Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Harry Potter or Avengers...

Query Post:

-I've decided that there will be NO PAIRING for this particular fic. I might fit it in some drabbles/oneshots but there's too many things going on in this story to fit romance in as well.

-My update speed is crazy, I know, but when the plotline is still fresh in my mind and I have new ideas for it, I just have to write it down. (I'm going to take a wild shot in the dark and say you people don't mind.:P)

-I hope nobody thinks this is too Mary Sue. I know I have a tendency to do that to characters so I've been trying to tone it down a bit, but Harry is Master of Death, and after the war, he's got to be a little paranoid, thus, the safe house. He's also gone through a lot of training for the war, but I don't think he's too invincible (ie. He can't just overpower Bruce; Loki gets in a few near-hits on him; etc). And the weapons already at his house would be because he's researched some of the superheroes in New York and he know Tony who would have told Harry some things about the Avengers so Harry would know Tony might be called in and he'd want to be prepared just in case something (like this) happens.

-I am planning for the Hulk to lose control (not in this chapter; probably next) but I won't tell you the trigger:P

-No nuclear missile in my fic, people. World Security Council's going to stay out of this one. For now.

-And lastly, magic and electronics would mix without damage when Harry applies it; he's been doing it for years with his cars.

That should be it so...

Lots of Harry-Loki interactions in this one and a cliffie at the end! *Grins evilly*

Enjoy!


Chapter 12 – To Stand Together

Apparating to the top of Stark Tower turned out to be harder than Harry had expected. Nothing but a pile of rubble, he almost twisted his ankle as he landed by what was once the bar table of the penthouse.

Staggering to remain upright, Harry quickly looked around, taking in the lack of live Chitauri in the penthouse – there were plenty of dead ones hidden under the wreckage – and noting that Loki was nowhere to be found. The Tesseract device was in plain sight though and he hurried upwards to where it had been stationed. Almost immediately, he caught sight of an old man standing by the device and guessed this to be Erik Selvig.

"Shut it down, Dr. Selvig," Harry called out cautiously, not getting too close.

Selvig turned and Harry grimaced when he saw the eerie blue in the man's eyes. Natasha had told him that a hit over Clint's head had released the mind control but he couldn't help feeling plain rotten for even thinking about hitting a defenceless old man.

"It's too late!" Selvig shouted back. "It can't stop now. He wants to show us something! A new universe."

"Yeah, a new universe filled with blood and death," Harry shot back. "Great world."

Without waiting for a reply, he quickly Apparated behind Selvig and muttered an apology under his breath before stunning him and then cuffing the man over the head with a sharp blow. Needless to say, Selvig dropped like a rock and Harry gently eased him to the ground.

"Harry? How are things on your end?"

"I just hit an old man over the head, Tony," Harry said somewhat crossly over the comm link Clint had passed to him before they had launched into the battle. "So in terms of morality, things are pretty low for me right now."

"You got Erik?" Thor cut in as Harry bent over the astrophysicist, keeping half an eye out for Death. It was nowhere to be found and Harry assumed it had learned its lesson the first time around, not to mention it would be pretty busy with the rest of the city at the moment.

"Yeah," Harry examined the soft yellow colour of Selvig's soul still floating near the surface. Placing a hand over it, he felt it thrum against him before slowly settling back inside the man's body. "He'll be fine, don't worry. I-"

A flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye caught Harry's attention and the mechanic moved on instinct, shoving Selvig to the side while throwing up a shield around them for good measure.

Just in time too as blue energy curled around them, struggling to get through the barrier Harry had erected before fading away once more.

"I have been waiting for you, nameless warrior," Loki's voice sounded somewhere to Harry's right and, after placing a few protection charms and wards around the unconscious Selvig, he quickly rose to his feet, wheeling around sharply to face the demigod.

"Harry? Are you alright?"

"Fine," Harry said curtly. "I'm about to enter a meeting with our esteemed host. Talk to you later." And without waiting to hear another word, he promptly switched the ear piece off. He didn't need voices yelling in his ear while confronting someone like Loki.

"That sounded vaguely stalker-like," Harry informed the Asgardian, wondering how far he could push him until he would let his temper get the better of him. This man was not Thor, after all; Loki seemed to have a cooler head than his brother did.

Loki only tilted his head as he stepped off the skimmer hovering next to the building and approached Harry, stopping only a few feet away.

"Teleportation, destructive power, shields," Loki studied him with an almost curious air. "You have immense power at your fingertips, yet you stand alongside those humans, protecting a planet filled with people who slaughter each other in droves. What do you see in them that you find worth protecting?"

Harry stared back. "...Potential," He said after a long moment. "There's potential in all of us. To be better people, to live better lives. You're destroying that. You say that we slaughter each other, but you can't possibly tell me that there weren't conflicts like that on Asgard? What, were your people completely at peace with everyone on the planet? And what you're doing now; you don't count that as slaughter?"

"I am creating a better world!" Loki snapped, frowning now. "I mean to rule them, and with me as their king, they will become a superior race in the eyes of the universe! I have no intention of returning to Asgard. It is no longer my home; it never was. Of course there was conflict, but what I am doing here will make them great!"

Harry shook his head in disbelief. "You really believe that? You're killing innocent people, and that's not right no matter how you try to justify it. This isn't about making Earth great; this is about you and your personal grudge against the universe, against your brother!"

"You will be silent!" Loki lashed out again and Harry quickly deflected the blast with a flick of his hand, ignoring the slight burn when it grazed his hand. "I am above this primitive race! They should be grateful that I wish to rule them!"

"And that's why you'd never make a good king anywhere!" Harry barked back, ducking out of the way as another blast was sent at him before throwing back a Reducto at Loki. "'Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power'. A human said that once and from what I've seen, you're character's not turning out to be all that great. When you have power, you should use it to protect, not destroy. This?" He swept a hand around him at the devastation. "This will be nothing but a broken world if you succeed. The ruler of a dead planet. Is that really what you want?"

And Harry saw it. A flicker of doubt in Loki's dark eyes, brief and gone in an instant, but Harry had seen it and knew it to be there, even if it was pushed to the back of the demigod's mind.

"What are you?" Loki asked instead, voice barely above a whisper as he stared at Harry warily. "You are not like the others. You- How do you know-"

Harry waited with bated breath as Loki seemed to struggle with his words. He didn't dare look away, just in case whatever part of Loki he had managed to reach would disappear.

"You know war," Loki finally said, taking another step forward.

Harry inclined his head. "One of the things I know best."

"Yet you are still very young," Loki eyed him carefully. "In Asgardian years, you would be no more than a newborn. Even in human years, you must still be considered a child."

Harry tried not to grimace. "I haven't been considered a child in a very long time. And somehow, judging by how you've been saying 'they' and 'their' and 'them', you don't really consider me a human anyway."

Loki's frown deepened. "Then you are not human?"

"Not... exactly," Harry said carefully, gambling with the honesty card. He doubted Loki would want to be lied to his face right now and he didn't want to break the tentative connection he seemed to have made somehow.

"Then you are like my brother," Loki said flatly. "Protecting a planet not your own, for beings far beneath our notice."

"You sound like Death," Harry said without thinking. Fortunately, he had said it quietly enough that Loki hadn't caught it. Louder, he asked, "And how would you know that they're so worthless? I can tell you now: Earth is my planet through and through. I was born here, I was raised here, I fought here, and it seems I'm still fighting here. And through all that time, yeah, there've been people I didn't like, some I even hated, but that doesn't mean all of them are like that. I've met people who I liked very much, who became my friends. If you give this place a chance, if you give your brother and yourself a chance to fix whatever's broken between you, if you give lifea chance, instead of just bringing death and destruction down on everything in sight, maybe you'll see that too."

For a second, Harry thought he had managed to get through to the demigod. The brief glint of regret in his eyes at least was very real. But Loki only raised his head and stared up at the open portal where the Chitauri and Leviathans were still pouring through.

"It is too late," He finally said quietly, looking back at Harry. "You have picked your side and I stand by mine. They, you, will all fall before me."

And power erupted between them, magic against magic as blue and red clashed, the Tesseract's power against Harry's core.

Tossing spell after spell at Loki, Harry rolled to the side and sent a burst of fire at the demigod before scrambling over to the Tesseract device. Since peace-talks seemed to have broken down, his next best option was to shut the portal forcibly, with or without Loki's consent. Pulling up a shield around himself and the device, Harry proceeded to ignore Loki's increasingly frustrated attempts at breaking through, trying to ignore the strain of each burst of energy.

"Tony," He said, switching his ear piece back on. "Talking didn't work-"

"I could've told you that," Tony grumbled.

"At least he tried," Thor said sharply.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. What do you need, Harry?"

"I'm looking at the cube," Harry reported as he tried to summon it out of the barrier. "But my magic has no effect on this thing. Any ideas?"

"Have you tried pulling the plug?" Steve enquired amidst the sound of explosions in the background.

"It's powered only by the cube," Tony reminded. "And we're not in the Stone Age anymore, gramps. Keep up with the times."

"Is right now really the time?" Clint joined in. "We need to turn that device off or none of this is gonna mean a damn thing. Every time we kill one of these things, half a dozen takes its place."

"Potter, try Selvig," Natasha's voice cut through the babble of voices over the comm link. "He's the one who built it. He should have an idea as to how to stop it as well."

"Right, give me a min- bloody hell!" Harry dove aside as his shields shattered from Loki's onslaught, a tongue of flame-like energy scorching his shoulder as he ducked out of the way.

Rolling to his feet, Harry quickly fired off several stunners, mostly just fend Loki off, and then, catching sight of several Chitauri trying to creep up behind him, he spun around and hurled several cutting hexes at them, ending with a powerful Sectumsempra.

He blew out a heavy breath as he watched the last Chitauri topple off its skimmer and plunge for the ground, a large bloody gash in his chest.

"Shouldn't have let Snape teach me that one," He mused grimly. Sectumsempra had become something of a signature in his arsenal of offensive spells, mainly because Snape had drilled that one into him without mercy. It could cause tremendous damage, depending on how powerful the wizard, and not many could perform it anyway.

"Harry, Thor and Banner's headed your way," Tony said in his ear.

"I can handle it," Harry shot back, blocking an actual swing of Loki's staff as the demigod bore down on him. "Loki and Thor isn't the best idea at the moment."

He stopped talking to duck under a blow before delivering a stinging hex that struck the hand Loki was holding the staff with. The staff clattered to the ground, rolling a few feet away as Loki staggered back, holding his hand. But before the Asgardian could retrieve his weapon, a green shape came flying out of nowhere, grabbing Loki as it passed by before crashing through the windows several floors below the penthouse.

"Too late," Tony told him lightly. "Leave it to them. Concentrate on the cube."

Harry blew out a frustrated breath but turned his attention back to the device, picking up the staff to examine it. With a muttered Rennervate, he crouched down and waited as Selvig's eyes fluttered open.

-.-FH-.-

As Loki tumbled across the floor and crashed into the far wall of the room, the Hulk skidded after him, growling darkly as one thought floated through his mind. This trash hurt Harry.

Storming after the Asgardian, he pulled up short when Loki leapt to his feet again and snapped, "Enough! You are all of you beneath me! I am God, you dull creature, and I will not be bullied by-"

Swiftly grabbing Loki by the legs, the Hulk smashed him against the floor repeatedly before finally throwing him aside to the ground. There, that was a good way to shut him up.

"Puny god," He muttered as he stomped away, ignoring the whimpers of pain behind him.

"Banner, what-" Thor stopped short at the sight of his brother all but embedded in the ground and shot a dark scowl at the Hulk. "There was no need to-"

An abrupt fist crashed into him and sent him flying as the Hulk continued out of the building, irritation in every movement as he leapt out through the window again. First the trash, then the trash's brother. How annoying.

-.-FH-.-

Thor sighed as he picked himself up from a pile of debris, none the worse for wear as he dusted himself off. Perhaps Tony could figure out a way to bottle some of Harry's composure and give it to Banner. Carefully, he made his way over to where his brother was still laying on the ground.

"Well brother," Thor crouched down beside him. "I can't say you didn't deserve it."

Loki shot him a withering look as he shifted upright, ignoring the hand Thor extended as he pulled himself up.

"Do you know how to turn off the Tesseract?" Thor asked quietly, retracting his hand.

Loki glared at him. "There is no stopping it. There is only war!"

Thor snarled, anger in his grip as he hauled his brother up and dragged him over to the open windows. "Look at this! Look around you! You think this madness will end with your rule? You think the Chitauri, a race known for destruction of the worst kind, would stop after you hand over the Tesseract? That they would leave you to sit on you throne and rule to your heart's content? They have no mercy, no principles, and after they get what they want, they will destroy you along with the rest of this world!"

"We have an agreement!" Loki snapped back, wrenching himself out of Thor's grip, but there was an almost desperate sort of defiance in his expression.

"An agreement I highly doubt they plan on honouring," Thor pressed. "They will betray you, brother."

"Like the All-Father betrayed me?" Loki's temper flared.

"Our father loved you like a son," Thor growled. "He adopted you and raised you as his own. Yes, he lied to you, but only to protect you-"

"Protect me!" Loki shouted. "I deserved to know the truth yet he kept it from me for my entire childhood! And you stand there and defend his actions, convinced he is right in his deci-"

"I NEVER SAID HE MADE THE RIGHT CHOICE!" Thor bellowed even louder than Loki, momentarily shocking his brother into silence.

"Don't think, for one moment, that I consider his concealment of the truth from you the correct decision," Thor said much more quietly though with no less intensity. "I am simply telling you why he made that choice. He did not want you to think yourself any less loved than I. He wanted you to know the love of a father without it being tainted by doubts that you were unwanted-"

Thor reeled back when Loki's fist crashed into his jaw, and he staggered back, more shocked than anything else. Even when they had fought in jest as children, Thor would be the one who used his fists while Loki, smaller but quicker and undoubtedly smarter, would weave his illusions and cast his magic. Very rarely would Loki resort to physical attacks.

Instinctively, Thor brought up his hammer in preparation for another assault, only to pause when he realized his brother had made no move to continue. Instead, Loki remained standing by the edge of the building, left hand still balled into a fist but his gaze averted to the world outside.

Thor hesitated. "...Brother?"

"...You've changed," Loki's gaze flickered back to him again. "Once upon a time, you would have struck back if only out of wounded pride."

"I have learned that pride does not matter so much," Thor replied easily. "There are more important things in life."

Loki scoffed. "That almost sounded profound."

Thor had to swallow a smile. This was the Loki he knew. He was relieved his brother wasn't completely gone.

"I will be imprisoned in Hel if I return to Asgard," Loki said abruptly.

Thor was quick to shake his head. "No, I will not allow it, and nor will our father," He took it as a good sign when Loki didn't immediately deny this.

Loki remained silent again, staring out at the destruction the Chitauri was wreaking. Thor took a chance.

"Come home, brother," He pleaded softly, and waited for Loki's reply.

-.-FH-.-

"Stark, is Thor still chitchatting with Loki?"

"What do you think?" Tony shot back as he fired off several missiles at a Leviathan. "They're going through family reunion and the whole shebang."

"What about Potter?"

"Talked to Dr. Selvig, Agent Barton," Harry cut in. "He says that he built in a safety to cut the power source. I can close the portal."

"Then do it," Steve ordered. "Before anymore of them gets through."

"Roger that, Captain," Harry acknowledged. "It'll shut- what the-"

"Harry?" Tony immediately prompted. "What's wrong?"

"The scepter- damn, what the hell-"

"What's going on?" Natasha demanded.

"Shit! The staff's moving on its own! I don't know what's happening-!"

"What are you talking about?" Steve asked tersely. "Is Loki summoning it to him?"

"I don't think so or he would've done that already. Something's wrong. It's definitely going somewhere fast."

"Well which way is it going?" Barton asked.

"Down," Was the one-worded reply.

-.-FH-.-

Thor saw movement over Loki's shoulder as his brother turned back to him, mouth opening, and he reacted on instinct. "Watch out!"

He tackled his brother to the ground just as the scepter hurtled through the broken windows, the glinting point narrowly missing both of them as it rushed past them and plunged itself into the far wall.

"What's going on?" Thor snapped out as he bundled Loki behind a large desk. "Did you summon it?"

"And asked it to try and take my head off; yes, yes I did," Loki shot back sarcastically. "Of course not! I don't know why it's doing that."

They both ducked when the scepter wrenched itself from the wall and took another shot at them, shattering the glass windows behind them.

"Harry!" Thor turned his ear piece back on, passing it to Loki as he threw the entire desk forward to redirect the staff. "Something is wrong with the scepter! It's attacking on its own. How do we stop it?"

There was a series of muffled voices through the comm link before Harry's voice sounded. "Dr. Selvig's studied the staff. It's basically powered by the Tesseract, which is currently holding the portal open at the moment. When Loki came through the first portal, he made contact with the cube's power. By stepping through the Tesseract's energy, he accepted its power and all of it was his. But-"

"But now that another portal was opened, the power was transferred to..." Loki trailed off, swallowing hard as he glanced at Thor before diving out of the way of the scepter.

"Transferred to the Chitauri, that's just wonderful," Tony finished. "And someone please tell me that wasn't Loki on the line."

"He's with us now," Thor said shortly, springing to his feet and deflecting the scepter with a mighty swing of his hammer. "Right?" He looked pointedly at his brother as they scrambled behind a couch.

Loki said nothing but he didn't refute it either so Thor took this as an affirmative.

"Well if he's with us, then the Chitauri must have sensed his sudden change of heart," Steve deducted. "They wouldn't take that lying down so they've gone after him."

"That's a fantastic conclusion, Cap," Tony said. "But what exactly are we going to do about the glowing stick of destiny?"

"Lead it back to the cube," Harry said immediately. "If it's following Loki, then he can lead it back up here. Jump out of the way when you're right in front of the Tesseract."

Thor looked over at Loki as the staff tore past them again. "How about it, brother?"

Loki stared back at Thor before looking down at the ear piece in his hand. "...The doors throughout this entire stronghold are all sealed," Loki finally said.

"No problem, Rock of Ages," Tony answered promptly. "I put the place on lockdown. Jarvis, turn everything back on. Unlock all the doors."

"Stark Tower back online, sir. All doors unlocked."

And on their left, the door leading out of the room slid open silently, revealing a long hallway branching outwards.

"Let's go!" Thor leapt forward first, repelling another strike from the staff before motioning Loki to go on ahead.

They were in the middle of a war and things were looking more than a little grim, but Thor couldn't have been happier when Loki nodded and hurried through the doorway, pausing only long enough to pick up a nearby lamp and hurl it at the scepter when the weapon tried to skewer Thor.

-.-FH-.-

Harry waited anxiously by the device, Selvig standing several feet away and safely ensconced within Harry's wards. He had been very glad when he had heard Loki's voice over the comm link and hoped the younger demigod wouldn't turn again. He hadn't ever heard Thor so happy before.

And then both Asgardians were there, stumbling into the ruined penthouse and making a beeline for Harry. A glint of gold and blue caught his eye and Harry quickly shouted, "Aresto Momentum!"

The scepter slowed but didn't stop and Harry gritted his teeth at the sheer force fighting against him, digging in his heels as the staff pressed forward relentlessly. He wouldn't be able to hold it back for long. His magic just wasn't a match for the full power of the Tesseract; nobody's was.

"Hurry up!" He yelled, arm shaking from the effort of holding the weapon back, and both demigods picked up their pace, leaping easily over the rest of the debris and onto the balcony.

"Okay, stand here," Harry waved Loki over to the area directly in front of the Tesseract. "You have to be quick, alright?"

Loki sent him a bemused look. "I am Asgardian, warrior."

"Yeah, well, you'll be a very dead Asgardian if you don't get out of the way in time," Harry retorted, ignoring the searching look Loki threw him.

"Incoming!" Thor suddenly roared, and they all turned to find several Chitauri bearing down on them, already shooting off blasts from their staves.

Harry and Loki ducked as Thor hurled his hammer at the first few, knocking them off-course but making way for the next wave. A stray blast caught the balcony itself and sent up a shower of rubble, dangerously rocking the platform under their feet.

"No! Stay behind the wards!" Harry shouted when he caught a glimpse of Selvig scrambling away from the oncoming Chitauri and out from behind his protective wards.

Another blast rattled the balcony, snapping part of it away, and Harry watched in horror as Selvig lost his balance and started to fall.

"Erik!" Thor cried, and Harry automatically reached for the scientist, his attention wavering from the staff for a fraction of a second.

That was all it took.

The scepter broke through his magic and Harry's head snapped around again, distantly noting two things at once: one, Thor had dashed past him and caught Selvig instead, barely clinging on to the remains of the balcony, and two, the scepter was headed straight for Loki, who was still in front of the Tesseract, back turned as he followed his brother's movements.

Harry had always been exceptionally stupid when it came to his – as Hermione called it – people-saving thing and this time was no different.

Without hesitation, he shoved Loki out of the way, moving himself into the path of the staff in the process, and without fanfare or delay, the scepter entered his body with brutal ruthlessness, running him through and pinning him against the device as it rammed straight into the Tesseract behind him.

And all around him, the world fell silent.


Finished! I warned you about the cliffie; I'm evil, aren't I? Well, you'll just have to wait for the next chapter to come out to find out what happens.

In the meantime, review and make me happy!