Disclaimer: I do not own any of the avengers or Loki (although it would be nice if I did) I only own my OCs.
Chapter 1:
Tony sank down into the soft leather of his very expensive and very comfortable sofa, nursing an unstarted scotch in his right hand and closed his eyes. For the first time since before the fight for New York he had nothing to do but relax, the repairs to his tower finally finished that evening. The mechanical voice of his AI broke the blissful silence of the lack of sweaty workmen making him groan. He knew something like this was bound to happen.
"Sir, Director Fury is at the entrance along with Mr Odinson, Dr. Banner, Agent Romanoff and Captain Rogers."
"Send them in JARVIS" Tony sighed as he reluctantly put down his scotch on a glass coffee table, knowing that it had been too good to be true. He stood up and walked over to the elevator to greet his friends. He supposed he had better greet Fury as well. The elevator opened with a ping and the figures stepped out. Fury walked straight out, his leather coat flowing out behind him, Natasha close behind him unreadable as ever. Bruce and Steve followed deep in a murmured conversation, and last came Thor, barely recognisable in ill-fitting jeans and shirt, his brow furrowed in worry .
"So," said Tony, drawing out the word, "what's the party? Do I need to order any bubbly?"
"Stark this is not the time for jokes. Loki has escaped from Asguard." Fury replied curtly, getting straight to the point as usual. Thor hung his head.
"What? You mean green sleeves has done a runner? I mean despite him being a complete box full of cats and all, you've got to hand it to the guy, he's determined to-"
"Stark this is a serious situation!" Natasha cut him off, Steve nodding in agreement with her, his eyebrows furrowed in thought.
"She's right," Bruce said "Coincidently we got a very high energy reading over London the night he escaped from Asguard. That means that there is a very good chance that he is running around in England somewhere. The only thing is that there is no trace of his presence anywhere." He trailed off looking around the room, adjusting the glasses perched on his nose.
"Oh good, that means you can all leave me and my lovely scotch alone until you trace him and Pepper gets back from Washington. Nice to see you all though. Bye bye."
"Stark." Fury stared at him hard with his one eye.
"Oh fine, go ahead ruin my peace and quiet. Why would reindeer games want to go to England though? Ugh, nothing happens over there except the odd tea party and nasty weather-"Tony's rant was cut off sharply by Steve.
"Loki needs to be tracked down. We can decide what to do when we find him, in the mean time S.H.I.E.L.D agents are exploring the area where Loki landed. Our priority is to get him contained, once that has been achieved we can think of what we do with him and whether he goes back home."
"How did he escape from Azkaban anyway?" Tony mused out loud, wondering how even a god like Loki could slip out of prison under Odin and Thor's combined watchful noses.
"I do not know of this Azkaban you speak of, but it would appear that my brother used magic of some sort to escape from his imprisonment." Thor answered, "He did not speak a word to anyone in all the time he was in Asguard, and he must have been planning his escape for some time."
"Naturally, how else would he escape, using a slice of toast perhaps?" Tony said picking up his scotch and downing it in one.
"Well I am still trying to locate Agent Barton in Brazil, so he will join you when I manage to contact him " Natasha raised her eyebrows at the mention of Clint's location, it was unusual for her not to accompany him on a mission, "however as of now the Avengers initiative is active, Agent Romanoff, come with me." With that the Director turned on his black booted heel and walked back into the elevator and told JARVIS to take him to the first floor.
"Wait, Fury, hang on, what am I supposed to do with these guys in the meantime? They aren't staying here!"
"But they are staying here Tony. You and Banner need to work on locating Loki." Natasha said smirking from the inside of the lift as she doors started to close.
"Well yeah, obviously Bruce needs to stay here so we can work, but what am I supposed to do with Thunder Viking and the Star Spangled Soldier?" Tony complained, whining like a small child with an attitude problem.
"Well it would be a shame for all those lovely renovated rooms of yours to stay empty wouldn't it?" Natasha replied and the doors to the elevator met and the quiet whir of metal descending could be heard.
"Shall I prepare rooms for Dr. Banner, Mr Odinson and Captain Rogers?"
"Yeah fine, whatever JARVIS."
Thor and Steve walked out of Tony's lounge leaving a concerned looking Bruce behind fiddling with the seam on his shirt and squinting through his glass lenses around the room.
"What's the matter Bruce? We find him, the other guy has a second round of fun and Loki goes back home, no fuss no muss. Why the long face?" Tony asked, despite appearances and an oversized ego Tony did truly care for his science buddy.
"I don't know. None of this makes sense and I have a feeling that something else is coming. The other guy feels it too. There is something missing, how can Loki just vanish from plain sight? Something isn't adding up. The feeling has been getting worse since the New York incident."
"Well that's nice." said Tony "let's keep the atmosphere nice and light shall we? Everything will be better after a good night's sleep and a good stiff drink. Come on." Pushing Bruce towards the hallway leading to their rooms, but before he turned out the light in the lounge, something made him turn round and look back into the now empty room, the cold feeling of being watched swept over him and a shiver went down his back, turning his nerve endings to ice. The feeling passed as quickly as it came.
"See," murmured Bruce, "that's what I mean. Something is not right. "
"Whatever. Sleepy time now big guy, we start the face trace in the morning, S.H.I.E.L.D still has his visual files from last time, I wonder if rock of ages has grown his hair?" The two men walked down the hallway and turned off into their rooms. As Tony shut the door he spoke to the ceiling.
"Jarvis?"
"Yes sir?"
"Raise the security levels will you, I want eyes on everything within a hundred metre radius."
"Of course Sir."
On top of the office block next to Stark Tower Ryan smiled to himself, his heightened senses picking up every word of the conversation. They could feel it. A storm was coming whether S.H.I.E.L.D liked it or not, he stepped off the edge of the skyscraper and landed soundlessly on the balls of his feet on the sidewalk thirty five stories below. Ryan glanced up at the glowing face of the full moon trying to remember when it had last forced him to change. It had been a long time.