A/N: I had originally intended for Tony to be dead at the end of the story. However. While not tame, Loki is also not stupid. So, I think there is a plausible explanation for Tony surviving. If you want him to be dead, then stop after Chapter 1 and don't read this. But if you want a happier ending…

Tony woke abruptly from a dream about lily pads, and discovered that he was on the floor of a hallway surrounded by agents and Avengers both. Everyone was looking concerned. For him. He must be just regaining consciousness. For some reason. "What happened?"

"Loki." Natasha spoke up. "He choked you out somehow. With his pants down."

What the hell?

"Mind telling us what the hell was going on in there?"

It flooded back suddenly. I just sucked off a god.

He swallowed. His senses were all screwy, but he could still sort of taste...

"Did-" Did somebody give me mouth-to-mouth? he was going to snicker, but caught himself just in time. Some unlucky agent, probably, who would be better off not knowing. He revised himself. "Did Loki say anything?"

"Why?" Bruce was kneeling down beside him. "Don't you remember? You shouldn't have lost more than a couple of seconds, unless you were hurt worse than we know."

Tony shook his head. "No, I'm fine. He… said he had to pee," he invented. There really wasn't a better explanation for what the prisoner was doing with his dick out. "I think I was going to hold a bucket or something for him... I guess it all just happened fast. Or maybe I hit my head? You know I've had concussions in the double digits since I started with the Iron Man thing."

Bruce blinked. "I do know that." He looked around. "I also know that nobody else here did. You're usually incredibly protective with your medical information. Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah – fine." He struggled up, and everybody helped him to his feet. "Uh… where's Loki?"

"Getting his face bashed in," Natasha said coolly. "Thor had a change of heart when he found out what happened."

"Think he'll mind if I tag in?"

Steve sighed. "I know you're no hero, Stark, but bloodthirsty battery is…"

"Is the least of what he deserves," Tony snapped. "He could have killed me."

Natasha looped her arm through his and tugged. "Come on – I'll take you. Everybody else, back to work." She brought him down the hall and paused at the door. "He could have killed you," she repeated softly.

"Yep."

She swiped her card over the lock. "I'll stay out here in case you need anything."

"Thanks."

When he stepped in he had to fight hard not to make a face. Loki was in rough, rough shape. Still tied to the chair, but chained tighter – and slumped against the chains, his head drooping until all you could see was hair. With sweat and blood dripping off it.

"Hey there, broskis." He crossed his arms and waited.

Thor didn't look at him. "I am glad to see that you are well," he said, grim.

"Yeah, me too. And how about you?" he said to Loki, and crossed the room to grab the god by the hair. Yanked, and tried not to wince. There were bleeding cuts, welts, swelling. Thor hadn't been gentle – and the way Loki's eye and nose had already puffed up said he'd been at it for a while now. "Hey. I said, aren't you glad to see me?"

Loki coughed – which sprayed blood. Tony had to let go to let him spit it out. "Perhaps you haven't noticed, but I have bigger problems right now than you, Stark."

Tony smiled. "No, you don't." He followed Thor's lead and talked without taking eyes off the prisoner. "Thor: mind if I take over?"

"That would be fair." Thor patted him on the shoulder (ruining his shirt in the process; the hand was sticky with blood) and headed for the door.

He paused just before stepping out. "Man of Iron… you need not stay your hand out of thought for me. There is nothing left of my brother in the creature before you; I care not whether he lives or dies."

Loki spat blood again and called after him: "Love you too, Thor! Tell Mother I said hello!"

Tony waited until the door clanged shut. Then he reached down and tipped Loki up by the chin. "Now, I am officially your biggest problem." He waited to see what Loki would say.

"I'll take another blow job first, if you're offering." Loki spoke in almost a whisper, definitely too soft for the cameras to pick up, but nevertheless…

"Let's get ourselves some privacy," Tony said loudly. "I don't like to kick the crap out of people with an audience." He disconnected the cameras and then came to stand by the chair. A safe distance away. "All right, Reindeer Games. Mind telling me what the hell happened?"

Loki shrugged underneath the chains. "I choked you unconscious. Then I kicked things at the door to draw the attention of the guard outside."

Tony shifted. "Why?"

"Because you didn't wake promptly on your own. I thought perhaps I'd held you a little longer than advisable."

"No but I mean… why didn't you just finish me off? You said you were going to."

"I reconsidered. Killing you wouldn't have brought me any closer to escape," Loki pointed out – calm. "But releasing you, so that you owed your life to me… might."

Tony's jaw dropped. "I don't owe my life to you, you ass."

"No? What do you think would have happened if I'd held on a while longer? I could have killed you – or made a vegetable of you if I were feeling really cruel. Instead I released you of my own volition. I assure you, you weren't going anywhere on your own."

"I- I don't owe you shit." He tried not to feel shaken. It was true, though – he could have died. "You choked me til I passed out, Loki."

"Yes, and my brother has already taken me to task for that." Loki gave him a bloody smile. "You don't think his efforts were sufficient?"

"You're missing the point."

"No. You are. You're wasting time." He sniffled in hard and spat blood out onto the floor with authority. "Get the woman in here and let's get started."

Tony had been reaching into his back pocket for a rag, because all the blood was starting to distract him, but at that he froze. "What?"

"The woman. Romanoff. She did accompany you, did she not?"

How could he know that? "Uh…" Ignore him. No good ever came of listening to Loki. "Head back," he ordered, instead of answering. There was a cut through Loki's eyebrow that was particularly ugly, yawning open and dripping blood down into the eye. It looked horrible. "Can you even see?"

"Not now that you're holding a cloth over my face," Loki reported, sounding impatient. "Enough. I don't require first aid, Stark, I require Agent Romanoff. Please be so good as to fetch her for me."

Tony applied more pressure suddenly, to shut him up. "Why?" In case the pressure wasn't incentive enough, he rubbed.

"Ah-." Loki struggled a moment, then held himself still and just grit his teeth. "All right. Because- ah. Because one rogue agent would not be enough to effect an escape. But with two of you, and some good planning, it will be possible."

Escape? He stopped poking at the cut. Even if he'd been considered maybe owing Loki a thank-you, which he was still not certain about, it certainly would not stretch so far as escape. "Uh, Loki, I hate to burst your bubble, but I'm not helping you get out of here."

Loki's voice was all pained and airy, but he answered with confidence. "Yes you are. If you won't help me you'll be expected to help kill me, and I know you don't want to. Especially not after I've spared you."

"I really don't give you as much credit for that as you're-"

"Besides," Loki said over him, "Think how awkward it will be to murder me with the taste of me still on your tongue. My seed still in your belly."

All right, that was... not something he wanted to think about. And he wished he didn't still taste it. How much mouthwash would it take to forget?

"Well anyway," he said, "Unless I missed something, Natasha doesn't have the same, you know, dilemma. So she'll never-"

"She will help me because I have Barton. And have ordered him to commit suicide if I don't return on schedule."

Shit. He wanted to accuse Loki of lying – Loki was, after all, an inveterate liar. But they couldn't take the chance. "You've told her that?"

"Not the details – there were cameras, and she'd be kept from me if Fury thought her compromised. But she knows what I want and the kind of thing I'll do if she doesn't cooperate. Go and fetch her. She's doubtless already obtained keys for these shackles, and I'd like to get going. I have work to get back to; I can't sit around all day being fellated by superheroes." He chuckled. "As enjoyable as that might be. I will admit you're good at it."

Since he couldn't even look the prisoner in the face anymore and didn't know what else to do, Tony went and let Natasha in.

The End.

There: a happier ending. Satisfied?