A/N: Thank you so much for your kind words and for taking the time to read this!

Title: Second Chances

Description: Toni Maria Stark was a person who believed in second chances. Apparently, having this belief had a habit of getting her in trouble. For example, one green eyed god. When she realizes that Loki may be innocent of all crimes, you better be sure that she's going to try and save him…And find herself along the way. FEMALE TONI. Toni/Loki

Rating: T for Violence and Cussing.

Disclaimer: I literally own nothing.

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"Son of a gun." Captain said, watching with some form of delight as Stark fell.

"She's not slowing down!" Thor exclaimed, watching as Iron Man continued her quick descent to the ground. Thor began to swing his hammer in order to launch himself in the air, but was stopped by the familiar feel of Loki's magic. Without another thought, he stilled.

"What are you doing?" Black Widow asked in disbelief.

"Wait." Thor said urgently, continuing to watch as Iron Man became closer and closer to the ground.

Before she made it to the tops of the buildings, Loki's green magic surrounded her. Her downward spiral turned into a slow decent to the ground. Within seconds, she was laid down before them.

In another second, Loki was besides Thor, who had teleported there, making everyone else jump.

"Brother!" Thor said jovially, smiling at him. "The Woman of Iron managed to release you from the spell?"

"Wait!" Hawkeye said before Loki could respond. He had an arrow pointed straight at Loki's chest, which wasn't a surprise. "You're telling me that you were being controlled this entire time?"

"I'm sure you would love to put an arrow in my eye, Agent Barton," Loki answered sarcastically. "But why don't we help Stark before engaging in such a ridiculous battle."

"She's not breathing!" Black Widow answered, kneeling besides Stark. "How the hell do I get this armor off?"

"She's in love with her technology, is she not?" Loki asked the group. He limped over to her form. "What does she call that ridiculous talking voice in her house?"

"JARVIS?" Natasha answered.

"JARVIS?" Loki asked. "Remove the suit."

"Access granted." JARVIS answered, much to the surprise of everyone around her. "Code 413 being engaged."

The suit neatly slid itself off of her body. It then stood up on its own, looking like a guarding statue.

What was revealed was shocking. Stark's injuries ranged from bad to worse. Her leg was the first thing that caught the team's eye. It appeared that the suit had slashed open her leg from her knee to the middle of her thigh. Her shoulder wasn't much better. It looked dislocated. Little cuts and bruises covered her face.

Loki's eye, however, was only on the thing in the middle of her chest, and why it wasn't glowing.

Without asking anyone else, he kneeled beside Toni Stark. He held out his hand, palm up and closed his eyes.

"Brother…" Thor said warningly.

"Don't," Loki's eyes flashed open "Call me that." Before anyone could mutter a word of denial, Loki formed a ball of green energy in his hand. A millisecond later, he slammed the ball into her arc reactor.

Toni's reaction was instantaneous. She sprang up from the ground, taking in a large gasp of breath.

"What just happened?" She asked, her eyes wide. "Why do I taste something a kin to a forest?" She spotted Loki next to her. "Holy shit, you're alive." She laughed hysterically. "Barton didn't kill you."

"Still a possibility, Stark." Barton answered, though he had a small smirk on his face.

"What happened?" She asked again, still a little out of it.

"We won." The Captain answered, almost in disbelief.

"Awesome." She replied, meaning it. In a mock version of earlier, Loki held out his hand to her. She smiled at him and took it.

"Ow!" She yelped as soon as her full weight was put on her leg. Loki held her up her weight once again, much to the team's shock. "Freakin' god that hurt like a bitch." She hissed. She leaned against the Iron Man suit. "J, give me that damn shot."

"Ma'am, do you not think that it is more prudent to replace the Arc Reactor?"

"What the frig is wrong with-" She looked down at herself and fell silent. The usual blue glow of the reactor was replaced by a dark mist of a forest green color. It swirled inside the arc reactor, instead of being a solid color. It was beautiful.

"My magic," Loki explained, also looking at her technology, picking up on her shocked expression. "it is one of the most powerful sources of energy."

She shook her head. "I am probably the most wanted woman in all of science right now. I literally have magic running through my veins." Was her only answer. "Where's Banner? I want – no, need – to pick his brain."

"Last time I saw him," Barton answered, his bow still in his hand but not drawn. "he was transforming back near your tower."

She pointed dramatically at him… Which turned out looking really pathetic because all she could do was lean on her suit and limp a little bit. "Good idea!"

"What?" He asked.

"Going back to the tower. I like it. Sleep sounds wonderful."

"Sorry, but I'm not going anywhere until someone explains how he-" Rogers made a gesture a Loki. "is innocent."

Toni turned to Natasha. "You're telling me you didn't see it?" Natasha raised an eyebrow at her. "You didn't notice the whole 'blue eyed' thing?"

Natasha looked at Loki. He continued to look bored, something he had managed to do for the entire conversation.

"The master spy didn't see it and I did." She let a laugh. "I'm awesome."

"Get on with it, Stark." Barton said, clearly annoyed at her. He couldn't blame her. What with everything that happened, Toni was still attempting to catch up with her brain. It was constantly switching back between what happened in the portal and what was going on now. Loki, who still had his arm on her shoulder to help balance her, was not helping the situation. His presence was just confusing in general. Why didn't he run away yet?

"In everyone single story of these two," She gestured to the gods in question. "Thor and Loki are known as two things: Thor is the god of lightning, Loki is the god of Mischief. However, in each of Loki's tales, Loki had green everything."

She paused. "Is that a real thing? Because if so you have a really odd fetish."

He glared at her. It was the only thing she need to get her back on track.

"Anyway, Loki's eyes, the entire time, have been blue, the same shade as yours, Barton."

"And that just proves that he's innocent?" Barton demanded. "He was the one who start all of this."

"Loki," She faked stage whispered, "Help me out here."

He glared at her again. The glaring, it appeared, would never end. "I was sent here by someone called the Avenger of Death."

"Awesome!" Toni cut in. "See, he said he's innocent." She let out a breath of air. "I'm tired, I'm in pain, there's magic I don't know about running through my system that might cause me damage later, I'm heading back to the tower."

Silence followed her. Rogers folded his arms.

She groaned. "SHIELD will be here any minute now. Can we, for the sake of a break from – mostly – testosterone filled fights, go back to the tower? I'll keep an eye on 'glare's a lot,' I swear."

"I do not need to be-"

"Stark's got a point." The Captain said, cutting off Loki's clear displeasure at the idea. She didn't know how much longer he would take of their bickering, nor did she know how much longer she could stay upright. "We're all tired, and SHIELD can wait a couple hours."

"Spangles," She said, "Forget these two, you are a god." Barton chocked on his laughter. "J, bring 'em here."

The eyes on the suit lite up blue. She held up her arms, revealing the metal wrist bands.

"Miss, thruster three appears to be malfunctioning." She whined at JARVIS' comment. She limped over to the left side of the suit.

"Wait," Barton said, looking perplexed. "If that… Thing." He made an odd gesture at the suit.

"JARVIS." Toni answered. She tapped the boot of the suit. "He's an AI."

"A what?" Captain asked.

"Holy mother of – he's a computer that has his own thought system." She answered impatiently.

"Miss, it appears that the latch is molded shut."

"Yes, I see that." She grumbled. "What's your question, Barton?"

"If JARVIS can control the suit, why are you actually – you know – still fighting?"

She paused. "Because, even if I trust my programming, JARVIS is still just that… a computer program. He would do what's best in every sense of the word. If you could save five people, but risk losing one, he would do it." She interrupted her speech with a curse word. It appeared that the suit cut her finger.

"I believe that everyone has to be saved," She said quietly, not looking anyone in the eye. "No matter what the cost. No one gets left behind."

She shook her head, attempting to get rid of the pensive atmosphere she created. "Rogers, I need your muscle."

He kneeled next to her. His aggressive opinion of her has seemed to vanish after her little speech. She tried not to let it bother her. "What do you need?" He asked, not unkindly.

"Actually, I need something from everyone." She realized. "However, you," He poked Captain on the shoulder. "remove that little thing right there."

She pointed at the panel. It was molded shut on two sides of it by what look like a blast from one of the Chitauri. Quick enough, Steve ripped right through. What was reveal was a mass of sparking wires.

"Barton, hand me an arrow."

"But it's my last one." He whined. None the less, after the glare he got from everyone him, he gently threw it over to her.

"Don't worry, egg head." She said, easily catching it. She winced internally at the insulting name 'egg head'. What the hell kind of nickname was that? It didn't even make sense. "I'll give you some more. Better than SHIELD's at least."

Wait, what? What the hell did she just say? She didn't even build weapons for Rhodey anymore. Why would she willing build them for someone that she just met?

"Because he helped you." Her brain whispered to her. "You trust him now."

"Really!" Barton asked, now smiling. He looked like a giddy child. She ignored the inner voice in her head, attempting to focus once more. Loki, it seemed, had also seen the look of confusion on her face a moment ago. However, much to her relief, he didn't comment on it.

"Don't tell anyone." She muttered, using the tip of the arrow to move wires around. One sparked, causing the Captain to jump.

"Easy there, red white and blue." She joked, "still need you to get yourself back to the tower. I sure as hell ain't dragging you there."

He blushed, much to the delight of Toni. "Alright, Sparky." Toni said, throwing a thumb in Thor's direction.

"I?" Thor asked, honestly confused.

She rolled her eyes at him. "No, the other god of thunder standing next to you – of course Goldilocks, come here."

He hesitantly walked over to her. Loki rolled his eyes at his behavior. She, in favor, ignored the whole quiet exchange.

"What's the smallest spark you can make?" She asked him. The Captain was now, once again, next to Natasha who seemed impatient. Toni wondered about that for a moment, but she ignored her curiosity. This was not the time to figure out everyone's motives.

Before Thor could respond, Loki let out a full blown "ha" that was mix of sarcasm and disbelief. The noise caused all of the Avengers to turn his head towards him, including the now annoyed Thor.

"I apologize," Loki said, a smirk on his face that confirmed that it was far from an apology. "but you want the buffoon, the one who favors grander shows of his power, to create a spark small enough to fix something that is beyond his understanding?"

Toni raised an eyebrow at him, unwilling to let him get away with his… mostly insane question. "What, Doctor Doom II, you got a better idea?"

Loki took it exactly as Toni expected him to; as a challenge. He glared at her with more malicious than it was before, but she held her ground. Actually, the stare was so convincing that she could feel herself tense. Was Loki really going to try something now? For a brief second, she realized that danger that is Loki.

Without saying another word, he flicked her hand in her direction. Before she even had a concept of 'protecting herself' the small magic made the two wires that she was trying to connect fuse together. In her shock, the breath that she was holding in came out as a sigh of relief.

"Alright, Point Break," She fake whispered to Thor, who was equally surprised that his brother didn't do anything. "Your adoptive brother is either a genius or a psychopath. Possibly both. Probably both."

But really, Loki continued to throw her for a loop. Everything about the man screamed aggressive, yet he continued to good when dealing with her. Was this to prove to his brother that he was innocent? That must be it. Loki is literally the god of second motives.

"I am not someone who tolerates words against my person." He practically growled the phrase.

"Right," She said, once again ignoring the tension in the air. "I am not having this discussion right now." She looked again from his green glaring eyes. "One more thing…" She muttered. "Natasha, get your curvy hip bones over here."

"Stark…" She snarled, sounding very unimpressed at her so-called compliment.

"No worries, red-head." She continued, "you get the fun part." She gently tapped her dislocated shoulder. "Fix it."

"I object!" Thor boomed, looking worried. "Should you not see a healer to do such things?"

"Would love to, blondie," She responded, slamming her eyes closed as Natasha walked over to her. "If I pass out from this one, any reasonable doctor would steal my chest piece in the blink of – MOTHER FUCKER!"

And with that, her shoulder was forcibly put back into place. The pain was intense, but nothing should couldn't handle. If anything, as soon as it was over, the pain receded faster than she expected. She took a few deep breaths anyway.

"Well, that was fun." She told the group, looking at her like she was crazy. She couldn't blame that. She was saying and doing some pretty ridiculous things right now. "but I'm sure Bruce is still lying naked outside my tower, and I would rather not let the poor dude literally sweat his balls off."

The Captain blushed at her foul mouth.

"J, bring her over here." She told him.

"Miss Stark," JARVIS said as the suit neatly slide onto her person. "Mrs. Potts would like to inform you that you are 'so dead that not even her name on a lease can't save you.'"

She whistled. "Yup, I'm dead." She muttered. "J, get me there faster than a business man running to a whore."

"Stark!" Rogers cried, taking that comment as the last straw.

"See you there!" She cried, racing off towards the tower.

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The flight there, Toni would like to say, was undramatic. She would of loved to say that she got there in a manner of minutes, lifted Banner from the floor, offered to show him her lab, met up with the other Avengers, take in Loki's glare and sent him up on the couch, and went to sleep without any troubles.

However, the list of troubles grew on her seven minute flight alone.

Toni had never felt this way before. Her mind was scattered brain and fuzzy, and her heart was beating a miles a minute. She felt detached from her body; like a programmed robot just going through the motions. She was still in the air, letting JARVIS handle the ride home, something she rarely does because she enjoys the rush she gets in the suit. However, her hands were clammy and everything was just unfamiliar and uncomfortable. She had nothing to rely on.

It was pure madness.

Toni's greatest strength was being able to think when in stressful situations. Not being able to do that was appalling. It felt like she left part of herself somewhere safe, but then forget where she put it. Her usually snarky and sarcastic personality was left back with her so-called team, and emotional yet somehow empty shell was put in its place.

There was so much that happened in the last hour. She couldn't process it. It would be so god damn simple to just forget everything in this one moment. She had almost died! She willingly took a nuke into space, knowing full well what that meant.

She had made the sacrifice play, and was now messed up because of it.

And that lead her to her next question: Who did she trust? She couldn't function like this forever, and she needed time to restart her brain. Who could she trust to fill her shoes for a day or two?

The first person that came to her mind was Pepper. She was everything to her. She was what kept him fighting. She was what kept him grounded. For twelve years she looked after him and cleaned up her messes without complaining. Pepper stayed by her side even when things got dangerous. She could handle anything and everything without even batting an eye.

... But she would die before she let her deal with all this. Hell, Toni would kill herself before she let Pepper deal with this mess by herself. Not even perfect Pepper could handle the Avengers… and Loki.

The second person: Rhodey. But Rhodey already had a suit. War Machine may be full of weapons that even she was afraid of, but it still got the job done. But how could Toni trust him after the incident at Malibu? But Rhodey was a better solider than she was. He would follow orders without hesitation or complaints. But was that a good thing? Could Rhodey handle fighting for other people's lives without getting orders or would he let Captain America order him around? That would be the last thing Toni wanted.

And then there was... No one.

It hit her like a ton of bricks. She felt- god dammit she didn't know what he felt. Empty? Useless? Horrible? Were there even words to describe the unending, devastating feeling she had in the pit of her stomach? It was an endless circle of hate towards herself. Could he ever stop it? Could someone stop it? Then again who was going to stop it? She had no one after all.

All of a sudden, everything became clear to her.

Toni Stark didn't let other people get into her head. All of this – her pain, her thoughts, her trust – it started because of her own actions. Not by trusting other people or listening to orders. All of this was because of her.

Somehow, this revelation made it easier to breath. She was still in control. She could fix this. She could handle Loki and the Avengers.

She did trust them, but that didn't matter. She could ignore her own death wish later. She had a responsibility to uphold. She owed that to the people of New York.

So, as she landed on the spinning rims, she plastered on the most confident aura she could. She was Toni motherfucking Stark, and nothing had changed. She could deal with her decisions later.

Right now, she had to deal with Pepper.

"What the hell were you thinking!" Pepper cried, running up to her and giving her the biggest hug known to mankind. Not expecting that response, Toni froze in her embrace, not really sure what to do.

"Toni, you could have died." Pepper said, pulling away to look directly into Toni's eyes. What Toni found were blue eyes clouded with tears. Guilt quickly formed in her stomach.

"I know, Pep." Toni answered, voice near a whisper. "But I'm fine." Toni could almost taste the way the lie rolled off her tongue. "See, back in one – obviously perfect – piece." Toni smiled at her, attempting to cheer the teary aided assistant up.

Her words only brought more tears, much to the shock of Toni. Pepper was never this emotional.

"Pep…" Toni said, this time pulling her into a hug. She wasn't one to hug, but Pepper refused to stop crying, and she saw no other solution. "Seriously, I'm fine. It's alright."

Pepper chocked back more tears. "Rhodey's pissed." She told her, still crying a little bit. Pepper used her hand to wipe away some of the tears. "He's on his way over now."

"Damn." Toni replied. She was not interested in dealing with a pissed off older brother. She was already dealing with an emotional older sister.

Pepper smacked her hard on the arm.

"Ow!" Toni cried, cradling it. It had actually hurt! "What the hell?"

"You're an idiot!" Was Pepper's heated response. "I should make you go to like, fifteen, board meetings."

Toni's eyes widen in mock fear. "Fifteen, Pep? Isn't that being a bit dramatic?"

"Shut up, you idiot." Pepper chuckled.

Toni smiled back at her.

There was a calm moment of silence where both of them just appreciated the other's company, but then Toni remembered her other responsibilities.

"Shit!" She said, hobbling over to the elevator. "Bruce is still outside!"

"Bruce?" Pepper asked, having no idea what's going on. "Who's Bruce?"

Toni had no time to answer her, by the time Pepper got over Toni's sudden burst of energy, the elevator's doors closed, and she was off the grab Bruce.

"How's he doing, J?" She asked, waiting impatiently as the elevator descended. Her leg, which was now proaped up on one of the railings, wasn't helping her impatience.

Shit, she was going to need to call a medic, wasn't she? Crap.

"Bruce Banner, along with the rest of the Avengers and Loki, are waiting outside, currently attempting to gain access inside. I would like to mention that Black Widow has successfully pushed back the first fire wall, but is stuck on the second."

Toni nodded. "I'm impressed. I'll let 'em up myself, J."

"Of course, Miss."

And with that, the elevator promptly opened, revealing the faces of the rag tag team. Everyone, besides Bruce (who looked ready to fall asleep), looked mildly angry at her.

"What I do?" She asked.

"Really, Stark?" Natasha answered, rising a (mostly) innocent eyebrow at her. "We've been waiting for two minutes."

I rolled my eyes. "Now I'm waiting on you. Let's go."

To say the elevator ride was awkward was putting it mildly. No one wanted to be next to the God of Lies, and therefore Toni was left with the job. She was constantly bumping into him to the less than adequate room, and he seemed to barely tolerate the action. Not only was Loki and issue, the silence alone was enough to drive Toni to drink.

Fortunately, the elevator ride was just that; and elevator ride. The hell ended in only a minute.

However, the next hell had just begun.

Pepper instantly greeted the group, her eyes finding Toni immediately. Unlike before, when she was just glad that Toni was alive, she looked ready to kill.

"Pepper Potts," Toni said, pushing past the rest of them before the rest of the group before they could get out. "meet the rag tag team."

Everyone moved out of the elevator and spread themselves out, allowing Pepper to view them.

Her eyes widened dramatically. However, it wasn't by awe or anything pleasant, it was out of anger. Her lips had formed a straight line, and if looks could kill Toni would be dead on the floor.

Pepper, however, took it in stride. She knew that all of the yelling could continue later. Instead of bothering to greet any of them, she asked "whoever needs medical attention, raise their hands."

No one moved, Toni included.

"Toni Stark, I swear to god, if you don't raise your hand, I'm going to toss you out of the shattered window."

Toni dramatically raised her hand after Pepper's threat. She had no doubt that Pepper would find some other way to torture her if she didn't.

"Whipped." Clint muttered to Natasha, who smiled slightly.

Pepper and Toni raised their eyebrows at him. "Alright, Barton." Toni told him, acting uncaring. "No arrows for you."

Fake fear flashed through Barton eyes and he raised his hand. "Gotta admit, I'd love some Stark arrows."

"No one else?" Pepper threatened, looking menacing with her smile.

An idea flashed inside Toni's chaotic mind. "JARVIS, activate protocol seven six. No info leaves this room, but dial up the trusted Doc."

"Activating protocol." There was silence for a moment. "It appears that you, Miss, have a linear femur fracture, along with other mild to severe bruising and cuts along your persons. Some cuts require stitches, including the head wound and cuts on your back. The arc reactor is functioning normally, along with your heart rate, but compounds used inside the device cannot be detected. Chemical unknown."

Bruce sprang to life at JARVIS words. "Magic can be defined as a chemical?"

"Question unable to be answered at this time." JARVIS told him.

"Who cares about that!" Pepper exploded, looking nervous. "Why is it green?!"

Toni pointed an offending finger at Loki. "He did it!" She exclaimed. "Okay, he saved my life, so cool, but he did it."

Loki raised an eyebrow at her, looking anything but impressed. Pepper continued to glare at Toni.

"I'll get a new one as soon as this is over." Toni told her, ignoring the concern. Not in front of everyone. "JARVIS, the others."

"Scan detects Agent Clint Barton having trouble breathing. This is probably due to two broken ribs."

Clint shrugged, "I'll be fine."

The only response to that was a rather hard slap on the back of the head from Natasha.

"Natasha Romanoff has a sprained ankle, along with a deep cut on her stomach that requires stitches."

She shrugged. "I've had worse."

Of that, Toni was sure, she had no doubt.

"Captain Steven Rogers and Thor seemed to have little to no injures, but video evidence revels that both should be suffering from more grievous injuries."

Both shrugged. "Asgardians heal fast." Thor answered as Steve replied "I heal fast." At the same time.

Toni, for the life of her, could no longer stay awake. As soon as the little diagnoses of everyone was done, all of her energy was snapped out her so fast that she ended up leaning on the bar. She couldn't stop herself from panicking at her quickly weakling strength.

"Toni?" Pepper asked, frantically moving to her side. She put her hand on her shoulder.

"I'm fine." She muttered, the last thought on her mind being the concern for her wellbeing by her teammates. "Just tired."

But she knew it was a lie. This wasn't tired, this was something else. What the hell was going on? Before she knew it, spots danced in her vision. Her weight became too much for her and she felt herself crash to the ground.

And that's when she felt it. The pieces ledged inside of her body began to make its slow path to her heart. Without having to look down, she knew that her arc reactor had died.

There was movement. Someone was yelling. People were moving her; pushing her, touching her chest, holding her hand.

The pain lessened. Her vision dimmed.

And the only thing she could remember were a pair of green eyes staring at her with wide, fearful eyes.

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A/N: So, I would love to explain this chapter. First, so much dialogue! Oh my gosh, there was so much it was hard to write.

Let me explain why there is so much dialogue: I really want to focus on the team and the dynamics, but I want the story to progress with Loki and Toni's relationship as the main plot. However, I still want Toni to be with the Avengers. They're important later, so I need them to have some team bonding.

So, that's why this chapter feels… Choppy. It's fast, it riveting, and it's about explaining the characters actions and thoughts.

Update times: I hope to update every two weeks. So far, it looks like that's going to work.

A/N: Reviews feed the muse! Please feed a hunger author. Thanks for reading!