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Snowflake	By : LordStrawberry Category: Marvel Verse Movies > Avengers, The Views: 3323 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel, the Avengers, Thor nor any other Marvel Universe fandoms or characters. I do not gain profit from this..

Chapter List
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When Tony woke it was dark outside. Loki had stayed with him, his cheek still lying right next to the arc reactor and his left arm carefully wrapped around Tony's chest. He was awake though and looked up at him with the sweetest smile almost instantly after Tony had first stirred in his embrace.

"Good evening."

"Yeah, good... evening. How late is it?"

"Around seven. You slept most of the day."

"I know. My headache is gone though, thanks."

"You're welcome."

Loki sunk back on top of him, the gentle smile still in place as he snuggled closer.

Tony thought back on their little heart to heart talk when he had awoken the last time. Daddy issues, who would have thought. He knew what it felt like. The struggle, that big light he strived for, the sun of his life. And to then learn, that it was all for nothing. To be honest, his own awakening had come in a different fashion, he had emancipated himself from his father's ideals to seek his own way, a way that let him look in the mirror and not flinch. One, that made him feel good about himself, but it had been such a struggle getting there, mocked, jeered at. Maybe what Loki did right about now came close to himself quitting the weapon business, who knew? He chose not to chase after possible parallels between their lives. The man had confessed to his own suicide attempt, no matter how bad things had gotten, Tony had never been that low, had he?

He couldn't bite back the bitter chuckle that left his lips. He was currently thinking about his lover's darkest hour and all he could do was connect it to himself. Narcissist.

Loki had looked up at the sound, but the silent question that lay behind a single raised eyebrow would not be answered.

"Maybe we should get up, you know, deal with things?"

A frown chased that wonderful smile away and Tony regretted saying anything to begin with.

Not for the first time he just wanted to hide away. Take Loki with him and leave, some place safe and warm.

"You are probably right, might as well handle this now."

Tony winced at the sudden rush of cold air that assaulted his warm skin, when the body on top suddenly got up and left.

He contemplated replacing Loki with a blanket, but a stern look on the other's face convinced him not to, so he went and shared his lover's fate, which was facing a probably still quite furious Natasha Romanov.

As it turned out it was his fate and his alone to face the red haired dragon, as Loki ignored her completely and went past, heading straight for the holding cell that accomodated Captain America.

Tony ignored Natasha's grip on his arm and decided to follow him before shit truly hit the fan.

When they reached the cell there was Clint, sitting in the armchair in front of the cell door, a forlorn smile on his face and words leaving his mouth in a mindless babble.

It reminded Tony of how one would tame an animal, speak to it, get it used to your voice. It was a sad sight, really.

Loki did not stop to acknowledge the other's presence, he went straight for the cell door and crouched down in front of it.

Tony and Natasha hurried after him and stopped to stand beside Clint, who was equally confused and worried about what direction this situation might take.

The god did nothing but stare at their captive, who in turn did his best to ignore him, his back turned towards the door.

It wasn't until Cap noticed the eerie silence that had befallen his cell that he turned around in curiosity and wished he hadn't.

"You."

There were not many people who could put such pure hatred into one single personal pronoun, yet the Captain's eyes showed flickers of fear in the same instant.

"I came to apologize, and to explain."

"There is nothing to explain and I don't care for any apology."

"What I did was wrong. I did it for them, I saw it as the only way, I guess I was mistaken."

"For them. How could torturing me help them, in your eyes? Oh, don't tell me. We were made to be ruled, to kneel. Well, you had me on my knees. And I still managed to stand up again."

He made a point of doing just that, towering over Loki's still crouching form in front of his door.

"If it pleases you to be physically above me, so be it. I and I alone am the reason that these people strayed from their organization, that they are being denunciated and cast out. The guilt lies with me and I wish to make amends for that, for these people have become my friends, whether they see it that way or not. So... yes, I thought the end justified the means, I wanted them restored to former glory. That includes having you on our side. People believe in you, they trust you. If you could see what has become of S.H.I.E.L.D, people might just stop believing in them aswell, stop believing in the lies they spread so carelessly about the people I care about. They do not deserve to be treated as such, locked away like common criminals, fugitives. They are heroes and I would have them restored to that status."

"So you snatched me away to convince me of your good intentions. That's just great. And now I have these pictures in my head."

He let a hand run through his disheveled hair, his face distorted in painful memory.

"I know they are fabricated, but it feels, it... there are all these horrible emotions, such despair and pain and fear and it just feels so real."

"It is real, it is a genuine memory I... I took from Tony, without his consent. Believe me, you are not the only one who is currently... displeased with me."

Steve snorted at that. He was getting good at that, snorting.

"So what're you saying. That I should now join their side because we all currently hate you?", Loki cringed at that, "The common enemy thing might have worked back then, now things are entirely different. There is no way back after what they have done."

"This is not what I meant. All I was trying to say is, you should not judge them on my actions earlier today, they had no part in it and they surely did not approve of it, they have made that very clear to me."

Natasha nodded at that.

"He's right. We condemn what he did and we will not stand for it. We understand if you don't trust us as a group, all we ask is for you to judge each of us in a fair manner."

Cap smiled mirthlessly. This dark look really suited him in a sick, twisted way.

"So what are your reasons then? I have heard Tony's, I know that Clint just pretty much followed you, I don't care what Loki has to say. So all there's left is you, so tell me, please."

Natasha sighed and pushed herself off of the wall and walked closer, Loki threw her a look and they changed places. For her Cap sat down so they'd at least be eye to eye.

"I don't like to be sentimental, you know that, but there are things in this world that can move me. I am good at reading people, it's what I do. So when Tony flew that nuke up through the portal and Loki practically fell apart next to me, that changed things. It is easy to be up against a foe, if that foe is an unfeeling, super-evil bastard. Now that does not change the fact, that Loki had killed people, lots of people. But I like to think it created an opening. And when Tony was brought into the hospital and I saw that Fury used that one good thing about Loki against him, that pissed me off. Pissed me off enough to switch sides. Tony is no idiot either, I believe he knew what he was doing when he was sent to bring the guy in and didn't. I-"

She let her hand run over her mouth, her stare going right through Cap and into nothingness. Then she realised what she was doing and she stopped, eyes finding focus and she laughed.

"I did not realise before!"

Befuddled stares was all she got.

"Clint. You were sent to kill me, to bring me in. You didn't."

The adressed shifted uneasily.

"You are not Loki, Tasha. Don't compare your situation to his."

"But it is. It is the situation. I was nothing but a ruthless killer in everyone's eyes. You should have killed me, but you didn't. Well, nevermind that. There's one more thing. I haven't told this to anyone. Tony was supposed to die. Cap, you know this. You called it in, didn't you? The nuke?"

Steve avoided her glance, but caught himself seconds later and met her gaze head on.

"Fury had to know, there was a nuclear missile being fired in the center of New York, what would you-"

"So what was it Fury told you then?"

That's when the man before her started fidgeting again.

"He told Thor to let Tony handle things, if it got off-course."

"Which was obviously going to happen with all those enemies pooling out of the portal, right? It was bound to happen, and Thor can fly. He could have pushed it through, he isn't affected by space and radiation as Tony would be. That trap, the one in the hospital, the one Loki triggered was not the only one. In fact it was a secondary trap, a bad one. We would have noticed it, if we hadn't been so worried for Tony's life. But there was another one, my mind notices these things, even if I did not realize it at the time, the other one was down by the morgue and there were S.H.I.E.L.D agents everywhere. That was the trap he was supposed to spring. Are you okay with that, Cap? Because I am not. And that is exactly why I helped Loki escape. Not because I like the guy, and make no mistake about it, Loki, we are not friends, but because Fury would take advantage of the only damn sacred thing that guy had and sacrifice Tony's life in the process. That's why."

By the end of her speech Natasha was breathing heavily. You don't hear a spy raise her voice often, but when you do, it has all the more impact.

Loki had changed sides to stand behind Tony, arms wrapped around the man protectively, his chin resting on Tony's shoulder, a lost look in his eyes.

"I did not know this.", he whispered.

Natasha dismissed his comment with a wave of her hand.

"I don't care what you think, I'd like Steve's opinion on the matter, Cap?"

The Captain looked just as lost, tired and pale. Even his hair didn't seem to have its usual shine.

"I only informed him, I didn't mean for the information to be used this way. I'm sorry Tony, I never thought he'd do something like this."

He searched to meet Tony's eyes, but couldn't ignore the man standing behind him, still holding Tony in his loving embrace, and he frowned, his face an obvious display of distaste.

"I don't see anything sacred in that, I'm sorry.", Tony twitched, but Loki's arms held him in place and soothing words were hastily whispered into his ear, "But I have to agree, if all you say is true, I should not be putting my trust in Fury."

He let his forehead rest on his knees.

"I don't know who to trust anymore. It used to be so easy. S.H.I.E.L.D was there when I woke up, they helped me. They were the good guys."

Tony wriggled free of Loki's hold and joined Natasha on the floor in front of Cap's cell door.

"Maybe things just aren't as simple anymore. Maybe there are no good guys. I'm not saying we are the lesser evil, I'm just saying that maybe everyone just has to reevalue their allegiances with each day to come. Make your own decisions, right and wrong aren't always so clearly distinguishable. Had I brought Loki in back then we would probably have lost against the Chitauri, for example."

"And you would be lying dead in the antarctic ice, for that matter."

Loki glared at Natasha, but he couldn't really fault her the jab.

Steve just sat there and stared at them with a blank look on his face.

"So you're saying I should make a new decision for each problem I face. And now the problem is the cube, right? Well, I don't think it should be in Fury's hands, okay? But I don't want it in his, either.", he pointed at Loki, not sparing the man a look, "So what am I to do. Form another group?"

Natasha sighed.

"Okay, maybe settle for the lesser evil then. But we don't want you as our enemy, that's what's important."

"Oh, and we need your shield."

Furious looks were thrown at Tony, who did his best not to shrink under them.

"What? We do. Might as well tell him now."

"What of my shield? You already have it."

"Yeah, we took it for our safety. But we would really like your permission to, sort of, grate some flakes of adamantium off of it...?"

Natasha just dropped her head and shook it in disbelief.

Steve just stared.

"Okay, I'll ask another time then!"

Tony threw up his hands in defeat.

"What for?", Steve's voice showed genuine interest, it seemed.

"Well, the harness to control the Tesseract's power, it needs a little bit of adamantium. If we can't control it it might become dangerous again, and our main focus is to keep it from collapsing any more buildings, you know. Stark Tower, for instance."

"Alright, do it."

Well, that was unexpected, the incredulous stares of everyone a testament to the shared befuddlement they felt.

"Well, that was easier than expected.", Tony managed to flash a smile, "We promise to take as little as possible, your shield will not suffer any damage, promised."

"Yeah, yeah. I have a request, though."

"And what might that be?"

"Let me out. I don't like to be held prisoner, especially not after those images in my head."

"Oh, sure. Alright."

Loki hissed, the sound barely audible, as Tony reached for the keys.

"I do not think that wise. He might trick us."

All he got for it were small laughs and dismissive gestures.

"He's Steve!"

And with this the Captain moved in.

That was quite a dialogue-heavy chapter, I hope it reads alright. I may update again in some hours, I'd like to have the next part written, but if I put it with this chapter I'll have another 6k word-monster on my hands XDD

Oh, and I don't like Captain America. At all. And no one can tell me that coming straight from the 40ies that guy is 'not' going to be at least a little bit racist or homophobic. Well, I guess that's for everyone to decide for themselves. My take on him is a little on the negative side, I just prefer gray characters.. and I am not too hot on patriotism either, so that just puts me off, too.

I hope I did not offend any big Cap fans out there, I'll try to keep it fair, I already have poor Nick as my undeserved big bad XDD
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Snowflake