A/N: I was thinking about how Tony and Loki are similar and how really all the Avengers have something in common with Lok but he and Tony share the most similarities and I'm rambling and this is a run-on sentence so I'm going to be quiet now. Enjoy!
Fury and Point Break were arguing about where the Tesseract was supposed to go. Now, as much as Tony would love to fiddle and mess with the Space travelling cube, he was with Thor on this one. The thing was too powerful and beyond their understanding. Nothing good had come from messing with the cube and Tony wasn't sure how much he trusted Fury.
"I'm not going to win this one, am I?" Fury sighed, running a hand down his face.
"Fine. Take the cube and your brother to Asgard."
"Thank you, Furious Nickolas." Thor started to go towards the door and for some reason, Tony stood suddenly, catching the attention of the others.
"Wait." Seven faces looked towards him. Now that he'd had time to process the events, something didn't sit right in his gut.
"Don't take Loki back to Asgard just yet." Several people looked at him either confused, curiously or like he was insane.
"Why not?!" Robinhood shouted. The archer looked ready to strangle him.
"We're missing something. Think about it, Loki made it personal, for all of us. He used the same cube that used in WWII, drawing Capsicle to the same country that he fought in the war. He took Barton, getting Romanoff to come in. It personal for Point Break for obvious reasons, he managed to provoke Bruce and he killed Coulson. Coulson, who was Barton's mentor, my friend, one of the first people besides Fury to see Cap when he came out of the ice-coma and the person who helped get the government off of Bruce's back. To finish it off, he sets up the portal thing from my tower. How does a supposedly master manipulator mess up that badly? In Norse myths, he's considered one of the most powerful magic users in the Nine Realms. Second to his parents and a few old Vanir people. Yet did he use any magic?" The others looked at him silently as Point Break spoke up.
"My brother is blinded by greed for the throne, he is going to make mistakes in his state of mind. As for the lack of seidr, I admit he used much less than usual, but he may have been trying to prove he could win without it."
"Or, he wanted to lose. Which would imply that there is something more dangerous out there, pulling the strings. You said he was gone for a year. Why would he choose now to attack? What was he doing for a year?"
"Here's a better question, why are you trying so hard to defend that freak?! He's a psycho, Stark. He killed who knows how many people, he tried to kill all of us, he mind controlled me!" Barton exploded, slamming his hands on the table as he stood suddenly. Tony swallowed his anger and annoyance, knowing it wouldn't do him any good.
"I know that, Barton." He had to make good enough reasons for Loki to stay. He didn't know what was going on, but he couldn't do the equation without all of the variables.
"In case you haven't noticed, Loki is a prince and Thor has made it quite clear that he is still his brother. Do you really think he will be punished accordingly?" Thor opened his mouth to interject, but Tony plowed on, turning to Fury.
"Have you even considered the possibility that someone else may be pulling the strings? Loki might have information that could prepare us. Not to mention that if we could somehow convince him to be on our side, he would be a valuable asset. He was gone for a year, so why choose now to attack? S.H.I.E.L.D started experimenting with the cube a couple months after the New Mexico debacle."
"Why are you trying so hard to keep that freak here?" Barton asked with thinly veiled anger.
"Because I can relate to him!" The words were shouted, sneaking past Tony's brain before he could stop his tongue from uttering them.
"Thor, I'm going to describe Loki's childhood. Correct any facts that may be wrong. Look, from what I gathered from the myths, Loki is a magic user in a warrior culture, this makes him a black sheep. He's a master manipulator and liesmith. He was probably the smartest guy in the room and the son of a wealthy family. All of this makes him different and being different makes him untrustworthy. Now his mom, Frigga is the other seidr- seidr is what they call magic- anyway, Frigga is the other seidr user in the family and Odin-that's their father- is the more warrior-like of the family. Now I'm going to assume that Odin spent more time with Thor and Frigga spent more time with Loki. Loki felt ignored, like his father didn't love him. On top of that, since Asgard is a warrior culture, Asgard, and likely his father would always prefer Thor. Everyone would always compare him to the perfect Capt- Thor that nobody could ever live up to. Do you have a rank on Asgard?" That had been close. He needed to keep his own past separate.
"My point is that I don't think Loki's the real villain here. I think he's hurt and bitter. He's what every single one of us would have become if we didn't have anyone to lean on. Perhaps I am reading him all wrong, but if he thinks he has someone in his corner, we might be able to turn him around. Everyone standing in this room has red in their ledger, perhaps saving even the ones that don't want to be saved is what it takes to try to wipe it out." Thor was the first one to speak.
"The Man of Iron is correct. I was not the same person I am now. Had I been who I am now, I believe none of this would have ever happened. However, I must put my personal feelings to rest and fulfill my duty to Asgard. That entails bringing Loki back to Asgard to face Asgardian justice."
"Then let me go with you. Come on, you guys visit us uninvited all the time. It'll be a good opportunity to see your home, see your technology and libraries and whatnot. I can report to S.H.I.E.L.D when I get back and while I'm there, maybe I can talk to your dad." Defending a mass murderer wasn't something he ever thought he would do, but it just felt natural. The Trickster was hiding something and he wanted to know what.
"Stark, just because you see yourself in the guy doesn't mean he's salvageable. Why are you doing this?"
"Because he's right. Not a one of us is innocent. He at least deserves a chance. Besides, if someone was controlling a prince of a place as powerful as Asgard, it can't hurt to be prepared."
"I knew I liked you for a reason Bruce."
"Fine, but only if all six of you go. The world has seen that you can fight together, I want to see how you do on a diplomatic mission. If Loki returns with you, you six will all be stationed at the Stark Tower." Though Tony could see why Fury would do that, his indignant side wanted to explode at him for just giving away his tower. Pep would have to stay in Miami. Besides her, nobody else would be misplaced. Bruce wasn't going back to Calcutta now, Spider and Hawk were used to moving around, Capsicle was probably staying in some S.H.I.E.L.D motel and Thor wasn't leaving Loki with them alone.
"For the record, my tower does not belong to S.H.I.E.L.D." He murmured.
"Very well. If my friends wish to experience Asgard's wonders, they may accompany me. We depart in half a Midgardian hour." With that the group dispersed, leaving Tony alone with the Director.
"I sure hope you know what a dangerous game you're playing Stark, for all of our sakes."
...
Clint Barton left the room seething. What was Stark's problem?! Loki was a psychotic mass murderer, clean and simple. How could he even think that he was anything else? The guy had turned his own mind against him, had made him shoot Fury and kill his friends and colleagues! He had made him try to kill Natasha. Natasha! He had made him spill classified information without hesitation. He knew about his family. Clint turned and punched the wall. Hard. How could Stark think for a second that Loki was anything but a sadistic psycho?! He wanted to scream and yank his hair out. Instead, he tried to calm himself down.
Deep breaths. Natasha laid a hand on his shoulder. Forget about what that psycho did to him, what he did to Tasha was worse. Loki had broken something in her. She was a spy, not a soldier. Loki did something to make her wade into a bloody war. He forced his shoulders to relax under her hand. He turned towards her.
"I'm fine. Come on, we have to pack." She raised an eyebrow slightly, conveying silently that she knew he was not fine. Still, she said nothing. Instead, she squeezed his shoulder and started walking. He followed, anger and hate slowing shifting into fear and despair. If Loki told anyone about his family, he could make them targets. If Tony somehow convinced Thor's father to let Loki stay here as punishment... Couldn't the billionaire see how serious this was? He would already need therapy, he didn't need the culprit on the same planet as him, much less the same building. How could Fury do that to him?
As soon as they reached their bunkroom, he leaned back and slid down the wall. He drew in his knees tight and bent his head down, wrapping his arms around it. Dimly, he was aware of Natasha packing. Why couldn't this nightmare just end?
...
Natasha packed Clint's duffle bag, inconspicuously watching him. He looked so broken, curled up on the floor. She hated it. She hated this whole bloody situation. What Loki had said to her had hurt, hurt more than she cared to admit. What he did to Clint was unimaginably worse. She could imagine quite a lot.
Natasha let out a small sigh. Though she wanted Loki dead for what he did to Clint, she could see Stark's logic. She was good at her job, but as good as someone deemed the god of lies? She wasn't sure. However, if Stark was right, then was Loki double crossing whoever sent him, or did he legitimately fail? Either way, if he was simply a lackey, then she could see why Stark wanted to find the master. Still, what if Loki was simply a murderer that they were aiding? What if Stark was somehow under his influence? "I have red in my ledger. I'd like to wipe it out." She was hardly one to deny second chances, but what if he didn't want it? You can't help someone who doesn't want it. Yet, wasn't that exactly what Clint had done for her?
When she heard that a S.H.I.E.L.D assassin was after her, she decided to use it to her advantage. Use him to finally escape Dreykov. Problem was, Clint saw right through it. She used the most elaborate techniques she knew, hoping to get him to mess up and land a killing blow. She had been down a path that she couldn't simply turn back from. A path that she thought the only way to leave was to die. Now she was part of a team that was made to protect the world. Didn't Loki deserve that same chance?
A/N: Okay, I had a path for this story to take. A path that this story completely veered off of. This was a one shot in my head and now it's probably going to be at least five. Anyway, some things are getting changed from my usual writing/style. One, Clint legitimately hates Loki and two, it's multiPOV in one chapter. I think this is shaping up to be a Loki and Avengers directly after the Avengers story, so nothing unique or new. I might change the title later on. Enjoy!
