Thor arrived in the parking lot outside the Navy Yard building. He was a big, buff guy with long blonde hair and a hammer in one hand, the same man Loki had been fighting at one point in the video. His other hand was on the shoulder of the notorious Loki.
Loki looked smaller than Thor, both in height and build, with shoulder-length black hair that curled up at the edges and greenish-blue eyes, but Gibbs realized he was actually pretty tall. He just appeared small because his brother was bigger than he was.
His skin was pale, and his face thin, with angular features. He wore a black tunic with a black and green jacket over it. His hands were shackled before him, and he wore a muzzle. Gibbs wrinkled his brow, wondering how this guy managed to almost take over New York. Then he inwardly smiled. One of his favorite lessons to teach his team was never to judge a book by its cover. The fact that Loki could have gotten as far as he did said a lot about his character, more than the file Fury had given him.
"Are you the one known as Jethro Gibbs?" Thor asked gravely.
Gibbs nodded. "I am. Are you Thor?"
Thor nodded and pulled a paper from his belt. "You need to sign here to prove that you have taken custody of Loki."
Gibbs signed the paper, noting the terms. NCIS has full custody over Loki; he is required to stay with me; we are allowed to punish him as we see fit for any acting out. He gave it back to Thor.
"I will leave the shackles and muzzle with you, along with the key to open them," Thor said, handing him a bag. "Here are his possessions. I thank you for doing Asgard this service, Agent Gibbs." He glanced at his brother in sorrow, then turned back to Gibbs and lowered his voice. "And please, bring me back the brother I lost."
And with that, Thor spun his hammer, leapt into the air, and was gone.
Gibbs turned to Loki, who was standing there calmly, eyes impassive. "Come with me," he said, taking the god's arm and leading him into the NCIS building. The god followed aloofly, looking bored.
He marched Loki into the squad room where his team worked. Tony was still sleeping in his chair. Gibbs pushed Loki into McGhee's chair and removed his muzzle, tossing it over to his own desk.
"You forgot my hands," Loki said, a slight accent permeating his voice.
Gibbs just looked at him. "Listen up, Loki. I'm your new boss, Special Agent Gibbs. You are now officially a part of my team, and you will behave in a way that befits an NCIS Special Agent. Understood?"
Loki grinned slightly. "I'm not making any promises."
Gibbs leaned over the desk and stared at Loki. Loki held his gaze calmly before laughing. "Are you trying to intimidate me, Agent Gibbs?"
The corner of Gibbs' mouth quirked. "You dropped your eyes, kid."
Loki glared at Gibbs, and now he could see the edge that was hidden under the silky smoothness of his façade.
At just this moment, Tony woke up. He sat up, stretching and yawning, and then noticed Gibbs leaning over the desk adjacent to his. "Morning, Boss. Did I miss anything?"
Then he noticed Loki.
Tony stared, rubbed his eyes, and stared some more. "McGhee?" he sputtered. "You got a makeover."
"I'm not McGhee, idiot," Loki retorted.
Tony stood, crossing his arms as he examined Loki. "Ah, is this the suspect we got that clue to last night?" he asked. "You could have woken me to help you catch him, Boss, I would have helped."
"No, this isn't the suspect," Gibbs answered. "This is Loki...." He looked at Loki, waiting for him to finish the sentence. He wanted to know which surname the god preferred from the two listed in the file: Laufeyson and Odinson.
"Laufeyson," Loki replied sullenly. "Loki Laufeyson, of Asgard."
"So..." Tony started, eyeing Loki in puzzlement. "What is said Loki Laufeyson doing here? Did McGhee get replaced?"
"He's not replacing McGhee," Gibbs answered shortly, walking away to refill on coffee.
"Is it Bishop, then?" Tony called after his boss.
"Maybe I'm your replacement," Loki said smoothly, his eyes going from the tips of Tony's brown hair to the toes of his expensive shoes.
Tony looked at him and laughed. "Nah. I'm not gonna...." He glanced in the direction where Gibbs had gone, suddenly apprehensive. "Boss?" He ran after his boss.
Loki laughed softly as he left.
"Boss," Tony said as Gibbs turned from the coffee cart with his fresh cup. "What IS Loki doing here? Who is –?"
"He's not replacing anyone, Tony," Gibbs said irritably. "He's joining the team."
"Why?" Tony asked.
"I'm only explaining once, so I'll do that later," Gibbs snapped. "So until then, content yourself with the knowledge that he's part of the team, DiNozzo."
Gibbs walked back to his desk. Loki was still sitting in McGhee's chair, his eyes wandering over the office area. Gibbs noticed that he was now sizing him up, studying him. The god took in the grey hair and compared that with the forbidding, no nonsense expression of the NCIS agent. He was calculating, analytical. He was also quick at coming to conclusions, that much Gibbs could see.
"Loki, this is Special Agent Tony DiNozzo," Gibbs said shortly, seeing the god had finished his examinations. "DiNozzo, Loki."
DiNozzo studied Loki for a moment. "If he's part of the team, Boss, then why is he shackled?"
"Long story, DiNozzo." Gibbs looked at Loki. "I can't trust you."
"Good," Loki said. "You are wiser than my brother if you realize that."
"I'm going to take these cuffs off you, Loki," Gibbs said slowly. "But one false move, and I put a bullet through you faster than you can say 'kneel.'"
Loki smiled, and tilted his head. "Agreed."
Gibbs undid the shackles and carefully placed them, the key, and the muzzle in the locked drawer of his desk, alongside his gun. Loki flexed his hands and smiled in satisfaction.
Meanwhile, Tony had been watching this exchange with great curiosity and confusion. "Why can't he trust you?" he asked Loki.
Loki stood. "Oh, I guess because of the New York incident," he responded casually.
"What New York incident?" Tony inquired. "What did you do?"
Loki glanced at him, and then at Gibbs. "Tell me, Agent Gibbs, is that classified?"
"Not to the team," Gibbs answered shortly, taking a sip of his coffee.
"Where's my desk?" Loki asked.
Gibbs looked at the desk Vance had commissioned for him, placed next to Gibbs' and angled across from McGhee's. "Right there, Loki."
Loki headed over and inspected the desk, running his hand over the keyboard. He then picked up the badge that had been hastily drawn up for him. "Special Agent Loki Laufeyson," he read. "My, do I feel special."
"Tony, show him where the coffee cart is," Gibbs instructed.
"What did you do?" Tony asked as the two stopped at the coffee cart. "What happened in New York?"
Loki stopped pouring his coffee and stared into space for a moment, reminiscing.
"I have an army."
"Yeah, we have a Hulk."
"Oh, I thought the beast had wandered off."
"You're missing the point. There's no throne, there's no version of this where you come out on top. So maybe your army comes, and maybe it's too much for us, but it's all on you. Because if we can't protect the earth, you can be darn well sure we'll avenge it."
Loki winced as the memory faded, and looked up to see Tony watching him curiously. "Hey, you okay?"
"Fine," Loki shot back, finishing preparing his coffee. He had taken a strong liking to the mortal caffeinated drink.
"So, what did happen in New York?" Tony pressed.
"I decided to take it over," Loki stated.
"Take it over?" Tony repeated incredulously. "What do you mean?"
"I mean full blown invasion. Weapons, Chitauri, dead civilians...the whole deal."
Tony stared at Loki as if he wasn't quite sure how to take that information. "So, why in heck would Gibbs have you join this team?"
Loki shrugged exaggeratedly. "I haven't the slightest, DiNozzo. Not the faintest. According to Odin, this is payment for my crimes against humanity."
"The Avengers kicked your butt," Tony recalled. "Right?"
Loki reached for his daggers but they weren't there. He cursed silently. "I forgot Thor apprehended my daggers."
Tony regarded him askance, but Loki took his cup of coffee and walked away, back to his desk. He slid into his chair and set his coffee down, surveying the items spread out on his desk, the telephone, the stapler, the pens. It had a similar array of objects as did McGhee's desk.
He glanced up, at Tony sitting in his desk, at Gibbs in his. The other two agents had gone back to work, Gibbs now wearing glasses and Tony munching on a breakfast burrito. Except for their occasional glances over at Loki, curiosity from DiNozzo and wariness from Gibbs, it was almost like he wasn't there. Or that, possibly, he was really a part of all this. Although that interpretation wasn't true now, Loki knew that it could be true. It could be, if he played this right. He could have a place here.
Loki felt a strange sense of...pride, and anticipation, seeping through him. He had never felt this proud of anything in his life. And suddenly, he felt a strange impulse to try his hardest not to screw this up. For some reason, he wanted to be a part of NCIS.
It might have something to do with the fact that if he couldn't make this work, Odin would execute him.
Or possibly, with the fact that Gibbs was someone that he could actually respect.