Tony looked at his friends in the kitchen: Steve shocked at his revelation but looking perfect as ever; a more disheveled Bruce who didn't all that surprised, Thor every bit as imposing as ever.. and Loki. Looking like – well, like what he was a victim of torture. Pale, bruised, cut up, and exhaustion and pain in his eyes.
"I'm not saying it had to be Clint, I'm saying we shouldn't dismiss the idea completely because he's our friend. He's also a top-class assassin, you know?"
Steve frowned.
"But why us? Loki, I understand, more or less, but Bruce and me – he's got nothing against us. Why would he take us prisoner, try to starve us?"
Tony shook his head. That wasn't like that, not as easy.
"He's top SHIELD he's got access to every file that exist about you two, of course he knows you wouldn't starve that easy. He was playing to be bad, while not having to lay a hand on his friends at all."
Bruce looked at Tony. Truth was, the thought had crossed his mind when he'd seen the toxic hate that the Mask had for Loki.
"And I'm guessing you have a theory of why he took us, too?"
Tony had one, indeed.
"I do. Think about it, if Loki was killed on earth after being tortured for months, first thought anyone would have was that this was personal. Because it feels personal, doesn't it? The abuse, the humiliation, how he kept at it for weeks… there is motivation there further than duty or morals. That's revenge. Which would lead everyone to Clint, among others. Now, I'm guessing nobody would mind it much here if Loki died –no offense, pal- but Big and Thunderous would probably be slightly unhappy if he found the body of his baby brother with signs of being tortured for months."
"I would not have had any rest until I had shown the perpetrator the full extent of my wrath." Thor boomed form his chair. Loki shook his head, sad. It wasn't true. Thor didn't care for him anymore, nobody did. This was all a show. It had to be.
The thunderer's statement fueled Tony's speech further.
"Now, a regular psycho would have seen Thor and Loki fight, and wouldn't have thought there would be any problem. But Clint knows us, and knows he doesn't want to experience Thor's wrath. So what does he do? He takes two people Thor trusts to witness that it is not him who does these terrible deeds, but some other guy with a mask. A story of a man with a crusade against monsters, of lost research, of heroes and swords. So, when Loki is dead Thor will direct his wrath against this Mask, not him."
Tony didn't want to seem hateful towards Barton, but it all made sense. Something had been weird since the beginning in this whole story, and this explained all.
"Have you never wondered why the Mask was so sadistic with Loki but never even touched you guys? Even after you sided with him, even after you almost escaped. It was because this was not about you, it was about him. Another example, why were they letting Steve go in that escape attempt? Because he had seen, heard the story, they didn't need him anymore."
Steve knew this made sense.
"They only sent someone to stop me when I was trying to free them… Bruce and Loki."
"Exactly. And they would've let us go, yesterday, just the same. We got some Agents at the starts, yeah, because Thor was there and they probably thought he was coming for his brother. Think about it – Clint has said more than once that if he ever crossed paths with Loki he wouldn't be as merciful as last time. So, he takes him to this place he has, with some friends, builds himself a nice strong alibi. It wasn't me, it was this Mask guy! Maybe you don't believe me, but surely you'll believe the word of Captain America. So like that, he takes Loki, plays with him for as long as he wants, kills him but doesn't have to face the consequences."
Thor looked at Loki. His brother looked like a terminally ill man, but refused to show weakness. He kept his back uptight, his head held high. Thor was glad to see that prison hadn't broken him, like it did with so many others.
"What do you say, brother?"
Loki rolled his eyes upon hearing the brother bit but answered anyway.
"I do not think it was Barton…Your theory is sound, Stark, but…. I cannot explain it, but I don't think it was him."
Tony, as usual, had a theory.
"Maybe because he used to be your minion and you don't want to think he would hate you that much?" He suggested. Barton had been Loki's right hand man on the invasion, to have him who so close torture you, had to hurt. Both ways. Physically and otherwise.
"That is a possibility, yes."
"Which would mean one of our team-mates is a sadistic torturer."
"God, Stark, I really hope you're wrong." Steve said. This whole situation made him incredibly uncomfortable.
"What do we do, then?" Bruce asked, finishing his drink.
"I've already wiped the internet and his colleagues will probably be loyal to him, keep the Mask story. I say we go to his place and look for anything that connects him with this. If we find nothing, we breathe again and keep searching; if we find something, we breathe again because a psycho is no longer in our team. That sounds good?" The people nodded. "Ok, next order of business… What we gonna do about Bruises here? I know you guys made friends with him, but he is technically a criminal…"
It was Steve who spoke this time, even if Bruce seemed to ready to do it too.
"He's served for what he did, on Asgard and here. I don't say we let him go free and absolve him of everything… I say we give him a couple of weeks. Parole, if you will. We watch he doesn't do anything illegal and but no more prison. Just the thought of prison…" Steve shuddered. It had been rough days, memories that would not be erased.
Thor smiled a bit. It was nice seeing his friends and his brother on the same side, for once. It was nice seeing them defend each other. A new team, with Loki in it. It didn't sound too bad.
Loki, of course, didn't believe those guys really liked him. Maybe they pitied him a bit because they'd with him in that hell and they knew how horrible it was, but nothing else. When the bruises faded, their mercy and fondness would probably fade too. But it was no problem. He would be strong enough to use his magic then. No longer at the mercy of anyone. He would go along for a bit, he was curious as to who had imprisoned them, and these men seemed to have good plans.
He really hoped it was not Barton.
Some hours later they prepared everything and left to find some reason.
Clint's place was small and didn't have too much furniture. It was on the top floor of a very high building, as was expected. There were no lights on, but that didn't mean anything: Barton liked the heights and shadows, he probably wasn't a guy who ate pizza in front of the TV while laughing at America's funniest videos. He was darker than that. When the four Avengers and Loki arrived at the place, there weren't any signs of life in the apartment.
They divided the team to cover more ground: Steve went to the study, Tony to the kitchen, Bruce to the living room, Thor to the balcony (of course the place had a balcony) and Loki went to the bedroom. They started looking everywhere for something that would connect him to the Mask. It felt a bit wrong, raiding a friend's place like that, but they told themselves it was just to clean his name.
Everything was dark, everything was clean.
Steve hadn't found anything and was glad. He would much rather if their captor had been some unknown madman and not a soldier (Agent, but wasn't it more or less the same?) he respected. But then he saw a blanket on a chair and took it – and there it was, on the chair, perfectly centered. The Mask. The leather mask the man had been wearing. Shit.
Loki was walking through the darkness when suddenly someone pinned him to a wall and put something in his neck. An arrow. Loki's green eyes met Barton's blue.
"Loki. I've been waiting for this for years." He said, as he let the tip of the arrow cut Loki's fair skin a bit. The god, instead of looking scared looked just confused.
"Years?"
There was a noise, and suddenly the rest of the team on the door. Tony with a gun, Thor with his hammer, Steve with his shield and Bruce clearly on the verge of green-ness.
"Let him go, you psychopath!" Tony said, dead serious.
And in that moment Clint's expression mirrored Loki's one of confusion. What the hell was this all about? Why on earth would his team call him a psychopath? And why did they all seem so angry with him? They invaded his house, invited his tormentor and then insulted him, really?
"Psychopath? What the hell, guys?"
A/N: I know is super-short but it had been a while since I updated this and I wanted to give you guys something to go on. Things get complicated, don't they? Is Clint really guilty? If he isn't, why was the Mask there? Or is he playing the role of clueless? And what is Loki planning on doing after the parole? Sorry for any mistakes!
Anyways, hope you liked it, and do review!
