Notes: So, I have no internet at my work and I basically get paid to sit there and do nothing. (Though, owning the place does help, haha) I already have like the next four chapters all ready to go. XD I guess I'll just keep updating daily. Stuff's about to get really exciting in the next chapter!

Anyway, thanks for reading so far and keep the reviews coming. Any feedback you can give is appreciated!

Chapter 10: Kindred Spirits

When Clint had finished talking to Robin, he went outside to call Tony and told him everything. Tony had been surprised, not that she'd killed someone, but that she'd gotten away with it and framed someone else so easily. Any other time, Tony would have lost his shit all over Robin over the whole killing her stepfather thing. But it wasn't a priority right now. He and Bruce had no updates to give Clint. The groundwater and soil PH levels were normal, and the faint gamma radiation traces were no longer readable.

"So, we've got nothing?" Clint said irritably, and leaned back in the driver's seat of his car, well Tony's Ferrari, but what the hell ever. He'd decided it was safer to sit in the car while they talked. It could be a problem if any of it was overheard.

"Not yet." Tony replied. "I'll keep you updated. I want you there for security. I'll bet anything the media is at the front door of the hospital with their fangs bared about this whole alien god saves the day thing. Play bodyguard if you have to." Tony was right about that. Clint had been forced to shove his way through the throng of reporters to get to his car. Being that he was an Avenger, and they were known to be looking after Loki, they were right up his ass the minute he stepped out that door. He'd only beat them to the car because he ran faster. They currently were on the parking deck below searching cars to find him. It was only a matter of time until they caught up.

"Yeah, better go before they find me. I think Robin's had enough time to sit and feel sorry for herself. Hurry up and find Tasha or I'll kick the kitten." Clint said sarcastically.

"If you kick that poor thing I'll give Loki back his glowstick of destiny. I still have it, remember? And he likes that kitten a whole lot more than he likes you." Tony retorted. It was true, the Chitauri scepter had been left unattended at Stark Tower after all the confusion. Tony knew what to make of that, and put it in his highest security vault in the mansion in Malibu. SHIELD had demanded him to hand it over, but Pepper had given them the legal battle of their lives. In the end, Tony won. Maybe he would give it back to Loki one day. If he was positively sure Loki was not going to use it to make an army of zombie thralls. It was just collecting dust like some kind of sick trophy anyway. And he didn't need 'magic' to use it. Tony had tested it on Steve for shits and giggles and made him try to ask Natasha on a date. It would up with both him and Steve getting their asses kicked by a very angry Clint.

"I hate you, I swear to God." Clint muttered mutinously and hung up.

On the other side of the line, Tony smirked and shook his head. Bruce was sitting next to him, pensively using his laptop trying to dig through government records to look for clues. Tony admired his hacking skills, he was almost as good as the genius himself. He just watched Bruce for a moment, his brow furrowed in concentration as he typed. Bruce's way of hyper-focusing on his work intrigued Tony. He wondered momentarily if he handled sex the same way. That would be something. It must be wonderfully intense.

"Oh God, what is wrong with me." Tony thought aloud and flopped back into the grass. He hated the dirt and bugs and all that. The countryside totally did not suit him; so much for those retirement plans. If he even lived long enough to retire, given his lifestyle. I'm not gay, and this is not the time to be thinking about sex. Even if I am a firm advocate that there's never a bad time to think about sex... He added mentally when Bruce predictably completely ignored his existence. He was bored. Tony thought about getting up and having another walk around the field, but discarded the notion. He couldn't afford to be stupid. It was down to just him and Bruce. They didn't dare get separated from each other. Just as he was about to ask if Bruce was onto something yet, an odd glowing blue light caught his eye as it shone through the dense trees in the woods nearby. Not taking his eyes off it, he shook Bruce's arm and pointed. Bruce was annoyed that Tony had interrupted him, but the irritation turned to confusion when he followed Tony's outstretched hand and saw the glow.

"What do you think that is?" Tony breathed, suddenly feeling that they were being watched. Bruce grabber the gamma reader and pointed it in the direction of the glow as they slowly approached. Tony read the horror on Bruce's face just as the glow grew brighter and fizzled out entirely. "Bruce?" Tony breathed. If Bruce was nervous, it was not good.

"The Tesseract." Bruce finally answered and showed the Tony the screen of the gamma reader. He'd rigged it be able to reach Jarvis and search known databases for matching signatures. And there it was on the screen in plain text. A 100% match to the gamma signature emitted by the Tesseract. This was bad. Wasn't it supposed to safe in some epic vault in the bowels of Asgard?

"Now what?" Tony whispered.

"You can stop asking me that, for one thing. I'm out of ideas. But either there's something else, or Fury lied. SHIELD should have been able to detect the Tesseract's gamma signature, I stole that data from them, after all. It's unique; nothing matches the same frequency that's currently known to exist on earth." Bruce explained, staring at the electronic device and hoping it might suddenly say it was an error.

"He knew. Thor, I mean. And Probably Fury, too." Tony said. "That's why he came here, I think maybe he thought we stole it somehow. Or Loki. But he didn't seem to care about Loki. Otherwise, I don't know why he wouldn't tell us about this. It's kind of a big fucking deal." Bruce just shook his head.

"Let's take a look in the woods. We're not getting anywhere like this." He said. "Suit up." Tony silently agreed and unlocked the briefcase carrying the parts of the Heartbreaker which immediately assembled itself around him.

"All right Brucey, let's hold hands on our date so we don't get separated. All right, love?" He said through the speakers. Bruce glared, but smiled slightly.

"You're an asshat, Tony." He replied, and did slip his hand into Tony's which was encased in the metal of his suit. Not because it was a date, obviously. It would be every man for himself if they got separated.

"Is your skin always so cold?" Robin asked Loki once she'd composed herself. He opened his eyes gave her a look that questioned if the answer to that wasn't obvious.

"Yes." He said after a while. "Did Thor ever come back?" He found that he was able to talk if he did so very quietly and didn't try to move. He did still avoid it whenever possible because it still hurt. By the Norns, it hurt. He hadn't thought much about Odin's warning that injuries would not heal quickly, even if he couldn't be killed by normal means. Now, he wished he'd thought about what he'd done before he did it. Or if he could indeed die, because surely this had to be worse than death. Though, it seemed unavoidable – it really was the only way to protect the hostages. He remembered diving in front of the woman and her child. There wasn't much else that he was able to recall. There were snatches of things, like Robin telling him that she'd look after his kitten, and that he was vaguely aware that she'd stayed with him for the most part. Or the one doctor telling him that he was amazed that he was still alive. He had the oddest feeling that Frigga had been there, but when he saw Robin asleep in the chair next to him he realized bitterly that it had just been her. It was pathetic, but he would have given anything for her to be there. He was glad Robin hadn't left him alone either way.

"I don't know. Agent Barton came back to check on us, obviously, he was just here. But I don't know about Thor." Robin replied. "Is there any way to contact him?"

"No." Loki replied. They sat in an awkward silence until Loki asked her the question she was dreading. "Why did you kill your stepfather for what he did, but choose to help me?" He wanted to know, really. He an idea of why, but he wanted it in her words.

"Because the only thing I regret about killing him is that I betrayed Sam by lying to him about it, and how much it hurt my mom. That haunts me more than ruining and innocent person's life. ...One who went out of his way to help me at that. In case you haven't noticed, I never said I was better than you. I'm not. I never was." Robin replied. "You know, that was the first time I had a nightmare about it and I did it six years ago. I was twenty-one then. I helped you because I'm selfish. As if it could somehow make up for what I did to Sam. I can't. He's dead. He's not here to give a shit."

"I can't entirely regret what I did either." Loki told her. "For that I am sorry, truly. But I think you understand, knowing what little I told you of what the Chitauri did to me."

"You did it to escape the pain and to protect Midgard. You don't regret that, what you regret is not being able to find a better way where no one had to die. ...Because you weren't in the right state of mind to be rational. I understand. I know what it feels like when you've hit rock bottom and you can either fight your way out or give up. Giving up isn't in your nature any more than it's in mine." Robin said, and sighed. "You should also know that I forgive you. For Sam, I mean. Well, I kinda did a while ago, but didn't want to say anything. But holding that grudge would be the same as you asking me to regret killing Jack. I can't, and I won't try."

"I never thought I would hear those words." He admitted after a while. "Do you still hate me?" Loki asked, dreading it. She had not recently expressly said that she had, only in sarcasm. She had made it clear that she didn't really like him, but she didn't seem to despise him. Not as much as she had when they first met, if nothing else.

"No, I don't. I used to. More than anything, but I can't anymore. I mean, I want to hate you. But I don't hate myself in spite of what I've done. Hating you would mean I'd have to hate myself, too. We had all the same reasons, just different situations." She replied thoughtfully and looked down at him. "Do you hate me? ...For bringing you back to New York and the Avengers?"

"No. I don't even hate Stark anymore. He is still aggravating, however." Loki said with a hint of a smile. "Will you ever tell me the rest of your story?" Loki asked, deciding he might as well push his luck. He knew what she'd meant about everyone who she trusted hurting her. He'd been there enough times to be no less cautious himself. But if someone put a dagger in her back, it was not going to be him. She had saved him twice now. And this time, she had only left his side to care for his sick pet. No, he would stand at her back and nothing would ever be able to overtake them. Well, if he ever managed to stand again. Right now breathing was a battle of its own. He was trying not think about how much it hurt to speak, but these words needed to be said. These Midgardian healers were grossly inferior to the healers of Asgard and Alfheim. They had been kind to him, though. That was unexpected.

"Someday." Robin said pensively.

"When you are ready." Loki replied. "What happened after I was wounded?" Robin described how she'd incapacitated the burglar, and gotten shot herself as well. With a faint smile, she told him that it hurt less than being beaten by Jack. It was probably just the painkillers, but she knew she could have escaped this if she'd wanted to, or been a little more cautious. …Not that there was time for caution. Either way, it was less painful in a way; it didn't come with the mental anguish of being intentionally abused for someone else's amusement.

"I just wish I knew what was going on with SHIELD." Robin huffed and made a face. Loki nodded in agreement. He couldn't describe why, but he had a very bad feeling about it. It hadn't particularly offended him that Thor refused his help, but it did strike him as odd that he had been so secretive. Well, as secretive as Thor could be.

"I might tell you about it, depending on whether or not Tony replies to his fucking voicemail." Clint said as he'd heard the comment when he walked in without knocking. "It's a damn mess is what it is."

"Why did you leave then?" Loki asked quietly. Clint jumped, not expecting him to be able to talk. He knew Loki wasn't completely out of it anymore when he came in before, but he hadn't expected him to talk unless it was necessary. Damn the guy was a masochist.

"Couldn't be of help. I'm good for killing things, not so much with science." He answered. "You should know that. Besides, they're worried about you two."

"I do." Loki conceded. There was next to nothing he didn't know about Clint after having controlled his mind for so long.

"Look, I can't tell you much because we really don't know anything. Thor went back to Asgard, so I don't know if he knows something or not. Scratch that, he does but he's not talking. But Fury's missing – vanished without a trace. Same thing happened to Tasha and Steve when we went to scout the area. Jarvis can't locate them through their phones, nothing." Clint explained angrily. "It's like some kind of wormhole sucked them in. Like a bad sci-fi B movie. But we didn't notice anything until they were already gone."

"What the hell?" Robin said, confused. "People don't just vanish."

"...The Tesseract could do that. Or the Bifrost, but you would notice the Bifrost." Loki said softly. They both looked at him, Robin with confusion and Clint with horror.

"Would Thor know if it was stolen from Asgard?" Clint demanded.

"Probably." Loki guessed. "But that depends. Odin doesn't trust him anymore. Not after he went against orders to fight Malekith. ...And released me from the dungeons to help him." The silence in the room was tangible. Clint and the others only knew about Malekith and the Aether because Robin had explained to them what little Loki had told her.

"So if Thor knew, he would have had to find out on his own." Clint said, mostly for the sake of saying something.

"Unless Heimdall knew. He isn't loyal to Odin anymore. Well, he is, but not blindly so." The fallen God said with a weak shrug. "There are too many variables. It may not be the Tesseract."

"Do you have access to Jarvis?" Clint asked Robin suddenly. She nodded. "Call him and figure out why Tony's not answering his phone. We had a deal that he'd call every hour so I'd know if he and Bruce got sucked into wherever the hell Natasha is. He hasn't called this hour and isn't answering." Robin noted the panic in his voice and agreed.

"Give me your phone, mine's at the police station." Clint handed it to her and she raised her eyebrows. "This is Tony's phone."

"I know, just call." Clint snapped.

"I'm just saying you could have just called and used the keyboard to text your question." She muttered while it rang through to the AI. "Jarvis, I need you to track Dr. Banner's phone and tell me where he is please."

"As you wish, Miss Sheffield. Please hold." The three of them waited in a tense silence until Jarvis finally spoke. "There is no signal. I also took the liberty of scanning the Heartbreaker Mark II's locator chip, but there is also no signal. Have you any further inquiries?"

"No thanks Jarvis. That'll do." Robin said and handed the phone back to Clint. "Now what?" They sat in silence, all of the avengers were missing in action now aside from Clint. Robin and Loki wouldn't be much help either. Clint looked like he might say something every now and then, but he couldn't come up with anything. They all knew going there to look would just wind up with them missing, too. For a few tense moments, there was no sound but for the constant beeping of the heart monitor Loki was hooked up to. It was Loki that finally broke the silence.

"Take me back to the place you found me when I was first banished." He said to Robin. She shook her head.

"Loki, if we take you from here now, you'll die. There's no way." She said in exasperation.

"Robin's right." Clint said. "Alien God or not, no one just walks away from taking three shots to the chest. According to your file, you're pretty fucked. Nothing got your heart, but your left lung is, well, the MRI wasn't pretty." Robin winced. She had noticed him having a hard time breathing, but hadn't asked the hospital staff about his condition. The reality was that she didn't want to know. When did I start caring so much that I'd be a wreck if he died? She asked herself awkwardly.

"I cannot die. I am still immortal, but obviously not as resilient as I was." Loki replied, glaring at them. "If I can free Gungnir from the stone, my powers will be restored and I can heal myself. This reeks of magic. I know magic. I am probably the only here who can do anything."

"I don't like this." Clint said in clear dismissal. "What makes you think you'll even be 'worthy'?"

"I have learned many important lessons since coming here. Also, the people must have forgiven me to some extent. No one left me to die." He answered, letting his eyes meet Clint's. "Not even you."

"I suppose I would've dragged you here myself to save time if I was there. Nah, I wouldn't have let you die. Even though you are still a total dick." Clint replied sheepishly.

"We have no other choice if you want to help the others. We'll have to trust Loki." Robin said. "But SHIELD has High Point closed off. Can you get us in there, Agent Barton?"

"Yeah, I am still one of their top agents, even if I am an Avenger." He sighed. "All right fine, give me a minute to get him out of here and we'll get on the road. Stay put until I do something about the rabid horde of reporters outside."

"Okay, I'll drive since I know where I'm going. And my car is right out front." Robin suggested.

Steve hadn't known what hit him. He'd been standing in the parking lot outside of a small church in town. There was an old lady there that he'd politely asked if she had seen anything that had seemed out of the ordinary lately. She'd said no, except that her cat had disappeared. Vanished into thin air. Steve told her he'd try to save her cat. She'd thanked him profusely and even hugged him. He was thinking that maybe he should have asked someone less obviously senile when suddenly his face had been introduced to the rough stone parking lot. He tried to move, but some incredible force held him still. The next thing he knew, it felt like he was falling, being sucked through nothingness. Then he landed hard on a cold stone floor, a women who must have been close to where he landed shrieked and surprise. He lay motionless for a moment, his face still firmly planted on the ground. Ever the soldier, he had to get his bearings and assess the situation before he made any sudden moves.

"Steve?" He heard the woman ask, immediately recognizing it as Natasha. Relaxing slightly, he looked around. Nothing could have prepared him for what he saw. It was a prison of some kind. He and Natasha were alone in a small rectangular cell that was surrounded by some sort glowing gold aura in place of bars. There were no furnishings, only a small cot and a separate room with a toilet. He pushed himself up onto his rump and frowned. He could see clearly enough through the golden aura to recognize several other identical cells across from them and on either side. He could not tell how long the hall was.

"Where in God's name are we?" Steve asked. Natasha looked tired, but uninjured. That was a good sign.

"No idea. No phone service, so the GPS isn't helping." She said, flipping through menus on Clint's smartphone. "But, the guards that came by earlier were dressed kind of like something out of a cheesy fantasy movie. I think we might be in Asgard's dungeons. Fury's across the way over there." She continued, pointing at the adjacent cell. He could just make out the black trench coat and the friendly wave. Steve got up and paced the length of the cell. Asgard? That was crazy. Tentatively, he reached a hand out to touch the glass surrounded by the glowing aura.

"Don't do that!" Natasha cried, suddenly. When Steve gave her a questing look, Natasha held out her left hand. The palm was completely covered in a vicious third degree burn. The fact that she showed no sign of pain unnerved Steve. "I don't know whether it's some kind of computerized device or… magic. But don't touch it."

"Are Clint, Bruce and Tony here?" Steve asked, still pacing.

"I don't know. Fury can't hear me yelling so whatever this barrier is, it's soundproof. We'll only know if we can see them." Natasha replied. "No, before you ask, I have no idea how I got here. I went to look at something near the woods because I thought I heard someone talking. The next thing I knew, I was lying face-down in this cell with Director Fury waving at me." Steve settled himself on the floor next to her. There was no point in panicking. He didn't have to be a genius like Stark to know he wasn't getting out of this cell any time soon. They would just have to wait for some kind of a sign. Waiting wasn't Natasha's strong suit any more than it was Steve's. This wouldn't end well.

"Why does it feel like we're walking to our deaths?" Tony asked sarcastically, his voice layered with a bit of static from the Heartbreaker's speakers. Bruce pointedly ignored him as usual. Tony was babbling. He never shut up on a good day and he was downright obnoxious when he was nervous. I wonder if he at least shuts up when he's having sex? Probably not, unless something long and phallic is shoved down his throat. Bruce thought to himself and groaned. Why the hell was he even thinking that? Tony was attractive enough, yeah, but this was not the time. And he wasn't interested in men. Especially not narcissistic men who don't play well with others. ...Not that he should even be thinking about sex. That just ended with him being depressed and remembering why he could never have a real relationship. It wasn't just anger that triggered transformations into the hulk, but anything that got him too... excited.

"Shut up Tony, they'll hear us." Bruce snapped when Tony said something about bad eighties sci-fi horror movies. Tony stopped talking, thankfully. How the man hadn't gotten killed yet with his total lack of caution in situations like this amazed Bruce. Either he was incredibly lucky, or the bad guys were so surprised he had time to make a run for it. It was probably a combination of both. Not that there were any bad guys. The woods were quiet aside from the usual sounds of birds and animals nearby. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Tony jumped at every little sound, and Bruce had to constantly remind himself that Tony was completely out of his element here. Not that Bruce was exactly in his element either, but he spent more time in the woods than Tony. ...If Tony had ever spent any time in the woods.

"Well, this is anticlimactic." Tony said after they stood in silence for a while. Bruce knelt down and looked at the ground. The underbrush had definitely been disturbed recently, but there was nothing in sight. He mentioned this to Tony who decided to take to the sky and see if he could find anything. Flying felt amazing. He hadn't realized how long he'd been cooped up in Stark Tower until the roar of the flight boosters sent him soaring through the trees and toward the clouds. He pulled a few completely useless flips before quickly scanning the area. There was Bruce standing in the small clearing where he'd left him next to a large tree at the center. He turned on the infrared sensors, and saw what had to be animals. Aside from one slightly larger red glow about the size of a large house. He flicked the sensors off and looked below him. Nothing, just trees. He logged the coordinates and landed next to Bruce with a soft thud.

"Nothing, but I did pick up a weird infrared reading, want to go have a look? I couldn't see anything from above. It looks like geothermal activity but there's no harm in looking." Tony explained.

"Sure, there's nothing here anyway." Bruce replied. It took them about half an hour to reach the source of the reading. Which was also anticlimactic. Tony's theory about it being geothermal activity was pretty likely. Starting to get aggravated that they weren't finding anything, Bruce wondered around a bit taking care to stay close to Tony. He couldn't help but cry out in surprise when he nearly fell into a huge hole. Tony rushed over, and upon closer inspection found that the hole was actually the opening to a small cave. They nodded to each other and crawled in. Once inside, they realized it was much larger than it looked. And hotter than hell. Definitely geothermal activity. They were able to stand up and walk side by side down the fairly straight path illuminated faintly by the arc reactor. It took them another half an hour to reach the bottom which was just a slightly larger round chamber that was mostly filled with stalactites hanging from the ceiling.

"What's that?" Bruce said, noticing something sticking out of the ground at the very center of the chamber. Curiously, he looked a little closer. It was an old wooden hunting arrow, or it must have been at some point. Most of the goose feather fletching had decayed and a good amount of the black paint had peeled off the shaft. But what caught Bruce's attention was a scrap of paper wrapped around it and sealed in plastic. Tony flipped back his face plate and shrugged. Curiously, Bruce carefully removed the paper and unfolded it. "I'm sorry, Mom." He read aloud and frowned. He looked at the ground again and realized that it had been disturbed some time ago. Something was buried there. Thankfully, it didn't look large enough to be a body. Tony took the paper and inspected it carefully while Bruce used the edge of his shoe to push aside the dirt.

"This is Robin Hood's handwriting." Tony said suddenly. "I'd recognize it anywhere. But she doesn't live near here, she's at least a couple hours away. Bruce?" Not sure why Bruce wasn't answering, he looked up from the note to see the end of a rifle barrel where Bruce had been digging.

"Maybe not, but I think I found the murder weapon." Tony and Bruce looked down at the old rifle that was rusting away and made awkward eye contact.

"She's good, too good." Tony said, Bruce nodded in agreement.

"They would never have found this place." He admitted. For a couple of grown ass men that had taken more than enough lives themselves, they suddenly felt very uneasy. Something about this place was tainted, evil. Even they could sense that, but neither attributed it to Robin's deed, maybe the man she killed, but not her. Clint had said that she had been being abused and killed him in self-defense, albeit carefully premeditated 'self-defense'. But something about this place just wasn't right. Bruce was about to voice this when suddenly the ground below them started rolling.

"Earthquake!" Bruce said and grabbed Tony by the arm. He dropped the note and ran with Bruce. The cave was long, but not deep enough to be safe from tremors. Panting and nauseous from everything shaking around them, they made it out of the cave just as the quake calmed. Neither complained, they both wanted out of there and they knew it.

"Well, that was unexpected." Tony said, breaking the silence. They both flopped down on the ground and sat there for a moment catching their breath. "Oh shit I have to call Clint." Tony remembered. Bruce dug for his phone that had been in his jeans pocket. Or, it was.

"Uh, problem. I don't have my phone." Bruce said and glanced at the cave. "It have must fallen out of my pocket while we were running."

"Great." Tony muttered. Clint had his earpiece because he'd programmed his phone not to work without it. It would be a nightmare if someone used it to control Jarvis without his permission. Requiring both parts made that less likely. But that being said, he couldn't access Jarvis through the Heartbreaker without the earpiece. That was probably a bad idea all around. Yup, he definitely needed to rework that entire system.

"I am not going back in there." Bruce said just as a tremendous aftershock rocked the ground below them. They fell against each other, Tony swearing like a sailor and Bruce gasping in surprise. A loud crash sounded behind them as the cavern entrance gave way and caved in, leaving a trail of fractured earth across the surface for at least a hundred feet.

"Nope, you're definitely not." Tony agreed. "Let's get out of here. I'm worried about what's going on at home and all we're doing is digging up something we shouldn't have." Bruce couldn't agree more and even allowed Tony to grab him by the waist and fly him out of those god forsaken woods.