I Will Follow You Into The Dark~ On Hold

Chapter 10

The Avengers were waiting for the arrival of Thor. They had all come to terms with everything that had happened and with the help of Fury had gone as far as releasing a Press Conference where they stood in front of hundreds of people who raged at Loki and stated that he was being controlled. The people didn't believe it at first, but they learnt to accept it when the Avengers told them, and anyone watching the tv, from that moment Loki was under their protection and would be treated as one of them.

When Thor had first come back from Asgard, he showed them the necklace that Frigga had commanded to stay open. The whole team plus Fury had sat around it and watched as it formed on the walls and together as a family of misfits, they laughed, smiled and cried as Loki's life unravelled. They could see how the man felt alienated from his family and how he struggled with losing so many. They couldn't handle seeing him be tortured, they felt sick to their stomachs. The thought of the threat that hung over all their heads had an icy cold terror seep into their bones and made them grateful to their alliance with Asgard.

Fury was scheduled to join them before Loki and Thor arrived, as he needed to; more like the Avengers made him, give an apology to Loki. Fury had a long way to go with being kinder than others if he wanted to keep the planet safe. Using metahumans for his own gain was no way to go about things. They were all standing there in their own minds except for Natasha and Steve who were talking about the safety measures they wanted to put into place in order to control Loki, in case he got out of hand. They had already brought the topic up with the others and to say the others disagreed with them was an understatement.

Tony was pacing back and forth biting his nails as he walked. His mind was on the fact that his phone hadn't gone off with a message from reception about a certain visitor. He prayed they weren't injured. He had checked all of the hospitals, making sure they weren't among them. The Battle with Loki had resulted in many injured and sadly quite a few dead. Pepper had been visiting all the morgues to ensure that their mutual friend hadn't turned up in one of them, and so far, Pepper hadn't found anything. He had sent several messages but hadn't received any reply and that didn't sit well with him; his friend had never left a message unanswered.

After hours of waiting the brilliant light show that signalled the opening of the Bifröst blinded them all. Groaning at how bright it was, they watched as Thor and Loki both landed, wearing their signature armour. Thor had a beaming smile on his face, while Loki seemed quite depressed. Not that the team really cared, but they had to admit, after everything they thought he would have been happy to be innocent. They watched as he raced up into the nearly built tower, probably finding his room with ease and hiding in it. They turned to see Thor with a matching sad smile on his face and they knew it had to have been something bad. Thor was never upset, so whatever had gotten him in such a mood, they wondered if they had a right to know.

Leaving to head back into the tower, Thor looked around and nodded at the wonderful architecture of the building. He nodded at everything his teammates were telling him, it was mostly about the conference they had held to announce the addition of Loki and the truth about the attack. The moment they ended up inside, Thor halted seeing Fury standing next to a timid Loki. How the pirate had gotten Loki cornered was the only thing that ran through the blonde's mind. Speed walking over to them, he pulled Loki from under Fury's arm and shielded him from the director with a scowl on his face.

"What is the meaning of this?" He boomed, internally smirking at Fury's flinch. He watched as the man straightened up and turned around with a scowl of his own. It was oblivious that Fury didn't trust Loki and wasn't too fond of Thor either. But Thor had thought with the proof that the locket had supplied, the man would have learnt how to get over the past and move on, especially with the threat of Thanos.