Of course he took pride in what appeared to be selfless acts of bravery. Not everyone was willing to risk their lives for the good of others. Then again, not everyone was a billionaire with a bit of a drinking problem whose only way of getting rid of the nagging boredom was by looking death in the eye. Once you have so much, you can only really fear losing anything when it means losing everything. But nothing about it was selfless, not really. Not that he would ever admit the post-traumatic stress ever occurred, but the so called revelation began to fade away soon after he'd been rescued. He was no philanthropist. He wasn't even a genius – a genius would at least have some idea as to how to react to the current situation. He, however, had none.
"Loki?" he whispered as quietly as his ego would allow, and still it seemed to echo painfully through the otherwise impossibly quiet room. Dungeon.
No response. He didn't exactly expect to see him relaxing on a sofa while being fed grapes, but he wasn't expecting thiseither. The moment he stepped inside the chamber, his body instinctively jumped back, only to hit the cold door that had been closed and locked behind him. Before his brain even got the chance to figure out what was going on, acidic fluid came flying up his throat and gushing through his mouth and nose. The air in the room was so hot he could feel it burning his skin, pushing the stench through his pores and into his blood. The walls were soaked and dripping with blood and sweat which must have been vaporizing and condensing for centuries. He could feel it accumulating on the surface of his lungs. He wiped tears from his burning eyes and took a step forward. Hanging from the chains, arms and legs spread out in an X, was a creature so utterly ruined and mutilated, it looked as if it was only a matter of moments before it would decompose completely and become one with the walls. Taking a step closer, he opened his mouth once more, but immediately closed it again. He could taste the decomposing flesh on his tongue. Swallowing away the mix of pity, fear and repulsion, he quickly whispered again, "Loki?"
Although he didn't see the body move, it must have, for a new line slowly began to appear on the dark blue stomach, making a crispy, sickening sound as the dry flesh cracked open. Tony could feel his own stomach swirling. He looked up. A pair of blood-red eyes stared hauntingly into his, completely devoid of life. Tony's heartbeat quickened when adrenaline filled his veins in an instant. All muscle control now focused solely on making every last hair on his body stand up, he begged his brain pathetically to grant him the strength to squeeze his eyes shut. He couldn't look away. The demon's eyes, seemingly oblivious to the anguish of its possessor, held Tony's with the intensity of a thousand dead suns.
"Anthony Stark," came a slow, deep voice, seemingly from nowhere, but thin streaks of blood were slowly making its way down from the blue monster's mouth to his chin, "I've been waiting for you."
With each spoken word, he could hear the flesh cracking, the old dust stirring inside the fiend's body. Tony winced, and like a boy stubbing his toe, emotions were painted on his face almost instantly, before his mind munificently allowed his consciousness a taste of the complete horror that had been building up inside of him. He could barely keep himself from vomiting as he felt his stomach spasm, the muscles in his gullet generously helping the sludge climb up his throat.
"Mortals. So eager to pity and forgive. I expected better from you, Stark."
The familiar arrogance with which the accusation was spat at him slapped him right across the face and sobered him up instantly. Taking a firm step forward, Tony looked at the trickster, this time with a blank expression, determined to stay objective. Trying not to cringe, he swallowed, and the slime was forced back down, taking pity, and forgiveness, with it. Strips of skin were hanging from Loki's arms, his torso covered with alligatored flesh. A frost giant, he thought, and there's not a drop of water left in his body.His feet were black, as if burned with fire and turned into coal. The left leg was twisted in an unnatural position, broken. Tony nodded to himself. Yep. Yep, yep, yep, his mind repeated to itself stupidly, very satisfied with its newly discovered serenity and quite keen on keeping it. Seeing no reason to spare the creature another glance, Tony turned around and knocked on the door, which unlocked instantly.
"Where are you going?"
Loki's attempt to make it sound threatening failed miserably, and the question came out as a desperate plea. Tony's eyebrows furrowed. No, his brain ordered, no no no no no. But it was too late. The voice was so broken, so pathetic, and it came from Loki, the proudest creature in the universe. The realisation horrified Tony, his brain suddenly incapable of blocking out the sheer misery of it all. His mouth died up at the thought of the living corpse behind his back. The illusion of tranquillity now gone completely, Tony pressed his lips together determinately, pushing back the thoughts that were threatening to flood his mind.
"I saw what I came here to see," he said dispassionately, and left.
"Well, he's not myking, and you willtake me to see him or I'll demonstrate to Ass-gard what Earthly magic is capable of."
Tony was known to overreact from time to time. He didn't lose his temper very easily, but when he did, all hell broke loose. Of course he wasn't allowed to enter Asgard in his iron suit. They barely let him keep his pants on. Standing in front of two godly creatures twice his size, he knew he should be feeling intimidated, but anger poured out of every single pore of his body, making him shake visibly. He was just about ready to throw a punch at the guard, even though he would most likely have broken his fist, when a gentle, but firm hand squeezed his shoulder, making him jump.
"This Midgardian is threatening to attack Asgard," calmly reported the guard. Tony turned, ready to throw his fist at whoever it was that interrupted him.
"Is this true, friend?"
"Thor." Tony stared stupidly at the large man in front of him. He'd completely forgotten about him. "Thor, you need to go down to the dungeon. You need to go see Loki," he said quickly, waving and pointing his hands at nothing in particular. Thor would be allowed to see Odin immediately, so all he had to do was make sure he saw what was happening.
"Why?" came the simple question.
"They're going fucking medieval on his ass, Thor. He, he's- it's hotter than hell down there, he, he's a living corpse, Thor. He- They're torturing him!" he choked out, fast, barely managing to keep breathing. There was only one thing you could rely on when it came to Tony Stark: he would keep his cool. He would stay completely unaffected, always keeping his distance. He stood there now, face covered in sweat, and he looked... laughable. His mind racing, images of Loki's skin being ripped off his body flashing before his eyes, the stench of the decomposing flesh, the sound of the blood dripping, the sound of the skin cracking, the sound of chains. The sound of Loki's desperate voice. God, oh god, how could I have left him there, how could I-
"I know, man of iron."
What? "What?"
Thor looked at the ground. "I know. This is his punishment."
Tony stopped shaking. He stood there dumbly, with his mouth half open, staring at the god. He desperately tried to kick-start his brain so he could make some sense of this. But nothing made sense anymore. He was sent to Asgard by Fury to check on their "shared" prisoner, to make sure everything was in order. To make sure that Loki wasn't receiving any privileges because of his royalty. That he was being properly punished.This wasn't, couldn't have been what any of them had in mind. Barton would surely be thrilled to hear about it, but Tony knew even he would not approve of it were he to witness it personally. No one would agree this form of punishment was suitable for anyone, even Loki. Finally snapping back to reality, Tony noticed Thor had been talking .
"- and it was so ruled by the All-father, who-"
"And we thought Loki was the monster," Tony said quietly, silencing him. He looked at Thor for a long moment, as the god stared back at him, confused. In a self-assured, strangely calm voice, he added "We captured Loki. He is our prisoner. I'm taking him back."
