- "Your punishment, brother, is that you will be forced to atone for your sins. You must right the wrongs you have done. And as such, hopefully, you shall grow as a person."

The words of his brother rang in his ears as they traveled towards Heimdall and the rainbow bridge. Shackles clung to his wrists and ankles, and he shot an annoyed look over at his dear older brother.

"Where are you taking me, exactly?"

Thor returned the look with a frown. "To where there is the most work to be repaired. Think back…you know exactly where thou is going."

Frowning, his eyes grew angered. "No, you arrogant swine, I refuse! There is no way I will work on that dirt ball with salt to 'repair' anything. You'll have to kill me first."

His blond brother's eyes narrowed. "If you stay here, brother, that's exactly what's going to happen. You'll be put to death. I did you a kindness by coming up with an alternative."

"A kindness? You're exiling me, you bastard!"

Thor had the decency to at least look sympathetic for a moment, before chastising him like a child. "You brought this on yourself."

All Loki could do was glare as they continued their journey.

"Wanda, you really must attempt to socialize every so often… it will lift your spirits."

The even toned voice behind her door made her roll her eyes and grow more annoyed, if that were possible. She had no wish to be here, she wanted to go mourn in her home… oh, right, her home was gone. Ultron took that from her too.

"Vision, I appreciate what you are trying to do, but please, leave me alone."

An hour later, another voice echoed. "Come on out, Red. We'll order pizza, what do ya say?"

Stark. Her eyes flared up in anger as she marched to the door and pulled it open. "I say no. I say leave me alone. You already have me basically locked up here, with nowhere to go. I train with the rest of them, although we never see you there, because I suppose you think you are better than us, no? Just leave me alone. What I choose to do in my own spare time is my business."

The door slammed behind her, and Tony was left standing there flabbergasted. He'd known Wanda was not his biggest fan, he just had no idea how little she actually liked him. Grumbling, he turned and headed towards the kitchen, stopping as he passed Vision.

"Next time you want to convince her to come out, do it yourself and keep me out of it." he said, as he walked by.

At around that moment, as he reached the main living area of Avengers Tower, that's when the flash of light filled the room. They were expecting Thor… they were not expecting his jackass younger brother. (by adoption)

"Buddy, you better have a good reason for bringing him here… I know quite a few people who'd like to kill him." he paused as he heard a gun cock and an arrow get drawn into a bow. "Case in point."

"I had no other choice."

"No, see, there's always a choice. This is not a good one."

"Oh shut up, you alcoholic nitwit. Do you think I want to be here? Is this a face that screams, 'God, yes, please let me have to come to the dirty little dirt ball planet, with the ignorant little peons, and socialize with them for a while'? No, it's not. I have no wish to be here either." the slicked back black haired man shot Tony a look as he pointed.

"See, man? He doesn't wanna be here, we don't want him here? You should take him home."

"Splendid idea."
"No."

Loki and Thor spoke at the same time, as they exchanged an unpleasant look. "If I take him home, he'll be killed."

"Is that really such an awful thing?" Clint snarled, causing Loki to sneer.

"The archer. How have you been? Have you made yourself useful to the vagabond group of people you call a team yet?" Loki chuckled as Clint raised his bow once more.

"I'd rather be useless than be a dick."

"Ah, right to the point, I love it."

"ENOUGH!"

Thor's voice rang through the building so loudly, the windows shook, and occupants in the rest of the house were alerted to his presence. Wanda, a look of annoyance on her face, got up and stomped to the door, heading towards the disturbance angrily. She rounded the corner to witness Thor removing the shackles on his brother's appendages, revealing a thin bracelet.

"He is of no danger to you. The bracelet on his wrist will prevent him from doing anything related to a dark thought. It's the only way I was able to even arrange this punishment. He can harm no one on this team, or in general."

Loki growled lightly and then sneered at Clint, who still had his bow aimed at his nose. "Well let's test that theory, shall we?" he said as he attempted to use his sorcery to knock Clint on his ass and shoot that bow in his face. Instead of that happening, however, he was greeted with an electric shock so severe that he actually let out a shout and hit the floor, looking at his arm in shock.

'No. No no no.' His mind was racing, as his eyes darted from his traitorous brother and back down to his wrist. Shock turned to anger, and anger turned to rage. He stood quickly and grabbed his brother by the collar.

"How DARE you shackle me with some trinket designed to injure me!"

Thor shook his head in annoyance. "It's not meant to injure you, brother. It's only meant to curb you of your ability to harm anyone who does not deserve it. To stop you from giving in to your darker thoughts."

"YOU HAVE NO RIGHT!"

"Actually…I do, until father is well enough to decide if he should change your punishment. I had the bracelet designed to run off of the unlimited power of Mjolnir, it will shock you in varying degrees if you attempt to use your sorcery to do harm to good people. "

At that, Loki grinned darkly, and let go of Thor's collar. "Only on my sorcery?" he said, as Thor's face wrinkled in thought… then realization struck as Loki pulled back his fist and hit his brother square in the jaw. The two began to fight viciously, blows being struck so hard that furniture was breaking and debris flew everywhere.

It was when a large shard of glass from a broken table flew into the air and sliced Wanda's arm, lodging itself in it, when things got interesting.

Suddenly, time stopped. Things hovered, people, who had been letting the two gods handle this among themselves, froze in shock, and the two gods were frozen in place. A red aura filled the room, and eyes turned to Wanda, who's eyes were glowing a bright red color and her hands were twitching.

Loki's face twisted to glance at the sorceress as she separated him from his brother. Her arm, which was dripping blood from around the glass, twitched angrily as the wisps of red magic flowed from her fingertips. As his face shifted to a grin, her magic imploded on itself, sending him in one direction into a brick fireplace, and sending his brother in the other direction, into a dining room table that was across the room.

Her breathing was ragged and her eyes darted around anxiously, as if she was seeing things that were not there. Almost immediately, Clint dropped the bow and rushed forward, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her to look at him.

"Hey, Wanda? Hey? Eyes on mine, ok? Breathe." he said, as she shook lightly, angrily, the webs of magic fading away.

Thor peeled himself from the dining room table, taking Natasha's hand as he stood and shot Wanda a look.

"What's wrong with her?"

Natasha's eyes grew sympathetic, as she spoke. "We think it's PTSD. She lost her brother, she watched her homeland as it was destroyed by Ultron, and she's having problems with her powers. She refuses to see anyone though. And you see what happens when she gets angry, her magic lashes out."

Thor's face turned from confusion to a frown. Stark, he had a similar problem months ago, after the attack on New York. It had taken him a while to get over it, and even still, it bothered him on occasion. The man had died, he would be in Valhalla right now if he had not been startled back to life by Hulk.

Loki, on the other hand, was intrigued. "Woman…" he grunted slightly as he pried himself from the bricks in the fireplace, eliciting a groan from Stark as he heard cash registers going off behind his ears. "How did you do that?"

Her eyes darted to his, and she then realized her arm was wounded. Gripping the shard, she pulled it loose, glaring at him as Clint grabbed a handful of paper towels. She owed him no explanation, no reasoning.

"Mind your own business."

With that, she looked at Clint as he spoke. "Wanda, you're gonna need some stitches. Let's get that taken care of." he said, leading her out of the room.

Loki's eyes twinkled as she left the room, his mind working a mile a minute. His brother moved over to him, and glared.

"Are you done, brother?"

Loki had the decency to look contrite. "Quite."

"Good. I have business to attend to in Asgard, but I plan to return in a few days to see how you're doing. Prove yourself worthy, and you will likely be welcomed back home with open arms, eventually. Father needs time to grieve…" he said, looking down, a wave of sadness washing over him.

Loki's face fell as well. It had not been too long since they had lost their mother… the wounds still felt fresh to him. He'd barely had time to grieve, after all, he had hidden his father away and assumed his throne and appearance, meaning he had to appear strong, and without doubt. He had, thus, been mostly unable to mourn, even in moments of solitude.

Nodding to his teammates, Thor left in another flash of light, and left Loki with the rest of the Avengers.

Silence ensued, a long silence which seemed to last an eternity. Finally, he grinned lightly, mischievously.

"So, where do I sleep?"