"You're a selfish bastard, you know that." Tony whispered as Steve slept. "To think that you're the only one that is hurting because she's gone; to think that you're the only person that cares about her. She's my little girl, Steve, I was there when she was born, it was the most disgusting thing ever but I went through it for her; and when she was born, her little blue eyes looked up at me and they shone. Like they do now, only with more innocence but now… they'll never do that again." He trailed off as he thought about her on the Helicarrier, screaming and crying in agony. Begging for help…

Tony sat there and stared at Steve; his chest moving slowly underneath the blanket, the way that his eye lids would move as he slept, his mouth mumbling every so often as the hours passed. But still, he refused to wake. Tony and Pepper had tried everything they could find to wake him but his response remained the same; nothing. He stayed statue still as he fought against the demons in his head.

He shuddered and began again. "So, I understand why you love her… I really do but I'm just saying that you're not the only one…. And she's not the only one that loves you, Steve. I know that you think that you're alone in this time and that you have no one to rely on… I used to feel like that, I really did, and then I met Pepper and Natasha and Coulson and Fury and you and Thor and Bruce and Clint." He felt the tears building up in his lashes now and he blinked them down onto his cheeks. "So, if you for one fucking second think on giving up on all of us; I will kill you. So, you wake up; do you hear me? You wake up and you do it now…"

Was this how Coulson used to spend his months? Watching this dick sleeping as he thawed? Was this really what he was turning into? An innocent on the side line, unable to help his friends?

They'd made their way into the penthouse safely and had even managed to get the mark 2 and mark 6 but Steve had been valiant as they left and decided to run head first into a formation of Chatari; Thor had only just been able to fly them out of there before Steve had gotten himself killed. Now, he was teetering on the edge of death.

Tony had known why he did it; as he and Thor ran into the basement and got the suits; Steve kept watch on the stairs or, as Pepper had christened it, "The Tori Stark Picture Show". Because Tori hated the pictures of her, they had put up loads of pictures of her going down into the basement to really piss her off. She'd punch him but it was worth it to see her face age every day… most days. When they came back upstairs Steve was stood there, shaking with anger and pain, tears in his eyes and his fists clenched. He gripped the shield and ran from them; Tony's fingers only just scraped the back of Steve's shirt before he slipped away.

Tears flowed freely now, they stemmed from every corner of his eyes to the messy beard on his jawline. "Wake up, Steve, wake up. Please. I need you to wake up… I cannot save her… without you."

He let out a yell as Steve rested on his back, eyes still closed and chest heaving with every breath. He threw his arms out and then kicked the chair, as he whacked the papers and things onto the floor. Pepper ran through and grabbed him, pulling his arms down and gripping him as he cried relentlessly. His head moulding into the crook on her shoulder and hiccupping as she held onto him.

"It's okay, Tony." She whispered.

"I've failed her; I've failed Carmen. I told her that I would keep her daughter safe… I told her that she would be okay…" He sobbed. "I lied to her… I lied to her." His nails began to dig in and grip the material on Pepper's back and he scraped along her back as he sobbed. "S-she knew… that this d-ay was c-coming… the day tha-t I would lose her d-daughter." His voice rose and fell as he failed to keep control over it, his knees crawling up into his chest as she shifted away. "S-she said t-that… Tory was b-better off with a-woman that c-couldn't stop herself from hurting her rather than with a monster that took pleasure with it…"

Pepper began to interrupt him. "She had a tumour pressing on her brain; she didn't know what she was saying… she couldn't have known about Loki, Tony."

"That's because she wasn't talking about Loki…" He said, wiping his eyes on the back of his hand. "… she was talking about me; after I took Tory in I practically neglected her and left her to raise herself; I was so caught up in myself and everything other than her that I abandoned her in that house; and then I began drinking and sleeping around; how is that healthy in front of a child that has just lost her mother?" Pepper had begun to lean away, a torn look on her face. "Then was I was captured and she spent all of that time fighting for me and I just… left her, again. I left her to become Iron Man. I had said to myself that she didn't need me and I sent her away when I began to die! I sent her away! She must have thought that I hated her and that I wanted anything less than to-."

"No, Tony, no." Pepper whispered, her hands cupping his face as she pulled him up to look at her. "Don't do this to yourself. Don't ever do this to yourself."

Pepper held her closer to him, pulling him in as he began to cry again, rocking him like a child; keeping him close to her heart.

Across the house, Natasha was teaching Jane how to use a gun, not as an insistence from Thor she just thought it would be prudent; she'd been meaning to teach Tory but those plans no longer mattered.

"Hold your strength in your shoulders, this is a high calibre gun; it'll send you flying backwards." She said, putting her hands behind her back as Jane squared herself up to the target, her eyes squinting and her feet fidgeting.

"Ready, fire."

The blast from the gun was silenced considerably but still echoed in the petit woman's ears as she landed on the ground. Her arms falling up with the gun still locked tightly in her palms and the look of a rabbit in the headlights on her face.

Thor shook his head as he entered the room and saw his love on the floor but it was a usual accordance now a days; Maria and Natasha had taken it upon themselves to teach Jane and Pepper defence, should they need it. They were really just exercising their guilt; feeling that the mess in the world was their fault and that this was the least that they could do.

The large and boisterous man moved past them and headed for the next room, grabbing the remote from the sofa armchair and flicking it on. Normally, it would remain on from noon till night but only he and Hill could bring themselves to watch it anymore. Only he and Hill could stomach it.

He leant against the back of the sofa and considered how far his life had dropped; how far the mighty had fallen… he was once Prince and heir to the most powerful and proud realm in all nine, now that house was a false front of lies and disappointment; all that he had grown with, the knowledge of who he and Loki were was false, a hoax and a wish. His father had tricked them all into believing his pipe dream where he and Loki would reign supreme over the realms and keep the peace.

He would sit arrogant and ignorant in the seat of Odin and his brother would watch on in the vacated and cold chair of Lauefy, presiding over the bitter and hateful race that they had grown to know as monsters and fiends while Thor was the King of Asgard. Did Odin think that peace and happiness would ever come from his foolish decisions?

Why had his father led them to believe that the Jotuns were monsters? Why let Loki believe that he was nothing whilst Thor remained the favoured and best at everything? Why were they never the same in his father's eye?

Halfway across the galaxy in another dimension, Heimdall watched the young prince as his face was covered with his hands. This was not the first time that the guardian had seen the young prince lost to fear and doubt and it would not be the last that he would see the young prince in pain, but one this one occasion he could not take it.

For as he turned his golden eyes to cast down on Midgard he saw the sufferings of the people, the pains of their hearts and the aches of their souls; he saw the extremes of their longing and the depths of their extended depravity. They were breaking at the seams and all because of the folly from Loki's mind.

He dropped the sword at the edge of the Biofrost and turned on his heel, heart closing off as the tears moved down from the corner of his eyes. His legs seemed to carry him from the broken gateway to the throne room in no time at all, although considering from him that time passed very differently to most minds; this was no surprise.

As he reached it Lady Sif and the Warriors Three were already there, waiting for him, he frowned and nodded at them as they inclined their heads towards the door; where Princess Torunn was leant with her father's smile on her face but the same pain in her eyes. "I saw you making your way here…"

"You have felt them, too?" He asked as she pushed herself away from the door and over to them, her head nodded as she stared at the ground.

"How is it possible for an entire world to make such a distressed howl?" She asked the ground. None answered, none needed to.

"What are you going to say to the King?" Fandrall asked, his voice switching to a falsetto. "Excuse me, All Father but I need you to conjure up enough dark magic to send me and an army of Asgardian warriors to a realm that your sons are tearing apart." His voice switched back as he gloated solemnly. "He will strike you down where you stand."

"No, I'm going to say All Father please give me the permission to smite Fandrall where he stands." She shot back, her hand resting on the sword hilt as a clear and concise warning; the blue in her eyes flashing like lightening.

"Enough, you two, you are acting like babes." Sif order, interrupting the child and Torunn, her body moving between the two of them to make sure that they didn't leap for the others throat. "Although his mocking tone casts a shadow on his opinion, he is right my child." Her hand touched the girl's shoulder and pulled her back from anger. "What is your plan?"

"To somehow find a way to Earth and end Loki." They all turned and looked at the All Father, standing in the corner of the room and his stance with all the power and strength he possessed. "And quickly, because I fear for the bride that he has taken."

"So, he has taken a child?" Charles asked, rolling the wheelchair forward and looking at the file that Fury had put on his desk, Scott and Jean moved in closer watching Clint, stood on the side line of Fury's persuasion, his face closed off and guarded.

Clint let out a loud laugh and shook his head. "Don't let Tori hear you call her that." Fury gave him a quick glare but he just raised an eyebrow back at him.

"I knew that his plans were extreme but I didn't think he managed to accomplish so much." Scott said, looking at the map of the world, covered with the red stickers for camps; it wasn't a big map and there wasn't much land to be seen on it.

"He has a huge reach, within two hours of killing our President the Chutari had already taken the families of eight different heads of state, seventeen royals and slaughtered Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cambridge. He has complete ergonomic control but it is by fear." Fury finished.

"What do you want to do?" Charles asked, his hands folding on the table as he looked up at the Former Director. "Raise a rebellion and chuck him in prison."

"Well, Stark wants to raise an army and defenestrate him, see how he likes being thrown from buildings but my plan is to get an army and shut him down."

Scott pulled up a chair and put his head on his hands as he addressed them. "Then your problem isn't the bodyguards or ex mercenaries; your problem is taking down the Tesseract."

"For that I need you and the Brotherhood." Charles' head snapped up at the mention of that, his blue eyes widening and shaking but Fury leaned forward, muttering imploringly. "We need them, Professor, and I'd go to him myself but after we put Mystique in lockdown we haven't had the best relationship. I need you to go to him."

"Erik and I do not have a fully functioning relationship, either, Director." He warned, pushing himself back in the wheelchair. "But, I do realise this situation calls for dramatic efforts. We will find him."

"Thank you, Charles. You are a great help." Fury said standing, and readying to leave. "In this pack," he said, holding it up and showing it to him. "There is everything you'll need to know, I'm afraid you'll have to come up with the plan to close the Tesseract, we didn't have the time and we don't have a full list for your students and their powers."

Charles smirked and took it as Fury turned and walked away, Clint nodding to them as they exited and sighing when they entered the Land Cruiser.

"Where now?"

"The King of Wakanda is waiting for me and I have an expired meeting with Carol Danvers. Oh, and then there's the Thunderbolts and the Abomi-."

"On Banner's behalf and on the behalf of the rest of the world; I veto Abomination." Clint spat, quickly and clearly, his finger pointing in the superiors face.

"It's about his shutdown."

"How have they not done that yet?" Clint yelped, considering the terrifying possibilities if the Abomination was discovered by Loki.

"Tori, turn it down." Bruce commented as Swedish House Mafia played around their heads, banging off of the walls in the lab as she danced around the computer table, a smile on her face as she laughed at him. "Has the hysteria finally got to you?" He asked, raising his voice over the music.

"Can you tell that I've spent too much time with you?" She smirked, causing him to laugh, his eyes rolling at her antics. Barney watched from the corner of the room, the stoic and malcontent man had even managed to crack a smile at her style; especially after the news that his little brother Clint was safe and alive and free of Loki's spell. His muscles bulged as he folded them across the broad chest, his gun resting in its holster, safety catch off but magazine left in his room. He never carried it around them, not since Tori had told him the plan. Not since he had agreed to save the world.

Which was why this guard had been chosen by Tori to stand over the two of them as they pretended to work, occasionally he even made up reasons as to why the camera gave out; other times he let Loki yell at Tori and move his hand to strike her but never be quite able to.

"Come on, Bruce!" Tori called, dancing over to him and smirking. "Live a little."

Bruce rose his eyes up to give her a fatherly and concerned look. "The last time that someone told me to 'live a little' I shot myself full of Gamma Radiation and proceeded to kill a couple of hundred people." His voice quipped, in a sombre tone.

Tori's hand flicked out and turned off the music, whilst her face became thunderous and dark. "Buzz. Kill." She said into his face, heading along to the other computer and leaning over it, her eyes flicking to every camera in the room as she cast her eyes around.

"I wanna make some popcorn…" she mused, her nails flicking against the side of her cheek as she acted for them on the computers. "How long do you think it will take in the microwave, Barney? Five minutes?"

Barney looked at his watch for a fraction of a second then tilted his head, sniffing. "A little more than that, perhaps seven or eight."

"Perfect." She sighed, trotting to the door and holding it open for the two of them. "Onwards, Jeeves."

Bruce rolled his eyes apologetically to the mercenary and waved him through first, following them as they made their way to the kitchen. Or better known to them as the weakest part of the Helicarrier; aside from the roof.

Because they had gone for the aesthetic value for the kitchen it was primarily; a window. Granted a very strong and tensile window with the power to hold extreme weather conditions and be air tight but the right hand side of the kitchen was a large window. This, when you looked down, showed you the coastline of North America.

"So, when you but these in there-?" Tori began, taking the popcorn out of the cupboard and looking at it suspiciously before Barney interrupted her.

"You're trin' to tell me, that you've ne'er made popcorn before?" He asked, raising an eyebrow as Bruce giggled.

"I lived in a house where the A.I. would announce to Tony that my consorts were trying to sneak out the back of the house; I had a machine to make my popcorn."

She opened the packet and opened the microwave door, chucking it inside and jumping away from it, as if it were to explode. Bruce sighed and stepped forward, reading the information on the back of the discarded rubbish and nodding, clicking the settings on the side and starting it.

"Easy." He said, nonchalantly over his shoulder to her. "You see, easy?"

"Should be, yeah?" She sighed and hid her pain and fear behind her carefree expression. "You gonna be okay, tonight? Having dinner on your own, I mean?"

"I have had dinner on my own before, you know." He said, although the feeling behind it was still there. To an outsider this was an ordinary, all be it strange, but to them these words spoke volumes of gratitude and pain. "How 'bout you? He can be a little… forceful."

Tori smiled, shakily, but pushed through her fear. "Oh, I'll be fine without you. Better off." She smirked, blinking twice and looking out of the window, sighing.

That's when it began. Their plan.

"Just really wish…. That I didn't have to be here… with him." Tori whispered, setting off Bruce's anger. "… He scares me."

At 5 o'clock that afternoon a series of thing happened that would change the world.

Torunn and the rest of the Asgardians landed with a ground shattering fall as across the continent the Hulk raged and screamed; Tori lost, unconscious underneath the rubble; Tony and Pepper watched the thunder storm rage around the house as Steven Rogers fought to breath; Thor Odinson looked up at the stars and saw his hope arrive; Charles Xavier sat across a chess board with Erik Lensherr watching him, guards up but ears open; the King of Wakanda listened to Clint Barton tell him about what was happening to his planet.

But in a small part of the world, in a darkly lit and heavily shadowed corner, with no one watching as computers buzzed around them, the World Council sat around the table, their hands folded as the voted unanimously to use nuclear missiles on Loki's Helicarrier and the ruins of Manhattan.

The fate of humanity are put into the hands of a super soldier; a group of Asgardian warriors; a would be King; a freak of nature; a series of master assassins; an unknown ruler; a broken friendship; a torn man; a scientist; a spy; a C.E.O; an arrogant group of heartless controllers; and a human child.

So, this was a weird chapter to write; lots of things going on if you're confused about the new characters here's a list; they are all Marvel. I swear.

In order of appearance;

Heimdall; keeper of the Biofrost and Asgard, looks over everything.

Lady Sif and the Warriors Three; Sif, Hogan, Fandrall and Volstagg; Thor's friends and fierce warriors.

Torunn; Sif and Thor's daughter (Appears in the Next Avengers series with James Rogers, Hank Pym and Za'vi.)

Charles Xavier- X men leader from X men. You know, X men… the film series.

Scott Summers- Cyclops from X men

Jean Grey- Pheonix from X men

Erik Lensherr- Magento from X men

Mystique- FROM X MEN!

The Thunderbolts- I'm not sure what they are but they are part of the Marvel Universe so they get a song and dance.

Abomination- Hulk's greatest enemy

Barney Barton- If you haven't guessed already he's Clint older brother, although in this instance he's younger; way younger.