Universal Displacement

Aliens Just Don't Understand

"So the Aether, is it? Remarkable."

Jane spun around in alarm and Loki could feel the power of the Aether pulse subtly under her skin in response. He took a step back with hands up in a supplicating gesture.

"I did not mean to startle you."

"Of course you didn't."

Jane eyed him with a glare and one hand balled into a fist at her side. She was no warrior like Sif, but she still had a fierceness in her eyes that was admiral for a mortal.

"Are you even supposed to be here?"

Loki grinned. He had found her on a palace balcony staring out over the waters of Asgard and to the stars above. She was standing with a scroll and pen and mapping out the stars in the sky when there was an entire library but a floor away. Perhaps she was also trying to see if she could catch sight of Thor, who had gone to join with the other warriors.

"Am I supposed to be near you, you mean?"

She frowned at that, her lips twisting down and eyes darting away momentarily. Fierce she may try to be, but she was no liar. Loki shrugged his shoulders while retaining his standard elegance and smirked.

"Most likely not," he admitted. "But Thor and Odin know me very little if they believe I'd like to take the Aether from you. Housing a parasite rarely goes well for the host. But you would understand that, being a woman of science, wouldn't you?"

Jane edged away from him and Loki only smirked as he observed it.

"If it's so awful, then why are you here in the first place?"

"Tell me, has Thor yet let you study the Tesseract?"

Jane's shoulders stiffened and she glared from hooded eyes.

"Not that it's any of your business, but...no. He said it was too dangerous."

Loki tsked as he shook his head, looking for all the world disappointed.

"Of course he would. He doesn't understand the power of the Tesseract, and so fears it."

Jane crossed her arms as her eyes darted away from Loki.

"I'm sure his explanation is perfectly reasonable."

"Or perhaps he believes you too weak, too breakable, to be near it." He paused there and the silence lingered before his eyes snapped to hers. "Or perhaps he fears what you could do with the knowledge it gave you."

"Your lame efforts to tempt me won't work. I'm not an idiot."

Loki shifted his stance and smiled with closed lips.

"Of course not. I only assumed you had your heart set on helping Mr. Stark find his lost little pet."

Jane opened her mouth, lips curled down in what was sure to be a hostile response, but Loki cut her off.

"You do realize that you'll never be able to rescue her without studying the Tesseract, don't you? How far have you really come since you started?"

The response was anything but positive. Jane pursed her lips and clenched her jaw. In the least, it told Loki everything he needed to know about their research. If Sutton were to ever be returned, and she must be, he would have to nudge them in the right direction.

It would be risky, Loki acknowledged, to have two infinity stones so close to one another, but that would just be part of the fun. And besides, there was no telling how much time the Lady Jane would have to get the information necessary for her research. There was the threat of death from the Aether looming on one end, and if the Aether was successfully removed then she would be whisked back down to earth. No. There was no time like the present.