Disclaimer: I do now own any of the Marvel characters. Nor do I own Thor: The Dark World, screenplay by Christopher Yost, Christopher Markus, and Stephen McFeely; story by Don Payne and Robert Rodat. If you know it, I do not own it.

"Chasing the Sun" was written by Sara Bareilles, Jack Antonoff, and Mike Anderson.

A/N: This is part four (or five depending on how you look at it) of Various States. Deep In The Heart or at least For What It's Worth is highly recommended as a read before starting this to get the back story. If you want to know what's going on with Steve and Loki, Land of Confusion and Parallel Universe. If you want to know about Jim you'll need Parallel Universe, "Corps of Discovery." Also, the last story in Parallel Universe, "Possibilities...Endless," is the lead into this story, so you might want to read it. If not, please do read on.

PS. I wrote a majority of this story before I saw Thor: The Dark World. After seeing it tweaked a few things, but it's mostly as it was before I'd seen it.

The Natural State

Show me it's real / Wasting our last chance to come away / Just break the silence / Because I'm drifting away, away from you

-Muse, "New Born"

Jane knew she should not go into the dark room with the strange wobbly readings, but she was curious. Part of Jane's mind told her she ought to call SHEILD or at least text Darcy to get her to dark, creepy room with the strong readings so similar to the Bifrost, but curiosity got the better of Jane and she headed in alone, got sucked somewhere menacing only lit by a red glowing light.

That was when things got weird. Jane wasn't sure what happened, but at some point she touched the red glory stuff and evidently vanished for five hours. (It felt like maybe a minute to Jane.)

"FIVE HOURS!" Darcy screeched, waving her arms around. "In this city! Have you seen the map of this place? It's a really old city, stuck between the dead and the living! Wait, isn't that a song?"

"I don't know."

"I think it is," Darcy said, pausing in her ranting for the first time since she'd found Jane five minutes beforehand. She shook her head, then waved a hand in Jane's face. "But, FIVE HOURS, JANE!"

"I said I was sorry!" Jane shouted back.

Darcy's intern (why she had an intern was beyond Jane) rolled his eyes.

"I called the police!"

"They didn't particularly care you'd gone missing, so I called Luke," the intern offered. "Evidently if you go missing they don't care till it's been at least twelve hours. Or something, since you weren't kidnapped but had simply buggered off."

"You did what?" Jane screeched, only hearing one thing the intern said: Luke.

"I phoned that Luke guy Stark mentioned when I started. He seemed to think you two knew him," the British guy said, looking baffled why neither of them had thought to do this. "Things are acting very weird. He's the guy to contact when things are acting strange, is he not?"

"NO!" Darcy and Jane both exclaimed.

"Well, I apologize. I thought this," he motioned to the objects defying physics in the stairwell and vanishing in midair only to appear above their head and fall again, "might be magic…isn't that his area?"

Intern didn't look all that sorry. He was looking at them as if they were both idiots for not thinking to phone Luke in the first place.

In the rational part of her mind, yeah, Jane should have called Thor's brother (who was not named Luke, but Loki, yet they'd been told to always call him Luke by SHIELD for security reasons) who was still on Earth, but she still didn't really buy the whole story that he….wasn't insane, had no desire to take over the world, or wished to kill anyone who stood in his way of getting what he wanted. (Jane had no clue what he wanted, as Thor had never been too clear on what exactly was wrong with Loki.)

And yeah, she'd met the guy shortly after Thor set fire to the rain (long story short, Thor didn't get pop music and took it literally), but there was something off about the dark haired, magic-bound man who thought the rather handsome blond guy's horse had sent him back in time and to another universe.

Never mind the fact there were measurable readings that supported the fact the handsome blond, Jim Nicholls, had come from somewhere not on Earth, but that didn't mean Jane was going to accept his horse had sent him.

HIS HORSE!

"When's Luke going to be here? Heck, when is SHIELD showing up?" Darcy asked, waving her arms above her head, the scanner in her hand beeping like mad. She suddenly stopped moving and stared at Jane, her jaw hanging open. "OMG. It was a line from a song! I downloaded it onto my iPod last night and listened to it on repeat because it reminded me of Captain Grandpa and Captain Hotty!"

"SHEILD has arrived, Ms Lewis," came an all too familiar voice from below them. "And I think I brought Captain Hotty with me."

Cringing, Jane turned and looked over the railing of the stairwell to find Coulson and a motley group following with an overdressed Captain Jim Nicholls bringing up the rear. Of the motley crew: two were clearly scientists judging by their wide-eyed fascination with the objects flying through the air on loop in the stairwell, one looked like a civilian out of her depth, and two were clearly hardened agents.

Darcy squeaked, whirling towards the group as they reached the landing they were standing on, her cheeks a little pink.

"Ms Lewis," Jim greeted, bowing his head in greeting while tucking his hands behind his back and standing at parade rest. "Doctor Foster. Mr Boothby."

He had really curly hair. When had he gotten all that hair? Last time he had like…no hair. It'd all be glued to his head in an old fashion hair style (hence why he reminded Jane of character who'd wandered out of a period piece). Now, he looked like he'd stuck his finger in a socket. (It oddly contrasted with his three piece suit.)

"Captian Hotty?" the civilian asked, elbowing Nicholls in the side. (He didn't move an inch.)

"Captain Nicholls," Coulson commanded calmly. "I believe you have some press to wrangle. And I think the cops Ms Lewis phoned have shown up."

"Quite right," Jim agreed, eyes taking in the phenomena a brief moment before making a tablet appear out of nowhere. With the hand not holding the tablet he straightened his tie (it was bright blue and made those baby blues even bluer) and smoothed out the invisible wrinkles in his navy blue suit. Turning, he began to tap the face of the tablet as he headed back down the stairs.

Several people appreciated the view of Nicholls going down the stairs.

"Captian Hotty indeed," the civilian mumbled.

"He works for you now?" Darcy asked, as Nicholls vanished from view. "Is Ombre Hair with you too?"

"No. Ms Witton is currently in Anchorage, Alaska as far as I know," Coulson replied. "Fitzsimmons, get to work."

The two scientists looked like Christmas had happened early.

"What's going on? What are you doing? I was here first!" Jane screeched, a strange feeling welling up in her chest.

"Trying to make sense of this," one of the scientists, the women, said. "Amazing, isn't it?"

"You just throw things and they defy gravity?" the other asked, throwing his tablet at the event. He looked upwards, but it didn't return. "Where'd it go?"

"Sometimes they don't come back," Darcy explained. "So don't throw important things. Like the car keys."

She gave Intern a look. He looked a bit sheepish.

"Well, let's try something else," the woman scientist suggested, picking up some trash and tossing it over the railing.

The can reappeared above their heads and began to fall in the loop with the other things in the loop.

The civilian looking girl began to hum.

"Yeah, I sung that song too," Darcy chuckled. "Who are you lot? Well, other than clearly SHIELD agents."

"I'm Skye," Humming Girl said. "He's Agent Ward, that's May, I think you know Coulson, and the two science geeks are Fitz and Simmons. The hunk who just left you seem to know."

"OH! They're two separate names!" Darcy exclaimed. "I'm Darcy! She's Jane and he's Intern."

"Ian," Intern corrected.

"And we met Jimmy waaaaaaaaaay back," Darcy finished, ignoring Ian the Intern. "Oh, the stories we shared! He's a captain who had horse and has awesome hair now that he's not glueing it to his head and he's—"

"Ms Lewis," Coulson warned, before turning to Jane and eyeing the scanner still in her hand. "Did you discover anything while you've been here, Dr Foster?"

Jane hid the scanner behind her back out of habit, then glared at Darcy's, whose scanner was still beeping like mad as she didn't know how to use mute. "No, not really."

"And you're hiding your scanning device because?"

"You tend to steal my things," Jane replied.

"Except that time you showed up after we set fire to some rain and gave her a new, shiny, Stark tricked out lab in LONDON! I live in London now! And: It's a really old city, stuck between the dead and the living!" Darcy sung out.

"You know that song's about New York, right?" Skye asked.

"Well, yeah. That's why it reminded me of Captain Gramps," Darcy said, rolling her eyes. "Whatever, did I tell you I FOUND this thing? Yeah, Jane didn't notice. Too busy pouting because— oof. What was that for?"

Darcy rubbed her side where Jane had elbowed her.

Jane was not pouting because Thor had decided to go off and fight battles on some other planet because of some reason she couldn't help but find a little heroic and not at all self serving, thus making him even more Prince Charming-like than he already was. While it was all Loki's fault the Nine Realms were in chaos and having wars where they were once peaceful due to fear of the Asgardians showing up in their backyards, Loki didn't have to fight any battles because he was a fruit basket on Earth going to see a shrink to get better (at least he was getting help and knew he was a whacko). So, it was up to Thor to put the universe in order because Asgard thought they were the peacekeepers of everywhere except Earth—as if that were true, Earth would have known about Asgardians long before Thor fell to Earth and ran into her truck.

(She did not hit him. He hit her first. The second time was her fault.)

(Not that he seemed to care in the end. He never brought it up.)

"Sir?" May asked loudly.

"Spread out and see if you can find any other…strange stuff going on in here," Coulson ordered smoothly. "And keep civilians out."

The two that were clearly SHIELD agents scurried off, leaving behind Fitz, Simmons, and Skye. Coulson pulled out a phone, held it to his ear, and asked, "Laufey-Odinson's ETA?"

Silence.

"Who is this Loofa-Odinson? Do you guys know?" Skye asked, sliding up to stand next to Jane. "Coulson keeps trying to get him here, yet he seems to be MIA."

"Odinson?" Jane faintly asked.

"That's gotta be Loki! I mean Luke. His name is Luke now," Darcy covered, giving a lopsided smile to Skye. "Oh, we get two hot guys! Luke and Jimmy!"

Jane rolled her eyes.

"I called Luke," Ian reminded them. "Mr Stark told me to if freaky things happened. He said he was on his way. Luke did, not Mr Stark."

"Stark?" Coulson asked, turning around. "Who are you?"

"Ian Boothby, intern," Ian reminded Coulson. "I don't know whose intern I'm exactly, but Tony Stark informed me that if I ever saw anything that defied physics or was just plain weird, call Luke, who would also answer to Loki, which was just bizarre, but then again, it's Tony Stark. Who knows if it wasn't some sort of weird nickname he'd assign the guy?"

Coulson extended his head in agreement.

"So, Laufey-Odinson is really on his way?."

Ian nodded.

"What's with the Loo-fay?" Darcy inquired. "He's Thor's brother, what's with the hyphen? I mean, if he'd renamed himself Rogers-Odinson, that'd make sense, but Loofa?"

If looks could freeze a person, Darcy would be a popsicle thanks to Coulson. Jane was confused, while Skye looked a little too curious, especially when she took in Coulson's reaction.

"Rogers?" Skye asked. "Who the hell is Rogers? And isn't Loki the name of the deranged alien who lead the Chitauri in the Malibu attack? And why would Thor's brother, a supposed Norse god, be named Luke Lou-fay-Odinson?"

Skye gave all of them the big, round, puppy dog innocent eyes. Jane quickly looked elsewhere while Darcy began to twiddle her thumbs, thus dropping her beeping scanner with a clatter.

Coulson hit buttons on his phone and sighed. "He's about an half hour out."

"Who? Lou-fay-Odinson or Loki?" Skye asked.

"How'd he get here so fast?" Darcy asked, snooping to pick up the scanner. "Doesn't he live in New York with Steve?"

"He lives with Steve?" Jane asked, staring at Darcy.

"Ohmygod! How did you miss that? It was clear as day when we met them this summer, Jane! You're so blind!"

"I feel like I missed some totally juicy gossip at some point," Skye commented.

Coulson glared at Darcy, yet said nothing. His glare was enough to silence Darcy and make Skye look like a scolded child.

"No! This makes no sense!" the guy scientist shrieked as he attempted to get readings out of the phenomenon in the stairwell. He was waving around a strange looking device and staring at the StarkPad in his other hand. "It's utterly…brilliant!"

He sounded kind of Irish. Or Scottish. Jane was never very good at picking out people's accents.

"It really is, sir," the woman agreed quickly.

She was British. Jane was sure of it, as she sounded like the people who lived in the city. Well, some of them. There were a few Jane couldn't understand to save her life. Like the guy who sold her coffee on a daily basis. She never had any idea what he was saying. Hence why the first few times she wound up with the wrong coffee order.

"Can you tell me anything yet, Simmons? In English?" Coulson asked as if it was a common question to pose. The woman grimaced.

"If you want it in English, then no," Simmons admitted, while the guy (Fitz) laughed and grabbed at his hair. "These are similar to the scans we took downstairs, yet different."

"Well, I don't need English. Tell me anything," Jane said, pushing Darcy and Ian out of her way. "I got readings earlier, but you've got better equipment than I had on me when I got here."

Soon, Jane is emerged in a bubble of science and she's totally forgotten about her trip to…wherever.

You are the hole in my head / You are the space in my bed / You are the silence in between what I thought and what I said

-Florence & the Machine, "No Light, No Light"

Loki tapped his fingers on the armrest. Even though he knew this plane was one of Stark's faster airplanes, it was still taking forever to get from New York to London.

"You need to calm down, Lo," a soft voice said from next to him. A warm hand was soon wrapped around one of his colder ones, weaving fingers together and distracting Loki from his anxiousness. His fingers on his other hand soon ceased tapping.

"I am worried," Loki admitted, turning to look at Steve Rogers, his partner, boyfriend, significant other— Loki wasn't sure what the correct title for their relationship was. He did know he cared fiercely for the man, who was warmth and light to his coolness and darkness. While many would draw parallels between Steve and Thor, Loki was unable to find any passed the fact they both had blond hair and blue eyes. Thor was all brute force and arrogance (tempered somewhat from his time among the Midgardians), while Steve tended to think and avoid having to use his physical strength. Steve's main strength was in the fact his heart was huge. Loki mused occasionally, that if Steve could, he'd hug the world into world peace. Steve, though, wasn't that foolish to believe his world would ever be at peace.

And that was the other thing that Loki adored: Steve was rational and had a rather strong sense of logic to go along with his idealistic morals.

"You've been worried for weeks, Lo," Steve quietly reminded Loki, using his thumb to trace small circles on Loki's hand. Loki loved the way the callous on Steve's thumb felt against his smooth skin.

"I know."

Since an unknown alien artifact had fallen from the heavens and into the middle of downtown Anchorage, Loki had worried, but this recent abnormality had him anxious as well as concerned.

"There was a story Fa—Od—the All-Father used to tell Thor and I long ago. It was about a battle his father fought before Odin's birth."

"You can just call him your dad, you know," Steve quietly said, squeezing Loki's hand. "You usually do."

"I'm feeling rather…"

"A little Reindeer Games?"

Thankful Steve had figured it out so easily, Loki gave Steve a look, but nodded his agreement. "I am not sure why."

Steve shrugged. "As long as you don't have any world domination or ant stomping urges, it's fine. So, this story, tell me."

Loki settled back in his seat, shifting so he could look at Steve out of the corner of his eye and didn't have to weather those bright blue eyes full gaze. Sometimes, Loki felt Steve was too understanding when the Mad One (all Loki's rage, anger, and arrogance rolled into one convenient being that had tried to take over the world) flared up and threatened to come out to play. Loki was still trying to manage after his fall into the void he became two very separate beings. Melding them together had felt right when he'd done it in the heat of battle, but now a little over a year later, Loki wasn't sure it was the absolutely right thing for him to do. (The Mad One agreed, while Good Loki did not agree fully. It was…frustrating.)

"Eons ago, before the All-Father was born," Loki began pretending to look out the window, "his father Bor battled with a Dark Elf named Malekith. Malekith sought to destroy the universe as we know it and return it to darkness. To do this he wish to use a weapon called the Aether."

"What's the Aether?"

"You know, Odin never told us," Loki thoughtfully said, then bitterly chuckled. "We were still quite young when he told us this tale, so I doubt either of us would have truly understood if Odin had shared what the Aether was. He did tell us it was a powerful object, dark and sinister, and if Malekith got a hold of it, the universe was doomed."

Steve hummed thoughtfully, glancing down at their intwined hands. "Let me guess, Bor defeated Malekith, took the Aether, and saved the day?"

"Yes, that was what the tale told."

"Where's this Aether now?"

"Not in Asgard's weapons vault. Odin never told us what Bor did with the Aether, only that it was destroyed, along with the Dark Elves. Or so he claimed. I've learned he lies." Loki darkly snickered. "As a child, I was happy with the ending. Now, not so much."

"Why did you start thinking about this story after, uh, you got the call from Jane's new intern about this strange phenomenon in London?"

"I believe portals are forming," Loki quietly admitted out loud for the first time. "This isn't magic like I told Stark. No…there is a rare alignment of the Nine Realms where as the event approaches, portals form all over the Realms. I believe…this might be occurring. Everything Mr Boothby explained about the phenomena is exactly what happens before portals form on the branches of Yggdrasil for the first time."

Loki looked at Steve, who stared back at him with wide, sapphire eyes.

"You've seen a portal form?"

Loki nodded. "I did. They do not form often within a lifetime, but I witnessed one form when I was a boy in the weapons vault of Asgard. It was how I discovered an alternative method to traveling the Realms via the Biforst."

Loki paused a moment before continuing.

"It takes centuries to form portals, though. It requires energy, vast amounts. The one in the weapons vault didn't finish completion until shortly before…"

Loki shifted uncomfortably, unable to say when the portal had finished completion.

"Right before Thor's failed coronation," Steve finished, squeezing Loki's hand lightly. "So, the fact portals are forming quickly is bad, right?"

"Yes," Loki allowed, looking down at their hands. He studied the vast difference in their hands for a moment. Steve's were tan, his fingers were more sturdy than Loki's, and it was clear he used his hands, as there were small scars, nicks, and marks left from art supplies that stained his fingers. Loki's hands meanwhile were alabaster, flawless, graceful, and would be a little effeminate looking if they weren't so large.

They were opposites in almost everything and that was simply their hands.

"The last time the Nine Realms reached alignment was the first time Malekith tried to bring darkness to the universe," Loki explained. "It was part of the reason he made his move when he did, I believe the story goes."

Steve turned away from Loki, scratching his forehead with his free hand as he furrowed his brow in confusion. "Why'd anyone want to bring…darkness. What does that even mean?"

"He wishes to reboot the universe, Steven," Loki quietly said, using a term Stark used often to symbolize a restart. "At the beginning, there was darkness. Then came light, life, and all the other things that makes the universe alive."

Steve nodded. "So, if the Aether isn't actually destroyed…is it just lost like the Tesseract? I mean, the Asgardians thought that was destroyed as well, right?"

"No, legend said it was hidden away," Loki admitted. "One does not need the Aether in order for the Nine Realms to aline. No one knows why Convergence occurs, but it does happen. Oh, and there was also a prophecy at some point about the Aether."

"Like in Harry Potter?"

Loki paused for a moment, then remembered who Harry Potter was. "Yes, somewhat. Our prophecies are, like the ones in the Potter series: vague. There is room for misinterpretation, though when they are made by Mother they are almost always come to fruition."

"Your mother makes prophecies?" Steve asked, looking gobsmacked.

"She sometimes sees futures," Loki said. "She's not all seeing, or all knowing. Her visions are quite vague, but if she can figure out what she sees, she weaves it and gives this to Odin. He regrets when he fails to listen to his wife."

Even as a child, Loki had always gotten some sort of dark satisfaction when Odin didn't listen to something his wife told him and he wound up looking foolish.

"I cannot remember the last time Mother saw anything she was able to figure out before the event occurred," Loki admitted.

"So, what's the prophecy with the Aether?"

"That when Convergence occurs, one will be infected with the Aether— which makes me think it's not an actual object, but some kind of substance that infects— and catastrophe will follow."

"Not too detailed," Steve muttered. He looked away and glanced around the small cabin they were seated within. "I think we're landing."

A moment later, the pilot announced they'd be landing shortly. Steve gripped Loki's hand in a death grip, which might have broken his fingers if Loki had been a mortal.

"Landings are still kind of hard," Steve admitted, looking a little sheepish. "Especially when something pressing isn't happening."

"Perfectly understandable. Squeeze away," Loki said, resting his head on Steve's shoulder. "You cannot break me."

"Oh. Sorry."

"No need to apologize. As I said, it takes quite a bit of strength to break me," Loki quietly said. "So far, only I have been able to squeeze hard enough to break anything."

Steve awkwardly chuckled, but did not release his death grip on Loki's hand.

I am extraordinary, if you ever get to know me / I am extraordinary / I am just your average, everyday, sane, psycho, super goddess

-Liz Phair, "Extraordinary"

"OH MY GOD JANE! WHAT DID YOU DO?"

Jane startled, looking around in confusion. Simmons and Fitz were half-hidden behind some concrete pillars, the two high strung SHIELD agents had their guns pulled and pointed at her while being half obscured behind two overturned police cars, while Darcy was tucked away behind an overturned firetruck. The operators of these vehicles were nowhere to be found.

When had the police shown up? Why was she outside? And why was there a firetruck here?

"What's going on?" Jane demanded.

"Where did you vanish off to for five hours?" demanded the male agent, hard glint in his eyes as he stared Jane down.

"I don't know!" Jane shouted, spinning around to have over turned objects meet her gaze at every turn. It looked as if a hurricane has swept through the courtyard.

"She's putting off a lot of raw energy," called Simmons. "I don't…wait…it's quite similar to the radiation that rock cube let off, only…she's not radioactive…just like the rock cube."

"What are you talking about? Are you talking about that thing that fell in Alaska?" Jane demanded, turning in the direction Simmons' voice came, as she's hidden herself. "What is going on? Why are you all hiding? Why am I standing outside?"

Jane turned in a circle again, noticing it was raining everywhere but around her. That wasn't natural. (Nor were her long stretches of memory loss.)

Thunder echoed in the distance as the rain continued to pour down around her. She tried to touch it, but no matter where she moved, her dry bubble followed.

"What is happening?" Jane asked weakly, staring at her hands, which were tingling somewhat.

"I'm not sure, Dr Foster," Coulson said from behind her.

Jane wheeled around, finding Couldon and Nicholls both standing under a large, black umbrella. Coulson appeared neutral, while Nicholls' impossible blue eyes were alarmed and his face was concerned.

"I believe we're no longer in Kansas any more," Nicholls faintly said as thunder rumbled again in the sky. He rolled his eyes skyward and releasing Jane from whatever freaky magic the so called World War I solider had. (She did not believe for a second the man was simply human. There was something freaky about him.)

(And not just because he thought his horse (HIS HORSE) had sent him to their world to keep him safe.)

(HIS HORSE!)

"No, shit, Sherlock," Darcy snapped, coming out from behind the overturned firetruck. "Seriously, Jane, when did you became a god?"

"What?" Jane asked, wheeling around again to stare at her friend. Darcy, despite the agents trying to prevent her from approaching Jane, pelted towards Jane and shook off the rain as she joined Jane in her bubble of dryness. "What do you mean?"

"Well, Captain Hotty was having problems with getting the cops to leave us alone, as while they took over six hours to show up to where you'd gone MIA, they seemed convinced they needed you to, well, I don't know, go to jail or something. Trespassing. Psshhh."

"Seriously?"

"You went all bad ass on their, well, asses!" Darcy exclaimed. "And I'm pretty sure you made Jimmy let out a word that's quite not posh."

Nicholls scowled.

"What happened?"

"You shot off all this energy stuff!" Darcy shouted, waving her hands around. "It was like…magic! But it's not!"

"No, not magic. It doesn't have the same readings as…magic," came Simmons voice from where she was hiding. She clearly did not like to call the phenomenon that was indeed magic magic. "Is it safe to come out?"

"Her energy is going down," Fitz called. "Heart rate is lowering as well."

"Why is it not raining on me?" Jane asked, looking upward. The space where it was not raining created a tall column that went to the sky, showing it blue and cloud free above her head.

"No clue, but it's awesome! You're like Super Woman!" Darcy shouted, waving her hands around. "You're—"

"Dr Foster," Coulson's voice cut through Darcy's babble. Jane glanced over at him. He'd moved closer to where she and Darcy were standing, but not close enough to enter the Bubble of No Rain. "We need to get you to a secure location."

"But…science," Jane moaned, shoulders slumping.

Coulson took a few steps back, his eyes going a little wide. Nicholls took a few steps forward till he was once more standing next to Coulson, allowing the shorter man under the umbrella.

"Dr Foster, I believe it would be best if you accompany Agent Coulson and his team back to their headquarters," Nicholls said in a lulling voice. Jane narrowed her eyes. "I am sure once Mr Laufey-Odinson arrives, he will be able to shed some light on what might be transpiring. Till then, it would be prudent to protect you."

"Protect me?"

"You mean the world," Darcy offered, getting a dirty look from Nicholls.

"Loki's not here yet?" Jane asked.

"He's been held up," Nicholls replied. "Now, if you'd come with me, I'll shall escort you."

Without any hesitation, Nicholls stepped into the Bubble of No Rain, lowering the umbrella and shaking it out a bit before hooking it over his forearm. He gently looked at Jane and nodded his head in the direction she ought to begin to walk, offering his free arm to her.

"Ms Lewis is more than welcome to join you," Nicholls offered.

"I'd love to, Jimmy," Darcy said, hooking her arm around the proffer arm. "Wow. You got some muscles."

Nicholls frowned down at Darcy.

"But, what about…" Jane trailed off, not sure what she wanted to say exactly. She wanted to figure out the strange drunk physics (Coulson's term, not hers) that was going on. She wanted to know why she wasn't remembering long stretches of time, but above all, she wanted to know why everyone was treating her like she was made out of glass.

"Thor's been spotted on the subway!" shouted Skye. She was standing in the safety of the warehouse still, waving around her phone. "It's all over Twitter! Thor on the subway!"

"The Tube!" two other voices shouted together.

"Whatever," the girl grumbled. "Thor's here! Wasn't he, like, gone?"

"He was," Coulson agreed, stepping passed the Bubble of No Rain, grabbing the umbrella from Nicholls, and heading for the warehouse entrance.

"Is that what held Mr Loofa up?" Darcy asked. "Is he on the Tube with Thor?"

"Thor's on the London Underground?" Jane asked, unable to picture Thor using any form of public transportation without causing some kind of trouble.

"He is with Captain America," Skye exclaimed, tapping the face of her phone before it was snatched out of her hands by Coulson, who took over tapping. He raised an eyebrow.

"Looks like we've got two gods coming our way. Captain Nicholls. I think it best if we remain here with Dr Forster."

"I'm standing right here!" Jane shouted, not enjoying being talked about as if she wasn't there.

"Since when was Captian America deemed a god?" Simmons asked, poking her head out from behind the pillar.

"Bugger," Darcy grumbled, still clinging to Nicholls' arm.

"Thor took the Underground," the girl repeated, staring at Coulson. "The so called God of Thunder took the Underground. Public transportation! With Captain Freaking America!"

"He does enjoy using public transportation," came a cool, smooth, vaguely British sounding voice out of nowhere.

Jane jumped, turning around to find Loki, Steve Rogers, and Thor standing in the entrance to the courtyard Jane was standing in surrounded by her freak hurricane mess. Rogers looked around with wide eyes from under the safety of his umbrella, while Loki simply quirked an eyebrow at the destruction Jane seemingly wreaked. Thor only had eyes for Jane.

"Oh, and look who I found wandering around the streets of London," Loki said, sounding ironic as he gestured at his brother, who was dressed in his Asgardian armor and looked horribly out of place next to his brother and Rogers, who looked totally normal (even if Rogers was kind of dressed like a grandpa).

Without thinking, Jane ran across the courtyard and threw herself at Thor.

"HEY!" Darcy shouted. "Not fair! Bring my the Circle of Dryness!"

Oh dear, can you fix it? / Right, left a bit, right a little / Okay, break down / We can tackle any situation / Look out 'cause here we come

-Bob the Builder, "Can We Fix It?"

Nicholls produced an umbrella from the pocket of his trench coat and shielded Darcy from further drenching as Jane clung to Thor. Loki pressed his lips together, realizing what Darcy had meant when she'd said "Circle of Dryness" as he observed Thor and Jane.

Thor was no longer being rained upon and Jane was very dry, as in she'd never been touched by the downpour. Frowning, Loki circled the pair as Jane breathlessly tried to explain to Thor what had been transpiring.

"And then…well, I don't know what happened. I remember being mad, but I can't remember why," Jane said, finally letting go of Thor and falling back to her feet. She was still rather dry for someone who'd been hugging wet armor. Loki knew Asgardian armor didn't dry easily. Or quickly.

"The po-po thought she was pulling a prank!" Darcy said, having crossed the courtyard to where Thor, Loki, Steve and Jane were standing, dragging Nicholls and his tiny umbrella with her. Coulson remained within the warehouse with one of his agents, who clearly hadn't gotten the memo about SHEILD dress code. "I don't think Jane can pull a prank like this."

"I'm not pulling a prank!" Jane exclaimed exasperated. "You were the one that brought it to my attention!"

"That's right," Darcy said, smugness evident in her tone and face. "I did. Did you get more muscly?"

Darcy poked Thor in the chest.

"Brother?" Thor quietly asked, eyeing Jane worriedly.

"Yes?"

Thor stared at him while Darcy once more poked Thor in the chest. Nicholls looked as if he really wished he was elsewhere, but manners dictated he shield the lady from the rain, even though she was currently standing in what she'd referred to as the Circle of Dryness.

Loki rolled his eyes. "I don't know. It's strange. Are the realms aligning?"

Thor gravely nodded.

"Well, why are you asking me what's going on?" Loki asked. "When Convergence occurs, portals form all over the Nine Realms. This is clearly what occurs before portals form."

Loki knew Thor wasn't asking him what he thought about the portals. Thor could care less about the portals. He was only back on Earth (looking as if he'd just come from battle) because Jane was in danger.

Loki had no clue what was wrong with Jane Foster.

Loki strode across the courtyard, heading for the warehouse where Coulson stood waiting. Behind him he could hear Thor trying to prevent Jane from scrambling after him, but he failed, as when he'd gone to grab her, he hissed in pain.

Another troubling occurrence where Jane Foster was concerned. Loathe to admit it, Loki wanted to know what was wrong with Jane as much as he elder (not) brother. But there was the pressing matter of placating SHILED where the portals were concerned.

"Agent Coulson," Loki greeted, smile upon his thin lips.

While Loki was a bit bitter about being kept out of the loop about the rock-cube thing SHIELD had found a few weeks prior, there was something about the unassuming Coulson that Loki liked. Be it the quiet humor, the sly cunning, or the fact he worshiped Steve, Loki was unsure and had decided awhile back not to think too hard about why he liked the man.

Both sides of him liked the man and appreciated his talents.

"Mr Laufey-Odinson," Coulson formally greeted. "Glad you could make it."

Loki raised an eyebrow as he reached the shelter of the warehouse and lowered his umbrella, shaking it out before leaving it open near the entry to dry out. Jane came to a halt next to him, almost tripping over him in her haste. He caught her by her elbow.

She was extremely warm, much warmer than a mortal ought to be.

"I wanna know about portals," she announced, straightening up and jumping away from Loki as if he were on fire.

"Portals!"

"Where do they go?"

"Am I in a science fiction movie again?"

"How do we contain them?"

Loki glanced around at the people who'd gathered around Coulson, four were dressed as civilians, one was in a matching Coulson suit, while the other was dressed in the dark blue SHIELD uniform. Loki eyed the civilians. Three were clearly of the science nerd persuasion, while the other was something that did not fit in with SHEILD or the group in general.

"You'll have to introduce me to your new team," Loki said, looking back at Coulson and not answering any of their questions.

"Agents May, Ward, Fitz and Simmons," two of the scientists waved, "Mr Boothby, Dr Foster and Ms Lewis' intern, and this is Skye."

"Just Skye?" Loki inquired, noting the lack of title.

"Just Skye," the out of place woman greeted. "You're Luke Loofa-Obi-wan?"

Loki drew his eyebrows together as Steve, Thor, and Dracy dragging along a reluctant Nicholls joined them in the warehouse.

"Luafey-Odinson," Coulson corrected, looking weary and sounding a bit tired. "I highly doubt you ought to call him Loofa-Obi-wan to his face."

Skye gave Loki a once over, frowning as she got to his face. "Why? I could take him?"

Loki and Thor both snorted.

"So, you think these events are portals forming?" Simmons inquired, stepping a little in front of Skye. "Are you an alien expert or a… not yet explained science expert? And how does one become an expert in those things?"

"I'm not of Earth," Loki replied, holding out his hand. "Might I see your StarkPad?"

"Oh," Simmons breathed, clearly caught off guard and looking at him with wide eyes. "Seriously? Not of Earth?"

Loki took the state-of-the-art StarkPad Simmons had been holding and flicked his finger across the screen, studying quickly the readings she'd been taking. The most puzzling were the ones she'd gotten off of Jane during her "incident." Tapping his finger through a few more screens, Loki found the app he wanted and opened it up. Suddenly, the screen was projected above the tablet and in the air for all to see.

"Portals," Loki began, making sure everyone was paying attention to him, "usually do not form at random and are fixed points in the universe. You cannot create a portal without a great energy source. It usually takes centuries to create portals. To make them quickly, you need a power source, such as the Tesseract, which alone is unable to open a portal. It needed the help in order to open portals"

"Like Stark's Arc Reactor technology?" Coulson asked.

"Yes, correct," Loki agreed.

"Then where are these getting their energy from?" asked Fitz, looking at his own StarkPad. "I can't detect a power source akin to anything we know. No Arc Reactor or whatever Loki used to open the portal when he arrived via the Tesseract."

"The Nine Realms themselves are powering the portals," Loki answered.

"They are aligning," Thor added helpfully.

"OH! Like in Doctor Who!" Simmons exclaimed, clapping her hands together at her chest a few times while bouncing on her the balls of her feet. "I thought that was kind of silly— planets in perfect alignment creating energy that could be used for something, but that's what is happening, right? The planets are moving, so the energy of them shifting into alignment is creating the portals!"

"Correct," Loki said, trying to keep the amazement off his face. While he wasn't sure what she was talking about in regards to Doctor Who, he was glad she'd caught on quickly. "Though, it's realms, not planets. For instant, Earth is a planet, Midgard is the realm."

"Wait," Jane said. "I thought the terms were interchangeable."

"The more I've learned about the solar system you are located within, I know the terms are not interchangeable," Loki explained. "When I first arrived, I was ignorant of the stars that surrounded you and the fact you had other planets in your realm."

Jane looked like her head was going to explode.

"So, a realm is like a universe?" she whispered.

Loki frowned, thought about it a moment, then nodded.

"The universes are aligning?"

"Yes. There are universes near to you, called the Nine Realms by those of Asgard, and those are always in movement. Like how your planets go around your sun. Hmm…how to explain this properly. The visual of the tree works well."

Loki flicked the screen and made an image of Yggdrasil appear. He showed the branches how they usually were aligned.

"Realms are more stationary than your planets, however, once in awhile, they drift a bit." Loki made the branches move a little along the trunk. "This is why walking the pathways of the tree can be dangerous and you occasionally wind up somewhere you do not wish to be. However, for this to happen within a mortal's lifetime…it's a very low likelihood. But, as some scientists here theorize, the universes are always in movement. This is how the universe looks like at the moment."

Loki flicked the screen and moved the branches till they were almost all lined up along the main trunk. He glanced around at the group to find Nicholls and Steve looking baffled, Simmons, Fitz, Skye, Ward, Jane, Boothby, and Darcy looking transfixed, and Coulson and May looking unfazed by what Loki was explaining. Thor was staring at Jane.

"So, when the various universe line themselves up, they make a lot of extra power, right?" Darcy asked, reaching up to touch the screen projecting above the StarkPad. It flickered a little and she lowered her hand. "So, that power had to go somewhere, so it created the portals?"

"Yes. The readings Agents Simmons has on her tablet here prove my point. There is quite a bit of energy present and it is similar to…"

"Your magic," Steve suggested.

"No! The readings we get when the portals opened," Jane breathed, smacking herself in the head. "I've been staring at the numbers for months! Why did I not realize what I was looking at?"

"Because you were busying mooning over—ooof. Seriously, Jane?" Darcy asked, rubbing her stomach where Jane had elbowed her.

Loki snorted. "Easily missed. However, unlike the portals that dumped myself and Mr Ni—"

"Just you," Coulson said calmly. "No one else here has been dumped out by a portal."

Loki hid his surprise. He had felt that Coulson was keeping things from certain personal on his team, but just how much he was hiding was a little surprising. Loki nodded at Coulson, now knowing why Skye had referred to him as Luke. She didn't know.

"He was going to say Nicholls!" Skye shouted. "He's an alien too!"

Loki shook his head. "No. Mr Nicholls is not an alien. He's very much human."

Skye crossed her arms, frowning deeply. Loki noted she wore a rather heavy duty silver bangle that did not appear as if it was able to be removed.

"This is a clearance thing, isn't it?" she demanded, looking at Coulson and shaking her sleeve to cover the bangle.

"Yes. He shouldn't have told you he fell out of one," Coulson said, narrowing his eyes a bit.

Loki smirked, holding up his free hand in defeat. "Can I say why Jane was unable to notice the difference between these portals and the ones she's been studying?"

"Go ahead," Coulson said, giving Skye a look as she appeared rather giddy.

"As I was saying, the portal that placed me here was coming from an alternative universe, so it's readings would be different. These are all from this plane, not another."

"Wait, there's alternate universes?" Skye screeched.

"Realities would be the better word," Loki suggested mildly. "They do indeed exist and that, Jane, is why you might not have noticed what you were looking at."

"What about the readings when, er, uh, Loki came through," Jane suggested, eyeing Loki and likely willing him to understand.

Loki extended his head. "He was coming from this reality, but outside of the Nine Realms. So, once again, the numbers and energy readings will be a mite different."

"Mind blown," Fitz muttered, looking as if he was drowning.

"So, the Chitauri aren't of this universe? Or…I mean…" Simmons paused, looking a little confused.

"They aren't of this universe or one listed on this tree," Loki replied. "These are the life populated universes known in Asgard. The universe the Chitauri reside within is far outside and not connected to any of these realms. You see, these realms are connected by a force, the Life Tree."

Loki drew on the image he was still projecting over the StarkPad to show how each realm was connected to one another. "These are the paths I walked. Well, some of them. There might be many more, but these are the ones I knew of. These paths connect the Nine Realms. There are not paths out of the Nine Realms."

Except the Void, but Loki wasn't about to bring that up.

"Oh, Loki," Thor breathed, eyes finally on the display and not Jane. "No wonder you were never home."

Skye eyed Loki, then looked at Thor. "Loki's not here."

"No, he's not," Loki insisted, "but you do understand why your brother Loki was never around, yes?"

Thor laughed, clapping Loki on the shoulder.

"It was easy to travel when you had the ability to travel in this method. And without anyone knowing," Loki said quietly. "A quick escape."

"You can't travel this way any more?" Sky asked, picking up on his use of past tense. "The reality you were from was similar to this, right? But different, hence your weird last name compared to Thor, right?"

"Yes," Loki lied.

"I asked more than one question."

"I am unable to open the doors any longer," Loki grudgingly admitted. "Which brings me to my next point. These portals won't have doors."

"No door?" Coulson asked, looking a little worried.

"Why not?" several people demanded.

"These portals are very different from the ones that already exist," Loki explained. "If I show you the numbers, it'll make sense."

Loki took the image down and flicked around for the energy scanner Simmons had on the tablet. Upon finding it, he ran it again, carefully watching the results.

"And they are forming all over?" Coulson inquired.

"Just all over London," Loki said, getting the numbers and graph he wanted. He handed the StarkPad back to Simmons, who was quickly surrounded by Jane and Fitz.

Simmons, Fitz, and Jane all appeared to have had their minds blown and were unable to say anything.

"Without doors, these portals will be very easy to walk through, won't they Jane?" Loki politely asked, pretending to flick dirt off his shoulder.

Everyone turned to stare at Jane and Loki smirked. She looked like a deer caught in a car's headlights.

All the answer for the words that you omitted / You omit them still / Never thought I would find out

-Emery, "Piggy Bank of Lies"