A/N: Hey, guys. So, it's been months. Sorry about that, again. School and general life kicked me in the head for a few months, but next update should come soon. Anyway, this chapter is a bit shorter than I would have liked, because I've decided to split it into two.

I hope you all enjoy! And please leave a review if you can, they're truly my favorite things in the world.

"I won't leave you to die alone."

"You can't be on both sides of this fight, Jess, you can't hold both ends of the stick."

Loki's eyes flickered around the room, trying to find and assess every possible escape route. He wasn't necessarily planning on a daring escape, but it's good to be prepared. His fingers drummed impatiently on the white table to which they'd cuffed him, and he wondered idly if SHIELD had a clear goal in mind that caused them to keep him waiting here for who knows how long, or if it was just their way of delivering petty insults. It was funny to him, that they would try to pretend they didn't find him important. He wondered who they thought they were kidding.

At long last the door of his white holding cell opened, and in walked a dead man, clutching a file folder.

Loki frowned.

"Hello," said the dead man in a friendly tone, taking a seat on the chair across from Loki. "We've met before, but I wasn't sure you would remember. I'm Agent Phil Coulson, but you can call me Agent. I hope you're enjoying your stay here so far." Something about his smile seemed terribly insincere.

"That's not possible," said Loki cautiously, his eyes narrowed. "I've killed you."

"Oh, so you do remember," said Agent Coulson. "I must say I'm a little flattered."

"Well, you did shoot me."

"So I did," agreed Agent Coulson. "After you stabbed me in the chest."

"I don't understand," said Loki, not bothering to hide his confusion. "How could you possibly have survived?"

"Oh, it's quite simple, really," said Agent Coulson. "I didn't." The way his eyes twinkled as he said that last part was saying, And that's all I have to say about that so let's get a move on.

"So," Coulson continued. "I'm sure you know why you're here; the list of crimes you've committed on this planet is… well, let's say you've probably beat some kind of a record. But I've gotta say, I'm pretty confused about some of the more recent details, for instance…" Coulson placed the file folder on the table, opened it and fished out a photograph, which he slid across the table to Loki. "I'm assuming you recognize this girl?"

Loki looked at the photograph. It was Jess. It must've been the photo they took of her when SHIELD first stumbled upon her, when she was fresh out of captivity. It showed; though the photograph only showed Jess from above the shoulders she seemed skinnier, and dimmer, and exhausted, and harmed. He tried not to think about that.

"I do," he said curtly instead.

"No surprise there, considering you've been holding her hostage for the past three weeks," said Coulson, and as he said that Loki realized something he had previously failed to notice. Coulson knew Jess, personally, and seemed to give a damn what happens to her. He couldn't decide if that was good news for him or bad. "Now, what I don't get, along with the entirety of this organization, is why she seems to care for you. You've kept her in a cell, am I correct?" This time the light in Coulson's eyes showed something new. It was barely visible, and Coulson was good at hiding it, but Loki could see it.

Coulson was angry.

"At first, yes," said Loki calmly. "Only at the beginning. I let her out quite early on."

"Why?"

Loki pursed his lips, knowing he couldn't answer that.

"You know, I wasn't there when the Avengers came for you," said Coulson. "I was standing right outside, but I'm afraid I've missed the fun stuff. I have the official report of what happened, but I'd much rather hear the story in person. Could you walk me through it?"

Loki sighed. It must've been just a few hours ago when it had all happened; the Avengers, the battle, Jess. But to him it felt like it's been days, and he still couldn't wrap his head around it. So much had happened in such a short time, so many things he couldn't possibly begin to understand. And now SHIELD was asking for the story, as though they didn't already know. Well, maybe saying it aloud would help him understand, or at least comprehend, everything that came to be. For just a few seconds, Loki closed his eyes. He wondered when he got to be this tired.

Loki opened his eyes. He glanced again at Jess's photograph.

So. What had happened?

Less than an hour after his farewell to Jess, the Avengers came. And Loki was ready. He'd been waiting.

He'd been honest with Jess about his plan of that night being his last. But he'd be damned if after everything he went down without a fight.

He was standing near the wall of the biggest room in the building; it took nearly the entirety of the third floor. As he had planned, the Avengers all stood in a tightly knit group at the room's opposite side. And he had anticipated what their approach would be; ask questions first, shoot later.

"Hello," he told them with a smile and a glint in his eyes. "It'd been rather long."

"Spare us the theatrics, Loki," said the Captain. "You know what we came here for. Where's Jess?"

Loki chuckled softly. "Oh, don't worry about her," he said. "She's safe." Of course, neither of them had any way of knowing he was being perfectly honest. Sincere, even.

"Answer the question, you smug piece of shit," snapped Stark. Even from a distance Loki could see his anger clear as day in the tense stance his iron-clad body took, hear it in his voice's barely contained intensity.

How could Loki not have laughed as he did?

"Loki," growled Thor in a booming voice that was anything but playful. It stopped Loki laughing. "I have shown you mercy before, but do not question my seriousness again. If you do not tell us where Jess is, I will not hesitate to destroy you."

"As you have done so spectacularly in your previous attempts," said Loki sarcastically.

"Things have changed," replied Thor steadily.

Loki's lips twisted in a smile. "Thor," he said, uttering the familiar name, rolling it off his tongue in a way that was nearly catlike. "Always so dramatic."

Thor's grip on Mjolnir tightened visibly. His eyes shone hard like the lightning in his veins, holding a look reserved for his truest enemies alone.

Loki's smile vanished and turned into a scowl. His fingertips tingled with an electric sensation as he gathered his magic. The need for it was coming; Loki could see the fight approaching as though it was an oncoming train and he was standing in the middle of the railway, watching the massive chunk of metal coming closer and closer on its way to crash into his body.

"You can still walk out of this," said Romanoff steadily. "Tell us where Jess is, and just come with us. No one needs to get hurt."

Loki's head snapped to look at her. "Walk out of this?" he repeated. "Of course I can. Out of here, and then straight into SHIELD's hands. No, thank you, Miss Romanoff. Death seems kinder. As for the girl… she's no longer here. I'm afraid you've missed her." He briefly wondered if Jess would be angry with him for being so vague. He decided it was hardly relevant. "She's not here, and that is all I have to say on that matter. But don't worry. You'll find her soon." Which was the truth, as Jess would contact the Avengers in just a few short hours to tell them that she was perfectly fine. But the Avengers couldn't know that, either. And oh, it was artistic to watch their expressions change at the belief that Jess was dead.

Because it was all so much like he had expected.

Romanoff's face was a masterpiece, of course. It didn't show the slightest change at Loki's supposed revelation. And Barton, well, he was never as good as her but he was no fool, either, and all Loki could detect from him was the too-deep breath he took and the clenching of his jaw. Captain Rogers's mouth parted and he looked almost exaggeratingly hurt – clearly he was not as accustomed to maintaining a calm demeanor through any circumstance, not like Barton and Romanoff. Thor looked like he was truly going to smash Loki's head to bits with Mjolnir. Oddly enough the reactions of Dr. Banner and Stark were quite similar, despite the fact that Banner was currently in the form of the green beast that had once brought upon him his downfall. He clenched his enormous fists and let out a roar that drove a primal instinct in Loki's chest to say Good Gods, run and Stark…

Stark shut his helmet closed, replacing his face with the one of the machine. Seemingly forgetting that he was under Rogers's command and not a lone wayward vigilante, in less than a single second he lifted his hands and shot out two bright spheres of light, aiming directly at Loki.

And Stark's suit was a good shot.

Loki hurled himself out of the way, all grace forgotten, landing half-kneeling a few feet away. Two craters were blasted into the stone wall where he had just stood. Loki raised his head and looked at the Avengers savagely.

War has begun.

It may be a cliché, but most of what happened after that first shot was mostly a blur. Loki remembered his magic, filling him up in his veins and bones and tissue and heart and making him feel alive, so poetically alive in this fight where every moment was bound to be his last. He remembered doing things with it no one has ever seen him do before, things the Avengers nearly stopped to gape at, and he was beyond any form of doubt the strongest person in the room.

But he was only one. The Avengers were six. They were all very powerful. And Loki had made them angry.

He could only fight them off so long before their joined force was just too much.

But he fought well and hard. He fought until he forgot how to stop and until while part of him was oddly aware of his own racing heartbeat another part couldn't quite remember what a heartbeat was. And then finally when his back pressed against the wall and Stark prepared to fire again while Loki was struggling to maintain the green glow that stopped Thor from moving any closer to him with the raised Mjolnir Loki knew with absolute certainty that he didn't have a single way to stop him burning his head clean off. So he stood and watched the bright white light grow in intensity and blast out of the Iron Man's clad hands, and his mind was the most peaceful he could remember it ever being. It was such sweet peace. The singular sphere of light flew directly at Loki's head.

Then it stopped.

It never came close to harming Loki. The air around him felt like electricity and change.

A figure stood just a few short feet away from him, between the two enemy sides. A small, delicate hand was lifted in the air. A purple swirl of flames had swallowed Stark's fire whole.

And in just a moment, all seven people around the figure stood very, very still. The only sound was the sound of their breathing. They could have heard a pin drop. The figure turned around to look at Loki. It was another few moments before anyone could really speak.

"Jess?"

Loki was surprised to hear his own voice. Jess swallowed nervously. Loki supposed that she couldn't come up with anything to say to him, so she turned back to the Avengers. This time even Romanoff's emotional reaction was visible on her face, but she didn't look like she was trying to hide it. Her eyes were prettily wide.

"Jess." This time it was Steve who spoke, looking like a kicked puppy, so confused and barely believing what he was seeing and too surprised to want to understand everything.

"Hey, guys," said Jess softly.

The silence hung heavily in the air.

It was broken by the hulk's roar. Apparently for his animalistic mind the shock in Jess's sudden appearance was not enough to make him forget he was just in the middle of a life-and-death battle. He roared, and then began to run across the room in a mad stampede and Loki could almost feel exactly where it would hurt when the hulk would fling him into the far wall like a rag doll. Funny how he still thought he was going to die there.

"No!" Jess abandoned position and ran. To the hulk. Loki stared in horror and didn't have time to utter a single syllable when Jess stopped right in front of the hulk and he-

Stopped.

"Bruce!" shouted Jess. "Stop it!" The hulk made an indecisive grumbling noise and glanced at Loki with rage. Jess raised her hands. "Bruce, stop, it's me!"

The hulk's beady eyes looked at her, and for some inexplicable reason the unfathomable anger in them faded. His body uncoiled. He looked at Jess with something Loki found remarkably human.

"It's okay," said Jess gently. "It's me. I'm okay. Everything's alright, you can change back, Bruce." She looked around at the other Avengers, whose confusion only seemed to grow by the second. "Trust me," she said, to no one in particular and somehow to each and every one.

"Jess," muttered Loki, eyeing her in disbelief. "What are you doing?"

She gave him a wry smile. "Holding both ends of the stick."

"Jess, what the hell?" It was Barton. Like everyone else, he was staring at Jess like he was trying to understand too many things at once.

She took a deep breath."I know I'm about to sound crazy, or brainwashed, but I'm not either and you've gotta listen to me. Loki is not as bad as you think he is."

"Like hell he isn't."

"I mean it. Let's- oh my God. Let's just everybody put our weapons down and talk about it, because there's a lot I need to tell you."

"Oh, yeah," said Stark. "Let's do that. Right after we're done with this guy."

Rogers walked toward Jess and put a hand on her shoulder. His other hand held his shield. "Jess, I am so happy you're safe," he said slowly, "but you need to stay out of the way or you're gonna get hurt. Get out of here, okay? Agent Coulson is just outside, stay with him until we're done, alright?"

"No," she said. "No, you're not listening. You don't need to hurt anyone, this can all work out perfectly if you just –"

But she never completed that sentence because Stark shot again. And Loki was not prepared.

Jess flinched away from Steve and flung out her arm. Vivid purple flames erupted from the palm of her hand, flying out to wrap themselves around the bright fire of the Iron Man's weapon. Immediately, both disappeared. In the space of a breath she then sent out her second arm, and a burning purple wall stood halfway between Barton and Loki. The shield caught Barton's arrow, and less than a second after absorbed the burst of magic Loki had automatically sent to deflect it. For just those few moments, her eyes glowed bright purple.

"I said knock it the fuck off," spat Jess angrily, glaring at Stark, Barton and Loki.

"Jess, you possess your father's powers," said Thor incredulously.

Jess glanced around the room, looking anxious and nervous. "Yeah," she said. "I figured it out a few months ago."

"Why did you keep it a secret?" asked Thor.

She bit her lip. "I didn't know if you'd tell SHIELD or not and, well, I didn't really want to spend the rest of my life in a SHIELD facility; I didn't know what SHIELD would do."

"Why did you never try using it against me?" asked Loki.

"Would I have been successful?" she asked.

"Probably. You could have killed me in my sleep."

"Well, I didn't wanna do that," she said. "I didn't wanna be like my dad."

"What changed?"

She shrugged. "I figured it was kind of necessary to save your sorry ass."

"I'm sorry, are we interrupting something here?" asked Stark with a frown. His helmet was open again. "Jess, Loki is insane and murderous. Now, I don't know what he told you but –"

"Tony, just please listen," said Jess, her voice beginning to take on a desperate tone. "All of you, please look past your own prior impression and hear the words that I am saying: Loki is not evil."

Stark snorted.

"He isn't," Jess insisted. "I'm not saying he didn't do all the horrible things he did. I'm saying don't hurt him because you don't have to. I'm saying give him a chance to be someone better because he can do that."

"Jess," said Romanoff, and Jess's head snapped in her direction to look at her with wide eyes. Romanoff gave nothing away, and her voice was cold and impassionate. "You need to get out of here."

"No," said Jess. "No, stop it, just listen –"

"You don't need to do this, Jess," said Loki softly, and Jess turned around to stare at him. "I've accepted my fate. You needn't worry about me."

"I can't lose another brother," answered Jess, more forcefully than Loki had predicted. She turned to look at Rogers, who still stood right by her, hands clenched into fists and her nails digging into her flesh. "Steve," she said. "Please. I'm not wrong, and I'm not delusional, please see me."

Rogers glanced at Loki with a furrowed brow, then back at Jess, then at Loki again. He sighed. "It's not that simple, Jess."

"It can be," she begged. "All you need to do is take him in, and we can work everything out. He'll let you." She turned to Loki. "You will, wouldn't you? Tell them you'll let them take you in."

Loki forced himself to look at the Avengers without sneering. "I will come quietly," he said truthfully, wondering idly when he had decided that. "I surrender."

Jess turned back to Rogers. The Captain's jaw clenched.

"Change back, Bruce," he said loudly. "We're taking Loki into custody."

"Come on, Cap –"

"Tony, that is an order." Captain Rogers glared at Stark. For a soldier, Loki thought, he could be quite intimidating when he wanted to. Stark backed down.

"Whatever you say, Captain," said Stark coolly. Loki decided not to stare as Banner's monster turned back into human form.

"Natasha," said Rogers. "Would you care to do the honors?"

Romanoff stepped forward, holding a pair of thick handcuffs. The moment she closed them on his wrists he realized that SHIELD must have figured out a way to shut down his magic; even if he wanted to fight his way free, the handcuffs would render him virtually powerless. He supposed he couldn't hope for anything more.

Jess let out a deep breath beside him. "Thank you," Loki heard her whisper to the Captain.

Loki stared straight ahead as Natasha led him from behind. He remained silent and staring all the way outside, and into one of SHIELD's black SUVs.

And silent and obeying he remained, until SHIELD put him in a holding cell and brought a dead man in the room.