The ride wasn't long and Steve payed generously the driver with the money Loki had handed him. The man had insisted he was there for anything they needed. Anything. And then he had Steve to sign him an autograph. Of course. It was obvious that the man was enjoying having some famous clients, and the money they gave him to be discreet, too. Steve had talked with the driver a bit, but both Loki and Banner were a bit out of it: one tired and sore, feeling all his wounds hurt again and the other feeling the effects of tranquilizers.

"God, I hope there's coffee where we're going." Banner said. He had Hulked out, had been gassed, tied down, caged and broken out of a federal building all in the same day; he was going to need litres of coffee if he was to keep functioning. Steve was much more fresh, probably a side effect of the serum. Once they arrived, he marveled at the immensity of the house they were hiding in.

"Are all of Stark's friends as opulent as he is?"

Bruce just smiled at his friend's comment while they got out of the taxi. Loki led them to the door, limping as usual, and they soon arrived to the living room, where Tony, Thor and Pepper waited expectantly. They had seen part of the rescue hacking into the cameras of SHIELD, but not everything. And they had lost track of them after they got out. Yes, there had been no reason to be nervous, everything had gone right, but still. It was nice to see them in one piece.

"Guys!" Tony shouted. "You're here! And free!"

There were some hugs, some nice to see you's, some "How was Asgard?" in the direction of Thor (who never answered), Bruce finally got his coffee, Loki threw himself on the couch like he owned the place and Steve sat down on a chair, considering the next movement of the plan. Pepper was glad to see everyone alive and in one piece, while Thor just sulked, standing up looking at everyone. Tony had been catching up with Bruce with a glass of scotch, commenting the new info they got, the escape, all that happened. Until they stopped talking and Tony was no longer feeling nice.

"You!" He said, pointing at Loki. "You don't just run off to enemy headquarters, to a place where everybody wants you dead, on your own, and tell us nothing! We could have helped if we had known what the hell you were planning to do!"

Loki was confused. Shouldn't he be happy that he hadn't brought anyone else into it? That the solution had come without more people being in danger? He looked at Tony with sleepy green eyes and muttered a lazy:

"What?"

"Seriously, Loki, you should tell us these things. Next time things may not go so well and we could give you some back-up. You could've been killed in there, it was almost a suicide mission!"

Loki was tired, his leg was in agony, his side hurt from the bullet wound and he thought he had tore a couple of stitches from the wound from the explosion. He was not up to hearing more nonsense, but Stark was insistent.

"And, also, you..."

"Cease, Stark. I do not need to inform you of what I will or won't do. I ignore if you have forgotten, but I am not part of your little team. You are the Avengers, if I recall correctly, the earth's mightiest heroes - I am not an Avenger, I am not from Earth, not mighty and most definitely not a hero. You are not my superior, you are not my jailer: you have no place to order me around. I shall do as I please and you will thank me for my services. Is that understood?" There was a pause. And some nods. "I appreciate this small period of freedom you have granted me but that does not mean I will take orders from you."

A prisoner he was, but not anybody's lap dog.

"But..." Tony started, trying to fix it. He hadn't mean to offend the guy! Bruce interrupted, knowing in a word battle between those two they would both want to have the last word, and it would never end. Slightly invigorated by the coffee he spoke.

"He has a point, Tony. We can't order him around, just as he can't boss you around either. But Tony has a point too, Loki. We don't mean to complain about what you did, it was great, really, you were incredible and... it's not that we mean to change your ways, but it was a dangerous thing you did there, specially alone. Remember how you apologized so much after my place got blown up, even if it wasn't you who did it? Because you felt bad, right? Well, how do you think Steve and I would feel if you got killed while coming to rescue us?"

The answer escaped Loki's mouth before he could even think about it.

"Relieved?"

Steve's eyes widened and he had a horrified expression on his face.

"Jesus, Loki!"

"Let's face it, gentlemen.. and Lady. Right now, I am a problem. I have no business being here now that Bob is gone and I have only brought you trouble. The only reason why you may not be willing to return to Asgard is if I am useful and that is what I am doing. Being useful. Helping."

"You're not a problem. Loki, you're a person!"

Loki looked at the Captain, disbelieving. Tony tried a different approach as he filled his glass again. God, this was going to be awkward.

"Look, it's not that we're not grateful, Loki, we are. But just... be careful, ok? It may sound weird, but we don't want any more bad stuff happening to you. Just keep it in mind, ok? We care." And he gulped half the glass in one go.

"Why?" Why would you care for a worthless monster? "Maybe this is all a trick, like your Director Fury suggested, maybe I am playing you. Why would you trust me? Why would you care? I have done nothing worthy of such... feelings."

"Oh, come on, give yourself some credit! You defeated an intergalactic villain that the rest of warriors could not beat and uncovered a blood-seeking group among our allies in a matter of days. That's more than people who call themselves heroes had done in years."

The voices echoed in Loki's head.

They're all lies, nothing but lies.

They only want to see you believing, so they can mock you better.

They don't mean a word they're saying, how could they? They are not true.

They only mean to play with you give you false hope.

Steve continued, stubborn.

"And you don't need to keep proving yourself to avoid being taken to prison. We don't want to send you back there. Not anymore."

"Such sweet words, Captain. I am sure they will give much comfort when I am back at my cell."

Suddenly, everything was just too much. The captain kept speaking, but he did not hear anymore.

No peace for you, never.

There was just too much pain, pain everywhere. Those damned Avengers pretending they cared. The voice telling him it was all lies. All too much, the wounds, the tension, the threats, the kind words, the escapes, Thor, the Avengers, the memories of his cell, Bolton, Fury, The captain, the Doctor, Stark, the big house and all those voices. Blue eyes and dark eyes, all staring at him. Just too much.

You're only getting what you deserve.

His eyes rolled on the back of his head and he fell off the couch, boneless.

Bruce was there instantly, trying to awaken him.

"Loki! Loki! Shit!"

"What's wrong?" Steve asked, concerned.

"From what we've guessed, the spell attacks worse when he feels fine, when things are looking up. And we just told him we don't want to send him back to jail. That spell is going to have a field day with this. Because... it wasn't any other thing, right, Thor? Or your father gave you another explanation?"

Thor shook his mighty head, sad. He so wished there was another explanation.

Without further explanations, Steve took the unconscious Loki and he and Bruce took him upstairs, to put him in a bed, see if there was anything they could do for their rescuer. They left him in a bed from the same wing this time, took off the shoes and left him only in his shirt and pants. After asking Steve for a medical kit (Pepper instructed him where he could find one), Bruce started redressing the wounds, redoing the stitches, trying to bring down the reappearing fever... Feeling there was nothing else he could do to help, Steve went down again to where the rest of the people were talking.

Downstairs, Pepper was writing some false clues from her email account to mislead SHIELD telling them that Bruce and Steve had been taken to a house Tony had on Delaware and that Tony had gone with them.

Tony was busy looking at all the evidence they had on RVG on various screens, concentrated, trying to see best way to get them down. Trying to see a path in which they had the upper hand and not the enemy like these last times. They needed to be stronger and most of all smarter. Luckily, the guys on RVG had shown a lot of their cards, which was going to make taking them down much easier. Loki's plan had worked, simple as it was. Maybe that was the key to everything, simplicity. They needed to get what had been going on out to the public, that much was obvious. Once that was done, once Bolton's and the others' authorities were questioned, it would be easy to find evidence to bring them down. And people would know that if anything happened to them it was their fault, so if they were smart they would stop their offence.

But how? They had hacking material, were obviously feeding the media very elaborate false information to cover what they did and probably had contacts on the government and police. Damn, they were the police. No, if they were going to uncover them they would need to be subtle but powerful. Would need to eliminate all the points were SHIELD may intercept the message and be careful with the media they chose, the hands in which the message fell. And they needed to make a believable and thorough message, which explained all that had happened, the explosions, the attacks, the missing people Bruce had told him about. Everything.

Seeing how concentrated they were, Steve went to Thor, who had been terribly quiet since he'd arrived. Steve wondered if something had gone wrong in Asgard. Truth was, it was both going to Asgard and returning here that had made him think. He'd faced Odin, saved Loki from assailants and yet his brother hated him. Apparently, Loki even liked Heimdall better than him. He wanted to fix things with him, but he just didn't know how. He wondered if things would ever be the way they used to be. He couldn't trust his father anymore, his brother wouldn't talk with him, his world crumbled. All was wrong.

"What's going on?" The Captain asked.

"Stark is designing a plan to go against those agents." He said. Not a man of many words.

"You okay?"

"Yes, Captain." He just didn't feel like talking. Not now.

Tony, at least, greeted him more warmly and they talked about what they were going to do. Knowing that most times they'd been intercepted had to do with internet and modern things like that, Steve suggested they kept it (relatively) old school. Not use computers for anything, just phones (the pre-paid one Pepper had been using seemed undetected but Amanda's landline could be an option, too - it was very unlikely they were monitoring her), hand-written stuff and self-made videos with video-cameras that recorded on tape. Nothing digital whatsoever. Then, when all was together, send it with a messenger, a person. The taxi driver, for example, who hadn't been connected with them (yet).

It was not a bad idea. They could start writing down what they knew (with many details for the police and the public to know) and taping their testimonies. Yes, and tomorrow (when they were certain the place was safe) they could start calling other people, other witnesses without looking them up online. They had the phone number of James, the agent who was willing to spill all the company's darkest secrets just to get a get a date with Loki and he could lead them to the families of the missing agents. It was a start, definitely. A simple plan, but one that could work.

When Bruce came down they explained the plan to him and started setting things in motion. After some hours, they had a nice big dinner. Loki was still out of it, but the rest of them enjoyed it thoroughly. Finally, a meal that was not interrupted by gunfire or consisted of an almost expired can of something. Yes, the owner was going to realise there were many things missing from her kitchen, but it was for the greater good. And she was rich.

They couldn't believe that just that morning everything had been so wrong, with agents shooting at them, Bruce and Steve taken, Bolton handing out threats... the situation had seemed desperate. But that was in the past. Now things could go well again.

After dinner, Steve went upstairs to get changed, maybe get a shower and some sleep. As he passed one of the rooms, he heard some moaning. It was Loki, caught again in one of those nightmares he had. Remembering what had happened last time, Steve put a bucket near the bed and decided to stay there until he woke up, to keep him a bit in reality, to make sure that he knew it had been all a dream. It just broke his heart to see how much the god suffered, how much he hurt.

Loki was in a pool of blood. This time the Avengers had not attacked him. This time it was him who had attacked, in the living room where they all gathered. The corpses of the lady Potts, of Stark, of the Captain and kind Doctor Banner lay at his feet. He had killed them with his own hands and he had enjoyed it. He could see the slit throats, the opened chests and so much blood. The faces that had once smiled at him were now forever paralyzed with a gesture of horror. Loki looked at his blood stained hands, horrified, disgusted and fell to his knees.

Fury, Odin and Bolton were towering over him.

"See" Bolton said "you can't help it. You are the monster we've always known you were."

"A killer. A ripper. Nothing else. You deserve all the punishment, all the pain. And you know it." Fury echoed.

"The only place you belong is prison." Odin said. "Even death would be too sweet a punishment for you."

"Monstrosity."

"Aberration."

"Mistake of nature."

But among all the voices and all the hatred there was another one he didn't know. A voice that was telling him to wake up. Wake up? But... Suddenly the world shook. And then there was a darkness.

Loki realized that his eyes were closed. When he opened them, the Captain was not dead.

But he could perfectly remember his body, nearly disemboweled.

Steve had decided he needed to wake the other man up when he saw, once again, the blood coming out of his mouth. It had been enough. He called and called, but to no avail. And then shook him and shook him harder. After a while, Loki's eyes opened and they were out of focus. He sat up on the bed, trying to understand. Then he got out of bed, confused. What had happened? What was this room? Where was the blood? When the green eyes finally seemed to see the other man there was a strange expression on them. Confusion, regret.

"You okay?" Steve asked putting himself in front of him.

Loki wanted to be sick. He'd killed them. He'd killed them all. Fantasy and reality were everyday more blurry. He'd killed them.

"Hey, look at me. It was just a dream, ok? Just a dream. Whatever you saw, it's not true."

Loki remembered slitting that throat that said such nice things and all the blood that had come out of it. He remembered enjoying it. His head hurt so much.

Steve saw Loki's eyes watering and decided it was time for extreme measures. He leaned closed and hugged him.

Loki felt the strong arms surrounding him and tried to fight them off. He needed to be detached, proud, whole. But he just couldn't. It was just impossibly hard after so much time, too much time of nightmares and horrors preying on his mind. And now, for the first time in many years, he was not alone. Despite himself, he returned the hug, let his head rest on the Captain shoulder and a couple of tears rolled down his cheeks.

"It is just so terribly real...I feel everything. Every little thing."

Loki cried.

Steve comforted him the best he could.

The hug ended and Loki dried his face, ashamed.

"You must think me a weakling, Captain." The god said, trying to stop the tears that kept coming.

"Nothing further from the truth. We all need to cry sometimes. And don't worry, I won't tell the others."

"I appreciate that."

They talked a while longer. Steve filled him on on the plan. They also talked about the rescue from earlier in the day.

Before he left for his designated bedroom to rest, Steve said one last thing.

"We'll fix it, I promise. We'll fix you. And there will be no god, no king, no spell, nothing to get on our way. You have my word."

A/N: I know, filler chapter (or is it feel-er? for the feels! I know, bad joke) but I wanted to give the people a little break after all the action. Also, Loki deserved a bit comfort after all he's been through. And Steve is just so nice and caring. (Sigh) And the rest of them telling them that they cared had to happen, too. Did you like it? Not? Try to excuse the many mistakes I couldn't see, the plotholes and whatever. It's just for fun! Hope you liked it, anyways, and as always I adore hearing from you! Review, review, review!