So the vote definitely leaned towards Extremis, but I needed more time to think about how I wanted that to go, so here, instead, is this nice little oneshot. Complete with team!bonding and snarky!Tony and exasperated!Loki. I hope you all enjoy!

And hopefully I'll have some major breakthroughs on Extemis.

Read, review and enjoy!

When they all sit down to eat dinner, even Loki who always tries to get out of these team events, pretty much on the principle of the matter nowadays, and Pepper, who's taken the time out of her busy schedule to join them, and Rhodey, Tony is happy. He has a better family now then he's ever had, and that's all he's ever hoped for before.

He is less amused when Fury shows up. Steve, the traitor, offers him a plate.

"No, that's okay, Fury isn't staying. In fact, he's leaving right now," Tony says before Fury can even answer. Pepper shoots him a glare, but Rhodey snorts into his water and Loki's smirking and even Clint looks like he's trying really hard to maintain his composure, specifically because he's sitting next to Natasha.

"Hilarious," Fury says, his one eye letting Tony know just how amused he is. "Especially since I brought you a gift."

He throws a thumb drive on the table. Tony sighs and picks it up. "Alright Jarvis, lunch break is over."

"Of course, sir," Jarvis says. Tony pushes his chair back and turns it around as a panel slides on the wall, reveling a port in the wall.

"I-I don't even know what to say right now," Clint says. "Are those all over the house?"

Tony throws a look at Clint. "Jarvis is hardwired throughout this entire place. What do you think, bird brain?"

A hologram appears on the wall, just over the port. It's too small for the rest of the team to see, but from Tony's facial expression, it's not good. Finally, he groans and let's his head drop back against the chair.

"Fucking great. You're sure about this?" Tony asks without looking at Fury. Loki moves forward, resting his chin on Tony's shoulder as he reads over the file.

"Would I bring it to you if I wasn't?" Fury snaps. Beside Tony, Loki's lips curl into a smirk.

"They are foolish. Very foolish."

"Care to share with the room?" Natasha asks.

"A rouge branch of S.H.I.E.L.D has joined an offshoot of A.I.M. In return for weapons and security from A.I.M., they've agreed to help capture someone of interest," Fury answers.

"Tony?" Steve asks. It's the logical conclusion, but it only makes Loki's smirk grow.

"Me," Loki answers.

"They think to go after my brother?" Thor asks, looking at Fury in confusion. "They are very foolish indeed."

"It's no secret he's been here with us for a while," Bruce says. "Why now?"

"This particular group arose because their continued efforts to get us to actively pursue Loki failed. They are very….pro-human. They were already on the outskirts of S.H.I.E.L.D for their personal opinions of mutants. When they realized they weren't going to get anywhere, they broke off," Fury explains.

"And of course they partnered with A.I.M. because why not?" Tony says. Loki shrugs.

"They will have their weaknesses. You have kept eyes on their inside informants?"

"We have. We've also placed our own agents in their ranks. That's the main reason I'm sharing this with you. We can take down this offshoot easily. But somehow, they found out about…you two." Fury's voice is colored with blatant distaste.

"Wasn't that supposed to be classified information?" Bruce asks quietly.

"I thought that, according to S.H.I.E.L.D., Loki's defense of Tony was the defense of a teammate," Steve continues

Tony snorts. It's Loki that answers though. "People are not nearly so blind."

"He's right," Fury says, though it sounds like it pains him. "The official story is that Loki would do it for any of the team. The agents that responded to that particular fight have a suspicion there was something more. Any agent who spent time around the medical wing can also make a pretty educated guess."

"What does this have to do with this offshoot?" Pepper asks, drawing the conversation back into focus.

"One of our agents got notice to us—they're planning to move. Soon. And ain't against Loki." Fury is watching Tony carefully, waiting for the change. It happens almost instantly. Tony's face clouds over, becoming filled with anger and frustration.

"No," Tony says shortly, pointing a finger at Fury. He stands up and turns to an equally furious Loki. "Absolutely not."

With that, he walks out of the room, Loki following swiftly behind him.

"I'm…confused," Pepper says quietly, but it looks like she understands perfectly what's happening here.

"They're planning an attack against Tony?" Rhodey says. He looks torn between anger and bemusement. "Did they not hear what happened to the last guys that took Tony?"

"How did you hear about that? Even S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn't know Loki was there," Clint says. He looks back quickly at Fury. "Well. They didn't."

"When was this?" Fury grounds out.

"That time that Tony and I got kidnapped half a year ago?" Clint says tentatively.

"Is there a reason why Tony stormed out of here?" Bruce asks. "What were you going to ask him to do?"

"Lay low," Fury says, and everyone at the table groans. "We only need a couple weeks to mop up this group. But if Tony makes himself an available target, they will attack and they will move all of their operations."

"You have to know he's not going to do it," Rhodey says. "Even if it is a good plan. Even if he wanted to follow it. He'd be bored in a few days."

"So entertain him," Fury states. "I don't care if you tie him to a chair. Keep him in the tower."

With that, he leaves. Rhodey sighs.

"I'll get some stuff and move into the spare," he says, standing up, dinner pretty much forgotten about.

"Someone should go take Loki's side," Natasha says idly, but her tone clearly says not me. The fact that everyone looks at Steve doesn't help.

"But-Pepper?" Steve asks hopefully. Thor has suspiciously made himself absent from the room. He learned after the first month to never get between the fighting couple.

Pepper shakes her head with a not-sorry smile. "This is a team decision, not an S.I. decision. But I do have to warn you that he does have a meeting he has to be at later this week."

"We'll go with him," Natasha offers. "Steve, don't worry about cleaning up. We'll clean up dinner."

Steve sends her a half-hearted glare before he forces himself up from the table. They can hear hints of the couple's arguments; they almost always can because they never tend to keep their voices down. Pepper's just glad they haven't started throwing things yet.

"If I'm not back in ten minutes-" Steve starts.

"Loki's probably killed you and he and Tony are arguing on whether or not to bring you back," Clint says.

"Thanks guys. All heart, really. Jarvis?"

"They are currently located in the game room. I suggest you intervene soon, Captain Rogers."

"Good luck man," Clint says with a slap on the back.

Steve finds them incredibly close to blows. Most couples fight with words. More volatile couples throw things at each other. Tony and Loki defy all of that. When they're in the lab, Tony uses his suit and Loki uses his magic. They literally fight each other. Of course, Loki instantly heals any damage that they cause each other, but getting in the middle of them never ends well. Up here, where Tony doesn't have his suit, he manages to find all sorts of interesting things to throw at the god instead. He's got his hand on a glass, and Loki's hands are sparking.

"Wait!" Steve says, before either of them can lash out. Heated eyes turn to them and Steve just wants to crawl back to the kitchen. He forces himself to stay. This isn't the first time he's done this. "Tony, if you ruin another set of glasses, Pepper's going to stop buying them and then Clint and Natasha are going to be angry when they can't drink. And Loki, if you put another dent in the wall, it's going to be another week of strangers patching up the house. Plus we'd probably have to move both of you to a safe house for security reasons."

"What do you want?" Loki hisses, but Tony's grip on the glass isn't as tight and the magic at Loki's hands seems to be dying down.

Steve turns decidedly to Tony. "Tony, Fury's got a point."

"Absolutely not," Tony seethes before Steve can press on. "I refuse to lock myself in this tower like some damsel in distress and wait for someone else to save me."

Steve resists the temptation to point out that Rapunzel was a princess stuck in a tower because Tony likes jokes, but a joke at this time will probably get him killed. "No one's asking you to, Tony. Just, work down in your lab for a couple days. Spend some time with the team. That's all we're asking."

"Will you ignore your entire team?" Loki's voice is quiet, dangerous, but it holds too much of a superior tone for it to calm Tony.

"And what the hell would you care about me listening to the team?" Tony snaps, his attention torn from Steve. "If I had listened to the team, you wouldn't even be here!"

"And then your life would not be in danger!" Loki snaps back.

And therein lies the majority of Tony and Loki's fights. They're far too protective of each other. One of them wants to smother the other, the other disagrees. And then the violence starts. Neither are used to being told no.

"Tony, I promise. We don't want to suffocate you," Steve says, keeping his voice calm. "In fact, Ms. Potts has already informed us that you have a board meeting to go to. We just want you to take some extra precautions."

Tony sets the glass down—which Steve takes as victory, even if it was rather forcefully—folds his arms, and leans back against the wall. "Oh please, do tell Captain," Tony says snidely. "What are these 'extra precautions' that you so desperately want me to take that don't include me being locked in this god forbidden house with a bunch of crazy people."

This time, Steve can't help it. "Tony, you're one of those crazy people too." Tony raises an eyebrow at him, and even Loki looks impatient. Steve hurries on. "Just-don't leave the tower unless you absolutely have to. And no, that does not include coffee runs. And if you do have to leave the tower, make sure one of us is with you and that you have your briefcase suit." Tony's looking less than agreeable, so Steve pulls the last card he has. "Please, Tony." Annnd the kicked puppy look, just for extra measure. Tony rolls his eyes and walks from the room, brushing past Steve without a word. This leaves Steve in the room with a still angry Loki, although he seems to be getting it under control. "Is that a yes?"

"The closest you will get, I believe." Loki's words are smooth again, no longer coated in anger. "I-thank you, Captain."

"Thank the rest of the team. I lost the vote on who had to come convince him," Steve says with a wry smile.

"You frequently do," Loki says, observing Steve with a look he doesn't like. It sets him on edge for some reason and Steve, for the life of him, cannot figure out what it is.

"I'll send Bruce to make sure he doesn't blow anything up in the lab," Steve says, fidgeting. "Maybe you should…spend some time apart."

Loki grin spreads slowly across his face. "Perhaps you are right, Captain."

Steve has seconds to realize what Loki's about to do, but he's still seconds too late. "Wait that's not what I-" He lunges forward, but he already knows he's not going to make it in time. Loki disappears right in front of him. "Jarvis, can you-" He asks, rubbing his forehead. These things never go how he plans.

"I will monitor for any spikes in Loki's magic," Jarvis says instantly. "Doctor Banner has already proceeded to the lab."

"Thank you, Jarvis."

"Of course, Captain Rogers."

Tony, somehow, miraculously, lays low for a few days. He camps out in the lab for an entire day in protest. Loki doesn't return until sometime late in the morning, the remnants of adrenaline slowly siphoning out of his eyes. "A.I.M. is no longer a problem," he says happily. Then he disappears again. When Steve asks, Jarvis' response is almost exasperated.

"Master Loki has gone down to the lab. Mr. Stark and Master Loki are currently arguing…again."

None of them are surprised, but apparently they work out something, because Loki drags a sulking Tony up from the lab, who demands that if he is going to have to suffer team bonding time, he's picking the first movie. So they spend the second day of Tony's imprisonment watching movies. At first, both Tony and Loki are stiff, clearly wanting to be anywhere but here. Then Tony slowly relaxes, pulled into Clint's bantering. Finally, even Loki admits defeat, and by the end of it, both of them are asleep on the couch, intertwined in each other. Clint, of course, takes a picture that Natasha tells him will almost certainly get him killed. Loki opens one eye to agree with Natasha and Clint promises he deleted it off his phone. Loki is well aware he's lying, but really, it just gives him an excuse to get back at Clint so he lets it go and lifts a barely protesting Tony and takes them to bed.

"Does anyone else feel like they've become the most domesticated of all of us?" Clint asks after they leave.

"Remember that when Loki messes with your arrows," Natasha says, getting up to go to bed as well.

"He's a god of lies for a reason, Clint," Bruce says helpfully.

"It's probably too late to actually delete the picture off my phone, isn't it?"

"Undoubtedly," Thor says happily. Having been at the end of the good majority of Loki's tricks, he's eager to see someone else suffer.

"He's not the type to mess with someone else's weapons, right?"

Thor's roaring laughter is answer enough for that.

The third day, Rhodey returns and takes over. He talks mechanics with Tony in the lab while they work on upgrades for his suit. And when Tony declares the suit perfect halfway through the day, they tackle a car that the two of them have been working on rebuilding. It's been hard, between Rhodey's obligation to the military and Tony's obligations to S.I. and Avengers, but Tony has a feeling they're going to get a lot of time to work on it now.

"How, exactly, did you get time away from 'The Man' to do this?" Tony asks skeptically.

Rhodey shrugs. "I told them that the suit was on the fritz and I'd need to spend some time with you fixing it. They're incredibly desperate to keep that suit, so they agreed to whatever I asked."

"That," Tony says, pointing a wrench at Rhodey, "you learned from me."

"Believe it or not, Tony, you did not invent skirting around the truth."

"Maybe not, but I am dating the guy who probably did."

Rhodey considers this in silence, then nods his acceptance. "Point."

Day three passes by easily. Rhodey even manages to convince Tony to go to bed at a reasonable time, despite Tony's protests that he's not even tired.

Loki does manage to convince him he's tired after they go to bed, but it doesn't mean he gets to sleep any time soon.

Day four, Tony has to go to an S.I. meeting. He's never been more excited to go to a board meeting-

-until he walks downstairs and see Nat in her business power suit and Clint in his uniform, waiting for him.

"You're going to a meeting like that?" Clint asks, raising an eyebrow at the many marks that litter Tony's neck.

"Believe me, I've done way worse. They'll be more shocked I'm there than the fact that I've obviously spent the night with someone."

"You made that very PG," Natasha observes.

Tony drops his voice to a whisper. "There's delicate ears in the room." He sends a pointed look to Steve, who's sitting on the couch.

"I can still hear you, Tony," Steve says.

"Quick! He's on to me! Let's go before he attacks."

In the end, the meeting's boring. Tony does win ten bucks from Clint, because not a single board member even looks at the marks on his neck, but over half of them express their polite surprise at actually seeing him there.

And so, day four passes quietly.

By day eight, the team is having a really hard time controlling Tony. He's antsy, and seriously guys, all he wants to do is go out to dinner, be reasonable here. Clint and Natasha distract Tony by discussing new weapon ideas while Steve makes a frantic phone call to Fury.

"Captain," Fury answers evenly. Like he doesn't know what Steve's calling about.

"Director, please tell me you have some good news." Steve is not begging. Steve never begs.

Steve is very desperate.

"We're still working on it. Loki's little attack on A.I.M. has them drawing their defenses in, preparing for an attack."

"So they aren't focused on Tony anymore?" It's a false hope, he knows, but he's pretty sure that Tony's seconds from inventing something to kill them all and Loki would probably help him. Yesterday, Tony invented a new A.I. Its sole purpose seems to be following Clint around the house, squirting him with water every time he starts climbing into the vents. It took Clint two hours to find a way to fill the thing with alcohol, which, of course, somehow shorted out the poor robot. Tony was pissed and so, of course, was Loki. Steve suspects it was mostly because he got to exact revenge on Clint again, but the less said about the rest of the day, the better.

"If anything, it's made them more interested in capturing Loki and, by association, Tony." Steve mentally makes a note not to inform Loki that he did not help the situation, even if he's pretty sure Loki knows that anyway.

"I mean, they just want to use Tony to get to Loki, right? What if we just…baited them?" Steve asks.

Steve is very, very desperate.

Fury raises an eyebrow at him. "If I say that they aren't too pleased with Tony either, is that enough to turn you off that path?"

Steve pales slightly. It's definitely enough to turn him off that path. "Just-we can't keep him in here longer. Tony is either going to kill Clint or make Bruce Hulk out. Or both."

"Technically, Bruce Hulked out yesterday," Natasha says, coming to stand behind him. "They ended up playing hide-and-go-seek."

Steve had forgotten about that. He had entered Hulk's room to see Tony flickering in and out of sight, clearly a spell of Loki's, while the Hulk was staring at him, trying to decide what was going on. Clint had been laughing hysterically up in the rafters. Meanwhile, there were three separate Loki's around the room. Steve had quickly walked out of said room.

"The point is, Director, we can't keep them in this tower anymore. Can we send them to Malibu instead?" Natasha asked.

Fury rubbed his head. "Give us one more day. We'll move everything into place tonight, and start the attack tomorrow."

"Do you want Clint and me there?" Natasha asks.

"No, stay there, just in case they get desperate. We'll call if we need you."

"Understood."

"Thank you, Director," Steve says, and he tries not to let all of his relief come out in that one sentence.

"And Captain Rogers?" Fury says before Steve hangs up. "Good job keeping him in there for eight days. Lost twenty bucks to Hill, but it made our jobs easier."

The screen goes blank, sending a reflection of Steve's shocked face before it completely disappears. "They were…taking bets on this?"

"I lost fifteen dollars to Clint," Natasha says idly. "I overestimated Clint's ability to distract Tony and Loki, and the couple's ability to continuously have sex."

With that, she leaves the room. Steve tries not to think about what she just said.

It is, of course, day nine when everything goes wrong.

"Tony, I'll cook something-" Bruce starts, but Tony cuts him off.

"Absolutely not. I need something greasy and unhealthy, not whatever vegan health food you feel like cooking up tonight. We're ordering out."

Bruce let's his flash of frustration wash through him. He's experienced at tolerating Tony, yes, but he's also pretty much reached his limit. Everyone except Loki apparently has, since the god is still sitting behind him on the couch as they flip through something on his tablet.

"It also does not matter what you say," Loki adds, "as he ordered the food almost an hour ago."

Bruce tries to work through the next flash of irritation, but when he can't, he simply walks from the room. He leans against the doorway in the kitchen, out of sight, but not out of hearing.

"We could totally-"

"Absolutely not. Just because I am also tired of being restricted to the tower does not mean I will allow you to go out and put yourself in harm's way."

"Believe it or not, I can protect myself. I've been doing it for a long time."

"Is there a reason you feel the need to needlessly put yourself in danger at every possible moment?"

"Is there a reason you think you need to?"

Bruce tries to let the argument not bother him but for god's sake, he needs out of the tower. Maybe he can go lock himself in his lab. There's some research he's been meaning to get done.

"I have been spending every waking moment with you in this tower."

"Uh, good try Elsa, but I distinctly remember you leaving the first night and not coming back until you were done attacking an entire branch of A.I.M. Which, by the way, you would kill me if I ever did it, and I'm really curious on how these double standards are working here."

"Perhaps it is working the same way in that you are allowed to come help me when I pick a fight, but should someone pick a fight with you, I must remain on the sidelines."

"That is not my rule. That's Fury's rule and you can take that up with him. If I had my way—and I'm still not sure how I haven't yet—you would be out there with us whenever you wanted."

It's a valid point, and despite Bruce's frustration, he's curious on how Loki's going to come back on that one.

"Perhaps I will talk to him about it. He and Steve must be desperate to find some way to keep you from constantly throwing yourself into self-sacrificing moves when there are far better ways to control the situation. If you wanted out of this relationship so badly, all you need do is say so."

It's a low blow, and Bruce knows there's no way it ends well. He's fully prepared to make Jarvis bring Steve back and vacate the area himself, but then he hears Tony stand up. "I'm going to go get the food," he says stiffly. Bruce thinks about going after him, but decides it's not Tony that needs the company right now. As he fills two glasses of water, he wonders why he's become the therapist here.

When he gets out to the living room, Loki staring at the doorway, eyes dark. He sets one glass in front of Loki, who finally seems to notice him. He smiles wryly at the doctor. "You did not escape our argument."

"Unfortunately not. Sorry."

"It is I who must be sorry. We try to keep our arguments away from the team."

"Well, you have enough of them to make it nearly impossible," Bruce says, and Loki flinches just a little bit, but doesn't say anything. Bruce forces himself to push forward. "Also, calling into question Tony's commitment to your relationship? Probably not the best move."

Loki looks at Bruce, startled. Usually it's Steve that has these awkward conversations with them after a fight, where he tries to be helpful. Tony always makes fun of him and changes the subject. Loki always makes sure that he wears his anger like a cape and makes plenty of sharp moves. It usually sends Steve away pretty quickly. "I did not-I let my temper speak for me," Loki says. It's rare he misspeaks. It's even rarer that he admits he's wrong.

"I'm just saying. Tony doesn't really do commitment, but he's spent over a year with you. That's saying something." Bruce let's that sink in for a second while he figures out how to word his next sentence. "You know he loves you, right?"

Loki's face flashes with some emotion that Bruce can't recognize before it shuts down into his neutral expression. Ah. So it's been a point of tension for Loki. Apparently even gods can be insecure. Although he's pretty sure Loki's been one big ball of insecurities-"We have never…discussed it," Loki says carefully, interrupting Bruce's thoughts.

Bruce gives a huff of laughter. "If you wait for Tony to say it, you'll be waiting a long time, even for you. Tony doesn't speak emotions. He shows them. It's in the way he acts. I remember when he and Pepper were together. He loved her. She loved him as well. But they were never able to fully mesh their love together. With you…he moves flawlessly around you. The way he sits with you on the couch. The way he lets you touch his technology. The way he asks for your opinion. Loki, you and Pepper are the only ones he lets casually touch his arc reactor. You are almost literally touching his heart when you do that. I don't know how else he could more definitively show his love to you." Loki almost looks too shocked to respond. "But if you want him to say it out loud, you're going to have to make the first move."

"I-thank you, Doctor Banner. You have given me much to think about."

As if on cue—maybe it was, Clint had impeccable timing when it came to walking in on arguments or heart-to-hearts—Clint walks into the room, Natasha behind him. Steve exits out of the elevator, toweling off his hair after a quick shower. "Jarvis said there was food?" Clint asks hopefully.

"How long ago did Tony leave to get the food?" Bruce says, suddenly sitting upright. Stupid, stupid, how could he have let him do that? How could he have lost track of time?

"Too long." Loki's voice is strained, his lips drawn tight. His eyes are moving restlessly, one of the many signs that he's focusing on his magic.

"Jarvis?" Steve asks.

"I apologize, Captain Rogers. It seems as though something has blocked my ability to monitor the lower floors."

"Avengers," a voice snaps as Fury's face appears on a screen. "They knew we were coming. Everything's gone. Make sure-"

"Too late," Loki murmurs. His hand glows green, and a small ball of light appears on it. It hovers for a second, then fizzles out and sinks back into his hand. "My locator spell has been blocked. Tony is gone."

Tony is pretty sure he's never going to hear the end of it when the team finds him. He couldn't even go to the doorway without getting kidnapped. Also, it's totally the last time he orders from that Chinese restaurant.

When he manages to push past the last of the chloroform—seriously, who uses chloroform anymore—he finds himself tied down to a chair. Definitely no way this will end well.

"Finally with us, Stark?" a voice drawls. He tries to place it, but decides he's never interacted with this agent before. Probably for the best.

"Well this looks like a lot of fun," Tony says casually, lifting his head. Abandoned warehouse. Typical. He tries to shift in the chair to look more casual as well, but only half succeeds. "Think you would mind loosening these a bit? They're kinda tight."

The smile the agent gives him holds absolutely no humor and a whole lotta anger. "Our goal is not to make you comfortable."

"That's pretty unfortunate," Tony says. He expects the punch to his stomach, because this is definitely not his first rodeo. "Look, I know you think I'm going to lure Loki into giving himself up, but you're really mistaken if you think it's going to work like that."

"Oh, we're well aware that your boyfriend," and Tony's talked with a lot of bigots in his lifetime, but he's never heard someone put so much venom into their voice when they say that word, "will not quietly give himself up. Most of us were there when he so nobly came between you and Enchantress."

"Hey, you might not appreciate that, but I did," Tony defends pointlessly. He gets an elbow to his forehead for that. He blinks spots away as the agent continues.

"We're well aware that he will rain destruction down upon this place. That's why we have taken…certain precautions. You may be familiar with them."

The agent points to several devices that encircle the room. Anti-magic devices. His anti-magic devices. The only consolation he has is that he knows Loki can track him with his magic. When he can't reach Tony though magic, he'll know something's not right. "Hm. Can't say I really like hanging out with technology thieves too much. And when Loki shows up with the entire team and S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

"Should he not lose control of his anger, we have other ways to get him here."

"Well, you should know that he's not a big fan of clubs. Went there once. He gets awfully jealous, awfully-" Another elbow to the jaw cuts him off. He tastes blood when he swallows. Before he can fully recover, there's a hand squeezing at his throat, cutting off his oxygen.

"You mock taking a mass murderer out into the public around innocent people," the agent hisses in his ear. "Should our methods not work, we are fully prepared to take other precautions. You see this?" The agent holds up a needle and Tony's heartbeat speeds up a little. "A simple sedative."

"And you chose chloroform to knock me out? Cheap."

The agent doesn't acknowledge Tony's comment. "In small doses, it reduces the user to a semi-conscious state, much like they're sleeping. Taken in larger doses, however, it tends to play with the heart a little. Mostly by reducing the heartbeat so low, it is undetectable by a human hand."

There's a million thoughts that run through Tony's head, but he swallows most of them down. "Right. Or, and hear me out on this, you could just let me go and we could all pretend this never happened."

"Oh Mr. Stark. I think we all know we've gone too far for that." The agent moves closer, needle still in hand.

"Yeah, you're probably right. Forget Loki. The team would be too pissed to let that go."

The agent does say anything, just stabs the needle into Tony's arm, and he falls into darkness.

"How did they clear out everything with your agents surrounding the building?" Clint demands. It should've been Loki making the demands, but Bruce had taken him to the lab when he left. They doubt it's because Bruce wants his help and more because Loki is going into something that is suspiciously like shock and they have no doubt that Fury will make him snap with one pointed comment.

"Underground tunnels, apparently. We scanned the area around the building, but we weren't able to scan directly under the building. These tunnels went incredibly far underground. Farther than our scanners could pick up," Fury says.

"Bruce is trying to work with Jarvis to track the arc reactor," Steve says, entering back into the room. "Usually he can, but he says there's a lot of interference. Loki's trying to see if he can use magic to help, but he suspects that they're using anti-magic devices to block his ability to locate Tony."

"That seems counterproductive, doesn't it?" Bruce asks. "If they wanted Loki, why would they hide the bait from him?"

"They might not be ready yet," Natasha says. "If they knew S.H.I.E.L.D was moving in, they knew they had to make their move against Tony ASAP."

"And they must have had the tower under surveillance, including having hacked into some of Jarvis' communication lines. That's the only way they would be able to realize that we were ordering out," Clint added.

"But what was their plan if Tony didn't come to the door?" Steve asks. "They would have to know a direct assault on the tower would fail. They couldn't completely take down Jarvis. Only parts of him."

"They were likely desperate," Fury says, repeating Natasha's words. "It was their last chance. They were, however, prepared. We caught some of their agents who didn't fade out of S.H.I.E.L.D bases quickly enough. The last-ditch plan was to attack the tower. The agents were armed to take down everyone."

"Even the gods and I?" Steve asks. Because taking down the human spy and archer, and maybe even Bruce is one thing. Taking down Steve is possible, though incredibly difficult. But taking down Thor and Loki would mean a lot of man power, even if they managed to block Loki's magic. And if the entire tower was fighting to protect Tony? It would be virtually impossible.

"They were all loaded down with canisters of sleeping gases," Fury says. "They were probably planning on hacking Jarvis' air controls and making sure the gas filled the tower."

"It just seems so…thrown together," Steve says.

"Desperate men will make desperate moves. If we had ordered food just fifteen minutes later? We probably would have been able to take them down," Natasha says with a shrug. "Fury would've been able to warn us and we would've been ready."

The sound of thunder just barely manages to make it through the thick walls. "Good. Thor's here," Clint says, rubbing his forehead. They had sent him to Jane about three days in, when it was clear Loki was seconds from killing him. He doubted that Thor would be able to soothe this situation at all, especially with a panicking Loki—whatever Loki called it, it was definitely panicking.

"Friends!" Thor boomed as he entered the meeting area. "What has happened? Where is my brother and Tony?"

"Tony's gone, Thor," Steve says. "Bruce is trying to track him down right now."

Thor goes eerily still. All of them look at him in alarm. "And my brother?"

"Loki's trying to help Bruce, but the people who took him are probably using anti-magic devices. What's wrong?" Natasha asks.

"The last time Tony was hurt…I was barely able to keep Loki in control," Thor admits, which is a shock to them all because Loki hardly looked in control and if it wasn't, what did out of control look like? "I fear that, should Tony be injured again, I will not be able to control Loki. And if we do not find him soon, what is your saying? He will bring hell upon this planet?"

"Rain hell, but we get the point," Clint says.

"Excuse me," Jarvis says, breaking into the conversation, far before any of them are ready, "but Doctor Banner has asked for you to come to the lab. They have turned the blockers off. Loki is contacting Tony."

That's all they need before all of them are racing out of the room. Fury watches them with his one eye.

"Let me know what happens, Jarvis."

"Of course, Director."

When they get to the lab, Bruce is standing anxiously beside Loki, who has situation himself cross-legged on the ground. His eyes are closed and he doesn't respond to their appearance in any way.

"Whatever they had working, they took it down a few minutes ago," Bruce explains as they file in. "He almost left, but I reminded him it was a trap and they were using anti-magic devices, so he sent a projection, is what he called it I think."

Thor nods. "My brother is very adept at illusions. He will be able to send one to Tony and be able to communicate with him."

"Hopefully this doesn't take long," Clint mutters, shifting his stance. He's really good at restricting his movements, having trained at it for three-fourths of his life, but he's never been good at this part, the part where he's waiting to save one of their own.

"Tony. Tony, love. I need you to wake up."

The voice seems far off and distant, like a memory. Tony tries to ignore it. He doesn't really want to spend any more time conscious with his captors than necessary, especially when they seem to be taking a nonviolent approach right now. He has a tendency to make people more…volatile.

"Tony. Please, I cannot help you in this form."

It's the please that does it, really. Not many people are ever say please to him and mean it, so when someone does it, it's probably important. He forces tired eyes to open. The drug tugs at him, trying to lure him back to sleep but a cool hand brushes against his forehead, encouraging him.

"Loks," Tony slurs. He can tell by the god's form that he's only a projection, but it lightens his heart anyway. Loki's smile is strained. "Trap."

"I am well aware. I must know what the trap is."

"Anti-magic. Wait till you're here. Set them off."

"We'll be here soon," Loki promises, and prepares himself to leave, even though it kills him.

"Wait. Want you to…lose control," Tony forces out. His tongue is having a hard time forming words. It's loose and doesn't seem to respond to the commands his brain sends it. "I'm…encouragement."

Rage flashes through Loki but he has limited time here, so he forces it back. "They severely underestimate my control."

Tony debates telling him the backup plan they have in mind, but then decides it's not necessary. Instead, he just smiles tiredly. "'M fine, Loks."

Loki opens his mouth to say something, but an electronic hum fills the air and Loki's projection is torn apart as the anti-magic device turns back on.

"Who are you talking to?" the agent says, storming into the room. Tony just smiles. Loki is long gone.

"Can't a guy dream in peace?" Tony can always find energy for snarking. The agent does not appreciate it. This time, he slams his gun against Tony's forehead and Tony let's his head hang, stunned and lacking the energy to pretend like he's perfectly fine.

"Clearly we need to speed our plans up," the agent snarls. Tony feels hands on his arm again and sleep pulls at him. He tries to resist it—he wants to be ready when the team moves—but eventually the drug wins and he slips back into unconsciousness.

It takes Loki a second to collect the remnants of his magic. Being torn apart like that is incredibly painful. As the pain fades, however, anger fills its spot. When he finally gathers himself enough, he realizes that he's lying on his back in Bruce's lab and Doctor Banner himself is standing over him, eyes worried.

"You yelled and then you just collapsed," he explains.

"They turned on the anti-magic shields," Loki responds as he picks himself up. He's sore in ways that, physically, he should not be, but the pain will fade quickly as his magic repairs itself. "Having magic torn apart is not…fun," he finishes. "I must talk with everyone."

"Good, because everyone wants to talk to you," Clint's voice says from a little further away. Loki looks over sharply to see the team leaning against the various tables, looking at him. Bruce helps him to his feet, and Loki barely even realizes that he's accepting help from a mortal.

"I have located Tony. They have taken over a vacated warehouse in the downtown area. I will be able to find it again."

"And the trap part of their plan?"

"For me to lose control of my anger and attack in rage. Once I attack, they will turn on their anti-magic devices." Even now, Loki can feel flickers of his spells on Tony. They taunt him, allowing the machines to flicker on and off. But his shield spells tell him Tony is alive, even if he is not completely well.

Natasha nods. "Make you look like the bad guy again. They won't mention the kidnapping, of course, when they post video of themselves taking you down."

"So that's easy. Loki doesn't go," Clint says.

"My brother will not stand down so easily," Thor says before Loki can respond. At any other time, Loki would have laughed at his defense or told him, once again, that they are not brothers, but Loki is far more focused on a different topic.

"Should I not play into their plans…Tony did not say so, but then, he would not and I know how this game is played. Should I not do as they wish, they will take further steps. I do not believe they intend to kill him. Currently, they are drugging him, but he did not look to be in pain," Loki says, letting the anger boil through him. The team does not look much better. "If they chose that path, I cannot promise my control will remain."

"None of us would," Bruce says, to everyone's surprise. Usually he's the team's cool head.

"We don't need to think about this," Steve says firmly. "Right now, he's still uninjured. And we're going to find him."

"Perhaps I might have a plan," Loki says. Anger is still hard in his eyes, but his muscles are relaxing as his mind jumps into action.

Tony wakes up slowly. First he becomes aware of the tenseness of his muscles, and slowly, painfully, forces them to loosen. It leaves an ache that he can't shake. Then he becomes aware that there's a lot of movement happening around him, which is weird because the entire time he's been here, he's only dealt with the one agent, and he doesn't even know the guy's name. Strange.

The people moving around him. Right.

Someone's giving out orders, and there's the general bustling noise of people moving into place.

"I don't know man, he's just…standing there," someone says almost out of his ear shot.

"Probably waiting for his team to get in place," another answers him, contempt clouding over his words.

"He's waiting for something." That voice Tony recognizes. It moves closer to him. "Let's give him some motivation."

Movement directly beside him forces Tony to open his eyes. The room used to be empty, but now it's full of people, at least thirty. The agent is standing beside Tony, messing with another needle. His muscles tense.

"Well Mr. Stark, I can't say it's been pleasant for us to have you stay so long," he says.

"Unpleasant for you?" Tony manages to get out. His mouth is dry and his throat hurts. "I've had better company in a holding cell."

The agent just smiles, but his eyes are dead as always. "Enjoy Hell."

Before Tony can tell him that he's met Hell—well, Hela, but still—a needle is jammed in his arm. Almost dying, he finds out, can actually be pretty painless. He should definitely talk with all the people they fight about investing in this method. The sedative pulls him into sleep, while the reduced heartbeat fills him with lethargy.

He doesn't hear anything anymore.

Loki's spells flare in panic. Whatever they've given Tony, it's messing with his heartbeat at an alarming rate.

"I hope you are all ready," Loki murmurs quietly. The ear piece is annoying, but necessary. "I must move now."

He wonders if any truly understand what will happen if these agents do decide to kill Tony. Thor has probably guessed, and he wonders if he's told the rest of Tony's team. From the way they are interacting with him, he guesses not. It's probably for the best. Most are never ready for the end of the world.

He moves forward without waiting for a response, but he sees a flash of Clint on the roof, so he assumes they heard him. The door's paint is chipped, and what remains is an ugly yellow color. Loki considers it before he raises a hand…

And lightly knocks upon it.

He picks up movement on the other end, and though he can't make out what the voices say, he can pick up the confusion in them. He sighs and this time when he raises his hand, it sparks with magic. He focuses on the lock, and convinces the door that it would like to open for him. When he hears the click, he pulls it open and steps inside.

"Honestly," Loki says, "am I not the guest of honor? Should you not open the door? Is that not polite?"

His eyes scan over the room and picks out every agent's location, whether hidden or in plain view. He finds Tony tied to the chair, head hanging down. If he's breathing, Loki can't tell from sight. He pushes the panic into the back of his head.

The agents stare at him, dumbfounded, poor things, and the grip on their guns is loose. Should he dare to use his magic, he could easily pull their weapons from their grip. But that is not his job. Not right now.

He moves forward, and the agents come alive, but they do nothing more than follow him with their weapons. They are quick to move out of his way.

As he nears Tony, another agent steps out. He is clearly their leader, and Loki barely restrains a finger twitch. He raises an eyebrow at the man.

"Nice of you to finally join us." The sneer is obvious in his words, although there is a scarf of some sort pulled up over his mouth. There is nothing at all pleasant in his words.

"Hm," Loki says, maintaining his indifference. He's had thousands of years of experience pretending—sometimes not pretending—that he doesn't care about the situation at all. "You have something that belongs to me. I have merely come to retrieve him and then I will be on my way."

"That's not going to happen. Besides, we killed him as soon as we knew you were here."

Loki stares at the agent and tries to decide just how stupid he is. Finally, he decides that he must be very stupid. "You truly thought I would believe that," he says. The agent's eyes turn cautious. "Tony," Loki snaps, "you've slept far too long. If you think to use this as an excuse to not sleep for the next week, you are sorely mistaken."

He sends a spark of magic with it, jump starting Tony's heart back up to a normal pace. It shoots adrenaline through his system, and Tony's head jerks up quickly.

"I'm awake!" he says, then looks around at all the agents staring at him. "Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that he doesn't need to feel a pulse to know there's one? Oops."

"You could have told me this is what they were planning," Loki says, crossing his arms and shifting his weight to one leg. "The team made a whole plan and got organized in a shocking amount of time."

The agent's hand jerks and then there's a hum in the air. Loki feels his shield spells shift out of focus as his magic is pressed in tightly against him. It's not pleasant, it never has been, but it's tolerable.

"It doesn't matter," the agent snaps, raising his voice in hopes of getting control back. He's sadly wrong. He raises his own gun, but before he can fire, an agent behind Loki makes a strangled noise and drops to the ground, an arrow in his throat.

"Did you know that they don't actually have any armor around their throat?" Clint drops down from the rafters, Natasha not far behind. Loki can see the man's jaw clench through the scarf. "And c'mon Tony, we thought you were going to be dead or something. You've officially annoyed them enough that don't even want to cause you pain. They just don't want to deal with you at all."

"Nobody asked you to be here, Legolas," Tony says. He tugs uselessly at the surprisingly well tied ropes.

"Technically, your boyfriend did," Clint responds, moving over to begin untying the restraints.

"The problem, of course, lies in your belief that your anti-magic device will protect you," Loki drawls smoothly, drawing attention back to himself. He can tell his voice is causing unease to drift through the ranks. "True, I am unable to use magic while I am in here. But until you turned that device on, I was able to do all manner of things. Including imitating your outside agents' voices."

Someone behind him starts to check in with all of the perimeter agents, but he finds no one. The team had killed or incapacitated them all a long time ago. It took only a little bit of magic to answer in someone else's place.

"Now if you do not mind," Loki says, drawing attention back to himself, "I have no more business with you."

The agent looks ready to say something again, but this time a shield flies from somewhere beyond the corner of his eye to slam into his head. The agent stumbles aside. Loki comes over in time to help Tony stand up. He sways a little, the effects of the sedative still flowing slowly through his veins.

"They sedated you for over half the time you were captive, and yet you still managed to get a concussion?" Loki asks as he steadies his boyfriend.

"Well I had to make sure they remembered me," Tony defends. He barely even blinks when Loki switches his grip to throw a knife at an oncoming agent. "I think I should get an award for doing that in about four sentences."

Loki leads Tony outside. The team can take care of the rest of the rouge agents. Tony is safe and—mostly—healthy. Plus, outside isn't under an anti-magic damper. Loki begins healing the cuts on Tony's forehead. "I was worried," Loki murmured.

"Honestly, I just wanted some Chinese. I really didn't plan on getting kidnapped," Tony says. Loki reads between the lines. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to worry you.

"I rejoice in the fact that you have finally managed to find incompetent kidnappers," Loki responds. I'm just glad you're okay.

"The team's going to have a field day with this, aren't they?"

"Undoubtedly."

Loki is right—Tony refuses to sleep that night, despite being told by doctors that extra rest will heal up his concussion quicker. So instead, he compromises. He lays in bed with Loki, his head on Loki's stomach while the god reads and Tony works on projects from his tablet. One of Loki's hands almost absently runs through Tony's hair.

Almost absently.

The fingers pause for a moment, long enough for Tony to realize something in his surroundings changed. He looks up at the god, who brushes a hand down Tony's face, shoulder, and then across his chest, and arc reactor. "I love you," he says. He's pretty sure his heart stops for a second, especially when Tony gives him a questioning look.

"I love you too," he says, and Loki's heart races forward again. "I thought you knew that."

"I did," Loki says, returning his hand to Tony's hair. "But I just wanted the reminder."

"You're so weird," Tony says, turning back to his tablet, hiding his grin. "I don't know why I ever let you stick around."

He's not surprised when sleep suddenly slips up on him.