A/N: For those of you who have been keeping up with my FrostIron fics, this is an instalment in conjunction with my other two, Coming Home and Babysitting. In terms of chronology this is the first one though, and I might attempt a follow up and start fleshing it into a proper series if folk would be interested in that. As usual, feeback would be awesome cause this is only my third TonyxLoki fic. I love writing them too much though.
Enjoy! K x
The ship throbbed around him as it moved languidly through air made thick by the darkness of the night. It slid atop the clouds like a snail, leaving a slimy trail of pollutants upon them in its wake. The gentle hum and tremble of the ship was almost unnoticeable to the inhabitants of the great beast but to him it was like thunder quivering upon his skin; he had learned to be wary of thunder.
With his eyes shut it shuddered through his body as he stood completely still and motionless, a pillaged ornament displayed in a glass case for all to gawk at. That was his plan after all. Let them look, let them all gaze upon him in fear and wonder and let them have their momentary victory. He would pull that rug out from beneath them all. He would make them see the truth of their situation.
Somebody else was there standing just beyond the pane, a figure before the doors to his prison. He could hear its breathing; could feel the tremble of air in its fragile human chest. Even through the glass the scent assaulted his nostrils, a mixture of machinery, cologne and scotch. It was strange, somehow something more than human, yet not entirely unpleasant.
Green eyes snapped open and he saw it.
It was the first time he had laid eyes upon the man outside of his metal skin, but he knew instantly who he was. Tall, dark, disgustingly rugged and carefully un-kept; arrogance draped upon his frame like a priceless garment, smug practically dripping from his smile as he grinned cockily at his captive.
Loki hated him instantly. This man was the epitome of everything he despised; raw and aloof, no-one else was allowed to look so arrogant when he was in the room.
He would later realise that, because of this, he could never have been anyone else.
"I suppose you have come to ask questions of me." He made no effort to move but to raise a thin eyebrow at the newcomer, a mask of haughty indifference firmly plastered upon his face.
"Huh?" The Iron Man raised his own eyebrow in response, the infuriating grin still playing upon his lips. He shook his head, his eyes flashing. "Oh no, I have absolutely no interest in you." He did not miss the way the sorcerer's upper lip twitched in irritation at that remark, and he bit back a laugh, gesturing upwards as he spoke, "What I want to know about is up there."
"Asgard." Loki's eyes narrowed, the request passing a little too close to the bone for his liking. "Why don't you ask Odinson? I'm sure he would be more than enthused to oblige, he does so love prattling on to you pathetic little things." At the mention of Thor his voice turned bitter, words spat with anger and resentment.
"Your brother doesn't seem to like me very much." Tony's eyes were laughing, and it occurred to Loki that he had never seen anybody express so much emotion through two dark globs of iris.
"I cannot fathom why." From anyone else's lips the remark may have sounded amused, but when Loki spoke it was spat in the same dry, superior tone as he always used.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Tony had no issue with letting his amusement show in his voice, but he could already feel his confidence waning. He should be the one in control here, he was the captor standing before his caged prisoner… Yet somehow he felt like an ant beneath Loki's magnified stare, those green eyes ripping straight through to his core and seeking out his every weakness, tearing him apart from the inside out.
"You are not like the others. You do not belong here."
Tony felt his mouth go dry and really wished he'd brought with him the bottle of scotch that he'd pilfered from Fury's private supply.
"What makes you say that?"
Loki stepped closer, close enough to press his palm flat against the smooth surface of the glass. It was as if the pane was not there at all, suddenly it seemed like such a thin, fragile thing keeping Tony apart from the homicidal demigod on the other side.
"I can see it in your eyes, smell it in your stench." His lips quirked in a smirking approximation of a smile as he hissed. "You have the wild inside of you."
Tony snorted softly to cover his sudden fear, the panic that sparked in the pit of his stomach when Loki hissed at him turned his insides to ice.
"And what would a spoiled little prince like you know of the wild?" He bit back, his voice steadier than his emotion.
"More than a mere mortal could possibly conceive of." Another hiss, his voice so low that it barely registered.
A curious thing happened then, so swiftly that Tony thought he may have imagined it; a flash of deep ruby red across the irises of the fallen god, dissipating as quickly as it appeared. Loki paused suddenly, as though sensing the colour in his eyes. He straightened his cuffs nonchalantly as the calm returned to his body, settling upon him like a familiar cloak. He fixed Tony with those intense green eyes.
"I will tell you what you want to know," He grinned slyly and Tony almost started at the sudden sleekness of his words and actions, "but for every question you ask of me you must answer one of mine." He paused, tapping his long white fingers on the glass. "Equivalent retaliation."
Tony nodded,
"Tit-for-tat."
"Excuse me?"
"It's a human expression."
Loki's dark eyes narrowed.
"Clearly."
"Well!" Tony huffed as he clapped his hands together, breaking a sudden tension that he hadn't even realised was building, "if we're going to have a little heart to heart I'm going to need a drink. I'd offer you one but, you know, Fury's a little particular about what we feed his pet - sorry - prisoner."
"Hurry back, Tony Stark." Loki's voice was dark and amused, something reselmbling a smile almost quirking at the corner of his mouth. It was a dangerous expression and, though Tony privately thought that it suited the god of mischief, it sent a shiver down his spine regardless. He felt eyes burning into his back as he exited the room.
Funny, I don't remember telling him my name.
Tony's hand shook unreasonably as the neck of the bottle clinked against the lip of his glass. His eyes never left the monitor before him, thousands of tiny pixels projecting the sharp edges of their captured god.
"And just what do you think you're doing?" Steve Roger's voice cut through his mood, but for once he was almost thankful for the intrusion.
"Information gathering." Tony suddenly became very interested in the contents of his glass, swirling the ice around the inner circumference. "That is what you wanted, isn't it?"
"Leave that to Widow," Steve scoffed, "she's much more agreeable than you are." Tony eyed him incredulously as Cap ran his finger along the sharp blue curve of Loki's sceptre, displayed like captured treasure on the sideboard of the lab.
"You know Steve, you may catch more flies with honey but sometimes you just need to chuck a pipe bomb into the hive and be done with it."
"Bees live in hives, not flies."
"Whatever." Tony waved him off, taking a large swig of scotch; the distracting burn working its way down his throat in all the right places.
"Fine," Steve sighed heavily as he kneaded the joint of his brow with his fingertips, knowing he wouldn't win this particular battle. "Just, try not to piss him off too much."
Tony placed a mocking hand over his heart, bowing ever so slightly at Captain America as he turned to leave.
"Would I ever?"
Each footstep sounded unnecessarily loud as he re-entered the circular room, the floor of the ship throbbing gently beneath his feet. The demigod hadn't moved from his place behind the glass, nor had the cold smirk from the corner of his mouth or the dark eyes from the doorway.
"You return." He murmured, the corners of his mouth barely moving.
"You sound surprised."
"You sounded scared."
Tony scoffed, an eyebrow raising almost of its own accord at Loki's comment.
"That's quite some ego you've got there Hannibal."
Loki narrowed his eyes, but did not admit that he did not understand what the Iron Man was saying. Must be another Midgard expression, he decided.
"You wished to ask questions of me?" His tone was clipped and Tony was already feeling like he was pushing the boundaries of Loki's patience here.
"Right." Tony ran his tongue along the inside of his teeth. What to ask such a being as this? Where to start? Of all the questions in all the worlds that he could ask to the closest thing he'd ever get to God, what could you say to someone - something - like that? "…So, what's it like? Up there?"
"Tedious."
Okay, great start.
"That's not a proper answer."
"That wasn't a proper question." Loki retorted, suddenly looking very bored with the whole conversation.
"You pedant." He tutted, "Okay, specifics." He paused in thought for a moment, worrying his goatee with the tips of his fingers as scotch swirled in his glass. "How old is Asgard, and its people? How long do you guys live?"
"That's two questions." Loki's tone could've cut ice, but there was amusement simmering behind green eyes.
"Are you always this picky?"
"That is three."
"Okay okay," Tony raised his palms in defeat, keeping a hold on his scotch glass with difficulty, "disregard that last one."
Loki closed his eyes for one long moment, his nostrils flaring like he was desperately fighting the urge to reach through the glass and throttle Tony. To be fair to him, it wouldn't be the first time. Tony did have that effect on people.
When Loki's eyes opened, the words flew.
"Asgard has existed as long as existence itself. When the giants and the Æsir first came into being at the birth of the universe Odin created Midgard, the world you deem Earth, and above it Asgard."
"Wait, wait, back up a sec." Tony cut him off. "You're telling me Odin made Earth?"
Loki sighed, rolling his eyes as though this conversation was just so very tedious.
"Your mountains were carved from the very bones of the first frost giant, slain by the Æsir. His hair became your trees. His skull the heavens; the sun, moon and stars. Your world, created by Odin. For whatever godforsaken reason."
"So that would make him…"
"Many billions of your years old, I suppose. Odin is not like the rest of us though. He stands above, and alone." Loki sighed, his arms crossed defensively as he stared Tony down. "Now, I believe you owe me three answers."
"C'mon!" Tony threw his hands up dramatically and scotch sloshed over the rim of his glass, amber drops splattering soft against the metal floor. "That's two at best."
"Do not attempt to cheat me, Stark." Tony felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up as the tone of Loki's voice sent a shiver across the surface of his skin. "Now tell me, what powers that little suit of yours?"
"An arc reactor, fitted in the breastplate." Inwardly Tony could already hear Steve's head exploding if he was watching their conversation. Giving tactical information to the enemy like this was beyond incredibly stupid, yet he had made a deal. And Tony may be beyond incredibly stupid, but he was not a traitor to his own word.
Well, no need to be entirely truthful though.
"Arc reactor?" Loki's brow furrowed ever so slightly, thought he would never admit that he did not comprehend the meaning behind those words. "Explain."
"It's a self-sustaining repulsor node, clean power that the suit harnesses as its source."
"Did you build it?"
"I did." Tony allowed himself the proud grin, and was surprised to see a slight quirk at the corner of Loki's mouth in response. Sharp eyes flicked along the curve of the reactor where it shone against the grey fabric of Tony's t-shirt. Loki's lips twitched.
"Is that what protrudes ever so slightly beneath that cloth?"
"Trying to get under my clothes eh?" Tony laughed at the dark expression that crossed the demigod's face at his remark. "Ah-ah," He waggled his finger mockingly. "It's my turn again."
Loki didn't seem entirely satisfied with his answers, as though he could taste the hesitation in Tony's voice. But he said nothing, just quirking his head slightly as he waited for the next question.
"Why are you doing this?" Tony's voice was quiet and the question sounded heavier than was intentioned once it was released into the air. Loki responded almost instantly, his voice quiet but heavy.
"Who is Obadiah Stane?"
Tony's chest was suddenly tight, not quite breathless but certainly a difficult pressure enveloping his lungs. He grit his teeth,
"That's nothing to do with your answer."
"No, Stark, it is everything to do with my answer." Loki's eyes flashed as he leaned closer in towards the glass. "Who is Obadiah Stane?" He repeated.
There was a cold stone in Tony's insides, sitting heavy at the base of his stomach. He had expected the super-villain to pry for answers to the innermost secrets of the workings of the Avengers. Of S.H.I.E.L.D and Nick Fury. But this… This was unexpected and cold, and it hit Tony right where it hurt. But he wouldn't let the bastard know just how sharp that shock had been to his senses.
"How do you know that name?" His jaw tightened ever so slightly as he spoke, a gesture than may have gone unnoticed by anyone but Loki.
"Ah-ah," He tutted, playful malice sparking in his eyes. "You haven't answered my question yet."
"Stane was my mentor. He's dead." Tony covered the emotion in his throat by taking a deep swig of amber liquid. It burned through the blockage there and suddenly he could breathe again.
"Mind control is a wonderful thing, and your little - Hawkeye is it? - has been so very forthcoming." Loki answered Tony's question with a dangerous smirk. "Such a useful tool."
Tony knew that he was just saying these things to get a rise from him, but he was tired and not drunk enough for this, so snapped up the bait regardless.
"Clint is not a tool."
"To you, maybe." Loki waved off his concerns with a slight cock of his head. "Who killed him, this mentor of yours?"
Tony's nostrils flared as his back teeth clenched, and he forced himself to release the tight grip he had upon his glass. He was practically vibrating with tension, heat strumming along the lines of his muscles, but he forced himself not to show it. Not to these keen, green eyes
"I did."
A sudden expression came across Loki's face now, something utterly unlike anything Tony had ever seen before. Something close to hurt.
"How did it feel to be betrayed so deeply by someone you trusted? Someone who was supposed to guide you, protect you? To have everything you thought you knew swept out from beneath you upon a lair's whim?"
"It felt shitty." Tony growled through his teeth, his knuckles white where they gripped his glass too tightly. But he wasn't going to take these insults lying down. His eyes flashed as he hissed back, "How did it feel to be rejected by your own father?"
And then he understood.
"... Oh."
The penny dropped as he realised what Loki was getting at.
"Now, Tony Stark, now you understand why I do what I do." The bite went out of his voice then, a weariness creeping in around the edges. He turned away, showing his back to Tony. "I tire of this game."
The words went unspoken, leave me. And Tony heeded them as he turned to leave, fingers clutching at his glass a little tighter than was entirely necessary.
"Wait a moment, Tony Stark." Tony shivered and froze at the way he said his name, like some dark promise hanging on the tip of his whim. "Why did you not ask me of the how, rather than the why?"
"Because the how of it isn't really important." The corners of Tony's mouth creased as he threw a glance back over his shoulder at the captive god. "No matter what you try, we are going to stop you."
The how of it seemed much more pertinent later though, when Tony stood atop his glass tower and watched the city crumble beneath him. And the Trickster sauntered into his home ever so casually, smirk set, sceptre in hand, the point of which glanced uselessly off of the arc reactor.
"Well, performance issues…" Tony chuckled, "it's not uncommon. One out of five…"
A hand grasped his throat, fingers digging into his windpipe; not hard enough to kill, but enough to make breathing just that little bit tricky. Tony made a mental note not to insinuate anything further about the genocidal demigod's supposed impotence.
"Halt your mewling Tony Stark." Loki spat as those fingers clenched, nails curling in around his windpipe. "Before I show you just how efficient my sceptre can be."
"Wait, did you just make a dick joke?" Tony wheezed, the laugh forced from his throat rubbed against the inside of his trachea like a cheese grater. The fingers tightened. Loki leaned in and - oh God - was that a tongue in his ear?
This whole situation had just gotten wildly out of hand.
There was breath hot against his skin, wet and sharp like teeth and tongue making it very hard to concentrate; to think a way out of this situation. The grip on his throat loosened but was still there, a gentle threat making itself known. Loki's thumb slipped into the hollow behind his ear, rubbing the skin it found there with a tenderness that felt entirely out of place in this situation. A shiver ran up Tony's spine as teeth scraped down his neck, tongue tapping out a rhythm on his collarbone.
Tony's hands clenched around the edge of the granite as he tried to steady himself, fingers grasping for an answer just out of reach.
Think think think.
"Well." an amused voice tickled his ear, "You certainly don't have performance issues it seems."
Tony's mind reeled; his own words flung back in his face were lost to the heat in the pit of his stomach. This had gone beyond crazy, way beyond, into the territory of the absurd. His mind was too frazzled to even feel ashamed, the heat rising in his body having nothing to do with blushing. The hand around his throat had loosed almost entirely but he didn't move, he couldn't move. He swallowed hard against Loki's palm and felt the demigod smile sharp-toothed against his skin.
"You will all fall before me." Loki hissed, his tone turning to poison in Tony's ear.
Uh-oh.
"J.A.R.V.I.S-"
He was cut off by the sorcerer hissing against his skin,
"But you I will take particular pleasure in forcing to kneel."
Feet left the ground, dangling uselessly as that hand grabbed his jaw in a grip like a vice. In the back of his mind Tony had just enough time to muse on the interesting bruises that were going to form there in the shape of slender fingers before his body was flying.
"Deploy NOW! J.A.R.V.I.S!"
He hit the window ass-first, the glass breaking far easier that it should've as he flew through it; maybe Pepper was right that he needed to lose a few pounds. The ground below plummeted up to meet him as he fell almost spread eagle. His death rushed towards him at 55 meters a second and he shut his eyes, at least this was a quick way to go, perhaps he wouldn't even feel anything. There were worse ways, he knew all too well. Wind rushed past his ears; fast, too fast.
But J.A.R.V.I.S was faster, and when that metal enclosed his body in a saviours grip he said a silent prayer to the god of operating systems (which in retrospect he supposed was himself, so good job Tony).
He narrowly avoided turning a couple of bypasses into paste as he skirted the ground, thrusters firing at a capacity that was going to burn out the jets sooner rather than later. He flew up as fast as he had fallen, landing back inside the smashed window - God that was going to be such a pain to get repaired - and fired a repulsor blast at the god's chestplate, knocking him back upon the ground. Loki let out a weak groan as he hit the floor and above them the Tesseract exploded, diverting Tony's immediate attention elsewhere. The demigod was down, for now, and would be dealt with later. Right now there was something more pertinent to attend to.
But even later when the battle was won and Loki captured and bound, securely this time, his presence still lingered on Tony's skin like so much cologne and scotch.
And the expression in his eyes when the Trickster was frogmarched off by S.H.I.E.L.D. told Tony that whatever had transpired between them wasn't over yet. The sick thing was, Tony wasn't sure that he wanted it to be.
Tit for Tat, Loki murmured hot and wet against his skin when Tony visited him later in his cell. I like this expression.
Privately, the Iron Man agreed. Equivalent relation, he could get used to that.
Only this time, Tony gave him everything.