Hi guys! So, this chapter is from Loki's POV, during the confrontation with Stark in the Tower. Prepare for angst!

Loki's POV

I stood within what I assumed to be the main room of the acclaimed 'Stark Tower'. From what I knew of Tony Stark, I was surprised the self-centred egotist hadn't built something like this earlier. My little bird was my forthcoming with information on anything that S.H.I.E.L.D might have to use against me.

Glancing out over the city, I looked in distaste at how the humans had transformed their planet into a mass of grey buildings, lifeless and soulless. I remembered a time when this land was newly discovered: such greenery and forestry to rival that of Vanahiem. But now look. These pathetic excuse for a race had dominated and destroyed everything about it that was pure. Perhaps when I claim this planet I shall tear down this city and return it to its natural state…

I was disturbed from my musings by the building shaking. Walking outside onto the balcony, I was the Man of Iron hurling away from the Tessaract. How stupid was this mere mortal to think that simply shooting at it would make everything better? Considering the people he come from, I shouldn't have been surprised. Once he had stabilised himself, he looked down and saw me standing there. Slowly, he floated down to the balcony. A mask of indifference formed across my face, although I was coiled for an attack at any moment. I wasn't prepared for him removing his armour and walking within the building. Intrigued, I followed.

"Please tell me you're going to appeal to my humanity," I mocked, striding comfortably over to where he stood behind the bar.

"Uh – actually, I'm here to threaten you," Stark replied smugly.

"You should have left your armour on for that," I sniggered. What was this mortal planning?

"Yeah," he agreed. "I have seen a bit of mileage, and you've got the, ah, 'glow stick of destiny'. Want a drink?"

"Stalling me won't change anything," I reminded him, shifting the sceptre from one hand to the other.

"No, threatening," he insisted. "No drink? You're sure?" As if Midgardian liquor could do anything for me anyway. "Well, I'm going to have one."

Ah, yes. The hawk sung prettily about Stark's alcohol problem. I grew tired of dealing with this pest.

"The Chitauri are coming," I reminded him, moving to gaze once more over the treasured city that I would soon raze to the ground. "Nothing will change that. What have I to fear?"

"The Avengers," he shot back. Who? "That's what we call ourselves," he elaborated, pouring himself that drink. "Sort of like a team: Earth's mightiest heroes, that sort of thing."

"Yes," I said, smirking as I remembered the rabble on the Helicarrier. "I've met them."

"Takes us a while to get any traction, I'll give you that one," he admitted. "But let's do a head count here: you're brother, for one."

Why did it always come back to Thor? I should have guessed killing him by plunging him to his death was too easy. And of course, he took precedence over everyone and simply had to be mentioned first. Could I do nothing without being plagued by that oaf?

"A super soldier: a living legend, who kind of lives up to the legend," he continued. I had begun to fade him out, a skill I had mastered growing up with the Golden Prince of Asgard. "A man with breath-taking anger management issues, a couple of master assassins, a kick-ass demigod -"

"Do not disregard her so!" I snapped, whirring around to face him.

He stood there, eyebrows raised. "Touched a nerve?"

"When she returns to me, then you will have something to fear," I replied quietly, walking away.

I had tried to keep Eden out of my mind. I knew she was my one weakness, something I couldn't afford to have in the upcoming battle. No matter how much I longed for her.

'No!'

Undeniable pain shot through my head, an intense burning that reminded me who really was in charge here. Never mind what Eden would do to me as a result of all of this: I had to make sure they didn't get a hold of her. I had some control over myself – as a master of magic I am quite adapt with mind protection spells – but if I continued to think of my love the Chitauri would truly know how much she meant to me.

If anyone could stop the monster I had become, it would be her.

"And hey, I never disrespected her," Stark rambled on. "Just a gentle reminder that you have managed to piss off every single one of them. Even her."

Didn't I know it. Out of all the bonds I had had to shatter, Eden's was probably the most painful. The shards of her pained, heartbroken face still dug into my heart, twisting and causing an agony even the talented yet sadistic Chitauri could not replicate.

"That was the plan," I said instead, not letting on to truly how this man was affecting me.

"Not a great plan," he chastised. "When they come, and they will, they'll come for you."

"I have an army," I sneered.

"We have a Hulk," he retorted.

That did make me laugh. "I though the beast had wandered off?" I queried.

"Yeah, you're missing the point," Stark snapped, his voice raising. "There's no throne, there is no version of this where you come out on top. Maybe your army comes and maybe it's too much for us, but it's all on you. 'Cause if we can't protect the Earth you can be damn well sure we'll avenge it."

In the blink of an eye I was back in the cell on the Helicarrier. I saw a spark in Stark, a fierce determination that reminded me of my Eden. She had told me that she couldn't stand by me against her people. I saw her turning away from me. Then it was gone.

He was right. All of this was on me. When Eden came out on top, held in high esteem by her Avengers, her people, it would be me that she resented, me she loathed, me she would never want to see again. I retreated back into the shell of a man that the Chitauri had created and let their puppet come forth. It was too late for me, for us. For everyone.

"How will they have time for me when they're so busy fighting you?" I said, but it was not me, not truly. It is a peculiar experience: being aware but not quite in control.

The puppet raised his arm to Stark's chest like it had done with the Hawk. The bright light, the consuming hue that signalled the end of freedom shone and… did nothing. I was not sure if it was that I was putting no magic behind the attack or if it was the delicate circle of light that appeared on Starks chest, but the Chitauri's magic did nothing. Frustrated, it did it again.

"Performance issues," Stark quipped. Annoying the puppet, and more importantly the puppet master, is not a wise thing to do, mortal. "Not uncommon. One out of five, I think -"

It was then that it lost its patience, and grabbed Stark sharply by his throat and lifted him clean off his feet and threw him to the floor. That was obviously Chitauri infused strength – in my current state after the months of torture and agony I was in no fit state to perform such a feet.

Stark shakily pushed himself and began calling to someone named Jarvis. Was the conversation being listened in on? The puppet either didn't hear or didn't care, as it hauled him to his feet and walked towards the extensive collection of glass windows.

"You will all fall before me!" it snarled, mimicking the mantra I had so often heard in the catacombs of the Chitauri prison where I was held.

With that, it threw Tony Stark out of the window.

I heard the portal open, like a distant echo of someone else's nightmare, far above the tower. I guess this was it. The end of all things.

The war.

So, what did you guys think? Sorry if Loki went OOC at all - it's hard writing the mindset for an immortal trickster God who isn't fully sane nor your OC. Oh well: I think I did okay. Tell me what you think, R&R! Fronk x