Stark Tower (Loki and the Avengers)

We Can't Tell anyone

Steve kicked aside empty bottles of beer and half full bottles of liquor as he made his way through Tony's workspace to his computer. The desk itself was covered in spills and discarded junk food, as well as a few papers and printed documents. Steve glanced at them momentarily as he brushed everything aside, but most of the words and charts didn't make enough sense to him to grab his attention for long.

Steve winced as the chair lurched backward when he sat down, either built to be an annoyance or broken after years of Tony's abuse. He scooted forward until he was as comfortable as he could be in front of the computer screen. Luckily, Tony had left the files up on the monitor because Steve would have never been able to find them by himself. He eyed the mouse before reaching for it and giving it an experimental twitch. Satisfied as the cursor moved across the screen, Steve scrolled up through the list of documents until he got to the top. After clicking it once didn't open the file and instead simply highlighted it in light blue, Steve pulled the keyboard forward and let his fingers hover above the letters until he found enter.

It took a few seconds before the file was up and loaded, and Steve recognized it as the first one Tony had shown him. He watched it through again, paying close attention to Fury's movements and posture. Then he watched it a second time, studying Loki. Just like the first time he'd watched the video, Loki got angry after something Fury said.

Closing the video, Steve clicked the next video on the list and searched the keyboard again for the enter key. Again, the video that came up was one he had watched previously. Loki looked tired, and he again got angry when Fury spoke to him. Steve watched the video through a few times before closing out and heading towards the next on the list.

Each video was just like the second. Loki walked into the room, cuffed and, in a few videos, shackled. He never showed any physical injuries, but after a few videos steve could tell that the god was getting more and more tired with each interrogation. Still, he never showed so much as a scratch, much less any bruises or broken bones. After the thirtieth video or so, Steve figured out that he could double click on the files to open them without using the enter key. He also discovered that watching what was essentially the exact same video over and over while trying to read a man's lips while his back was to the camera was very difficult and very boring.

"Mr. Rogers?" Steve startled as Jarvis' voice broke his concentration. He ran his hand through his hair and buried his face in his palms before he responded. "Mr. Banner and sir would like for you to rejoin them in the medical room, if you would." Jarvis phrased the command as a request, but Steve knew he didn't have a choice.

"Tell them I'll be right there, Jarvis." Steve pushed the chair away from the desk and stood up. "Please," he added before making his way through the littered room and towards the door.

As he got closer to the medical room, steve could hear Bruce and Tony's voices as they discussed whatever it was that they'd summoned him to the room for. He leaned against the doorway and rapped his knuckles against the wall, announcing his presence to the two before he entered the room and headed towards them.

"Before you get any further," Tony stopped him, standing from his seat on the arm of the couch against the wall and holding up his palm. "We need to know whether you've decided to help us or not." He exchanged glances with Bruce, who was sitting on the couch with his arms crossed. He was obviously still angry from Steve's, "lapse in morality".

Steve sighed and looked at the ground, running his hand through his hair. "Yeah, guys. Yeah I'll help." He looked up at Tony, who held his chin up while he eyed his teammate suspiciously. Suddenly he relaxed his posture, clapping his hands and rubbed them together.

"Alright, here's the deal." He gestured for Bruce to stand up and join his and Steve's group. "Loki is hurt and sick." He stated plainly, pointing at the broken god. He once again gestured for the others to follow him as he approached the hospital bed. "He's got a lot of issues, and I haven't decoded enough of the footage to know what really happened to him." He made his way around Loki's sleeping form so the the bed was separating him from Steve and Bruce. "So the plan is as follows: Protect Loki, and heel Loki."

Steve narrowed his eyes, and Bruce buried his face in his palms. Tony ignored their reactions, responding with a grin and continuing with his speech. "We have to hide him from Fury, and we probably can't tell the others either." Steve furrowed his brows and opened his mouth, but Bruce beat him to it.

"Why can' we tell the team?" He cocked his head to the side, looking back and forth between Tony's determined expression and Loki's comatose state. Tony rolled his eyes.

"'Tasha's completely loyal to Fury, Birdie's completely loyal to 'Tasha, and Thor is Loki's brother. I don't want to be in the same room as him and his bloody brother." He raised his eyebrows, daring them to disagree. Bruce instead nodded in agreement, moving closer to the machine Loki was hooked up to so he could look over his vitals. Steve grimaced, but he more or less agreed with Tony as well.

"So it's decided!" Tony clapped his hands together. "We can't tell anyone."