"You led the army here?!"

"I didn't lead them. They were hounding me."

Tony rubbed his eyebrow with his palm and groaned. "How about next time, you tell me that first? That there is a bloody army of aliens in the city."

"They are few," Loki said. "And the portal is now shut off."

"Yeah, but they roughed you up."

"No, not them."

"Lemme guess, the guy with the eerie voice."

"I do not know who you are referring to," Loki said, leaning on the counter. Despite his attempt for causality, clearly his wounds were causing him great pain, but Tony decided he didn't care.

"Your prince charming, you know," Tony said, imitating a deep voice. "Fulfilling your deepest longings."

Loki dropped his gaze, looking sombre. Then, he laughed. "Oh yes, well he couldn't dream of it."

Even though Tony was still uneasy about the god lurking around in his living room, he needed to see what was going on outside, so he turned to walk away.

Loki appeared miserable and not at all tempted to draw out his dagger again. That was none of Tony's business, not to mention he had time on his hands, but if he did, he would've loved inquiring on the topic just to humiliate Loki.

Turning towards the lift, he said, "Jarvis, wake up Thor and Frigga. Also, keep an eye on Loki."

The lift's doors closed behind him. At that moment, Tony's phone, which laid forgotten on the counter, lit with two consecutive messages.

-Pep-20:41-

Tony, the city is under attack. I'm worried. Are you alright?

-Pep-20:44-

Okay, I'm coming over.

Everyone filed out onto Tony's roof observing the situation. Natasha, Clint and Steve had arrived in a Helicarrier after Tony met up with Thor and his mother, both of whom were already awake by the time Jarvis attempted to stir them up. Loki had dragged himself outside as well.

"What is he doing here?!" Clint clenched his teeth together, his hand ready to grab at his weapon, but then, Frigga stepped forward and stood between her son and the other Avengers. "Listen, I know my son has caused you great distress and I would like to apologize for that. But he has agreed to give up on his plans and returning home with Thor and me. I am sure we can find a way to let the matter rest."

"Yeah, sure. And therefore an alien army is in the city," Clint said. "I don't know about you, but it doesn't look like surrender to me."

"I hate to destroy the diplomacy," Bruce said, "but I agree with Clint on this point."

"Surely Loki can explain," Thor said.

Loki scoffed. "This is hardly the whole army. It's only a derisory fraction. I shut down the portal almost immediately after it opened."

"Yeah," Clint breathed deeply, controlling his temper. "I don't believe you."

"I do not see the whole army attacking your city," Loki said.

"Where is your sceptre?" Bruce asked. "You should hand it over."

Loki's jaw twitched and he glanced away, clearly unnerved. "I don't have it. Thanos took it back."

"See." Clint said, self satisfied. "Doesn't look too good for you."

"Listen," Loki hissed. "I can't change what happened.."

"Yeah," Bruce interfered. "But maybe you're lying to us."

Natasha studied Loki quietly. She had been trained seeing signs for someone's trustability. "I can't be sure with him." she finally said.

"Guys," Tony started. "I know there is some back story with Loki. But let's put those aliens ahead of that issue."

"Ridiculous," Loki commented and pulled his dagger out. "You will need my assistance."

"No," Tony addressed Loki. "You'll stay here. I want you monitored."

"Mr. Stark is right," Frigga intervened. "You musn't involve yourself in battle. The injuries you carry look alarming." She cast a worried look over Loki's body.

Loki gritted his teeth in frustration, but eventually slid his weapon back into his clothing.

They watched the strange alienate creatures on flying scooters rush through the city, firing at cars, people and buildings without a distinct objective.

"They aren't many," Natasha pointed out. "If we split up, they won't be any trouble."

"Well, you heard her," Steve said. Clint hesitated for a moment, before finally sighing. "Fine, let's kick some ass first."He glared at Loki. "And we are not done yet."

"Okay," Steve announced. "I will go east, Tony can go to the north of the city, Natasha and Bruce can go west and Clint, you'll check the south."

Tony's faceplate snapped shut and he took after a group of three Chitauri sighted near a big bank building. Hovering in the air, he hit one of them with a blast from his repulsors; it wiggled for a moment and then fell down into a tree's crown. The other two bailed and disappeared behind a skyscraper.

Speeding up his suit, he followed the couple left around the building, dodged two blasts aimed for him and pursued them through Central Park.

"Fast, ugly fuckers," he mumbled, trying to hit them with another blast. It caught one of the Chitauri and sent it crashing right into an imposing birch tree. Before he could celebrate, Tony was sent flying backwards by a massive blast, the remaining Chitauri had fired at him. He only barely managed catching himself before dropping into a duck pond.

"No, no, no, no, you don't." He gritted his teeth, then blasted away from the pond's surface, slamming right into the alien and knocking it off its scooter. Without the vehicle, it was easy dealing with it. Tony sidestepped three shots from the falling alien, then shot it square in the head with a repulsor blast, sending bits of aliens brain flying all over the place. Slushy purple liquid rained down onto the side walk and Tony dreaded, his armour had might also have gotten a metro sexual new paint-job.

"Guys, I could use a hand here," he heard Steve say over the intercom. He was battling a group of four in a street containing a few cinemas and restaurants. People were staring out, anxious, but still pressing their faces against the glass. The curiosity of some never failed in surprising Tony. Even when their life was at stake, they couldn't avert their eyes.

"You got my back?" Steve asked.

"Like a masseur," Tony replied.

He helped Steve pummel the remaining Chitauri into the ground and then landed before a coffee shop. People were cautious but as soon as they realized that the threat was gone, they poured out of the coffee shop, gathering around Tony and Steve, cheering and throwing questions at them.

"How's it looking guys?" Tony asked over the communication system.

Natasha sounded strained but satisfied. "I don't see any more of those bastards. We have some injured civilians, but Frigga came to take care of it. Get back here." she said and hung up.

"Seems like we saved the day." Tony breathed a sigh of relief

Steve broke into a loose smile. "Great work, Tony."

Waving it off, Tony said, "Yeah, buddy, flattery won't get you anywhere."

Steve laughed. "How about I'll treat you all to drinks this evening?"

"Great idea. But i have a bar at home."

"That's not the same! And, if you argument like that, I could never - "

Jarvis's voice cut through Steve's sentence. "Sir, Miss Potts has just entered the Stark Tower."

"What?!" Tony exclaimed, still on speaker. Steve stopped talking upon his outburst. "Put me through. And check Loki's whereabouts."

"Right away, sir. I am now connecting you to Miss Potts. Mr Odinson hasn't moved from the Tower's roof since the Avengers dispatched."

"What is it, Tony?" Steve asked, catching onto his concern. "What happened?"

Tony spared him no answer and took off in the direction of the Stark Tower. Damn this mad god, they should've never left him alone.

"Tony? Are you alright?" Pepper asked as soon as they connected.

"Pepper, I'm alright, but I need you to do something for me. Don't wonder about it too much now and get out of Stark Tower, alright?" Tony said, trying to control his anxiety at the thought of Pepper and Loki in the same building. "I'm hurrying back now, but I need you to leave before that."

"What, why?" Pepper asked, confused, before she caught on. "Tony, what is going on in the building?"

"Okay look," he said. "I know this is our private area, but we had to leave Loki there. He gave up on-"

"Loki?!" she exclaimed, and Tony winced. Pepper often was annoyed by him, but he knew that tone of voice. She only used it when she found that Tony had done something profoundly stupid and often dangerous. "Tony, I can't believe you- !"

"Miss Potts, I must ask you to exit the tower now. This is a matter of your safety."

Pepper let out a frustrated noise, before the rapidly clanking noise of her high heels followed. Tony let out a sigh of relief at the knowledge that she was leaving. "Don't think I don't know what you two are doing. Jarvis, you can't always cover for him and Tony, we're having a long talk when you -"

Static covered the rest of Pepper's words. Tony tensed. Stark tech didn't randomly have static like that.

"Jarvis, what happened?!" Tony asked, speeding the suit up. Blood rushed inside his ears and all he could think was: Loki was right . His preference of his superhero identity had once again endangered Pepper. "Pepper, Pepper, are you still there?"

"Sir," Jarvis said. "My signal with the Tower has been disrupted. I'm attempting to reconnect right now."

Tony heard the click the moment they reconnected and breathed a sigh of relief, only to freeze at the words he heard from the other end.

"Tony? Tony? What's going on? The lights went off. I can't see anything..."

"What?! Jarvis, what is going on in Stark Tower?"

"I'm afraid I cannot say, Sir. Something is interfering with the Tower's system."

Tony cursed. "Pepper, get out of there!"

"I don't know where to go. Everything is full of smoke!"

"Where did all the smoke come from?! Jarvis, can you guide her?"

"The smoke came from an unknown origin, Sir, about two minutes ago. The ventilation system is not working and I'm afraid I cannot see Miss Potts from any of the cameras through all the smoke." On a line directly connected to the Iron Man suit and not shared with Pepper's line, Jarvis added, "Sir, a camera outside caught Mr. Odinson entering the living room."

" Loki! " Tony hissed angrily. Of course it was him. Tony was an idiot having believed that he gave up. Thor had told him his brother was cunning. He should have taken it more seriously. Now that little rat had Pepper within his reach.. His mind scrambled for an idea. There was no way Pepper could get out of the Tower if she couldn't see and Jarvis couldn't assist. "Just… Pepper, just hide somewhere. I'm coming back right now!"

He tried to not think about how ineffective it was, hiding against a man like Loki.

"I can't believe this is happening to me," Pepper said, near tears as he heard clothes rustle as she moved. "I can't believe you dragged me into something like this again." Tony said nothing, knowing, she was a little bit like him when she was nervous, talking too much. He heard her take a deep breath, before saying, "Okay, I felt my way behind a couch."

"Great, Pepper, you're doing great," he babbled. "Just stay there until - "

"Tony?" Pepper said in a small voice, and Tony felt his stomach drop. "I can hear someone breathing..."

"Pepper," Tony started, not knowing what to say but so desperately wanting to be reassuring. Before he could say anything, a shriek rang out, short and loud. "Pepper? Pepper?!"

There was no reply.

Seconds later only, Tony reached his tower. A window burst before him and Loki crashed outside onto the floor, covered in a million glass shards. He coughed and struggled to get up.

"Where's Pepper?!" Tony said. "What did you do?!"

" I haven't done anything!" Loki said. His voice sounded strained. Without success he once more tried straightening up, but a thick glass shard had been driven right through his leg and he tried pulling it out.

Tony lifted his head and saw that the majority of his living room was filled with pitch black smoke. And then, there was Pepper, motionless on the floor in front of the panorama windows. He rushed to her side and knelt beside her.

"Jarvis," Tony called, panicked. Please, please let her be alright.

"Miss Potts has a pulse, Sir," Jarvis said. "She is merely unconscious with no visible wound, although her vitals are stran-" Tony startled, alarmed, when Jarvis cut himself off. "Sir, I detect an unknown presence in your vicinity."

Tony's head jerked up at those words, to the sight of a massive man lurking in the shadows, the sceptre in his hand shedding light on the man's disturbing, grinning face.

"What a shame it is, to see a body this sweet inanimate."

Tony recognized that raucous voice. He heard him speak, in Loki's mind.

Thanos.

The words sent shivers down his spine.

"What business do you have with her? What are you?!" Tony spat.

"There is no business yet, but from now on we will have one."

"And if I refuse?!" Tony asked, clenching Pepper's prone body closer to him, knowing before the other man even spoke.

"She will never awaken again." Tony gritted his teeth. "And I will crush this precious world of yours. You think that a meagre god was a threat to your planet? Think again."

"What do you want?!" Tony stood.

"My body here is no more than a puppet, a copy. Yet I wield the power this minuscule god was unworthy of. It is the thing that can save your woman and I will take it away with me."

"What do you want?!" Tony repeated, biting back the tears stinging in his eyes.

Thanos's laugh made Tony shiver.

"Our business is simple. I want you to bring me the Tesseract and the Stone of Time, hidden somewhere in your world. Deliver them, and she will open her eyes and I will refrain from attacking this planet."

"You are a fool if you think he will agree to that." Tony didn't have to turn around to know that it was Loki. "He has honour, contrary to - "

"- you?" Thanos mocked. "You want to preach to me about honour? About love? People will do anything for love."

Loki stopped next to him. "There is always more than one way to achieve something."

"Not everyone stabs their loved ones into the back like you did," Thanos said. "A human heart is weak. Eventually you will come around, Tony Stark."

"What?" Tony said. "So all this fuss, 'cause Loki betrayed you?!"

Why? He thought. Why does Pepper have to pay for this?

"It's a win-win situation. However, you decide -and you will-, the terrible outcome will be his fault. He planned to bargain for redemption, didn't you, little prince?"

Loki pressed his lips together and narrowed his eyes.

"He led me here. For that he will never be forgiven. Won't you cry now, king ?" He mocked, sneering. "Your fate was sealed ever since you fell into my hands."

There was a moment of silence. Tony's breath got stuck in his throat. Loki lowered his head. "Maybe," he said. Then he raised his head. "Maybe I am guilty. But your time is running out and as foolish as I believe the man, Stark wouldn't sacrifice his whole planet for one live, as precious it might be. So maybe yes, very likely that I am for the axe, but that will get you no step further."

"Maybe I just like to play fair," Thanos said. "Traitors get punished, that's fair."

He didn't wait for Loki's answer and spoke to Tony. "You should be careful with your decision. If you cooperate, I may just reserve you a comfortable spot in the world I am creating."

"The hell you are creating anything," Tony spat out. "You don't know me. Let me tell you, you don't blackmail Tony Stark."

"I will keep that in mind," Thanos said and his body dissolved, along with the smoke.

Tony sank down next to Pepper again and shook her. "C'mon, you're not injured. Just open your eyes, Pep."

"It's hopeless," Loki said.

Tony's head snapped up, his eyes blazing with fury.

Although Loki could in theory still kill him, no fear was left, just pure pulsing rage.

"Shut up! You know what? He was right about one thing. This is your fault, your responsibility. How are you gonna make up for that? Do you even care?!"

Loki raised an eyebrow at him. "Am I known as a caring person?"

Tony just glared at Loki and balled his fists. He said nothing, waiting.

Loki crossed his arms. "Why should I care? They're going to behead me, justice served."

"I don't need justice served, I don't care about your head, I care about Pepper! I need her back."

Loki smirked. "Just hand over what he asked you for. You can start with this." He retrieved the little blue cube from underneath his robes.

"How do you have this?!"

"Does it matter?" Loki held out the tesseract. "Take it. Getting your hands on the time stone should be easy enough."

"Why?"

"You want to save the woman."

"No, I mean why are you offering it to me?"

Loki shrugged. "By law, I am a dead man walking. I'd rather give the cube away then return it to Asgard."

"I don't believe you," Tony said. "You'd be dooming your family with this. You'd be dooming your brother and mother. Not even you are capable of that."

"You don't know what I am capable of."

"You're testing me."

"Am I?"

"You know what? I'm not playing his game and I'm not playing yours. Another way might not be apparent right now, but how can I call myself Tony Stark if I couldn't invent one?"

He picked Pepper up and carried her towards the couch. As he laid her head down onto a cushion, everyone started filing in. Steve, Thor, Frigga, Clint, Bruce and at last, Natasha. The next half hour went away in a blur of concerned questions and looks. Clint blamed Loki of purposely endangering Pepper. Steve kept asking if there was any way to help her. And Frigga had to say again and again that there wasn't any aid that she knew of. All Tony could do was stare at Pepper's face and give brief answers. He barely heard Thor and Frigga confronting Loki. Tony was too engaged pondering to grasp the sense of their talk. His head ached.

Still, no one but him knew about the conditions Thanos had offered Tony. Save Loki. And Loki wasn't going to enlighten the Avengers when they still see him as enemy and vice versa. Tony knew the tesseract was still with Loki. He could still take him up on the offer and bail. He could even get away with it.

"Guys, I'm worked up," Clint said. He turned to Tony. "Hey, you alright?"

Tony shook his head.

"Can I get you something? Something to drink?"

"No, thanks. You're welcome to scavenge the bar though."

Clint considered him for moment, then nodded. "Thanks."

"I could use a drink too," Natasha said.

"Guess we all could." Clint agreed.

While everyone followed Clint to the bar. even Bruce who didn't drink, Loki stayed behind and walked towards Tony. "Have you made up your mind? As my fate is sealed, I can claim I hid it somewhere. No suspicion directed towards you. Until it's too late, that is."

Tony stared at Pepper's unmoving face. It hurt, knowing he could do nothing, not with his own hands. No amount of money in the world or hours of working in the lab could help her. Then, after a long minute, he shook his head. "I don't want it."

Loki stared at him. "I know Thanos very well. I spent more time in his presence than I wish I did. If he realizes you won't cooperate, he will kill her. One way or another."

"Is that any worse than what she is right now, not dead or alive? She wouldn't even feel, it right?" Tony asked. "No pain."

"Death is always full of pain."

Tony wasn't certain why he'd asked. This was a trolley problem. No right solutions.

"He cannot hurt her physically," Loki went on." But I am not so sure about her mind."

Tony gulped. "He can torture her?"

"Being in possession of the mind stone, he now certainly has the ability to."

"But...how is he going to kill her if he can't hurt her physically?"

"A mind is feeble," Loki said. "Easily manipulated, easily bent. People can hurt themselves."

Tony gulped. His hands were cold.

"Then... I will make him believe in my cooperation."

"And then what?"

The question hung in the air between them, for once leaving Tony clueless. He didn't want Pepper suffering. He didn't want her to die. She didn't deserve that fate.

Even though he believed his own fate to be fixed, Loki had been more considerate than Tony would've given him credit for. After that murder attempt earlier, he wasn't convinced Loki was concerned about his or Pepper's well being, or feeling guilty for anything. To Tony this seemed a little fishy, but he knew from several experiences, facing the threat of death sometimes made people show a glimpse of their true heart. If this was a glimpse at Loki's, well, it only confused Tony more.

With Thanos's attack on Pepper, Loki's popularity sagged even more. No one wanted him around, but they needed to wait for Odin to conjure them back to Asgard.

Eventually they decided if they put the muzzle and handcuffs on him and Bruce stood guard in front of the door, the risk would be assessable enough. Tony agreed to watch him for a few hours in the early morning so Bruce could catch some sleep. Tony wondered if Loki still had the tesseract hidden inside his robes and wondered why he hadn't told anyone yet. Was he still thinking of accepting Thanos's offer? He couldn't tell. Why was nobody thinking of it? He was the only one who had seen Loki in possession of the cube, but didn't anyone else wonder where it had gone?

His bed felt empty without Pepper beside him. He had always been the one to warm her up, but still he felt cold and drew the sheets tighter around himself. He stared outside and wondered if her soul was flying around somewhere, just separated from her body, maybe floating in the empty space beside him. She was now in a bed for herself, surrounded by medical equipments in a hospital. He could still hear the aggressive sound of the heart-monitors ringing in his ears and his head wouldn't stop hurting.

Sometime between 3AM and 4AM he dozed off a little. His dreams consisted of brief flashing images, none of them clearly recognizable. He saw Pepper, for sure. And Thanos. He saw a light. He saw darkness. He fell again, he realized it wasn't him falling, realized being caught in Loki's memories again. And then he woke up, sitting up in his bed. And he knew what he was going to do.

"What do you think, big guy think you can do that for me?"

Thor shot him weary look. "I don't know, Anthony."

"I just want to talk to him. I need to ask him...about Thanos, I want to ask him what he knows."

"He won't answer you."

"He will. Okay, well maybe not. But I have to try. It's about Pepper, I have to try everything! And he still has the handcuffs on."

Thor placed his glass down onto the counter and looked out into the dark night. "Is this going to be a secret?"

"Not exactly," Tony said." But I don't see why I should make a public announcement."

Thor sighed.

Loki sat on his bed when Thor entered the room. It was dark, except for the moonlight streaming in through the window and it cast a ghostly light over Loki's body. Slowly, on its own, the lights came on in dimmed orange tones.

Thor looked at Loki, who didn't raise his head. He seemed to be constantly scowling with the muzzle on his mouth and his eyebrows were drawn together in irritation.

Thor went to kneel before the bed and took the muzzle off.

"What is it?" Loki asked, piercing Thor with his gaze. It was good, Loki had listened to Frigga. But then again, Thor wished he would've listened to him. They had been so close and now there was nothing between them. "Stark...wants a talk with you."

Thor stood up and looked Loki into the eye. His eyes once had been such a vulnerable thing to look at, they had always been dark, a deep sea, but now they seemed to reach into the depths of hell. "How have we come to this?" Thor asked. "We should be Shield Brothers."

"Should we?"

Loki didn't even blink. He just stared back and there was no way for Thor any more to understand what was going on behind his eyes.

"I hope he doesn't want you dead." Thor said. "After what you did to his woman, he might have some influence on your sentence. He's one of Earth's most powerful men." He balanced the muzzle in his hands and walked out.

Loki sat very still. And waited.

Tony stood in front of Loki's door. If he stepped in there now and asked what he came to ask there was no turning back.

If you make a deal with Loki, that's final.

This was a stupid idea, it was bordering insane. Tony was about to turn back, roll into his sheets again and go back to sleep, because no good decision was ever made after 2AM. But then thought of Pepper again. He thought of her pale face between the pale sheets, the weak beeping of the heart monitor. And pushed down the door handle.

Loki's eyes met his.

"You expected me."

"Thor said you would come."

"No," Tony stepped into the room and closed the door. "You expected it all along."

Loki smirked.