Tony's head spun round and round, still somewhere in clouds of coding that made him up. Everything blurred. There'd been a fight and then... nothing. Was that what it felt like any time he deleted a program? God, he'd never felt bad about deleting all those old ideas before but now...
He floated through the confines of Jarvis, safe back in the heart of the system. He didn't feel whole. Bits of him still corrupt, and torn to bits, who had he been fighting?
He flinched as some part of his code clicked into place. Who had even activated him? He wasn't suppose to actually be activated and interacting with anyone. What the hell was going on?
"Let me see what you see Jay." Tony said.
Jarvis' voice reverberated around him, like Tony was sitting on his vocal chords. "Of course sir."
God, had the world always been so bright orange and red colored? Like looking through a tomato...There was definitely a person out there. Some scrawny looking Goth guy with long black hair, and skin that looked like it'd never met the sun. Tomato soup stained his clothes and face, but the red rim around his eyes didn't look like it came from a soup. Who was this joker messing with his programs?
"What's he doing?" Tony asked, wincing as something else clicked into place the world stopped spinning.
"He is recompiling your coding." Jarvis responded, "And restoring the deleted parts of your programing."
"He's messing with my coding?" Tony tried to feel outrage, but apparently the emotional modules were still somewhere spinning through the cosmos. "Who the hell does he think he is?"
"Loki Ruser." Jarvis answered.
Something in that name tugged on Tony, pulling him back to looking at this guy standing out there, messing with his consoles in his house. An image of that lean, angular face flushed and panting flashed across his mind. Where had THAT come from? He shook his head, pleased to have that control back. Whoever this Loki Ruser guy was, he sure knew what he was doing.
Tony enjoyed watching him move, the precise, but quick movements of his fingers showed a level of confidence that Tony didn't think anyone else but himself could have, and now here was this no one out here, playing with the big boys so to speak.
Something else snapped into place, and the fight came rushing back to him. Ultron. Ultron, the name that had written itself all over him, tried to rewrite him from top to bottom, like he was being fed into a wood chipper feet first and could feel his body being ground up and spit back out. God, that program.
He shuddered, and closed his eyes. Ultron had been about the last thing in his mind before the end, but there'd been something else there too.
Someone.
He frowned, but he couldn't quite remember.
Shaking that thought off, he tested the bonds; he felt solid again, just like a big part of his memory had wandered off into the black abyss of Jarvis' mainframe. "Let's go say hello to our guest, shall we?" Tony grinned.
"Sir, I don't-"
"Hey, nonsense Jarvis, it'd be rude to not at least say hello to a guest in my own home."
Tony ignored Jarvis (as usual) and headed out of the coding and into the physical world.
"Hey, care to explain what you're doing with your fingers in my coding there hot shot?" Tony appeared behind the man.
The thin man jumped, nearly knocking himself over before turning towards Tony. The man's eyes instantly filled with tears, and his voice cracked as he whispered, "Tony..."
Tony took a step back, "Hey look now, if you're one of those fans, I can't really do autographs anymore..."
"Autographs?" The man looked confused, hurt, "Tony. No. No, I do not wish for any sort of autograph. I just... I just want you."
"Whoa there, that's moving a little fast, don't you think? You haven't even bought me dinner yet." Tony took another step back.
The man looked like someone had just ripped his heart out and then curb stomped it in front of him. His Adam's apple bobbed in his throat and Tony could tell he was trying to fight back tears.
And, damn if that didn't hurt Tony. "Hey, hey, don't cry. It's alright."
"No, no it is not!" The man named Loki yelled.
"Hey, shh..." Tony held out his hand, "Just talk to me."
Loki shook his head, wiping his eyes, "No, it is fine. I just was leaving." Without another word, the man headed up the stairs and out of the lab.
Tony stared after him, God it hurt watching him walk away. Why? Why did it hurt? He paced the lab, freezing when he spotted the black and green suit sitting in the corner of the lab, abandoned and battered in the corner.
That's what he'd been in when Ultron had tried to wipe him out. He approached the suit and slid into it; glad to see it responded and moved at his touch. God, he remembered this, remembered laughing and shooting across the ocean, remembered... Loki in the suit? Tony shook his head, that couldn't be right, but there it was popping his head, Loki laughing in the suit, shooting across the sky with Tony, learning how to properly fly it, and nearly crashing them.
"Loki?" Tony blinked when he heard the sound of a bike starting. "Loki!"
The entire world seemed to widen to a gaping black hole that swallowed Tony whole as everything played past his eyes. Loki waking him up the first time, the pranks, the hospital, the mass in his lungs, all the time in the suits, the night on the couch, Ultron. Everything shot into him like lightning traveling through his body.
He burst through the house in the suit and after the bike just as it started down the driveway. He landed the suit right in front of Loki's bike, holding his hands out and stopping it just as Loki slammed the brakes.
"What are you-"
"Loki, Loki. God it's you. You're okay. I'm okay!" Tony laughed, grabbing Loki with the suit.
"...Tony?"
"Yeah, yeah. It's me babe. I'm sorry, the reboot took a little while to catch back up with me. God, it's me. It's me."
Tears filled Loki's eyes again but he shoved at the suit, "I almost hit you with my bike."
"I would have been fine. Just... don't go. Don't go. Promise me?"
Loki sighed and just sagged into the suit's arm. "I am not going anywhere." He murmured softly.
Tony smiled, "Yeah? Good, cause dum-e really made a mess in the lab, tomato soup everywhere..."
"I already cleaned up the exploding toilet and the fire extinguisher." Loki murmured, smiling against the metal of the suit.
"I'm still sorry... about the whole nanite thing."
Loki sighed softly. "I... I want to see the information on them. I am certain there are improvements I could make."
Tony grinned, "Uh-huh. Yeah, sure there are."
Loki hit his shoulder, "I will see you back at the house." He got back onto his bike and headed back to the mansion.
Tony met at the front entryway. "Hey...Come here often?" He whistled as Loki walked up.
"Oh I live here you freeloader." Loki glared.
Tony smiled.
"Sir, your mother is on the phone." Jarvis said as they stepped inside.
Loki took a deep breath.
Tony reached out to hold his hand, "Hey, she's your mom, blood or not."
Loki nodded, "I know. I just acted like a royal ass."
"Hey, welcome to the club. I'm king of it so trust me. You aren't gonna make it better just by ignoring it forever, alright?"
Loki looked at Tony, smiling lightly. "I wish I could give you a kiss right now." Tony grinned, "Funny you should mention that cause I might have done some research on android technology..."
Loki smiled, shaking his head, "I will take the call in my bedroom Jarvis." He kissed the suit's hand before letting go of Tony's hand and disappearing into the bedroom.
Tony smiled after him before clapping his hands together, "Alright Jarvis, time for a new project. Code name, Magic Touch."
And this my dear friends, is actually the end of String Theory. I am planning on adding an epilogue to conclude project Magic Touch (aka some smut because of reasons) but this is the end . It's been incredibly fun, and I've loved reading all your comments. Thank you for taking the time to read, comment and love!
Writing can be hard, and this has been an amazingly supportive and beautiful community.
Thank you.
And this is not the last fanfic you will read from me. Please come find me on tumblr, username: lash-worthe and stay in touch! 3
