OOO

He was sitting cross-legged on the floor was a long time since they 'patched him up' and locked him here in what seemed to be a metal room. His clothes were changed into a simple white shirt and trousers.

If they expect it to hold him, they were day-dreaming, but he need to compose himself, and clear his thoughts.

He hated this sickening feeling brewing in his chest, begging to be released.

But he couldn't.

He knew someone would be watching.

OOO

'Gahhhh!' Tony groaned as he gave up staring at the screen. The dude was just sitting in the middle of the room, staring into empty space for the last three hours.

'This person is driving me crazy!' He yelled and waved his hands around.

'You can't really expect him to plan his escape yet after an internal bleeding.' Bruce muttered.

Thor twirled his hammer around in his hand, deep in thought. He was still barely keeping down his rage after smashing up all of the training rooms in the basement out of grief and anger, seeing his dead brother sent of to Shield for examination.

'Have any idea who the hell he is, Goldilocks?' Tony scoffed.

'He isn't from any realm in particular.' Thor took in deep breaths, as if trying to stop himself from taking this room down as well. 'Yet his magic would parallel Loki's easily, and I don't like how he is worthy for Mjolnir.'

'Maybe he's like Vision?' Steve asked. 'Maybe he's also created by some mad scientist-'

'I am not mad Steve!' Tony yelled.

'Maybe we should ask Wanda?' Clint suggested. 'She could get something out of his mind. That will make everything easier.'

'He did actually speak English.' Natasha retorted. 'We should start with interrogation first.'

'Fine. Natasha, you take the role.' Steve said.

Natasha nodded and left the room.

Tony was distracted by the sudden movement from the surveillance screen.

'Guys?' He asked, confused with what he was seeing. 'What is he-'

The kid's eyes flashed to a shade of artificial blue. His hands closed on his neck.

'Guys! He is chocking himself!' Tony shouted, waving his arms around in cartwheels frantically.

Steve, Clint and Thor immediately ran out of the room.

Bruce came and joined Tony by the table, both horrified at the sight of the person struggling as if he was trying to strangle himself, but trying to stop at the same time.

Clint, Steve and Thor rushed into the room a second later and pin the young man down on the floor. The blue glow in his eyes died away as he gradually stopped fighting.

'Clint, what do you get?' Tony asked into the intercom. He was to lazy to take it of.

The Clint on the screen raised one hand up to his ear.

'I don't know Tony. But this resembles a lot from the scepter Loki used.'

'The glowstick of doom?'

'Well, yeah. But I don't understand, it's like it's temporary.'

'Energy spiked.' Bruce was already at the other screens indicating their prisoner's conditions. 'The energy did match Loki's scepter.'

'So this person was under Loki's control?' Tony frowned.

'Shouldn't it go away once Loki lost it?' Bruce questioned.

'Tony,' Clint called from the other end. 'He said he didn't remember anything that happened just then.'

A few agents came in the view of the camera. They asked the others to leave, which they complied.

'Nat?' Tony said. 'I guess your interrogation will need to wait.'

'Copy that.'

Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose.

'Tony, is it just me or do you also think there is something else wrong with him?'

OOO

He woke up in a totally new room, but it's only his conscious, not his body.

He could make out two other essences in the room.

Frowning, he called out to them, demanding what they are doing in his mind.

The green one winced, while the other blue one remained silent in one corner.

"Loki?"

The green one looked up at him, forcing a smile.

"Why are you inside me?"

He shook his head apologetically.

"I apologies for the time being, and-"

He tilted his chin towards the blue one.

"-bringing this thing in."

"Thing?"

"That's what haunts me when I am alone." Loki answered.

The blue one narrowed his eyes on him, as if planning his next attack.

"Is it possible to get him out?"

"If you expel me, then he will follow because only we are connected."

"Won't you die then?"

"Not if I have my body back."

He nodded.

"Your wish is my command, Prince."

"Don't you start calling me that."

"I always did."

OOO

When the room faded into reality, he found himself in a quite different place. The room he laid in wasn't the metal box anymore, with a wide window and white walls. A woman with red curly hair sat at a table.

"Morning." She greeted him.

He bowed his head back in acknowledgement.

"I am Natasha Romanoff, but you can call me Natasha if you like. What is your name?"

Stiffening, he could sense the mischief hiding behind the cherry mask. She wants something from him.

Information. Spy. Red.

"Do you have one?" Natasha frowned.

"Elixir."

She kept on frowning.

"No last name?"

"No."

Natasha nodded.

"Lets play a game. We do rock-paper-scissors, the winner of each round gets to ask a question, and the other can choose to answer."

Elixir tilted his head in curiosity.

Got his attention now. Natasha thought to herself.

"Right, come over and sit. Then I will explain how to actually play rock-paper-scissors."

OOO

"Can I just watch?"

"No."

"But there isn't anything else to do in this damn place!"

"Watch your-"

"Don't you get started on this again Capsicle!"

"Right, everyone out. No exceptions." The agent shoved them out of the room and slammed the door shut.

"Damn it." Tony scoffed. "Now what?"

"At least we got that there are some traces of the Teseract on him." Bruce muttered, still confused with the "how it got there in the first place".

"Lets see what Legolas is doing." Tony grinned and rested his arm over Bruce and another over Steve. "At least something to play with before Nat comes out with answers."

OOO

"You are really bad at this." Natasha commented after she won him for the 5th time in a row. "Now my question, how do you think about Loki?"

Elixir lowered his head at the mention of the dead Prince.

"He was banished to the place of the Jotun because no one likes him after he tried to destroy Midgard, right? But he didn't do it." His voice was still harsh despite the 2 bottles of water.

"What makes you think of that?"

"One day I stumbled into his chambers while he's changing, and I asked him about the long gashes on his back. He didn't want to answer, but something bad happened and forced him to take over Midgard."

"You think its that?"

"Yes. Prince was never evil."

"Another round."

Natasha won again. She's starting to suspect if he wanted to lose.

"What is your relationship with Loki?"

"He freed me. He broke the collar and we do many things together after that."

"Collar?"

"I don't belong to any of the worlds. I am a free wanderer. When I accidentally set foot on Laufey's realm, he set a trap and put a collar on me that made me shape-shift into an ice tiger for as long the collar stays on. Later I heard he did have the tendency to make prisoners into, entertainment."

"Why would he turn you into, that?"

"Why should I tell you?"

"Because I am the one interrogating." Natasha gave up her stupid fake cherry posture, her face now impassive as stone. "Now, answer me."

"Ice tiger, Midgard doesn't have those?"

"No."

"I see. Well, it's a monster that breathes ice."

"What abilities do you have?"

"Isn't that what this place cares about? There's a mind stone a few levels below, and another live infinity stone passing through walls-"

"Answer me."

"I can shape-shift," It wasn't the first time Elixir was forced to rattle off his list. "I was taught tactics for fighting, but I like using daggers the best. The Prince recently taught me magic. I read minds. I am immortal."

"What makes you able to use Thor's hammer yesterday?"

"I- What?" Elixir was startled. "I did?"

Natasha stood up.

"Thank you for your cooperation." She turned to leave, only to turn back around and take a colourful thing out of her pocket. "Oh, and here is a Rubik's cube to entertain you."

"What do I do with it?"

"Change it around until the colours are the same on each side." Then Natasha closed the door.

Well, that was exhausting. She thought.

OOO

"Wait, he can do all of that? Is he joking?"

"I wouldn't think he did."

"But Nat! If this jerk is friends with Loki, probably-"

"No Clint, I don't think he is planning to destroy the world either. Bruce, did you hear anything about Loki's body?"

"There are scars and half-heal fractures all over his body." Bruce took off his glasses and wiped them with his shirt. "Far too much to have come from all of us added together. They were older that that anyway."

"So he got them before he came to earth?"

"That's what it seems."

"I wish to bring him back to Asgard for a proper funeral."

"Sorry big guy, not ours to decide. Apparently Shield is so paranoid they think Loki's body is a bomb or something."

Thor turned and walked out of the room. Steve was going to follow but Bruce stopped him.

"Just give him some time and space. Seeing a relative of yours dead would be quite a shock to anyone."

Steve nodded.

"Hey Brucy, lets go and figure that energy thingy out." And before he could protest, Tony dragged Bruce after him out of the room.

"I need some air." Steve turned to Natasha. "Mind if you accompany me, ma'am?"

"Sure, Clint-" Natasha stopped herself. "Where did Clint go?"

OOO

He still didn't trust this guy. Even though Nat said he wouldn't, Clint couldn't just wait it out.

He ushered the guards to give him privacy. They complied and stepped aside. Clint opened the door and closed it behind him.

On one of the chairs in the room sat the teenager from yesterday, focused on the half-finished Rubik's cube in his hand.

"Oh, morning." He jerked his head and said brightly. "Is that a bow on your back?"

Clint frowned, obviously taken aback by the optimism in his voice.

"Oh, I don't want to take over the world." He said as he did a few more turns on the cube. "And no, Prince didn't intend to do that either."

"What makes you so sure?" Clint asked darkly.

"Mind-reading doesn't lie."

"What if you are put under the influence of him?"

"First, I will know. Second, he has other more important uses of his magic. Third, he doesn't need to, I listen to him anyway."

"There are people out there happy to know he is dead." Clint tossed out. "He killed a lot of people."

"And he could have killed more if he really wanted to." The boy suddenly stood up, anger flashing in his eyes. "Don't you see, he didn't want to do it."

"He still had to pay."

"Then what about you?"

Clint's eyes widened. The healed wound over his heart opened up, bleeding guilt.

Elixir realized his mistake a bit too late.

An arrow zipped across the room and impaled itself on the wall. A thin line of red appeared on the boy's cheek.

Clint opened his mouth to apologize but was cut off by the sound of running footsteps coming closer. Alarm bells sounded in his head as he turned and rushed out of the room up into the nearest air duct, where he stayed for the rest of the day.

The boy stood, shocked as agents came in and cuffed him to the chair before sticking a band aid on his face.

The arrow remained forgotten on the wall.