When we found him, he fought against us, again.

But he was out of his game, strangely slow, strangely disheartened. His clones were blurred and disappeared too quickly for the illusion to be half as effective as they once were. It was still Loki, he still had that crazy smile and the bright eyes and he remained really quick, but it felt like he was powered down. We still raged with him for forty minutes, even with the over-motivated Clint working sharpest than ever, but something felt off. There was not that feeling, that threatening air he had the last time. He looked like he was just fighting to defend himself. Primary basic -albeit a bit tired- self defence. In fact, he hadn't done anything remotely Loki-like on whatever time he had spent on earth. Since SHIELD's technology picked up his arrival until we arived to arrest him there hadn't been a single dead body and when we arrived there were no grandiloquent claims of any sort. In fact, the only the thing he said was a low You will not stop me.

But I thought nothing of it, in case it was a trick.

But we did stop him. Even if Clint and I were having some trouble, about forty minutes into the fight Stark appeared and a blast from one the weapons his metallic suit had knocked the Asgardian out. While he was unsconscious I tied him up and put him in the helicopter, always careful in case it was a trick and he was really awake somewhere else. It was not the case. He was unresponsive. And he was injured. Not just by us (we have barely touched him except for the blast) there were a lot of older wounds, some half-healed some half-infected. I wondered how he'd been able to keep up with our fight while this badly injured. I thought maybe this was the reason he was keeping a low profile and not making big speeches, maybe he just wanted to recover.

But I didn't think too hard, in case it was all a trick.

The injuries could be illusions, trying to make us sympathise with us using our good will. One could never be sure with Loki. So when we finally arived at SHIELD headquarters Fury decided to lock him up in their safest cell -one designed again for the Hulk, but this time with Banner's participation- and try to figure out what the hell he was doing here while minimizing direct contact with him. We thought about calling Thor, so he could explain why his brother was not in jail, but he was in Asgard yet again, which made contact difficult. Also Thor was the only one who knew how to bring the trickster back to his homeland, so he wouldn't cause anymore destruction here on Earth. Even if Loki didn't seem up to much destruction, sitting in the corner of his cell, silently staring at nothing with bruised eyes.

But I reminded myself this was most probably a trick.

I went down to the cell with Fury to try and find something about why was he here or how had he gotten here. I kept reminding myself to have my guard up. No matter what, Loki could not be trusted. But everythin changed. I kept my eyes on the prisoner while Fury spoke to him. Nothing. No response, no reaction. He remained silent. And then Fury got mad (because he was close to Agent Coulson, or because Loki destroyed their operation base or...), he got really mad and said something about Loki being pathetic.

Unfortunately, that word brought back a lot of memories. Memories of countless times in Brooklyn, being pushed around, laughed at, mocked, beaten up. You're pathetic, pathetic, pathetic. Being bullied into a corner, devoid of all defences and insulted. Called pathetic. And in that moment the bully expected you to break, to cry, or scream or put your hands on your ears so you didn't have to hear those words. But I never did, I never broke down. I just stared at them proudly even if I was bruised and cornered because I was not pathetic and they would never make me. Because I was proud of myself, because they could not take away my dignity. Because they could not win, ot those bullies. I would not let them, never. So I stared at them to prove them wrong, to make sure they knew the only thing that was pathetic was their behaviour, that I, small as I was would never fit in that description. Staring... staring just the way Loki was staring at Fury.

And this seemed less and less a trick every minute that passed.

Fury threatened Loki with getting there and smashing him against the wall if he didn't speak, honoring his last name and I felt dirty. I knew it was probably a technique to make him speak but I couldn't bear it anymore. I had seen myself (if only briefly) in the Asgardian madman's eyes, and I wasn't with him but on the other side. On the side of the bullies. On the side that called people pathetic, on the side that bound people and put them in a cell while unconscious instead of helping them. I was the bully. I was everything I'd hated, everything I feared I would become.

Was this a trick? Was this all Loki's making?

I couldn't shake that feeling that it wasn't.

I had to get out of there, I could no longer bear it. Without a word I left Fury's side and went to the bathroom, to freshen up. The trickster God's kept coming back to my head, proud yet hurt, accostumed to mistreated and accostumed to face it with dignity. That determined look that screamed I'm not pathetic. He wasn't. Loki was murderous and insane but he was also capable of extremely smart. Not that bullies ever cared much about that, they even used it as fuel for their insults. No, no, no, he should definitely not be thinking like that. He was with SHIELD, not with some insane superpowered villain. He'd been right to fight against Loki and he'd been right with he tied him without even checking how grave were his injuries and simply hand him to his bullies...

What if this was not a trick?

What if Loki was an alien version of himself before the serum, trying to prove that he was not o be bullied? What if all this felt so wrong because it was, in fact, wrong? Trying to clear my head, I went to out and met Banner on his lab. He was watching the feed from Fury's interrogation on one of the computer screens.

"You okay, Captain?" he asked me "You left quite abruptly."

"Director Fury doesn't need my help." I said, trying to think of a better excuse. Banner looked at me, incredulous.

"Have you found a way to communicate with Thor?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

"Tony and Selvig are working on it, they will call when they have something ready."

"And you stayed behind?"

"There was an excess of brilliant scientists in that room. Like you just said, they didn't need need my help." Banner said, but I suspected something more. "Besides, I wanted to watch Loki. That guy tried to use me...or use my other half as weapon to destroy our headquarters, I thought it be best to be careful with him. But he hasn't spoke about any purpose or any mission. He looks different, less smug... strange. What do you think, Captain?"

"There was something different when we fought, something wrong... but one can never trust a man who's been called the God of Lies, right?"

As soon as as I said those words more memories came back. Of all the names they had invented for me and called me... stupid nicknames I tried to ignore, but that that hurt nevertheless. What if God of lies was another thing the Asgardian bullies called the cornered and bruised Loki while tried to remain dignified and impassive? This was driving me crazy. I saw Fury leave the cell and decided to go there and talk to him myself, to at least apologize for some of Fury's words.

Now I didn't even care if this was all a trick.

T at least be able to look at myself in the mirror and stop seeing a bully.

When I finally went down to his cell, Loki stood up holding my gaze proudly, almost challenging. The same way I had when kids decided that it was time to beat me up. The same way I had when older people had laughed at me. And I realized how wrong things could have gone without the serum, without the war, if I'd had to keep that attitude for years while the insults built up in my head.

And I realized how many things this alien madman and I had in common.

A/N: Liked it? I hope so! You know you want to review!