A/N: As a heads up, this is very much a Team Iron Man fic, and it is not Team Cap friendly. This is my way if a fix it fic for me! The main pairing is Tony/Loki with a sprinkle of Tony/Mistress Death in there.
Chapter 1: Abandoned, yet Found.
"That shield doesn't belong to you! You don't deserve it! My father made that shield!"
His last words echoed in his head as he continued to stare at the empty space Steve was standing in just a few minutes ago. Steve? No. Rogers. If he ever managed to make it out of this alive, he would try his fucking hardest to never have to interact with him again.
"But he's my friend."
"So was I."
He should have known it would come down to this. After the years of constant blame being put on him, the belittling, and their sheer idiocy, it was bound to come to a head. But like this? The look of rage as Rogers used his super human strength to bash his shield through the armour into his very human, non super soldier chest was something Tony wouldn't soon forget.
He coughed and wheezed as he felt, what he assumed was, blood trickle down his chin. Sharp pain exploded in his chest as he tried to take a deeper breath in. Any movement he made doubled his pain. He tried moving his arms but the weight of his armour and the weakness from blood loss prevented him from moving more than his fingers.
This is it. He thought to himself. This is how I die. He let out a short wheezed breath and he drifted in and out of consciousness.
"Iron man - yes, Tony Stark - no."
"When I ordered that hit on you..."
"Big man in a suit of armour. Take that away and what are you?"
"An empire toppled by its enemies can rise again. But one that crumbles from within, that's dead. Forever."
All Tony felt was pain and cold. Pain from years of abuse from all those close to him. His father, his team, his friends. Pain from being beaten down by a man, who he thought was a friend. He was done. Done being the scapegoat they needed to rest all their blame on, done being the punching bag that took their insults. And now? Now he was just pissed.
His eyes felt increasingly heavy, as he struggled to keep them open. Breathing had become more difficult as time went one, and the chances of making his way out were getting slimmer with every strangled breath. If he did miraculously make his way out of this place alive, then there would be hell to pay, because he was Tony fucking Stark, and he just needed to hold out just a little longer. FRIDAY had thankfully emergency broadcasted his location to Pepper, Rhodey and Vision before the suit went offline, so it was only a matter of time.
'It wasn't only a matter of time,' he repeated to himself, like a mantra. Tony's eyes drifted close with another wheezing breath.
"But one that crumbles from within, that's dead.
Forever."
"He's coding!"
Cold.
Wet.
Weightless.
That was all he could register when he came to. It started with a tingling in his fingers, and the barest of movements that caused small ripples in the water around his hands. He felt like he was floating for hours as he tried to get himself to open his eyes, and get a sense of what was happening.
"Anthony.."
He heard a whisper, calling to him, beckoning. Another twitch, another ripple in the water.
"My sweet Anthony, I'm here.."
He felt arms wrap around his torso that pulled him, as if he weighed nothing, out of the water he somehow found himself in. Suddenly the water was replaced with earth and Tony could feel himself coming to.
"My Merchant of Death, I'm terribly sorry that we had to meet so soon."
Tony jolted up at that old moniker that was given to him. He hissed at the pain he could feel in his chest and the cold that had seemed to seep into his bones. His dark eyes met the white eyes of the figure in front of him. Her skin so pale, it looked almost translucent. They seemed to be in a clearing, but it was so dark out he couldn't make out more than a few trees around them. He could see a river, where he assumed he was found, where bodies floated along, unaware. His breath hitched, trying to recall how he came to be there.
"Where am I? What's going on? The last thing I remember was..."
"Was that fool of a Captain murdering the only chance the realms had of defeating Thanos?"
Tony blinked.
Murdered.
His thoughts drifted to Pepper and Rhodey, Happy, and oh god, poor Peter. He felt the darkness closing in, his breath quickening and coming out in short, sharp puffs of air.
"No. That can't be. I had so much still to do! And what I saw through that portal. That's coming isn't it? And there's nothing I can do about it. They're all going to fucking die." He choked out.
"Breathe my sweet." The woman in front of him placed a cold hand on his cheek, "we don't have much time so listen quick."
Tony steadied his breathing, and grasped at the hand on his cheek keeping it in place. The woman gave him a small smile in return.
"You were always so smart, always looking out for that so called team of yours, while they constantly used, undermined, and criticized your every action. You were right about what you saw through that portal, even though no one bothered to care for your concerns."
Anger quickly replaced her soft features as she bit back a snarl. "Thanos and his armies are coming, and the realms are not prepared. The Mad Titan feels that he can appease me by unnecessarily killing billions of people and he is so lost in this so called love for me that he's willing to cause a massacre. While I do welcome death, I will not stand by while he rips the lives away from those who's time has not yet come. Everyone has a time, my dear Anthony, and we must respect that."
"Charge to 200!"
Tony felt his body flicker, as a bright light clouded his vision for a quick second before he once again met the eyes of the woman in front of him.
"Yes, it is almost time. You will return to the land of the living my Merchant but first hear my request. There are forces at play here who have put their faith in you, and I am not one to go against Fate. I will help you in anyway that I can, and I can give you the power you will need to defeat the Mad Titan. You are much to strong willed to be just a mortal, and I plan to rectify that. So long as you are willing to help me when the need arises, I will continue to support you. Is that clear?"
Tony nodded, any questions or witty remarks lodged in the back of his throat as he struggled to form any coherent sentence.
"I know it's a lot my sweet. But I will be here. Once you are back to your realm, you must work quickly, and diligently to come up with a plan and a team to prevent the worst from happening. Be careful whom you align yourself with, and do not listen to the those that left you for dead, for they will be your downfall. You will rest and recover my sweet, and as soon as you are alone, back at your residence, just simply call out for me and I will appear. Then we can begin."
"How do I call for you? What do you go by?"
The mysterious woman before him leant forward, and placed a light kiss on his forehead. As she pulled away, she grabbed his hands in hers and her porcelain features were graced a smirk that could rival his.
"Mistress Death"
"Charge to 300!"
A/N: Just testing the waters with this first chapter, but I have some awesome plans moving forward. This hasn't been beta'd, so bear with me and any grammatical errors. I tried to catch them all! This has been cross posted to AO3 as well!
Let me know what you think!