As soon as he was out of the mortals' sight, Loki called upon his magic and disappeared, reappearing in his room. He scowled, realizing that even though they had forgotten to bind his magic, his oath to the Norns prevented him from escaping the heroes.

He refused to allow his brother to gain control of him. Instead, he focused on the anger, fueling it, letting it grow and consume him. He absently cast a sound-proof spell and screamed his rage. He was blind to everything around him, his eyes seeing only the disgusted look on his brother's face. Only hearing the words hurled at him.

He snarled and gripped his head tightly, the nails digging into the flesh as he squeezed his eyes shut. There was no reason for him to feel this way, not when he'd severed the ties between the both of them. Hadn't he wanted Thor to hate him? To kill him? Why then did it hurt so much when he finally admitted it?

He hissed under his breath, curling up into a ball against the wall, he didn't know why it hurt so much when Thor had said that. He'd been hearing such insults since he was old enough to learn seidr, Sif had made it no secret that she hated him, even after everything he'd done for their group. Everyone hated him, he should have been used to such insults, so why – why – was it that when Thor said it, it was so much different?

He screamed, sentiment – get out – I don't need this – I cut the ties – whywhywhywhy? I was right – hypocrite – I hate youIhateyouIhateyou –

He felt the burning sensation behind his eyes, why do I have to be right all the time? He felt a pressure on his shoulder, and he snapped, twisting away from the person's grip. He snarled and hurled his magic at the other, not even seeing who it was he was attacking. He snarled and flung spell after spell after spell.

He felt the person grab him from behind and after a disorienting moment, he plunged into ice cold water. The cold shocked him and reminded him of his Jotun heritage, reinforcing everything that his brother – no, Thor – had said about him being a monster. He screamed, the air leaving him as he shot upwards, his magic swirling around him. He broke the surface of the water and flung a bolt of magic at his attacker, his eyes glowing with power and anger. His magic flared outwards from him, reflecting his inner turmoil and anger.

Loki snarled and screamed, conjuring up daggers and spells and anything he could think of, releasing his anger and frustration outwards. He twisted away from half-hearted attacks and he screamed in frustration, "Fight me with your true power you coward! Why are you hiding?"

"I'm not."

He spun around and his vision was filled with white as a blast of energy slammed into him, sending him skidding over the ice – wait, ice?

He blinked several times, feeling the cool temperature beneath him. He swallowed, a wave of exhaustion crashing over him. He gasped for air, collapsing on the ice. The trickster god looked up from where he lay sprawled out on the ground, seeing a stretch of ice spread out on the ocean. He looked up and saw Percy standing several feet away from him, looking equally tired even as he held a – was that a trident? – Loosely in his right arm, the pointed tip angled towards the ground.

Percy gave him a tired smile as he panted, "Please tell me you're done. Cause I don't think I can repeat that."

Loki swallowed, "What – what happened? What was that?"

Percy sighed in relief, twirling the trident absently but remaining where he was, "I found you in your room after the meeting, you were curled up against the wall. I wanted to see if you were – well – okay, but the moment I touched you, well, you lashed out. And it set you off I think."

Loki blinked, trying to get feeling back in his hands so he could get up even though his body was telling him to just lay there. He looked around, seeing nothing but an endless stretch of water. "Where are we?"

Percy looked around, "We're just slightly further away from Tony's mansion."

Loki looked around again and gave him a flat stare when he saw no signs of the house anywhere, "Slightly?"

Percy reddened and laughed sheepishly, rubbing a hand behind his head, "Well, I say slightly."

The two of them lapsed into silence, Loki choosing to sit on the ice, careful to make sure that it didn't come into contact with his skin. He didn't want a relapse of what happened in Stark's tower – was it really only two days ago? Percy on the other hand, remained standing, looking at the god with an unreadable expression. He twirled the trident and watched it dissipate into sea mist,no trace of the weapon ever having existed save the ache in Loki's chest from where the blast had hit him. Percy's attention was drawn back towards the god when he cut through the silence, "Will your avenger friends not be worried about your disappearance?"

Percy shrugged, "I doubt that they even know that I'm gone. You chose a really secluded room." he said dryly, giving the god a look. "Besides, they're all off doing their own stuff."

Loki looked at him curiously, he hadn't bothered with anything once he left their 'meeting'. Percy rolled his eyes and continued, "After you – left – Bruce and Matthias came up, I think Natasha has the same idea as you, but anyway, apparently, SHIELD's a goner, and they're gonna have to do damage control. They split the workload between them, with Steve and your – Thor, I mean, heading out to patrol. They're probably gonna draw up a schedule, but the techno stuff is left to Tony and Bruce, obviously."

Loki narrowed his eyes, "What about you?"

Percy looked at him askance, "What about me?"

"What will you be doing? Along with that pathetic excuse for a mortal."

"Pathetic excu – oh, you mean Matthias. Well, I'm a SHIELD agent, what do you think I'm gonna do? And he's tagging along as well."

Loki blinked confusedly for a moment, then his mind caught on and he hissed, slowly getting to his feet, "It is pure insanity to even think about searching for your director. Not when there are hoards of chitauri on this dirt planet hiding and biding their time!"

Percy gave him an unimpressed look, "We don't have a choice, SHIELD needs it's director!"

Loki snarled, cutting his hand through the air, "He can be replaced. If anything, he is most likely already rotting in the depths of Niflheim!"

Percy scowled, "Look, he's the director, okay? Which means that Fury knows things that the rest of SHIELD doesn't know. They need him because they need the information on where the gem is!"

Loki blinked, stunned, "What?" he whispered, "There is another gem on this realm?"

Percy sighed and ran a hand through his hair, pacing back and forth, "We're not sure, but it's just a theory. It explains the attacks that the avengers had to stop, the ones where they targeted the different SHIELD bases. It explains why they're here and they're hiding, and, as you said, biding their time."

He stopped pacing and sighed, looking at the god, "You said so yourself, the last two gems are Soul and Reality, both of which who's powers are unknown but have the capability to do immense damage."

He turned away slightly, "You know that Asgard is sealed off," he looked out across the ocean, the rhythmic movement of the waves soothing him, "I told you that, the gods said that Odin sealed – Thanos – in the realm. He can't call for reinforcements, which is a good thing, but it also means that he can't get out either. He's trapped in that realm, and he's smart, he doesn't keep all his eggs in one basket. If anything, my bet is that he wants to find the Reality gem."

Loki's eyes widened, "If the power of the gem is as its name implies, it would rip through the very fabric of reality. Tha – the Mad Titan would be able to recall his troops and destroy the Nine Realms, starting with Asgard."

Percy nodded grimly, "Even if they find the Soul gem, it's equally bad." He said quietly, his green eyes shadowed.

Loki hissed and turned around, "We have no idea what the Soul gem does. Even if it raises the dead, my – Hel would not allow it."

"Hel?"

Loki swallowed, "Hel, or Hela, the Queen of the dead. She rules over their souls, and she does not allow any to escape her realm."

Percy cocked his head to one side, "Not at all?"

Loki looked away, "Unless you have her in your debt, then there may be a chance that you could ask for a soul in return."

Percy grinned cheekily, "So I suppose it would be too much of a coincidence if a certain god just happened to have the queen of the dead owe him a debt yes?"

Loki nodded sagely, "That would be what do you mortals say, one hell of a coincidence?"

Percy grinned and nodded, "Nice, you picked up Earth vernacular, growing up already."

"Big words for one such as yourself Perseus, have you used up your quota for today?"

Percy scowled, glaring at the god, who just smirked smugly, "Oh laugh it up why don't you, picking on me..."

Loki smirked even wider, the heaviness in his heart at the mention of the queen lightening slightly.

"So," Percy said, "Is she like Hades?"

Loki tilted his head upwards, staring at the bright sky, a complete opposite of how he felt, "Somewhat." He replied after a while, "Like Lord Hades oversees the dead in his realm, Hela does too. The difference is in the amount of souls they look after." He looked at Percy, who was listening intently, curiosity shining in his eyes. Loki straightened slightly and assumed what his mother had often teased as his 'tutor' stance. "Lord Hades looks after all the dead in your world. Seeing as how fleeting mortal lives are, that is an enormous amount of souls. In contrast, Hela looks after the souls of those who have been murdered, committed suicide, children who have been aborted, people who die in slavery, basically anyone who does not die a glorious death in the midst of battle."

Percy raised an eyebrow, "Careful there, the sarcasm is lying on thick."

Loki rolled his eyes exasperatedly, a mortal gesture that he felt was surprisingly effective in expressing one's opinion without having to say a single word, "Lord Hades accepts all souls into his realm, separating them further into the three portions of his realm according to what they deserve."

Percy nodded, remembering the horrifying screams emanating from those who had done evil when he'd been there. "The Fields of Punishment, Fields of Asphodel and Elysium."

Loki nodded, "Niflheim does not have this. It is a desolate place that is filled with monsters and wolves that will devour any who are unlucky to trespass there."

He gave Percy a knowing look, "Helheim is located within Niflheim, it is where Hela lives, where her palace is located. It could be considered as our equivalent of Tartarus." He watched as Percy's eyes shuttered and he looked away at the mention of the pit.

"You said that Hel doesn't deal with as many souls as Hades, why? I mean, people getting murdered or dying isn't exactly that uncommon. And where do the other souls go to?"

Loki tactfully took the change of subject, "Even though she deals with the souls of the other seven realms*, we are essentially a long lived race. Especially Asgard. We live much much longer than mortals, and it is looked down upon to commit suicide, although murder does happen. Asgardians value death in battle, always vying for the glory of an honorable death so that they may come to the tables of Valhalla." He said disgustedly.

Percy grinned again, albeit weakly, "Guess you don't fancy the idea of dying in glory eh?"

Loki snorted, "Hardly, it is foolish and impractical." He waved a hand, dismissing that subject, "Jotuns, and the fire giants –

"Wait, you have fire giants?"

" - Are also equally long lived. The elves –"

"You have elves?!"

Loki huffed exasperatedly, "Are you letting me continue or not?"

Percy smiled apologetically, gesturing for him to continue, slightly amazed at how fast the god could switch moods when he was given a chance to reveal his scholarly side.

Loki glared at him and continued his impromptu lesson on the Nine Realms, "The elves live about half as long as we do, but even then, that is several thousands of your mortal years, so for a being to die of a natural death is not as common either, though it does happen. Dwarves on the other hand," he glared at the boy who had opened his mouth to comment, "the dwarves of Nidavellir, they live longer than the elves, something they boast about, but not as long as Asgardians or the giants. They hardly die of natural deaths, so Hela doesn't have that many souls to collect."

Percy hmmed in response, looking thoughtful, he plopped down on the ice, stretching out on his element. "So what happens if a cross happens?"

Loki furrowed his brows, "What?"

Percy shrugged, "I mean, what if like a soul that's supposed to go to the Underworld ends up in uh, Neeff-leh-heim?"

Loki could feel his eye twitching at the garbled mess that came out of Percy's mouth. "Niflheim." He said stiffly, watching the other shrug carelessly, "And I do not know. Perhaps an exchange occurs, or they remain there, even I am not omniscient in the matters of death. Nor do I want to. Death is one subject that one should not tamper much with."

Percy gave him a look, "You mean like how Thanos is planning on courting Death."

Loki nodded, but said nothing, the ocean breeze ruffling his hair.

"You're not that bad you know."

Loki started and whipped around, giving Percy a wide-eyed look of shock. Percy just continued, staring at him intensely, "You're not like how the others say you are. It's totally different from what I was expecting."

Loki sneered, falling back on his default defense mechanism, "So what were you expecting? Someone who scorned and sneered and insulted at every turn? Someone more horrendous perhaps, just killing without a second thought? Murdering children in their sleep?" With every sentence he stepped closer to Percy, who was still sitting on the ice, with the aim to intimidate, he said in a whisper, "Or perhaps, you were expecting a monster?"

Percy refused to be daunted, he knew how much the god was affected by the insults and the slurs hurled at him, the ache in his bones from using up so much power was proof of that - even though he had been barely attacking, defending himself from the god's relentless onslaught was tiring enough. The fact that the god had even lost control in the first place was also a good indication of that. Under all the lies and the hurtful words, under all the anger and madness, was a broken god who'd been subjected to too many horrors in the span of a short time. And Percy knew that.

Maintaining eye contact as he stood up, he said simply, "I don't have a right to judge you based on what I hear, so no, I wasn't expecting anything."

Percy kept his face carefully neutral as the god gasped as though he was in pain, stumbling backwards. He slid to his knees, breathing harshly, refusing to acknowledge the burning behind his eyes, not wanting to shed a tear in front of Perseus Jackson of all people.

Percy waited a few moments, then stepped closer and knelt before the god, gingerly placing a hand on his trembling shoulder, "It's alright to cry y'know. No one's gonna judge you out here," he said, gesturing to the wide expanse of the ocean, not a single soul in sight.

He squeezed the god's shoulder comfortingly, "Keeping it bottle inside is just gonna leave it to fester. It won't ever heal, and it'll just come out at the worst moment possible."

Loki lifted his eyes slowly, viridian meeting oceanic. Percy smiled softly, the first real one in three years, "Everything will be fine Loki. Just let it out."

That seemed to be the magic word and Loki felt something inside him break, but in a good way. It felt like the barrier to a dam had broken, and he curled up, feeling arms wind around him in a comforting embrace as he wept –truly wept – for the first time in the centuries since the first insult was thrown at him.

He didn't sob; he didn't scream or shout or wailed like an infant. He let the tears fall freely, the hurts kept bottled up within him finally being expressed, his soul bared open as he clung on tightly to the one person other than his mother – who was oh so far away and in danger, danger that he failed to keep away – who did not judge him, nor scorn him, but accepted him for who he was and who believed in him.

Percy, not really used to comforting others, just did what his instincts told him to do. He brought his arms around the god, gentle enough that the god could pull away but firm enough to tell the other that he was there. He did what his mum had done for him whenever he woke up screaming from a nightmare in the days after Tartarus. He let the broken god cling to him as he released all his pain and hurt from the centuries that it had been locked up inside.

Back in Tony's Malibu mansion, Tony had finally sent Matthias off to Steve, having flaunted his Iron Man armors to him for a good few hours. He wasn't stupid – obviously, since he was a certified genius – and he knew that there were some things that they had to discuss without the kid there. He frowned, pausing in his tinkering, it felt weird, calling someone other than Percy a kid, even though it was justified since the boy was barely out of his teens. He scowled, trust SHIELD to get a boy who could barely be called of age to join them. Then again, Percy wasn't that much older when he'd joined.

He shook his head, focusing on upgrading the weapons that the avengers had. Where it was but a part time project before, even he knew that it was important for them to get the most updated technology they could receive. He crafted several extra special arrows for Clint, upgrading the electrical pulse blaster on Black Widow's wrist. The current affectionately dubbed Widow's Bite was only limited to the wrist, allowing Natasha to shoot electrical pulses into her enemies, but Tony wanted to see if he could apply that idea to cover the whole suit instead, allowing her to cover herself in a web of electricity. The idea had merit, seeing as how if – and that was a very big if – the Widow ever got covered by an enemy, she could activate that and send her enemies into near immediate paralysis.

For Hawkeye, it was slightly harder, considering how the guy already had several special arrows. He considered upping the power of the exploding arrow, so that he could cover a wider range with one arrow. On the other hand, he was thinking of poison. Strange thoughts for him, but he was thinking of tactical advantage now, poison could be useful, taking out the enemy – most likely the chitauri – and Clint didn't need to linger in the area longer than he needed to, the poison would take effect.

Hmm, Tony thought, absently swiping several tools around him, maybe releasing poisonous gas? Its more effective that way since it'll affect more than one party... Or maybe, I can get the electrical pulse from Nat's Widow's Bite and incorporate it into the arrow head as well...

He frowned as he worked, wiping his hands on his shirt, moving to another section of his workshop. He instructed JARVIS to bring up his newest Iron Man suit, the only one which he didn't show the kid. He liked the boy, really, he did, a bit skittish and all but that was understandable, considering the circumstances, but even he wasn't stupid enough to trust the boy with the place where all the avengers' weapons were kept.

He paused, remembering that he was supposed to work on the communication pieces, not wanting a repeat of the Afghanistan base incident. He scowled to himself, feeling slightly guilty at the way none of them stood up to Thor when he was swinging his little brother around. It didn't matter that said brother was a megalomaniac who once tried to invade Earth, it was the morals that were called into action. He had stood by and watched as one of his friends throw his brother across the room.

On the one hand, Tony felt that Clint was right, that the bastard didn't deserve for Thor to treat him as well as he did, knowing that he was Thor's Achilles' heel. On the other hand, Tony remembered how desperate the god looked when he realized that Thor was still trapped in the base, and the look of utter horror on his face when the base blew up in front of him remained imprinted in the genius' mind.

He cursed and flung the object in his hand away from him, hearing it clatter to the ground. When did things become so complicated? He didn't want to doubt his team mates, the people who had started off as people to work with and became his family over time, the people who had his back when they were in battle. But he didn't want to simply go with the flow either, if he did, he would still be trapped in Afghanistan all those years back. Probably dead as well.

He laughed mirthlessly, it started in Afghanistan, and now it was Afghanistan that placed him in this moral dilemma. If it was three years ago, he would have said that Loki was a heartless bastard who didn't know how to appreciate the things his brother did for him in a heartbeat. But after that failed attack, he didn't know what to think anymore, the god didn't seem as cold-hearted as everyone made him out to be.

Tony knew that the god could be faking, making them trust him first before backstabbing them, but something in him told him that that expression of terror was real, that it was an honest to God fear for his brother.

And that brought him back to square one. He didn't know what to think about the trickster god who seemed so multi-faceted now. He groaned, slamming his head against the table, things had been so much easier when everything was black and white. The gray area sucked.

"Having a bad day?"

Tony screeched and jumped up, nearly scrambling over the table in his shock. He pressed a hand to his arc reactor, "Bruce!" he whined, "What are you trying to do? Give me a heart attack?"

Bruce grinned and chuckled, "I did knock by the way, but you seemed so deep in thought so I asked JARVIS to let me in. Thinking about the newest upgrades?"

Tony sighed, clambering down from the table where he had half hopped onto it before, "I wish. Thinking about our resident trickster god actually."

Bruce muttered a sympathetic "Oh."

"Yeah," Tony sighed, "I don't know what to think. I mean, you didn't see what happened, the way Thor threw Loki against the wall. Not that I don't think that the asshole deserves it, but – I mean," he ran a hand through his hair frustrated, trying to think of a way to convey what he was trying to say, "Loki claims that he didn't know about what happened to Asgard, but Thor – man Thor didn't even allow him to talk at all, just kept attacking him and demeaning him. I don't know. It's not right, whatever Clint says. And I still hate that asshole."

Bruce sighed, he had gotten the full story from Steve after the meeting ended, and like what his friend was feeling now, he didn't agree with Clint or Thor either. Clint he could understand, his mind had been ripped open and his will crushed in such a way that was so humiliating for someone who valued control of his own body. "If anything, I wonder if this would just make Loki hate us more. I mean, he seemed tolerable at first, insulting and scornful but he didn't really do anything other than stay out of the way. He did after all save us back then. But now, I don't know, it seemed like Thor saying those things was the last straw for him."

Tony nodded grimly, "We only have the so called oath to protect us, but who's to say he can't find a loophole?"

Bruce sighed, "You're going about this the wrong way Tony." He leveled his friend with a serious stare, "You're trying to find reasons to see Loki in a bad light, just so you can ignore the gray areas that you don't want to acknowledge exists." He watched as Tony flinched slightly, and continued, "It's normal to feel that, obviously, he was our enemy once, I'm not sure if he still isn't. But I think," he hesitated slightly, "I think that Loki isn't what we made him out to be. He isn't just a maniacal, power hungry god, he doesn't act like one. Sure, three years ago he proclaimed to all and sundry that he wanted us to kneel to him, but now we know that there's a high chance that he threw the fight. And from what Thor said, he was a good person once, someone who valued tricks and detested unnecessary death, not a power-hungry god that we saw, but he doesn't know how his brother became the person he was today. There's a lot of things that we aren't seeing, things that happened between the time Loki left Asgard and the time he arrived on Earth."

He took a deep breath, "I think Loki is hiding. He's built up walls as a defense mechanism. It's something that I've seen in people who have been hurt so many times. They don't want to take the risk of being hurt again so they hide themselves away from the world, letting others see what they want to see."

Tony's eyes widened, he scowled and turned away, he didn't want to even entertain the thought that the god could be just like them, having his own problems, with the exception that he didn't have the guidance that they all did.

The two scientists remained silent, Tony going back to tinkering with – something. Without glancing up, he said, "What was it that Capsicle wanted you to do?"

Bruce smiled, knowing that his message had at least gotten through Tony's thick skull and stepped forward, explaining the captain's orders and his own theory, the two of them with their heads bent together as they threw ideas back and forth at each other.