Even through your drugged haze, you knew you couldn't let Loki hurt the innocent students. His illusions and daggers and magic were keeping everyone in the house, no one was escaping until he let them. Your brain just wanted to sleep and it was so hard to do anything, but you had to do something. You knew Loki wasn't a monster, but if he killed a bunch of high school students, no one else was ever going to believe that.

So you summoned all of you ability to get your body to do what it was told. "Loki ... don't... attack... the innocent," somehow you managed to get the words out. Damn drugs were not helping. You needed help before Loki did something stupid. "You're... not... a... monster... don't... let... them... make you one," you threw the last words out in desperation. The world was darkening, spinning dangerously, even though you were firmly sitting on a couch. You didn't have much time. It was taking all your effort just to stay conscious. You had to stay conscious, to find out what happened next. Loki hesitated, though, considering your words.

It was Jemma, brave, stupid, human Jemma who stepped forward to face down the enraged god. "Loki of Asgard," she greeted him formally with a curtsy. She was wearing a dress tonight too. Loki hesitated, obviously recognizing her, but seemed like he couldn't quite place from where through his rage. "It is I, Jemma of the Junior Class. We met this afternoon," she reminded him, her tone carefully polite. Loki nodded once.

"I am not letting the individuals who harmed my lady escape," Loki snarled, daggers in hand.

"Of course not," Jemma replied pleasantly. "Allow me to care for your lady while you hunt the monsters who did this," she offered. She was offering him an alternative to just killing them all, reminding him that some of them were good people. Loki considered her words, considered that he'd liked this girl when he met her earlier that afternoon. Thank all the gods that he did.

He nodded curtly, the effort not to destroy everyone taking all of his control. "The rest of the team will arrive soon. I would like to find the culprits before they do." He handed Jemma one of his daggers. It was as long as her arm. "I leave my lady in your care, Lady Jemma of the Junior Class." Loki stalked into the crowd to begin his hunt and Jemma ran over to you.

"Y/N, are you still awake?" she asked frantically. The relief that her actions had worked so far was visible on her face. She'd survived talking the god of chaos down from murdering everyone here.

"Yes." You managed the single word. It was so hard and you felt everything slipping. You weren't going to be able to hold out much longer against the drugs. It was a miracle you'd lasted this long.

"Damn morons. You were the last person they should've tried this on. Y/N, if you have any advice for keeping Loki from killing us all, now would be a really good time to share," Jemma said firmly. It took all of you will power to focus on her. You were desperately losing the fight against the drugs.

"He can hear lies, even his illusions can. If anyone tells him a lie any lie, he will assume they are guilty. If he goes homicidal, focus his attention back on me, tell him I need help, get his focus back on protection," you don't know how you got the words out, but you threw them at her as fast as you could. Dealing with Loki's temper and protective streak meant learning how to leash it and control it to something useful. Focusing him on protection instead of murder was the key. You weren't sure you were being clear. "Sorry, I-"

Jemma shook her head. "I got it, I'll spread the word. Don't apologize. It's impressive you're still conscious,"

Everything else came in pieces

Spiderman returned and helped Loki

The two kids who had looked too much older than the rest of you were bound up in webs

Tony appeared. He rushed over to where you were fading in and out of consciousness on the couch. You could barely open your eyes and had trouble focusing on him, even in his bright red and gold ironman suit. He seemed to establish you weren't in immediate danger of death. "Loki, take Y/N home," Loki hesitated, daggers drawn, and took a step toward the webbed-up guys. "Loki, protect my daughter, protect your girlfriend. Get her home." Tony's voice was more firm. Thor must've told him how to deal with Loki when he was this enraged. "I will deal with them,"

"One thing first," Loki said pleasantly. He stepped over to the guys and cut the webs from them, as if to give them a fair fight. It was nowhere near a fair fight. Loki was a fully trained warrior and had been raised as an Asgardian. They stood no chance. Loki quickly, efficiently, and very, very thoroughly beat the shit out of them. You could hear bones snapping from across the room and he left a dagger in each of them to remember him by. The entire crowd watched in shocked horror and amazement. The girls who had fears for their own safety at a party were amazed and seemed to idolize Loki.

"I didn't see that," Tony commented as Loki passed him to come to your side. Loki nodded. Tony would claim that he had no idea how the boys were injured. The kids would be coerced into agreeing with him.

Loki stood in front of your couch and turned to Jemma first. "Thank you for your assistance, Lady Jemma of the Junior Class," Loki bid her formally. She nodded in reply and tried to hand him the dagger back. "Keep it, with my regards," he told her, then turned to you and swept you up into his arms. You made a small involuntary noise of protest, too out of it to really realize what was going on. "Hush, love. It's me," he told you gently. His words were soft and soothing and you calmed, trusting him. "Close your eyes. Teleporting the first time is an experience..." he told you gently. "You're safe with me." Somehow that got through your drug addled mind. You closed your eyes and finally succumbed to the inevitable unconsciousness, trusting him with your safety.

*

It felt like a long time later before you woke again. You were still groggy and your head was fuzzy and on fire. You recognized at once that you weren't in your own bed. This was definitely not your bed and not your room. You bolted up into a sitting position, looking around frantically. "Are you awake this time, darling?" Loki's voice asked from nearby. Your head whipped toward the sound of his voice. Your brain cleared enough to recognize this as Loki's room. He was sitting in the chair near to the bed, obviously he'd been keeping guard.

"I'm awake," you rasped, your throat dry. You were still trying to remember what happened. All you knew was that you were tucked under a pile of blankets in Loki's bed.

"That's a relief. You were not the last time we spoke," he commented dryly. "Your repulsors are on the nightstand and the ibuprofen and water Lady Natasha said would help. My apologies for not getting up yet, but you did shoot me last time you woke and the wound has not quite healed yet,"

"I shot you?" you asked, even more confused. "I'm sorry,"

"At least you really are awake this time," he chuckled. "Shower and clean clothes first, or explanations?" he asked.

"Explanations," you replied firmly.

"What do you remember?" he asked gently as you reached for the ibuprofen and water. You noticed you were still wearing the same dress you'd had on last night. You trusted Loki, but it was still a relief. You took a sip of water and caught him up quickly on what you remembered, wrapping his blankets more firmly around yourself as you spoke. Loki nodded when you had finished. "They admitted to what they did. They saw Peter take your cups to get refills and dumped the drugs in yours when he had his back turned to get the soda bottle. They are in the hospital and will be going to jail afterwards. Trust me, their physical injuries are the least of their troubles," Loki added with a malicious glint in his eyes. You didn't even dare to ask what he'd done to them besides the ass kicking he'd handed them before he'd gotten you out of there. "I brought you back here where I could be sure you would be safe until you recovered," he added when you wisely didn't ask him for more details on the assholes.

"The team didn't fight you on that?" you asked.

"They tried. And failed." he replied pleasantly. You weren't sure you wanted to know about that either. He finally got out of the chair and sat on the bed next to you, pulling you into his arms. You didn't fight him, though he hissed in pain when he moved. "I should have killed those-" you didn't recognize the word he used, it must have been a filthy curse in Asgardian indeed.

"I think beating the shit of out them, imprisoning them, and whatever else you did will be torture enough," you reminded him, curling into the safety of his arms.

"They hurt what's mine," he snarled.

"They were going to," you agreed softly, gently, carefully. "You stopped them and they'll never be able to try it again. So what happened to get you shot?" you asked, concerned and confused, since you didn't remember shooting him.

"I neglected to remember that you were wearing your repulsors. I should have disarmed you when I put you to bed. You woke in the middle of the night trapped in a drugged nightmare. I got in the way of a repulsor shot. I felt it a good idea to remove them after that." He shrugged, but you could see it pained him.

"Where?" you asked, concerned. He sighed, but lifted his shirt so you could see the burn across his side.

"Don't worry, love, I heal quickly,"

"Still sorry," you told him.

"It's alright, darling," he replied and kissed your forehead. "Are you alright?"

You thought over the answer before you nodded. He seemed more reassured for the fact that you thought it over. "I will be. Still feeling...off, and starving, and in desperate need of a shower, but I'll be ok. Thanks to you."

"You're mine to protect. I failed you last night," he said sadly. You leaned up and kissed him.

"You did no such thing," you told him firmly. He finally seemed satisfied with that answer after a few more kisses and more reassurances that you were ok. Once he was calmed and reassured, you moved to get out of his arms. "Much as I'd love to stay curled in your arms all day, I am really gross and need a shower," you told him when he protested. He let you go reluctantly.

"Use mine?" he asked softly. You gave him a look. He looked at you with such pleading sad eyes when he begged. "Please?"

"Why?" you asked.

"So I can stand guard," he replied quickly, since you were actually giving him a chance to hear his answer. You sighed.

"Fine, but I need something to wear," you reminded him. You weren't getting back in this dress, quite possibly ever again. He summoned and handed you a bundle of clothes. You took them and went to his bathroom to get a shower. He seemed to relax and actually smiled when you came back out dressed in his pajama pants and t-shirt, smelling of his soap and shampoo. It took way too much effort and quite a few reminders that you were hungry to get him to agree to leave the room with you. There had been no point trying to convince him to let you leave without him. He was being super overprotective today, which made sense, but it was infuriating in your own home. He calmed again after you'd eaten and agreed to curl up on the couch in the livingroom with him for a nice calm morning of watching movies in his arms. He petted your hair while you watched the movie, kissing the top of your head repeatedly as if he needed to remind himself that you were there and safe.

You were going to have to yell at him if he stayed in this mood too long, but for today, you would let him fuss.