BROTHER FLUFF WARNING! On with the show!

When they reached the flying fortress, Thor pulled Loki to the side, away from the others.

" Brother-"

" I am not your brother." Loki hissed, yanking his arm out of Thor's grasp. " Odin told you of my true heritage, did he not?"

" He did." Thor admitted, looking hurt. " But the only thing that changes is how many times I must tell you I'm sorry."

Loki raised one eyebrow at Thor, his lips pressed into a tight line.

" Apologize for what, Odinsson?"

" For not listening to you." Thor replied, stepping closer to Loki. " For writing you off, too many times. For teasing you because of your magic, and all the hatred I once held for the Jotuns. And-"

Loki held up one hand, turning his head away. " Stop."

" No." Thor wrapped his arms around Loki in a massive bear hug. " And for not protecting you as I should have. I am sorry, Brother."

Loki tensed at the hug, grinding his teeth. " Release me." His voice, no matter the effort, shook with emotion.

Thor reluctantly did, stepping back to give Loki breathing room.

" I am not a child, Thor, nor am I you brother."

" I've loved you my whole life as my little brother." Thor said stubbornly. " Knowing who you where truly born to changes not that feeling. You may deny it, but you are my brother. Not by blood, but by bond."

" I don't like it." Steve admitted, staring worriedly down at the screen.

" None of us do." Banner sighed, bustling past him.

" No, no, I mean-" Steve started to chew on his lip. " He has wings."

" And?" Romanoff asked pointedly, arching one eyebrow.

" And his name is Gabriel. What if-"

" They don't exist, Captain." Coulson stated, trotting up behind them. Tony Stark, out of the suit, sauntered behind him. " If they did, we would know."

" You didn't know about Asgard until a year ago." Steve insisted, crossing his arms.

" What don't exist?" Tony cut in, leaning over the screen. " Wait, you think Angel here is an actually angel?"

On the screen, pacing restlessly like a bird trapped in a cage, Gabriel circled the inside of the glass container constantly, his wings dragging carelessly behind him, like he couldn't be bothered to spend energy to fold them up. The crippled wing was wrapped in white bandages, soaked through by silver tinted blood.

" What if he is?" Steve pressed, looking thoughtful. " He could be a victim, maybe we could talk-"

" Captain of America, I would advise against it." Loki appeared in the doorway, Thor hovering over his shoulder. The two had disappeared hours ago, mostly likely to talk."It matters not that he was a friend or what his kind is thought of by your people, at the moment, he is the enemy. Though it pains me to say it."

" What's he to you, Rock of the Ages?" Tony prodded, sitting down on the round table.

" As I said, he was my friend." Loki replied without emotion. " We met in the void."

" Yeah? Well what's his play? He's not ruling an army from in there, and if he's as powerful as you claim, couldn't he break out?" Tony pulled a bag of dried blue berries from his pocket, munching thoughtfully. Banner settled down beside him.

" I believe he is striking your faith." Loki answered. Romanoff stood up suddenly, sweeping out of the room. " That is why he has not hidden his wings from sight."

" So he is an angel?" Steve asked, glancing back down at the screen.

" No." Loki paused dramatically. " He is an Archangel. He once served as a Messenger to the entity your people call God. I believe he came to Asgard before, to give Odin a message as well. Heimdall once told me of them."

At the name of the Gate-keeper, Thor started guiltily.

" Oh, brother-"

" I am not your brother, Thor." Loki retorted tiredly. Thor continued as if he hadn't heard him, pulling a small dark dagger from his pocket.

" Heimdall wishes for you to have this." The Thunder god said, offering it to Loki. The god of Mischief's face morphed into amused anger. " Bro- Loki? What is it?"

" Nothing." Loki lied, slipping the dagger into his jacket pocket. " You should find some clothes, Thor. You stink like a Bilgsnipe."

Everyone in the room gave the two gods blank looks.

" Uh, what's a Bilgsnipe?"

Romanoff stood alone by the glass cage, her eyes dark and angry. In his cell, Gabriel grinned at her.

" So your paying me a visit? So nice! I get lonely really easy."

" What are you." Romanoff demanded bluntly, her hands clasped behind her back.

" I'm an angel! Ain't it obvious?" Gabriel sauntered over to the glass wall, mockingly copying her position.

" Your a monster." She hissed.

" I'm not the only one. Oh, but Barton told me about you." He purred, tilting his head in a birdlike way.

" I owe him a dept."

" He seems to think it's something more."

" Where are they."

" You know, I'm not entirely sure." Gabriel resumed pacing, running one hand along the glass wall. " I sent Selvig off with the Tesseract, no clue where they got to." He paused, throwing the agent a glance over his shoulder. " Oh, but he's not the one your interested in finding, huh?"

" Rogers had a point, your not ruling an army in here, what's your play?"

" You think I wanted to come here? Please, I thought I'd be back in the void by now."

" Your hiding from someone." Romanoff guessed, stepping closer to the glass. " You're afraid they'll find you. What are you running from?"

" I am God!" Gabriel snarled, smashing his fist against the glass. It strained but didn't crack. " I fear nothing!"

" You know," Romanoff said mockingly, stepping back until her hand rested on the trigger to drop the cell. " That's the second time of heard that lie in two days."

Gabriel visible calmed down at the sight of Romanoff's hand curled around the handle.

" Good, now, what are you."

" I am Gabriel. I am a runaway angel. I am the thing that will kill you, and break your faith completely." Gabriel hissed. His blue eyes were deranged,his hair windswept. " Do you want to know why I can be God? Because he skipped out on my brothers and I long ago, left us in the dust to pick up the trash." A crazed giggle bubbled from his throat. " Abandoned by God, all of us. Oh, but I won't abandon you." Gabriel wasn't even looking at her anymore. " I will be here forever, if I have to. Teaching you lessons and-" His crooning stopped suddenly. His hands reached up to his face and he sat down with a thud.

When he lowered his hands, his eyes burned gold, fixed on the hidden camera that the others watched him through.

" I'm sorry, Loki." He whispered.

An explosion ripped through the base, throwing Romanoff to the floor. Alarms screamed eerily, red lights flashing as people rushed around the base madly.

She turned to demand answers from Gabriel, but he was curled up on the floor, tears streaming down his face as he laughed. His eyes were a lifeless swirling blue once more.

Yes, Gabriel is completely mad by now. Kudos to those who noticed the difference between Hurt!Gabriel taking the Tesseract, and Crazy!Gabriel fighting Captain America. I imagine his own essence, his Grace, is fighting the power of the Mind Gem, and it's tearing his mind apart.

Poor Gabriel!

And, HA! Cliffhanger! I've never actually written a cliffhanger before, but I'm feeling pretty cruel today.

Yes, this one is a bit short, but the last chapter was fairly long and I just felt like writing some more. I highly doubt I do another chapter today, but It's fairly likely I'll have one out tomorrow. Until then, Peace Off, Internets!