Disclaimer: I still own nothing owned by others. :'(

AN: Thank you all so much for coming back to read another chapter of this story. It is very much appreciated and I hope you all enjoy…

It was dark and cold and lonely and he recognized this feeling. He had felt it all the time. This terrifying and horrible feeling. It crept over him like a fountain of fear and sorrow pouring into him. Like a thousand needles showing down on him like darts of fire.

The fallen erstwhile prince found no haven in his thoughts, as he used to, for now it was not an escape from reality. Reality wouldn't waver from his mind, always creeping into the deepest corners of his thoughts and consuming him with unbearable pain and anxiety. It was shattering his heart into a million pieces, hanging him upside down, and letting his aching head drown in the shards.

An awareness came over him: he couldn't stop any of it. He was trapped in a cage, in a room with no window or doorway of any kind. He couldn't control this feeling. He couldn't control what they would do to him next. Like a tiger ready to pounce they looked at him with eyes filled with malevolent fire. They jested and shrieked with words of hatred and made him feel the worst of agonies even when he begged them to let him be alone. Let him crawl away and die, because that's all he really wanted after all this pain. He just wanted to die and never have to feel anything again. His very existence was the worst torture he knew. But they would never allow it to stop, not even when he was so broken inside that he couldn't hope to be fixed, no, not even then would they spare him. They'd have him rot for an eternity and it would never stop. Never until he had completely shattered and fallen and even then would they truly be done with him? He could never be certain of his what his fate would be, only knowing that it would be horrible and torturous and would leave him as nothing.

..::..::..::..::..::..::..::..

A feeling of warmth erupted through his vanes, like a stream of warm water spilling gently down on him.

His head began to hurt and he became more aware. He was awake, or at least he thought he was.

The warmth was no longer relaxing as it grew hotter and hotter and he squeezed his eyes shut. He wished he could drown this feeling out. He was becoming so hot. He could feel beads of sweat form, making his forehead itch, as they dripped into his eyes making them sting.

He didn't know how long his breath had been hitched.

He could hear the sound of voices, too distant but too near. His head banged with searing pain at every sentence they spoke and though he could hear them he couldn't comprehend their words, too enveloped in his pain.

"Thor, what's happening?" Bruce asked Thor. But when he looked at him Thor was just as surprised and hadn't seemed to have heard Bruce. He didn't know what was happening either.

Bruce had been checking Loki's vitals, Thor with him, and suddenly Loki began sweating and breathing harshly and he was heating up fast. His eyes squeezed shut. Bruce was giving him tons of morphine but he honestly didn't know how much was too much for the alien.

"Thor? Do you know what's happening here?" He asked, though the question was probably going to be met with no answer and even if there was an answer the answer wouldn't really be likely to actually help his question.

He doubted Thor really knew much of Asgardian medical issues at all, anyway. It wasn't as though he was a doctor and he didn't seem like he'd be all that interested in that sort of stuff.

Bruce felt like he should probably contact Tony and tell him about the situation but he wasn't sure Tony would be any help either.

He grabbed Thor's arm to get his attention. "Thor? Do you know what's happening and how to stop it?" he asked.

"N-no! This isn't supposed to happen. Loki should be capable of surviving this with little more than a backache!" Thor's voice was panicked as he looked anxiously at his brother. He glanced at Bruce with worry before looking back at Loki, shock etched in his face.

Loki's eyes flew open. He looked shocked and in pain. He kept making sounds but never screamed. It was as though the pain was so great that he was incapable of making little more than whimpers.

"B-b-b." Loki sounded as though he were trying to say something. Bruce leaned forward to see if he couldn't try and hear what the trickster had to say.

"Ba-Banner…" Loki managed to say, though every edge of his quiet voice told about his pain.

"Yes?" Bruce asked as he leaned in a little closer.

"I'm-muh-muh… Muh-H-h-hum-mm-an…" Loki stuttered, with difficulty.

"Human? You're human?" Bruce repeated Loki's words with surprise. Human? Is that what he said? What did that mean? How was that possible?

"YES!" Loki yelled half a scream as he shook with pain, practically writhing in it.

"Thor?" Bruce said. Thor was still staring at Loki with shock and confusion in his eyes.

"Thor, he says he's human. What does that mean?" Bruce asked.

"What?" Thor said, glancing at Bruce for half a millisecond before looking back at his brother.

"He said he was human…?" Bruce said.

"But that's…" Thor paused a moment, "That's ridiculous. Why would he turn himself human?" he asked.

"I still don't know how much time we have or what was in that arrow to cause this, but he's burning up. He'll die. What do we do?" Bruce asked, "Thor?"

"There is a cure… But it's not on Midgard…" Thor said briefly before rushing out the room.

"Wait! How much time does he have…?!" Bruce called out. But Thor was long gone. Thor had said enough for Bruce to know where he was going: Asgard. He just hoped Thor would get back as soon as possible. The man would be devastated if he came back too late and found his brother… Dead.

He didn't want to leave Loki for too long, but he decided he could quickly get a pale of cold water.

..::..::..::..::..::..::..::..

Loki had no idea what was happening around him. He hoped Banner got the message, but he could no longer hear anything but the thump of his heart, beating fast and hard against his aching chest.

He could feel the heat grow every second and it wouldn't stop! He felt something cold and wet pour over him, water, but it only lasted a moment before the heat dissolved the liquid and left the rest of the water warm and uncomfortable.

His body shook with pain and he wasn't able to control this. He was in so much unbelievable agony!

..::..::..::..::..::..::..::..

Tony was in his workshop, working on the newest version of his suit, tinkering and whatnot, and Steve sat in a chair near him.

To be honest with himself, he wished he was as smart as Tony, though he knew he never would be. He strongly hated it when Tony made snarky comments about his real age. He might be ninety but he certainly didn't feel that way and he had no problem adapting to his new surroundings… Okay, maybe a little trouble but one can understand that. He is, after all, technically ninety.

But truth be told he was doing well for having been born so long ago. He even learnt how to use the television remote a little, and that's saying something.

"Could you hand me a wrench?" Tony asked, still tinkering on the body of mechanical armor.

Steve got up and handed the wrench to him.

"Tony… Can I ask you something?" Steve… Asked… He wanted to ask Tony about Pepper. He knew a lot of other problems were there for potentially worrying about, but he didn't want Tony or Pepper to get hurt in their relationship. He cared about both of them dearly, they were his best friends after all.

"Shoot." Tony said, in answer to his question.

"How… How are you and Pepper doing?" Steve asked. He didn't want to barge in on something that wasn't his business, but all he wanted to know was if they were doing okay or not.

"Don't shoot." Tony answered putting both his hands in the air as though Steve was a cop with a gun.

There was a long pause.

"Pepper wants some time on her own right now." Tony finally said. "The truth is, Stevie, I think we might be done. Me and Pepper, not me and you." he smirked.

"Do you… Want that to happen?" Steve asked. He wasn't sure why he asked the question. He just wanted to know all the details, he supposed.

"I don't know…" Tony paused. "We've just got a lot of stuff going on right now and I haven't spent much time with her and I'm not sure I really want to anymore, well romantically that is, I still think she's awesome to hang with."

"Oh."

"You waiting for us to be over so you can score with Pepper, Steve?" Tony asked.

"What? No! That is completely inappropriate. I just want what's best for both of you." Steve was astonished at this question, though he did know Tony was joking. He didn't like when Tony made flippant jokes about such things.

"Trust me, Spandex, we're doing what's best for both of us." Tony said. He then stopped tinkering. "What are we gonna do about the Loki's dog situation?" Tony asked suddenly.

"What? I thought you took her to the pound…" Steve said. "I haven't seen her around her anywhere." He knew Tony was changing the subject, but honestly he didn't mind. The conversation before was getting too awkward for him anyway.

"Well, I kept her for testing, in case Loki was holding a bomb in her or something… She's clean." Tony said.

"So…" Steve wasn't gonna say this out loud but he was pleased that Tony hadn't taken her to the pound yet. He kind of, well, wanted them to keep her. He hadn't had a dog in a long time and he missed not having a dog.

"Do you think we should keep her?" Tony asked.

"Sure… I mean… She could be of use to us…" Steve said, Tony looked at him unimpressed, a ghost of a smirk playing on his lips, "What? We could teach her to get the mail or she could be our personal guard dog. We can only have so many cameras around the place." Steve finished, he was beginning to feel really embarrassed, like a squirrel who didn't collect any acorns for the winter even though he lived up in an oak tree having to face his more organized neighbor squirrels judgment, and Tony was still giving him a look. "What?"

"Oh, Steve." Tony said, grinning.

Tony's phone started ringing and Tony picked it up and flipped it open. "This is pizza castle speaking, may I take your order?"

Tony's face hardened in an ever so slightly serious expression and Steve wondered what was going on. Tony glanced at him a moment.

"I'll be right there." He said, before closing the phone and tossing it on his chair.

"Who was that? What's going on?" Steve asked, as they both rushed out of the room.

"Bruce. He's having trouble with Loki. He's human."

"I know he's human." Steve said, confused.

"No, Loki's human."

"What? So why are we running?"

"Because Loki's also dying and we need him to find Odin to make sure Asgard and Midgard and all those gards are safe." Tony answered.

..::..::..::..::..::..::..::..

Banner was pouring freezing water over Loki.

Loki's heat had slowed down to an exceptional degree and the water had helped quite a bit. He just hoped Loki wouldn't start heating up too rapidly too soon and he hoped Thor would get there before something tragic happened.

He was really feeling angered at Natasha just about then. He knew she had to be the one who told Barton about Loki.

"Hey." Speak of the devil. He immediately tensed at the voice of his girlfriend.

"What is it, Natasha?" he asked, not turning around. He really didn't feel like talking to her just then. Especially with all the other things he had to worry about.

"How are you doing?" Natasha asked. He could hear her footsteps coming closer to his side.

"I'm fine. It's Thor and his brother who are suffering right now…" he answered, hoping she could hear the irritation towards her in his voice.

"But you don't care how Loki feels." Natasha said, touching Bruce's shoulder. This comment made Bruce furious inside and he had to make a mental note to not get too angered.

"I'm not a sadistic and vindictive former assassin, I'm a human being and I don't like it when anyone's suffering. Anyone. It would make me the same as Loki if I did, and even if I didn't care how Loki felt I would still care about Thor." Bruce said.

"Bruce—"

"I can't do this right now, Natasha. I need to stay calm. The big guys already scratching at me and I just can't talk to you right now…"

Natasha felt guilty. She wasn't going to lie to herself, though she might deny it to others, but she did feel guilty. Perhaps it was a little rash to tell Barton, but she had promised him and she never took her promises back from those she truly cared about. She felt as though Bruce might never forgive her, but in reality she knew he would eventually. The man could be ridiculously forgiving sometimes.

"Where's Thor?" She asked.

"He left for Asgard to get a cure for Loki." Bruce said, calmly.

Just then, Natasha made a decision. One she might regret.

And she ran out the room in a hurry.

..::..::..::..::..::..::..::..

Thor was standing near Avengers Tower, though not too close. There had been quite an accident the last time he was too close to the tower, while travelling.

He had to make haste or else his brother would surely perish. He cursed himself for having given Barton the gift of the arrow. He had expected Barton to use it only if he had to, not on his little brother. Guilt soaked in his thoughts and he closed his eyes to calm his anger a little.

"Thor!" he heard. It was Lady Romanoff's voice calling to him. He turned around to see her running to him as fast as her Midgardian legs could possibly run. When she stopped, her breathing was fine for a human. She ran all the time and was highly exercised so it made sense that she wouldn't be too out of breath.

"Thor…"

"I must make haste, Lady Romanoff. My brother shall peril should I be idle." Thor said, turning away from her.

"Thor…" Natasha could not believe what she was about to say, "I'm coming with you!"

Thank you all for reading. I apologise for the evil cliff-hanger. I hope you had fun, and until next time,

P.H.