had any delusion of taking Thor’s place in their group, he did not want to. But with his very identity spinning out of his control, any sign that he was part of a group, a welcome member of the band, would have helped him to keep his moorings.

“I am not trying to convict you of anything,” Dr. Thorpe said calmly. “I am simply trying to ascertain what led to your invasion. Surly it was not as simple as envying your brother’s throne.”

“I never wanted the throne!” Loki snapped, automatically. He didn’t know why, no one ever believed him. “No, I see your game. You want to lull me into a false sense of ease. To play the kind, friendly counterpoint to Fury’s righteous anger. You will not convict me, as you say, you will merely draw out confidences until I convict myself.”

“Then you think yourself guilty then?”

“Guilty of trying to improve the miserable lives of the pathetic inhabitants of this world, yes.”

“As long as we obeyed your commands.”

“Well, I am a God.”

“But you don’t want a throne.”

“It is not a matter of want. I was born to it. Told day after day, century after century that it was my destiny to rule.”

“Why was that do you think?” she asked him.

“All part of the AllFather’s glorious plans,” he laughed without humor. “He told both of his ‘sons’ they were meant to rule. He just didn’t tell us the rest of it. Thor was meant to rule over the splendor of Asgard, an adoring people supporting his every jingoistic impulse. Whereas I was destined for a different, colder fate. King of race of monsters who I was indoctrinated to despise. A race, might I add, that would not look with adoration at me despite my parentage, but rather revulsion that such a weak, stunted puppet as I was being forced upon them by the very colonizer who destroyed their home and stole me from my fated death. Oh yes, an equally wonderful destiny for us both.”

“It is true then? Odin stole you from a Jotun temple when you were a baby?”

“Abandoned by my other loving father. Yes. A happy tale, is it not?”

“Better than dying in the cold,” she suggested.

“Is it? The warm embrace of a family? A family where a common theme was the destruction of all the monster Jotuns? One of the first games my brother and I played was of the great battle in which King Thor would lead the mighty army of Asgard. Thor was always the King, even then. He would swoop in, legions behind him, and slay every last Frost Giant, that the evil, bestial race die out forever. And how did Odin react? By tousling his blond head and handing him Mjornir, the weapon with which to obtain his genocidal heart’s desire. Tell me, Dear Doctor, what such an upbringing would instill in a Jotun child. Do you think they would learn to love their people? To see the good in themselves? And when their true nature was revealed, what then?”

“It must have been terrifying.”

“I fear nothing.”

“No? You say your brother dreamed of killing all of the Jotuns. Tell me, Loki, when you found out what you were, did you fear – did you think he might include you in his plans?”

“I fail to see what this has to do with the invasion.”

“Forget the invasion for a moment. It must have crossed your mind. Just that day Thor had led you all to the Jotunheim to slay the Frost Giants. He tried to take on the entire race, wipe out their evil forever, as you said. All of that hate, all of that killing fervor, directed at a group that you were suddenly included in.”

Loki scoffed and looked away, but inside he was in turmoil. The fear had been almost crippling. He had been sorry at first that Thor had been banished. He had meant for his scheme to end in the coronation being delayed, had never thought that it would go as far as Odin casting his brother out of Asgard. He loved Thor, and while their relationship was not without conflict, he could not imagine his life without him.

And then the whisper of a thought had slid like a knife into his brain. His arm and hand had not burned but turned blue where the Frost Giant touched him. What did that mean? Quietly he had made his way into the vault, treading the long familiar halls until he stood before the nook containing the casket of endless winter. It was as if he could hear it singing to him, a song that spoke of sheer cliffs and sparkling snows, crisp days and chilling nights. Compelled, he had reached out and clutched the casket, and his world had ended.

When he felt Odin appear behind him, Loki had known a last glimmer of hope. Surely this was some Jotun trick. His father would deny it, would explain why this was happening to him and make everything alright. Instead, Odin had confirmed in stark, harsh words Loki’s worst fears. He was a monster. No wonder he had been shunned all his life. No wonder he was left to beg for scraps at Thor’s heels. He was the unwanted son of Asgard’s mortal enemy. One of the evil creatures Thor had sworn to eliminate from existence.

Thank the Norns that Thor was not there! He had been even more dismissive than usual of late, scorning Loki’s advice and belittling him in public these days as well as in private. Loki had hoped that it was merely the stress of the coronation, but what if it was more? What if Thor was beginning to sense that something was wrong with Loki? What if he was preparing himself for the moment when his hatred of the Frost Giants drove him to take the life of one who had been raised as his brother?

“Thor directs a killing fervor at whoever happens to be in his line of vision,” Loki tried for a bored flippancy. “Why should I have expected to be exempt?”

“Because you were his brother,” Dr. Thorpe suggested.

“Ah, but I am not.”

“Aren’t you?”

“If I was, do you think he would have so casually let me fall from the rainbow bridge? Oh, he made a token reach for me out of habit, as did Odin, but do you really think that if the combined might of Thor, God of Thunder, and Odin, AllFather tried to save me I would have fallen into the abyss?”

“Or not even Gods, as you call yourselves, are infallible.”

“Careful, little Doctor, you tread on heresy!”

“Hardly the first time,” she flashed a distracting smile despite his attempt to once more intimidate her, “I’m a diehard agnostic.”

Loki took a closer look at this woman who had been brought in to interrogate him. She was attractive, for a mortal. Bright, intelligent eyes, thick hair, conservatively dressed but not without a certain sense of style he could appreciate. More than that though, she seemed unintimidated by him. All of the other mortals he had come in contact with were obviously terrified of him. Whether they expressed it by hostile attempts at intimidation or shrinking visibly in his presence, he had easily read their fear in presence. This doctor though, she seemed completely unbothered to be locked in a room with a mass murderer. Absurdly, Loki was a bit offended by this. He had worked hard to come across as menacing in his takeover attempt. The least he deserved as a balm to his bruised ego was to see the Midgardians squirm when he growled.

A top on the glass sounded and Loki and the doctor both looked over to see a blond man of older years for a mortal glaring at them through the window. Ah, the alpha approach to fear. Puffing out his chest a bit, Loki broadened his shoulders and sneered at the man who’s name he refused to learn but who had barked at him before. Dr. Thorpe looked no less happy than he to see the bureaucrat, but after a brief grimace only Loki was allowed to see due to his position, she stood up and made her way to the door.

***

Caroline struggled to contain her irritation as she exited the glass cell, working to paste a serene look onto her over expressive face. She had lost count of the number of times her failure to hide her thoughts had gotten her into hot water with authorities at her various posts. It was her Achilles heel; no matter how much training she had in various methods of psychology, she had never mastered the blank stare that so many therapists affected.

“Secretary Pierce,” she greeted the man, trying for a friendly tone and not convincing herself. “What brings you down here?”

“I was about to ask you the same question,” the man did not look pleased.

“Sir? I was just debriefing the detainee, as ordered.”

And she had just begun to make progress! She knew, absolutely knew beyond a doubt that there was more going on with this Asgardian Prince than the world was aware of. Everything about his actions since arriving on Earth had been a jumble of contradictions. He was obviously brilliant but made errors that anyone could have foreseen. He demanded obeisance in grand statements about his Godliness, but Caroline would swear that she saw nothing but self-loathing in his eyes.

Why had he come here? It was obvious to her that he was running from something or towards, she was not yet sure, but her instincts told her it was vital to find out. To do that, she had to get him to trust her, at least a little, and she would not do that with glowering government dignitaries hovering over her shoulder.

“I did not order any such thing,” Pierce said, glaring at her. “The prisoner is dangerous. He is scheduled to be transferred to the Raft tomorrow, where he will be tried, condemned, and executed.”

“Director Fury gave the order, Sir,” she bit back the angry retort that the prisoner had yet to stand trial, and therefore his conviction, much less his death, was a bit premature.

“Fury’s gone soft,” one of the agents who always seemed to flank Pierce muttered.

“I dare you to say that to his face,” Caroline said sweetly. “Sir, if the prisoner is leaving us tomorrow anyway, and will not be around in any capacity much longer after that, then what harm could there be in talking to him? Maybe I will discover something that could be of use to us against future threats.”

“You really think you can get something out of him?”

As one, they all turned to where Loki was lounging indolently on his bench, a mocking gaze taking them all in as if he was holding them prisoner rather than the other way around.

Lord, he was attractive, a small voice remarked inconsequentially in her mind. Caroline tried not to blush as she turned back to the men who all towered over her. The last thing she needed was for Pierce and his goons to suspect she had a soft spot for the alien invader. She would never get near him again.

“I think that if I don’t, I will only have wasted my own time and his,” she replied. “Threats have not worked; he doesn’t fear us in the slightest. Why not let me try a different approach.”

“You have until the pick him up tomorrow,” Pierce agreed begrudgingly. “After that, the Asgardian’s time is up.”

Nodding and letting her smile slip away as she turned her back on the exiting men, she focused on the one sitting behind what she knew was impenetrable glass, wrists shackled together.

One day to decipher the mystery this man represented. She had her work cut out for her.