Loki Alone

S.H.E.I.L.D.

9 months earlier:

Night Phantom. Not exactly the name I would have chosen. But I suppose the hero gets no choice over his identity, nor his view in the public. My gaze shifted alley to alley as I sat atop the apartment building. The sun had gone down hours ago, and May lay in bed sleeping. It's been three months since Peter died, yet even after all this time the thought of Peter, and Ben training to become superheroes runs through my head. Now I was the last one standing. Ben would be so proud. And Peter- My thought was interrupted by the voice of a man slowly approaching "So you're the infamous Night Phantom. Tell me do you always look so depressingly out to the city?" Surprised and angered by the audacity, I turned around to see a man in a trench coat, with an eye patch, towering over me. "And just who do you think you are?" I asked. The man shifted his weight as he took another step forward more into the weak light the moon provided. "The name's Nick Fury, I'm the director of SHIELD and I've come here to talk to you about a little program we call the Avengers initiative." This strange man said like that would explain why he was stalkishly watching me in the shadows on a rooftop in the middle of the night. "Ok Nick, ummm, I mean I got a shield too so don't quite understand why that matters-" "That is director Fury to you, understand? SHIELD, Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division. We're a secret government program designed to protect humanity. We've had our eye on you for a while now Loki." He interrupted. His emphasis on my name caught me off guard slightly. How did he know who I was? It didn't matter, I became a hero to save people in honor of Peter. So it doesn't matter if this man was creepily watching a child, or the fact that he knew my secret identity. "I'm in." I said standing up. Nick looked taken aback by this response. "Your in? What the hell does that mean? I haven't even told you what the initiative is-" This time I interrupted him. "I don't care. I want in, to SHIELD, I want to save as many people as I can." "Woah, woah, woah" Fury said holding up his hands "There was no offer to let you into SHIELD. We can't just go around recruiting children. We want you as a member of a group of superheroes, a team if you will, to fight world ending threats." "Children joining an organization is unacceptable, but having them fight threats you're too scared of isn't? Besides I'm no child I am about a 1,000 years older than you. Now if you want me to dance around as a little puppet in your boyband, then you're gonna take me on that cloaked airship, and we're gonna talk about how I can join SHIELD."

Present day:

"Agent Loki next time you decide to bring your unruly brother onto a top secret plane I'd like to know beforehand." Fury's demand pulled me from a distant memory, and back to the present moment. "HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO MY BROTHER LIKE THAT YOU PUNY MORTAL. I AM THE KING OF ASGARD. WE ARE GODS AND DESERVE THE RESPECT OF SUCH." Stark, who happened to be walking by, pushed my shoulder, causing me to stumble back a few steps, then turned to Thor and said "Yea a puny God" Before continuing on his path smiling at his own sense of superiority. "Thanks Stark, love you too." I called out to him, turning back to the situation at hand I placed a hand upon Thor's shoulder and explained, "Thor it's ok Fury is-" "The director of SHIELD a program developed to keep the world safe from unearthly threats like you. So I suggest you calm down before you find yourself in chains just like our friend over here. Do I make myself clear?" The tension in the air was so thick you could slice it with a knife. I looked back and forth between Thor and Fury waiting to see how Thor would react to being put in his place. The look of shock on his face was priceless and it took everything in me not to burst out into laughter. "Listen here mortal, the only reason you are still breathing is because I trust my brother's judgment. So if he trusts you to get the tesseract back then I do as well. But let me make myself clear I do not take orders from you, and I never will." Thor firmly answered in a low threatening voice, "Oooookay then umm Thor why don't you go sit over there while we try to find the tesseract." I said awkwardly and sighed in relief when he listened. I looked around and noticed that Tony stayed around after picking on me to watch the Fury and Thor scene play out "Hey Stark next time you want to call me puny make sure you aren't being kept alive by a magnet." Pride hurt, Stark sneered and continued his urgent pace to the lab, with me close at his heels.

"What are we looking at Bruce?" Tony announced as we walked into the lab. The scepter we retrieved from the hostage was propped up on a table being closely examined by Doctor Banner. "Well, it's like nothing I've ever seen before" He replied without shifting his attention. "Obviously, it's not of this world." Bruce finally looked up, and Tony turned back to me "Well no shit sherlock. What? Did you strain your last two brain cells coming to that conclusion?" He said, before he even had a chance to turn back around I quipped back "You're hilarious Stark. Hey you do remember I'm a god right? To me you're practically an ape." I knocked the back of his head as I moved to Banner and the scepter. "Yet you're smaller than me. Does that make you a monkey?" Tony said ruffling my hair like I was a child. "Absolutely not!" I said a little too defensively "Don't worry little Night Monkey, your secret's safe with me." He teased reaching out to grab the scepter. "Hey Banner, think fast." Before Bruce could object Tony lightly stabbed his side. The sight of Tony stabbing made me flinch a little. I know it was Odin who tried to kill me, yet it's Tony's image I think of when I remember the moment. "Don't worry Banner, I know what it's like to be stabbed by Tony." Banner began to question, but Tony's exasperated eye roll and sigh stopped him before he could get out any questions. "How many times do I have to tell you that wasn't me!" "I don't care. I'm gonna hold this over you until the day I'm dancing on your grave." I smiled, grabbing the scepter from him. "Besides, it's much too amusing." I said while poking Banner with the scepter on his other side. "Would you two quit it!" he exclaimed as Tony and I laughed.