Warnings: Language, adult situations, possible violence, allusions to mature subject matter (ie. Various forms of assault/torture/etc.)
Summary: What do you get when you mix embittered!depressed!enraged!Loki (doing time on Midgard) and Christmas together? Tony Stark wants to find out, especially when he begins to realize that the God of Mischief needs a little bit of Christmas cheer. Of course, Thor is in. Who else comes along for the ride? Will you?
Comments: This is not a slash fic. Sorry. It's Loki-centric, although I definitely show the rest of the Avengers and etc. Please review! Constructive criticism welcome (especially this is my first time writing for Avengers fandom)!
Disclaimer: I do not own Avengers. Marvel owns it. I do not get paid for this piece of work. Sadly, but understandably. LOL.
A couple of things...
1. THANKS FOR REVIEWING!
2. Been YouTubing my brains out. End result: Hiddleston on the brain. Nooo! Why do I do this to myself?
3. This chapter didn't end how I expected. I decided to break off the last third and attach it to the next chapter... Hm. Yes. Cliffies... Sorry.
4. My right hand has a weird swelling right behind the thumb on the back of my hand. It's like a muscle was pulled. Not a bruise, because the skin didn't change colour... Potentially disturbing. Maybe I need to put on my carpal tunnel hand bandage and wrap it up? I don't remember how or when it started.
5. Remember you can check out my new tumblr 'mischiefmakerloki'!
Christmas Magic
Chapter 25
Secret Dreams: Part One
"Then all is silent and the snow falls
Settling soft and slow
The evening deepens and the grey
Folds closer earth and sky
The world seems shrouded, far away."
("Snow" - sung by Loreena McKennitt)
"We need to talk."
It was Steve. Down again in Tony's lab, watching as the genius-inventor hooked up some screens and tapped at a few buttons before rocking back on his heels happily. Looking, as usual, a little unease but determined.
"You always need to talk," Tony shot back, eyes never leaving the screen.
"That's calling the kettle black, Tony, and you know it. It's about Loki."
"It always is. When isn't it? At this rate, I'm beginning to think there's a justifiable reason for his narcissism... What's it now? He put syrup in your shoes? You woke up with him looming over you in a creepy way? He said something to Jane and made her cry?"
"It's the plan for this afternoon."
"We need a plan? Really? I don't know what you think this is all about, Cap, but it's just a small snowball fight in a friend's field. Make a snowman. A few snow angels... Well. OK. Maybe for Loki he'll make a snow devil. But you get my point."
"And there's Clint."
"You think he'll try to kill Loki with snow? OK. That'd be interesting to see. Impossible, right? I mean, Loki survived a black hole. And fell through hard vacuum. So he can't need oxygen – so burying his face in a snow drift can harm him too much – wait," Tony paused, now sidetracked by a thought. "If he can breath in hard vacuum, how does he talk?"
"Maybe he can't talk in hard vacuum?" Steve asked sensibly.
"Good point, Cap. I can see your science is finally catching up to you."
"It's common sense, Tony. I'm not stupid."
"Uh. Yeah... so, um... 'kay. He can't talk in vacuum. Well. Not like he had any company. That we know of. Yet. You think he'd be up for experimentation? I could set up a chamber –"
"If you paid him, he might be up for it," Bruce piped in mildly from his corner of the lab where he had set up his computer. Tony and he were attempting to isolate Asgardian particle radiation – and he discovered more and more how convenient was to just stay in Tony's lab instead of running up and down in the elevator. "You know – pitch it like a job. Say he just has to sit there for half an hour or whatever. Do you your thing and pay him something like a hundred bucks."
"Huh. Like student trials at university."
Bruce twitched at some far off memory. "Yeah... like that... but more supervised."
"Tony."
"Oh. You're still here," Tony sighed finally focusing on the tall man before him. "OK. So you think Clint will flip?"
"Well, he's upstairs pitching the idea of having a snowball fight war to Thor."
"Oh great. That's going to go so great. Thor will be faster on that than on pop tarts. And that's fast. OK. Um. What are you going to do? Time out all around? Postpone it for another day when everyone's calmed down?"
"I was thinking more doing something strategic. Like making us two the opposing captains and then putting Loki and Clint on the same team –"
"Uh, that's not gonna happen."
"Yeah... I was afraid of that... but maybe –" Steve said hopefully.
"No. Not going to happen," Tony shook his head. "But. We could make sure to keep Loki away from Clint."
"This isn't going to end well either way, is it?" Steve sighed.
"Nope," Tony grinned. "It's going to be fun though."
Bruce mumbled something but refused to reply to Tony even though the shorter man poked him several times in the ribs.
-0-0-0-
Four hours later, around three in the afternoon, everyone was surveying a white open field which belonged to one of the directors on Tony's board. His country home, Tony had explained. The group had settled down in two copters which Pepper had smoothly commissioned for the day. Once again, Loki felt as though Stark had more money than he knew what to do with. As a prince – ex-prince – of Asgard, he fought to stay unimpressed.
The air, cool, crisp and clean, wasn't too cold thanks to a warm sun which shone down at the otherwise desolate landscape. White and black and shades of grey. Stark trees which lined the road and small squares of field stretched upward into the egg-shell blue sky with stark silhouettes. Underneath their feet, snow crunched, rising to their shins, as yet untouched – and, according to Pepper, unusually deep for the time of year. Considering there wasn't much of a wind (or even a chill), it looked to be an amazing day for what they had planned.
Happy, who had tagged along at Pepper's request, set down a Tupperware box which Pepper and Jane had packed. The two women now hastily opened it, ordering the men around, getting them in pairs to roll up varying balls of snow. Natasha and Clint prepared the heads. Bruce and Steve worked on the middles with Thor and Tony erecting the bottoms. Loki, stood on the side, again. Arms folded, face fixed in a permanent sneer as he watched his brother run around trying to set up the snow men.
Too cool for school, Pepper rolled her eyes before calling him over. He edged over, reluctantly, obviously suspicious about what she had planned for him.
"I've got a special job for you," she smiled up at his narrowed eyes, noticing how pale he seemed now he stood under the light of the bright sun.
"Indeed," he said, arms still folded, but hands clenching his biceps a bit more tightly than before.
"I gathered up some stuff so that we can personalize the snowmen," she grinned. "Check it out. One of Tony's ties. Steve's suspenders. Stuff like that."
Loki stared at the outstretched items blankly.
"I need you take them over to Jane."
"I am an errand boy," Loki said.
"Uhhh... yep."
"That is your special job," he repeated. "Being an errand boy." He took the offending items and held them up. "This once again proves the small-mindedness of mortals. Never have I been less happy to be proved right."
"Get thee going," Pepper put her hands on her hips. "To Jane. March."
He wasn't scared of Pepper. Oh no. But Loki found himself scuttling over double time with the items before returning and repeating with other articles belonging to the Avengers. After a moment, Tony joined him with a ton of crooked sticks to shove into the middle balls, which Loki had come to realize were the 'torso's of the snowmen. Eyeing the others, the dark-haired ex-god of Mischief could see no sign of laughter at his expense. But surely this is something children would do, he thought confused as Thor was directed by Jane to affix carrots for noses to the nine snowmen. Buttons were added to a few – Steve's, Bruce's and Tony's snowmen. Ties. Scarves. Hats. A fake quiver. A holster with a fake gun (painstakingly taped into the branch hands). Loki eyed the sceptre in his own snowman's hand, complete with a super large plastic bauble.
"This is meant to be a jest?" he glared at Tony, who shrugged and smiled back amiably. No doubt enjoying Loki's tension and unease.
"What are you talking about?" Tony said, easing on a black wig which had suspiciously long hair slicked back and just curling on the ends. "It's pretty close to the real thing. All thanks to that fan girl of yours at Walmart, I'll have you know."
"He's right!" Bruce said, brushing past. "You and I, Loki... we have fans. Isn't that exciting?"
"Yeah," Tony tipped his head and smirked up at the confused demigod. "Not that that means much to you. It's kinda sad that there are people out there who'd you know – never mind. Not going there. Not even going to put that in your mind. Anyways... back to the snowmen costuming... Great prop, huh? If I didn't know any better, I'd think it was the real Glowstick of Destiny."
Loki ground his teeth.
"This is not amusing, Stark."
"Uh. No. That's your lack of humour talking there. Did I say lack? Sorry. Your humour died long ago. Time to resurrect it, Rock of Ages."
"Pardon? What did you call me?"
"Ah! Look! Picture time! You bring – ah... Forget it. We'll get Thor to send the picture to your mother. She'll love Loki snowman. We even got green buttons for your eyes! Can't get more awesome than that."
The next half hour was spent taking pictures of snowmen and of people with their snowmen. Then pictures of people with other people's snowmen doing incomprehensible things. And a few other less classy, more crassy/deviant things. Eventually, it all got out of hand and, like a schoolteacher, Pepper called everyone over for snow angel time.
Watching his brother move his arms up and down, his legs in and out, while chatting with Jane who was lying down beside him on the snow, Loki decided that there was no way in Helheim that he was going to take part any further in such absurdities. Muspelheim will freeze over before I allow myself to be caught up in such childish trivialities. He glowered at how happy his brother and his wench looked. If I stepped on him at this moment, he would totally be unmanned and his woman would see him for the weakling idiot that he is. Of course, I would then be victim to this – this curse... If I had my magic, I would do more than torment my brother. I would make it that any memory of Christmas would only bring tragic memories of the deaths of the mortals he called shield mates. I would – Loki stopped as he realized he wasn't exactly sure what he could do to make this all better. Which made him feel even more impotent and angry. He whirled around – to find himself facing a not so fake Midgardian weapon – the business end of Natasha's gun.
"I'd get down there if I were you," she said. "If I had to make a snow angel, there's no way in hell you'll get out of making one."
"Lady Natasha..."
"Run out of insults, Loki? So soon?" the red-haired assassin shook her gun. "Down. On your back."
"Is that how you would like me?" he replied silkily.
"I'd like you dead. But if I can't have you dead, having you making a snow angel will be just as good. Got the video ready, Clint?"
Clint was already behind her with his eternal phone in hand. Loki wanted to lean forward, snatch the metallic object and crush it like it was paper. But there was Natasha. And her gun. And although it would only sting a little to take a bullet to the chest, Loki didn't really want to find out what would happen to his brain if the weapon were to hit him in the head. A fight would undoubtedly ensue. Which would result in incredible pain, resulting in nothing but making him look the fool all over again. To make him look like a fool all over again forever - caught on Clint's ever ready recording device.
Fuming, he stepped back, careful to avoid Thor and inched down onto his heels, before hitting the snow finally. Loki's eyes never left Natasha's gun or her face. Green eyes glittered poisonously up at her as he tipped his head back. She merely cocked her gun.
"Anytime soon will be good, Loki," she said calmly. "The sooner you do it, the quicker it'll be over. Like pulling out a tooth."
"Time is relative," he said but laid back suddenly as Thor and Jane loomed up.
Steve was also coming into view, his smooth face marred with an uncomfortable frown.
"Natasha," he was saying, exasperated. "We don't force people to take part in Christmas activities like this. Definitely not being forced by a gun."
"We do now," she shot back. "Move those arms, Loki. Nice and easy."
"Call your woman off, Barton," snarled Loki.
"Uhhh... she's not my woman," Barton shook his head. "Not really. C'mon," he cooed. "I know you can do it. If Thor can do it, surely his much more intelligent younger brother can figure it out."
Closing his eyes and imagining the fiery death of Clint followed by an incredibly slow and violent death of the killer woman, Loki stiffly moved his arms up and down. I'll kill him with fire and her with knives... Long knives and short blades and...
"There, see. It feels better already," Natasha eased back.
"Just a little bit more, brother!" Thor said, hopping along side to cheer his brother on.
Oh. Right. Thor. Yet another person to kill on another day. When he was less busy. Less busy making snow angels. Less hampered by a curse.
"I am not your brother, Thor."
"Yes, he is," several voices chorused tiredly.
"OK. I think it's good," Jane's soft voice broke in through Loki's rapidly crowding murderous rage. "If you ease sideways and up to your feet, you won't destroy it. There – look – see. It looks lovely!"
Loki, coming to his feet with the enviable grace of a cat, turned to look at his snow angel – tall and thin and very much imprinted on the ground and in the cameras of everyone who wanted a photograph. Foolishness, he spat to himself and stalked off.
"It's missing something..." Clint ran around to the top and added two huge horns. Natasha drew in a pitchfork. "Yeah. Much better. Even more awesome."
More photos.
"Now then," Thor looked up at Pepper and Jane. "What's next?"
-0-0-0-
An awkward picnic lunch in the copters was up next – warm turkey sandwiches, shwarma (because, according to Tony, Bruce couldn't live without it), coffee in thermoses and chips. Loki wolfed down his share. Cradling his head in his still too thin arms, Loki sighed. There was nothing that he could eat which would fill the ache in his stomach. A never ending hunger which gnawed at him. Always there. Ever since the Void...
In front of him, a hand moved into view. A sandwich. Another one. Looking up, he recognized that the hand belonged to his brother.
"You need to eat more," Thor said. "Eat."
For a moment, he wanted to shove the sandwich away - smack it against his brother's stupid face. But it would be a waste... Grudgingly, he mumbled a thanks as he took it and bit once again into soft bread, thick slices of meat and fresh vegetables. He had told Thor that his dreams would not be bought – but faced with what he needed most (ah! I promised not to admit this to myself... why, Loki, why), Loki began to wonder if it was worth it to sacrifice something that would in the end, undoubtedly, only bring even more trouble down upon his head. And that is how pathetically low you have fallen, Loki, he thought to himself. In the end, you are too easily bought. With nothing. Because you are nothing.
He gripped the sandwich and kept eating, focusing on even breaths and slow chewing. It would not do for them to know, to guess, how frightened he was of their foolish kindness. How frightened he was of himself.
-0-0-0-
With this frame of mind, Loki entered the snow battle. It began innocuously enough with Steve Rogers' Son taking charge.
"I'll be Team One Leader. Tony's going to be Team Two Leader. Who're you going to choose, Tony?"
"Uh. Loki."
Loki's head shot up in disbelief and confusion. The Avenger had chosen him. First. Chosen him first. Loki was never chosen first. On Asgard, he had always been the last option, the unwanted tag-along during mock battles. If ever there is a cause to think the Son of Stark was insane, this is it. But he couldn't help but feel just a tiny bit pleased. He smirked at Thor who rolled his eyes.
"OK," Steve nodded. "Clint. And Thor."
"Hey. You can't choose both!"
"You've got one demigod. I get the other. It's only fair."
"OK. Fine. I get Bruce."
"Natasha."
"You would." Tony gave him a disgusted glare. "Jane."
"Uhh... I'll stay out of this one," Pepper said. "Gotta go and make sure the hospital helicopter will be prepped to launch at a moment's notice."
"I'm not sure if she's serious..." Clint eyed the strawberry blonde as she walked off to the car, already talking on a phone. "Is she serious?"
"Maybe," Tony shrugged. "OK. Let's divide the field evenly. Night's going to fall fast here, so we need to get started now."
"Right – but a few rules first."
"Seriously? It's just a snowball fight –" Then, he caught sight of what Pepper was hauling out of the container she had brought. A red and green pennant. Handing Tony the green one and Steve the red one, Pepper stepped with a grin. "Capture the flag? OK. So, the regular rules, then? No problem."
"Yes, we all know the rules, Tony," Steve rolled his eyes. "Except for our fellow Asgardians. OK. Thor, Loki... anyone who hasn't played it in a while, this is how it goes. This field is split into two sections. You see where Happy is marking out that line on the snow? That's half of the field. On each half of the field, each team builds a fort or puts up a defensive position of some sort. You hide the flag. Then, you try to get the other team's flag. The minute you get the other team's flag onto your own territory, without ceding yours, is when you win. Each team can section off a prison, which will be marked by one of these..." Here Pepper came back with two small yellow plastic pylons. "These yellow, uh, pylons. To send an enemy to prison, you first have to catch them. No hitting. Or using snowballs with rocks inside. No throwing ice or punches. No use of weapons either. Just tapping them or touching them, tags them and they must be walked to prison. And... to free a person from prison, someone from the team must visit the jail and free their comrade with another tap." Here, Steve eyed his own team apprehensively. "Is that clear?"
"As glass," Loki sniffed. "A game in which strength and force is less needed..."
"Basically, yes."
"I'm going to kill you, Clint," Tony said seriously, taking his pylon and gripping his flag.
"Why me?' complained the archer. "Blame Thor. He's the one who wanted to play it!"
"Yeah, but somehow I don't think they played Capture the Flag on Asgard. Somehow I have this funny feeling someone was blabbing in his ear about it. Somehow I think it was you."
"Somehow, you're sounding a bit more like Fury," Natasha added with a snicker.
"Ooooh. Nice one, Natasha. Nice one. OK. Uh... We'll take the south field, I guess. And our prison will go back there – Loki –" The God of Chaos, Mischief and Etc grabbed the pylon and ran away from where Tony had pointed and instead was rushing to the north-east corner of the south field. "Uh... Loki! Hey! What the hell are you doing! Get back – you know what, Steve, let's, um, start now and get stuff underway. I've got a God of Mischief to control."
"Good luck," chuckled Clint sadistically.
Tony glared as the four walked off easily, confidence in every step. Thor was already boasting about his might and Natasha looked like she had a plan formulating in her head already. Clint was saying something to the effect that it was going to be like stealing candy from a baby.
"Perhaps we should let them win the first round, in order for them to gain confidence?" Thor suggested gamely.
"Ah... naww..." Clint flapped a hand. "Let's just crush them."
"Sounds more appealing, I admit," Thor eyed his brother who was stalking back to Tony. "But things could go very wrong, I have a feeling."
"Let's not underestimate them," Steve said. "I know we can do this, but we need to keep calm."
Thor and Clint laughed and even Natasha had to grin. Crush them indeed.
-0-0-0-
"OK. Mind if I say that we may be a little bit in deep shit?" Tony said, fifteen minutes later after their group had finished building a strong, curved wall behind which Jane and Bruce were gamely creating a stash of snowballs. Loki was also pitching in with a strange, peculiar, competitive fervour. Tony remembered the brothers' competition on the slopes of the Rockies.
OK. Maybe not peculiar... But disturbingly excited about this. And I'll need to talk to him about where he put the jail pylon...This could get rough.
"I have been considering our strategy," Loki said as he considered the pendant which laid on the ground.
"Uh-huh. Thinking is good." Tony nodded. "This is going to be more of a game of strategy than anything else. Just – don't plan on us killing anyone."
"And I'm not going to Hulk out just to get a stupid flag either," Bruce added.
"For which we are all thankful," Loki replied sardonically, green eyes flickering over to the quiet scientist. "Rather, I am considering what our opponents have in ways of strength and what we possess to counteract them."
"And..."
"Intelligence, speed and myself."
"Yeah. OK. Intelligence, check. Speed, in a way. We can all run fast... All those years spent running from bullies in elementary school and high school. Bruce and I have running down pat –"
"Although your legs are rather short, I am sure you make up for it in vigour," agreed Loki peaceably, only a tiny smile betraying his happiness at being able to send a small barb Tony's way.
"Ha. Ha. Hah." Tony grunted. "Short jokes? Really? Sharpen that battle humour, Loki. We're going to need it. What's your idea?"
"They said we had to hide our flag," Loki said. "Not where we should hide it."
"OK..."
"And the persons we need to fear most is Natasha and the Captain."
"What about your brother?" Jane asked. "He's... well... big. He could probably break my back with his pinkie."
"Yes. But he is easily led by the emotion of the moment. As is Clint."
"Ohhhhh..." Tony turned to Loki, realization and understanding lighting up his brown eyes. "I know exactly what you mean."
"Uh... What?"
"Bait, Jane." Bruce explained. "We've got the perfect bait."
"Loki," Jane breathed. "Right."
Loki was poking his head up and eyeing the opposite fort which stood tall, back against the north-most side of the field. He nodded at the sight of Clint already on watch duty.
"I have a feeling that the Archer will be placed as the watcher of the fort, looking to the long-range defence of the tower." Loki seemed to have slipped into some kind of military counsellor persona – as if he were channelling some kind of general. Tony, eyeing the ex-God of Mischief, wondered how many times Loki had given such kinds of counsel during war. "This means that the Soldier, the Spider and my – Thor – and Thor will take the position of offence. It is imperative I face the Spider. I will lure her to our side and bring her to the dungeon immediately."
"Jail." Bruce corrected mildly. He paused at the sight of Loki's glare. "Or dungeon. Dungeon works fine too. Appropriately scary sounding."
"Right. Which is why you put the jail closer to the border than I would have liked," Tony breathed. "It's not close enough to our fort for her to be tagged and freed by incoming enemies – nor is it too close to the border, so that if she were freed, she'd have longer to get back to her fort. Brilliant, Loki. OK. So. Who confronts Thor?"
"I'll take him. You take Steve," Bruce said quickly. "What do you mean about the flag, Loki?"
"Well," Loki paused, eyeing the group carefully. "This is what I thought..."
Fifteen minutes passed during which the group listened to Loki's idea and then nodded with rising excitement. Tony tweaked a couple of things in the plan, but in the end, he began to feel like there was a much higher percent chance of winning than he had thought before. Steve's shout roused Tony and his group to stand up and wave back.
"You guys got everything down?" Steve called.
"Yeah!"
"You do realize your jail pylon is still way out in the field over there."
"Yeah – I know – uh – it's fine. Whatever!"
"OKAY! Don't blame us if you fail, you suckahs!" hollered Clint.
"You'll never know what hit you, little brother!" Thor added. "You and your team are going to go down faster than an elf underneath a –"
"Uh. Let's just stop there, guys," sighed Steve. "Let's not bully them."
"Ignore the bastards," grumbled Tony. "We might be short – well, except for Loki, but we're still awesome. And smart. Which is more than I can say for our enemies. OK. Everyone. Remember your positions. Let's do this thing."
In the end, the whole "battle" took less time than they had thought it would. The sky was now definitely darker and a biting chill wind was rising. Pepper, on the sidelines, hopped from one foot to the other uneasily. Happy just looked stolid.
Coming out from their fort, Thor, Steve and Natasha emerged slowly, walking down the field, well spread out – the usual up front strategy which Thor loved. But Loki was sure Natasha was up to something. He didn't trust that woman for a moment. Bruce and Tony stuck a bit closer together as if they thought being together would make them a bit more impregnable. Loki bit back a laugh as Tony exaggeratedly inched over to the border line, looking more like an uncertain genius nerd about to get beat up by the jocks. Bruce also looked awesomely hesitant.
Then Natasha was over the border and swinging past his way, pelting him with snowballs which she had been holding in her arms. Loki responded by throwing his own and kept dancing around the border, making sure that he was not touched by her – but looking for that opportunity to draw closer. His fingers and arms were beginning to tingle alarmingly. Gritting his teeth, Loki cursed the spell. It is only snow, for Odin's sake. Surely this cannot be considered harm! But I have endured worse – I can survive this. As the fight continued, the pain began to spike sharply up his elbows into his shoulders. Loki clenched his teeth and began to concentrate a bit more.
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Thor dashing toward Bruce. Bruce looked like he was trying to confront Thor head on, but then he drew up just as he arrived at the border, allowing for Thor to twist past with a laugh, spraying the scientist in the face with a mass of snowballs. Jerking his glasses off, Bruce glared and then began to head northward, into enemy terrain.
Taking advantage of his momentary distraction, Natasha lobbed a handful of snow in Loki's face, but he was already ducking forward, hand outstretched, as her arm arced over where his head had been. Left foot skidding outward, right foot anchored in the snow, Loki twisted back and around, coming up behind Natasha and pushing her solidly forward, claiming her as captive.
As he marched the prosaic Natasha (too serene for his liking) to her prison, he watched Steve and Tony duke it out with snowballs each trying to hit each other on their own successive pieces of land – until Steve dived past Tony and Tony twisted forward, apparently tripped over his own feet and Steve was running past with a deprecating laugh.
Cursing, Tony heaved himself up and began to run forward. Loki was flanking him, and just as they had thought, Clint's attack was focused on the oncoming ex-God of Mischief. Running forward, laughing and roaring with mock (or maybe not) battle rage, the archer was pelting Loki hard – aiming with alarming accuracy at his face. Loki fought back, yelling incomprehensible things in Asgardian, curses no doubt. Tony eyed the two, trying to make sure that Clint's attack wouldn't turn too serious.
Bruce had edged up around the trees and was in the fort before Clint could say 'knife' – pulling the flag charmingly affixed to the wall off. In moments, he was beating it back down the west side of the field, Tony at his side.
"We shouldn't leave him alone with Clint," Bruce found himself gasping, a stitch growing in his side. He was getting too old for this. "The guy's going to kill Loki."
"Hardly," Tony grunted. "Loki survived the Hulk. He's hardly going to die from a bit of snow in his face."
"Still... it's not good for Clint either."
"Once we get over the line – Clint got Loki yet?"
"Not touched him yet."
"Awesome. Keep it up, Reindeer Games." Tony muttered to himself. "Almost there."
The two passed their border and let out a crazed yell. Jane hollered back, waving her arms as she turned away from the prison (she had just put Thor in timeout). Steve emerged from Team Two's fort looking puzzled.
"We got your flag! SUCKERS!" Tony flapped the red pennant.
Thor sighed, pouted. Jane grinned up at him and gave him a kiss as a consolation prize. Natasha rolled her eyes. I've been beaten by computer nerds and civilians. I hope Fury and Hill never find out. I won't be able to live it down...
"YOU GOT THAT, PEPPER – HAPPY?"
"YEP!" Happy roared back. "Everything is being uploaded to JARVIS, Mr. Stark! Amazing strategies as always, sir!"
"Go, Tony!"
"Where's your flag?" Steve asked, as the group gathered in the middle of the field.
Pepper ran up, cheeks red, face lit up with pride and happiness. Arms sliding around Tony's waist, she leaned in for a brief kiss before pulling away.
"Well, it wasn't my idea at the beginning," Tony had to admit. "It was really Rudolph's idea. He's the one with the flag – speaking of which, where IS Rudolph?"
Where IS Rudolph... Uh-oh...
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