Hey all! Terribly sorry about the delay! Three jobs and school will do that. Thanks for all the reads and reviews! Enjoy!

The Doctor sent the TARDIS in motion, knowing that Loki was, in some strange way, depending on him. It shouldn't have meant anything, considering who Loki was, but it meant hope. Hope that Loki would actually do the right thing. Loki was powerful, the Doctor could see that, and he wanted Loki on his side rather than fighting against him.

So the Doctor set his coordinates to the exact location of the Gauntlet, and hoped for the best.

When the TARDIS rematerialized, it was ten hours later by Loki's count and one minute by the Doctor's. Either way, the TARDIS faded into view around the Gauntlet, effectively destroying whatever shield was woven around it.

And only the Gauntlet.

"Not good, not good," the Doctor murmured, picking up the device. It really did look like a glove, but embedded with several stones. He considered picking it up, trying it on. Then, he decided against it. Something held him back.

Instead, the Doctor jumped over to the console, typing in data. He was looking for Loki's biological information.

Finally, his computer gained a signal. He could only hope that he wasn't too late.

Amy paced. She wasn't a particularly nervous person, but the Doctor made her more nervous than anyone she knew. And right now, he'd gone off to another planet with a war criminal, to face another insane person, and none of that sat particularly well with her at the moment.

They were outside the base, waiting. Amy felt that she was always waiting for something.

Rory watched her with visible concern. The Avengers, for the most part, had dispersed. Tony Stark was the only one who'd stayed with them, because he was most interested in seeing what the results of the Doctor's outing would be. And Jane, who wasn't an Avenger. But she was the very definition of scientist.

None of them talked. And then-

The sound of a groaning motor filled the air. A TARDIS sound. The TARDIS itself faded into view, and they all stepped back as it solidified, and waited.

The door swung open, revealing the Doctor dragging a nearly unconscious Loki. "I need help," the Doctor gasped.

All of them ran forward. Amy caught a glimpse of blood. Lots of it.

"What happened?" Stark asked.

"He," Loki gasped, and everyone was a bit startled to hear him speak, "is an idiot."

"I am not!" the Doctor said.

"Explain. Now," Stark snapped.

Loki answered by passing out.

Stark paled. "Or, you know, later is good too."

Later meant the same meeting room, minus Loki, and full of confused Avengers, and an annoyed Nick Fury.

"I don't know where you get off thinking that you can go, without my permission, to the planet of the enemy," Fury snapped. "What. Happened."

"We needed to do some exploring," the Doctor said, "and it was dangerous. You wouldn't have approved."

"You're damn right I would've have approved."

"You idiot," Amy intoned.

"Look," Stark said, "What's done is done. What we need to know is: what happened?"

"Funny story-"

"Ain't nothing funny about it," Fury snapped.

The Doctor looked mollified. Amy and Rory glanced at each other, amused. "Well, okay. We wanted to go see what energy source was powering the Chitauri and we sort of…found their boss."

"Boss?" Fury repeated.

"Yeah, some chap named Thanos. Didn't seem very nice. Had this thing called the Infinity Gauntlet which, according to Loki, can control the universe. Thanos didn't want us to escape. He wanted my TARDIS, because it, too, is a huge source of power. Long story short, I got away. Attempted to get Loki. Arrived too late. Thanos had planned on punishing him for a lot longer, but I managed to get him out."

"So Loki and Thanos aren't best buddies, then," Tony concluded. "Well, then."

"I think the most pressing issue here is that now we have not only a new enemy to face, but he's got something as powerful as the Tesseract," Fury said. "And, now he's angry because he lost another power source."

"More powerful than the Tesseract," the Doctor corrected.

"The point is, we're in for another war," Fury said. "And we need a plan."

"The plan is simple." The Doctor stood, grinning widely at them all. "Get the Gauntlet. Defeat Thanos and his army. Keep the TARDIS safe."

"And how do you plan to do that?"

"I don't know!" The Doctor was positively brimming with glee. "Isn't that great? I tend to just wing it."

"I don't think they do 'winging it', Doctor," Rory murmured.

Fury seemed to share these sentiments. "Doctor, my world is in danger. People will die if we can't stop this."

"Right now, Thanos has his attention on Loki and I," the Doctor said. "And we're here, in the middle of nowhere. For now, that's a good thing. Keeps his mind off the rest of the world."

"Why didn't you get the Gauntlet?"

Everyone turned towards Natasha, who had voiced the question. She looked at the Doctor intently.

The Doctor sighed. "I had it. I gave it to Thanos in exchange for Loki's life. I'm not much of a fighter, I'm afraid."

"But-" Clint looked furious. "That bastard doesn't deserve-"

"You don't want to finish that sentence," the Doctor snapped, glaring at Clint.

"Oh, I think I do." Clint stood up. "Do you know what he did? Do you know what he'll do?"

"You know what's good?" Bruce interrupted, also standing. "Sleep. I think we need to rest. Think on it. You know? That sounds like a good idea to me."

Grudgingly, the rest agreed with Bruce. Fury looked as though he might implode any second, but dismissed them with a wave of his hand.

Everyone went their separate ways. Rory ended up talking to Bruce about medicine, and the Doctor was with Tony and Jane doing sciency things. Amy, at any other time, might have felt herself interested, but instead she went to the infirmary.

Loki was sitting up in a cot, looking badly off, but he was still awake, and reading. He looked pale, and there were far too many bandages on the parts of his body Amy could see, and he looked dead tired, but he turned his full attention to Amy when she entered. He'd been reading, she saw.

"What's your game?" Amy asked, closing the door behind her and taking a seat.

"Game?" Loki repeated. His voice was still a bit hoarse.

"Yeah, you know. God of Lies and all that. Earth's greatest enemy. Why're you helping?"

"I only help myself."

Not an answer. Amy sighed. "The Doctor was late."

Loki stared at her. "I did not think he intended to come."

"You were surprised?"

"He gave up the Gauntlet in exchange for my life. " Loki seemed angry about it. "He was an idiot! Now that source of power is in Thanos' hands and with it he can do anything. With a thought he could get rid of us all."

"But he hasn't."

"He wants us to be here when he defeats us."

"You should be thankful," Amy snapped. "You'd be dead now if it weren't for him."

Loki laughed, hollow. "Oh, Amelia Pond. I wouldn't be dead. Death is too kind. Thanos is in love with death, and it is not a gift he would grant to those who displease him."

Amy shuddered. She had never thought of death as a gift of any sort. "Then what-"

"Shh!" Loki held up a hand, visibly tensing.

"Oh, come on," Amy said. "I was just asking-"

The sound of an alarm cut her off. "Okay, what was that?"

Loki looked ghost white. "They're here."

"What?"

Loki suddenly pushed himself off the bed, into a standing position.

"Amy Pond, do you trust me?"

"No!"

Loki grinned madly and grabbed her arm.

And everything dissolved.