Wow, it took me a while to write this! enjoy! ^.^

"WHERE IS HE?" Thor's voice boomed through the lab as he practically sprang up from his chair. Before Tony could stop JARVIS from revealing the location it was too late and Thor was already on his way to the room. Tony immediately took a different route to Loki's room, forcing his muscles to move faster than they ever had before, racing to get there before Thor. At the same time Banner decided to do the logical thing and remain at the computer so he could alert S.H.I.E.L.D., but only if it was completely necessary as the last thing he wanted was for Tony to be in any kind of trouble with the intelligence agency. Again.

Tony was practically panting with exertion when he stopped just outside of Loki's room, he arrived moments before Thor and if he wasn't so worried about Loki's safety he would have thought the look of confusion on Thor's face was priceless.

"STOP."

"What are you doing Stark, let me get him." Tony stood at his full height, which in retrospect really did not make a difference next to Thor.

"I'm sorry; I can't let you get to him. I know I will regret saying this, but you will have to get through me first." Tony clasped his eyes shut waiting for the inevitable though astonishingly, after a few long moments, it never came and he slowly opened his eyes. It appeared that Thor was actually waiting for him to open his eyes so he could see what was coming, Tony soon felt the sudden impact of a strong fist colliding with his stomach, knocking the wind out of him. As more forceful punches rained down on him he forced words out between sharp intakes of breath and gasps of pain.

"You can't… take, take him… You. Don't, un-under, s-stand."

Loki was roused, from a rather fitful sleep, by a sharp and quite loud cry of what sounded like pain. After taking a minute to shake off the remnants of drowsiness he listened intently to what was happening outside the door to his room. After a good few moments of listening to scuffling and fragments of words he realised what was going on, and more alarmingly who the sharp cry of pain belonged to. Outside the room Thor was making sure that Tony would stay on the floor with a swift kick in the side before he saw a sight he loathed to see. A few feet away was his 'brother' standing in the centre of the corridor with a smug look upon his face. The gold helmet upon his head further exaggerated his height and the green cloak embellishing his clothing, looking every bit the villain. Not wasting any more time Thor launched himself toward Loki, determined to not be beaten by his pathetic excuse of an adopted brother, and went straight through him. He was flushed with frustration before he heard a weak voice behind him which made him spin around rather quickly.

"Are you ever not going to fall for that?"

Thor was momentarily surprised at the sight that greeted him as he turned around; standing outside the door was Loki except he looked, what could only be described as, worse for wear. He was still in a borrowed hospital gown that seemed to wash out his already pale skin, this only served to make the injuries stand out further. His skin marred with bruises, burns and gashes all at various stages of healing. As soon as he spotted Tony on the floor, despite his currently weakened state, he mustered the energy to let the anger and hurt due to his brother flow through him.

"YOU KNEW! YOU KNEW WHAT THEY WERE DOING AND YOU DIDN'T HELP ME! WE WERE BROTHERS. You, you abandoned me. You left me and I was more alone that I had ever been. Why? WHY?!" Intense emotion laced his voice and his eyes filled with a wetness of unshed tears. However, it appeared that Thor was unmoved and he looked Loki dead in the eyes.

"I know. It was me who gave the orders."

The hallway filled with a deafening silence that was soon broken by the sound of Tony struggling to get off the ground. He knew that Thor had not been there for Loki after what had happened, but he never expected that and he was furious. Furious enough to recklessly go for Thor again but all it took was one well-placed punch and Tony was knocked back to the floor, this time unconscious. Thor immediately turned his attention back to Loki and wrapped a large and very strong hand around his already injured neck. Luckily, Banner had decided now was the time to call S.H.I.E.L.D. and make his way up to the room. He expected there to be trouble but he did not expect to see Tony unconscious on the floor, a trail of blood down his face from where he had been hit. He certainly didn't expect to see Thor holding Loki by the neck disregarding the awful chocking sounds he was making, gasping for breath. However, it was certainly the thought of Thor hurting Tony that tipped him over the edge and before he knew it he was moving towards Thor. Bone, muscle and flesh started to morph as he moved, green overtook the flesh tones, his body expanded until he was over 2 metres tall and his width had practically doubled. At the same moment a response team for S.H.E.I.L.D. was coming down the corridor, they had to part like the red sea as the Hulk grabbed Thor, getting him away from Loki, and throwing him as hard as possible down to hall. After a moment of panic from the response team at the thought of the Hulk being there Banner returned to himself and took a minute to catch his breath.

Loki had moved over to the unconscious Tony and was supporting his head in his arms and making sure he wasn't too badly hurt, on seeing this the entire team of agents had raised their guns and they were all trained on Loki, ready to fire. Though, to everyone's surprise Banner made his way down the hall and stood in front of Loki and Tony blocking the line of fire. Simultaneously Nick Fury decided to appear from behind the team filling the immediate area with his presence.

"How about one of you mother fuckers tell me what is going on or I'm going to start cracking heads!"

"If you get them both help then I will tell you everything." While Banner spoke he gestured to both Loki and Tony.

"I am not going to help him, he is a goddamn villain." Banner focused every single part of his attention onto Fury and spoke in a tone so soft and laced with threat the words hung heavy in the air.

"Listen Fury, this is serious. If you do not help both of them, you will lose your precious 'avengers'."