Loki, when he came to consciousness, did not open his eyes at first. Rather, he became aware of other senses first.

Feeling first. His headache was gone, but in other ways the situation had barely changed. He was still lying on the same bed, in the same restraints. Even the gag still chafed at his jaw. Someone had put a blanket over him while he was out, though, and it was warm and soft. He wasn't sure whether he should take such a concession as a kindness or an indignity—as if he needed to be tucked in like a child.

The next senses to arrive were taste and smell, simultaneously. The gag in his mouth, despite the padding, still tasted metallic, making him think with a shudder of blood. He had experienced the taste of his own blood often enough in Thanos' tender care. Aside from the gag, he could smell the room now that he was not distracted by his headache, and it had a vaguely sanitized scent to it. Perhaps he was in the infirmary wing of SHIELD headquarters rather than the prison.

It wasn't exactly that hearing arrived after those senses, but rather he was paying little attention to it until he gradually became aware of a gentle noise filling the room.

Someone was snoring. It was not Thor, who when he snored was utterly raucous, at least twice as loud as this. Nor, oddly enough, was it Clint, who had never snored once during his service to Loki (although Loki supposed it was possible the power of the staff had changed his habits, as in some ways it had changed even Loki's). And Loki couldn't think of anyone else who would be sleeping in his room, willing to make themselves so vulnerable in his presence. He would have frowned if his mouth were not so restrained by the gag.

As his sight returned, he opened his eyes to see who would dare to sleep in the presence of a trickster god. He was less than surprised to see it was Stark, sitting on the chair at the other side of the room. Not that Stark had any reason to be here, but every time Loki saw him he seemed to be doing something brash but foolish. Probably he thought it was safe enough in the room because Loki was well restrained.

Loki rolled his eyes.

Really?

Well, it was a better way to keep him captive than a glass jar like his last prison, and the gag was indeed quite effective. Most spells did require a spoken component. But on Asgard they would never have assumed a sorcerer could be held by merely physical restraints. Unless you added some magic to the chains, there was always something.

And they had his arms, his legs, his mouth immobile, but for some reason (were they all idiots?) they hadn't bothered with his fingers.

Quietly, though he doubted any sound he was even capable of making in his current state would wake Stark up when he was that fast asleep, he traced simple runes onto the mattress with his left index finger, then repeated them with the right. And then he let out a puff of breath and closed his eyes.

He opened his eyes, and he was standing on the other side of the room, unfettered and wearing a Midgardian tuxedo, impeccably fashionable. Well, he wasn't actually there. His physical body was still lying on the bed, muscles gone slack. But psychic projections were one of the simplest things to conjure, and when you didn't have to inhabit both the projection and your body at once you could make the projection as realistic as you wanted, giving it sound and touch and sense in addition to mere illusory vision.

He tapped Stark's shoulder politely. The man's head lolled to the side and he muttered something unintelligible. Sighing, Loki bent down and whispered in his ear, "Sleeping well, Stark?"

Stark sputtered and bolted upright, his eyes suddenly wide. He yelped, "Loki!"

Loki laughed. Standing directly in front of Stark so as to block his view of Loki's restrained body, he said, "Tell me, where has Xavier gone? I would fain see him in the flesh."

"Green eyes," Stark said slowly, regaining his breath. "You aren't all psycho anymore?"

"If by psycho you mean controlled by Thanos," Loki said. "Then no, the staff has no power over me any longer." Although Loki would still be glad if he never saw the thing again. "But I think some in my acquaintance would argue I'm just as dangerous no matter who's got the reins in my head."

"But you don't want to conquer the world anymore," Stark said. "Or, you know. Kill me."

"Not particularly."

"Well. Great," Stark said.

Loki smiled drily. He noticed that Stark still hadn't really relaxed. Perhaps there was hope for him after all. "Where is Xavier?"

"Gone home," Stark said. "But he'll be back in a couple days. If you want to see him. In the meantime, I think there are at least a dozen SHIELD minions who want a look at you, now that you're up."

"Pity," Loki said. "I have no interest in them." He leaned closer. "You must take me to Barton."

Stark narrowed his eyes. "Yeah, no way. I don't care if you're not all blue eyed and psycho anymore, you aren't getting anywhere near the guy you just brainwashed."

"You will take me to him. I must speak to him."

"Sorry, Reindeer Games. No can do."

Loki sighed and walked away from Stark. The door to the room was locked, but that wouldn't stop a psychic projection. He walked through the wall, ignoring Stark calling him back.

He did not project his image to the others in the hall as he walked past but simply wandered around the helicarrier as an invisible spirit of sorts. It took him half a forever to find Clint's room, and when he did find him, Clint was not alone.

No, he was sitting with the Black Widow. The two seemed to be conversing about trivial matters, almost laughing but not quite, in the way spies do when they're still on duty and need to keep their composure.

He hesitated. As merciful as he'd been to the Widow in their last encounter, she wouldn't take his offenses lightly. He'd taken Clint from her. Twice. Logically, she no doubt knew he had been mind controlled. Even Stark had said she had agreed that his state was compromised. But one could hold a grudge without logic or reason, even when logic and reason pointed in the opposite direction. If nothing else, she could resent Loki's weakness, hate him for allowing Thanos to enslave him, hate him for allowing himself to hurt the hawk like that, to hurt her. Or perhaps hate him for tales she had heard from Thor. There were logical reasons to hate Loki too.

But he would have to face her sooner or later, and he had to see Clint now.

With a sigh, he allowed an image of himself to manifest, leaning against the wall a couple feet away from the happy couple. The image smirked. It was easy to do that when you were merely an illusion.

The hawk and the Widow noticed him almost immediately, both of them starting out of their seats and falling into defensive positions. Clint perhaps moved a bit more hesitantly, and Romanoff shoved him behind her. She hissed, "Loki."

Loki nodded. "Evening."

"It's morning, actually," Clint said, quirking an eyebrow. "In case you run into anyone else."

Loki shrugged. "We're in the middle of a helicarrier. It becomes difficult to tell the difference."

Natasha, meanwhile, was slowly backing away, pushing Clint with her. One hand at her hip was poised to go for a concealed knife that was not concealed so well as to escape Loki's notice.

"So," Clint said. "Are you going to explain what you're doing up and about? I'm pretty sure you're supposed to be in bed. Like, restrained in bed. Even if you were mind controlled, we can't really trust you trailing around the ship you…know…" His eyes widened. "Wait. You aren't still mind controlled, are you?"

"Now he gets it," Natasha muttered.

"I assure you I am clear minded this morning," Loki said.

"Yeah, well," Clint said. "We've proved to have different definitions of clarity. Stay back."

"Come now. Remember my eyes?" Loki pointed to his eyes. "Green. I haven't an ounce of that wretch Thanos left in me." And good riddance.

"I know you can use illusions," Clint said. Which was a point Loki really couldn't argue with considering he was, actually, manifesting as an illusion right now.

He sighed. "Hawk, I only wish to speak to you."

He took a step closer, and Natasha gave in to the temptation and let fly the knife she had been reaching for. It would have hit Loki directly in the chest, buried itself to the hilt, if he had been anything more than an image. Though to be fair he probably would have dodged better.

Natasha seemed to take this as a challenge and immediately drew another knife and doubtless would have thrown it if Clint hadn't caught her arm.

"Wait. That's not the real Loki. It's an illusion after all." Narrowing his eyes, Clint glanced behind himself and called out, "Loki, show yourself."

Annoyed, Loki said. "Right here."

Clint scowled at him.

"Oh, fine. If you will only speak with my true body, it's still in bed. I chose to indulge your SHIELD officials and stick in the restraints." Loki rolled his eyes. "Have I been a good boy?"

"Indulge SHIELD. Right. Probably you couldn't get out of them so you gave up," Clint said.

"Or he's lying," Natasha said. But she had relaxed slightly—she was good at telling when people were lying and when they weren't, that spider.

"If you want to prove the location of my body, you have only to return to the room with me," Loki said. "And by the way, it's not called an illusion, it's called an astral projection. You can project your consciousness with a perceptible but intangible form, while maintaining a base level of awareness of your body." He could still feel his body restrained in the bed, but only in a distant sense. Stark was standing over him, and someone else had entered the room. None of it registered as important.

"You know, when you aren't focused on the mission, you're kind of a nerd," Clint said.

It wasn't that Loki didn't know what the word meant. He simply chose not to engage. "Hawk. There is something I need to say to you." He winced slightly. "And we had better do this fast. Some people are beginning to get very concerned about my body." He could vaguely hear a lot of loud and worried voices. Perhaps the body did look a bit disturbing. When he used astral projections, his body was usually left with his eyes wide open, staring into space unblinkingly and unresponsively, his body motionless and his heart rate slowed. He could see where a SHIELD official might be concerned at such a sight.

"Perhaps we'd better talk later then," Clint said. He had taken a step back, this time of his own accord, although the widow seemed pleased enough. "Wouldn't want to make the higher ups mad."

Loki groaned. "Fine." And he flickered back to his body to find himself staring none other than Nicholas Fury in the face.

He tried to say, "Morning," but realized he had forgotten about the muzzle.

So much for that advice.

/…/…/

Fury's interrogation was brutal but also quick. Apparently whatever Xavier told him had been enough to convince him that Loki was no longer under mind control, and that the mind control had in fact been originally present. Loki made a mental note to thank Xavier whenever they met again for that additional favor—if they did indeed ever meet again.

He was asked about his intentions. Would he have attempted to conquer the planet were he not under mind control?

No. He had no desire for a throne. (He wasn't sure how much that was true. He did enjoy a certain level of power and glory. But that would not have been the way to go about it, and anyway he was not going to admit any such impulses to Fury at the very least.)

What was his reasoning behind the attack with the Destroyer back when Thor had been on Earth?

He had suspected Thor was going to attempt to return to Asgard, since Sif and the Warriors Three were already going against the Allfather's final command before going into the Odinsleep by approaching him. It had been necessary to eliminate insurrection. If they had returned, it could have cued war with the frost giants.

The frost giants? What were those?

Simply put, Fury, the monsters under your bed.

(Cue one eyed glare.)

An ancient race with a vendetta against Asgard and, incidentally, Midgard as well. Vicious. Untrustworthy. And on the verge of attack due to certain actions of Thor's at the time.

(Of course Fury soon forced the entire story out of him. Loki only omitted a few details. He saw no reason to paint himself in a better light—Thor could easily point out any discrepancies, and Fury already knew he was a monster.)

Did he realize that, whatever the political reasons, his sending of the Destroyer caused enormous property damage and could have killed or injured innocent civilians?

The Destroyer had been sent only with the order to incapacitate Sif and the Warriors Three and Thor. Not to kill any of them unless it was necessary, and not to kill or injure anyone else once those five were taken care of.

Well, whatever orders he'd given the Destroyer clearly hadn't been good enough. Didn't he realize that level of risk was unacceptable, especially in a foreign country during peacetime?

Of course. (Loki offered his apologies with a sardonic smile. Fury didn't seem amused.) He'd been emotionally compromised at the time.

Stark had said he had a head that was like a bag full of cats. It appeared he was a loose cannon, likely to cause damage at any given moment.

Most likely.

(Loki shrugged, as much as he could within his restraints. Fury glared.)

Could he describe how he had fallen under Thanos' control?

Thanos had caught him falling through the void using certain abilities unique to him. He had then turned Loki over to the Chitauri, who were under Thanos' rule. Loki had been held prisoner and tortured for…he wasn't sure how long. (It had felt like forever.) Eventually his mind and will had been weakened enough for Thanos to use mind control on him, though usually such a binding would not have worked on Loki, who was both a member of a strong race, the Jotuns, and a talented sorcerer, well able to protect his mind from intruders. From there, he had been given instructions to fetch the Tesseract and invade Midgard, and had followed Thanos' orders.

Could he give more details on how the mind control process worked?

It linked one mind and one will to another, usually with a conduit such as the staff.

More details on how it had worked on him in particular? What had occurred with Thanos?

(Hunger. Thirst. Burning coals. The room was always too hot, but for some reason he would feel cold at the same time. Knives and whips, electrical shocks. Thanos allowed the Chitauri to carry out the torture, assuring Loki with a kind smile that were he to take up the task himself it would be far less merciful. Yes, this was what Thanos called mercy. Loki had wanted to spit on him, but by then he had been far too broken, far too afraid.)

No.

No what?

No details.

(Fury raised his eyebrow. Not harshly, but questioningly. Critically. Loki swallowed.)

He could tell Fury more about the forces Thanos commanded, and he did. He could tell Fury about Thanos' aims—first domination and then destruction of every planet within his grasp. He could describe the sorts of strategies Thanos was likely to use, though it was hard to tell with any specificity. He could describe the source of Thanos' power, the Infinity Stones.

Fury seemed satisfied by the end of their session. As for Loki, he was just glad to have the muzzle removed, although he still had SHIELD officials keeping a very close eye on him.

"You're still a loose cannon," Fury said as he headed towards the door.

Loki nodded.

"I don't care if you were mind controlled. There are still hundreds of people dead because of your actions," Fury said. "You can't seem to control yourself. First you were emotionally compromised. Then you were mind controlled. We can't trust your intentions, and your power is too great to ignore."

Loki nodded.

"Get some sleep," Fury said. "Your brother wants to talk to you."

"I can talk to Thor now."

"No, you're not. And we aren't ready to let him at you yet either." Fury leveled one last glare at Loki and pursed his lips. "Get some sleep. The next few days aren't going to be easy on you."

After escaping Thanos, Loki thought anything would be an improvement. But he nodded, allowing himself to be persuaded, and drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

/.../.../

/.../.../

/.../.../

AN: Sooo...

It looks like I'm finally going to be finishing this one soon. I'm almost done writing it and will try to post it all within the next month or so. There will be about three more chapters before the end.

Loki might be free of mind control, but not everything is solved. Be patient, darlings. And please do review.