Chapter 36- From bad to worse

After two weeks of no improvement I was getting tired. Even though Tony had the mind of an adult, he still had the body and brain of a six month old. So basically on top of running two companies, which I had good help with, the IPA and doing some politics I also had to babysit. Not that the boys didn't want to help, Tony just wouldn't let them change his diapers. If anyone asks for explanation, it's really simple. Everything on him was baby sized. Everything. At least we found a way for him to communicate – a tablet with a text-to-speech app. The hunt for Loki also wasn't moving forward. That guy was just impossible to track down; he probably wasn't even on Earth anymore.
With my birthday coming up in two and something weeks, the boys started to ask what I want. I told them the truth, I only want my Tony back. Maybe I should just wish upon a star or something, or get a genie. It was late evening already by the time I got back from work. The remaining Avengers have been assigned to other teams for the time being. Tonight they were on mission. Baby Tony fell asleep as soon as I put him in the crib. I made myself some tea and enjoyed the silence. Finally, this is just what I needed… What was that? Claws out I followed the noise. My findings were more of the weird than the dangerous find. A certain asgardian ruler with a scepter and a pointy helmet was hovering about my baby's crib. Wait my… never mind.
"Step away and nobody's gonna get hurt!" I said half whispering and half yelling. The intruder turned his attention to me, lighting my face with scepter.
"Who are you?"
"Your worst nightmare if you don't do as I say." Pointing my claws in his direction probably caused him to lower the scepter. Or the glowing eyes perhaps?
"I don't mean to do any harm, lady. I am Loki of Asgard."
"Figured, I'm Emily from Earth. Now explain." I retracted the claws.
"Emily, this was certainly not what I intended. I only meant to get the Avengers attention, I did not expect Stark to interfere with my actions."
"Why?"
"Because I like to mess with them, it's fun. This is no fun at all."
"Can you change him back?"
"No, I'm afraid I cannot." Ok, so should I kill him right away or give him a few more seconds of life?
"You can't? Come on, there has to be a way. If it goes one way it should go the other way around as well."
"There surely is, I know there is." Do not kill him, he may be helpful. He's messing with me.
"And? How? What do you want in exchange for that?"
"You are smart. Well there is this one thing…"
"I have a better idea, how about you tell me everything and I don't kill you. Trust me, I'm not in the mood of arguing and negotiating. I haven't slept properly in two weeks, I'm pissed, moody and overworked, so either you tell me what you know or here's what will go down: First I kick your balls, then your ass, make a few cuts here and there and make you disappear so that no one will ever find your remains." He realized I wasn't joking, so he chose to speak instead of suffering a faith like that.
"There is a spell that should be able to reverse it. I have to get back to Asgard and find someone who could do it."
"Good, now we're talking. How about a drink?"
"I would like that."
We sat down in the living room and Loki started to spill everything he knew. His adoptive father is lost somewhere here on earth. There is a guy with the Time stone here as well, Dr. Strange. I wonder if it's this neurosurgeon with Tony's arrogant attitude I met some time ago. Probably. Even though trusting Loki seems like the most stupid idea ever, I don't have much of a choice right now.
"My brother should be here on Midgard as well. He's searching for the remaining infinity stones."
"So Earth is basically the biggest target for the big ugly purple smurf called Thanos? But he doesn't know that yet, does he?"
"No, he doesn't. Wait, how do you know about him? Was my brother Thor here already? What is a smurf?"
"Nope, I never met him. Thanos appears in my nightmares all the time. I don't know why, but he does. A smurf is, well they are small and blue and have white hats. They are not dangerous and they are not real." At least I think so. This world is only getting weirder.
"Interesting. I believe you are not an ordinary human, are you? Humans don't have claws as far as I am aware."
"No, they don't. I have a genetic mutation called the X-gene. Many people have it, I'm not alone. Also, I move objects with my mind and I can manipulate the elements if I want to. The x-gene in me probably went nuts, because it's not normal to have that many different mutations at once."
"So, you are the more advanced species."
"Maybe a new evolutionary step, it always seems like the more we think we know the less we actually know about it."
Loki nodded caught deep in his own thoughts.
"Well, I'm going to bed. If you want, there's a free guest room down the hall."
"Thank you. I shall embark on my journey in the morning and then I'll come to take you to Asgard."
"Thank you, Loki. Good night." I'm not normal; this guy almost destroyed the Earth… Maybe he changed… I am damn naïve.

The next morning Loki was nowhere to be found, but he left a note, on the lawn, saying he'll be back. Asgard doesn't use papers or what?
I dressed Tony, summing up what went on at night, fed him and boarded the plane to Wakanda, where I was supposed to meet up with T'Challa to solve the Winter Soldier problem.

"Hi, your highness!" I yelled at T'Challa who was waiting for us near the landing spot.
"Emily, nice to see you again. This is Tony?"
"Right, that's him." Tony was buckled up in the stroller seat, not that he was very fond of it, but he stopped protesting after a few days as it would be of no use at all.
"He looks so calm, but you look like you had a rough night. His fault?" T'Challa pointed at baby Tony who shot him a glare.
"Not this time. Tonight I had a close encounter of the Asgardian kind, namely Loki."
"You still up for it? Because I am not going to lie, you look horrible."
"Thank you, let's just say I haven't really slept in two weeks and on top of everything that's going on, a certain general found himself a new hobby. He calls multiple times a day, or at night, at like 3AM and wants me to go after the rogue Avengers. He doesn't take no for answer. So, let's just finish it up, I have a day off today so, let's get it done so I can go back to sleep."
We walked to the room Bucky was kept in.
"I sent Captain Rogers out to town so you wouldn't be disturbed. He tends to spend long hours here. I can take this one up, I'm sure Clint would love to see a kid. Him, Thor and Natasha are upstairs."
"Sure, he can communicate through the tablet. It's in the diaper bag. The bottle and all that stuff are there as well…"
"Ok, mother, I think we'll manage."
Tony didn't even protest, he probably wanted to see his old friends. Once they were gone I reached into Bucky's mind.

Third person's POV

T'Challa steered the stroller to the room which Clint, Thor and Natasha occupied.
"My friends you have a visitor."
The trio turned to T'Challa. "Whose baby is this?"
"My friend is here to fix Bucky's brain and she brought him with her. His name is Tony. I thought it might lift your spirits."
"I does, he is certainly cute." said Clint picking the baby up. "Is it the same friend that sent the pictures?"
"Yes, it is her. I can arrange a meeting if you'd like. Now I have to return to my duties, be careful he is said to be a handful."
"Don't worry, we'll manage somehow."
When T'Challa left the remaining occupants of the room came closer to the baby as well.
Natasha inspected the baby from up close:
"You know I can't get rid of the feeling like I know him."
"And I thought it was just me."
"He has eyes like friend Stark." The assassins looked closer. Thor was right. Were they dealing with Starks kid?
"He does. We've been out of picture since May, I can't even remember when the last time we watched TV was."
"From he looks about 6 months. He'd have to be born in August or September the latest. You think Pepper was pregnant?"
"Stark never mentioned. He's laughing at us, look. How I miss my kids. They'll be all grown up by now." Baby Tony started to wiggle causing Clint to put him down. He crawled over to the stroller and pulled his tablet out of the basket. Natasha just shook her head in disbelief:
"Definitely a Stark, he's just a baby and already playing with the latest tech."

"That I am, Nat."

The adults were shocked. "Tony? What the hell?"
"The one and only."

"How is that possible?"

"Loki. You haven't watched the news lately?"
"Not really." Clint picked baby Tony up and all of them sat down on the couch.
"Your kids miss you too, Barton. So does Laura."
"I know. So Loki did this?"
"Yep. He says 'Hi' by the way. Stopped by last night, Em could tell you more once she's done."

"Em? As in T'Challa's friend or your teenage daughter?"
"What? I don't have a daughter. But if you're hinting on the girl Nat was talking to in Paris then yes, that's her. You seriously thought she was my daughter?"
"Well, Natasha said that."
"Hey, how was I supposed to know, she looked 18 and she is a Stark."
"She has good genes. But not mine, although that would be a great combination."
"Well, alright. So she's not your daughter. Friend?"
"Sure, I've known her since the MIT, stuck with me through ups and downs. Best buddy."
Meanwhile Emily managed to get rid of the Winter Soldier Hydra hypnosis thingy and after yet another argument with Ross over the phone, she was walking to the rest of the crew with T'Challa.
"I really thing you should take it to court, this isn't normal behavior."
"Here I thought I was the only one who noticed Ross became a maniac. I'll just send a request to my legal department right away, maybe we'll be lucky and we'll get a court order. I swear if I have to tell him one more time he should read the rules again I'll find a way to strangle him over the phone."
"That is a wise idea Emily."
"The strangling part? Yeah, I like that too."
"No, I meant the other, although it would probably be very amusing to watch. Here we are."
T'Challa opened the door to where the group was situated. "My friends, this is Emily Stark, I told you about her. I have one more important call to make, so I'll leave you now." The king left.
"Hi, I see you took good care of him."
"Well, he is a handful, I don't envy you. I'm Clint. That's Nat and Thor."
"I know, there was a time Tony wouldn't shut up about you all."
"In good I hope. So, you're my wife's boss then. How is she?"
"Yeah, she does fine, as good she can be. They miss you a lot."
"I miss them too. How about the kids?"
"Cooper and Nathaniel are two bundles of energy, but really sweet boys and Lila is surely going to be like you. She inherited your archery talent." Clint paled, his little girl with a bow and arrow was just a scary thought. Natasha was grinning and Thor was having a staring contest with baby Tony.
"Don't worry; she has yet to grow up."
"What part shouldn't I be worried about?"
Natasha thought it would be better to change the subject.
"So you run a company?"
"Yes, GlobalNet Corporation and right now Stark Industries as well."
"Sounds interesting."
"Nah, it's mostly boring. IPA is a lot more interesting, trust me."
"You run the IPA?"
"Yeah, that I do as well as some work in politics and in the UN senate."
"Sounds like a lot. You came to arrest them?"
"What? No. If I wanted to do that we wouldn't be having this conversation now."
"Good, I just wanted to make sure. What else is new? How is the team?"
"They're good, doing the best they can. They work with other teams right now as reinforcements. Bruce is working with the scientists on a cure for some disease I can't remember the name of; Rhodey is still in the army, part-time. Vision is learning more about humans every day, he helps out in Shield or in the labs. Occasionally, like at least once a week a Hulk can be seen running around the compound, trying to catch a Frisbee, aka Captain Americas old shield. Spiderman comes to hang out and train once in a while. What else… Right, Pepper got married last August, she and Happy are finishing the adoption process right now. They got themselves a baby boy named Ryan. The Expo is up and running and that's basically it."
"I wonder what Cap would say about his shield being Hulks Frisbee. I don't think he'll get it back."
Thor finally let the staring contest be and joined the conversation:
"Friend Stark told me with the magic voice box you had an encounter with my brother Loki."
"Yes, I did. By the way do you use paper on Asgard?"
"Yes, we do. Why?"
"Just wondering why he left a note on the lawn instead of a paper when he was leaving this morning. I'll make sure to get back at him for it later."
"You think he will come to see you again."
"For his own sake he should. I told him if he doesn't get this whole mess back to normal there would be no realm far enough for him to hide and the note said 'I shall return!' very clearly. Want to see a picture of it? Here take a look."
"Where did he go?"
"Back to Asgard, he had to find someone to turn Tony back to himself, or at least age him to adulthood." Baby Tony crawled towards Emily. She picked the boy up and cuddled with him for a while. The rest of the group observed the scene. It was as if Tony sensed Emily's exhaustion and pain. He was also tired. The little body couldn't store that much energy causing him to fall asleep pretty fast. He laid his head on Em's shoulder.
You know you are uncomfortable as a pillow.
"I know, Tony, I know that."
"What do you know?" Natasha looked at her curiously.
"He just said, or thought, that I was an uncomfortable pillow."
"You can read minds?"
"Yes, it's a part of what I can do."
Emily placed Tony into the stroller. He nodded off right away, but she kept watching him for a few moments more.
"You care about him, don't you? And he cares about you. You must be good friends then."
"We're best buddies, actually. It's good to see that Tony wasn't exaggerating when he called you two master spies. You figured it out really quickly."
"It was pretty obvious when he gave you a hug. He has his adult brain; no way would he have done that if he hadn't cared. The fact that you babysit him is proof enough that it's a shared bond."
"To be honest, the only thing I want right now is to hear his voice again. As much as I would love to stay longer, I really have to go back. It's dark outside here already and I still have to fly home. Don't worry guys; we are doing the best we can so you'll be able to go home and honestly, no one besides Ross wants you behind bars."
"Wait, give me a second, I'm coming with you. You look like you could use some help and I was Starks assistant for a while."
"Right, he called you Natashalie or something like that. Thank you."
"No problem, besides I'm curious about the guys, my nephews and niece."
After saying farewell to T'Challa, Thor and Clint, Emily fastened baby Tony into the car seat attached to one of the seats in the Phoenix jet. The geniuses of GNC put their heads together and found a safe and secure way of attaching a car seat to a plane seat, by designing a different kind of seat. Natasha left a message for Cap and, after saying goodbye to the men, boarded the jet with Emily.

Emily's POV

When we landed my team was already waiting. The reunion was interrupted by Loki, who was luring in the shadows the whole time. Boys, having gotten the heads up on not killing Loki right away, chose to continue the talking with Tasha inside.
"Alright, we've got to go. We don't have much time left."
"Just let me get my suit, ok. Maybe the guys could come with us for each case."
"I can transport maximum 3 people, not more. So get dressed and take something for the idiot and let's go." Wow, Loki is an impatient one. I got into my suit, took something for the big Tony and then took the baby Tony in my arms. Loki teleported us to Asgard. It was huge, beautiful, the palace was really giant and even Tony's mouth was hanging wide open. I really want to come back here for holiday. But there was something that just seemed odd.
Loki led us through the empty streets of the city (or whatever it is called there) to the palace. Where were all the people? Is that the reason Loki was so impatient?
"Heimdall!" Loki screamed tearing me from my thoughts.
"Yes." A guy with a pointy helmet came from behind the corner.
"How much longer?"
" Soon. I see you brought her back." Back? I don't remember being here in the first place.
"Yes, I did. We need to change him back right now or she'll kill me."
"Of course, follow me." I shot Loki a questioning look.
"He's the guardian of Bifrost. It is a bridge that connects realms. You don't need to know more." Yeah, whatever.
I followed the duo to the basement of the palace which led to some big cave system. There an old man was waiting for us in a large cave hall, which included a really weird lake. The man, who reminded me of Dumbledore from Harry Potter (the one from the books), stared at me for a moment, then he spoke:
"Welcome, your highness. I am here to help resolve the misguided spell, but I am afraid I cannot age your friend back to the point where he was before he was hit. My knowledge allows me only to make jumps of 35 of your Midgardian years. I can of course make him older, and then we could try do de-age him, but…"
"Thank you, I think 35 will be good enough. I don't really want to experiment on him more and he also doesn't seem to mind. Just one question, how come the scar he had is still on his chest, shouldn't it have disappeared or something?"
"The mind remains untouched as well as scars that remind one of important things in his life. We shall now proceed, your highness, we don't have a lot of time left. Please, place him here in the lake." I did as I was told. Ad why on Earth or Asgard does he call me your highness?
The Dumbledore of Asgard shot a red light beam on baby Tony and soon enough an adult Tony was sitting on the floor where the baby used to be. Still with the pacifier in his mouth, I might add. This pic is so going to the gallery. Tony got into his adult clothes while Loki was still grinning from the view of Tony in a diaper with a paci. Heimdall and Dumbledore already left as their job was finished.
A loud noise made an end to Loki's laughter: "Damn, he's here."
"Who?" Finally I was going to get an answer.
"Thanos. Heimdall foresaw the attack and told everyone to get out, the army remained, they are guarding the palace. This cave is on the edge, I doubt they would go this way…"
"Ahm, Reindeer Games I think you got that part wrong, we are trapped." Tony said pointing to the exit.