There was silence in the room for a bit. Tony, Bruce and Steve looked at each other, and then at the man in the wheelchair. This was unexpected.

"What do you mean, more complicated? Complicated how?" Steve asked, confused.

That Professor had apologized to Loki, who had said that he shouldn't be pitied and that it all had been his doing. Could they had been wrong all that time? Could Loki had not been the sole party to blame for the terrors of the invasion? To be honest, Loki had looked more like a victim than anything else since they found him on SHIELD. Steve tried to remember that he was a criminal, to be punished and not pitied… But it was getting harder. He looked at the Professor, who was struggling to find the right to explain what he'd seen. And heard. And felt.

But he couldn't, couldn't explain correctly – couldn't find an answer. What he'd seen...

It was like explosions in one's head. Trying to discern what was true, what was really you and what was everything else. Thinking that it had indeed been just you all the time, and then having little moments of lucidity that told you otherwise. Moments in which you looked at your hands and couldn't understand how or why they had done what they'd done, even if it had been you who ordered them around.

This was not exactly mind control, Xavier knew. It was different than most previous cases he'd seen – or anything he'd read. Barton's report, for example, had described a situation in which he was aware of what he was doing, but couldn't break free. And Selvig… he'd been granted moments of lucidity (on purpose) so he would put that cut-off mechanism. Loki had seen it (and Xavier had seen it with him), the flaw in his masterplan and had done nothing about it. That was his lucid part.

A part that hated the Chitauri to no end. They were monsters, monsters that reminded him of own monstrosity. It had seemed a good opportunity, at first, a loyal army to follow him. But there had been a high price – the orders, the threats and that ever-increasing fog in his mind. And the voices, of course. At first he thought it was his own mind screaming at him. Now he wasn't so sure.

And Xavier had been there with him. He'd been in that chaos of a mind looking down at New York being destroyed by the Chitauri and hating it, hating them, hating himself. He'd wanted to rule that planet, not destroy it. And there were a thousand more cleaner ways to do than that. But why did he let them in? The Professor heard Loki thinking, wondering if they had used him, those monsters, the other, and the one he served, used him to gain access to Earth. Which would make him the scapegoat. Xavier had been there for a second, trying to dispel the fog in the mind but unable.

Convincing himself that it had been him, all his actions, all his terrible choices. Because the alternative was too horrible. The alternative meant that his mind, his only valuable thing, had been poisoned and that he'd been nothing but a pawn. That not even his will was his.

Slowly, the mind reader tried to explain.

"The Chitauri were influencing him. I cannot explain very well how much, but they were there on his mind, and it wasn't exactly ….. I don't know, but I feel Loki wasn't the only one responsible for what he did."

The Avengers were silent.

"You're saying he was mind-controlled?" Steve asked.

"I can't that it was that…but they were in him – fogging his mind. But he keeps trying to convince himself that it was all him, which makes it difficult to see to what degree those decisions were not his own… it's very obtuse, everything."

"And what about Thor and Asgard?"

Xavier told them of the little flashes he'd seen. The pool of blood. The fight and the screaming. Odin saying he would pay. It wasn't much, but now at least they knew for sure that Loki wasn't lying about his memory loss, and that in the last memory he had Thor was alive. That was good, even if it didn't give many clues of what may have happened to the God of Thunder. But Xavier had a theory.

"This… influence he was under in the invasion may be a clue. Maybe the connection didn't end here and he was influenced on Asgard, too, and when the connection was broken…"

"...it broke his mind, erased his memories." Steve finished. And then the two problems would be related. It was a possibility.

Knowing that he was on the verge of losing it completely, Loki had gone to the bathroom where he'd been in the morning and locked himself. He was he fell in one of the corners of the white room and put his knees to his chest, trying to hold in the tears that threatened to escape. Trying not to scream.

But it hurt.

Everything hurt.

His identity was falling apart. Sometimes he wished he had died back there, when he fell. And then his mind went back to Thor saying he'd mourned him, telling him to come back home, that they would be together. But that was the past. Whatever leftover feelings Thor have had for him where only in the past. He'd destroyed those feelings, destroyed anything positive people had ever felt for him, with each one of his acts. He asked JARVIS to put on something that would drown the noise.

And then he screamed and shattered everything that was on sight.

The mirrors, the counters, the perfume bottles. The pieces of it lay on the floor.

And he screamed.

And then sank to the floor, and cried. It was all too much. His life was broken. His mind was broken too. He had nothing and nobody left. He was haunted but what he remembered and what he didn't – by his own monstrous self and his treacherous mind. The words of the music JARVIS had blaring in the room reached him.

Once I rose above the noise and confusion
Just to get a glimpse beyond this illusion

It had been all an illusion. All his damn life. He was never from Asgard, never a prince. Never had a father or a brother. Never. It was all an illusion, all very complicated lies. So he rebelled. And succeeded in nothing. He didn't finish with the Frost Giants. He was never respected as king. Never had any kind of authority in Asgard – and never any on Midgard, either. He thought he could be loved, at least, through force. But he saw it clearly now, when the noise and confusion ended.

All an illusion.

Though my mind could think, I still was a mad man

Would he ever be sane again? Would he ever be able to trust his mind again? Would he ever remember what he'd done?

I hear the voices when I'm dreaming

The voices, again. When he was still concerned about his brother, that man had to come and remind him of those terrible thoughts he'd had during his last attempt at grandeur. Those horrible sensations. The voices. The anger and the sadness. He wasn't even a proper conqueror. Not a king, not even a prince, not even a worthy opponent. They would pity him. All his speeches would seem stupid, another people's words.

Masquerading as a man with a reason
My charade is the event of the season

Was there anything real anymore?

The door opened slightly and Stark appeared behind it. He had taken some meds and some alcohol for the god, expecting him to be in a terrible state. But he hadn't expected his bathroom to be in that terrible state.

The mirrors were broken, there was gel and shampoo everywhere, everything was thrown around and there was a trail of blood, starting in one of the broken glasses and finishing in… Loki. With his back to the wall, and the eyes closed, pale, bleeding and crying, just as the music said

Lay your weary head to rest

Don't you cry no more.

He sat next to him, just as Steve had done when they found him on SHIELD, and offered a glass, again. It was his default behavior, offering alcohol. His defense and distraction.

"Scotch?"

Loki opened his eyes and saw Stark next to him, with a glass of alcohol.

"I thought this door was closed." He said, tired.

"I am sorry, sir." JARVIS's cool voice said. "But Mr. Stark's override all other orders."

Loki took the glass and drank a bit.

"I don't know what that Professor has said, Stark but I am not a victim. I was fully aware of what I did. I threw you out of a window. I almost killed Thor and I did kill your Agent friend. I believe his name was Phil." He was not a pawn. He had a mind of his own. And he was most certainly not a good man. He was evil. If they took that away from him, what would he had left?

"Actually, you didn't kill him. It was just a lie Fury told us to get us more motivated."

"Now I can't even kill off properly a mortal. Pathetic."

"Hey, don't sell yourself so short. You did cause quite a fuss. Like here." He said, pointing at the many broken things in his previously immaculate bathroom.

"I'm sorry about your bathroom, Stark. You have been so kind and I am nothing but a terrible guest."

Tony shrugged – he had three other bathrooms in that floor alone. It was no biggie.

"Don't worry about it. I have destroyed a fair share of rooms myself. I know the feeling."

They stayed like that for a bit, while the music still blared around them.

All of those you loved you mistrust

Help me, I'm just not quite myself (well, that sounded appropriate for a certain god, didn't it?)

Look around, there no one else left.

Tony looked around and saw that, indeed, there was no one else left. And he was the one that was the least uncomfortable around Loki, so it was probably up to him. To do something.

"So… the invasion. The Chitauri. You wanna talk about it?"

"I most certainly do not." He said, and his slightly voice betrayed the pain he felt. All the horror from the mortals finding out had distracted him of his pains for a bit, but they were back there. Loki shakily took the medicine Stark had brought with him, hoping for some relief.

"Well, if you ever do, we're here. I know what's like to have mind problems too, you know. To do things without realizing it and then know that you're out of control. Once I wrote help me to a kid when I was supposed to sign an autograph. It was quite creepy."

Loki seemed unimpressed, swallowed the pills and tried to clean his face for the umpteenth time.

"What I mean" Tony continued." Is that you can talk if you want to. It quite obvious that what you're going through is not easy, and sometimes it helps to have someone around."

"But I am a criminal. Only valuable for the information I might have."

Shut up, shut up, shut up! He had meant to be proud and whole and detached. He had meant to be Loki, of Asgard, the rightful king of… But not even him could believe those lies anymore. He was no king. He was merely a trickster – the shell of one without his magic. He was too tired to continue inventing. He had no reason to lie anymore.

"You're a criminal. Big whoop. Bruce is a green rage monster, I used to sell weapons for a living, Romanoff is an assassin… I would go on, but I think I made my point."

"So, suddenly, all is forgiven?"

Loki said, looking at him with those bright red-rimmed green eyes. Those pain-filled eyes. And Tony looked and knew there was so much more than a common criminal behind them. So much more.

"Of course not. But the guys and I, we think that it could an interesting time to… well, review your case. We thought you killed Coulson and those were SHIELD's lies. Then the very same guys find you and don't tell us anything until they tortured the hell out of you. This is not as easy as it may appear."

Loki looked sad, defeated. And then the music around them said -

No one knows what it's like
To be mistreated, to be defeated

"JARVIS, what is this music?"

"Our guest asked for something to drown his... issues and I decided to put some music – I selected some tracks I thought he could enjoy." Tony mouth flew open.

"You made Loki a mix tape? Seriously? You've never made me a mix tape."

Loki drew the smallest of smiles.

"Congratulations, pal, my AI likes you better than me."

But Loki could barely keep his eyes open, feeling the combined effect of the medication and the alcohol in his weakened system. He had only slept a couple of hours and was so, so tired. Of everything. Of everyone. His eyes closed, slowly and his head fell on Tony's shoulder.

Lay your weary head to rest

Don't you cry no more

Tony mouthed the familiar words as he felt the too-hot head of the alien fall into his shoulder. Having Loki as a guest was proving to be a hell of a rollercoaster, but he didn't mind. He looked at the broken mirrors, at the things thrown in rage and remembered the times he'd done the same thing. The same state places had after the Hulk had been there. Maybe Loki wasn't all that different from them.

After a while, the music died down and Loki was softly wheezing in his sleep. Not exactly a good sign (it was a very asthmatic sounding wheeze) but Tony decided to let the man sleep. He deserved some peace after the hellish months he'd lived since he appeared back on earth.

Steve appeared on the door and looked surprised at the mess the room was in. Then he looked at Stark, sitting against a wall with Loki slumped over him. Tony was carefully trying to stem the bleeding from the cuts Loki had gotten smashing crystal things, while trying not to wake him up. He motioned for Steve to be silent.

"He's sleeping." He whispered and Steve nodded. Still he had to speak.

"We've got a problem, Stark." Steve whispered back.

"Can't it wait?" Steve shook his head and continued whispering.

"Fury's downstairs. He's saying if we don't hand Loki over they will charge with collaborating with a terrorist. They're trying to break down your door."

"Can't you handle it? I'm on pillow duty."

"All right. Just thought you should know."

Steve left, determined not to yield to Fury's demands. He would be glad to be leading the resistance against Fury and their men. Loki was magicless, ill and injured – and these men were coming at them with guns. That was a bully in his books. And if there was something he hated, it was bullies.

Tony ordered JARVIS to close the door and not open it again, to anyone, until he said so.

Criminal or not, killer or not, there was no way he was handing Loki to his torturers.

No way in hell.

A/N: What is this, I don't even, what -

So, more whump. Lots of it. Only traces of plot in there. But I assume you recognized at least one of the songs?

Anyways, reviews are always lovely. Do tell if you liked this chapter. ;)