Thor walked back to the main room to join the others.
Rogers was concerned "Are you just going to leave him in there by himself?" demanded Steve.
"Yes, he can't move or speak." Said Thor.
"So what now?" asked Stark. "What do we do with reindeer games?"
Thor turned to face him, "I will have to take him back to Asgard to face our father."
Natasha turned to him as well "you think we're going to let you just take him?" she demanded. Just the effort of speaking drained whatever energy Natasha had left and she felt herself swaying a bit. She sat down on a step before she passed out in front of all these men.
"He has to." Clint said blankly, moving towards Natasha, having noticed her face-saving maneuver.
"He has to because Loki can't be killed here. And I promise you that he would find a way out prison, so this best plan is to send him back, where he can't hurt us anymore." By this time, Clint had reached Nat, and was sitting down beside her.
"Agreed." Said Stark.
"I agree too." Said Rogers.
Banner was still big and green, but sitting down. It wouldn't be long before he was back to himself. Stark grabbed a towel from the bar and tossed it Steve, indicating that Banner might need it soon.
Romanoff suddenly remembered poor Dr. Selvig passed out on the roof.
"Thor?" she asked wearily, "Selvig is still out there, can you get him to an ambulance on the ground?"
Thor rushed out the damaged window wall after his friend.
As the others talked, Natasha felt the adrenaline wearing off and became very aware she was a mere mortal, unlike some of the other people in the room. It was a good thing she had already made it to the floor, because she was sure the floor was going to be her final destination. She started breathing harder, trying to slow it down, but couldn't. The cold feeling of shock was starting to take over. Clint put his arm around her shoulder and whispered in her ear.
"You hit bad?
"No, just beat up all over." The effort of the speaking hurt.
Clint moved to check her pupils and pulse, becoming alarmed as the seconds ticked by.
"When was the last time you drank or ate anything?" he said lowly, in Russian.
"Not sure, a while." She mumbled back in Russian.
By this time the others had noticed Natasha starting to fail and move towards her. Clint put up hand to motion them back.
"It's ok, I've got her. She'll just get worse if you crowd her." He said, chastising them for not realizing that she really didn't these people her face right then.
"Stark," Clint barked, you got something other than alcohol in that bar? Anything with sugar? Juice, soda, anything? And water too!"
"Um, yeah, yeah." Stark jumped back and hurried to the bar. He rummaged for a second and came back with two small bottles – one with orange juice, one with water.
"Good, thanks." Said Clint, a little friendlier. He held the juice up to Natasha's lips.
"You have to drink this, Tasha."
She shook her head and leaned back, and would have fallen if Clint hadn't caught her. He held her in his arms. "Please, Nat, if you don't I'll call for a med evac, I swear I will."
The threat seemed to work, because Natasha reached for the juice, as Clint steadied her hand.
"Don't you think we should anyway?" started Rogers, "we should get the both of you out of here."
Clint shook his head "no, if I'm walking, I'll make it until the ground teams get here. Nat needs fluids first, then we'll asses her."
Natasha shook her head again, Clint continued, ignoring her "were kind of used to having to wait for medical attention." He sighed again and turned back to make sure Natasha was still drinking.
The other men in the room looked at Barton and Romanoff with a mixture of dismay and admiration.
Natasha knew she would puke for sure if she drank too fast, so she sat there, drinking slowly, willing herself to not pass out.
Clint looked at her with concern, "List 'em" he ordered.
"Left ankle got smashed on the carrier, right knee when I jumped on the flying motorcycle thing. Blow to the ribs somewhere, can't feel my right thumb, and assuming I have a concussion."
Stark was startled not only at her long list of injuries, but the matter of fact way in which she reported them.
Thor returned after having delivered the physicist to the ground and noticed the injured agents sitting on the floor. He wondered if he would need to transport them too…
"Your turn." She sighed.
"Well, there's the screaming headache from the demon possession and the 2 cracks on the head you gave me"…he said, putting hand up to his left ear…"they got me in the ribs too, landed on the bad shoulder when I went through the window." He rattled out in the same tone as Romanoff.
"Please tell me you're joking about the window?" she mumbled.
He gave her a wink, "sorry, not joking" He knew he'd half to face the music on that one later, but that Nat didn't have the energy to go after him right now.
Natasha just shook her head, but quickly regretted it. She felt the juice coming back up and reached for the water.
Someone in a corner coughed. It was Banner. Rogers, Stark, and Thor had been focusing on Barton and Romanoff and failed to notice that Banner was once again Bruce. Steve hurried over to toss him the towel.
Stark, not exactly feeling 100% himself stepped back to his platform and started the automated process of armor removal. He was glad to finally be free of it. To feel human again.
Stark walked back over the Banner, who was still on the floor, with nothing to wear but a towel.
"Go down the hall to the bedroom on the left. There are clothes in there." He nodded in the direction of his dressing room.
Banner got up, strategically arranging his towel as he did, and hurried off, really hoping that Agent Romanoff couldn't see his backside. He's scared her enough for one day.
Just then Fury's voice broke through on what was left of everyone's comm links.
"Status report NOW!" he bellowed.
Thor and Rogers jumped. Stark just rolled his eyes and looked annoyed. "Yeah, we're still alive, thanks for checking…" he jabbed.
Clint still had his right arm around Nat, but raised his left to stop Stark.
"Barton, here sir. Loki is secured. We got him."
"Where is everybody?"
"Top of Stark Tower sir. Everyone accounted for."
"Injuries?" Maria Hill's voice chimed in.
"Just Romanoff and me"
"Well, I figured that Barton. What injuries exactly?"
"Nothing that's going to kill us in the next hour."
"Good. Hold your position. We'll get to your within the hour." Replied Fury. Both Clint and Natasha heard the pause in Fury's voice. They exchanged glances, not sure which one of them had the courage to do it… Clint found his resolve first.
"How's Coulson?" he asked.
