A/N thanks for all your wonderful reviews.

Bet you thought I had abandoned this fic!

Special thanks to nonsensical-blah for your help with ideas, a dreaded case of writers block and for being awake at 2 am!

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Chapter 2 Broken Bones, Unbroken Spirit .

"It's a long story but to sum it up, I will answer your second question, SHIELD are the ones who did this to me".

"Wait just a minute" Tony cried as he jumped up and sat cross legged next to the god, " do you seriously expect me to believe that shield has tortured you? SHIELD are not like that! There is no way Nick would allow such a thing!" Loki stared up at him and, to Tony's surprise, started giggling. "You really have no idea who you are working for do you?" Hissed Loki between giggles. "Your precious Nick Fury was the one who ordered my punishment!"

Stark looked at Loki, trying to determine whether it was the possible for the god of lies to tell the truth. "Even if what you're saying is true, I've got a feeling you must have done something really bad to piss off Fury!" Stark said in an unsure tone as he raked his fingers through his hair and lay back down "I mean, trying to enslave someone's world might give them a reason to do something drastic, but I've got a feeling this has got something more to do with why you are on earth since the last time I saw you your brother was hauling you off world with a gag in your deceitful mouth!" Stark growled as anger filled his veins. Loki, who was looking at tony with a mixture of amusement and slight embarrassment, replied. "Well that's quite a tale and one that doesn't concern you. However," he chuckled as he lay back down next to Tony "seeing as I'm not going anywhere, here is the grand story of how I ended up on your doorstep...

6 months ago

No one should have been able to intercept the Tesseract. No one should have been able to lasso an energy field around Loki. No one should have been able to take the god right under Thor's nose, but shield had managed all this in less than 2 minutes. Shield had a bone to pick with Loki and with everything left over from phase 2; they had the means to do so. Loki spent the next few days in one of shields high tech cells that even Thor Odinson couldn't break into. Even though Loki had escaped judgement on his own world he has not escaped judgement on the planet which he had true to enslave. Director Fury was made a very desperate man thanks to the god. Most people connected with shield and New York City has a reason to hate Loki, he was a wanted man, 3rd wanted in the world to be precise. After a whole month of isolation, Fury came out of the shadows, " what to do, what to do, I have earths most wanted criminal in my grasp, I have a very active imagination I could try to break you down, first mentally, then physically and finally when you are nothing but an empty shell I will track down your precious brother, hand you over to him with a final warning: you maybe too strong, too advanced for us but if we can't protect the
earth we have the means to avenge it." Fury finished his speech by punching Loki in the nose. Loki's head flipped back at the brute force of the man's blow. Fury stepped back into the shadows and out of the cell; Loki sat down and waited for his next tormentor. Over the next month several high clearance level therapists started to dig deep into the god of lies brain. Most of the results were the same, each session leaved them no closer to unravelling the web of lies the god had cast, and that was until the black widow showed up. "Ah, Agent Romanoff, so nice to see you. How's what's his name, Eaglevision was it?" Loki asked, his voice full of false concern, "nice job that was, hitting your boyfriend on the head like that, I'm sure he appreciated the headache the next morning"

"Not as much of a headache as to when I'm finished with you", replied Widow as she banged his head against the wall behind him. Loki's vision blurred before once again focusing on Natasha.

"Well that's nice to know but I would have thought you to be Fury's psychological breakdown plan but here you come in with physical violence, I suppose that manipulative ways are more your style, torture seems more like Eaglevision's talent to me. I wonder what you plan to do. I mean, you will certainly leave a scar since you want to show my people how violent you think you are, you won't shoot me with a gun because it is simply to quick and easy. I believe your best option is starvation, beatings and boring speeches" he ended his speech with the question, "Am I right?"

"I'm not impressed, you are correct but don't think you are getting a gold star and a pat on the back for this, you mentioned beatings, yes? That's not what I was supposed to be here for, technically I'm supposed to interrogate you to find out where the Tesseract is, but I feel like a little fun first. This is going to be the worst 24 hours of your life." With a final flourish, she knocked him unconscious with a well-placed blow to the neck. He would certainly wake up with a stiff neck at the very least.

2 hours later

It was dark. Loki wasn't quite sure what woke him but soon realized after a few minutes of confusion that he was staring down at the black widow and, oh yeah, he was upside down. He was suspended from the ceiling which, he might add, was quite high up. His head was level with Natasha's despite him being upside down. "wha- what am i doing here" Loki said, realizing he was in a different building. It looked like a warehouse but with it being so dark, he couldn't be sure. "I told Fury I was going for the scare tactic, really I'm just here to have some fun, plus I think there's someone here who would love to join the party." Hawkeye appeared from the shadows, bow drawn. "You know, an arrow is not the best weapon for torture, there are oth-" Loki's sarcastic comment was cut short as Clint fired, straight into Loki's leg and lodged itself there, but that wasn't all that it did. The god felt a burning sensation as the acid started biting into his skin. He bit his tongue trying not to cry out. "Point taken". Barton smiled at this. Natasha suddenly jumped forward grabbing Loki's head and swinging him towards her. "So you know how this goes, we break bones and leave scars the psychiatrist are having no luck so we are the ones who do the torturing, and trust me, we will hit you so hard that you won't even remember what we did to you, you will have the scars both visible and mental, we will never let you go. I know Fury had plans to let you go after I've had my fun but I convinced him to wait a little longer, just enough time to let Thor give up on ever finding your body, maybe then I will let you free. I might knock you unconscious and throw you out to sea, maybe then your brother will find you and think twice before ever stepping foot on earth again." Tasha was now only inches away from the gods face, staring threateningly into his eyes before pushing his face away and letting him swing. That's when the pain started, that's when Loki started losing his sanity, or so they thought. Secretly, Loki had just shut everything out, he couldn't stop the pain but he could block it. He spent the next few months mostly upside down for days on end, only allowed short rest breaks. He spent that time making plans. Where would he go? He couldn't go to another avenger, they would just send him back to shield, or could he. The one with the strongest connection to Thor would be Stark. But if you go to Stark, he will push you away, he doesn't share your feelings and he never will. Said a small voice at the back of his mind. But where else can I go, I don't even know if I truly love Stark. I can't love him, he must hate me. Another voice argued in his head. Do I love Tony? I don't know, if only he shared my feelings, how could he though he must think of all the times I tried to kill his friends, how I tried to enslave his world. I am a bad person and I always will be. A slight tear ran down his face as he thought about his impossible love for the man. He curled up and thought of his plans for escape. He knew where but he didn't know how or when. Maybe it would have to spontaneous he would soon have enough power to transport and then he was out of here. He seemed to be getting stronger by the day, maybe it was the thought of escape that kept him going but just the thought of seeing Tony again was enough to survive, to not give in to the pain, to not fade away. Even gods can die if put though enough pain. I will not perish. I will escape and I will see Tony again even if he breaks my heart...

5 months later

Alarms were ringing everywhere. Loki had finally escaped. It was a spontaneous escape but a planned one. He was about to be knocked unconscious again but, before the needle was stuck in, the god had moved with impossible speed intercepting the needle and forcing it into the shield agent who then collapsed on the ground. Then, with a round house kick to the only other agent, he grabbed a knife from the table and ran out the room, into the corridor before climbing into the air duct. The plan was simple, get out of the air duct at the south entrance and run as far away from shield as possible, he had exited the compound; now all he needed to do was contact his brother. Loki sent out a signal, a certain thought to Thor that would tell him he was in danger, that thought was 'OXO'. The only problem was that Thor had learned to put barriers up to prevent such a thing, in his weakened state, Loki did not have the energy to hack into Thors mind. Where to go? Loki thought, where's the last place they'd expect...

Now

"So here I am Stark, I came for help, I'm clearly unwanted here, thank you for not calling SHIELD, I would appreciate it if you gave me a head start before reporting me -"

"Hang on, stop right there! SHIELD aren't coming anywhere near you, and you are not going anywhere, you are going to stay here with me, you can have a whole floor to yourself if you want!" Tony exclaimed looking at Loki with a hint of worry as well as caution, why would he think that I would turn him in? Tony thought.

Why wouldn't he turn me in? After everything I did to him, I threw him out of a window for god's sake!

"You're lying! You hate me! I tried to enslave your planet; I tried to turn you against your friends!" Loki accused him, tears in his eyes. Tony looked at the god of chaos, eyes full of pity, as he tried to lighten the mood "but you failed, you didn't take over earth and you couldn't take over me! Yeah sure Clint wants to put an arrow in your skull but I won't let him! No one is going to touch you here, not with me by your side." Tony finished as anger flashed in his eyes, his mouth set in grim determination. Loki looked at him, really looked and saw the anger in Tony's eyes as he promised to protect him and that sheer determination is why he asked his next question.

"Why?"

Tony looked down at the floor, biting his lip. "I... I don't know" he lied. He knew full well why he would protect Loki; die for the god of lies, because I love you...

Loki could see the lie a mile off, being the god of lies and deceit, naturally he could see through Tony's sorry attempt to lie to him. But why would he lie? He didn't have time to ask as Tony suddenly interrupted his train of thought by asking, "Well are you staying or what?"

They looked into each other's eyes, tony grinning for a reason unknown to Loki and Loki a small smile tugging the corners of his lips. And a single thought echoed through their minds as they drifted off to sleep I love you…

OK, what should happen next, should another Avenger find them in bed together (specify who) OR should they have a few more days together? Please review and tell me!