The Visit

Oops I did it again...

When Tony looked over at the doorway and saw Thaddeus Ross standing there with his arms crossed, he took a big swig of the beer he was holding.

"Stark, mind explaining what is going on here?"

"Besides trying to beat a Norse god at a drinking contest, not much." Tony said nonchalantly. He got up from the bar stool and swayed a bit before steadying himself. Stupid gods and their stupid alcohol tolerance.

"You know what I meant Stark."

Steve, clearly seeing Tony was drunk, stepped in. "Why do you want-"

"I wasn't talking to you Rogers. You should be lucky that you and Barnes aren't in a cell right now. Speaking of which, he'll be coming here sometime this week."

Loki wondered who this "Barnes" was. From the expression on everyone's faces though, it seemed like a sore subject.

"But maybe the government should reconsider, seeing as you already have a resident supervillain."

"Ross, if you'll let us explain-"

"No Rogers. He can explain himself in an interrogation room on the Raft."

A chorus of "No!" echoed around the room. A few of the Avengers stood in front of Loki to protect him.

Natasha explained what should be simple human logic for any other functioning adult: That a person who was tortured and mind controlled should not be held responsible for their actions during that time.

Ross started throwing out every excuse in the book, but Nat kept debunking his idiocy over and over again with the same argument.

All throughout this Thor kept a calming hand on Loki's knee. And for once, Loki didn't mind.

Eventually Ross relented, a bit.

"If he HAS to stay here, then he'll be put on a monitor like Barnes."

The Avengers hesitated and looked at Loki to make sure that he was alright with it. Loki had no idea what this "monitor" was, but it was probably better than being thrown in "the worst prison in the entire world" to quote Natasha.

He nodded, be it hesitant. Ross sighed begrudgingly and it was settled.

"It'll be put on when Barnes comes. Until then I want him locked up."

"But-"

"Until such time as he can be safely monitored, the safety of this country is the only concern. He has to be contained one way or another."

"We just explained the whole torture thing to you right?" Tony said, pissed Ross was STILL pushing the issue.

"This is not an argument Stark. Contain him or I will."

"It's alright..." Everyone turned to Loki. He smiled weakly. "What's a few more days to five years?" He passed it off as a joke, but anyone who knew him could see the pain in his eyes.

"See. Even the God of Lies sees reason."

"Mischief." Loki corrected. "It's God of Mischief. The lies thing was something made up by the Allfather and the council."

"That fact is not important right now."

"FINE!"

Tony looked Ross straight in the eye, which was surprising considering how drunk he was.

"We'll play your game for a few days."

Ross smiled. "Excellent. Be sure that you do."

With that the general left the tower.

Under his hand, Thor could feel Loki slightly shaking.

Clint looked at the young god and was surprised when he felt pity for the guy. He just got out of confinement and now he was being put back in. He might not like Loki, but he wasn't going to be cruel to him.

"Anything I can get you?"

Loki looked up with a bit of confusion that Barton was being nice to him. "Just some water will be fine, thanks." His voice was a bit croaky from the few tears he was holding back.

A glass of water was put in his hand and he thanked the archer.

"I'm sorry that I'm causing trouble."

Bruce stepped in front of Loki. "You're not the one causing trouble. Ross is. I'm sorry that he's making us do this to you again."

"It's fine." At this point Loki's voice was a bit more than a whisper.

"At least you get a view this time."

"Yeah..."

Bruce, Thor, and Nat proceeded to lead the god to his room, all the while Loki was pressing his head against his brother's shoulder. When they got to the room, Loki curled up on his bed and put his head on Natasha's lap, who was stroking his head soothingly to try and calm his rapid heartbeat. Thor held his hand and Bruce put Supernatural on the TV (They were trying to watch all of Superwholock).

Loki slowly fell asleep to the sound of the impala on a Nebraska road, dreaming about hunters, demons, and a certain archangel who happened to really enjoy sweets.