Tony and the Press Conference
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Tony booked it from the Quinjet as if paparazzi invaded it.
'Don't look back, don't look back, it's like an explosion, like the Jericho. You aren't cool if you look back.' Tony strode his way down the roof access. Except, that man he just practically ran from in the Quinjet wasn't a weapon like his Jericho.
He wasn't just a weapon, but he couldn't be anymore than just a fling.
A ripping, tearing sensation shredded Tony's lungs. He left him alone, his ears flattened down. He told him he wasn't anything to him.
And that was true, because it had to be.
"Cerberus and Sirius are good, Stark, for a mortal." Loki circled the lab table with a lazy grace. His arrogance level reached Defcon level two.
"I know you're impressed, you can admit freely. Jarvis probably won't record you saying it. Jarvis?" Tony rolled back, looking at the handsome God who regarded them all as idiots. Which, of course he wasn't. He didn't manage to fall through a pothole in Asgard and get a invasion started via the sewer of the universe.
"Probability of picking up Sir Loki's—" Tony stopped him. Loki's eyes glinted green, rolling them up to the speaker system.
"Did you just call him Sir Loki? No. Reclassify him as Horns like we had earlier." Tony would let the prissy Demon Lord keep his 'Lord' status, but he was not going to have someone else in his tower called 'sir' just because of his daddy issues with his last name.
"Yes Sir, the probability of picking up Sir Horns…" Jarvis started again. And Tony silenced him. Loki's ego was too big for his liking already. Loki already had explained, with no shortage attitude, where the rest of Thanos' fleet was.
As if he didn't know proxima centauri's location and how many light years away it was.
Why did he let him down here again?
"Yeaahh…So, Horns, all we have to do is load the canisters into the probes that SHIELD had in testing which I, uh, improved. They should have just come to me in the first place for because a monkey with an erector set could have done better. I mean, really, they have me, genius billionaire, funding SHIELD and they didn't use me for your space program?" Tony began to ramble. Loki made him uneasy. He needed another scotch for the Demi-deer prancing about his lab, thankfully not touching anything, but still.
Everything about Loki screamed he was up to something.
"The plan before we figured out someone in SHIELD is a secret admirer of Thanos, was coordinate with the helicarriers. Now I have to call in some favors from some old launch sites I used to sell rockets to. Once these probes are launched and reach get the altitude of GPS satellites, about 20,000 kilometers, boom: Early Warning Line for most of the globe." Tony leaned back and took a huge bite out of his pastrami sandwich, which he washed down with a scotch on the rocks.
No way he was going to have Mexican right before the activities he planned on having with the hot as hell Demon Lord. Even if he didn't plan on catching.
"Yes, it is unfortunate about the spies…though I am sure Miss Romanoff and Clint will root them out. I can hardly do so without Director Fury accusing me of 'not behaving'. Though you do realize that only Sho and Jaken can feel the alert from the proximity barrier? Yes?" Loki's eyebrows furrowed, looking at the hologram of the small, spherical canisters and the space probe system named D.E.M.O.N.S. 'Distant Extraterrestrial Military Orbital Neural Signal.' Tony's eyes lit up in victory and he managed to not give away the shit eating grin he wanted to wear.
He put down his sandwich and pulled up the Tower's Arc Reactor.
"Ehhhh. Wrong. Your better half, really, much better, he settled for you, has been harmonizing his youki with the tower's arc reactor." Tony cockily raised one eyebrow, shoving it down Loki's throat he knew something about Sailor Moon's youki he didn't. Soon, he would figure out a lot more about him.
"The arc reactor's energy output has risen by eleven percent. That's because of the uh….well, positive ionized nature of his youki, along with the long wave length of it acts...well I'm not getting into it. The tower, can now be a relay for well, any threat and instantly communicate with it as long as it falls within the barrier." Tony flexed out his fingers, showing the energy output levels of the reactor on a hologram.
It flabbergasted Tony. He thought he had perfected the arc reactor, that it couldn't get any more efficient without becoming unstable, but here Sailor Moon was doing it…just by strutting that perky ass around his tower.
"… Most unexpected. What of your own reactor?" Loki's eyes narrowed and Tony had really hoped that Loki wouldn't be that perceptive. So much for that dumb idea.
"…Same principle applies. I think the feeling I got when the spaceship crashed the party early was the proximity barrier alerting me." Tony didn't miss Loki's mouth split into a smirk. "Spill Rudolph, why are you down here? You haven't cared about what I've been working on, but now all of the sudden you do? I don't buy it." Tony's voice got low and he took another bite of his sandwich for effect.
"The dragon spirit, Ryukostusei, poses a serious problem." Loki paused, which struck Tony as odd because he usually knew what he was going to say next. "Pure demonic spirits cannot be killed by this dimension's weaponry, nor my magic. And they can't be seen by mortals nor Aesir." Loki finished and Tony rolled his eyes. Yeah, no kidding this thing is a problem, he can literally see ghosts now.
"Well, I saw it, and heard it. Oh yeah, I see ghosts now. Sailor Moon ghostbustered it with his physics defying sword, N*sync. You helped make the thing, I was actually hoping you could tell me how it can cleave thour—" Loki was on him in a second, which made Tony push back from his desk, startled. He took his scotch with him.
"Splendid. So, you will be useful to me." Loki's voice lit up and attempted to hand Tony a bottle.
"I don't like being handed things, and I don't like your tone. You are useful to us, not the other way around. Didn't you listen to Admrial Rocky road?" Tony frowned, face shadowed and took a sip of his scotch. Loki simply huffed, but it rang false, his fingers fidgeted like he was a lot more pissed off than he was letting on.
"Is that how you see Sesshomaru as well? As someone who is simply of use?" Loki snapped. Now that jettisoned Tony to a new level of pissed, possibly the same level of Loki.
"Burn in hell." Tony slammed his scotch glass on the lab table, nearly cracking it. Scotch splashed onto the table causing Loki to back up.
"Who was it who abducted him and his family and brought him here? Oh, that's right, you did, so he could clean up your mess! You used him. You want to know who else is going to use him? It's going to be Fury. Fuck, Steve already has! Not me. I told him to not go after the spaceship solo. So, no, you are useful to us because you owe the Avengers, and Sesshomaru to be useful. He doesn't owe us a damn thing." Tony grilled into Loki's eyes like a particle laser. His blood pressure had skyrocketed. Pursed his lips together and fought the urge to take the socket wrench to his left and knock some teeth out of that coy mouth of his. The fucking nerve of this guy.
Loki frowned his hard mouth then sighed.
"I am aware Stark, you made your point. See to it that you don't." Loki's magic flooded his eyes black for a second which was why Tony paused in calling out his thinly veiled threat. "Now, onto business. That vial contains the poison I enhanced my dagger with when I clipped Sho in the shoulder with it. It's quite potent, yet most effective against Demons." Loki changed subject fluidly and Tony eyed the vial suspiciously.
"Ookay…why would I want a poison that could seriously hur…oh. The Demon ghosts? You think it will work on them?" Tony held the vial up to the light. It was a noxious pink color.
"Perhaps. I've never had to banish demonic spirits before. The poison may taint the demonic spirits enough to render them vulnerable to this dimension's sight and defenses. There will be more of them Stark. We cannot leave it to Sho to slay them alo—" Loki was cut off by Jarvis sounding an alarm.
"Sir, fire in the main training room, should I prepare Dum-e?" Tony wordlessly brought up the feed from the training room and Loki chuckled.
"No, how did the gremlin get a flamethrower… is that his creepy staff? What are they doing?" Tony exclaimed, literally scratching his head as Jaken put out the fire. Maybe he should use Frogger for fire duty.
Sailor Moon was talking freely about his dad…to Clint? They were that close? His dad wanted him to be what?! Perfect? He knew how that felt. Thanks Howard.
"Clint is teaching Sho how to use a bow and arrow. See for yourself Stark." Loki wryly smirked and gestured to Clint who shaded Sesshomaru, moving his hips, with his hands? He just brushed his probably not clean hands down his arms.
He did not just grab his wrist then murmur in his ear.
Tony lost his appetite.
"It's a wonder what asking, and pressing, for the right questions does Stark." Loki examined his nails. Tony wanted to put him through a wall.
"I have no idea what you're talking about. Don't you have something useful to do? Like leave me alone? I got what I wanted." Tony bit back at the fake-nonchalant Demigod before him, pointing to the poison. Loki's eyes rolled to him like ice in a glass.
"Not yet. You want Sho. You want him so bad it burns you, doesn't it? You want him to stay, but Stark, how much do you really know about him? Or is it… that you're afraid, too cowardly to ask and get that close?" Loki flashed his teeth wickedly, but Tony saw his green magic spike and his nose scrunch. He was obviously jealous of Clint getting too close to the 'Sesshoki' bromance.
So, Loki wanted to dance to this tune?
"You know, projecting your own emotions for him on me isn't going to fix your issues. Oh, and you might want to get that 'burning' sensation checked out. It may have something to do with your earlier 'performance issues'. Hint, it's never a UTI." Tony took a generous swig of his drink right as Sesshomaru hit the target.
He wanted to rip the bow from his hands and plunder him senseless, in front of Clint if need be. He wanted his hands all over him, sweeping his satin skin, gripping his hard muscles, and scratching over his stripes.
"Ha! You know Stark, your games would be a lot more fun to observe if your partner knew he was playing one." Loki sneered and Tony balked.
"Oh, he knows the rules, just look at hi—" Fuck he fell for Loki's trap.
"For a self-proclaimed genius, Stark, your delusions render you slower than Volstagg." Loki shook his head and he swore the frown on Loki's face wasn't in pure disdain. He almost looked like Steve when he saw a WWII documentary, but before Tony could call him out on it he vanished.
'Loki was just projecting. Who cares that Sailor Moon is bonding with Clint? That they share family secrets and he lets him touch him. If I care at all, which, I don't, it's only due to the rising youki in my arc react—Clint. Did. Not. Just. Make. A. Virginity. Joke. A bad one at that. And Sesshomaru is letting it slide? Game on.' Tony didn't even realize he had stormed out of his lab until he caught the gaze of Thor deep in the middle of story time.
He reached the door of the training room to have the air plundered from his fiery lungs. Suddenly, the fire snuffed out to a sour, chalky powder that dried out his mouth.
His gorgeous Demon Lord…his pissy, prissy, aloof, boy-toy was bent over in laughter, silver hair shimmying everywhere.
Not a chuckle, not some snicker, full blown laughter. His laugh alone could sell cologne. It could stop a f-18 Hornet, it could solve terrorism, and prove the theory of dark matter.
And he didn't cause it. Clint 'not-funny-on-a-good-day' Barton did.
Game over.
He planned it perfectly. He made sure to meet Sailor Moon on the helipad, no beds. No awkward waking up to a Demon Lord beside him, with his hair in his mouth and him hogging the pillows or even that fur thing. He even remembered the lube stashed extra clothes in the jet in case Sailor Moon found him so irresistible he tore the clothes off him, which he did.
Tony loved being right. He did. Really. Even about this. Yup.
'Operation: Hit It and 'Sho'get it' started off without a hitch. Casual, mind-altering sex with a potentially dangerous individual encapsulated everything Tony wanted in his sex life.
Except it also, at the same time, wasn't.
When Sailor Moon came back from his adventures with Lucky Charms, his blood simmered. Anger swelled in his ears and before he knew it he was laying into him. He didn't even remember what he said exactly, except he wanted a clear explanation of what his Demon Lord was up to with Clint.
It pissed him off that he was pissed off. He shouldn't be. Sailor Moon was only to exist as another notch in Tony Stark's bedpost. He shouldn't be anyone that he could possibly be possessive over!
And like Clint, 'I didn't even graduate from high school because I joined the circus because who seriously does that' Barton stood a real chance against Tony 'genius, savant, philanthropist, sex-god' Stark.
Then Sesshomaru dropped a bomb on him. Tony knew bombs.
`Do my actions not convince you that seriously desire you?' His arc reactor amped up as if he shot up anabolic steroids. His pulse raced. The valves on his heart couldn't keep up.
His Demon Lord wanted him back. His fangs raking down his throat, tongue plunging in his mouth more than proved it. Sesshomaru openly admitted he wanted to bone him. The first thought through his head should have been a loud 'Game, set, match. Tony wins'. Instead a quiet happiness rippled through his frontal cortex as the phrase: 'Thank Tesla's ghost'.
Operation: 'hit it and Shoget it' had officially hit the first of many snags.
First snag: Instead of feeling a head rush power trip of winning their game, his head cleared with relief with a slice of anxiety. He could have any pair of legs in New York, and Sesshomaru probably could as well, but they chose each other. Weird and startling.
The second snag: Sesshomaru skyrocketed him into an entirely new echelon of sex. Not even with Pepper, whose relationship he mangled and torpedoed, did his mind contort into such sublime highs and his body rush into pleasure hungering lows.
Tony's body hummed in response to being treated like a temple, his toes may have just stay curled if he didn't force them into shoes. Everything about the Demon Lord rumbled with energy about to spark and explode. For him.
Nothing, not dementia itself, could erase Sesshomaru's angled face, eyebrows slanted, eyes closed, and mouth slacked as a collapsed oval in the throes of a passion unbridled from Tony's mind.
Tony roughly held his sharp, pointed chin like he would a new invention. He examined the man he was currently straddling. His lips were parted, full, and bruised. His bangs messily criss-crossed across his blue moon and his pupils dilated in lust.
What happened next made Tony almost go into full cardiac arrest. He couldn't believe knew his heart couldn't possibly be beating this erratically over something as simple as this.
His gold eyes, amber in lust, softened in vulnerability.
He had to confirm that he wanted to own him. He had to mar him. It's why he had to bite him, had to leave his mark. Flaw him permanently, show everyone he belonged to him.
He had to prove that perfection didn't exist, and even if it did it would be boring as hell. Entropy, disorder, chaos, Tony couldn't get enough and Sesshomaru had it in spades. His father demanding stagnant, predictable perfection from such a dynamic, feral, predator was a joke.
Though, he seriously wouldn't be down for Tony had in mind. He wouldn't trust him with doing all the terrible things running through his mind because he knew Sesshomaru had to have read it with him staring at him like that.
'Prove it, Stark.' But Sesshomaru was down. He did trust him. He made zero sense. He existed as a total contradiction, calm on the outside, chaos on the inside. A human eater capable of terror on a genocidal scale yet adopted a human girl and a worthless toad sidekick. And then this: crazy dominant one moment and pleading to be taken the next.
Tony nearly came early when he heard Sesshomaru moan when he licked the Demon's own bloody lip and crushed him down with another kiss. He had to be inside and all over him at the same time. So, he made the impulsive decision to give him the Tony Stark 'blow-profession'. Because Tony Stark didn't do 'jobs' Tony was a pro.
Tony threw him on his back with his lips parted in surprise, eyes molten in lust, his hair fanned across floor of the jet like a photo shoot. His entire body and mind open to him, and it drove Stark to a thirst for dominance he didn't know what do to with.
No one as powerful as Sailor Moon, who could knock a spaceship out of the sky with a point of a sword, should look at him that way. Like Tony wielded the power to wish him out of existence. Like he had the power to dissolve him with a swirl of a tongue. It scared him, who did this Demon think Tony Stark was?
Again, he thought this whole thing would be a less intimate and a lot more macho.
It's why when he noticed Sesshomaru tremble when he was plowing Tony good and deep that he pulled out a move he hadn't used in a while. Tony threw him to the floor and let him have it. He didn't hold back and by the Demon Lord's reaction he wanted to be fucked and hard. He actually barked and whimpered! If Sailor Moon was up for being submissive; Tony Stark could show him how it's done.
Though he got points for creativity for turning the tables on him with his youki and shoving him against the wall. It remained one of the few times Tony didn't mind being shown who was boss. After all he didn't own the Quinjet, so if the Demon Lord wanted to dominate him there, more power (please) to him.
But the sex went beyond dominant and submissive.
Tony knew whatever they shared wasn't just sex to the Demon Lord. He doubted that the stoic Demon let just anyone see him like that. At least Tony liked to think so. It was the first time that Tony had ever let anyone hear the noises he garbled out, or see him be so far out of his mind but wholly present at the same time.
It was also, of course the first time he had ever trusted anyone take him. He always topped…until him. He literally let him in.
And he had not expected to love being the person he let in, to see his usual pristine self, disheveled in rare desire. Tony was overwhelmed by curve of his swollen, abused lips, his flushed, smooth cheeks and his wild, yellow eyes after he made Tony orgasm. Sesshomaru acted like he just achieved a new level of greatness by making him cum. It took him aback.
Tony never felt taken aback.
In response, he pressed his sweaty forehead on his and let his nose touch his. Tony meant it as admission that the smile was too damn much. Which, looking back, was like the least badass, manly, thing he may have ever done.
But he didn't care, even though he should have. Maybe he didn't have to put on that strong front in front of Sesshomaru. Even when he was with Pepper, he always felt like he had to have the reins.
Only when he leaned back noticing noticed the primal recklessness of the guy whose dick he was currently riding did it click. Sesshomaru trusted him with his raw, torn apart, crimson eyed, jagged striped, tangled hair, exposed wreck of a guy. In return, he trusted him with the crumpled, 'jewel' powered inventor who sometimes just wanted to curl up and not stand on his own two feet. Sometimes.
The third snag in 'Operation: hit it and sho get it' happened when he half-lay, half-collapsed on his chest. He didn't want to get up. He was deliriously ok doing something he did only really once with Pepper: cuddle.
For the first time in a long damn time, Tony's mind fuzzed and blanked out in silence. It hadn't done that since before Afghanistan. He didn't have any buzzing, intrusive thoughts. His mind didn't compulsively whir with thoughts of the toxins, the spies, the end of the world, his responsibilities.
Their sex dismantled him down to spare parts. Sesshomaru successfully shut him down. No, more like he let himself unspool like copper wire and let his boneless mass conduct his buzzing body heat.
Tony reached the solace of his empty, cool, dark bedroom. He imagined what it would be like to wake up finding silver hair on his pillow and a striped body next to him before he knew what he was doing. Tony ran a hand down his face. His arc reactor wasn't lighting up the room like it did inside the Quinjet when it combined with Sailor Moon's youki.
Tony's pulse still raced, fearing that exterminating this crawling, invasive possessiveness of his…the ethereal Demon Lord would be hopeless. He ran into his shower turning it on its coldest setting, hard as a post again, he hadn't recovered this fast since college.
Everything the Demon Lord did turned him on, watching him sword fight Loki, blasting aliens out of the sky, him standing there not saying a word to Fury, him explaining his strategies. That. Smile.
Fuck, that laugh! One day he'd make him laugh just like that. No better. No. he wouldn't. Because that didn't matter. You didn't have to laugh during sex.
'I can't let this happen. This is all going to be played by the 'Tony Stark's rulebook of how to get laid and avoid emotional entanglements.' Hell, if it didn't work with Pepper, how could it possibly work with a Demon Lord from the samurai era of Japan?' Tony stepped under the cold water, cringing and cursing.
He hadn't expected Sesshomaru to be so direct in asking that they continue. After that suddenly his world came crashing back down, just like falling back through the void of space. He needed a drink, or a shower, or something, or to get out of the Quinjet like now. Like yesterday. Fuck. Faster, out, away. Now.
For such a brilliant strategist, for someone who could apparently scrynado the future, he certainly had a blind spot for this time-bomb.
'It's why, when he was next to me, head propped up on his hand, like a damn siren in the blue light I had to sit up. I couldn't cave to the urge to reach and grab his sharp jaw in for another head rush. It's why I didn't stay next to him and ask him stupid questions like if he even knew where or what proxima centauri was. Or why was his father such a dick? Where was his mother? Why does only ever wear red and white and love those stupid aviators so much? Or even why Nirvana of all bands?! I don't do pillow talk, especially when there is no pillow. Especially after sex like that. The only reason I'm probably walking straight was the youki he gave me. Which was better than any drug and sent sensations down to my little iron man I didn't know could actually happen.' Tony stood under the water, skin prickling in little bumps, finally soft again he turned off the water and toweled off. A sharp kick of a cramp built up in his chest, the truth.
After the invasion, he would go back to the Feudal Era of Japan. He would abandon him.
Sesshomaru handed him time-bomb and rather waiting to see when it would explode on him, he just sped up the timer and threw it back.
'I had to leave him like that. I had to get out of there. I had to show him who held all the cards, whose name is on the side of this tower. I had to ignore the way his ears sunk and not immediately rush over to bite one, forcing it lift back up again and telling him in no way was he like one of Loki's magic tricks.' Tony stared at his reflection in the mirror, partially obscured as always by the blue of his arc reactor. He turned from his own face, going into the bedroom.
'I had to push him down before he could trip me up. I can't give me up for some stupid fantasy that he will stick around. If it's too good to be true, it always is. I'm Tony Stark, billionaire, genius, playboy, philanthropist and Iron Man, and I am going to stay that way.' Tony dry swallowed an Ambien and fell into bed, mentally, emotionally, and physically exhausted.
He ignored the raking urge to ask Jarvis where Sailor Moon was. Or what he was doing, if he took a cold shower too because got hard immediately after as well. Tony slowly fell into a light sleep, knowing tomorrow he would feel one hundred percent better.
And when morning came, he slept in until he felt one hundred percent better. Which meant Pepper came in and forced him out bed, placing a mug of good coffee on the bedside table next to the damaged alarm clock.
Tony sipped the black coffee that Pepper probably had someone ground and french pressed, eagerly. She knew he wasn't looking forward to Lalapalooza that was about to start on his front terrace.
Pepper and Fury said they had to get in front of 'this invasion and Sesshoki thing.' And what better way than to host a news conference with SHIELD, the Avengers, and the two guests of honor: Sailor Moon and Bambi. He had no idea how Steve, Rhodey, and Pepper managed to rope him into this dumb idea.
If the other night was crabpocalypse, this was Sesshokalypse. There was no scenario where this was not going to end in an absolute disaster.
Tony dressed in his other battle suit: a nice Tom Ford number, charcoal grey three piece, good silk. Definitely not like the red and gold silk outfit he had still hanging in his closet. He never got a straight answer out of Sailor Moon about that Jason idiot either. Not that it mattered. Sailor Moon could go around and kiss anyone who he wanted.
He ignored his blood heating up at the thought as he walked out into the chaos that was now Stark Tower, eminent battle arena, the thunderdome. Everyone was probably in a frenzy. It wouldn't surprise Tony if Thor had blown up his blender or Loki had another tantrum at who the hell knows, or Steve wrung his hands over crowd control.
Instead, everyone lounged around relaxed.
This...surprised him. He took another greedy gulp of scalding coffee. Natasha and Clint were hanging out in the corner, dressed to blend in with the press, eating bagels. Bagels! Who could just eat a bagel at a time like this? Fury stood beside Natasha eating…a Mc Muffin? He went to Mickey D's before stopping by for what will be World War Three in front of his tower? Hill and Coulson, again both approachable as a minefield, were Fury's shadows. Coulson and Hill eyed Loki and Sailor Moon respectively.
Bruce and Steve, dressed in his 'bedclothes', lounged on the sofa, watching Steve's Yankees get throttled on mute. Point Break stood in his typical armor though he was joking about something involving scorpions sharing his beloved goddamn pop-tarts with Reindeer Games and Rin.
Wait. Sharing? Point Break and Reindeer Games? Since when did those two make up?
Toady was holding the N*sync and Backstreet boy swords listening to what he had to assume was AC/DC again and Pepper, facing him, held out a black tie to Sesshomaru whose back was towards him but that didn't matter.
Thoughts stilled in his head like an emp had shockwaved through his brain. His breath totally did not just hitch.
A white suit. What was this, Miami circa 2001? But, he had never seen anyone wear white so well. Those legs, that ass, that he now knew the exact curvature of behind that shield of silver hair. Those taut shoulders and…there. There it was. The smallest slice of a crimson slash on a delicate wrist peaking from the pristine white suitcoat. It had to be a Brioni suit. If it wasn't it should be, he'd buy him one for him.
The modern cut of the suit, skimmed flawlessly down obliques and hips he not only gripped but came on last night. The damn suit had to be tailored, probably by his own tailor.
Then he turned to face him. Damnit.
Crimson silk dress shirt, two buttons unbuttoned, Gucci? Tony had to force his eyes up from the creamy hollow of his throat to his completely healed lips. He knew Sailor Moon would heal himself, but it broke his ribcage open that he definitely had bruises and the Demon definitely didn't. His eyes traced the magenta stripes that somehow didn't clash with the crimson shirt.
They didn't clash only because he then realized that the stupid red shirt perfectly matched his stupid red eyelids that fluttered for him last night.
Placid, impassive, aloof, Sesshomaru's gold eyes flashed over to him like radar ping and just as quickly flit back to Pepper.
Sesshomaru completely opposed Loki who was dressed in a black suit and emerald dress shirt. Sesshomaru even had those stupid aviators on his head.
He and Loki both looked absurd, well separately they looked great, together not so much.
All Tony wanted to throw the sunglasses off his head, rip off that suit, and bend him over his workshop table and pull his silver hair and make him bark and whimper, and smile again. He stifled the urge and the warm tingle in his groin.
'Christ if this wasn't already doomed to fail it is now. They look like a soft-core porno version of Santa and an elf. Damn. Shouldn't have thought that. Not both of them together in a porno, wearing those suits. Think Fury in a dress and heels.' Tony's groin dampened down with the unintended image of Loki taking Sesshomaru from behind instead of him. Loki grinning and Sesshomaru's jaw slack. He shook the offensive image from his head physically.
"You should really wear a tie." Pepper held it out and Sesshomaru regarded it like he would a rattlesnake.
"..." Sesshomaru didn't say anything and looked stoic but Tony could tell he wasn't happy; his ears were down.
"He won't wear it Lady Potts. He likens it to the collars and leads that humans force upon dogs here on Midgard." Loki supplied, eating a pop tart, also not wearing a tie. Sesshoki solidarity alright. Tony pointed to the tie, then pointed to Sesshomaru adding them up. He didn't even think about what Sailor Moon thought about dogs here, but seriously couldn't he act normal for just once?!
"Oh. Ok fair. Tony you need to put one on." Pepper conceded, rare event. Tony looked down, he had forgotten his, well at least he had the suit on.
"Are you two even taking this seriously? We have a press conference in like twenty-five minutes and you look like a joke. I mean red and white and green and black?!" Tony glare of anger flowed through him as he first pointed to Sesshomaru then Loki. This meant a lot. They had a planet to convince of this invasion and that Loki was on their side.
Loki turned to Tony, eyes glinting in sport.
"Oh, I should don this instead?" and in an instant Loki had on his horned helmet and his typical Asgardian armor. Tony ran a hand down his face.
"No. That's the opposite of what I meant." Tony looked at Pepper appealing to her sense of propriety.
"..." In an instant the scorned fluffy pelt of Sesshomaru unfurled on his right shoulder, the cream of the pelt clashing slightly with the pristine white of the suit.
Tony noted how Sesshomaru looked to Loki and Loki smirked. Another surge of somewhat justified anger jolted through him. He was sticking his neck on the chopping block for team rocket and neither of them cared. All they cared about was their creepy friendship.
"Take that thing off. Can't you just be normal for once?!" Tony pointed at Sesshomaru and his low voice sunk the temperature in the room, everyone turning to him. Romanoff leaned back, crossing her arms defensively.
Poof!
The pelt then sat on Tony's shoulder and he reached his limit. He tried on vain to pry the coiled pelt off his shoulder.
"Damnit Sailor Moon. Get this stupid thing off. Does anyone have a lint roller? Apparently, I'm the only one who cares if today doesn't end in complete disaster." Tony tried using all his strength to remove the fur and at the last moment it dematerialized and Tony looked at Sesshomaru. His head tilted and ears lowered in an almost 'what's wrong?' expression for stoic Demon Lord.
"Tony this will be alright. I have stocked the press seats with people on our side. They will only ask Sesshomaru and Loki questions we have approved of and Natasha and Fury have briefed them in what to expect. They will only field three questions each. You're a little on edge, you should eat something." Pepper placated still holding out the tie she was trying to convince Sesshomaru to wear. Thor held up a pop tart to him.
Tony refused to grab the tie or the pop tart, maybe out of stubbornness or indignation, but he really did hate being handed things.
"There is no way this isn't going to end in complete catastrophe. No one is going to buy that Loki is actually on our side and once they hear Sailor Moon is his BFF they will turn on him. This is insanity and all of us are bending to them and they don't even care!" Tony blew up and slugged his coffee back and surprisingly it was Thor who turned, expression black as the coffee Tony currently drank.
"Man of Iron I must announce your reaction is most inaccurate. Son of Taisho and my brother would not take part in such a spectacle if they not think it serious. You must know how precarious this is for my brother, and how private Son of Taisho is. Does it matter truly which colors they don, Loki's preferred green or the Land of the West's red and white?" Thor sat down the took back pop tart. Loki, startled into magicking away his helm and armor, turned to him in awe. The rest also looked at him then turned to Tony.
"Fine. Whatever. Wear what you want; act how you want. I don't care." Tony grabbed the tie from a concerned Pepper. "Just know when this whole thing goes south I told you so." Tony avoided looking at Sesshomaru, and then avoided everyone as he bee lined to his safe haven, his workshop. Not even Tony knew why he was this angry. Something inside him just snapped. Everyone was supposed to be panicking, nervous, on edge! And here everyone was just sitting in his tower like it was another day at the office.
No one had to live with being both an Avenger and a public figure. No one else had their life, their welfare on the line. He funded most of SHIELD. He dealt with the press, the mess. And Loki and Sesshomaru looked completely ridiculous. Like nothing about any of this mattered to them as long as their bromance remained.
Upon Natasha's request, they created cartridges for Cerberus: the organic toxin, Sirius: the inorganic toxin, and Blitzen: Loki's poison. Bruce did most of the work on upgrading the toxins and poison while he worked on the containment field. Bruce handmade 9x19mm parabellums for her glock 17, some 5.56 x45mm NATOs for the m4 carbine, and some 7.62x51mm NATOs for the m24 sniper rifle. The ones for the m24 were particularly promising, being that the cartridges themselves were over two inches long. He also made some arrow-tips for each. Tony noticed a few from the m24 set were missing, Bruce must have set some aside somewhere for testing. Tony looked around, pointedly ignoring Sesshomaru's spider silk outfit nearly folded on the lab table, squares missing.
"Sir Captain Rogers and Miss Potts request entry." Tony sighed heavily, giving up his search on the shells and instead found his emergency tie and single malt he always stashed in the lab. He quickly flung the slightly worn black and red striped tie around his neck when he slammed back a swig of the single malt.
"Yeah send them in. Let's get this over with." Tony deflated, shoulders sinking. No matter what happened he was going to have to deal with the fallout of this calamity.
'It's not that I don't trust Pepper it's just a few weeks ago, my life was exactly something I could handle. I could control it. Now it's spun out of control like a teenager trying to drift a Supra. I had spectacularly dynamite sex with a Demon Lord which turned too complicated, harbored a notorious war criminal, and made potato salad. Well, really Clint made the potato salad. The point still stands, I have everything to lose doing this, and nothing to gain.' Tony began to sloppily tie a single windsor when Steve and Pepper entered, both a bit red in the face.
"Tony, we get it, this is a high-stress situation and this has to go well. But, you putting everyone else on edge isn't going to help." Steve started, gripping his mask like he wanted to smack Tony with it.
"Not going to help? It should help. We need to be on edge, on guard. The public is going to see Bambi and Sailor Moon and go nuclear. And where exactly are we having this? Oh yeah, my tower. I alone have to deal with the fallout if this goes sideways." Tony crossed his arms, looking Steve directly in the eye for a challenge, but instead it was Pepper.
"Can you look beyond yourself for a good five seconds?! You are not the only one with something on the line Tony. I have to deal with the board as CEO and explain why Tony Stark is now suddenly helping a God who killed hundreds and destroyed part of Manhattan. Director Fury, Phil, and Maria have to own up to that the God they thought was a villain this whole time really wasn't one. Not even mentioning the fact that Loki has to come face to face with all the people whose lives he ruined and loved ones he killed. Sesshomaru has to stand and watch people treat him like a circus act, which you can only imagine he is really going to enjoy." Pepper stomped her Louboutin stiletto heel on the floor of the workshop, the metallic clang ringing.
"I think; we can let them wear what they want for what will essentially be a firing squad." Steve crossed his arms in turn and Tony rubbed his temple.
"Not to mention security is tight as a drum, Natasha hand-picked the agents. Sesshomaru's public approval ratings are also at sixty-one percent. And according to Fury, the President wants to treat him to a round of golf for thanking him for defending the Nation against an extra-terrestrial terrorist attack." Pepper calmed down and started to properly tie Tony's tie. Tony relaxed, falling into routine and acknowledging that maybe Pepper had a point. Maybe. And that seeing Sailor Moon play the back nine with Barak Obama and Jaken as his caddy brought a slight smile to his face.
"Fine. Fine. I get it. We're one big family and I'm that nasty drunk uncle. Let's just go." Tony relented and managed a slip of humor in his voice. Pepper smiled and Steve, good naturedly slapped him on the shoulder.
"Hey Cap, this is a Tom Ford, not your bedclothes. Watch the merchandise." Tony pointed to Cap who just rolled his eyes as they made it back outside to the living room to see that the only people left upstairs were Jaken, still holding Nsync and Backstreet boy, Rin and Rhodey who must have just shown up.
"Lord Sesshomaru says that everyone out there wants to meet him and Uncle Loki! Those humans better be good to my uncle Loki or my Lord Sesshomaru will transform!" Rin informed, watching of all things, 'Independence Day' on TiVo. Tony made a note that they should probably stop having Rin refer to people as 'humans'.
Tony fought a small slice of disappointment that Sesshomaru already have left. Not that he was going to apologize or anything absurd like that, but he didn't exactly want to leave their previous conversation the way they left it. Well, he didn't actually say anything but still.
"Yeah, don't worry Rin, Loki is tough." Steve responded and Rin nodded seriously.
"These humans will be the end of us Rin. Bakusaiga is hissing." Jaken tutted and Tony didn't know what to do with that information.
"Hey Tony, I know this looks like a Charlie Foxtrot but we all got each other's backs. And there is no way this is going to be worse than some of the combat missions I've flown. The public will come around eventually, they always do." Rhodey smiled and Tony scratched the back of his neck. Rhodey stayed behind to make sure he wasn't going to be too unstable.
"Yeah, and if worse comes to worse we can just film all of this into the best soap opera of all time to float Stark Industries after our stock plummets." Tony winked emptily at Pepper and Rhodey as they walked to the elevator and went down.
Outside, in front of Stark Tower, turmoil reigned supreme. The shuttering and flashing of cameras, the howling roar the masses and screeching of tires on pavement assaulted them as they made their way to the makeshift stage, SHIELD agents and other guards in full riot gear held back the teeming throng of the hysterical and daring. Helicopters clipped overhead, Tony bet one was probably Thor's new crush, Chopper Dave.
"Oh yeah, no way this doesn't end in disaster." Tony muttered to himself, guards escorting them to the makeshift stage where everyone else already was, Loki and Sesshomaru standing off to the left, side by side, a breeze teasing their hair. Tony couldn't help but think they looked exactly like their stereotypes: the dramatic Diva God and the stoic Princess Demon Lord.
It was then as they got on the stage he noticed the signs people were waving in the crowd.
'We love Mr Nirvana'
'Death to Loki!'
'Thank you Mr Nirvana!'
'Aliens and Gods go home!'
'The end is near! Repent!'
'In Mr Nirvana we trust'
'NYC loves THE NIRVENGERS'
Why did he agree to this again? Tony shoved his hands in his pockets, he had a front row seat to a bloodbath. Some of the people, no doubt, probably drove in from tin-foil hat trailer-park for this event. There was no way he shared a city with this many whack-jobs.
The crowd obviously had a conflict of interest. They, or more likely SHIELD and NYPD's slackest, had divided them away from the press. Tony crossed his arms at both team 'Nineties grunge' and team 'Death to the Demi-God' thrash, howl, and hurl shoes at SHIELD and the NYPD. What was this? Wrestlemania?
'Super. Great. Let's see Fury pull a rabbit out of Loki's helmet.' Tony took his seat, next to Steve to the left behind the podium. He wished he had an ottoman, or another drink, or half a brain to have relocated this elsewhere. But no, the whole 'Avengers' Tower optics' and 'Demon barrier' had made logical sense at the time. Now, clutched in the deepest bowels of Tony, a cramp formed, and no it wasn't from the spectacular sex with his gorgeous Demon lover…
'No. not his lover. A hot Demon fling. I can admit that freely. He is beautiful, I mean, I only have sex with beautiful people so it makes sense he would be. Who wouldn't get hard from his abs, and the way those fangs of his lengthen when he smiles and his ears that do that twitchy thing. But he is far from the most beautiful fling I've bagged. There was that one blonde model, her tits were bigger…' Tony cleared his throat to throw his thoughts back on track. Tension thrummed in the air like an impending missile strike. His mind shouldn't be in the gutter.
This is why he only did 'hit it and quit its'. He risked enough making it a fling! Really, Sailor Moon should count himself lucky he would sleep with him again.
His eyes landed on the Demon Lord who leaned in to whisper something in Loki's ear. He hated that he hated the way they could stand so close to each other so comfortably when so many people in front of them hated them.
Sesshomaru and Loki surveyed the rabble, untouchable, unreachable, and inseparable. Tony had never seen anything like it, envy scratched his gut and to his far left. Clint, hidden off stage, literally scratched his neck, monitoring the same two men.
Sesshoki's tranquility almost alleviated some of Tony's concerns. Instead he just wanted to take Loki's place, he then forced the treacherous thought from his mind.
'Doused in mud, soaked in bleach, as I want you to be.'
Someone in the crowd was blasting 'Nirvana's Come As You Are' on a loud speaker and some SHIELD goons crashed through he packed crowd to tackle them.
'About-fucking-time-Fury' finally took the podium, firm hands grasping the edges. The crowd momentarily hushed. Tony, for once, was not the object of all the hoopla and was relieved somewhat in that. Though, Pepper should be thankful. Not even after the announcement that he was stopping weapons development, or announce himself as Iron Man, did he attract this much media attention.
"People of this great nation, of this world, I stand before you today, Nick Fury, director of SHIELD, to inform you we made some mistakes. We didn't have all the facts with the Battle of New York, almost three years ago." Fury paused, gesturing to both Loki and Sesshomaru.
"Now we do. The Chitauri we thought we thwarted instead lie in wait to try to invade our planet again. They are led by a warlord who thinks can take our world and that we will simply submit, but they could not be more wrong. They think they know what we are capable of but they have no clue." Fury moved his hands and pounded the meat of his fist into his hand.
"Loki, brother of Thor," Tony saw Loki shift to the side and Thor straighten. "Prince of Asgard, gave us the warning of this second invasion. Without this information, the casualties would have been far worse yesterday." Fury paused, as if daring Bambi to question the whole brother thing. He didn't. Thor couldn't look more golden-boy if he tried, Loki couldn't look more know-it-all if he tried, and Sesshomaru couldn't look more bored if he tried.
"Or Mr. Nirvana!" Someone shouted. "Yeah Mr. Mysterious!" Someone tattooed girl on some guy's shoulders screamed and the crowd rabbled again.
It was official, it was Wrestlemania.
"The mistake SHIELD, that I, made," Fury continued "was accepting Loki was the one responsible for the attacks almost three years ago. He wasn't. We were played. We should have questioned the gift wrapped Trojan Horse our true enemy dropped off on our doorstep. He, an unwilling participant in the first attempt to try to annihilate mankind, was blamed while our true enemy rebuilt their forces for a second try. He was a scapegoat. A fall guy, and a convenient one." Fury again gestured to Loki and Sesshomaru. Loki had a hand on his hip, expression mild. Sesshomaru simply had his hands to his sides, thumbs hooked in his pockets casually looking out to the snapping of camera flashes.
"Loki suffered the price for his captors' crimes. He purposely failed the invasion to deceive and destroy his cowardly overlord. He now stands before you, with his friend, someone you may recognize as being responsible for defeating the first of many ships our enemy will send to destroy our homes and—" Fury stopped short when Nirvana's 'In Bloom' blared high with static.
'He's the one, who likes all our pretty songs and who likes to shoot his gun.' The ballad screeched out of an amp before another guard arrested another moron.
"Marry me!" Someone in the crowd screamed and Tony just ran his hand down his face.
"Loki...asked his friend, Sesshomaru, Demon Lord, to help defend Earth from people who want nothing more than to see it burn. This warlord, Thanos, may think he can be successful this time around, but he is dead wrong. With our government's militaries, SHIELD, the Avengers, and the Avengers' newest consultants, we will stop them cold. There will be no third attempt, united we can ensure that. United we will stand against this Titan tyrant." Fury straightened, putting his hands back on the podium. Loki and Sesshomaru turned to Fury and up until now he had just mostly seen Sesshomaru's back.
Now seeing his profile, sharp, striking and regal, sun brightly reflecting off the white of his suit, the sheen of his silver hair and refracting off his aviators, he reflected everything a Lord could ever be. A Lord he wanted to kneel before him. He couldn't wait to get him alone again. A Lord he wanted deeply and truly.
Only for sex of course.
"Loki and Sesshomaru will now allow three questions each, any further questions will be addressed at a later date. After they answer their questions, Captain America, Steve Rogers and I will give a quick debrief." Fury waved over the two men and the crowd went from a dormant volcano to an explosively active one. Tony rubbed his temples at the clapping, wooping, cursing, shouts, screams, cheers, and jeers. A mixed bag was putting it lightly.
'With the lights out, it's less dangerous, here we are now, entertain us.'
Someone, again, was trying to play 'Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit' and one of the guards dragged him off. Tony, annoyed by the grunge interruptions, however, remained cautiously optimistic.
Fury's speech and introduction was crafted well. It made sense, he spun it to a 'us versus them' mentality that never failed to get Americans all patriotic. Maybe this was salvageable after all. Maybe they could get out of this relatively unscathed.
"See, it's going to be fine, Fury is second to none at this sort of thing, once Sesshomaru and Loki are done I'll wrap it up and it will be behind us." Steve, mask on, next to Tony whispered and Tony's gut still churned. All that coffee, the shot of scotch, and nothing to eat with the added stress was a bad idea.
"Well, that was the easy part, now we have to make sure Team Rocket doesn't self-destruct." Tony let out a long exhale as Loki and Sesshomaru stood side by side, Loki on the left, Sesshomaru to his right, facing cameras and a teeming, writhing mass of cannibals looking to eat them alive.
Tony, however, knew first hand just how delicious Sesshomaru could be, and he wasn't in the market to share him with this.
"You killed my neighbors! I'll never forgive you!"
"Mr Nirvana! You saved my little girl in the Park!"
"Is it true we are facing another invasion?! When will it happen?"
"I can't believe you are friends with this guy, Mr Nirvana!"
"Bullshit!"
The guards finally began to get the crowd under control, at least enough for Loki to take the microphone and be heard.
"Good Morning, as introduced I am Loki of Asgard and this is my friend and our ally Sesshomaru. As promised, we shall answer three questions each regarding any topic you may choose. You all have a right to answers and we will provide them." Loki's voice sounded smooth like suede over the booming speakers. Immediately the press rose to their feet, hands up, smashing open like a mosh pit.
Loki pointed to one with a long, cream finger
"Steve Marks from Fox News, how can you think you can be forgiven for what you did to New York?! You are evil! You killed hundreds of people! How can we trust you?" The reporter frothed, and Tony put his hand over his mouth. Oh yeah, great first question to field. He knew Fox News could not have possibly been one of the reporters Pepper told him to pick.
Tony saw out of his periphery Fury restrain Thor who looked like he was about to call Mjolnir. Clint's face turned purple and Sesshomaru cracked his knuckles. Tony also heard Pepper murmur something to Rhodey.
"I ask for neither. I ask that you take this second invasion seriously and cooperate together to rebuff and destroy our enemy. If your ire and resentment towards my forced actions compel you all to stand united against this threat, then by all means fan that flame. I do, eventually, wish to convey to all my eternal hatred for the Mad Titan and that I will stop at nothing to see his demise, and the defense of your cities." Loki recovered and Tony knew they didn't call him silver-tongued for nothing. Loki stepped back slightly to allow Sesshomaru to approach the podium fully.
With a stripe peeking through the white of his suit, his skin almost equally pale, he pointed towards the back of the crowd and heads whipped back like a sea.
"Amy Harmon, Rolling Stone magazine, Dave Grohl tweeted, and I quote 'I want to buy the hero a drink who saved NYC and know his favorite Nirvana song. Nice tattoos by the way, Mr. Nirvana.' Care to comment?!" Tony nearly fell out of his chair, if Pepper told him to call on her she deserved a raise. Tony saw Sesshomaru's ears prick up.
"This Sesshomaru accepts the invitation from Dave Grohl. My preferred songs are Nirvana's Serve the Servants and Drain You." Sesshomaru answered simply and stepped back from the podium, to the right.
People in the crowd started yelling, cheering and jumping and Tony could have sworn he made out another "Hell yah Mr. Mysterious!".
Loki stepped back up the podium, standing tall, eyes set. Resting on hand on the podium and the other by his side, a green wisp of smoke appeared with his fingers crossed. Tony knew Loki would need all the luck he could get.
The next seconds did not grant Loki his luck.
Tony knew weapons, of course. So, when Tony heard the shhhhhrrrrraaaaaack of the first shot, he almost could tell the exact make and model of the sniper rifle responsible. His heart spiked and knotted in his throat and his spine straightened.
No. Not this.
By the second shot he knew there were two shooters. Loki shot his right arm out to Sesshomaru whose torso bucked back. The m24 sniper rifle, used by the US military and SHIELD. Tony couldn't see Sesshomaru's face. He immediately scrambled to his feet, feeling unbalanced. Why hadn't he seen his whip yet?
The impact of an M24 assault rifle cartridge, depending on the rounds used, would be far worse than what Nat shot him with in New Mexico. What if they used hollow points?
By the third he knew that the first bullet went straight through Loki. Loki's body twisted toward Sesshomaru at a beaten angle. The bullets so far made that sickening 'thuck' noise that most people thought only happened in movies, but Tony knew happened in real life.
Tony planted a foot and lunged towards the twisting blur of white and silver. And now red. He was hurt.
By the fourth, even now tackled to the ground by Steve, he knew Sesshomaru's white suit now matched his red dress shirt. His craned his neck to see the pelt had summoned itself to his shoulder and stuck matted in blood. Sesshomaru's left talons held no toxin reaching back out to Loki.
He caught the side of his face, blood had splattered against his magenta markings. Tony spotted a corner of his slack mouth, and his long hair that he ran his fingers through the night before now stuck, clumped in blood.
He…was really hurt. Maybe more than hurt.
The fifth and the sixth shots sprayed and splattered blood to the floor of the stage just feet in front of him, like someone threw a few cosmopolitans. Were those really necessary?! You made your point!
Stop.
He only heard static and only saw frames of movements. The cold, hard stage beneath him remained frustratingly unyielding. He had to get up. Why couldn't he get up?
'Steve you're too damn heavy, let me up! I have to catch him he's gonna fall. I have to catch him. I tripped him up first; I can't just let him fall.' Tony's thoughts revved into sixth gear, his mind thundering like pistons in a Ferrari V-8 engine.
Usually he could calculate the ramifications of three 7.62x51mm rounds through one man's chest, but he couldn't focus.
Tony also knew trying to overpower Steve to get to Sesshomaru screamed with futility but with instincts redlining, he wrestled anyway. He had to get to him. This was his terrace. His tower. His home. His.
Loki bent like a hinge and spun ninety degrees and collapsed right as Clint sprung to catch him. Crimson had already blossomed out turning his green shirt sticky and almost black in color. Clint lowered Loki behind the podium for cover.
Something in Tony short-circuited. Just before Loki had been so poised, so confident, and now look at him.
Tony contorted his body as Sesshomaru fell straight back. His usual pristine hair now, clumped and red, hung heavy like a wet flag as his body hit the stage with a jarring thud. The pelt disappeared in a poof, Tony cursed, never thinking he'd actually want to see the damn thing. Sesshomaru didn't move and Tony kicked.
Thor gripped Mjolnir, shouting something, face violet in rage. Clint knelt over Loki applying pressure to his chest with strong arms, yelling intently down to the still body below him.
Tony didn't hear any of it, a ringing whistle like playback from a speaker stung his ears. He reached out in vain at the motionless, red stained body who couldn't be mere feet from him. That really wasn't him, was it? He was just fine seconds ago.
Please no.
Tony knew he was yelling something because his throat itched and his jaw already slack when Sesshomaru's head rolled. Glassy, unfocused, and open eyes revealed, parted, blood stained lips. The blood traveled down his jaw. The same pointed jaw he gripped the night before.
The same lips he made bleed the night before. Tony fisted his hand, banging it on the stage.
Bruce charged forward, now blocking his line of sight to Sesshomaru, hopefully not about to Hulk out.
Steve wrenched him up from the stage and his vision whipped across the fleeing, crying crowd. He saw Rhodey covering Pepper, taking her to safety. He shouldn't have let this happen. He should have told Pepper to wait. He should have told Fury to shove it when he wanted it in front of Stark Tower.
'I should have taken Sesshomaru back to my workshop, tore his suit off of him, slammed him down on my table and fucked him senseless. I should have told him I don't really care about the fur on my suit and asked him about the faint scar on his left arm. Instead I left him alone, and the last words I said to him were about how stupid he looked and how I wanted him normal.' The last thing Tony wanted was normal.
Tony knew a lot, he knew that this would end in disaster, but he didn't know how gut emptying it would feel. Maybe it was a good thing he had nothing to eat because he may have been dry heaving. Maybe he wasn't. It was hard to tell. He needed to get himself together. He needed to get his suit.
Yeah. He needed to suit up.
"-ny. Tony. Tony you gotta stay calm, SHIELD is handling it. They already have possible trajectory origins from the shooters." Steve's voice sounded really close by, and it was then that he fully realized they were still running back for cover, back towards the tower.
The world righted, Tony found much needed clarity. SHIELD botched this bad.
"Yeah. Steve. They handled it real well! You called it at firing squad! Now I have a dying Demigod and...you know what, let me go!" Tony heard his suit rip and tear at the shoulder seam and it didn't matter at all. He will tear himself out of the damn blazer.
"Tony, you've got to get inside, once we regroup we ca-" Tony's eyes flamed and he faced Steve head on. Tony's face darkened like the anvil clouds Thor had just summoned. The pressure dropped with air whipping around them. Thunder boomed and lightning streaked like a freight train derailing.
"Let. Me. Go." Steve's face opened in shock and then closed in understanding. He let Tony go. Tony strode back into the fray he knew too well. He called Jarvis. He saw his suit fly down. It assembled on him and he became Iron Man, Avenger.
If Tony thought he felt angry this morning, he was mistaken. If those jeering idiots in the crowd thought they knew scorn, they knew nothing at all. Tony's insides ignited, incendiary like a wildfire, he shot straight up in the air, weapons hot.
He couldn't look down to the stage. He knew Bruce was Sesshomaru's best sho-best chance at...never mind. He had a mission. He was going to hand deliver hell to his next target.
He built some of the best weapon targeting systems after all.
Those shooters couldn't have gotten far. They had to be on either one of two possible floors of the office building. A gunmetal grey and blonde blur rushed beside him, Thor. The sky crashed again, rumbling like a C-130 doing a flyby.
"Man of Iron! We must dispatch of these assassins!" Tony's jaw clenched and he nodded. One person understood, one person wasn't trying to hold him back. They would hunt them down.
'I will avenge him, avenge them. It's in my job title even goddamnit.' Tony heard Jarvis chatter but it didn't register.
Tony, took two of his fingers like a salute and pointed to the most probable location of the snipers' nest, the fourteenth floor of a nondescript office building. The trajectory worked. He switched and he and Thor flew split tactical towards the window.
Two perfect circles had been cut out of the glass window pane.
Tony crashed right in, insides still burning, blood simmering, and bulging the veins in his temples. The glass shattered inwards, wind scattering and blowing over cubicle walls and office supplies. Tony immediately spotted the m24s perched sturdily on their Paradigm SRP Talon mounts.
Both connected to a remote control relay.
'I should have seen this coming. This is on me. I should have had Jarvis scan the nearby security cams. I should have hacked SHIELD again. This just was supposed to be…' Tony cursed something. He couldn't be quite sure what. Thor crashed beside him, radiating the same rage. Thor, cape billowing, made large crunching steps towards the rifles.
"...cowards! These spies may flee, but nigh, they cannot conceal themselves from I, Thor, Prince of Asgard! I will bring them to the full terms of Asgardian justice! If my brother and the Son of Taisho...I shall not rest! All my brother wanted…wants…" Thor's voice cracked thickly and a scythe of white lightning carved the slate gray sky in half.
The spies. SHIELD. Fury. Oh. The things he'd do to Fury over this. He'd cripple everything they had. He'd built self destruct protocols into the helicarriers. He could bring them all down. He would too. Fuck finding the spies in SHIELD, he could just ruin them all.
They touched his stuff. They broke his stuff. They hurt him.
Tony's pulse still drummed in his ears as he approached Thor, bent and windswept. Tony's gut soured like bad milk and he too crunched glass walking up to the guns. His vision swam, he stood on the precipice of a breakdown.
He had to get the remote control computer for a reverse hack. He had to get back to the tower. This wasn't over, not by a long shot. Shot. Cute. Damn you SHIELD.
"I know. We'll avenge them." Tony scooped up the remote control relay as Thor bent down picking up the spent brass, still hot and smoking.
Sesshomaru had managed to deflect a spaceship cannon blast with a payload of a AGM-109H/L Tomahawk cruise missile, so he should be ok from those shots.
Tony walked this fine line before. When he lost his parents, when they water boarded him in Afghanistan, when Obie betrayed him, when he fell from space with the nuke. Each time brought him closer to the edge. At least Thor stood at the edge of the cliff with him.
Tony knew he was on the brink. His lungs shook like an aerosol can.
'He's ok. He's tougher than he looks. I'll go back and he will be ok. In fact, he will probably look bored, like, 'oh is that all you got?' I'll patch him up and he will crack his knuckles and we will have rough sex for hours and his ridiculous blue youki will shimmer everywhere, I'll make him come like five times. I'll bite his pointy ears, hold down his wrists and tell him normal is overrated and that he couldn't ever look stupid, and I'll make him stay.' Tony's insides ashed out, spent. The liquid jetfuel that once raced through his body became a noxious vapor threatening to combust. His vision tunneled, and his mind spun tired and jittery at the same time, like he had gone weeks without sleep and did a line or two of good cocaine.
Expression grim, he turned back towards the window that faced his tower where not minutes ago Sesshomaru told the world, with aviators on, that he liked grunge music. He stood like a white ceramic sword, addressing a city he selflessly saved only to get gunned down in return. Gunned down with his best friend who risked everything to give their planet a chance.
Tony bent down picking up two spent cartridges, and recognized them immediately. The pressure in his chest built up and detonated like a firecracker.
"Cerberus and Blitzen. My organic toxin, and your brother's souped-up poison." His voice didn't sound like his own and Thor responded with another sickle of lightning striking the street. The spies had been in his tower. His inventions, his weapons, had been taken and used them against him again! And SHIELD did it…no this was on him. He should have never gotten back in the game. No, he should have never let SHIELD in.
A darkness crawled up his spine and into his mind. SHIELD would pay.
Now, it made sense how just six bullets could take out two of the strongest beings on the Earth. What if...he became a one night stand because of this? He really wanted a second chance, he had to have one, at least to ask him all those questions.
'This is why we can't have nice things.' Tony crushed the spent brass in his glove. They both heard the SHIELD sweep team stomp up the stairs and the ding of the office elevator.
They both turned to each other, mirroring each other's stony looks and one with Mjolnir and the other with his suit, they flew back to the tower. Tony wanted to burn something to the ground, he wanted to riot.
OOOHHHHHHHHHH man. Terrible stuff happening to my poor characters! :( let me know how you liked it!
this was also hard to write. God Tony its so hard to get into your head. I hope you all had a Merry Christmas!
-TL