Hey all! We're finally in to Avengers! Hope you guys enjoy the chapter, I will hopefully update in a couple days.
As always please review :)
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Stark Tower was completely dark. The recently finished building stood tall in the middle of the New York City skyline and it had been on the front page of most newspapers and websites, though most people paid very little attention to what was about they were about to test this evening.
Izzy stood on the top floor of the recently finished building, her tablet held ready in hand as Tony disconnected them from the main power grid and connected the arc reactor. Pepper was nearby, both of them waiting with bated breath for the moment that the lights came back on.
"Good to go on this end." Tony said. "The rest is up to you."
Izzy immediately set to work.
"You disconnected the transmission lines?" Pepper asked. "Are we off the grid?"
"Stark Tower is about to become a beacon of self-sustaining clean energy." Tony replied with a rather smug tone.
Pepper smiled. "Well assuming the arc reactor takes over and it actually works." She replied.
"I assume." Tony reminded her. "Izzy, light it up."
Izzy crossed her fingers and activated the power. She immediately heard the faint hum as the building came alive, the sounds building level by level as the lights came back on and the buildings power was restored. She whooped in excitement and high fived Pepper.
"How does it look?" Pepper asked Tony.
"Like Christmas." Tony said. "But with more me."
"We gotta go wider on the public awareness campaign, you need to do some press." Pepper said. "I'm in DC tomorrow working on the zoning for the next three buildings—"
"Pepper!" Izzy said looking at her.
"You're killing me. The moment." Tony reminded her. "Remember? Enjoy the moment."
"Well get in here and I will." Pepper replied while Izzy made a gagging face. Pepper lightly shoved her making the twelve-year-old giggle.
"Sir," JARVIS said. "Agent Coulson of S.H.I.E.L.D. is on the line."
"I'm not in JARVIS." Tony said as he landed on the platform outside, spinning rims rising up to remove the suit as he walked in. "I'm actually out."
"Sir, I'm afraid he's insisting." JARVIS said.
"Grow a spine JARVIS." Tony said. "I got a date."
Pepper and Izzy were at one of the projector tables near the windows when he walked in. Izzy was adjusting the power distribution while Pepper watched the readouts.
"Levels are holding steady." Pepper said chewing on her lower lip. "I think."
"They are." Izzy said without looking up at them.
"Of course, they are." Tony said. "I was directly involved." Izzy gave him an affronted look, but Tony just grinned at her. He looked at Pepper. "Which brings me to my next question, how does it feel to be a genius?"
"Well, ha, I wouldn't know, would I?" Pepper asked smiling as she turned to face him, Tony's arms encircling her.
"What do you mean?" Tony asked. He gestured around with one hand. "All of this came from you."
"No." Pepper said with a patient smile. "All of this came from that." She put her finger on the arc reactor glowing through his shirt.
Izzy took her tablet to continue monitoring the building and walked over to the sofas while they flirted, not wanting to be in the middle of it. She loved Pepper dearly, but she did not want to see the mushy stuff, at all.
"Give yourself some of the credit, please." Tony said putting his hands on her arms. "Stark Tower is your baby. Give yourself 12% of the credit."
Izzy inhaled air sharply through her teeth. Bad move.
"12%?" Pepper said, smiling dropping.
"An argument could be made for 15%." Tony said casually.
Izzy dropped her head into her hands. Oh my god.
"12% of my baby?" Pepper demanded walking away from Tony over to the sofas kneeling by the coffee table.
"Well I did do all the heavy lifting." Tony said following her. "Literally, I lifted the heavy things. And sorry, the security snafu, that was on you."
"Oh!" Pepper rolled her eyes as she took the Champaign bottle out of the ice to pour a glass.
"My private elevator—"
Pepper cut him off. "You mean our elevator?"
"It was teeming with sweaty workmen." Tony said. He knelt on the floor with her. "I'm going to pay for that comment about percentages in some subtle way later, aren't I?"
Pepper thought about it. "Not going to be that subtle." She replied with a smile.
"Tell you what." Tony said. "Next building is going to say Pottson the tower."
"On the lease." Pepper said moving to clink their glasses together.
Tony hesitated, pulling his glass back. "Call your mom, can you bunk over?" Tony said jokingly.
Pepper laughed as Tony's phone beeped.
"Sir, the telephone." JARVIS said. "I'm afraid my protocols are being overwritten."
Tony frowned as he picked up his phone, Izzy scooted forward on the sofa to listen.
"Mr. Stark, we need to talk." Coulson's voice could be heard. It was subtle but he sounded tense.
"You have reached the life model decoy of Tony Stark." Tony said robotically, Izzy and Pepper laughing silently in the background. "Leave a message."
"It's urgent." Coulson said not falling for it.
"Then leave it urgently." Tony replied.
The elevator opened as he said that revealing Agent Coulson, looking very somber.
"Security breach." Tony said and looked at Pepper. "It's on you."
"Mr. Stark." Coulson said.
Izzy smiled from her perch on the sofa. "Phil!"
"Phil." Pepper said smiling warmly and she stood. "Come in."
"Phil?" Tony said quietly.
Coulson walked out of the elevator. "I can't stay." He said.
"Umm…his first name is Agent." Tony said following Pepper.
"Come on in." Pepper said ignoring Tony. "We're celebrating."
"Which is why he can't stay." Tony said through his teeth to Pepper with a fake smile towards Coulson.
Coulson held out a digital file for Tony. "We need you to look this over as soon as possible." He said.
Tony held up his hand that wasn't holding the champagne glass. "I don't like being handed things." Tony said.
"That's fine because I love to be handed things." Pepper said. "So, let's trade."
She handed Coulson a Champaign glass while taking the file before she took Tony's glass, much to his shock, forcing him to take the file. Izzy walked over, instantly wanting to know what was in the file.
"Official consulting hours between 8:00am and 5:00pm every other Thursday." Tony said.
Izzy chuckled and took the file from his hands, walking over to the projection table by the windows.
"This isn't a consultation." Coulson said not commenting on the fact that a twelve-year-old just took a confidential S.H.I.E.L.D. file. He knew better by this point than to even pretend she wouldn't find out.
"Is this about the Avengers?" Pepper asked. Coulson looked at her with a raised eyebrow and she back tracked with wide eyes. "Which I know nothing about."
Tony was looking at Coulson with an evaluating expression now, no longer joking. "The Avengers initiative was scrapped, I thought." He said moving over towards Izzy, his curiosity peaked.
"Plus, you didn't qualify." Izzy pointed out.
Tony flicked her ear lightly, she grinned at him.
"I didn't know that either." Pepper said.
Coulson smiled faintly as he watched the three of them.
"Yeah apparently I'm volatile," Tony said. "Self-obsessed, don't play well with others…"
Pepper shrugged her shoulders. "That I did know." She said.
"This isn't about personality profiles anymore." Coulson said.
"Whatever." Tony said dismissively. "Ms. Potts." He motioned with one finger for her to come over to the table without looking from the file. "Got a sec?"
Pepper smiled apologetically to Coulson. "Half a moment." She said and walked over to Tony.
Tony keyed in his security code for the file as Pepper came over. "You know, I thought we were having a moment." He said.
"I was having 12% of a moment." Pepper replied blandly.
Izzy stifled a laugh.
"This seems serious." Pepper said. "Phil's pretty shaken."
"How would you notice—why is he Phil?" Tony asked turning to her.
Izzy looked at the pictures that popped up on the screen, reading a bit of the information.
"What is all this?" Pepper asked curiously.
"This is…" Tony placed his hands on the profile, moving them up to open on the windows. "This…"
The videos of the Hulk in Harlem, Captain America from WWII, the attack in New Mexico played in front of them along with terabytes of data accompanying them. The three stared at the images for a long moment in stunned silence.
"I'm going to take the jet to DC tonight." Pepper said after a moment.
"Tomorrow." Tony said, but his eyes never left the files.
"You have homework." Pepper said. "You have a lot of homework."
Izzy ignored them as she moved around the table to get a closer look at some of the files. Her eyes were focused on the information about Clint and what had happened at the NASA facility. Pepper kissed Tony before she left with Coulson, the sound of them talking about Coulson's cellist girlfriend faded in to the background as Tony and Izzy dove in to looking at the information. One piece of information caught both of their attention. The thing stolen, the tesseract, the same thing that Howard had depicted in his notes about the element that the reactor was based on.
…
Because Tony was only supposed to be working on finding the tesseract, he decided that it would be okay to bring Izzy with him. Not that she would have stayed behind anyway, once she found out that Clint had been compromised by this Loki person, she was determined to help bring him back.
That was how she found herself among the crowd at a beautiful gala being held in Stuttgart, Germany, her eager but woefully inadequate security guard as her ever present shadow.
One of the guest speakers at the event was a German scientist named Heinrich Schafer. After reviewing the data files, they realized that what Selvig would need was iridium. Schafer was the easiest one to access with the needed element, therefore it would make sense that Barton would target him.
However, the one that they didn't expect to show up there was Loki himself.
Izzy saw the man stride down the stairs calmly, wearing a nice suit, as if he belonged there. However, it changed in an instant when he was approached by security. He flipped the staff in his hands and caved in one man's head with a well-placed strike before taking another out.
"Dad," Izzy said into her blue tooth ear piece as she moved behind a pillar when the man guarding her got caught in the fight. "Are you seeing this?" She watched as Loki tore up the Gala. He used the glowy stick of his to smack someone her security guard in the face, most likely an instant kill, and then got ahold of Schafer.
"I'm almost there." Tony said back through the earpiece. He did not sound happy at all that they had been caught unprepared while she was in the building.
He had been heading to where Schafer kept the iridium but had turned back the moment, JARVIS tagged Loki as being outside the event.
When Loki produced a small contraption to take Schafer's eye out, Izzy had to look away. The device was meant to pass optic scanners for someone who was a distance away, S.H.I.E.L.D. used them a lot, but it was supposed to be used on people who were no longer alive. She didn't think she would forget Schafer's screams any time soon. Izzy managed to get out of the way as the guests all began to run outside so as not to get caught in the crowd. Loki followed the crowd, his suit melting away into green leather and golden armor along with a gold helmet with giant horns. The mythology books really weren't that far off.
Despite Tony's strict orders not to, Izzy followed at a careful distance so she would watch what happened next.
As he walked across the street, Loki blasted a cop car, tipping it on end to pass by him harmlessly, and advanced on the crowd. He appeared all around the crowd as he made copies of himself, encircling them. As she stared at the scene from behind a marble pillar, she noticed some of the copies flicker, as if they were bad projections.
"Kneel." Loki said. When no one immediately complied, it angered him. "I said, KNEEL!" The crowd slowly dropped to their knees. Loki smiled as he held out his hands. "Is this not simpler, is this not your natural state?" Loki said. "It's the unspoken truth of humanity that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power. For identity."
This guy is freaking nuts.Izzy thought in horror. "Dad, hurry." She said.
"You were made to be ruled." Loki said. "In the end, you will always kneel."
As Loki finished his speech, an old man stood up from the crowd slowly and face Loki. "Not to men like you." He said in thickly accented English.
"There are no men like me." Loki replied with a bright and twisted smile.
The old man seemed sad. "There are always men like you." He replied.
Loki smiled. "Look to your elder people." He said. "Let him be the example."
"NO!" Izzy cried as she watched him aim the stick at the old man and fire.
However, a man in a very American looking suit with a shield jumped in front of the old man, deflecting the shot back at Loki, knocking him to the ground. Izzy stared in shock as Captain America stood up to address Loki.