chapter two

Still at Stark Tower

Tony stark sat on the end of Loki's bed. The god was still unconscious but all his cuts and bruises were taken care of. His other injuries and broken bones ( a shoulder, upper arm, 4 ribs, a leg and almost all the bones in his right hand ) were treated as best as possible and he was thoroughly cleaned and wearing a green pyjama picked out by Tony.

The only thing that wasn't taken care of were the stitches. They tried. Tony and James even dragged him down to the lab and tried to cut it with every imaginable thing down there but it had been of no use. The thread had been unbreakable. So they had done everything they could do and then put the trickster in the cell. James had gone home and would return the next day to check up on the patient.

Loki's cell had a simple bed, one chair, a toilet and a sink. There was a bedside table with some clothes and books on it and cameras and microphones hung around visible and invisible. there were even heat sensors. 3 of the walls were plain white but the one with the door was entirely made out of glass. Or something way stronger that could pass for it. It was 10 in the evening, the god still hadn't waked up and Tony was just thinking about grabbing some food and scotch upstairs when he finally showed some signs of life.

The first thing he was conscious about was pain. It was all over his body, especially around his mouth. It made it difficult to feel and think about anything else but after a while he noticed that, even though the pain was intense, it wasn't as bad as earlier. Then slowly the realisation came that his bones were back in the right places and half his body was wrapped in soft bandages. He was lying in a bed. Loki tried to shift but when that turned out to be too painful a soft moan tried to escape his troath but it never managed to leave and the god was confronted with the painful truth again. Trying to distract himself from it he slowly opened his damaged eyelids.

At first the light blinded him but then Loki managed to distinguish a person sitting at his feet. The person shifted and he heard a familiar voice.

"You're awake, sleeping beauty?" Tony stark asked with one of his typical grins.

The god tried to groan. Out of all people. Anthony Stark. Stark! Was there really no mercy for him? Somewhere in the back of his mind though, a little voice told him it could've been way worse. Ignoring it the he turned his head away but he got startled when something suddenly landed in his lap. He looked up to see a notebook and some markers on his legs and his questioning eyes rised to Tony Stark's face.

"I have some questions. I figured you wouldn't be very...talkative" The human shrugged, trying to hide a little smile because of his own pun. Sighing Loki rolled his eyes and grabbed the things in his lap, twitching from pain at the movement.

Tony looked rather relieved when he looked like collaborating and the god couldn't help but wonder why the humans had chosen Stark to interrogate him. Or why they had treated his injuries. Why there seemed to be nobody else around. where they trying to give him a feeling of safeness? Choosing Stark as his guardian was not a very obvious choice then.

The human interrupted his thoughts by shifting and speaking. "So you're in my tower right now. S.H.I.E.L.D doesn't know anything about you being here but one funny movement and Jarvis, my all-seeing eye, will get the other avengers here in a second. You're in a cell that's supposed to be able to hold the hulk, remember him? and that is supposed to be magic-free but you are the first test on that so I'd like us to get along well enough to not have to test that. Now I would get you something to eat bu-"

The mortal continued to rattle but Loki looked down on the paper and wrote a word on it. Holding it up Tony could read an elegantly written "Why?"

The millionaire sighed. "Why not? after you were gone I checked some things about S.H.I.E.L.D. and they way they treat their prisoners, especially those with information, I don't approve of it. I've been a prisoner. Tortured too. And as much as you have wronged this world, I wouldn't wish that to anyone. Especially not after that. Is that the 'Asgardian punishment' you were going to face? " The human motioned at the taller man's mouth and the god felt a flash of humiliation going trough him for a second. He quickly hid it and nodded with his gaze focused on the sheets again.

"You don't have to be afraid of me Stark. I can't recite any spells in this state and I am not sure I would want to do anything anyway beside laying here until Ragnarök comes. I will never achieve anything in this miserable life I am given, no matter if it were good or bad things."

After some minutes of silence he heard the man across from him sigh and shift.

"I'm sorry for you." Loki looked up quickly in surprise and catched the gaze of the human. It was full of sincerity and his hand was tapping on an undamaged place of his lower leg. Frowning the god looked at the hand and back at the mortals face. When the silence began to feel a bit awkward Tony looked away and slowly removed his hand.

"You know the reason I can't get trough those things?" He started looking at the iron sewn trough the gods lips but Loki was already writing something on a paper. Shoving it towards the human he looked away with a frown. Why was Stark doing this? He knew there had to be some hidden reason for Stark to help him but he could only feel relieved, thankful and safe. When did he became so pathetic and weak?

He looked up at Tony who smiled slightly at the tiny "I find it hard to believe you're doing all this for one who wronged you so much " that was written on the paper, and then looked up too. "

No thank you? Guess that would be too much too ask for then. Super villain suspicion, tssk. I'm supposed to help everyone in need since I am a good guy now, no?"

Loki yanked the paper back and added a "now?"

Tony chuckled "Heh shit, shouldn't have mentioned that. I could've guessed you would ask." After hesitating for a moment he added: "I wasn't always a good guy. Not so long ago I was nicknamed "Merchant of death" and the whole world was in fear of the weapons I produced."

"What happened?"

More hesitating. "The guy that was like a father to me ordered people to get me killed. But those guys realised who I was so they tortured me to make me make weapons. I made my suit instead. I saw what my weapons did to the people and the world. That night a very wise and brave man died for me and told me not to waste my life. So I didn't." He shrugged.

It was not often he talked about his past and only Pepper knew the whole story. He found it weird that (With exception of the shrapnel and arc-reactor part) he was now, out of all people, telling Loki.

"you make it sound easy."

"It is. You should try it. I can never undo the wrong I've done, but I can start with not making it worse." Tony smiled and Loki rolled his eyes at that.

"What happened to your father-figure?"

"Killed him. Well Pepper did, actually. That wasn't planned though. We only tried to stop him from killing me and destroying the place and such. Might sound familiar."

"I ment to Rule here. Not to destroy. That would've been Jötunheim's fate."

Tony raised an eyebrow. "Jötunheim?"

Loki mentally cursed. Why was he telling the human this? Because he wasn't the only one spilling his secrets? Why was Stark even telling him this? Did he want to give him a feeling of safeness? Did he loved his own voice that much? He wasn't to be trusted.

"Home planet of the Frost giants. They're the monsters in the Asgardian tales. They're every disgusting adjective you can imagine."

"Fearing the scary monsters from your childhood bedtime stories? Very mature." Tony joked. Suddenly a flash of anger shot trough Loki's eyes , but it was gone in less than a second.

"What?" Tony asked, already doubting if he had really seen it but Loki shook his head and turned it away, frowning again.

"Well okey then. No pressure. " The confidential story-sharing mood was gone and Tony rose from the bed.

"If you need something, just...ahm...knock 3 times on anything you can reach. Jarvis will warn me. You know how to get those things off? I tried some things already but nothing worked so far." He said taking a step back towards the door.

Loki grabbed the notebook and markers and tossed it to the billionaire when he was done writing "It's magically enchanted. Nothing here on Midgard will get through it until Odin intends it to be removed. And when that is is something only he knows. It's like when Thor was banished and could only wear his hammer again when he was worthy of it."

"Ouch. That sucks. Well, I'll search for something anyway. Can't hurt to try. How will you eat and drink otherwise?" He moved closer again and gave back the notebook.

"I will show you if you get me something." Loki wrote hesitatingly.
Tony nodded and turned towards the door. "Don't move. I'll be back in a minute."

Tony searched his kitchen for something Loki would like. He hadn't much to begin with, his irregular eating-patterns not compatible with quickly decaying food. He Grabbed a can of conserved peaches, some waffles and warmed up a can of ravioli. Together with a bottle of water, a bottle of scotch and a pair of glasses he dropped everything on a tray and went down again.

When the automatic doors to his lab unlocked he peeked inside. Loki was still in his cell but Tony stopped abruptly. He was up and looked at himself in the mirror. His hand traced the stitches in his mouth and the look on his face was by far the saddest the human had ever seen. Here he was, a millennia-old god, His primary defence system his lies and tricks. Over the centuries he had gathered the name silvertongue, and now he was unable to use it at all. He was completely at the mercy of a human that he had wronged in the past and he had no way to do anything about it. Suddenly Loki turned around and noticed Tony. He looked ashamed at being seen so vulnerable and Tony thought of giving him a moment but in the he entered anyway, putting down the tray with a worried look. This could just not be the same guy as the one that tried to take over New York.

"Hey, don't look so sad reindeer games. I am really sorry for...your loss, but I am sure we'll find a way to get trough it. We can work it out if we work on it together." He had really no fucking idea why on earth he was trying to comfort Loki and offering him his continued aid, baaad idea Tony, but he couldn't stand how miserably the guy looked. He just couldn't be totally evil if he could look like that. Tony had his friends when he hat hit rock bottom, and since there was no one to Loki. He knew he wasn't good with people, but he could at least try, and Loki on their good side would be definitely better as on their bad.

Loki sighed. "Don't pity me. There was no one to care for my words to begin with anyway." He wrote down.

"Why?" Tony asked while opening the bottles. "There must be a reason you went all batshit on our planet and wanted to destroy that other one. Scotch or water?"

AN I am back! it's because of the lovely 4 reviews I had from Tilia Cordata , Pandalover56, scarletcat969 and sbrock777

I already got this mostly typed out before I posted part one, so this will be the real point of challenge for me to see if I can do it or not. Thank you soooo much for all the follows and reviews, more are welcome (especially on the part of Lokes/Tony's relationship, too fast or good?) , They make my day and are my inspiration to continue! Thank you for reading!

xxx

Myr