Many apologies for the delay – I just got my computer back from the ER… it survived, but please, dear readers, spare a moment and cross your fingers that my computer will be fine. If it dies, that means no more updates from Draconis. : ( And I don't want that to happen! Or you can hope for a Christmas miracle for a new laptop, whichever! xD

Anyways! This is a long chapter, hope you all don't mind. Though I am curious, please tell me in the reviews – do you all prefer long chapters, or short ones? I honestly have no clue which one is preferred or 'better'. xD

And as always, buckets of thank yous and cyber-hugs to all those who follow and favorite and review! It is just so absolutely wonderful to see people enjoying this!

Anyways, enough yammering from me! Enjoy!


Things were almost back to normal in the Avenger's household. Thor made a full recovery; whether it was due to Madam Pomfrey's lionfish spines or not, the God of Thunder was back to his former self. He was released from the medical bay, but there weren't many other places for him to go. The mansion was now truly a household, or a makeshift prison, depending on your point of view. Fury had given them all very specific orders - all of the team was confined to the mansion until Fury said otherwise. It was good to be a united front for whenever Voldy decided to surface; but Tony wasn't sure about the method. Keeping a bunch of volatile super-humans in an enclosed area for an extended period of time didn't seem like the best idea, but whatever. If tempers ran high, Tony didn't exactly mind the idea of going toe to toe with Thor again to let off some steam. Especially with the strengthened armor in his suit, he almost relished the challenge. His considerable self-esteem still hadn't quite recovered from their last battle – being tossed around like a doll was a humbling experience, and Tony had found that out the hard way.

So the Avengers were stuck together for the time being…. But things weren't actually all that different. Clint still crept around in the air vents, Widow kept herself locked in her room doing who-knows-what, and Thor, whenever he wasn't eating, wandered restlessly through the halls, mumbling about Jane, fretting about his brother, or swinging his hammer around in frustration. Tony kind of felt bad for the guy, who clearly wasn't taking to house arrest very well. But there wasn't much Tony could do except keep out of his way – he had a feeling it wouldn't feel nice if Thor accidentally hit him with his hammer.

Steve kept trying to convince everyone to do things as a team, or at least have dinner together once, but he was not being met with much success. They weren't a team like Steve wanted them to be, like things apparently were in the good old days. Tony, more or less, trusted everyone currently residing in the mansion; if it came down to it, he trusted them with his life. But that didn't translate to having warm and fuzzy bonding time. Everyone was too wrapped up in their own affairs, Tony included. The only one he spent any true time with was Bruce, but that was just because Bruce was the most tech-savvy of the lot. Everyone else he just chatted with if they ended up in the kitchen at the same time. The Avengers kept strange schedules, but Tony didn't mind it; he no longer accrued weird looks from anyone if he was sneaking snacks and coffee from the kitchen at 3 AM. There was usually at least one other person there whenever he remembered to eat, sometimes two. Clint and Widow seemed to come together, for whatever reason – but sometimes Bruce was there, carrying the same harried look that Tony often wore – the look of frustration whenever bodily needs got in the way of invention or research. Thor was just in the kitchen all the time. The god never seemed to get full.

About two weeks had passed since Thor's recovery. Fury had done nothing except check up to make sure they were all still locked up in the mansion – but Tony could sense something brewing beneath Fury's already-mad exterior. There was going to be an explosion from him, and soon. But for once, the Avengers hadn't really done anything lately to get his blood pressure up. It had be new information about this Chief Death Eater guy – Tony wasn't looking forward to hearing what Fury had found.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione had stopped by very briefly, once. They'd apparently tried to call, but the phone hadn't worked where they'd been traveling. What a surprise. So they'd poofed to the mansion to find a better means of communication. Short on time, Tony fashioned for them a panic button of sorts. It was a small blue oval with a button on one side. When pressed, it sent out a signal – Tony set JARVIS to keep an eye out for it. Even if magic was flying everywhere, JARVIS would still be able to pick up their general location so they could help. He hoped. There was no way to communicate verbally with it, but it was better than nothing. He was actually pretty happy with it, but the bushy-haired witch frowned and said,

"But what will you do, when we press it?" Hermione questioned. "How will you know whether it's a simple meeting versus an emergency?"

Grumbling, Tony grabbed the panic button and retreated back to his workshop. He modified it slightly – if the button was simply pressed and released, it sent out a normal signal. But if it was held down for more than five seconds, it blared loud and clear that it was an emergency.

"Here you go, smarty," He said, dropping it back in her hand. "Press it once if you just need a chat – but hold it down if Voldy's got you strung up by your underwear. We'll come round."

Hermione sniffed disdainfully and passed the button to Harry. "It wouldn't be much use to us then, would it?" Harry said with a grin. He pulled out what looked to be a furry pouch from around his neck – opening it, he dropped the panic button inside. "If he's already caught us and taunting us, I doubt your little team here will be much help."

"We'll come to watch, at any rate," Tony said with a shrug.

Harry made a funny face halfway between amusement and exasperation. "You do that," Harry said, clapping Tony on the shoulder. Tony reiterated the fact to hold it down for over five seconds, then the trio took their leave again. The wizards sure didn't seem to like hanging around much.

So other than the brief wizardly visit, things went back to Avengers-normal. Tony mainly kept to his workshop, making prototype retainers to attach to his suit in an attempt to prolong the life of the shield spell. He was trying to harness the magic in something non-electric in hopes it wouldn't dissipate so quickly. He had no idea whether it worked, and no way to test it without the boy wizard, but it was something to do. Still, without the manic drive of an important project, he responded to his growling stomach earlier than normal and went to the kitchen.

He found both Steve and Thor there, sitting at the table. Thor had cooked what looked to be an enormous omelet – Steve had a huge share on his plate, and Thor's was just ridiculously big, but there was still a lot left in the pan. If that was how Asgardians normally ate, it was a wonder they weren't all a thousand pounds heavy with pot bellies dragging behind. Tony needed to do a study at some point – to see how much Thor stuffed in his mouth on a daily basis. He had a feeling everyone would be surprised by the results.

Tony grabbed a plate and served himself a hearty portion, pouring a generous amount of coffee as well. There was always coffee around and available, regardless of time. It was probably around 2 o'clock in the morning as Tony sat down with Steve and Thor, but no one present at the table seemed to care about the late hour.

Tony listened in on the conversation as he took a long draught of coffee. It sounded like they were discussing the logistics of how that crazy woman Bellatrix had fought.

"Look, she was good enough to take on the three of us combined. She nearly killed you, in case you don't remember," Steve was saying. "Do you really think she'll go down with one swing of that hammer?"

Thor leaned forward. "If she had not reacted so quickly, I would have ended the fight with Mjolnir then and there," Thor said solidly.

"But you didn't end the fight then," Steve retorted. "And even if you got another chance, I still don't think you would win," The Captain said with a sigh.

"She is merely a mortal – a gifted mortal, but still human. She is no match for a god," Thor said dismissively. That was mighty rich coming from the one who had nearly died.

"Excuse me, god, but I didn't see anyone else being carted back on a stretcher," Tony said.

"A lucky shot, that was all. She will not be so fortunate again," Thor retorted.

Tony snorted. "Well, I'm glad you got that all worked out," Tony said. "See, to me that had seemed like a carefully planned attack that worked out exactly as she meant it to, but…" he waved his hand and disappeared behind his coffee mug again. "She's just a mortal, sayeth the god. Guess we can all stop worrying now."

Steve looked disparagingly at Tony. "Look, mortal or not, she's a threat," Steve said to the both of them. Tony grinned cheekily at Thor and took a big bite of omelet.

"What's so threatening about her," Tony said with his mouth full, "Is how fast that damn wand of hers is. We work with missiles and bullets and lightning, but she's working with magic here. Colored light that can kill or explode depending on her mood. And she knows, Steve, she knows just how to work us. She didn't just deflect my weapons, she made them kick up dust and smoke to hide her. And Steve, didn't you see how she only went for you when you were compromised by Thor being hit? She knew where you were the whole time and was just waiting for a weakness. And she was firing at me in a way to get me to deplete my arsenal, fast. She knew exactly what she was doing. Her plan would have worked if you'd died, Thor. Steve, you would have died too, running for Thor when you did. And I don't think I would have lasted much longer alone."

Steve and Thor just stared at him. Tony had been thinking about it for awhile, replaying the battle in his head, rewatching the few pieces that JARVIS had saved. And he was sure that this woman was as brilliant as she was insane. And that was just plain scary.

"You would be wise not to overestimate our enemies, Stark," Thor said slowly. "I did as such with the Frost Giants. They speak of plan and forethought, but they are truly creatures of brute force. It may be the truth with this woman as well. She could just have taken opportunities as they came. I saw no grand 'plan', just a battle."

"You were knocked out and forgot half of it," Tony said dismissively. "I'm not saying she's a grand mastermind, but there's something there."

Tony and Thor both looked at Steve. Steve fidgeted with his plate, seeming uncomfortable with the attention. "Well, I'm not sure…" He began to say, but was interrupted by a blue flash and a spark of lightning. Tony shouted as he realized that Thor had disappeared. Gone. Just like that. His chair was slightly charred and very empty.

The door to the kitchen slammed open before either Steve or Tony could do much more about it. Bruce stood in the open doorway wearing nothing but a t-shirt and boxer shorts – a handheld computer was in his hand. "I just got a flash of an energy signature that matched the Tesseract's," he said breathlessly. "It looked like it was coming from in here. What happened? Is everyone okay?"

Tony couldn't find his voice. Gaping like a fish, he pointed at Thor's chair. Bruce took one look at the overflowing plate in front of the still-smoking chair and understood. "Thor's gone," he said in resignation.

Now worry set in, settling its claws deep within Tony. He had JARVIS wake the other two members of the team and have them meet in the kitchen so everyone could try to figure out the possible implications of this. The best possible scenario was that Odin had beamed him back to Asgard, but with no Tesseract that would be a huge expenditure of energy. The worst case scenario was that Voldy had finally started unraveling the Tesseract and had taken Thor prisoner. There were probably several slightly good/kind of bad scenarios, but Tony couldn't think of any.

Black Widow had immediately contacted Fury upon hearing the news. Clint had no brilliant information to offer but had shot two arrows in the wall as a way of venting his concern.

"The signature wasn't a one hundred percent match," Bruce said to the silent and serious team. "There was something else mixed in it. I'm not sure what it is. It could be something from Odin… or something from this new guy."

Wasn't that just spectacular. But even Tony couldn't think of anything snarky to say to lighten the mood. Things were getting serious.

Fury departed for the mansion as soon as he heard the news, with the grim promise of a meeting upon his arrival. Tony stood and followed Bruce into his lab, seeking more information about the 'something else' that Bruce had mentioned was mixed with the energy signature. He examined it with Banner. It wasn't one he was familiar with, but he took comfort in the fact that it wasn't close to anything Harry's wand had given off. Then again, maybe evil magic had an energy all of its own. Tony had no idea. He really should have asked to borrow some of Harry's spellbooks last time he'd dropped by.

And thinking of the boy wizard, Tony cursed his own stupidity. Yes, the trio had a panic button in case they got into trouble. But what about the Avengers? What about when they got into a sticky mess that only magic could fix? Tony didn't think that that situation would come, and hadn't prepared for it. Maybe he just hadn't liked the idea of having a teenager bail him out. Regardless of reason, he was paying the price now for having no way of contacting the wizards. He tried calling their cell, but JARVIS informed him that, regrettably, they were not in a service area. And the panic button only activated when they needed it – Tony kept the signal from being on all the time to avoid having it wear down, So that was a bust too. So there was nothing he could do. The great Tony Stark had screwed up royally.

Well, it wasn't a cure or a fix by any means, but alcohol did tend to take the edge of off any situation. It was way past 5 o' clock anyway, so who was he to care? He left the lab and went to one of the many handy liquor cabinets strewn about the mansion. Things looked better when he had a glass filled high with amber liquid, but not by much. He grabbed the bottle for good measure and went back to the lab, where Bruce cast a disapproving eye on his bottle and tumbler.

"You're no use to me drunk," He said bluntly before turning back to the viewscreen.

"Not much use, but a lot more fun," Tony replied.

Bruce did not smile. "We have a task here, Tony. Thor could be being tortured by You-Know-Who as we speak. Is that still fun?"

Tony frowned and drained his glass, feeling the familiar burn travel down his throat. It woke him up much more than the simple coffee had. The fogginess would come later – the sharp alcohol was a wake-up call, at least for now. He wordlessly went back to the computer he'd been working on. Bruce was right. He had no right to get roaring drunk if Thor was in trouble – again. Second time we've had to save him, Tony thought to himself. If Thor got out of this, if he survived, he was never going to live that down.

But there was a task to do. He focused on the computer in front of him, putting up what protections he could around the mansion, trying to get any readings he could on the strange signature accompanying the Tesseract's. He worked right up until Fury arrived, which signaled both Bruce and Tony to abandon their posts and head to the kitchen where everyone else was already convened. This was not going to be a good meeting. As an afterthought, Tony grabbed the bottle from the table as he passed. He might need it after all, when all this was said and done.

Fury stormed through the halls and threw open the doors to the kitchen, a huge sheaf of papers clenched in one gloved hand. He was the absolute epitome of towering anger.

"We've got a problem," Fury growled. All of the Avengers were crowded around the small kitchen table, and everyone jumped a little as he slammed the papers down on the table. He leaned forward at the ceremonial head of the round table, giving an intense stare out of his one remaining eye.

"This 'Chief Death Eater' is our new number one problem," Fury said. "He and his band of followers have killed hundreds of us, if not thousands, and we still sat unknowing. His crimes make Loki's look like child's play."

"Releasing an army in the middle of Manhattan is child's play?" Clint questioned skeptically.

Fury knocked over the pile of papers, scattering them among the team. Tony tilted his head sideways to read one of the papers. It was a police report. Tony picked it up and flipped through it. Stapled to the back was a death certificate. Feeling sick, he quickly scanned the rest. That's what they all were. Records of crimes, of lives taken. Each and every one.

Yes," Fury said solemnly. "Yes, it is."

Clint's mouth dropped open as he picked up one of the files. Everyone started reading them as well, their expressions changing to various stages of horror as they realized what they were reading.

"Frank Bryce," Fury said to the silent room. "Bertha Jorkins. Thomas and Mary Riddle. Marlene Mckinnon. Edgar Bones. Fabian Prewett. Octavius Pepper.

"They and many others died at the hands of this wizard," Fury said. "Their deaths were attributed to gas leaks. Suicides. Tragic accidents. Normal, non-magical explanations for deaths that could not be explained."

He picked up one of the papers at random, holding it carefully between his hands. "He seeks world domination. He wants subjugation of all non-wizards, and he will stop at nothing to achieve that goal. Many of the people killed here were killed for nothing more than sport. Muggle killing is all the rage these days among the death eaters."

"Death Eaters," Natasha said. "You keep saying that. Who are they? Do they have some kind of advantage, protection from death?"

"The Death Eaters are You-Know-Who's followers," Fury answered her. "They're all wizards as well, but no additional protection that we know of."

"What a name," Clint said to himself.

"It's an interesting choice," Fury said, as though Clint's comment was meant for all. "Considering the fact that You-Know-Who's greatest fear is of death itself."

"It's fitting, then," Natasha said. "If half of what I've heard about this wizard is true, he'd shove all his followers in front of him to take the death blow. They'd eat death for him," She said with a shrug.

Tony decided it was time to interject. "Figuring out Moldy's nicknames for his cronies is all very well, but don't we have something more important to do – like figuring how to beat him to a pulp?"

"Or how to get Thor back," Steve said. "He's a murderer, we get that now. We need to figure out his play, his strategy. What he plans to do."

"That's a brilliant idea, Rogers," Fury said with mock enthusiasm. "How would you suggest we start?"

It turned out that Fury had little more than traces of Voldy's crimes. There was nothing solid to work with – it was difficult to work out a pattern when you were dealing with insanity, and even harder when said insane person could use magic to cover their tracks. Fury left all the papers with the Avengers as homework, promising to send whatever else he found. And the head of SHIELD was gone again, leaving a bunch of death certificates and some very stunned Avengers behind him.

Things changed slightly in the mansion. Their house arrest was not lifted, but they all now had to try to find a link, a common thread between the ridiculous amounts of death this sorcerer had caused. Tony tried with the best of them, but he knew there was nothing to find. This guy just liked killing. Sure, a few of them had probably done some great personal wrong to him, like try to be a good person or something, but he doubted they would find anything truly helpful in the files. And reading page after page of death could really wear on a person – even battle-hardened Natasha was letting some sadness show. Tony never dealt with depression particularly well, and he found himself turning ever more frequently towards his stiffest drinks.

"All right, enough," Steve said one day, as Bruce, Tony, and Steve were all seated in the kitchen with the never-ending pile of papers. "We're not going to find anything in here."

Tony's eyes were bloodshot from the reading, late hours, and the material he was being forced to slog through. "About time someone sees the light," Tony said, shoving away a report about a murdered German family.

The Captain looked burned out too. "Let's just… gather everybody together, see what we've learned. It's been two full days with us all working on it. If we don't have anything of merit, then I say we call it quits for the time being."

"Fury won't be happy with that," Bruce commented, but he took of his glasses and leaned back with a sigh, pushing the papers away from him.

"Not that you care," Tony noted.

Bruce rolled his eyes and stood, stretching and yawning. Steve stood too, asking JARVIS in his typical awkward fashion if he could please ask everyone to meet in the living room. Though of course everyone had their private wing, the second level was shared between all of them – and that included a very spacious living room. When they weren't meeting in the kitchen, that's where they usually chose to meet – overstuffed sofas were much more comfortable than the hard plastic chairs of the conference room.

Everyone arrived within minutes as opposed to days. There were a few perks to Fury's plan, and that was one of them. Fury's idea was actually turning out to be a pretty good plan. And to the Avengers credit, no one had torn the house down yet. Tony considered that quite an achievement.

"So what's this about?" Clint said grumpily from one of the sofas. He was sitting tightly next to Natasha, who had her chin resting on her hands and was looking bored.

"We just want to assess exactly how big of a waste of time this has been," Tony said.

"No," Steve said emphatically, with a glare in Tony's direction. "I thought it would be a good idea to see if anyone's found anything interesting."

"They would have told us if they had, Steve," Tony pointed out. Slightly pink in the face, Steve continued. "So. Has anyone found anything?"

Tony was right. They hadn't found a thing. There were a lot of indications that some of the victims were wizards themselves, but that didn't help one way or another. Nothing was really proving useful.

"Well, I think that proves its not worth our valuable time. That merits a drink," Tony said, standing and pouring himself a glass. To his surprise, Steve requested one as well, then Bruce, then Clint and Natasha as well. As he doled out the liquor, he made to take a drink from his own glass, but stopped just before as he noticed no one else had had any yet.

Steve looked awkward again, which always meant there was a speech in the making. "Guys, we've all read about hundreds of horrible deaths these past few days," He said quietly. He raised his glass. "There's nothing we can do to ease the pain or bring them back, but I think they deserve a toast in their honor."

Everyone looked at each other, then simultaneously raised their glasses, Tony included. It truly had been horrible, reading about all the innocents being murdered just because they were in the way or because it was fun to do. A toast fixed nothing, of course, but it helped ease a bit of the tightness as they all murmured their toasts and drank. It may have served no real purpose, but it had felt right to do.

Tony drained his glass and dropped it on the table. We do have coasters, sir, JARVIS chimed, ever the watchful butler. Tony grumbled and slipped a coaster under his glass. "Happy?" He said, making a face at one of JARVIS'S many cameras. "You can stop spying on me any time, you know."

When you stop trying to ruin the countertops, I shall.

"Are all of your creations as snarky as you are, Stark?" Steve asked through the sudden laughter as Tony made a very rude hand gesture to the cameras.

"JARVIS wishes he was as snarky as me," Tony retorted. "He –"

Boom.

An explosion echoed throughout the room as blue light flared from nowhere. The laughter turned to shouts as two figures materialized before them. One was blonde-haired, the other raven-black, but that was all Tony could see. Then the light dissipated, and Tony could see exactly who they were - Thor and Loki stood standing in the middle of the room.

Everyone was abruptly a whirl of action. Clint did a spit-take as soon as he beheld the form of Loki. Grabbing his bow and shouting incoherently, he went for the strategic higher position, climbing atop whatever was closest to him. Unfortunately for everyone involved, he ended up perched unsteadily on top of Natasha. Uttering a stream of curses in Russian, she adjusted her aim with her gun, somehow managing to do so with Clint still standing on her head.

Steve had his gun drawn and shield up, all business. Bruce was tight and focused, ready to become mean and green the moment things skewed toward a fight. And Tony stood there in his jeans and t-shirt, as useless as a jelly-filled gun.

Tony backed toward the door, wanting some space so JARVIS could deploy his suit. Steve cocked his gun, aiming straight for Loki. Would it really be over that fast?

"Wait!" Thor roared, spreading his arms wide and blocking the Captain's shot with his own body. "It is not what you think!"

"Then explain fast, Thor," Steve said, his eyes still trained on Loki.

"We come here in truce," Thor said, still blocking Loki. Tony could hardly see the black-haired god, skulking as he was behind the much-larger Thor.

"Loki was not responsible for the Tesseract's disappearance," Thor said, his hands still raised and empty. Mjolnir was resting by his feet.

"We know that. That's fine. He's still done enough for us to want to kill him," Tony said, though the side of him more focused on self-preservation whispered this might not be the best time to speak out.

Thor hardly spared him a glance. "He believes he has information that can help us," he continued.

"And what's turned him into a stool pigeon?" Steve queried, still locked in his ready-to-kill mode.

Loki suddenly shouldered past his brother, to many shouts and waving of guns. He was garbed not in his normal over-the-top leather and knives, but in a simple all-black outfit. And, wrapped tightly around his wrists, were two huge shackles. These had to be the magic-repellant handcuffs Thor had told him about way back when, when Loki had first escaped. They certainly looked effective, big and metal with important-looking runes scrawled all over them. Then Loki spoke, his voice a harsh sneer,

"Do not think I've turned kind towards you, Avengers," He spat the name. "Should I have had my way, I would have nothing to do with you, save to kill you. However –"

"You're really not selling your case here, Liesmith," Steve said, his weapon pointing again at Loki's face. Loki grinned at the captain, a singularly mirthless smile. He continued as though uninterrupted.

"However, this sorcerer, with his primitive magic, may bring about the end of the earth with his tampering of the Tesseract. He does not know its true power, and does not treat it as he should. Such experiments, left unchecked, may prove disastrous. I do not wish to rule a dead planet."

Again with the ruling of the world crap. Who did these villains think they were? "Do you not listen?" Tony said to Loki. "There is still no throne for you to ascend to, buddy. Trying a second time won't change that."

Steve shot him a look that clearly told him to shut up, but Tony had to admit he was a little curious about the whole thing. What did Loki hope to gain from becoming all powerful ruler of the world, aside from bragging rights? No one was going to listen to him, everyone was going to hate him. God or not, he'd be lynched somehow. Why was ruler of the world such a coveted title?

Loki turned his smile onto Tony. "There is always a throne," He said. Tony crossed his arms, thoroughly unimpressed. He thought he saw a flicker in Loki's face, a slight change, before the god of lies turned away. Tony had a feeling it was significant somehow, but had no idea what it meant.

"My father gave a very clear order," Thor said, still speaking much too loud for the relatively small company. "If he means to help, then help he shall. He is to be watched by Heimdall at all times. Any trickery on his part will be met with swift death."

"Thor, you need to get over this brotherly love thing. Did you not hear that whole 'ruling the world' bit?" Tony said incredulously. "Why would you think the God of Lies is telling you the truth, ever?"

"My lies would have no power if I did not sometimes tell the truth," Loki answered smoothly. "No one would believe my falsehoods if they were not surrounded by honesty."

Silence. He actually had a point there.

At a loss for what to say,Tony studied the god. He looked different than they had last seen him. The hairstylists at Asgard had given him a haircut, cutting away the strange spiky do he'd had upon their last visit. His hair was shorter now, smoothed behind his ears. His clothes, though plain, looked finely made. All and all, he did not fit the look of what a war prisoner ought to look like. But more than that, the deep, sick-looking circles beneath his eyes that had been Loki's trademark through the battle had disappeared – he looked scores healthier than he had, and that just wasn't any kind of fair.

"If you do not trust his word, then trust mine," Thor said. "We share a common enemy. No one in this room wishes to see Earth destroyed. It would be to our detriment if we did not use every weapon available in our arsenal."

Tony wondered what snake-tongued lies Loki had fed him to get Thor like this. "Heimdall is watching," Thor continued, though he almost sounded like he was reading a proclamation now. "There will be no attempt at subterfuge. Loki shall help us until this enemy is defeated… if he does not, his own life will be the price."

Loki remained silent and stoic throughout this, though Tony thought he saw the barest hint of a grin. Tony didn't trust him, of that much he was sure. He wasn't really sure about anything else at this point, though.

"So, what are you asking us?" Bruce finally asked. "If we're okay with working with him?" There was definitely a grin on Bruce's face. The other guy was probably slavering in anticipation of clobbering the god again.

"In short, yes."

Silence again. Tony took another small step toward the door, but stopped when Loki glanced back at him. He waited until the god looked away, then leaned back, not even taking a step. Loki glanced up and away at him again. Odd that Loki was keeping tabs on him, the weakest of the lot at this moment. Now why would that –

His train of thought was interrupted by Clint. "Why has no one shot him yet?!" The archer screamed suddenly, and shot at Loki's eye.

Loki caught it an inch before it impaled him, and Natasha wrenched the bow away from Clint before he could make the arrow explode. Even with the cumbersome shackles, Loki managed to daintily snap the arrow in two. He dropped the halves and looked disparagingly at Clint, saying quite clearly, Was that the best that you can do?

"Well, this is a great start to an alliance," Tony said to the room at large as Natasha restrained Clint, while Thor moved in front of Loki. Clint shouted half-strangled threats and insults while Loki just grinned. Tony stepped out of the room, activating his suit just in case things got hairy in there.

He had no idea how things were going to turn out, but he was sure of one thing: it sure as hell wasn't going to be boring anymore.


Yay! So Loki is introduced (albeit rather anticlimactically) so finally everything is ready! All the characters are in and everything is set… now things are gonna get fuuuuuun.

Hope you all enjoyed! More to come soon :3