Warnings: A brief mention to Loki being barely clothed. Nothing immodest or anything.

Natasha sits in the ruins of the command center for the hovercarrier, waiting for Fury to arrive so she can debrief them all on her interrogation of Loki. Clint's next to her, taunt as a bowstring and just as talkative. The others on the team are scattered around the room, trying their utmost to stay out of the repair crews way.

"This is totally not fair, you know. Why do we have'ta look after Reindeers?" Stark whines like a child. "He's not our family! I think we'd know if we had a homicidal, nutty brother, you know?"

Natasha leans back in her chair and silently agrees, about the underhandedness of Loki being dumped into their laps, not the brother part – that's all Stark. Loki is Asgard's mess, yet Odin, All-Father and ruler of the Nine Realms, didn't hesitate a second to decree that his adoptive son be house on Earth.

"For crimes against Asgard, you are stripped of your rank."

A jolt of golden magic flows out from Odin's staff and Loki's armor vanishes into thin air, leaving behind a skeletal man with barely any clothing, but too many wounds. Natasha spends a brief second wondering where they all came from, but then shoves the problem aside for later. She focuses on the relieving fact that the magic blocking bracelets are still attached to Loki's wrists.

Loki snarls from his position on his knees. "You think I care, son of Borr, about your family? You're doing me a favor by freeing me from your tedious grasp. You shall rue the day you lifted the shadows from my eyes and let me see the truth."

Odin ignores the rant and thumps his staff against the ground again. "For crimes against the planet Jötunheim, you are cast out of Asgard, forever banished to Midgard until such time as you are fit to walk in Our presence again."

"Father, please –" Thor starts to say at the same time Fury steps forward and says "Now, wait a minute – "

Odin cuts them off with a snarl. "Know your place, boy!"

Natasha's not sure if he's talking to Thor or Fury; both are younger than the Asgardian. Still, Fury gives it one more try.

"Loki isn't –"

"Loki," Odin hisses as he whirls on Fury and leans down into his face, "is mine to deal with as I see fit. He will stay on this wretched planet until I deem him fit to do otherwise."

"You can't just –"

"Ah, but I can and do, Nickolas Fury." Odin turns back to the glowering Loki. "But to show Our mercy, We shall not leave you enthralled, Laufeyson."

"Wait, what does that mean?"

Banner doesn't get any further than that before Odin points his staff at Loki. The restrained man stiffens and then suddenly clutches his head, screaming as he curls inward. Odin doesn't stop. Loki's head jerks up and a sickly purple ooze is somehow pulled from his mouth, choking off his screams. The purple thing stretches on and on until it abruptly wrenches out of Loki's mouth and into a hovering ball before Odin. Loki coughs and vomits onto the sand in front of him.

Odin nods once, pulls Thor by the arm, and vanishes in a boom of white light.

Natasha stares up at the clear sky, her heart pounding against her ribcage. What just happened?

A whimper catches her attention and her eyes go swiftly to Loki. He's nothing like he was a second ago. Coiled into as tight a ball as he can physically go, the man rocks himself, keening softly.

"Oh, heck no!" Stark says, throwing his hands in the air. "This did not just happen!"

It irritates Natasha and upsets the balance of her world.

She looks at Loki and sees Clint.

Sees the archer flash her that trademark, cheeky grin and then sees him taken and used against his will like a literal puppet. Forced to kill his fellow SHIELD agents as Loki pulls the invisible strings attached to his mind; compelled by blue magic to tell all his secrets. Recalls how he wakes every few minutes now, gasping, from a nightmare where he's helped Loki conquer the world and not cared, simply because he can't anymore. Watches as the man who saved her from a living hell pushes himself to the brink of collapse as he practices hour after hour in the archery range.

She looks at Loki and sees Phil lying on a bed in a corner of the med center, white bandages wrapped tight around the wound inches from his heart. Her mentor had nearly died several times. It makes her ache somewhere deep inside to see the normally strong agent lying so lifeless. Makes all of this seem so much more real.

And yet…she looks at Loki and sees the victims of war.

Sees how the Jotun cowers from everyone and everything around him as if it might hurt him at any second; how he tenses for blows that never come whenever anyone gets too close or looks at him for too long. Remembers how he can't even think about drinking a simple glass of water because, like some animal, he hasn't performed a trick yet. Thinks about how he doesn't even know to call himself 'Loki' anymore and doesn't even know that it's wrong to be happy about that.

She looks at Loki and wants to hit something or someone, either will do right now. But, Natasha's a professional. She knows when to let her emotions out and when to rein them back in. Too many people are letting their feelings cloud their judgement. They refuse to go into this with a clear head and because of that Fury sent her in.

"Find out if he's faking or not, Romanoff."

And she has.

"If you're all done bickering, I'd like for Agent Romanoff to report," Fury says as he strides into the room. He comes to a military stance; hands behind his back, feet apart.

Stark rolls his eyes. "Not our fault you're late to the party."

"I will have Coulson taze you." Both a threat and a guarantee that Coulson will be well enough to do so later on.

"Please, he loves me," Stark says with a wave of his hand. Banner snorts and Stark shoots him a mock glare. "What? He does. Said so himself."

"I'm pretty sure he also called you Audrey too."

"Doesn't count."

Banner gives a small smile. "Of course not. And the fact that he was a bit high on morphine also doesn't play into this either, I suppose."

"Now you're getting it!"

Fury turns to her before things can escalate more. "Report, Agent Romanoff?"

"It's real."

Clint sucks in a breath beside her and she makes herself not look at the hurt betrayal she knows will be in his eyes. He's wanted this to be a ruse the entire time. Promoted it at every turn really. Told her to make doubly sure he wasn't trying to play her again. And Loki's not. The fear's too real, too raw for it to be a forgery. Plus, the fact that Odin had left them some interesting gadgets to block Loki's magic also helps cement the fact that Loki can't fake his wounds or emaciated body.

"You sure?" Fury asks. He's not inquiring because he doubts her, but to let the others know she's done her job right. People often need this double reassurance. She understands that and doesn't take offense.

"Yes."

"Well, this sucks!" Stark moans. "What're we gonna do with him now? I mean, he's bleeding all over the place."

Rogers bristles at the carelessly tossed words. "We're going to do what's right and consider him as the victim he is."

"Of course you'd advocate for that, Spangles." Stark glares. "Probably want to give him a cushy bed with silk sheets and junk. Treat him like some orphaned puppy."

Rogers raises an eyebrow. "I would think you, of all people, would understand this, Stark."

Stark pales a bit at the subtle hint towards Afghanistan and then storms out of the room with a parting "Don't compare me to that psychopath, Rogers!" over his shoulder.

Banner glances at everyone and shrugs. "I'll go make sure he doesn't blow something up." The gamma scientist strolls out of the room with his hands shoved into his pockets. Natasha doesn't envy him the job he's heading to. Putting up with an angry Stark is taxing, to say the least. And that doesn't even cover the rants he's going to be spewing at Banner.

Rogers scans the rest of them, pausing longer on Clint, and refocuses back on Fury. "We are going to help him, aren't we, sir?"

He almost sounds pleading, as if he's scared that the world's changed so much while he was frozen that they'd be willing to torture a broken man. If it was up to Clint, Natasha's not sure if that fear would be misplaced. Her fellow agent is biased about Loki and quite vocal about his ideas for the alien's treatment.

Fury shakes his head. "Right now, I'll settle for watching him and waiting to see if he bites the hand that feeds him."

That brings to mind another worrying fact.

"Sir, we might have a problem with that," Natasha says.

"Agent?"

She forges on. "He's been trained to refuse food or water unless he's done something to gain it. He wouldn't even touch the glass of water until after I'd set down some parameters. I ask a question, he gets the water."

Something changes momentarily in Fury's eye, but it's done too fast for Natasha to label it. "We'll use it to get information about his boss then."

"Sir!" Rogers shouts.

"At ease, soldier," Fury orders. "We won't press him too hard right away. He's not cognizant enough to give us good Intel."

That does nothing to lessen Rogers blatant fear.

Natasha watches on as Fury hardens his gaze. "There going to be a problem, soldier?"

Rogers clenches his fists at his side, but, in the end, is the good soldier he was trained to be. "No, sir."

"Good." Fury turns back to her. "You've established contact, or as much as we've been able to get from him, so you'll be our go-between."

"Yes, sir."

"Right." Fury marches out of the room, hand on his earpiece. "Hill, I want that report for Engine 3 on my desk asap…do I look like I care about…never mind, I want it within two hours. Understood?"

Clint waits until Rogers has left before he explodes on her. "What was that?"

"My job."

"You supported him!"

She folds her arms across her chest. "I gave the facts as they stood and you know it, Barton."

"He's a murderer and a psychopath."

"He's innocent."

Clint growls. "You honestly believe that? Really? You just want to let him get away with killing all those people, destroying all those homes? Whatever happened to justice?"

"Whatever happened to second chances?"

Clint flinches at that. "This isn't the same, Nat."

"It is and you know, or you would if you'd stop long enough to assess the situation with an open mind."

For a second, he looks like he's going to hit her, but then he spins around and rushes out of the room. She watches him leave without saying a word. She'll find him later, when he's had a chance to cool down, and explain things in more detail. Then she might sneak into the med center and see Phil. Tell him about her mixed feelings and hope he can help her sort them out.

Phil's good like that.

But for now…she needs to get to monitor screen and read up on the most recent files they have about Loki, Norse mythology, and the damage left on the streets from the battle. She straightens her back and pushes all exhaustion away. She has a job to do and do it she will. The world depends on it.

Yay, another chapter! *does happy dance* I'm so pleased with myself for doing it in such a short amount of time. Hopefully, the next chapter won't be too long in coming. No promises though.

As usual, please, please review. It really helps encourage me.