A/N: This will almost certainly be considered AU when Iron Man 3 comes out, but I don't really care. This fic will be a continuation of the events that transpired in the Avengers. The main plot will be a combination of the Acts of Vengeance Storyline and something along the lines of Avengers 332 and 333. Hope you enjoy the fic.
"All clear!" the lab assistant called out once all of the workers were in the safe area of the laboratory behind the wall of thick plexiglass.
Doctor Tarleton nodded and switched on the machine. The device was designed to open a portal to an alternate dimension, but had failed in all previous tests. Tarleton prayed that this test would provide results. His employer was not known for his tolerance towards failure. The device sputtered a bit and a portal began to take form.
"Yes! YES!" Tarleton called out in excitement.
However, the portal sputtered out as it neared it's completion.
"Damn it!" Tarleton shouted, smashing his hand against the control panel.
Tarleton heard the door open behind him. His heart skipped a beat as he turned around, expecting to see his employer standing in the doorway. Much to his relief, it was merely one of the castle's servants.
"O-our s-s-sovereign demands a s-s-status report," the servant stuttered.
"Using S.H.E.I.L.D.'s data on the Tesseract and the prototype device that our lord created while studying in America, we have successfully created a device that can produce a portal to another dimension," Tarleton explained, "However, all efforts to make the portal stable enough to remain open have failed, and I fear that the heart of the problem is the fact that we're only using a replica of the Tesseract rather than the real thing."
"He's not going to like this," the servant said with fear present in his voice as he exited the room.
Tarleton resumed his work, desperately trying to find an error in calculation that could be easily fixed. However, the math gave no indication of any error. It was as he feared: without the Tesseract, creating a dimensional portal would be next to impossible. The door behind Tarleton swung open again and the hairs on the back of Tarleton's neck stood at attention when he heard metal footsteps enter the lab. He slowly turned around to face the man who had entered the laboratory. The man wore silver metal armor over his entire body and a dark green robe and cloak to signify his status as the king of Latveria. The hood of his cloak was pulled up over his head, but it did not hide the metal mask bearing a mirthless expression that covered his face. Beyond the mask, Tarleton could see the man's angry blood shot eyes staring right through him.
"Lord Doom," Tarleton said, biting back his fear, "You are looking well today. The portal device still needs a little more time to perfect, but I'm confident that we'll-"
Tarleton's explanation to Doom was interrupted by Doom's armored hand slamming against Tarleton's face and causing the scientist to fall backwards into the control panel gripping the left side of his face in pain. It was like his face had just been slammed against a truck. Doom walked out of the safe room and approached the device.
"Turn it on," Doom's low voice laced with a Latverian accent ordered.
Doctor Tarleton struggled to his feet and did as Doom commanded, without trying to argue that Doom should be behind the protective barrier. Questioning Doom's orders was the equivalent of a death wish, and Tarleton knew that Doom had survived far worse than any malfunction the device could throw his way. The device activated and began to open a portal before quickly sputtering out, just as it had before. Doom studied the portal throughout the entire process; his eyes were locked onto the portal with a fiery intent.
"It would seems that the Tesseract replica is not an adequate substitute," Doom stated.
"Yes," Tarleton admittedly fearfully, "That was the conclusion that I reached as well."
"No matter," Doom announced, two words that sent a feeling of relief through Tarleton's body, "The problem is easily rectified. We simply must claim the real Tesseract from it's current holders: the Avengers."
"So guys, what do you think of the Mansion?" Tony asked as he completed the tour.
Despite the fact that the Avengers had officially disbanded following the defeat of the Chitauri to avoid a legal incident, Tony Stark had secretly spent the past three weeks overseeing the conversion of his father's city mansion into a base of operations for the Avengers. Today he had provided the Avengers with a tour of the mansion to show off all of the new bells and whistles that he had installed.
"Tony, Fury ordered the Avengers to disassemble," Steve stated.
"Yeah, I know, I'm not good with orders," Tony replied, "Why do you have to be such a buzz-kill?"
"Steve's right, Tony," Natasha jumped in, "There are tons of legal repercussions that will come from this. Fury disbanded the Avengers for our own safety."
"I don't need Fury watching my back," Tony scoffed, "Besides, guys, you saw what we did when we worked together: we saved the world. We know the Chitauri aren't the only ones out there in the universe, and there are plenty of super villains here on earth. With the Avengers back together, we'll be able to handle any threat that is thrown our way."
"The man of iron speaks the truth," Thor interjected, "Midgard's safety rests in our hands. We would be unwise to try to fight by ourselves."
"See?" Tony said, "Thor gets it."
"Gets what?" Thor asked, looking at Tony confused.
"Just a little Earth-expression there," Tony explained, "It means you understand."
Thor nodded in understanding as Tony turned back to face Steve. Steve's eyes stared at him with a hard, unwavering expression.
"C'mon Steve," Tony pleaded, "Where else do you have to go? What else do you have to do? You've been looking for a place in this new world, and I dare say that this is it."
Steve seemed to go deep in thought considering this.
"Steve, no," Natasha said, "You can't possibly be considering this."
"Well, he's right," Steve acknowledged, "I've been a fish out of water ever since they thawed me out. Being with the Avengers when we were fighting the Chitauri was the only time that I felt like I actually belonged. I know it's selfish, but I have no where else to go. I'm not about to go work for S.H.E.I.L.D. after finding out about the Tesseract weaponry. Besides, Tony's also right about the team. We can do a lot of good for the world."
"Well that makes three," Tony announced, "Bruce?"
"I know that the Hulk can be a force for good," Bruce Banner stated, "We just need to focus his energies in a positive way. I think the Avengers gives the Hulk that kind of outlet."
"Clint?"
"Well, it looks like this is happening either way," Clint began, "And if it is, I definitely want in on it."
"You think I don't want the Avengers back together?" Natasha asked,"I do! But it's just not a smart decision, and this situation isn't that easy."
"If there are any repercussions, we'll face them together, as a team," Tony replied, "C'mon Natasha, we want you on the team with us."
Natasha let out a heavy sigh.
"I must be out of my mind," she said, agreeing to join.
"Then it's settled!" Tony announced, "The Avengers have been re-assembled."
Loki sat alone in the dungeon of Odin's castle. There wasn't a single living soul in the confines of the dungeon. Most all of Asgard's enemies were promptly executed for their crimes against the All-Father. However, Loki was a unique case in that he was Odin's son, and, despite Loki's actions, Odin still viewed Loki with the love that a father must have in regards to his children. But Loki was too far convinced otherwise to believe that Odin's sparing of his life had anything to do with love. He lost all hope for gaining his father's affections on the day when life changed forever for the trickster god. It still remained crystal clear in Loki's memories.
Loki held onto Thor's hammer for dear life. His helmet had already fallen into the bottomless void along with the Bifrost Bridge. Odin was holding onto Thor's wrist, and Thor was holding his hammer with a tight grip. Powerful winds beat against them, causing Loki to sway back and forth over the void. Everything had been ruined. If only Thor would have died on Midgard, then the Bifrost would have ripped apart Jotunheim, and Odin would have awoken to find that his mortal enemies had been wiped off the plane of reality and to see that Loki was, indeed, a worthy son.
"I could have done it father," Loki called out to Odin, "I could have done it. For you! For all of us!"
Loki looked desperately up to his father for approval. What he saw was only coldness. It was the same coldness that Odin always looked upon Loki with.
"No, Loki," Odin replied.
Two words. That was all that it took. Loki saw that it was futile. He would always just be the second rate son in Odin's eyes, no matter what he did or how hard he tried. There was no point. He would never be king. He would never be accepted. It was all for nothing. With nothing left for him, Loki let go of the hammer. He vaguely heard Thor call out in the distance, but he took no heed to it. He just closed his eyes and plummeted into the abyss.
Loki let out an immense sigh as he imagined how relieving it would have been if he had simply ceased to exist on that day. Instead, that was the day when he came into contact with a being possibly more powerful than anything else in this universe: Thanos.
Loki was laying flat on the ground, face down. His fingers twitched, and he took in a deep breath. He slowly opened his eyes and pulled himself up. Loki studied the area around him. He was on a strange, rocky terrain, and it appeared to be night as all of the stars in the sky were visible.
"I was beginning to think that you'd never wake," a voice from behind him echoed.
Loki whirled around to see an imposing figure looming in the darkness. Loki's first instinct was to try to frighten off the creature by declaring his god-hood, but he thought better of it. The tactic had a tendency to backfire in most unpleasant ways. Loki, instead held his ground and kept his eyes locked on the shadowy figure.
"Who is there?" Loki asked.
The shadowy figure chuckled and stepped out of the shadows. The figure wore blue and golden armor, and his skin was dull shade of violet. His eyes glimmered blue, and the smirk on his face revealed devious intent.
"I am Thanos," the figure's voice rumbled, "As all who dwell on this side of the universe would know. Now, if you would please reciprocate the introduction."
"I am Loki," he replied, "The rightful king of Asgard."
"A king?" Thanos chuckled, "It would seem that your kingdom has been lost to you, Asgardian."
Loki clenched his teeth. This Thanos figure had the audacity to laugh at his pain. It caused Loki's anger to boil within him. However, he kept his anger under control. Anger made battles positively unwinnable, and Loki did not want to put himself in that situation, at least not while Thanos remained a mystery to him.
"I can see that I have angered you, Asgardian," Thanos said as if reading Loki's mind, "But do not grow angry. For, you see, I too have been exiled from my people."
Loki looked up at Thanos now with more curiosity than contempt. Could his fall from grace have truly given him a kindred spirit? Sometimes fate developed in bizarre machinations.
He and Thanos had shared so much. Thanos had once been the son of a prominent researcher in the world Titan. But, he had fallen deeply in love with the entity Death herself and used his immense powers to kill a large portion of the people of his world, earning him banishment. Loki and Thanos had both been outcasts, and the two were as close to possessing a friendship as either man was capable of.
Thanos showed Loki worlds that he never dreamed existed and gave him new purpose in this life once they learned that the other half of Thanos's staff, known as the Tesseract, was on earth. Thanos had granted Loki control over the Chitauri, a race of beings that Thanos had enslaved following his banishment, and left Loki and the Chitauri to obtain the Tesseract and enslave earth. It would have been the perfect plan if it wasn't for the Avengers.
The guard entered the dungeon and approached Loki's cell. He unlocked the prison door and released Loki. At first, Loki was puzzled by this, until he looked into the guard's eyes. They were glowing green. Loki's lip curved into a devilish smirk as he exited the dungeon. Waiting in the corridor outside stood a blond woman wearing all green and a large muscular man holding an immense axe in his hand: Amora the Enchantress and Skurge the Executioner.
"That took longer than expected," Loki said to Amora.
"Would you rather return to your cell?" Amora asked rhetorically, "At any rate, I had to wait for a time when both Thor and the All-Father were away from Asgard."
"Hmph," Loki scoffed, "And where are my imbecilic brother and arrogant father?"
"Thor has chosen to remain on Midgard to help protect the mortals," Amora explained with disgust present in her voice, "While the All-Father is off in Vanaheim renewing the Aesir's treaty with the Vanir."
"I have no interest in matters of Vanaheim," Loki replied, "However, Thor's remaining on Midgard presents a marvelous opportunity for revenge, my dear Enchantress. Come, let us depart for Midgard at once."
Amora waved her arms and green light enveloped the three figures as they vanished from the dungeons of Odin's place. Once gone, the prison guard snapped out of his trance. He sounded the alarm, and called up all of Asgard's finest warriors to search for Loki, but to no avail. The trickster god had vanished without a trace.