Point of No Return

By Ammie Hawk

Disclaimer: Still don't own…

AN: Okay, so I know it's been forever, but hey, gotta follow the muses. Anyway, here's the next chapter, hope ya'll enjoy.

Chapter 1

Thor and Loki landed in a rather deserted street in the city of London. It had taken a week for them to be able to make the trip to Midgard, as the Bifrost had not quite been completed, and the Allfather had refused to use the Tesseract, even to save his only son. So they had waited for the Bifrost, and in the interim made plans.

The street they landed on appeared to be residential. They weren't sure what they were looking for, as all Heimdall could provide was a last known location. Now, all they could do was hope the god of mischief was able to pick up on the magical signature and be able to track it.

"Thor," the raven frowned as he scanned the street, "I believe the caster is still here. The spell used is one of mine. But with the intensity of the power behind it, the caster would have been foolish to have left."

"Then where are they?" the god of thunder looked around as if expecting them to be on the street.

"The magic originates here," he indicated the spot where number twelve should be. "However, there is nothing I can do about it, as long as I wear this," he held up his right hand and tapped the cuff Odin had slapped on him. "If you want my help in taking down the magic and locating the caster, this cuff has to come off."

Before Thor could do more than narrow his eyes suspiciously at him, a group of six people came running up the street toward them. Loki, who had seen them first, tensed instinctively as he recognized the other Avengers. In the lead was the self righteous patriot, Steve Rogers, followed by the cocky Tony Stark, then the ever persistent spider, Natasha Romanov, close behind her was his favorite among them, the little archer, Clint Barton, and finally brining up the rear was the beast himself, Bruce Banner. The only one he didn't recognize was a bushy haired young woman who almost radiated magic.

"Thor!" the blond leader called out as they neared. "What are you doing here? We thought you were stuck in Asgard for the time being."

"My friends," the god of thunder turned to his teammates with a welcoming smile. "The Bifrost has finally been completed. My brother and I are here to investigate a disturbance that has caused my powers to go beyond my control."

"You brought him here?" Bruce scowled, pointing at the god of mischief. "Did you forget he recently led an attack on Earth that almost unleashed a marauding alien force?"

"Nothing has been forgotten," Thor shook his head. "Loki is just here to locate the caster of the spell that threw off my powers. The Allfather has contained his magic so he is not a threat at present."

"Wait," the brunette pushed her way to the front of the group before anyone else could argue further. "You are truly Thor, the god of thunder?"

"Yes," blue eyes turned to regard her curiously. "And you are?"

"Who I am is not important at the moment," she was practically in tears. "My friend is behind this barrier and I can't get through, but I think you can."

"Why would I be able to get through?" he shook his head. "I am not a mage like you, and at present I have no powers at all."

"I will explain more once we get inside," she shook her head. "But if anyone should be able to get in it would be you. Right now, I am just worried about my friend, he stopped answering my calls a few days ago, and I am willing to put money on the fact that you can get through and help him."

"I shall try," the long haired blond sighed.

He squared his shoulders and began making his way in the direction Loki had indicated. As he made his way forward, he could feel the magic begin pressing down on him. He closed his eyes and continued onward.

"Thor, stop!" Loki called after him.

"What, Loki?" the blond growled slightly, but halted anyway. "If you hadn't noticed, we seem to be in a bit of a hurry."

"If you would take a moment to pull your head out of your rectal cavity," the dark haired Asgardian snapped, "you would notice that the more you try and force your way through those wards, the weaker Odin's spell on your unstable powers is becoming."

"What are you talking about?" Thor shook his head.

Green eyes locked with blue as he raised his hand toward the sky. The sky, which had been relatively clear, was now dark with clouds, and the faint roll of thunder could be heard.

"You are not going to be able to punch your way through this one. Now, if you would be so kind as to remove this," he held up his right arm, "I can have those wards down in five minutes, and as you pointed out, we are in something of a hurry."

"Fine," the blond sighed in resignation.

"What?! Wait. What? No!" Tony held up his hand. "You can't just let him free. You just reassured us that he was only here because his magic was bound. Now you're going to give it back? Who's to say he won't run off and do exactly what he did before?"

"I trust him," Thor shook his head.

"Yeah, well, I—we," he motioned to the other Avengers, "don't."

"He is still my brother," the god of thunder sighed. "And he is here to help."

"It's not gonna happen," the billionaire shook his head.

"Would you two shut up?!" the witch snapped. "My friend is in that house, and he could be dead or dying. And your bickering is not helping anything."

With that being said, she went over to Loki. She glared at the pair of them as she reached out and ripped the cuff off his wrist.

"Now," her gaze snapped to the trickster, "you take down those wards, or so help me, I'll kill you myself."

"I like her," Loki smirked. "Now, let's see about getting these wards down."

He tilted his head and studied the area surrounding number twelve. After a moment's contemplation, he raised his hands and pushed his own magic out. He began lowering his hands, and as he did, the building in question started coming into view.

"Whoa," he stumbled backwards as the wards finally fell.

"Loki?" his brother gave him a confused look.

"I don't know what happened," scared green eyes met blue. "My… my magic… it's gone!"

"What do you mean?" the blond frowned. "Father said he could not remove your magic, that is why he placed the cuff on you."

"I-I can't explain it," Loki shook his head.

"Can we please discuss this inside," the brunette insisted. "My friend is in there and I'd really like to make sure he's okay. Now, if you want inside this house, you'll need to come with me."

She stormed off in the direction of the front door. The rest of the assembled group shared a look before hurrying after her. Thor and Loki brought up the rear, the blond helping to support the other who was rather unsteady at present.

They entered the house only to find everyone crowded around the relatively small entryway. The brothers shared a concerned look as they noticed the state of the others. Rogers was doubled over a short flight of stairs leading down, heaving his guts out; Tony was on the floor a little ways away, clutching at his heart and gasping in shallow breaths; Romanov was against the opposite wall, her eyes rolling back in her head as if she was about to pass out; Banner was on his knees, his head in his hands as he shifted between his normal flesh and the green of the Hulk, but the change didn't seem to want to complete. Even Thor and Loki were affected by the oppressive air of the place. If it wasn't for the blond's arm, the god of mischief would've hit his knees by the almost feral magic bearing down on his person. Though, he couldn't take solace in the other's support as he noticed the electric blue sparks dancing between his brother's fingers.

"You," the bushy haired witch said rather breathlessly, apparently she wasn't unaffected either.

She pointed at Barton, who was surprisingly normal as ever. Blue eyes tore themselves away from the others to focus solely on her.

"Take this… upstairs," she held out the cuff she had taken off Loki. "Th-third floor… F-first door on… the right. Put… it on him."

"But what about him?" the archer pointed at the trickster indignantly. "Don't we need…?"

"If you don't want your friends to die," a fire burned in her brown eyes, seeming to momentarily overcome her own affliction, "you will go upstairs and suppress his magic before it kills us all."

Without another word, the blond snatched the cuff out of her hand and ran up the stairs, taking them three at a time. A minute later, the oppressive air that filled the house dissipated and those gathered in the foyer began to regain control of themselves.

"What the hell was that?" Natasha asked quietly, the first to recover from their ordeal.

"That," the witch took a deep, steadying breath, "was my friend's magic. Though, I've never felt it like that before. I mean, it's lashed out before, but never to that intensity."

"Just like yours," Loki turned to the god of thunder, before his eyes turned to the brunette. "Now, I believe you said you would give us some answers. I will begin. First of all, what do you know of this? And why did you think Thor would be able to enter the barrier?"

"Right," she shook her head. "Why don't we move upstairs first, where we can be more comfortable? Are you alright, Mr. Stark?"

"I haven't had that happen in a couple years," he rubbed his chest with the palm of his hand, "but I'll live. Besides, Mione, how many times have I told you to call me Tony?"

"Ms. Potts would have my head if I did that," the now dubbed Mione scoffed. "She warned me about you, Mr. Stark. Besides, I'm not one of the vapid, brainless bimbos you used to hire when you were CEO. Ms. Potts hired me because I'm a strong, independent, intelligent young woman. Now, head upstairs."

"You know," Loki chuckled as they all collected themselves, though he was still leaning heavily on his brother, and began heading up the stairs after the witch, "every time she opens her mouth, I like her a bit more."

"That's just what I need, more mischief in my life," she scoffed as she entered a door on the second landing, leading into a large library. "Mischief managed, thank you very much."

As she said the last bit, a cabinet appeared at the far end of the room and clicked open, revealing a fully stocked liquor cabinet. A huff escaped her as brown eyes narrowed at the cabinet as if it had personally offended her.

"He would," she shook her head. "Well, have a seat," she motioned to the assorted couches and chairs around the room. "And apparently, you can help yourself to a drink."

Tony made a beeline for the liquor cabinet while most everyone else took seats around the room. Loki, however, remained standing and made his way shakily over to a small table set up against the wall opposite the liquor cabinet. It was littered with books and papers. Green eyes narrowed into a thoughtful scowl as the archer joined them in the room.

"Okay," Clint flopped down next to Natasha. "What the hell is going on? When I got up there, this kid was thrashing around on the bed, and I had to dodge several different colored beams of light just to get to him. Then, once I managed to get the cuff on him, he screamed bloody murder, I'm actually surprised none of you came up to investigate, and passed out. I was scared for a minute that he'd kicked it, but I checked him over and he's still got a pulse."

"He probably put up silencing charms," the bushy haired brunet sighed. "And as for what exactly is going on, I'm not entirely sure. I just know that Harry called me a little over a week ago because one of our friends, well former friends now, had done a binding ritual on him."

"Binding ritual? Silencing charms?" the billionaire scowled as he leaned his hip against the side of the nearest couch. "So we're talking wand waving, boiling cauldron, hocus pocus magic here, right? Like Merlin crap?"

"Yes, Tony," the redheaded assassin rolled her eyes. "Magic like that exists here on Earth, get over it. Now, Hermione, what kind of ritual are we talking about?"

"I'm not sure," the witch shook her head. "Harry has been working on some translations, and he recently came across a binding ritual of some sort. Our friend found his translations and for some reason thought it would be a good idea to perform it."

"I think I might be able to shed some light on the matter," the god of mischief interjected, a slim, leather bound book held in his hands.

"Oh, and what's that, Reindeer Games?" Stark snarked.

"Thor," Loki chose to ignore the billionaire, "do you recognize this?"

Blue eyes rose to look at the book in his brother's grasp, "Should I?"

"Well, considering it is one of mine," he shook his head. "And the only reason the binding ritual is in there at all is because I was convinced you had been reading it."

"Wait," the blond Asgardian frowned, "so you're saying that this mortal has been reading and performing spells you created? That should be impossible. The magic of Midgard is weaker than that of Asgard. No mortal should be able to perform your magic."

"It does prove quite the conundrum, does it not?" the raven quirked a brow. "However, it appears so. That is why I recognized the one shielding the property. Though, this particular binding ritual isn't one of my creations. I copied it down, tweaking the wording to suit my needs in order to scare you away from your continued snooping. Though," his green gaze flickered to Hermione, "I see now why you thought my oaf of a brother would possibly be able to get through the barrier."

"Well," she shook her head, "Harry did mention that the ritual bound him to the god of thunder."

"Alright," Thor scowled, "then how do we reverse it?"

"I don't know," Loki shrugged. "As I said, I just copied it down. Though, I'm sure Mother or the Allfather will know."

"Very well," the blond Asgardian placed his hands on his knees and rose to his feet, "let's go back and speak with Mother and Father."

"We will have to take the boy with us," his brother countered. "They will need to examine him as well."

"Wait," Hermione cut in, "you can't just take Harry with you. He has to have a say in this as well. This whole ritual was done without his knowledge or consent, you can't take any more of his free will away from him."

"It was done without Thor's knowledge or consent as well," Loki scoffed. "But alas, here we are. And if we do not get them both back to Asgard, now, they could very possibly die. Now, foolish bint, would you like for them to live and have a chance to regain their former lives or not?"

"Fine," she crossed her arms over her chest stubbornly. "But I'm going with you."

"Hey," Tony cut in, "if she gets to go then so do we. We're your friends, right, Point Break? Shouldn't we be allowed to be there for you during this?"

"While I don't think Tony is being as altruistic as his words portray," the redhead shook her head, causing the billionaire to pout, "he does have a point. We are a team, and I think we should be there for each other."

"Besides," Clint chuckled wryly, "I think it'd be kinda cool to see Asgard."

"Fine," Thor conceded with a small smile. "Let's get the boy and go. I feel we are running out of time. Loki, bring the book."

With that, everyone got up and headed out of the room. Hermione led the blond Asgardian up the stairs as the rest headed downstairs and out of the house. Once in the indicated bedroom, Thor picked up the unconscious male. He couldn't explain it, but once he was touching the other he felt a sense of peace within himself that he hadn't felt in more than a week settle over him. They exited the room and joined the others in the yard. He called for Heimdall and a moment later, they had all disappeared as the Bifrost activated.

Ammie: So there it is, NaNo is proving pretty fruitful this year. (And maybe it's kicking the Avengers muses back into gear) Anyway, I'm having a bit of a conundrum with this particular fic, specifically Loki's role in it. I love Loki to death, he is my favorite character, but I can't decide whether to include him in Thor and Harry's predicament or give him his own pairing. Any help on that front would be appreciated. And as always, please let me know what you think.