Sorry guys for the late update. Got a bit distracted by the Olympics. I'll be a good girl from now on...maybe. Anyway this chapter was so long I decided to cut it into two. So that was this chapter and the chapter I'll post tomorrow. I hope you enjoy. I am loving all these reviews and followers by the way.

Tony Stark sat in the back of a standard S.H.E.I.L.D. vehicle, contemplating. His 'suit case' was cradled in-between him and Banner who sat in the seat beside him, looking like he was trying to melt into the seat. Early that morning he had reluctantly answered his phone after the fourth ring and a slight insistence from Jarvis. Having spent the night with Pepper he was almost sober when he answered. "You used your Stark coupon last week Fury."

"I have agents waiting for you outside your Tower; I need you and Banner to come down immediately."

"Fury, I'm still playing fifty-two pick up from last time you called." Tony whined.

"Stark, I'm serious; there's been another Chitauri attack."

That woke him up, "Where?"

"Asgard. We need you at a base."

And so Tony and Bruce had taken a jet to a small landing site somewhere (he'd been extremely annoyed when the unnamed S.H.E.I.L.D. agents had confiscated his phone for no apparent reason) , and were now driving to …somewhere else. After he'd asked are we there yet, for the third time, the window between the front and back seats came up leaving just him and Banner to talk.

He spoke interrupting Banner's fidgeting, "So what do you think the green eyed dragon did now?"

Bruce looked up from the car floor, "What? Oh, I don't know. We put those cuffs on him before they left. Things must have gone pretty bad if Thor's back."

Tony shifted in his seat, "Kinda wish Natasha or Hawkeye abducted us instead. These guys are no fun at all."

"They're just doing their job Tony."

Tony frowned at some dark memory, "They could still lighten up."

Banner gave a small shrug, then leaded forward in his seat listening. "I think we're almost there."

Tony looked at him, "How do you know?" A distant rumble of thunder answered his question. "Well, that doesn't mean it's Thor." Another louder rumble contradicted him.

Another five minutes and they did arrive. At a small fenced in nook in the hillside, pretty anticlimactic considering how long it took to get there. But the dark angry looking clouds circling overhead did not bode well. The stone faced agents from the car escorted them inside and naturally the compound was quite larger then it appeared on the surface.

The agents led them through the anthill, down, left, right, then right again. Other agents sent them curious glances as they passed by. Banner seemed intent on not tripping over his own feet, while Tony was trying his hardest to get a response other than a slight glance from passing agents, swinging his 'suit case' at his side. Finally they were approaching a door that was slightly ajar. Their two agent escort ushered them in, while they moved on.

The small rectangular room had been given a large metal table, making Tony wonder how they got it through the doorway in the first place. Nick Fury was sitting on the far side of the table his head in his hand, and his back to a large window that covered the entire back wall. Thor's hammer was on table, while the demigod himself was pacing, with a slight limp, restlessly back and forth on the same side of the room, wearing a borrowed black shirt and a pair of blue jeans. Steve was in a black S.H.E.I.L.D. uniform and was telling him, working himself up wasn't going to help anybody.

Natasha had taken station beside a disgruntled Hawkeye, who was sitting in a metal chair borrowed from the table, in the corner of the room, across the door. She watched Stark come in, Banner shadowing right behind him. Curious to his reaction, she watched him take in the room. She wondered how much arguing was going to take place this time around, since the scientific duo was now present. Tony's eyes scanned the other side of the room briefly, and he met Natasha's gaze for a moment.

Then his eyes fell on the window. The window, Natasha knew was a one way mirror. Thor had adamantly refused to have his brother out of his sight; Director Fury was hard pressed to find a way for Thor to be near Loki without worsening his brother's condition.

Starks mouth hung open as he saw the god of mischief lying on a surgical table, he was covered up to his shoulders with a white sheet, and surrounded by medical equipment. A fine sheen of sweat was on his gray face as he stared at the ceiling above. His lips seemed to be moving slightly, as if he was talking to some unknown entity.

"Holy cow, he died and came back to haunt us."

Thor stopped his pacing and turned, having heard Starks voice, tension in his shoulders visibly relaxed as he met Starks gaze. "Man of Iron! I am glad you have come!"

Steve's hand came down on his shoulder. "Thor, we don't know if he can help yet."

Thor opened his mouth to speak again, but Fury stood and made his way around the metal table.

"Banner, Stark now that you're here, you can see we have a problem."

Stark looked away from the window, "Whoa, whoa, when you said Asgard was attacked, I thought-"

Thor immediately interrupted, "My brother had no hand in the Chitauri attack on Asgard."

Fury started again, not acknowledging that last statement, talking only to Banner and Stark, "The Chitauri and a being called Thanos have issued a threat against all of you, as well as Loki."

Tony frowned, "Wait, what did we do to this Thanos guy?"

Natasha filled in, "We don't know. All we know is what Thor has been able to guess based on the attack on Asgard and what Loki has told us…when he's been coherent."

Bruce walked forward, squinting through the glass, "What happened to him?"

"Why are we listening to him?" Tony said sounding confused.

Hawkeyes looked up from the spot on the floor he had been staring at, "That's what I would like to know."

Fury turned his head to the Archer. "Agent Barton." He said his tone warning. He turned back Stark and Banner. "According to Thor, Chitauri appeared out of the air in their throne room, and overwhelmed them. Thor's Father had the Tesseract at the time and was injured, I suppose rather than give the Tesseract to the Chitauri, he gave it to Loki. Thor got knocked out. During which time, they must have put the device that is responsible for Loki's current condition into his arm. When Thor woke up, Loki was preventing him from getting fried by Thanos who had just decided to join the party." Fury pulled two twisted bits of metal from his pocket, and set them on the table. "The cuffs you two provided him earlier were fairly effective, but must have got fried when Thanos was attacking. When Loki had the chance he took Thor and escaped." Fury turned to Thor and Steve raising his eyebrows. "Is that everything?"

Thor nodded quickly, and Steve said, "Basically."

Banner looked at Fury, "So you have the Tesseract now, right?"

Fury replied annoyed, "No, Loki has it in his magic pocket or whatever it is." Thor looked sheepish, as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other.

Tony walked to the window to stand next to Bruce, "OK… So what do you want us to do? Are we just gonna wait for an Alien vs Predator match or what?

Thor stepped forward, "You need to help my brother."

"What?",Stark turned abruptly, stubbing his foot on one of the metal chairs around the table and letting loose a stream of obscenities under his breath.

Natasha picked up where Fury left off, "Fury had doctors operate to remove the disk shaped device that had been twisted into Loki's upper right arm as soon as he arrived. His system burned through the drugs they gave him so fast, they hardly had enough time to close the wound before he woke up."

Stark spoke quickly, "Get to the point, why does he need my help?"

Fury spoke again clasping his hands behind his back, "Because the device was filled to the brim with miniature machines that are swimming around his bloodstream creating toxins that are going to cause his body to shut down, within the next few days."

"Oh."

"I already have agents working on it, but progress is not being made fast enough. At this rate unless you two think of something, he's going to die."

"And why don't we just let him die?" Clint stood from his chair in the corner, fists clenched at his side, knuckles white, as he thought about the fate of the god of mischief trembling on the table, a glass panel away.

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