Prologue
Tony had a hard time understanding why Obadiah was trying to kill him. Sure, his head knew that the man was a greedy motherfucker that wanted to take over his company and needed Tony out of the way, but his heart couldn't quite come to terms with that concept just yet. He'd known the man his whole life and he'd been like a father to Tony after his parents had passed away.
Currently, he was hanging from the support beams of the ceiling, just above the big arc reactor in Sector 16, where Obadiah had built his own suit. Pepper had rushed to the controls and was frantically pushing buttons and flicking levers for the thing to go into overload. His own suit was a total loss; his helmet had been torn away, one of his gauntlets was missing and everything else was dented and in some places even cracked and he had trouble just keeping himself from falling.
"Now, Pepper!" He yelled, when Obadiah started shooting again while laughing like a maniac. "But you told me not to when you were up there!" Came the panicked reply, and Tony had to admire her loyalty, but now was not the time to think of his well being. He needed to get away from the other man and the only way to do it was to blow up the reactor. The irony of blowing up the reactor wasn't entirely lost on him, since his own was about to give out as well, but at least he would take out that son of a bitch as well. "Just do it Pep!" He yelled again, and from the ground came an extremely worried sounding "Okay."
He heard the angry hum of the reactor as soon as Pepper pushed the button and before he knew it, a bright bluish-white light shot up out of the thing. As soon as the light hit him, his breath was lodged in his throat and his blood was on fire. His own reactor felt as though it would explode out of his chest and the pain of it was excruciating. He screamed and it felt like a million years before he lost consciousness.
He was angry, no, perhaps angry was not the best word for it. He was more than angry, he was livid. He was absolutely furious but did not want to show it. He was in the company of Thor and the Warrior's Three and they were amused over something Thor had said. He smiled, just for the sake of appearance, but he did not much enjoy their company. There was always something visceral about their interactions with him, as though they could not forgive or forget any of his past … undertakings. It was of little consequence however, as he would let them all suffer when the time was right. He had irons in many fires and his time would surely come, quite soon in fact.
"I fear I must take my leave of you, brother." He said, but addressed the entire group and not only his brother. Thor frowned a bit at that.
"Are you off to spend more time with your books, brother? I assure you, they will not change in the time you do not spend reading." Loki grinned a slightly toothy grin at the blond man.
"Indeed, yet I do believe that gaining knowledge is also a worthy pursuit, Thor. So I bid you a good day." The others, thankfully did not object his departure and soon he was on his way to his chambers, contemplating on other ways to spend his time.
It had been quite a while since he had simply used his time to practice spellwork. He had consumed a fair number of new books in between now and his last session, so it might well pay off to study some of the newer spells he had read about. Magic did not teach itself, after all. He changed the direction he was heading in and decided to go to one of the almost forgotten gardens. This garden was one of the few places he enjoyed visiting. It had a wild and untamed look about it, yet here he cultivated ingredients needed for his potions, poisons and certain spells. The other Aesir were more interested in using the training grounds, physical strength usually being their forte, but not he and so this garden was his, something for which he was secretly grateful.
As he approached his destination, a beam of light shot up from the ground so bright it blinded him and he stumbled for a moment. When the light subsided and his had regained his vision sufficiently, he could see a figure lying where previously the beam of light had shot up. He stepped closer, cautiously, a debilitating spell on his lips should the other prove hostile. A man and he was wearing a red and gold colored strange metal suit. The suit, which appeared to be an armor of some kind was badly damaged and parts of it were missing. The man was still unconscious, but was slowly waking up. He could tell from the technology used to craft the armor that it was most likely Midgardian in make, for not one of the other nine realms had anything close to such a craftsmanship that was not magical.
A groan escaped the mortal lying on the ground and suddenly Loki's anger flared again. It was bad enough that he had to deal with cretins such as Thor and the Warrior's Three each and every day, but now a mortal, a mortal, had found its way into Asgard and this was not how it was supposed to be. When the man opened his eyes, he stepped into the other's field of vision. "I do not know how you came to be here, Midgardian, but no mortal man has ever set foot on the hallowed grounds of Asgard. You shall be taken before the All-father and be punished gravely." He all but hissed. He would hurt the mortal if he could, but he did not wish to incur the wrath of Odin upon himself. "Wait, wha—" Was the only thing the man could say, before Loki had him magically bound, gagged and ready to be taken to the All-father. Perhaps watching the mortal being punished would be somewhat satisfactory and then they set off.