HFTS: I'm really sorry about how long it's been since I last updated this, but things are getting messy in the general area of my life. I won't bore you with the details, but I'll give you the one pertinent to this situation: shitty, shitty ethernet cables that still haven't been fixed. So I'm sorry, but it is 90% not my fault. Anyway, this is a small chapter because there were two things I wanted to deal with. I'm sorry if this is really talk-y, but action is not my strong suit.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers, or any related franchise.

Loki cried when he saw Fenrir – saw the barely healed gouges and the missing fur and the way his ribs were pressing against his skin. He held him as best he could and cried and apologised until his shoulders heaved and his voice cracked. Fenrir had rebuffed him at first, curling up in a corner and growling. But when Clint led Loki over and carefully explained what had happened, Fenrir had grudgingly allowed Loki to touch him. After the first few tear-filled words, Fenrir had crumbled and curled around Loki, whimpering. Now the two were silent, lying together on the floor of Thor's gym without a care.

While the quest party had headed for a shower, Thor had taken it upon himself to feed Fenrir every scrap of meat in the tower. "Here, nephew. Eat this while Banner checks over your wounds," he told the wolf, offering a link of sausages. "He is a capable healer and a friend. You can trust him."

Bruce nodded helpfully, his arms loose at his sides. Fenrir sniffed him once and sneezed, then turned to lick his father, who had fallen asleep beside him. Bruce took that as a good sign. He made notes as he worked, stopping to frown at a gouge that hadn't quite healed. "What did this?" he asked.

"I don't know what it was, but it was disgusting," Natasha informed him. She raised an eyebrow when he jumped, withholding a smile. "Think of an A-grade horror movie written by Scandinavian, drug-addicted, nightmare fetishists with more money and special effects than sense."

"Surprisingly specific," Bruce murmured. "Thor? Do you have any of those healing stones?"

Thor nodded, giving control of the barbeque he'd commandeered to Coulson. "Yes. I shall fetch them at once." He nodded once to Bruce, striding out the door. Inside his apartment, he leant back against the solid wood of the door and counted back from ten. When the rage subsided, he was left with only the heavy stone of despair resting in his gut. He could remember, all those years ago, when Fenrir had been dragged out of Asgard like common vermin. Fenrir's howls still haunted him. If there were any justice in life, Odin would hear it until the end of his days. But the knowledge of what had happened to his nephew, and the thought that he could have done something to prevent it, stabbed at him. He tried to force it down, clenching his hands against his sides and biting down on his tongue; he didn't realise he was crying until an ugly sound spewed from his lips.

"Thor?" Jarvis said gently. "Do you need me to summon someone?"

Thor shook his head and pawed at his cheeks, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his palms. "No, I- I am fine. I just- I need to- the healing crystals, where have I left them?"

"They are on the top shelf of the cupboard on the left of your bed. Will there be anything else?"

"No, thank you. And… thank you for worrying, Jarvis. Your concern is touching." Thor pushed up from the door and headed for his bedroom, stopping only to splash some cold water on his face. He handed the stones to Bruce with a friendly smile and headed down to Tony's workshop.

Tony looked up from the hologram he was manipulating. It looked to be a scale model of a giant serpent. "Oh, hey big guy, what's- Oh god please don't cry. Oh shit, um, Dummy? Cloth, handkerchief, something! No not that that has oil on it. No that's my shirt. No- Okay, fine. Fine." Tony gave up with a shake of his head.

Thor accepted the black fabric with a small smile. He was always amused by the antics of Tony's metal beings, even now. But his lips still quivered and his hands shook as he tightened his grip. He pressed his face to the cloth and wiped away the tears, grateful for somewhere to hide his face. "Thank you, Tony. I apologise for my lapse in control."

Tony waved the apology away. "Nah, it's cool. I understand. This whole thing is just… yeah. But we're gonna make it better. Somehow."

"Your optimism is admirable," Thor said, moving to Tony's side. He stared at the hologram. It wasn't exact, but it was a very good likeness. "Is that…?"

"Jor? Yeah. While the others were on their amazing adventure me and Bruce started scanning the seas. Well, actually we got in contact with this guy named Namor and asked him to ask around about large sea serpents of unknown origin. He told us that there was something in the Arctic Circle that only Orcas were dumb enough to pick a fight with. There was a lot of technology and coffee involved after that so my memory gets a little hazy. But we found him. He's made himself some sort of den under the ice; he spends most of his time sleeping or eating," Tony explained. He brought up more images, including a picture of Jormungandr in his watery lair.

"Cameras can survive under water?" Thor asked, momentarily distracted.

"Only certain kinds. This one was specially made solely for this purpose. We only got the one shot because apparently no one taught Jor that it isn't nice to break other people's toys." Tony pushed the pictures off to the side and pulled a short video into view. "I've run a few simulations on what a direct approach could do and-"

The digital submarine was crushed as digital-Jormungandr wrapped his body around it.

"I see. What if we were to let Loki approach him alone?"

Tony shook his head. "I don't know. I mean, Jor might not recognise him. Or he might blame Loki for the whole 'thrown-off-Asgard-onto-an-unknown-planet' thing and kill him immediately. I thought we could lure him out and then trap him but… Well, a) I don't know if I could build a net to hold him; b) I feel that netting a child – no matter how big and scaly he is – will land me in eternal damnation; and c) I do not want Loki to punch me in the face for treating his kid like the catch of the day."

"Yes, I suppose Loki would not appreciate that, no matter how well meant," Thor agreed. "Perhaps I could wrestle him?"

"…We'll leave that as plan B. Do you think we should ask Loki for his opinion? Maybe he knows a way to get in touch with his son that won't end in bodily harm?"

"A fair point. Although… I worry that we are getting his hopes up," Thor admitted. "There are so many things that could go wrong. And there is always a chance that Odin could intervene."

"I'm entirely willing to fight the king of the Norse gods about this. Which is surprising because I don't really like children."

Thor laughed, loud and booming, and patted Tony's shoulder. "I would be happy to face such a battle at your side, my friend. Although I could not guarantee us victory."

"I'm okay with that," Tony said, and strangely enough he meant it. He packed away the holograms, leaving only the picture of Jor. "J? Send that picture to Loki in a few minutes, preferably when he isn't too busy with Fenrir and Sleipnir. Tell me when he gets it so I can come up and explain it all for him, 'kay?"

"Certainly, sir," Jarvis replied, and the picture disappeared with a 'ping' sound that was more for show than anything else.

Tony frowned, bringing up more plans and holograms. "On to the next problem: where to keep the giant sea serpent until we can break the curse?" He wasn't asking anyone but himself, and turned his back on Thor. "If I appropriate a couple floors of the tower… Maybe I could give those aquarium guys a call? Who knows, it could be fun."

Thor said goodnight and headed back to his gym.

Loki was not a man who startled easily. But when Clint had appeared in his doorway with a quiet, "Hey," his heart had nearly shot out of his throat. The archer took no notice as he coughed, moving to sit in the armchair in the corner. "Barton," Loki managed eventually, "what brings you here?"

Clint shrugged. "I don't know."

"What do you mean? Why would you-"

"I just… wanted to see how you were doing, I s'pose."

"Why?" Loki's eyes narrowed. He and Clint were still on shaky ground. The man avoided being alone with him. Not that Loki blamed him. Even so, they were polite, civil, maybe even nice, to one another. But they were not close. They would never be friends – not properly – and especially not the kind that dropped in unannounced of their own free will.

Clint wasn't looking at him, too busy frowning at a book on the dresser. When Loki cleared his throat, he looked up but still didn't meet Loki's eyes. "Look, I just- You're going through a lot of shit right now and- and I wanted to know how you're doing. I- When we- I saw all- Just never mind."

Loki waited for him to leave but he didn't. He knew what he was saying – had tried to say – and he didn't want to talk about it. Not even his therapist had gotten that much out of him. "Barton, we don't have to-"

"Yeah, we do. Because I don't know about you, but I really need to talk about it. To someone. And Selvig kind of checked himself into a mental hospital. So you're the only one I can talk to," Clint said. He sounded… defeated. "I don't want to. But I need to. If I don't… I don't know. You need to talk about it too. You need to talk about a lot of things."

"I have Dr Leiland for that," Loki pointed out.

Clint snorted, his whole body jerking. "Uh huh. I had a therapist. Doesn't mean I told them everything."

Loki sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Fine. You start."

Clint fidgeted. "I- I remember things. About the brain washing thing," he said, sounding so blasé that it might not have mattered. "Sometimes when I'm sleeping, I wake up and forget it's over. I get up and suddenly the world comes crashing in. And I feel- happy but disappointed."

Loki nodded, taking a deep breath. "It was… In a way it felt liberating. It felt as though everything was as it should be. I knew what to do, I knew it in a way I never had before. As much as I fought it, reviled it, part of me wanted to accept it."

"I know," Clint murmured. "I saw."

Loki flinched. He shifted uncomfortably, pulling his feet up onto the bed. "How much did you see?"

"Enough. It was more like I felt it, rather than saw it. Sadness and anger and then sadness again. Shock, betrayal, despair. But there were sometimes images – faces I didn't know. I heard things. But it's only recently that I've figured out what the fuck it all was. At the time, it was just… this massive swirl of information. Like someone had downloaded a bunch of things into my brain, but they were all in binary.

"I didn't… I didn't think I'd ever actually have to- to deal with you again, so I just sort of shoved it all into the back of my mind and… ignored it. But I saw so much. I saw and felt everything. All at once, in the space of a few seconds. Did you- Did you know it would show me all of that?" Clint looked at him now, searching Loki's face for the answer.

"I didn't. My own experience was much different to yours. It was more drawn out. A simple knock to the head wouldn't have cleared it up for long. And it didn't just take control of me. Over time, if you are under its control long enough, it corrupts you. It brings you back to the worst person you ever were, ever would be, and sets you free. There is no ethic or moral too sacred. There is no oath you will not break, no love you won't betray – except for the love of it. You will be so loyal, so grateful, that for as long as it controls you, as long as its wielder has use of you, you will do anything it wishes."

"Selvig… He said it showed him truth?"

"Of a kind. Truth and fact are two very different creatures. Truth depends on what is real, and what is real is dependent on the individual who perceives it. Why are my illusions not real, if they can be perceived by every sense except touch? I could never tell you what Erik was shown. That is something he alone knows. I know what it showed me. You know what it showed you. Whether it is your truth depends on you," Loki said.

"Thank you," Clint replied. Loki inclined his head and got to his feet. He gestured for Clint to follow him."

"Fenrir likes you," he said.

Clint chuckled. "I give awesome belly rubs," he said with no trace of humility.

"How about a game of catch? My son versus you and your aim?"

"Bring it on."