'I demand to know what is going on!' demanded Odin stamping his foot on the floor, as another scream erupted from the throne room. He looked over to the battered and bruised Tony and Steve 'you have shown disrespect for fighting in the presence of a King! Also for inappropriate language towards the Queen!'

'It was-' said Tony.

'Hail! I thought that leaving you two to deal with your conflict would be the better option, but you leave me no choice but to interfere! Your fighting has threatened the safety of everyone on Asgard!'

'Father-'

'I know these are your friends Thor but they must be punished accordingly!' Frigga walked over to Odin and placed a gentle hand on his arm,

'Odin, my husband. They are but children, they are reckless, irresponsible. And we have more important matters at hand!' she gestured to Loki in Thor's arms.

'You are right. We must attend to Loki' he walked over to Thor and took Loki from him, he then turned to Tony and Steve who had each taken a step back 'This does not mean your punishment will pass'

'What about Bruce?' asked Natasha; she flinched as a sound of a roar seeped into the corridor they were standing in.

'The Doctor. Paradox tells me he turns into a beast'

'More like a Hulk' suggested Tony 'And before you start shouting at me for speaking out of context and what not, let me just add that Bruce has started to take control of 'the other guy'! We just need to keep him in that room until he calms down!'

'The man of iron is right father!' said Thor.

'Ironman' sighed Tony rubbing his face.

'I will put an unbreakable barrier around the room' said Odin as he adjusted Loki in his arms.

'Make sure it's on everything in that room because he will smash anything he can get his hands on!' said Tony.

'Might I just add. Ermm what the hell are we supposed to do now? We got to Loki too late! Do we like poof out of existence or something?' asked Clint crossing his arms across his chest.

'He actually makes a good point there!' said Tony 'what now? I'm talking to you parallel guy!'

'Where is Paradox?' asked Steve looking round.

'I'm here!' he said as he appeared next to Natasha, though that might not have been the wisest decision he had made as he found himself being pinned to the wall a few seconds after he appeared.

'Ninja attack!' exclaimed Tony.

'Shut it Stark!' she turned to Paradox 'now I want answers. You knew this was going to happen. You knew we were too late and what now? Are you going to send us on some wild goose chase to try and put things right! Well let me tell you Paradox that I am not spending my Saturday running around trying to fix someone else's shit! You can do it yourself!' Paradox started laughing. 'I don't understand what's so funny!'

'You think you have a choice in the matter?'

'Judging by the way you just said that I'd say no, we don't have a choice!'

'My friends, you said you would help me' said Thor, hope dying in his voice.

'Yes we did but we didn't agree to be his pet monkey!' said Clint.

'ENOUGH!' shouted Odin making them all jump. 'I am taking my son to the infirmary. If you want to protect him then come, if not then leave' he then sped off down the corridor, still carrying Loki in his arms.

'Well he's a grumpy sod ain't he!' scoffed Tony.

'It is true that Odin has a short temper but everything he does he does for a reason' smiled Frigga, she gave Thor's arm a squeeze then set off in the same direction as Odin.

'Are we going then?' asked Steve breaking the new silence that had overcome the group.

'Might as well' said Tony stretching his arm 'unless you want to stay here and wait until Bruce unleashes all his anger'

'Lady Natasha-' asked Thor as he stepped towards her and Paradox but he started to back away when he received a death glare from her.

'What did I tell you about calling me Lady Natasha?'

'Tash! Calm down! Let the poor sod get back on his feet for God's sake!' said Clint pulling on her arm.

'I am not poor!' exclaimed Thor.

'That's not what he meant' sighed Steve.

'Are we going or not?' whined Tony 'I'm bored!' Natasha sighed,

'Fine' she let go of Paradox and he smiled.

'Thank-you Agent Romanoff'

'This doesn't mean I won't be keeping an eye on you!' she let Clint drag her away from Paradox before she did something that she wouldn't regret later.

'Thor, want to lead us to the infirmary?' asked Steve.

'Of course' he took off in front of the group down the corridor.

'So Paradox' said Tony trying to break another awkward silence in the group.

'Yes?'

'What are we supposed to do now? Loki has gone all Tesseract on us!'

'Well, what do you suppose you do?'

'Well if I knew I wouldn't be asking you now would I?'

'Stark! Behave!' growled Steve.

'Yes mommy!' mimicked Tony. Steve didn't bother replying and just sighed and rolled his eyes.

'To answer your question Antony then you will do what you think is right'

'And what is that?'

'You'll just have to wait and see'

'So looking forward to it!' he said sarcastically.

'Thor' asked Steve catching up to him 'what was Loki like? At this age?'

'My brother? Well he was very bright, he still is. He always got me out of situations even at a young age. He used his brain to work out strategies instead of going in blindly like warriors usually did…like I usually did'

'So he saved your ass quite a bit then?' chimed in Tony.

'Yes. I realise now that without him I would have not survived so many quests I adventured on. It makes me see that I did take advantage of my brother's skills and that I was not the best brother that I could have been' admitted Thor. Steve put a hand on his shoulder for a reassurance.

'Its ok' he said.

'I wish to make amends with my brother but I fear that if we do not succeed then I will not be given that chance'

'We will succeed!' said Steve.

'How do you know?' asked Thor looking over to him.

'Thor, you will do anything to protect Loki. Why give up now and waste all that hard work?'

'I did not protect him well enough! I had one job! One job! And I messed it up! If I had done what I was supposed to do in the first place then we would not be in this mess!'

'Thor, you are blaming yourself for what Loki did. It's not your fault that Loki turned!'

'I took part in it though! Loki was jealous of me! He envied me for my power and respect! All he wanted to be was my equal but I treated him far from one. I think that what finally pushed him to act was when I was to become king! Then he found out about his parentage-'

'What about his parentage?' asked Clint walking next to Thor.

'I presumed you all knew that my brother was adopted'

'Loki's adopted?'

'And I thought Rogers was bad!' sighed Tony.

'Well excuse me for being mind controlled at the time!' snapped Clint.

'I thought you read the case files?' asked Steve.

'I did. It wasn't in there'

'Why would my brother being adopted be in a case file?'

'Just to make sure we don't forget' said Natasha quickly. Thor stopped then frowned at Natasha.

'I am not stupid. Why would S.H.I.E.L.D want to know about my brother's parentage?'

'S.H.I.E.L.D doesn't know anything about Loki's parentage except that he's adopted'

'Oh come off it! S.H.I.E.L.D always lies!' said Tony.

'What else do you know about my brother?' demanded Thor.

'They don't know anything! Thor I promise you! S.H.I.E.L.D only know as much as you have told them'

'I don't believe you' said Steve.

'Why are you all having a go at me? It's Fury you should be speaking with here not me!' snapped Natasha throwing her arms in the air 'All I know is what I've been told by you' she pointed to Thor 'and what S.H.I.E.L.D knows which is the same thing!'

'Of course it is!' mocked Tony.

'Shut it Stark! If you want to know anything else then I suggest you ask Fury when we deal with this mess! Now are you taking us to the infirmary or what?' she snapped, the anger showing in her eyes as she glared at them all. Thor nodded and set off down the corridor. He knew what it was like to get on the receiving end of a woman's wrath from all the years he spent with Sif.

'I knew you would come' said Frigga softly as she hugged Thor as he and others came into the infirmary.

'Loki is my brother. I swore to protect him and I shall forever do so' he smiled at her then walked over to the bed Loki was laid in. 'Where is father?' he asked Frigga as she walked to other side of the bed.

'He went to go see Heimdall about something. He said he'd only be a moment' she took hold of Loki's hand and squeezed it in her own.

'Heimdall?' a puzzled Tony said stepping forward 'isn't he that gatekeeper dude?'

'He is not a dude whatever one is. Heimdall is the gatekeeper for the Bifrost, he sees everything and he knows everything'

'He isn't Santa is he?' gasped Tony.

'Not the time Stark!' barked Steve crossing his arms.

'How is Loki?' asked Thor ignoring the bickering between Steve and Tony.

'They say he is getting worse' Frigga wiped away a tear that escaped her eye and gripped onto Loki harder.

'How?'

'They believe, as well as your father, that his magic is draining him. It gets more powerful yet Loki gets weaker'

'Wait, Loki's magic is draining him?' asked Natasha.

'Indeed' Natasha gently moved past Thor and opened one of Loki's eyelids.

'It isn't his magic that's draining him. It's the Tesseract!'

'You are both wrong! Well sort of! The Tesseract is overwhelming Loki's magic causing his body to shut down' said Tony. He put up his hands 'what? I'm only saying! And anyway Bruce would have said the exact same thing!'

'How did you even figure that out?' asked Clint.

'I think and observe! Unlike you!'

'Hey!'

'It's what horses eat yes I know!'

'You two pack it in now!' shouted Steve 'I have had it up to here with both of you!'

'NO!' screeched Loki causing everyone to jump.

'Loki, sweetheart' said Frigga sweetly squeezing his hand 'it is all right. You are going to be fine'

'What if I refuse? What if I do not want to for fill your plans?'

'Loki, please. Calm down'

'I don't think he can hear you' said Natasha.

'YOU WILL NOT USE THAT INFERNAL THING ON ME! I WILL NOT BE YOUR PUPPET WHO WILL OBEY YOU AT WILL!'

'Oh look at the time!' exclaimed Paradox, finally zoning into reality. 'We are late!'

'Late? Late for what exactly?' asked Steve. Paradox smiled which gave Steve hardly any reassurance.

'My apologies my Queen but we have to go'

'Of course' she nodded then turned to Thor 'do whatever you can to protect your brother. I know you will do us proud' Thor nodded to her and Paradox pulled out his pocket watch.

'Wait. Where are we going? What about Bruce?' asked Tony stepping toward Paradox, who just smiled at him then pressed the button.

'Why we are back where we started!' said Thor looking round the garden they had appeared in only a few hours previous.

'Are we?' asked Paradox putting his watch back in his lab coat pocket.

'We are in another time, aren't we?' sighed Steve.

'Indeed we are Captain!'

'Where's Bruce?' asked Tony.

'He is where we left him'

'You mean Bruce is back there on his own?' exclaimed Tony who received a nod from Paradox.

'You're picking us off one at a time aren't you?' said Clint crossing his arms 'leaving one of us at a certain point in time to protect Loki'

'Are you being brainwashed?' asked Tony.

'I'm not as stupid as you make me out to be Stark'

'You two silence now! I hear footsteps' whispered Natasha.

'I don't hear anything' said Tony sighing.

'That's because you're not listening' whispered Clint. Natasha looked up at Clint then nodded, then in a quick motion grabbed onto the air beside her and pushed it against a tree.

'Ow!' said a voice 'you do not have to be so hard' a green light flashed and a young boy appeared. He had raven black hair and emerald green eyes and he looked around 14.

'Don't sneak up on me then' replied Natasha.

'Apologies. Not many people come out into the gardens and I presumed it was Thor and his friends trying to scare me'

'Loki?' asked Natasha.

'How do you know my name?'

'Don't you recognise me? Well, any of us?'

'No. Should I?'

'Right, I'm confused' she let go of Loki then turned to Paradox 'how come he can't remember us?'

'He has not met you yet'

'Yes, he has' said Steve.

'This Loki hasn't' said Paradox.

'I get it' said Clint.

'Do you? Are you sure?' mocked Tony.

'You have sent us back through Loki's timeline. We are still on Loki's timeline, what happened, what we saw never happened. That was never supposed to happen so it caused another timeline-'

'A paradox' said Tony as it hit him 'Barton you're a genius!'

'Did that just happen?' asked Steve.

'You sent us back to when it started, then what, you are going to continue dropping one of us off at each paradox?' said Clint.

'I do not understand' said Thor.

'Imagine a line, and on that line are lines shooting off it. Like for an example on a branch' said Tony waving his hands about 'he's sending us to all the paradoxes. The branches that shoot off the main branch'

'Why?'

'Because they shouldn't exist. Thanos has changed the past through the Tesseract'

'Then why don't we just let him kill him if it's in a paradox?' asked Natasha.

'Because they are all linked to the main branch through the Tesseract. If he dies in the paradox back where we were then all the other paradoxes won't exist causing the universe to fall apart. That's why we need to protect him, we need to stop Thanos from killing him' said Tony.

'I'm going to die?' a shocked Loki asked.

'One day we are all going to die, get over it' said Clint.

'Do not speak to my brother in such a tone!' snapped Thor.

'Brother? Someone please tell me what is going on!' Thor walked over to him and brought him into a hug. 'Get off me!' shouted Loki pushing Thor away.

'Loki. It is me, Thor'

'You are not Thor. Thor is a bumbling idiot and he would never hug me in such a manner!'

'I am telling you the truth, brother'

'Fine then if you are telling the truth then you can answer this question' said Loki smirking and crossing his arms.

'Of course' Thor said nodding, although he was all too familiar with that smile.

'You once dressed as a woman to one of your parties, where one of your friends fell for you. Who was it and what happened?' Thor went bright red in the cheeks and a laugh escaped Tony's mouth.

'You didn't did you? Oh my god..' laughed Tony.

'No answer?' asked Loki smiling 'Guards!' In a matter of seconds around a dozen guards surrounded the garden.

'Are you hurt Prince Loki?' asked a blonde, tall guard who walked up to him.

'No, though thank-you for asking Percival'

'What is your purpose here?' he asked the others.

'We come to seek an audience with the King' said Paradox 'we seem to have got a little lost. May you take us to him?' The guard hesitated for a moment then nodded.

'Will you be joining us Prince Loki?'

'I believe my father may want a word with me about what happened'

'Of course' he bowed his head and he set off down the path they had come from.

'We don't have to meet him again do we?' moaned Tony.

'Please don't insult him this time!' sighed Steve.

'Err that was your fault as well!'

'I've got some advice for you, why don't you not speak at all!' said Natasha.

'I agree' said Clint.

'Lets just get it over with' said Steve grabbing hold of Tony's arm and setting off after the guards.

'This should be interesting' said Natasha

'You said it' said Clint and he and she followed Steve and the reluctant Tony.

'Are you coming Thor?' asked Loki.

'Indeed' he replied.

'Wait you just called him Thor' said Tony turning to Loki.

'Yes. I knew it was him from the beginning'

'How?'

'Well, to state the obvious, he is holding Mjolnir. My brother keeps bragging on about how father is going to give him it for his birthday. So being that my father and Thor are the only people to wield Mjolnir it was not that hard to figure out who he was'

'Not bad' admitted Tony.

'I did say he was clever' said Thor.

'A compliment! That's a first!' said Loki sarcastically.

'Loki!' came a shout from the palace entrance.

'Oh no' sighed Loki as a boy with blonde hair and bright blue eyes came over. A girl with jet-black hair that was scraped back into a ponytail was at his side.

'Brother, what have you done now?'

'I have not done anything! Why would you suspect I had?'

'I have not seen so many guards escorting you around' the blonde joked.

'Hey blondie, he's taking us to go see old Father Christmas' said Tony.

'How dare you speak to me in such a manner!'

'Thor! Your younger self is being annoying!' whined Tony.

'Younger self?' asked the girl.

'Yes. Hello Lady Sif' said Thor giving a bow.

'You are me?' asked the younger Thor.

'Indeed'

'Would you like us to take you to the Allfather?' asked Sif.

'It is quite all right. Loki said he would'

'Loki says many things, you of all people should know that'

'Loki is doing no harm' said Thor.

'What is wrong with you? You know what he did!'

'Yes I do but Loki is still my brother'

'He is a monster!'

'I am not!' shouted Loki.

'You are!'

'Enough!' demanded Thor 'Sif you are my friend but you cannot insult my brother in such a way without consequences!'

'It is Loki who should be punished!' said the younger Thor 'after what he did to Sif, that is unforgivable!'

'Wait a minute! Hold up here! You're his brother yet you are protecting her?' said Clint.

'She your girlfriend or sommat?' suggested Tony.

'Sif is but a close friend!' said the younger Thor.

'Loki cut off my hair!' screeched Sif.

'Did he give it a trim?' joked Tony.

'My hair used to be golden! Now it is as black as the night!'

'Oh I've heard of this story!' said Tony.

'What?' asked Clint.

'Did no one do the reading? Jeez right then. Loki as a prank cut Sif's golden hair off. Knowing that he would be punished for it he ventured out to the land of the dwarves to bargain with them to forge some artificial hair of pure gold. He didn't pay them anything so they decided to craft it out nothing, making the hair black. Seriously though was it just me and Bruce that actually read up on this stuff?'

'I thought Thor made him go?' said Natasha.

'Well there are loads of adaptions of the story. So which one is true then big guy?' asked Tony.

'Well-'

'I woke up one morning to find my hair gone! I went running to Thor who knew it was Loki because we found him in his room with sheers and a thread of golden hair. Thor forced him to repair the damage he had done so he went to go see the dwarves. He came back with black hair!' hissed Sif.

'Black hair isn't that bad' said Tony running a hand through his own hair 'and beside why don't you just dye it? Its what everybody's doing'

'I still think they should have kept his lips shut longer!' sighed Sif.

'Wait.. lips shut longer? That story isn't true is it?' a shocked Tony said.

'Of course it is true!' said the younger Thor.

'What story?' asked Steve.

'The story of when Loki got his lips sewn shut'

'What!'

'Apparently Loki made a bet with some dwarves and the winner would get the loser's head. They won and so Loki fled. But he was caught and taken to him. Loki got out of it by pointing out that even though the dwarf had a claim on Loki's head he didn't on his neck. So the dwarf knew that Loki's head was his so he decided to stop his silver tongue so.. so they sewed his lips together'

'That's horrible!' said Steve; he turned to Thor 'you let that happen?'

'Yes' admitted Thor dropping his head. 'Though that is not what happened'

'What? He didn't get his lips sewn together?' asked Natasha.

'He did, it just did not happen that way. When Loki returned with Sif's new hair she was upset that it was black so I went to go see him. I lost my temper with him and started to hit him. He eventually admitted that he did it on purpose and that he purposefully made Sif's hair black. To punish him for his crimes he had his lips sewn shut'

'And he deserved what he got!' spat Sif.

'Can you shut up?' asked Natasha 'I have it up to here with your constant whining! He cut your hair off! Get over it!'

'You cannot speak to me like that!'

'I just did!'

'I will hit you in a minute!' she warned.

'You hit me and I will break every bone in your hand' Natasha hissed back causing Sif to flinch.

'Loki was punished because he admitted to his crimes' said the younger Thor.

'Don't you think he might have said what he said to get you to stop beating the living shit out of him?' suggested Clint.

'A real warrior would never give in to torture!' said Sif.

'I am not a warrior!' shouted Loki.

'And you will never be! Magic is for maidens!' laughed Sif.

'It is not!'

'It is! That is why you loose in sparring! Even against me and I am a girl!'

'Or maybe I am being a gentleman and not wanting to hurt you but I do not see why I bother seen as if you criticise me for everything I do!'

'You a gentleman? That is a first! You are a weak, pathetic so called warrior!'

'Be quiet!'

'Why? Scared to hear the truth?'

'Lady Sif that is enough!' demanded the guard coming over to them.

'You have no place here Percival!'

'My orders are to protect the Prince. At this moment in time I can see he is very distressed and I advice you to remove yourself from his presence' snapped Percival.

'My pleasure' and with that she turned on her heels and headed in the other direction. 'Coming Thor?' she called over her shoulder.

'Yeah' he said. He gave Loki one last look then ran after her.

'What a bitch!' said Tony after they had disappeared.

'Brother, are you all right?' asked Thor walking to Loki.

'I am fine' he said waving Thor's hand away 'we are going to see father or what?'

'Of course' he smiled at him.

'Lead the way please Percival' said Loki.

'Yes, sire' he gave a bow then continued into the palace followed by the rest of them. They walked into the throne room to find it empty.

'Few he's not here! Lets leg it before he-' Tony was interrupted as a door at the other end of the room opened and Odin and Paradox entered the room. 'Wait a minute! You were there!' Tony spun around to where Paradox was but came face to face with Natasha.

'You should pay more attention Antony! I left to see the king when you were all babbling'

'And you didn't invite us!' Tony mocked turning back around to them.

'Paradox has informed me of the situation. I must thank you all for helping my son' said Odin walking up to the group. 'Thank-you Percival for protecting Loki, you are dismissed' Percival nodded then left the room closing the doors behind him.

'So who is being left behind now?' wondered Tony. Paradox smiled and took the pocket watch out of his pocket.

'You will just have to wait and see' he replied.

'It better not be me because I cannot stand that bit- that awful woman' said Tony who was receiving glares from Steve indicating behave or else!. Paradox laughed and pressed the button. A white light erupted the room and when they opened their eyes they were back where they started.

'Yes!' exclaimed Tony as he looked round the remainder the group.

Here we go! Yes I know it is rather long! That is what happens to you when your internet goes down, tumblr is not working and you are ill! Hope you liked it and if you don't understand anything then please tell me. I am considering rewriting chapter 3 because I think because I rushed it, it is not as good as it can be! Again thanks for reading and please review! :D Oh and who watched Doctor Who? I'm glad Amy has gone but not Rory! Rory is awesome! And what about Brian! He's already lost one son, he can't loose another! (Sorry Harry Potter reference there) And to make it even better! Merlin's back people! Yeah! They better find out Merlin has magic or I am going to scream! See you next time! Charlotte out! :D