Finally a new chapter! ^_^

Sadly there's no Spidey in this chapter, I apologize to all Spidey-fans in advance.
I hope you can still enjoy this chapter and I promise that he will soon join the
Avengers for a longer period of time :-)

Chapter 7

"So… how did your mission go?"

Tony tried his best to sound as cheerful as possible when he broke the silence that followed once all of the Avengers, except for Thor, were assembled in the living room on top of Stark Tower. Steve and the two assassins had arrived one hour ago and after taking their luggage to their rooms they had come up in order to have a little talk.

"It did not exactly go as planned." the Captain informed him.

"Did they succeed? The terrorists, I mean!" Bruce sounded sincerely worried. Tony only shook his head. If there had been a terrorist induced explosion anywhere in America it would have been all over the news.

"No, we were able to stop them… meaning that Clint and Natasha killed them all." the Captain said and made what Tony called his beaten-puppy-face. He always made that face when he was forced to go against his morals. Tony didn't understand him. What was wrong with killing evil guys? "But we still don't know what they want."

"Actually I killed most of them." Clint interjected, ignoring the Cap's sad face completely.

"You killed hardly more than half of them and you were standing on a roof shooting arrows while I battled them face to face" Natasha said dryly. Tony couldn't help but grin. Sometimes the red-haired assassin showed an unexpected sense of sarcastic humour. Clint looked as if he wanted to talk back to her, but Bruce beat him to it.

"Come on, you won't discuss who's better now, will you? You are two grown up, professional assassins!"

Tony grinned at the Doctor's almost desperate look. Oh, how he loved this team. There was always something fun going on.

"Have you any leads on the ominous organization?" Tony tried to change the subject. Bruce threw him a grateful look for acting so adult.

"Sadly not." the Captain answered. He too seemed relieved to talk about something else than killing people. "What have you been doing all the time while we were gone? Don't tell me you are still working on that laser-thingy."

"Should I remind you of how often my lasers have already saved your sorry ass, Capsicle?" Tony pouted, being only half serious. By now it had gotten really rare that he and the Captain had a real quarrel, although he still loved to tease the super-soldier.

"Often enough." Steve smiled at him. "But still, don't expect me to understand anything of your science stuff."

"Oh believe me Cap, I don't," Tony sighed dramatically. "Yes we still worked a little on that new high power laser"- he threw the soldier a meaningful glance- "And I am glad to inform you that I will soon be able to use it in battle. Well, anything else? Pepper has gone to LA for a short business trip, there are new interns in my Tower and… oh yeah, Loki is currently staying with us."

Clint felt all the blood drain from his face. Loki. Loki was here, at Stark Tower.

A blue-glowing stick with a sharp end was pressed to his chest. He felt fire burn through his body, black fire, making its way to his eyes were it lingered for some seconds.

Then nothing, nothing interrupted by a few images.

He remembered being in truck, driving through a tunnel. Some kind of laboratory. A strange city and a rotating little device. The inside of a helicopter. A fight against agents from S.H.I.E.L.D.

And then Natasha. Natasha fighting him and his body fighting back while he could do nothing against it.

Then pain. His head being smashed against something. Suddenly he was in control of his body again. A hit to the head followed by darkness.

"Have you ever had someone take your brain and play? Take you out and stuff something else in? You know what it's like to be unmade?"

"-nt, hey Clint!"

A voice calling his name got Clint out of his thoughts. Suddenly he noticed that his hands were grabbing the fabric of his pants. They were shaking badly. Slowly he registered the other Avengers surround him with worried expressions on their faces. Natasha was kneeling next to him and kept one hand firmly on his shoulder.

He took a shuddering breath.

"Why?"

"Clint, you don't have to stay here. If you don't want to meet Loki, it's fine."

Natasha's voice sounded soft and reassuring and he was tempted to do as she proposed. But he had to know.

"Why is he here?" he asked with a hoarse voice.

Tony looked at him; all joking had vanished from his eyes.

"He is here because he needed help." the inventor said simply.

Help. Clint laughed dryly.

"Is your Tower an asylum for villains now? Are you planning on inviting more of them? Because I sure as hell am not going to stay here if you do."

"No, Clint-" Bruce started but the assassin interrupted him immediately.

"Have you forgotten what he has done? Have you forgotten that he threw you out of a window? That he levelled half of the town? That he killed Coulson? Have you fucking forgotten all that?"

Clint noticed that his voice was shaking badly by now, but he didn't care. Not now. He tried desperately to block out the images of Loki's attack, to keep a cool head as he should as an assassin. But it didn't work.

"We haven't forgotten any of this, Clint." Bruce answered calmly. "But he did need our help. And I mean it. When he… arrived here there wasn't much left of the man that fought us. Hell, there was hardly anything left of aman."

Clint stared at him in disbelief. He wanted to shoot back something, but before he could even open his mouth Natasha spoke.

"What do you mean? What happened to him?"

Bruce shook his head sadly.

"We don't exactly know. But he has been tortured. By "people who were not nice" as he says."

"How did he come here?"

"Funny story" Tony answered. "That spider-man – you remember? The one who saved the city from that giant lizard? He brought him here after he found him in the streets. We attended to his wounds and… well, looked after him. Thor arrived yesterday. He's with him now."

"And how," Clint asked with as much self-control as he could muster. "How do you know that he won't do any harm this time?"

A short silence followed. But just when Tony wanted to answer a soft and cool voice from the door spoke up.

"Yes, how do you know that?"

Clint froze. He had hoped to never hear that voice again. Never. He turned around. There he was. Loki. Standing in the door, Thor behind him.

Clint wasn't sure if he wanted to run away or attack the trickster. But before he could decide for one of the two actions, Bruce positioned himself between him and Loki.

"I told you not to get up yet! You're far from being fully healed!" Surprisingly, Bruce sounded a little angry. Not in I'm-going-to-hulk-and-destroy-everything-manner, but as if he spoke to a naughty child.

"It got boring down there." the trickster retorted coolly. "And my brother is not the best company. Do not fear, good doctor" he smiled ironic."I've had far worse than that!"

Clint took a deep breath. Ok, so Loki didn't try to attack and he hadn't yet called them "puny humans".

He examined the trickster's appearance more closely. He was wearing black sweatpants and a dark green hoodie. Not the most menacing clothes. He was very pale and now that he had overcome the first shock, Clint noticed that Loki was leaning against the doorframe slightly for support. Not so menacing as well.

"What happened to those beautiful pyjamas I gave you?" Tony asked in that instant.

"You mean that red and gold atrocities? I asked JARVIS for something else, I didn't want to walk in those", the god replied plainly. "Why do you have to put your face everywhere?"

"He… he gave you Iron-man PJs?" Clint asked incredulously. The idea was just too funny. Loki in red and gold Iron-man PJs.

It seemed to be only then that Loki noticed Clint and the other shortly arrived Avengers. Something cautious entered his gaze. He took a step back as if he wanted to retreat but Thor laid one hand on his shoulder.

"It is alright, brother. No one will hurt you."

Loki threw him a venomous glance but didn't deny his words. Clint frowned. Was Loki afraid of them?

Bruce went over to Loki and put one hand to the trickster's forehead.

"You still have a fever. If you don't want to go back to the infirmary, at least sit down!"

Loki looked at him for a while. Then he nodded and slowly started to make his way to the sofa, still cautious towards Clint and the others, but mostly Clint.

He was only half way through the room when his legs gave out and he fell on his knees.

Pathetic. He was simply pathetic. Unable to contradict his so-called brother when he claimed that he was afraid of the newly arrived Avengers, unable to lie, although he was the God of Lies.

And now he wasn't even able to walk through a room. He cursed under his breath when he felt his knees buckle in the middle of the room. His newly mended leg was still aching and he was so weak. Even the short walk from the infirmary room to this living room had been exhausting for him.

Pathetic.

He slumped to his knees, hands stretched out to catch himself, wincing at the pain that shot through his formerly broken fingers.

Thor was immediately at his side, slinging one of his Loki's arms around his neck, and helped him sit down on the sofa. And he was too weak to prevent the thunderer from doing so.

All of a sudden he felt very dizzy. He closed his eyes, willing the world to stop spinning.

"Ok, I get it. He's definitely no threat at the moment." he heard the archer's voice say. Someone answered, but Loki couldn't tell who it was or what they was saying.

Then his consciousness slipped away.

"He is still injured and weak, my lord. But the ones called Avengers are sheltering him. We do not know if they would also defend him. We need more soldiers, my lord!"

Thanos growled unwillingly. The Avengers had crossed his plans once already. They had proved strong, very strong. But they would not succeed this time. An evil grin spread over his features. No they definitely would not be able to stop him this time; they would have to simply watch.