Here is chapter 16. :3

Fair warning: More violence/torture...and Loki feels.

I do not own any characters.

Tony sighed, sitting back in his chair and running a hand through his hair.

"This isn't working," Tony said exasperatedly.

Bruce chuckled, looking at Tony over the rim of his glasses. "We've only been at it for a couple of hours Tony."

"I know but I usually have at least something within the first hour and a half," Tony snapped.

Bruce smiled back at him. "You might actually need a bit of patience."

Tony rolled his eyes and pulled up a few readings on his tablet.

"Sirs, there appears to be some kind of electrical interference on the Family Floor," Jarvis interrupted about fifteen minutes later.

Tony furrowed his brow. "Okay, we'll be up there in a second, have everyone else meet us up there."

"Of course sir," the AI replied.

"What do you think it is?" Bruce asked as they walked into the elevator.

Tony shrugged. "No idea. Jarvis, speed up the elevator would you?"

"Yes sir." The elevator picked up a bit of speed and they arrived on the Family Floor only seconds later. Pepper, Phil, Jane, Thor, Steve, Clint, and Natasha stood in the living room, waiting on Bruce and Tony. Thor was holding Nox, petting the kitten gently behind her ears as she gnawed at his fingers.

"What is it Stark?" Natasha asked, her arms crossed over her chest.

"Jarvis said there was an electrical interference coming from up here and I didn't like the idea of it so I had you guys come up here too," Tony said.

A voice chuckled, startling everyone. They looked around wildly for the source but saw no one. "That interference would be me." A dark image appeared on the beige colored wall infront of them. They stood frozen in horror at the scene before them.

Frigga sighed irritably. Odin wanted to see her for some reason and though she didn't want to see him she found herself walking towards the throne room where he spent most of his time lately. The golden halls of Asgard seemed dull with her knowing that her son was in the hands of the monster he was so terrified of. She hated Odin for harming Loki in the first place and hated herself for not realizing her husband's plans earlier. Surely he must have known that it wouldn't work, that Thanos would still attack. As she walked into the large throne room, she found Odin speaking to Sif and the Warriors Three. The four of them bowed as she entered the room. Frigga nodded her head toward them before turning to Odin, waiting on him to say something.

"Frigga-" He began but he was cut off.

"Oh, I'm sure she doesn't want to hear any more of your lies AllFather," a voice snarled.

"Show yourself Thanos," Odin growled, standing up with Gungnir poised for battle in his hand.

"Oh, but that is not what I came to do," Thanos purred. He was nowhere in sight but his voice reverberated through the room. An image suddenly appeared before them, as if it was showing on a transparent screen. Their eyes were glued to the horrific scene before them. "I simply wished to show you the after-effects of your lies."

Expressions of horror and disgust riddled the team's faces as they watched the scene unfold before them. There were hundreds upon hundreds of Chitauri roaring and jeering at something that was happening. Thanos sat in a throne at the end of a long isle, a large sword in his lap. A smile spread across his face as he looked down the isle. Two Chitauri soldiers walked down it, dragging something between them. Tony started to step forward to see what it was but the view suddenly zoomed in. It was Loki. Tony sucked in a breath and stepped back, looking around and seeing the team recognized him too. Loki's shirt was shredded and blood trailed down his body. His skin was burned and bleeding in multiple places and a bone in his left arm jutted out awkwardly, leaving his arm swollen. His legs dragged out behind him as if they couldn't even support his weight, and he kept his head down as if he didn't have the energy to lift it. The two Chitauri chained Loki to the ground infront of Thanos. He sat there on his knees, facing the ground. Thanos walked forward until he was standing right infront of Loki, causing him to shrink back.

"Get up runt," Thanos growled.

Loki didn't move which didn't please Thanos. He held out his hand and one of the Chitauri placed a rod in his hand. One end of it was white hot and Thanos smiled before pressing it against Loki's chest and repeating himself. Loki screamed and struggled to stand up, barely pushing himself into a standing position. The Chitauri roared at his pain, and Thanos seemed pleased as he tossed the rod behind him. He started circling the prisoner, as if he was examining him. Loki lifted his head for the first time; one of his eyes was swollen, a gash ran down his right cheek, and the skin on either side of his jaw had been seemingly scraped off. He watched Thanos carefully, still edging away from him. The titan leaned down and whispered something in Loki's ear before looking up, as if he could tell exactly where the team was watching from, which, he probably did. He smiled at them before driving the blade straight through his heart. Loki gasped, falling back to his knees and blood poured down his chest, a silent scream written on his face as Thanos twisted the blade before pulling it out. He shuddered, trying to draw in a few more breaths. But it was a losing battle as his breaths became shallow only seconds later, blood still draining from the wound. Loki's usually glowing, green eyes dimmed, the light slowly fading from them and a moment later, he fell limp to the ground. The crowd of Chitauri roared as Thanos cleaned the blade of his sword, wiping away the blood as it was nothing more than a speck of dust. The image began to fade until there was no trace of it left.

"Loki!" Thor screamed, finally bringing Tony back to reality. Thor was staring open mouthed at the place where the image had been, his eyes threatening to overflow with tears. He was shaking, with rage or sadness Tony couldn't tell. Nox jumped down from Thor's arms and sat on the couch, watching them all.

Tony turned slowly, looking at everyone else. Pepper and Jane had tears trailing down their cheeks, Bruce, Phil, and Steve were frozen still, Clint and Natasha were still staring as well. Tony's mind felt overwhelmed, blurred even. Loki was gone, he was dead and they hadn't been able to do anything to stop it. Their mischievous Norse God was gone for good. He wouldn't be seen around the tower reading books, or petting Nox, or watching movies with them. He wouldn't go with them to the zoo and stare in wonder at the animals or smile thankfully when someone gave him something. He wouldn't do anything. He was dead. Tony felt tears in his eyes even though he wasn't one to cry, especially not infront of people. He quickly excused himself from the room, grabbing a few bottle of various alcoholic drinks before locking himself on his floor, hiding himself away from the team.

...

Thor grabbed Mjolnir and quickly flew out of the city, landing in a forested area miles away. Shouting in rage, he snapped trees as though they were toothpicks and scorched the ground around him with lightning. He had failed to save his little brother from a death no doubt filled with pain and terror. Thunder boomed and the rain fell, mirroring the Thunder God's anguish. His tears mixed with the rain pouring down in torrents. It felt like hours later before his rage finally faded from him, leaving only exhaustion and sadness in its wake. Thor stood in the middle of the clearing he had made, trees laying demolished around him. He thought about Loki's last moments, rage filling him again at the thought of Thanos harming his brother. Thanos would pay, Thor was sure of it. It he had to hunt the titan for the rest of his life, so be it but Thanos would regret ever touching Loki.

I'm sorry...but before you go hitting that delete button to this story, stick around for a while longer at least.

Reviews, thoughts and suggestions are always welcome.