It was unlike anything Jane had ever experienced. It was as though her body was not her own, as though there was a force that was pulling her in a certain direction and another was pushing her away.

It was uncomfortable, to put it mildly.

She wasn't keeping track of where they were, so when she opened her eyes, and they were on Earth, it was disarming.

"Loki?" she asked through a haze of confusion. She felt him take her hand.

"You are a wielder of a stone, Jane Foster. You are not as who you were," he looked on her with something of awe. He'd need to get the Tesseract. Move it somewhere else, for Jane Foster was now linked to the Infinity Stones in a way that no one could ignore.

Jane swallowed, then looked at her arms. "Do you think I'll survive it?"

"Perhaps you should attempt to use it. See what happens."

Incredulous, she looked at him. "And how do you propose I do that?"

He looked around. They were standing the length of a stadium away from Avengers headquarters. "Alter the sign just there," he nodded at the enormous "A".

She looked at it. Shrugged. How was she supposed to do this? She stared at the A. She felt her mind clouding with a sort of red haze. She thought about Alfheim, and the library.

"Jane…"

She looked at him.

Her eyes were swimming with the aether.

"Look…" he nodded at the building.

And when she blinked, Avengers headquarters looked just like the library in Alfheim. "My god," she whispered.

He smiled. She could use it. She had control over it. This…this was something. If he could handle the Space Stone, if the sorcerer had really mastered the Time Stone, and the Avengers had the Mind Stone, Thanos would never have more than the Power Stone. And together they could surely defeat him.

All but the Mind Stone, the Time Stone, and the Reality Stone were now on Earth. They'd need to get to Thor and now. "Jane, change it back," he said softly.

She looked at the building and willed it to return to its form.

It did.

Loki smirked without her seeing. "When we enter that building, there will be a lot of questions. Please answer them honestly and do not forget what we've been through."

She glanced at him. The aether was clouding her eyes, but then disappeared. Her body was absorbing it. "I know."

He nodded. "Let's go, then."

"I'm not sure what we're doing, Steve. Thanos could show up any minute," Natasha sipped her tea. "We need to have more of a plan than just separating Vision from the Mind Stone."

"We're waiting," it was terribly uncharacteristic of Steve Rogers…this idleness. And it wasn't lost on him, either. He hated just sitting here waiting for the shoe to drop. But honestly, he had no idea what else he could do. Thanos wanted the Stones. Vision had one. And they were waiting for T'Challa to come.

Any minute now.

"And then the Sorcerer…" Natasha said, interrupting him. "Maybe I can head to Manhattan…"

"No," he stood. "Not yet."

"Seriously Steve. What are we waiting for?"

He looked out the window, sighing. And then he heard it. "What's that?"

"The front door…" a notification had popped up, and the camera in the front of the building was suddenly on the screen in front of Natasha. "Oh my god."

Loki was standing there with Jane Foster.

"Tell us what you've done to her," Steve stood by the window, arms crossed.

"I assure you, Captain," there was some disdain in Loki's voice. "I've done nothing to her."

"Why should we believe you? You have never done anything to earn our trust."

"Tell me," Loki began, looking at the company. Tony Stark. Natasha Romanoff. Steve Rogers. Bruce Banner…and some unfamiliar faces. "Where is my brother?"

"He's not here," Tony supplied. "Off doing some crazy god shit with that seer. Said he'd be back. But to Cap's point. Give me a reason not to blast you. I don't even need a good reason. Any reason would work here."

Loki sighed. He'd rather counted on Thor being here to vouch for him. And to flirt with Jane, just to see the look on his face. "Dr Foster, would you mind telling these…" he paused. "Heroes? What we've been through?"

"It doesn't matter," Jane said finally. "I have the Reality Stone. You have the Mind Stone. And as I understand it," she looked around. "The Tesseract is with the Asgardians…so. What's left?"

"The Time Stone is in Manhattan. We're about to get it," Natasha said. "That means Thanos has one, and the Soul Stone is MIA."

Jane nodded, shrugging. "I think we have a fair shot at this."

"Can you control the Reality Stone, Dr Foster?" Bruce Banner asked dubiously.

"I'm not sure. But it's not killing me, so there's that."

"How do you know it's not killing you?" Banner sounded incredulous. "You're an astrophysicist. What do you know about biochemistry?"

Jane smiled, swallowing. "Touché, Dr. I don't know. But it feels different…when I had the aether inside of me before, I felt sick. Like I was losing air. All the time. And even though it hasn't been that long, I feel as though I've gained something."

"What have you gained?" asked Rogers.

She looked at him. "Power."

The Helicarrier landed right outside of Avengers headquarters, Wakanda passengers aboard. They disembarked from the ship, looking around. "It's not as impressive as I had imagined," Okoye observed.

T'Challa smiled. "And what were you expecting?"

"Less green. More coffee," Okoye walked through the front door, finding Steve Rogers waiting for them.

"It's good to see you," he smiled.

T'Challa nodded. "Shuri is ready. She's getting some things from the ship."

"We need all the help we can get."

Jane was staring out of a large bank of windows. She sighed deeply, feeling the aether pulse throughout her. She was confused about what she was doing, how she was doing it. What it all meant. Her goal was to help defeat Thanos, but it could be months until he showed up.

What she really wanted to know was who she was, because she really wasn't sure anymore.

"So you're Thor's girlfriend, huh?" Tony Stark sided up to her. "Or maybe not?"

"Not. Not really, anyway," Jane looked at him. "And you're the famous Tony Stark."

"Guilty," he paused. "Kinda funny, you showing up here. With Loki, of all people," he paused a second. "Is he a person?"

"He's whatever Thor is."

"No…not quite, Dr Foster. Loki is a bit different. First of all, he tried to conquer Earth a few years back."

"He was under the influence of the Mind Stone and Thanos."

Tony smirked at her. "He's got you, huh?"

"Got me?" she turned to look at him fully. "What do you mean?"

"You're defending the indefensible."

She shook her head. "Not exactly," and she folded her arms. "There are things that everyone does that they don't have full control over. Sometimes those things are a very big deal, like being made to overthrow a planet," she smiled. "Sometimes they're not as big, like getting shot in the chest and living with the shrapnel for a few years. But life changing nonetheless. It's all about perspective, Mr Stark."

He smiled at her. "You're not wrong. Except you are. Some things shouldn't be forgiven. Some things you need to take a stand against."

"Like creating a robot with a will to destroy the planet you claim to defend so fiercely?"

His gaze fell. "Something like that."

"Look. We can't afford to argue. We need to get the Stones we have and protect them."

"Can you effectively wield that thing inside of you?"

"We're about to find out."

Tony looked at her a moment. "Yeah. When it's time to suit up, what will you wear?"

Jane smiled. "This, I guess?" she shrugged and looked down at her jeans and sweater.

"Not a great plan. Lemme see what I can do," and with that, he left her there.

She smiled softly to herself.

"You hardly said a word."

Jane turned to see Loki standing there, not feet from her. 'Hi."

"I thought we had an agreement."

"We did. But they weren't attacking you."

He advanced on her, looking at her intently. "I was counting on you to give the Avengers the truth. You barely spoke."

Jane looked up at him. His eyes were fixed, his brow furrowed. "Look. I'm sorry, Ok? I just thought that the agreement was in place just in case they started to get testy about you."

"It was to assure them of my intentions."

"And what are those intentions, exactly, hm?" she narrowed her gaze.

He smirked. "To protect the people of Asgard, to defend Midgard, and to defeat Thanos. Much the same as any one of the Avengers."

"That's it?"

"And, of course, askling, to assure that Thor is duly jealous of our relationship."

Jane blushed, then looked down. "I'm not sure what that relationship is."

He chuckled. "Nor do I. So there's that."

She swallowed. "Well. I think Tony is getting me an outfit. That's exciting."

Loki nodded, tearing his gaze away. She was lovely. "The mind reels."

"I should go," Jane turned to leave.

"Jane…"

"Yes?"

"I …" Loki swallowed and shifted his weight. "Nothing."

She observed him crookedly and then nodded, leaving.

And Loki, for his part, turned to look out of the window. He was in danger, he could feel it.

Natasha was standing outside of 177a Bleeker Street. She sighed. Somehow, she was always doing shit like this. Black Widow knocked on the door.

And an Asian man answered. "We've been expecting you."

"Great. Then we can skip formalities," she brushed passed him and entered the Sanctum. "Nice place. Not too creepy, all things considered."

"I'm Wong. Defender of the Time Stone."

"I'm Natasha. Defender of the Earth."

"And I'm Dr Strange," he was walking down the center stairs. "Sorcerer Supreme."

Natasha smiled at him. "Great. I'm here for you. We've got a problem," she lifted her chin.

Dr Strange stopped in front of her. "Whatever it is, the Stone stays with me."

"Whatever. Then you're coming to headquarters."

"Headquarters?"

"Avengers headquarters. Upstate a bit. About a 10 minute journey on the Helicarrier."

Dr Strange looked at Wong clandestinely. "Why would we go there?"

"Earth is in eminent danger. A being called Thanos is after the Infinity Stones, and we've got four of them."

"Four?" Strange cocked his head and furrowed his brow.

"Oh good. You know that what you've got is an Infinity Stone. That saves time…" she nodded. "Anyway, yeah. The Mind Stone is in Vision…a sort of bot-like thing. Super cool guy. We're trying to separate him from it. The Tesseract holds the Space Stone, and Asgard is here. They have that one. And the Reality Stone is currently being housed by a human named Jane Foster. I have no idea how that works, but there it is. Thanos has the Power Stone."

Wong looked at them both. "That leaves the Soul Stone."

"And no one knows where that is," supplied Natasha.

Dr Strange looked at them both. "All right. Let's go."

Wanda was holding Vision's hand, looking out of the window. Bruce Banner and Shuri were working on the Stone. She was terrified. Even though Banner was a bio guy, this was unchartered territory for him, and she had no idea who this Shuri was.

She wanted Tony to be here. He was the tech expert. Vision was mostly his creation, she believed.

Wanda swallowed. "How are things going?"

"Good," said Shuri. "This won't be as complicated as I had thought."

"Not as complicated?" Bruce interjected. "We're separating millions of neurons."

Shuri smiled, then shrugged, continuing to work.

"Where we at?" Tony Stark's voice sounded.

"Coming along," said Shuri,

"Great. Can we stop?"

"What?" Shuri, Banner, and Wanda all looked at him.

"Yeah…see, I've been thinking. Jane Foster houses the Reality Stone…the wizard is coming up with his Stone around his neck…why do we need to take Vision's? Maybe it's better with the thing that knows exactly how to use it."

Everyone stared. "Tony," began Bruce. "What are you talking about."

"Jane Foster. She is keeping the Reality Stone safe. Why can't Vision?"

And Wanda's hand squeezed Vision's, as he laid on the table. Maybe Tony was right. And if he was, what did that mean for all of them?

AN: I can only say I'm sorry for the massive delay. I'm trying to keep on top of my three unfinished stories, but it's slow going. I just want you all to know that I'm not abandoning this, and to thank you for continuing to read this!