Tony sighed, rubbing his temples. He'd thought it was all good now, those damn temperamentally aggressive kittens had gone, and he perched on the edge of the leather sofa, whiskey in hand. The energy and radiation scans he'd ran on Loki had come back, and well, the readings were fascinating. He cross referenced the fluctuations in gamma ray readings with the security tape, each spike corresponding with some form of magical endeavour by the demi-god. And he ran like a power source, emitting his own energy. How, Tony didn't know, and that was captivated his mind the most. He didn't know. There was rarely anything he came across that he didn't know, and though he came across as a cocky playboy, especially after his very public split with Pepper, he was a scientist at heart, with a longing to understand the universe and everything in it, and enough money to fund the wildest of his experimental dreams. And with Bruce by his side, Tony had re-discovered the passion that first brought him into science, and his mind yearned so much more. Never had he met someone with an intellectual level high enough to challenge him, and rather frequently, to Tony's dismay, best him.

So when Captain Spandex and the God of Not-Understanding-Midgardian-Culture came out, looking like they'd just stepped out of some overrated war movie, determined and focused, well, that's when Tony came to the realisation that his night of wonderful experimentation on Norse Gods and their magic was not going to happen. He bit back a snide remark when, just below Thor's exterior, he saw sadness, and dominating fear, and settled for rolling his eyes and slumping back into his sofa.

Bruce had been watching some tacky reality show that Clint had insisted they put on, trying to cover his tracks by saying it was Natasha's favourite. It earned him a punch that made even Bruce wince, as the sound of the impact and the consequential whimper hit him. The two assassins started grinning at each other, whilst Clint massaged his arm, his jaw still held a little too tightly as he tried to distract his mind from the bruise that was so obviously going to be there tomorrow.

The banter ceased as Thor began to talk, Steve standing beside him, hands behind his back, shoulders pushed back and chest outwards, as if he was in line for inspection in the army again. The God of Thunder explained as best he could, and when he finally got to the "Loki is in danger, out there somewhere" part, that was when Stark began to rub his temples. He hadn't become a billionaire through not being a genius, and a genius could see from a mile off just where the thunderer intended to take this. Thor concluded his rather long-winded and confusing explanation, an innocent grin plastered across his face, puppy eyes on the ready.

"So, essentially, you want us to go behind SHIELD's back, to go save 'Midgard's' most wanted criminal, who may or may not be in danger, because you promised him?"

"Yes." Came Thor's blunt and simple reply. Tony raised an eyebrow, completely and utterly astounded by the demi-god, until Thor used his 'cute' face. The small, innocent, childlike smile, paired with giant eyes and the wringing of his hands would warm the cockles of even the cruellest being's heart, and Tony realised no matter how much he tried, no matter how hard he dug his heels in, there was no way Thor was going to allow himself to lose this fight. And it astonished the billionaire as to how an oversized, incredibly manly thunderer who walked around, swinging a hammer and declaring things most usually didn't understand, could pull off a face like that, when even most children wouldn't be able to reach such a façade of purity.

"Thor, your brother is renowned for playing pranks, right? I mean, he's the God of Mischief for gods sakes. How can you be certain he isn't just fooling around?" Thor paused for a moment at Clint's argument, his expression one of thought. He looked up at her, the innocent smile and large eyes gone, replaced with a slight grimace.

"I can't. But I don't want to risk it, Lady Natasha. I am more than certain you have encountered such situations in your life, where you have not the knowledge to confirm nor deny something, but you would rather play safe than take an unnecessary risk." Natasha nodded in acknowledgement, and to some extent, agreement, as her thoughts flashed back to the memories of Budapest. Yes, she didn't want to risk it then, and she couldn't have been more glad she followed her gut instinct as Clint ran his over hers, a subtle reassurance that everything was alright. They were more or less on the same wavelength, and the archer saw as her gaze turned rather vacant, as her lips twisted down slightly, tormenting herself with memories of the past.

"So, that's it? We're just going to up and out of here, go on a wild goose chase? I'm just saying, we have nothing to go on, nowhere to start, or anything." Bruce pointed, biting his lips at the rather aggressive, out of character look he gained from Steve, who looked ready to pounce on anyone who refused.

"Well, I wouldn't quite say nothing." Tony grinned, his egotistical, I'm-smarter-than-you trademark grin. Bruce tilted his head slightly, prompting the billionaire to continue. "I ran some scans on Loki whilst he was here – you know, the typical radiation readings, energy monitors, and the results were quite fascinating. The dude is literally a walking power house, he produces his own energy. And from what I can gather, his magic gamma signature is adaptable, that it calibrates with larger magical energy sources than himself, as, from when we last saw him, or Loki-2, whatever, Reindeer Games was running on the same frequency as the Tesseract."

"So, you mean, if I pull up the same equations as last time, we can track down his location. Granted, not as quickly, if we're doing this on the down-low. I'll only have access to your equipment, not the entire worlds, but I should be able to lock onto his frequency if it's strong enough." Clint through his hands in the air in mock defeat to the science, and fell backwards into his chair, watching with amusement.

"Exactly. Except, we won't be slower, we'll be quicker. Remember, dear Hulky, I have the arc reactor powering this place. If I get JARVIS on standby to reroute all power into the computers, which I shall do, we'll have a lock on that signature within the hour, if not quicker." Bruce's face light up, as his mind began to flow with ideas, experiments with that sort of power, with this new information they had on the demi-god. "So, JARVIS, on my command, I want all power from the arc reactor transferred to whatever Bruce needs it for. He's the expert in this field."

"Certainly, sir." Thor's face was light up like a Christmas tree, a picture of complete delight. The science speak, though he didn't understand it at all, completely enthralled him, and made him question the ideology of his people, the Aesir, being more advanced than the humans, when he would've had to search Midgard on foot for a chance at finding his brother, and yet these mortals could pull of such a feat within an hour.

"Now, come on Hulky, we've got some equipment to set up, have we not?" The smirk still lay on his face, but less of an I'm-a-genius-you're-an-idiot smirk, and more of a genuine, excited smirk. Bruce practically skipped after Tony, overwhelmed by the possibilities and revelations that the new data they had could bring. It was a scientist's dream, after all.


A/N
So, quick update. Hi. Um, yeah, not really sure what to say here. I guess I could recommend you go listen to Dance with the Devil – Breaking Benjamin, but it doesn't link with this chapter. Probably will later on, idk. It's just a good song.

Thank you for all the reviews, the favourites and subscribes. It really does mean the world to mean, it really, truly does.