All six of them peered at the computer screen together, trying to make sense of the CT images, although Thor also kept glancing back to where Loki lay on a work table.

"Okay, what is this supposed to look like?" Captain America finally asked.

"Left and right are flipped, so..." Dr. Banner began, then furrowed his brow. He turned to Thor. "Does Loki have basically the same internal anatomy as a human?" Thor nodded warily. He found the "CT slices" rather disorienting compared to Asgardian diagnostic imaging and really had no idea what he was looking at. "Okay, so... yeah. Left and right are flipped..."

"Where's his left lung?" Clint interrupted. The others looked at him, then back at the screen. He rolled his eyes at them and pointed. "Honestly, you don't need eagle vision to notice there's a great, gaping hole in the screen where his lung should be..."

"Oh..." Tony said, turning a little green as he looked at the image again. Thor flew back over to Loki, yanked his coat off, and peeled back a few more layers to reveal another bloody wound in the side of his chest, completely dividing two of his lower ribs. A bit of blood and pus dripped onto the floor. Natasha snatched up a pen cam from the desk and ran over as well, directing the instrument to look around the wound. Sure enough, an image lit up the screen of the inside of Loki's ribcage, light bouncing eerily with the beating of his heart. The lung was completely gone, its parent vessels tied off. Again, the wound was clearly old from the level of inflammation, but not as old as the others. Maybe a week or two. The sac around the heart was also torn open, and a round mark like a burn visible on the muscle itself.

"Excuse me," Tony muttered, before running to the corner and puking his guts out.

"Okay..." Steve said faintly. "See what else you can figure out from this, Barton, Dr. Banner. And Tony, once you're done retching. Actually no, Tony, you take a break and get a handle on Fury, run him in circles, keep him distracted for a bit. The rest of us are going to start cleaning this up."

In an hour, Loki was thoroughly bathed, his wounds washed and bandaged by Captain America and the Black Widow, and he was tucked into a bed, Thor's sleeping spell still holding him tightly. Now they were assembled again to hear Hawkeye's report.

"It's not a matter of what we found, but what we didn't," he began. He raised a sheaf of papers. "Look, here's a set of normal CT images. Now, Loki's head looks fine except for one itty bitty bruise. We already know about the missing lung. The other one looks okay. But look at this. His spleen is gone, and so is the kidney on that side. Over half of his liver and the gallbladder are gone. There's a bunch of..." he consulted his notes, "'mesenteric fat' that's gone too, at least that's what it looks like to me. His, um, genitals are gone. And look, there's chunks of muscle missing from both arms and his good leg too. I bet you found scars there?" Captain America nodded grimly.

Thor pressed his fists into his eyes. This was unimaginable. He had come thinking Loki mad, but his brother had been mutilated. There was no other word for it. Someone had done this to his little brother and made him into a tortured puppet. It was unthinkable. Loki... Tears welled, and it started to rain. It was only when his friends yelped in annoyance and the lights flickered off that he realized what he was doing. "Sorry," he choked, clamping down on his power. The indoor rain stopped, and the electronics sputtered on again.

"Fjandinn."

Thor looked up at the soft hiss and grabbed his hammer. "Oops." He'd been so flustered, he'd shut off the sleeping spell along with the rain. But Loki wasn't readying for another attack. He was just lying there, looking tired and defeated.

The team edged forward. "What does 'fjandinn' mean?" Tony whispered.

"It's an expletive," Thor said shortly.

"Really...so what's it mean? Is it a really, really bad word, or just a little bad?"

"Shut up, Tony," Hawkeye said.

Thor ignored the byplay and rested a hand on his brother's shoulder. "Loki?"

Eyes opened. "Hello, Thor."

"Loki, can you heal yourself?" He shrugged disinterestedly. "You have to heal yourself!"

"Why?"

"Because I can't, you idiot!" Thor cried. "You'll die if you don't do something, and you'll only die faster if we try to travel to the healers in Asgard!"

"Good," came the soft reply.

"What?"

"I told you to kill me earlier," he said, eyes closing again. He smiled softly though his expression quickly reverted to a subtle token of pain.

Thor stepped back, staring at him aghast. Loki ignored them all. "Loki, what were you doing here?" he asked at last.

Loki arched one eyebrow. "You really want to know?"

"Yes, dammit," Cint barked.

Loki grinned wickedly. "Trying to take over the world."

"Bullshit," Tony said. "If that were true, you wouldn't be so happy you've lost."

Loki flinched, and Thor realized the Man of Iron was right. "What were you doing here?" he repeated.

Loki sighed, though the deep breath seemed to hurt him, and he opened his eyes again. "There are many ways to take over this world. I chose the method most likely to yield the desired results."

"That doesn't answer the question," Thor said.

Natasha interrupted, "So, what were the desired results then?"

Loki regarded her. "I elected to be dramatic to draw all of Midgard's greatest champions into the fight early so they could be eliminated early, maximizing my chances of an early, astounding victory," he said carefully.

"Oh, and what were the odds you calculated?"

He shrugged. "Forty percent. Thirty percent if Thor or others of Asgard showed up."

"Not a good plan," Tony said succinctly. Loki flashed him a smile.

"I'm sure you broke the odds down further than winning and losing though," Natasha mused.

"Thirty to forty percent chance of my early, astounding victory. Twenty percent chance of protracted, how do you say, Phyrric victory. Thirty to forty percent chance of devastating defeat, depending on whether Thor showed up. And ten percent chance of the current predicament," he rattled off bitterly.

Natasha studied him. "The current predicament being a devastating defeat for your forces, but one where you survived," she said shrewdly. "What odds did you lay on surviving in the event of your Pyrrhic victory?"

He looked away, but a grudging smirk played about his lips. "Half." Natasha nodded once.

"You bastard," Tony shouted as the blood drained from his face. He tried to slap the god, but Steve stopped him.

"Do not lay a hand on my brother!" Thor thundered.

"He tried to pull a suicide by cop! And we're the cops!" Tony cried. "Right, Reindeer Games?" Loki ignored him, glaring at the sheets. "People died, you sick, twisted, evil... Well, next time why don't you call in a favor from an executioner? Or just off yourself if that's what you want and leave us out of it!"

"I had no choice!" Loki shouted back, finally irritated enough to argue the point.

"And why the hell not?" Clint butted in, equally affronted at all of this, given his personal involvement.

Loki looked him in the eyes. "The compulsion is stronger the closer you can get it to the heart." That's all he said, but Clint seemed to deflate at the words.

The others stared at them. Suddenly, Tony touched the arc reactor under his shirt, and said, "Oh." Thor looked at him, wondering what new hell a fresh revelation would bring. "He was controlled too. That scar on his heart we saw. They used the staff on him first, like what happened to Clint but way worse. I was only safe when he tried it on me because he was trying to go through the arc reactor."

Loki looked revolted. "You looked inside my chest?"

"Hey, you should be immune to body horror by now, Reindeer Games." Tony winced at the defeated god's fair enough expression, but continued, "Anyways, I'd say Hulk's totally off the hook now, Brucie. The pounding probably broke the curse." He turned back to the patient consideringly. "You convinced your...controller to go along with your completely and utterly reckless, brilliant plan because you promised you could give him what he wanted: a swift victory. But you still left yourself a fifty-fifty for your goal: death. I'll admit. It wasn't a bad plan after all, for a mind-controlled puppet. I'm still mad at you though." The rest of the Avengers nodded in unison.

Thor picked up Loki's hand, drawing his brother's eyes up. "Loki, is the Man of Iron correct?" Slowly, the Trickster nodded without even a hint of guile. Thor bellowed in grief. "And this...controller who ensnared you with that gem... did he also...?" Thor gestured to his brother's terrible injuries.

"Who else?"

"How? Why?" Thor sobbed.

Loki pulled his hand away distastefully. "I was a prisoner, you oaf. I was captured when I was weakened in the Void after falling from the Bifrost and lost my leg trying to fight them off. I was a prisoner for months as they tried to wear me down. They only used the stone as a last resort when I refused to break. As for the rest, well, everyone in the outskirts of civilization is starving. They eat most of their prisoners in the end. You might even say I was lucky, since the Other wanted me whole enough to fight and only let them harvest 'nonessentials.'"

The thudding of Thor's heart in his ears almost blocked out the distant sound of the Man of Iron's renewed retching. He laid a hand over the bandage on his brother's belly. "You mean...?"

"They ate him?" Dr. Banner gasped in disgust.

Loki's eyes didn't leave Thor's even as Clint and Natasha herded Banner from the room before he could Hulk out again. "I'll never be whole again, Thor. Now please, please kill me so I don't have to continue to rot slowly."

Thor looked down, gathering his thoughts. Stalling. He could not bear the pain in Loki's eyes, but he really could not bear the thought of losing Loki again, now that his innocence...in this matter, at least...had been revealed. "Loki, you may not...be whole...but the pain will go if you are healed. I... well, would it not be better to be healed, and live, brother?"

Loki lurched up from the bed and grabbed a fistful of his cape, pulling Thor's face within an inch of his own suddenly wrathful visage. "I AM NOT YOUR BROTHER, you- you imbecile! Did you think I fell from the Bifrost as some pathetic accident? No! I chose to die then and was extremely upset when that failed to happen. Now, what exactly about my current circumstances makes you think I would choose differently? Hmm? You vile, bug-brained idiot!" He let go with a shove. His eyes flitted to Captain Rogers and he snapped his fingers imperiously and pointed. "You, my good Captain, would you be so kind as to make the arrangements for my final demise? Perhaps get your government to assist?"

"No, Loki," Thor said forcefully, placing both hands on his brother's thin shoulders. The remaining humans edged back, none too eager to get involved in the dispute.

"Thor-"

"That is not his place. They are not your enemy to kill you. They are not your family to carry out such wishes."

"Well, since I have no family, that's beside the-"

"YOU WERE MOURNED!" Thor bellowed, silencing Loki at last. Thor sighed. "I mourned you. Mother mourned. Father mourned. Even Sif and the Warriors Three came to me in private, expressing their regrets over the loss of your friendship, your humor. But because of your crimes and the absence of a defense, our grief could not be official. Your colleagues at the Sorcerous Academy publicly grudged your loss and had to be sanctioned, though Father's judgment was certainly light there." Tony and Steve finally left the room entirely, shutting the door behind them. Thor was glad they were gone, and shook his head in an effort to clear his thoughts. "We still love you, Loki. But I understand...some wounds are too great to bear a thousand years."

"Thank you-"

"But it's not my place either," Thor interrupted, raising a hand to forestall Loki's glower. "You received your injuries in battle with a terrible opponent. If you choose to die from them, it is an honorable death. But the way I see it, if you will not take vengeance on his life for yourself, you have a duty to pass on as is only proper. You must come with me to Asgard and name your attacker before the Allfather. You must complete the Final Boast of your struggle and designate a successor. I would, of course, be honored if you chose me, dear brother." Thor grinned as Loki rolled his eyes and glowered at him. "Only then may you ask for the Allfather to free your soul."

"Ugh. It would be faster, easier, and far less painful if you would allow me to skip the ceremonies and just kill me now."

"No," Thor said firmly. "You are a prince of Asgard, brother, even if you don't want to be one anymore. You will walk to your doom proudly with your head held high, or I will sit here and watch you die a slow and degrading death where no one else but Heimdall may see your shame. You owe that to your family, at least."

Loki cocked his head, a sullen grin growing. "You've grown crueller, Thor," he commented. "And I should be insulted that you think it a shame to die as a butchered starveling, but I lost my shame along with everything else." His grin widened as Thor winced. "But I see your point. I will go with you to Asgard and bring my desire to the Allfather. But you must lend me your strength if you want me to arrive in more or less one piece; the Tesseract will be an even less forgiving transport than the Bifrost."

Wordlessly, Thor held out a hand, electricity snapping along his fingers. Loki took it, the electricity flowing smoothly into green fire. The bandages burned away. The leg and belly wound mended into ragged red scars, still weeping serous fluid but no longer pus. The bony corners of Loki's body smoothed under a new, thin layer of muscle and fat. Slowly, the dark maw in his side stiffened and narrowed as rough new skin formed along the edges, but it failed to close entirely before the stream of magic abruptly shut off, leaving both gods gasping from the effort.

Loki raised an eyebrow. "You're weaker than you used to be, Thor."

"Only because I had to ward off your invasion earlier."

"Fair enough. We should be able to leave on the morrow."

"Sounds good. Until then, sleep." Thor smiled at his brother's brief, affronted expression before the command claimed him again. It seemed he had held back exactly the correct amount of power. He got up and stretched. He needed to find his friends and tell them what had been decided. And eat. Norns, was he hungry. And find Loki something too, he thought guiltily, since Loki would surely be even hungrier... He also needed a distraction from the deep despair still threatening him. He had only delayed his brother's suicide after all, not averted it.

Author's Note: Stay tuned for another installment, possibly this evening.