It all had began with another of von Doom's pranks (or what the psycho believed could be called fun).
The Avengers had been on his tail until he decided to iniciate Plan B - which was basicaly activating three bombs inside an isolate building full of hostages.
And damn him, it worked - they couldn't let fifty people die just so they'd be able to catch von Doom.
So off went the six Avengers (Tony, Steve, Clint, Natasha, Thor and Loki - since bringing Hulk to a closed space full of civilians wasn't the wisest idea). According to JARVIS, there were five rooms, with ten people each, spread through the three floor.
The gods took the third, Steve and Stark the second. After some minutes, almost everyone was out of the building, except the "mighty heroes" (as Tony liked to call them).
And then, the most unlucky 10 seconds of their time as a group took was out trying to keep the former hostages from panicking, which led to Loki being alone when he found the explosives hidden in the floor. Unable to use magic to desarm it (orders from Odin) and realising he had only two seconds to do so, the God of Mischief wrapped his asgardian cape (that was virtualy indestructible) and his body around the bomb.
This minimized the damages, but not enough - the floor chatered and he fell with it. Strike one.
Right underneath him, upon hearing the ceiling crack, Steve threw himself over Tony (who didn't have his suit on while disarming the second explosive) the moment the later shouted "This one is down!". That ended up with the Captain's left side and both of Stark's legs crushed under lots of concrete and a shivering god. Strike two.
At last, but not least, the third bomb went off on the first floor. It didn't quite reach Clint and Natasha, but the impact knocked them out; hard. Strike three.
Without pause, Thor and Nick Fury - that had just arrived - ran to the others. While some S.H.I.E.L.D. agents tended to the injured assassins, the restless god found the mess on the next floor and carried the three men to the helicarrier.
"Sir, I've found my brother, the Captain and the Man of Iron."
"Are they harmed?" Fury asked before looking in their direction.
"Oh, fuck", the director cursed under his breath when he finally turned around. "Has anyone seen them?"
"No, Sir, I do not believe so." Thor uttered confused while handing the unconcious friends to the medical team. Fury took Loki, as even now a great part of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s agents disliked/feared the god.
Seeing as he shivered slightely and bited his lips so hard they bled, the Director tried to access the damage - which was huge. Once disentangled from his cape (that still held some carbonized pieces of the bomb), Loki's injuries were pretty obvious - there were burns on his face, hands and probably everywhere else under his clothes.
"You have some nasty burns here." Nick said, turning the other's face towards himself to see the harmed side better.
"Really? I had not noticed." Loki answered full of sarcasm. Fury suddenly remembered why he'd been opposed to including this god in the Avengers - therefor having to deal with him on an almost daily basis.
"And how did you get that?"
"Baking a cake." Getting no response, he gave up the teasing. "I hugged a bomb."
"Why are you still alive then?" Now the director was truely curious.
"Wrapped my cape around it first. Sorry for the disappointment, though."
"Oh, shut up. I'll go tend to this mess, since you're well enough to joke."
The god had then a total of 17 seconds of peace before Thor came and sat by his side."
"How are you feeling, brother?"
Too tired to replie, but still feeling he should apease Thor (for the life of him, being a good guy was hell!), Loki settled for a short answer."As ran over by a train." How midgardians could be stupid enough to have experienced it, he would never know.
"Is there something I could do?" Thor always the big brother. Annoyingly so.
"Just let me be." Closing his eyes, the tired god seemed to fall asleep. Thor refrained from insisting in a conversation, as forcing his brother to do anything was asking for problem.
Deciding to check on the others, the god went looking for them. The helicarrier was quite extense, but eventually he found de medical wing (unsurprisingly away from the reclused room his brother was in).
There laid the four harmed Avengers while Bruce paced between them. The doctor seemed distressed, going from Tasha to Clint, then Steve and Tony and back, almost in a non-stop circle around the disturbinly white room. Upon seeing Thor at the door, he paused his movements in order to go greet the god.
"Hi, Thor. How are things back there?"
"Very confusing, I would say, my friend." For some instants the two men just stopped there, not quite knowing what to say and not really wanting to hear the bad news that each probably had to remained still until Fury arrived, not as composed as usual.
"How are they doing, Banner?"
"Well, not exactly O.K., but at least now all four are stable."
Although he tried to hide it, his voice gave away his fear for what could happen to their unconcious friends.
"And how large are their injuries?"
"Tony's legs are broken in more than one place each and Steve has crushed bones all through his left side. Clint and Natasha are better, just delocated shoulders and some bruises. We can only guess when they're going to be awake, though."
"O.K. I've seen worse, at least nobody is dying." The director said almost under his breath. "You two listen to me, no one can know that five Avengers are down."
"Five? What happened to Loki?" Bruce asked as if surprised the god was actually hurt. "Is it serious?" To this question, the sorrow in Thor's eyes was enough response.
"Banner, let's focus on the matter. This information is dangerous, it's better if you all stay hidden until they are able to fight again."
"Where do you propose we 'hide' in?" Thor said as if the idea of hiding was preposterous, even if necessary.
"In an isolate house S.H.I.E.L.D. owns in France. Will they be able to be transported today?"
"I suppose, yes. Don't know about your brother, though."
"I'm sure he can endure whatever is best for all of us."
"Then, be ready to go in three hour."
Bruce and Thor stood on the doorway, eyes like mirrors to each other's - both fullfilled with incertainty.