Finally the fifth chapter! I am truly sorry for the delay,
but I have a lot going on at the moment.

Enjoy this chapter and feel free to post a review ;-)

Chapter 5

The first thing Loki noticed when waking up again was that his body hurt less than it had anytime during the last three months. Quickly he scanned his body for remaining injuries. His ribs were still broken but it was already easier to breathe. He wasn't able to move his leg but that could be due to the cast Stark had put around it, same for his broken fingers. His head still hurt like hell. That wasn't good. Apparently with his magic gone he would take some time to heal. He sighed and opened his eyes carefully.

Thankfully there were no bright lights turned on this time, only some dimly glowing lamps. He turned his head carefully, gritting his teeth against the dizziness that almost immediately followed the movement. There, next to his bed, sat Thor, one hand across his eyes but clearly not sleeping. Oh great. Loki tried to fight his rising panic. His so called brother had followed him to Midgard to take him back. Surely that was what he was going to do.

The trickster turned his eyes back to the ceiling before closing them.

"I should have known you would come here to annoy me," he said quietly with his eyes still closed, concealing his fear with disdain and desperately forcing his voice not to shake too badly.

"You are awake, brother!" The loud noise of a toppling chair followed Thor's booming voice. Loki winced involuntarily.

"Are you unable to be quiet, just for once?" he murmured not hiding the annoyance in his voice. "Currently my head feels as if you were messing around with your hammer inside of it!" He opened his eyes to glare at the thunder god.

"Forgive me, brother." Thor looked at him like a kicked puppy and Loki had to keep himself from laughing at the sight.

"I am not your brother. When will you ever understand that you big oaf?" he snarled at the blonde instead.

Thor opened his mouth to say something in return but fortunately Stark chose that moment to enter the room with a tray full of food and some water.

"Hey there," he said cheerfully. "Oh, Reindeer Games, you're awake! Great!" He smiled genuinely which confused Loki a little. How can one smile at his enemies in that way?

"I brought some food, figured that you would be hungry," he explained while setting down the tray on a little table. "There are fruits and bread and cereals… Bruce said you probably needed something that is easily digested."

Loki had to admit that the food looked delicious and he could hear his stomach growling at the sight. He tried to sit up carefully only to be overwhelmed by dizziness. He swayed but remained upright thanks to a firm hand on his shoulder. Thor he realised half annoyed and half grateful. He leaned against the bed head for support trying not to look at his so called brother.

"I shall try your Midgardian food," he said doing his best not to sound too hungry although he was on the verge of starving. Stark held the tray out to him and he reached out for an apple. He took a careful bite, found that it was eatable and took another bite.

"So, Loki…" Stark said after a short time of silent eating. "What happened to you?"

Loki froze immediately.

"Scream, little Prince. Scream and cry as long as you want to. Nobody is going to hear you."

"Loki?" Thor sounded worried. He must have spaced out.

"Is it not obvious what happened to me?" he asked Stark cursing how hoarse his voice sounded all of the sudden.

"Who did this to you?" Stark asked. Loki cringed at the thought of his torturers. Couldn't the mortal just leave him alone?

"Someone not nice" he answered vaguely. Thor's eyes darkened at this statement.

"And how come you are here now? Did they let you go?"

"You will stay with us for all eternity. And you will suffer for all eternity."

"I do not know how I ended up here on Midgard. Nevertheless I am certain that they did not let me go voluntarily." Loki whispered and this time he was unable to hide the fear in his voice.

"Parker, would you mind paying attention?"

His teacher's voice jolted Peter out of his reverie. Truth be told he had nearly been sleeping in class after researching the Avengers and Norse mythology all night.

"Sorry, Mr. Carpenter," he mumbled and cushioned a yawn. As if that teacher was going to teach him anything new. Mr. Carpenter threw him a glance as if he could read thoughts and then turned back to the rest of the class to go on talking about quantum physics. Sighing, Peter straightened up a bit and began scribbling on his memo pad, thoughts wandering.

So, that Loki was the Vikings' God of mischief and Thor was the God of thunder, or at least they believed them to be gods. But, judging from what Stark had told him the other night, they rather were some kind of Aliens.

He sighed. He had read some stories taken from the Edda, the book of Norse mythology and had soon found out, that their stories were really bloody and violent. Like Loki getting stripped to a rock and having a snake dripping her venom on his eyes for all eternity. Or that story where he got that Baldr guy killed with mistletoe.

The fact that Loki was said to have several children, amongst others an eight-legged horse, just seemed plain weird. That guy was hardly above twenty judging from his looks!

The Avengers were interesting as well. He had found a lot about Tony Stark, but there was practically no information about that Doctor Banner he had met. The only thing he had found when researching him were several scientific essays which were amazing, so Banner had to be a very good scientist, but there was nothing about his role in the Avengers' team.

In order to find out the answers he would have to go back to Stark Tower, but to be honest he felt a little shy towards Stark and the other Avengers and they would want him to unmask…

"Your homework will be to answer all questions concerning the text about Max Planck on the work sheet, alright? Ok, you are dismissed. Except you Parker, I want to have a word with you in private."

Peter frowned. What did Carpenter want from him? With a slight knotted feeling in his stomach he approached the teacher's desk.

"I'm really sorry for zoning out earlier, Sir. It won't happen again."

Mr. Carpenter looked at him silently for a while.

"This is not the first time that I get the feeling that you are bored in my class, Parker."

"I'm not bored, Sir," (Yes he was) "I just didn't get much sleep last night and therefore I'm a little tired I guess."

Mr. Carpenter waved one hand. "It's fine Parker, I know that you are a lot more intelligent than most of the other students, Gwen aside, and that you already know a lot."

"Sir, I – "

"Let me finish, Parker. What I am going to do now is offering you a chance." He made a dramatic pause. "There is an internship for students by Stark Industries. The interns get a chance to visit the lower laboratories in Stark Tower. And I happen to have the privilege to choose one of my students to participate. I would very much like you to be that student."

Peter gaped at him in awe.

"You are one of Midtown Science's best and brightest, Peter. I believe you will make the best out of that internship."

A smile spread across Peter's face. "I won't disappoint you, Sir," he promised. Oh, that was just too good to be true. He could enter Stark Tower without being Spider-man. Just what he had been looking for.