A/N: I own nothing. Enjoy!
"You of all people should be able to relate to Loki's situation. Why won't you help heal him? Are you just jealous because he can be changed and cured and you can't, or is there some much greater reason why you're being a complete ass about the whole situation?"
Tony's eyes pierced into Bruce's as the men stood no more than a foot apart, feeling each other's breath on their faces. Tony could see that Bruce was trying to maintain control, but the genius didn't care. He knew Bruce was simply trying to find a logical and humane reason not to help Loki out of spite, but the doctor couldn't seem to find a reason that would satisfy Tony.
"And I suppose Thor has agreed to all of...this?" Bruce asked tiredly as he pinched the bridge of his nose with one hand, and gesturing around the room with his other.
"He has, and as we speak, he is currently attempting to convince Stars and Spangles to come around."
"Steve Rogers helping a criminal break out of prison? Sounds almost comical," Bruce scoffed as he attempted to return to work.
Tony wasn't having any of it though as he gently but firmly took Bruce's arm and turned him around to face him.
"I know you don't like Loki, none of the others do. And you have no reason at all to trust him. But Bruce, I'm begging you here. If you don't help him, he could very well die, and I would lose the one person who I believe has finally started understanding what it means to live. Look at yourself - even you have found a reason to live through all of this, why shouldn't he?"
"My reason left me," Bruce whispered bitterly, his gaze penetrating Tony's defenses.
Tony slowly released the man's arm at that as the air clouded with tension. Tony opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out. What else could he say?
Bruce sighed as he ran a hand through his hair.
"I want you to be happy, Tony. Which is why I will help him...but just this once."
Tony's face split into the happiest smile Bruce had ever seen on him as the billionaire grabbed the scientist and swung him around in a full circle.
"You're the best, Bruce!"
"Don't mention it," Bruce couldn't help the smile that overtook his face at the billionaire's happiness.
Just then Tony received a call on his phone.
"Tony Stark."
"This plan is going to fail and we're all going to be severely reprimanded. Are you prepared to take full responsibility when we do fail?"
Tony couldn't help but smirk as he replied, "I am, Cap."
The line was silent for a moment, but Tony could hear the smile in the other man's voice as the blonde replied, "Then let's rescue your man."
XXXXX
"So what exactly is the plan of attack?"
Captain America shared a secret look with Tony as he replied, "Simple: attack. Loki is being held captive on the 12th floor, exactly two floors above Tony's lab and three floors down from Tony's medical ward. I say Thor and I cause a distraction while Bruce and Tony retrieve Loki and take him to medical. As soon as Loki is secured there so Bruce can treat him, Tony will regroup with us to help bring down SHIELD's forces long enough for either Fury to give in, or Loki to recover."
"The three of us can't take on an entire army that has been trained to defeat us," Bruce argued. "Plus Fury has both Natasha and Clint on his side."
"Leave Clint to Pepper," Tony grinned as he pocketed his cell phone. "She's going down to visit Loki now with Clint in tow as we speak, and all we need is for Clint to try and hurt Loki some more, which I'm positive he will do, and then he will be out of the way. That just leaves about a hundred mindless SHIELD guards, and Natasha."
"I got Widow," Steve put in quickly. "I have the best hand-to-hand fighting out of anyone here. Thor, you can take on the SHIELD guards."
"It would be my pleasure," Thor bowed his head respectively.
"But how do we break into Loki's cell to retrieve him in the first place?" Bruce asked. "Shouldn't Public Enemy Number One have pretty tight security around him?"
"I can break into the doors leading to his cell with no problem, Jarvis and I have overridden Fury's security before, we can do it again," Tony answered, fully confidant of his skills. "But if my calculations are correct and Clint is as stupid as I think he is, then we won't have to break in at all."
"So now what? Do we just launch an attack full throttle at the building?"
"Certainly not! That's my home, and it's already been demolished once thanks to you guys," Tony said bitterly. "That's why we're here, in NYC's wonderful sewerage system. There's a secret hatch that only I have the key-code for that leads into the gym on the 8th floor. While Thor and Capsicle take on the enemy in the gym, Bruce and I will take to the stairs, infiltrate Loki's jail, and make our way to medical."
Bruce couldn't help but scoff as he asked, "This all seems far too predictable. I mean a secret, underground passageway that leads right into the heart of Stark Tower?"
The group moved until they were under a manhole whose label read simply: INDUSTRIES.
"Ready team?" Tony asked as he pulled out his tablet and placed it against the manhole. "On my mark..."
Just then a signal beeped on his phone, telling him his bracelet had been activated.
"Now."
XXXXX
It seemed every time an alarm began to ring out through the building signaling that there were intruders, Jarvis would shut off the alarm and replace it with blaring AC/DC music, just to spite Fury, Tony guessed. By the time Tony and Bruce had made it to Loki's cell, the SHIELD part of Tony's home was in complete disorder. SHIELD agents didn't know what the hell was going on, and had to rely on Fury and Maria Hill shouting orders through a Walkie-Talkie system to have any idea what was going on. But by the time the majority of SHIELD agents knew what was happening, Thor and Steve had taken out about 30% of any opposing SHIELD agents as they easily took down most of SHIELD's forces. It wasn't until Black Widow showed up in the gym, surrounded by a barrage of agents that things began to get interesting.
"Take SHIELD!" Steve shouted to Thor, his eyes never leaving Natasha's face.
Thor nodded and as he began his descent upon the guards, Steve grinned at his opponent.
"Usually I would have an argument towards raising a hand against a lady, but you're not exactly the respectable woman I took you for, are you?"
"Funny, I thought you of all people would have had qualms about freeing a criminal," Natasha retorted as her and Steve danced around one another.
"Let's just say I had someone open my eyes to the horrors of torture," Steve replied as he raised his shield. "Come on Natasha, you can't honestly condone what Clint is doing, can you?"
"We torture people all the time, it's part of our job -"
"You wanted to remove the red from your ledger. Is this how you do it? By causing more pain and destruction?"
Natasha knew he was trying to distract her, to reason with her, but it wouldn't work. Whatever plan Stark and Rogers had cooked up to overthrow SHIELD wouldn't work. Fury was stronger than either of them believed.
"You can't stop Fury."
"I don't have to stop him...I only need to make him see his mistake and apologize for it."
"Fury doesn't apologize for anything."
"Then he clearly hasn't gotten to know me or my shield too well," Steve grinned as Natasha flew at him, a blur of red and black.
XXXXX
"Hang in there Reindeer Games, you'll be okay. We'll get through this," Tony was rambling and he knew it, but he didn't care. As he literally flew up the staircase, Bruce not too far behind him, Tony only half-listened to Jarvis updating him on the current situation. Thor and Steve both had their hands full with Natasha and a handful of SHIELD agents a few floors down, but there was another group of agents quickly honing in on Tony.
"Bruce, take Loki to medical and start treating him. Jarvis will block off the staircase doors as you go, and when you reach there he will give you any and all supplies you need."
"What about you?"
"Vengeance," Tony muttered as he gingerly handed over Loki's body and turned around to face the oncoming guards. Tony tried not to look down at his blood-stained suit as he constantly reminded himself to only stun the guards, not to kill them. Although it was going to be a bit of a challenge as the door opened and the guards began firing bullets at him.
"SHIELD doesn't like to stun, apparently."
XXXXXX
"COULSON!" Fury shouted as he left his office, making his way down the hallway past running agents.
"Yes, sir?"
"Status update, now!"
"Stark and Banner kidnapped Loki and are making their way to medical. We have Natasha fighting Rogers in the gym, and Thor picking off our agents one by one."
"Where the hell is Barton?"
"Here sir," a sudden voice replied as Clint rounded a corner to join the men in step.
"Where the hell were you?"
"Got knocked out by Loki. Stark gave him some sort of bracelet that blasted me into Neverland."
"How did he...nevermind," Fury snarled.
"What do you want me to do, sir?"
"Take out Stark. If he's not around to tell his computer system what to do, then we can hack into his controls and re-take over Stark Tower."
Clint nodded as he instantly vanished.
"What about me, sir?"
"Find Potts. Take her into custody." Instantly Fury turned and his gazed dripped with venom. "And if you disobey my order this time, I will personally make sure you are not only demoted, but reduced to rank less than an officer of SHIELD. Do I make myself clear?"
"Exquisitely," Coulson nodded as he turned and ran off.
Fury was about to go through the door leading to the staircase when Jarvis's friendly voice announced, "I'm sorry sir, but you no longer have access to any of the doors in Stark Tower."
"Dammit Jarvis, let me through right now or I will reduce you to wires!"
"Sorry Director, but I only take threats from Mr. Stark," Jarvis replied before the lights on the floor went out and Fury was surrounded by darkness.
Fury growled as he turned around and began heading back the way he had come, but all other doors instantly locked and became sealed.
"If it's any consolation, sir, Mr. Stark only wishes to have a word with you. If you would be so kind as to listen to his request and call off your agents from attacking, I would be happy to send you along to him."
"I know he wants, and his answer is no. Loki is not going to be freed."
"Mr. Stark does not wish to free Loki, merely to rescue him from enduring torture at the hands of your agents, Director. Mr. Stark believes that if Loki could remain prisoner here in Stark Tower under Mr. Stark's watch, then perhaps Loki could make amends to all of the people he has wronged by committing community service."
"Oh? And what sort of community service does Stark have in mind?" Fury asked, slouching against the nearest wall. If he was going to remain a prisoner of Stark's clutches, he might as well listen to what the inventor's butler had to say.
"It is to my knowledge that Mr. Loki is incredibly intelligent, far more intelligent than most of the beings Mr. Stark has encountered. Loki also appears to be a quick-learner. I believe Mr. Stark thinks that if he can have Loki assist him in building various projects, Loki can both serve out his sentence and help aid the planet."
"That's impossible. Loki would only infuse the projects with his magic in order to later use whatever Stark decides to build against Stark and against the rest of the planet, while he's at it."
"Mr. Stark seems to think he can trust Loki -"
"Which is a stupid assumption -"
"-and by trusting him, finding out Loki's strengths and weaknesses."
This made Fury pause.
"Stark wants to find out Loki's weakness?"
"Among other things, yes."
Jarvis figured stretching the truth out with the Director couldn't hurt too much.
Fury was silent for a few moments before he asked, "If I handed Loki over to Stark and gave him full control of Loki, with the agreement that once every few months I can send one of my agents over to check on Loki, to make sure he's not controlling Stark or anything, would Stark be able to give me information on how Loki's magic works?"
"Would you like me to ask Mr. Stark?"
"Please do," Fury grinned, a plan formulating in his mind.
Bruce gently laid Loki down on the nearest medical table and asked Jarvis to run a scan of Loki's body, alerting the doctor to the areas that needed the most help. From examining the god, Bruce could see that while the blood loss had dwindled down excessively from when the god had first started bleeding thanks to the magic, Loki was still losing blood from three major knife wounds, one in his leg, one in his chest below his lungs, and one in his upper shoulder.
This was going to be hell.