I wrote most of this following the Thor movie, but it was before Avengers. So I wrote it with the setting that Loki has been causing trouble on Earth long enough for the Avengers to assemble.

The first several chapters are one scene but I split it up because it was a little long, so the transitions aren't as smooth as I would like. Hope you enjoy!

Sometimes being still and thinking of nothing was the best course of action for Loki. He simply did not wish to remember his past. He did not want to agonize over the lies that encompassed him during his childhood. Loki was not in the mood to brood over his future, or formulate any plans of revenge. So he stood in an elevator, watching the people pour in and then pile out. He wasn't using magic to be invisible, but people, so focused on their own destination, failed notice him standing there. Loki found himself content to worry about nothing; his mind was clear, feeling nothing at all. He just was there. Not going forward, not going back, only up and down coming back to the same spot.

People shuffled in and out of the elevator, dozens in the morning dwindling to no passengers, then exploding in number just around lunch. Afternoon rolled around and no one was left on the elevator but Loki. Then the doors opened and a girl walked in. She looked at the elevator buttons but did not press one.

"Um, are you going anywhere?" she asked.

Loki blinked; she was the first person to have spoken to him today. Well, the first person to speak to him in anything but threats in . . . . a long time. A very long time. He wasn't even sure what she had said.

"Excuse me?" he asked.

The girl gestured to the buttons, "Well, no buttons are glowing, so are you just. . . I don't know . . ."

Loki quickly replied, "Oh, I'm just . . . killing time. I've got nothing better to do."

The Midguardian phrase must have set her at some ease because the girl nodded and pressed the button for ground floor. He noticed she glanced at him twice more. Loki felt a smile twitch his lips. Obviously, this teenaged - or was she collage aged? - girl was not comfortable with an older man in a small sealed elevator. He wasn't going to do anything to her. There was no need for it, but he still looked her over, for curiosity's sake. Study of Midguardian culture, he told himself, so he could learn better on how to beat them and rule them if that is what he decided to do.

His first prognosis of her is that she seemed . . . over dressed. Layers of clothing peeked out from under a heavy winter coat. Loki could see at least a scarf, hat, hood, coat, jacket, sweatshirt, boots, a heavy pair of sweatpants and at least two sets of gloves. He couldn't tell what the girl looked like under the clothing. She looked ready to hike into Jutenheim that's for sure. Loki didn't remember it being cold outside, but then again, he was Frost Giant, he wouldn't feel the cold. Thinking about it, Loki did remember snow on the ground outside.
Suddenly, the elevator stopped moving and the lights flickered out. Both occupants were left in absolute darkness. Loki braced himself for the girl to scream. She did, but not in the high pitched way he had expected.

"Stupid! Stupid Elevator!" Loki heard pounding on the elevator doors.

"I had a class to get to! I was looking forward to it, and You Had. To. Break. Down! Stupid Elevator!"

Loki heard her drop to the ground and mutter, "Stupid elevator."

Loki thought he heard her rummaging through a bag. Then a light flicked on from a small electric screen.

The girl looked at him, "You alright?"

He blinked, she was asking his condition. Of course he was fine, what would have changed? "I am well." he confirmed.

"Do you happen to have a cell phone?" She asked.

Loki gestured at the lit screen, "Isn't that a cell phone?"

She shook her head, "No it's just an iPod Touch, I don't own a cell phone. I really should, but I can't afford one. Poor college student you know?"

"Well, I'm sorry. I do not have a cell phone."

She moaned, "We'll be here for hours. We'll die of hunger and thirst and . . . heat stroke."

Then she flashed him a smile. Was that a joking smile? He couldn't tell with the dim light source. Sighing, the girl shifted the iPod from hand to hand as she stripped off the winter coat and jacket. The iPod fumbled from her hands but she caught it. She placed it on the ground as she continued stripping clothing.

"I knew it was cold outside, and I had a feeling to wear extra clothing but I didn't expect to be stranded in this elevator, again." She paused, "I wonder why the backup elevator lights aren't on. They were on last time."

Then the girl shrugged and sat down against the wall. Loki sat down against the opposite wall as he saw no reason to stand. He stared at her. She tucked her legs close to her chest and rested her chin on them. Her arms wrapped around her legs, she was examining the ground. The iPod light flicked off, putting them back into darkness. Loki reasoned it must be because the iPod had a timer that would turn off the light when it was on too long.

After a moment, the girl called to him, "You're going to stay over there, right?"

Loki smiled mischievously, but he said evenly, "Of Course."

Loki waited until his eyes could see her faint outline and stood slowly. He quietly approached her. She didn't notice - how could she? Her human eyes could not see in absolute darkness, but his Frost Giant eyes could just make out her silhouette. Loki reached out and touched the side of her face with his fingers. She screamed. Then her fists collided with his body. Again and again they struck. The punches were nothing compared with Mjolnir's blows but he fell back and dropped to the ground. Laughter shook his body. He had expected a reaction but not with the ferocity of a Valkyrie.

The girl stopped her blows at his laughter. But he could not look at her because laughter burnt his lungs and consumed all of his focus. He hadn't laughed like that in a long time. Then again he hadn't done many things for humor and humor's sake alone.

"Truce! Truce!" He gasped, "I only wanted to see how you would react is all. I didn't expect that though."

A tiny human girl actually expecting to fight a grown man? He never would have thought anyone would try.

A glow emanated from the iPod again. She held it over his face. He grinned broadly at her and displayed his hands as a sign of peace. She smiled tentatively back but then returned to her wall. She touched the screen of the devise, probably modifying the duration of the light. Loki returned to his wall, still chuckling. He could see her glaring at him for the prank. He didn't care. It was the first bit of mischief he had done in a long time, and it was well worth it. He couldn't remember laughing like that in a very long time. Maybe even centuries.

After only a minute, the girl got bored of glaring and her expression softened into simply stared out into space.

Loki asked, "What is your name?"

"Why do you want to know?" She countered.

"Well, if we are going to be here for hours I figure it would be decent for us to learn each other's names." Loki reasoned.

"Hmmmm." Then the girl smiled brilliantly as if she always brightened when she introduced herself, "I'm Courtney. What's your name?"

"Loki."

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid! Loki berated himself. He should not have given her his name. The Avengers probably had it pasted over every new station by now. Loki did not let his silent scolding appear on his face. She would see it in the tiny light.

However, Courtney did not seem to notice. "Loki, huh?" She smiled, "Both of our names end in the ē sound!"

Loki did not sigh in relief. She would definitely see that, unless she was a complete air head.

They both sat quietly for a while, just looking at each other. Loki could not discern much of her face, the light was too dim. He could not even be sure if she were pretty.

"Watching paint dry has to be funner than this." Courtney commented dryly.

"I think the proper English phrase is 'more fun' if I am not mistaken." Loki corrected.

"Aw," Courtney teased, her lips turning into a pout. "But 'funner' is more fun to say." Then her lips twisted into a quick smile that seemed to say 'I'm only joking.'

Loki decided to joke along, he had never had anyone willing to banter words playfully. "Perhaps 'funner' is funner to say but it is not correct no matter how much funner 'funner' is to say."

She laughed, probably at his patronizing tone. Loki smiled, enjoying a slight warm feeling in his chest that came from someone laughing in the name of fun.

"Let's play a game." She suggested after her laughter had abated.

"Like what?"

"Rock, paper, scissors sounds fun."

Loki frowned, "Isn't that game more for making decisions?"

"Yeah," Courtney said slowly then plowed on eagerly, "It could be played just to see who is better or just to pass time."

Loki shrugged, if it would amuse the Midguardian, then he didn't see why he shouldn't try it out - he didn't have anything better to do. "Paper beats rock, rock beats scissors, and scissors beats paper?" He confirmed.

"Unless you play it differently from where you are from."

When Loki did not reply, Courtney continued, "Okay, on scissors. Rock. Paper. Scissors!"

He had scissors. She had rock. Loki frowned.

"Rock, paper, scissors!"

He lost again. On the fourth time he won but promptly lost afterward. He tried to trick her by doing rock twice then on the third time by doing scissors. His ploy failed. She won again.

"You play exactly like my brother," she remarked.

Loki scowled. He would not be outdone. He was the king of cunning. Well, not really, but he prided himself in strategy and intelligence. To win this game he had to decide what his opponent's next move was. Loki was not going to let a human girl – a human girl hundreds of years younger than him - best him. He changed tactics.

And Loki still was losing. She seemed to win in a ratio of two wins to every three games they played.

"I tire of this game." Loki finally announced.

Courtney replied, "That's because you are losing." But she was smiling her smile and Loki knew she was teasing even before she added, "I'm joking, only teasing. . . if you didn't pick that up. . ."

Loki did not reply to this roundabout apology. Instead, he replied, "I've got an idea. We both ask questions of each other, trying to get personal information about each other's past and family. But we are not allowed to ask direct personal questions. We can ask favorite things but not why they are our favorites."

Courtney slowly replied, "So we are trying to get personal information without asking personal questions?"

"Precisely. I'll start."

"And you'll win no doubt." She added.

Loki smiled, of course he'd win, and he was very tight lipped about everything and very good at controlling his tongue. She was human and a girl, they always chatter. She didn't stand a chance.

"First question: When the elevator broke down, you said you had a class to get to. What sort of class was it?"

Courtney leaned more solidly back on the elevator wall. "A college class. Creative writing sort of class. I was looking forward to it; it's one of my favorite classes."

Loki quickly added a second question, "College? What are you majoring in?"

Courtney's lips twitched, "Aren't we supposed to take turns?"

Loki let a little pout cross his face. She had done it earlier, so he had the right to now. "Aw, please."

She smiled and giggled a little, "How could I say no to a face like that? Okay I am majoring in English, I hope to be an author someday."

"Ha! I win!" Loki exclaimed. "You gave personal information."

"You said it was personal information about past and family, and favorites didn't count. My favorite career would be writing. So it doesn't count." Courtney argued.

Loki sighed dramatically, "Alright, we'll continue. Your turn."

"Hmmmmm." She seemed to think for a long moment then she asked, "Why aren't the emergency lights on? Every time I've been stuck in this elevator previously, there was a light on but not this time."

"Previously?" Loki asked, "You've been stuck in an elevator before this?"

"Answer the question." It was a teasing patronizing tone.

Loki sighed then guessed, "I don't know. Possibly, the whole building is cut off from power or a circuit shorted out somewhere. I can't be sure. Electronics aren't exactly my forte."

"Better than my guesses."

"Alright, answer my previous question. You have been stuck in elevators before this."

She made a noise like a warning beep on a truck that is driving in reverse, she robotically said, "That is a question pertaining specifically to the past and cannot be asked."

"Okay, out of the game then, just tell me a bit about it. I'm curious."

"Hmmm. I guess," She sighed but flashed that joking smile again. "It was actually this elevator, it has broken down five times since I got here. I've been stuck in it -counting this time - three times. Apparently the elevator likes me too much and wants to keep me for awhile. Well, The first time I was with three classmates. None of us had a phone at the time the elevator broke down, so we were stuck. Since there are two elevators, no one noticed that this one was broken for a long time. We got stuck at about nine o'clock at night and no one knew we were here till one in the morning. And they always have serious trouble getting the elevator up or down to get the people out. That time it took four hours. So we were stuck in there for eight hours."

"Eight!" Loki yelped. He would leave magically before spending eight hours in here. The Avengers or at least Fury would figure out he was here in eight hours.

"Yeah, but we made the best of it. We talked and played games and sang songs. We actually had a lot of fun."

She sighed heavily, "The second time - not so much. The elevator was crowded, twelve to fourteen people. Very few of us knew each other. We were cramped, and it was really hot. I mean really hot. Of course, there were cell phones that time, but we were still stuck in there for three hours. It was too small to sit down so we had to stand. Everyone was complaining and it was just horrible."

She was quiet a second; seeming to be lost in the memories then she perked up, "So I was going to class, what were you doing in this elevator?"

"Oh, uh," Loki scrambled for an answer. He couldn't tell her the truth. He couldn't tell her that he had come to do something horrid to Jane Foster who had rented a room here. Loki had not found her because she had been at some science convention. He was just killing time until she got back. Then Loki decided on a half-truth.

"Just killing time. I was going to visit someone, but they weren't here. So I was just riding the elevator until they returned."

Courtney made no further comment than, "Hmmm."

Loki thought up another question. "So what are you doing wearing so much clothing?"

He gestured to the heaps of clothing around the floor of the elevator.

"Oh that. . . Well, I have to walk to campus to attend my class. And yesterday it was really cold and I didn't want to be cold so I dressed warm. Plus, I had a feeling to wear more. Guess we could use them as pillows and blankets if we are in here long enough."

Loki prodded, "But why so many?"

"Because it's cold. I was taught to dress in layers cause if I get too hot I can take it off."

"So if it got hotter in here you would take more off, right?"

Stubbornly, she stated, "I've already taken off everything I'm going to take off."

"So you're wearing nothing under that layer?"

"Foul play, Loki! That's inappropriate!"

Loki was shocked. There was no embarrassment or stuttered shock in her voice. Instead, it was a teasing accusation with an undertone of warning. And by the light of the iPod, he could discern no red flush crawling up her cheeks.

"You're not embarrassed?" Loki asked.

"No," Courtney laughed, "I don't get embarrassed very easily. I can only remember once, and that when my brother made a judgment call on a guy I liked. That was terrible; luckily he only wrote it on a piece of paper instead of saying it out loud."

"Ha!" Loki saw her jump. He continued triumphantly, "I win. You told me that you have a brother and told me about a past event."

"Oh . . . I guess you do win. I forgot we were playing. . ." She trailed off with a sort of disappointment in her voice. They sat in silence, Loki glowing with triumph.