Special Agent Loki Laufeyson

Chapter 11

Gibbs sighed as he pulled into the driveway of his house and turned the car off. Thor sat beside him in the shotgun seat and Loki, arms crossed sulkily, stared out the window into the darkness wordlessly from behind the driver's seat.

"We're here," Gibbs said into the silence. When neither brother moved, he added, "Get out."

Thor sighed and rolled his eyes, his displeasure at being forced to hang around at NCIS showing. Loki silently opened the car door and followed Gibbs up to the front door, Thor trailing behind.

Gibbs opened the door and gestured for the two gods to head inside. Loki immediately headed for an armchair and sank into it, gaze purposefully glued to the blank wall as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Thor walked up to his brother. "This would not have happened if it wasn't for you," he said accusingly. "I would never have had to leave New York."

"Why were you in New York anyway?" Loki demanded, turning his gaze to Thor. "I thought you'd be in Asgard by now."

"I'm with the Avengers, keeping tabs on you," Thor retorted. "And Avengers Tower is in New York."

Loki rolled his eyes.

Gibbs felt himself getting tense as they ate dinner. Thor mostly grumbled about various things, and Loki responded only in short, snapping bursts, anger apparent in his tone and expression.

Gibbs finished eating as quickly as possible and shoved his chair back from the table. "Where are you going?" Loki asked quickly.

"Somewhere else," he answered simply. Loki jumped to his feet and followed Gibbs.

"Hey!" Thor bellowed. "Wait for me!" He grabbed the T-bone steak off of his plate with his hands and ripped a chunk off before getting up to follow the two agents.

"Last one has to do the dishes," Gibbs said over his shoulder, earning a laugh from Loki.

"Serves you right, Thor."

****

Gibbs descended the stairs to his basement, flicking the lights on. Loki followed, gazing around in curiosity. "What is this place?"

"My basement," Gibbs answered.

Loki looked at the mostly-finished boat sitting in the middle of the basement. "Is that a boat?"

"Yep."

Loki examined the top of one of the toolboxes, his hand going out to touch one of the tools.

"Don't touch that."

Loki raised his hands. "So, you build boats down here?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

Gibbs looked at him. "Cause."

There was silence for a moment as Loki watched Gibbs start sanding a section of the boat. The former Marine looked up at the god of mischief as he rubbed the sandpaper along the wood. "Laufeyson, why'd you attack New York?"

Loki glowered. "Because my father denied me a throne in Asgard, so I came here, to Midgard."

"Why'd you want a throne?" Gibbs asked.

Loki shrugged. "I don't know."

I never wanted the throne! I only ever wanted to BE YOUR EQUAL!"

The words he yelled at Thor came back to him. He hadn't wanted the throne, he realized. That was true. But with a throne came power. And power was something every underdog wanted.

Loki frowned. For the first time, he had thought of himself as an underdog. He didn't like that. Shaking his head viciously, he sought for some other memory of him being victorious to think about.

Unfortunately, there were precious few of those.

"You don't know?" Gibbs asked, stopping his sanding. "What kind of answer is that, Laufeyson?"

"The truth?" Loki said. "I don't know. Having a throne meant power. Having power meant no longer being in Thor's shadow. It meant being someone."

"You can be someone without a throne," Gibbs pointed out. "Most people don't have thrones, and yet are someone."

Loki rolled his eyes. "Try being someone while being Thor's younger brother."

Gibbs raised his eyebrow. "Well, there's your assignment, Laufeyson. Try being someone besides Thor's brother."

"That's what the attack on New York was about," Loki pointed out.

"And did that bring you out of Thor's shadow at all?"

"I am Loki, of Asgard, and I am burdened with glorious purpose."

"Loki? Brother of Thor?"

"No, I guess not," Loki conceded with a grin. "I suppose the Avengers will always think of me as Thor's brother. Either that, or by some of the other names they called me."

Gibbs laughed. "Who provided you with the Chitauri?"

Loki frowned. He didn't want to answer that; nobody knew that Thanos and the Other had funded his little conquest. And with these constant pain-filled flashbacks and the voice of the Other in his head, he didn't want to provide any answers.

But fortunately, Gibbs was distracted by the sudden shouts coming from upstairs to press Loki for an answer.

A yell from Thor and gunshots spurred Gibbs to run up the basement stairs, three at a time, drawing his own gun. Loki followed closely behind, cursing his lack of substantial weapons.

Thor was in the foyer, holding Mjolnir upraised in one hand, his foot on the chest of an older, bearded man. A pistol had been knocked to one side, at an angle that suggested the man had been the one wielding it. The dent in Thor's armor, in the center of his chest, left Loki with the impression that the bullets had struck their mark.

"Thor!" Loki yelled.

"Tobias!" Gibbs yelled. "Thor, get off him."

"Agent Gibbs, he is intruding," Thor said. "And he shot at me."

FBI Special Agent Tobias Fornell groaned from his spot on the floor. "After he grabbed that wicked looking hammer and told me to 'State my business, mortal.' Is this the guy S.H.I.E.L.D. forced you to take?"

Loki raised his hand tentatively. "That's me."

Fornell looked at Loki. "Oh, so you're the maniac," he commented. "So who's this moron?"

"My brother," Loki answered. "Thor."

"So it runs in the family," Fornell grunted. "Get off me, you oaf."

"Thor, off," Gibbs commanded. Reluctantly, the god of thunder took his foot off of Fornell's chest and backed away.

Gibbs reached down and helped Fornell up. The FBI agent retrieved his gun and tucked it back into his belt, shooting a glare at Thor. "Ugh, I'll be feeling this tomorrow."

"Loki, Thor, this is FBI Agent Tobias Fornell," Gibbs introduced. "Fornell, this is Loki Laufeyson and Thor Odinson, of Asgard, gods of mischief and thunder."