3: Jackals and Avalanches
The next morning, Tony received his report from Jarvis about how the media was mostly furious about Loki's presence, and even that of Thor's. They were somehow equally angry that Thor had come to Earth again, as if he had the right to show up whenever he wanted, and that he had not come sooner, to somehow save them from the weather. It was impossible to win with these people.
Tony turned on the TV to see yet more people ranting and raving about him, and Loki, and Thor. Tony liked being the centre of attention, and he had liked being famous, but this was something else. People had taken to protesting outside Stark Tower, picketing the entrance, claiming that any Stark Industries employees who crossed the line were collaborators in harbouring a fugitive. Tony already knew all about that. Jarvis had woken him at 6am to tell him of the encampment, so Tony had given practically everyone the day off. Those few who had to come in could get in through ways other than the main entrance. Tony was just relieved that it was Friday. Stark Industries was a strong company, but practically shutting down the tower was not good for business.
Miss Potts, CEO, had called at 6:10 in search of an explanation as to why he had not run this past her before doing it. Tony had explained that he didn't feel he had any choice, and it descended into an argument for no real reason. There had been a time, of course, when she would have woken up next to him, and they could have talked about it together. But that had been painfully short-lived. Those times may return, but Tony couldn't see it, in his present frame of mind, and he tried to avoid thinking about it.
He drank a strong cup of coffee and headed down to the secure apartment holding Thor and Loki. The apartment was guarded on the outside by SHIELD agents, but inside, the place was vacant.
Tony crossed the living area and towards Loki's room, the door of which was open. Tony peered in to see Loki sat by the window, and of all the things to see the God of Mischief doing, he was sat there using a laptop. He was also very much dressed down, in black pants and a dark green sweater. Somehow, this picture unnerved Tony more than most of the other things he had ever seen Loki do. With all of Loki's armour and regalia it was easy to see him as the other-worldly, menacing orchestrator of a hostile alien incursion. But dressed like that, sat in a chair, his eyes flicking over a computer screen, he looked human, docile, just like anyone else.
Loki ignored his host, completely, so Tony didn't bother to be polite. "What are you doing?" he asked, abruptly. Tony didn't know what Loki might be able to accomplish with a computer, and he didn't want to find out.
"Reading the news," he responded, casually.
"Oh, and what is the news?"
He smirked. "I am."
"Where did you even get that computer?"
"I convinced a SHIELD agent to get it for me."
"How?" Tony looked at him, disbelieving, to which Loki only smirked again.
Tony entered the room and moved closer, standing behind the chair. Loki wasn't reading news, but blog posts about himself, complete with pictures and fawning compliments. "Jeez. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you're a total narcissist."
Loki laughed slightly, before stating simply, "You should not have come in here."
A chill ran down Tony's spine, but he tried not to show it. "Why? You going to flip out on me?"
Loki finally removed his attention from the screen, and looked up at him. "I am not allowed to leave the room. Inside the room, I can do whatever I please. I could kill you," he concluded, casually, and with a wave of his hand, the door slammed shut behind Tony.
Tony cracked a smile. "Okay, Iago, you're powerful and intense. I get it. I'll leave you alone."
"No." Loki closed the computer, put it down, and stood. "Unless you get food sent to me."
Tony frowned. "Food? That's all you want? And you'd kill me if you didn't get it? That seems a little... disproportionate."
"I am not as fragile as you mortals, but I do require sustenance."
"Hang on," Tony frowned. "Have you eaten anything since you got here?"
"No," Loki replied, flatly.
"Have you drank anything?"
He gestured vaguely to the bathroom. "Water."
Tony nodded. "Is this part of your punishment?"
Loki made direct eye contact with him and replied, "No."
They studied each other in silence for a moment. Loki definitely looked thinner than the last time Tony had seen him. It seemed probable that he had not been eating much, and Tony idly wondered how long a god would have to be starved for before dying. Of course, Tony knew that Loki could be lying, and Loki knew that Tony knew that. "Hold up. I'll ask Thor."
"No," Loki growled. He stood up straighter, and his domineering presence seemed to fill more and more of the room.
"You're a real fan of that word," Tony replied, amiably. Loki continued to stare at him. Tony was not easily flustered, but those eyes, the way the god held him in his gaze, it made him feel exposed, as if every detail of all that he did was under intense scrutiny. "What is that you want?" Tony asked Loki, who frowned, not knowing much about Midgardian cuisine. "I know what you'd like," Tony said politely, "an English breakfast. Jarvis."
"Do you require assistance, sir?"
"Jarvis, you can see the problem we're having here with our esteemed royal guest, can't you?"
"I believe so, sir."
"He's been listening," Tony explained to Loki. "Jarvis, I take it you know what you need to have sent up?"
"Yes, sir. Right away."
Loki stepped away, and leaned against the wall. "What is an English breakfast?"
"Well, I figured Norse gods are probably not the cereal and grapefruit type. You have breakfast meats up in Asgard?" Loki nodded. "Yeah, well, it's like that. And you do sound English, anyway."
Loki raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?"
"Yeah. England is a country –"
"I know what England is," Loki snapped.
Tony laughed. "Well, you could have fooled me. You don't seem to know much at all about the realm you meant to make yourself king of."
Loki made no response apart from his steady, resentful stare. Within five minutes, there came a knock at the door. Tony turned to it, and looked back at Loki. "That'll be your food. Can I open this?"
Loki nodded cautiously. Then, as quickly as Tony could possibly manage, he pulled open the door and darted out of it. Each side of him two SHIELD agents stood, pointing guns into the room, at Loki. There was no one there with food. Loki's face fell slightly, as he looked at them. Tony grinned. "You got tricked, trickster god. I bet you hate that."
Loki looked at him curiously, and took a step closer. The agents all tensed and gripped their weapons, one barking at him to stay still, an instruction he complied with. His look, however, still demanded an explanation. Tony, still smiling, explained. "See, you should never underestimate Jarvis. He's always got my back. He and I have an understanding, certain words I say, ways I say them, he gets my meaning. Instead of delivering you food, he delivered me a special order of secret agents. Nice job, by the way, Jarvis."
"All in a day's work, sir," the computerised voice replied.
Loki clenched his jaw and scowled. "You will pay for this deception."
"I don't think so. If you ask nicely, I'll ask Thor for you whether I'm allowed to get you some food after all. Now, what's the magic word?" Loki turned away and stalked over to the window, his fury at being spoken to like a badly behaved child palpable. "Not going to play nice?" Tony asked. After a few seconds of silence, he added, "Okay, suit yourself."
Later, when Thor emerged from his room for breakfast, Tony did ask him whether Loki was allowed to eat or not. Thor looked downcast. "No," he said. He could be a man of few words, and Tony had to press him for more details. "Loki is permitted to eat once every four days. No more."
Tony frowned. "I know you're magic people, but all living things take energy to run. One way or another, he's using up energy in clearing up New York. And he brought the two of you all the way to Earth. I'm no expert, but I know nothing runs without fuel. You account for that?"
Thor thought for a moment. "He is due to eat tomorrow night. The All-father's commands were very clear."
The situation proved to be much the same as it had been the day before. They made it into the afternoon, back at the same office block as the previous day, this time actually rebuilding the thing, helping some very nervous structural engineers put in new girders, new bricks, new pipes. SHIELD agents were, inevitably, all over Loki, guns trained on him at all times in case he did anything out of line, and, to make a massive understatement, Loki did not take kindly to this.
"Hey," one of the male SHIELD agents said abruptly, "step back." He was directing Loki to get back from the road, as a truck was approaching, despite the fact that there was nothing behind Loki but a solid wall.
"I cannot," Loki said, calmly.
The agent took a step closer, the barrel of his gun less than a foot away from Loki. "You can do magic, figure something out, get off the road, ten feet away from moving vehicles, that's what I was told."
"It is impossible." Loki rolled his eyes. "Do not try my patience, mortal."
The agent held his gun tightly. "I will shoot you if I have to –"
"That would be a foolish action. You would regret it."
"I will do it!" He cried, the tension escalating quickly, his fellow agents telling him to calm down.
"Everybody chill," Tony interjected, but for once, no one was listening to him. He held up his hand, directing the truck to a lumbering stop.
"Get back!" The agent shouted.
"I can't," Loki said levelly, raising his hands.
And then, in a split-second, the agent fired his gun straight at Loki's chest, the bullet was repelled by some kind of a forcefield and went back almost precisely the way it had come, hitting the agent's forearm. The agent screamed and fell over backwards, partly from the force of the impact, but mainly from shock.
"You shot him!" shouted one of the other agents, at Loki.
Loki broke into a wide smile. "He shot himself. I told him not to."
Referring to the injured SHIELD agent, Tony said quickly, "Get back! Get him out of here." He waved everyone else back, away from Loki, though several people kept their guns trained on him at all times.
Iron Man then rounded on Loki, grabbing him by the arm. Loki gritted his teeth and resisted, but with the power of the suit Tony was able to turn him round eventually, roughly leading him away.
"What the hell was that?" Tony asked, raising the mask.
Loki shrugged. "My natural defence mechanism. I am well, by the way, thanks for asking."
"You could have avoided the bullet hitting him."
Loki looked him straight in the eyes. "He was within a foot of me. There was not time–"
"Don't give me that, if you tried hard enough–"
"If I were in better health!" Loki shouted back, "maybe, maybe I could have spared his pathetic body from injury. If I had been eating better, perhaps my reactions would have been fast enough. But he still pulled the trigger. It is still his own folly that harmed him. He will not die, anyway."
Tony rolled his eyes. "We should go. No more of this today."
"Oh?" Loki put on a sarcastic expression of sadness. "But I was having such fun."
People saw it. It was on fucking YouTube within 5 minutes. Attempts were made to take it down, stamp it out, but there was no chance. Fighting against the internet was, almost literally, like fighting against the entire population. Tony told SHIELD that it was pointless, but they put that down to his pessimism. Tony had a few hours to himself, time to calm down, to work on his new suit modifications, the prototypes of his new controls, but he didn't get any less angry with Loki. Eventually, he decided to go down to the apartment and confront him.
The door to Loki's room was closed. Tony raised his hand to knock, before thinking, screw that. He turned the handle and threw open the door, panicking for a split second at not seeing Loki immediately. Loki appeared though, to stand at the doorway. "Is there something you want?" he asked, his voice thick with scorn and annoyance.
Tony leaned on the doorframe. "Why did you do that today?"
Loki turned away in exasperation. "He shot at me. What else would you have me do?" The worst thing about this was that Loki was sort of right. That SHIELD agent had been pretty young, probably just too jumpy, too trigger-happy.
"You could've gone through the wall..."
Loki scoffed. "Do you truly think that would have been less alarming? There were agents inside who would have shot at me instead. Besides, I do not have infinite power. Not eating for four months will do that." Loki folded his arms and walked over to the window, turning his back on Tony, who turned to watch him.
Tony frowned. "Really, this whole time you've been in Asgard? No food at all?"
Loki turned back, walking towards him, holding him in his gaze. "It is but part of my punishment. Such noble people, your gods."
Tony scoffed. "I'm an atheist." He looked away, thinking about the Asgardians, but out of nowhere Loki grabbed him by the front of his shirt, dragging him fully into the room. Then, one hand in the centre of Tony's chest, over the arc reactor, Loki pushed him back hard against the wall. With a slight movement of his other hand, he caused the door to slam closed.
"God dammit, paranormal activity," Tony said, "you've gotta stop doing that."
Loki leaned in closer, eyes narrowed, studying Tony. "Why did you come here?"
Tony shrugged. "I didn't; you dragged me in."
Loki moved closer, pinning Tony to the wall by his shoulders. Loki's cold, blue-green eyes swept over Tony analytically, as if sizing him up, taking in information, nothing more. Tony looked up at him, his face only inches away, and Tony could faintly feel Loki's breath on his face. Loki's eyes finally met his and the nature of the look changed; a deeper curiosity, something like desire. Tony swallowed hard. Having a (sort of) god attracted to him, now, he could hardly blame the guy, but...
For a long moment they stayed like that, in silence, before Loki tilted his head slightly to one side, moving closer. Tony asked, "What the hell are you doing?" Loki's eyes met his and a smile flitted across his face before he leaned in and kissed Tony.
Tony immediately hit him, trying to push him back, despite not being anything like strong enough. Loki broke away to frown at him and Tony could still feel his lips tingle where Loki had touched him, from the pressure, from the slight coolness, perhaps, even, from excitement.
"Hey, Thor could be here in a second," Tony threatened him. "I'll get Jarvis to call him."
"Do it," Loki dared him, eyes boring into him. "Do it."
Tony narrowed his eyes. "What do you want from me?"
Loki moved closer, pressing his body against Tony. "Is that not obvious?"
Tony laughed and looked away, but Loki grabbed him by the jaw, forcing Tony to look at him. "Do you still fear me?" Loki asked, through gritted teeth.
"I never feared you," Tony shot back.
Loki pressed his body harder against him and pulled at his hair. "Then you are a fool. I could kill you where you stand."
"You won't," Tony replied, flippantly.
"And why not?"
"You like me. I can tell." Tony's eyes flicked downward and he smirked. "You're not exactly subtle. And besides, you would gain nothing. Thor would take you back to Asgard, and your punishment there would be worse. What would be the point?"
"You tricked me. I do not take kindly to that," Loki frowned, though he glanced away, probably meaning he was more annoyed with himself for falling for a trick. He went on, "Thor would not take me back to Asgard. He has no means of getting there other than by my power," Loki replied, levelly, a revelation which alarmed Tony. "And he cares for you," Loki went on, "whereas you are entirely expendable to me. If you were to die, he would be quite distraught. He would be, as you mortals put it, putty in my hands. He has only a tenuous hold over me, based on verbal commands. I am sure it is clear to you that I am the better talker of the two of us; I could very easily talk him into saying the wrong thing, and then I could escape."
Tony tried to keep his face calm. He could, sort of, deal with Loki having the means and the opportunity, but now he had a motive too, this was starting to get just a little outside of his comfort zone. Entirely expendable. Tony tried to keep cool. "You won't do it. Your bark is worse than your bite."
Loki moved closer and whispered in Tony's ear, "You have no idea about my bite." As if it was not already obvious what he was implying he pressed himself harder still against Tony, making it difficult for him to draw breath. Tony could only drag in a strangled gasp when he felt the soft touch of Loki's lips against his ear, immediately followed by a sharp nip at his earlobe, pulling it. The sound Loki made was barely audible, a low, breathy growl of desire.
Overpowering Loki was obviously impossible, and though Tony could get Jarvis to call Thor in here, that would be kind of embarrassing. He would attempt to talk his way out of this, if possible. "Look," he said, still struggling to breathe, "you may swing both ways, but I don't–"
"Both?" Loki drew back, to look him in the eyes, curiously. "Your use of the word both implies that the number of... ways is limited to but two." He paused, and reduced the pressure on Tony's body. "What dull and shallow lives you mortals must lead. Go," he stepped away suddenly. "You would probably be a waste of my time."
"Hey," Tony immediately tried to silence himself – this was not a point to argue over – but for some reason he kept talking. "I've got a girlfriend." (Though this was no longer true.) "And she, you know, volunteered. Somehow I don't think you can say the same."
A dark expression flickered across Loki's face. "I grow bored with you, Stark. Leave."
Tony knew that he really should take the opportunity to go, but he was surprised and intrigued by the god's sudden change of mood. Loki pulled open the door without touching it. "Get out," he ordered.
"This is my building. I'm the only one who gets to order people around here – well, me and Thor–"
Loki scowled and grabbed hold of Tony's throat, before forcibly leading him to the door and roughly pushing him out of it. Tony stumbled against a chair, and before he could turn around, he heard the door slam.
Tony took a moment to compose himself, rubbing his neck, staring at the closed door. He had no idea what had just happened – his heart pounded and he was still getting his breath back... now that had been exciting.
