ΣΙΓΜΑ and Avengers Phase I

Chapter V: Lightning, Thunder, and Everything in Between

Tony lowers the door to see what's going on, but someone lands in his way. A man it seems, holding a silver rectangular hammer and dressed in clothing similar to Loki's armor but without the horned helmet. The man's long, blonde hair sways over his shoulders as he hits Tony in the shoulder with his hammer, sending Iron Man crashing into Lauren. The new man grabs Loki by the collar of his clothes and flies out of the jet.

"Urg... Now there's that guy." Tony stands up, a bit out of breath from being rammed into Lauren with such force.

"Another Asgardian?" Natasha yells over the noise.

Steve helps Lauren stand up and turns to Tony. "Think the guy's a friendly?"

"Doesn't matter." Tony walks slowly over to the open ramp and steps on the edge of it. "If he frees Loki or kills him, the Tesseract's lost."

"Stark, we need a plan of attack!" Steve reaches out his arm to try and get Tony to delay his take off, but Tony is tired of waiting.

"I have a plan. Attack!" Tony flies out of the jet in his Iron Man suit, scanning for any signs of where the two Asgardians could have landed.

Lauren stumbles over to a rack of parachutes. She takes one off for herself and then tosses one over to Steve. "For a genius, Stark sure doesn't think before he acts."

Steve starts strapping the parachute around his waist when Natasha turns her head to look at them. "I'd sit this one out, you two!"

"That blondie just came in here and smacked Tony around like he was a sack of rice! Even if he won't admit it, Tony is going to need backup!" Lauren says as she finishes tying the parachute around her.

Wendy and Natasha look at each other for a second before Wendy shakes her head. "I'll stay up here with you, Agent Romanoff, just in case we are struck by lightning and we have to abandon the plane."

Natasha agrees and yells one more final warning to Lauren and Steve just as they grab their weapons. "I'd be careful out there. These guys come from legends, they're basically gods."

"There's only one God, ma'am, and I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that." Captain America jumps out of the jet with Lauren right next to him.

The kidnapper of Loki crashes down on the ledge of a mountain. Loki lays down in the dirt and groans in pain from the fall. Loki looks up at his kidnapper to find it is indeed his brother, Thor Odinson.

Thor walks over to Loki with an angered expression written on his face. "Where's the Tesseract?!"

Loki laughs, amused that his older brother's rage is showing. "I've missed you too."

"Do I look to be in a gaming mood?!"

Loki stands up roughly, ignoring the pain in his back. "Oh, you should thank me. With the Bifrost gone, how much dark energy did the Allfather have to muster to conjure you here? Your precious Earth."

Thor drops his famous hammer, Mjölnir, causing the mountain to quake. He holds Loki by the shoulders and looks at his face, remembering that the last time he saw his brother, he was falling into a dark chasm. "I thought you were dead."

"Did you mourn?" Loki asks, his blue eyes are crystaled over and drained of emotion.

"We all did! Our father-" Loki raises a finger to cut Thor off.

"Your father." Thor lets go of Loki as the latter brings up the subject. "He did tell you my true parentage, did he not?"

Loki turns around toward the cliff and looks off at the night sky, trying to imagine if he can see Asgard out there somewhere. Thor steps toward him, but doesn't get too close. "We were raised together, we played together, we fought together. Do you remember none of that?"