When Natasha entered, soaked and escorting a very wet, half-naked Loki, nobody knew exactly what to expect. They hadn't been able to hear the conversation over the sound of the rain (the audio feed was good, but not that good) and didn't know what they had talked about.

"Loki, why don't you go ahead? There's a big shower in that second door to your left, so you can warm up. We'll have some clothes for when you get out and then Bruce can give you a check up. Right this way."

Loki passed through the room, completely upright, giving everyone a haughty look, as if ignoring that he was almost naked, dripping wet and that his breathing was the loudest sound in the room. He went as he gracefully as he could and as soon as he locked himself in the bathroom all eyes were on Natasha.

"I convinced him to speak telling him we'll help him in return, after this is done. He didn't trust me at first, so I told him we would fix him up a bit before he had to tell us anything, as a sign of good faith. He wouldn't have been much help unconscious or doubling in pain every two minutes, anyway." She explained.

"How do we know he'll help us after he's fixed?" Steve asked, doubtful.

"Because he'll do anything to avoid going back to that prison, even working with us. I told him we would be on his side if he could defeat this guy... He didn't need much convincing. We're the only the chance he has left."

"That sucks." Stark decided.

"It works to our advantage. If you excuse me, I'm gonna go call Clint, see what him and SHIELD have prepared. Let's hope it doesn't involve nuclear missiles this time." Natasha said and started leaving, phone in her hand.

"Thanks for your help, Agent Romanoff." Steve said before she left.

"Just doing my work."

After she left, Thor looked at his friends, confused.

"Does this mean you will contribute to the improvement of my brother's imprisonment conditions should he help us?" He asked.

"We don't know yet." Stark answered "But we're letting him think we will. Hell, if he proves useful and we can save some lives we probably will. But on his side or not, we're letting him believe we're convinced to help him, so he'll be more cooperative."

"I do not like this. Loki's had his hopes shattered once and again. We should not mislead him."

"Don't worry, big guy, he's smart enough to figure us out even if we changed our minds several times. He's probably ahead of us the whole time. But, as Natasha said, he'll do anything to stay out of prison, and given how weak he is, this is his best option. By the way, Bruce, do you know where the new sick bay is placed? I'll show you, it's got only top-notch medical thingies. You'll love it."

Loki was enjoying a nice hot shower while the rest discussed their strategy. It was incredibly invigorating. After days, months, years letting the dirt claw and devour him, now he was finally getting rid of it. Washing the filth away, bit by bit. Closing his eyes under the stream of water he thought about the last years he spent in prison. There was no way he was going back there. He thought living as a sahdow was bad, but being completely abandoned was even worse. The only thing he had with him in the time he spent imprisoned were his thoughts, and those had proved more poisonous than any acid.

Thoughts of worthlessness, of failure and disgrace. Thoughts that reverted back to his monstrous nature. Thoughts of betrayal, of hate, of disappointment. He who had worked so hard to be Thor's equal, he who had been a prince and a magician, who had the skill and the intelligence to be a fierce warrior and leader... He was naught but a monster, and was caged as such. Sometimes he couldn't stand his own thoughts and had screamed into the night until his throat would stop functioning, just to drown the voices. No one had come. At first he fantasized about breaking free, then about being rescued, and finally he'd fantasized about killing himself. That had been the only thing that made the days bearable.

But no more. The dirt was gone and with it, all the hopelessness of the prison had to go too. Whatever this mortals were thinking of doing, he would get through it. For a while he just stood under the water, not thinking of anything, enjoying the water on his skin, the heat, the peace. Even the pain on his stomach and chest seemed to be dulled by the nice warm water.

While Loki relaxed, Bruce got even more anxious by the minute. Yes, he knew his way around an infection, but he wasn't a proper medical doctor!

Word had come of a new attack in Atlanta and Clint and Natasha had already left to assess the situation with Captain Rogers. This time the attack had been on a park. Time was running low, and sooner rather than later people would start wondering where the rest of the Avengers were (even if they had proved to be useless facing this guy) and if Loki decided he wanted to stretch his stay by not saying anything, the situation could turn ugly.

Right now, if he wanted things to move fast enough, he had to focus on the healing/medical part. Toss his insecurities on the matter aside and prepare for his even he wasn't the best M.D. in the world he did have some of the best equipment available. Portable x-rays, defibrillators, a whole room filled with all types of drugs... Stark had definitely no shortage of medical material. But from what he'd gathered Stark had no shortage of anything that could be bought, in general. The chances of Loki trying to make him Hulk out were little, seeing how things between them ended last time, but one couldn't be too prepared with the God of Mischief.

After, what seemed to be an eternity and oddly graceful figure appeared in the other side of the hall. Loki was wearing only a pair of black jeans and a green silk shirt (the most fitting clothes Tony could think of) and his royally elegant way of walking was a bit spoiled by a concealed, almost undetectable limp. Another thing Bruce would have to fix. Jeez. As Loki walked through the door it opened automatically and the Doctor greeted him awkwardly.

"He- hello." This was going to be so uncomfortable. What the hell do you talk about with a guy you beat up? "Did you have any problems getting here?" Smooth, Bruce, really smooth.

"None at all, JARVIS guided me very efficiently." He said with that elegant voice.

"Sit here, we'll figure out how to fix you." Bruce said, half-smiling. Being nice and civil and trying to lighten the mood all at the same time was proving to be difficult.

"Are you implying I am broken, Dr. Banner?" Loki said, completely serious.

"I...I didn't..."

"Relax, Dr Banner... That's hardly the worst thing someone has said about me." A playful smile appeared on his lips. "And that statement is probably not too far from the truth, anyways."

Ok, that was just him lightening the mood. Thank god. Thank Loki, specifically.

He sat on the gurney, facing Bruce, not without difficulty. The doctor prepared his medical equipment to start and told his patient what he was planning to do, to distract himself a bit.

"Well, I don't know exactly how to deal with a spell but seeing how your biology seems similar to ours I'm gonna treat this thing as if it were a normal mortal illness, try to find out a kind of equivalent for humans and go from there."

Loki eyed him suspiciously.

"You are supposed to relieve my pain, not heal me." He really doubted he could do such a thing, but even the intention seemed a bit strange. "I would be able to escape if you healed me, remember? I am sure your Avenger companions would be much happier if you only applied only a temporary solution to my ailments."

"Yeah and I'm sure if Fury was here you'd already be in a cage, but that's them, not me. I like being thorough when I work."

Bruce had not forgotten the fact that there had been a cage on a flying machine that could be dropped into the ground. Or the fact that SHIELD had been monitoring him even in India. Or the fact that most times they wanted to contact him they had back up Swat team. Those guys only saw the monster in him and he was not making that same mistake. Since he'd arrived, Loki had given him no reason to suspect him and he was willing to cooperate.

"Unbutton you shirt, please, I'm going to check your vitals."

Loki complied and Bruce's eyes widened at the spectacular amount of bruises, cuts, abrasions... A horrible reddish-purple series of bruises were forming were Clint had punched him above the navel. He gasped.

"Come on, Doctor, surely you have seen worse injuries than mine. These are merely scratches."

Bruce didn't understand how it could have happened. If he'd been alone in that cell all the time, how come did he have all those injuries? Were there guards beating him up? Or was everything self-inflicted? Bruce sure hoped not.

Loki had no intention of telling the good Doctor how he'd thrown himself into the prison walls trying to break them, once and again. How he tried to climb up to the small window on the top, even if there were bars in it, only to fall, over and over. He wouldn't tell the Doctor how he'd tried to break up some bars with his bare hands to make a lock pick. And he wasn't going to tell him about the mystery masked man who came to break his bones every year. He was receiving enough pity without sharing that information.

Bruce quietly gathered the information. Heart-rate, temperature... He was still feverish but it had dropped a bit thanks to the ice bath. What worried Bruce the most was his breathing. The wheezing was only sporadic but was never a good sign. And his breathing was so laboured it was a wonder he could do something else apart from breathing, like walking or talking.

"Did they do something to your lungs?"

"In the original spell, the prisoners respiratory capacity was diminished, so he would get out of breath if he tried to escape. I fear my troubles are just an extension of that part of the spell." He said, softly. Clearly Bruce had taken him out of his thoughts.

"I'll get you some oxygen when we're done, maybe some broncodilators, see if that works."

He said, giving Loki another one of his awkward little smiles. Loki wondered why was he being so gentle with him. Banner has been defending you since you arrived, Romanoff had said in the rain. Maybe that part was not a lie. The perfect lie is the one surrounded by truthful details, he reminded himself. Perhaps Banner felt some sympathy for him, but they were not going to help him. They only meant to use him, like the Allfather had for many years, until he was no longer useful.

Whenever he closed his eyes he saw that cell again, its stone walls, the metal bars. He saw himself screaming. The Allfather looking at him, disappointed. And Loki was screaming. The walls of the cell were closing in on him.

Nobody is coming to save you.

Nobody will ever want to save you.

Useless, worthless, monster.

"Loki? Loki? Still with me?"

Bruce could see the bags under Loki's eyes and how he kept zoning out, probably having flashbacks of his imprisonment. He scribbled posible PTSD under the growing list of symptoms. Trying to get this guy on one piece again was going to be quite a challenge.

"You said you were having problems with your memory, too? You think that could be another effect of the illness?"

"Oh, no. My time is prison is dramatically clear in my memory as is the time your beast stopped me in this very tower. My memory problems precede my contact with the spell and are much more subtle."

"For example?"

Loki had no idea why the Doctor was asking but enjoyed having someone show interest, so he answered.

"There are times when I remember what I did but not the reason for doing it. But it is just probably..."

Out of the blue, a wave of blinding pain hit his stomach again, leaving him breathless. One of his hands held his abdomen tightly, trying to drown the pain, the other gripped the gurney so hard it tore the fabric of the bed. His eyes were closed now and watering. Pain, pain and more pain. No peace for you, monster. You are only getting what you deserve.

At this point, Bruce started worrying he'd be unable to help his patient. This thing, whatever it was, had too many symptoms. It attacked the lungs, the stomach, increased body temperature... It was a true torture for the affected. Bruce only needed a look from Loki's watery eyes to know. This could not be called justice. This was not justice, in any way.

The apin was almost unbearable.

Further exploration showed that Loki's left arm was broken as were several fingers from the left hand. He refused to tell Bruce how that happened, and he accepted. In fact, he was glad not to know the details of his punishment. He was afraid he'd have nightmares if he did. The scans and x-rays showed some scarring and half-healed lesions but no actual physical cause for the pain. Damned magic.

The rest of the evening passed very quietly and Bruce enjoyed the silence while he disinfected cuts, administered painkillers or put the hurt arm. After hesitating a bit, Bruce gave the god a powerful sedative and Loki was asleep not long after. It was disturbing how human-like this alien was. Banner looked at Loki, so peaceful in his sleep. His right hand fell off the edge of the bed all four fingers bandaged. He'd put a nasal cannula on with some oxygen, too. All the pain and the suffering, the betrayal and despair were gone. He was a gaunt pale guy, underfed, and quite sick.

Definitely not a monster.

This could have been him if he hadn't been able to control the Hulk enough.

Caged by the authority he had served, left to rot.

As he left the infirmary so Loki could sleep, he saw Tony approaching and he seemed shaken.

"You finished! Good. We need the info, now. We just lost contact with Steve and Tasha in Atlanta, things are looking baaaaad."

But Banner stopped his friend before he could go any further.

"Not now. He's sleeping."

"Then wake him up! Haven't you heard what I said?"

"Not now. Let's go upstairs, so you can fill me in."

"What the hell? We have him for..."

"No"

"But..."

"Tony. Do not make me mad." Bruce said, on his most threatening tone. He had a shitty evening and wasn't on the mood for an argument.

"Ok, ok. But you owe an explanation." Bruce nodded."JARVIS, watch Sleeping Beauty in the sick bay, kay? If he moves, or just open his eyes, you tell me."

"Of course, sir. You will be informed of any change the prisoner experiences."

"Don't call him that, JARVIS." Bruce said, walking past a confused Tony. "His name is Loki."

A/N: Did you like it? Not? Hope you did! In my stories Bruce and Loki always kind of bond over the "I am a monster" thing and the suicidal tendencies. I just love them both (or the three of them if we count the Hulk! ^^). Anyways, plot will come, nicer Tony and explanations too. You'll just have to wait a bit. Thanks for the kind words, favs and alerts!

You know you want to review!