The Avengers were used to fights by now, of course, but this one was different. The aliens had come out of nowhere, they seemed to have no real leader or desire, and there were thousands of them. Over the course of the fight the team had been split up; Tony had recklessly flown off and was currently fighting on his own, Thor and the Hulk were in the same general area by the sounds of the lighting and roars, and Steve, Clint, and Natasha had taken a defensive position to avoid being overwhelmed.

"The hell?"Tony yelped, as he felt something metal strike his armor. The alien that had tackled him froze and as Tony pulled away he saw a small blade sticking out of its stomach. The blade disappeared and the alien disintegrated. The now hollow armor clattered to the pavement and revealed, standing only a few feet away, the Trickster God. "Aah! Goddammit what are you doing here? We've got enough to deal with at the moment!"

"Really Stark, I just killed this thing for you, do I look to be trying to kill you today?" Loki shouted sarcastically over the resounding explosions from another area of the city.

"Okay, yeah great, thanks. But why the hell are you here?!" Tony whipped away from the Trickster, blasting apart another alien but careful to not take his eyes off Loki.

"I can't have you killed while fighting a bunch of nobodies, it would make me look bad. Besides what would I do without you? Life would be so dull." The gods voice dripped with sarcasm as he whirled around and continued to blast aliens apart with bursts of magic.

Tony gaped at him for a moment longer, before being attacked by another group of aliens and being forced to turn his attention away. He glanced back at the Trickster suspiciously. "Jarvis keep track of Loki. I don't want him to stab me in the back so if he gets too close give him a face full of missiles."

"Of course sir, I will set up defense measures immediately."

With every alien killed, another four seemed to take its place. It had been a while since Tony and heard anything from the other Avengers, though the occasional flashes of lightning and angry roars told him that at least Thor and Bruce were still fighting. He could only hope that Cap, Clint, and Natasha were alright. But he had his own problems to deal with at the moment. Every so often, through the endless waves of aliens, he would glimpse Loki, blasting one of them or knifing any that got within range, with a look of deadly spite on his face.

Suddenly a great explosion rocked the ground followed by the sound of screeching metal, disrupting Tony's focus. Looking up he found the cause of the noise immediately. Two of the buildings closest to him had been struck by something and were crumbling quickly towards him.

"Shit, shit, shit!" Tony tried to blast out of the way but the aliens, taking advantage of his distraction, had latched onto him and held him down. "Too many, too many, goddammit!"

Then something much heavier than the aliens hit Tony from behind. He felt his shoulder missiles deployed as more concrete and metal crashed down around him. Then they exploded directly behind him, giving his suit a beating. Just before he blacked out he heard Loki shriek. "You idiot!"

00000

Groaning Tony blinked blearily and tried to remember what had happened, squinting between his eye slits at the faint light. "Jarvis?"

Nothing. The system was down.

"Great, just great." Tony grumbled and flipped his helmet up and took in his surroundings. He saw that the light came from a faint shimmer that seemed to be holding up thousands of pounds of concrete and metal from crushing him. Patterns danced across the light, Tony reached out to touch it absently. It felt like glass, but very warm. "Wait… what?"

"Finally awake…are we…Stark?"

"Loki?"

"Who else?" Loki's voice sounded strained and tense. Pushing himself up with his arms, Tony looked around the small space. Loki was crouched in a very uncomfortable looking position, with one hand spread flat against the top of the shimmering bubble and the other cradling his face. From between his fingers, Loki glared venomously at Tony.

"Umm, where are we exactly?"

"Well Stark if you would think then it should be obvious, we are under quite a lot of rubble from the buildings that the beasts sabotaged."

"You saved me?" Shocked, Tony couldn't even be mad at Loki's patronizing tone.

"It would seem to be that way, wouldn't it?"

Tony stared back at Loki with a blank expression of shock. Deciding to look anywhere but the angry god he surveyed the bubble again. It was mostly transparent, with only a slight shimmer that gave off some green light, nothing more than he had already perceived caught his eye. Without Jarvis he had no idea how the other Avengers were doing and had no way of contacting them. The silence was stifling. Turning back to Loki he decided talking was the best way to relieve tension. "So, what happened to your face?"

"Your missiles, idiot."

"Oh yeah…. Sorry about that, I guess."

Silence enveloped them once more, this time broken by faint sounds of far off explosions.

"Why did you save me by the way, a little out of character for you isn't it?"

"Old habits and reflexes die hard, Stark."

"What?" Tony frowned at him.

"Well I did grow up on Asgard, and had to constantly save my brother when he got us into trouble by being incredibly dense and idiotic."

"So bad boy, evil god, super villain went all hero for me. I'm touched." Tony kept his tone sarcastic. "How the hell did you survive being blasted point blank in the face with, like, twenty missiles by the way?"

"Mmm… I'm a god. We tend to survive that kind of thing, I'm just a bit….. roughed up.."

"And you still managed to stop us from being killed."

"You sound touched, sweet Stark, but please, don't cry." The sarcasm was obvious and lightened the mood a bit. Well, as much as possible given the situation. The sound of rumbling echoed all around them as a piece of rubble fell and landed directly onto the shield. "Aaa-aaugh, no…." Loki moaned through gritted teeth, a look of pain crossing what Tony could see of his face. The shield flickered but held as Loki's breathing became ragged and uneven. Putting his head down, he lifted his other hand from his face to seemingly help hold up the shield.

Tony recoiled slightly at the state of Loki's face. "Ummm, you alright? How strong is that thing?"

"Aaaah- what do you think Stark? I'm obviously fine, I mean this shield is constantly draining my energy, my face was recently blown up, and it feels like I'm holding up this rubble all by myself but I'm just fine."

Tony noticed the small blood puddle forming underneath Loki and watched as droplets splattered the pavement. Silence, broken by nothing but Loki's strained breathing, enveloped them. What seemed like hours passed, then a faint scrabbling noise sounded close to them. Tony gasped and looked around. "Do you hear that? That could be what we've been waiting for!"

"Yes….perhaps…that would be… wonderful"

"Hey, hey can you hear me? This way!" The scrabbling sound stopped for a few moments, then resumed with increased vigor. Tony grinned, pleased with his success.

"So Loki what are you going to do when we get out of here? Scurry off or let yourself get caught and heal up before you escape?"

"You seem to think that either way I escape… Heh, more clever than you look I'll give you that Stark. I assume I'll co-AUGH!" The building shifted greatly as the scrabbling sound got louder and closer. Loki tensed and began cursing under his breath in a tongue Tony couldn't recognize. This drove them into silence once more as the sounds of life got closer.

The concrete shifted and Tony crawled over to where the opening was made. "Hey thanks! You have no idea-"

An alien's face appeared through the hole, followed quickly by a sharp blow to Tony's nose. The Avenger crumpled to the ground, unconscious. Loki watched all of this warily, cursing his vulnerability. "Stay back, I have no fear of you, foul thing. I am a god and you shall kneel to me or die, painfully."

The alien stared at him then turned around, dragging Tony with it. Loki stared at the hole in the rubble for a few moments.

"Ah-wait! I command you, come back and remove this rubble!"

Nothing. Then, they were everywhere. Loki tried to kill them with magic but the strain of holding up the building was too great. He had lost too much blood, used too much energy, all he could do was kneel there and watch as the aliens swarmed around him. One knocked him to the ground, he gasped bracing for death as the building creaked and shuddered. But it didn't come, he felt himself being dragged away by his legs. Opening his eyes he saw hundreds of aliens supporting the weight of the building, as it passed they let go allowing it to crush them.

"Mindless drones, they are pathetic" He mumbled under his breath. But then realized something with a start. "I am important enough to sacrifice part of an army for, I am being held for ransom or as bait."

Loki began to struggle as much as he could given his greatly weakened state, he twisted, attempting to kick the alien holding him. It glanced at him for a moment, then swiftly twisted his foot. Pain shot up his leg, he grunted but continued resisting. The alien growled something and he felt a sharp pain near the base of his head. The world went dark.

Hey, if you're reading this, thanks. But there's a revamped version under the same title on Ao3. I'm revamping this entire series over there. So if you want something a little more coherent (aka less written in 2013) head on over there. Though this one has little change the others do!