The man had appeared seemingly out of nowhere, and hadn't even given them a name. He had long yellow hair, shiny teeth, a very weird and colourful outfit and an arsenal of magical weapons. And he was defeating him. One by one.

They were incredibly overpowered and were losing. Natasha was unconscious after she had fallen from a very considerable height. The Hulk had thrown himself into the Hudson river after hearing some strange noises in his head, and had not re-emerged. Tony was trying to fight his suit (or get out of it) because he had completely lost control of it. Thor had been knocked out by Mjolnir and was trying to open his eyes again, fighting to be conscious again.

There was only them left. Barely standing in the middle of Central Park, trying to fight a losing struggle. Steve and Clint - and their enemy had Clint by the neck, the arrows having fallen to the grass.

"It is a pity that most of your comrades will not see you die. I would have have enjoyed the looks on their faces. Now farewell, little archer."

The man with strangely shiny teeth smiled again, as he buried a sword on his chest.

Clint didn't make a sound. The thing didn't even tickle. He didn't feel anything, and there wasn't any blood. Odd.

The man looked confused and and simply buried the sword again. Nothing continued to happen. The faces of Clint and Steve wore an expression of utter confusion.

"What's happening?" Steve mouthed, barely above a whisper.

Clint just shrugged.

Tired of the frustration, the enemy attacked again, this time trying to snap Clint's neck. The easy, old-fashioned way of killing. But his hands were stopped. By magic.

"Don't you hate it when that happens?"

Clint couldn't believe his ears. He knew that voice. As did Steve, whose eyes widened at the presence that had suddenly appeared behind him. A familiar figure, dressed in his usual leather green and gold clothes with black and green eyes.

"Loki."

"In the flesh. Now unhand my minion, villain."

The man laughed loudly.

"You are calling me a villain?"

Loki simply smiled and got closer.

Steve didn't know what to do. Stop him? Let him do his thing, whatever it was? The enemy of my enemy is my friend, right? Even if said enemy of the enemy was also an enemy. This was doing nothing to diminish his headache.

"What are you doing here?" The man with shiny teeth asked, not wanting anything to spoil his big finale. His big moment.

"Evil things, most probably. Now let him go."

The man was still holding Clint, despite Loki's warnings.

"Why should I spare him? I have already killed three of his companions and..."

"You have done no such thing." Loki interrupted. "The Lady Natasha fell on some cushions, Bruce Banner is wet but otherwise intact and the Man of Iron regained control of his suit and is flying right in this direction...Here he comes, in this moment."

Tony flew to the scene in Central Park where their enemy was holding Clint, Steve was looking terribly wide-eyed and Loki... was there too. So it hadn't been some sort of weird dream. It was really him who fixed his suit.

"Did you do this?" the man said, lookig at Loki, finally letting Clint go. "Did you save them?"

"He did." Tony said. "No idea why, but it was him."

The man with yellow hair seemed angry. He was very angry - he'd been so close to taking them all down for good.

"Loki, we should be on the same side. Why are you undoing my work?"

"Let's not ponder on the reasons, shall we? It is unlike you to think too much. I have come to finish this, seeing as the earth's mightiest heroes could not. Do not question my motivations. Just fight me."

And there was a sudden voice behind them. A grave, strong voice. Thor, who had arrived only seconds after Tony. He had a bad feeling about this, about the participation of his brother. It couldn't be good.

"Loki, be careful."

The man with the shiny teeth retrieved his sword, that seemed to be glowing. He ignored Thor and got closer to Loki - his hands were now shining green, filled with magic.

"I do not want to kill you, Asgardian. But I will if you keep interfering."

Loki grinned, confident. Everything was going according to plan. Perfect.

"I will love to see you try."

There were flashes of light and screams in the sky and the Avengers gazed upon it in awe. They didn't know who were they rooting for. Loki? Should they really be rooting for Loki? How did they know that he wasn't going to be a bigger problem? They didn't have to wait too long for their answer. Seconds later, they saw their enemy and his sword disintegrate in the sky while he screamed in agony. That was it. After such a long fight, the man was gone. He was no more.

And then something else fell into the grass, gracelessly. Thor was at his brother's side in seconds, holding his shoulders. Loki was suddenly filled with cuts, and there were big hole-like wounds on his chest and stomach, and he was choking on his blood. There was also blood in his hair, in his legs and arm. The skin was marble white. The eyes were losing their light.

"I have you, Loki. We will heal you. You will survive."

Loki took his brother's arms, with force. He needed to say something. And it was important. The most important thing of the whole plan.

"Enough. I...want a funeral, Thor."

"NONSENSE!"

"Burn my remains. I do not wish to come back. I have had enough."

"Loki, no, please, do not..." Thor was crying.

"Please, brother..."

Loki's eyes rolled in the back of his head and he was suddenly limp. And Thor was still crying. Why did Loki put him through such torture? Didn't he know how much it hurt, seeing him like that? And those last words... Did Loki truly not want to come back? Shouldn't he honor his wishes?
Tony appeared behind him and saw the bloody mess that was Loki. He didn't know if he was even alive.

"Thor..."

The voice somehow made him take a decision. The only decision that he could take, really. The only true possibility.

"Take him to your tower, Anthony. Save him. I beg you."

And who was Tony to deny that to a teary-eyed norse god?

"Will do."

Tony attached the body of Loki to his suit and quickly flew out of there.

Steve and Clint went to Thor, doubtful.

"Hey Thor... do you have any idea of what all that was about?"

Back at Stark tower, a group of medics tried to stop the many bleeding wounds of the God. They were going to have work hard on him, but were hopeful. The man was going to pull thorugh, he was strong. Some of them shuddered at the amount of scarring. Others were worried that they were saving a very dangerous individual and would regret it.

Tony simply wished they would save because the pain in Thor's eyes had been a bit too much for him to handle. And because that guy, who'd been public enemy number one not so long ago, had just saved them from an enemy that had almost defeated them. And doing so almost costed him his life. He couldn't die after that.

Tony wanted to, at least, say thank you.

The wounds were bad, but Loki was even worse. He would not go so easily, despite himself. When his consciousness returned to him, he could hear beeping and felt needles in his arms.

He was alive.

Damn.

He had waited for so long for the proper opportunity, after all the time, after all that he'd done - he just wanted another nice death to leave a lot of good memories. He had fixed things and messed them up again so many times, he had started to doubt such an opportunity would arise. But then it had. And in New York, the very city he had almost destroyed not so long ago. He would go in a blaze of glory and the Avengers, his so-called enemies would remember him fondly. They would mourn him, the whole city would. As they should.

He hadn't want to come back.

Not this time.

But there he was, still alive.

His plan had failed.

A/N: reviews are love!