A/N: This was originally a one-shot that I chose to expand into a chapter fic, so the first chapter is significantly longer than any of the others. Like, this one is half the size- but hopefully it's good! Please review!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. At all. That would be Marvel, Stan Lee, Disney, etc. But certainly not me.

By the time the quinjet landed, Tony was beginning to regret that he had ever even become Iron Man. Sure, the attention was awesome. The babes, great! And there is just something really cool and badass about being one of the world's mightiest heroes, fighting evil alongside a mythological Thunder God, Super Soldier Steve, and a Giant Green Smash Machine. But spending an hour with Loki cooped up in a cramped jet? Forget it. He'd rather be the Merchant of Death again. At least then he could hear himself think.

Seriously though. If Tony thought he was talkative, Loki seemed to be single mindedly determined to one-up him, like he was on a mission to drive Tony out of his mind by any means necessary: topics ranging anywhere from the shitty technology of "this piteously archaic excuse for a planet" to in depth criticisms of Tony's personality, life-style, history… really everything he could think of. Of course, Tony fought back. By the time they landed, Tony was genuinely concerned that Cap was going to explode from some sort of excessive buildup of annoyance and pissed-off-ness. He pictured the headline in the paper: Captain America Spontaneously Combusts. Prime Suspect: Tony Stark and Loki's Incessant Chatter. Okay, maybe it wouldn't go quite like that. But still.

"Remember when we captured you in Germany, and you practically refused to say a word the entire ride to S.H.I.E.L.D.? Yeah, let's do that again."

Loki smirked; there was no restraining his sarcasm at this point. "Would you like me to rip your eye out too? Maybe some grandiose speech about freedom? You know, for old times' sake?"

That's it. When they landed, the first thing Tony was going to do was hunt down Thor and get that old muzzle back again. There was only room for one sarcastic asshole in the Avengers facility. His money, his facility, his dibs on being the resident smartass.

After what felt like hours of verbal war with the God of Mischief, the quinjet finally touched down. Thank God. Tony grabbed one of Loki's arms, wrenching him to his feet with unnecessary force. Together he and Steve marched the demigod down the ramp, the view of Avengers Tower hovering over them. There had been some question as to where to contain Loki. S.H.I.E.L.D. had fought to take custody of the criminal, insisting that it was their job. However, it was also decided that the best way to monitor Loki and ensure he behaved was to keep him under the watch of the Avengers. And what better place than the current residence of Earth's Mightiest Heroes? Still, deep down Tony couldn't help but wonder if this was exactly what Loki wanted.

As they led (dragged) Loki through the facilities doors, Tony couldn't help but notice the weariness and unsteadiness of the demigod. His logic told him that Loki was very likely pulling some kind of trick, an illusion, to manipulate them. And yet, he couldn't stop his mind from wondering what Loki could possibly have encountered to mess him up so much. What other threats were out there that could intimidate a powerful Asgardian into seeking aid from enemies, and risk imprisonment?

Tony and Cap took Loki straight to the space S.H.I.E.L.D. had set up in the facility; a strictly monitored, carefully sealed room containing only necessary medical equipment. His own personal, carefully guarded sick bay. It wasn't the most secure place, but it was the best they could manage on such short notice. Besides, every second Loki would be under careful guard by at least one of the Avengers. Bruce was already awaiting them in the room when they entered. Upon seeing the doctor, Loki stiffened, an anxious scowl twisting his features.

It took all of Tony's willpower to not burst out laughing. "What's the matter, Reindeer Games? Not glad to see Dr. Banner?"

Loki didn't respond, but sent a glare in Tony's direction that the genius would swear could have frozen water or withered plants.

The Captain spoke up then. "You wanted medical attention, Loki. Dr. Banner's a well trained medical professional. If there is anything that we can do for that wound, Dr. Banner will do it."

Okay, so maybe Tony let out a small chuckle at the indignant look on Loki's face. Oh how he loved to see him knocked down a peg!

"Good luck Rudolph!" Tony smirked as he and Cap exited the room, Loki's furious gaze following them out.

"Ow!" whined Tony, rubbing his head from where Natasha had just smacked it. After dropping Loki off in his room/cell with Bruce, the rest of the Avengers, along with Nick Fury and Maria Hill, had convened in the conference room to discuss the unexpected events.

"You know, it would be great if for one second, you could actually pretend to be serious," she snapped at him. Natasha had become very touchy and sensitive since the sudden reappearance of Loki. Not that Tony could blame her; he had been a real bastard towards her.

"I'm just saying, Heimdall's the all seeing, all hearing guy right? If we could just yell loud enough, get his attention—"

"I'm pretty sure volume doesn't matter to an all hearing god, Tony," said Cap.

"Well, I don't see you all coming up with any better ideas to contact Thor! It's not like we can keep holding Loki forever. The sooner we get that psycho back to Asgard, the better."

Fury spoke up. "We are in contact with Dr. Foster. She has assured us that she will let us know the moment she gets word from Thor. And she seemed pretty certain there was no other way for us to contact him from Earth. We're just gonna have to handle this on our own."

"Right, like we did on the Helicarrier. Face it, Fury, it's only a matter of time before Loki sets whatever he's planning into motion. The guy's the literal god of trickery."

Natasha responded, sounding weary. "Tony, we all know the danger Loki poses. But until we can return him to Asgard, we don't have much choice but to play his game. Unless you recommend we release him into the general public."

Rhodey spoke up suddenly, previously silent next to Steve's friend Sam. "Wait, so you said Loki's power thing is, uh, illusions right? But they're not real. Shouldn't Bruce be able to tell us if he's faking or not?"

Fury sighed, exhausted. "I'm afraid we don't know much about Loki's abilities. Who knows how convincing his magic can be."

"So do we have anything we can do, or all we all just sitting around waiting for him to strike?"

"What we can do is try to figure out Loki's play before it's too late. Captain, Loki came to you. What are you thinking?"

Cap took some time to answer, seemingly formulating his thoughts. He had a kinda strange look on his face, and Tony found himself wondering what exactly his babysitting hour with Loki had been like. "I'm not so certain Loki's lying about being injured. Sure looked pretty damn real to me—Not a word, Stark!"

Tony's reprimand (language!) turned into a chuckle.

"Anyway, I was questioning Loki about some stuff earlier, and he seemed… well, he seemed pretty unprepared to be honest. Like he was lying, but he didn't really know where he was going with the lie. Now maybe that was just some more trickery, but I think it's at least worth considering that Loki might be somewhat sincere. I mean, think about it. What would be the point of revealing himself to us? Before was different, we already knew he was out there; we were prepped to fight him. But now? If he needed to infiltrate S.H.I.E.L.D. or the Avengers facility, wouldn't it be easier to just disguise himself as one of us? There's got to be a lot more potential for staying in the shadows than announcing his presence to every person that could stop him. He's completely given up the element of surprise. I'm not saying he's telling the truth, because he has some major flaws in his story. But maybe he's here for a completely different reason, something we haven't even thought of yet."

Silence fell, each of the Avengers contemplating the Captains' words. Tony noticed vaguely that Vision and Wanda both had not spoken a word since entering the room. He was about to ask them their thoughts, when Vision spoke up.

"The Captain is right. It would be wise to view the situation from all possible points of view and possibilities before making any assumptions."

"Well then, what the hell does a power hungry, ruthless alien want if not to conquer the world?"

"Protection." The word dropped out of Natasha's mouth suddenly, revelation underlying her voice.

All eyes turned upon the assassin, confused, questioning, unsure where she was going with this. Fortunately, Natasha wasted no time in explaining.

"No, listen. Let's say Steve is right, and Loki really is injured. He had to have been hurt by something."

"'Murderous aliens'" Tony interjected, the words reverberating in his memory.

"Maybe. Definitely some enemy though. And my bet is if they can make Loki look that screwed up, they've got to be powerful. And what do you do when you're being pursued by a dangerous enemy? You seek shelter, protection."

"But why us?" questioned Sam. "What makes him think we would help him at all?"

"What choice does he have? He can't go to Asgard, that's for sure. We don't know about the rest of the galaxy, but it's fair to assume that anyone else strong enough to protect him is also strong enough to hold him long enough to get him back to Asgard. We don't really know if we can do that."

"So basically you're saying Loki is leeching off of our power," Tony summarized. "To get to him, they have to go through us, type thing. Sneaky bastard."

"Assuming its true," argued Fury. "We don't know what the hell Loki's planning. You've got some good points Romanoff, but I'm still calling bull on the wound."

The comments rushed out in torrents then, one piling onto another.

"I'm telling you, it looked real to me."

"Maybe we should just wait for Banner's input."

"I want to know why we aren't talking about preparing a defense. If something's coming, we should be ready for it."

"If I could just interrogate Loki—"

"How about we just push him off a cliff. I like that idea."

"Shut up, Stark."

"This bickering is counterproductive. We need to focus."

"What we need to do is talk about what we screwed up last time, so it doesn't happen again."

"Maybe he is after the mind stone."

The speed at which the rest of the room shut up following Wanda's statement was actually quite astonishing; all heads turned suddenly toward Vision, the yellow gem gleaming upon his forehead.

"He just might…" murmured Tony, gears turning. How Loki expected to get it was a mystery, but it might explain his presence…

The start of Tony's musing was interrupted (rather rudely, he thought) by Fury.

"Okay, look. We've heard a lot of good points. Maybe he's using us as some kind of twisted body guard, maybe he wants the stone. But until we can get some more info, these are only speculations. Natasha, you're up for interrogation… he'll be expecting some tricks, so try to play against his expectations. Throw him off. Rhodes, you're right, we need to set up defense for any potential attacks. You, Tony, Captain, you head that up. Last time we failed because we turned on each other, lost sight of the goal. Not this time. You got a problem, you work it out. And I want eyes peeled for anything that seems even remotely off. Understood?"

There were nods all around, except...

"So is that a no on pushing him off a cliff, or…?"