AN: All characters are © Marvel.

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Angry, bitter words resonated in the Observatory. The Allfather wasn't unleashing his entire wrath on his son, though it didn't make the scene less intimidating. When he was but a little kid, Loki would try to contain successfully the tears that such fights caused, lest he would be the next target for not acting like a warrior and falling prey to fear; then he would resent Thor for always being the cause of so much discomfort yet manage to be their father's favorite. Now that they were adults it wasn't terror what would seize him but an uncomfortable knot on his stomach; as Thor grew older, the trouble he could cause grew in weightiness, and this time it could have dire repercussions for two entire kingdoms.

Odin and Thor's tempers clashed like two tidal waves. Whoever tried to stop them would be washed away, except for the Queen, who could render both silent with a single word. But Frigga wasn't there, and it had to be Loki the one to do it, one way or another.

"While you wait and be patient, the Nine Realms laugh at us!" hollered Thor. "The old ways are done. You'd stand giving speeches while Asgard falls!"

That had gone too far! Loki though quickly of a way to make them snap off from their trance and think things twice before speaking. It only occurred him one thing, something that he had been entertaining since they were little kids, but that he had never gathered the courage to put into practice.

"You're a vain, greedy, cruel boy!" Odin accused.

It was now or never! With a flick of his hand, he concentrated his thoughts on Thor's face and closed his eyes.

"And you ar-" Thor's retort was cut short as his lips sealed together, rendering him mute.

"LOKI!" the Allfather bellowed.

"Father-"

"How dare you interrupt a discussion between your elders?" Odin's right hand was slightly trembling from sheer rage.

"This needs to end," he said, trying his best to keep his calm now that the fury was directed at him. "I couldn't stop him from going to Jotunheim, yet I couldn't let him go unguarded."

Odin glared at him. Since he was an infant his father had been an intimidating force, capable, with a single glance, of choking the words in his throat. Loki didn't know what force had possessed him that time to be able to speak, but part of him was starting to regret his decision.

"You couldn't stop him," Odin repeated, slowly, in a disdainful tone. "You? The one who could persuade a Frost Giant to light a fire and sit on it?"

Loki was at a loss for words. It was true that he had arranged for the failed coronation, that he had knowingly struck the right cords on Thor's mind afterwards so he would do something reckless that would push back a great deal of time his official investiture; but he had never foreseen that one of those brutes would insult Thor. The rest was all too predictable. Thor's pride was as tender as thick and hard was his skull and a simple name calling was enough to awaken his ire.

"You wanted this to happen, didn't you?" Odin asked, far too knowingly. The iciness on his voice was piercing. "You stood idle while your brother plunged head first into a dangerous situation and only sent Heimdall for me when the damage was already done, when you could have gone to me first and foremost before treading through the ice of Jotunheim.

"You disappoint me, Loki" he continued. "I always thought you too wise to fall prey to envy. You wanted to appear as the sensible one, the all too responsible brother who couldn't help being swept along and only acted out of the uttermost loyalty."

Loki swallowed hard. It was seldom him the one who got into trouble with Odin. His yearning to be the perfect son would push him to never make a mistake, so his father would see some day that he was fit for the throne as much as Thor, if not more. However, he saw all his hopes vanish in an instant.

Odin plunged Gungnir into the Observatory's control panel, turning it to life. The turret could be heard turning, the Bifrost energy building up around them.

"Loki Odinson," he thundered, making Loki's blood run cold. "You have permitted disobeying the express command of your King. Through your treacherous and egoistical behavior you have put in danger your own kin that you sworn to defend with your life, and have helped exposing these peaceful Realms and their innocent people to the horrors and desolation of war."

Loki heard the portal opening with a loud roar behind him, but to him it was only a dim rumble among the havoc that his father's words caused inside him.

"I hereby take from you your powers," Odin continued, extending his hand towards Loki.

As the Allfather pronounced the sentence the winds swirled around Loki, who doubled himself in pain, feeling as if life itself was being drained out of his lean body; yet he refused to let any groan escape his lips.

"In the name of my father," Loki saw how his armor disappeared in the whirlwind. "And of his father before," the pain stopped, and he directed a last pleading glance towards Odin. "I cast you out!"

A great force tore him away from the Observatory into the open vortex. The last thing he could hear over the Bifrost roar was the voice of his brother imploring the Allfather to stop.

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He felt himself landing on a ground of sand and dirt. It hadn't been a smooth traveling, swerving without control and with no idea of what his destiny would be. For all he knew Odin could send him to Muspelheim without so much of a second thought but, as events unfolded, he never had much time to assess the situation as he would have liked.

Many blinding lights pierced the thick cloud of dust that enveloped him. They were approaching at a great speed and, before he could jump aside, a large mass of metal swerved and hit him with its side.

"Motorcars… Midgard," where the only two words that his mind could conjure in the split second before noticing the vehicle and being hit, then it was all a whirlwind and darkness.

Hurried steps approached him.

"I think it was legally your fault!" a woman's voice said behind him. Yes, it was Midgard.

"Shut up and get the first aid kit!" a second woman replied angrily.

Small hands turned his shoulders and cupped his face.

"Please," the second woman's voice said above him. "Do me a favor and don't be dead!"

He opened his eyes with a groan. A young female was anxiously waiting for him to wake up. It would take more than being run over by a van to actually hurt him, and that he had almost lost consciousness was due to being dizzy from the travel in the first place, or so he wanted to believe. He wished to calm that girl with such information, but he quickly checked himself, remembering that Midgardians had taken in the last centuries a taste for dissecting or setting fire to the supernatural instead of worshipping it.

"Wow," the first woman said behind him. "Does he need CPR? 'cause I totally know CPR."

He groaned again and closed his eyes, trying to get up.

"Where did he come from?" the woman next to him asked as she helped him to his feet, but then something distracted her. "Oh my God, Erik… look at this!"

"So much for helping the injured," Loki thought.

The Bifrost always left a mark on the landing site as a way to know where it would be easier to pick up the travelers. Of course, on Realms where the weather was less than welcoming the mark always got covered or erased before it was time to return. Loki had suggested at some point that it would be better to leave a luminous sign only visible to Asgardian eyes, but he was rebutted on the basis that magic was too risky and that a marking on the ground looked more natural, as if someone had amused himself drawing it. Loki doubted very much that anyone could consider 'natural' that one of his fellow citizens had such fanciful distractions, but took care on not voicing his opinion that time, seeing how proud Heimdall was of the pattern he had designed.

"We've got to move fast before anything changes!" the woman said as she took out a small contraption and pointed it towards the ground.

Loki tried his best to stand up, but he nearly tripped and fell over. It was time to put on his act.

"Shouldn't we bring him to a hospital?" the man called Erik asked the woman with the contraption.

"It'll take too long," she said. "We need soil samples before it gets blown away and-"

"Who are you?" Loki asked them, as he backed away some steps.

"Are you all right, son?" Erik asked. "I'm Erik Selvig, this down here is Jane and the one who wanted to resurrect you is Darcy Lewis."

Selvig walked towards him, but Loki extended his hands, looking panicked.

"Take it easy, son, we are friends," Selvig assured. "Tell us what happened to you."

"I…" he lowered his eyes and grimaced. "I can't… I… my head!"

"O, God, amnesia," Darcy murmured.

"Jane!" Selvig said as he put one of Loki's arms around his neck for support. "He needs medical attention now! Leave that and help me!"

Jane hastily packed everything and took the other arm around her neck while Darcy started the engine.

Hospitals were a more or less safe place, and Loki knew it. There he would have shelter for a few days until he could collect his thoughts and decide on how to carry out his emergency plan. Thankfully, he had encountered good-willed people this time around; having his magic sealed prevented him from using any artifice to hide from hostile eyes. But what Odin could never seal was his brain. That was where the main difference between Thor and him lay: If you stripped the golden haired prince off his strength and Mjolnir, what would remain? Only his charm with the maidens (which in some cases was debatable) and bravado. Loki, however, had his wits and his way with words.

He feigned having lost consciousness as soon as they helped him into the van. Such a curious place! Many decades must have gone by since he last visited, indeed! They had time to invent all kinds of gizmos in what looked like an attempt to have advanced technology.

Their conversation was hushed and scarce at first, mostly dealing with how the girl called Darcy had driven and run him over, to what Darcy rebutted that it was Jane's fault in the first place for making them plunge into the base of a supernatural lightning tornado at full speed and then swerving the wheel like she did. The argument was cut short by Selvig, who claimed that the two girls were giving him a headache.

Loki would have enjoyed his little prank a bit more if his mind hadn't been in such turmoil. He was stuck in Midgard without his powers, and with no way of returning or trying to communicate with anyone from Asgard. But the most distressing thing was that Thor was alone; just when he needed to be restrained the most Odin had split them apart. He could only imagine the havoc that his brother's temper could cause at the palace, or which things he could say to Odin while drunk in rage.

Brother…

Were they brothers after all?

The moment when he had been grabbed by the Frost giant played again in his mind. His arm should now be like Volstagg's, blackened and necrotized because of the contact. But to him it didn't hurt; the touch felt colder than normal, yes, but nothing more. And then the color and the markings that sprouted on his own skin. That Giant had looked at it and then at his face with a knowing sparkle in his blood-red eyes.

What if…?

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