Hey there! ^.^

Finally a new chapter. I know I promised to update more
frequently but at the moment writing is rather difficult
for me...

Oh, and many of you noticed the mistake I made in the last
chapter with Peter's mask. That's what happens when I
write too late in the evening ^^;. I won't change the chapter,
so just imagine that Bruce took off half the mask so that Peter
could breath more easily and that they notice by his body's
limpness that he is unconscious.

Anyway, Enjoy ;-)

Nobody: Yes Loki's being nice :D I prefer him that way

manuel01: As I said, I love Loki being nice ;-) I'll try to never forget my awsome readers :D! I'm definitely planning on finishing this story.4

just me: I'm really really sorry for that mistake. But thanks for reading my story so attentively :-)

Midnight Bloom: Sounds good, but I think that would be too early... Don't worry, there will soon be some friendly fluff with those two ;-).

Coco: Thanks :D Here is more ;-)

Confudled: As you can read above Bruce doesn't know about Peter's identity just yet. He can recognise that he is half-conscious because he reacts a little, but isn't really coherent. But thanks for being attentive ;-)

Chapter 12

He took a deep breath. Steady. Felt all his muscles, the smooth grip of his bow in his one hand the thin but sharp string beneath the leather glove on his other hand. His eyes focused on his target. A man in his early twenties, blonde, dressed in a suit. The small bump in the man's neck was clearly visible. Clint aimed carefully, being unable to keep a smile from spreading over his face. He would definitely hit.

He released the string.

The arrow hit the bump and cut off the chip along with some skin. The man collapsed on the spot. The assassin was immediately by his side examining him. Apart from the small scratch in the nape of the neck and the fact that he was unconscious he seemed unharmed, just like all the others.

Clint stood up and put one finger to his earpiece.

"My last one's out guys. What about you?"

"I already finished some minutes ago" Stark bragged. "Where are you, Legolas? I'm coming to pick you up."

"I'm not far from Central Park."

"Ok, I'm there in a sec."

Clint nodded, although Stark was certainly not able to see that. He took another deep breath and looked down on the young man he had just taken out. He had so many questions. Who had sent them and why? Did they agree on helping whoever was behind this or…? No he wouldn't think about that!

Too late. He shivered as he remembered the touch of the sceptre, something incredibly hot and at the same time awfully cold running through his body and finally settling in his mind, clouding it, shutting him out… He felt his breath quicken, his chest going tight. He needed to calm down. Now. He closed his eyes and counted from ten down like Bruce had shown him once.

"Rise and shine, Cupid. This is no place for a nap!"

His eyes shot open. Tony was standing right in front of him. How did he not hear him land? Though the billionaire was still wearing his suit including the face plate, Clint could tell that he was smirking. He forced himself to put on an indifferent mask.

"I wasn't napping, Stark. I was… thinking."

"Of course you were." The smirk was definitely still there. "So what were you thinking about? How to find the one controlling those people? Because that's what I've wanted to know for hours now."

Clint was extremely thankful for this change of topic although he didn't show it.

"Did you come up with anything?" He asked.

Stark removed his face plate.

"I'm not exactly sure, I don't know much about… magic. But if it works similar to our science the signal should be transmitted through some kind of waves from the point of origin to these terrorists. Maybe JARVIS is able to track those waves back to whoever is behind all this. I've already got him working on it."

Clint silently marvelled at Tony. That theory was simple but still he doubted anyone else would have come up with it. Magic simply seemed too strange to apply a standard scale to it and treat it like science and that was exactly what the billionaire did.

Of course the Archer said nothing of this aloud. Tony's ego was big enough as it was. Instead he started to look for the arrow he had let loose earlier. He found him sticking in an election poster, to be more precisely in the politician's left eye. Clint pulled the arrow out, keeping himself from laughing, and then turned around only to see that Natasha and Steve had found them as well and were talking to Tony. He was probably filling them in on his plan. He smiled and made his way over to them.

"… sure that it will work?" he heard Natasha ask.

"No, I'm not. Of course not. But I think there is a good chance it'll work." Tony answered. "If it doesn't… well, we currently have an expert in magic residing in my tower…"

Clint frowned, uneasy with what Stark was implying.

"You would ask Loki for help? Don't you think that that would be dangerous for all of us?" he asked.

"I don't."

Surprisingly it was Steve who had spoken up. Everyone looked at him.

"I mean… I don't think he could do much right now, without his magic and all" the soldier tried to explain. Tony nodded.

"You're probably right Cap. He – "

Suddenly Stark stopped, he seemed to be listening to something.

"You sure J?" he asked after a short while, eyes narrowed. Then a smile spread over his face.

"Good news guys: JARVIS has found the signal's origin!"

Bruce put Spider-man on the white bed where only a few days earlier Loki had been laying. Loki himself was now wandering around the room, looking at different bottles and opening different drawers. He seemed to find some things he could use as he gathered some containers on one small desk. Bruce approached it curiously, eyeing the flasks that the trickster piled up there.

"Those are all medicines that can act as poison if overdosed!" he stated slightly worried. Loki threw him a short glance.

"Sometimes one needs poison in order to heal. It takes something strong to burn that cursed magic out of him," he said matter-of-factly.

Bruce nodded. He knew that. Still, he wasn't sure how to feel about the ex-villain handling so many dangerous substances.

"Do you need anything else?" he asked looking around awkwardly.

"Yes," the trickster replied, this time without looking at Bruce at all. "I need you to leave the room."

Bruce frowned. Why would Loki want him out of there? The god must have noticed his hesitation because he turned around and looked at the doctor with those innocent puppy dog eyes of his.

"Believe me, doctor, I mean this young man no harm. I only wish to help him."

Bruce tried to withstand Loki's pleading green eyes. He liked Loki but he felt highly protective of the young vigilante. He failed depressingly though.

"Alright," he relented. "But if anything happens to him…"

"Doctor Banner, I do not want to get on your wrong side again, trust me. Being smashed into the floor once was more than enough." The trickster cracked a little smile and Bruce couldn't help but smile as well.

Then he turned and left the room.

Once the doctor had left the room, Loki turned to take a closer look at the young spider. It was true that he was going to need the different poisons he had found but in order to meter them correctly he had to find out how bad the damage done by the magic was. For that he had to remove the mask and he did not think that Spider-man wanted too many people to know his secret identity.

He took one deep breath, than he removed the red cloth.

"There it is! The signal comes from over there!"

Steve looked up.

"From there?" he asked incredulously. All he saw was a rather flat, grey building, barely big enough to be a stable.

"That's what the data says," Tony confirmed. The soldier sighed. Well, that building was certainly not as spectacular as you expect when hearing about a villain's secret lair. But it was big enough for some equipment so it was possible that it actually was the secret lair.

"Shall we attack right away?" Thor asked. The god of thunder had joined them somewhere along the way. Steve shook his head.

"Let's surround them first. Tony, can you scan the building for life signs?"

Tony nodded.

"My infrared detects one heat source, probably a human, male, about Bruce's size. When he's not the jolly green giant of course," he informed them after a short silence.

"Ok. Tony you approach it from behind, Clint from the left and Thor from the right," Steve decided. "Natasha and I will try to negotiate first."

Everyone nodded and started moving.

It was the boy. The boy who had been to the tower only yesterday and who had been watching movies alongside them. Peter Parker.

He did look quite ordinary for someone as extraordinary as he was. Brown spiky hair, an inconspicuous face… In fact someone with a less good memory then Loki's wouldn't have recognized him from meeting him only once. But Loki's memory was very good.

He shook his head, trying to free himself from the initial surprise. He couldn't allow himself to get distracted now. He owed this young man, so he had to help him.

The boy's eyes were closed, he was unconscious just as the trickster had been expecting from his body's limpness. Also he was very pale, sweating profusely and his breath was quick and shallow.

"Well, that was one strike," Loki muttered. He took a little flashlight – sadly as he had no magic in the moment he had to rely on such petty human inventions – lifted one of the boy's eye lids and shone at the brown iris. The pupil barely contracted. He frowned and did the same with the other eye, same result. If the intoxication had already progressed too far there was not much he could do without his powers.

Then he felt the younger man's forehead and sighed in relief. He had no high fever, only a slightly elevated temperature. So there was still a good possibility of healing. If he acted quickly that was.

The trickster went over to where he had piled up all the little flasks. He did not exactly know what they contained; he had just taken those who seemed promising. Now he opened them all and took a smell at them, one after another.

He smiled. There was everything he needed. He seemed to be rather lucky today.

He searched the cabinets for an empty vial and after having found one he started mixing the necessary substances. There was no need for a metering box; he was perfectly able to estimate the different amounts very exactly.

It didn't take him long to finish the potion. When he was done he went over to the boy, opened his mouth and coaxed him gently to swallow the liquid he poured into his mouth, careful not to spill any of it. At first the young vigilante didn't react and Loki already started thinking about an alternative way to get the antidote into his bloodstream when he started coughing and finally took little sips although without opening his eyes.

When the little vial was empty Loki put it back on the table. Then he went over to the boy. He smiled discovering that his breath was now slow and strong. Deciding to keep the boy's identity for himself he took the red mask to again cover half of the boy's face.

Why was he being so nice to the boy? Only because he was still so young and had saved his life?

He stared at the half covered face before finally turning for the door to get doctor Banner back.

"You're sure about this, Captain?" Natasha asked as they approached the door. "Maybe Stark should have gone with you. For all we know that guy could start shooting the moment the door opens and Stark's suit is at least bullet proof."

"Yeah," he answered. "But I don't think that whoever is in there is expecting us."

They stopped in front of the door. It was a grey metal door, probably very bullet proof, maybe even rocket proof. Steve took a deep breath. The he raised a hand and knocked on the door.

There was a dull sound and then… the door swung open. The soldier frowned. Why would this door be unlocked? He already wanted to turn and run for cover thinking that they had in fact been expected when he saw the barracks inside.

It was stuffed with all kind of technology, blinking and beeping, the stuff that Steve wouldn't understand in a thousand years. But what really got his attention was the computer screen on one side of the cramped little room: it was glowing in a bright green.

In front of the desktop sat a man, mid-sized, black haired and a little fat.

"Excuse me, Sir" Steve started politely, but then he stopped, too shocked to find his voice.

The man had turned around to look at them.

His eyes were glowing bright blue.