"I'm sure of your ability to become my perfect enemy.
Wake up and face me. Don't play dead 'cause maybe,
Someday I will walk away and say, 'You disappoint me.'
Maybe you're better off this way.
Leaning over you here, cold and catatonic,
I catch a brief reflection of what you could and might have been.
It's your right and your ability,
To become my perfect enemy."
-Passive by A Perfect Circle
-o-o-o-
No. This couldn't be happening. "Loki!" Tony shouted, stumbling farther into the room and spinning on his heels as he searched desperately for another glimmer. " Loki !" But there was nothing; the god was long gone, kidnapped by a servant of Thanos.
Shock crumbled away into a soul-deep terror as Tony started to realize exactly what that meant: A broken body at the foot of Thanos's throne. Blood stained bones and a dented helmet. Dead green eyes.
He was racing from the room before his mind caught up to him, stuck replaying his every nightmare with haunting clarity. As Tony's body moved on autopilot, driven by adrenaline and fear, his stomach twisted and his chest heaved. Each breath felt like it wasn't pulling in air, and tears pricked at his eyes, but Tony couldn't stop to think about himself.
'Loki. I have to find Loki.' (A gaping wound, oozing onto a throne of skulls.) 'Thanos is going to kill him.' (A sharp, predatory grin, devoid of anything but insanity.) 'Thanos is going to torture him.' (Face contorted with agony.) 'I have to save him.'
Falling to his knees, Tony clutched at the steps of the landing dock. The darkness of night embraced him, yet down in the city below, clubs and bars teemed with life, ignorant of the tragedy playing out above them. The cool air brushed against Tony's sweaty forehead, and he felt feverish as he rasped, "Jarvis, I need the suit. Get me the suit."
"Sir, I do not believe it is safe for you to leave at this time."
Tony frantically shook his head. "No. No, I'm good. Give me the suit. I just need the suit. I need to find him." Tony attempted to get his breathing under control, to prove to the AI that he could handle this, but all he managed to do was cause his lungs to hitch and shudder; all of the stress and exhaustion from the past few months had finally caught up to him, amplifying his anxiety until he could no longer contain it. This was the tipping point, and everything was spiraling out of control.
"I'm sorry, sir, but by your own orders, I am not to let you operate a suit while you are in such a condition," Jarvis reiterated, only increasing the overwhelming powerlessness that had seized Tony. He felt like it was strangling him, causing his heart to beat wildly, and as Tony climbed to his feet, he could not stop shaking.
"Give me the suit." His voice was nothing more than a choked whisper. Tony didn't know what having a suit would accomplish, but he needed it. If he just got the suit, stopped feeling so helpless , then everything would be okay. He could fix this. He could get Loki back.
But for all of the times that Tony operated the suit while drunk or wounded, Jarvis chose now to follow the protocol. "Sir, I have requested for someone to assist you, as I believe you are experiencing a severe panic attack. Please remain where you are."
Tony didn't even consider following Jarvis's advice; he stumbled back towards the sliding door, left ajar in his flight, and moved blindly towards the elevator. If Jarvis refused to help him, then Tony would acquire a suit on his own. He didn't need the AI; he could operate the armor manually. He could do this. He could save Loki.
" Everyone you have ever loved, Tony Stark, is dead. Who else is there left to kill? "
"Tony?" A voice—not the one that Tony needed to hear—asked worriedly, sounding both too close and too far. "Jarvis said there was an emergency. What's-" Careening around the corner, Tony crushed into something solid and began to topple as the world spun sickeningly. Hands shot out to catch him. "Woah! Hey, what's wrong?"
Tony didn't answer, floundering to get his legs back under him, but his body felt numb and his feet kept slipping on the tile. The pounding of his heart reverberated through his entire body, each pulse bringing with it unceasing terror. 'No,' Tony thought desolately. 'I have to keep moving. I have to. But I don't know what to do, and... and I can't breathe. I can't breathe.'
"Tony? Tony, calm down!" Someone lowered him to the floor, leaning his back against the wall, and Tony no longer had the strength to resist. His eyes twisted shut, as if it would shield him from the horrendous images clawing through his head. Over the sound of loud, ragged breathing echoing in his ears, a calm and steady voice said, "You're hyperventilating. Just calm down, alright?"
That was easier said than done; Tony drew in another empty breath, and the lack of oxygen scraped raw his already frazzled nerves. Through the tumult, one hysterical thought slipped through: 'So this must be how Loki felt.'
But just like how Tony had been there to help the god, he also wasn't alone. "Come on, Tony. Breathe slower. Do it with me, okay? Breathe in." When Tony didn't, the hands gripped his shoulders tighter. "Breathe in." At last Tony managed to suck in a shuddering, rasping breath that soothed the burn in his lungs. "There you go. Now breathe out." He did so, and with the voice's guidance, he developed a steady cadence of inhale and exhale. As the air returned to Tony's brain, the world began to refocus, and the blur of red, white, and blue became Steve, crouched down worriedly before him.
"Hey, you alright now?" the soldier asked, not moving his hands from Tony's shoulders. And while Tony felt anything but fine, he nodded and continued to gulp air into needy lungs. Anxiety bayed at his walls, but he managed to resist it.
Once Tony had enough breath to speak, he said, "Loki. Thanos has Loki." Steve stared at him for a moment, uncomprehending, and then a look of horror dawned on his face.
"What?"
"Thanos. He..." Tony struggled to explain, partly because he barely understood it himself and partly because saying it out loud would make it more real. "There was an alien—one of Thanos's minions—in Loki's room, and then they disappeared."
"There was an alien in Stark Tower?" Steve asked, already reaching towards his shield. When Tony nodded, causing the world to blur around him, the soldier tensed and surveyed the hall as if expecting another to appear. Tony hadn't even considered that more aliens may break in, but why wouldn't they? Given how wrong everything was going, he wouldn't be surprised if the entire army invaded, and he would be powerless to stop them just like he had been powerless to stop the one who had taken Loki.
For the sake of his sanity, Tony shoved those thoughts away. He couldn't handle an invasion right now. First he had to get Loki back, and then he would worry about the rest of Thanos's army. To keep his mind from dwelling on horrid 'what ifs', Tony forced himself to make a plan with more substance than just 'get the suit'. "Jarvis, contact Fury," he said, pulling his legs up towards his chest and placing his head on his knees. He still felt dizzy, and panic was still present, but he tried to breathe through it. Loki needed him. "Tell him its an emergency."
"Yes, sir." As the AI carried out his request, Tony continued to take in measured breaths. Steve watched him, though his shield was lifted and he kept shifting his head to the side to watch for enemies. But when Tony's breath hitched, Steve decided that the man was more important than a possible attack. He kneeled back down and, after a moment's hesitation, placed his hand on Tony's shoulder.
"Hey, everything is going to be okay. Loki is strong. He'll get away."
If Tony had the energy, he would have laughed at how ludicrous the statement was, but now he didn't even lift his head. "I don't think it's that easy. Loki was... I don't know." Tony's nails dug into his calves. "His eyes changed colors, and he just... gave up. He was the one who teleported them out of the building."
"And you said he went to Thanos?" Tony's silence was answer enough, and Steve came to understand why Tony felt so hopeless. He sat heavily on the ground across from Tony, and his head bowed. While Tony had hoped that the soldier would offer support even after learning the truth, Steve said nothing. There was also no answer from SHIELD, making Tony wonder if the Helicarrier had been attacked as well.
The quiet became too oppressing, so Tony said, "I'm going to search for Loki."
Steve frowned. "I'm not trying to say you can't, but... Tony, if Thanos really has Loki, there's no way you can follow them all the way to Saturn."
"I'll think of something," Tony said, but he knew that wasn't true. If Loki really was on Saturn, there was nothing he could do. There was nothing anyone could do.
"I don't doubt you could if there was more time, but-"
"Steve," Tony ground out, and the man's jaw clicked shut. "I know you are trying to be helpful, or want to keep an eye out for me, or whatever, but please stop talking. You know I have to try something. If you were in my place, you'd do the same. Hell, I've read your file. You did do the same when it was your friend behind enemy lines."
At those words, Steve flinched, and he turned his head to the side, attempting to hide the way his jaw clenched and his lips turned downward. Then Jarvis finally reached Fury, and the sharpness of the director's words was not belied by the hoarseness of his voice. "What is the emergency, Stark?"
Tony didn't waste time on a preamble. "Thanos has Loki." His voice cracked as he said the god's name.
The declaration was met with stunned silence, followed by a tense, "What happened?"
"I don't know." But he knew that wasn't enough, so he tried his best to explain those frantic moments that were burned indelibly into his mind. "An alien came, and… he did something. I don't know what. But Loki couldn't fight back, and the alien had this staff that he used. It changed Loki, made him different. His eyes turned blue, and he just teleported from the Tower."
His explanation was lacking, but he wasn't sure how else to describe what had happened. It was magic he had never seen before, and Loki wasn't by his side to clarify. All he knew was that whatever had been done to Loki was horribly wrong . And while he didn't think SHIELD would have a better understanding of what occurred, Tony said, "Jarvis, send SHIELD the surveillance clip of the attack."
In the background, Tony could hear Fury shouting out orders, assigning a group of agents to analyze the footage. Then after a moment, there was a sound that was definitely not the director: a panicked yell sizzled through the speakers, distorted through the multiple channels yet unmistakably belonging to Loki. Tony flinched away from the sound, loathe to relive that moment of utter helplessness.
"Have there been any changes in Thanos's army, sir?" Rogers spoke up, distracting Tony from the faint whispers of desperate cries.
"As far as our telescopes can tell, no. And were I not watching it with my own eyes, I never would have believed that one of them managed to get to Earth."
"Loki warned us that the Mad Titan was powerful," Tony said, wishing now that he had taken those words into closer consideration. But even Loki hadn't known what to prepare for. "He must be able to teleport others across such a long distance."
"It was Loki's job to make sure Thanos couldn't pull something like that," Fury said.
"He had a scrying spell set up," Tony defended. "We could see Thanos, and…" The man trailed off as previously disconnected events fell into place: the alien's timing, its pointed question, its audience with Thanos, and the shattered basin on the floor of Loki's room. "The scrying spell. They found Loki through his scrying spell."
"Can they use it to get there again? Is Stark Tower compromised?"
"It's... definitely a possibility."
"I'm going to send agents to monitor the building. You need to move any weapons stored there to a secure facility and evacuate civilian levels."
A trill of alarm went down Tony's spine. He couldn't do that. He had to search for Loki. "Wait, I-"
"I'll handle that, sir," Rogers interrupted. "I have more experience than Tony in both transporting secured goods and leading evacuations. I think his time would be better spent searching for Loki."
"Do you really think he's going to find him?" Fury asked. "Because from what I heard, Loki got a one-way ticket to Saturn."
Tony opened his mouth to speak, to restate his hope that Loki had gotten away and was waiting somewhere, but the words caught in his throat and came out as nothing more than an indistinct rasp. He swallowed before trying again. "I at least have to try."
"Stark, I don't want to be the one to say this to you, but there's more important things to do than go on a wild goose chase. Not only do you have your own job, but you're the only one who has some understanding of what Loki was doing. Earth can't afford you wasting time."
While Tony knew that Fury was only doing his job, the director's ploy—guilting him into giving up on Loki—only served to infuriate the man. "What Earth can't afford is to lose Loki. Just because he doesn't like to listen to you doesn't mean we don't need him. We can't just abandon him to Thanos!" Already they were wasting too much time. Each minute that passed reduced the possibility that the god was still on Earth—or even alive at all.
"And how do you expect to find him? Or save him when you do?" Fury demanded. "Neither of you could stop a single alien in your own tower."
Tony ignored the jibe, if only because he was tiring of the constant back and forth. "I'll search the locations Loki has been recently," he said, and then in a flash of hope he remembered something he had forgotten. "Jarvis, activate the tracker on Loki's phone."
As the AI carried out Tony's order, the man's pulse boomed in his skull. He would either be able to confirm that Loki had somehow gotten away, and he could find the god, or... "My apologies, sir," Jarvis said reluctantly. "It appears the device is out of range."
Or all it would do is confirm that Tony had been deluding himself. Still, he demanded, "Eliminate any possible interference and run it again."
"I'm sorry, sir. There is nothing more I can do."
"Damn it..." Though Tony tried to summon rage—to force away the sorrow before it drowned him—he was just too tired. "Damn it," he repeated quietly, placing his head back down on his knees, as if covering his eyes would hide reality.
"There's still a chance Loki is alive, isn't there?" Steve asked. "If Thanos wanted him dead, wouldn't they have killed him outright?"
"I- I'm not sure. The alien had said that they wanted Loki for something, but…" But Tony couldn't shake the feeling that Loki was suffering wherever he was now. And if the Mad Titan coveted death, what's to say he wouldn't decide that Loki made a better offering than tool?
"Stark, you need to report to the Helicarrier," Fury said. "If Thanos can send his army over without having to relocate his ships, we are now in a state of high alert. You are required to oversee weapons deployment."
"Let me at least search for Loki first." Tony was unwilling and unable to let his friend go. "Maybe the signal is just obstructed by magic." Fury began to object, and Tony hastily added, "I'll report back to you in a few hours, and if something comes up, I'll respond immediately. Just… I have to do this."
Either Fury understood that trying to convince Tony was pointless, or he found some semblance of compassion within his jadedness, because he said, "You have six hours, but if we fall under attack, I won't tolerate delay."
"If Thanos comes, I will be there," Tony swore; if the Mad Titan's army made a move, then Loki may be with them.
Fury sighed, and in that moment, the director sounded exhausted, as if he too had reached the end of his limit. Then that moment of weakness was gone, and Fury ordered, "Contact SHIELD immediately if the situation changes. We'll keep you updated to changes on our end. Rogers, Romanov has been called back in. She'll assist you with securing the tower."
"Yes, sir," the captain said, and Tony took that as his signal to go. He took a deep breath and uncurled himself. He used the wall to help him climb to his feet, and though he stumbled on his first step, the one after that was steady. He didn't get far before a hand softly grabbed his arm, and he turned to Steve in surprise. There was still a melancholy expression on the man's face, and Tony regretted putting it there.
"I'm sorry," he began, but Steve shook his head.
"You were right. I have no right to keep you from searching for Loki. Who knows? The odds may be in your favor, and I hope they are. But..." Steve hesitated. "If you cannot find Loki, no one will hate you. This isn't your fault, and Loki would agree that your safety is just as important. Please don't be reckless out there."
Tony nodded, and then he pulled free. He stepped towards the elevator, intent on getting the suit in the lab, but Jarvis made that unnecessary. "Sir, might I suggest using the dock on the roof?"
"I thought you weren't going to help me," Tony said, but he had already started jogging in the other direction. The voices of Steve and Fury faded into the distance.
"It appears I have changed my mind," the AI said, a hint of his snark peeking through. When Tony exited onto the terrace, the dock was already whirring. Tony ascended the steps, and metal fell around him. Once the helmet clicked over his head, he shot into the sky.
Tony scoped out the city below as he flew in wide circles. Once, he flew down to check a raven-haired person sitting on the sidewalk below; it was just a drunk guy talking on his phone. Crestfallen, Tony angled back upwards, but no matter which street he went down, there was no sign of the god. A few minutes passed this way before Jarvis piped up, "Should I set a flight path, sir? I think you would benefit greatly from a plan. The chances of Loki frequenting a nightclub at this time are negligible."
"Then where would you recommend searching?" Tony circled back towards the Tower to see a quinjet visible on the horizon, banking towards the large building. Out on the street, Captain America was escorting overworked scientists and frazzled secretaries from the building, glancing between Tony and the approaching plane.
"I have all of Loki's recent locations saved in my database. Chances of finding him at one of those are significantly greater. I would also recommend checking places he frequents." As Jarvis spoke, a myriad of red dots appeared on a map on the side of the HUD. They stretched across the US and onto other continents in overwhelming numbers, and Tony frowned.
"How recent are these?" He estimated that it would take at least two days to visit every location.
"These are locations Loki has visited in the past two weeks."
"Change it to past four days." Over half the dots vanished, leaving just a few scattered around Asia and Europe. Most of the other points were focused around major US cities, but there was still too much to check each one in the time Fury allotted. "Get rid of any location he hasn't visited more than once." Only nine dots remained, eight in the US and one in Europe. "Alright, take us to each of these."
"Yes, sir." The suit turned on its own, pulling Tony away from Stark Tower and towards the east. The repulsors were on full power, and Iron Man shot across the sky, barely able to make out any details on the ground as he flew by.
Their first destination was in North Carolina, where one of SHIELD's warehouses was located. Tony landed inside the fenced off area, but when he looked around, the only ones around were the two security guards that were walking towards Tony with their eyes alert but guns lowered. "Can we help you, Mr. Stark?" one of them asked, coming to a stop a few feet from Iron Man.
"Yeah, you actually can." Tony glanced around the brightly lit complex. "Have you seen Loki come by in the past two hours? He's the tall skinny guy with long black hair. You know, the one that likes to randomly appear in the middle of nowhere?"
"No, sir. You're the only one who has randomly shown up tonight. Should we be expecting him?"
"No, it's just…" Tony trailed off, and then he shook his head. "No. If he's not here now, he won't be. Jarvis, where's our next location?"
"San Antonio, Texas, sir," the AI replied as he activated the repulsors, and Tony flew from the complex without another word. But though he searched the next city for the god, Loki wasn't near any of the wards he has constructed. Nor was he in New Mexico, or Ohio, or any other state that Tony flew to. And as the hours ticked away, so too did the meager amount of sleep Tony had; his vision blurred and his mind stuttered.
"Sir?" Jarvis inquired. "Sir, wake up. We have arrived in Malibu."
"What?" Tony asked, shaking his thoughts free of the mire they had fallen in. He looked around himself in surprise. Where there had just been thick forests, there was now an expense of sand and ocean. "Jarvis, when did we leave Oregon?"
"Forty-five minutes ago, sir."
"Shit," Tony swore; he hadn't even realized he had fallen asleep. "Did SHIELD call while I was asleep? Have they found anything?"
"No, sir. But I am obligated to remind you that you have now been searching for Loki for five and a half hours."
Had it really been that long? It felt as if Tony had only just begun. Yet the mansion was coming up before him, overhanging the cliff and gleaming in the rising sun, and there was no denying the increasing exhaustion he felt with each passing minute. Fury's orders or not, Tony didn't think he could keep up this pace for much longer.
Jarvis landed them on the roof, and Tony didn't bother removing the suit. He glanced out across the ocean—he remembered sitting out here with Loki, so long ago, and talking about the future. He had never guessed that something like this would have happened—before heading into the house. The elevator spat Tony out into eerily still halls, and the suit clanged loudly as he strode towards the living room. Feeling the need to fill the emptiness, Tony gathered his fear in his lungs and called, "Loki! Loki, are you here?"
But the silence of empty houses was absolute. Not even Jarvis spoke up to remind Tony that his search was foolish. The AI could see everything within the house; Loki wasn't there. Regardless, Tony went from room to room, throwing open the doors and shoving around furniture. He continued to call out, louder and louder—"Loki, where are you? Answer me, damn it!"—not willing to admit defeat. He left chaos in his wake, leading him down into the labs.
Dum-E rushed to greet Tony when he came in, and that more than anything made it clear how he hadn't been home in a long time; the robot was normally only this wound up when Loki was around. And part of that may have to do with the fact that the god indulged Dum-E, whereas Tony only patted the robot absentmindedly as he pushed farther into the lab, searching around for something he would never find.
"Loki, are you in here?" When he spun on his heel, he stumbled, hitting the desk with his hip. A bowl that had been resting at the edge tottered dangerously, and when Tony scrambled to right it, he knocked it over the rest of the way. Tar-like paint splattered all over the floor and Iron Man's shins. "Damn it." Tony backed away from the shattered clay. "This is why we put our stuff away, Loki! So it doesn't get ruined!"
The man's shouts filled the lab, and he held his breath in anticipation of a response. This was when Loki would make a sarcastic comment, coupled with a magic trick that would make Tony torn between annoyed and impressed. They'd bicker, much to the annoyance of anyone working with them, and in the end, once they both had their fun, Loki would just magic back together whatever it was that had gotten smashed.
The memory was so strong that for a second, Tony thought that Loki was right there, and he turned, expecting to see him standing on the other side of his desk; there was nothing but wet sigils painted on the far wall. Tony let out the breath he had been holding in a whoosh, staggering back into Loki's chair. He lowered his head into his hands, not moving even when Dum-E rolled up to him, poked his shoulder in concern, and whirred pitifully.
"Sir, it has been six hours."
Tony groaned. "Give me a few minutes, alright Jarv? …Just give me a bit." The AI obediently went quiet, and Tony just focused on keeping himself together, trying to not think of the half of him that was missing, or the monumental task still left before him. But just like the past year, Tony didn't get the time he needed.
"Sir, there is an incoming call from Miss Potts,. Would you like me to put her through?"
Even though Tony wanted nothing more than to lessen the burden placed upon him, self-condemnation got in the way. He had allowed Loki to get captured. He couldn't find the god. After all this time, he still wasn't good enough to protect the ones he loved, and he didn't want to have to face Pep knowing that. "Send her to voice mail."
Tony rose to his feet, pausing as black dots swam across his vision. Once the vertigo disappeared, he climbed the stairs and made one last trip through the quiet house before letting Jarvis take him back to New York. As he flew across the country, a picture of Pepper continually blinked at him from the corner of the HUD, alerting him to incoming calls, and each time, Tony was too craven to answer. And the call he was both anticipating and dreading—one telling him what had happened to Loki—never came. SHIELD was silent, and Tony wasn't sure if that was a good thing. He at least took it to mean that he had time to stop at Stark Tower one last time before going to the Helicarrier, despite the fact his time was up. Maybe he would find some evidence left behind that would give him the answers he sought.
What Tony wasn't expecting to find, however, was that Pepper had been waiting for him. No sooner had he landed on the terrace and had Jarvis strip him of the Iron Man did she appear, her expression unexpectedly furious and her cheeks marred with tears. "Pep, what are you doing here?" Tony asked, but his baffled words were drowned out by her shouting as she drew closer.
"Anthony Edward Stark, do you know how worried I was? I kept calling you, and you couldn't even pick up the damn phone once!"
Tony swallowed, suddenly ashamed. "No, listen, it's not-" he began, but the second he reached the bottom step, Pepper suddenly lashed out and gripped his collar, making him yelp in surprise.
She pulled him closer, glaring into his eyes, and he watched in stunned silence as she exclaimed, "How dare you! Do you think none of us are worried, too? Do you think this only affects you?" Her face was twisted by emotion, and her chin quivered. "What if something had happened to you?"
Tony opened his mouth to say something, but any excuse would have sounded foolish. He closed it and stood still as Pepper gripped his shirt tighter, her body shuddering. "You're a selfish, selfish idiot," she accused. Then, just as quickly as she grabbed him, she let go of his shirt to throw her arms around him and pull him close. "I'm so glad you're okay. I don't know what I'd do if you disappeared, too."
Tony, exhausted beyond belief, allowed himself that one moment; he relaxed against Pepper, raising his arms to hold onto her tightly, as if she were the only thing keeping the world upright. And then as the last of his adrenaline finally slipped away, she really was the only thing keeping him upright. She staggered under his weight, nearly getting dragged down with him, before Tony righted himself and pulled away from her to stand on his own.
"Tony..." Pep began, but this time Tony was the one to interrupt.
"Pepper, what are you doing here? It's not safe." Loki's frighten face flashed through Tony's mind.
"I wouldn't have had to come here if you had just talked to me."
"You can't be here," Tony insisted, gesturing emphatically towards where she had come from. "What if that alien returns? The Tower isn't secure anymore."
"I can take care of myself, Tony," she said, and then she reached for him, resting a hand on his arm. That one soft touch unbalanced Tony, and he had to catch himself before falling over. "You're the one I'm worried about."
"And what about Loki?" Tony's words were harsh, but he wasn't intending the anger for her. She knew that, though it didn't keep her face from twisting in sorrow.
"There's nothing I can do to help him. I watched what happened, Tony. I know that what you two are up against is greater than anything you've faced before. All I can try to do is make sure that nothing happens to you, too."
Her words chipped away at something inside Tony, the thinning layer of denial he had clung to even as his chances of finding Loki alive whittled away, and his composure broke. "He's dead, Pep." Tony covered his face with his hands as if that would spare his friend the sight of his weakness. "If not now, then he will be once Thanos is finished with him, and there's nothing I can do to reach him."
"You don't know that. As long as the two of you are still alive, there will always be a way to fix things."
"How? He's not even on Earth anymore."
"By having faith." Tony pulled his hands away to stare at her, to see if she really had the confidence to back up her words; she did. "You'll figure something out. And if not, then trust that Loki will. You know he'll do everything in his power to get back to you."
The way Pepper said it made it sound so easy, and yet strength of will could only get them so far. Though Tony had every intention of continuing forwards, his body could not keep up with him. Bursts of panic became less and less effective against the pull of exhaustion, and every time he blinked, it became harder and harder to force his eyes back open.
"Tony, when was the last time you slept?" Pepper asked in concern, tightening her grip on his arm when he swayed again.
"What's with people asking me that? I'm fine," Tony said, but Pepper eyes bore into his own, exposing his lie. He looked away. "I don't have time to waste."
"Taking care of yourself is not a waste." Pepper stepped back, but her hand remained on Tony's arm, bringing him towards her. "You're still human, no matter how much you like to think otherwise, and you need to take a break."
"But Loki-"
"You're no good to Loki if you make yourself sick," Pepper said, brutally honest. She continued to tug on him, and he had to follow her to keep from falling. They entered the living room, and Tony realized for the first time the penthouse was teeming with SHIELD agents. The ones posted around the room watched them as Pepper guided Tony towards his room.
Before they entered the hall branching off from the living room, one of the agents stepped forwards. "Ma'am, the Tower still isn't safe. Neither of you should be here."
Mournful or not, Pepper could still project an air of stern authority. "As I said before, you do not have the right to deny me access. If you are concerned for our safety, then maybe you should focus on doing your job instead of harassing me." Then she continued down the hall, her shoes clacking loudly on the tile, and left the flummoxed agent behind.
"He's right, you know," Tony said. "You shouldn't stay here. It's not…" Tony trailed off, his attention drawn to mass of agents congregated at the end of the hall where Loki's room was. They were talking rapidly amongst themselves and scouring the room. Tony thought he saw Banner in the mix until Pepper inserted herself between him and the room.
"Don't worry about that right now," she said, and though he resisted, she easily corralled him. And while Tony did not want to stop, the rest of him agreed with Pepper; he barely remembered entering his room, and he could not recall how she had managed to convince to lie down. But she did, and the next thing he knew, he fell so deeply into nothingness that he didn't even dream about starships and bleeding moons.
Darkness engulfed him, pressing in on all sides, but Loki only had eyes for the shrouded figure on the throne that towered above him. His knees dug into the harsh, frozen surface, and his lungs breathed in only nitrogen, but he did not rise. This was his duty.
Thanos leaned forwards in his throne, watching the god with unconcealed triumph. "You will bring the Tesseract to me," the titan said, his voice booming across the barren moon and towards the sleeping ships.
Beneath the blood red glow, Loki's first thought was to obey. He would get the Mad Titan the Tesseract so they could raze Midgard. Humans meant nothing, and Loki had been a fool to lower himself to their level. And yet...
Beneath the hot-rod red glow, the god replied differently—defiantly. "I do not know where it is."
The grin on Thanos's face warped into a snarl, and Loki had no time to brace himself before his mind erupted into agony. He felt as if his very essence was being flayed. His shoulder collided with stone, and he could not contain his screams as he clutched desperately at his head. His legs lashed out, trying to strike at the unseen force tearing into him, but nothing he did could make it stop.
As quickly as it had happened, the pain was gone. Loki was left panting on the icy ground as Thanos demanded ruthlessly, "You will find the Tesseract, and you will bring it to me. Fail, and I will make you long for Death."
"I will not fail," Loki promised, crawling back onto his knees; whatever piece of him that had resisted—whatever errant idea that prompted such foolish rebellion—vanished. "The Tesseract will soon be yours."
Thanos's smirk was cold, freezing Loki down to the very core, and the god tensed when the titan waved his hand. Thankfully, the Mad Titan was just motioning for one of the Chitauri, the same one that had shown Loki the truth of just how weak he had allowed himself to become. The Other stepped forwards with the scepter in its hand and, at Thanos's command, offered the weapon to Loki.
The god cautiously rose to his feet, and when he was not smote down, he grabbed the scepter and pulled it close. Intoxicating power flooded his veins, pushing out the lingering twitches of pain. Loki bowed before the throne. "I thank you for your generosity. You will not be disappointed."
In response, the Mad Titan buffeted Loki with a blast of magic that deconstructed his body. There was a too long moment in which everything ceased to exist, and Loki became one with empty space. Then, as quickly as it started, it ended; the god was rebuilt on Earth, armed with the scepter and single-minded conviction: find the Tesseract.
-o-o-o-
"…shouldn't wake him. He needs to rest."
"There's no time. If anyone knows what's going on, it'd be him. We have to talk to him."
Words snuck through the thick fog coating Tony's mind, latching onto his sleep-riddled thoughts. He tried to shake them and return to floating in nothingness, where his limbs were unresponsive and his worries nonexistent. The voices did not retreat. Instead, they grew louder, closer, and began to drag him back towards the waking world.
"Can't you give him a few more hours?"
"Pepper, I don't want him hurt any more than you do, but this is an emergency."
"Stark needs to know what's going on. You can't protect him from this."
There was a sigh, the creak of an opening door, and approaching footsteps. A hand fell on his shoulder, and darkness's hold slipped in turn. "Tony, I'm sorry, but you need to wake up now." He groaned in reply and rolled over, clinging onto easy peace, but the person was insistent. They shook his shoulder again. "I know you're tired, but you have to wake up."
When all he did was mumble incoherently and clumsily bat the intruding limb away, someone else spoke up. "This is taking too long. Stark, get up. We have information on Loki."
Loki… Tony's sluggish mind caught on the word, and his brow furrowed. Loki. There was something there, a mix of emotions hidden right outside of his grasp. Something important… Memories breached the veil of sleep, tearing down its walls and pouring through every corner of Tony's mind. He jolted into a sitting position, nearly slamming his head into Pepper's as he weathered the onslaught: Loki, the alien, the staff. Thanos.
"Loki!" His eyes darted around the room, observing nothing but the glaring lack of the god. After that proved ineffective, he turned frantically towards Romanov, holding onto her promise of information. "Where is he? You know, don't you? Is he safe?"
The agent's face was grim, and Tony twisted his fingers into the bed sheet as he glanced towards Pepper and over to Rhodey. They met his stare with the same severity. "Did... Was he…" Tony started, but he couldn't bring himself to ask if Thanos had killed Loki.
"It's complicated," Romanov said, which did nothing to ease Tony's mind. "We need you at the Helicarrier now." Then she turned to leave as if she expected him to follow her without knowing anything. He stayed where he was, frozen by the implication that something horrible had befallen his friend.
"What's going on?" He asked. "What happened to Loki?" Pepper was frowning sympathetically, her eyes red and watery, and it only made Tony more agitated. "Why aren't you telling me anything?"
"It's alright, Tony. Just calm down." Pepper tried to placate him with a hand on his shoulder. And Tony would be calm down— if one of them would just tell him what the hell was going instead of dodging his questions.
"Like hell it's alright! Where is Loki?"
"Loki attacked the Helicarrier less than an hour ago," Romanov said, stepping back towards him. "We don't know where he is now."
"What?" Tony stared dumbly at her as her words refused to make sense. Loki attacked them? What the hell was that supposed to mean? Because while Loki did some pretty crazy stuff sometimes, he would never turn on his comrades. "That isn't possible," Tony denied, shaking his head. "Loki wouldn't do that. You have to be mistaken." But at the same time, Tony hoped that she wasn't, because in order for Loki to turn on them, he had to at least be alive and in one piece.
"Stark, Loki is my teammate too, but I was there. I saw him kill people," Romanov stated, her mouth in a tight line.
"I don't understand," Tony said. "I know Loki. Nothing would make him do that."
"We have to consider every possibility, Stark. Including him betraying us. However ," she emphasized the word when Tony grit his teeth at her accusation, "from what we have seen, we do not think Loki is acting under his own volition. We believe he is being influenced by the alien that ambushed him."
"But he isn't hurt?" To Tony's relief, Romanov nodded, but beyond that, he wasn't sure if the news about Loki's potential brainwashing was an improvement from what he had feared or just an unexpected twist on it. Before he could make up his mind, his attention was diverted to another anomaly. Rhodey shifted in the doorway, dressed in full uniform and looking out of place in Tony's bedroom. The sight sent off warning bells in Tony's head. While Rhodes was an important general, an attack against SHIELD's Helicarrier shouldn't have been cause enough to summon him. "Please tell me Loki didn't attack somewhere else," Tony entreated, and his friend shook his head.
"He didn't. I'm here because Fury requested to speak with me as well." Rhodey paused for a split second—Tony wouldn't have noticed were it not for the concerned look the man also gave him—before continuing, "He thinks you'll need assistance in assimilating Loki's tasks."
"But Loki isn't dead," Tony stated, feeling betrayed. "He doesn't need to be replaced."
"You can tell Fury that yourself once we get to the Helicarrier," Romanov interjected impatiently. "We're wasting time here. Right now, our biggest priority is stopping Loki before he can cause any more damage—to us or himself—and we need your input."
The mention of Loki getting hurt was enough to make Tony ignore his own uncertainty, and he nodded briskly. Romanov stalked from the room, leading the other three through the occupied halls; Tony slowed just slightly as he surveyed the SHIELD agents scurrying through Loki's room and the rest of their home. There were armed guards at every corner, turning the penthouse—the one location that had served as a refuge from the stress of the impending war—into a military hotspot.
There was a helicopter perched precariously on the terrace, but Romanov didn't seem to care that the Tower was not designed to accommodate one. She slid into the cockpit and put her headset on while deft fingers flicked on switches. Tony and Rhodey clambered into the cabin with less ease and began to strap themselves in.
Despite the fact that ever nuance of her body language said she wanted to follow, Pepper remained outside the metal hull. Once he was strapped in, Tony leaned out the open door towards her. "Pepper, I don't know what's going to happen next, but it's not going to be pretty. I need you to promise me that you'll stay safe."
"If I do, tell me that you'll do the same."
"I'll try." Pep's frown only deepened, so Tony added, "Things are going to be rough for a while, and you know I can't just sit back and watch. But I'll do everything I can to make it to the end, okay? This isn't goodbye."
The propellers of the helicopter began rotating, but Pepper didn't step back and Tony didn't close the door; this might be the last time he gets to see her for a long while. "If things start getting out of hand, call me, alright? Don't try to do everything alone."
"I won't. I promise. And when I get Loki back, we'll both call you, okay? But listen, I need you to go somewhere safe." His tone booked no argument. "Stay out of the Tower until this blows over. In fact, stay out of any major city. Go see your parents or something. I can't lose you too."
Pepper nodded, reaching up to brush the back of her hand across her eyes. "I will. And Tony, I'll be waiting for that call. Don't..."
The roar of the blades had heightened to the point that Tony could barely hear Pep's voice, and from the front of the chopper Romanov called, "Stark, we're taking off. Close the door!"
Hastily, Tony said, "When this is all over, I swear I'll do better about talking to you. I really missed you this past year, and-" The plane started lifting into the air, and Pepper stumbled backwards; she tried to reply, but her voice was swept away. Air tugged at Tony, and he knew he really should close the door, but there was one last thing he had to tell her: the one thing that he didn't say often enough. "I love you, Pep!"
At first he wasn't sure if she heard him, but then he saw her mouth the words back, and he allowed himself the tiniest of smiles before the door slammed shut.
-o-o-o-
There was a disturbing sense of calmness as Loki mowed down scores of people, a certainty at odds with the brutality of his actions. The mayhem following in his wake only served to heighten the incongruity of what was and what should be, and the reluctance of the agents to fire was not reciprocated. The god barely even glanced their way as he blasted them with magic or swung the end of that damned scepter into their skulls. With bodies paving his way, Loki ascended from the depths of the Helicarrier. Each carefully measured step was one of someone who knew they were invincible. Even when a blaring alarm went off and red light flashed across the walls, the god did not falter. Only when he had stormed into the bridge to stand before the barrels of a dozen guns did he stop, but his lax muscles taunted those assembled to stop him.
Though the events occurring on the screen had long since happened, Tony desperately wished he could intervene. While there was something cold—something terrible—about the blue-eyed god, it was still Loki . And even though Tony knew Loki had to be stopped, knew that Loki was killing people… he could not stand to watch him be shot down. Not like this.
He observed with bated breath as Loki directed jaded eyes towards Fury and ordered, "Surrender the Tesseract."
"You think attacking my agents is going to make me change my mind?" The director stood in the center of the room with his own handgun pointed at the god. When Loki took a step forwards, the agents around Fury tensed, shifting closer to him. Only one agent moved in the opposite direction. Behind the ranks, Natasha slunk around the edge of the room, keeping low to the ground while her gaze remained locked on Loki's position. Either the god didn't notice her movements or chose to ignore them, because he kept his head held rigid, staring straight ahead.
"You will give it to me, or I will take it by force," Loki declared, and Tony could hardly believe that the person he was watching was the same one who had lived alongside him for almost three years. They appeared the same, talked the same, and yet it was so wrong . It was as if someone—'Thanos', Tony's mind supplied with a hiss—had reached inside the god and scooped out his heart, leaving nothing behind but calculated madness.
Fury had to be aware that they were outmatched against Loki, but he remained steadfast. "The answer is no. Now I think you ought to put that spear down and explain what the hell you are doing."
That was when the first hint of genuine emotion crossed Loki's face, but it wasn't outrage as Tony had expected. It was a subtle scrunch of his eyebrows and thinning of his lips: it was a flinch of pain. Then it was gone, and Loki growled, "I gave you a chance, and you denied my mercy."
No one had time to react before green magic exploded outwards from the god's hands, sending people flying. Haphazard bullets embedded themselves into the ceiling and allied flesh. Numerous agents cried out in pain. But there were a few who kept their wits, even after being shoved to the ground or against the wall.
Fury lifted his head from the ground and held his gun with both hands, leveling it at the god. "Drop the weapon, Loki!" Loki just waved his hand, and a burst of magic sent the gun flying from the man's hands and his body sliding across the floor. As the director clutched his head, one hand groping about for the fallen weapon, Romanov stood up behind the god. She paused, hand on the trigger, and then shifted her aim from Loki's head to his shoulder before firing.
The sight of a bullet burrowing through Loki's armor burned itself into Tony's mind, and he shot Romanov a horrified look. But the assassin—sitting across from him in a meeting room that stank of gunfire and blood, both scents poorly concealed beneath a wash of chemicals—met his stare unrepentantly. Tony saw why when he turned back to the screen; the bullet slowly slid out of Loki's shoulder, it's tip marred with only a touch of blood, and tumbled to the floor.
Straightening his back, the god twisted his head to regard his teammate. This time, she did aim the gun at his head. But instead of attacking her, Loki looked away, and Tony thought he saw the god flinch again before walls of jagged ice rose from the ground. The crystalline structure obscured Loki from view, and when a few agents fired at it, the ice encased the bullets and grew back around them. The agents could do nothing but watch as a green glow spread through the structure, flashing and pulsing around the black blur.
Then, without warning, the screen playing the footage went black. Everyone in the meeting room stared at the empty expanse, lost in their own thoughts and stipulations. It wasn't until Tony started asking questions that the solemn atmosphere shifted. "Do you know how he managed to hack your system? Did he use any technology, or was it purely magic based?"
Fury sighed, his expression one of resignation. "As far as we can tell, he didn't actually hack our computers. Everything he accessed reports that he had the password." The director scrutinized Tony. "There's only a handful of people who know the codes he used, and you're one of them."
"I didn't tell him any of SHIELD's codes," Tony refuted. "I mean, I would if he had asked, but he had no need of them…" He trailed off as he realized that while Loki didn't have access to SHIELD directly, he happened to have complete access to Jarvis, and none of the files were encrypted. The man shoved his chair back and frantically patted down his pockets, much to the confusion of the other people in the room. But after turning all of his pockets inside out, Tony still couldn't find anything. "Rhodey, give me your phone," he demanded, stretching his hand out across the table. When his friend didn't move fast enough, staring at him in concern, Tony waggled his fingers impatiently. "Hurry up, man. This is important."
At last Rhodes pulled out his phone and slid it across the table, and with shaking fingers, Tony dialed Jarvis. The AI responded promptly. "How may I assist you, sir?"
"Jarvis, has Loki been to either the house or Stark Tower since he was captured?" he asked, and comprehension dawned in his audience.
"I have not seen Loki in the past twenty hours. If I had, I would have reported it to you immediately, sir."
"I'm not trying to insult you, Jarv, but Loki has fooled your sensors before." Tony drummed his fingers against the back of the phone. "I need you to check everything: back logs, security footage, external servers. There should be something indicating that he's viewed the SHIELD files."
This time it took longer for the AI to reply, and as Jarvis searched for signs of a data breach, Fury said, "If Loki is compromised, we need to assume that everything he knows our enemy knows as well. How much have you told him?"
Tony rubbed the bridge of his nose and admitted, "Pretty much everything." At Fury's patronizing scowl, he defended, "I wasn't expecting it to be a problem, alright? He's our ally and a strategist. You said so yourself that I could tell him as much as I had to. How was I supposed to know he'd get brain-snatched?"
When the director didn't seem inclined to shift the blame, Romanov spoke up in Tony's defense. "Stark is right. Nothing he did was outside of the protocols SHIELD has established. No one suspected that Loki could be compromised, and we cannot undo that oversight. What we need to focus on now is counteracting his actions and preventing future attacks."
"Sir, I believe I have found what you are looking for," Jarvis said suddenly, sounding abnormally concerned. "I am forwarding the footage to your phone now." Tony glanced down as a blurry image filled the screen, and his knuckles went white.
There was Loki, blue-eyed and armored, standing in the lab at at Malibu. He was tracing runes along the walls with one hand and holding a bowl of paint—the same one that Tony had knocked over earlier—with the other. The bladed staff rested on a nearby table, never more than a few feet from the god. Then Jarvis fast-forwarded to when the spell Loki was crafting had finished, and holographic screens sprung up around the room, each one offering critical data to the god.
Tony's mouth felt dry, and he asked with a strained voice, "Jarvis, when was this taken? What camera is this?"
"This footage was uploaded from external camera TS13A." It took a moment for Tony to place why that particular sequence felt so familiar, and when it did, he clutched the phone even tighter. Dum-E.
"When?" Tony demanded.
"Approximately eight hours ago, sir."
"Damn it," Tony whispered, his fingers slackening as his eyes screwed shut. Eight hours: that was just before Tony had arrived in Malibu. He had been so close to Loki. If only he had gone there first, if only he hadn't spent so much time searching for the god in Texas. He could have gotten to Loki before he reached the Helicarrier. And yet... what would Tony have done, confronted with this mockery of his friend? Could he have made a difference? Or would Loki have turned on him, too?
"Sir... while I have extensively searched the surveillance cameras from this time frame, I could not find anything showing either Loki or Dum-E in this location. My data is inaccurate."
"You didn't see anything?" Tony had a hard time accepting the fact that the AI could be so easily bypassed, Loki or not. "Not even a glow?"
"I'm sorry, sir, but there is nothing else I can find."
"Damn it," Tony repeated, and were it not for the five eyes locked on him, he would have chucked the phone across the room. It wasn't supposed to happen this way. But he restrained himself, and it was with great reluctance that he ordered, "Jarvis, I need you to treat this like a code red security breach. Encode everything and lock it down. No one but me is allowed into your database unless they have the override, and restrict server access to the Iron Man suits only."
"Yes, sir."
Tony hated that he had to isolate the AI, but it was their only choice; they could not let their enemy have unrestricted access to their every plan. The phone disconnected, beeping plaintively at Tony until he turned it off and passed the now useless device back to Rhodey. Turning to Fury, Tony said, "I assume you've already tightened the security of SHIELD's network."
The director folded his hands and set them heavily on the table, his mouth fixed in a permanent frown. "We managed to get the system back online an hour ago and changed the codes, but it's impossible for us to completely shut it down. But that isn't the main problem. Our concern now is the information that Loki already has. The location of the Tesseract was kept in a subserver to protect it from potential hacks, but even without the exact complex, Loki has enough information to hunt it down. At the speed he travels, we don't have much time before he narrows down his options, and that's if he doesn't make a lucky guess first."
"Why don't you just relocate the Tesseract?" Tony asked. "It can't be that hard to move a tiny box."
"Do you think I'm an idiot, Stark?" Fury snapped. "We don't have that option. Due to the Tesseract's radioactive nature, we can not keep it docile without the proper equipment. If it reacts, it could create an explosion rivaling that of a hydrogen bomb."
Tony's mouth formed an 'o' and he winced, beginning to understand just how much of a disadvantage they were at. "Then what are you going to do? We can't let Thanos get his hands on that much power."
"Our only substantive plan at the moment is to station agents at each applicable facility. He's bound to show up at one of them, and we'll catch him when he does."
That made Tony perk up. "I'll go too. Maybe I can talk some sense into him and get him to return to normal."
Fury didn't even pause to consider his input. "You're staying here, Stark."
"What? Why?" Tony demanded belligerently, smacking one hand against the table. "Not only is my suit superior to your agents, but I understand Loki better than you ever will. I can talk to him. Help him. I have to go-"
"You will stay here," Fury repeated, finally raising his voice to a shout.
"You can't-" Tony protested, but this time he was cut off instantly.
"I can and I will. In case you haven't noticed, there is an army of aliens waiting to attack Earth. You have to be ready at a moment's notice."
"And what about Loki's part in this? Are you just going to ignore all the work he has done? We need him." ' I need him.'
"And if we spend all of our time capturing him only to find that we can't undo whatever that alien did to him? What do you intend to do then?" Fury asked acerbically. "There isn't any leeway to make mistakes just because you refuse to accept what's happening right before your eyes. You will do whatever you can to continue the work Loki was doing, and General Rhodes will assist in managing your spacecrafts."
Again Tony felt the keen sting of abandonment, like he was the only one left that actually cared about what happened to Loki. Of course he wanted to win this war, but victory wouldn't be the same without the god by his side. Across the table, Romanov met his eyes, and Tony felt like she was reading his mind when she said, "Tony, we're going to do the best we can to get Loki back, but this is beyond the two of you. Throwing away everything now would just be playing into the enemy's hands. Do your job, and we'll do ours."
It went against Tony's every desire to back down, and yet Romanov's point couldn't be ignored: the more time they spent debilitating over the issue, the less time they would have to fight back against Thanos—and that included their efforts to rescue Loki. So even though it felt wrong, he conceded, but not without one final stipulation. "If the situation gets worse, you have to let me help. I don't care what else is going on. You know as well as I do that we can't win this war without him."
"I'll make that call if the situation calls for it," Fury said, which was as much of an agreement as Tony was going to get. "But for now, you and General Rhodes have work to do." Rhodey nodded, signaling that Tony's chance to argue had come to an end, and the director turned to Romanov. "Gather everyone who's not busy and get them into position. The Tesseract must be protected at all costs."
"Yes, sir." Romanov rose swiftly from her chair, and as Tony watched the assassin depart from the room, he already rued his decision to not join her. The curt nod Romanov gave him before turning into the hall was only a negligible comfort, and then she was gone, leaving Tony trapped in the Helicarrier.
The next few hours were spent in terse debate as Fury, Tony, and Rhodey futilely tried to adjust their plans to accommodate any knowledge Loki may have leaked. In between devising new plans—only to realize they too weren't viable—SHIELD agents kept them updated with a steady stream of information on Loki.
The god had appeared in the San Diego complex: one dead, and Loki teleported away before he could be apprehended. Half an hour later, he appeared in the Washington complex: four dead, and he teleported away. Eighteen minutes, and he appeared in the New Mexico complex: six dead, half the complex destroyed, and once again Loki escaped their hold. On and on it went, like a game of Battleship but with far greater consequences. Loki continued to guess where the Tesseract was located, and each time he made a move, an agent would call out his position. Even though the god had yet to sink their ship, both Tony and Fury became increasingly anxious. Nothing SHIELD tried stopped the god's advance, and the spaces left to choose from were quickly diminishing. All they managed to do was rack up the casualties, and Tony was finding it difficult to focus when he knew that a shade of Loki was out there wreaking havoc and killing their comrades.
The tipping point came in the form of a distressed agent who rushed into the meeting room, shouting as if the world was ending. "Sir, we've lost all communications with our Pennsylvania complex!" For a moment, Tony thought that that had to be the facility with the Tesseract—why else would this attack be any different than the rest?—but when he glanced over at Fury, the director didn't seem worried enough for that to be the case.
However, just because he wasn't 'worried enough' didn't mean that the director was unfazed by the news; his mouth was in a tense line, his brow was furrowed, and he demanded, "Have you also lost contact with Agent Romanov?"
"That's part of the problem, sir," the agent said hurriedly. "We only have a blurry shot from the surveillance before it went offline, but it appears she's been compromised." There was a clatter as both Tony and Fury shoved upwards from their chairs, and Rhodes looked between them in surprise.
"'Compromised'?" Tony parroted. "You mean like what happened to Loki?"
The agent nodded sharply, and Fury barked, "Show me," as they swept towards the exit. Outside of the secluded room, the state of emergency became obvious; the halls were swamped with agents that raced back and forth, and the crowd only got thicker as they approached the bridge. It sounded as if everyone was shouting and snapping at one another, nearly drowning out garbled audio.
And yet, no matter how much interference there was, when the distorted voice carried over to Tony, he had no doubt it belonged to Loki: "I knew I'd come across one of you eventually." The man sped up and turned the corner with his heart in his throat, eyes immediately drawn to the splotchy image of the god playing across every screen in the room.
Mesmerized by the scene unfolding before him, Tony slowed to a halt. There was another figure with Loki, and though there was a spear pointed at her heart, Romanov's aim did not waver. The barrel of her gun stared into Loki's eye, and her fingers clutched the trigger. In an instant, she could have put ten grams of metal into the god's skull, and while Loki was durable, Tony didn't know if he was that durable. Who knew—maybe that was what it took to kill a god.
Romanov did not shoot. She had every chance to as her defiant eyes locked with Loki's vivid ones, but she hesitated. That was the opening Loki needed. He grinned savagely, and there was no hint of remorse as he rested the tip of the spear against her sternum, letting its magic creep into her veins. Green eyes mutated into twins of the god's, and the gun that pointed at Loki's face moved, aiming up at the security camera. The bullet was fired, and the screen went dark, taking with it the sound of alarmed cries.
Then the clip looped back to the beginning. Unsuspecting agents stood guard in between glistening state-of-the-art machines, guns clasped loosely in their hands. But within seconds, the scene abruptly changed; coruscating lights spread across the ceiling, and a god, with twisted horns and an apathetic visage, dropped to the ground. By the time the agents had reacted, pointing their guns at the intruder in their midst, an agent laid unconscious—maybe dead—on the floor at Loki's feet.
The god rose to his full height, seeming to tower over the people around him, and even the usually silly head tilt he did failed to diminish Loki's aura of danger. "So it isn't here, either," the god said almost to himself, eyes roving the ranks of agents and the facility behind them.
Natasha stepped forwards, drawing Loki's attention to her. "Loki, put the spear down." She kept her gun pointed at the floor, but whatever had been done to Loki obliterated his bonds, and words had no effect on him. He approached her with measured steps, taking advantage of their caution. "Loki, put the weapon down," Natasha repeated, the barest hint of tension in her voice. "We are not your enemies. We can help you. But you need to stop."
Loki did not stop, and in choosing not to shoot, Romanov doomed herself; Loki raised the spear to her heart.
"I knew I'd come across one of you eventually…"
"Damn it," Fury hissed, storming into the center of the bridge and parting the throng of agents. Amidst the wreckage of his platform, he bellowed out orders. "I want a squadron down there now! Notify each team we have on the field! If they have a chance to fire, they damn well need to!"
"You can't do that," Tony said, struggling to be heard over the din. He ascended the dented steps towards the director, and when Fury fixed him with an intense stare, he repeated, "He's our ally. You can't attack him."
"Ally or not Stark, he's killed thirty-two agents in less than a day. We can't afford to let this continue." Fury turned away, as if Tony would just accept his decision. "Has Loki resurfaced since the attack?"
"No, sir," an agent to their right answered immediately, her hands moving quickly as she shuffled through the data crossing her screen. "Though it's too soon to say he won't. The average time between sightings is twenty-six minutes. It has only been twelve."
When Fury made to ask another question, Tony snapped, "Hey, I'm not done talking to you. You can not give your agents free reign to try and kill Loki."
"Then what would you have me to do Stark?" Fury asked harshly. "In case you haven't noticed, there's an entire army of aliens waiting out there to kill us, and they happen to have control over one of the most dangerous individuals on Earth. If Loki continues to attack us—if he tells the enemy our plans—Earth is screwed. I don't like making these calls anymore than you like hearing them, but right now, I don't have a choice. Seven billion lives are at stake."
"And what about the agents Loki will kill before someone gets a lucky shot in?" Tony shot back, crafting his words to bring their audience onto his side. "Do you really think it's as easy as just throwing people at him until something gives? You're accomplishing nothing. Let me go."
"What makes you think you'll have a better chance at stopping him than one of my most skilled agents? You don't have the nerve to fight him."
"But I know how he fights," Tony said, trying to project more certainty than he felt, "and I have a set of armor designed to withstand magic. If it came down to it, I could stop him long enough to give us more options than just shoot to kill." Though if things went the way Tony hoped they would, fighting wouldn't be necessary. Loki—the real Loki, and not this monster walking around in his skin—had to be in there somewhere. Tony intended to bring him back to the surface.
"Even if you can stop him, how do you expect to find him? He's attacking our locations at random."
"I'll lure him out. Make a fake report saying you've moved the Tesseract, and I'll wait for him there."
"You think he'd be stupid enough to fall for that?" Fury asked dubiously, but Tony knew that in questioning him, the director was actually taking his harebrained plan into consideration.
"I think he'd be confident enough to fall for it. Brainwashed or not, he's acting similar to how he normally does. He'd know it was a trap, but if he thinks he'll have the upper hand and may find something… then he'd go."
There was a moment of silence as the director thought about Tony's proposition, and then he said, "Stark, we are on the verge of intergalactic war. You better be sure that you can get Loki back on our side without getting the both of you killed."
"This is our only choice," Tony stated so he didn't have to make a promise he wasn't sure he could keep. But of his claim he was certain. "With his magic, we'd be hard pressed to contain him, and we can't let him run amok like this. If we don't stop him now…"
Fury sighed, but at last he gave in. "You have one try, Stark. That is all we can afford."
"Don't worry," Tony said. "I won't fail."