After arriving at Midgard, Loki first attacked a SHIELD secret base to take control of the Tesseract. Edward had already removed the Space Gem from the Tesseract, but it kept the object intact with spatial energy and let the people of SHIELD study it to see if something would come of it.
Unlike the movie, he did not enslave Hawkeye's mind but just beat him up. Immediately afterward, Nick Fury contacted Tony and Steve to help, and they tracked Loki's location somewhere in Berlin, where he was recruiting scientists for help.
Loki noticed their arrival and led the group to an isolated field. "I've been waiting for you," he declared before summoning two daggers.
"I don't know who you are, but you better surrender without resistance," Tony said. "This is not the 15th century, and this is not a duel. We have guns now."
"Oh, a loudmouth," Loki commented. "My least favorite type." He threw his daggers with great speed and accuracy. Steve deflected the weapon with his shield while Tony flew in the sky to evade. With one smooth motion, Steve threw his shield, and to his surprise, Loki caught it with a smile before throwing it back.
Steve could not react in time, so the shield hit him in the stomach and flew with him a few meters away. Meanwhile, Tony used this opportunity to fire a weapon that released intense electrical pulses that neutralized his opponent. However, the weapon passed through Loki's body as if he were intangible.
"What the hell," commented the playboy, billionaire, and philanthropist.
"Peekaboo. I believe that's how the saying goes, right," Loki said behind him. Before Tony could react, Loki stabbed his legs to destroy the thrusters, resulting in Iron Man falling from the sky. The Loki in the air dissipated, and a new one appeared on the ground.
"Well, that was easy," commented the Trickster God. He turned around to leave, but the sky suddenly changed. Although it was the middle of the night, the sky turned bright, and a rainbow light descended from the clouds.
"Brother, you're here. I guess it's really fate," Loki said.
"Loki," Thor grunted. "What are you doing here in Midgard?"
"What I do is no longer your concern."
"It is when it is affecting the innocent lives of Midgardian."
"Oh, brother, it's almost cute how ignorant you are," Loki shook his head. "Anyway, it's time for me to leave."
"No, you won't. You're coming with me."
"Make me."
Thor stomped his foot, releasing a stream of lightning that traveled through the earth with great speed. His purpose was similar to Tony's. However, Loki just smiled at him before disappearing. Lightning flashed in his eyes as he looked around. He frowned briefly before helping Steve and Tony.
The Helicarrier's main room:
"Thank you for coming," Fury stated, standing before a circular table with two people beside him.
"Let me introduce everyone: Agent Natasja Romanov, code name Black Widow; Agent Clint Barton – codename Hawkeye; Steve Rogers, aka Captain America; Tony Stark; Bruce Banner, also known as the Hulk, and lastly, Thor — The God of Thunder and an emissary from Asgard."
"Wait, are you saying he's Thor? As in the one from the myth?" Tony asked.
"The one and only," answered Thor.
"You don't look so godly."
"Do you want to test my might?"
"Alright," Fury cut things off. He pointed to the man and woman beside him and said: "These two are Agent Coulson and Maria Hill."
"Are those people part of the little club you wanted to create?" Tony stated. "I thought I rejected that proposal."
"I also have no intention to be part of a group. You promised me I could leave after I help," added Bruce Banner.
"You're not here for the Avengers Initiative," Fury explained. "Our perpetrator, Loki, stole something precious. I need your expertise to locate it before he does something irreparable." A hologram manifested from the middle of the table with information on what they needed to locate.
"You can ask Caulson and Hill for technical support and Romanov and Hawkeye for field support."
He turned his focus to Thor:
"What is Asgard's official stand on this matter?" A little over two years ago, a hammer landed in New Mexico, which then led to events that almost destroyed a town. Afterward, Fury came into contact with Thor and Asgard from the Secretary.
"My brother was deposed more than two years ago, so we support your right to stop him. We only ask that you give us the right to take him home."
"I'll have to report to the Council, but I don't think they'll have any issue with this request," Fury nodded before leaving the room.
"We'll be in the next room if you need something," Maria Hill announced before leaving with Caulson. Soon afterward, the other shield agents also left.
"This man is hiding something," Tony commented.
"He's a spy. Isn't that his nature?" Banner commented.
"Well, I'm not too fond of secrets," Tony said as he approached Banner. "How did you do it?"
"Do what?"
"Control the other guy."
"Meditation."
"No, I'm serious."
"So am I," Banner replied. "How about we focus on finding this thing and getting this over with?" Tony looked at him but did not continue the topic. Meanwhile, the quiet Captain America, who was listening, left the room.
A few hours passed, and Tony suddenly stopped his work to check his phone. "Sir, we have failed to bypass SHIELD's security," said Jarvis.
"Are you serious?"
"I'm afraid so."
"Show me what went wrong." Tony looked at his phone for a minute before creating a new algorithm to help Jarvis break through their security. The process was about to work, but something changed at the last minute, and Jarvis failed again.
'Since when was SHIELD's cyber security so advanced?' he thought before remembering an unpleasant encounter two years ago. 'Now, I'm even more curious.' In the past two years, he tried everything to find out how the government reverse-engineered his suit and what they planned to do with it. Sadly, nothing was successful, no matter what he did or how much money he threw at that problem.
"It's done," Banner exclaimed.
"You're finished?" Tony checked, and they indeed succeeded. A few minutes later, everyone was in the room except for Steve.
"Have you found the location?" Fury asked.
"Yes. Whatever you want us to locate is releasing an unnatural amount of radiation, and we can locate its energy source here — Stark Tower."
"Excellent," Fury nodded. "Your work is done. I'll send a team to extract the item."
"What exactly is this mysterious item?"
"I can explain." The door opened, and Steve entered with a weapon he had dropped before everyone. "It's the Tesseract — a potent source of energy that Hydra and the Germans used to make weapons; they almost took over the world with it."
"Where did you get this?" Fury asked.
"Does it matter?" Steve rebutted.
"You don't understand. Earth is facing many threats — threats beyond the capabilities of our civilization."
"I've seen what this kind of power does to a man's mind," Steve replied. "How do you know that won't happen to you? Just because you start with noble intentions does not mean it will remain the same."
"We have no other choice," Nick said.
"We always have a choice," Banner added. "And powerful weapons of mass destruction are never it."
"I'm with the green monster on this," Tony added.
"So much chaos. I love it." Everyone turned to the source of the voice and immediately became somber when they saw Loki looking at them with a smirk.
"Hello, friends. Aren't you happy to see me?"