Loki's Pain

Chapter Seven- His Defender

Ash woke up with a blinding headache, his eyes refusing to focus for a moment. So it was with immense confusion that he heard several unfamiliar voices arguing above him.

"He can't stay in here! Loki is still a danger to him!" A male voice stated, agitation apparent.

"Loki is the one who just saved his life!" Another man replied, "If it wasn't for him, Ash would be brain dead!"

"Loki is the reason he almost died to begin with!" The first guy argued back causing the second man to emit a low growl of frustration. It sounded as if they had been arguing these points for awhile, and the second man was beginning to reach the limits of what he would put up with.

"He's staying here. Deal with it." The second man declared as Ash's eyesight finally cleared enough for him to make them out. To his surprise the two arguing were Dr. Banner and Mr. Stark. It had been Dr. Banner refusing to move me.

"Mr. Stark? Dr. Banner?" He rasped out quietly, alerting them that he had woken up. Behind Mr. Stark were several other members of the Avengers team, all of them looking rather somber. Clint Barton, Thor, and Natasha Romonoff stood behind Mr. Stark, all of them looking unsure of who to support, their quiet voices murmured in the background as they discussed amongst themselves.

"Oh, hey there kiddo. How are you feeling?" Tony replied, switching to a calm and chipper voice once he realised Ash could hear him.

"Leave Loki alone." Ash stated bluntly, irritated at Stark for his continued prejudice. "He is not responsible for this! It was my choice to help him! And he just saved me back, so back the fuck off of him, ok?" Ash was in no mood to be polite or courteous, and spoke with some venom in his tone. The difference was startling, almost as if he was an entirely different person, and everyone stared at him with shocked expressions. "By the way, this also proves he wasn't responsible for New York. He was under Maw's control, so why don't you all take a second for that to sink in as well...." Ash continued, clearly tired of Loki being treated like a criminal instead of the victim he really was, "It means he's been thru hell! He was forced to do those things! He's as much a victim of that attack as everyone else!!! Don't you get that yet!!!!???"

"Hey now...." Tony started to say, his voice softly chiding.

"No!" Ash cut him off sharply, "No. You shut up. You blame Loki, all of you do. You have no idea what he went thru. He was captured and tortured for years. In ways so horrific you could never even imagine them. Then, when he finally thought he was free, he had a telepath creep into his head and twist it. He was piloted like a fucking puppet! I know all of it. I saw it all! I could even feel it!! Even just the memories make me want to curl up in a corner for a month! Yet I bet Loki is still laying around sporting that mischievous grin of his, isn't he..." Ash shook his head at the thought before trying to look over his shoulder at the man in question. Sure enough, Loki cracked a sly grin at Ash's glance, doing his best to look completely unaffected by his words or revelations.

"You all act as if you are the heros, but you can't even be bothered to admit your own mistakes....heck, you guys won't even begrudgingly admit that you might have been wrong about him, will you?" Ash said, his voice weary, as he dropped his head back against his pillow with a soft 'woomp'.

Clint was the first to step forwards, much to everyone else's shock. His next words shocked them even more. "Loki, I'm sorry. I figured it out earlier, when Ash was explaining why he brought you here. Now that I'm looking at you, I know he was right. Your eyes are green again, and despite that sly grin you're wearing, you are not acting quite the same either. When you took control of me in New York....it wasn't you. So...I want to apologize to you for how I've treated you since then, and for not even thinking of the possibility that you could have been controlled too."