Okay! I'm back! Sorry for making you guys wait!
Nick Fury stood in the middle of a hole in the wall, staring at the scene that was enfolding before him. Hours earlier he had received word of the tower being attacked, and rushed in, only to be met by the Avengers who were all well. What really caught Fury off guard was the fact that Loki had willingly helped them. Now he stood, watching SHIELD staff cleaning the rubble and Loki healing those that were wounded. When Fury entered, Loki turned and flashed him his time old smirk. "You helped us" Fury said blankly.
"Yes, it appears that I do enjoy killing the Njut clan" Loki says, his eyes flashing.
"But you're still here. You could have escaped and left the Njut to kill us." Fury replied questioningly.
"Yes it appears I could have, but some of your team is injured and it would be no fun to fight against a group of hurt Avengers" Loki retorts.
"I guess so.." Fury trails off, he turns and begins to walk out and just before leaving he scans the room. Natasha and Clint were moving and directing the cleaning stations while Bruce was in hospital helping more injured victims. Tony and Thor had gone out for supplies and food. Something was missing. It wasn't until Fury had gotten back to his home when he realized who wasn't there.
"Where's Capsicle?" Tony asked, coming into the main level with his arms full of bags. It was hours later and they had regrouped to the main level of the destruction.
"Yes, the mighty soldier deserves a proper thanking" Thor said, his arms carrying twice the amount of bags Tony had.
"He's down in the basement" Loki's monotonous voice said from a corner, he'd just finished healing the last SHIELD agent and began cleaning in the corner by himself.
"Well lets get him then" Thor said, and he jumped down the hole to the basement while the other Avengers used the elevator which had begun working again. Loki looked around the improving tower one last time and then vanished.
The Avengers found Steve unconscious and gently brought him to the hospital ward. No one had noticed Loki's disappearance. They then had retreated to the lounge to settle in for a break while Tony got out the whiskey.
Steve awoke several hours later. The first thing he felt was the soreness. None of the pain of broken ribs or a concussion, but sore none the less. He closed his eyes and with a sigh, he heaved himself up. Looking around the room he noticed he was in the hospital ward.
"Oh good! You didn't sleep for another 7 decades" Tony Starks sarcastic voice came floating in. He had two glasses of whiskey and went to sit down in a chair beside Steve.
"I don't drink" Steve said.
"Of course you don't" Tony retorted. "These are for me" he proceeded to down the first glass.
Steve cleared his throat, "so, did we win?"
"Yeah, we did, Loki turns out to be pretty badass when he's on our side. And there's another reason why I came to see you." Tony set down how glasses. "I wanted to say thank you Capsicle, for defending us when it looked like we weren't gonna make it, and for leading the Njut away from us. Self sacrifice is always a brownie point" He looked to the door, "Guys you can come in"
Steve looked to the door and saw the team minus Fury come in, they crowded around Steve, Clint and Natasha had gotten him a gift certificate to his favorite diner and Thor had a huge gift basket of various meats and cheese and wine.
"Do you want to have dinner with us?" Bruce asked, "we haven't eaten yet and you might be hungry"
Tears were on the brim of Steve's eyes as he looked from one teammate to another. "Guys" He breathed, "you didn't have to.."
"Oh but we did! You are our leader and saved our asses. And don't go crying on us, this isn't Oprah." Tony said with a smile. "I'm hungry, are we ordering Chinese or Indian tonight?"
Steve got out of the bed, "I can cook, if we have some supplies I can save us the walk."
Tony's eyes widened, "you can cook?"
"Yeah, just another one of my many talents" Steve smiled, and the Avengers headed down to the kitchen. They all filed out, but as he reached the doorway out of the hospital ward Steve stopped. "Where's Loki?"
Thor turned around, eyes in panic. They raced down to the level he had last been seen and then the basement. No trace of him at all.
"Shit guys, we just lost him again." Tony said, running his hands through his hair. "Fury is going to kill us"
As they left the basement to go look somewhere else, Steve walked through the ruined dome into Loki's room. Gone. Loki had just left. Steve looked at himself in the mirror, was Loki the one who had saved them? Why had he left? Steve bitterly went upstairs, and put on his Captain America face. "Guys lets face it, we lost him. If he pulls any crap we can stop him like we did before. So how about we start the stir fry?"
Steve had worn a fake smile hiding the pain he felt inside. As he retreated to his room in the basement that night, he started to draw and didn't even notice the tears that stained the paper as he faded into the night as he let sleep take him.