The Avengers: Finding Young Loki

Rescuing Jane

Jane Foster walked down the street in New York City, carrying a satchel on one arm, and a coffee cup in the other.  She carefully checked her watch, without spilling her drink, and growled because Darcy was late for pickup.  “Where are you?!” Jane muttered angrily to herself.  She had important research she wanted to run by Erik before she presented it to key members of the scientific community.  Since her trip to Asgard, new doors had been opened, and Jane had exploited them, discovering new things about science.  But, her life was not perfect.  The last time Thor had visited her, he had been distracted, and she had finally wheedled out of him what had been bothering him.  Loki had been alive all along.  Something had happened to him, and he was transformed into a child, with no memory of his evil deeds.  Thor had told Jane how cute he was, until Amora came and told him the truth.  After taking her down, Loki had told them that they had a penance to begin, and left them to it.  Six years ago!  Darcy and her intern, Ian, had been following strange, magical occurrences all over the world, she was positive that it was Loki.  Jane was skeptical, but then, she had actually met the guy.  Even with that Thor had told her, she did not really believe that he had changed.

That was when a car horn was honked and Jane looked up.  Darcy came driving up.  “Whatssup?” Darcy asked Jane as she opened the door.

“Just waiting, you know, for a while,” Jane answered her.

“Well, I was busy trying to arrange a flight out to this one village in Africa, so I can talk to these people about their mysterious savior.  You know, Loki,” Darcy told Jane as she climbed in.

“It’s not Loki, Darcy.  Just leave it be and get back to being my intern,” Jane said as she dumped her bag on the back seat. 

Darcy paused to think and then said, “Nah!  Being your intern was rather boring, and didn’t pay much.”  Jane got a slightly insulted look on her face.

“Oh like hunting for a ghost is more profitable?” Jane asked with a raised voice.  Darcy shrugged right before she shoved a donut into her mouth.

“These TV stations,” she said with her mouth full, “will pay you a lot to talk about paranormal activity girl.  I’m bringing in the dough!”  Jane shook her head, allowing Darcy to continue fantasizing.  “Besides, wouldn’t it be nice if a bad guy, became good, and then did good things?” Darcy asked her as she swallowed her food.  Jane cocked her head to think.  When she had met him, Loki was a conniving, self-centered, prick.  But, Thor loved him.  It would be good for Thor if Loki actually changed, but would it be real?  Jane rolled her eyes and then pulled out her notebook.  She was scribbling away when suddenly the car came to a screeching halt.

“Ouch!  Darcy!  Watch it!  Why have you stopped?  There’s no traffic!” Jane scolded.  Darcy glared at her, and then desperately tried to get the car going.  It only took Jane a second to realize that the car troubles they were experiencing, had nothing to do with Darcy.  “Please get the car started,” she said as she noticed that whole compartment was starting to vibrate.

“I’m trying Jane, and nothing’s happening!” Darcy said, starting to panic.  Jane pushed the radio button, just to see if it worked, but all the stations came in fuzzy.  Messing with the dials, she tried to get a clear station, but that was when an eerie laugh came through and froze the blood in their veins.

“Hello Jane Foster!  You don’t know me, but I am the last of my kind.  I can partly blame you for our extinction, but I mostly have Thor to thank,” he said.  Jane and Darcy exchanged a terrified look, right before the roof of the car came flying off.  Darcy screamed and grabbed her taser.  Jane made a move to get out, but that was when an invisible hand grabbed her, and pulled her out.  Darcy screamed again and tried to grab her leg, but she was knocked away.  Jane was soon face to face with their attacker.

“A Dark Elf!  But, you’re all dead!” she said as soon as she recognized what species he was.  He snickered and then pulled her in close.

“Not quite,” he whispered.  Jane looked up and saw the blue stone in the circlet on his head.  It was glowing and sparkling, almost as if that was where the power was coming from.  However, that was when he was hit from behind by a hammer.

“Muimui!” Darcy shouted as soon as she saw it. 

“Thor!” Jane cried and that was when the Dark Elf dropped her.  She screamed and was sure she was going to hit the pavement hard, but somebody caught her.  Jane heard a groan as they slid to a stop, and she looked up into the eyes of her rescuer.  They were strikingly green and bright, in a pale, handsome face, framed by short, black hair.  Jane had to blink a few times to clear her vision and make sure she was seeing what she was seeing.  At that time, her young rescuer had stood up, and he was smirking.  “No way!  Loki?” she asked.  He put her on her feet and brushed a strand of her light brown hair behind her ear.

“Good to see you again Jane Foster,” he said politely.  Jane did not know why she really did it afterward.  She punched Loki in the face and the god’s head was turned.  “Ouch!  What the hell was that for?!” he asked her, pain creeping into his voice.  Jane did not answer and instead, turned around.  Thor and Iron Man were battling the Dark Elf, but he was winning, using some kind of invisible force to stop their attacks and throw them back.  Loki walked by Jane, giving her a funny look, before raising his hands.  His eyes rolled back in his head, and the white part began to burn green.  The Dark Elf was suddenly knocked from the air and he hit the ground hard.  He turned and saw Loki standing there, Steve and Clint protecting his flanks.

“Ah!  The prodigal prince and his second adoptive family!  How quaint,” the Dark Elf said snidely.  Loki ignored him and instead focused on trying to dislodge the Mind Gem from his circlet.  The Dark Elf knew that was his desire, and he sent a wave of blue energy at them.  Both Steve and Clint grabbed Loki and shielded him from the blast.  Thor protected Jane, while the Incredible Hulk held Darcy.  “You can’t stop me!  You’ll never redeem yourself!  I, Dokkalfar, the last Dark Elf, swear this by the blood of my people!” he shouted before he disappeared.  Steve and Clint let Loki up, and the young god straightened his clothes.  Thor let Jane up and Hulk let go of Darcy.

“What the hell was that?!” Darcy asked, running up to Thor and shaking his arm.  Thor made her relinquish her hold before turning to Loki.  Loki was sitting on a bench, his head resting in his hands.  Thor actually ignored both Jane and Darcy as he walked over to him.  Darcy glanced at Jane, and saw a little green eyed monster dancing in her eyes.  Thor placed a hand on Loki’s shoulder and the God of Mischief looked up. 

“Don’t believe him.  You’ve already proven yourself to us,” Thor told him.  Loki nodded and stood up.

“Puny god nice guy,” Hulk said and Loki laughed.

“Thanks big guy.  That means a lot coming from you,” Loki said, fist bumping Hulk.  That was when he turned back to Darcy and Jane.  Darcy’s eyes were wide as she stared at him, having never met him before.  Jane, on the other hand, had her arms folded across her chest, and she was glaring at him.  “Hi?” Loki said.