Let Me Help You

Tony watched closely as Fury approached the Quinjet and went outside to tell him what was going on.

"So then Stark, tell me why I should care about this maniac." Fury asked mildly annoyed that he has had little information passed to him, from Rogers of all people.

"That scepter of his was controlling him just like it's controlling Barton. He was captured by some guy called Thanos, tortured and forced upon earth to do his bidding. The big blonde guy in there is his big brother, who thought that Loki had died following a suicide attempt, which is what led to his capture." Tony said, only giving Fury the important information. "He agreed to come here with us and Thor under the condition that he was examined by Dr Banner. We came to the agreement that he would see him if his brother didn't have to sit in on the examination. I thought that was reasonable enough." Tony said telling Fury what was going to happen rather than awaiting orders from him.

"What makes you think he isn't still under the control of the scepter, Stark?" Fury asked sceptically.

"He has been very co-operative with us and his brother has managed to talk to him about various things too and has agreed that he is acting normal again. Oh and then he almost jumped off a cliff. He took a big hit to the head and we think that it removed whoever was controlling him. He didn't want to get anywhere near the scepter after that, so we're pretty sure he's safe." Tony replied back to Fury.

"Alright." Fury nodded. "I will take your word for this Tony. But I'm warning you, if he does anything threatening whilst he is here I will not hesitate to imprison him and hold you personally responsible." Fury said pointing a finger towards Tony. Tony gave a mock salute back to Fury and led the two gods down the medical bay where Bruce was waiting for them.

MED BAY

When they entered the medical bay, Bruce had already set up various pieces of equipment to examine the god.

"Will you be okay in here brother? Are you sure you don't want me to stay?" Thor asked worried that his brother will be scared.

Loki shook his head. "I will be fine brother. Please, go and talk to your friends so we can go home." He replied and Thor nodded sadly. He didn't understand why his brother didn't want his support.

"You good, Brucey?" Tony asked the doctor, playing with a box of medical grade scalpels.

"Yeah, I'm fine Tony. You need to sort everything out. I'll let you know if I need anything." Bruce replied back to the scientist, whilst taking his box of scalpels back.

"Gotcha. Let me know when you're finished with him." Tony said with a quick wave before leaving the room with Thor.

Loki looked at Bruce nervously. "Who are you going to tell about what you see?" Loki asked quietly.

"Most of this information will be confidential. I will only tell Fury what is absolutely necessary. I will let you know what I will be telling him and if there's something there you don't agree with, let me know and we can discuss it. Okay?" The doctor replied, trying to keep Loki as calm as possible.

Loki nodded and sat on the edge of the hospital bed.

"Now, I'm going to need you to take all your clothes off for me so I can take a look at what damage they have done to you." Bruce asked nicely, noticing the fear in Loki's eyes he added. "Don't worry. Nobody else can see and I'm not going to tell anyone else."

Feeling slightly calmer, Loki used a simple spell that allowed his clothes to disappear with ease, saving time. He was left sitting in his underwear with his arms crossed against his stomach.

Bruce started his examination at the head, making sure that the bump didn't cause any serious damage and he made sure that Loki's neck wasn't damaged. He then done a quick check of the shoulders, looking for any obvious injury. After being satisfied that all was okay he moved down to Loki's bruised chest. His examination found that Loki had several broken ribs with various scrapes and lacerations that had barely started to heal. Just as he was finishing up he noticed that Loki had both fresh and old looking cuts and scars on his forearms that he was trying to keep hidden. He sat down on his chair in front of Loki in an attempt to reassure the god.

"Loki?" The doctor said in a calm manner. Loki looked up to face the other man. "Can you tell me what happened to your wrists?" Bruce didn't want to make any accusations and upset the prince, but he wanted to be sure about his thoughts. Loki looked down at his arms, then back to Bruce and quickly made his clothes reappear. He shook his head, tears forming in his eyes.

"I don't want to talk about it." Loki kept his head down and played with the cuffs on his armour avoiding Bruce's gaze.

"It's okay, you don't have to tell me. Can you at least let me make sure these aren't infected because some of these are very fresh." Bruce was concerned about how new the cuts were and he could tell by the way the were placed and how straight they looked that they had been self-inflicted. Judging by Loki's reaction, he doesn't think that his brother knows about it. Loki shook his head.

"They'll be fine." he still unable to meet Bruce's eyes.

"Well, the good news is that you seem to be mostly unharmed physically with just a few broken ribs, scrapes and bruises. You are malnourished though so we need to try and get some food in you. I am a little concerned about your wrists, but I don't think Fury needs to know about that. Does that seem okay to you?" Bruce asked hoping that Loki would agree.

He nodded his head slowly. "Thank you." he whispered as he hopped down from the bed. Bruce had finished clearing up his medical equipment and sent a message to Tony letting him know that they were on their way up.

FURY'S OFFICE

Thor was stood opposite Fury, trying to understand why the other man was looking so tired, while Tony was lazing around in one of Fury's chairs.

"So you can confidently tell me that your brother is no longer being influenced by this thing." Fury asked looking frustrated at the days turn of events, he rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Yes. He has returned to his somewhat normal self." Thor replied with a smile.

"Somewhat normal does not inspire confidence, Hammer Guy."

"Well, I say somewhat because he is not behaving as mischievous as normal, which is understandable given that he has been tortured for this long."

Bored of how long this conversation was taking, Tony stood up. "Fury can we hurry this up so I can go home?"
Fury shot Tony an annoyed look and he reluctantly sat back down with a sigh.

"I want you to stay at Stark Tower just for two days so we can make sure he's definitely clear. Okay?" Fury asked.

Thor nodded solemnly. "I suppose we will have to agree. We will be allowed to leave after those two days, correct?"

"Come and go as you please after that for all I care as long as you stay out of my way."
Thor nodded and sat down next to Tony. After five minutes of waiting, Bruce and Loki can into the office.

"Brother! How was it? Are you badly injured?" Thor asked jumping up from his seat and standing directly in front of Loki with a smile on his face.

"Calm yourself, brother. I am well, just a few broken ribs. They will heal with time." Loki replied moving past his brother to sit down.

"And what of your mind brother? You did not seem too pleased to see me and you wanted to jump off a cliff." Thor knew he was risking an argument here, but he had to know how his brother was feeling. At least if he started to argue, he could see that the Loki he knew was still there. Bruce listened in closely about the whole jumping off a cliff thing. If he was to look after this guy for a few days, he needed to better understand his mental state.

"My mind has not been the way you remember it for a long time now, brother. I think we both know that what happened at the Bifrost was going to happen sooner or later, as much as you probably don't want to admit it. Those thoughts and feelings have been a part of me for many hundreds of years. It just became too much." He decided that there'd be no point in trying to lie now because Thor would just question it regardless. "What's the plan then?" he had decided to ask. He wanted to know how soon he would be allowed to return home.

Fury recounted the plan to Loki so he knew what was going to happen. When he agreed, Fury dismissed the men from his office and allowed them to leave, glad that he didn't have to babysit two gods with completely opposing personalities.