Caio! Alright, here is the deal with this new story. It is going to be a long two-shot. I have not written the other part yet and I guarantee that it will take a while for that to come as well. That being said, I will try and finish it before this year ends.
I have not yet decided whether this will be a slash story. Feel free to comment and suggest what you think I should be. Seeing as the next chapter will undoubtedly include abuse, torture and other squiggly stuff I'm rating it pretty high just to be sure.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Tony supposed that it all started in college. He was fifteen, in his last year of college. He was quite unhappy. Mostly because this year he had to take a schedule full of electives so he could graduate and they all had to be liberal art or pseudo sciences. It was mind numbing shit and Tony wanted to be done with it more than anything he had ever done before.
For now he was trying to work on an assignment that was given in one of his philosophy/ religious study class. An essay explaining what you believe in. Tony was struggling. Not because he had to write an essay, Tony was quite good at that. Tony was a genius and a scientist. He had trouble believing in aliens, despite knowing that there is a scientific possibility for them. There was no way he was going to believe in a deity. Still, the teacher demanded that every person believes in something.
Tony ended up thinking about chemistry. While his engineering tended to turn towards mechanical, one did not build bombs without dabbling in a bit of chemistry. One lecture that stood out in his brilliant mid was entropy. The study of disorder. Of chaos.
That's how Tony began to worship chaos. Every chemist will tell you that the more chaos there is the more likely something is to be created. Engineers calculate it on a daily basis. It's one of the ways people explain the big bang theory. So to Tony, that was the closest thing to God that he would believe in.
He turned in his essay. Scraped a low A (points were taken for inappropriate language). He was quite content to forget about the revelation but it seemed to follow him around. Soon every time he was asked, his response was always,
"I believe in chaos."
O~~~~~~~~~~O
Far away in a distant realm sat a dark prince in a golden hall completely unaware of the genius and his essay. The dark hair male sighed as he took in the golden hall filled with golden people. Loki hated feasts, and who wouldn't? It was loud and rude, full of men boasting of past victories with mouths filled to the brim with some unidentifiable amount of meat. The women were no better as they spent the whole night gossiping and fawning over Thor and the other warriors. Loki had long learned that he shouldn't speak at these events. Enough heckling and disapproving looks whenever magic was mentioned stopped him.
The only bonus was he was sitting next to his mother. Whenever she could get a word in she would ask what he was learning. Loki would smile indulgently and explain to her the lighter magic he was learning. A majority of the night was spent listening to the gossip and planning out mischief.
Suddenly Loki felt something he had never felt before. It was as if someone had placed to electrodes at the base of his neck and made them pulse with electricity. It wasn't painful though. Like a thousand soft fingers massaging his brain. He suppressed a groan and tried not to pitch forward.
It took him far longer than he would like to admit but he soon realized what was happening, He was being worshiped! For the first time in centuries a person was worshiping and praying to him. Well, probably not directly to him. Mortals no longer followed the Norse religion.
After a concerned glance from his mother he excused himself from the table. Since no one really cared that he was there he bolted from the room and sprinted to his own bed. After lying down Loki reveled in this new feeling of pleasure. The intensity had died down but the feeling was still there, sitting in the back of his mind. Using his magic he felt for the specific life energy that came from the man, he could feel it was a man, who was worshiping. With a small smile he sent a tendril of magic to the person willing it to give his worshipper good luck.
The other gods may take those who pray to them for granted but Loki was going to protect the person who chose him.
O~~~~~~~~~~~~~O
Tony was no fool. He knew he was lucky. If he was inclined to believe in supernatural beings perhaps he would say that he had the favor of god. However he wasn't so inclined and he took it as he exceptional skill and lucky of the moment.
So much had happened. Accidents that were escaped with barely a scratch. Two assassination attempts that he managed to elude. Business meetings that were sure to end in disaster but instead ended up with contracts that shouldn't exist. Tony was a billionaire, play boy, weapons manufacturer who somehow managed to be well loved by the public. Yes, Tony was a lucky man and he knew it.
He was even lucky now, despite being in agony. Tony tried not to scream out in agony as he felt fingers digging into his chest. He smelt his skin burning as hot metal was pushed against the hole in his chest to stop him from bleeding out. It was agonizing, this sensory overload. Everything was too loud, the voices clamoring around him, the machines beeping and sizzling, his own voice even though it seemed to be muffled by something. Still, despite all the pain he supposed he had to be thankful he was still alive.
And as Tony passed out in a dark cave in the middle of Afghanistan he prayed that any being who would care to listen would save him.
O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O
Loki loved his worshipper. So much so that it was noticeable to the other gods. He hadn't told anyone that he had a worshipper but his brother, who was quick to dismiss it as a joke. Still, over the next few decades Loki seemed to calm. He was less abrasive and his pranks were less painful and more fun.
He spent a lot of time pushing luck at his worshipper. Pushing good feelings and confidence at him. He would sit in the fields looking at the sky as he felt for that bond. Loki would push his magic along that strand that tied them and allow it to help where it could.
He heard every prayer even if it wasn't directed exactly to him. Every since the first prayer he heard everything. Every little hope, prayer, wish and silent beg. He felt the little things that his worshipper was hoping for. His head felt heavy when he felt his worshipper being sad or depressed. At those times he would allow his magic to envelope the man and push a happy thought or the feeling of a hug. He would sigh a little as the light tingle of happiness would flow back through the bond.
Then there was something very different. A cacophony of sounds clattered around in his head. So much so that when he yelled out, the guards, who were watching him in his confinement after a prank gone wrong, came to investigate. In the end they dismissed it easily and left Loki to grip his hair tightly as he tried to make sense of what was going on.
His worshipper was dying. He could hear the pleading. Begging for a god, any god to free him from the agony. The pain that filtered through the bond was staggering. Loki groaned as he tried to block it of so he could concentrate. Being locked up came with the additional gift of a forced drain on his magic. It was risky on a day where he had full power to change something of this magnitude but if he did it now there is a possibility that he would die from the exertion.
With a little grimace Loki sat on the floor of his cell and crossed his legs. Resting his hands on his knees he took a deep breath and focused on his magic. It was risky but definitely worth it, he decided. Loki did not want to go back to the eternal loneliness that was being without a worshipper. Being without love and hope. Without the joy that comes from helping someone and feeling the appreciation.
O~~~~~~~~~~~~~O
Tony was sure that he was hallucinating. How could he not be? He knew he was in his cave. He had been flitting in and out of consciousness for what felt like days. Moments awake were horrible. Sleep wasn't much better because his dreams were filled with premonitions of death.
This time, something was different. He felt something. Much like a hand being placed on his forehead and putting a little bit of pressure on it. But when he opened his eyes there was nothing in the dim light before him. Warmth seeped from the nonexistent hand. He could feel his body relaxing a bit. Hope came back from where it was hiding and death seemed to recede. Then a voice spoke to him. It was deep and refreshing and seemed to have a shine to it (adding into the idea that it was a hallucination). It flowed over him and Tony swore he was being washed in mercury.
"Strength. You must hold onto your strength. You can make it out of here. You will survive. Survive my Drengr."
After that Tony did fall asleep. When he woke there was a man sitting beside him, a bowl of food in his hand and a car battery next to him. Tony groaned when he saw the hole in his chest and the mess of scars that now littered his frame.
Tony stayed silent when he was told how lucky he was to survive and how god must love him. Silently Tony agreed but he never said anything. Not to the man who quickly became his friend in neither the grungy cave nor when he escaped and came back a reigning hero. After time had passed he became even more sure that it was a trick of the imagination. However he relished the memory as a precious secret and fell back into his life as Tony Stark and the wonderful Iron Man.
O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O
Loki almost died.
After he healed his worshipper as much as he could Loki allowed the darkness of sleep over take him. When he woke he was no longer in his cell but in the healing room of the palace. His mother sat beside him. She said that the guards had found him, just on the cusp of death on the floor. Odin apologized (through his wife) for taking so much of his magic and nearly killing him. Loki brushed it off but allowed them to think that was the reason he collapsed. He would just be mocked in Asgard for risking his life for one lowly mortal.
It took him months to recover. His magic stubbornly staying just out of his reach. Though every time he felt the light presence of his worshipper he would smile and be glad that he did it. That feeling was the only reason that he survived the years to come.
Thor's would-be coronation, the fight with the Jotun, the reveal of his real heritage, falling from the bifrost and landing in the palms of Thanos. It was enough to break anybody and it did break him in the end. His resentment and anger towards Asgard prompted him to take the staff that warped his mind. The tesseract was not a power that anyone could use without losing a part of their own will. When Thanos handed him the staff he knew that he was no longer his own person.
Then he was told that he would take and exterminate earth. For the first time since taking the staff he hesitated. A moment he paused because despite the mind altering power in his hands the feeling of his worshipper kept him from going completely mad. For a brief time Loki was able to use his infamous silver tongue to convince Thanos not to exterminate earth but enslave it instead. Believing that the staff was forcing him to be loyal the mad Titan agreed.
Maybe this time Loki could save his worshipper, once again.
O~~~~~~~~~~~~O
Tony never put much thought into his capture and trip into becoming Iron Man. He really only thought about it when nightmares and flashbacks forced him to. So he didn't often think of the mysterious voice that pulled him from the brink of death. Instead he drank and invented. He spent his extra time in weird acts of philanthropy and trying to maintaining his on-again/off-again relationship with Pepper. They were currently off right now, over something really silly Tony couldn't remember.
However, Tony wasn't thinking about any of this as he flew over Germany. JARVIS had just told him that the Avengers had been called to take care of a god who crashed a fancy party. Why in the world would he pass that up? With a smirk he urged his suit to go faster. He didn't want to be later for this party.
O~~~~~~~~~~~~~O
Loki was in heaven. He stood on the steps of a great hall in full regalia and was having a spar of words with Captain America. He enjoyed this far more than he let on. In Asgard he would have been immediately struck, no trying to convince him what he was doing was wrong. Then this mortal appears having jumped from a plane and he asks for surrender and then peace. He gladly accepted the change, enjoying the little blows he shot at the man who stood so strong in his beliefs.
He raised an eyebrow as a flash of red and gold stopped him from raising his staff and striking down the righteous man. The Captain seemed startled at the assistance and almost immediately started to yell at the metal man. He chuckled as the man tried to dismiss him and the mechanical voice quipped back. He heard the Captain call the man Stark and assumed that it was the man Iron Man that he had been told of by the archer.
While he let the man bicker in front of him Loki felt the warmth of prayer wash over him. This time it was different though. It was stronger and clearer. Instead of maybe a few words and the general air of what the prayer was about it was full sentences. It hit him heavy and he nearly moaned at the odd pleasure.
I wish Cap would just shut up so I could kick this god's ass.
Loki's eye flew open in surprise. With a startled look that made the kneeling humans very nervous he gazed piercingly at Iron Man. He gripped his staff harshly and strode over to the arguing hero's. The movement and subsequent gasp of the crowd made them look in his direction.
"You." Loki gestured to Stark. "Remove your face plate." He demanded.
"I'm not that stupid reindeer games . . . Why?" Stark asked, curiosity over whelming.
"Because if you are who I think you are then I will lay down my staff this very moment and surrender to you. Only if you are the one I am looking for." Loki smirked. If nothing else, the stunned faces of those around him were worth the moment of weakness. He could feel the tesseract trying to force him into killing them both and moving on with his plan. His will could not be swayed though.
There was a heavy silence as the man considered the statement. Then with an almost ominous whir the masked went up and revealed his face. There was surprise in his heavy brown eyes.
Loki stared in wonder as the man before him seemed to glow, something he had not been able to see with the mask down. This was him, his worshipper. The ones who prayers he has been hearing for decades. He doesn't move his gaze until there is an awkward cough from the captain.
"Tell your warrior lady to land her craft." Loki said dismissively, thrusting the spear at Captain America, horizontally though so it wasn't seen as a threat. With shaking hands the man did, trying very hard to still his confusion. Loki turned back to Stark and quirked an eyebrow and was rewarded with a smirk in return.
"Put them away Captain." Loki sneered, glancing down at the cuffs that appeared in the man's hands. "I told you that I would surrender willingly and handed over my weapon. It doesn't mean that I will allow you to bind me."
"Just leave it Cap. . . Follow me, I have a few questions." Tony motioned for him to follow onto the lowered platform of the aircraft.
"You can have answers to your question in time. However, I do not wish to speak on it." Loki sat down delicately on a seat. After a moment he decided to strap himself in. A look in the cock pit showed a red headed woman who was glaring in his direction. The partner of the bowman he assumed.
The cock pit rang with its silence as they took off and were brought to another location Loki did not know. The woman was staring into the night sky, flexing her fingers angrily on the shift. The captain looked as if he wanted to speak but didn't say anything. Instead he turned around and went to sit with the woman. His worshipper sat directly across from. He let the man stare at him quizzically. He knew the man was a problem solver and he was sure that he enjoyed trying to figure out this new puzzle. Deciding to entertain him, Loki willed an apple into his hand and set about throwing it into the air and catching it.
Loki tried not to smirk as the man, 'Tony' his mind supplemented, followed the fruit with his eyes. The warm brown eyes trying to figure out if the apple was as solid as it looks. With a small chuckle Loki lobbed it as his worshipper. With a surprisingly delicate grip the metal hands caught the apple without bruising it. After a quick glance in his direction the man bit into the apple. The moan that followed was accompanied as a rush of pleasure through the bond. Loki was just about to say something when a clap of thunder seemed to shake the entire aircraft. Before he could blink the door was torn open and his neck was clasped in the large palm of his brother.
O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O
Tony moaned in pleasure as he bit into the apple. He was sure there was never an apple that tasted so good on all of earth. Perhaps it was because it was made out of pure magic. The thrill of seeing the magic form into the fruit was just as amazing as its taste. As he nibbled he watched the god . . . alien . . . whatever smile at him. He looked a lot more pleasant now that he was in his suit and scarf rather than the horned monstrosity that was his helmet. Tony wouldn't deny that the entire battle armor get-up was a little bit arousing. Considering his old relationship with Pepper, it shouldn't surprise people he was attracted to powerful and dominating figures.
Tony was most stuck on why it was him that the man surrendered to. Honestly, he had all the power at that moment and could have escaped in seconds and did not need to be taken. Even through all the blurry memories that were the drunken nights of Tony Stark there was nothing that indicated the Tony had ever met the man. Even blind drunk Tony would have remembered someone like him. By all accounts he wasn't even from Earth and despite his ego; Tony was not the most powerful person on the planet. Close, he thought with a little smirk, but not the most. He straitened when he noticed the thin lips opening to say something.
A large rush of wind and Tony was staring at an empty seat. His face plate went down and the cameras saw the sweep of a red cloak flying away from their ship. With a growl Tony stood and allowed his suit to shift and mold so it would be able to fly.
"Tony you can't go after him. We don't know who took him." Steve shouted over the noise.
"Who ever it was took my prisoner. You don't take what is mine!"
"He wasn't your prisoner. He was the prisoner of SHEILD." Natasha said over the headset from her position of pilot.
"Hey. The dude surrendered to me. That makes him my prisoner. And I'm getting him back." With a little wave Tony jumped from the plane. With a little gasp he plummeted to the ground, grinning as he pulled up at the last moment. Even after all this time flying still made the adrenaline hum through his veins like a song. Using JARVIS he tracked the subject, finding them up on top of a mountain. Over the speakers he heard a snippet of their conversation.
"- can come back brother. I will speak to father. Please just come back." That was the blonde mountain of muscle that was holding Loki's face in a not brotherly way. He watched as he flew closer as Loki wrenched himself from his grip.
"He is no father of mine, no more than you are my brother! I will not go back to be punished."
"You listen well brother-" Tony barreled into the wall of muscle, pushing him nearly half a mile away from Loki into the dense woods below. Tony landed a few paces away from the blonde menace as he watched him stumble to his feet.
"Don't touch what is mine!" Tony yelled, catching the man's attention.
"This is not your business to interfere with metal man! You know not what you are dealing with!"
"Uh, Shakespeare in the Park? Doth mother know you weareth her drapes?" Tony wanted to pat himself on the back for that one.
"Give me my brother."
"When we are done with him you can have him back. Until then stay out of my way and don't touch my toys." Tony had to leap out of the way as the man swung his hammer. Barely missing him it rocketed into a tree and went all the way through the trunk. Well, apparently it would be good to avoid that. He quickly shot into the sky and aimed his repulsers at the man. They traded attacks and dodges. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the Captain hit the ground and try to intervene.
A bolt of lightning caught him in the chest. He felt the electricity tingle across his skin and vaguely heard JARVIS telling him that he was now at 400 percent. With a smirk he shot the steroid version of Bob the builder. There was no small amount of satisfaction when the man flew farther than he had before. The shouting match continued, the caped man informing them that he was Thor and royalty to the highest degree. Tony snickered and told him exactly what he did to royalty (particularly princesses). Before the Captain could step in again Thor was swinging his hammer and Tony closed his eyes and hoped that the pain wouldn't be too much . . . The pain never came.
In front of him was Loki. He had his hand pressed on the giant hammer, holding it midway through it swing. His hand glowed a bright red as the metal of the hammer burned the pale skin. He snarled at his brother, who was frozen in shock.
"You will NOT touch him." Loki sneered. With a flick of his wrist the hammer swung to the ground to his left and hissed as the hot metal burned the ground at Loki's feet.
"Brother . . . You protect this mortal? He took you prisoner." Thor asked, staring at the now blistering palm.
"I was no prisoner of his Thor. I went with him willingly. " Loki sneered again. He stood protectively in front of Tony, despite the fact that while Tony was in his suit Loki stood the shortest out of them all. He glowered at Thor, daring him to move with his eyes.
"Loki, you cannot-" Thor started to say but he was stopped. A hand was raised and it was glowing ominously. Loki's eyes flashed dangerously and there was no doubt in anyone's mind that he would not hesitate to hurt the man that was once his brother.
"You will not touch him Thor. I swear by Odin I will make every prank I have every pulled seem like a joke played by a babe. You will rue it should you lay a finger on him."
There was a heavy silence as the four men stared at each other. Tony had never had a weirder experience than the one he was having right now. That was saying quite a lot.
O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O
Loki was angry. In fact, he was more furious that he has been in a while. That imbecile Thor was going after a mortal like he would go after an Asgardian in a battle to the death. He forced Loki to intervene to stop the death of his worshipper. He was not joking when he said that he would make Thor feel every ounce of his wrath should he have actually hurt Tony. Unfortunately his interference was showing his hand and would no doubt become a bartering tool to the organization that was intent on capturing him before he had surrendered to Tony.
He huffed happily as Thor backed down. With a raised eyebrow he motioned to the airplane that had landed a safe distance away. With a little swagger he led the group back up into the belly of the craft and sat down delicately. He glared when Thor tried to sit next to him, sending him scuttling to a seat that was farther away.
The plane ride was silent and quick as they landed on a floating craft that Tony kindly informed him was a heli-carrier, though it meant nothing to him. He was greeted by the eye-patched man that reminded him too much of his father. With no protest he was led to a glass cage, much like the one he is locked in should a prank go bad on Asgard. For now he was being treated to a tedious tete-a-tete with the director Fury.
"How desperate am I? You threaten my world with war. You steal a force you can't hope to control. You talk about peace and you kill 'cause it's fun. You have made me VERY desperate. You might not be glad that you did."
Yes it was very tedious indeed. Even the dull Captain was better at this than the Director. Still, he said his piece and was glad when the man left him, only to be guarded by a couple men with guns and the threat of a great fall.
Loki fell into the bed and let his eye drift close. On this planet he was so close to his worshipper he could feel a lot of the emotion that was flickering through his head. It was easy, from this close, to see how smart the man was. Each passing moment Loki was becoming more pleased with the man that chose to worship him, even if he did not choose directly.
It wasn't long until Loki was bored. He never did well with boredom. At least on Asgard when he was locked up he could tease the guards or use one of his many escape routes to have a night on the town in disguise. His plan was falling apart and as he spent more time away from the staff he could fell the power that had originally warped his mind starting to fade away.
Still, he was bored. He made a few balls appear and was taking a little bit of enjoyment in juggling them and doing tricks for the guards before his show was interrupted by a spike of anger and confusion through his bond. With a small smile he glanced up at the cameras.
"If you wish to find out more about me, you just need to ask." He said to the cameras. "Let me out and put me in the presence of the Man of Iron and I will answer every question . . . I will even return your bowman, free of harm." With that he laid back down and waited. It would not take them long to retrieve him.
O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O
Tony was being his usual self as he bounced around the conference room. He introduced himself to Banner, made fun of Fury's eye patch and pointed out the man playing video games. There was some small (read: large) amount of bickering of why Loki was here, what he wanted with the tesseract, whether they should torture the information out of him. Suddenly the mood shifted as they turned an accusing eye on Tony.
"My question is why he surrendered to Stark." Fury said, crossing his arms and waited for an answer. Tony smirked and kicked his feet on the table.
"Hey, don't look at me like that. I've never seen him in my life and I'm sure I would have remembered that." He leered at the god who was on the screen, lying languidly on the bed with his eyes closed. "Regardless, I don't know why. Perhaps he knows perfection when he sees it."
"There must be something between you and my brother, Man of Iron. I have rarely seen him protect any one and never a mortal. My brother does not surrender, not for any one." Thor said in a matter-of-fact way that put Tony on edge. Something about the man put him off and he didn't know what.
"Doesn't matter now, does it? If he is with us then he isn't with the tesseract. As far as I'm concerned this is a win for me." Tony said, trying to steer the conversation in another direction. He glanced at the screen again and tried to contain a chuckle as he watched the god perform juggling tricks to the stoic guards, giving mocking bows and everything.
"Maybe he was here before. Stark could be lying." Natasha gave a sideways glance. "If Hawkeyes mind could be taken then Starks definitely could. He could be part of his plan."
Tony surged to his feet and slammed his hand on the table. This caused a tense silence in the room. Just as fast as the anger came, it faded leaving behind a cold, blank stare.
"I do not care what you feelings are for me Natasha." He said sardonically. "But I did not help you only to be called a weak-minded traitor to my face. I know as much as you do about Loki's motives and how they relate to me. If you keep insulting me in this way I will leave. If I go you lose his compliance and your bartering chip." Tony growled before sitting down. Bruce cleared his throat lightly and drew their attention to the screen where Loki's bright green eyes were fixed directly at the lens.
"If you wish to find out more about me, you just need to ask." He said to the cameras. "Let me out and put me in the presence of the Man of Iron and I will answer every question . . . I will even return your bowman, free of harm." Fury snorted at the statement and went to turn off the screen.
"Director," Natasha stopped him before he did. "Perhaps we should allow it. If he is in here there are too many of us for him to take on alone while he is staff-less. If there is the chance that he would give Clint back willingly then I think we should do it."
"I would be careful with my brother Lady Widow." Thor said quietly, which was quite loud. "He is known as the silver tongue in our world and his greatest strength comes in the form of trickery through speech. He never breaks his promises but he rarely makes promises that are as good as they sound."
Fury flicked his good eye between the two, obviously in thought. It took a minute and he turned around and punched a code into the computer.
"Bring the prisoner up to the main deck. Do not hesitate to shoot him should he try to escape."
O~~~~~~~~~~~O
Loki held his head high as he was walked into the room with a guard detail. He was wearing handcuffs which did not make him happy but he would keep them on until there weren't ten men keeping their guns pointed at him with a finger on the trigger. The first thing he did was sweep his eyes over the room and take in everything. The main heroes, as he would call them for now, were sitting at a long conference table. On the other side of the large room was about forty diligent workers, bustling around but taking furtive looks at the group. Quickly he moved to make eye contact with Tony Stark, keeping the contact until he slipped gracefully into the seat provided. He took a moment to glance over the man and take him in without a suit. He paused a little on the glowing light before realizing that was the injury that he had saved the man from. Using his magic he peered into the device and saw how it was pulling the pieces of metal away from his heart. It was a magnificent piece of technology.
"Loki." Fury started, dragging his attention away from his target. He raised an eyebrow and turned his chair to face the man. "You promised to give me back my man."
"I did." Loki raised his bound hands and snapped. Little green sparks jumped from his fingers. It was all a show, because he could have ended the connection with only a thought. But they would not have trusted him if they had not seen any physical manifestation. He relaxed in his seat and seemed to survey the room as they stared him down.
"Director? Director this is Hawkeye, come in." A voice rattled over the speaker system.
"Speak to me Barton."
"I don't know what happened but the connection broke. One minute I was getting on a plane to follow Loki's orders and now I'm not. I have full control of my faculties again." Barton's voice rang out and a sigh of relief washed over the room.
"Then come home. We have Loki in our custody."
"Yes director." And the speakers shut off.
"I am a man of my word Director." Loki said with a smile, leaning back on his chair. He looked over at Tony and realized the man was staring at him. Loki stared back, content to play the game with him. He let the other man survey him, idly wondering what the man was thinking. A force filled the room that seemed to make people itch. It only lasted so long seeing as Fury's patience always ran thin and was never a favored virtue.
"You also said you would answer questions. Any question." Fury queried. He moved to sit in the large chair at the end of the table.
"Hmm. Yes I did say that." Loki said, trailing off thoughtfully. However he didn't say anything, just stared back at Fury.
"Why are you here?" Fury demanded.
"Because you led me here by gun point."
"What are you trying to do?"
"I'm trying to answer your questions." Loki looked smug, nodding to Bruce when he tried to cover up a laugh with a cough. Tony looked thoroughly amused. Even Thor looked slightly sad but definitely amused. Fury was not so.
"Are you going to answer any of my questions seriously?"
"Yes yes, of course I am. You are just fun to tease Lord Fury." Loki smirked. He waved his hand in a flippant motion, showing off the fact that he was no longer handcuffed. The handcuffs were on the table in their original box, sitting serenely in front of Fury.
"I did warn you Man of Fury. My brother enjoys his games far too much. He answered all of your questions honestly but not in the way you wished. This is a common ploy of his."
"Yes Thor, kindly shut up. We all got that you hideous oaf." Loki growled, making Thor give him a piteous look.
"For what reason have you come to Earth?" Fury said, enunciating it clearly.
"Under the command of Thanos the mad Titan I have been ordered to Earth to open the gate way that will allow his army through to take the Earth for him." Loki said. Thor tensed and hissed at the name Thanos, causing them all to worry.
"Are you under his command of your own will?" Fury asked, trying to figure out the god in front of him.
"I entered into his fold willingly only AFTER my mind was warped by the tesseract."
"Your mind was warped?" Natasha asked in a tense way. It wasn't hard to see that her hand was hovering over her pistol on her hip.
"Much in the way your Hawks mind was taken. Granted with mine it was a little more subtle. . ."
"So essentially you are saying that it was coerced and you are innocent." Fury interrupted.
"I am far from innocent. But if you want to be pedantic, yes it was all coerced. Though I do not deny that I wanted to come to Earth, regardless of the reason I was sent here." Green eyes trailed over to Tony, causing him to tense up. However there was no malice in his gaze just curiosity . . . and just a small flicker of pleasure.
"What is the reason you surrendered to Stark? Do you know each other? What does he have to do with this?" Fury demanded, leaving no spaces in between his questions.
"We know each other. We know each other quite well. We have never met each other, spoke only once. He has everything to do with this. For him I gave up the staff and broke its connection to my mind. It is because of him that I will help you survive and win the coming invasion."
O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O
Tony was very confused. He supposed that would happen to anyone who as informed that they knew a god, spoke to him once but never met him. The statements were contradictory and made no sense. Perhaps they talked on the phone or online. Certainly that would be a way to speak but not actually meet. But he said that they knew each other well. Normally that would take more than one conversation and not one that would be conducted on the phone or online.
Tony stopped his musings when he noticed all of the group (including a good majority of the workers that were around him) were staring at him, waiting for an answer.
"I don't know what you are talking about." Tony admitted honestly, shrugging his shoulders. Loki stood up, ignoring the guns tracking his movement. He approached Tony cautiously, noting that the genius had tensed when he moved. He leaned over, placing his palm on Tony's forehead and leaned close.
"Strength. You must hold onto your strength. You can make it out of here. You will survive. Survive my Drengr." Loki spoke in a firm and clear tone, staring deeply into the rich brown eyes below him. The eyes in question widened slightly as surprise over took him.
":You!" Tony gasped in surprise, not pulling back from the warm hand on his forehead or the god that was well within his personal bubble. He laid a hand protectively over his arc reactor on instinct. Everyone noted the movement but didn't say anything.
"Yes, me."
"So you do know him?" Steve asked, glancing in between the staring pair. Neither answered him though; content to have each other's full attention.
"You were a hallucination."
"You were hallucinating at the time, yes. Though I am no imaginary figure. The images were purely your mind trying to comprehend my power. Considering the amount of trauma and drugs in your system at the time it is no surprise you did not think me real." Loki explained, steadfast in keeping his hand on Tony's forehead.
"What is a Drengr?" Steve asked quietly, thoroughly butchering the pronunciation.
"It means 'warrior'" Thor said in a little bit of awe, both at the words as well as his brothers interaction with the mortal. His brother rarely touched someone of his own free will, always arching away like an annoyed cat. Yet here he was, willingly laying hands on a mortal and did not seem inclined to move them.
"But Stark wasn't Iron Man until after getting the arc reactor. Why did you call him warrior then?" Natasha spoke up, disdain slightly edging her tone.
"You are a fool if you believe he was not a warrior before his injury. He had the spirit of someone who has seen battle well before he began to worship me." Loki glanced at the woman before leaning back and taking the seat closest to his worshipper.
"Worship?!"
O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O
Loki loved a show. This was certainly a show. There was a lot of shouting. People accusing his worshipper of calling Loki down here. Tony in turn was sneering back, questioning the intelligence of anyone who thought he'd believe in a deity. Thor was bellowing, demanding Loki inform him why he hadn't been told he had gotten a worshipper. He allowed it to continue for a moment before his head started to ache.
A quick swipe of his hand and the group was silent, leaving only him and Stark able to talk. He would be remiss to silence his worshipper, since he was the only one Loki really wanted to speak to. It took a long time before the others realized that they had been silenced. The mortals turned to yell at him silently, only Thor backing down and reseating himself. Though his ex-brother has spent a lot of time being silenced and knew there was no used in yelling at Loki.
"If you sit down and stop yowling like dogs then perhaps you will get the answers to your questions." Said Loki.
"Now I will explain," Loki started, leaning forward to lean on the table. "I am a god. It makes sense that I will be able to hear the prayers of those who call to me. Now, much like your Greek gods of old, many people choose a patron god to whom most of their prayers go to. In most recent times people pray to 'God'. That means one of two things. If you imagine your god to be the lone creator of your world and so otherworldly that you could not imagine him, your prayers go somewhere I don't know of. Perhaps there is such a god and he hears. Now if you imagine an older man who sits upon the cloud and listens to your prayers then, quite unintentionally, you pray to Odin.
"Some people choose to pray or hope for certain things. In this way you choose your patron. Normally your first prayers, when you are of an age of reason, choose who becomes your patron. That god then hears all of the prayers, wishes and hopes that you may have. You can pray to another specific god if you choose, but unless stated otherwise all of them go to the patron you chose." Loki rambled on, swinging his hand to punctuate his statements. On the other side of the table Thor was nodding along, silently confirming everything he was saying.
"Any god who hears your prayers gets a small bond between the two of you. He or she can feel your emotions. How strong the bond is, is dictated by how often you pray, how much you believe and whether or not there are a lot of other worshippers. Most gods now choose to ignore their worshippers. They know that no one intentionally chooses to worship them anymore and there are too many people to keep track of. So prayers are ignored and people are left to their lives."
"I'm pretty sure I didn't choose you. I don't even believe in any deity." Tony said, crossing his arms and furrowing his brows. Loki could feel his brain sorting and filing the information it was getting.
"When someone asks you what you believe in, what do you say?" Loki queried.
"That I believe in entropy. In chaos. That all things are created through the increase of chaos. Science." Loki smirked and waved at himself.
"Loki of Asgard: God of mischief and fire. The trickster god. The god of chaos." Tony gaped for a moment.
"So I said something like that and accidentally chose you as my patron?"
"Yes."
"That still doesn't explain why I'm important. You said that there were so many of us that nobody pays attention to their worshippers." Tony accused.
"Man of Iron." Both were rather surprised when Thor. During his little lecture Loki had not realized that he dropped his spell. "My brother has never been the patron to any worshipper. Even in the height of belief no one called upon him to listen to their prayers." Thor explained, despite the glaring of his once brother. There was a heavy silence as they stared at the younger god. Loki wanted to sneer, there was a flicker of pity from Thor as well as the captain. Instead he looked at Tony, rejoicing at the little flicker of pride that went through the bond.
"Thor," Loki emphasized the name, a warning glance at the other god. If he kept using the term brother then Loki was going to turn his tongue into lead. "Is quite correct . . . for once. I was no one's patron and when I did get a prayer it was a cry for mercy. People used to think that I personally tricked them out of spite, despite the fact that I was rarely ever on Earth." He sighed heavily. With a flick of his fingers an amber drink appeared in front of him and he took a sip.
"You are my first worshipper, therefore are very important. But it is not only that. You kept me sane when the universe was looking to destroy me. You believed in me, despite not knowing my existence, far more that my own father and brethren did. It gave me something to do other than die of boredom when I was being punished. When I was floating through the ether after I thought I was going to fall to me death I could still feel you and that was the thing that kept my mind from rotting." Loki paused for a second to take a drink. He wanted to smile when he felt a little prayer trickle in. A small snap and a tumbler of scotch appeared before Tony. The billionaire took a long pull from it and hummed happily.
"So you have been doing things for me my whole life?" Tony asked.
"In a way. But not nearly as direct as you are worrying about." Loki stared into Tony's eyes. "Your achievements are your own. I did not change the world around you to make you any more successful that you could have made yourself. It was little things that I did. Made you feel lucky when you were depressed. A boost of confidence when you felt you could not do something. The feeling of a loving hug when there was no one to do it for you." Loki spoke softly. Tony took a shuddering inhale. He felt as if his entire soul was on display for everyone there. He didn't miss the little sneer from Natasha when she heard the comment about a hug. Steve had a look of little pity.
"Okay, so what now?" Tony asked, taking a large drink of scotch to cover up his discomfort.
"We stop the attack and stop Thanos."
"You want to defeat him?" Fury asked incredulously.
"I do not like people controlling me, or trying to. Thor can tell you how it works when someone tries to take me as a fool. Regardless, the monster tried to take my mind. For that I will take his life." There was a loud clatter and a blur as Clint seemingly fell from the ceiling. He landed on the table , bow drawn and poised in between Loki's eyebrows. Loki raised an uninterested eyebrow but didn't move.
"No that is a policy I could follow." Clint spat, fire in his eyes.
"If you think killing me will make you feel better, do try your best. I don't think you will get very far." Loki smiled and glanced up at the arrow pressed to him. The pointed head had transformed and was now a small suction cup. Clint growled and reached for a new arrow, only to see that the next one he pulled out of his quiver was the same. He reached into his boot for a knife, pulling out a long stem rose.
"Thank you." Loki smirked, plucking the rose from his grip and bringing it to his nose to sniff it. He snapped his fingers and Hawkeye was pulled off the table and force into a seat by an invisible force.
"Let me go!" He squawked, tugging at the invisible ropes.
"I released you from my service because I was asked to. That does not mean that I will allow you to hurt me now that you are not under my command." Loki said with a dismissive wave. "Now let us talk business."
"Do you really think that you can defeat this Titan bastard?" Fury asked.
"It would be impossible." Thor jumped in, ignoring the glare from his brother. "Thanos is an immortal. There is no way to bring about his death as Death had barred him from her domain forever more."
"He may be immortal but he is not invincible nor is his army. Can I kill him? No I cannot. That does not mean that I cannot stop him from taking control of this planet." He leaned back, dropping his feet lightly on the table. "I have my minions bringing the tesseract to Stark tower now as we speak. I say we convene there and discuss the plan to defeat my old master."
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Well that's all for now, I guess. I've been putting of writing for a while but I think I really need to get back into it. Hopefully the rest of this story will come easily. I was originally only supposed to be 4000 words. Next thing you know it 8000 and you want to make another chapter.
If you have any ideas feel free to give them to me. Either for this story, any other story you want to read or if there is an obscure social problem you feel like you have the answer to. I'm really willing to read just about anything.