94 Chapter 94 Loki of Asgard

Wednesday, May 2nd, was one the last days of class before finals came up and Harry made sure to come to class himself to answer questions the students had since this was their last chance to get a parachute before Harry threw them off the plane. Sometimes it felt like Harry was explaining the whole of Metaphysics in the span of the classes, but thankfully the minute details could simply be referenced in terms of videos he'd made and specific chapters.

Today's review was a bit special. They had a guest. The entire class noticed when the door opened since that was usually how Harry's pranks started, but when no one entered, most turned away. Some of the more observant ones noticed LEDs built into the tiles started glowing which created a path to the back of the room, but they too decided not to care. Their grades were more important than blinking tiles.

At the end of the class which felt too short for many and too long for some, Harry had the students leave and stayed behind himself.

Harry asked the empty classroom, "What did you think?"

A figure shifted into view, one Harry recognized as Loki. He was standing in front of Harry's desk, though the LED lights on the tiles showed a path slowly walking from the back of the room to his side.

Loki stated, "An enlightening lesson. Midgard has come much further than I imagined since my last visit."

Harry didn't bother looking at the fake. It looked real to all his senses, a perfect illusion by any account, but Harry wasn't someone you could catch off guard so easily. When Abomination wrecked the building and the area, Harry used the chance to provide a few upgrades to his classrooms. If someone invisible stepped onto the floor, a small LED on the tile would light up. Loki's illusion had no weight and Loki himself was not weightless, so the glowing dots on the floor panels the trickster god had yet to notice gave his position away.

Harry turned to where the real Loki was standing and asked, "Exceptional praise from the great Loki of Asgard." Harry then added as an afterthought, "Speaking of your last visit, what was with the D. B. Cooper thing?"

Loki noticed Harry was staring at him. Not making eye contact, but staring in his direction. He walked a bit to the side and Harry followed. Loki examined his surroundings and only then did he notice the LEDs in the tiles.

The illusion vanished and Loki appeared with a fancy looking scepter. He smiled and said, "That's quite clever."

Harry acknowledged with a nod and replied, "This is my classroom, I have to make sure the only one doing pranks within is me."

Loki approached and stated, "An understandable sentiment if ever there was one. As for D.B. Cooper, that was the result of a lost bet between my brother and I."

"Thor huh. I was tempted to prank him when I last saw him, but I figured the God of Mischief wouldn't appreciate another prankster pranking his own brother. I know if I had a brother, only I would be allowed to prank him."

Loki smiled again at that. He approached cautiously and stated, "Indeed. I have a proposition for you. You see I have come to this world with a goal in mind and I have been informed that the easiest way to fulfill my goal would be to enlist the aid of Harry Potter."

Harry nodded and said, "Well, I am a fan of yours so depending on the issue, I'd be willing to assist with it."

Once Loki was close, the scepter at his side charged up and he said, "I need you to stand still for a moment." He then quickly brought the pointy tip to Harry's chest.

Only for the sharp edge to be stopped by a hard light wall that appeared between them.

Harry sighed. It seemed Loki did not want to be pranking buddings. Loki kept tapping on the barrier and Harry said, "Standard safety settings. Anything sharp brought up to another person or any projectile weapons brought out in class causes a wall to form to protect the occupants."

Loki frowned, "This will not stop me. I shall be the king of this world and you and those under you shall pave the way for it to happen."

Harry Paused at that. Once the scepter charged up, Harry felt a type of energy within it similar to that of the Time stone, so that glowing rock may have been either an Infinity stone or a replica of one. If Loki had the confidence for Harry to take over the world for him, it was probably the Mind stone. He probably went after Harry first since Harry Potter, at least according to anyone but Tony Stark, was a powerless human.

Harry considered his options. Unfortunately most of them were not great. Fighting Loki here may work, but the hallways and adjacent classrooms were not empty of innocent students and colleague teachers. That and Loki may have entered Harry's class alone, but the building may have included some of Loki's allies. Even if he beat Loki, the allies could harm others before Harry could get to them. The deaths of those students and teachers was not a price Harry was willing to pay to acquire the Mind stone when he could think of other ways to get it later.

Harry unpaused and said, "That may not stop you, but she will." And pointed at the storage room door behind Loki.

Loki turned around just as the door opened. Thor walked out, but it wasn't Thor. This 'Thor' had two massive breasts and a few slightly feminine features, though still grew a beard. 'Thor' was also carrying a two or three year old girl with curly blonde hair and green eyes. At his side was a small skinny black hair boy who looked like a mini version of Loki with blue eyes.

This 'Thor' said, "Honey! Where have you been? I've been so worried about you." Then 'Thor' gave the equivalent of a coquettish look and said demurely, "The bed has been so cold without you to warm it up."

The look female Thor gave Loki caused him to reel back in horror. Then the black haired child ran up to him and shouted, "Daddy! We missed you!"

Loki started screaming, "Ah! Ahh! ARGHHHHH!" He then scrambled away and ran out the door faster than any human would ever be capable of.

The hologram faded and Harry locked the door and hoped Loki wouldn't come back. Thankfully the mild version of fear gas Harry released from behind his desk the moment the last student left was enough to override Loki's logic and get him to fall for that small prank he made with hard light projections.

Harry then texted his girls to find an empty space and use their portkeys to go home. A few moments later he got a confirmation from everyone that they were home, meaning Harry really was the first one approached. All of his girls had mental protections against mind control, but Harry couldn't be certain how effective those would be against the Mind stone. The stone wasn't at full power of course. Just like the Eye of Agamotto did with the Time stone, the scepter seemed to hold back the true power of the Mind stone. This was normal since an infinity stone cannot be used to its fullest potential without cost.

Since he needed more info, Harry pulled out his phone and made a call. Less than half a ring later, the other side picked up and said, "Now is not the time Potter."

Harry figured Fury was probably quite busy since his secret shield base exploded yesterday, but Harry still said, "Thor's brother showed up for my class today."

After a moment of silence on the other end, Fury asked, "What happened?"

"He tried to poke me with a magic stick thingy but the automatic hard light defenses built into the class were enabled, preventing that from happening. Want me to send you the security footage?"

"Do it."

Harry figured Fury would want it and it would probably make Fury's day a little brighter.

Fury watched the video and afterwards Harry heard Loki's scream.

Once the video ended, Harry asked, "Loki said someone informed him I would be of assistance in conquering the world. Any ideas who told him that?"

Fury replied, "He used that spear on Barton. Turned him into his own personal flying monkey."

Harry added, "Figured it was something like that. I called the Reds and told them to stay low. Reed and the rest of the Fantastic Four are on a plane to Hong Kong to attend a conference there, so Loki shouldn't be able to get them, but I'll inform them nonetheless to be on the lookout."

"Good. Stay out of sight yourself until we take care of Loki. I could also use your help tracking him. We can't access cameras under your systems."

"I can ensure that if any cameras in my systems see Loki or Barton, you'll get notified, but I can't guarantee that'll work. I already checked before calling and Loki isn't anywhere at the moment. As that video showed you, Loki can become invisible so he isn't going to be seen until he wants to be."

"That'll have to do."

Before Fury could hang up, Harry asked, "Wait, you don't want my help? I've already proven I can out prank the God of Mischief and unless Thor shows up, you don't have access to anyone who knows more about Asgard than I do."

After a few more moments of silence on the other end, Fury answered, "There's a jet leaving New York for the Helicarrier in three hours. Be there." And with that he hung up.

Harry made some preparations and finished the last class of the day before heading to the airport. Jean said to have fun and that they would be ready when everything went to hell. Jean could use a bit of precognition and could tell when something dangerous was coming. According to her, it was coming tomorrow, and Harry wouldn't be in danger if he went, which was why she said to have fun.

Harry made his way to the runway where he was met with an agent who escorted him to a large carrier type jet craft. Waiting within were Coulson and someone straight out of the history books, Steve Rogers.

Harry said, "Good to see you Agent Coulson of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division."

Coulson chuckled and Steve raised an eyebrow at the exaggerated title. Coulson answered back, "Glad you could join us Professor Potter." He motioned to his side and said, "And this is Captain Steve Rogers."

Harry offered a hand Steve was glad to take and said, "It's a pleasure to meet you."

Steve smiled a bit and replied, "You too. You're a lot younger than I thought you'd be."

Coulson replied, "He's seventeen. The same age you were when you first tried to enlist."

Steve smiled awkwardly at that.

Harry said, "I turn eighteen in three months. Anyways, how bad is it? I have a few guesses but nothing substantial besides the fact that Loki is on earth and doesn't appear to be up to any good."

Coulson nodded and replied, "Yesterday at a core Shield Research facility, an object known as the Tesseract caused a wormhole to open up from the other end of space. Loki emerged with a scepter, a weapon of some kind. He used it to put Barton, another agent, and Erik Selvig under his control. The wormhole detonated not long afterwards, destroying the facility and Barton, Erik, and Loki got away and took the Tesseract with them. We've already called in Dr. Banner and he's agreed to assist with locating the cube."

Harry listened incredulously to such an irresponsible story that was completely filled with holes. He couldn't help it, he was unable to stop himself from smiling. Steve frowned at that and asked, "You find this amusing?"

Harry took in a few breaths and asked, "Shield was playing with the Tesseract? You were playing with the power source Hydra used to fuel their war?" Harry turned to Captain America and said, "I'm the planet's number one expert on magic and energy sources. I literally wrote the textbook when it comes to metaphysical energy sources. They should have called me if they were going to play with something like that. The fact that not only were they playing with it, but it bit them in the ass and they didn't call me immediately means they were too embarrassed to do so. That is why I'm laughing. Calling me for this is like a child calling their parents when they hurt themselves playing with something they shouldn't even have been around without adult supervision. Shield and everyone involved was too ashamed to do so before I called them first."

Steve looked back to Coulson who had lowered his head awkwardly. Coulson had of course stated they needed to call Harry, but the request was rejected.

Harry added, "And people wonder why I don't give Shield anything dangerous to play with."

Steve sighed that the heads of the group apparently founded by Peggy Carter were being rightfully scolded by a seventeen year old Brit. Trying to change the subject, Steve took out the folder he'd been given and asked, "So this Dr Banner was trying to replicate the serum they used on me?"

Coulson, more than happy for a change in subject, added, "A lot of people were. You were the world's first superhero. Banner thought gamma radiation might hold the key to unlocking Dr. Erskine's original formula."

Harry snorted, "That's the official version anyways. The higher ups always make sure their names don't appear when the time comes to put the blame on someone. Banner didn't even know he was working on a super soldier project until he tried it on himself. Thought it was a health enhancement project that would make people healthier and immune to radiation."

Steve sighed again. Things were never simple.

Coulson, deciding to go to a subject Harry, probably, couldn't hijack, asked, "Mr. Rogers, um, would you mind signing some things? I have the complete set of your trading cards from the war. They're vintage, near mint. Some slight foxing around the edges, but."

Steve asked incredulously, "My trading cards?"

"I mean if it's not too much trouble."

"No, no, it's fine," Steve replied in good humor.

Harry smiled at Coulson fangirling around Steve, but kept it to himself.

Not long after the jet arrived on the Helicarrier, parked near the middle of the Atlantic.

The jet landed and the group got out and was met by a familiar redhead. Coulson motioned to her and said, "Agent Romanoff. Captain Rogers. And you know Professor Potter."

Steve greeted, "Ma'am," to which Natasha replied, "Hi," before turning to Coulson and stating, "They need you on the bridge, they're starting the face trace."

Coulson nodded and headed off. Natasha turned to Harry and said, "Been a while. Hear you've been keeping out of trouble lately." She then turned to Steve and asked, "Did Coulson ask you to sign his trading cards?"

Steve lightly smiled and replied, "That he did."

Natasha smiled with satisfaction and led them over to the edge of the ship and said, "He's very proud of them."

Their group saw Bruce looking over the sea and Natasha called out, "Dr. Banner."

Bruce turned and looked at the group, "Professor Potter? They told me Captain Rogers was coming, but I didn't hear you were too."

Natasha asked, "You two know each other?"

Bruce replied, "Quite a bit. Harry gave me this fancy watch. It certainly has made the nomad life easier."

Harry replied, "Glad to hear it."

Bruce then offered a hand to Steve and said, "It is an honor to meet you Captain."

Steve smiled warmly and replied, "The honor is all mine. I look forward to working with you."

A few orders sounded over the speakers and Natasha told them, "Gentlemen, and Harry. It's about to get a little hard to breathe out here so it's better to come inside."

Bruce asked, "This is a submarine?" He then sarcastically asked, "And they want me inside it?"

The Helicarrier's turbines then started running making it clear the direction this craft was going was not down.

Bruce then smiled and said, "Oh, this is much worse."

Harry laughed. The Hulk had a bit of a sadistic side and didn't mind making people think he was a stupid monster, even now. So other than Harry and Betty, no one else knew that the Hulk was completely different now compared to what he used to be.

As they were led up the flight deck and through a hall, the group passed a chicken wearing a perfectly fitted suit. The chicken stopped in front of Harry and said, "Buck, buck, bugok."

Harry nodded back and said, "Good work as always Agent Cluckers."

The chicken bowed and continued down the hall.

Everyone else just stared at him. Even Bruce had to ask, "I'm sorry, but what was that about?"

Natasha answered, "Almost a year ago, Harry pranked Shield by somehow filling the Helicarrier with chickens. Some were caught, but that one was not. Once it was the only chicken left, it started wearing a suit. No one has ever been able to catch it."

Bruce had to ask, "So no one has, I don't know, tried to shoot it?"

Natasha shook her head but didn't reply. She couldn't tell them that every time someone shot a chicken, a horde of them came out of nowhere and viciously attacked the shooter. She also wouldn't tell them that sometimes the chicken let her pet it. It was a good chicken.

After they got to the deck and were high enough in the air, Fury ordered the ship to go stealth. It wasn't perfect but at least from the ground, no one would be able to notice the ship floating high in the sky above them. What Harry found funny was that the Shield used the sound cancelling properties Harry taught Fitz and Simmons in its construction. Because of that, the sound of the engines wasn't deafening and the people below the ship wouldn't be able to easily hear it. If they were high enough.

Steve walked over to Fury and handed him a ten dollar bill Fury pocketed before going over to Bruce and welcoming him.

When asked for ideas on how to find the Tesseract, Bruce answered, "Call everyone with a spectrometer and tell them to put it on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays. Harry and I shouldn't have any problems roughing out a tracking algorithm for basic cluster recognition. It will let us rule out a few places."

Harry added, "I have a few programs we can use as a base. Won't take longer than an hour."

Natasha smiled and told Fury, "Apparently these two know each other."

Fury raised an eyebrow but decided not to pursue that, for now. "Agent Romanoff, would you show Dr. Banner and Professor Potter to their laboratory please."

Natasha walked over and said, "You're going to love it boys, we got all the cool toys."

After passing Agent Cluckers again, Natasha asked, "So how did you two meet?"

Harry answered, "Bruce and Betty were in New York a few months ago and I invited them over for dinner."

Bruce shook his head and smiled at how much Harry left out, but he still had no idea how Harry pulled off what he did and wasn't going to ask in front of the intel gathering spy.

The Helicarrier reached its maximum cruising altitude and the pair got to work. Harry loaded up a base algorithm and explained the parts to Bruce as they worked to alter it to the parameters they needed it to work on. Harry could've finished alone in a few minutes using technopathy to type instead of doing it by hand, but Harry doubted the labs around the world would have moved their stuff that fast so even taking an hour, they would finish before the labs did.

A little before they were done, Harry got a notification that Loki had been spotted in Germany. They were mostly finished, so Harry told Bruce they found Loki and Harry wanted to go. Bruce didn't really feel like meeting a God of Mischief so he elected to stay and finish up.

Harry headed out to the deck and took a rebreather near the wall before going outside to the jet on standby. Natasha was already on board waiting for Captain Rogers. She said, "I don't recall you being invited."

"My system saw Loki before Fury's did and told Fury. It told me too of course."

"And here I thought you were keeping yourself out of trouble."

Harry smiled and replied, "No, you just haven't heard what I've been up to recently."

Not long afterwards Steve showed up in a Stars and Stripes uniform with his famous shield.

He didn't question why Harry was there and got on board for the jet to take off. Although they were in the middle of the Atlantic, it was much easier to fly at high altitudes so from the altitude the Helicarrier was maintaining, the Jet could make it to Germany in twenty minutes.

Along the way, Harry asked to check out the Captain's Shield. Harry actually had never handled normal vibranium before, he only used the vibranium he created alchemically from silver. While looking it over he noticed a number of differences between what Harry usually used and the shield. The first was that it had absolutely no magical properties. Much like the adamantine which covered Wolverine's bones, this metal either lacked or was stripped of the magical properties it should have possessed.

It would be harder to transfigure this shield into a rubber duck than it would a steel shield, but it was still doable, and a sufficiently powerful magical strike could destroy this shield.

Harry wondered if Steve would mind an upgrade. He couldn't help but spend the remainder of the ride thinking of ideas.

Eventually they arrived. Steve grabbed a parachute and jumped out since descending that way would be quicker than waiting for the jet to descend.

It ended up being a good idea, as Steve descended down, he noticed Loki pointing his scepter at an old man with the clear intent to fire. Steve removed his parachute to fall the rest of the way and landed just in time to block the energy strike and protect the old man.

The pair fought for a bit, but Steve's strikes were barely moving the frost giant and Loki was a little faster than Steve.

Natasha shouted for Loki to surrender but he fired an energy blast at the jet the pilot was just barely able to dodge.

This in turn gave Steve an opening to kick Loki's head in but Loki was barely phased.

It was then that the jet's onboard speakers were hacked and the song, Shoot to Thrill started playing, along with a, "Miss me Agent Romanoff?" in a familiar voice.

Tony showed up in his suit and Harry couldn't help but wonder if he flew from New York to Germany in that thing. No, Harry figured it was more likely that Tony had been stalking the Helicarrier and was waiting for the right moment. He left the Helicarrier at the same time as the jet and went just a little bit slower which explains why he arrived a bit after they did.

Tony shot Loki with a Muon beam, blasting the Asgardian off his feet as Tony approached with weapons primed in a threatening manner. At that point Loki simply lifted his hands in surrender.

Harry frowned at that as they lowered the jet to load everyone and Loki up. Harry knew that Loki's illusions could fool cameras. He could easily make an illusion of him running in one direction as a distraction and turn himself invisible and run in the other direction.

When Loki came on board, he glared at Harry for a moment before turning away.

Tony noticed this and asked, "Friend of yours?"

"He tried to recruit me earlier today and I ended up pranking him in retaliation."

Tony removed his helmet and asked, "Do you have a video? This I gotta see."

"Maybe later."

Harry waited until Loki was restrained and then threw a handful of silver glitter at him.

Loki closed his eyes and after a few moments opened them to see it wasn't a weapon. He saw the sparkles of glitter over himself and deadpanned to Harry, "Was that really necessary?"

Harry replied, "Of course it was. You may be able to make an illusion of yourself, but modifying it is a bit trickier. If any of us sees a version of you not covered in glitter, we know it's a fake."

Tony did a double take before asking, "Did you really just defeat magic with glitter?"

Harry corrected, "Asgardian magic with glitter. Trust me, it's more impressive."

Loki looked rather peeved at that and turned to the side and remained silent when Natasha started questioning him.

When Fury asked for an update, Natasha informed him that Loki was remaining silent and also updated him on the 'security precautions' Harry took to prevent Loki from tricking them.

It was then that they heard lightning cackle in the distance. The clouds they were in were not thunder clouds so that was quite odd.

Steve noticed Loki tense up and asked, "What's the matter? Scared of a little lightning?"

He answered, "I'm not overly fond of what follows."

Harry perked up and said, "Ah, that would explain the lightning."

Steve asked, "What?"

A loud thud sounded from the roof and shook the jet. Harry pointed up and answered, "Him."

Stark got his helmet but Harry said, "Stay put old man," as he walked to the hatch and pressed the button to open it. A moment later Thor jumped down and locked eyes on Loki.

Harry stepped in front of the God of Thunder causing Thor to raise his hammer which caused Stark to charge his repulsors.

Thor then smiled upon recognizing the one standing in front of him. "Harry Potter! Good to see you!"

This caused Stark to lower his repulsors.

"You too Thor, can I ask what you are doing here?"

"I am here to retrieve my brother and the Tesseract."

Harry nodded and said, "Well, Loki here gave himself up to our custody and doesn't have the Tesseract on him. Why do you need it anyways?"

Thor answered, "The Tesseract is the item Heimdall requires to repair the Bifrost, it must be brought to Asgard."

Harry considered it and said, "I have no problem with that. The people of earth are not doing anything terribly productive with it anyways. However I suspect that Loki doesn't know where it is. He probably assumed he'd be tortured when he gave himself into our custody, so my guess is he has some independent plans to reunite with it later. The only way to get it is to stick around Loki, so take a seat."

Thor frowned and took another look at Loki. After a moment his frown changed into a bad attempt at holding back laughter. "My brother, why are you shimmering like that?"

Steve snorted and Tony laughed out loud while Natasha held back a giggle at the face Loki was making.

Harry answered, "That was me. I covered him in glitter. If you see a Loki not covered in glitter, that is probably an illusion."

Thor said, "There are spells Loki can use to clean himself of such things."

Harry replied, "I know, but this glitter can't be removed with magic."

Loki asked, "What?" Apparently he'd been planning to remove it this whole time once the occasion was right.

A shimmer covered Loki in what Harry and Thor recognized as an Asgardian cleaning spell. The glitter remained much to Loki's horror.

Thor laughed vigorously and Harry said, "This is the second prank I've done to him. Would you all like to watch the first?"

Loki sighed in defeat as Tony got closer to the monitor Harry was pulling up.

A minute later, Tony was laughing with tears in his eyes, Steve was fighting to remain dignified while laughing while Natasha was laughing like a little school girl.

Thor was unable to laugh as his own amusement was matched by his horror at the scene of a woman version of himself with the same voice claiming to be the mother of Loki's children and sharer of his bed. Thor hoped Harry Potter would not show this to his mother. Neither of them had given her grandchildren and he'd never hear the end of this should she find out.

The way back to the Helicarrier was filled with small talk as Thor spoke of the nine realms and Tony asked completely pointless questions.

Once they arrived an armored group was ready to escort the sparkly God of Mischief to a holding cell and the scepter was brought up to the laboratory. Harry could already tell the scepter and Loki were linked. He could use a bit of its power at a distance and even hear and see through it like a remote camera.

After Loki was locked up, Fury tried a few intimidation tactics Loki returned with insults and taunts while smiling. While Fury was getting taunted, Harry called his phone making it ring in the room.

The ringtone was something Harry made and discreetly added to Fury's phone.

[Ah! Ahh! ARGHHHHH!"] [Ah! Ahh! ARGHHHHH!"] [Ah! Ahh! ARGHHHHH!"]

Loki gritted his teeth at Fury's ring tone and Fury took his time to answer it before eventually picking it up and hearing Harry asking him to come back for a plan.

At the command center, Steve asked Thor, "What's his play?"

Thor answered, "He had an army called the Chitauri. They are not of Asgard nor any known world of the nine realms. He means to lead then against your people. They will win him the earth. In return I suspect for the Tesseract."

Steve asked, "An army from outer space?"

Bruce added, "So he's building another portal."

Steve commented aloud, "I want to know why Loki let us take him. He's not leading an army from here."

Harry said, "Let's find out."

Thor asked, "How?"

"Give him an audience and let him gloat how much better he is than everyone. Think that'll work?"

Thor gave a small nod as he begrudgingly admitted his brother would probably fall for that.

Coulson and Tony entered a moment later and Harry said, "We're going to see Loki." Harry grabbed the scepter and everyone followed to Loki's cell.

Harry handed the scepter to Bruce and whispered something to him before he stepped forward and approached the cell. "You know I heard that little speech of yours in Germany. I happen to be one of the most rational people on the planet, so let's consider this a practice round. If you can convince me to follow you, I'll not only get you out of here, I'll provide you with all the resources needed to take over and rule the people of Earth."

Everyone looked at Harry admitting to what amounted to treason against their planet.

Harry added, "Of course, if you can't convince a rational person to follow you, then you obviously will never convince anyone. Wanna give it a shot, or do you have no confidence you'll succeed?"

Loki glared at Harry's bait but it wasn't something he could simply ignore either. Loki was confident in his ability to see through lies and Harry wasn't lying.

Loki replied, "I have already said enough. You are meant to be ruled."

Harry acknowledged, "Perhaps. Monkey see, monkey do and all. Humans can improve themselves through imitation. They instinctively follow those who are better than them so they can use their example to better themselves. But, what about you is better than me? Why should I follow you, specifically?"

Loki scoffed, "I am a god."

"A god of Mischief, Lies, Deceit, Treachery. And according to a few tales, Magic, and Fire, which is rather ironic considering your origins. What you are not a god of is Law, Rules, Order, Justice, or anything concept that would benefit your subjects through imitation."

Loki argued back full of confidence, "I was born to rule."

"So was Thor. Would anyone who had a chance to kneel to you, not simply kneel to him for all the same reasons?"

Loki sneered and said, "You are just trying to trick me into giving you information to prove my worth."

Harry smiled and replied, "So you have information that proves we would be better under your rule than your brother's? What kind of information is that? Knowledge of a threat perhaps? One you could protect the Earth from under your rule?"

Loki remained silent.

Harry continued, "You know, with or without such information, there is something you can do to convince me to bend the knee to you. Legends say that Odin sacrificed an eye for the knowledge and wisdom needed to rule. I'm certain you have lost much, but I don't think you have sacrificed enough."

Loki sneered in disgust, "You want me to remove my eye?"

Harry shook his head, "Sacrificing what he did would not grant you anything better than what he had, therefore in order to surpass your adoptive father, you must sacrifice even more."

Loki asked sarcastically, "And what would that be?"

Harry remained silent for a moment before locking eyes with Loki and answering seriously. "Everything."

Loki blinked and asked offensively, "I beg your pardon?"

Harry explained, "The God of Mischief can never become a better ruler than Odin. It literally goes against your divinity and your own identity will sabotage you, preventing you from ever achieving it. In order to surpass him, you must sacrifice your godhood and become mortal. If you were willing to do so, I'd be willing to give you access to all the resources needed to allow you to conquer the world at your leisure. Your godhood and powers hold you back Loki. Only through discarding them can you become a better ruler than your father ever was and perhaps better than your brother could ever be."

Harry was staring at Loki with the rest behind him, so he took a moment to Pause and look at everyone's expressions. Most were shocked, especially Thor.

Harry unpaused and continued, "As you are now, few if any on Earth would benefit from following you, someone born above them. But if someone born above them was willing to bring them self to their level in order to lead them, that sounds like someone worth kneeling to."

Loki remained in pensive silence as everyone waited for his decision. Eventually he said, "I don't need your help to conquer this world."

Harry shook his head, "Because your plan is foolproof?"

Harry turned to the group and said, "You guys want to know what his plan is? It is a basic Trojan Horse."

Tony asked, "So we're the horse and Loki is the Greeks?"

"No, Loki is the horse."

Harry pointed at the scepter in Bruce's hands, "That's the Greeks. Loki knew Shield would absolutely want to get their hands on something that shiny, despite the fact that they know that thing can control minds. What guarantee do we have that it won't go off and take control of everyone on the Helicarrier?"

At that, everyone took a step back from Bruce.

Harry continued, "What guarantee do we have that Loki's control over Barton and Dr. Selvig won't end if we destroy it? A good prank relies on your victim's sin to work, greed is always a good option."

Harry had been looking at Loki the whole time and when Harry said that, Loki glanced at Banner. Not the scepter in his hands, but Banner.

Harry added, "Or perhaps wrath. You weren't planning on unleashing the Hulk were you?"

Loki remained silent.

Harry smirked and walked up to Banner. "Let's fulfil his dreams shall we?" Harry pointed at Banner and said, "Abracadabra!"

Banner gave Harry an amused look. Harry gave a stage whisper, "Come on man, that's your cue."

Banner rolled his eyes and started expanding.

Everyone stepped back except Harry and Coulson and Fury who'd been standing in the corner drew their weapons.

Hulk stretched for a moment and looked back at the scepter in his hand.

The Hulk stated, "The Professor is correct. This does appear to be emitting an energy wave that stimulates the amygdala and the hypothalamus. Prolonged exposure would certainly cause those in proximity to be at each other's throat sooner or later. Like a poison for the mind."

Everyone, including Loki, was unable to keep a shocked expression off their face.

Harry asked, "So what do you suggest?"

Hulk approached Loki's cell and heavily tapped on the glass a few times. This caused some alarms to flare and caused the space beneath the prison to open. A warning sounded from the room stating to stay away from the wall or the cage would be dropped.

Hulk didn't continue. Instead he said, "According to legend, when the Horse was found, a Seer told the citizens of Troy not to let it in, but she was cursed so that no one would believe her. I say we do what the Trojans should have done, and toss it into the sea."

Before anyone could respond, Hulk snapped the scepter in half, cutting Loki's connection to it. Hulk then tossed the two pieces under the cell into the opening that went into the sea.

Loki shouted, "No! What have you done you Monster!"

Hulk smiled back and said, "You know, you have some real anger issues. Maybe you should get some help with that."

Loki was stunned silent as Hulk turned back into Bruce and laughed.

Once he composed himself to recognize the mockery, Loki snarled back and shouted, "When I get out of here I will cut out your heart!"

Harry shook his head and asked, "Threats? Really? It seems you are no longer capable of convincing me." Without another word he leaves with the rest following shortly behind him.

In the hall Harry turned to Fury and said, "Loki is certain he will get out soon. Banner will be in the wind if we find the Tesseract which should be in a few hours. If Loki is confident in removing Banner's heart, he must have a plan to get him out within the next six hours. Either escape or extraction. My money is on the latter with Barton leading the team."

Natasha asked, "Didn't you say breaking the scepter will free Barton?"

"It could have, but it didn't. The scepter would've reacted differently to being broken in that case. I've dealt with artifacts like that in the past. In either case, when Barton shows up to get Loki out, I say we let him."

Fury asked, "And why the hell should we allow that to happen?"

Harry answered, "Because, there is no way someone lets themselves be captured without a plan B. Plan B should be a scenario where the Tesseract causes world ending damage and only he can stop it, forcing Shield to release him. So Plan A is to get an alien army to take over Earth. Plan B is, 'If I can't have Earth, no one will.' I say park the Helicarrier in the water and evacuate the unneeded personnel."

Fury really didn't like that completely reasonable answer so he asked, "How can he do that?"

Harry answered, "Using a portal? I can think of a dozen ways off the top of my head. If he created a portal and the other end was a black hole, the earth would be slowly sucked into the portal and destroyed. A Portal to the surface of the sun would burn whatever continent the portal was opened over. And Loki's army may be the only army in the Galaxy that will listen to Loki, but I doubt they are the only army or even the most deadly one. If Loki knows the coordinates of another worse army, he could order a portal be made there, then when they come here and destroy the earth, he could offer salvation through the use of his army to defeat the other army."

The fact that Harry really could think of so many ways to use a Portal to conquer or destroy the world scared a few people. Harry wondered how they would feel if they learned Harry didn't need the cube to make such portals himself.

Harry said, "So, let Barton in and let them rescue Loki. Capture Barton if you can though. Let Loki get some distance and then track him to where the Cube is."

After quite a bit more deliberation, Fury decided to go with Harry's idea. However, since Harry was considered unneeded personnel himself, he was sent back to New York with the other evacuees. Fury really didn't like him on his Helicarrier which was fine with Harry. He needed an excuse to get away and go back in time and retrieve the Mind stone. He asked Bruce to throw the scepter overboard earlier with this in mind. Shield would eventually try to find it, but they were in the middle of the Atlantic so not finding it was understandable.

*Author's Note*

Only changed a little here since stopping the battle of New York is not something any reader really wants to happen. My Battle of New York will of course be quite different. For those who do not know, I prefer to be original, so my Battle for New York will be completely different from anything in any other fanfic. And for those wondering, if Loki agreed, Harry would give Loki control of Brilliance Inc and let him run it with the Goblins. Loki would technically 'be given the resources needed to rule the world,' but that didn't mean it would be easy. That was a prank of its own.

Unfortunately we won't see the battle of the Helicarrier, so here is a single scene from it as an apology.

Barton noticed one of the mercenaries pointing his rifle much too low. When he noticed what the man's target was, the brainwashed Shield Agent shouted with all his might, "No! Don't shoot the Chicken!"

*Bang*

The immortal chicken looked in their direction and a sound that haunts the dreams of every Shield agent echoed through the base. "Cock-A-Coocle-Coo!"