The rest of the flight went smoothly after the blond Asgardian took the god of mischief back inside the Quinjet. As Loki was finally being brought inside the Helicarrier in cuffs, the team learned that the blond man's identity was Thor Odinson, the god of thunder. He told them that appearance of the god of mischief worried his father, who was able to send him there to take Loki and bring him back home to be judged for his actions. The heroes explained to Thor that his fellow Asgardian had caused many problems, that being the reason why they first wanted to question him for what he did. Plus, Loki still had many people under his spell, people like Erik Selvig and Clint Barton, so the priority of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the supergroup was to find a way to break the spell and let them free.

Loki was being escorted down the long corridors of the immense aircraft by a large group of armed agents in their battle gear. The god eyed with curiosity the primitive, yet complex flying structure, already fantasizing about using one of those to spread to the entire world all his divine glory, along with the message of his glorious purpose for Midgard. As his leather boots tapped against the metal floor he glanced at the strange metallic bracelets the humans put on him, thinking how easy it would've been for him to crush them to pieces. In his world he was but a reject, someone to make fun of, but there he was truly a god: he could overpower two of the strongest warriors Earth had to offer, and that not even using the full power of his scepter. Earth was a perfect kingdom for him to rule. As he was escorted through another corridor, he noticed a huge glass door on his right. Inside the room were all kinds of technological instruments humans relied on, along with his scepter. It was currently being examined by a mortal he knew thanks to Clint Barton's knowledge: Bruce Banner, the man that hid inside of him the dull creature known as the Hulk. As the man removed his glasses and raised his gaze from the scepter, Loki nodded at him in greeting and showed him a devilish smirk, knowing already that he was getting under the mortal's skin as he lowered his head and held the bridge of his nose.

Logan had his cowl off as he and the other heroes were gathered in the same huge conference room Natasha led him once he arrived on the Helicarrier. He was standing a bit far from the large table, leaning on the wall with his arms folded as he listened to Fury threatening the god of mischief, who had been put in a big, round reinforced glass chamber held by hydraulic rigs. The director walked towards a console and started speaking to the god

Fury: "In case it's unclear. You try to escape...you so much as scratch that glass..."

Then Fury pressed a button on the console, opening a hatch under the glass chamber, revealing what would've happened to the god if he misbehaved. The wind was blowing strong, making the edges of Fury's leather coat move. Loki walked towards the glass and looked down, taking notes about their current altitude as clouds could be seen under them through the opening. The director didn't break his gaze from the god as he then said

Fury: "Thirty thousand feet, straight down in a steel trap. You get how that works?"

He then motioned with his hands the god inside the cage, saying

Fury: "Ant..."

And motioned towards the console, saying

Fury: "...Boot."

Then he pressed again that button on the console, making the hatch close with a metallic noise. Loki smirked at Fury's callback to the metaphor he said to him a few days prior, appreciating nonetheless the sarcasm showed by the mortal. He walked a few steps backwards as he said

Loki: "It's an impressive cage. Built, I think, not for me."

He was indeed right: Fury didn't order to build that cage for Loki, but it was certainly a good place to put the god in. With his always stoic expression, the director replied

Fury: "Built for something a lot stronger than you."

Loki didn't appreciate the comment Fury made about him, but he wasn't going to show it to the mortal as he answered

Loki: "Oh, I've heard..."

He then directed his gaze towards the camera on the right side of the large room, looking directly at the heroes in the conference room. Bruce, Steve and Natasha listened and looked intently at the monitor as Loki said

Loki: "The mindless beast, makes play he's still a man. And let's not forget the other mindless beast, the savage animal you brought here..."

Logan turned his head to look in the direction of the monitors as the god mentioned him

Loki: "...a broken soul who doesn't even know how much pain and chaos he inflicted in his past, even upon the ones he loved."

The god's words only made Logan more curious about what he knew, and Loki knew it. The Asgardian then directed his next words back to the director as he said

Loki: "How desperate are you, that you call upon such lost creatures to defend you?"

Fury didn't wait a second to answer back as he walked a few steps forward

Fury: "How desperate am I? You threaten my world with war. You steal a force you can't hope to control. You talk about peace and you kill 'cause it's fun. You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad that you did."

Loki didn't let the man's threat worry him, but something he said revealed to be indeed important: the mortal mentioned the Tesseract. Loki now understood why the man had the cube when he arrived to Midgard: just like everyone else, he wanted that power. Realizing this, Loki spoke

Loki: "Ooh...it burns you to come so close. To have the Tesseract, to have power, unlimited power. And for what? A warm light for all mankind to share, and then to be reminded what real power is."

Fury wasn't fazed by the god's words as he smirked and, while leaving, said

Fury: "Well, you let me know if 'Real Power' wants a magazine or something."

Loki looked and smirked directly at the camera before the video interrupted. Everybody in the conference room stood silent as the Asgardian's words sank in. Natasha payed particular attention to what Loki said about Logan not even knowing the pain he caused, and thought about the fact that maybe S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn't the only one not knowing a thing about the Canadian. She glanced at him, who had his head lowered while thinking deep about the god's words, and she made a mental note to keep an eye on the man, more so giving the fact that he was unpredictable. Natasha didn't like to be in the dark like that, not knowing what to expect from someone, and it was something she rarely had to put up with. It irritated her that they had no info or clue about who the man truly was, because in her experience, eventually, all of those unknown details would've crashed on her all at once like a giant wave ready to make her drown. The deafening silence was broken by Bruce, who said sarcastically while glancing at the others, with an equally sarcastic smile on his face

Bruce: "He really grows on you, doesn't he?"

Steve, ignoring the sarcastic comment, went straight to the point like the soldier he was and said, while glancing to Thor

Steve: "Loki's gonna drag this out, so...Thor, what's his play?"

The god of thunder was standing up as he listened to his brother's words before. He couldn't believe what Loki had become, and was heartbroken by the revelation that, probably, his brother was lost. At the captain's question he answered while getting near the table

Thor: "He has an army called the Chitauri. They're not of Asgard or any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the Earth in return, I suspect, for the Tesseract."

Steve listened intently at Thor's words, but his brain still couldn't completely grasp the fact that Loki's army consisted in aliens from outer space. Just a few months prior to all of that mess Steve was fighting the nazi, trying to defeat Hydra, defending the freedom of millions of people threatened by Johann Schmidt's conquering plans. Then he woke up in an all new, all different world, where he discovered that they won, that they were the reason why freedom was ensued. But Rogers didn't forget all the friends he left behind, the friends he lost, the life he could've lived long ago if he didn't end up sleeping for seventy years. He didn't forget Bucky, his most dearest friend, a brother he lost on those mountains, a man he knew he wouldn't see ever again. He didn't forget his friend James, who stayed to fight right beside him until the very end, that now reappeared with no memories of what they've been through, a different man than the one he knew during the forties. But, most of all, he didn't forget Peggy, his beloved Peggy, with whom he wanted so much to build a life with, a dream that was ripped away so violently from his hands. Amongst the ones he thought he lost, Peggy was the only one that he could find once he woke up from his long sleep, and even if the circumstances were not ideal, the soldier was happy to be able to talk to her again.

Steve looked at Thor and glanced to his right to Natasha with an incredulous, yet monotone tone as he said

Steve: "An army...from outer space?"

Bruce had an intuition at the Asgardian's words and said, while still holding his glasses in both of his hands

Bruce: "So he's building another portal, that's what he needs Erik Selvig for."

Upon hearing that name, Thor got pretty confused as to why the man named a friend of his, wondering what did he have to do with all of that and why Loki needed him. So he asked with a confused tone

Thor: "Selvig?"

Bruce, thinking that the god didn't know who the man was, replied while looking at him

Bruce: "He's an astrophysicist."

But Thor, not knowing what the word 'astrophysicist' meant, simply replied

Thor: "He's a friend."

At that point Natasha, who was sitting and leaning her elbows on the huge table, interjected, wanting to explain to Thor what happened to his friend and why he was involved

Natasha: "Loki has him under some kind of spell, along with one of ours."

As she said the last part, her gaze faltered to the right. Even if she kept her composure, Natasha was worried. She wasn't one to show off her emotions to others, always reserved, but that didn't mean she wasn't feeling anything. Clint was the one she had to thank for saving her from a life she never wanted, the reason why she now protected innocent people instead of killing them in cold blood. He was always there when she needed him. Now he was the one in need, and Nat wouldn't have wasted a single chance, not a single one, to help her best friend. Even if no one could notice her worried state, Logan could smell the pheromones her body started to release as she mentioned the 'one of ours' that was being controlled by Loki. Similar to the redhead, even Logan didn't know what he could expect from her. Opposite of anyone he'd met until then, Natasha Romanoff was like a giant safe with thousands of combinations, a puzzle he couldn't decipher. Because of this, every ounce of info he could get on her was precious in order to understand if he could actually trust her enough to not be wary in her presence. And, pairing her reaction then with the way she looked at the digital picture of a specific man when she led them inside the Helicarrier the first time, Logan deduced that the man in that picture was the same one she was talking about in that moment, and this only reinforced the hypothesis that her relationship with the said man was very strong. The Canadian didn't yet know what kind of relationship the two had, but he was indeed important to the redhead.

Steve spoke after Natasha, voicing the same thoughts both her and Logan had about Loki, this while glancing at the others

Steve: "I wanna know why Loki let us take him: he's not leading an army from here."

But Bruce disagreed with these concerns saying

Bruce: "I don't think we should be focusing on Loki: that guy's brain is a bag full of cats, you could smell crazy on him."

Not even a beat passed as Thor answered back to the scientist with determination in his eyes and a firm voice

Thor: "Have care how you speak. Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard, and he's my brother."

Natasha was looking straight ahead while she said

Natasha: "He killed eighty people in two days."

The last part she said directing her gaze to the god, who wasn't expecting such a big number. Not knowing what else to say to not make his other fellow Asgardians look terrible, he glanced down as he replied with

Thor: "And he's adopted."

After a beat of silence Logan, who didn't utter a single word until then, spoke

Logan: "He's not crazy."

The others turned their heads to look at him, curious towards the fact that the Canadian didn't make a savage comment or a joke, but actually stated something interesting. Logan turned to look at his left, noticing that everyone's eyes were on him. He unfolded his arms and walked near the table while he explained

Logan: "During our fight, he knew what buttons he needed to push to distract me and beat me. Now he knew what to say to make Big Green here get nervous. He knows us, at least some of us, and he knows what to do or say to push the right buttons. Steve's right: there must be a reason why he surrendered so easily to us, and if we don't find out what it is...well, our victory might last short."

To say that Natasha was surprised would be an understatement: she witnessed the man having some good intuitions before, but she noticed he made a really good point right then. Logan was right: the god of mischief had a plan. But how could she find out what exactly it was? Bruce nodded in understanding at Logan's words, realizing that maybe he underestimated the Asgardian captive, as he said

Bruce: "There's also another thing: he stole iridium. I think it's about mechanics, but what does he need iridium for?"

And that was the moment when Tony Stark himself made his entrance as he said

Tony: "It's a stabilizing agent."

Everyone turned to look as Tony entered the room with Coulson, to which he whispered

Tony: "I'm just saying, pick a weekend. I'll fly you to Portland. Keep the love alive."

The two were talking about a woman, a violoncellist who Phil Coulson was dating. The man met her in Portland when he heard her play for the first time at a concert. The man found her - a good looking woman playing an instrument - he found it so special. The two started seeing each other and were in love with one another. But, of course, with Phil having to leave for his missions and having to put his life on the line for the people he tried to protect everyday, the two were having a bit of a hard time. And, because of that, Tony was offering to help him to 'keep the love alive'. As they entered the room, Phil motioned to his left, saying he needed to go. After that Tony kept walking inside as he said to the others

Tony: "Means the portal won't collapse on itself like it did at S.H.I.E.L.D."

As he walked past Thor, he said to him while lightly patting his bicep with the back of his hand

Tony: "No hard feelings, Point Break, you've got a mean swing."

He then got back to talk about the iridium

Tony: "Also, it means the portal can open as wide, and stay open as long, as Loki wants."

But then the man changed again the topic as he walked to the spot from which Fury controlled everything with the many digital screens on either side of him. Once there, Tony spoke to the many agents working and said

Tony: "Uh, raise the mid-mast, ship the top sails." then he pointed at an agent on his right while saying "That man is playing GALAGA! Thought we wouldn't notice. But we did."

As Tony said that, Steve turned to look at his right, curious to see what 'GALAGA' was, and also desperately trying to keep up with what Stark was saying so fast. Tony then, changing again the topic, glanced at the digital screens left and right, then he covered his left eye and, turning to Maria Hill, who was standing a bit far with her arms folded and her always present stoic and serious expression, asked her while gesturing towards the screens

Tony: "How does Fury even see these?"

And Maria, unamused, answered

Maria: "He turns."

Then Tony, turning again to the screens, commented

Tony: "Sounds exhausting." then he came back again to the topic of the portal Loki wanted to open "The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. Only major component he still needs is a power source of high-energy density..." he then secretly put a button size hacking implant under Fury's desk, without anyone noticing, and kept talking as he snapped his fingers "...something to kick start the cube."

Maria eyed him as she curiously asked

Maria: "When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?"

And at that the man simply answered while looking at her

Tony: "Last night."

Logan had to admit he was baffled by that: if he had a doubt about the man's intelligence, now he had none. Tony kept talking as he glanced first at Maria and then at the others

Tony: "The packet, Selvig's notes, the Extraction theory papers...am I the only one who did the reading?"

The last part he said placing a hand on his chest. Logan shrugged as he replied to the genius

Logan: "I came for the action, plus they told me there was beer."

Natasha rolled her eyes at the poor joke and Steve sighed, all the while Tony pointed at him and said

Tony: "Appreciate the honesty, Edward Scissorhands."

Steve was the next one to speak as he asked Tony

Steve: "Does Loki need any particular power source?"

After a few seconds of silent thinking, Bruce answered to the soldier's question

Bruce: "He's got to heat the cube to a hundred and twenty million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier.

Tony had a satisfied expression on his face as he moved his hands a bit up by his sides, then he continued

Tony: "Unless, Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect."

And Bruce ended their final answer

Bruce: "Well, if he could do that he could achieve Heavy Ion Fusion at any reactor on the planet."

While the two were talking, the others were simply looking back and forth at the two of them. After Banner's answer, Tony exclaimed while gesturing towards the scientist

Tony: "Finally, someone who speaks English."

Steve turned to look at Logan as he asked sarcastically

Steve: "Is that what just happened?"

And Logan, chuckling, replied

Logan: "In a week, they're getting engaged."

Natasha hid her smirk at the Canadian's answer, while the soldier had a puppy-like confused expression on his face. Noticing that, Natasha stifled a laugh while Logan sighed and, while patting his shoulder, said

Logan: "Don't worry, grandpa, you'll catch up."

Obviously many things changed since the forties, so Steve merely shrugged with a still confused expression and focused back on the topic. Tony got close to Bruce and, while shaking his hand, said

Tony: "It's good to meet you, Dr. Banner. Your work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster."

Bruce didn't honestly know what reaction should he have had at Stark's admission and, while glancing at his right a bit embarrassed, he timidly said

Bruce: "Thanks."

But Logan commented

Logan: "Bet you're not gonna be so much of a fan when the big, green friend rips you in half."

Tony turned sharply to look at the Canadian, who simply gave him a look that said that he was damn serious. The rich man wasn't the only one startled by the revelation, as Steve and Thor widened their eyes in surprise, while Nat eyed curiously the Canadian, wondering if he was actually being serious. Before anyone could question him, Fury walked inside the room and spoke to everyone

Fury: "Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube. I was hoping you might join him."

At the director's words, Steve focused back on the topic. And, wanting to share his opinion on how to proceed, said

Steve: "Let's start with that stick of his. It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon."

The soldier was right: there were in fact many similarities between the weapons used by the nazi led by Schmidt and the scepter Loki was using. Fury, operating on an unknown field, answered the captain

Fury: "I don't know about that, but it is powered by the cube. And I'd like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys."

The Wizard of Oz's reference was earned a confused look by Thor, who, not being a terrestrial, didn't understand it as he said with a confused tone

Thor: "Monkeys? I do not understand."

But right then Steve pointed at Thor and said with an ecstatic tone

Steve: "I do!"

At that, Tony rolled his eyes at the captain's enthusiasm, while Logan put a hand on his face and held the bridge of his nose in frustration. Steve was, yes, a bit embarrassed by the tone he used, as maybe he showed too much enthusiasm, but he was really glad that, after all that time desperately trying to keep up with the two genius men and a lot of confused expressions, he finally understood a thing clearly. Not satisfied, he replied with a more calm tone

Steve: "I understood the reference."

As everyone slowly started to leave the room after Tony and Bruce decided to go 'play some', Logan saw this as the perfect opportunity to finally talk to the god about what he knew about his past. He turned to his right and walked to where Loki's holding cell was being kept, using his sense of smell to locate where exactly was the containment room. Natasha noticed right away the Canadian leaving the room. She knew where he was going, and decided to follow him at distance to not get spotted.

Logan walked many corridors before finally finding the cell room where the god was. He was about to walk through the doors, but when he stretched his hand to reach out for the handle, he stopped abruptly. Suddenly his heart started beating faster at the prospect of finally knowing even a bit of his past, wondering if it would've been worth it to know the answers to his questions. Was he truly ready to know? Was he the same person he was in his past? Was he a better person before? Or was he the same animal he always remembered to be? Natasha looked curiously from afar as Logan still didn't get inside the room, wondering both how did he find the way all by himself and what was stopping him now. Logan shook his head, putting aside his doubts and fears as he walked inside the room. Nat positioned herself nearby the entrance and used her handheld to activate the camera feed on her device to be able to hear and see everything, and to intervene if it was necessary.

Logan descended the metal stairs and stood in front of the large glass cell, watching as the god of mischief stood by, turned to the other side and not facing the door, with the both of his hands joined together behind his back. Suddenly Loki chuckled and said smugly

Loki: "I was starting to worry you would never have walked through that door, Logan."

The man wasn't surprised by the fact that Loki knew he was there, and while the god slowly turned around with his hands still behind his back and a small devious smirk on his face, he simply folded his arms and replied

Logan: "Well, I'm here, now talk before I lose my patience."

Loki's smirk widened just that tiny bit as he brought his hands to his sides. Then he slowly walked a few steps forwards as he said

Loki: "I fear that you will need to be more precise about what I should talk about."

In that moment Logan knew it was a bad idea to stay there, so after mumbling an 'okay, I'm out', the god raised his voice as he said

Loki: "Under the dial there's a carving, isn't it?"

Logan stopped before walking up the stairs as he heard him say that. He never told anyone about the mysterious carving under the golden dial of his broken leather watch. He turned slightly to look back at Loki, who now sported a serious expression on his face. And, strangely, what convinced the Canadian to walk back in front of the cell was the fact that, for the first time, the Asgardian wasn't smirking devilishly. Once he was in front of him, he again folded his arms and asked

Logan: "What do you know about it?"

The god kept his serious expression as he slightly shook his head and replied

Loki: "Not much, just a little."

At that Logan unfolded his arms and answered

Logan: "Tell me what you know."

At that Loki raised a bit his head as he asked

Loki: "And what will be the compensation for such an aid?"

Logan gave him a scowl and a smug little smirk as he said

Logan: "Maybe I won't cut your head off."

At that the god chuckled a bit before saying

Loki: "I like you, mortal."

Logan folded again his arms as he answered with just a scowl on his face

Logan: "I'm afraid I can't say the same. Now talk, bub, I'm losing my patience."

Loki regained his serious expression as he answered

Loki: "I know it was a gift, given to you by a very special person."

Logan wasn't surprised by this information, so he asked

Logan: "Who was this person?"

The god replied with

Loki: "It was a woman that once loved you with her whole heart."

Logan was very surprised to hear that someone actually loved him, but even this information was easily deductible from the carving itself, so the Canadian lost his patience

Logan: "You don't know shit. All of this I could've easily figure out by the carving, stop wasting my time and tell me something that I don't know."

The god walked a step closer as he said with a dreadful voice

Loki: "Are you sure you want to know? It's not a pleasant tale."

Logan unfolded his arms as he said with an expression whose seriousness faltered for a moment

Logan: "I need to know."

Loki answered after a few moments of silence

Loki: "She died...by your hands."

Logan's eyes widened upon hearing that. He shook his head as he said in denial

Logan: "You're lying..."

But the god kept talking

Loki: "She gifted you that watch one morning, begging you to come back."

Logan closed his eyes, trying to keep his emotions at bay as he replied with a voice above a whisper

Logan: "Stop talking."

But Loki kept to tell him the story with a slightly higher tone

Loki: "She begged you in tears, you promised her to come back."

Logan put his hands on his ears, not wanting to listen to the Asgardian, as he said with a higher voice

Logan: "Shut up."

The god was relentless

Loki: "But you never kept your promise, and the pain was too hard for her to bear."

The pain and anger were starting to manifest in Logan as he exclaimed with still closed eyes

Logan: "Shut up!"

And at that point, Loki distanced himself a bit from the glass as he unleashed the final blow

Loki: "In the end, it was you who killed her."

At that, Logan unleashed all his anger as he opened his eyes and, with a wild expression and his claws all popped out, yelled wildly

Logan: "SHUT UP!"

Then he lunged to the cell as he was ready to claw his way inside and finish the god for good. But, as he was about to dig his claws in the glass, he was stopped by a taser shot in his neck. The man yelled out in pain as he noticed the small object electrocuting him. After a few seconds, the pain ended as the electricity vanished. Logan turned to look back and noticed none other than Natasha Romanoff walking down the steps, her glove still glowing a shade of pure blue, and kneeling in front of him. The woman had a kind expression on her face as she gently put a comforting hand on his shoulder, silently telling him to calm himself down. Nat heard everything Loki said to him, and she saw everything. It was the first time she saw his hard shell falter a bit: she could only imagine how devastating it was for him to not know his past, and to have discovered to be the reason why his once beloved person died because of him. But Natasha didn't trust the god: she felt there was something off about Loki's tale, and in any case he wasn't worth an ounce of trust. As the man retracted his claws, he nodded briefly at the redhead to tell her that he was okay. She reciprocated the nod, then they got up and Logan turned to look at Loki with rage in his eyes as he said

Logan: "Pray that they don't leave you alone with me, bub, because if that happens I'll cut your limbs off one by one before killing you."

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