Loki lets out a soft chuckle. "Had we met earlier, I suspect it would have started much better for the both of us."

He pulls back, giving Tony a smile before looking directly up into one of the cameras in the corner.

"If you're quite done spying on our private moment," he says to the device and the man he assumes is watching from the other side. "I believe you had technology you needed our expertise on?"

"Hopefully just the items and not, say, a team prepared to take us into custody." Loki doesn't know if it's his general distrust of the organization or of Fury in general, but something feels off. "Because, I would remind the Director, that such an action against a member of the royal family, my bonded included, would been seen as a declaration of war against Asgard."

Diplomatic immunity isn't a concept on Asgard. They don't really need it, after all. Just a promise of what would happen if any of their delegations were harmed.

"He's got a point," Natasha says. Fury glares at her.

"As long as you hold up your end of the bargain, you have nothing to worry about from SHIELD," Steve says into the intercom.

"I trust you believe that, Captain." Loki walks over, placing a hand on the wall to get a better sense of what is outside. Two humans, likely guards. "But we both know there are less honorable men than you running this particular circus."

Loki lets out a laugh.

"Bending things could be useful." Not that he can't bend things, but he's still keeping all of his abilities as close to his chest as possible.

Switching off the All Speak, he turns to Tony and mutters in Asgardian "Friends are good to have, especially important ones." Obviously if SHIELD really wanted them, nothing would stop them, but Loki feels if they can win over Captain America, the paragon of virtue and dependability, everything else might just fall into place.

Loki lets out a laugh and turns to the camera again.

"He said your eyepatch stinks." He winks at Tony, trying to show that he understands and agrees.

"Uh huh." Fury's voice says, clearly not believing them. The fact that he answered seems to indicate that the Captain and the Widow had departed to meet STRIKE. "What language was that, by the way? We don't seem to have it in our database."

"Unsurprising. It is Asgardian." If Loki's trying to not sound smug, it isn't working. "Stark decided to take it up when my mother called us to Asgard weeks ago." He sounds proud of Tony, like a parent bragging about their child's accomplishments.

Though Tony doesn't know it yet, Loki couldn't agree more about the man. He sees the way Rumlow's face changes ever so slightly when Steve turns away from him, like his agreeable disposition masks some kind of resentment to the Captain in particular. With Loki as the main focus of everyone's observations, he doubts even Natasha sees she change.

Interesting. Perhaps they will dig into that later.

For now they have a task and one highly trained agent who really wants to kill him and an assassins who's still thinking about it. Not the worst conditions he's worked under.

"Captian, would you hand me that broken power unit?" He gestures to what appears to be a broken blue glass crystal. Steve makes to move to do so, but is cut off by Rumlow stepping in front of him to grab the crystal first. For a moment Loki wonders is the man is going to withhold it from him, but then he steps over and drops it on the table by Loki.

"...My thanks."

The agent stays uncomfortably close to Loki as he examines it, scratching the occasional string of runes in his notebook. Loki, well use to Thor trying to bug him during his studies, dutifully ignores the man.

"This would be the unit that supplied power to the blasters the Chitahuri wielded. I assume you were unable to collect any still in one piece?"

Natasha shakes her head. "Not a lot made it through the portal and most of them dropped from the sky when it closed."

"Pity. They draw their power from the flagship of their fleet. Had we a whole one, we may be able to trace the connection back and get a vague idea of where they are now."

Sensing the tension in the room, Natasha asks Rumlow to go get a suitable stand from R&D. The agent gives her a scornful look, but finally moves out of Loki's space in order to complete the request.

Loki helps clear things away as delicately as possible while they wait, chattering the whole time. "If we can get more pieces, I may be able to mend it back together, but we would still need to give it some sort of jumpstart to trace it's signal back to the fleet. It would broadcast location to them as well, but-"

"They already know where Earth is," Natasha finishes his sentence as she packs up the last of the cables in the corner.

"Precisely." Loki watches as Rumlow comes back in with a stand to set the weapon on. "Stark, do you require my assistance, or should I go into the hall with the others?"

I need you. Three simple words send a zip of electricity down his spine. Loki knows the other doesn't mean it in the grand sense, but just hearing those words is enough to make his heart flutter just a bit.

Rumlow and Steve give Tony a look, Steve's persisting just a bit after his quick correction, but Natasha looks straight at Loki, He hopes he's able to cover his reaction well enough.

"I am by no means an 'expert' in these weapons," he says, packing the last of the excess scraps in the trunk they were delivered in, "but the components are similar to some of the weaponry used in Asgardian ships."

Loki chuckles at Tony's words.

"Your grammar needs work." Despite his teasing, Loki complies with the request, pulling Tony in for an embrace. He lets the human decide the duration, only speaking again when they pull apart.

"Alright, show us what you had in mind."

Despite the fact that Loki has only minimal exposure to Earth technology, he picks up the basics of hooking JARVIS in rather quickly. It helps that the system Tony built is closer to some of those on more advanced planet.

They don't have the exact analysis yet, but the instant they get the ping back from the mothership, Loki breaths a sigh of relief.

"The fleet is still a great distance away from the Nine," he says, loud enough to be heard by Steve and Natasha through the door. Rumlow had fucked off left some time ago when it was clear there wouldn't actually be a fight. "We won't know more than that without further analysis."

"That why they needed the portal?" Steve calls in.

Loki nods. "The Titan's desire to target Midgard was rather sudden. While the Chitahuri is the most mobile of his two forces, they were still a great distance away."

He lays a hand on Tony's shoulder. "If we are able to continue this analysis at the Tower, our progress may be expedited." In truth, he just really wants to leave the SHIELD HQ. They need to discuss what both have seen today away from prying eyes.

For a moment Loki is worried that when Tony reaches for the door handle that it won't open. His worry is in vain, as they are able to easily leave the room with the data Tony has gathered, leaving a copy behind for SHIELD, of course. Natasha offers to them a ride back to the tower, seeing as they their other option would be a commercial flight.

Fury meets them on the landing pad before they board.

"Let us know if you work through that data before we do," he says.

"Of course. The sooner we can start planning, the better," Loki replies.

Fury nods, then says something that...well, it was probably suppose to be something in Asgardian. Loki can't help but let out a snicker.

"You know, Director, the All Speak I am gifted with understands all spoken languages in the Universe, and I have no idea what you were trying to say just now."

"As much as it pains me to say it, SHIELD may be Midgard's best chance as large-scale defenses in the event of an attack." Loki takes out the pieces one by one, each shimmering into existence in his hand before he lays them carefully on the large banquet table. "Whatever corruption that has found itself into their ranks must be rooted out quickly."

Unfortunately Loki also knows that hearing something like that from either himself or Tony would seem more like they were trying to destabilize the organization than an actual warning.

"Were you able to find anything in their systems?"

Loki wishes they could simply decrypt the data and give it to Fury and be done with it, but it won't be that simple. Luckily he is use to people not trusting him, even when he is working in their best interest. He didn't get the moniker 'God of Lies' in the past few weeks, after all.

But it has been a long day, and the problem won't be solved this evening no matter how hard they work. An evening out sounds like just the thing he needs.

"That sounds lovely. JARVIS? You will tell us when Dr. Banner turns in for the night?"

"Of course, Mr. Odinson."

Loki frowns a bit. "Just Loki is fine, no family name."

"I will update your preferences," the AI says. "Is there a prefix you would prefer?"

Loki thinks for a moment. "What are the options?"

JARVIS runs through the common English prefixes, with a brief explaination for each. Loki raises an eyebrow at Tony.

"There are three for women determined on their marital status, but no genderless options?"