Fair warning, this chapter is a little shorter than the past few have been and takes a wildly different turn. Where the previous ones have been from Tony's perspective, this one is from Loki's, so there's a much different feel for it. We're finally getting a glimpse into the tricksters head, and things haven't been nearly as happy as Tony thinks they have been.

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"Does anyone want to tell me what the fuck you think you're doing harboring a goddamn fugitive in the goddamn Avengers tower?!"

The team is gathered around the largest screen in the tower that's currently displaying Fury's face, glaring down at them all with his single eye like an extremely disapproving parent. Or at least it's the team sans Tony and Thor, and it's the directors demand that draws the engineers attention and makes him poke his head into the room.

"Secret meeting in my own house without me?" Tony asks cheerfully, drink in hand as he drops on the end of a couch next to Clint. The archer seems unusually uncomfortable with their proximity. Fury looks like he's bordering on murderous at the intrusion.

"Can you leave for a while, Tony?" Steve asks, though to his credit he does look mildly ashamed at posing the question at all. Tony's confusion must be showing on his face because the supersoldier directs his gaze to the floor and Natasha clears her throat pointedly.

"We're deciding what to do about Loki." The assassin explains and Tony nods slowly. That explains Thor's absence, the thunderer is still sporting some magnificent bruises from his fight with the trickster, but he'll still defend his brother. That doesn't, however, explain why Tony wasn't invited. "You're compromised." She adds, answering the unasked question and the engineer looks more than a little offended by the accusation. He opens his mouth to dispute the claim but Natasha shakes her head, cutting him off before he can begin. "You've spent more time with Loki than anything, he sleeps in your room. We would almost say he trusts you, or at the very least, he trusts you more than anyone save maybe Thor. He killed people yesterday, Tony." She says firmly and Tony frowns deeply. The assassin has obviously struck a nerve.

"They were HYDRA..." He points out, but the rationalization is weak and everyone in the room can see it.

"We were picking them up in pieces. There were over a dozen people, some of them are still encased in ice, the rest were just... scattered. We can't let this continue." Clint says quietly and it reads clearly on Tony's face that he has no argument against that logic.

"How?" The engineer demands after a beat of silence. "We've seen what he can do now, the only one on the team who can stand up to him at all isn't even here." He points out and Natasha's lips thin.

"You can start with removing him from the fucking Avengers base of operations!" Fury snarls and Stark laughs in response.

"You go ahead big man. Tell me how that works out for you because I'm not getting between SHIELD and a pissed off god. In the mean time, any bright ideas on how to get Loki to stop slaughtering everything that crosses his path?" Stark asks, tone bordering on cheerful, but it's obviously forced and Fury is growling at him.

"That is why you need to leave. So we can work out a plan." She looks pointedly to the door and Tony's face goes blank for a second.

Loki clears his throat and every head in the room whips around to stare at him, leaning against the wall and watching them impassively. They're realizing that he's been there the whole time, watching and listening to every word and for a moment he thinks he sees a flash of betrayal in Tony's eyes.

"You're welcome to try. But know you will only have one attempt to do stop me." The god announces simply as he pushes away from the wall to stand behind his mortal, slender fingers brushing against Stark's neck and drawing a nearly imperceptible shiver from him. The Avengers miss it, but Loki can feel the faint shudder of muscle and skin beneath his fingertips. "If you wish for the mortals to live find me von Strucker." He adds, poisonous eyes flicking to the screen where Fury is still glaring at them, and more specifically, at Loki himself.

The directors lips are curling, feral and irritated, and it takes little more than a flicker of will and power as Fury opens his mouth to cause the lights to fade for a moment and the electronics in the room screech in protest as they're forced to malfunction and the call drops.

"You have your task." Loki states, grasping the collar of Stark's shirt and he all but drags the mortal from the room. The Avengers glare mutinously at his back. They'll plot against him, attempt to work out a plan to subdue him. Let them, Loki has given them the only warning he will, and even one is generous by his standards. If they attempt and fail he will kill them all, whether they are friends of Thor or not. Stark is sputtering at his back, demanding answers, to know how long he had been watching, what he had heard, if the killing will continue. Each question is ignored as he guides his mortal through the halls he has become increasingly familiar with.

He has his tormentors quaking, scrambling for any means of defense because now they've seen how easily he can get passed them. Doom will be wary before challenging him again, he knows that Loki can and will kill him next time. Amora will bide her time, regroup and come up with a new plan, she is the worthiest of his current foes. Mephisto is cowering, hiding away after Loki had beaten him down, he will think twice before attempting to contact SHIELD for aid again and the agency still remains clueless of his first attempt, diverted before the call could clear enough to see the man on the other end of the screen who had realized his folly; his role had been small, but Loki will still break him for his involvement. Von Strucker is hiding, a wise choice, but the god will find him, and he will reap his vengeance from the mans flesh, no mortal will defile a god, and Loki will make sure he learns his lesson well before he removes him from the mortal coil.

The Avengers claim Stark is compromised, that he's become too close with the mad god, they're more correct than they realize. Anthony Stark is his and Loki has never shared well. The little ragtag group of heroes has shunned their two best sources of information, the best chances they have of actually bringing Loki to his knees and forcing him to stop his temporary reign of terror. This suits Loki well, he will keep Stark for his own, hold the mortal close and use him for his purposes. The man is well intentioned, but foolish. He believes the god broken, and while Loki can't fully disagree, he's not nearly as damned as Stark believes him to be. Loki will continue to feed him tidbits of information, will continue to reveal pieces of his plots to keep the mans interest and use his connections for his own devices.

Stark is fiendishly intelligent for a mortal, but blinded by emotion and empathy, he pities Loki, rationalizes his atrocities because of the hurdles the trickster has overcome. Loki has long since given up doing the same. His actions are his alone no matter the reasoning behind them. Justified as he is in destroying his tormentors the humans in their employ have no reason to die other than the god wishes them to. The engineer doesn't know how cold the trickster truly is, and Loki will never tell him.

Tony Stark doesn't even realize the role he plays to Loki yet, doesn't know he's merely a piece in an immortal game of chess. Not a pawn, Loki holds him too preciously for that, guards him too well. A knight perhaps, guiding his pieces into play, but never a pawn. Soon he will send his most powerful pieces into battle, he will feed Thor the final pieces of information that will send the thunderer into a rage and Loki will watch his enemies break beneath his brothers might.

Stark is still demanding answers, becoming increasingly irate and the trickster can't help the smallest of smirks as he silences that smart mouth with his own. Tony Stark has many uses, and Loki will be sure to put his mortal through his paces before he breaks him too.