Bruce smiled as he looked over the chess pieces still remaining on his board. He'd chosen his moves…his next four moves if Loki followed the campaign he expected, and had time to relax for a change. The past few days had fallen into a comfortable routine. He looked across the room to where Loki stood staring down at the board in front of Hogun, contemplating his next move there. Well, as much of a routine as you could have with aliens from Asgard living in the tower. Each morning when he came up for breakfast Bruce found Kara and Loki sitting at one end of the table, eating quietly, occasionally sharing a few words, looks or touches. Hogun and Fandral would show up when he'd finished cooking, it was as if they could smell that the food was ready. Or, wait, hmm. "Jarvis?" he asked the AI quietly. "Have either Fandral or Hogun asked you to inform them when I've finished cooking breakfast?"

"Yes, Dr. Banner," Jarvis informed him, mimicking his soft confidential tone.

"Ah. Thank you." Gotcha, he thought. They must have gotten over their distrust of the 'hidden brain' as they referred to the AI and decided to put it to use. It was about time. Tony usually strolled in next to grab coffee and a couple of pastries before heading to his workshop. Bruce never saw Pepper in the morning, just her dishes in the otherwise empty dishwasher. After breakfast Loki and Kara would either go to the gym where Loki supervised her work on strength training, or if Tony had a new upgrade ready, to the testing room to help with armor testing. Hogun and Fandral generally spent the rest of the morning in the gym or sparring in what they'd dubbed 'the arena', an area Tony was converting for all of the Avengers who needed practice time to exercise their various abilities. Lunch was ordered in, and Kara saw patients sent over from S.H.I.E.L.D. in the afternoon while Loki wandered between Tony's workshop, his lab and his suite and 'the boys' as Kara referred to them, went back to their sparring. Dinner was cooked by Tony's chef and then after dinner was game or movie time before they all headed off to their own suites.

After trouncing 'the boys' at HALO the first night they'd all spent together, Loki had suggested they draw straws to determine who would choose the evening's activity. Tony's choice was to have a movie night. They'd settled on the two Ghostbusters films, forgetting until the first was well underway that both films included attacks on New York City. The humans in the group had all been shooting Loki concerned looks, wondering if he'd take it as a slight, but he'd simply sat in the oversized armchair, Kara tucked into his side, and laughed at the antics of Bill Murray and company in the climactic scene. Loki laughing in enjoyment was apparently rare. Hogun and Fandral had stared at him with their mouths hanging open until he'd noticed. His semi-annoyed comment of "What? It was quite amusing," had made them all relax and enjoy the second movie and the ongoing joke about 'But…but…is Viggo! Is Viggo dahling!', without worrying about his reaction.

Pepper had chosen monopoly the third night, and had won handily. His own choice of several classic Disney movies had surprised everyone and had earned him a plethora of teasing comments from Tony, Pepper and Kara. Hogun had chosen action movies last night, and tonight it was Loki's choice, and they were playing chess. Bruce looked back over at Hogun in time to see Loki reach for one of the pieces on Hogun's board and move it.

"Check," the standing god said. Hogun frowned and reached to move a piece, then hesitated as Loki spoke. "You do realize you'll be back in check after my next move if you choose that one?" Loki commented.

"If you make no mistakes," Hogun agreed. "Though Lady Pepper has conceded, you are still playing four games, you could get distracted."

Bruce smiled, thinking that was highly unlikely as Loki chuckled. "Perhaps, though I much doubt I could get quite that distracted. Think about that move some more," he advised. Loki then moved on to Tony's game. "Hmm. Interesting move, Stark. But the wrong one, I'm afraid."

"Geez. Ice Man, are you ever going to stop calling me Stark?" Tony asked.

"Certainly, about the same time you stop calling me by ridiculous nicknames," Loki told him as he leaned over to make his move. Tony was staring up with his mouth slightly open when his opponent smirked. "Checkmate in four," Loki told him as he moved away.

He had to chuckle at his friend's expression. "Son of a bitch. I fell for it," Tony muttered as he examined his board and then looked up to meet Bruce's eyes. "Damn, I would have loved to see him play Bobby Fischer."

"We didn't have much of an audience," Loki said as he moved on to Kara's board. "He was rather annoyed with tournament play and sliding into recluse mode by then."

"What? Are you telling me you played him?" Tony's eyes had grown huge.

"Yes. It was quite some time ago by your reckoning." Loki paused, looking thoughtful. "Thirty of your years, I believe, in San Francisco."

"Uh, Jarvis?" Tony began.

"Yes sir. Bobby Fischer often resided in the San Francisco Bay-area home of a Canadian Grandmaster during that period."

"Huh. So, Loki, who won?"

Bruce bit back a chuckle as Loki straightened and gave Tony an incredulous look. "Seriously, Anthony? I did, of course. Though he did far better against me than Peter Biyiasas, the friend he was staying with." Loki turned back to Kara's board, stared down at it a moment and sighed. "You've gotten distracted, haven't you?" he asked her in a chiding tone.

Kara frowned. "A bit." She stared down at the board for a minute. "Oh. Crap." Shaking her head she tipped over her queen. "I blew it with that last move, sorry."

"It's all right, love. But you mustn't brood."

"Pot, meet kettle," she muttered as she stood, kissed his cheek, and headed into the kitchen. "Anyone want anything?" she asked.

Fandral looked up from where he was watching a movie with the sound turned down. "Have you more of your sugared bites of pork, my lady?" he said, referring to one of the medieval recipes they'd all agreed was a new snack staple.

"Yes, I'll heat up another tray. Anyone want drinks while I'm up?" she asked.

"I'll have a glass of the glögg if you don't mind," Bruce asked. He'd become fond of the spiced wine, though he kept his consumption low. The last thing he needed was a loss of control. The 'other guy' had stayed quiet unless purposely unleashed as of late, but there was no sense in tempting fate.

Pepper stood from where she'd been curled up on the loveseat beside Tony and watching his game ever since losing hers. "I'll help with that," she offered as hands went up around the room. She looked down as Tony turned his puppy dog expression on her. "And yes, I'll get you a refill on your scotch," she agreed. Tony had been taking it very easy on the alcohol since his engagement. Bruce was wondering how long that would last.

"Thanks, gorgeous," Tony said, squeezing her hand as she moved away. "Crap, you're right. I really can't get out of this," he continued, looking over at Loki. He tipped his queen to the side as well.

"You did rather well until that last move. You should have sacrificed your remaining knight."

"Yeah, well, I'm not much on sacrificing members of my team."

… …

Loki stopped on his way to Banner's board. "What are you insinuating, Stark," he asked quietly, doing his best not to get angry with the man.

"What? Nothing." Stark stared into the glass Pepper had brought over to him. Loki nodded his thanks as the woman handed him a glass of the spiced wine. "Well, kind of trying to piece things together since you won't open your damn mouth and talk about it. Why the hell did you send Legolas back into the depths of the Helicarrier? You had to know he'd run into someone."

"I knew nothing of the kind. He went where I needed him." He stared down at Banner's board. The scientist was an excellent player. His game was still flawless and Loki knew himself to be, without conceit, one of the best players currently residing on the planet. They played chess in Asgard, it was the one activity he'd enjoyed with his…with Thor's father. The All Father was an excellent player, but did get emotional about it from time to time, causing his few losses. Banner was keeping his emotions out of the game. He had a great deal of practice with that in controlling his beast, Loki supposed. He reached down to make his move and then bit back a grin as he noted Banner's consternation. He'd switched the style of his play mid-game and had undoubtedly ruined Banner's planned next moves.

"So, you wanted him to be captured, maybe even reclaimed," Stark continued. "Come on, Loki, admit it. You let him go."

"We're not discussing my failed plans, Anthony," Loki grated, mindful of his assertion that he'd use Stark's name so long as Stark used his, regardless of how annoyed he was with the too damned insightful genius. Kara was staring at him thoughtfully now, damn Stark's lack of discretion. He smiled at the mortal's wince knowing the man did not care to have his full given name used, preferring the ridiculous nickname. He strode briskly over to Hogun's board and glanced down at it. The grim warrior had made an unexpected move. "You've extended the game, Hogun. I'm impressed." Picking up his own queen, he positioned it to counter the next move he expected his opponent to make.

Hogun nodded and looked up to take a plate of the 'pumpes' as Kara called them as she passed several out. "My thanks," he said briefly, and then popped two of the spiced and sugared pork delicacies into his mouth.

"You're welcome. And no, Fandral, I haven't forgotten yours," Kara said as she passed a plate over the back of the couch. Loki smirked as she deftly slapped Fandral's other hand as he reached for a second plate. "No, you only get one plate this round. And don't pout at me, you're not nearly as good at it as you think."

"You'll grow as large as Volstagg if you continue to eat as you've been," Loki teased. He smiled down as Kara held up a plate and he took one of the treats before she settled back down in the oversized armchair she'd been sharing with him during their evenings with the others. "Thank you, love," he murmured quietly, caressing her cheek with his other hand. "I should be done with Hogun's game shortly. Perhaps then we could move Dr. Banner's game over to the alcove here and get comfortable while we play."

"Is he going to last that much longer?" she asked, sounding surprised.

"If he makes no mistakes, yes." He looked over his shoulder to where the scientist was frowning thoughtfully at his board and contemplating the chaos that Loki had brought to his carefully plotted game. "Banner is actually one of the best mortal players I've encountered outside of Fischer and his ilk."

Stark snickered. "Ilk…who says 'ilk' anymore?"

"Those of us who actually employ a reasonably diverse vocabulary," Loki countered. "And scientific terms do not count," he added as Stark opened his mouth to retort. "They are far too specialized."

"You've got me there, Frosty."

… …

Kara smiled as Loki's mouth curved up into an impish grin. "Of course I do, Tin Man," he told Tony. She couldn't hold back the giggle and pretended to choke on a meatball to hide it. "I heard that, love," Loki whispered as he leaned down and brushed his lips along her jaw.

"Tin man? Hmm. Not bad. But you don't really want to start a snark war with me, Mr. Freeze, you'd lose."

"So sure of that, Rust Bucket?"

"Okay, guys, that's enough," Pepper interrupted. "There's no way this can end well, so knock it off now."

Tony sighed theatrically. "You never let me have any fun."

"It's only fun until someone pisses off the big guy," Bruce told them. "So quiet down, Tony, I'm trying to concentrate here."

Kara looked up at Loki, whose expression showed he was having difficulty resisting the impulse to comment. She took his hand and squeezed it until he looked down at her with an amused smile. "Maybe I should even the odds and disturb your concentration?" she offered.

"Ah, no. I'd rather not have them witness what it would take for you to distract me quite that much."

"Spoilsport."

Loki shrugged. "What's mine is mine and I have never been much good at sharing."

Her heart stuttered. Comments like that had been growing more frequent each day…possessive comments, comments that she would have normally attributed to a man in love. And he hadn't called her a mortal in at least three days. His embraces and caresses had become public and less hesitant, yet he still refused to acknowledge anything more than caring. It was incredibly frustrating. Of course, if he did love her, she still wasn't sure she wanted to know. It was going to be hard enough to let him go as things stood. "Why am I not surprised," she managed with a smile when she realized he was frowning at her lack of response.

"Because you know me too well."

… …

"Okay, that's all of them," Steve Rogers called out as he dropped down from the top of the ancient ruins in Machu Picchu. "If they even tried to cut that one out of there, the whole thing would crumble. Looks like the next good earthquake will take it out as it is."

The Black Widow stared at the area surrounding the ruins. "And any remains once it crumbled would be next to impossible to collect in their entirety. Too many crevices and such. They'd never find all of the pieces to reconstruct it with," she decided.

"The sensors are up and running. Headquarters reports they're getting a clear signal on all of the locations now. We can wrap it up and head home," Barton said as he poked his head out of the Quinjet. "Nat, you ready to fly us out of here?"

Steve paled. The flight in had been…an adventure. Clint hadn't mentioned until after their very hairy landing that Nat had only been flying solo for a little over a month and had never landed in an area this tricky. Talking about trial by fire, geez. "Maybe you should fly us out, Hawk," Nat said, sounding uncharacteristically nervous.

"No, you'll never learn without doing. Tell you what, though. I'll ride up front with you in case you run into problems," Clint offered as Steve breathed a sigh of relief.

They picked up the rest of the gear and trooped up the ramp and took their seats. Steve opted for the seat next to the emergency chutes thinking he could pass them out if they were going down. Not that it would be necessary, but just in case. Right. He shook his head and stared down at the deck and reviewed their mission accomplishments as the jet powered up and began takeoff. He compressed his lips tightly as the entire bird lurched to one side let out the breath he hadn't realized he was holding as it straightened and rose smoothly. "Thank you, God," he whispered.

"There you go. Good job, Nat, couldn't have done it better myself," Barton said. "Let's head home."

Steve blanched. That was a good takeoff?

… …

Natasha nodded as she entered navigation instructions into the Quinjet's system. Though she'd never admit it, Clint's faith in her ability had helped immeasurably. He wasn't the type to give false assurances. It was one of the many things she appreciated about him. Hawkeye could always be counted on to be a straight shooter…and not just with his weapons. "Are we staying on the carrier, or getting a ride out to Stark's tower?"

"Fury is going to have a ride ready for us," Barton replied. "Apparently he's reluctantly approved Dr. G's return to Stark's and he wants us there for the duration in case she needs backup."

"Backup with what?"

Barton gave her an annoyed look. "With Loki. Sounds like he's fully recovered. There's all kinds of crap he could get into if we don't keep a lid on him."

Rogers looked up from where he'd been staring intently at the deck of the craft. He'd been looking a bit green ever since their rough landing a few hours ago. "I honestly don't think he's going to be a problem," their de-facto leader offered. "He seemed kind of resigned to being returned to Asgard when I talked to him."

"That bastard has plans within plans, Cap," Clint muttered as he fiddled with his quiver, changing out some of the specialty arrowheads for their more standard counterparts from the storage portion on the side. "He may be cooperating because he's still in danger from the Chitauri, but that doesn't mean we can trust him."

"I didn't say we trust him." Rogers fell silent and he frowned thoughtfully. "There's so much we don't know, it just doesn't all fit for me. But seriously, my gut tells me he's not going to cause any problems there."

Natasha nodded. Her instincts had been telling her the same thing. The only thing she was worried about was her belief that Kara was falling in love with their resident war criminal. That would be a big problem in the long run, regardless of Loki's intentions to behave. Eventually, Thor would take him home, and then they'd have an emotionally shattered pyrokinetic empath to deal with. That was a serious concern. "If Clint's right, we'll be there if he causes a problem. If not, we've got some down time. I, for one, intend to enjoy it."

… …

Hogun and Fandral were party poopers, that's all there was to it. They'd bailed after Hogun had been checkmated. Tony sat on the loveseat with Pepper, pondering…things. Loki's reaction to his questions about what had led up to them recovering Hawkeye had been telling. He hadn't missed the man's emphasis on the word 'knew'. Now he was left believing Loki had planned or at least hoped someone would take Barton away from him. What other of the suspiciously lucky coincidences that led to their victory were actually part of his convoluted plan? Bastard was such a pain in the ass. If he'd just tell them…but no. That wouldn't be Loki. He groaned as he realized that he was actually starting to understand the Norse god. That couldn't be a good thing. "What's wrong, Tony?" Pepper asked, lifting her head from his shoulder.

He looked into her concerned eyes. "Nothing, Pep. I was just thinking about some tweaks I wanted to make on the suit but forgot to do because I got distracted. It's all good, I'll take care of it tomorrow." Great. Now he was lying to his fiancé of less than a week. But there was no way in hell he was going to worry her with any of this. She had enough on her plate with Stark Industries.

"Am I going to wake up in the middle of the night, alone in bed because you snuck back to your workshop?"

Smiling at her, he took her left hand and lifted it to press his lips to her palm. "No, I promise. I will not leave you alone in bed unless we have a bona fide emergency. Of if I have to use the bathroom."

"I'm going to hold you to that."

"Check."

Tony looked up in surprise. "Whoa, way to go, Bruce." This was the first time any of them had put Loki in check all night. Of course, the god of mischief and lies had his girlfriend half on and half off his lap, and knowing how they had been acting in close quarters over the past few evenings, she was probably bringing one hell of a distraction to the game. Heh, another good reason for her to be called Hellbringer, though he seriously doubted anyone but him would have made the connection.

"It's a temporary setback, I assure you," Loki said, sounding irritated. He leaned forward and moved a piece, Tony couldn't see which one from his angle. "Kara, stop that," he muttered to the woman in his lap.

Tony chuckled. "Woman problems, Lokes?"

"You wish you had a problem like this," Loki snapped.

"Pepper, I think you've been insulted," Tony told the love of his life.

"Or complimented for knowing when not to distract you, however much you would enjoy it," she countered.

Loki looked back at them with a frown. "Definitely the latter, Pepper. I do enjoy the distraction, but…"

"You're a sore loser," Tony finished for him.

"I haven't lost yet, Anthony." Loki sighed. "Kara, please stop."

"Fine. Wake me when the game's over," she groused. "I'm going to turn in."

"Check," Bruce said again.

… …

"Damnation. Ah…I see." Loki frowned down at the board as he recognized Banner's gambit. He examined the remaining pieces, he should have enough to counter it and still win decisively. The man's play was impressive, he admitted to himself. Hogun had surprised him as well, their game had gone on a good half-dozen moves after his initial check. Thor's old friend had taken his loss gracefully and had politely thanked Loki for the game before departing.

Banner looked up at him as he moved. "Yes, you do see." His smile was self-depreciating. "I figured you would, but it was nice to surprise you for a change."

"You did. I'm quite impressed. I cannot lay the blame for that on Kara, your level of play was well beyond what I'd anticipated." He moved his queen.

"Thanks." Banner moved his sole remaining knight in response, just as Loki had anticipated. The scientist frowned at Loki's return move. "Damn. All I did was buy a little time."

Loki shrugged. "Much of this game is all about buying a little time…time until your opponent makes a mistake. Now that I'm no longer distracted, I hope to make no more mistakes."

"Honey, they're ho-ome!" Stark called out as he returned from escorting his lady back to their suite.

"Anthony, what are you blathering about?"

"Jarvis just informed me that a S.H.I.E.L.D. craft is dropping off our missing teammates. It's time to all gang up and figure out ways to make Captain Bashful blush."

"Your teammates," Loki muttered as he responded to Banner's latest move.

"Yeah, yeah. Get technical on me, why don't you?"

"I'm not being technical. I simply think Barton and Romanov would appreciate the distinction."

"True. Huh, you don't think it would bother Captain Perfect?"

Loki shrugged. "Rogers is idealistic, I believe he'd like to hope that I'm redeemable, no matter how laughable that may be."

Stark looked thoughtful. "You could be right."

"You know I'm right, about this, at least."

"That's really annoying, particularly when I'm this sober."

Chuckling, Loki told him, "It's supposed to be." He turned back to the board and moved. "Check and mate in two moves."

Banner sighed as he tipped over his queen. "You may be a puny god, but you're one hell of a chess player."

… …

Steve frowned when Jarvis directed them to the game room. "I was really hoping to just get a shower and hit the hay."

"Chin up, Cap. We just need to check in," Hawkeye told him. "Once we make sure our prisoner is secure, we can get some well-earned rest."

"Clint, he's a guest, not a prisoner."

"Tell that to Fury. Until headquarters says otherwise, I'm treating him as a prisoner."

This was going to be a problem if it kept up, Steve decided. "Okay, listen up." He waited until both of the assassins turned to stare at him. "You two need to make a decision. Are you Avengers or are you S.H.I.E.L.D. agents? After what we uncovered before the invasion, and after the decision S.H.I.E.L.D.'s council made to nuke New York and all of its innocent civilians while we were fighting there, I don't think it's possible for you to be both."

Steve watched Clint's face cloud up. Nat's look was thoughtful. "We'll have to think about that," she told him.

"I figured. You've been loyal to S.H.I.E.L.D. for a long time. I fully expect you to have to do some soul searching before you make a decision. But do us all a favor and give it top priority. We really need to know that we can count on both of you."

The two exchanged looks. "We'll do that, Cap," Clint agreed as the elevator doors opened. They all turned and walked into the game room where Dr. Banner was standing and, of all things, shaking Loki's hand. "What the fuck," Clint muttered. From his expression, it looked like Loki heard him.

"You've missed game night," their guest told them blandly.

Stark stood from where he'd been perched on the back of a chair. "You should have seen it. Loki played five games simultaneously and totally skunked everybody but Brucie-boy here."

"Figures," Clint muttered. Steve poked him in the back. "Get off my back, Cap. Dude is the Norse god of lies, he's probably great at poker, too."

Loki frowned. "I've never played that game, though I've heard of it, of course. Perhaps that will be chosen as an activity for another night."

Steve looked at Stark for an explanation. "We've been drawing straws to see who picks an after dinner activity. We've done video games, movies, board games and chess. Keeps us all out of trouble," the billionaire said with a shrug.

"Speak for yourself, Anthony. We both know I'll always be in trouble here," Loki said. "I'll bid you all a good night." He pointedly walked around them and entered the elevator, glaring at the floor until the doors closed.

"Crap, thanks a lot, bow flex. We had a really nice night going here. No arguments, no one getting pissy. Shit, I need a drink."

"You always need a drink, Stark," Clint spat.

"No. All damn fucking week I have not needed a drink. Ask Jarvis. My stash has not had to be refilled once. Then you come in with your fucking chip on your shoulder and flush all our hard work down the fucking toilet, bird brain!"

"Stark, take it easy," Steve asked. "We don't know what's been going on here."

"You're damn right, you don't. We found out the fucking containment field has done some possibly irreversible damage to Kara's nervous system. She's probably going to die if Odin can't be convinced to help. On top of that, S.H.I.E.L.D. is ready to sell her down the fucking river because they think she's too dangerous. The only one who's been able to keep her from losing hope is Loki."

"You've got to be kidding me," Clint said.

"No, big bird, I'm dead serious. Loki called Nick on this shit with the Council. Loki convinced her to promise that she'd allow Thor to petition Odin for help and to promise she wouldn't give up on finding a cure. Loki found a problem with the fucking armor I designed for her that would have gotten her killed if he hadn't pointed it out. Loki, the guy you just totally dissed is the guy who is saving the life of the woman who is pretty much single-handedly putting your head back together."

Steve winced at Clint's ragged laugh. "Pretty ironic considering he's the one who pulled it apart."

"Yeah, maybe so. But maybe this is the only way he can find to try and make it up to us…to you."

Clint looked down at the floor. "Well, shit."

… …

Author's Notes: Thanks for all of the kind comments and reviews. I really enjoy hearing your insights and reactions. I'm hard at work on Chapter 23, and I'm warning you in advance, it's going to be a tear-jerker. No, no character deaths, rest easy on that front, I'm not that cruel an author!