AN: The song Loki sings is "Norse Lullaby" by Eugene Field. As always, no claims to Marvel's characters and all rights to Marvel and Eugene Field for his song (but he's long dead so... yeah), etc., etc. Also, thanks to Crimson Banner for being so supportive, I really appreciate it.


Loki hummed to himself, a song he had been sung by Frigga, his adoptive mother when she cradled the small boy in her arms with a toddling Thor gazing at his baby brother. "Himmelen er mørk og åsene er hvite. Som storm-kongen hastigheter fra nord i natt; Og dette er sangen stormen-kongen synger, som verden kappen hans hiver han: 'Sov, sove, lille, søvn;' Han rasler sine vinger og barsk synger: 'Søvn, lille, søvn.'" The god of mischief sang softly, remembering his favorite verse, his voice echoing slightly against the glass walls of the cell. Loki smiled and sang the verse in English, grateful for the tutorship he had gotten as a prince. "The sky is dark and the hills are white, as the storm-king speeds from the north to-night; And this is the song the storm-king sings, as over the world his cloak he flings: 'Sleep, sleep, little one, sleep;' He rustles his wings and gruffly sings: 'Sleep, little one, sleep.'"

"Your voice has not changed in quality since your fall, brother." Thor rumbles from the doorway, surrounded on all sides by the rest of his team. Bruce looks happy for once, Tony, Clint, and Steve were in a state of shock. Natasha has an appreciative look on her face, Fury is apathetic as always, and Liv's violet eyes are alight with wonder. "Do you remember the rest, Loki? Shall we sing together?" The blond god prompts his red-faced, raven haired sort-of brother to join in a song.

"English or our native language, brother of mine?" Loki inquired, almost snidely, but not quite. All he got was a shrug from Thor, who motioned for the younger of the two to begin. Loki took a deep breath to steel his nerves and began on the next verse. "On yonder mountain-side a vine clings at the foot of a mother pine; The tree bends over the trembling thing, and only the vine can hear her sing:'Sleep, sleep, little one, sleep; What shall you fear when I am here? Sleep, little one, sleep.'"

The air swells with the sounds of the two gods' voices, of Thor's deep baritone and of Loki's light tenor. The brothers join together in a last bout of deep breaths and loud voices accompanied by the melody conjured by Loki's magic. "The king may sing in his bitter flight, the pine may croon to the vine to-night, but the little snowflake at my breast liketh the song I sing the best, -'Sleep, sleep, little one, sleep; Weary thou art, anext my heart; Sleep, little one, sleep.'"

Loki shakes a little from his nerves and then smiles at Thor, who returns the weak grin with a broad one of his own. Liv's eyes are shining from the tears welling up in them, and then she quickly swipes at them with no one noticing. She thinks to herself, "I haven't heard singing so lovely as that since I was very small. I must learn the words to it, perhaps I'll have Thor teach me." Then the agent's senses return and she shakes her head angrily at her own thoughts and actions. "You're such a fool! If one of them had seen me, they would've asked what was wrong. God, I'm so stupid! Idiot!" She screamed mentally at herself, joining in the slow applause the gods got from all of the Avengers, excluding Nick Fury.

"You sing well, Loki. And, unfortunately for us, you fight even better. I've got Stark working on something to fix that pesky magic problem of yours." Director Fury called out over his shoulder.

"You are working on that, aren't you Tony?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, of course." Tony looked up from his smartphone and looked around at his team before turning to Bruce. "Hey, uh, Banner. You know where I left those blueprints for the, eh, thing-y?"

"Ummm, nope. Haven't seen 'em. Sorry." the doctor shrugged his shoulders in a helpless manner and then shoved his hands into his pants pockets. Tony rolled his eyes and mumbled something about asking JARVIS about them when he got back home.

Steve coughed awkwardly and began rocking back and forth on his heels. "Um, so, why did you call us here, Director? I mean, I know that you were just yelling at us about our faults in fighting, but I don't see why we're," he looked around the room. "Here. Sir." Steve adds in quickly, still remembering his manners.

"Because, Rogers, we're moving." Fury snapped at his super soldier, glaring with one eye at each of them in turn. "We're relocating to Stark Tower. Whether Stark likes it or not."

"Uh, yeah. That doesn't work for me. I'm trying to rebuild it after what Reindeer Games did to my place. The last thing I need is for a god, two assassins, a giant green rage monster, Spangles here, and the new one to be all up in my space." Tony piped up, jerking a thumb over his shoulder and turning to face the group.

"Then build it bigger. Put in more rooms, a floor for each of them. On a sub-level, put a room for Hulk, and below that put exactly what we have here for Loki. Understand?" Fury barked at Tony, clearly getting angrier.

"Wait, I can have my tower even bigger? Sweet! When are we moving?" Tony quickly became more excited as he realized that he could have an even flashier place to live.

Fury rolled his eye and began to fiddle with the control panel more. "I'm sending you another copy of the blueprints, Stark. Banner, I want you to figure out how you'll be able to get to your safe room in case of an... incident. Got it?"

Bruce mock saluted. "Yes, sir." Then he turned and dragged the super happy Tony to the lab.

"Oh, I know! I'll get each floor different colored lights so that at night every floor with be the colors of the suits! Except yours, Big Guy. You can get green and purple, though. Spangles'll get red white and blue, the patriotic bastard, and Spidey can have black and red. Legolas gets black and maybe bl-HMPH! MMPH!" The team was graced with the sound of the gentle doctor's hand clamping down over Tony's motormouth. They all gave a collective sigh of relief and turned back to the director.

"Alright, troops. I'll be sending you in small groups to the tower of the course of the week. Banner and Stark first, they're the least suspicious. Romanoff and Atkinson, you'll be next, under the guise of two drunk girls Stark and Banner got at a bar. Rogers, you'll be next. Thor and Barton, you stay here until the rest are settled and everything is ready. You will be escorting Loki to his quarters. Am I clear?"

"Crystal, boss man." Clint piped up, somehow on top of the cage. "The science bros, the ladies," he waggled his eyebrows at Tasha. "Captain 'Murica here, me and the gods."

Fury narrowed his eye and glared at his sharpshooter. "Listen, bird brain, I can have you outta this program faster than you can say 'bow and arrow' with your memory wiped clean." he growled at Barton.

Clint held up his hands in a gesture worthy of its own rage face. "Sorry, boss man. Won't happen again." He jumped down and straightened up, feet together, and one arm held stiffly against his side while the other was held up in a rigid salute. He still kept the cocky grin plastered on his face, 'till Tasha smacked him on the back of the head. "Ow, Nat. That really hurt..." He pouted like a child, pushing out his lower lip and making sure to let it tremble.

"Barton, quit with the theatrics. I know your game. Now go do whatever you do. Dismissed." Fury growled at his team, stalking off to wherever it was that he stalked to. The Avengers went to their rooms, except Thor, who stayed behind to watch Loki. He cautiously approached the cell, Loki's green eyes focused solely on him.

"Brother, why do you do this? Why do you not see the error of your ways? Why do you not just plead for forgiveness? You know that it would be given by the Allfather. Your punishment would be greatly reduced. Perhaps I could convince him to repeat the punishment given to-"

"No!" Loki snarled, baring his teeth at the blonde man opposite him. "Your father would have no reason to be so kind to a monster such as myself. Look at me, Thor, really look. Tell me what you see." Loki took a shaky breath, and let the magic walls fall from around him. His skin turned an icy blue, his eyes were no longer emeralds, but rubies. "TELL ME!" Loki screamed, eyes watering in anger as Thor remained silent for far too long.

"I- I see my brother. A strong, prideful, silver-tongued, liar and trickster. I see a powerful magician, full of anger, and fear, and hurt. I see... I see Loki Laufeyson, but that is not who he is to me. He is Loki Odinson, son of the Allfather and Frigga, his queen. Brother to the miserable excuse for a being, Thor Odinson. I see the young man who I have grown up with, my little brother. And I love him, my brother, because he has taught me that no matter what they are or what they look like, family is still family." Thor was nervous, as he saw the wet streaks of tears running down his brother's blue-skinned face, and felt the tears welling up in his own blue eyes. They fell slowly, warm, salty, and full of sadness as they glinted on his beard.

"Lies." Loki spat, slowly returning to his usual appearance. "How dare you try to lie to me, the god of mischief, trickery, lies. How dare you, Thor Odinson, try to lie to Loki Laufeyson who, his whole life, has lied to the best of them and lied his way out of everything. How dare you stand there and preach to me about family, about how I am your brother, how you love me after all of those years allowing me to be in your shadow and never once caring about me, even though I had you banished, even though I have lied to you all our lives, even though you know I am a Jotun and you are an Asgardian and consider me your sibling. How. Dare. You." Loki began crying again, frustration and anger making the tears fall heavier and faster. "How dare you, Thor Odinson. How dare you. How dare you..." He raspily whispered, voice cracking, trying to force itself past the lump in his throat. He kept repeating the phrase over and over, long after Thor had gone and Loki sat on the floor of his cell and wept, back against the wall, knees drawn up to his chest and head resting on them. His tears soaked his pant legs, reddened his eyes, stained his pale cheeks, and made his thin nose run. He sobbed as he pulled his cape from behind him and stumbled over to the bench, using the green velvet as a blanket and to shield his tired eyes from the harsh light. Loki was a sniveling mess, his defensive walls broken, all from one conversation with Thor. He fell, exhausted, into a fitful sleep, weeping still.