Never Gonna Touch the Ground

by Batsutousai

An interesting sounding side-quest brings a new member into an unlikely party of adventurers, and unveils a city's general dislike of the shadows for what it really is: Discrimination of anyone whose job it is to work from the shadows. -Fantasy AU, FrostIron-

Title: Never Gonna Touch the Ground
Fandom: Marvel (movie 'verse)
Author: Batsutousai
Beta: Runic
Rating: Mature
Pairings: Tony Stark/Loki
Warnings: AU – fantasy setting, dragon!Loki, class and race discrimination
Summary: An interesting sounding side-quest brings a new member into an unlikely party of adventurers, and unveils a city's general dislike of the shadows for what it really is: Discrimination of anyone whose job it is to work from the shadows.

Disclaim Her: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Marvel. The Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder worlds belong to their creators. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

A/N: My D&D/Pathfinder character has a dragon thing, and it's kind of taken over our current game. My DM asked me a couple dragon questions, and while looking up answers, I thought, 'You know, wouldn't it be cool if Loki was a dragon?' Which then followed, of course, a need to roll a character sheet for dragon!Loki. (I like rolling sheets, shut up.) Runic, when I told her, suggested I roll up the rest of the Avengers. (And Dr Strange, because we have a Strange thing, Runic and I.)
Fast forward to a few nights later, while I was coughing up my left lung and failing to sleep, my brain started providing me with a plot. For a fic.
I am not even a little bit sorry.

Things to know: As a general rule, I'm using the D&D rules and info, since that's my homebase, as it were, but Runic did talk me into using a Pathfinder-specific class for Phil.
Pretty much everyone is human. Loki's a dragon, clearly, and Bruce is half hill-giant. And the familiars are...well... Our boys are a bit special.
Some spells and magical items have been slightly repurposed to fit my whims but, as a general rule, everything is treated as it should be based on the descriptions in the books I got them in.
The fic does change point of view from one scene to the next. It might get a bit confusing, but it was a nice way to sort of explain backstories and delve into the different classes. I mean, half the fun of RPing is jumping into a new character and learning how best to use their skills.

-0-

They were, quite possibly, the most unlikely team of adventurers out there. Or, well, that's how Clint liked to put it, but Natasha knew for a fact that there were odder groups out there. (Just last week, they'd seen three rogues and a bard travelling with a paladin, not a one of them human or anything like the same race; at least their team was mostly human, different classes aside.)

It had started out as just Natasha and Clint, travelling together in their sneaky way, taking on whatever work they could find and running from the consequences.

Eventually, as these things go, they came to a point where they needed a spellcaster of some sort. (And a healer wouldn't be remiss, either, but they could always continue to make do with potions.) As luck would have it, the famous weaponsmith, Tony Stark, was in town and looking for an adventure. He even had a friend who happened to be a cleric with him, Bruce Banner.

In truth, Bruce wasn't a cleric. Or, well, he hadn't started out as a cleric. Which wasn't to say that he wasn't a fine healer when necessary, just that, sometimes, he went into a barbarian rage in the middle of a fight, and they had to wait a little bit for him to calm down before he could see to any wounds.

Well, Natasha figured, there was nothing wrong with having someone along with them who could deal out some serious damage. And, next to Tony – with his homunculus familiar, his apparent need to float everywhere, and his refusal to enjoy a full-night's sleep – Bruce was, actually, quite normal.

They came across Phil and Steve not even a week after Tony and Bruce joined up. Tony was enthralled by Phil's mechanical weapons – guns, he called them; Clint had a bet going with himself about how long it would be until Tony started building his own – and Steve seemed to appreciate having someone else around who would rush enemies with him, rather than standing back and taking careful aim.

Stephen they discovered in the next town. Or, well, it would be more exact to say that Tony's homunculus found Stephen's felldrake while the party was arguing about continuing together or splitting up. The two familiars were immediate friends – "Kind of hard not to be, when you've got to deal with those two," Clint had muttered, jerking his thumb Stephen and Tony, who were so alike, Phil had once suggested they were twins separated at birth.

Stephen had come with a quest from a patron of his, and it appeared their large group was just what the sorcerer needed. They debated fees, Clint made a crack about how he and Natasha would have been so much better off if they'd found Stephen before Tony and Bruce – the sorcerer specialised in healing and protective magic – and then set off after a night's sleep.

It took about half an hour for Tony and Stephen to find something to argue about, and that had characterised their relationship since. If it wasn't about the differences in their spellcasting – Tony was a wizard, Stephen a sorcerer – it was about spell preferences. Or Tony having a familiar that was, technically, not alive. Or whether it was better to float or fly, as opposed to walking. Or whether the gods existed or not – Tony had once told a paladin he didn't believe in the gods, and Stephen worshiped a group of gods who none of the rest of them had heard of before. Or–

Actually, in truth, there wasn't much they didn't fight about.

Most of the party ignored them when they got into one of their spats, but Steve just could not put up with the fighting. It was even odds whether he would step in to stop them, or they would just huff and decide to ignore each other for the rest of the day, first. (Clint and Natasha occasionally made bets on the outcome, while Phil just looked amused and Bruce tried to pretend he didn't know any of them.)

"If nothing else," Phil told Bruce one evening, while Steve was yelling at the two arcane spellcasters, as they set up camp, "at least it provides some entertainment. And it's not like they've ever come to blows."

"It's distracting," Bruce complained in return. "And blows or no, they're loud enough that it hardly matters if they're cursing each other stupid, anyone who wants to attack us can hear us coming plenty early enough to set up a trap, and we'd never know until we were in the middle of it."

"Should we be insulted?" Clint whispered to Natasha; as a scout, it was his job to keep an eye out for danger ahead or behind, something that Natasha had started helping with more as the group grew.

Natasha rolled her eyes. "Be proud; Bruce clearly doesn't realise how valuable we are. That means we're doing our job."

"Your job," Clint insisted. "You're the sneaky one."

Natasha didn't think that deserved a response.

Tony dropped onto the boulder Natasha was sitting on, draping an arm around her shoulders as though he didn't know perfectly well how much she liked her personal space, and how quickly she could draw one of her many daggers and have it pressed against the hollow of his throat. Natasha was resigned to him any more, however, and didn't even bother flinching, which was probably why he always did it. "Stephen's setting up the alarm spell," he told them. "How much longer until we're to the main show, Monkey-Boy?"

Clint rolled his eyes at the name Tony had started calling him the first time he'd gone swinging through the trees to get around the quicksand they'd come upon, then pulled out the map the city mayor had given him when they'd agreed to look into the...whatever it was that had been terrorising the area. (Complaints were about anything from a band of bandits, to a couple werewolves, to a giant, to a dragon. Fourteen other adventuring parties had already vanished in an attempt to find the problem over the past several years, and they probably would have passed it over, themselves, if the reward hadn't been so impressive. They'd already spent most of the day avoiding illusionary attempts to distract them or frighten them away, and Natasha sort of wondered how many of the missing parties had just got lost and left in shame.)

Clint spread the map out across his knees, tilted so he could use the light of the fire to see it, and considered it for a moment before saying, "We should come across it sometime tomorrow afternoon, assuming we leave at our usual time and the mountain isn't too steep."

"We'll all have to get a good night's sleep, then," Steve said, settling in next to Bruce. He shot a look at Tony in lieu of saying who he meant out loud. As if they didn't all know who he was talking about.

Tony rolled his eyes and dropped his head onto Natasha's shoulder. "I sleep so much better when I've a warm body–"

"Not on your life," Natasha informed him drily, but she didn't pull away; the flirting was normal. And if he was flirting with her, he wasn't seeing how quickly he could make one of the other males blush.

Tony's homunculus hopped up into his lap, making a chittering sound. Tony pulled away from Natasha to cup the creature between his hands, bringing it up to his eye level and cooing at it in response.

"Have I mentioned recently how much I hate that you people have your own language," Clint muttered as he put the map away.

"Yes, 'us people'," Stephen said as he tucked his legs up under him, floating a good three feet off the ground. (Natasha sometimes wondered if the floating thing wasn't related to being an arcane spellcaster, honestly, though she'd never met another person who floated around as much as Stephen or Tony.) His felldrake settled underneath him, curling up as though to sleep, but keeping one eye cracked. "Some of us don't need to speak in nonsense to our familiars." He gave Tony a superior look.

As if making his master's point, the felldrake rumbled something in Draconic.

Tony narrowed his eyes at the other familiar and rumbled something back which made Stephen's own eyes narrow.

"If you two are going to start another fight, could you at least speak in a language the rest of us understand?" Phil requested absently as he ran a cloth over the barrel of his pistol.

"It's not my fault you people are uncultured," Tony said, eyes glinting in the light of the fire. As an afterthought, he added, "No offence, Brucey."

Bruce, who was half-hill giant, just rolled his eyes and said something in... Natasha was never sure whether he was speaking Giant or Orc; they sounded too alike, to her, and she'd seen evidence that he spoke both fluently.

"No, we are not going to start trading insults between languages again," Steve snapped before Tony could respond in one of the billion languages he knew. (Natasha was convinced he collected them. Phil seemed to think he knew so many because so many races bought his weapons, which seemed likely, but he always showed a certain amount of glee when he realised someone couldn't understand him.) "Anthony, stop trying to start things."

Tony grimaced at the use of his full name, but wisely returned his attention to his homunculus, murmuring and cooing nonsense to the noises it made.

Everyone else took that as a sign that they should pull out their evening rations – Clint's attempt to shoot a buck before they stopped hadn't quite worked out, and none of them had had any luck spotting edible vegetation, so dry rations it was. As they finished eating, they slowly peeled away from the fire to set up their bedrolls.

"Do we want to set a watch?" Clint asked of Phil as Natasha attempted to clear a space just behind the boulder she'd been sitting on; as the only woman in the party, she always got the spot closest to the fire, if she wanted it, and she always took it.

Phil looked towards where Stephen was leaning over his folded legs with some salted meat for his familiar. "Will you be insulted if I say yes?"

Stephen shrugged. "Given how many illusions we have had to face today and how close we are to our goal, I would rather err on the side of caution." Then he looked to Tony, as though expecting a snarky comment, and he wasn't the only one.

Tony, though, simply nodded, a frown creasing his brow. "Having at least one person alert in case of an attack wouldn't be a bad idea. Phil, you good to share the watch tonight?"

"Certainly," Phil agreed from his bedroll. "Am I watching for four, or two hours?"

"Tony, you need real sleep," Steve insisted, leaning forward, over the fire. "We can split the watch into four–"

"And have three of you running on only six hours sleep?" Tony demanded, his frown darkening. "You agreed, everyone needs to be at their best. I can function just fine on two hours of sleep, and Phil's the least likely to suffer from getting only six hours. It makes sense for us to do things this way–"

"There is no sense in you depriving yourself of sle–"

"Steve," Stephen cut in, "Tony's right. This is the best way."

Steve just sort of blinked a bit dumbly, completely thrown by Stephen backing Tony. The rest of the party wasn't much better, and it didn't help that the two arcane spellcasters shared the sort of look of understanding that only Clint and Natasha usually traded.

As they all settled in for the night, Tony sending his homunculus out to watch the perimeter while he settled in with his back to the fire, Natasha wondered what secret Stephen knew that none of the rest of them had yet figured out.

-0-

Loki hadn't started out wanting to hurt anyone. When he'd finally got free from the gold dragon family that had raised him, he'd gone in hunt of a clan of giants willing to share space with him, as the group nearest his family's cave system had done. The first two places he'd found had been too close to an older dragon's territory, the third had been too far removed from any sort of smaller creatures' dwelling to keep him amused. The fourth had seemed perfect, at first, but then that upstart white dragon had moved in at the peak, ignoring Loki's claim, and bribed the giants into harassing him.

Like his last mountain abode, this place had seemed perfect for him. The mountain was warm enough that no self-respecting white dragon would think it viable, and the only giant in the area was an elderly – if slightly nasty – hill giant, who wanted as much to do with Loki, as Loki wanted to do with him. The nearest smaller creatures' dwelling was within a day's flight, and large enough that no one made note of new arrivals, which meant Loki could come and go as he pleased, with no one the wiser.

The first ten years had been lovely, and Loki had finally started to relax. He made some friends in the city, joined a guild, and learned the ways of the beguiler, which was just his sort of practise. He even went on a couple of adventures; as long as they remained within three day's flight of his home, he was happy to lend assistance to the small people in exchange for treasure and companionship.

His third adventure away from home had been a little farther away than he was comfortable with, and when it turned out to be an ancient black dragon they'd been sent after, Loki had turned tail and fled, leaving his party to the wills of the older dragon. When the small people in the city found out what he'd done, they spoke horrible curses and threats at him, ran him out of the city walls, and told him to not bother coming back.

Loki had returned to his cave in shame and wallowed. He'd just begun considering it might be a good idea to just move on, when the hill giant finally gave up the ghost. A party of adventurers from the city came out to loot his belongings, and a part of Loki that he'd never realised existed came out in its full glory to scare them away.

Reports of a dragon caught the attention of party after party, and after the first violent fight that left Loki wounded and snarling over the dead bodies, he started weaving illusions of other creatures to distract the adventurers or send them off course. Sending the illusions and other inhabitants of his territory to attack anyone who didn't allow themselves to be led astray was the next step, with himself being the last defence.

Most parties were small, and made up of mostly humans, with the occasional elf or halfling. Five had been the largest party previously – two years ago – and the only one to have made it all the way to Loki since he'd started employing his illusions tactic.

The current party, by comparison, was massive. Six small people – humans or half-elves, from a distance – one not-so-small person – a half-orc or half-giant, likely – and a small, wingless lizard of some sort. Two of them were careful in the same way that Loki had been taught, one had an air about him that was very much akin to Loki's adopted family, another more like Loki, and one had an object that let him see through Loki's illusions as though they were never even there. It had taken them a couple hours to realise there were illusions, but once they'd cottoned on, they didn't let themselves be led astray again.

They'd rested for the night, then set out early in the morning, after breaking their camp down with the easy efficiency of long-time adventurers. Loki had sent a few creatures at them, trying to wear them down, and watched with interest as they showed their varied talents: Two spellcasters – he'd figured them for their lack of armour and similar refusal to stay on the ground – the two careful ones, one that used a weapon Loki had never seen before, and the last two were fighters, though the larger one had some magic, as Loki had seen him healing the other fighter after they took down a troll Loki had ordered after them.

Still, they moved at a steady pace, and it was finally left to Loki to destroy them, though he wasn't completely certain he could. (And if that didn't terrify him, he didn't know what would.)

He met them as a human, illusioned with wounds, so as to beg their compassion. He hadn't sent any illusions to them today, so he hoped to catch the one spellcaster unawares.

The male careful one reached him first, always just a little ahead of the others, and he paused upon seeing Loki, eyes going wide, before he called back over the ridge that separated the party, "Stephen! Bruce! There's someone wounded up here!"

The one who saw through Loki's illusions appeared first, eyes sharp with concern. "One of the previous parties?" he asked, only just loud enough for Loki to hear him, as he started forward, very lightly letting himself down to actually walk on the stone of Loki's cave entrance.

Just before they would be in range for Loki to use his breath weapon on them, the larger one and the wingless lizard – a felldrake, cousin to dragons – came into sight. The felldrake immediately snarled, "No! He is wrong! Master, he is wrong!"

The one who always saw grabbed the careful one's arm and put his free hand up to the amulet at his throat. Before he could activate it, Loki transformed back into his dragon shape, snarling at them threateningly as the two humans stumbled backwards, out of range of his tail. The careful one's eyes had gone wide with terror, but the one who saw and the larger fighter both looked almost...calm.

The rest of the party finally topped the ridge. Of them, only the one with the odd weapon and the other spellcaster seemed unaffected by the terror that was Loki's true form; the others and the male careful one ducked back down the ridge, hissing for the four remaining to come down with them.

"Well," the newer spellcaster said, floating closer to Loki and looking up at him with a wide grin, "aren't you just the most gorgeous creature."

Loki's snarl died in his throat and he blinked down at the human, thrown. That was...not the usual response to his presence. And he certainly never expected to hear it with such honesty.

"Tony," the one who saw cautioned as the floating one moved even closer, rising up in the air so he was closer to Loki's eyes. And his mouth, Loki couldn't help but recognise. It wouldn't take much to bite this human for his carelessness.

"I'm fine," the floating human called back, smiling at Loki. "I'm Tony Stark. What's your name?"

Loki blinked at the human, an odd sensation bubbling in his stomach and up his throat, until it escaped as a loud laugh.

The human – Tony – looked back to his companions on the ground and asked, "How does one verbalise laughter as a name?"

"You realise you're insane," the larger one commented with a sort of resigned fondness that spoke of a long companionship.

Tony was grinning when he looked back at Loki. "Seriously. I will settle for calling you Gorgeous, if you don't stop me. Which, given, I probably will anyway, but– Hey, what kind of dragon are you? Because I'm pretty sure there weren't any particularly gorgeous dragons in the books at the academy. Though, given, pictures in books couldn't possibly do you just–"

"I am Loki," Loki finally said, realising he would need to interrupt the human if he was going to get a chance to talk. Though, there was something to be said for the diarrhoea of compliments.

Tony's grin got impossibly wider. "Hello, Loki. Seriously, I'm going to die of curiosity, here. What type of dragon are you?"

"Oh, what a shame that would be," the one who saw said as he floated up to join Tony, keeping just a little behind his fellow spellcaster, wary, but clearly willing to take a chance, since Tony still lived.

"What would Steve say if he could hear you?" Tony said, falsifying a horrified expression as he looked back at the other.

"Absolutely nothing; we're speaking Draconic," the one who saw returned drily, then he looked at Loki and sketched a bow. "Greetings, Loki. I am Stephen Strange. My familiar, Wong, says you are a dragon found usually in the Inner Planes, though he was uncertain as to exactly what type."

Loki looked towards the felldrake, assuming it was the one Stephen meant, and nodded. "I am a crystal dragon."

"No need to ask how you got that name," Tony murmured, floating a little bit closer before Stephen grabbed the back of his cloak, stopping him.

"For once in your life, Tony, learn some restraint," Stephen ordered.

Tony turned an incredulous look over his shoulder. "Did you, honestly, just tell me to choose safety over fun? Me?"

Stephen apparently decided to ignore Tony, for he turned next to Loki and said, "I know that was an illusion, before, but are you wounded at all?"

Loki stared at him for a long moment, disbelieving. "I would have seen you dead, and you ask after my health?"

"You have clearly never met one of those obnoxiously good people who like to make up for their asshole remarks by healing any wound they come across before," Tony commented.

"I'm sorry," Stephen said with a smile that was all sharp edges, "did you want me to stop offering to heal you, then? I mean, I can always just make a point to help everyone else and leave you to Bruce, if you really–"

"You realise you're an asshole."

"What's that saying? Pot, kettle?"

"I have never considered myself as anything less than a fun-loving asshole."

Loki closed his eyes against their argument and transformed himself back into his human shape, leaving them high in the air. The larger one – half-giant, Loki could now see – the one with the odd weapon, and the felldrake took that as a sign that they could approach, and the other three finally peeked over the ridge, braver without Loki's frightful presence keeping them back.

"May I assume you understand Common?" the one with the odd weapon asked as they got into speaking range.

"You may," Loki agreed, tilting his head curiously.

"Excellent. May I ask why you threatened us?"

"This is his lair," the felldrake growled.

"Wong says this is Loki's home," Stephen translated as he and Tony returned to ground level, though neither quite touched their feet to the ground.

The one with the odd weapon allowed that with a shrug, but it was the half-giant that said, "Fair enough. But, then, were you the one to cause all those illusions? Or do you know who it was? Because, dragon or no, we're here for a reason."

Loki frowned. "You have not come to hunt me? To thieve from me?"

"Only if I can make you my personal treasure," Tony said.

Stephen and the other human shot Tony disbelieving looks, but the half-giant just sort of shook his head and explained to Loki, "The illusions have been scaring the city people and confusing visitors. The city mayor keeps sending people out here to find out what's going on, but most parties don't come back, and those that do bring conflicting reports of what is causing all the trouble. We're supposed to find out what the problem is and, if we can, solve it."

Loki stared at the half-giant, searching for any hint of untruth and finding none. Still, "And if I am the cause of the disturbances?"

"Please stop?" the human fighter requested, having finally joined them with the two careful ones. To the one with the odd weapon, he quietly asked, "What have we missed?"

"This is Loki, a crystal dragon. He's gorgeous, I don't know why you three ran," Tony said before the one with the odd weapon could speak.

"This is his cave," the one with the odd weapon said, eyeing Tony like he would very much enjoy using his weapon on the other human in some way. "He's been protecting it."

"He thought we were here to hunt him down. To steal his hoard," Stephen added with a frown.

"Not completely unreasonable," the female said with a careless shrug. "If the mayor realised there was a dragon living out here, he'd be sending out for every adventuring party capable and willing to kill a dragon, just so he could fill the city's treasury."

Loki immediately jerked away from them, rage and terror igniting his blood in equal measures.

"Great. Good. Thanks, Natasha," the half-giant said.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I miss the sending about lying to the dragon about the reality of the situation? Clint and I have seen this before a dozen times: Build a city on land that's difficult to farm on, take away most or all of their herding chances for a couple seasons, send in some summer storms to wreck the supply ships, and then tell them they've got a dragon living nearby. Dragon is hardly the most digestible of meats, but it'll feed you. And the skin and horns and treasure will go a long way to getting more provisions sent."

"I'll raze their city to the ground!" Loki snarled, backing up a bit more so he had room to transform.

"Whoa, wait!" Warm hands gripped Loki's upper arms and he opened his eyes to Tony's wide brown gaze. "Loki, Gorgeous, hold on a minute. They don't know you're here. Okay? The only people who know you're up here is us, and we're not going to go around telling them. Right?" The last was aimed over his shoulder, at the rest of his party, an edge to his voice that made Loki relax, even as a part of him was trying to find the falsity in his words.

"We've got to tell them something," the human fighter pointed out quietly.

"And just because we tell them it's handled, that doesn't mean no one will come up here," the male careful one added.

"But will that really matter if the city's recovered?" Stephen asked, bringing his legs up to fold under himself so he was sitting in mid-air. It was the oddest thing Loki had ever seen a human do, and that helped him to calm down almost as much as the warm contact with another creature did. "I mean, plenty of cities have dragons living on their doorstep; where I grew up was on the edge of two different dragons' territory, and we were at peace with both of them."

"It depends on whether or not the city will get more out of having a dragon as its ally, or keeping their area dragon-free," the one with the odd weapon mused. "As a general rule, a city prefers to ally themselves with a dragon, because there aren't a lot of people willing to take one on. But there are always cities – or city rulers – with bad experiences that refuse to even consider an alliance. I have no idea how this city will react to the news."

"We agree we won't tell any of them about Loki, though, right?" Tony demanded.

"Absolutely," the one with the odd weapon agreed. "We can come up with some other story."

The human fighter let out a vaguely distressed sound. "Phil, lying."

"Steve, saving a life," the one with the odd weapon countered. "Bruce can hit you with silence if you really can't stand the idea."

"How hard would it be to make that silence permanent?" Tony muttered in Draconic. Stephen let out a huff of laughter, while the other humans and half-giant ignored him.

Loki took a breath, determined that he really had nothing to lose by trusting this party, and offered, "It need not, necessarily, be a lie. I am not entirely unknown to the city, though they believe me a human." He grimaced. "A coward, at that; I am unwelcome within the walls."

"That sounds like a story," the male careful one muttered.

"A disgraced sorcerer hiding in the mountains. It's not outside the realm of possibilities," the female commented.

"Beguiler," Loki corrected, because those in the city who remembered him would know the difference. Aasterinian knew, they'd spat his class in his face as they threw him out.

Tony frowned in confusion and turned to look at the rest of the party, finally letting Loki go, leaving a chill to mark his absence. "Okay, translation."

"Think of him like a rogue crossed with a sorcerer," the female said, shrugging. "Ninjas are probably better liked than beguilers."

"And people hate you," Tony said with a faint chuckle, while comprehension dawned for other members of the party. To Loki, Tony said, "You going to harp on me about my familiar?"

Loki blinked, uncertain what that had to do with anything. "I am unaware of what your familiar is."

Tony glanced back towards the party, letting out a high whistle. Everyone froze, then the male careful one let out a curse, preceding the appearance of a dark grey creature, which flew over to Tony and dropped into his outstretched hands. Loki recognised it as an homunculus just before Tony said, "This is my familiar, Jarvis." Then he made an odd cooing noise at the homunculus.

Communication, Loki realised as Jarvis turned to look at him, the two beady eyes almost lost in the rolls of its skin. It chittered at him, and Tony translated, "He says hello. Also, that you are really kind of terrifying when you go big, so could you please not do that again."

Loki blinked, uncertain if the homunculus had actually said that, and not sure it mattered. "Greetings, Jarvis." Tony cooed at it, apparently translating Loki's words, and the dragon couldn't help but ask, "If Jarvis is your homunculus, do you not have a telepathic bond with it?"

Tony's eyes glinted with mischief and Jarvis held one misshapen finger to its mouth. "You might be surprised at how few people actually know that," he murmured in Draconic.

Loki got the sense that there was a lot more to Tony than it first appeared.

All Loki had to do, was decide how interested he was in finding out how much more.

-0-

People looked at Bruce and saw an idiot, generally. It was almost a rule that human-shaped beings got dumber the bigger they were, which actually held up pretty well, in practise. What few people cared to find out, was that Bruce had been raised by his human mother, before being taken as a youth to be trained as a barbarian by his hill giant father. He was hardly a genius, but he was far from the idiot that many of his kin were.

Bruce hadn't minded the misconception while he travelled as a barbarian – there was something to say for his party members and enemies both underestimating him – but after being saved from certain death by a passing cleric and realising healing was something he wanted to learn, he discovered that being thought an idiot meant he wasn't welcomed into any clerical sects.

Tony was hardly the first person to look past his appearance to see the bright soul under the tough skin, but he was the one who found Bruce when he was two steps from giving up on his new dream. He was the one who threw money at a tiny church in the poorest section of the city until they agreed to train Bruce, giving him a free room in his manor at no price beyond the promise that, when Tony wanted to escape the stone walls around them, Bruce came with to serve as both bodyguard and healer.

Bruce had never once regretted that deal. Not when he'd had to get between Tony and whoever he'd ticked off most recently, or when he was struggling to heal the weaponsmith after a particularly hard fight. Not the dozen or so times the wizard had flirted with him or another member of the party, just because he could, or when he held them all up for hours because someone had an interesting weapon or spell he wanted to know more about. Not even when Stephen joined them and he and Tony started going at each other's throat every other hour or so, getting progressively louder until someone or something forced them to stop.

Bruce knew Tony, better than any of them, and so was completely unsurprised when the wizard dared to approach an angry dragon like he would have any other interesting adventurer on the road. He was also unsurprised – having been in the dragon's position – when the dragon was so completely thrown by Tony's manner, that it had calmed down.

While Tony spoke to Loki and Jarvis, the rest of the party discussed what to do about the problem they now found themselves faced with.

"It does sort of depend on what he did, whether they'll leave him alone or not," Clint commented, glancing towards Natasha, since she was the one who knew what a beguiler was. "I mean, coward can mean anything from refusing to go with a particular party, to running away from a giant taking out a section of the city."

"I can't imagine they'd have kicked him out of the city for something as small as refusing to travel with a party," Steve said, frowning and shaking his head.

"If the party is well known enough, or if it turns out they would have survived if he'd gone along, it's possible," Phil insisted, shaking his head.

"It's also possible they hadn't realised what he specialised in until after whatever act they used as a reason to kick him out," Natasha added. "Beguilers are known, among our classes, for pretending to be another class. They can easily pass as a rogue or arcane spellcaster of some form, and most do, from what I've heard told."

"That might complicate matters," Clint muttered.

"Not necessarily," Stephen offered, sitting in mid-air like he did, but keeping a level that was somewhere between Bruce and the others, as though to help Bruce feel more included. (It was something he'd picked up from Tony, and Bruce would be lying if he said he didn't appreciate the effort the two arcane spellcasters put into making him feel a part of the party.) "If they kicked Loki out because they didn't want his kind in the city, rather than killing him, it means they're unlikely to send anyone out here to attack him. Truly, they're more likely to leave him alone, in that case."

"We still don't know why they kicked him out," Phil pointed out. "If it was a true act of cowardice, they may well want to drive him further away."

Steve huffed. "Why bother? Other than those illusions, he's hardly hurt anyone. And that was to protect his home; hardly outside the realm of acceptability, after being kicked out of your last one."

"Not everyone is willing to let past transgressions lie," Natasha said with bitter knowledge.

"Tony, Loki," Bruce called towards the missing two, tired of them going around in circles, "we had a couple questions to figure out how much trouble we'll have, keeping the mayor from sending anyone else up here."

Loki tensed slightly, but let himself be led over by Tony, who grinned as he reached up and put Jarvis on Bruce's shoulder. Bruce allowed it with a roll of his eyes; he didn't much like that Jarvis often hitched a ride on him, since it felt a little like Tony was spying on him, but Bruce knew it was more that he was a melee fighter, while Tony held back and picked off enemies with the ray and electricity magics he preferred. Sending his familiar with Bruce let him deliver touch spells immediately, without having to jump into the danger, and Bruce had been saved by a timely application of mage armour too many times to really be upset by Jarvis' presence any more.

"Loki, why did they kick you out?" Phil asked bluntly, following Tony and Stephen's lead in treating the dragon as just another average adventurer.

Loki's expression tightened, and he held his tongue for long enough that Bruce honestly thought they'd have to ask in the city and hope the questions didn't lead to a party being sent out after the dragon. But, finally, Loki explained, voice tight, "I travelled with a party to some swampland over a week's walk east of the city. There were reports of people disappearing in the area, and the reward was...tempting. We didn't realise until we were almost upon her that our opponent was an ancient black. I insisted we turn back, they wouldn't listen, so I left them to their fate."

Steve was frowning. "You wouldn't fight?"

"Dragon thing," Tony insisted, shaking his head. "You don't have to understand it, Star and Stripes, just accept it."

"Uhm, I can't speak for the rest of you, but there is nothing on this plane of existence that could possibly make me take on a dragon that old, especially not in its home territory," Clint insisted, shaking his head.

"Not even a decree from the gods?" Tony challenged, and Bruce knew the wizard was just being an asshole, because he didn't believe the gods actually existed. He could accept that there were powerful adventurers out there, and that some of them might be powerful enough to pretend at being gods, but he refused to accept that there were all-powerful, all-knowing beings out there that dictated anyone else's actions. (Considering Tony had yet to be struck down for his blasphemy, Bruce sometimes had to wonder if he wasn't on to something.)

"I said 'this plane of existence'," Clint returned.

"Are they aware that you attempted to get the rest of your party to leave with you?" Phil asked of Loki while Steve looked disapprovingly between Tony and Clint.

Loki frowned in thought for a moment, then shook his head. "I am uncertain. I returned here after I left them, and did not return to the city for nearly a fortnight. I don't know how they learned of the events, only that as soon as I was recognised, I was made to leave." He shrugged. "I could not even say if any of my former party members survived."

Natasha and Phil traded looks, then both looked to Steve, who had time to look cornered for a brief moment before Natasha said, "I wouldn't kick someone out of town for running from a dragon, leaving his party behind or no."

Out of all of them, Steve had the strongest morals. It wasn't the first time Natasha, Phil, or Clint had used Steve to figure out how your average community leader might react to something, and since it usually worked, they weren't likely to stop any time soon. (Bruce and Stephen rarely had to use Steve as a moral guide for the average non-adventurer, and Tony never cared how someone might react to whatever he was up to. Between his money and how well-known he was, any trouble he got into just tended to get swept under the figurative rug.)

The fighter took a moment to consider the unasked question, then gave a slow nod. "Even if the whole party died, I wouldn't consider that enough basis to kick someone out of the city. If one of the party returned and spun a lie about the actual events, that might do it. But it would have to be a pretty terrible story." He looked at Loki. "They called you a coward? Specifically?"

Loki frowned, seemingly thinking back on the events. "A coward, yes. For running when my party needed me." He sneered. "It's not my fault they were incapable of listening when I told them to turn around."

Phil nodded. "It's likely, then, that they wanted you removed for your class, as opposed to your actions. That's a good sign." He looked at Tony. "Can you talk them around into not sending someone out here to kill him for his more recent transgressions?"

Tony raised an eyebrow. "Did you have other plans?" Because if Tony couldn't pay someone off, he was disturbingly good at talking people in circles until they just agreed with him to get him to shut up and go away, but Phil was better at subtly getting someone to do exactly what he needed them to do, without leaving them irritated or questioning themselves. For something like this, they would normally send Phil in, leaving Tony as a backup if whoever they were trying to talk around saw through him.

Everyone turned to Phil and he shrugged. "If Loki will allow it, I was hoping to ask him a few more questions, then meet the rest of you by the city gates tomorrow evening or the following morning, depending."

Loki didn't look particularly pleased by the request, so far as Bruce could tell, but he still agreed, "As you please, then."

Tony looked around the party, then raised an eyebrow at Phil. "Bruce, Stephen, why don't you two stay with Phil to make sure he makes it back alive?"

Bruce tried not to sigh, hoping he wasn't about to be thrust into the middle of a power play.

Phil raised an eyebrow back. "If you want to make sure I'm not leaving anything out once we meet back up, Tony, you're better served having Jarvis hide away in my bag. I assure you, Steve is a sufficient companion for my safe return."

Tony sighed, putting on the expression of someone tired of having to explain himself. "Please. If we're going to break the party up anyway, I might as well teleport half of us back to the city. Either I take Bruce and and you're left with almost everyone else, or Bruce stays here and helps you back."

Bruce relaxed. That was actually a sensible argument, from Tony; teleporting would give them more time to smooth things over in the city, as well as hunt down new leads about where they might go next. "If we're going to have to walk back, and I'm already staying behind, it makes sense for Stephen to stay as well, since he moves faster than I do, and can protect the camp overnight," he pointed out to Phil.

Phil sighed. "Both excellent points. Very well, Tony, I'll accept your spy."

Tony flashed him a sharp smile. "Seems fair, since I'm taking yours."

"I am not a spy," Steve snapped, rubbing at his forehead. "Pelor protect me... Phil, none of us cares what you're up to."

"Completely untrue," Natasha replied with a smile. "But we'll figure it out in a couple of days, one way or the other, so it hardly matters who is today's spy."

"You're a spy every day, Nat," Clint pointed out drily.

"Slander!"

Bruce sighed and glanced at Jarvis, who was still perched on his shoulder. The homunculus tilted its ugly little head, scratched at the shoulder strap of his armour, then hopped off his shoulder and into the partially open flap of his backpack. Bruce resisted the urge to sigh again, looking towards where Tony was ushering the three returning with him away from the rest of the party. The wizard glanced back once, tracing his eyes over the line of people remaining, then closed his eyes and spoke the words of the spell out loud before they all vanished.

Phil didn't waste any time after the others had vanished before he was probing Loki for any information on crystal dragons and beguilers he could get out of the dragon. When Loki started to clam up, eyes narrowing, the gunslinger changed tracks, asking instead about the black dragon that Loki had fled from and the lay of the surrounding land.

"I hope this doesn't end poorly," Bruce murmured to Stephen as he set down his bag to unpack; they might as well camp in front of Loki's cave for the night. It had an excellent view of all lines of attack, and there was cover a little further back for them to sleep under, in case it started to rain. There wasn't a lot of wood to keep a fire lit all through the night, but they could huddle together to sleep and keep each other warm if the temperature dropped too far overnight.

Stephen tugged at one end of his moustache, eyes looking out over the view, but almost certainly listening to every word between Phil and Loki. "As do I," he murmured. "I would rather an alliance with a dragon than leaving on poor terms because Phil is incapable of curbing his quest to know everything."

Bruce glanced towards Phil and Loki. "Tony says he's reporting everything he learns to someone."

Stephen's lips twitched. "There are times I wonder if I shouldn't craft my own homunculus to use as a spy on my allies."

Bruce grimaced. He was used to Jarvis, but too many homunculi running around would wear on all their nerves.

Stephen glanced towards him. "I won't. Wong would get jealous."

Wong huffed and grumbled something under his breath, causing Stephen's mouth to twitch again before he growled a response.

Times like this, Bruce wished he'd taken Tony up on his offer to cast a permanent comprehend languages spell on him. He didn't really care what Tony muttered to himself in other languages, because he knew the wizard well enough to guess he was better off ignorant, but it would be nice to know what their various party members were saying when they weren't using Common.

"Do you know who he's writing to?" Stephen asked Bruce.

"What?" Bruce asked, pulling himself from his regret.

Stephen raised an eyebrow. "Phil."

"Phil wha– Oh. No, I don't. If Tony knows, he hasn't shared it with me."

Practically in sync, they both turned to look at where Jarvis had perched on top of Bruce's bag, intent on Phil and Loki. The homunculus made no sign that it was paying any attention to them, but Bruce knew it had. Jarvis heard everything. Gods, it practically saw everything.

Loki finally stalked back into his cave with a huff, leaving the small party to watch after him for a long moment before the two spellcasters looked towards Phil. The gunslinger rolled his shoulders in that odd sort of shrug that he did to accommodate the belt he wore across his body, over one shoulder, which held the longsword he rarely drew (Bruce used to think it was just for decoration, to make people overlook his odd weapons. But then he'd actually seen Phil use the thing and realised he was nearly as good with the sword as he was with his guns), then walked over to join them, his Bag of Holding sliding easily from its place half-hidden under his travelling cloak.

"How's the spot look for camp?"

"Reasonable," Stephen replied, turning to look back out at their view. "Considering that we're on the doorstep of a dragon's lair, I suspect we won't need to set a watch, but I'll still set up the alarm spell before we sleep. Unless someone would prefer otherwise?"

"Better safe than sorry," Phil declared, as Bruce had known he would.

"We're limited for firewood," Bruce announced from next to the little triangle of brush he'd managed to scrounge up while Phil had been questioning Loki. "Enough for tea or to warm some rations, but not enough to cook real meat or get us through the night. If it gets cold up here, we're going to have to huddle."

"It happens," Phil said without concern. "It didn't get particularly cold last night but, yes, I know," he continued as both Bruce and Stephen opened their mouths, "change in altitude. We've dealt with worse than a drop in temperature overnight."

Which was true; they'd once angered a tribe of orcs and spent almost three days without sleep, winding through the claustrophobic, freezing tunnels that Clint had led them through in an attempt to lose the angry hunters coming after them. By the time they'd managed to get to safety, they were all thoroughly sick of each other. If Stephen hadn't joined them with the offer of a new quest that required all of their talents, they would have disbanded then and there.

Phil dropped his cloak on the ground next to Bruce, unbuckled his sword, then settled comfortably on top of his cloak, his sword set to one side in an almost absent manner, but it was easily within reach and angled for a quick draw. "Let's see how the temperature acts before deciding whether we need the warm drink. We may appreciate it far more in the morning."

"True enough," Stephen agreed as he and Wong joined them around the unlit fire, the sorcerer actually sitting on the ground, for once. "Have you learned all you required from Loki, or will we be treated to a repeat performance come daylight?"

Phil raised one eyebrow. "You disapprove." He shook his head. "No, of course you disapprove. I forget, sometimes, how much you arcane spellcasters treasure secrets."

Bruce resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "It's not the secrets, Phil. It's that we have no idea what you're planning to do with all that information you just dragged out of him. And you really weren't being as subtle as you usually are."

Phil's single eyebrow raised again. "Would you be subtle in asking Natasha questions?"

"Oh." Right.

"And your use for the information?" Stephen pressed, eyes narrowed. He was watching Phil, but Wong's eyes were fixated on something behind Bruce, and the half giant resisted the urge to look over his shoulder; he suspected there was nothing there for him to see.

Phil shrugged, shoulders rolling as though expecting the sword belt to still be there. "If there's a territorial black dragon around here, I want to know where, so we can make plans to avoid it."

Stephen gave a slow nod, eyes still narrowed.

Phil's eyes glinted with amusement, though his expression didn't change. "Don't tell me you're not curious about crystal dragons and beguilers." When Stephen didn't respond to that, Phil sighed. "Do you remember, our first night in the city, when Steve said it would be nice if we could help with the monster keeping provisions from reaching the city by sea?"

Bruce and Stephen both nodded; they'd found out, upon asking around the next day, that the monster was a kraken. Not the sort of creature they'd go looking to pick a fight with, especially not out at sea, so Steve's heroic hopes had been dashed and they'd gone in search of an easier, land-based quest.

"I was hoping Loki was a water-based dragon, or that he might have some sort of skill that would help us in tracking down and destroying the kraken, but it sounds like he doesn't."

"An alliance to be rid of the kraken?" Stephen murmured, tilting his head slightly to the side, eyes tracing towards that same spot behind Bruce that Wong was fixated on. "The city mayor would certainly see that in a positive light. He might even rescind the ban keeping Loki away."

Phil nodded. "The thought had crossed my mind. But if he's just going to be one more person to fall off the boat – or not fall, since he can fly..." He sighed. "I don't know how much a wind-based breath weapon will do in the water–"

"Light," said Loki, suddenly appearing behind Bruce. Bruce couldn't help but jump, but at least he manage to keep from drawing a weapon on the dragon, who raised an unimpressed eyebrow at the pistol pointed at him. "I breathe light, not air. As an attack."

"Light?" Stephen murmured, eyes sharp with a hunger that Bruce was more used to seeing on Tony when he came across something he knew nothing about. "That's an unusual form of energy for an attack."

"My kind is not originally from your plane," Loki pointed out drily. "Elemental attacks are not always conductive when you usually exist on a plane made up of that element."

"Air is hardly fire, though," Bruce pointed out. "It's not an element that creatures really develop a resistance to, if only because there aren't really any air-based attacks. Lightning and sonic, maybe, but not air."

"Given." Loki shrugged. "I can't tell you why my ancestors developed light as a main weapon, beyond that it is a type that can exist easily across all planes." He smiled, then, teeth glinting in the late afternoon sunlight, a little sharper than Bruce would have expected to see in the mouth of an average human. "Perhaps the gem dragons, as a collective, simply decided they would rather be as different as possible from our chromatic and metallic cousins."

Wong rumbled something that won a quiet noise of amusement from Loki and a, "Quite," from Stephen. Then, to Loki, the sorcerer asked, "Did you wish to join our attempt to rid the nearby sea of the kraken? Any extra assistance would help, especially from someone who can easily carry one or two of us back to land, should whatever boat we take out suffer too much damage to return. Tony, Clint, and myself can all fly, but–"

"Clint can't fly," Phil interrupted, brow furrowed. "The swinging from tree to tree does not involve any flight on his part."

Bruce, too, had frowned in confusion. Tony had mentioned something about Clint being able to fly at one point, but had corrected himself when Bruce had pointed it out. But if Stephen also thought Clint could fly... What had the two arcane spellcasters seen that the rest of them had missed?

Stephen sort of blinked around at them for a moment, then looked at Jarvis. (Who had apparently climbed up to Loki's shoulder when Bruce hadn't been looking. The dragon was running absent fingers over the homunculus' head and back, clearly unbothered by his new passenger.) Jarvis let out an odd little huffing warble, which Bruce had long suspected was what passed for laughter from the construct.

Stephen sighed. "I often forget that not everyone can see when there is magic. Clint's cloak is a magical item known as Wings of Flying. As the name suggests, it can turn into a pair of wings capable of sustaining flight."

Bruce resisted the urge to curse his friend only because Tony wasn't there to hear him. (And, yes, he knew Jarvis would relay his irritation to the wizard, but he much rather see Tony's immediate reaction. And maybe hit him. Gently. Ish.)

Phil, for his part, just rubbed at the bridge of his nose. "Natasha doesn't have something similar?"

"Natasha prefers to keep her feet on the ground," Bruce pointed out. He'd tried to carry her once, to get them past some dangerous terrain faster (it had been before they met up with Steve and Phil, when she was still the slowest moving of the party), and she'd nearly taken his eye out with one of her daggers.

Phil sighed. "Very well. Three members of the party can fly. Bruce, you mentioned Tony had a way to float you along after him, I think?"

Bruce nodded. "A spell of his, yes. A floating disk that follows after him. We've had mixed results when using it to travel over water, but it's an idea, certainly. It should be able to support your or Natasha's weight with me, if you're aiming to lighten the load Loki would have to carry." He paused and glanced over at where Loki was standing next to him, expression carefully neutral. "Assuming you wanted to help out."

Loki met his gaze, then glanced over Phil and Wong before locking gazes with Stephen, who was managing to look remarkably harmless and only a little hopeful. "You believe the city would allow me to return?"

Stephen looked away for a moment, brow creasing. But he quickly returned to meeting Loki's gaze, unflinching as he replied, "I can't make any promises. If it were left to me, I never would have kicked you out, but I'm no city leader. I can say that ridding a city of a plight makes them far more inclined to accept you, past transgressions left aside in light of your usefulness to the city. If nothing else, it will ensure they never send anyone out here to hunt you down, unless they've been sent to seek your assistance for one reason or another."

Wong rumbled a comment and Stephen blinked in vague surprise, while Loki looked honestly shocked. "I would not find fault in you joining us on our adventuring," the sorcerer said in Common, returning the conversation to a language they all shared.

Phil nodded, eyes distant. "Tony tends to focus on magic meant to harm or create, and Stephen and Bruce are more healers than anything else. A spellcaster that focuses on illusion magic would not be turned away."

"Tony would love it," Bruce said knowingly. Which, really, if something made Tony happy, Bruce made do. The wizard hadn't done anything too crazy. Yet.

Jarvis let out a purr; an agreement if Bruce had ever heard one.

Loki swallowed and schooled his face back into that carefully neutral expression he'd been wearing before Wong's comment. "We'll see," he announced before turning away from them. "I will return in the dawn and we may be off to meet with the others and face down this kraken."

Bruce turned his eyes on the unlit bramble between them. Once bitten, he knew, twice shy.

He didn't realise Jarvis had stayed with Loki until long after, when he was climbing into his bedroll and thought to glance around for the homunculus. Sleepily, he wondered if that meant anything.

-0-

Tony's teleport had been a little off, and they'd had to walk twenty minutes to get to the city gates. Considering how long they would have had to walk if they hadn't teleported, Steve had absolutely zero reason to complain, and he was pleased to see Natasha and Clint holding their tongues on the matter.

Given, that was probably because they were too busy pestering Steve for insight into his long-time partner's current plans: "Come on, Steve, what's Phil want with Loki?" Clint tried for the third time. Natasha had given up after asking once, but Clint always needed Steve to shout at him before he'd stop asking the same question. Phil said he did it just to rile Steve up, and Steve should really stop humouring him by holding on to his temper so long, but Steve couldn't bring himself to just yell at a companion...

"Clint," Tony interrupted, turning in mid-air and looking the three of them over, "as soon as we get through the gates, go procure rooms at the inn for us. If they have the space, go for four. If not, get two and we'll figure out sleeping arrangements in our room tonight."

Clint rolled his eyes. "Who made you team leader?"

"I made me leader. Natasha, I want you snooping around. Find out what you can about Loki. And maybe look into the beguiler guild he studied at."

"He may have studied in another city," Natasha pointed out, but Steve knew her lack of refusal to follow Tony's orders was her agreeing to do as he'd said. Which meant Clint was going to stop complaining. Which was a relief.

Tony shook his head. "He studied here," he said with such certainty, Steve wondered what he and the dragon had spoken of while they'd been apart from the rest of the party with Jarvis. It hadn't looked like they were discussing things like where Loki's guild had been, but Tony had a peculiar habit of looking like he was discussing one thing, while he was really talking about something else entirely. It drove Steve – who'd made a long career of reading body language to gauge mood and topics – absolutely insane. (If he'd spent a bit more time with Loki, he could have used the dragon to gauge their conversation. But, alas, he was flailing in the dark. As usual, when it came to most things concerning the wizard.)

Natasha shrugged. "Make sure you bring something nice back for dinner."

"Done."

Natasha nodded, then took a firm hold of Clint's arm and dragged him with her into the nearby gates.

Steve blinked at Tony. "Tell me you're not intending to use me as your conscious."

Tony snorted and dropped silently to the ground, his Winged Boots deactivated for traversing the city – something about being shoved around in crowds, Steve was pretty sure he'd said the first time Phil had asked. "You're my bodyguard. Come on."

Steve blinked a few times in surprise, then shook it away and hurried to catch up with the wizard. "Bodyguard? Why would you need one of those?" Tony was hardly incapable of protecting himself, between his largely offensive magic and the odd, self-made gauntlets he never seemed to remove, which shot out beams of sonic energy without any warning.

Tony smiled at him, something dark glinting in his eyes. "I'm Anthony Stark. Anthony Stark doesn't go around without a bodyguard."

Steve grimaced, half at the reminder that he was travelling with one of the best known people on their plane, half at the realisation that he'd been expecting the familiar dry remark from Clint about how Anthony Stark shouldn't be let out in public if he was so delicate. Or something. "Right. Bodyguard duty. Easy."

Tony laughed, loud enough to draw stares, and Steve resisted the urge to hush him. Barely.

At the mayoral manor, they discovered the man was out on a trip down to the docks, checking on what was left of a ship that had attempted to sneak past the kraken lurking just out of range of the ballistae mounted at the mouth of the bay. Rather than hunting him down and chancing missing him on the way, Tony and Steve agreed to wait in the receiving room.

There, Tony started flirting with the maid sent to attend to them while Steve sipped at the fruit juice she'd brought and turned an appraising eye on the swords hung against one wall.

He didn't quite jump when Tony appeared at his side, shorter than Steve was used to with his feet on the ground, but it was an embarrassingly near thing. Politely, Tony didn't mention his flinch, only commented, "I have been promised that the best chef in the city owns a restaurant about four minutes' walk from the inn. We can alter our return course and ensure they'll have a table open for the supper hour."

"Getting in Natasha's good graces?"

Tony flashed him a wide grin. "Always." Then he turned to the sword Steve had been looking at and pulled a face. "Justin Hammer. Decoration's about all it's good for."

Steve bit back a laugh and raised his eyebrows at the weaponsmith. "I've been looking at this sword for almost six minutes and I can't see anything different from Phil's sword." Which was, Tony had ensured as soon as they joined the party, one of the wizard's own creations. Previously, it had been from a blacksmith friend of Phil's. "How are you sure it's one of Hammer's?"

Tony glanced up at him, considering. After apparently assuring himself that Steve was actually interested in the answer, he turned back to the sword, one finger brushing along the flat of the blade. "Right here, there's a very faint change in the colour of the metal. Justin tends to heat his steel unevenly, which causes this to happen. It also tends to cause his blades to break easier."

Steve grimaced. He'd heard more than enough horror stories of swords breaking in combat.

Tony's finger traced down the blade to the very tip, which he pressed against with the least callused part of that finger before Steve could think to stop him. The skin didn't break, and Tony nodded. "He got impatient. Didn't finish beating out the tip. Knowing Justin, he was probably working on this blade right before a meal and trying to speed through it so he could eat." He pointed out a couple other spots along the edge of the blade that weren't beat to the razor thin edge Steve was used to seeing on blades. "Really hungry. Before supper, then."

"How does he even stay in business, making such poor blades?" Steve wondered. He'd heard, often enough, that Justin Hammer was a shoddy weaponsmith, but he hadn't realised quite how bad he was.

Tony shrugged, stepping away from the sword. "His father built up their good name, and Justin isn't terrible with hammers and morningstars. Chains trip him up a bit, for flails, but his eldest son is apparently excellent with them and has been teaching a couple apprentices. If he stopped trying to produce bladed weapons, he might actually be competition for me. But he's too stuck on his father's legacy to see his own failings and strengths."

"Swords and daggers are the far more popular," Steve pointed out.

"Says the man who uses a shield," Tony returned with a laugh and a gentle knock with the back of his gauntlet against the shield Steve had started using as a weapon after one too many times of his master disarming him. He'd thrown the shield in a fit of pique and had managed to angle it just the right way to careen off the walls of the room and into the back of his master's head, immediately knocking the man out. He'd never let himself be talked back into learning the sword again until he'd picked up with Phil and the gunslinger had forced him to train with the longsword he carried, just in case Steve ever lost his shield and needed something more deadly than the slingshot he kept shoved in his belt.

"Anyway," Tony continued, unaware of Steve's meandering thoughts, "axes are really popular all of a sudden, for reasons I haven't quite figured out. Pep seems to think it has something to do with Bruce using one."

Pepper – Virginia was her real name, Steve had found out from Bruce – managed the business while Tony was adventuring. (Steve had been convinced the woman was Tony's wife, until Bruce had gently disabused him of the notion that Tony was married at all.) She and Tony kept in contact through some magical means or another – Steve wasn't clear on the specifics, and had never cared to ask for clarification, assuming Tony would even provide it – which was probably the only reason he was allowed to adventure at all, rather than remain in the capital city with his main shop. (Well, that and the small army of apprentices and journeymen he and his father had built up.)

Steve was saved from having to come up with a response to that by the arrival of the mayor. The man and Tony greeted each other genially, the mayor's smile just a little too wide.

"Please, Master Stark, tell me you have good news," the mayor requested once they'd all sat down, fresh drinks and some biscuits sitting untouched on the table between them. "I desperately need some, today."

Tony tented his fingers together under his chin. "We heard about the most recent ah...gift, from the kraken."

The mayor ran a hand over his face. "Not the way I would have put it, but, yes." He glanced towards Steve, as though only just now noticing him. "You seem to be missing your normal bodyguard. Is he–?"

"Bruce is fine," Tony assured him, waving the suggestion away. "And we managed to find the cause of your problem: A man run out of the city years ago who was in fear of being followed and killed. He's agreed to cease the illusions if you'll agree to not send anyone after him."

The mayor frowned. "Run out of the city? Did you happen to catch his name?"

"Mm. Loki."

The mayor's face darkened with disgusted fury intense enough to make Steve flinch back. Tony didn't react to the change beyond a minute narrowing of his eyes. "That little coward."

"Yes, he suggested you might call him that," Tony agreed calmly. "He spun a sweet little tale about a black dragon and a party who wouldn't listen when he cautioned they turn away." He smiled, then, every inch a traitor to Loki's trust; so much so, Steve almost believed the wizard would sell the dragon out. (And he'd thought Tony was less practiced than Phil at this sort of thing. Damn the wizard and his myriad secrets, anyway.) "What's the truth? The part he wouldn't tell us?"

The mayor's face was still twisted with dislike, but he leaned forward like a conspirator and explained, "Two of the party returned after facing the dragon. One died before he reached the healers, but the other told us the whole story. Of that beguiler–" he paused to watch Tony, and the wizard didn't disappoint with an impressive expression of disgust "–yes, one of those, he was. Dripping with evil, their sort. It was no surprise he was in league with that black dragon. Vanished at one point along the path without a word, and before they reached the dragon's lair, it was upon them. Like it was expecting them or something. When he returned, we kicked him right back out. We don't want any dragon sympathisers in this city."

"A beguiler," Tony mused, the class gifted with a cold inflection as it dripped from his tongue. "No wonder he spun such a lie, looking for our sympathy." He shook his head and met the mayor's gaze. "I am most glad to have enquired. Half of our party remained behind, awaiting my word. This beguiler will cease to be by morning, you have my word."

"They're slippery, that sort," the mayor warned.

Tony smiled, teeth flashing with the promise of someone's blood being spilt. "I'm aware. One of my companions has an artefact capable of seeing through illusions. He will ensure Loki cannot escape while Bruce pounds him to nothing more than a mar amongst the side of the mountains."

The mayor chuckled. "Useful, having such a dumb brute at your beck and call."

"Indefinitely," Tony agreed. It was only because Steve knew Tony so well that he saw the way his hand spasmed against his leg at the slight to Bruce. That hand almost immediately went up, held in a sort of beseeching manner. "Please, dull as he is, he's quite useful. The party member who survived, do they still reside in the city? I'd like to speak to them, see if they can tell me anything useful about Loki's fighting style. Anything to give Bruce the upper hand."

"Of course," the mayor agreed. "She lives down by the docks. I can give you her house number?"

"I would appreciate that."

When they finally left the manor, they had an address to visit, the mayor's adoration, and the pay for the completion of the mission, with more promised if the other half of the party returned with Loki's head. Tony whistled a jaunty tune as they passed through the front doors. Out on the street, smile still wide, he said to Steve, "Restaurant, I think, then the hotel."

"And the address?" Steve couldn't help but ask, voice sharp with the anger that had just kept building while Tony had played along.

Tony glanced at him, and even though he was still smiling, Steve could see a well of anger in his eyes. "We'll send Natasha. No reason for me to get my hands dirty when she can do it so much better than me."

Steve swallowed and looked away; Tony wasn't the person he wanted to take his anger out on. "Right."

Natasha was at the hotel with Clint when they got there, and her expression suggested the news she'd discovered was as grim as what Tony and Steve had learned. "I don't see any dinner, Stark," she said when they stopped next to her and Clint.

"We have a reservation," Tony reported with a rather self-satisfied smirk.

"Can you take me up to the room?" Steve requested. "I'd like to drop my bag off."

Clint nodded and stood. "Yeah. It's a slow week, so I got us four." He tossed a wadded ball of paper at Tony's head. "I'll leave it to you to square the bill, boss."

Tony shrugged and started towards the innkeeper's desk, one hand vanishing into the folds of his cloak for the portable hole Steve knew, from Bruce, he kept the majority of his gold in.

Steve followed Clint upstairs, where he pointed out the two rooms he and Natasha hadn't taken. Steve picked the one closest to the stairs, figuring he might as well continue playing Tony's bodyguard, and set down his bag and shield – it would only get in the way if they got into a fight at the restaurant.

"Tony isn't showing it, but you look like the news you two picked up is as happy as what Natasha found out," Clint commented as Steve tugged a little too hard in unattaching his bedroll; he liked to air it out whenever he got the chance.

Steve let out an angry breath. "I don't think they'll be leaving Loki alone." And he hated it. Hated that someone would be run out of town and bullied because of their class. (Because their mother had done any and everything to get by, to make sure her only son would survive the illnesses he was always contracting. Because his dream was to be a great warrior, just like his father, who had gone adventuring one day, and his party had returned with only his sword.)

Clint flexed his hand, the same motion he always made after he'd been holding his bow for a long period of time. "Yeah. That's about the conclusion Natasha reached, too."

"Well," Steve said as he turned to usher Clint out of the doorway and back downstairs, "at least we know the mayor and townspeople are all of the same mind."

"Shit for Loki, though," Clint insisted.

Steve gave a nod, the muscles of his neck and face feeling tight. This was so very wrong. He wanted out of this town, away from this problem. But he wanted to help, too. To make it so Loki wasn't a social pariah, afraid to show his face for fear that it would result in his death.

As soon as they re-joined Tony and Natasha, they all left for the restaurant. Tony had requested a private room, and the staff had tripped over themselves to ensure it would happen.

They were quiet as they ordered and waited for their food. When it came, Tony passed a handful of gold coins to their host for privacy, then dispelled whatever listening spells had been added to the room.

"Perhaps you should learn the zone of silence, one of these days," Natasha commented, as she always did.

"I'll add it to my list of things to do," was Tony's response, as always. He took a bite of his food, then leaned back slightly and said, "I can't say for sure if they'll go hunting him down, but Loki won't be able to come back to the city until everyone who knew him is dead."

"They'll go hunting him down," Natasha reported with certainty. "The guild he learned at was razed to the ground and every member and their families slaughtered. If they'd known he was in the mountains, they wouldn't have just been sending passing parties after him for some extra gold."

Steve stood and started pacing, needing to work off some angry energy.

Tony rubbed at his beard. "I had a feeling you were going to say that," he admitted. "The mayor wants his head. I can create an approximation that will fool all non-magical examinations, and most magical examinations, which should give Loki some leeway in regards to being hunted, but he'll have to remain unseen and undetected."

"Easier for a beguiler than, say, a flashy wizard," Clint muttered into his food.

Steve gently swatted the scout's shoulder, as he was behind him when he'd spoken.

"We have the address of the last surviving member of Loki's former party. Natasha, I'd appreciate it if you'd pay her a visit tonight. Get her side of the story."

"Without any of the lies she told the townspeople," Steve added angrily.

Tony's mouth twitched with a suppressed smile. "Yes. Without the suppositions that Loki had gone ahead to let the black dragon know they were there."

"Really?" Clint complained. "That was really the track they took? Blame a dragon catching them in their territory on the one party member who did the smart thing and ran for his life?"

Natasha shrugged. "It's not completely unreasonable. Especially if you don't want to admit that your party member kept trying to get you to turn around."

"If she explained that part, the mayor didn't mention it," Steve commented.

Tony nodded, expression distant. "Hm." He refocused on Natasha after a moment. "Story from the party member?"

"Certainly."

"Good. Once you're done, let me know what you've found out and I'll send a message to the others with our discovery."

"Can you fit all that information in a sending?" Steve asked; he was pretty sure there was a limit to how much could be relayed through the common magical communication spell.

Tony chuckled. "You'll just have to trust me, Star and Stripes."

Steve sighed and returned to his seat. One day, he would figure out why Tony liked to make so much fun of the design on his shield.

-0-

Judging by Bruce's unsurprised face as Stephen explained the message Tony had passed along in the night, Phil suspected the wizard had left a very similar message for the half giant. He might have been more upset by him being obviously left out, but he was used to not knowing what various members of the party were up to together. In the beginning, it had driven him mad. Any more, though, he was used to it.

And, honestly, when it came to Tony Stark, as much as his employer was interested in the weaponsmith, Phil was perfectly happy being kept in the dark about most of Tony's plots. The man gave chaos a bad name, and revelled in every moment of it. (Phil was half convinced the man's insanity was communicable, having met a number of his journeymen and former apprentices. That Bruce appeared immune was not that reassuring.)

In this case, however, he was glad to know what they would be walking into when they returned to the city.

"Have you let Tony know we're bringing Loki back with us?" he asked the two spellcasters.

They traded a look, the sort that always set off the eternal war between his desire to know everything he could, and his personal disinclination to learn too much about Tony.

"He is aware," Loki said, suddenly appearing behind Phil.

Phil managed to keep from reaching for his gun this time, but he couldn't resist the urge to request, "Could you please cease that particular habit?"

Loki looked considering for a moment before shrugging. "No." He glanced over the three of them as Phil sighed in irritation. "If you are prepared, we should leave. I have little interest in camping in the woods so close to the city."

"I'm sorry," Bruce offered the dragon as Phil made sure his guns were in place and stood to strap his sword on.

Loki shrugged, the motion uncaring. "Such is life. I am not so old as to be incapable of change."

"That doesn't mean you should have to," Bruce insisted.

Loki had no response for that, beyond turning away from them and starting his way down the mountain.

The trip was largely silent, and much quicker than their journey to the mountain, as they weren't stopped by various creatures and illusions. Also, they weren't held up by Steve's general slow pace, and Phil wasn't against Bruce carrying him so they could move a little bit faster.

Clint was waiting for them just out of sight of the city walls, sitting in a tree. Phil hadn't even known he was there until the scout dropped to the ground in front of them, startling everyone but Loki. Even Wong startled, then let out an irritated growl. (Phil was getting really tired of people sneaking up on him.)

"May I?" Loki requested, pointing to something Clint was holding.

"You are morbid," Clint replied as he handed it over.

Phil blinked when the item passed through a stream of daylight, showing it to be the falsity of Loki's head. (Curse people with low-light vision.)

"Remarkable," Loki murmured, turning the head between his hands. "Were my own head not still attached, I would believe this to be it."

"Morbid," Clint repeated.

"It won't stand up to a true seeing," Stephen cautioned, his Eye of Agamotto lit between his hands.

Clint shrugged. "From what Steve said about his and Tony's meeting with the mayor, it doesn't have to. The asshole's practically eating out of Tony's hands, he's so in love with him."

"Why not simply talk the mayor into accepting Loki, then?" Bruce wondered, frowning.

"It doesn't work that way," Phil offered, tone apologetic. "If Tony pushes the mayor too much, he'll just turn on us."

"One cannot always use pretty words to have their way," Loki murmured, offering the fake head to Stephen, who had been looking at it curiously.

Clint shrugged again. "Pretty much what Tony said, yeah." He shook his head. "Tony wanted me to ask if you guys still wanted to go after the kraken, or if you'd rather leave the bigots to suffer."

"I'm sure Steve loves the idea of us just leaving," Bruce said.

"You might be surprised," Phil murmured. The one time he and the fighter had left a group to their deaths, even though they could have saved them, it had been Steve's choice. The fighter had a deeply ingrained hatred of bullies, which went far deeper than his apparently unshakable belief in doing the 'right thing'.

Clint grinned. "Oh yeah. He says he'll bow to Loki's choice."

"Interesting," Loki murmured, touching his own shoulder.

"Does Tony have a plan for meeting up to take this into the city?" Stephen asked, motioning with the head.

"Yeah. He and Steve are going to meet you by the gate. He said to send Phil and Bruce in, while you and I stay with Loki."

"Where's Natasha in all this?" Stephen wondered as he held up the head to Bruce.

Clint snorted. "I have no idea. She was gone when I got up. I assume Tony's got her doing some more information gathering for some reason. I didn't bother asking."

"How late did you get up?" Phil demanded. Because it was getting pretty late in the afternoon, and surely he'd have asked if Natasha had been gone all day.

"You realise I've been out here, awaiting you slowpokes since just after dawn," Clint retorted. "For all I know, Natasha's been eating it up back in the city while I've been out here with my rations."

Phil rolled his eyes; he knew Clint well enough to know when he was making things up. "You got up at noon."

"Eleven, actually," Clint corrected, unapologetic.

"Loki, where are you going?" Stephen cut in, bringing their attention to the fact that Loki had, well, vanished.

"Where is he now?" Phil hissed.

"I will return directly. None will see me," Loki's voice responded from Clint's direction. (Watching the scout jump in surprise was probably the highlight of Phil's afternoon. If only someone could sneak up on Loki now, his entire day would be made.)

"Not reassuring," Clint muttered.

"He won't go far," Bruce soothed. "Jarvis is with him."

"What?" Phil demanded, turning to stare in the direction of the half giant. "How do you know? That thing could be in any of our bags and we'd never know."

"Jarvis was sitting on his shoulder when Loki turned himself invisible," Stephen announced, tone dry.

"And he stayed with Loki all of last night," Bruce added.

"That is...kind of creepy," Clint pointed out. "What sort of person likes having a familiar follow them around? Especially an homunculus."

"Some of us don't mind Jarvis," Bruce muttered.

Loki, suddenly appearing next to Bruce, ended any further arguments. "We shall face the kraken," he announced before touching Bruce's arm and solemnly stating, "Bear my head proudly, giant-spawn."

Bruce sighed. "I'm not sure we can survive two of you. Come on, Phil."

"You realise Tony doesn't like people insulting Bruce," Stephen commented as Phil followed Bruce towards the city.

"You realise I don't care."

Phil shook his head and gave silent thanks to Vecna that he didn't have to try mediating that argument. Though, really, playing diplomat for Tony Stark wasn't going to be any more fun.

Tony and Steve were, indeed, waiting for them by the gate. "Your requested head, Tony," Bruce announced, holding up a hemp sack he or Stephen had pulled from somewhere when they'd been in the trees. There were dried bloodstains on the bottom, adding to the lie that this was, in fact, Loki's head.

Tony grinned. "Excellent. What's the consensus on the kraken?" he asked of Phil.

"Yes."

Tony nodded and turned away to cast a sending.

"Where's Natasha?" Phil asked Steve, since Tony was busy casting.

Steve nodded towards Tony. "Purchasing a boat. Tony and I went down to the docks earlier to see what they have in a seaworthy state and decided on three possibilities. Natasha's been hunting down the owners and figuring out which one she could get for the best price."

"And waiting for Tony's affirmation that our plan is a go," Phil finished for his long-time partner, nodding. "Good to know someone's planning for all contingencies."

Steve grinned. "We had to do something today." His grin faded to a look of uncertainty. "And Tony seemed pretty certain that Lo– That everyone would agree to try our hand at the kraken."

"They are very similar," Bruce was quick to defend.

"Right!" Tony announced, turning back to them with a grin. "Let's finish this nasty business." He nodded to the bag Bruce was still holding.

"So we can move on to more nasty business?" Bruce muttered.

"Is there any other kind?" Phil replied as they started towards the gate. He waited until they were inside the city to fall into step with Tony. "Do you really need me here?"

Tony shrugged. "I'm not entirely convinced yesterday wasn't a fluke."

"I don't believe you."

The wizard eyed him for a moment, expression blank. Then he turned back to the street ahead of them, a wide grin blooming across his face even as he said, "If he insults Bruce again, I will ruin this."

Phil frowned and dropped back to walk between Steve and Bruce, who had been discussing Tony's eerie ability to know a weapon's maker after just a glance. "The mayor insulted Bruce," he said to Steve, not phrasing it as a question, though it was one.

Steve's expression tightened while Bruce sighed and took two quick steps forward so he could shove at Tony's shoulder, earning him a bright laugh from the wizard. "He did," Steve told Phil. "And he did a fair bit of ranting against Loki, as you might expect. But, yeah, you know Tony. Bruce is the one way to get under his skin."

Phil shook his head. "I will never understand that man."

"You don't want to understand him."

Phil smiled at Steve, grateful that at least one person in his life understood his refusal to learn too much about the mad wizard.

The mayor, when they got in to see him, was impossibly pleased to see the fake head. He did ask after the battle, directing all his questions towards Phil, rather than Bruce, who had been the one to hand over the head. Bruce hadn't seemed to care about the slight, and it was better for all of them, as Phil was far better at coming up with an imaginary fight. Still, Tony's fist had clenched, only loosening when Bruce touched his shoulder and shook his head.

Phil was grateful for the time spent quizzing Loki on his beguiler abilities, for he was easily able to spin an impressive battle, colouring it with what he knew of the spells he guessed Loki favoured, since they were the ones he named. Having not seen Loki fight during their trip back to the city, he'd probably missed a few tricks, but the mayor seemed to accept it, delightedly laughing at the end.

When they were finally done, a heavy purse of coins vanishing into Tony's cloak – Phil had complained, once, about Tony keeping all the money, but the wizard had just rolled his eyes and let Natasha attempt to rob him, proving their gold was safe – they made their way down to the docks. There, Natasha found them and led them to a boat that was only really big enough for their party.

"It doesn't need to be huge," Tony told Bruce when the half giant gave it a distrustful look. "In fact, given that we're not expecting it to survive the trip, smaller is probably better."

"Not to mention cheaper," Natasha agreed, tossing a coin purse at Tony, which he smoothly caught and drew back into the folds of his cloak to hide away. She glanced to Phil. "Steve said you two know how to handle a ship?"

"We've had a few lessons," Phil agreed, recalling their one trip across the sea. It had taken him all of two days to get bored and start looking for a distraction. When the captain of their ship realised he would have to amuse the trigger-happy gunslinger before his pot-shots at fish turned into pot-shots at members of the crew, he enlisted Steve in talking Phil into learning how to captain and man a ship with him. It had probably been the best month of forced downtime that Phil had ever had to sit through. And when you trained in a weapon that could all-too-easily explode in your face, you ended up with a lot of forced downtime.

"Good. I'm tired of listening to Tony."

Tony caught Natasha in a one-armed hug. "Aw, come on. I'm not that ba– Wow, that is one sharp knife. Did you find someone with a sharpening stone around here?"

"I did," Natasha agreed drily. "Shall we test how good it was?"

Tony quickly let go, grinning. "And ruin my perfectly shaped beard? Gods, no!"

"I promise I'll aim lower than your beard," Natasha returned sweetly.

"Right," Steve interrupted, getting between the two before they could see how serious Natasha was about testing her knives on Tony. "Let's all get aboard and cast her off. I don't think any of us want to spend more time than necessary in town."

"Not all of us have twitchy–"

"Come on, Tony," Bruce ordered, pushing the wizard onto the boat ahead of him.

Natasha slipped her knife away. "I have better things to test my knives on," she declared before following the other two.

"How did we end up with this group again?" Steve muttered as Phil stepped up next to him.

"Luck," Phil deadpanned before looking up at his partner. "The real question is, why are we still with them?"

Steve smiled. "You tell me." Then he hurried onto the boat to show them how to handle her.

"Why indeed," Phil muttered, glancing back at the city. He wondered how long it would take Director Fury and his team to take over this city and purge them of their hatred of the less law-inclined classes. Maybe, if he asked nicely enough with his report, the spymaster would actually get back to him about the progress.

What a wonder it would be, to be able to tell Loki he was safe to return home.

-0-

"I don't like boats," Clint complained to Natasha. They were both up at the prow, watching ahead for any sign of the kraken. The three arcane spellcasters were debating magic somewhere behind them, while Steve and Bruce were managing the sails and Phil had the helm.

"You've mentioned," Natasha said, managing to sound bored, even though she had to shout to be heard over the waves hitting against the hull below them.

Clint huffed and leaned against the railing, eyes moving in a familiar search pattern despite the unfamiliar terrain. Boats meant he couldn't run ahead, couldn't keep his people safe by spotting danger far ahead, then doubling back to warn them. Boats meant unsteady ground and shots certain to go wide. (At least the kraken was a large target.)

When they'd come ashore to pick up the portion of the party that had been in the trees, Tony had explained the plan he, Natasha, and Steve had hashed out while Clint had been sleeping. Basically, as soon as the kraken was in sight, Tony, Stephen, and Clint – and how they'd found out about Clint's Wings of Flying was beyond him; he'd never even told Natasha about it – would all take to the air and attack from above. Steve would take the helm while Bruce manned the sails. Phil and Loki would do what they could from the deck, while Natasha made sure everyone on the deck kept in contact.

Should the kraken manage to destroy the boat – and half the reason Loki was staying on deck was to try and keep that from happening with illusions – Steve, Phil, Wong, and Natasha were to grab on to Loki, who would keep them out of the water. Bruce was pretty much on his own then, but they all agreed that, without the boat, he was best served in the water for the last of the fight.

Natasha and Clint had done a number of exercises involving attacking from the trees over the years, with him swinging down and either picking her up or dropping her down onto an enemy. They would employ something similar on the kraken, with Clint essentially serving as Natasha's ride, lightening Loki's load and giving Natasha a chance to fight, which she wouldn't have had with Loki.

Thinking about the plan also reminded Clint that Natasha hadn't been there when he'd stumbled downstairs. Even though it sounded as though she hadn't had anything to do until after Clint had left for the forest, when Steve and Tony had gone looking at boats. Which meant... "Are you angry with me?"

Natasha glanced at him before returning to looking out at the water. "Why would I be? Have you done something stupid of late?"

"About my cloak."

She gave up the pretence of keeping watch for the kraken and narrowed her eyes at him. "I wish you'd told me."

"How? You hate flying!"

"And? Do you see me yelling at Tony or Stephen to stay on the ground?"

Clint grit his teeth. "That's different. You can't tell Tony fucking Stark to do anything, or he'll just do it more 'cause he knows it annoys you. But me? You would have torn the cloak up while I was sleeping!"

"I would not!"

"Back then you would've! You were a mess when we met, Natasha!"

A hand clamped down on both of their shoulders and they jerked around to find Tony grinning at them. "As much as I love getting dirt on you people, please save your arguments for when you're not supposed to be watching out for the monstrous ship-eater."

"Piss off, Tony!" Clint snapped.

Tony shook him, his smile vanishing. "You made this bed, Monkey-Boy. Get your act together or bail out now. We don't need you two squabbling while we're trying to save a city most of us would happily see razed to the ground." He squeezed both their shoulders, then let go. "If you can't act civilised – which, by the way, you did not just make me say – together, go to opposite sides of the ship."

Clint hunched his shoulders and leaned back against the railing, refusing to move.

Natasha huffed and had just started walking away when Clint saw something white flashing against the horizon. "Natasha!" he shouted, straightening.

She was back at his side immediately, shading her eyes against the late afternoon sunlight. "That looks like sails."

"Another ship?" Tony asked, standing on Clint's other side and staring ahead, as though he thought he had a chance of seeing more than Clint and Natasha.

Stephen was relaying the sails back to Phil while Loki joined the rest of them at the bow. Phil was just calling something back to Stephen when something long and thin reached above the waves and crashed down onto what Clint could definitely see was another boat. "Fharlanghn," he breathed. Though, in retrospect, he doubted the patron god of roads would be much good out here.

"What? What just happened?" Stephen demanded.

"The kraken had attacked that other ship," Loki reported evenly.

"Can we do anything?" the sorcerer demanded.

"We're too far out," Natasha replied. "Even flying, there's no way you'd make it there in time."

"You won't, but I will," Loki snarled before hopping up onto the railing and launching himself up into the air. He transformed above them, the backwind from his wings rocking the whole boat.

Terror washed over Clint, a reminder from their first meeting, but he pushed it away with the knowledge that Loki was on their side.

"Hold up, Gorgeous!" Tony shouted, flying up to join him. "You can't save those people and fight off the kraken at the same time!"

"Hold the ship here!" Stephen shouted back to Phil before grabbing Clint's arm. "Let's go."

Clint glanced once towards Natasha, then nodded and activated his Wings of Flying with the nearly forgotten activation word. The cloak, a mottled green, grey, and brown, bloomed into two powerful wings and they lifted him up next to Stephen. And, Gods, he'd forgotten how wonderful it was to be moving through the air on his own.

"Hurry up!" Loki snapped. He waited only just long enough for Stephen and Clint to grab onto him, before he sped through the air, at least twice as fast as Stephen, who flew fastest of the three humans.

At that speed, they easily made it before the kraken could finish dragging the ship underwater.

"They won't trust Loki," Stephen warned.

"I'll talk to them," Tony promised. "Clint, you and Stephen do what you can about those arms! Loki, see if you can't get a shot at the body!"

"Talk to them fast," Loki suggested, voice gruff, as Stephen and Clint jumped off him to see what they could do about the tentacles wrapped around the ship. "That ship won't survive even if you stop the kraken."

"Got it," Tony replied before rolling off Loki and free-falling through the air for a moment before a featherfall spell caught him. He twisted himself in mid-air, then shot down towards the ship.

"I hate it when he does that," Clint muttered, having seen Tony pull off that particular free-fall trick before.

Stephen grimaced and aimed his Eye of Agamotto at the nearest tentacle before activating it. Clint immediately followed it up with a constant stream of arrows, most of them making their mark, though he couldn't tell how much good they were doing, if any.

Hovering just above the water, Loki opened his mouth and shot out a cone of light. Clint and Stephen both looked away to keep from being blinded, and when they looked back, they found the kraken's tentacles were receding from the ship.

"It can't be that easy," Clint muttered. "As impressive as that was–"

"Loki!" Tony shouted as a tentacle shot out of the water directly below the dragon. The wizard held up his hands and sent out a pulse of sonic energy as Loki quickly flew up and out of reach.

"We can't attack it while it's under water," Clint muttered as he and Stephen floated down, within range of Tony.

"It appears to want to snack on Loki," Tony commented. "I suppose a dragon's breath weapon hurts a fair bit."

"Immeasurably," Loki said, as he joined them, in his human form and holding the edges of the dark brown cloak Clint recalled him wearing earlier. He'd thought then that it hadn't quite suited the dragon, and now he realised it was just another magical cloak, like Clint's, which allowed him to fly even as a human.

"Well, they're willing to go with you, for the most part," Tony informed Loki, "but I'm not sure the kraken will let you get close enough."

Loki looked over the group of passengers huddled against the stern. "I cannot carry all of them," he admitted, grimacing.

"Take what you can, we'll figure out a way to carry the rest," Stephen promised. Tony raised an eyebrow at him.

"Could we ferry them up to you?" Clint suggested, speaking before Stephen and Tony could start an argument; this wasn't the time or place for one of their stupid spats.

"That could work," Stephen agreed.

"Let's give it a shot, then," Tony decided, nodding. "Loki, as far out of reach of Mr Grabby as you can."

"Your concern is truly touching," Loki informed him drily, then shot up into the sky, transforming high above them.

"Can I just say, that's actually kind of cool," Clint commented.

"I'm sure there's a spell to turn you into a proper monkey, if you'd–"

"Shut up, Tony," Stephen ordered, grabbing his arm and dragging him back down towards the ship.

Between the four of them, they managed to get all of the passengers. Tony had carried the last person up to Loki, so was the last one down to get the last two people. He'd grabbed the first one and was reaching for the second one when a tentacle shot up and wrapped around him.

"Tony!" Clint screamed, staring at the action below in horror. With one hand busy holding the person he had, he knew Tony couldn't use his gauntlets, and none of the rest of them could do anything with their own hands – or claws, in Loki's case – full.

"No, Loki!" Stephen ordered somewhere slightly above Clint.

Below them, Tony finally caught the hand of the last person on the ship. Then they all vanished.

"For the record," Tony said tiredly, appearing next to Clint with his two passengers clutching at him, "I don't like krakens."

"You ass," Clint breathed, emotions a mix of elation and the vestiges of his horror.

Tony grinned. "Let's get these people to our boat so we can come back and kill that thing."

The flight back was almost calming, considering the terror of the moments previous. Clint kept an eye beneath them, half afraid the kraken would follow them back to their boat, but he didn't see any movement under the water. Which, considering how deep the area had to be for a kraken to make it its home, wasn't saying much.

He did take a chance to get to know his two passengers. The younger one was in awe of his Wings of Flying, asking him if he was part celestial. Clint hurried to disabuse her of that notion before Tony could hear, certain he'd never hear the end of it if the wizard did. The elder was just grateful to have been saved, though he did seem quite afraid of Loki, judging by the way he kept casting the dragon flying above them worried looks.

Their boat's small size ended up proving a problem, with all the extra people.

"Take them back to the city," Tony decided with a sigh, staring down at the crowded deck. "The four of us should be able to manage the kraken together. We'll meet back up with you somewhere between the docks and here, alright?"

"And what if you can't handle it together?" Natasha demanded. "What if it drags all four of you under? Then what?"

"You finish the job," Loki announced coolly.

"Or you can run away. I mean, your choice, at that point," Tony finished with a wide grin.

"I'm coming wi–" Natasha started.

"No," Clint said, surprising himself as much as her expression said he'd surprised her. He swallowed and shook his head. "Natasha, listen to me. That thing? Your knives won't be much use against it. I mean, the Gods alone know how much good I'm doing, but at least I can stay out of its range while I'm poking it. You..."

"Can't," Natasha finished on a sigh. "Fine." She turned to Tony. "You bring him back alive, Anthony Stark, or I'll make your Godless life miserable."

Tony nodded seriously. "You've got it. Keep the monkey safe."

"Let's go," Loki ordered before jumping off the railing he'd been perched on and using his cloak to fly up high enough to transform.

"You heard the angry dragon. Come on, kids."

Clint and Stephen traded helpless looks and joined Tony in flying back up to Loki while Phil shouted out orders to Steve and Bruce to get them back underway.

"I am getting really sick of splitting up," Clint muttered once they were heading back towards the wreckage of the other ship.

"Likewise," Tony and Stephen chorused, then turned to glare at each other.

"On the other hand, maybe keeping you two separated is a good plan," Clint said to himself. Beneath his hands, Loki rumbled in amusement.

-0-

Once Loki had cast a spell to keep the kraken from fighting back, destroying it was remarkably easy. Hauling the carcass back to the city was...less so. Stephen and Tony had done what they could to magically lighten the load, and Clint had helped by building something of a raft out of what was left of the wrecked ship, but Loki still had to haul the kraken's body, because without a head – and good luck finding the head under what was left of the tentacles – the law stated there was no reward for killing the target.

They met back up with the rest of the party just out of view of the docks. Judging by the way their eyes popped upon seeing the kraken, not a one of them had realised how big the thing was.

It had taken them a bit to transfer the set-up they had to the ship, and Stephen and Tony had to use some spells in creative ways to make the ship move, but they managed without forcing Loki to bring them in to harbour.

While they were heading out to meet the kraken, Loki had suggested he could simply await the party in the woods while they collected their gold, assuming they still wanted him along. Stephen had been quick to assure him that, yes, of course they did. Meanwhile, Tony had suggested using a disguise to stay with the party in the city. "One last goodbye," he'd phrased it, wearing that irritating smile he seemed to pull out to hide how much something he was saying actually hurt him.

Stephen didn't think he'd ever understand how Tony's mind worked.

As they were actually approaching the city, though, Loki admitted, "I may be too tired to keep up a disguise spell."

"And they know there's another person in the party who can turn into a dragon," Tony agreed, rubbing at his beard. "I suspect the mayor won't like that at all."

Loki sighed and drooped against the railing. "I can await you in the wood–"

"Wait, sorry," Stephen interrupted, shaking his head. "Loki, your cloak, that's a Cloak of the Bat, isn't it?"

Loki frowned. "I don't know the name of it."

Tony tilted his head curiously. "What's up, Magic-Blood?"

Stephen sighed at the familiar Tony-esque insult. "You realise Loki has magic in his blood, too."

"Yeah, but I like him," Tony responded without missing a beat and Loki huffed out a laugh. The wizard flashed him a grin, then looked towards Stephen. "Seriously. What do you know that I don't?"

"And how do you not know it?" Stephen teased, because he couldn't resist.

"That too."

"Cloaks of the Bat can fly, yes, but they're also supposed to let you turn yourself into a bat," Stephen explained. As Loki straightened and eyed his cloak with interest, Stephen told Tony, "My master's other apprentice had a Cloak of the Bat. He found much enjoyment in attempting to spook people while in bat form."

"I like this other apprentice," Tony declared.

"He tried to kill me four times and succeeding in killing our master in his sleep when he refused to graduate him," Stephen deadpanned.

Tony grimaced. "Okay, liking him less..."

"I thought you might."

Loki let out a series of breathless words in a language Stephen didn't understand. After a moment, the dragon turned into a dark brown bat and fluttered up to Tony's shoulder and rested there.

Stephen raised an eyebrow at the wizard. "What did he say?" he asked, knowing the other understood all languages, even if he didn't speak them. He'd been tempted, more than once, to cast the same spells on himself, but understanding everything someone else said wasn't an absolute necessity for him, unlike Tony.

"He was trying out a few different words in Auran," Tony explained, reaching a finger up to almost touch Loki, then holding it there, leaving the option of touch to the polymorphed dragon.

Considering how many times Stephen had caught the dragon petting Jarvis, he wasn't even slightly surprised when Loki immediately nudged against Tony's finger and chirped adorably. Stephen had to look away to hide his smile, but Tony didn't bother muffling his chuckle as he rubbed the bat's head.

"Think Bruce will let me keep him?" Tony wondered cheerfully.

"I think Bruce knows better than to tell you what you can and can't have as a pet," Stephen retorted.

Tony laughed. "He's rather too wise to think I'll listen to anything he says."

Stephen snorted and glanced back towards the slowly approaching docks. "Did you want to spend the night, or are we aiming to camp out on our way to the next nearest town?" Because as much as the others liked to complain about Tony playing the leader, they usually left it up to him to come up with their daily plans. If only because he was scarily good at deciding things that everyone was okay with. Which apparently mystified the non-spellcasters, from what Stephen and Wong had observed over their time with the party, but Stephen guessed was almost entirely due to Jarvis. (One of these days, Stephen would actually tell the others that Tony heard and saw everything that Jarvis heard and saw. For the moment, however, it was actually quite amusing to watch the convoluted dynamics Tony managed by keeping his mouth shut.)

"We'll leave," Tony decided. "Even Steve is done with this place."

Stephen shrugged; as much as he tried to be, Steve wasn't the most accepting member of their party, especially when someone he liked was being wronged. And Steve was pretty quick to like people. (Which explained the reason he and Phil had remained with the party, even though they were more than welcome to leave.)

Which reminded him: "Bruce said something interesting last night."

Tony tilted his head to one side. "Bruce said a couple of interesting things last night." The bat on his shoulder huffed. "You'll have to be more specific. Or, you know, not fight me when I attempt to read your mind."

Stephen rubbed at his eyes. "About Phil's secret correspondence."

"Ah." Tony glanced down at where he'd started picking at the ageing paint on the railing. "Would you believe me if I said it was Pepper?"

"No."

Tony side-eyed him. "Wow, that was quick."

"I already know you're in contact with Pepper," Stephen pointed out, shaking his head. "We all do."

Tony chuckled. "And you think I tell her everything."

"I think the only things you don't tell her are when you stupidly risk your life."

"I never take stupid risks with my life!"

Stephen pinned him with an unimpressed look. "Yesterday, you decided to make friends with a hostile dragon. By flying up to hover in front of his mouth."

"I knew he wouldn't eat me," Tony insisted while Loki hunkered down on his shoulder.

"You're an idiot," Stephen informed him.

Tony huffed. "Fine, he isn't reporting to Pepper. He is reporting to someone Pepper knows, though. Old business associate of my father's," he added before Stephen could ask for more details. "I wouldn't be surprised to discover he's trading information on me with Pepper, but Phil's reports don't involve me much; I'm not the reason he's reporting back to Nick."

"Then what is he reporting about?" Stephen asked, and Loki let out a curious chirp of his own.

Tony straightened, nodding towards the small welcoming committee awaiting them on the docks. "We were just talking about stupid risks, weren't we?" he commented.

Stephen narrowed his eyes. "What stupid thing are you about to do?"

"Not do," Tony corrected and walked down towards where Steve was prepared to throw a line for the dock.

Stephen stared after him for a moment in confusion before it clicked: Tony wasn't going to tell him anything more about Phil's mysterious correspondent, because it was somehow dangerous and/or stupid. "Disturbing and intriguing," he murmured to Wong in Draconic.

"That's nothing new. You know Jarvis is on your belt."

Stephen glanced down to find the homunculus hanging from his belt between his spell component pouch and his waterskin. "Comfortable?" he enquired, reaching down to scratch its head.

Jarvis chirped an agreement and nudged his finger to get him to scratch in the right spot, which Stephen did with a chuckle; Bruce had been quite correct, earlier, in saying that not everyone in the party minded Tony's familiar staying with them. Truly, Stephen much rather Jarvis' companionship over Tony's, though he knew they were a package deal.

The boat shuddered as it knocked against the dock, and Stephen hurried to join the rest of the party in stepping ashore. The small crowd that had gathered was cheering, and the mayor was at the head with a wide grin and a substantial bag of coins.

Tony and Phil had taken the lead, as always. And, as always, Stephen found his position between Steve and Bruce, just behind the two smooth-talkers (he could never consider them diplomats when he'd seen them lie as effectively as they told the truth). Natasha and Clint faded away into the crowd, seeing to whatever minor details needed to be handled before they could leave.

"You have done us nothing but good deeds today, Master Stark," the mayor marvelled as he handed over the bag. "We've prepared a feast in your honour, and you and your...followers are welcome to spend a few nights at my manor."

"You are most gracious," Phil said when Tony glanced towards him, "but I'm afraid we have a previous engagement that we must leave for now, if we are to make up for lost time." He turned an unimpressed stare on Tony.

Tony blinked in surprise. "Phil, really. Are you saying some boring meeting is more important than killing a kraken?"

"I'm not the one you have to report your failure to attend to," Phil retorted.

"Ah. Yes." Tony let out a nervous laugh and smiled a bit helplessly as he turned back to the mayor. "I'm sorry. Mistress Stark has this amazing talent, wherein she keeps me on a tight leash, despite the fact that I'm on another continent."

The mayor nodded. "I understand all too well, Master Stark. My own missus is really quite good at keeping me on her track."

"Women," Tony said helplessly, failing to correct the assumption that his 'Mistress Stark' was married to him.

"Women," the mayor echoed before shaking his head. "Is there nothing we can do as thanks? Some horses? Provisions for the road?"

"We couldn't possibly take what little you have," Steve insisted. At the look Phil shot him, he added, "You know I hate horses."

Tony snorted. "I think we're– actually, no. No, there is something you can do as thanks."

"Tony," Phil hissed in warning, familiar with that tone.

Tony raised an eyebrow at him then stepped forward and clapped the mayor on the shoulder. "Not for me, but for everyone else: Try being a little bit more accepting. Not all people who sneak about in the shadows are evil, and not all evil people sneak about in the shadows." He pulled away and straightened, friendly tone vanishing from his bearing and, when he spoke, his voice: "Stop running out rogues, and stop hunting down and killing ninjas and beguilers and their sort. That is what you can do for me."

Then he activated his boots and flew over the staring crowd.

"Dammit, Tony," Phil muttered, but there was a hint of vindictive approval in the gleam of his eyes.

"Catch up to him," Bruce requested of Stephen, and he shrugged and flew after his fellow arcane spellcaster.

Tony was moving towards the gate, expression tight. He only slowed down a little bit when Stephen joined him. "How likely is Phil to kill me for ruining his plans?"

"I think he'll yell at you, but it's going to be all for show," Stephen announced before grabbing the wizard's arm and forcing him to stop. "You know how nervous Bruce gets when you run off without him."

Tony sighed and stopped, reaching up to scratch Loki's head.

Stephen looked back towards the docks, watching for Bruce's large frame. "Rogues?" he asked, because that was...a little worrying, with Natasha and Clint missing.

Tony nodded. "A couple people tried scaring Natasha out of town yesterday." He considered Stephen's profile for a moment before adding, "They know to be careful."

"What are they doing?"

Tony shrugged. "You'll have to ask Phil. I assume he sent them out to sell the boat and restock Clint's supply of arrows, since he's almost out, but there may be some other errand I'm not thinking of."

Loki let out a chirp just before Natasha said, "No, it was just the two errands."

Clint dropped down next to her from the rooftop they'd apparently been travelling along. "I don't like your new bat, Tony."

"Bruce said I could keep him."

Clint snorted and held out a small sack. "I know you prefer to make your own, but just in case."

Tony pulled out a crossbow bolt and scowled as he examined it. After a moment, he dropped it back into the sack and pulled it under his cloak to hide away in his Portable Hole. "She's getting better," he allowed.

"One of your apprentices?" Natasha guessed.

"Master, now. She became a journeyman about the same time that I left."

"Former apprentice," Natasha decided.

"Give me what you made," Tony ordered, holding one hand out towards her, even as he turned to look towards where the others were finally catching up. "Took you long enough!"

Natasha dropped the coin purse into Tony's hand with a sigh. "And here I was hoping to buy a new dress with it."

Bruce gave her an odd look, then shook it off so he could frown at Tony. "Don't run off like that."

Tony waved a hand at him, turning to continue the way out of the city. "I was perfectly safe, Bruce; I've got a pet bat that breathes light."

"Wait. You mean that's Lo–?" Clint started before Natasha hushed him.

They were all quiet as they walked through the city gates and towards the sign pointing them to the next city.

"Well. I feel lighter, somehow," Clint commented as they passed the sign.

"I'll feel even lighter once we're out of sight of that city," Steve muttered.

"Tony, how far do we want to go before we set up camp for the night?" Steve called up from his position at the back of the party.

Tony considered that for a moment, then turned to Clint. "About three hours," he directed.

Clint gave a quick salute, then sped up to vanish ahead of them and keep his eyes out for any trouble and a clearing at the specified distance.

They quickly spread out a bit, each of them moving at their own paces. Tony and Stephen kept at the head of the party, both able to float along faster than all but Bruce could walk, but aiming to keep pace with them anyway. Bruce was just behind them, watching the brush and short trees growing alongside the path for any danger that Clint might have overlooked. Behind him were Phil and Natasha, whispering together. Bringing up the rear was Steve, who moved the slowest, but was also the most capable of countering an attack from behind.

"Are you going to remain a bat the whole trip?" Stephen asked of Loki, who was still on Tony's shoulder.

Loki chirped and snuggled closer to Tony's head.

"He's tired, leave him alone," Tony ordered.

"Where's Clint when you need someone to make a crack about Tony Stark having a thing for defenceless animals?" Bruce wondered teasingly.

"Traitor."

Conversation petered off after that initial spike, as they all realised just how tired they were. Stephen was honestly grateful he didn't have to walk, because he wasn't sure how he could have managed three hours of it.

Even Tony, who usually continued to be obnoxiously cheerful long after the rest of them had crashed, was starting to look a little worn around the edges.

Watching Tony, Stephen was reminded of that moment above the other ship, when the wizard had almost been dragged under by the kraken. Stephen had hurriedly run through what he knew of the magic Tony had performed that day, trying to figure out if he'd used too much high-level magic to save himself. If he'd have time between catching the other person's hand and being pulled under water to cast a teleport spell. And then, coming up uncertain but needing to stop Loki as the dragon made to go down after the wizard.

As much as Tony drove him insane with his usual wizard-superiority, the last thing Stephen wanted was to have to bury him.

He reached out and took a hold of a fold of Tony's War Wizard Cloak, because the spell Tony had used hadn't been teleport, but the dimension door that his cloak could activate in a desperate situation. "I keep thinking I should get one of these," he murmured. "With my share from the kraken, I might have enough."

Tony looked at him in surprise. "And give up your precious Cloak of Levitation?"

Stephen shrugged. "Well, in terms of survivability, I'd think your cloak is far better served."

Tony blinked, then smiled. "Find a scroll and a couple days of downtime, and I think we can make you something just as life-saving."

Stephen smiled back. "What, let a wizard make a wondrous item for me?"

"Better a wizard than some crap-shoot sorcerer," Tony retorted.

"Please. I am too tired to listen to your bickering right now," Bruce complained.

"I second that," Phil added drily. "Shut up before I shoot you both."

"Assuming you can hit–"

"Shut up, Tony," Bruce ordered, poking him in the back.

"Don't give them reason to mutiny," Wong added sagely.

Tony shot the crested felldrake an odd look while Stephen hid a smile. "You have spent way too much time on a ship, Lizard-Brain."

Stephen snorted. "You realise the bat on your shoulder also has a liz–"

"Yes. But I like him," Tony insisted, grinning.

A gunshot sounded behind them and a bullet whizzed between their heads. "I said," Phil announced as they turned back to look at him, wide-eyed, "shut up."

"Sometimes," Tony murmured, quiet enough that only Stephen, Wong, and Loki (and maybe Bruce, had he not been berating Phil for wasting bullets) could hear him "I forget how absolutely terrifying you people get when you're tired."

"That's because you cheat," Stephen returned just as quietly.

Tony flashed him a grin and very pointedly pressed his lips together as Bruce returned to his position a few paces behind them.

It wasn't much longer before Clint met back up with them, looking as tired as Stephen felt. "Got a nice clearing ahead. Looks like it's a popular spot."

What he'd found was a well-trampled clearing, with a fire pit practically built into the ground.

They all stood around for a moment, staring, before Clint announced, "I don't really want to set up camp."

Loki leapt off Tony's shoulder and returned to his human form next to the wizard. He blinked a few times, regaining his equilibrium, then offered, "You may not have to. One moment." He felt around in his pockets as they all watched, then pulled out a Portable Hole, which he opened and reached into.

"At least now we know where your hoard is," Tony commented lightly. He grinned when Loki shot him a glare. "I don't need your hoard, Gorgeous."

"If there's one thing Tony doesn't need, it's money," Clint muttered in agreement as he leant against Natasha, who bore it with a long-suffering sigh.

Loki snorted, then pulled out a few triangles of canvas.

To Stephen's sight – and probably Tony's, as the wizard also had a permanent detect magic spell cast on himself – the triangles lit up with powerful magic. "What are those?" he asked as Tony whistled.

Loki held one up to show them the sigil drawn on one side. "Daern's Instant Tent. Each one's about big enough for four medium-sized creatures, and they're temperature-controlled." He glanced around the clearing as everyone perked up a bit. "There's probably room for four here. Five if we squeeze."

"How many do you have?" Steve asked.

"And who did you have to kill to get them?" Clint added.

Loki shrugged. "I bought one before I was kicked out. The others sort of...came to me through various ways." He ducked back into his Portable Hole.

"Oh, that's not ominous in the least," Clint muttered, but he didn't look any less interested in getting his hands on one of the tents.

Loki came back out with a handful of the canvas, which he took a moment to count before announcing, "I've seven of them."

"I am a little bit disturbed, but too tired to care," Clint decided.

Tony considered their party, then announced, "Let's try and get all five up, so Bruce and Natasha each get their own."

"We could do that with four," Phil pointed out as Loki started setting up the tents, Bruce walking over and offering his help.

"Who are you putting with me?" Tony returned with a wide grin. "Keep in mind that I can't promise I won't hit on them and/or keep them up while I'm not sleeping."

"When you put it that way..." Steve muttered, grimacing.

Phil looked around at his options and closed his eyes. "You are not getting a tent to yourself, Tony."

"Of course not. I'm sharing with Loki."

Stephen glanced over to see what the dragon thought of that, but he didn't seem to have heard, busy with the tents as he was. He appeared quite familiar with them, as he was putting down each piece of canvas in exactly the right spot so that, when he activated it, there was about an inch between it and its neighbour.

"Do you really think it's a wise idea to keep up the guy who can breathe light on you?" Clint asked, shaking his head. "This is a really bad life choice. Also, I am bunking with Phil."

"Are you now?" Phil murmured.

Stephen glanced at Steve, who shrugged. "Steve and I have no complaints with sharing."

"If Tony gets fried, we don't have to deal with him any more," Clint helpfully pointed out.

"I knew you didn't like me."

Natasha patted Tony on the shoulder as she passed him to claim a tent. "You're his favourite," she assured him, earning a wide grin from Tony and a groan from Clint.

Loki returned to the group, leaving Bruce to pick his tent. "We managed the five," he offered.

"Sleep!" Clint called before hopping into the circle of tents to pick one out for him and Phil. Steve wasn't far behind him, shaking his head helplessly.

Phil sighed and rubbed at his eyes. "Loki, I'm sorry, but it sounds like you're sleeping with Tony."

Loki shrugged. "If he's difficult, I'll cast hold person on him."

"That might actually work..." Stephen murmured, considering the wizard.

"Go fall off a cliff, Stephen."

"First chance I get," Stephen promised with a flick of his Cloak of Levitation. "Do I need to cast the alarm?"

Phil sighed and glanced at Tony. "After someone poked at the mayor this afternoon, I'm going to have to say yes."

Tony shrugged. "You wanted to do it too."

"That's beside the point."

Loki cleared his throat. "I know a spell that would make it appear as though this clearing is unused."

They were all silent for a long moment, thinking about how much safer that would make their lives.

"I would still cast your alarm, for it will not keep people from walking into the clearing to set up their own camp, but it will keep away the casual search team. Considering that Tony is apparently very well connected, I don't think they will send a true hunting party after us, only someone meant to discourage our return."

"We are keeping him forever," Tony decided, and Stephen honestly couldn't tell if it was because of the dragon's spell, or that fact that he had no idea who Tony was.

Phil pointed between Stephen and Loki. "Collaborate between yourselves and cast your spells. Tony, I'm inclined to forego the watch for tonight, since everyone is so tired."

Tony shrugged and motioned for Phil to precede him into the circle of tents while Stephen and Loki started walking a circle for their spells. "Sure. If someone does manage to spot and attack us–"

"Do you truly hate one another?" Loki asked, drowning out Tony's words.

Stephen blinked. "Tony and I? Not any more."

"But you did once?"

Stephen shrugged. "When I first met everyone, they'd just gone through a particularly hellish time and they were all fighting with each other. Tony picked out my different take on magic and started trying to anger me into leaving, best as I can tell. But I needed all of them, and they needed the money, so we agreed to put up with each other." He chuckled quietly. "I quickly learned that the best way to react to Tony being an ass, was to be an ass right back."

"I see..." Loki murmured, though it was clear he didn't see.

"Tony enjoys irritating people. It's sort of his default setting. If he's not attempting to get under your skin, that's when you've got a problem." Stephen shook his head. "Why are you asking, anyway?"

Loki shrugged. "He is the hardest to understand, in my observations."

Stephen laughed. "If you can figure out Tony Stark, everyone will be begging you to share your observations."

Loki smiled at that. "He's that much a mystery?"

Stephen shook his head. "He's very good at talking for hours without saying anything useful. He's also good at discovering other people's secrets, yet hiding his own. Which is partially because of Jarvis–" he motioned to where the homunculus was still hanging off his belt, doubtless sharing their entire conversation with Tony "–partially because of his aforementioned ability to talk without saying anything useful; someone carries the conversation for long enough, you can't help but share whatever you can once the opportunity is presented."

Loki nodded. "I see. Thank you for your observations, Stephen." He stared at the ground for a long moment before asking, as they returned to their starting point, "He is well-known?"

Stephen nodded. "His father created something of a weapons manufacturing empire. Tony grew up creating weapons and is damn good at it, from what I've heard. When his father died, he inherited everything, and the quality has only risen over the years. You're lucky if you find someone who doesn't know his name, and most people of a certain social class know what he looks like."

"If he is so important, why is he travelling?" Loki wanted to know.

Stephen shrugged, having wondered about that very question a few times himself. "You'd have to ask him. Now, I'm sorry to shoo you away, but this works much better if it's just me."

"Certainly." Loki inclined his head and slipped between the tents to await his turn to cast his spell.

-0-

"So, yeah, that city really sucks, and if Nick doesn't get the go-ahead to scrap it, put our name behind it, because I have a personal vendetta against that–

"Ugh. I am rambling and this is not what you want to hear from me. Uhm. I'm fine. Took down a kraken. Managed to not wreck the ship we rented, so bonus points for me.

"Pep..." Tony sighed and rubbed his face, staring at the tiny representation of her that the dreaming spell created for him to talk to. "I'm going to do something really stupid, okay? That thing I swore I'd never do again? Or, well, okay, one of those things I swore I'd never do again, because I hold to the fact that if you ever try and bring in a third partner, I will ruin the entire–

"Rambling again. Sorry. Where was I?" He looked down at his hands, flexing them under his gauntlets. "I don't know what's going on, Pep. I've only known him for one day, but there's something... It's like you said you felt when you and James met that first time, remember? Like something in you was crying out for this bit of you that had been missing for so fucking long, and you just couldn't–

"I'm sorry I laughed, back then. I'm sorry I called it a girlish fancy. You were right to hit me." He looked back up at her, taking in that familiar smile and the glint of electric lights on her bright hair. "I'm going to be stupid. I'm going to do this one, stupid thing. And if it goes completely pear-shaped, I'll come home. I'll stop being this...this idiot adventuring wizard and just...make things. I'll come back and build destruction again."

He shuddered, the words echoing in his mind, spoken by another voice as he laid there, dying from the poison Obie had–

"Please don't let this go pear-shaped," he whispered, uncertain if he was talking to Pepper, or one of those intangible, all-seeing 'Gods' that everyone always put their faith in. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Give James and your brat my best. And kick Nick in the nuts for me, if you get the chance." He laughed and made a sharp motion with one hand, ending the spell.

When he opened his eyes, he found Loki crouched in front of him, brow furrowed and leaning a little too close. "Shit!" he spat, jerking back and falling onto his back on the cot he'd been sitting on. "Don't do that!"

Loki straightened and eyed him oddly. "What were you doing?"

Tony groaned and pushed himself back up into a sitting position. "You know how I spoke to you in your dreams last night?"

Loki narrowed his eyes and nodded. "It was interesting."

"That spell," Tony explained. "I use it to contact my sister every other night. Keep her updated on how much property damage I've caused."

Loki's mouth twitched with a suppressed smile. "Cause much, then?"

"It's kind of a miracle that the ship we rented came through that unscathed." He ran a hand down his face, tilting his head as he got a rush of information from Jarvis. "Ah. No, Stephen and I don't hate each other any more."

"You just enjoy getting under other's skin," Loki said drily as he moved to strip off his cloak, waistcoat, and tunic.

Tony snorted and turned his gaze away from the other, recalling his words to Pepper. "I enjoy getting under everyone's skin."

A hand brushed through Tony's hair and he looked up into the most gorgeous green eyes he'd ever seen. "You leave me wondering, then, why you have not tried getting under my skin, yet."

"That's because I'd much rather be kissing every inch of it," Tony heard himself saying, as if from a distance.

Loki's eyes went wide and he immediately looked away.

Realization hit Tony and he stood from the cot and turned towards the door, his heart thundering in his chest. "Tell me you did not just use magic to get an answer out of me."

Loki was tellingly silent behind him.

Tony took a deep breath and glanced back at the dragon. "At least tell me why you did it."

Loki licked his lips, the motion nearly as hypnotising as his eyes had been, and refused to look up at Tony. "I dislike people lying to me," he admitted.

"So, what? You decided you would just hypnotise the truth out of me?" Tony demanded.

Loki turned his head slightly, like he was about to look up, then remembered himself and clenched his eyes shut.

"Oh, for crying out loud," Tony groaned and cast a dispel on him. "You are really, really terrible at interpersonal communication. Which I cannot believe I just said; Pepper is secretly laughing at me."

Loki glanced up at him, his eyes still that beautiful shade of green, but no longer attention-snatching. "I have lived in seclusion for years," he said by way of defence.

Tony sighed and settled back down on his cot, facing the dragon. "I suppose you have."

Loki frowned. "You are not...angry with me?"

"I'm about one-third furious, one-third impressed that actually worked, and one-third trying not to be distracted by you being half naked," Tony replied drily, then grinned when Loki tugged his blanket around his torso. "You don't want to know how I greeted my brother-in-law the first time we met; I really can't be that angry at you."

Loki leaned forward, eyes gleaming. "This sounds like a story I would be interested in."

Tony leaned forward as well. "You'll have to earn that, Gorgeous."

Loki's eyes narrowed, suspicion entering them. "And how, pray tell, am I to earn this tale?"

"Let me kiss you."

Loki blinked, the suspicion vanishing to be replaced with confusion. "A kiss?"

Tony shrugged. "Contrary to popular belief, I am not that expensive."

"Your tales certainly aren't," Loki returned before reaching up to brush a hand through Tony's hair again. "Have your kiss, then."

Tony cupped Loki's cheek with one hand and leaned in to gently brush their lips together. When the dragon didn't pull away, he pressed his mouth tight against Loki's, tongue darting between his lips to see if he could get Loki to–

The dragon's mouth opened with a quiet gasp as his other hand buried itself in Tony's hair, holding him in place while Loki set about plundering his mouth, Tony passive only because magic sang against his skin, like the first time he'd cast a spell properly. Perfect and right and everything he'd never even known he'd been searching for.

"What magic is this?" Loki whispered against his mouth between brief kisses.

"Pepper's fault," Tony breathed back. "Stupid ring...when we were kids."

Loki nipped Tony's bottom lip, then pulled back enough that their mouths weren't brushing every other word. "What ring?"

Tony closed his eyes, trying to make himself focus. "It was her mother's. A Ring of Three Wishes. We found it and she put it on. We were playing and she just...made a wish." He swallowed. "She wanted a husband who would never leave her, who was made for her. For both of us."

"A soulmate," Loki guessed.

Tony managed a slight nod, head trapped by Loki's grip on his hair as it was. "That's what she calls it."

"And you?"

Tony opened his eyes to find Loki staring at him, curiosity and lust warring in his eyes. "I'm not sure I believe in souls," he whispered.

One of Loki's hands slid down from his hair to cup Tony's cheek. "And what do you believe in, Tony Stark?"

The screech of his raven, Dummy, as he dive-bombed Obie's laughing face; the wash of healing magic as Pepper knelt next to him, face a mess of fury and terror.

"I believe in magic," Tony said against the flash of old memories. "Magic, and the people around me. The good people." He swallowed and brushed his thumb against the sharp edge of Loki's cheekbone. "These people."

"Do you believe in me?"

Tony searched Loki's face. For what, he could not say, because he'd known the answer to that question from the moment he'd first seen this lonely dragon rearing above their heads, fighting against the world to protect what little he had left: "Yes."

"Good," Loki decided and kissed him again. "You still owe me a tale, human."

Tony grinned and gave a hard shove to push Loki back onto his own cot, following behind to crouch over him. "You can have all of my tales, if you want them. Gorgeous."

"You are far too overdressed for this cot. Get naked, or get off."

Tony laughed and wasted no time in shucking off his waistcoat and fancy tunic. They took a moment to struggle with each other's bottoms until those, too, had fallen to the floor.

"And these?" Loki asked, tracing the edge of the perfectly-crafted gauntlets Tony still wore.

He paused for a moment, fighting against a well of panic. "I don't think I can take them off," he admitted.

Loki raised an eyebrow at that. "Did someone use sovereign glue to keep you from removing them?"

Tony shook his head. "They're the only protection I have."

Loki's brow furrowed and he cupped Tony's face. "Protection against me?"

"No." Tony took a deep breath and made himself explain, "My father's old business partner tried to kill me; I made these so I... So I wouldn't be defenceless again." Shit, that made him sound so weak and pathetic.

Lying on the floor of his workshop, waiting for death while Obie laughed and laugh–

Warm lips pressed against Tony's, drawing him back to the present. "Did you make them?" Loki whispered against his mouth, eyes locking with Tony's.

"Yeah." He'd spent three days shaping the metal so it fit his hands perfectly, and another five days casting the spell. Pepper had nearly killed him for pushing his still-recovering body so far.

"Then they are as much a part of you as my breath weapon is a part of me," Loki decided, and something eased in Tony's chest.

He ran his gauntleted hands over Loki's chest, warning, "They get really cold when the temperatures start to drop."

Loki smirked. "You will find that cold doesn't bother me."

Tony grinned. "And heat?"

"Only to extremes." Loki shifted beneath him, widening his legs so Tony slipped between them. They both breathed out curses at the reminder of the sexual nature of their position.

Thinking about Obie always left Tony feeling rather less inclined towards fun under the sheets, but Loki was apparently the cure to that particular affliction, for it didn't take long for Tony to be rutting against the dragon, chasing a release that was fully entwined with Loki's own.

Afterwards, curled up only semi-comfortably on the cot – Tony wondered if it would be more or less comfortable on the hard floor of the tent – Loki murmured, "I don't require much sleep, as a general rule, though I find it helps to get some while in this form. I'll try not to distur–"

Tony chuckled against the dragon's chest and held up his hand, showing off his Ring of Sustenance. "I only need two hours of sleep a night to be fully rested. It drives Steve insane, because he 'doesn't know why I refuse to sleep like a normal person'."

Loki laughed and clasped hands with Tony. "Because you were meant for a dragon, it would seem." He brought their joined hands up to kiss the ring. "Two hours it is."

Tony dozed off imagining how irritated Steve would be now.

-0-

"Pep, I may– No, I definitely need a spell that will let me live as long as a dragon."

For the first time in what felt like years, Virginia 'Pepper' Stark-Rhodes woke up smiling. Finally, it seemed her brother had the happiness she'd always wanted for him.

..