A/N: I've been planning out my next installment of my Mischief's Brood series and this plot bunny wouldn't leave me alone. So here is the first chapter. It's unrelated to my other stories. It's not compliant with anything after The Avengers.

Warnings:

Asexual Relationship, Asexual Clint Barton, Asexual Loki

Implied Mpreg

Conception by dubious means, but no non-con

Non graphic reference to torture

I was reading a lot of asexual fics the other week and thought to add this concept in to the plot bunny and things started to take shape. This is going to be the story of building a relationship from a pile of rubble because of a desperate choice that a broken soul made in order to heal.

"Agent Barton." Jarvis's voice broke through the haze of sleep in a smooth tone so as to not startle Barton and launch him into defensive mode. "Agent Barton, the Avengers are being called to assemble."

Clint took a deep breath in and scrubbed his hands over his face vigorously. He swung his legs off the bed and sat up. "What's going on, Jarvis?"

"Energy readings have been detected that are strikingly similar to the energy emitted by Loki. The Captain and Sir are assembling the Avengers to investigate." Jarvis explained.

It had been a year since the attack on New York. The Avengers had become a separate entity from SHIELD and Clint had decided that Stark's offer of living space and a spot on the payroll was the change he needed after being compromised like he had been. Trust was not an easy thing to come by in an organization like SHIELD and even harder to earn back, even if it was unfairly taken. Too many agents threw wary looks in Clint's direction; and not the wary looks of unease he was used to getting from baby agents when they realized how close they were to the famed Hawkeye. The shift to being a full time Avenger was refreshing. Clint still used his skills and was part of team that he trusted to have his back and they trusted him to be their eyes and make the shot.

Clint moved about his room, getting his gear on as he was processing the reason for this call to assemble. Clint had used Tony's resources to get a shrink he could trust not to report back to SHIELD but would still be able to deal with a patient who had been magically brainwashed by a being from another planet. Clint was an assassin for hire before he was recruited by SHIELD so it wasn't as if his hands hadn't been dirty in the past. His team, along with Dr. Martin, had helped Clint accept that what he had done under Loki's control wasn't his fault. He accepted this and was able to heal. What he had problems dealing with and what Dr. Martin was trying to help him accept was the deep feelings of empathy that he had for the fallen prince. Thor had reported back that the healers on Asgard had detected traces of the mind gem's influence on Loki when they had examined him up on his return. Turns out Asgard had heard of the glowing blue stone in Loki's scepter, which was not originally his. Clint had known that other influences were in play and that they were of a dubious sort. Loki had shown signs early on of previous distress. He was sweaty and clammy with sunken eyes and his shaky legs led to him stumble as they left the research facility with the Tesseract. The scepter had made Loki and his orders top priority in Clint's mind. When they reached their first secure stop after stealing the Tesseract, Clint was able to push Loki to let him tend to any wounds he might have. What Clint found was, mostly healed, evidence of torture. Clint was also able to tell when Loki would be dragged out of reality and was made to converse with his "allies."

When the scepter's control over Clint was severed, the leveling out was rough and all he could think about was vengeance. He needed to put an arrow through Loki's eye. The immediate reaction was that Clint needed Loki gone. He launched right into the battle without another thought. Once he was leveled out and he was dealing with what had happened he was overwhelmed with guilt. The shrink had helped him work through the guilt over the agents he killed, guilt over almost taking the Helicarrier down, guilt over not telling anyone what he knew about Loki and his "allies", guilt over the secrets he had given up to Loki so easily when he asked, guilt over the weird sort of friendship he and Loki had cultivated during down time while the minions were working. The mind gem did not take away his personality or Loki's. He was in the depths of self-loathing as he told Dr. Martin that he thought in a different situation he and Loki would be friends. He told Dr. Martin how he easily told Loki that he was ace and explained to Loki that this meant he didn't experience sexual attraction. He had had sex in the past but he disliked it and had no wish to have intercourse in the future. Clint was still into romance, he wanted to love, to hold someone, he liked to kiss and cuddle. He told Dr. Martin of the exasperation on Loki's part that there was an actual name for such a status and that there were others that experienced things in the same way. He confided in the doctor that Loki had told him about his own feelings about sex, about trying to fit into the same circle with Thor and his friends especially Fandral, the notorious playboy of the bunch. He had told Clint that Thor knew about his feelings but it was chalked up as another one of Loki's peculiarities.

Some of Clint's inner turmoil was alleviated when Thor told the team that the healers in Asgard could deduce from the state of Loki's body that he had been tortured before he came to Earth. Loki, however, would not speak about his time in the void or who had hurt him and given him the scepter and the Chitauri army. Loki was being imprisoned for various charges, many of them stemming from the time surrounding Thor's banishment on Earth, including sending the Destroyer to the small town in New Mexico where Thor was.

Thor had come to Stark Tower, now called Avengers Tower, a week ago to tell the team that Loki had escaped prison. Thor had stayed at the tower and had decided to make this one of his longer stays on Earth. Now, according to Jarvis, Loki was potentially back on Earth and up to who-knows-what.

Clint had made his way up to the roof and strapped himself into the pilot seat of the AvengerJet, which was basically Stark's version of a quinjet; a version Tony claimed was much better.

"Where are we heading?" Clint asked as the others buckled in.

"Jarvis sent the coordinates of the energy readings to the jet's navigation system. We're heading to Norway, about 130 miles west of Oslo." Tony said as he placed his collapsible suit's case on the floor next to his seat.

"The government knows we're coming and our plan is to take him if he's there." Steve said as he buckled in. "The energy readings are not close to any kind of populated area, but we want to be wary of anyone who might have stumbled into the area. Let's make this a clean grab if we can. Bruce, we want Hulk to be ready but not out until we need him." Bruce gave a nod as he took his seat. The jet took off with all 6 Avengers inside as they headed to Iceland.

The jet set down at about 3 am, in a clearing about a half mile from the energy readings. Stark had made the thing for stealth, so they hoped for coming in undetected. Cap had a hand-held navigation device that would take the team to the area where the energy readings emanated from. He had gone over the plan for covering the terrain as they headed into the forested area. They stuck close together, knowing that it would take their numbers to take down Loki if he was hostile.

Jarvis was still getting pings of energy being detected every so often in the area, so they assumed that Loki was still there and using his magic. He must be unaware that the scientists in the group could track the energy he used and that it was a unique signature compared with other energy emitting sources. Thor's energy readings differed greatly to those that they got from Loki when last he was on Earth.

The Avengers approached the location of the energy readings and the scene they came upon caused them to stop in their tracks.

There was a campfire burning. Loki appeared to be seated up against a tree, but their view of him was obstructed by a young women who looked about 20 years old. She had inky black hair, like Loki, that went just past her shoulders. Her green eyes shined bright against her pale skin. She was wearing metal armor similar to what Thor had on his arms, but it was all black. She stood up on her knees in front of Loki with what looked like a jagged sickle on an axe handle drawn and out in front of her. Her arms trembled with the tight grip she had on the handle.

"Stay back." She called out the group as they stopped and ready their weapons. Her eyes scanned the group back and forth quickly and her breath quickened.

Thor moved towards the front of the group. "Hela?"

"Stay back, we mean no harm." She said quickly, adjusting her grip on her axe.

"Hela, why aren't you on your throne in Helheim?" Thor asked as he held his hands out in a placating way.

"I left. I told them I may not come back. I would send word." She said without stopping her scanning of the group, continuing to shield Loki from view.

"Why?!" Thor said in shock.

"I had to save him. And then…then I had to help him and we came here to rest while my magic restored. Please, Uncle. We mean no harm. We want to go to Alfheim to Uncle Frey to seek sanctuary. I can't transport us again…not yet." Hela pleaded.

Bruce shifted back behind the group and took deep breaths. The other guy was stirring, but the feeling was strange and he wasn't sure why. He felt like Hulk was going to break forth on his own, but he wasn't angry or scared, so he wasn't sure what had gotten the other guy riled up. Every time he took a breath in through his nose the other guy shifted inside his mind.

"Hela, did you help Loki escape?" Thor asked pointedly.

"Escape! He didn't escape! He was taken!" Hela shouted. "I had to save him.' She said much quieter.

There was movement behind Hela as Loki adjusted himself and he continued to sit against the tree.

"Step away from Loki, miss." Cap said in his commanding voice. Romanoff aimed one of her guns and Clint got an arrow notched and ready to draw the string of his bow back. You could hear the hum of Iron Man's repulsor charging up.

"Please, we mean no harm." She said against just above a whisper. There was movement behind her again and then the 6 Avengers heard the cry of a baby coming from the area they couldn't see. They held their offensive stance and then they heard the roar of the Hulk as Bruce transformed behind them and surged forward in between the group of Avengers and Hela and Loki.

"STOP!" Hulk shouted at the group. "There's a mommy!" He shouted again.

The cries of the baby continued as Hulk looked behind Hela, at Loki. Hela looked quickly back and forth between the Avengers and Hulk, unsure of whether to start swinging her axe or not.

Hulk looked back at the other Avengers. "Puny god smells like a mommy." He implored.

"Big guy, you're going to have to move so we can get to Loki." Iron Man said. The Avengers had their weapons drawn and ready to take down the escaped prince and the girl who had been shielding him.

NOOOOO! Only mean daddies hurt mommies! NOT TEAM! Puny god smells like a mommy! Team doesn't hurt mommies!"

The entire team knew Bruce's background; how his father was abusive for years before he killed Bruce's mother when Bruce was 8. Everyone quickly understood Hulk's logic. Tony flipped up the face plate of the suit as he lowered his arm. He made eye contact with Hulk. "Okay, buddy. You're right, the team doesn't hurt mommies. But we've got to figure out what's going on, okay." The rest of the team lowered their weapons.

When Hulk saw his team ease their stances, he sat on the ground and pulled Loki into his lap with his massive arms. The team could see now that Loki looked worse for wear and exhausted. His clothes were ragged and he clutched a tiny blanketed bundle close to his chest. He was whimpering as Hulk pulled him close and surrounded Loki with those massive arms of his.

"Shhhh….Hulk protect the mommy."

AN: Let me know what you're thinking about this. The idea kind of came out of left field and I'm wondering if people want to read more.