Chapter Thirty-Six: All Work Out

Tony dozed in his chair. It had been another long day, with nothing to show for it. Not one agent of SHIELD had come up with anything to help them find the missing teens. Part of him felt terrible keeping the others practically locked up in Stark Tower, but he knew it was for the best. But the strain had finally caught up to him and he'd nodded off, chair tilted back to a more comfortable position.

"Sir," JARVIS intoned for the umpteenth time. "Sir," he repeated louder until he was almost yelling.

Mr. Stark woke with a start, somehow managing to fall out of his chair at the same time. He did a sort of roll, coming back to his feet, looking groggy. "I'm up," he said in a semi-daze, brushing himself off. He looked around only to realize he was still the only one in the room. "Huh?"

"I was beginning to wonder if I needed to call in one of the others to wake you, sir," JARVIS said in a droll tone.

Tony shook like a wet dog, trying to get the circulation flowing. When that didn't immediately work, he went for the wet bar and poured himself a drink. "Did you need something, JARVIS?"

If the AI could have rolled his eyes, he would have. "I may have something that may be of use to your search," he announced, causing Tony to pause, his glass halfway to his lips.

Wiping his mouth, Tony set the glass down, more awake now than he had been a minute before. "Oh you do, do you? Well, let's hear it." He stood almost impatiently, hands on his hips.

JARVIS activated one of many 3D projectors in the room to bring up a recording of the student expo welcome dinner. "It took me a while to comb through all of the footage, but I believe I may have found some kind of connection."

The video began to play, showing the introduction of the various business professionals represented as sponsors for the expo. "Please pay particular attention to the table on the left," JARVIS requested as Tony heard his own remarks in the background, mainly questions from the immature audience about his love life.

Several businessmen and women sat around the table in question, including representatives from Krei Tech, Haedria Enterprises, and General Tech. While the majority of those sitting at the table seemed intent on the speaker, several pairs of eyes searched the audience, almost as if they were looking for someone specific. It was hard to tell where they were looking though. A woman sat near the two men sweeping the area, though she seemed unaware of her neighbors' actions.

"JARVIS," Tony warned, "I don't see how this has anything to do with our missing students. All I see is a couple of people scouting out the crowd. That's perfectly normal for a gathering like this." He picked up his glass and took a drink.

The image froze for a moment, as if some glitch had caught the footage before it switched to a different view. Thanks to the added security at the event, there were several different angles from which to look. "Do be patient," JARVIS intoned as the next video began playing.

The same two men who'd been scouting out the audience during Tony's question and answer period were now slowly walking around the tables. They seemed to saunter more slowly around the table where Hiro and his friends sat, with Tony and Pepper now joining them.

Tony moved around his desk to look more closely at the footage. "JARVIS, why didn't I notice these people before?" He looked more than a little unsettled to see the intent looks on the two men's faces before they quickly moved away from the immediate area. They'd stayed long enough to hear the invitation for dinner the next night.

"Yes, that was most careless of you, sir," JARVIS said. "However, I believe you may have dismissed them as they were relatively circumspect in their actions. If I had not been looking for correlations, I might not have noticed them myself. But, in hindsight, their actions are suspicious."

Mr. Stark nodded. "You got that right." He paused the video, backing it up with a motion of his hand. "Just who are those guys? And do they show up anywhere else?" He thought one looked familiar but wasn't sure.

Another video popped up next to the current one, showing the inside of the medical suite of Stark Tower. "The man on the left is the same man who tried to abduct Miss Carmichael while inside the Tower."

"What?!" Tony stared at the image like he'd seen a ghost, realizing the men were one and the same. "So who are they? What company do they belong to?"

The images disappeared. "While they were both sitting at the same table as those companies mentioned earlier, I cannot, with any confidence, discern what company they represented. They did not wear the appropriate name tags, nor did they seem to be on the guest list. Nor do they show up on any facial recognition databases."

Tony rubbed at his chin as he paced the room. "How is that even possible? They wouldn't have been allowed in without an invitation or sponsor badge. Did you check footage from all the entrances?"

"Of course," JARVIS replied dryly. "I did not match any individuals to their particular facial structures. Either they somehow managed to stay off camera or came in under false pretenses."

The billionaire paused to lean against his desk. "Disguises," he mused. It was possible. Even SHIELD used a synthetic material that could alter one's facial characteristics through some kind of holographic projection. He'd seen it used before. Hand back to his chin, he contemplated the possibilities. "JARVIS, just who was supposed to sit in the chairs those imposters took?"

"I thought you would never ask," JARVIS replied as he pulled up two images of two different men. They looked nothing like the two who had ghosted past him all that night. "The one on the right is a Mr. Gabriel Jones. The one on the left is Joseph Finch. They are both from General Tech and were seen entering the building at the main entrance. However, I did not find any evidence that they left the building the same way they came in. Also of note, neither has been since."

The wheels in Tony's head spun. "How much are you willing to bet it wasn't really Mr. Finch and Jones who entered the party? What if they were somehow detained and someone else took their places? What I'm not sure about is why those imposters would ditch the disguises and show their real faces. If they wanted to throw us off, they'd keep up the façade."

"Unless they knew we wouldn't be able to track them down from just their faces," Natasha spoke up as she stood in the doorway. "But it's still more than we had before. Who knows? Maybe they slipped up." She moved into the room, all business. "JARVIS, can you place them anywhere else associated with our missing assets?"

The images disappeared once more while the digital butler combed through the data. Now that he knew what to look for, it made things a lot easier. "I have found one occurrence at the student expo," he announced as he pulled up a still image of the other man standing in Kally Carmichael's booth. He had a clipboard in hand and seemed to be studying her research posters. "This image was captured the first day of the expo soon after the event officially opened. I believe it was assumed he was one of the judges."

Tony walked around the projection, a frown on his face. "What about any contact with Hiro?"

JARVIS once more removed the images. "I'm afraid not. I can only fathom this might be because Hiro Hamada had not yet done his presentation. It was scheduled for the day after this took place. However, he did not have time to present before events were set in motion."

Natasha watched Stark as he paced the room. "If you ask me, it sounds like they found an opportunity and used what resources they'd already had in place to set their plan in motion a little ahead of their intended schedule. Under the circumstances, I can't blame them for taking advantage of the timing."

"My thoughts exactly," JARVIS stated. "As they did not seem to care that we might be able to identify at least one of the parties responsible for the onset, I believe those behind it had things planned out in advance, with contingency plans in place should such an opportunity present itself."

Tony let out his breath in a huff. "That makes it sound like there's something bigger at stake aside from two kidnapped teen geniuses. Just what do they want them for?" He moved to sit on the edge of his desk again, arms folded. "One can only guess it has something to do with their respective fields, which means we need to keep an eye on all tech related news. Unfortunately, they haven't been gone long enough to really do much of anything. We just might be in for the long haul with this one."

Natasha nodded in grim agreement. Unfortunately, the longer this went on, the less likely it was they'd recover the missing students. And if Stark wasn't going to bring it up, neither was she. It just meant they had to find answers fast and hope for the best, though part of her wondered if it really would all work out.

It had taken some conniving, but Loki knew it would all work out. He'd managed to sneak into the upper levels of the Lucky Cat Café while Cass Hamada was busy with a little mess he'd helped create. It was all too easy, if he was being honest. A little flick of the wrist, a mumbled incantation and one of the espresso machines decided to malfunction, spouting hot water and steam into the air. It was all too easy.

And while the employees were distracted by the mini disaster, Loki had slipped up the back stairs and into the living levels of the apartment. After carefully exploring the second floor, he came to the conclusion that Cass was the one who used this area the most so he moved to the third floor. Once there, he knew he'd hit the jackpot. Not only had he found the teen's room, but there was DNA a plenty for what he had in mind. A few strands of hair from the bed would hardly be missed, leaving the god of mischief to wonder if anyone had recently cleaned the room. Judging from the state of things, he somehow doubted it.

He was back in his seat at the café before the proprietress realized he was gone, not that she'd have suspected a thing even if she had. So when she came over to apologize for the inconvenience of not being able to present him with a hot mocha, he gave her a somewhat sad smile. In compensation, however, she presented him with the pastry she'd made fresh just for him. And he was more than delighted to accept it. After leaving a generous tip, even though he hadn't been charged a dime, he left the café to find an out of the way place to perform his spell.

Figuring it would be best to use both samples he'd collected, Loki pulled out Hiro's hair and his aunt's slightly lighter strands. It had been a while since he'd last performed this kind of magic so he took a moment to breathe deeply and clear his thoughts. Then, with a complicated turn of the wrist, he threw the strands into the air, muttering under his breath the incantation.

A circle, not unlike a mirror, appeared in the air before him. At first it didn't seem to show anything outside of the area around him. But, after a moment, it moved like a movie in fast motion. After only two seconds, it stopped to show the café and Loki scowled. "Not there," he admonished and sent out another strand of Hiro's hair to overpower the influence of his aunt's DNA.

Once more, the air around him rippled as the magic took effect, scouring the vicinity before moving on to the next state over. It gradually moved even further out, briefly showing both the NYU campus and Stark Tower, places Loki knew Hiro had stayed at. It even briefly showed the safe house before following the same trail he'd tried to follow after realizing the teen and his friend had been kidnapped.

"Come on," he urged. "Keep going. Show me where they took them."

The image continued to accelerate over the course Loki knew all too well. But instead of stopping at the interstate like he'd had to, it kept going.

"Yes!" Yes!" Loki exclaimed as he pumped his fist. This was going to work. And he'd beat everyone else there, successfully "freeing" the captured Valkyrie spawn, along with her friend. He felt sure he could find some use for the robotics genius.

But then the fast-paced ride seemed to slow, hovering over a vast expanse before it suddenly snuffed out like a candle.

"No!" Loki couldn't help but look at the now empty air in disbelief. "No! You were supposed to tell me where he is!" He kicked at the closest item in a fit of sudden rage, sending the chunk of rock skittering down the back alley. He reached into his pocket to pull out more hair, only to realize there wasn't any. In total frustration, he yelled to the sky, fists clenched at his sides.

There were only two reasons for his spell to fail. At least as far as he could see. One, something somehow blocked its ability to work correctly. Or two, Hiro Hamada was no longer among the living. And since he didn't have any DNA from Kally, he might never know. But he had a really hard time believing there was something keeping his spell from doing its job.

Loki raked his hands through his hair. "After all my efforts, it comes down to this? As much as I don't care about the young whelp, he could have been useful." Then it occurred to him. Even if Hiro was no longer with the living, he'd at least been where Kally likely was. That thought calmed him a bit.

If he was not mistaken, the spell had lost shown him an area the Midgardians called Pennsylvania. Or at least close enough to count. Perhaps if he were to go and search in that area, he might get a better clue. After all, a Valkyrie couldn't just disappear without a trace. He'd find her, one way or another, soothe her troubled heart over the loss of her friend, and use her to finish his takeover of Asgard. He would never have to worry about Odin or Thor ever again.