"It has been half an hour. Fury, what have you done to my brother?" Thor's furious voice interrupted the long silence that fell on everyone since Banner had managed to persuade Thor to simply wait for Loki to be brought to them. No one spoke since then; everyone was just eyeing the others impatiently.

Fury was also becoming nervous. Yes, Loki looked a mess, but he gave an explicit order to the agents to hurry up. He began to worry whether something unexpected happened.

…

"Your saviour is here."

Loki knew the voice. Surprised, he looked up to see a familiar face staring at him.

…

"Enough. I will go and search this whole place until I find my brother. Are you going with me, Banner?" Thor said resolutely.

Banner, still trying to keep a rational approach, glanced at Fury.

"If this is some trick, you better say it now, Fury. Otherwise you give me no option but to join Thor. And being tricked and forced to do something I don't want to do makes me…angry."

Fury was running out of options. It would be highly unlikely of his agents not to listen to clearly stated orders. Something must have happened.

Suddenly, the door burst open.

"Sir." An agent ran into the room breathless. Fury looked up to see Agent Smith who was charged with bringing Loki.

"Smith!" Fury barked. "What is happening? Where is Loki?"

"Sir, we were attacked. When I woke up, the prisoner was gone. Clark is still lying unconsciously on the floor."

"Did you just lose my brother?" Thor yelled. Some of the light bulbs exploded when the wave of electricity ran through the room. The God of Thunder moved to stand just a few inches in front of the agent who was clearly intimidated by the tall, raging figure of the Avenger.

"No, sir. It is just that…"

"Tell me exactly what happened." Thor interrupted authoritatively. Before Fury had a chance to intervene, the words began flooding out of the agent's mouth.

"We took the prisoner to the infirmary to clean and treat him…"

"What?" Thor cut off the agent again. "Why did you need to bring him to infirmary?" Thor articulated each world with extra effort.

"To put him into a presentable state to meet you." The agent mumbled only.

"FURY?!" Thor turned around. His rage got hold of him and for a second he forgot that his brother was missing. "What did you do to him?"

"Nothing serious. I told you that I interrogated him with adequate force." Fury tried to keep his voice controlled but Thor's rage was disheartening him.

"Adequate force?! Why did he need to be treated before coming here then?!"

"I am doing my job, Thor! Your brother is a criminal!" Fury now raised his voice too. The situation was escalating quickly out of control.

"Did you torture him?" All of a sudden, Thor's voice was quiet but no less threatening.

Fury didn't reply.

"Why did you bother trying to make it appear as if you didn't hurt him?" Thor still kept his voice dangerously low and began moving toward Fury. "Didn't it occur to you that Loki would tell me what you had done to him?"

"He wouldn't." Fury retorted confidently.

"What makes you so sure?" Thor's words were no more than a whisper now.

"I know fear when I see it. He was terrified; he wouldn't give me any excuse to punish him further. And as he doesn't seem to believe that you will raise a finger to actually get him out of here, what do you think he would choose? Hm? Telling you how I abused him in hope that you care enough to do something about it? Or keep his mouth shut to make sure the torture wouldn't get worse?"

"So you admit that you tortured him." Thor pronounced absolutely clearly and emotionlessly. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, in an instant, Thor stormed and knocked Fury down.

"You sick bastard!" Thor screamed as he smashed Fury into the wall. The Director was taken by surprise and soon he found himself on the ground. He lifted his eyes to see Thor standing over him ready to attack. There was fear in Fury's eye.

"Thor! Enough!" Banner's voice brought Thor back from his rage and he turned around to face his friend.

"He tortured my little brother." Thor's voice was shaking now but not with rage; it was despair.

"Exactly, Thor. Loki. We are here because of Loki. Leave Fury. He is not worth it. We must find your brother." Banner kept his sentences short and rational to make sure that Thor understood every word he said even if his mind was still in fighting mood.

Thor only nodded. He turned his attention towards the agent.

"Take me to the infirmary where you saw my brother for the last time."

The agent glanced at Fury unsure. Meanwhile, Fury pushed himself back to his feet.

"Do as he says." He said only. He lost the control of the situation and he hated it.

"Thor?" Banner spoke to Thor before they followed the agent out of the door. "Who could have taken Loki?"

"I don't know, Bruce. Loki has many enemies on Midgard, I fear." Thor shrugged his shoulders, his expression full of worry.

"We will find him, Thor." Banner squeezed Thor's shoulders in reassurance and both the Avengers followed the agent out of the door. Fury kept his distance but walked a few metres behind the group. This was still his institution and he will command his respect.

…

Loki couldn't believe his eyes. Few metres away from him, there was Heimdall looking at him sympathetically.

"That is my line." Loki found himself saying without really intending to. Instinctively, he knew that the former gatekeeper didn't mean him any harm. They may have done injustice to each other in the past, but Loki knew that both of them have moved on since then.

Heimdall chuckled but soon his expression turned worried. "You look terrible, my prince."

"Do I?" Loki had no idea where all the sarcasm was coming from as he was still lying on the ground and the simple movement of holding his head up was causing him profound discomfort.

"You do look better than the statue though." Heimdall said matter-of-factly and moved towards Loki. The raven-haired god was grateful to Heimdall for his comments; he felt less of an useless oaf when he was not being reminded of his pathetic state. Moreover, no one beats Loki at his own game.

"There was nothing wrong with the statue. I found it perfectly appropriate." He mumbled only as Heimdall was crouching in front of him.

"Whatever you say." The former gate-keeper answered and focused his attention on Loki's body. He frowned noticing all the injuries. Loki being his perceptive himself noticed the change in the air and got more serious.

"What are you doing here, Heimdall?" Loki breathed out quickly.

"It seems that I am saving you." Heimdall uttered only.

"How did you know where I was?" Loki asked confused only to understand what a stupid question it was. "Ah. Right." Loki mumbled and noticed that Heimdall put his sword on the ground and now was extending his arm to examine his injuries.

Loki was still lying on his stomach, his arms under him and his legs crouched in a strange manner. He tried to pull himself up to a sitting, more dignified position.

"Don't try to move. You may hurt yourself further." Heimdall said gently. Loki obeyed, mainly because of the softness in Heimdall's voice made him understand that the gatekeeper truly didn't want him to injure himself further. Yet when Heimdall's hand reached his flank, Loki flinched unwillingly. He closed his eyes in shame, loathing himself for appearing so weak in front of one of the strongest warriors of Asgard.

"It's alright, Loki. I am not going to hurt you. I just want to see the depth of the injuries to determine whether it is safe for you to move right now." Heimdall said and his rational, soothing voice was calming Loki down. Slowly, with his eyes still shut, Loki nodded.

"I am sorry." The prince whispered quietly.

"There is nothing to be sorry for. If someone did this to me, I would also hate for anyone to touch me."

Loki opened his eyes to look at Heimdall, searching for any signs of mockery. The gate-keepers face, however, seemed to be sincere.

"Thor wouldn't let himself be beaten up like this." Loki found himself murmuring. Immediately, he wished he had not uttered the words. It sounded too much like self-pity.

"Wouldn't he?" Heimdall questioned and looked Loki straight into his beautiful yet sad eyes. "Maybe you're right. He wouldn't. But that could be because he has someone watching his back. I remember Thor being punched by Kurse, unable to set himself free. Fortunately, there was someone to help him out." Heimdall paused for a second to let his words slip into the prince's mind. He wished the Allfather would try to talk to his younger son more; much could have been avoided had he done so. "We can't do everything by our own, Loki." He chose to address the prince by his name this time. The Asgard blew up in flames anyway and Heimdall felt a bit done with formalities.

He was glad to see that his words were taking effect upon Loki.

"Thor has the Avengers now." Loki whispered finally, avoiding the gatekeeper's eyes.

"That is true. Would they, however, know about his love for snakes? Would they understand the way his mood changes so quickly?" Heimdall challenged.

The Watcher of Worlds was glad and a little bit proud when the God of Mischief didn't manage to find a reply.

"It is brave of you to talk to me about this, Loki." He added after a while.

"Brave? It's pathetic." Loki hissed.

"You are sharing with me your deepest fears. That requires courage, Loki. It is not brave to keep everything inside and let it overcome you. Sometimes not keeping the vulnerability inside but letting it show, not to your foes but to those who care about you, can be the strongest act."

Once again, Heimdall managed to leave the silver-tongued god speechless.

"You hated me." Loki said after a moment.

"That is not true. I hated that you led the Jotuns into Asgard. And I hated the idea of you becoming the King because I thought it would conduce the place I loved into ruins." Heimdall paused slightly. "It turned out you didn't bring Asgard to its doom. It was Odin and his lies, secrets and scheming that ultimately unleashed Ragnarok. You did quite a good job leading Asgard. Many Asgardians think so."

"Do they?" Loki asked trying to keep the hope from appearing in his voice. He failed miserably.

"I mean, there were certain objections towards all the funds going to support theatre productions and when people heard about the idea of a second statue, depicting you gloriously fighting off four Dark Elves, they weren't that enthusiastic. Overall though, your rule was prosperous. Why do you think that I didn't try to stop you?"

Loki smiled, remembering the design for the statue number two. In fact, he was quite amused and took it as a challenge how far they would let him go in his self-glorification. Or his son's glorification as it was to them, of course.

Loki allowed himself to admit that Heimdall's words meant a lot to him. He always cared about Asgard and he truly tried to make sure that things woud function the way they should.

"Thank you, Heimdall." Loki whispered after a while.

"You're welcome. Will you let me examine the injuries now?" Heimdall asked only.

Biting his lower lip, Loki nodded in agreement. He followed Heimdall's movements with his eyes, feeling more secure when he could precisely see the gatekeeper's intentions.

Heimdall gently examined Loki's ribcage, frowning deeply upon the extent of the injuries. He noticed that many of Loki's ribs were broken which explained the prince's hoarse breathing.

The Watcher of Worlds was glad that his Queen couldn't see what the Mortals have done to her son.

Fortunately, the rest of Loki's body seemed to be saved from any serious damage. It didn't take a genius to infer that the prince was probably all bruised up and in pain. For now, however, Heimdall was looking for anything that would need his immediate attention. Not finding anything absolutely urgent, he understood that the time was for them to depart.

"Okay, Loki. I am going to help you to stand up and then we will get out of here."

Loki only nodded. He felt Heimdall's hands on his forearms and soon enough he found himself being lifted up to his unsteady feet. His head felt a bit dizzy from the sudden movement but Heimdall held him tightly until the light-headedness went away. Then, the gatekeep's eyes fixed on Loki's handcuffs. The raven-haired god understood that he was trying to see if he could take them off.

"Do you think that Fury has the keys?" Heimdall asked Loki.

Loki shrugged. "I would say so."

"Then we need him. There is no way I am removing these without the keys. They must have been made by this Doctor Strange." Heimdall's train of thoughts was interrupted by Loki rolling his eyes.

"I had the pleasure to meet him. A truly charming chap." Loki articulated with obvious sarcasm. Having observed his prince's meeting with the Midgardian sorcerer, Heimdall wisely decided to ignore Loki's statement.

"Anyway, we need to wait for Fury. We need the keys."

A shiver ran down Loki's spine. "I think our priority should be to get out of here. We can think about the bloody manacles later." Loki had no desire to ever see Fury's face again.

"The manacles prevent you from using your magic. You urgently need it to be able to heal yourself. We are not leaving without the keys." Heimdall's tone didn't allow for any protests.

Loki noticed that Heimdall looked around the room. The tired god did the same; he realised that they were standing in a sterile, white room with many equipment that would be usually used by the healers. Loki felt his stomach squeezing. He didn't want to think about what they possibly wanted to do to him in this chamber.

"Right. Come on." Without another word, Heimdall gently pushed Loki and the duo began to make their way out of the infirmary. Loki didn't bother asking where they were heading. He concentrated his whole attention to putting one foot in front of the other without stumbling over and not thinking about the fact that Fury was still running somewhere around these corridors.

Suddenly, Heimdall stopped. Loki, who was walking right behind him, crashed into the gatekeepers back.

"What is it?" Loki whispered, trying to keep his balance. Heimdall didn't react; it seemed that his attention was somewhere out of the corridor.

Then, without warning, he pressed himself against the wall and pulled Loki next to him. Loki tried to protest but Heimdal put his index finger in front of his mouth, signalising to Loki that he should keep quiet. Wisely, Loki did so and within a moment one of the agents emerged from the infirmary. Fortunately, he didn't spare a look in their direction. Hastily, he ran in the opposite way.

"Change of plans." Heimdall announced when the agent was out of earshot. "We are going back."

"What?" Loki protested weakly but Heimdall was already going back and as Loki didn't intend to stay alone, he followed Heimdall. He almost fell down but fortunately, the gatekeeper noticed his distress and put his arm around Loki's waist to give him more balance. Loki nodded his thanks.

Once back inside the infirmary, Heimdall seated Loki on the only white bed inside the room. The exhausted god seemed to be ready to lay down and fall asleep. Yet he stayed seated and gave Heimdall the look that clearly demanded explanation.

"Your brother is here." Heimdal announced and Loki caught his breath. "The agent was running to Fury who is with Thor now. I would bet that when Thor hears that someone kidnapped you, he will demand to be shown this exact place. Fury will follow him and so the best thing for us to do is to wait here for your brother and the keys."

Loki was unsure whether staying in the daunting room was truly the best idea. However, his confidence in Heimdall won and he decided not to complain.

"Maybe you could lay down. It will take a while before they get here."

Loki was determined to stay awake to be ready for the arrival of Thor and Fury. He hated the idea of seeing the Director again. Yet he wasn't really afraid.

Thor was here. Despite being on his beloved Midgard with his friends, he came for Loki. Thor truly did care.

Also, Heimdall was here with him. The same person who once betrayed him despite being sworn to obey him now decided that Loki was worth saving from the SHIELD's dungeons.

It meant the world to Loki.

Being overwhelmed by warmth spreading around his body, Loki found himself lowering on the bed. He laid his head against the soft pillow and hissed when his broken ribs protested against the change of position.

None of the pain mattered now. Yes, Loki was still suffering from his many physical injuries but clearly there were people willing to risk their lives to make sure the pain would stop.

Loki closed his eyes and he immediately felt the sleepiness coming into him. With the last moment of consciousness he thought of something that brought a smile on his face.

He was worth saving.

Everytime after finishing a chapter, I feel like writing a long comment about it but usually I decide against it :) Anyway, I think Loki really deserves a 'bit' (read 'the whole Nine Realms') of happiness and especially relief.

By the way, when Thor screamed at Fury "You sick bastard!" I was very much imagining Jonathan Pine yelling at Roper. I just adjusted the language to be less vulgar ;) (I definitely recommend watching the Night Manager)