ASTRID AND LOKI LEFT THE JET AS HE FLEW OVER STARK TOWER. Erik Selvig worked on a machine on the rooftop, a machine that would open up a portal to space. A machine he called the CMS device and held the Tesseract within it. The device was protected by a barrier of energy that only Loki's sceptre could penetrate.

Selvig had activated the device as Loki and Astrid stood on the balcony below, watching as Iron Man flew over head to the roof. A low boom and crack was heard above, no doubt due to Iron Man trying to destroy the CMS device. However, with the energy barrier, it would be unscathed.

Loki held a smug expression as he watched Tony Stark fly down to the balcony. The red suited man landed on the other side of the platform. His high-tech building reached out mechanical arms that shed Tony of his suit and stored it below the floor.

The trio began to walk into the penthouse, Tony through one entrance, Loki and Astrid through the other. Tony casually strolled down the few steps and stood behind a bar.

"Please tell me you're going to appeal to my humanity," Loki laughed.

"Uh... actually, I'm planning to threaten you."

"You should have left your armour on that," Astrid answered back.

Tony pointed his finger at Astrid. "What have you done to Twilight Sparkle?"

"I beg your pardon?" Loki furrowed his brows at the name he used for Astrid.

Astrid turned to Loki to explain. "It's a cartoon magical pony. A woman called Natasha explained this to me."

"She's a princess too," Tony raised his brows with a smile.

"Astrid is a queen," Loki defended.

The billionaire shrugged. "Well, it was either Twilight or Celestia, the first one is funnier."

"Enough!" Loki shouted. "This is all so trivial-"

"Hey! You asked!" Tony pointed out. Astrid nodded in agreement. Even though she was mind controlled, she did agree that Loki did question the nickname first. "Anyways, you've got the blue stick of destiny. Would you like a drink?"

Loki sighed in irritation. "Stalling me won't change anything. The Chitauri are coming, nothing will change that. What have I to fear?"

"The Avengers," Tony stated, approaching Loki with a drink in his hand. "It's what we call ourselves, sort of like a team. 'Earth's Mightiest Heroes' type of thing."

Loki laughed bitterly. "Yes, I've met them."

"Yeah, takes us a while to get any traction, I'll give you that one. But, let's do a head count here. Your brother, the demi-God; your girlfriend here, a powerful Goddess; a super soldier, a living legend who kind of lives up to the legend; a man with breath-taking anger management issues; a couple of master assassins, and you, big fella, you've managed to piss off every single one of them." Tony listed.

"That was the plan," Loki smiled.

Tony shrugged. "Not a great plan. When they come, and they will, they'll come for you."

"I have an army," Loki stated.

"We have a Hulk," Tony countered back. "You're missing the point. There's no throne, there is no version of this, where you come out on top. 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 damned well sure we'll avenge it."

Loki slowly approached the billionaire, slowly raising his spectre. "How will your friends have time for me, when they're so busy fighting you?" Loki tapped Tony's chest with the tip of the sceptre. A ping sound echoed through the air. Tony remained sound with his own thoughts. Confused, Loki tired again but the same thing happened once more. "That usually works."

"Well, performance issues. You know?"

In a fit of anger, Loki grabbed Tony's throat and flung him across the room. Loki rushed over to him once more, doing the same but instead throws him over the balcony. "You will all fall before me."

Astrid watched stoic as Tony fell to the ground. But before he could hit the cement, the elevator behind her in the penthouse pinged open and a red pod flew out and rushed down to the falling Tony. The pod latched onto Tony and expanded into the red suit of Iron Man.

The hero flew up once the suit was fully attached. "And there's another person you pissed off. His name was Phil." He said, referring to the now deceased Agent Coulson. Tony shot a blast toward Loki, sending him flying backwards. "Sorry about this Twilight, Nat said this worked for Legolas." He said, using his nickname for Clint. He send a blast at Astrid but she blocked it using her magic. "Now, come on, Twilight, I don't wanna fight you again."

"Sorry to be a disappointment to you then," Astrid shrugged, gathering magic in her hands to send out to Tony in attack.

"Twilight, we gotta work together," Tony sighed as he struggled to fight off Astrid's attacks. Tony landed on the balcony, deciding to fight her hand to hand. The fight was quick paced, fists flying toward each other. "Gonna have to say goodnight now!" He exclaimed, sending a punch into the side of Astrid's head, using the jets in his suited arm to quicken its pace and impact. Astrid stumbled, closing her eyes in pain as her head banged in her skull.

"You good, Twilight?" Tony asked.

"Stark?" She grumbled out, touching the side of her head and seeing her fingertips painted red with her own blood. "What's going on?"

"Good. Remember, Army," Tony pointed to the sky that was now opened up with a portal to space. He rushed off, jetting off down to the city below.

Astrid stumbled once more, stretching her arm out to her side as her other pressed against her bleeding temple. She turned around to Loki sitting up from the ground. "Loki?"

"Astrid? Are you still...?"

Astrid furrowed her brow. "Still under your control? Thanks to Stark, I'm not," she hissed, examining her blood stained hand once more. "Just give me the sceptre, I don't feel like fighting anymore."

Loki stood, his grip on his sceptre tightened as his eyes scanned Astrid's fatigued features. "What do you mean?"

"I'm just tired, Loki. I'm tired of fighting you. Do you know how draining it was seeing you again for the first time since your 'death'? How draining it'll be the next time you do the same thing? You really ruined my trust in people, you know?"

Loki's brow furrowed slightly. Concern etched into his brow ever so slightly. He looked down at to the sceptre in his hand. For the first time since he was on Earth on this mission, he questioned it.

"There's no stopping them now. They're still going to destroy everything if I don't succeed," Loki explained.

Astrid nodded. "I understand, but you are better than this." She spoke, reaching a hand out to caress his check tenderly. "What happened to the man I met in my throne room? The man that spoke to me so candidly in his garden? The man that escorted me to the ball? The man who made me feel loved for the first time in a long time?"

Loki closed his eyes with a furrowed brow. Her hand warm against his skin. It burned. Her words cut his heart deeply. He did not want her words to get in his way. No, he wouldn't let them. He raised his sceptre and blasted Astrid in the chest, causing her to fly backward. Her body crashed into the glass banister that separated her body from a deadly drop to the ground below. Her eyes closed on impact, her body slumped over. Unconscious once again.

"He died." Loki answered.