It was finally the day, they were going to break out today. Tony knew the plan by heart and was not about to let it fail.
"Are you ready?" Loki's voice made him jump. He turned to find the Trickster standing by the cell door, staring at him intently.
Tony got up to stand by him. "Ready as I'll ever be."
Loki nodded, a glint of wicked glee in his eyes. He turned to the door, placing a hand on its smooth surface. Tony watched as he mouthed words in an alien language.
Silently as could be, the door slid open.
Loki rushed out, killing the two guards with blasts of energy. Tony followed quickly behind him. They ran at quick pace through the maze of floating rocks until they reached a ship of metal. "Quickly, Stark, quickly." Loki pressed his hand against the door, opening it like the other one. They slipped inside. "We will look for your suit and my armor for as long as we can."
They snuck through the winding corridors, at every corner Loki would create a crystal of ice on the wall, marking where they had been. Every door they opened revealed nothing.
"Stark, we must go, they will know that their prisoners have escaped by now." Loki hissed in his ear after many fruitless rooms of searching.
"Just one more room." Tony hefted one last door open. When he looked inside he saw what he had been hoping for, sort of. "My suit, what the hell did those bastards to do my suit?" His suit lay in pieces on the floor.
"Is my armor in there? Ah, yes, good." Loki slipped by Tony, going over to examine his armor, which was piled on the ground in a heap.
"I can't believe it, those bastards…"
"Wonderful, now we need to go." Tony turned to see Loki strapping on the last pieces of his armor. He almost looked like his old, menacing, self again.
"It seems they took my daggers, unfortunate, but I will manage."
Tony took one last look at the scraps of metal on the floor, he hesitated, then grabbed what used to be part of his right hand repulsor. It flickered weakly as he fiddled with its wires. The two of them moved quickly through the silent corridors.
"I'm going to kill them, they completely destroyed my suit."
"No, Stark, you do not get that pleasure. I will be the one to kill him, and therefore, them." Loki's voice was cold and vicious.
"Fine, as long as they pay."
They wandered around the winding corridors for a few more minutes. "Ummm, are we lost?"
"Of course not! Merely…unsure of where to go." Loki snapped back at him. It had been too quiet so far. They had expected to fight their way towards the leader. Loki's hand flew up, knocking Tony back. He pushed them behind a corner.
"Wha-?"
"Shush, listen."
Then Tony heard a shuffling sound from somewhere nearby.
"The beings have escaped. The beings shall regret it when they are caught."
Tony glanced at Loki, who was unmoving. They stayed in that position until the sounds of the alien faded away. "Why the hell was it speaking English?"
"Perhaps it knows that we might be nearby and that was for our benefit." Loki glanced back at him, his green eyes were sharp.
"Are we changing the plan, then?"
"No, of course not. In fact, that helped us quite a lot. We now know where to go."
Once more they hurried through the corridors, this time though, Loki seemed to know where they were heading. They stopped outside a large door. Loki made a shushing motion and cocked his head to hear what was going on inside. After a few minutes he turned back to Tony. "There are only three aliens in the room. Two are very close to the door, likely guards. I am not sure how far away the other one is." Loki whispered the information quickly to Tony.
"So what now?"
"As soon as I open the door I will take out the two guards. You stay back, only enter once I have done so. Then I will take care of the leader."
"Alright, let's go."
Loki nodded, then placed his hand flat against the door. Tony watched as it slid open.
With a flash of green light Loki killed the two guards. Tony rushed in quickly as Loki leapt toward the lead alien. The room they were in was large, with some sort of control panel in the back. Tony bent down and picked up one of the slain alien's spears. He looked up and saw Loki holding the lead alien up against the wall. He rushed forward. "Pathetic creature, do you have any idea what doom you have placed upon yourself and you entire race?!" Loki spat at the alien, a look of terrifying fury twisting his face.
The alien struggled to break his grip. "The first holds no fear over Tialeor."
"Oh, no fear, yes for a monster like you, why should you fear me?"
Loki let out a cruel laugh. Tony could hear the madness in it. This was a side of Loki he hadn't seen in awhile. And a sudden chill went down his spine. In the mess he'd all but forgotten why Loki was their enemy in the first place.
"A monster, a monster, that is what you should fear. Would you like to see something, oh pathetic creature?" Loki summoned a dagger of ice in his free hand. He brought it up, as if to stab the alien. But then plunged it into his own arm. Loki's face contorted into a twisted visage of pain and hatred. When Tony looked down at Loki's arm he gasped. Where the ice was lodged in Loki's flesh blue had started to appear. Tony watched as it raced up Loki's body, creating ridges on his flesh, turning his nails black, and his eyes red.
"Now, let us talk, monster to monster, eh? Who is a better monster? I, who was born in the land of monsters, I, a killer, who has attempted mass genocide and the enslavement of a realm, or you. Speak pathetic excuse for a life, you have not much longer! Your skin may be thicker than most but the cold will kill you soon!"Loki threw back his head and let out a manic laugh. He was no doubt the same Loki that had fought Tony countless times before. Then Loki drew the alien closer to him, so he was right in its face. "I will be the last thing you ever see, monst-"
The alien made a swift motion and the words died in Loki's mouth. He dropped the now dead body of the alien and doubled over. Tony glanced at the alien, then noticed what it was holding in its hand.
A long bladed dagger, coated in thick, black, blood.
Tony connected the dots and rushed over to Loki, dropping the spear. Despite what his brain told him he feared for Loki's life.
"Wait…do not touch…me…I will…hurt…you!" Loki shied away from Tony, coughing up more globules of black blood.
"Then changed back, dammit, change back!"
"Not enough…energy…blade…poisoned with some kind of toxin…lung punctured…"
Loki pulled himself to his feet, everything underneath his hands freezing as he touched it. His red eyes were panicked when they met Tony's. He stumbled toward the panel of controls.
"Already…cali…brated…to Midgard…"
He doubled over again, struggling to breath, splattering the walls with blood.
"Great, quickly, what do we have to do to get it working?!" Tony felt himself panicking, more than ever he felt useless and he hated himself for it. Again, he thought of Afghanistan; he'd failed a friend there. He couldn't let that happen again.
Loki tried to rise to his feet, but couldn't and fell to all fours again. He pointed to a small, oval, button on the panel.
"Press…it…takes all…life in…room…"
Tony leapt over Loki's crumpled, blue, figure and slammed his fist on the button.
The air started to crackle and Tony's ears popped, he gritted his teeth. Then with a sound of hissing air and a flash of silver light, he stood in Central Park. Hundreds of people surrounded him, helicopters and jets were in the air.
"Wait, no!" He heard a familiar voice shout. Five figures detached themselves from the front of the group and ran towards him. Realizing he was not about to be shot he kneeled down to Loki, who was lying on the ground in a fetal position. Tony could see the ground freezing underneath him and a puddle of blood forming from his chest.
"Loki, dammit, don't die on me. You've helped me too much, dammit, you can't die on me!"
Then the five Avengers reached them. They stopped, gaping at the scene, of Loki's blue, dying, body, of Tony, thin and scraggly. Thor was the first to take action. "My brother must be healed quickly." He reached for Loki.
"Wait, Loki said that touching him hurts you!" Tony looked frantically at Thor. The god put a hand on Tony's shoulder for a moment, then picked up Loki, carefully not touching his skin. "I shall take him to your healers. They may not be of much help but they are all we have." Thor spun his hammer and flew off. Tony stood there, surrounded by the others.
"I'm home." Then he fainted.
00000
It had been a week and a half since the day Tony had returned to Earth and he was finally being released from S.H.I.E.L.D.'s care. He had been given little information, he only knew that Loki was alive and being held under custody. His conditions for letting himself be cared for by S.H.I.E.L.D. were that they also took care of Loki.
As soon as Tony was released he went to Steve. "Where is he?"
"Tony, you really should go home-"
"No, Steve, he saved my life. I'm not leaving until I thank him."
Steve had sighed but hadn't argued further on the matter; Taking Tony to where Loki was being held.
It was a small, heavily monitored room. Inside sat Loki, returned to his normal color, strapped to a bed, with Thor sitting across from him. From the look on his face Tony could tell Loki was not pleased.
Tony turned to one of the guards. "Let me in, now."
"I'm not-"
Steve stepped in. "Let him in."
The guard stared at them, then flashed a key card, allowing Tony entrance.
When he entered Loki looked up, his scowl faded to a blank expression as he watched Tony approach. "Hello, Stark."
"You know you can stop calling me by my last name." Tony felt an immense amount of relief and smiled.
"Why stop now?"
"You've called me Tony before, on accident, once."
"Oh." Tony could tell that Loki was deliberately not meeting his eyes.
"So you didn't die, that's good."
"Yes, surprisingly they were able to keep me alive. Apparently Thor did not leave my side the entire time." Loki shot a halfhearted glare to his brother, who watched them silently. Loki shifted uncomfortably.
Crossing his arms, Tony stared him down. "So I assume you didn't completely fill me in for our plan. Was that all planned?"
"Being stabbed…no…the rest, yes. And yes, I didn't tell you the entire plan but does that really surprise you? Is there anything else you want, St-…Tony?"
"Just want to say thank you, and wondering if you still want to take me up on my offer."
"Your-oh." Loki flashed him a grin. "I would, but at the moment I seemed to be strapped to a bed."
"I'll see what I can do." Tony returned the grin, then turned around and started to walk out, he heard Thor get up to follow him.
"I will return soon, brother."
"Joy." Loki's sarcastic reply was the last thing Tony heard before he left the room.
Tony walked down the hallway with Thor and Steve.
"What was your offer, Tony?" Steve looked at him suspiciously out of the corner of his eye.
"To let him stay with us while he recovers."
Steve spun him around and stared at him. "Tell me you're joking."
"I'm not." Tony kept his voice steady, unwilling to waver.
"Why would you let him stay with us?!"
"Because, Steve, he saved my life. And maybe I think he can change!"
"So you think that he is just going to go along with us and become a good guy?"
"I'm saying that he's on the line between good and bad! Maybe we give him a push in the right direction and he's one of us!" Tony lowered his voice, frustrated.
Steve snorted sarcastically. "Good luck convincing Fury on that one."
"I don't need luck because you're going to help me."
"What, no, I-"
"Tony may be right. My brother was not as angry as he normally has been. He tolerated my presence and hasn't tried to escape yet." Thor spoke up, there was a small smile on his face.
"Thor!" Steve sighed with exasperation.
"See!" Tony grinned at Thor briefly. "Look, Steve, would you rather have Loki as our enemy or our ally?"
Steve sighed, glaring at Tony and Thor. "Fine, but I don't like it. Let's go talk to Fury."
After a long heated discussion, Fury finally caved. "Listen to me, Stark, one wrong move on his part and we lock him right back up, no second chances."
Tony grinned triumphantly. "Deal, I'll go get him."
"I shall come and aid you." Thor followed him out the door, smile wide.
Steve and Fury watched the two men leave. Steve turned to Fury. "This isn't going to work."
"Of course not. Keep an eye on him at all times, we aren't letting him get the better of us."
"Yes sir."
00000
Three days had passed since Loki had been moved in with the rest of the Avengers. He had been mostly confined to his room, as his energy was still low, but every so often he would come down to the main room and sit down. This always startled the majority of the Avengers, only Tony and Thor didn't mind Loki's presence. The distrustful glares directed his way only seemed to amuse the god.
Sometimes when Steve was walking past Loki's room he would hear Loki and Tony talking. Whenever Steve asked Tony about it he would simply reply. "Therapy."
Steve couldn't tell his he was kidding or not.
That evening Natasha, Steve, and Bruce sat alone in the main room.
"How long do we have to deal with this?" Natasha grumbled darkly.
Bruce sighed. "I have-"
"A-hem." The three of them looked up quickly. Loki was leaning against the doorway. He strode over to the fridge, opening it and looking inside with a critical eye. ""This" has a name you know, and it is not nice to talk behind people's backs." Loki stood up, holding a can of soda. "Tony has told me about 'soda', I am going to try it."
They stared at him as he popped open the can and took a tentative sip.
"Bah! It fizzes on the tongue! Fascinating." Loki flashed them a grin and walked out of the room.
Natasha turned back to Steve. "If I have to deal with him being annoying and have to wait for him to inevitably betray us I'm going to punch somebody, preferably him."
Loki stood just outside of sight, listening to their conversation and sipping his drink. Then he walked back to his temporary room. He looked out over the city, this really was a good view. "Perhaps I shall stick around, for a time."
AN: I got distracted from the fic I am writing and decided to fix this one to make it more coherent. Not sure how replacing chapters effects the stats on this thing. May or may not put this version up on Ao3 as well (or however the acronym for that goes)
