Chapter 10

At the Tower Gates

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Looking at the ruins of his tower wasn't any better this time, so Tony turned his attention to his companions.

Loki looked at the iced wreckage of the tower with folded arms and no visible expression. He was the only one who paid no attention to the temperature. Bruce huddled in his jacket, about two minutes from Hulking out from the cold, and even Thor had adjusted his cape so it covered his arms and he still looked cold.

"So can you… I don't know, feel where it is?" Tony asked, unable not to emphasize 'feel' sarcastically.

Loki didn't seem to care about the mockery, or maybe he didn't notice. "Can you not? It screams in all dimensions." Loki inhaled deeply and blew out the breath with resignation. "It is worse than I thought. It is perpetuating itself through the planetary magnetic field. If this isn't stopped soon, there is no power in the universe that will halt this world's destruction."

The magnetic field? That would be bad, if true. Tony murmured softly, "JARVIS?"

"It is slight, sir, but the magnetic field strength is weakening according to satellite data."

Loki heard that and shot him a told-you-so look from under hooded eyes. "There is no more time to waste, I suppose. Remain here," Loki ordered them. "I will return in a moment."

He inhaled and took a step forward. He flared briefly in Tony's visor, and then disappeared. Tony frowned. How the hell did he do that?

Then to his surprise, a matching flare formed only about ten meters away, only a little closer to the ruin and Loki appeared out of it, stumbling, and fell to his knees.

"Loki!" Thor exclaimed in alarm and hurried to kneel at his side, traveling faster than Tony could fire the repulsors.

Loki was trembling as he admitted lowly, his voice ragged, "He's there, he's waiting, it hurts-" The heels of his hands pressed into his forehead, head and back bowed. "I- I thought I could, I know I have to do this, but he's in my head and-"

Thor grabbed him in a fierce protective embrace, both arms wrapping him tight, crushing him to his chest. "I have you, brother. This time, I have you and I will not let you go, I swear." Loki stayed stiffly within it, but didn't try to pull away and his eyes were closed, accepting the reassurance. Thor loosened his arms, but only to frame Loki's face between his hands, pushing back his hair to look in his eyes. "I told you to rest. Next time you will heed me."

Loki jerked his head free and forced a smirk. "I do what I want."

Thor smiled back, relieved. "Indeed you do, whether it is wise or foolish."

"As if you know the difference," Loki retorted, but Thor was undeterred, and ruffled Loki's hair as they both stood up. Loki ducked out of the way, complaining, "I will stab you if you do that again."

Tony grinned with delight at Thor's big brotherly affection and the equally irritable resistance.

Thor ignored the threat. "You stay here. Rest. Banner and I will fetch the Casket. Stark, ward Loki." He stalked toward the ruins, swinging his hammer, and Banner shot a glance at Tony before he shrugged out of his coat and handed it over.

"Hold onto this." Then he started running toward the ruin and, about half way there, between one step and the next, the Other Guy was there instead, roaring, and smashed into the tower.

Even though it was ruined already, Tony winced at the impact and turned away, not wanting to watch it get pounded even more.

"You need not ward me," Loki declared, waving a hand at the building. "Help them."

Tony flipped up the faceplate, instantly sorry when the biting cold touched his skin despite the heat from the suit. "Nah. They don't need it." After a moment he asked, "You gonna be able to do this? Break the spell? Undo all this?"

Loki kept his eyes on Thor and Hulk, tunneling into the icy debris, and answered, "No. Not all. Your tower is lost."

Tony moved closer. "Not what I was talking about."

"Do you want a comforting lie?" Loki asked, his voice lightly sardonic. "I can give you that, if you wish. I can reassure you that of course I can fix all of this."

"Okay, I'll take it-" Tony started by Loki kept going.

"But the truth of the matter is that my gifts are death and lies, and you would do well not to depend upon a villain to save you. Even if it would seem you have no choice."

Which, he had a point. This was all magic and shit that Tony knew nothing about. But Tony knew about captivity and the faces of captors appearing in places they didn't actually exist, and he'd seen the genuine remorse on Loki's face at what he'd done. He offered quietly, "You're not a villain. Maybe you were -"

"Maybe?" Loki interrupted and snorted. "I threw you off the building to die."

"Well, okay, there was that. But Thor said you were under some kind of mind-control yourself."

Loki didn't answer at first. He folded his arms and watched the ruins shake, as Thor and Hulk struck at it from within. "Within the greater plan, the choices were mine, whatever Thor may claim. He has always believed I have a purer heart than I actually possess."

"The greater plan of conquering Earth?"

Loki gave an unsettling chuckle even though Tony wasn't trying to be funny. "I thought that was the plan, but it was not. If I had won, he would have taken the tesseract; but in defeat, I was returned to Asgard do acquire for him the Infinity Gauntlet, an object of power the All-father took from him millennia past. In pursuit of that goal, all I knew was my anger, a hedge of thorns that kept me pointed at the goal he desired, which was to bring him within Jormungandr and give him the tesseract and the gauntlet." His voice softened, and his gaze went distant. "The only reason his ultimate plan failed was because my mother realized Thanos had touched my mind. But ruling your Realm seemed like a good idea at the time."

Tony nodded, disturbed by this revelation that their enemy was that clever. He'd thrown Loki at Earth in a strategy that would win him something, no matter how it ended, willing to sacrifice Earth, the Chitauri force, and Loki himself. He also heard more in the quiet words than Loki intended to reveal. Because someone having his sticky fingers in Loki's head suggested there hadn't been much free will at all. "So if you had it all to do over again, you'd do it the same?"

Expecting Loki to insist he would, Tony was surprised when instead, Loki's gaze flicked at him and he rolled his eyes. "No, of course not. I never expected the humans would be so repugnant as kill millions of their own to rid themselves of me. My strategy would be quite different, knowing that. Thank you for disposing of the weapon, by the way."

"Even though it killed your allies?"

"It was not as if we were friends." Turning back to watch the fallen tower, Loki said, "I require the building's reactor from you, Stark, before I attempt this spellcraft."

Of all the things Tony expected him to say, that was way down at the bottom of the list. And it was suspicious as hell. His mind ran through the possibilities: what if he wanted to make a bomb out of it? What if he wanted to use it to open a portal to let bad guys in again? Given that he'd just admitted to having someone else in his brain, maybe this whole thing was a set up. "Why? What do you need it for?"

"I think your building will not need it anytime soon," Loki answered dryly, but then grew more serious and admitted, "I am not… exactly … at my full strength. The city's power is being pulled into the spell, so I need a separate source. And since I know you had the reactor here, and I presume you were clever enough to deactivate it from the Casket's grasp, I need to hold the energy for long enough to tame the Casket back under my control."

"Hold it? How? You're just gonna - what - put your hand in it?"

"I should be able to hold the core and draw off its energy," Loki stated, as if that was the easiest thing in the world. No big deal, right, just hold the ARC reactor and absorb its power, no problem. Everyone could do it.

"Sure. Let me think about that…" but he was kidding because there was no thinking required to know this was a stupid plan. "No. I'm not giving, or even lending you my reactor. If something goes wrong, it could level the city."

Loki slanted a glance at him. "If I do not have it, the city and the planet will continue to freeze."

"And I'm supposed to just trust you?" Tony demanded. "You? How am I supposed to know this isn't something you cooked up with Thanos again, to kick our asses better this time? I mean, come on, this whole winter is your fault in the first-"

And shit he didn't even see Loki move - he was just suddenly there, in Tony's face, his hand was on the suit's chest plate. There was a sudden sharp pain inside - an awareness of the power from the reactor in his heart was being tampered with. Eyes burning, Loki hissed at him, "Let me put this in words you might comprehend, mortal: your planet will die if I cannot undo this. I will not have that on my ledger. Fetch the reactor, Stark, or I will take yours."

Tony tried to fire the repulsors at him, but there was no response. The suit's power died, leaving him locked inside the armor, pain growing in his chest.

Loki continued, and he didn't smirk, but his eyes seemed very bright, as he spoke, "The only scheme in play here is Thanos' attempt to destroy Earth. He has made of me his pawn in this scheme, and I would free myself. Then I will end him. That is my only plan."

Loki stepped away. Tony could breathe again, and the suit started to hum as it started to reboot.

Calmly, as if he hadn't just threatened Tony's life, Loki added, "My second requirement is that you absent yourself and the other mortal members of your team, when I begin. Not because I care for all these little mortals running about like foul little ants," he added coldly, "I do not. But you will be in my way."

Tony was about to say something heated about how he was a villain after all, as Loki turned his back on Tony as if inviting retaliation. Tony nearly gave it to him as the suit power returned to normal, but at the last moment, he held back. He nodded to himself. "Tell me, do you actually want people to believe the shit you peddle, or are you trying to convince yourself? Because let me give you a tip: don't try to make me believe you don't care after you freak out at popsicle boy and his mom. That was an awesome display of not caring."

Loki stiffened and faced him again, arms folded to glower. "Do not mistake a moment of sentiment for a weakness of will," he snarled. "I want Thanos stopped and unmade from existence, and I will see that done, no matter the price. I will burn your entire Realm if I must, to destroy him. You mortals are nothing. Do we understand one another, Stark?"

Oh, Tony understood all right; he knew exactly what Loki was doing. "You're angry, I get that," Tony said. "You want people to be afraid of you cuz it makes you feel badass. But just so you know, I'm not afraid of you. Under all this villain-blustering crap, I can tell, you're scared."

He expected Loki to insist he wasn't afraid of anything, but instead Loki grew very still, not in a stiffening, taking-offense sort of way, but more of a drawing down inside. He lifted his face to look at the ruined Tower and murmured, "If Thanos wins, you have the consolation that your misery will end in a handful of years. Mine will last for thousands with madness my only escape. So yes, I fear him. I fear what he may yet do. I fear my visions will come to pass and there is nothing to stop him."

That was… well, that was pretty fucking terrifying actually. Loki went around proclaiming he was a god - he wasn't supposed to admit to being scared of anything. Tony didn't want to hear that, at all.

"We can stop him," Tony said and couldn't help adding, trying to lighten things up, "He may have an army; we have a Hulk."

Loki's glance was worth it - surprised and then delighted by the joke. He even laughed a little. "Indeed. And you have me, this time."

"Jury's still out on that one."

Loki frowned slightly not fully getting the reference but understanding the doubt. "Fetch me the reactor, Stark, and I will lift this winter. Then you will know."

Tony hesitated, but took a look around the city, the ambient temperature around the suit. This couldn't continue. And they were all out of choices. He nodded once. "Fine. It shouldn't take long. Don't do anything that'll make us have to chase you down," he warned.

Loki managed to look only a little smug at the agreement. "I intend only to wait. My idiot brother and the green monstrosity may need my help."

Tony was glad the helmet hid his smile at the epithets. "All right. Here, give this to Bruce if he shifts back." He handed Banner's coat to Loki, who took it hesitantly in one hand as if he wasn't sure what to do with it, and Tony rose up.

From above, he watched as Loki moved, a shadow against the white of the snow. At first he thought Loki was seizing his chance to escape or carry out some kind of wicked plan, but after a moment, it became clear that Loki was only moving to sit on the roof of a car, seizing his chance to rest unobserved while he watched the ruins of the tower.

You are fucked up, Loki of Asgard. But you gotta hang in there long enough to fix this.

Loki sat in the snow and stared at the fallen ruins of Stark Tower. The Casket was a constant screaming irritant in his head, hard to shut out at this proximity. He slid his fingers through his hair, squeezing the sides of his skull, but that did nothing to help.

The humiliation was worse, beating at him incessantly with the reminder that he was weak and a coward and a fool. Because he was weak. He couldn't go get the Casket, couldn't look at a reminder of his own stupidity without falling to pieces, couldn't control his own mind to remember what was real and what was false.

These mortals had seen, and if they didn't take advantage of his weakness it was only because they pitied him and realized that the god they'd feared was nothing fearful after all.

Loki hated pity, but it was no less than he deserved. He'd tried to make his play to fetch the Casket, and his own mind had betrayed him, sure that Thanos would be waiting for him on the shadowpaths.

I am not afraid of you, I am not, I refuse to be afraid of you. You do not control me.

And every word of that was a lie, even in his own head.

Norns, I need to get a grip. Put all this away, and deal with what is right here. The Casket needs to be controlled, because I won't have Thanos do this to me again. He murdered Sigyn right in front of me; she deserved more reward for her help. He will murder all these humans with my hand. I need to make him pay for all this.

He wanted to pull up his legs and wrap his arms around his knees, but his knees still ached, not finished healing yet. So he let his legs dangle and felt alone. Thor and Hulk were banging and crashing in the ruined Tower, but all else was silent.

I will figure out how to rip his heart out and scatter his ashes in the void so he can never return. I refuse to believe it is impossible. They said it was impossible to walk Jormungandr, yet I did. They said it was impossible to survive the void between Realms, yet I did. I will find a way to do this as well.

But first he needed to use the Casket and reverse the spell. If he could. The only way might be to open the Casket and seize the seed within, which would give him the power and control. It would burn him alive.

I destroy the Casket and myself to stop it, is that the real goal, Thanos? He glanced upward at the heavy grey clouds and the fat snowflakes that looked like falling ashes from beneath. The joke is I would do it. I have no fear of death, not anymore. I'm ready. But I won't do what you want me to do. Especially not while you still exist. So I have to find another way, just to spite you.

Stubbornness and spite were weak motivations, but at least they were something. With the ARC reactor, he thought he'd have a chance at this, that Thanos couldn't expect. If it was enough to boost his strength, even temporarily, he could take control of the Casket and use it to pull the energies back within it.

End the winter. Not die. Two goals, and it might be possible to achieve only one.

tbc...