Tony and Loki were so immersed in their work, that they heard the footsteps coming towards them, but did not exactly comprehend what that meant until too late.
"Oh shit," Loki mumbled.
Tony turned quickly, trying and failing to soften the blow. Thor's mouth gaped open in disbelief, Clint looked murderous, Steve's facial expression had 'betrayal' written all over it. Only Natasha didn't seem totally surprised.
"I told you guys something was up," she said. In an instant Barton had his bow and arrow pointing directly at Loki's heart.
"How long has this maniac been in the building? Did you forget what he did to me? What he did to New York? To Coulson? And you've been harboring him here this whole time!" He shook his head at Stark, "Nat was right, we can't trust you at all." Barton was fuming.
Tony didn't even have the chance to explain, when Point Break spoke.
"Loki.." Thor's voice was barely above a whisper. "I watched you die on that ship months ago.. you've been alive this whole time? Why didn't you tell me? I mourned for you yet again and you couldn't bother to tell me that you weren't dead!"
Thunder rumbled so intense and close to the tower that the whole building shook. Loki's eyes widened and he lurched forward.
"Thor would you please control yourself!? You see Stark, this is why I couldn't have him finding out."
Bruce came running down the stairs, knowing that the thunderstorm was not naturally occurring. He pushed past Natasha and Steve and saw what Thor and Clint were glaring at.
"Oh hey Loki. Didn't you die?"
"Hello Bruce. Technically yes, but not really. I would love to explain so if you could tell the archer to lower his weapon and Thor to stop his temper tantrum."
Clint, Natasha, and Steve gave Bruce an odd look.
"What?" Bruce asked innocently. "Loki's not that bad anymore. Compared to what we went up against, he's a sight for sore eyes."
Steve weighed his options, and decided that he would play Devil's advocate, if only for a moment. He walked over to Loki and Stark.
"Alright, I say we hear them out. We make a group decision on what to do next."
Barton knew he had to be dreaming.
"I'm sorry Steve, but did you just side with that maniac and Stark?"
Steve shook his head. "I'm not siding with anyone, because we have no idea what's going on. So, I'm giving them a chance to explain. Clock is ticking."
"You may want to have a seat," Stark suggested.
Most of them obliged, aside from Barton and Romanoff.
Loki began. "Yes, I did die temporarily. Thanos snapped my neck, but my heart didn't stop beating right away. My healing magic kicked in and I lived. Bringing my own self back from the dead took a tremendous toll on me so I had to lay low for a few months until now. I'm here now because you are among the only heroes left to take down Thanos. You do avenge people do you not?"
"Oh please, if we 'avenged' people, your head would be on a pike!" Clint was pacing back and forth, eyes focused somewhere behind Loki. Cap sighed. "Enough Barton, let them finish."
Stark took the opportunity to butt in, "Loki has only been here for under a week. Oh no.. that means I've been down here for under a week. How mad is Pepper?"
"Pissed," Steve said. "You owe her plenty of apologies, and an explanation."
Tony's heart sank in his chest. There was no doubt that he loved Pepper, but he knew he didn't deserve her. She never asked too much of him, and yet he always managed to let her down. He wouldn't stop being Ironman, which was honestly probably the biggest issue in their relationship. He and Loki had discussed this a lot earlier. Pepper was the single most important person in his life no questions asked, but he was Ironman. After all the damage he caused by manufacturing weapons all his life, this was his way of repaying the world. He can't undo all the wrong, but he's trying to make things right. Asking to give up Pepper or give up being Ironman was an unfair choice that life had thrown at him. A choice he wasn't sure he was ever going to be able to make.
"Right. Right, I'll get on that later-"
"Hey Stark? What the fuck is this?" Clint, while Stark and Steve were arguing, went around the back of the lab and found what Loki and Tony had been working on.
Sitting in a case, surrounded by bright fluorescent lights, was a golden gauntlet, identical to what Thanos had worn except it was much smaller in size.
Nat raised her eyebrows. "What were you planning on doing with this exactly?"
Surprisingly, Loki stepped up. "The replica gauntlet is made out of Vibranium, plated in Stark's signature gold titanium alloy. And, no Barton we were not going to use it to try and take over the Universe." Loki rolled his eyes. Honestly, he understood completely that Barton hated him, but couldn't he at least grow up a little bit? The past is just that; the past.
"Then what was the plan with this? Were the two of you ever going to include the rest of us in your schemes?" Thor was equally angry, and intrigued. For his brother to have Stark on his side, with a plan that they both agreed upon was... out of character, even for Loki.
Tony was exhausted. From working for days with out sleep, from keeping secrets, and especially from everyone grilling him like he was a criminal. Not surprisingly, he snapped.
"Feathers, put the goddamn gauntlet down. Now. Cap, you're going to quit this high and mighty act and listen to your teammates. The 'leader' of all people should know that he doesn't get to make all the calls." Stunned into silence, Clint put the gauntlet down, and everyone, Loki included had their eyes and ears on Stark.
"Even before Loki showed up, I told all of you that we needed to be doing more. Thanos couldn't just win and live out the rest of his days like he gets to play God. But no one listened. Then Loki showed up, and agreed with me! Of course I wanted to tell you about having the guy that tried to take over the planet just hang out underneath where we all live, and that we wanted to work together but look how well birdbrain took the news! You guys were never going to agree to it. Of course Loki also suggested we lay low, to play it safe. Loki, if you would do me the honors and give them the quick version of the plan."
Loki stalked gracefully over towards the gauntlet that Clint had left lying about, and placed it gently back into its glass container. Locking the case, he cleared his throat.
"We're going to take the Infinity Stones back from Thanos."
Authors Note: I apologize for the long delay, college caught up to me big time. Also, next chapter, we're finally getting into the swing of things. Hurray! Next chapter will definitely be longer, and out faster because the semester is almost over. I'm getting my wisdom teeth out tomorrow morning right after the Avengers 4 trailer is supposed to come out so I'm super stoked! Lastly, I saw Venom finally and OMG it was fantastic! So keep an eye out for a Venom fanfic coming soon. Thankful for all my readers, don't forget to review!
