Title: The Unknown
Warnings: language.
Rating: M for future chapters
Chapter one - Presence of the unknown.
For a few weeks he has felt this strange feeling as if someone has been watching him. Tony had asked the rest of the avengers in the tower whether they felt the same way. The team laughed him off by saying he was spending too much time trapped inside his workshop.
Today would be no different. He was in the kitchen in the tower by himself. Thor was with Jane. Natasha and Clint were at a meeting with SHELD, whilst Bruce and Steve were patrolling New York City. It was quiet something Tony was definitely not used to. Tony grabbed a bottle of scotch, looking at the glasses, before deciding to drink from the bottle. Wandering back to the living room he noticed the room's temperature drop dramatically.
"Jarvis. Are you trying to freeze me to fucking death? Turn the temperature back up."
"Sir, the temperature has not dropped since the last time you left the room." replied Jarvis.
"Check the thermostat again, and turn it up. It's bloody freezing"
"Of course sir."
He was about to make his way over to the chair, when he felt a chill prickle its way down his neck. Sighing he sat down only to feel that same feeling of being watched. He turned around to look behind him only to stare at the window Loki had pushed him through a few months ago. Of course no one was there. He turned round to take another swig of the bottle, only this time he felt fingers trail down his ear. Tony shot up making the bottle break before his feet. He spun around again looking at the same window.
"This can't be a coincidence. I'm not going fucking mad." Grabbing his jacket, he left the room and decided to get out the tower before he drove himself too instantly. This was definitely an excuse to drink, he thought.
Tony arrived the next day at the Stark tower with a hangover. The rest of the avengers were sitting around the kitchen counter discussing Tony's recent behaviour.
As the door shut behind him, the avenger's eyes all shot to Tony.
"Don't stop on my behalf, I love it when you guys talk about me. It makes me feel...special, you know me I love receiving all the attention around here."
"Tony.. Where the hell were you?" Pepper shouted.
"You know me peps, having a fucking great time... and fucking a lot of hot women." He laughed "Now if you lot have finished here. I'm off to sleep this damn hangover off."
"Well explain to us the sudden need to rush out of the tower Tony. Jarvis showed as the security footage of last night."
"What do you want me say, I'm sorry because I'm not. I needed an excuse to drink and I found one."
"Tony, you listen to me... We all want to know what's happened to you lately."
"Pepper, enough. The only thing bothering me at present is you. If I wanted to speak to you then I would, at this moment I would rather not. Now if you don't mind I'm going to take my leave."
Pepper sighed, giving up. "Don't think you haven't heard the last off this Tony."
Before Tony left he looked at the window, that same feeling from the previous night crept back up. Shivering he trailed his way to his room.
Tony was still pissed with Pepper, but he still couldn't shake the feeling of the previous night, telling the others would only result in accusations of being drunk or spending too much time fixing the suits. Tony releases how lonely he really is. The man, who has everything but has nothing to show for it, he has no real friends and no family. For once he wishes his team members would listen to his cries without people saying It's just the alcohol speaking.
When he arrives in his room he notices a emerald red box, sitting beside his bed. Something about it makes Tony feel uneasy. He moves slowly towards it examining it. Looking at it more closely, Tony notes that it resembles a gem rather than a box. The content of the gem was filled with what could only be described as fresh blood, moving around elegantly, in the tiny jewel. As if someone was attached to it.
Something inside was calling to him, pulling at him to touch the jewel. Tony being the person to act first and think later, reached out to hold it. It was warm to hold, Tony's mind immediately begins to swim in memories and images from a life not his own. The presence at first was alarmed when it sensed Tony's touch recoiling in fear. The images which rushed Tony's mind were ones of imprisonment and loneliness. Something Tony can fully understand.
Tony inspected the jewel once more. There was no way this was speaking to him was it? "Can you understand me?" Tony questioned feeling like a fool for speaking to an object.
The presence thinks quickly. Bewildered. Finally. It decides that Tony is indeed real and not a product of its imagination. Images flash through Tony's mind. Time the presence has spent trapped within the jewel. Time where the presence has slept, gone mad, and then slept again. Tony gets the sense of magic, whilst travelling around in glittering armor, but this was long ago, as if the presence remembered it through a fog.
This gem somehow reminded Tony of his own persona. The loneliness, the feeling of madness trapped into a tiny gem. For the first time Tony wanted and needed to help whatever was trapped inside.
"Is there any way I can help you?" Tony is more than curious to what was inside this thing, he was too intrigued at present to even consider talking to Jarvis. A man of science and fact was talking to a spirit. He stifled a laugh.
There was no image for some time, only the feeling of loneliness. The images it sends to Tony are one of desperation and a need to escape.
"I can help you, let me help you."
The gem vibrates, the colour turning from red to a deeper shade of green. It begins to get colder and colder. The blood turns into smoke becoming thicker, swirling around uncontrollably. Before Tony realises what was happening he saw the cunning smile of Loki inside the gem. Tony felt as if his whole body was being sucked away, he felt empty.
The gem rolled, before finally resting on the wall beside the bed. Tiny screams could be heard from inside, before it faded into nothing.