[A/N thank you for the wonderful reviews. And sorry for the late if non-existent replies. Know that I still read every single one of them even if I can't find the time to reply.]

Part 26.

The windows of the building were all covered in red, and if possible, this only fuelled my anger more. As I had learned, red curtains, paint or cello-tape on a window meant prostitution, especially in this part of Amsterdam. Did that mean that… Was Loki seriously capable of doing something so awful to Tony? What was I even thinking, of course he was. I could only hope he hadn't.

Tony was sitting on his knees, the characteristic tank top he had left in a month ago filthy and clinging to his blood stained back. There were cuts in the tank top, with blood oozing from wounds that seemed to have healed and then been re-opened multiple times. He was facing Loki, his back directly to us, and didn't seem to have noticed us. I knew it had to be Tony, but he looked so broken that I wouldn't believe it until I would see his face. Maybe he would look so different that that would only make it worse.

Loki was giving us his trade-mark grin, and it made me so angry to see him sitting there, with my boyfriend all broken in front of him while knowing that he had been the indirect cause of Thor's dead. And oh- if all that wasn't enough, that shiny object laying behind him had to be my shield. He was doing it expressly, making me so angry that I wouldn't be able to focus on getting those damned gems. Loki had it all planned out, because he was so damn smart, and it was extremely irritating to come up with a plan to later discover someone had been way ahead of you.

He had known that I was going to be the one to get the gems. Of course he knew Natasha and Clint, as regular humans (regular as in, not supernatural. Although both were, of course, very exceptional human beings), would never be able to come close enough to Loki to get the gauntlet and split the gems. Hulk would be too far gone and wouldn't know what he would have to do. Thor- wait, why didn't he take Thor into consideration?

Suddenly it fell into place. Tony's machine hadn't failed. Of course it hadn't. How could I even, for a second, doubt Tony's geniality? He would never have allowed us to touch something if he wasn't a hundred percent sure it worked. It had been Loki. He had messed with it.

"You tortured my boyfriend," I spat out, "You killed your own brother?" I walked up to him menacingly, hearing the sounds of Bruce's Hulking behind me but blocking it out, "you don't deserve to live," I sneered, passing Tony (who was stuck on his knees and apparently not moving), and lunging forward to grasp Loki. He teleported away, to suddenly stand right behind me. I gasped in shock when his hand, gloved and all, made a punching motion in the direction of my face. I quickly ducked, rolling towards where my shield was laying and threw the prototype one away so that I could replace it with the real deal.

"Steve, the gems!" Natasha shouted from somewhere, and the watch felt heavy in my pocket. But then Loki targeted me with his gauntlet and muttered a spell, creating a green sort of lighting to shoot right at me. My immediate reflex was to reflect it with my shield, but when I saw that reflecting it would mean casting it in the direction of my poor, poor Tony, I chose for making another ninja-roll. Loki waved his hand again and a group of minions came walking through the door. Some distracting Natasha, a couple of more managing to get close to Clint and the rest distracting Hulk and leading him outside by firing massive amounts of bullets towards him.

I looked around and noticed that shit, I had done the wrong thing. They had told me to not get distracted, that I should get the gauntlet while Hulk, Natasha and Clint were getting Loki, but I hadn't listened, and now I had gotten us in trouble. Especially when Loki's next target was Tony, and all my teammates were busy fighting off minions.

"I knew you'd fall for it." Loki said, "That's your weakness, captain. You always do what your heart says instead of your brain. Not that he is any better," He cocked his head in Tony's direction, "but at least he's got a brain to speak of." He smiled and held the gauntlet in place, directed at Tony, who was just sitting there quietly and seeming to accept whatever was in store for him. That was so un-Tony like. Rearranging faith to suit him, that was Tony. Not- this.

While Loki was going on about the brilliance of his plan, I was measuring the distance between Tony and me, trying to find out whether just maybe, I could make the jump in time and reflect Loki's beam at himself. Just as I was doing so, a roar sounded, and Hulk came barging back in, tossing a minion of Loki onto the reindeer himself, which caught Loki by surprise and had him fall to the ground. Natasha had finally freed herself from a bunch of them with some help from Clint.

I immediately ran to Tony to kneel beside him and put my shield up to protect us, starting to throw the watch at Natasha but she grabbed my arm before I had let go.

"Leave the gems, we've got to go. Let's go, come on." I nodded and picked Tony up, cradling his lithe form in my arms. Hulk had started smashing more onto Loki, apparently completely immune to his magical beams. He had been distracted long enough for Natasha, Clint and me to jump into a car that Fury had just planted there for us (God bless Fury and his, according to Tony not handily placed screens with which he could monitor us). Hulk looked at us to confirm we were off, and when he had his confirmation stopped his God-bashing to run away quickly, leaving the scene behind him just as we did by car. And Hulk would be OK, he would just run and swim to America and de-Hulk somewhere on the coast.

I should be happy. We had Tony back, Bruce would be fine. No more lives had been lost, and we could go home. But I had not yet inspected the damage on my dear Tony, Thor was dead, and Loki still had his gauntlet.

However, now was not the time to break down and cry like a baby, even though we had all been strong for days now to stay focused, and we all needed to have some sort of joined melt-down, I had to stay strong for just a little longer for Tony.

The car ride wasn't very pleasant, because Clint was driving like a maniac to get back to the airport for our S.H.I.E.L.D. plane that would get us back to America. When we were finally, finally, peacefully in the spacious plane, I quickly laid Tony down on the couch. Apparently, Fury had taken the precaution of hiring somebody else to fly us there so that Clint wouldn't have to steer anymore planes today.

I carefully draped a now asleep Tony over the couch, starting to strip him off his clothes. The Arc Reactor was still working and in place, thank God, glowing brightly and washing relieve over me. At least I wouldn't have to call Pepper for her small hands. I was trying to cause as less discomfort for him as possible, but this was practically impossible has the fabric of his shirt had started clinging to his wounds. I gently rolled him onto his side, so that I would be able to remove the tank top entirely, and inspected the scars on his back.

It was bad, but nothing that wouldn't heal within a few weeks. Hopefully nothing permanent, either. Natasha seemed to have concluded the same: Tony life wasn't in danger anymore. She allowed herself to collapse on the floor, throwing her med kit towards me and all her knifes next to her on the ground. Clint sighed in relieve just like me and dropped himself on the floor, bow by his feet.

I was afraid of what I might find when I removed his trousers, scary that somehow whatever I would find would show that he had indeed been used. So I was semi-relieved when a hand quickly reached out and grasped my wrist when I reached the hem of his trousers. I was also afraid that this meant that whatever was hidden there, was something Tony didn't want me to see. He had woken up.

"Steve," He croaked out, mouth barely moving, then really focusing on me and somehow producing a smile, "Want to safe that for a special time. No peeking," He said, and I was so, so happy to see that something of the old Tony was still there, even though I was not buying his 'no peeking' story. That would have to wait.

Tony was safe, Tony was here. And that was all that could possibly matter. So I smiled back at him, reassured him that I would leave everything else in place and bandaged up his back. He seemed relieved but still in shock. I moved him slightly so that I could lay behind him, wrapping my arms around him and deciding that I would never, ever let him go again.

"Don't leave," He whispered, before his breathing evened out again, and he fell asleep against my chest. To sleep through the rest of the plane ride.

[A/N finally, Tony is back. FINALLY. The first part of the story is almost finished, the sequel soon starting!:) I'm running way ahead of things. Still tons of chapters to come, no worries. Just wanted to say that I love you xD]