Author's Note: Well, someone asked me to write a deaging fanfiction, so here is my attempt at it. The idea had never actually occurred to me before, but the more I thought about it, the more ideas I got for it. So, I had so many ideas I wanted to write about for it that I couldn't help but give it a try. But that being said, I've obviously never written anything like this before. But now is as good a time to give it a try as any I suppose.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers, nor do I wish to. I respect the brilliance that already exists there and give all credit of the characters and original story to the amazing writers who have officially worked on it.

Peace fell over the Earth once again, or at least as much pease as there ever is in this troubled world. The people of New York began to rebuild their devastated city. Day and night, crews of dispatched soldiers and civilian volunteers could be found clearing away the wreckage left in the wake of the Chitauri's attack. There had been no sign of these invaders from distant space since the Avengers first closed their massive portal in the sky. The strange machine which had opened the portal was dismantled, and its power source was taken by the Avengers. Neither the tesseract nor the Avengers had been seen since.

So where had they disappeared to?

For the time being, the Avengers found their home to be an upper floor of Stark Tower. The entire floor was designated as one of Tony Stark's personal test areas and was off limits to everyone else. In an environment such as this 'test area,' the Avengers were free to do as they pleased, and no one would find it out of place. No one could even begin to fathom the grandiose ideas running through the brilliant mind of Tony Stark, so nothing going on in his laboritories could be considered strange, because essentially everything in this tower was strange. So, temporarily housed in Stark Tower was the tesseract, the Avengers, and their prisoner, Loki.

And why should such company reside here?

The best explanation for Stark's current guests is best summed up to simple curiosity. tony Stark's burning desire to understand the workings of the intensely complex tesseract brought him to bring it, and those who must accompany it, to Stark Tower where he could study it to his heart's content. If only everyone would allow him to do so in peace. His fellow Avengers rushed and pressured him to no end to finish his work with it quickly. Tony understood they wanted this dangerous power sent away to Asgard as soon as possible, he really did, but there are some things that just can't be rushed. Besides, he'd like to see any one of them do better; this wasn't exactly child's play.

At first Banner held a rather strong dislike for Stark's latest project. Like the other Avengers, he wanted the cube gone so he and everyone else could fall back into the false sense of security they all valued so much. But as time wore on and Tony chattered constantly about everything he was figuring out, Bruce's curiosity was piqued. It wasn't long before Banner joined Stark in his study of the tesseract.

No one was keen on the idea of the tesseract staying on Earth any longer than necessary, but somehow or other, and no doubt putting his knack for maddening persistence to great use, Tony Stark had convinced them all to allow him to keep the cube for one week's time. But true to his typical character, Stark pushed his limits. That single week soon gave way to two months. And that was the point at which Banner joined in his efforts. Still time continued to tick by, and in what felt like no time to Tony and Bruce, a whole six months had passed. While time sped ny for the two of them, it drug on and on for the others. A couple of them would go out from time to time, but the secrecy of their living arrangements depended on no one witnessing their comings and goings. Needless to say, such outings were limited. Fury and everyone back at SHIELD believed Thor, Loki, and the tesseract had already gone back to Asgard. Which meant, it was hard telling when Stark would give up his newest toy.

And since the tesseract was required to transport Thor and Loki to Asgard, they too were forced to stay on Earth for the time being. Thor was free to come and go as he pleased within reason, same as with the other Avengers, but his 'brother' was not so fortunate. Being a prisoner, Loki obviously couldn't be free like the other residents of Stark Tower, but no one believed it to be a good idea to send him to a prison until the time he was to be returned to Asgard either, especially since everyone believed him to already be gone. Besides, the Avengers believed Loki's imprisonment required special care; to leave him in an ordinary prison, or even a SHIELD detention center, would be too risky. They wanted to keep an eye on him personally, taking no chances that he could escape. So Loki was locked away within Stark Tower, waiting for the day Stark ans Banner would finish their study of the tesseract and Thor would take him back to Asgard. By no means did he look forward to that day, but never getting to see anything outside the small room he had been confined to became quite dull exceedingly quick.

After some time, Thor took pity on the brother be still refused to give up on. He would occasionally go talk to Loki to keep him company in his isolation, perhaps to try to reason with him as well. He noticed that Loki was significantly calmer now, but he refused to talk about anything that had happened recently. Thor wasn't sure what to think of this, and none of the other Avengers cared to so much as comment on the matter. They didn't believe there was any hope of redemption for the fallen god.

As his research continued, Stark eventually realized that Loki already knew much more than he did about the tesseract. So, he too paid a visit to the bored prisoner. Tony went into the room expecting a fight, but while Loki expressed no desire to explain all his secrets, he didn't express any of the hostility or insanity expected of him either. But of course, having failed to obtain the information he wanted, Tony settled for being an annoyance to the strangely calm prisoner. Being a master of such antics, it was no surprise when the mischief-maker began answering in kind. But something Loki said during that shattered serenity stuck in Stark's mind. It didn't make sense, and it lingered in the back of his mind as he resumed his study of the the tesseract. A couple days later, Stark and Banner were unable to figure a solution to the equation they formed in an attempt to understand another type of portal the tesseract seemed to be capable of opening. Once the two of them had spent hours upon hours struggling, Tony finally realized he had already known the answer the entire time. That's why Loki's words were haunting him...They were the answers he was looking for! When Stark accused Loki of helping him, the trickster only smiled. Over the course of the next week, Stark continued to receive similar hints from the prisoner, but nothing was outright told to him. Loki was slowly winning Stark's trust nonetheless, and Tony began talking to him on a regular basis.

After this went on for quite sometime, Stark had another "brilliant" idea. He knew before he even acted on it, that most, maybe all, of the other Avengers would hate it. Too bad he didn't care. This could be fun. If Tony could learn this much from a man sitting in a cell, what could this prisoner possible show him firsthand?

One day Banner worked in the lab all morning, and there was no sign of Stark. It was unusual for him to be gone so long, and Bruce didn't like it. For one thing, that left him to labor over their work on the tesseract alone, but more importantly, it concerned him for another reason. Stark had been spending too much time with Loki recently. Banner couldn't help but wonder if Tony had gotten a bit too comfortable around the troubled murderer and was now paying for it. Bruce was contemplating going to look for him, when the door on the other side of the lab slid open.

In through the now open door stepped a smiling Tony Stark. His grin never faltered as his two guests followed him in and Banner's face froze in an expression if pure shock. Stark's first guest, to enter the room was a decidedly unhappy Thor with his hammer, Mjiolnir, held tightly in his hand. Stark's second guest was unmistakably the cause for the hammer held ready in Thor's hand and the unwavering look of amusement on Tony's face. Coming through the door of the lab only a step behind Thor was Loki. A small chain from handcuffs hung down between the gods with one of the metal bracelets on Thor's wrist and the other on Loki's.

"A- You- Are you out of your mind?" Banner finally manages to sputter out.

"Oh, come on. He's chained to a big guy with a magic hammer. What's the worst that could happen?"