AN: It's well established that I suck at writing action and plotting plots, so don't give too much thought to those elements of the story...

"I have a location," Ward announced, striding purposefully into the room.

"Finally," Loki approved.

"It's going to be difficult, though. He's at the Avengers facility upstate."

"Damn it!" Loki swore. Thor was always in his way. Loki knew Banner was also at the compound and he certainly didn't fancy going into battle with him again. And this time he didn't have the key, the tesseract or a chitauri army backing him up. "I'm not powerful enough to best them all at once. Thor always finds a way to thwart me!"

"Hey," the HYDRA agent said, taking a step closer. Loki admired his fearlessness. "We can make this work. Together, we can figure it out."

Ward was watching him carefully, always assessing, always calculating what he could do to please and impress. Loki admired that devotion too.

"What do you propose?"

"If we can't go in there, we lure him out. If he's at the compound then he's working with the Avengers, and I imagine finding you is still their number one priority."

Loki couldn't help but smile because Ward was right. This way, they could set a home ground advantage. Use the apparent lack of the element of surprise, as precisely that.

"We make it appear unplanned. As though we didn't intend for them to discover our location."

"Exactly," Ward agreed, taking another step closer, alight with eagerness now, presuming to reach out and touch Loki without permission. "We can win," he said, drawing close enough to kiss.

Loki stilled. The Midgardian knew better than this, it wasn't his place to instigate physical contact between them, and certainly not to imply or assume some form of emotional attachment existed in their relationship. He stared into the man's dark eyes, waiting for that realisation to dawn on Ward, rather than have his own hand forced into making the realisation for him. And he saw it then, pass through Ward's eyes, the knowledge that he'd overstepped, but it was quickly followed by the hardness of defiance. Now he knew what he'd done was wrong and apparently he didn't care. Loki began to feel the sting of betrayal, that his perfect, obedient servant was letting him down, failing in the very things that made Loki admire him so. It was always the way, every time he built his hopes up, they shattered, but before he could fully process the wretched feeling, give in to the despair of another failure, Ward lifted a hand and cupped his cheek, his palm hot against Loki's skin.

"Don't feel like you have to control me through brutality and fear. It worked at first, and I respect you for it, your strength and your commitment, but I'd follow you anywhere now, do anything for you, because I love you. Do you hear me? I love you, Loki. I don't want to pretend like I don't anymore."

Loki was so astounded by the confession, the presumptuousness and the audacity of it, that Ward had time to lean in and kiss him, softly and warmly on the mouth. Not a hot, needy thing meant to lead to sex, but a tender touch meant to express how he felt. Loki stood there frozen, unable to give in to something so weak, something that would leave him much too vulnerable to heartbreak. He couldn't do what he needed to do and have this. Caring never led to anything worthwhile.

He pushed Ward off him, not harshly, he didn't want to be cruel, but he did have to be firm.

Ward frowned at him in confusion.

"I know you want me. You said it before, no one makes you do anything you don't want to do."

If only that were true.

"I admit I need you, you're a valuable asset. But this, whatever you think is between us, it's a fantasy. And if you persist with it, if you keep pressing me, you will indeed make me do something I do not wish to do."

"Loki, it's okay to admit you have feelings for me. I want you to."

Ward didn't understand, he was only human after all. He was reaching again, and Loki seized his wrist, squeezing tight enough to cause considerable pain.

"Say another word about it and you will make me have to get rid of you."

They stared at each other until Ward finally succumbed to the physical pain and gave in.

"Fine," he allowed, knowing that he'd been beaten, and it pained Loki to squash him so, but it was necessary if he wanted to succeed. For in the end, power was more important to him than anything, even love. "What do you need me to do?"

"It's time to fine tune your Russian, I think."

xxx

Bucky needed to focus, and for some reason he couldn't do that with Sam around. Anyway, it was better this way, to start putting some distance between them now. When the fight came, he would be leaving Sam behind, so they might as well get used to the separation sooner rather than later.

It was kind of weird now that he thought about it, how used to Sam's company he'd gotten, it just kind of felt natural to be around him now. Still, he didn't want to become too reliant on him, or anyone, it hurt too much when the bond inevitably broke.

"Comfy?" Tony asked him, checking the electrodes attached to Bucky's head again. Truth be told the answer was no, any kind of procedure like this felt too much like what HYDRA had put him through, but he was tough, so he could put up with it. Besides, this was the only way to make sure he didn't hurt anyone ever again.

"Yes."

"Alright," Bruce said. "I'm not going to pretend this will be pleasant, but the result will be worth it. Ready?"

Bucky gritted his teeth and nodded. For all his bravado, he would have liked Sam here, to have the reassurance of a friend nearby, but that was also the reason he couldn't be. Bucky wouldn't be able to forgive himself if he accidentally did anything to hurt Sam and he didn't know how he was gonna react to the procedure Tony and Bruce had in store for him.

"Okay, Tony. Go ahead," Bruce prompted.

It was a gruelling process, retraining his brain, having to look at things he would much rather forget. But he was lucky that Tony knew his tech so well, and that Bruce was so clever with biology. It meant that something which had taken HYDRA months to achieve, they could undo in just hours. The pair of them really did make an amazing team.

When it was done, when Tony flicked his machine off, and Bruce stopped administering the chemicals, he didn't exactly feel different, but he didn't exactly feel the same either. Maybe it was the hope that was messing with his brain now.

Suddenly, the laboratory door flung open dramatically and the alien was there.

"Loki has revealed his location," Thor announced. "The time to act is now."

Bucky jumped up, ready for this thing to be finished.

"Whoa there," Tony said. "You don't want to take the new noggin for a test drive first?"

Everyone said Tony was the absolute best at what he did.

"I trust you," Bucky told him. "I'll test it in the field."

"What if something went wrong?" Bruce worried. "There are so many variables..."

"Well," Bucky said, looking Tony in the eye, silently telling him that it was okay to do whatever he needed to do. "I think the Avengers can handle it."