Author's Note: Hello, everyone! It's nice to be back on this story. Sorry an update took so long, but I caught a bit of a cold, which derailed my writing, and then I had a bit of a 'why am I even writing this story again?' moment...but I'm back. I'm good. I should be wrapping up this story soon.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed, favorited, and followed in the interim. Seriously, every single piece of feedback means so much to me. The email alerts I get make me go giddy (no lie) and break up the day while I'm at work. I wish I could be getting though this story faster, but it's taken me time to get inside Loki's head and come up with a believable redemption arc for him, while also working a job that takes a lot of the energy out of me.

With that said, I hope you enjoy this chapter. As always:

REVIEW. FAVORITE. FOLLOW. Thanks!

P.S.: A minor cuss word in this chapter (just h***) but it was Fury, so I had to make it believable.

Chapter Nine

There is something disconcerting about listening to people discuss you in an ordinary manner. It is even more disconcerting to hear two people arguing about you in an angry manner.

Loki, unfortunately, was in that position. And it was extremely awkward.

"I leave you people to your own devices, keep the monitoring at arm's length, and this is what you do?!"

"Director, I realize that this must cause you distress, but…"

"Oh, we're way past distressed, Thor. We're into the realm of worst nightmares realized at this point!"

"Then why did you not come at once? Loki has been here at least two months!"

"Because I can discretely watch that, but I cannot ignore Stark Industries' requests for cancer affected blood and plasma! Now what the hell…?"

Loki was currently pressed against the wall of one of the Common Floor's hallways; the one that led to the sparring gym. He had left Thor in the entertainment area for the briefest of moments, but he'd returned to something that felt like a scene from his childhood.

Apparently Director Fury had finally decided to address the 'small' matter of him living in Avenger's Tower, once and for all.

"They're really getting into it." A voice said beside him.

"Yes…" he muttered faintly, before registering that the voice was not a familiar one. He spun around…and nearly collapsed from shock.

A calm, mild-looking man in a suit stood about three feet away from him.

"I…I killed you!" Was the first, and probably very unwise thing that flew out of Loki's mouth.

The man (Phil Coulson, he recalled vaguely) gave a mysterious grin. "And I survived. Welcome to Level Seven. You're actually taking this a lot better than most of the Avengers."

Loki just shook his head. "So what happens now?"

Coulson shrugged and gestured at Thor and Fury, still going at it. "Wait for either the Director or your brother to run out of steam. And then quietly say something that disarms the situation. What, exactly, I don't know, but I'll think of something."

A diplomat's answer. That was something Loki could appreciate. He felt guiltier than ever for shooting the man before him.

"Very well…but I rather meant…why are you not taking your revenge?"

The man shrugged again. "Blind revenge isn't really my style. Besides, I've also been keeping close tabs on the Tower. I've heard about what's going on from Barton and Romanoff, how you were trying for redemption. And, well…I'm sort of a sucker for hopeless cases."

Loki snorted. "Hopeless, am I? You're the first to say it straight."

"People are quick to label. And quick to give up. So they label a person hopeless and toss them aside, without looking at the potential, the good still there. But all these so-called hopeless cases usually need is someone who will never give up on them." Coulson nodded in the direction of Thor.

"So really, I wouldn't label you completely hopeless."

"Nope, not hopeless." said another voice. It came from further down the hall.

Loki spun backwards again, only to find a very innocent-looking Christy.

"And what are you doing here?" he asked. "Don't you have better things to do than spy on the conversations of your elders?"

The girl shrugged. "I finished my homework." She lifted up a book that was in her hand. "I left a book down here and I thought I'd read, but this is way more interesting."

Loki rolled his eyes.

"By the way, hi Uncle Phil." she added, hugging the agent. "I haven't seen you for a while."

The man smiled. "I've been…busy. With…things. Top secret things."

Christy hmphed. "Spies. At least superheroes can tell you what they did!"

The donnybrook between Thor and Fury appeared to be waning. Coulson poked his head around the corner, and then nodded. "Come on. And you might as well come too, Christy. But quietly."

As the three slipped out into the entertainment area, Fury glanced back. "Coulson, where'd you go?"

"Exploring." Was the Agent's short reply. "Picked up a stray." he added, motioning to Loki.

"And one more, I see." Fury replied. "Hey, kid."

Christy smiled. "Hi Uncle Nick."

It took everything within him for Loki not to burst out laughing.

"Have you worn my tie-dye eye patch lately?"

That did it, unfortunately. Loki snorted at the image of the stern director with a colored eye patch. More fortunately, Thor laughed as well, so that covered up his noise.

Fury glared at the both of them. "And what is so funny, gentlemen?"

Thor attempted (and failed) to hide the smirk on his face. "Nothing, Director. Absolutely nothing, I assure you."

"Uh-huh…right. Okay let's get down to business. I'd like a better understanding of what the man who tried to take out this city and conquer the world is doing back on said world!"

"As I told you, Director…" Thor began. Fury shook his head.

"You've told me enough, Thor. Odin's sentencing, trying to use a better punishment method, bound from harming anyone or lying by magic. But why does he think he's here?"

Fury turned his skeptical eye on Loki, who swallowed. "I…am here to atone. Or, try to. That was the deal."

"And what makes you think you can do anything to atone?"

All of a sudden, Christy slipped from the couch where she'd been sitting, and walked over to the ticking time bomb of adults.

She slipped her hand into Loki's, and turned her gaze onto Fury.

For a full minute, no one spoke.

Fury finally broke the silence. "Can I help you?"

Christy nodded. "Please be nice."

"He wasn't 'nice' when he tried to take over the world, Christy."

"But he's not the same anymore! He's…different. He doesn't hardly ever argue with Uncle Tony or Aunt Tasha anymore, and he watched Lord of the Rings with us and cried when Frodo went to Valinor, and he even apologized to Uncle Clint! He's different! But he won't wanna be if you keep telling him he's bad!"

All four adults in the room sat in a state of mild shock. But Loki felt it the worst.

Throughout his life, Thor and his mother had ever advocated for him. But to have a stranger, a child, an innocent who had every right to accuse him…

In that moment, Loki had a flash of clarity. If he continued to act as he always had, then his fate would be isolation: the thing he had always tried to avoid. If he continued to lie, and trick and push people away, he would always be known as the liar and the trickster.

But if he decided to change his ways for good…

His thoughts were interrupted by a voice saying, "Couldn't have said it better myself."

Rogers, Banner, Stark (shock of shocks) and even Barton and Romanoff had appeared off the elevator.

Steve had spoken. He now moved forward and placed a hand on his daughter's shoulder.

Fury rolled his eyes. "What is this; 'people popping out of corners' day?"

"Hey, we live here!" Tony replied, mostly good-naturedly but with a hint of steel underneath.

"Jarvis mentioned a disturbance taking place on the, ah, Common Floor." Bruce said. "We…thought we'd come check it out."

"Well, I was dragged out of the lab, but Bruce wanted to check it out." Tony muttered. Natasha rolled her eyes.

"I wanted an explanation." Fury said.

"Haven't you been keeping the Tower under surveillance anyway, sir?" Clint asked. "You know what's going on."

"I wanted to know why cancer-affected blood and plasma was requested by Stark Industries."

"Get out of my files!" Tony cried.

"Because Loki's atoning. By inventing a cure." Bruce answered evenly. "Magic and science actually work out rather well together."

Fury gave Loki a long, questioning look. Loki sighed.

"Christy's idea and the only practical one I was given."

"Uh-huh…"

"Really, sir, if you wanted to know how things were going, you could have called a meeting instead of sneaking in like a thief." Steve added calmly. "Because nothing has really been going wrong."

Loki glanced around at the looks on all the Avengers' faces. They all carried one basic message: back off.

Coulson looked moderately tolerant, especially after giving Barton's face a scrutinizing glance. But Fury looked two steps away from dragging him back to that glass cage…

And suddenly, that flash of clarity hit once more. This was the consequence for trickery and messing about with the lives of others. This was his future, to be forever questioned and glanced at skeptically, to never be trusted…

To be alone.

It must have shown on his face, because Thor frowned. "Brother, are you unwell?"

Loki tried to shake his head, but Thor was already dragging him in the direction of the couch.

"Oh great, again?" Clint muttered, but even he looked a tiny bit concerned.

Fury shook his head. "Fine, I'm out. I will be keeping an eye on things here." He glanced at Coulson. "You coming?"

Coulson shook his head. "Think I'll stick around for a bit."

"Bye Uncle Nick." Christy said quietly. Everyone else gave brief nods as the Director took his leave.

Loki sat on the couch, looking vaguely dazed. "He lied…" he finally muttered.

"Who lied?" Thor questioned.

"When I fell, off the…Bifrost. He said that I would have everything if I would take Midgard. Respect, power…that I would never be alone again. He lied!"

Clint frowned. This sounded suspiciously like…

"Someone brainwashed you?" he questioned.

"I…not exactly."

Suddenly, Clint remembered something. "You would always go off…with that staff, talk to someone, but no one was there…"

"Thanos…" Loki whispered.

Thor nearly jumped off the couch. "No!"

"Okay, I'm lost, who's Thanos?" Tony asked.

"A terrible creature of a man who causes nothing but trouble." Thor said firmly. "And he is not above torture to get what he wants."

"The infinity stone…he wanted it." Loki said. "The mind stone in the staff."

"And now it is vanished…" Thor said quietly.

"Alright, let me see if I've got this." Steve said. "Loki falls off the Bifrost and into the hands of this…Thanos. Probably gets roughed up quite a bit, and strikes a deal to trade Thanos the…staff in exchange for an army. That about it?"

Thor glanced at Loki. Loki nodded.

An uncomfortable silence fell across the room.

Coulson suddenly frowned. "How old are you, anyway? In human standards, I mean?"

Loki looked at Thor and shrugged.

"On average, Asgardians live about 5,000 of your years. Loki is…how old, brother? Over one thousand, at least."

"One thousand, forty-eight." Loki said.

Both Tony and Bruce looked to be doing the math in their heads. Tony caught on first. "Oh, my God. You have got to be kidding me! He's a freaking teenager!"

"Twenty, more or less, if you apply Asgardian aging to the life expectancy in developed countries." Bruce added.

"So…Thanos, whoever he is, straight up messed with a twenty year-old punk kid." Clint summed up.

Even Natasha looked a little disturbed at that.

Christy just leaned over and gave Loki a hug.

Steve suddenly looked like he'd just made the biggest mistake of his life. "Uh, baby…maybe you should leave."

"Do I have to, Dad?"

"Well, if we start talking about torture and other bad things…"

"No." Loki said firmly. "No more. Please…"

To everyone's surprise, Clint was the first to nod. "Yeah, no more of that."

"Team Dinner, round two?" Christy asked, giving the biggest puppy-dog eyes possible.

Everyone looked around.

Tony threw up his hands. "Aw, sure, why the heck not! Just promise not to throw up this time, kid."

Maybe it was Christy's puppy eyes. Maybe it was that Coulson stuck around. Or maybe it was that everyone was still digesting the fact that Loki was basically twenty years old.

Whatever the reason, team dinner went a lot smoother than the last time. They ordered Chinese and enjoyed Thor and Loki's reactions when the mountain of little white cartons showed up.

Christy was pretty quiet through most of the meal, and everyone kept shooting glances at her and each other, not wanting this to end up like last time.

"You okay, kid?" Clint finally asked.

Christy nodded. "There's…there's some really bad people in the world. And Uncle Loki's twenty."

Loki rolled his eyes as everyone smirked or laughed. "I fail to understand the gravity of my being young."

"Look, you're not even allowed to legally drink beer in America, Reindeer Games." Tony said.

Thor looked shocked. "Truly?"

Steve nodded. "Legal drinking age is twenty-one."

Clint and Natasha appeared to be sharing a private joke…and barely keeping it together.

Coulson grinned bemusedly at the agents. "What's so funny?"

"Loki…arrested for underage drinking…" Clint sputtered.

Everyone not from Asgard laughed, except for Christy, who just looked confused.

Thor and Loki still looked befuddled, but resigned. They were used to references and jokes flying over their heads at this point.

As everyone finished eating and began to make their way off of the Common Floor, Loki was beyond shocked to see Natasha stand in front of him.

"We need to talk."

Loki nodded and swallowed. "Somewhere…else?"

Natasha gestured to the corner. "I'm not planning to kill you, if that's what you're thinking."

Loki walked over, away from everyone else still on the floor.

"So, if you're not going to kill me, then…"

"Apology accepted."

That was not what Loki had been expecting.

"Excuse me?"

Natasha shrugged. "You apologized, that first night you were here. I'm…finally able to accept it."

Loki felt as though someone had punched him in the chest, hard. "But…why?"

"Takes a lot of energy to hate someone. And…you finally convinced me that you were serious. Clint told me what happened."

"I've been…a terrible person." He didn't know why he was saying these things, didn't know what was happening, but he had to say something. "I don't want to be that person, if living like this is my fate."

Natasha frowned. "Well…it's possible to change. Trust me, it's possible." She stepped away. "So…good talk."

As she walked away, Loki realized that that was the most Natasha Romanoff had said directly to him since he'd arrived on Midgard.

"Good talk," indeed.

Bruce dragged Loki up to the lab that night, to test his magic on the newly-arrived cancer-affected blood and plasma. It required a lot of intense concentration on Loki's part, but he was able to find a spell that counteracted the disease's effects.

"It reverses the mutations of the cancer cells." Bruce explained, an awestruck look on his face. "This is insane!"

Even Tony, who was working on something else nearby, was impressed.

As they took a break, Loki asked, "Are there many humans affected by this disease?"

Bruce nodded. "Oh, yeah. Thousands. This will be…" he shook his head.

"But…they will not know it is me."

Bruce frowned. "Well, you could use a pseudonym...actually, you will have to."

"But what happens when the cure runs out?"

"Could you find a way to make the spell…reproduce itself?"

Loki looked thoughtful. "Possibly…"

"Then let's try for that." Bruce clapped him on the shoulder. "Don't worry, we'll figure something out."

And Loki smiled as he finally realized what his mother had been trying to tell him, before he left.

"My son, if you can learn the value of your strengths and the proper way to exercise your talents, you shall succeed."

He was at last succeeding. And succeeding...felt good.

His future suddenly didn't seem quite so hopeless as before.

Cancer has a cure. I can be a good person. As Christy would say...why not?

"Past…Present…Future." Heimdall intoned quietly. "Loki has explored each area of his life and has come to the decision that he will change."

Odin nodded. "Yes, he has. It is time."

Dun, dun, duuuunnnnn! It's TIME! I based Loki's redemption arc a little off the one for Ebenezer Scrooge in 'A Christmas Carol,' i.e.: that Loki would have to confront the lies in his mind and the way they tie into his past, present, and future in order to change. Next chapter involves Odin...and a LONG overdue talk. Meanwhile: REVIEWS ARE WONDERFUL THINGS...

Thanks!