Their bags were in the old Quinjet when it crashed, so, while the bath was filling up, she ventured out to find something for them to wear. It was most of her earthly possessions going up in flames, but she couldn't really bring herself to be concerned about it. It was the least important thing that went up through the chimney today, after all.

She found a shirt that could probably fit and some pants that would most likely be too short for Loki in Stark's wardrobe, then a blouse with a frilly collar and some jeans in what must've been a box with Pepper's old clothes. Not even being a fiancée to a billionaire could chase the old habits from a provincial town girl, it seemed.

Loki had already stripped by the time she came back. He sat on the edge of the tub, his feet submerged in the half-filled bath. She took off her clothes as well, then kneeled behind him. She ran her hands down the slopes of his shoulders. He twitched when her palm brushed over the swollen bump on his arm. She examined the injury closely, then gently nudged him to turn around. There were more bruises, with the most prominent one being on his side and on one of his knees, a cut on his thigh and something that looked a graze and a burn from a bullet on his other arm, and then some further, more superficial cuts and scrapes.

"The rest will probably heal on its own if you don't want me to torment you with my magic, but your arm looks bad," she said, "I think it might be a broken bone."

[It is.]

She held back the dissatisfied groan. It's not like he had no reasons to keep it from her.

"We can call Banner over, so he can take a look," she suggested. She wanted to heal it, of course, just as much as she wanted every single mark gone from his body, but she wasn't going to force him. He could still feel the effects of Odin's magic, even if they were diminished, and it was for him to decide whether the trade-off was worth it or not.

[No. Heal it. Just…]

"I know. I'll be careful. I promise."

He nodded and her fingers traced back to the injury. She sent a small pulse of magic to scout for her and felt him tense under her touch, the gag reacting to her power already. Unlike in the human's body, Loki's humerus was split into two thinner bones, and only one has snapped in half. That's probably why he could still move his arm at all. It was a complicated fracture, with pieces of bone broken off and embedded in his tissue and – as she willed them back into place – it felt a bit like putting puzzle pieces together. She chuckled at the notion and felt him twitch at the sound minutely.

"It's nothing, just a stupid idea that came to my mind," she whispered. "I'm almost done."

She urged the fragments to fuse back together and fixed the damaged veins around, then removed her hands. He let out a relieved breath.

"Better?"

[Yes.]

"I told you."

[You did.]

She shifted to a sitting position next to him and put her feet into the tub. The water was warm. Hot even. "Isn't it too hot for you?"

He shook his head. [It's fine.]

She studied his face for a moment, trying to decide whether it was one of the instances where it truly was fine or if it was one of his dismissive "fines" and decided it might be the former, this time. She reached to undo the tie on his braid and his brows furrowed.

"You're not getting away without having your hair washed by yours truly," she smiled. "You can then wash mine, so we're even. Deal?"

His eyes crinkled in a smile and he turned his head. She unlaced the piece of string (seriously, she really needed to introduce him to the concept of elastic hair bands) and carefully untreaded the strands, then brushed her fingers through his hair. He must've braided it when it was still damp, now it curled in a different pattern than the usual and for a moment she felt bad she was going to ruin it by getting it wet. She could braid it back up later if he agreed. She could use one of the fancy weaves too if she remembered how to do it properly.

"Come on," she said and lowered herself into the tub with a satisfied gasp, then pulled him along. The tub was big enough for both of them to fit inside without even touching, but where would be the fun in that? Loki seemed to think along similar lines, because he settled between her legs, his back to her, then, when she submerged so only her head stuck out above the water, he did the same, his spine pressing against her chest, gently but firmly. The warmth of the water and the coolness of his skin merged into one, fascinating sensation and she closed her eyes, letting her body drink it in as she wrapped her arms around him.

In the end, worn out by the events of the day, they fell asleep in the tub. When she woke up the water was already cold, the sky outside darkened with heavy clouds and rain-filled gusts were lashing at the windows. It wasn't completely dark, not yet, but they couldn't be far off, either.

Loki was still sleeping, his cheek pressed to her bosom, the metal of the muzzle cold and awkward on her bare skin. Wasn't it hurting him like that? He looked unperturbed. Relaxed even, but knowing him – and what he went through – it didn't say much.

She ran her fingers across his neck then down his freshly healed arm and he stirred, then looked up at her, taking a few seconds to orient himself, the dying light of the day reflecting in his eyes. He pulled himself up then frowned at the lines the gag pressed onto her skin. His hand shot up, curled into a fist, but she grabbed his wrist before he managed a full circle over his chest.

"It's okay, I was just worried it triggered the spell," she explained.

[It did not,] he said and looked just as fascinated with the fact as she was. The hair on top of his head had already dried, while the rest – the ends that were still in the water a couple of seconds ago – was still dripping wet.

"It truly must have a way of sensing intentions then, even of other people."

[Must be. Let's try again,] he added and guided her hand to his face.

She pulled back. "No. I don't want to hurt you."

[I know. But I also want to know how it works, exactly. It might be important if we are to meddle with it.]

She eyed him doubtfully.

[Try to clear your mind. Do not think about taking it off.]

"It would be easier to do if you didn't just say it," she chuckled. She still tried. She placed her fingers on his cheek and focused only on the sensation of touch, nothing more, then slowly and methodically brought her hand down, until it rested on the metal. It felt… weird. It wasn't only the metal, not like the last time, all those long months ago. She could feel the magic itself coursing through it now, wild and powerful and angry and wrong. It ebbed and flowed, spiking with furious swirls in warning at the trespass, but not firing. If she could just convince it to…

Loki pulled away with a huff.

"I'm sorry. I lost focus," she said, "How was it until I fucked it up?"

[Nothing, as if I was touching it myself without thinking.]

"That's… I have no idea, to be honest. Does it mean something important?"

[I don't know,] he admitted.

"I could feel the spell. I can't really make out the logic behind it but it felt… violent. Foul. Corrupt."

His eyes narrowed. [I'm not exactly… surprised. It must be the old, dark magic that Odin sourced to make it so intricate and potent. I hoped he wouldn't, but…] he let his hands fall back into the water with a sigh.

"Does that mean something important?"

[Maybe not.]

"But?"

He rolled his eyes. [But there might be further stipulations required to break it.]

"What exactly?"

[The dark magic is ruled by a slightly different set of rules. Rules that might sometimes not obey the basic laws of the universe, because the power itself comes from its fringes. That's why its use is usually frowned upon, or downright forbidden in some societies, like in Asgard. Of course, Odin, as the king, is exempt from that law, as from any other.

[It might also mean there might yet be a strand of dark energy that would hold it on, even if my body is no longer able to support it on its own. You'd have to find it and separate it before the curse breaks.]

"I don't know if I can do it…"

[You'll have to try.]

"I know," she groaned.

[I will tell you how.]

"I'd appreciate it," she said with a lazy smile. She wasn't in a mood for jokes, not really, but she hoped it would make him feel at least a bit better. "We will have to tell Stark."

[Yes,] he agreed and pulled himself out of the tub.

Both the shirt and the trousers Natasha brought for him were too short, but they were clean and whole, so Loki was not going to complain. In comparison, the clothes she found for herself did fit a lot better, perhaps minus the breeches that she needed to fold at the bottom. It still looked presentable, at least according to his limited knowledge about Midgardian fashion. Miss Potts would probably have a lot more to say about it though.

Natasha insisted on drying his hair with a towel and combing it before they ventured out of their room and he yielded. It was equal parts embarrassing and pleasant, being cossetted like that. It's been a long time since anyone treated him like that, even when he was still a prince. And there was no one but the two of them in the room.

"Loki," said Jarvis from the corner, just like – seemingly – anytime Loki managed to forget about the assistant's presence for two heartbeats in a row. "Doctor Banner asked me to remind you that you skipped your dose of the formula yesterday and you shouldn't make that a habit."

[Where is he?]

"In the common area, sir. Along with everyone else."

[Tell him I'll come when we're finished here,] he said, then turned to Natasha. [You should eat something too. You probably missed the dinner.]

Her lips curled up in a smile, one of the bright, honest ones he liked best. "I will. You don't have to worry about me."

I'm not, he wanted to say, but that would be a lie. Which reminded him… [You said something about being in a hospital, after we came back, presumably. You never told me what happened. When I woke up you were already gone. Fury told me you died.]

"He did? That slimy motherfucker, I'm going to kill him with my bare hands!" Loki's exhale hitched as she pulled his hair a bit too ferociously. "Ugh, sorry."

[Not in those exact words… You saw the recording, he told me that he lost two of his best agents, I assumed he meant you and…]

"Coulson. Yeah. Turns out both were lies. That's why you were so surprised to see me."

[Yes.]

She rubbed her face. "To be honest, I was in a coma, for almost four weeks. He might have meant that. That's why I couldn't come and find you when you were still in the States."

[I'm glad you lived.]

"Yeah, that's quite a miracle, isn't it?" she smiled.

[You're stronger than I've ever given you the credit for.]

"Makes two of us. Or three. The ghost thingy was pretty sure I'm going to keel over from the energy transfer too. They weren't any less wrong, it turns out," she said with a smirk.

Loki blinked. She might not trust his own assessments, when it came to judging humans' abilities, he was mistaken more often than not, but the very casters of the spell warned her of the outcome, yet she still did it. She willingly went through with what she believed was her certain death, just to save him.

Unable to arrange the lonesome, warm feeling in his chest into words he pressed his face to her belly and wrapped her arms around her thighs, pulling her closer.

She chuckled, then patted his head lightly. "You're welcome, space boy. By the way, there's something kind of embarrassing I must show you."

He let his hands fall to his sides before he moved them up to ask. [What is it?]

"I'll need your phone for that."

He got up and fished the device from the pocket of his old trousers and handed it to Natasha.

"Ugh. Six percent battery," she scoffed at the screen. "Do charge it, pretty please."

[I will,] he promised, not entirely sure why she found it so important, but she apparently did. He had no charger for it anymore, but he was sure he would be able to find one somewhere in the tower. All the portable devices with Stark's company name on them seemed to use the same type of power connector, Tony seemed unable to control where he was leaving his appliances, and they ended up everywhere.

She tapped the screen a couple of times then handed the phone back. There was a list of files displayed. [What are those?]

"Those are the videos I recorded when I was still looking for you. Some of it got lost when I had to swap devices, but some I saved and uploaded into Stark's cloud. I promised myself I'll show them to you so here they are. You don't have to watch it. To be honest, I'd rather prefer if you didn't, cause most of it is tacky as hell. But hey, if there's ever a time you're bored out of your mind and your only alternative is staring numbly at the wall… Feel free to have a laugh at my expense."

[I will.]

"Oh, I'm sure you would," she said with an amused puff, then reached to ruffle his hair, ruining most of the work she just did combing it. "Here. Now it's perfect."

The others were sitting around the dining table which was loaded with boxes of different sizes and shapes, some opened or empty already, some still full. The wispy, sweet aromas of cooked meats and vegetables and some kind of molten cheese drifted in the air and tickled in Loki's nose. And in his stomach, a lot less pleasantly.

He pushed the notion away; it was just his weakness rearing its ugly head, yet again. He should bear it and be glad they no longer shunned away from including him in their gatherings for the fear of hurting his feelings. This was exactly what he wanted, wasn't it?

They still had to deal with the fallout of their attack on Hydra first, and, on top of that, the discovery about the kind of magic Odin used pushed the perspective of potential freedom from the burden of the gag even further away. Loki should've anticipated it, if he only focused his scattered brain for a few heartbeats on the matter. The curse was strong enough to withstand the Mind Stone's power, no common spell would be able to do that.

It was best not to think about it, for now.

"Hey!" Sam waved at them and the chairs screeched on the floor as people moved around.

The two spaces they made for Loki and Natasha were not adjacent, which he noted with certain disappointment, but kept it from showing up on his face as he sat down next to Tony and Natasha sat on the opposite side of the table, between Clint and James, who didn't even seem to notice, too busy with showing morsels of steamed grains into his mouth, omitting the use of cutlery altogether.

"I have a dose of the formula ready for you," Banner said, leaning over the table, to get his voice heard over the reignited conversation. "I'll bring it to your room later."

[Can't we do it here?] Loki asked. This was a celebratory feast, or what passed for one on Midgard, it seemed. He really didn't want to be excluded, even if he couldn't participate fully. Sulking alone in the bedroom – while everyone else was sitting together, laughing and recounting the moments of glory – didn't feel too alluring.

Banner raised an eyebrow. "I thought you preferred, uhm, privacy."

Loki shrugged. They've all seen everything that there was to see and they didn't seem to care. If that was to be the last feather to break the steed's back he would be surprised, truly.

"Okay, sure. I'll get it ready in a minute," Banner said and wandered away from the table.

Sam was in the middle of recounting the evacuation effort he conducted on one of the downed Helicarriers when Banner came back, and his speech hitched just for a fraction of a second when he noticed what it was that Banner was carrying. Loki was impressed by his self-control, especially compared to James, who just stopped in the middle of chewing, his mouth partially open, and just stared, uncomprehending. Loki undid his shirt, while Banner set up the stand behind Loki's chair and connected the drip.

"You can't take the muzzle off," James said, flabbergasted, understanding finally dawning on his face. It seemed like no one thought to catch him up to date on that particular detail. Loki wasn't sure if he should feel offended or endeared by that fact, so he settled on neither.

Tony chortled and tried to cover it with a cough.

Loki shook his head. [You thought I wear it as a fashion accessory?]

James shrugged and returned to his meal. "They made me wear a mask. But I found a way to take it off each time, so they stopped trying to make it stay on."

[Well, let's hope it's going to be the same for me.]

Sam cleared his throat and returned to his story. Stark nudged Loki with his elbow, then handed him a tablet. "You two were asleep like two dead hakes when this came."

Loki furrowed his brows. [You said you're not spying on me.]

"I don't. Bruce went to check on you and decided you were, to quote, too cute to wake up," he added with a sneer. "That's not spying. That's being a caring host."

Loki rolled his eyes, let out an exasperated sigh, and picked the tablet from Stark's waiting hands then skimmed through the document. It was written in a rather specific jargon – legal, Loki assumed – and it was difficult to grasp the full meaning of it. The "arrest warrants" and "suspension of execution" and "interminably" parts were self-evident though.

Tony grinned at him when he handed the tablet back. "Great, right?"

[It means you don't have to fear being arrested, for now,] Loki tried.

"Yep, pretty much. That's big news. It means the warrants are already being put under question, and that's the first step to revoking them. There are also talks about a full presidential pardon, at least if we have the same president by the morning. Ellis' name has been popping up in the files quite a bit, Jarvis has been telling me."

Ellis was the name of the current ruler – or the president, as the humans in this particular corner of the planet called the function – of the country, that much Loki had figured on his own. It meant the man held the highest power and there would be no one to overthrow that ruling. But there was one caveat. [My name was not mentioned there,] Loki pointed out, carefully.

"That's because you were never officially wanted by the law. According to the official version of the events, you've gone to Asgard with Thor and never returned."

Loki crooked his head. He never thought about it, but it seemed in line with all the rest the humans told him about his ordeal. It was easier to keep him hidden if no one even knew he was there.

"Don't worry, I'll personally make sure that – if the pardon comes through – your name will be on it. First even, if it would make you feel better. The lawyers will need to make a new casus for it, but they'll manage. That's all they do." Stark's smile didn't falter when he waved at Natasha. "Hey, Romanoff, come over here!"

She did and Tony showed her the tablet, just like he did with Loki a moment ago.

"That's huge," she judged.

"I know, right?"

"And that's with only a few files."

"Yep."

"Are we still dropping the rest?"

"Of course."

"When?"

"The system came back online a few hours ago and I'm pretty sure I patched the exploit they used to overtake my satellite array. We should be ready in… Jay?"

"The servers are online and I downloaded all the available files to the local network, sir. I can patch secure connections through any time you wish."

Stark turned back to Natasha and his grin widened. "Now."

The first few minutes were anticlimactic, with Stark refreshing his screen every once a while and Bruce skipping between the tv channels.

Natasha sat back in her chair with a pout, then frowned at Sam when he pulled out his own device.

"How come you still have your phone?"

"I had it with me. Why don't you?"

"Cause we are too well trained to have a stealth mission interrupted by a text, Wilson," Clint responded angrily. His device has fallen a casualty to the crash as well, it seemed.

[You can mute the ringtone,] Loki provided, only to get an annoyed huff from Clint and a laugh out of Bruce, two seconds later.

"That, and the last time I checked it wasn't a stealth operation. There's usually less fire and explosions and screaming and running during those," Sam added.

"Hey, Stark, can we have new phones? Some laptops, too?" called Natasha.

"Do you think I'm made of money?"

"Uhm, yes?"

"Okay, that's fair. Who wants one?"

Clint raised his hand, Natasha did as well. Loki put his hand up too, as that seemed to be the widely agreed symbol. He did not need a new phone, but he was already missing the computer. It was a useful piece of technology.

Sam's hand shot up into the air too. Stark eyed him – and the phone in his other hand – suspiciously.

"What? That's the OG Galaxy. It's like a million years old in tech years. It even has a cracked screen and everything. I'm not going to say no when you're giving stuff away for free."

"Anyone else?" Tony sighed.

James put his hand up. "I never had one and they look useful," he explained.

Tony shook his head with pretended incredulity. "You got it, Jay?"

"Yes, sir. I'll have Teeny deliver requested devices from the stash in a moment," Jarvis responded, and Natasha murmured "I knew it," under her breath.

A couple of minutes later a small automaton rolled into the room, loaded with plain, white boxes, similar to the ones Loki's phone came in. It was another weird Earth thing, to have such advanced products manufactured beforehand in abundance – and yet another necessity stemming from the sheer amount of people living on the planet. If Stark were making those on Asgard, he would sell one or two a year.

There was a flurry of movement as people grabbed the devices from the pile and ripped through the packaging. As Loki couldn't move from his seat without disturbing the tube, Natasha took a box for him as well.

The computer was slightly different than the one he used before, but it was just a cosmetical difference, as far as he could tell and the main operating principle was similar – there was a display panel, a keyboard and a pad to guide the pointer. It took a while to set up when he pushed the power button, informing him in great – and quite unnecessary – detail about each step, but the screen that welcomed him once it did was similar enough for him to not get lost.

Then Bruce swapped tv channels again and, a couple of seconds later, the recording of a group of people sitting in half a circle on a stage was replaced with a white and blue background with "Breaking News" written over it, in bold, red letters.

"We're breaking the regular programming to bring you the latest news," said the news anchor on the screen. "In the follow-up to the alleged leak of classified documents, that revealed the involvement of high-ranking officials, including The World Security Council's Director Alexander Pierce, in the planning of an act of domestic and international terrorism, further discoveries have been made. Multiple independent sources report that a great number of top-secret files have been uploaded to publicly available servers across the globe. Some files have been traced to open-source repositories, but also to private companies' network nodes, including Stark Industries and Tesla Motors, resulting in allegations that the infamous group called 'the Avengers' was somehow involved.

"So far, the contents of the files remain unknown, but there are numerous reports the documents contain references to multiple members of President Ellis' Cabinet or even the president himself. White House is to hold a special press conference at eleven pm. We are bringing you the live report as the story develops. To recap, earlier this afternoon…"

Stark clapped his hands. "Here we go!"

The internet was ablaze. It soon became unmanageable to go through the social media posts, they popped up and disappeared every millisecond, the government algorithms still hard at work, but unable to deal with the onslaught of news, coming from every direction. For every deleted mention ten new appeared. Then Twitter crashed. And Facebook, soon after. Reddit's been gone since the afternoon anyway.

Tony focused on keeping his own servers online. Two were taken down – by attacks Jarvis was able to trace to a Russian group of hackers – but the others still stood, with security protocols unbreached. It wouldn't hold on forever, Tony was aware, but it needed to hold on for long enough for the files to go into full circulation. A few partial mirrors were already online and new ones were popping up every second, all across the globe. This wasn't just some small, local issue. Hydra's influence reached far and wide, their slimy tendrils sneaking into multiple world's governments, including allies and enemies, democracies and regimes, and even a couple of monarchies.

The White House conference was brief and consisted mostly of Ellis resigning, along with most of his Cabinet.

"So, who's the president now?" Bruce asked.

It was a reasonable question. The Vice was gone, and so was the Speaker of the House of Representatives and that was about as deep as Tony's knowledge about the line of succession went.

"Harriet Parry," said Romanoff, looking up from her screen, "Apparently."

"Who's that?"

"The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development."

"Look at that," Tony sneered. "We brought the US the first female president, without even trying."

Romanoff scoffed.

"Do we know what that might mean for us?" Clint asked, running his fingernails on the edge of the table. "Like, us." He made a gesture at the gathered people.

"Well, they can try to charge us with treason and put us in front of a firing squad while trying to sweep it under the rug…"

"You really think they could do that?" asked Rogers.

"Nah," Tony admitted, "It's way too big. But I kinda want to see them try and fail."

"You're not quite all right in the head, are you?" said Romanoff.

Tony rolled his shoulder casually and laughed. "Come on, why the long faces? We won!"

"Yeah," Clint grunted and got up. "I'm going to call Laura. She must be worried sick by now. Don't wait for me."

Cap said his excuses soon after and his pet Manchurian Candidate wandered after him like an insistent shadow. Wilson was gone for a while already; Tony wasn't even sure when he sneaked out.

That left him, Bruce, Romanoff, and Loki in the room. Loki didn't talk much through the night, but his eyes remained focused, and Tony knew him well enough by now to realize no piece of info went uncatalogued in his brain.

Bruce was falling asleep in his seat, so he lasted maybe another two minutes. "I don't think there's anything that still can happen that can't wait for me to wake up tomorrow to learn about it," he said, closed his laptop, got up and went to unhook Loki's IV line. It was done, for quite some time probably. "So, if you excuse me…"

"Sure thing," Tony said with a handwave. It was almost four am, thus hours after Bruce's usual bedtime.

Loki sat up and his fingers clutched the edges of his seat. Tony could swear there was a question hovering at their fingertips and Loki was gathering the courage to ask it now.

"Go on," Tony prompted, accenting it with a handwave, and then grinned at Loki's disgruntled expression.

[I know a lot is happening,] Loki started, [and that it will take you time to deal with it. I just need to know if…] He paused and took a long breath.

"The answer is 'yes'," Tony said. He didn't need much of his genius to know what Loki was asking about. "We are following up on the plan. There are still some things that we need to test first, but it shouldn't take more than a day or two. And I'm not intending to wait till this blows over, it could take weeks, or months even. No. We are starting first thing in the morning. By which I mean like two pm. If you're still up to it, of course."

[I am.]

That wasn't much of a surprise. "Great."

"We should probably get some sleep then," said Romanoff and went to stand over Loki's chair, her hands hovering over his shoulders, but not quite touching.

Loki nodded and got up, without utilizing the perfect opportunity for the "I'll rest when I'm dead" joke, which Tony noted with only a slight disappointment. Then the two left and Tony watched them go, Natasha's hand resting on the small of Loki's back casually and his brushing the short hair on her neck, seemingly in passing.

A thousand-year-old alien and a Soviet assassin, acting like two kids in love.

Bruce was right, it was kinda cute.