Chapter 2
Steve considered himself a man with morales.
He would always strive to do the right thing, pushing others to follow in his footsteps. He tried to always make the ethical choice, only fighting the people who truly deserved it.
That was why he was so conflicted about the current fight.
Loki was evil, Steve knew that. He had practically screamed his plans of world domination to all of New York, explaining his next move right before executing them. It had set Steve on edge if he was being honest, but he couldn’t focus on those feelings. Loki was hurting people. He had hurt Steve’s friend, Agent Barton. Loki was a bad guy.
But most truly evil people weren’t blind, burn scars decorating the skin around their eyes. Most villains committing crimes for their own gain didn’t look so ill.
Most villains who truly wanted to win didn’t give tell their enemies their plans before implementing them.
It was all of these factors that made Steve’s stomach churn as he stood here in Germany, staring a god in the eyes knowing full well that they couldn’t see him. He watched as Loki looked at nothing in particular, trying to locate Steve based on sound alone, but it was too loud, there was no way he would be able to distinguish Steve from all the other people running around them.
Silently, Steve approached the man, shield raised defensively. He could only see the faintest wisps of green around Loki’s hands before the man spun around, facing Steve head on.
“Loki, please. We don’t have to fight. You can come quietly, we can talk about this. Nobody has to get hurt,” Steve tried to reason, keeping his voice level as he approached, eyes focused on the staff held in the gods shaking hand.
Loki’s eyes (if Steve could still call them that. Husks seemed more accurate.) looked around wildly, darting from side to side, blind thought they may be. He gripped the staff tighter, green smoke enveloping his hands, taking a few steps towards Steve on shaking legs.
His eyes tried to find Steve’s, settling his dull gaze just above Steves mouth. He took a strained inhale, and in a small voice, whispered, “What if someone already has?”
The words echoed inside his head as he tried to process them. What if somebody already has, what was that supposed to mean? Had Loki hurt somebody else? Someone Steve knew? One of the Avengers?
Thoughts raced through his mind as he heard the sound of repulsors firing in the distance, quickly growing closer. Loki was looking around, trying to find where the sound was coming from. Green began to cover his hands before a red blur slammed into him, throwing him back into a pile of rubble.
Steve let out a startled shout as he watched the man get thrown back, and stared in shock, his mouth agape as Iron Man walked out of the cloud of dust, heading towards him brushing some dust off of his suit.
“Hey there Capsicle, saw you having a nice chat with Reindeer Games over here, thought I would drop in, add my two cents,” he paused to look at the spot Loki had been thrown, dust settling around the pile of debris, “I don’t really think he’s in the chatting mood anymore.”
All Steve could think about were the words Loki spoke before being struck down by Tony. His voice shook with fear, he spoke so quietly, almost as if not to draw any attention to himself. He had acted like some of the guys Steve had seen during the war, paranoid that they were being followed by some of the enemy soldiers. Most of them went mad, and ended up killing themselves after the war, but some of them got distracted during a fight, and well, it wasn’t pretty.
Steve didn’t like thinking about that time.
He shook himself out of his thoughts, nodding to Tony in acknowledgement and walking towards where he saw Loki crumple, crouching down next to his body.
He seemed completely unresponsive, his eyes closed and breathing slightly strained, his body covered in dust and some debris from the crash. Steve could see some blood staining the armour beneath the stone, but there wasn’t anything he could do about it right now.
He lightly touched the scars covering the gods eyes, frowning slightly at the damage done to his face. Looking at the scars now, while the god wasn’t blowing anything up, it was almost beautiful, in its own, deranged way. The scarring around Loki’s eyes painted some sort of demented mask, a blindfold he has no choice but to wear.
If Steve had time later, it would be something he would try to recreate in his sketchbook, but for now, he scooped an unconscious Loki up in his arms, surprisingly easily for all of the god’s height (seriously, how much did this guy eat?), and walked back towards Tony.
“I’ve got him contained.”
Tony crossed his arms, “I can see that Spangles, no need to sound so excited about it,” Steve just rolled his eyes, adjusting his grip, “Aw c’mon oh Captain My Captain, I’m just joking around,” but his voice sounded distinctly more serious once he got a good look at Loki’s face. Tony started rambling, shifting nervously from foot to foot.
“I mean, we’re done here right? We caught the big bad villain, and we can go and throw him in prison for god knows how long -ha, god, kind of ironic- and we can dust off our hands and call it a job well done. SHIELD has got clean up duty covered, right? Because I don’t think I can-”
“Tony,” Steve interrupted the inventor’s ramblings, “We should get out of here, get him somewhere secure.”
“Right, right,” Tony said, drumming his fingers against the leg of his suit, “Natasha should be landing the jet in a minute, we’ll fly him over to the SHIELD HQ, get him nice and snug in a containment cell, and call it a job well done.”
Steve didn’t bother replying, just watched as the quinjet landed, a cloud of dust rising from the ground forcing Steve to look away. He took a deep breath and looked to Tony, motioning with his head towards the jet.
“Well then, let’s get out of here.”
The Avengers sat around a table in one of the many conference rooms on the Helicarrier, unsure of what to do next. They had just finished putting Loki in the Hulk containment cell (it was the only one they didn’t think he could immediately get out of) and they weren’t sure what to do next.
“I mean, we could try and-” Steve started to speak, but was cut off by a loud clap of thunder from outside the ship. He frowned, looking out of one of the windows, staring at the rain that had started pouring intensely.
“I didn’t think it was supposed to rain today,” Bruce said quietly, looking up from the StarkPad held in front of him.
A streak of lightning flashed outside the window, and thunder
There was a moment of silence, then the entire helicarrier shook.
A loud voice came booming from outside on the deck, “WHERE IS MY BROTHER?”
The Avengers shared a nervous glance, Tony about to speak up asking about who was outside, but before he could open his mouth, the door to the conference room slammed open, a tall, strong, very angry man stormed in.
“I ask this once and only onc mortals, where have you placed my brother?”
“Whoa whoa whoa Point Break, let’s take things slow, ok?” Tony said, standing up and walking around the table, standing a few feet away from the man, hands raised. He couldn’t help but feel as if he’d seen him somewhere, from some SHIELD file he’d read when he wasn’t supposed to. “First of all, who are you, and why would we have your brother?”
The man stood up straighter, holding his hands in front of him (making Tony notice the giant hammer he was holding in one of them as if it weighed nothing) speaking in a polite, if almost annoyed, tone, “I am Thor, son of Odin. I come from Asgard to retrieve my brother. I received word from our gatekeeper that he saw my brother on Midgard, and that you had taken him into custody, so my Father gifted me the task of bringing him home.”
“Wait, Thor? From Asgard?” Natasha asked, staring at him with a blank face. Thor nodded his agreement, and Natasha continued, “You were the one in Puente Antiguo a year or so ago,” more of a statement than a question.
“Aye,” Thor nodded again, “‘Twas I. I had been banished, and winded up in that town.”
Natasha nodded once he finished speaking, but didn’t say anything further on the matter. Thor took her silence as an invitation to continue, “May I now see my brother? I wish only to take him home and leave your realm in peace.”
“We’re talking about Loki right?” Steve asked, looking at everyone gathered in the room in confusion. He sat back in his chair when Thor confirmed his question, nodding along with the rest of the conversation.
“Thor, buddy, I’m afraid it’s a little late for you to ‘leave this realm in peace’. At least if you plan on taking good ol’ crazy pants with you,” Tony said, regaining his abandoned seat at the table, motioning for thor to follow suit.
Thor sat down angrily, hammer slamming on the table with a thud. “And why, pray tell,” he said through gritted teeth,”May we not leave this realm in peace?”
The Avengers shared a worried glance. The last thing they needed right now was for the god of thunder to go all revenge mode on them for containing his psycho brother.
None of the Avengers really wanted to try and explain to Thor why they had imprisoned his sibling, and were all waiting for one another to speak up first. Bruce spoke up after a moment of silence, clearing his throat and placing his tablet on the table.
“W-well, Thor, Loki hasn’t exactly been the,” He trailed off, looking for the right word, “Most law abiding person since he arrived on Earth.”
Bruce mentally face palmed once he finished speaking, Tony actually face palmed.
Thor looked confused at the sentence, staring at each of the Avengers with a mix of grief and anger.
“Look, Thor,” Steve started gently, “We can’t just, let Loki go. He’s caused a lot of damage on Earth. He’s killed people. We can’t just forgive him for that, and we can’t just let him go without ensuring he faces the proper punishment for his actions.”
Tony silently thanked any gods (who weren’t Thor or Loki) that at least one member of their team could be reasonable. Steve seemed to get through to Thor, because the look of anger Thor had worn since he’d first arrived vanished, and was replaced with one of grief, or exhaustion.
“I understand, my friends. May I just make one request?”
An uneasy glance was passed between the Avengers, before Steve spoke up, “Of course Thor, What is it?”
“May I just see him, once more? I would like to speak with him, I wish to know where he has been,” Thor said, hands fidgeting in his lap.
Before Steve could answer, Tony let out a short laugh, leaning back in his chair, “Kind of ironic choice of words, am I right?”
Tony elaborated at the blank stare Thor gave him, ignoring the glares the other Avengers were shooting him, “Yknow, the whole blind thing? Can’t really go ‘see’ someone if they can’t see. Well, I guess you can see him, but that’s besides the point-”
He would have said more, whether he wanted to or not, the image of burnt, sightless eyes forcing his mouth to speak, but he was cut of by Thor’s hands slamming on the table as he stood, the chair tumbling to the floor behind him.
“What do you mean, mortal, when you speak of his ‘sightless eyes’? What have you done to my brother?” Thor spoke, his voice growing louder with each word so he was screaming by the end of his question.
The Avengers looked at Thor in confusion before Natasha spoke up, “You mean Loki wasn’t blind the last time you saw him?”
Thor shook his head, gripping the edge of the table with so much force his knuckles started turning white, “Nay, my friends. The last time I saw my brother his vision was very much in tact. But then,” he paused, his gaze turning to the floor, his grip on the table loosening slightly, “Then we lost him to the void. For the past 2 years, all of Asgard has thought him dead.
I was overjoyed to hear he still lived and was on Midgard, but now I fear what may have happened in his time in the void.” Thor finished, his shoulders slumping, he let out a long sigh.
Tony looked at the Avengers seated at the table, then back to the god, standing in front of them, a look of grief and defeat set on his face, and he made up his mind.
“Well, what are we waiting for,” he said with a clap, “Let’s reunite some siblings!”
The other Avengers had been skeptical of Tony’s idea at first. They didn’t think anything good could come of the two gods meeting, but Thor’s hopeful face, and Tony’s insistence that nothing would go wrong, that they might even learn something from the psycho they were currently holding captive, finally managed to sway the Avengers.
So they found themselves introducing themselves to the God of Thunder on their way down to the containment cell that held the man’s younger sibling, who just so happened to be a war criminal.
Tony was just finishing up some story about how he created one of his robots, that involved a lot of hand gestures, when they came to door that would lead them to Loki’s cell. They stopped in front of the door, none of them moving to head inside.
“Y’know Thor, buddy, I think this is something you should do on your own,” Tony said, giving the god a pat on the shoulder, motioning to the door with his head.
Thor just stood there in front of the door, staring blankly at it, not saying anything, and not making any motion to head inside. The Avengers all waited silently for the man to do something, but he just stood there, waiting.
Suddenly, he took a step forward, Tony’s hand falling from his shoulder. He let out a shaky breath, and placed a hand on the door, turning to look at the Avengers, “Aye, thank you, my friends. I shall talk with him, and try and figure out what has transpired to cause Loki to act so.”
And with that, he pushed the door open, walking through the door, letting it slam shut behind him, leaving the Avengers in the hallway, concern evident on all of their faces, before they turned and walked back to the conference room, Stark already pulling the video feed up on one of his StarkPads.
On the other side of the door, Thor took a careful step inside, stopping as soon as he saw the figure crumpled on the floor of the cell. He felt his eyebrows scrunch together in concern and confusion, and he took another silent step forward as to not startle Loki.
Looking closer, he could see Loki was curled in on himself, almost protectively. He was shifting ever so slightly in his unconsciousness, as if he were in some sort of discomfort.
He started to walk forward again, but Loki sat up quickly, a scream barely escaping his mouth before being muffled by his hands covering his mouth. He sat on the floor of his cell, panting, shoulders slightly trembling, and Thor’s concern only grew. Whatever drove Loki to this state could only be bad news.
Thor took a few steps forward, stopping a few feet from the cell, when Loki jumped, his head turning to face Thor, looking around wildly.
Thor felt sick at the sight he was met with. At the face of his younger brother.
The face that had been mutilated almost past recognition, his eyes completely burnt away with some type of acid, the skin around them charred and black.
Thor felt himself falter at the sight of his brother. His younger, smaller, brother, whom he was supposed to protect. You let this happen a voice in the back of his mind whispered, but he pushed the thought to the side. He couldn’t afford to think like that. Not now.
Not when his brother needed him.
“Who’s there?” Loki called out, his breathing somewhat controlled, but his voice sounded raw, nothing like the smooth sound it used to be. Loki used to pride himself on his voice, on his words, and the way he could talk anyone into doing anything. It pained Thor to hear what his brother's voice had become.
“Brother,” Thor said, stumbling forward the last few steps to the cell, pressing a hand to the glass, “Loki it’s me, your brother. I’ve come to take you home.”
Loki scoffed, placing his shaking hands in his lap, looking up from where he sat on the floor in Thor’s general direction, his dead stare resting on his right shoulder, “I have not known home for a long time, Odinson.”
“Loki-” Thor choked out, everything about his brother was off. He was acting so different from the last time Thor had seen him, and Thor couldn’t help but wonder what had happened to him, to change his brother so drastically.
“Loki, please, tell me, who has done this to you? Something has obviously happened to you, let me help you, we can fix this together-”
Thor was cut off by his brothers cold tone before he could finish his sentence, any reassurance he would’ve spoken, dying on his tongue, “Who did this to me Thor? Who did this,” Loki spat, gesturing to the burnt remains of his eyes with a still shaking hand, “to me?”
He let out a short, forced laugh, bringing the hand up to tug gently at his hair, “Oh that is a question indeed. But tell me Thor, how can you be so sure someone did this to me?” he sat up slowly, pushing himself onto unsteady feet, eyes somehow finding Thors, which only added to his discomfort.
“How can you be sure that I didn’t do this to myself? That I didn’t pour acid onto my own face, withstood the pain of my eyes being burnt away to nothing, just to manipulate you? Just to make you feel sorry for me, only to turn on you when you least expect it,” Loki spoke the words with pure venom in his voice, his face twisted into one of pure hatred.
He moved faster than Thor could ever remember him being able to, his face was inches from the glass in front of Thor’s, hands balled into fists pressed into the glass, “How do you know your little Avenger friends,” he spoke the words with so much hatred and disgust, it honestly scared Thor, “didn’t do this to me?”
Thor’s horrified expression only encouraged Loki to continue, “Oh did you not think about that? Couldn’t even comprehend that your friends might not be as pure or heroic as you’ve made them out to be.
“What if I told you your mortal friends strapped me down, burnt my eyes to useless husks. Never stopping, never relenting, even as I screamed out in agony, as my wrists broke in the bonds used to contain me as I tried to escape, the pain to much, so unbearable. And throughout it all, I was calling out for one person, the one person I think might be able to save me-”
“Loki please.”
“I scream for my brother, I cry out for him into the darkness. Always darkness, always eating away at my soul. I called out for you, hoping you could save me from the torture, hoping you could-”
“ENOUGH LOKI,” Thor cried, slamming a fist down on the glass of the cage, taking deep breaths in through his nose, trying to calm his churning stomach.
The only sound that remained in the room was Loki’s quiet laughter, echoing off the walls of his cell as he backed up towards the middle of the cell, his hand pulling at his hair again.
“Loki,” he said softly, not trusting his voice much at the moment, “Loki, brother, you were gone for 2 years. We thought you dead, and you show up here on Midgard, alive and,” he paused, “here.”
Loki laughed, and oh how Thor hated that sound. It used to be a sound Thor loved to hear, a sound he actively tried to hear whenever he could, because his brother rarely laughed, truly laughed, especially as adolescents. His laughter now was not meant for anyone's joy or amusement, not even his own. It was meant to mock and hurt.
“Why would you care about what happened to me, or where I’ve been? You never asked where I was when I would disappear from Asgard for months at a time, you’d just assume I was off ‘visiting other realms’, so why do you care now?”
“Loki, please,” Thor said, placing his hand gently on the glass, even though it really didn’t matter, because Loki wouldn’t be able to see it, “I care. I’m sorry if it seems like I never cared about you, I truly am, I never meant for it to be like that. I want to help you, but I can’t if I don’t know what has happened to you.”
Loki froze, his spine rigid, every muscle in his body tense. Thor could see from where he was standing that Loki was barely breathing. He said nothing for a few moments, then suddenly started speaking, his voice full of the same rage as before.
“You wish to know where I was? Where I have been? All of my life, I have lived in your shadow, unable to escape to darkness,” Loki laughs another short, humorless laugh, “It seems I will never be able to escape the dark.”
He started pacing, walking back and forth in the cell, hands picking at each other in front of him (he got that from Mother, Thor thinks in the back of his mind) and then he starts speaking again.
“I was tossed out of Asgard. Thrown out as if I were nothing. I fell, and I kept falling, until I thought my body wouldn’t be able to take it anymore. I thought I would break apart at the seams, the void ripping me apart from the inside out.
Then I landed on a broken, desolate moon, void of all life. It was almost poetic, a broken world for a broken prince.”
Thor watched his brother pace with confusion and heartbreak evident on his face. He was almost glad his brother was blind, for he would almost certainly mock him for the amount of emotion he was displaying right now.
Or, at least the old Loki would.
“Brother,” Thor said, ignoring how wet his voice sounded, “Brother, what has happened to you? Why are you doing this to Midgard, you have never shown any interest in their realm,” Loki stopped his pacing, but didn’t even try to look at Thor, “What has happened to you?”
“Oh, what’s wrong Thor?” Loki spoke softly, voice dripping with sarcasm, and a hint of something darker underneath, “are you worried about what happened to your favourite toy? You dropped and it broke, and no one can put it back together again? Let me ask you a question, brother dearest, why do you care?”
Thor actually flinched back at that, horrified at everything his brother was saying. He wanted to respond, wanted to say something to defend himself, and reassure Loki, but he was frozen, watching Loki as he started pacing through the cell again, one of his hands dragging along the glass beside him, leaving the faintest trail of blood in its wake.
Following the blood with his eyes, Thor was led to his brother’s fingernails, more specifically, his lack thereof.
The sight only added to his growing horror.
Loki didn’t stop his verbal attack, his voice even more cutting than before, “Since when have you ever cared about my feelings Thor? When have you ever even taken into consideration what I felt. Since when have you ever cared about anyone but yourself?”
He punched the glass as he finished the sentence, the noise echoing between them, the only other sound being Loki’s laboured breathing and Thor’s quiet gasp.
Thor finally seemed to regain his senses, and he walked back towards the glass, partially leaning on it for support, “Loki please, I beg of you, hear me now. I never meant for you to feel that way, I love you, and have always loved you.”
Loki’s response was so quiet, so subdued compared to his previous outburst, Thor had almost missed it. Almost, but not quiet.
“How can you love a monster?”
Thor fell silent at that, unsure of how to respond without angering Loki further. He watched Loki curl into himself further in the cell, as if to comfort himself. Alone.
Before he could think about what he was doing, Thor was moving on silent feet towards the door to Loki’s cell. He placed his hand on the scanner next to the door, and it opened silently, closing behind him as he stepped inside.
He took a quiet step towards Loki, his back facing Thor, arms still wrapped around himself, “Loki, please, who has done this to you?”
Immediately Loki froze up, his back going rigid and his arms tightening around himself. The suddenly, without warning, Loki starts screaming.
He falls to his knees, turning to face Thor, backing up until he hits the wall of his cell as he does, still screaming. Thor just stands there, frozen, unsure what set this off.
“Get out get out get out GET OUT,” Loki screamed, hands gripping painfully at his hair, knees coming up to his chest, trying to make him seem as small as possible.
Thor takes a step closer but Loki only starts screaming louder, his words becoming slightly more undefinable, and Thor can’t take anymore of it, he turns on his heel, fleeing the room, leaving his brother in the cell, his screams echoing behind him as he leaves.
Thor had come back almost as pale as his brother, which was slightly concerning, considering just how damn pale his brother was. No one failed to notice the gods slightly shaking hands, but if no one commented on them, it wasn’t brought up.
The god took at seat at the table with the other Avengers, the video feed of Loki’s cell disappearing from the middle of the table.
No one spoke.
“Well,” Steve cleared his throat, breaking the silence in the room, “I think we were able to learn at least a bit from the conversation.”
Tony nodded and Natasha gave a small ‘hm’ but the group fell into a tense silence yet again.
It set Tony on edge, if he was honest.
He knew it was crazy, but the way they were all acting, wary and cautious, it felt as if Loki had somehow gotten to them all, even trapped inside the cage. And Tony absolutely hated it.
He hated feeling this helpless, and somehow Loki managed to do just that, even while being their prisoner.
“Why don’t I try talking to him?”
Everyone turned to look at Tony, and he hated all the attention, despite what everyone tended to think about him. Sure, he loved when people saw him for his accomplishments and what he did for the world, but he hated when people stared at him.
“I mean, I just thought that since Thunder Thighs over here didn’t really get much useful information, no offense Point Break,” he added on quickly at the glare he received from Thor, “But all I’m saying is, we might get some more info if somebody Loki doesn’t have, ah, history with asked him the questions.”
Natasha gave him a blank stare, before nodding, leaning back slightly in her chair, “Makes sense,” she said, crossing her arms, “Thor was probably too close to him, it sparked an unwanted emotional response. And you twow,” she pointed to Tony, “Are actually kind of similar, if you look past the whole ‘crazy psycho trying to take over Earth’ aspect of the guy.”
Tony stood up, giving a slight gasp placing a hand on his chest, “I am not at all like him, why I am absolutely appalled you would even imply such a thing.”
Bruce gave a small chuckle, and Steve just smiled at the two, Thor staying silent. “I wish you luck, my friend,” Thor said, voice sombre, “I hope you find out more than I was able to, I just ask one thing of you.”
Tony looked at Thor, his eyebrows furrowing, “Sure thing bud, what is it?”
Thor took a deep breath, closing his eyes before asking, “I ask that you not treat my brother too harshly. I am aware he has done grievous things to your realm, and they can not be excused, but I truly believe that not all is well with him,” he took a moment to calm down and let his breaths even out, trying to control the shaking in his voice, “Loki is not a bad person, and I am unsure why he has chosen to commit this terrible deed, but I ask that you trust me on this, please.”
The other Avengers were silent, and Tony just watched Thor, sitting there with his hands in his laps, staring at a spot on the table in front of him.
“Sure Thor,” he said, barely audible, “Anything for you.”
10 minutes later, Tony found himself walking into the room Loki was being contained in, an earpiece in just so he had a connection to the other Avengers and JARVIS at all times as a precaution, but other then that, he was completely alone and unarmed.
Watching the god just sitting in the cell, eyes closed, hands pressed firmly together in his lap, sent shivers up Tony’s spine, but he walked into the room, standing in front of the cell, and took a deep breath.
He knocked on the cell, startling the god out of whatever voodoo trance he had been in, calling out to him, “Hey there Reindeer Games, since you scared your brother off, the team decided to send me in to keep you company, so, lucky you!”
Tony could see the god’s breathing quicken, before he seemed to realise what was being said to him, and the look of panic morphed into a look of anger.
“If I did not wish to speak with my brother, what makes you think I would wish to speak to some mortal?”
Tony gasped slightly, a hand coming up to rest on his chest, “First of all, that was rude. Words like that can really hurt a guy’s feelings, y’know? Second of all, you might think I’m just some lowly mortal, but a lot of people have looked past what I’m truly capable of, and I’d suggest not making the same mistake.”
Loki stood up, starting to pace in the cell, hands picking at each other in front of him, “Why even bother coming yourself? Do you not have machines to watch me for you? Ensure I am not up to anything devious?” he smirked as he spoke the last word.
Tony shrugged, “I just thought I’d keep you company, make sure you didn’t get too lonely.”
Loki scoffed at that, rolling his eyes (at least Tony thinks that’s what he did) before saying, “I am sure you could find much more useful things to do with your time, than staying here with me, wasting your time rambling on.”
“And what else could I be doing that’s oh so important?” Tony asked, unable to keep the smirk from his voice.
“Oh, I could think of a number of things,” Loki paused his pacing, tilting his head slightly, almost as if he were listening for something.
“Things such as searching for the tesseract, try to figure out how to reverse the mind control from your friends, or, maybe you should be checking on Banner?”
Tony froze up, the thoughts in his mind coming to a screeching halt.
“What do you mean, ‘check on Banner’? He’s with the other Avengers, he’s safe,” Tony said, panic slowly filling his voice.
Loki smiled, a sharp, dangerous smile, slowly turning to face Tony, “Are you sure about that, Mr Stark?”
Tony took a few steps back as if he had been struck, before telling JARVIS to get the Avengers on the line. He almost cried in relief when he heard Natasha’s voice in his ear, asking him if everything was ok.
“Natasha, I don’t have time, I need to know if Bruce is still with you.”
Tony heard her pause for a second at the odd question, but she quickly answered, “No, he left about 5 minutes ago to go check on the program tracking the tesseract, Tony, what’s this about? Is everything ok?”
Tony’s could feel the edges of a panic attack starting to seep in, and he tried to push it down, tried to stay calm, “Natasha you need to listen to me,” he said, his voice leaving no room for argument. He waited until he heard her agree to continue, “You need to find Bruce now, and make sure he’s ok.”
“Tony what’s going on?Can you please explain to me-”
“Natasha I don’t have time,” Tony hissed, fist clenching at his side. He could hear Loki quietly laughing behind him, and he just wished he would shut up, he wished he would just shut up for one fucking second.
“Natasha, you need to go now, you have to trust me on this, please. For Bruce.”
Tony could heart his heart beating way faster than it was probably supposed to, but all he could do was slump with relief when Natasha finally spoke up.
“Alright, I’ll update you once I’m with him,” and with that, she hung up. Tony took a few deep breaths, getting his racing heart under control, before turning and facing the cell.
He opened his mouth to speak, to let Loki know that he wasn’t going to get Bruce, that they had gotten to him on time, but Tony paused. They wouldn’t have gotten to Bruce at all if it weren’t for-
If it weren’t for Loki.
Tony furrowed his eyebrows, confusion settling over his features, thoughts racing through his mind at a mile a minute, when suddenly, coming to a realisation, he stared at the god in the cell, speaking up.
“You’re telling us what you’re doing, before you do it.”
Loki startled slightly, not expecting Tony to speak, but he quickly covered his surprised with a scoff, crossing his arms over his chest, “I beg your pardon?”
Tony shrugged, starting to pace outside of the cell, watching Loki as he moved, “It’s just an observation. I mean, the entire time you’ve been on Earth, you’ve basically broadcasted you’re every move, you made sure that we were able to figure out what you were going to do, and when you were going to do it.
Now, I’ve never been a supervillain, but if I were one, I probably wouldn’t want the people I was fighting to know my ‘super secret evil plan’, but that’s just me,” Tony stopped abruptly, staring at Loki, taking in his haggard, almost sickly appearance.
“You didn’t have to say anything about Bruce. You could’ve kept your mouth shut, and you could’ve done whatever you were planning on doing to him without interference, but now we know, and Natasha’s on her way over to him right now, so I just don’t get it. Why say anything at all?
That’s all you’ve been doing this entire time it’s almost like you’ve been,” Tony stopped, everything falling into place, all of Loki’s messages, the hidden meanings, it all finally made sense.
“You’ve been warning us.”
Tony could see Loki tense, every inch of him freezing up, his chest barely rising with his soft breaths.
“What are you trying to tell us? You can end this, here and now, we can protect you, we can fix this, we can-”
“You can do no such thing,” Loki spat, seeming to have come out of his momentary freeze, voice filled with malice, “You assume you can fix everything you touch, but you are not as smart as you think, Tony Stark, so I would suggest you act like it.”
Tony looked at the god, really looked at him, and he could see the careful way he held himself, the way his shoulders dropped slightly in exhaustion, the way his hands never really stopped shaking.
The unanswered question of what happened to his eyes.
Tony wasn’t really sure what he was going to say, what he was going to offer the man, but he knew he had to try.
“Loki, look, we can figure this out together, we can help you, you just need to give us something to work with, something-” he was interrupted by Natasha’s voice in his ear.
“Tony,” she said, her voice slightly breathless, “We got him.”
“Got who? Who did you get?”
“Clint,” Natasha said, unable to keep the smile from her voice, “We got him back, we reversed the mind control.”
Tony ran out of the containment room, his question left forever unanswered.
The Avengers met in the conference room, Clint Barton joining them at the table this time. He had been introduced to Thor, before stating that they had already met and were “best bros”.
Thor then asked him to repeat his name.
It was a moment Tony wouldn’t let Clint forget, and Clint would try his hardest not to remember, but everyone had calmed down and was currently seated at the table, a tense silence had fallen over the group.
“So,” Tony started, playing with the fabric of his pants, “I think I found out some useful information while talking with our resident psycho.”
Clint twitched at the mention of Loki, but remained silent, Nat placed a hand on his thigh, gently squeezing it for reassurance, he gave her a tight smile and nodded to Tony.
“What news do you have of my brother?” Thor asked, staring at Tony, and wow did he have some intense eyes.
Tony took a breath before speaking, “I think everything Loki has done so far has been a warning.”
At the sound of protest, Tony waved his hand in a shushing motion, calming everyone to try and explain, “What I mean by that is, well, what if Loki wasn’t the one calling the shots?”
Steve’s eyebrows furrowed, his eyes focusing on the table in front of him, “You mean like, somebody else could be controlling him?”
Tony shrugged, “Why not? He had to get those scars somewhere, and apparently he didn’t get them on Asgard. This guy falls through some void, disappears for 2 or so years, and shows up here, hell bent or ruling, eyes burnt to shit, and acting as if he doesn’t really want to succeed at this whole ‘invade Earth’ plan.”
“But those are just theories Tony,” Natasha said, leaning forward, resting her arms on the table, “We need actual evidence. This is a pretty deep theory.”
Tony waved his hand in the air, sighing, “Have you looked at the guy? And i mean, looked at him. He looks exhausted, and the ‘I haven’t slept in months’ type of exhausted that people get when they’re scared of something, and from the way he’s acting, it’s something big.”
“He also shows signs of past injury,” Bruce said quietly, causing everyone to turn and look at him. He shrugged, adjusting his glasses and continuing on, “I mean, just, the way he acts around people. When I was working as an actual doctor, I had seen plenty of abuse victims, and they all had similar reactions to people. Once you get hurt enough, you assume everyone is going to hurt you.”
The group went silent, contemplating the new evidence brought up, before Natasha spoke up, “That’s still not proof of any real manipulation, it’s just speculation. We can’t confirm any of these theories.”
Clint looked up and quietly said, “Actually, we can.”
Everyone turned to look at him, and he shrunk back at the sudden attention.
“What do you mean, Sir Barton? There is no proof my brother is being manipulated, we have nothing,” Thor said, his shoulders slumping.
Clint took a deep breath before speaking, trying not to break down in front of the other Avengers, “While I was under Loki’s, control, he could see into my head, but I don’t think the, I guess link, between our brains worked exactly the way he wanted it to.”
“What are you saying Clint?” Steve asked, looking at him with concern.
“What I’m saying is,” he took a deep breath, “The connection went both ways. He saw into my mind, and I saw into his. And I’ll spare you the details, but what I saw was enough to give me nightmares, and they weren’t even my memories.”
The room fell into silence, no one quite sure what to say, when suddenly, JARVIS’s voice filled the room.
“So sorry to interrupt, I just thought you would like to be informed of Mr Laufeyson’s escape.”