Hey! I figured that it was time I gave you guys another chapter, so here it is! Hope you all enjoy!

BP


Chapter 3: The… Battle?

He loved the fact that he pretty much knew what Loki was planning and had even managed to add to his plans slightly. He'd never counted himself as a hero. He protected what was his, destroyed that which threatened them, and then went back to being an asshole to those he protected and loved. That was what he did. And if he killed those that threatened what was his when he could just as easily knock them out? Well, he always preferred to call himself Chaotic Neutral.

Jarvis had managed to hack all the way through the SHIELD helicarrier system and had found some interesting projects relating to the Tesseract. Then Nicky-boy came in demanding to know what was going on.

So he asked him, "What is Phase Two?" Then watched as Steve - good old soldier Steve - came in with an explanation before Fury and a witty comment that actually slightly impressed him. Fury tried to keep the soldier on his side, but Steve's disappointment is a tangible thing.

Fury makes an excuse and Tony counters it - "I'm sorry, Nick, what were you lying?" - and is then himself faced with Disappointed Steve and then Angry Steve. Tony, being the witty and sharp-tongued asshole he is, makes a counter comment for every one of Steve's, until everything explodes. Literally.

Tony has never been more happy for a life-and-death situation in his life. But even then, it's not even his death. It's everyone that works on the helicarrier, everyone here works for SHIELD, so he's not particularly pleased with them, but then Dr. Banner is also on this aircraft and then Loki and possibly Kagome as well. He's not about to let this massive thing crash. So he and Steve began to fix the cursed thing. Of course, Tony should have known that Steve wouldn't have a clue what he was doing, but hey, he's focussing on saving the lives of about two hundred and fifty people or more.

"It seems to run on some kind of electricity." Was what had followed Captain America's exasperated sigh. Tony resisted the urge to laugh at him. Barely. By a hair.

"Well, you're not wrong." He offered cheerfully, but it didn't help him in his job, so he had Jarvis bring up the system. It took him twenty minutes - or thereabouts, he's not particularly sure - for him to fix the propeller and get it started again. He saved Steve from a bad guy, and then received the best news all day since the recently made alliance with Loki.

"Agent Coulson is down." And his monster almost exploded in joy with a triumphant roar. He schooled his face before he could break out into a grin, but he made a note to thank Loki profusely next time he saw him. But he made his way to the bridge after removing his suit in solemn silence. He ignored everything that was said until his name was mentioned.

"… Stark knows this." Did he? He felt his lips start to twitch into a smile and restrained himself. Again. "Called the Avengers Initiative. The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people, see if they could become something more." Yeah, Nick, he thought, we became more like, as Bruce said, a time bomb. I'd say that is more. "See if they could work together when we needed them to, to fight the battles we never could." Tony frowned deeply. Thought about the lies and secrets and wanted to snort in disbelief. "Phil Coulson died -" Good. "- still believing in that idea. In heroes." The satisfaction the monster had felt since learning about the agent's death vanished, and it roared in outrage again. How dare he? How dare Fury say that, as if Coulson was a good man, a hero in his own right? He got up and left before he snarled in rage and got himself killed before he could do anything to help Kagome - or even find her.

He went to Loki's cell room, and spotted the bloodstain that he assumed was Coulson's. He grinned savagely at it, showing his teeth and darkness shining in his eyes. He walked up the steps, grin fading and looked down the hole that Loki had sent Thor down into.

"Was he married?" Steve. Why bother asking that? It is isn't relatable data, nor is it the key to winning this battle. He answered anyway, keeping his face away from Steve's view. He knew he wouldn't be able to hide the monster right now, still fuming over what Fury had said.

"No, there was… a cellist, I think." There was silence before Steve spoke again.

"I'm sorry, he seemed like a good man." This time, Tiny couldn't hold back a snort. A good man? He works for SHIELD for goodness' sake!

"He was an idiot." Yes, he thought to himself, he was an idiot for not suspecting I'd get to him sooner or later, whether it was myself, or someone I'd either paid or made an alliance with. He and Steve continued until Steve mentioned something that got the inventors hackles up.

"He was doing his job." Tony sneered. Yeah, he was certain that the man had been 'doing his job'. And, of course, lacking something called morals and a conscience. Tony, at least, had morals, even if they were a little twisted, and a conscience, even if he sometimes chose to ignore it. He told Steve some kind of lie to make him believe that Tony actually gave a shit that Coulson was dead, and was anything but pleased. And then he walked away, but of course, Steve just couldn't let it lie.

"Is this the first time you've lost a soldier?" Tony span around, glaring at Steve harshly, his eyes so dark they were practically black. Steve looked shocked, but he was the good little soldier enough that he overlooked it.

"We are not soldiers!" He hissed angrily. He forcibly calmed himself and focussed a little. "I'm not marching to Fury's fife." Steve nodded in approval.

"Neither am I. He's got the same blood on his hands that Loki does." Tony felt a surprised laugh rise in his throat and pushed it down. Loki's only killed about ninety people, now, in three or four days, and he's willing to bet that Loki himself did less than a third himself, the rest were probably circumstantial and the people he'd gotten under his control. Speaking of the control, Tony did find that a bit creepy, but he knew that wasn't a natural thing for Loki. He seemed the type to manipulate people into doing things without them realising they were doing it. Steve started going on about some kind of strategic thing that Tony had absolutely no interest in, and suddenly zeroed in on the bloodstain.

"He made it personal." Ohh, he was so clever, Tony thought that he and Loki will get on really well in the near future. A plan within a plan within a plan. God, he loved that brain. But Tony had a plan within a plan too - and wasn't it so lucky that it coincided with Loki's?

Steve was obviously confused, but went on being stubborn and not acknowledging that Tony was smarter than him when it came to unravelling plans. Sure, Steve had had experience in actually war, but Tony had been brilliant at outsmarting people and figuring out their plans since he was fourteen, when he realised that people always wanted things from him because he was the son of a very rich man. He thought that Steve should let go of some of that ego - he was only twenty years old for goodness sake and had only had the serum - technically - for eleven months now.

"That's not the point." Oh, the ignorance of youth.

"That is the point. That's Loki's point." He insisted, still working on the plan in his head. "He hit us all right where we live. Why?"

"To tear us apart." God, Tony wanted to roll his eyes so hard right now. The logic in that sentence didn't make any sense.

"… he knows he has to take us out win, right? That's what he wants. He wants to beat us, he wants to be seen doing it." Actually, Tony knew, Loki wanted the Avengers to win, so he's been deliberately loosing this whole time, giving hints, defying the control he's been placed under subtly. Plus, this city being where they live, it'll be great for their publicity. Also, Steve is so easy to lie to, to manipulate. "He wants an audience." The younger man nodded in understanding.

"Right. I caught his act in Stuttgart." Tony nodded.

"Yea, but that was just previews. This is… this is opening night. And Loki, he's a full-tilt diva." He is if all of his plans are this easy to see through, it looks complicated, but it is so simple. He doesn't think so though, so deception is best spoken with half-truths. "He wants flowers, he wants parades. He wants a monument built to the skies with his name plast-" Tony stopped with sudden clarity of what Loki was going to do. "Son of a bitch." He rushed to get to his suit that he first had to fix before they went anywhere.

He worked as fast as he could and got in the suit. The rest of the team, with the exception of Bruce, or course, but he had high hopes for that man, took the quinjet to his Tower. It was infinitely slower, so he just sped ahead.

On the way, he had a thought. "Hey, Jarvis, what about that bug?"

"I'm sorry, sir. The bug was removed after Loki's final conversation with Agent Coulson, when the agent used a weapon to blast him through a wall before he died." Tony quirked his lips. Cool. "However, sir, Loki is near the helipad outside your penthouse."

"Thanks, Jarvis, keep me posted." He got closer and saw that the Tesseract had been set up in some kind off device. He also saw Selvig, set up with some kind of computer that looked forty years old.

"I have shut off the arc reactor. The device is already self-sustaining." Jarvis informed him. Well damn.

"Shut it down, Dr. Selvig." Tony called through the PA system. He watched the doctor turn around and was kind of freaked out by the bright blue eyes that made it look like he was wearing contact lenses.

"It's too late. You can't stop it." Selvig seemed like he was trying to smile in happiness. "She wants to show us something. A new universe." Tony grimaced.

"Okay." He took the initiative and tried to destroy it with a repulsor blast. It failed, of course, epically, but it was worth a try. He was blown away, but he steadied himself with little effort.

"That barrier is pure energy. It is unbreachable."

"Yeah, I got that." He turned and saw Loki, just as Jarvis said, outside his penthouse. "Plan B." If his AI had a body, he would be frowning at Tony right now.

"Sir, the Mark 7 is not ready for deployment." He sighed, annoyed at the inconvenience.

"Then skip the spinning rims, we're on the clock." He said impatiently as he lowered himself to the helipad and had Jarvis remove his suit. He and the trickster God shared a look as they matched, step for step, to walk inside.

"Do you think you can prevent the battle?" Tony felt a smile forming on his face at what Loki what chosen to open with.

"No, but maybe… I can get you to do it." Loki frowned.

"What?" Tony walked towards him slowly.

"We have a deal. I don't want you going up to Asgard to sit out a long-ass punishment, and I don't have the patience to wait that long. You don't want to go back to Asgard either, I'm willing to bet. But," He shrugged. "You said you'd help me, and then we'd all help each other." Loki scowled, eyes flashing, and suddenly Tony noticed that his eyes were blue. "Jarv, be so kind." He saw Loki's brow furrow in confusion before a solid metal ball hit him in the back of the head. The God went down like a sack of bricks. Tony felt a little bit of worry, but knew that it took much more than a steel bar to concuss a God - therefore they needed to be hit a little bit harder. The Mark 7 was deployed and wrapped safely around Tony. He grabbed the sceptre and flew out the window.

"Selvig." The doctor looked up from where he was lying on the ground, eyes back to their normal brown. Huh, Tony had forgotten that Selvig had also been in blasting range earlier and must have been knocked out. "How do I shut it off?"

"The Tesseract can't protect against itself. The sceptre is an extension. I had enough control that I installed a fail-safe without Loki knowing." Somehow Tony doubted that. "Put the tip right in the centre." Tony nodded and used the extra strength from the suit to put it into the centre. There was a whirring sound, before the pure energy barrier dissolved.

...

Well, that was anti-climactic. Tony somehow expected more. All he hoped was that whatever was on the other side of the Tesseract got the backlash of the sudden power down. The sceptre's stone itself had stopped glowing completely, but just to be safe, he resolved to destroy it later. He turned back to Selvig. "Thank you." The doctor raised his hand in a dismissive gesture. "I assume you know your way back down to the penthouse?" Selvig nodded and rested his head back down onto the concrete. Tony shrugged and flew back down to the penthouse. Loki was still out, but that didn't really matter. He got the Mark 7 suit off and went to his bar to get a drink. He felt he deserved it. He was about to walk away from bar, when he had a sudden bout of courtesy and got another glass, pouring a bit of whiskey in it. He carried both glasses to the sofa and set the whiskey in front of him on the table.

He debated for a moment picking up the God and carrying him to the sofa so he'd be more comfortable. His decision was taken from him when said God groaned and got up slowly, holding one hand to his head, hissing in remaining plain. He soon stopped though, so he supposed it was those frost giant genes that healed him quickly.

"Back, are we?" Loki's head shot up at the sound of Tony's voice, looking for the source. When he knew Loki had spotted him, Tony gave a wave with the hand holding the glass. "Want one?" He motioned to the glass on the table. Loki gave a smile.

"Well, we are at your Tower in your penthouse, so I might as well." He said referring to the conversation they had earlier. He got up and sat himself on the sofa next to Tony, taking the glass from the table and taking a sip. Tony nudged him gently.

"By the way, thank you for dealing with Coulson. It was satisfying." He said, glancing sideways at the God. Loki nodded in response.

"It was deeply enjoyable. I literally stabbed him in the back." Tony chuckled and was about to reply, when Jarvis gave a small beep.

"I'm sorry sir, but the Avengers wish to know your whereabouts and are worried that you aren't responding to your communicator." Tony's brow furrowed.

"Oh yeah, I'd forgotten about them." He grinned. "They still don't know that you were under the control of… whoever it was… through the Tesseract." Loki frowned at him then.

"How did you know?" The inventor snorted.

"When I asked about it, your eyes went blue for a second and then you snarled at me for daring to suggest that anything could control you." Loki grinned a little sheepishly in reply. "Go ahead Jarv, put them on." As soon as he said that, there was a babble of questions. "Whoa, guys. One at a time! I'm not able, for all of my brilliance, to hear all of you when you all speak over each other." There was a pause, and then laughter.

"Well, Stark," Came Natasha's voice. "At least we know you're not under mind control." Tony laughed.

"Yeah, there's not going to be a battle either." He said it so casually, no one seemed to realise what he'd said for a moment.

"What do you mean, Man of Iron?" Tony pushed down a grimace at the butchering of his name at the hands of Thor. Loki's quiet chuckle told him he wasn't entirely successful. He concluded that Thor must have met up with his team-mates and wondered if they were still in the quinjet.

"Loki was under mind control too. His eyes were blue whenever he was holding onto the sceptre, and when not, it was still clear that he was being guided. I went and spoke to him, asked who was controlling him, and his eyes went blue for a second before he basically exploded at me." There was silence. "What, you actually think he's capable of this much killing? Of that desire for a throne, any throne?" Loki piped up then.

"I did tell you, Thor, did I not? When we were at the Bifrost, that I never wanted the throne, only to be your equal?" There was more silence, but then Thor agreed.

"I had forgotten that, brother! It is true you said that."

Tony smiled, a twist to his mouth that no one but he and Loki could see, one that was sharp and had a satisfied edge. "Not to derail the issue, but has Banner turned up yet?"

"I'm here." Tony grinned.

"Science-bro! I knew you'd come! See, I told you you'd be suiting up with the rest of us!" Bruce chuckled. "Hey, come to the Tower. I think this conversation is best had face to face." His voice darkened. "I don't want any weapons in my penthouse, though. If Jarvis catches you, you're not getting in this room." There was another pause. Jeez, what about that sentence was difficult to comprehend?

"Why?" Clint asked. Tony smirked darkly, but affected a cheerful, if whiny voice.

"I don't want to risk my lovely new building being ruined, especially this room! Do you know how much this place cost?" There was a bit of laughter, and Tony knew that they weren't suspicious of him anymore - he was just being himself as far as they were concerned. While they waited for the rest of the team and Selvig, whenever he was going to show up, to show up, Tony and Loki shared a dark look. Honestly, normal people are idiots.


Well, that's another chapter done - and I'm still being continuously surprised at the level of support this story is getting. It's amazing! Thank you all so much!

BP