Pretty When You Cry

Chapter 8

Thor had woken up faster than anyone, even Bruce, had thought he would. With the amount of sedatives that he'd given the warrior, he'd expected Thor to be out for another 12 hours, easy.

So, everyone was surprised that Thor was walking around a mere fifteen minutes after he'd been first brought upstairs. Tony wasn't particularly pleased. This made any attempt at getting Loki out of the building even more difficult. He couldn't exactly just sneak Loki out in front of everyone. So, he did the only thing he could think of : hoped that they wouldn't find him before nightfall. At least after dark, he might have a shot.

Thor was quick to speak up, though. The first words out of his mouth were "My brother is here."

Everyone (except Tony) was understandably confused.

"What do you mean, Loki's here?" Bruce asked. "How can you tell?"

Thor shook his head, feeling annoyed at having to explain the difficult situation to everyone. He had no choice though.

"When I took Loki back to Asgard, the Allfather decided to punish him by removing his power and banishing him to Midgard, to live amongst the people that he tried to destroy. I had no idea where he'd fallen. Allfather refused to tell me. All I knew was that if I were to get too close to Loki, I would become ill. Obviously, he is nearby."

"And... you didn't care to mention that he'd been sent back here to anyone?" Clint asked. He was a bit pissed off about that. Loki had controlled his mind and all.

"And allow you all to find him and hurt him? No, no. I know how you feel. You all despise my brother. I am angry with him too, but I would never hurt him."

No one had much to say to that. They knew that Thor was right. But if Loki was hiding out in Stark Tower, they definitely had to find him.

"Anthony," Thor said, coming closer to the inventor, "Do you know where my brother is?"

Tony shook his head 'no'. "No idea. And I have no idea why my security system wouldn't pick him up, either."

Thor sighed. "My brother... even without powers, he has ways of being very sneaky. We will just have to look. I will sacrifice myself for this."

"No, no. There's got to be another way without you becoming horribly ill again," Bruce replied.

"No way will find him faster," Thor countered.

"Can't JARVIS do a security sweep of the building?" Bruce asked Tony, desperate to keep his friend out of harm's way.

"Technically yes, but again, Loki evaded the system already."

"Enough of this. We will move floor to floor. The closer we get to him, the sicker I will become. You will know to keep going from there." Thor was adamant about this.

"Fine," Bruce agreed, "But the second we find him we're bringing you away so you can recover."

"That is fine."

So, the Avengers began to sweep the building. On the top ten floors, Thor remained well. As they got closer to the first floor though, things began to change. He could feel himself becoming weaker, the further they went. Finally, he collapsed when the elevator hit the third floor.

"He has to be nearby," Bruce stated, "JARVIS, send the elevator back up to the top floor. Allow Thor to recover. We will search the last three floors."

"Yes, Mr. Banner," the AI replied.

To speed things up, Steve, Bruce, and Tony took one side of the floor while Tasha and Clint took the other. They worked quickly, but searched thoroughly.

When they finally got to the first floor, and had yet to find anything, Tony spoke up.

"Well, this is it. Guess he's not actually here." He hoped that maybe the other Avengers would take the bait and let it go. After all, they didn't know his tower like he knew his tower.

Everyone agreed, but felt defeated. They had just made their way into the elevator when Bruce thought of something.

"Wait a minute, your lab is in the basement."

"Yeah, and?"

"We didn't search the basement."

"He definitely won't be down there. My lab is monitored by JARVIS more so than any area of the building."

"But, it's the only place we haven't searched," Bruce replied. He hit the emergency stop button, stalling the elevator in between floors.

"And I'm telling you, he isn't down there." Tony pushed the button to restart it.

"Ya know, I don't like your attitude." Bruce hit the stop button again, then changed their destination to go to the basement instead of the top floor.

Not wanting to cause any more suspicion to be cast upon himself, Tony kept quiet. Maybe the others wouldn't find him.

But, he was wrong. He'd hidden Loki in a room that was set behind a door that was very visible from anywhere in the lab. Sure, it was sound proofed, but it stuck out like a sore thumb. When Natasha noticed it, Tony knew that he had no other option but to let her in. What else could he do? The others would take him down before he could get his suit on. For once, he was powerless.

So, Tony reluctantly opened the door, standing back as he did so. Maybe he could make a run for it while they were distracted by what they found.

Natasha was the first to enter, and also the first to speak.

"Oh my God... is he even alive?"

00

The next few minutes seemed like a blur to everyone.

Tony had tried to run. He'd gotten as far as down the hallway before Clint managed to catch up to him and pin him against a wall, pointing an arrow against his neck.

Tasha had been there in a matter of seconds, making sure that Tony stayed in place while she called Fury for backup.

Meanwhile, Bruce and Steve set to examining Loki.

The condition they'd found him in was horrifying. Strapped to the bed, Loki was shaking, breathing erratically, and covered in what looked like a mixture of blood and mud. Or at least, what Bruce hoped was mud. He was thin, too. So thin. Had it not been for the dark hair and the green eyes, Bruce wouldn't have recognized him. He was almost skeletal.

The ex-god's arms and legs seemed to be wrapped in plaster casts, while a dirty, torn ace bandage was wrapped around his ribs, which were sticking out all too promenantly.

It was then that Loki truly caught sight of the two others in his room.

He began to scream. Loudly. It actually hurt Bruce and Steve's ears. The two men jumped away, unsure of what to do. Then Loki stopped.

The next time they worked up the courage to get near him, they found that he was crying, and mumbling something at the same time. They could barely make out what it was, but when they realized, it made both of their heart's ache.

Loki was repeating, over and over again, the same two words.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

00

Fury had wasted no time in sending his agents. He may have been a gruff, often mean man, but he trusted the Avengers, and if two of them were saying that Stark had done something so terrible, he believed it. Still, he had intended to make sure that Tony had a fair trial of some sort.

As the agents put Tony into handcuffs and walked him out, Bruce and Steve began the process of freeing Loki and transporting him to the medical center. The good one, on the top floor.

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