"Is anyone else weirdly nervous?" Tony asks, glancing around at the other Avengers.
"So it's not just me?" Natasha says.
"It's not just you," Clint assures her.
"What are we supposed to do?" Bruce asks. "Can we talk to him? Are we ignoring him? Do we say 'hi'?"
"I guess we say 'hi,' right?" Tony says.
"Yeah, let's greet him with five 'hi's as soon as he walks out," Natasha says sarcastically. "That won't be creepy at all."
"And ignoring him is better?" Tony asks. That's ridiculous. That's stupid, even by her standards – especially by her standards. She's better than that.
"What if we just, like, smile," Bruce suggests. "But not, like, freaky big smiles. Small smiles."
Natasha points at him thoughtfully. "That'd do it."
"So we're not bombarding him," Clint agrees. "Smart."
"Should someone say 'hi,' though?" Tony asks. Won't he think it's weird if he steps into the room and everyone's just smiling at him silently? It's been, god, a month and a half since they've seen him? And they just want to look at him?
"Mm, probably," Bruce concedes. "Who should—"
Natasha hits him a few times, shushing him frantically.
Tony leans toward the doorway, and, sure enough, he can hear them approaching. It's just their footsteps at first — they're not exactly quiet people — but then Thor speaks.
"Are you sure you're alright?" Thor asks.
"I'm fine, Thor," Loki says. "You can stop asking."
Tony looks around at the other Avengers, and they do the same. That's Loki. That is Loki. He's here; he's approaching; he's speaking. It's been so long since they've heard his voice, FRIDAY's work excluded. It's almost surreal.
What's he going to look like when he comes out here? Is he still going to be blue? (He still hasn't quite figured out why the fuck the guy was blue, for the record. He would like somebody to explain that.) Or will it be like nothing's changed? Will he look the same as he always did, back before everything went wrong? Or is there a secret third option, now that he can apparently change colors? He has no idea what to expect.
"I just want to be sure," Thor says. "And you have everything you need?"
"Yes, Thor, I have my three belongings," Loki says sarcastically.
"I just want to be sure," Thor says again. "Because if you forget anything..."
Loki doesn't reply. For some reason, Tony gets the feeling he rolled his eyes instead. He sure would in his place.
It's quiet for a few moments.
And a few more.
And a few more.
Until finally, Thor and Loki step into the room.
Steve stands up, his eyes lighting up for the first time in weeks. "Loki."
Loki looks at him, only for a moment before his gaze drops to the floor.
Steve looks at Thor helplessly, and the god only shakes his head. That doesn't seem to bode well for him, and if it doesn't bode well for him, it certainly doesn't bode well for the rest of them.
As much as Tony would like to interrogate Loki about what he's been up to and how he's feeling now, he has a feeling that being the center of attention is the last thing he would want, so Tony claps his hands together once. "Alright, everyone ready?"
"Ready, Freddy," Clint says.
Natasha gives him a look. "Nobody says that."
"I say that," Clint says defensively.
"That makes you one out of a grand total of one people who do," Natasha says.
Clint just rolls his eyes.
Steve makes his way over to Tony and nudges him gently. "Did we already pack his stuff?"
Tony shakes his head. "Not that I know of."
"He has it," Thor tells them. Apparently they're not as quiet as they thought.
"Oh, good," Tony says, like that makes any sense whatsoever while Loki's walking around empty-handed like this.
After a pause, Steve leans over and whispers, "Pocket dimension."
Tony mouths oh in response. That would make sense. He hadn't thought about that.
"You guys know we can all hear you, right?" Natasha tells them.
"I didn't realize we were saying anything confidential that we couldn't let anyone overhear," Tony says sarcastically. It's not like they're talking shit about Loki behind his back with him ten feet away. They're just talking, for god's sake. They're looking out for him and his stuff. That's a good thing. They're being thoughtful.
"We should go," Bruce says.
"Go we should," Tony agrees. "Everybody say 'goodbye, Avengers Tower."
"We're not saying that," Natasha deadpans.
"That's stupid," Clint mutters.
"You're stupid," Tony shoots back teasingly.
"No, really," Bruce says, "it's pretty stupid."
Tony's not sure, but he thinks he sees Loki smile at that, just a little bit. It's hard to tell when he's staring straight down at the floor, but he'd like to think he's right.
Tony leads them all out to the Helicarrier, parked on the landing just outside. While everyone else goes straight for the jet, he stands by the door, watching them all leave. It's no surprise to him that Thor and Loki are the last to do so. They certainly weren't going to go first.
Tony steps away, giving them their space. This is it. The moment they've been waiting for.
Loki pauses mere inches before he's out of the building. He looks at his brother warily. "And you're sure I can do this."
"I talked to our father," Thor says. "You are free to go anywhere you could possibly imagine for the next 10 minutes or so. Once we've reached the Compound, the spell will be put in place one more."
Loki eyes him skeptically for a few moments, then nods. He steps through the doorway–
And an invisible force holds him back.
Thor furrows his brows, looking between his brother and the Helicarrier questioningly. "He said you could go."
Loki just sighs and shakes his head.
Thor frowns. "I don't understand," he says. "He and Heimdall should be monitoring this. They should know that it's time for us to leave."
Loki crosses his arms, annoyed, but then he pauses, a thoughtful look on his face that quickly turns to one of exasperation. "I know why." He turns to his brother and holds his arms out, palms up and wrists together.
Thor furrows his brows. "What are you...?"
Loki just cocks an eyebrow.
"Oh."
Tony looks between them, confused. "What is it?" he asks. "What did we forget?"
"Nothing," Thor says quickly. "Nothing. Nothing was forgotten; it was just a... misunderstanding of the order of importance."
Loki rolls his eyes at that.
"One moment." Thor runs off to the Helicarrier, leaving his brother standing awkwardly in the doorway.
Tony looks over at the youngest god. He is by far the closest to him – geographically speaking, of course; not emotionally. He could say something. He should say something. Should he say something? Maybe he shouldn't say anything. Although...
Thor comes running out of the Helicarrier, metal clanking in his arms. The other Avengers onboard after him, curious to see what the holdup is. Tony must admit, he's curious, too. What did they not forget? What's left to do?
Thor lets the metal in his arms unravel, and it's only then that Tony can see what they are.
Chains.
They're going to chain him up again.
For a ten-minute flight upstate.
"This is ridiculous," Tony says. He's not the same guy he was in 2012. It's been years. They can trust him to sit in the Helicarrier for ten minutes.
"It was our father's one demand," Thor says. "I'd assumed we could do it on the ship, but..." He trails off, his attention refocusing on his work as he clicks one restraint on Loki's wrist.
"There is literally no reason you should be doing this right now," Natasha tells him.
"I'll be quick," Thor assures her, already snapping on the second wrist restraint. He crouches down, preparing the ankle restraints – because apparently he needs all four limbs restrained, god only knows why – but he has to make sure they're not twisted before he puts them on.
"Thor, the last thing we're worried about is the time it takes for you to put those things on," Bruce tells him. "It's the principle of the thing. What's the point?"
"I told you, it was our father's orders," Thor says absentmindedly. He finishes untwisting the chains and snaps one on Loki's ankle.
Tony is fully prepared with a remark about how stupid this is and how ridiculous their dad is, but Clint beats him to it.
"Well, maybe your dad should get off his ass and come down here himself," Clint says coldly. "Maybe if he'd seen his son at all in the last three years, he'd know how stupid it is to think we gotta chain him up."
Loki looks over at him, his head cocked slightly to the side and his brows furrowed. Clint is too distracted by Thor to notice at first, and as soon as he looks up, Loki looks back down at the floor.
Thor clicks the last of the restraints on, then stands up and turns to face his friends. "My father is not coming to Midgard," he says, a sense of finality in his tone that nobody wants to argue with. "Be grateful for that." He steps out of the tower and gestures for Loki to do the same.
Loki takes a deep breath, preparing himself to go through this whole thing again. He steps up to the doorway and sticks his arm through, the other one following limply behind it as far as the chains will let him. When no invisible force stops him this time, he steps through, and this time, he's able to make it outside.
Immediately, he ducks his head and shields his face with his hands, eyes squinting down at the ground. He carefully raises his head just enough to see his brother, and when Thor puts a hand on his back, Loki looks down again, allowing his brother to lead him to the Helicarrier.
Though Thor and Loki were the last to leave the building, they're the first to board the Helicarrier. The others file back in after them, and it's Tony who's the last to board. As the pilot brings the door closed, he looks around.
Loki has chosen to stand quite literally as far away as possible, squishing himself in the back corner of the ship. Thor stands with him, of course, just a little bit in front as though shielding him from the rest of the Avengers. Nearly everyone else has taken a seat, but Steve leans against the wall, watching Loki with a frown.
Without a word, Tony walks over to join him. He, too, would like to spend the next ten minutes bemoaning the loss of the stupidly fun, playful atmosphere they once had when the seven of them mostly got along.
The first minute or so of the flight is silent. Nobody knows what to say. It's such a delicate silence to break. Nobody wants to be the one to do it.
It's Steve who takes the hit for them. He gestures to Loki with his head, but his words are to Thor. "Can we take the chains off now?"
Thor shakes his head. "Not until we land."
"Bullshit," Clint mutters under his breath.
"Bullshit," Natasha repeats, louder this time to make sure everyone hears it. "We're not escorting him out of some supermax prison. Take the stupid chains off, and if your dad complains, tell him to shove it."
"It's fine," Loki says, his voice quiet and monotonous.
"No, it's not fine," Natasha says. "It's bullshit. You don't deserve this."
"It's fine," Loki says again, a little louder this time. A little softer and a lot more awkwardly, he adds, "Thank you."
The silence descends on them once more, and this time, nobody disrupts it. Finally, they pull up at the Compound. The pilot opens the doors, and everybody makes their way off the jet. Tony goes first, standing by the ramp and offering a hand to anybody who needs it. (Nobody does.)
The first ones in are unsurprisingly the last ones out, so Thor and Loki descend the ramp once everybody else is already off. Loki ducks his head so he can shield his eyes with his hands, and the chains on his wrists pull taught as he makes his way to the grass beneath them.
"Are you alright?" Thor asks him warily.
"Mm," Loki hums. "I'd forgotten how bright the sun is when you don't look at it through a window."
Tony feels a pang of sympathy for him. He really hasn't been in the sun in years. It's such a little thing, but it just sounds so... miserable.
"You'll get used to it," Thor assures him.
"I imagine I won't have that chance," Loki says. He sighs and lifts his gaze to look at his brother, eyes squinted to block out the sun. "Where am I going?"
"I don't know," Thor admits. He looks at Tony. "Where are we going?"
"Oh, just right inside." Tony gestures vaguely to the building. To Loki, he says, "I'll show you where your room is – but you can probably take the cuffs off first."
Loki shakes his head, lowering his gaze to his feet again to avoid looking at Tony. "Not until I'm inside," he says. "I imagine the Allfather won't be happy to hear I walked the last 50 feet free from both the chains and his spell."
Tony furrows his brows. "What, the spell's not up yet?" He'd just kind of assumed... They're here, aren't they? Isn't that good enough?
"Not until I've reached the compound."
That just confuses him more. "This is the compound," he says. "This whole thing is the compound. I think you're probably spelled in already, so if you want Thor to take off the chains..."
Loki lifts his gaze to meet his. "This is the compound," he repeats.
"Uh... yeah?" Is that the wrong answer? He feels like that's the wrong answer.
"This whole place?" Loki asks. "Inside, outside, it's all...?"
"Yeah, it's all the same," Tony says.
"So I can stay outside?" Loki turns to his brother, his eyes brighter than they've been all day. "Will Father let me go outside now, did he say?"
Thor furrows his brows. "He didn't say," he says cautiously, "but maybe...?"
Loki smiles at that, and if he's this excited about even the mere possibility of being allowed outside, Tony doesn't want to know what will happen if he's not.
"Let's go to your room," Thor says. "We can set it all up, and once you're settled, we can try to come back outside."
Loki shakes his head. The shackles fall from his wrists and ankles — clearly, not very useful restraints — and he steps out of them with ease. "I think I'm going to sit outside for a while."
Thor gives him a weird look, but Loki's oblivious, already walking away without a second thought. Everybody just stands there, watching as he leaves. He doesn't stray and further from the building than they are now, but he follows along it, each step taking him further away from them.
"Should someone go after him?" Bruce asks.
Thor sighs and shakes his head. "I imagine if he reaches the treeline, he'll be stopped, whether he's allowed outside or not."
"Do you think he can stay outside?" Steve asks. "This isn't the last time he can do this, is it?"
"I don't know," Thor admits. "This is a part of the compound, and given that it's private land, maybe he can, but if he wasn't allowed on the balcony in the tower..."
"You think he might not be allowed outside here, either," Tony surmises.
"That's going to crush him," Steve says.
"I know," Thor says. "So if he wants to stay outside for now, he can stay outside. He may not have another chance for a very long time."
A solemn silence falls over them, and all Tony feels is guilt. It was his idea to move here. He planted the idea in Loki's head that he could go outside whenever he pleased. If that's going to be taken from him...
This isn't shaping up to be the fresh start he'd hoped it would be.