I'm back WOOO! Okay so I hate this chapter, I hated writing it, it took forever and it's just terrible and I'm sorry. Still, it's an update so we should all be happy for that :)

Chapter 24

"L-Loki what, h-how?" Tony stammered, tripping over his words in his haste to get them out.

He couldn't take his eyes off Loki, he couldn't even blink.

"Take your hands off me," Loki said evenly, no emotion clouding his words unlike Tony's, whose were clogged up with emotion that could not be contained or controlled.

Loki tried to move again but the pain was too intense that he collapsed back to the ground with a hiss. Everything ached. His bones burned and his head protested against all thought and yet he had to fight through the pain. Tony was here. Tony had been caught too. Tony was in danger and it was all his fault. How could he have been so stupid? He should have known this was coming.

Even amongst all the pain he felt from his body, Loki thought that the thing that hurt was most the expression on Tony's face as he told him to leave him alone. He looked so confused and scared. He'd never seen Tony looking so vulnerable before and it broke his heart. It was necessary though. The Chitauri might believe they have someone important to him but he could always try and fool them. By pushing Tony away, by acting like he meant nothing or hated him then perhaps they might think he was of no use and let Tony go. It wouldn't work but he had to try.

"No, no Loki I can't do that," Tony said, not moving from his side. "I...I have to try and help."

"There is nothing you can do. Leave me," Loki repeated but his attempts at harshness were wearing away. He was too tired to fight. It was only a minute more and then he was unconscious, the pain and the fatigue becoming too much for his body to take. Without his magic, he hardly stood a chance.

"Loki...Loki?" Tony said, watching as the tension in Loki's body melted away as he fell into a deep sleep.

He wasn't sure what to do after that. If they had been at the tower Tony would have taken him to his bed and set him down carefully before checking his wounds. There was no chance of doing that now. One because of the poor lighting, two because he wasn't sure how bad the damage was and he didn't want to hurt Loki more and three because he didn't want to wake the god. By the looks of him, he needed as much sleep as he could get. There was no chance either of setting him down comfortably. The floor was rock hard and freezing. There was nothing in the cell that made the floor any more comfortable so Tony was resigned to just leaving Loki where he had dropped and just watched him to make sure he was okay as he could be.

As he sat there on the cold floor next to Loki, Tony thought about what he had said. Loki had told him to not help, to let him go, to leave him alone and he didn't understand why. He knew the god had this massive pride thing where he never wanted to look weak or pitiful but this was an entire different kettle of fish. Loki was being tortured and had been now for almost a month, he was battered, bruised and scarred. Now Tony was here, for reasons that still weren't clear to him, and was trying to help and Loki would have none of it. Even the strongest sometimes need help and support. Why couldn't Loki accept his?

Why was Tony here anyway? Not that he would want to be anywhere else right now unless Loki was with him. He would rather live through hell with Loki than live a peaceful life without him. That sounded very deep from Tony which scared him slightly. He really hadn't known how much he loved Loki until they had been separated.

"Is our little prince sleeping? Needs to keep his strength up, you never know when he might need it."

Tony heard the voice and winced. Not from the surprise of it but because of the horrible throaty rasp that came with every word. It was painful to listen to.

"What do you want with him?"

"He has his uses. He gives a very good show, nice entertainment for the boring times. It will be a shame to say goodbye to him. I think I might actually miss him."

"You are some fucked up piece of shit, you know that! When I get out of here I'm gunna find you and kill you myself."

"I highly doubt that," The Chitauri chuckled, his laughter even more painful to listen to as it echoed off the walls. "You'll be meeting your end long before Loki. You are mortal, it will be easy to break you, both in body and mind. Unfortunately, no matter how much magic we strip from our god here, he still remains immortal. Only very high magic will be able to remove it and being stuck on this doomed planet means we cannot perform such spells."

"So you're stuck here?" Tony asked. If he was to die soon then he thought he might as well get as much information as he could. Or, on the other hand, if he were to escape soon then he would need all the information he could acquire so he would stand the best chance of remaining free.

"For the time being, yes, but we have no plans to remain here permanently."

"How are you stuck, though? You're supposed to be all magical and important yet you can't even get yourself off a planet full of worthless mortals."

"I would not say you are all worthless. You certainly have your uses or will do anyway." The Chitauri paused and looked at Tony through the darkness with a wicked grin on his scaly face. "But no, it is not your doing that we are stuck here. To start with, it was our orders to stay. When Loki led our army down to your planet, a group of use slipped your notice. We managed to conceal ourselves from you in this cave and it is where we have stayed ever since. We observed your life, we watched as Loki was brought back to live here. We bided our time before we started to take Loki's mind. It took a lot of our power to create those delusions from such a distance away and so it made us weak. It took even more power to bring him here and bind him and then we had to bring you too. We must replenish our energy before we can leave. Our ships are in another galaxy and it will take time to get there."

"I thought we destroyed you all."

"Ah yes your bomb that you fired at our ships which killed our leader. That was most of our race but some stayed behind awaiting orders to move in. They obviously never came because everyone else was destroyed. I assume they are still awaiting our command."

Tony listened to every word, surprised by how easily the Chitauri was speaking. Did they want him to know this stuff? Were they lying to him to try and fool him? Did they think that he would try to escape?

Loki made a noise from where he lay on the floor and it drew Tony's attention. He edged a little closer, so as not to crowd the god if he woke, but still be close enough to make sure he was alright. In a way Tony didn't want him to wake up, at least not yet. He didn't want to see the emotionless expressions or hear the words that told him to leave and not help. How could Loki think he wouldn't help?

The Chitauri that he had been speaking to watched his movements around Loki. Watched as he edged closer, watched as he checked his injuries, watched as he moved away again but still not too far. Though the two weren't aware, the Chitauri had been hiding in the shadows as they had been reunited. They had heard Loki turn Tony's help away. They also knew it was fake.

"Why do you care for him so much?" The Chitauri asked curiously.

"That's none of your fucking business," Tony shot back.

"Hmm well actually it is, see because he is pretending now like you mean nothing to him. I just wondered if that were true. Do you mean nothing to him?"

"How am I supposed to know?"

"Because I have information that says that you do mean something to him," The Chitauri said slowing, letting a smile curl over his lips into a sneer.

"Oh really, how nice," Tony said, pretending to not be interesting in anything being said.

"Yes...yes it was nice. Very nice indeed, listening to him shout for you. He screamed for you. Screamed and screamed until his voice was all but gone," The Chitauri said in a sing song voice.

He glanced back down at Loki then looked up at the thing that was cackling to himself. He felt sick. These creatures were sick. They found entertainment in torture, thought the sounds of screaming was like music to their ears and loved that Loki was calling out for help.

"Fuck off alright, just get the fuck away from us!" Tony shouted.

"I'll be back later," The Chitauri laughed, walking off further into the cave.

Tony was left alone, panting from all the rage coursing through his veins. A wave of sudden tiredness washed over him and, though he tried hard to fight it, it was too strong and he soon found himself lying down next to Loki on the hard stone floor. His eyes fluttered closed and he was soon asleep.

Pepper walked through the foyer of the Avengers tower, her high heels clicking as she picked up the pace. She had phoned Tony five times and got no reply. After the third unanswered call, she had left voicemails that also had not been answered. Expecting to find him far too engrossed in some project or else having some 'alone time' with Loki, she had decided to go round herself and drag the genius out. If he had forgotten this meeting she was going to skin him alive. He better have a good excuse for this, she thought to herself as the lift arrived and transported her to the top floor. When the doors slid open, she marched out into the living room, depositing the folder she had brought along on the coffee table.

"JARVIS where's Tony?" She asked loudly, expecting an immediate response.

The actual reply came later than she thought was normal and when it did it was not what she expected.

"Sir's whereabouts cannot be identified. My systems have been severely affected by unknown energies and I am unable to access many areas."

"What? Is this a trick just so I'll get off his back?" Pepper laughed.

"No Miss Potts."

Okay so something was definitely wrong. JARVIS wasn't working properly and she guessed it had been going on for a while because of how uninformed he was. Also Tony was missing and there was no way to access the footage of the tower to check for any unusualness. The last time she had spoken to Tony was almost a week ago. Had he been missing all that time? If he had then she would have expected an alert from JARVIS but if the AI was malfunctioning then he would never have sent out a message.

There was a second pause and then Pepper had her phone out and she was dialling all of the Avenger's numbers. She needed them here now. They needed to know what's happened and she needed to know if they had any more information like if they had seen Tony after the last time she had. That would give an indication of the time frame that he had been missing.

In no time at all they were all gathered together and all up to date with the new information. Fury left first, needing to get back to S.H.I.E.L.D and report everything and get more people working on the case. Two were now missing. Loki, the Norse god, who was sent to live on Earth and Tony, the billionaire, who was famous in every corner of the world. He would definitely be missed if he wasn't found soon.

Clint and Natasha were the next to leave. After sharing some of their thoughts and consoling Pepper, they agreed that she needed a drink and were soon heading for the lift to go somewhere that sold alcohol. Steve then said his goodbyes, wanting to get back to S.H.I.E.L.D himself so he could see what was going on and to try and help if and where possible. That left just Bruce and Thor alone.

The thunder god was slumped against the kitchen island and looked to be in a world of his own. He was pale and just seemed smaller than usual. Bruce walked up to him and laid a hand on his arm.

"It will be alright, we will find them."

"You believe so?" Thor asked, moving shakily and sitting down on one of the stools.

"Yeah I do. Tony is a stubborn bastard, he won't give up fighting easily. Wherever he is, he will give them hell. Loki is your brother, he's a god, and if he is with Tony then he will be okay and even if he's not then I'm sure he will still be fine. He's smart and strong. There's nothing to worry about," Bruce said consolingly.

"Then why do I still feel worry?"

"It's only natural. I'm worried too but I have hope for them. They'll come back or we'll find them."

Thor kicked moodily at the edge of the island but didn't seem to be bothered by the pain that would have come if he had been mortal.

"I am to return to Asgard for a few days," He said, breaking the long silence that had formed. "Although I do not want to go, I must ask the Allfather if he has seen anything that could be of use."

"That's fine, just come back quickly."

"I will do my best but it will grieve my mother to learn of these events. I have put off this moment for a while now and I cannot put it off anymore. My parents must be told that Loki and the man of iron are missing."

"They know about Tony?" Bruce asked, surprised.

"Yes they have been told about their relationship and they are both happy that Loki has managed to find someone that cares for him. I am happy also but it was a surprise."

"You don't say," Bruce laughed. "I still can't believe they got together. I know Tony can have strange taste but your brother, no offence."

Thor smiled and huffed out a laugh. "I quite agree with you. It was a very strange turn of events."

It was not that much longer that Thor left for Asgard. He asked Bruce to notify Fury about his departure. He didn't tell the director beforehand because he thought that he would try to stop him from leaving. But this was too urgent to put off anymore. He needed to know everything.

He awoke to the sounds of heavy, laboured breaths. Sitting up, Tony's eyes struggled to see anything through the surrounding gloom. A shadow shifted against the wall behind him and he knew it could only be one person.

"You're awake," Loki stated, his voice hoarser than Tony remembered.

"So are you," Tony replied.

"Did you sleep well?"

Tony scoffed. "You seem more talkative."

"I don't believe ignoring you will work, it hasn't in the past," Loki replied, wrapping his arms around himself and wincing.

"Oh so we're actually admitting that we know eachother now. I suppose the laws about me touching and helping you are still in place." Tony didn't mean to get angry but he felt it too strongly.

"I thought it was best."

"Best? Best! Best for who? They never believed you for a second when you tried to pass off that there was nothing between us."

"I...I know but..." Loki's voice trailed away as the Chitauri that Tony had spoken to yesterday appeared outside their cell.

"You ready for another round?" He chuckled, unlocking the cell and dragging Loki to his feet.

Tony got up and tried to stop him from taking Loki. By the end he was shouting at him to stop but all the Chitauri did was laugh. Before Tony knew it had happened it was already done. He had been struck hard across the face and had fallen backwards onto the cold stone. The cell was locked and Loki was gone. Tony was left alone in the darkness.

It wasn't that much longer when he heard sounds. Sounds that he could only associate with pain. It was at least another hour or two until he heard the first screams. At first he associated them with gasps of pain but soon they were developed into ear-splitting, soul wrenching cries that forced their way into Tony's head and made that place their home. He didn't know how long they lasted. He just remembered when they stopped. The silence was deafening.

Loki was brought back, unconscious and broken. Tony sat beside him, wishing that he could help but there was nothing he could do. Moving him would only cause more pain and there was no way he could treat any of the wounds. He was left in the eerie silence, hoping against hope that none of his injuries were infected and that his immortality would protect him. He also prayed that someone was searching for them, that someone was working against all odds to bring them both home. He had to hope. He had nothing else but that.

Yeah...Please review?! :)