You spent the next two days straight researching with Fury and Tony, trying to find any sign of where Balder could be hiding Loki. Your power was draining through the soulbond at an alarming rate and you were getting desperate to find Loki before it was too late. You ate everything in sight, trying to keep your strength up and fuel yourself so you could fuel the soulbond. You apologized to Loki one day after you brewed coffee with one of Tony's energy drinks instead of water and dumped in crushed up caffeine pills in and sugar. You felt your heart skip about three beats when you downed that ungodly mixture and power flared in the soulbond. Fury sent a memo out that no one else on the team was to ever attempt to make monster-coffee. You drank three more pots of the stuff before the ordeal was over.

You spent free moments on top of the tower, casting out your magic and senses for Loki, or signs of Balder's shields.

You had no luck.

You expected to hear from Balder. He wanted you to come to him. Why hadn't he contacted you? You couldn't go save Loki, if you didn't know where he was.

The morning of the fifth day, you were desperate for answers and made a desperate move. "Tony, don't stop me," you told him firmly. You were in the commonroom right after breakfast. "I'll explain what I'm doing after. I promise that I know what I'm doing," you told him. He growled, but nodded. It was never good when you told him you'd explain something after you did it. You pulled a dagger, apologized silently to Frigga, and sliced open your right palm.

"Kat!" Tony exclaimed, protesting your blood being spilled.

You ignored him and placed your bleeding palm against the soulbond marks on your left arm. You felt the power flare and followed the pulse to Loki's mind at the other end. /Loki!/ you called when your mind finally found his. You got a vague idea of where he was.

/Kat?/ he asked. His voice sounded so weak and pained.

/I'm here. We're trying to find you. I swear we're coming. Just hang on/ you told him urgently. He couldn't give up. If he gave up you would both die. /Can you tell me anything about where you are?/

/I have seen nothing besides the room I am chained in/ he replied, so tired, so weak. You could hear how bruised and broken he was. What the hell had Balder done to him? Didn't he care at all about his brother? You poured strength and healing magic down the soulbond.

/No matter. We'll find you/

/No. Do not come here. He will kill you, or worse/

/He can't kill me without killing you/ you reminded him. /We're coming for you, my love. I will not abandon you. We are in this together. Forever/

/No, darling. He will kill you to keep you from helping me. He doesn't care about keeping either of us alive. No, do not interrupt, my darling/ he said urgently before you could do just that. You had to interrupt, to get him down off the ledge. /I am just sorry that I could not marry you. I am glad that I got to talk to you one last time/

/No! Don't give up. Don't you fucking dare give up. I will find you and I will get you out of there. We're coming for you, I swear to you, Loki. I swear on the soulbond, on everything I am that I am coming for you. Please, just hold on a little longer/

/I love you too/ was all he answered.

You felt the destructive force of power, the backlash as you were thrown back into your own body. you howled in pain as you felt your soul literally ripped in two. Tony was holding you while you screamed and cried, while your heart, your soul, your very being was ripped in half. You wailed in pain as half of you was lost, torn away.

"Kat? Kat?! What the hell just happened?" Tony demanded when you finally got your breathing under control, when you could finally stop screaming long enough for him to get through to you. You looked down at the soulbond marks on your arm. They were gray under the smear of your blood. Tony wrapped a bandage around your sluggishly bleeding palm and cleaned the blood from your other arm.

Loki had done it.

He had broken the soulbond.

"He broke the soulbond. Balder is killing him. He broke the soulbond to save my life," you told Tony with no emotion in your voice. You didn't have any emotions left to give.

"Kat..." Tony said softly, pulling you into his arms, trying to comfort you.

You shoved him away, hard, focusing on what you had to do. You had to save Loki. You had to save him now. You were out of time. "I know where he is," you told Tony as you stood. Pepper had joined you. Good. You needed all of the help you could get. "There's a lot to do and not enough time. You have a choice, Uncle Tony. Either you help me now, or you get the fuck out of my way. I will save him whether you help me or not," you told him firmly, plans forming in an instant. You were out of time, so you had to go with whatever half-assed plan you could come up with.

You felt for your magic, finding that you still had the magic Loki had given you when the soulbond was forged. You would figure out why you still had that power later, after you had saved Loki. For now, you were just grateful. You would need every ounce of it now. You used magic to don your armor, combat boots, extra weapons and all.

"What do you need?" Tony asked immediately. He wasn't going to stand in your way.

You gave him a small smile. "I need blood, and for you never to tell Frigga what I am about to do. Or about what I did when I cut my palm," you added. Frigga was never to know that you and Loki knew some blood magic, or worse that you used it. "If you don't want to, fine, I'll do it myself, consequences be damned." You didn't care if you drained every single drop of power you had. You were saving Loki's life.

Tony still hesitated. "I'll do it," Pepper volunteered, offering you her hand. You could have kissed her for her kindness.

"Thank you," you told her, relieved beyond measure. You pulled a dagger and sliced her palm quickly. You waited for a moment, gathering her blood on your dagger, then flung the blood off toward the far wall while saying the final words of the portal spell, forcing it open with only a touch of your power. Pepper's blood was powering it. "Pepper stay here. Uncle Tony, with me," you ordered, not being exactly polite to your uncle. You could apologize to him later. You summoned your tiara from Asgard, placed it carefully, grabbed Tony's hand and led him to the portal.

There wasn't enough time.

The portal opened in front of the throne room in Asgard. You dropped Tony's hand the moment you were through the portal and proceeded to make your way into the throne room, leaving the portal open. You prayed to all of the gods that the people you needed were in the throne room where you needed them. You didn't have time to hunt them down. Frigga had seen at least some of this, you knew. She had warned you the time was coming for you to need the soulbond ceremony words.

The time was now.

You strode confidently into the throne room and straight up to the thrones. The other petitioners jumped to get out of your way, scattering to the far walls. No one here had seen you in your armor. They were used to seeing you in the dresses of their world, as Loki's darling soulbond and nothing more. They were seeing the violent side of you today. They were a warrior people. They understood. Tony followed behind you in guard position, letting you take the lead.

You knelt in front of the thrones, thanking all the gods that, Frigga, Thor, Sif, and Astrid, leader of the female warriors, were somehow all there where you needed them. "My Queen, I beg your assistance," you told Frigga formally.

"Rise, Daughter. What is it you need?" she asked all formal politeness. You held up your arm with the gray soulbond marks. All of their eyes widened with the looks of horror on their faces. They knew that it meant, though you doubted any of them had ever seen it before.

"Loki is in danger. I need assistance to save him. Immediately," you told Frigga simply. There was no need for more words when the proof was etched in your skin.

"Children, Astrid. Go. Bring my son home safely," Frigga ordered. You curtsied to her, regardless of the fact that you were wearing pants. It was still the appropriate gesture.

"Thank you, my queen," you replied formally. You knew she would do anything to save her son. Offering a few Asgardians, even some of their best warriors was just the tip of the iceberg of the help she could send. This small band would get you started, would be able to mobilize faster to get Loki out of immediate danger.

"Save my son," she pleaded, tears in her eyes. She knew. They all knew that Loki would only break the soulbond if he were dying.

"I will, lady mother,"

Thor, Sif, and Astrid rushed to follow you from the room with Tony at your heels. "Sister, what happened?" Thor asked as you walked back to the portal. You explained what was going on as briefly as you could.

"Kat, don't forget what Frigga said," Sif warned.

"I know. It's time,"

"Time for what?" Tony demanded, hating being left in the dark.

"Time to go save my soulbond," you told him as you all walked through the portal. The portal snapped shut behind you, the second you were through.

"You don't know where he is," Tony protested.

"Yes, I do," you replied. "I got his location when he broke the soulbond, but we don't have much time. You have 30 seconds to request gear before we head out," you told them all as you grabbed the last pot of monster-coffee from the table in the commonroom.

"Kat-" Tony started, but didn't get further than that as you downed the entire pot directly from the carafe. You were not messing around with saving Loki. Thor, Sif, and Astrid requested weapons and gear which you summoned for them as you downed coffee from the pot.

Never drink an entire pot of monster-coffee at once.

It should never be drunk in general and should definitely never be chugged. You did both. You literally shuddered when it took effect about 30 seconds later. You were going to sleep for a month when the stuff wore off. You didn't care as long as you saved Loki first.

"Ready?" you asked them. They all nodded when they were geared up

"What's the plan?" Tony asked.

"I'm going to portal us in. I need you four to guard while I get Loki in decent enough shape to travel, and then we're getting the fuck out of there. If he's in bad enough shape that he broke the soulbond, it is going to take all of my magic and all of my healing abilities to get him stable enough to travel. I won't be able to help you fight Balder or his cronies."

"Lead on, Sister," Thor said when they'd all absorbed your words.

"Shouldn't we bring some more people?" Tony asked, hesitantly. Your group was deceptively small.

"There's no one else here, Uncle Tony. Call backup to the location when we get there,"

You looked over at Pepper. "Can you handle opening another portal?" you asked her. Thor opened his mouth to offer, but you needed him at full strength, so you glared at him to keep him silent. Pepper nodded. You felt her power levels and saw that she had just enough for this.

"Good. You stay here after the portal is opened. You can't handle opening two portals in one day. Especially since you don't actually have magic," you had the feeling that Tony was grateful you were keeping Pepper out of this fight.

"I can fight!" Pepper protested.

"Not this fight. Open the portal. That is enough. Let me save my magic for healing Loki." She nodded and offered you his hand again. You glanced at Thor, Sif, and Astrid. "Never tell the Queen that I did this," you ordered them. You reopened the wound on Pepper's hand and used the same process as before, using forbidden blood magic to open the portal as you focused on Loki and the signal you had gotten from him when the soulbond broke. You had to shove your own power in to help break the portal through the shields. Sif and Astrid grabbed your hand and helped, though neither of them had much if any magic of their own.

Together you punched through.

Pepper passed out on the couch she had been sitting on just as the portal opened.

Thor and Tony flanked you as you ran through the portal. Sif followed a step behind with Astrid. The portal snapped shut the second you were all through. You would have to punch another way out of here.

That was a problem for after you saved your Loki.