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Loki's POV

"Natasha!" I hissed into the public comms. "Natasha, Clint, Thor, can anyone hear me?"
"Steve? Are you okay, what's happening?" Natasha called.
"I'm in in the quinjet with Loki and Tony, we got him." I winced as I sat up, looking at the still, unconscious figures beside me. "You need to retreat."
"We're on our way. Hold on." She responded. I nodded and looked back at them, silently hissing,
"Dammit Stark, I told you not to teleport with multiple people." I pushed myself onto my feet, wincing once again before looking down at my side, now soaked in blood. It did hurt, as the guard had gotten a good shot at me. I moved over to Steve and Tony, checking up on Steve to make sure he held on. Stark, he would be fine. After all, he would wake up soon.

Soon enough, I heard the familiar voice of Natasha.
"Steve! What the heck happened?"
"Loki!" Thor cried as he rushed to my-or rather the real Tony's side.
"Its too long to explain. We need to go." I snapped. "Clint, let's go. Now."
"Alright Cap." He nodded before rushing to the pilot's seat. Natasha gently helped Bruce inside, as he settled back down on the bench. She then turned to me, looking back at the two still figures behind me.
"What happened?" She asked gently.
"Me and Loki had fought our way to the base, getting just enough info to find out where Tony was being kept. When we found him, he was very weak, and so I helped him up to try and bring him back to the quinjet. But, we were surrounded. We tried to fight our way out, but it was rough. And before I knew it, we were back here. I turned to Loki, but he collapsed." I explained, looking back at Thor and Tony.
"Collapsed? Was-"
"He ran out of energy." Thor said, cutting Natasha off. "This happened a lot when we were children, and Loki was just starting in his tricks. If this happened again, he could have been desperate."
I was speechless, only able to gave a slight nod. I thought he had forgotten about things like that? We were children, and Thor always settled on exploring or getting into some kind of trouble, often resulting in the both of us running to escape it.
"And Tony?" Natasha's voice interrupted my thoughts once again. I looked back at her and said,
"He's fine." I sighed. "Weak, very weak, but he's alive." I sighed as I settled down, keeping watch over Tony and Steve.
"Just get us home." I leaned back, closing my eyes.

I hadn't realized I had fallen asleep until Natasha had gently shook me awake.
"Come on Steve, we're back at the tower."
"The others?" I yawned as I pushed myself up. Thankfully, the soreness in my side had faded away.
"Clint and Thor helped to bring them to the medical wing. Bruce was gonna take care of them in the meantime." Natasha nodded. "Are you feeling okay Steve?"
"I'm fine Natasha." I said as I started to head out.
"You're bloody." She called.
"Not mine." I lied as I kept moving. I stopped by Steve's room and changed out of the uniform, looking over my side. It was closing up, almost reminding me of my magic. Strange. As I finished dressing, I headed over to the medical wing.
"Hey Steve." Bruce nodded.
"How are they Bruce?" I asked, moving between the two of them.
"I've tried to address all of Tony's wounds, the rest is up to his recovery." He nodded. "Loki looks okay. He just needs to wake up and properly care for himself."
"Thank you Bruce." I said with a small smile. "I did think we would lose him for a while."
"Not a problem." Bruce smiled back. "Get some rest, enough has happened. Maybe the others are having a drink." He soon walked out of the room. I nodded, yet I didn't leave the room. I knew the others had a routine of sharing the drink, sometimes even after I had retreated to my own room. It was a thing for them, not me. I pulled over an available chair and just waited.

Tony's POV

I softly groaned as I struggled to open my eyes. It felt like I was hit by a truck.
"Stark?" A voice called. As I opened my eyes, I winced, shutting them once again after being exposed to the harsh light. I took a few deep breaths before I went to open my eyes once again. I looked over and saw Loki standing nearby.
"Loki? Are we out?" I groaned as I pushed myself to a sitting position.
"We're back in Avengers Tower." He responded as he crossed his arms. "Now, what the Hell were you thinking?"
"What?"
"You did what I told you never to do! Even I never try to teleport with multiple people! It drains you way too much, adding onto the fact that you're practically an amateur with magic!" He snapped.
"I needed to protect us." I said, looking up at him. "You saw how many men were down there! You even got shot!"
"I'm fine Stark. You don't need to worry about me." He said as he turned away. "Keep resting, I'll get you something to eat." He left the room and I softly sighed, shaking my head to try and get rid of any more senses of light-headedness. I turned over and bit my lip, seeing where Steve rested, trapped in my own body. I pushed myself onto my feet, holding onto the railing of my own gurney and carefully making over.

The body there was slightly paler, with large gauze bandages covering his arms, a patch covering one shoulder, and bruises and cuts all over my face. I took a shaky breath and looked away. Why did this have to happen? Why me? Hell, it could have been me if none of this body swapping had occurred.
"I'm sorry Steve." I sighed softly. "I can't imagine how much pain you must be in." As I turned away, I heard a faint groan in response.
"Steve?" I said as I looked back at him. "Steve?"
"T-Tony?" Came a faint response as he strained to open his eyes.
"Easy there, Old man. You've been through Hell." I said gently.
"W-where are we? A-are we safe?"
"Yeah, yeah, don't worry about it. We're back at the tower." I reassured. He managed to open his eyes and looked over at me. Through the glimpses of pain in his eyes, I could see happiness, relief that he was in some safe zone, with people he probably considered family.
"Stark, what did I tell you?" Came Loki's annoyed tone.
"Give me a break Loki, Steve's awake and talking." I said as I rolled my eyes. I only heard Loki rapidly rushing over, joining my side and looking down at Steve.
"Rogers?" He said worriedly.
"Loki." He sighed in relief. "I-I'm glad to see you guys got out okay."
"We got out okay?" Loki chuckled. "We were half terrified about you."
"Yeah, for a second we thought we'd be stuck learning how to live forever in each other's bodies." I smirked. "How awful does that sound?" Steve smiled and chuckled softly before wincing softly and resting a hand over his shoulder.
"Try not to further hurt yourself. We can take care of things." I said with a smile.
"D-did you guys find the note?" He asked softly.
"About Dr Strange? Of course." Loki nodded. "Since you two are recovering, I can go and speak to this man."
"In the morning. You get some rest for now." I insisted. "We'll eat and see you later."
"Fine." Loki sighed as he left the room. "Good night."

I turned back to Steve and asked, "Can you sit up?"
"Kinda." He said softly as he tried to push himself up. He winced in between and so, I straightened up and gently helped him up. Looking at the tray of food given by Loki, it was safe to assume it was probably regulated by Bruce. I picked up the bowl of oatmeal and offered it to Steve.
"You think you can stomach some food Cap?"
"Yeah. I'm starving, I'll eat anything." He said as he took the bowl and spoon. He started eating eagerly and so, I turned away to take the couple oranges for myself. As I ate a couple slices, I finally burst out,
"You know Loki's dating Darcy Lewis?"
Almost as a result, he let out a couple coughs and set the bowl down on his lap.
"Loki and Darcy? Please tell me you're joking."
"Nope." I grinned. "I accidentally got that info from Thor and then Loki basically confirmed it."
"Hmm." Steve murmured softly, almost forcing himself to finish the bowl of food. "He really has changed Tony. Look, say or act as you want, but look what he's done for us. He's helped us and worked just as hard as the two of us." I sighed and ran my hands through my hair, keeping quiet. Sometimes the memories of the battle can flooding back, as though if were yesterday. The Chitauri, Loki throwing me out of the tower, the wormhole...Oh gosh.

But now? Loki spent his time watching my back, working actively to turn us back, teaching me magic, Hell, Loki ended up saving us from being killed by the stone in the first place!
"Tony?"
"You've got a point there. Loki's...Loki's turned a leaf. But, still, you know we won't convince everyone." I sighed as I looked over at Steve.
"I know. Maybe after, when we fix all of this, we can incorporate Loki into the team more. You know, practically after every mission, Loki sneaks off to his room and nobody has bat an eye." Steve said as he set the bowl to the side. I wouldn't be surprised if he did something similar now, staying and trying to help us instead of being with the rest of the team. I pulled myself onto my feet and looked back at Steve.
"I'm heading off, maybe tomorrow me and Loki can find this Dr Strange."
"Sounds good. From what I saw in that Shield file, he may be able to help us. You've still got the address, right?" Steve nodded.
"Yeah, no worries Steve." I called as I left the room and returned to Loki's room, lying back. It didn't take long before I settled back to sleep.