One night, or what Tony could only think was night because well… It's not there was any night or day here. He was sleeping, so he considered it night. He was sleeping as usual, exhausted.
Then he felt movements in front of him.
"Tony." Tony slowly opened his eyes to glance up at a white scaly alien with black spots grinning at him. "Is it your birthday or something?"
"What?" Tony asked and Kila hinted with his head, Tony turned and then he blinked for there… There was a small pile of materials. And beside it was Loki laying on his side curling together while the demi god was sleeping.
Tony gaped as he sat up, he had to rub his eyes to double check. Loki could barely even walk yet, they had tried a few more times, but it didn't quite seem like Loki could walk on his own yet. And yet somehow.
"Are you serious?" Tony gasped.
Loki stirred, then his green eyes slowly opened and he glanced up at Tony then at his small pile. "It was all I could get for now." he informed. "Do not complain."
"Dude are you kidding me?" Tony asked as he scooted forward. "Before we had nothing, well except this." he pulled out the electronic bracelet. "And now." he dug through the pile. "This is perfect. I can do some patching now!" he gasped. "Nebula." he turned to the cyborg woman.
Nebula was looked at him, then the pile. She swallowed, as usual it was hard to read her. But there was something different about her. A certain longing.
Tony smiled as he returned to the pile, starting to slowly dig through it. "If only I had more time to actually work. After my shifts I can barely stand." he muttered feeling Lokis eyes on him and Tony glanced up to see the pair of eyes looking very serious.
Tony offered the demi god a small smile and returned to the pile. "Man, Lokes. Why would you even waste time being jealous of Thor?" he asked.
"Pardon?" Loki asked.
"I mean seriously." Tony didn't even look at Loki as he was digging. "Being able to heal yourself, read minds, teleport, cast those projection things, read minds. Thor can't teleport and read minds!" he stated picking up a piece turning it. "I mean sure, he can cast lightning and has a really big hammer. But it isn't, you know. Bloody teleporting!" Finally Tony looked up and saw Loki.
Loki looked oddly at Tony, but also a little curious. There was even a small smile tugging in his lip.
"Anything else you can do?" Tony asked curiously.
"My specialty is illusions and I am a natural shapeshifter." Loki informed.
"Oh yeah! Those illusions! Like when you started to look like other people after the battle! Wow!" Tony gasped. "So you can make like, any illusion?" he asked.
"The bigger the illusion the harder it is of course." Loki sat up crossing his legs. "How-ever." he held his hands together. "Only imagination is your limit." he stated as he opened his hands and from them came a small bird that looked like it was made of star light.
"Wow." Tony gasped as the bird flew towards him and Tony tried to touch it only for his hands to slip right through it, then the bird landed on the ground beside Tony and seemingly transformed into a giant horse with fur black as midnight and then it vanished. "Yeah that's way cooler than a stupid hammer." he stated turning back to Loki.
It almost looked like Loki was blushing as he was turning his head away, slipping a strain of greasy black hair behind his ear.
"Natural shapeshifter, what does that mean?" Tony asked.
"I can turn into animals and other species." Loki informed. "Well, some animals."
Tony whistled. "You know, only having one of your powers and you would be considered a superhero on earth."
"I'm a god Tony. Not just a mortal." Loki reminded Tony.
Tony shrugged. "God or super powerful alien magic dude. What-ever."
Loki glared at him. "Sorcerer! Or Sedir crafter!"
"What-ever dude. Still don't get what you have to be jealous about." Tony stated as he lifted a piece of technology. "No offense to Thor. But strength isn't everything. I mean just look at this place, everyone are obviously way stronger than me. But I am the only one able to do this." he lifted his hand to his slave badge and then casually removed it.
Loki quieted, simply quieted as he looked at it. "How?" he asked.
Kila as well were stunned quiet and Nebulas eyes were wide as her mouth was slightly open.
"While this bracelet is not able to remove a slave badge." Tony held up the electronic bracelet he had taken from a dead Chitauri. "It is able to activate it, so it had to send out a specific signal. I just had to reverse engineer that signal to figure out what would set off the badge and what wouldn't. Ones knowing that, it's simple."
Nebula smiled, actually smiled. "You weren't kidding when you said you build your first arch reactor from nothing."
Tony smiled a little embarrassed. Getting a compliment from Nebula, that really was something. "As I said. Sometimes strength doesn't mean anything. Need to use the good old knocking." he tapped his own head.
Loki smiled amused as he shook his head.
"What?" Tony asked.
"You wouldn't hear that kind of argument on Asgard." Loki admitted. "They would consider magic." he waved his hand as small green lights followed it. "Well, cheating and an act of cowardliness."
"That makes no sense what so ever." Tony blinked.
Loki smirked, shaking his head as he stopped his hand waving and so the green sparks. "I suppose it doesn't matter anymore. Asgard are gone anyway."
"Are you… Honestly sure it's all gone?" Tony asked. "Don't you think some could have survived? You talked about escape pods right?"
"I find it highly unlikely." Loki breathed deeply. "And I rather not disappoint myself."
Ones again Tony's mind turned to Pepper and suddenly realized it was true… He didn't really dare to hope because if he found out she wasn't… Tony chocked. How could he deal with that?
"No… I'm a coward. Like they used to say." Loki closed his eyes and Tony turned to him. "If someone survived… I doubt they would wish to see me. It was me, just as Odin said back then. I brought ruin to the realms I visited. Including Asgard."
Tony was quiet as he looked at Loki, then he swallowed. "I have brought lots of ruin to my own world." he admitted. "A lot." he empathized and Loki glanced up. "And I… I don't know if there's anything I can do to make up for any of it." Tony stated as his eyes watered. "But at least I." he turned back to the pile not finishing his sentence.
"I sold my own world out." Kila shrugged.
"How you all complain." Nebula slightly rolled her eyes but quieted.
Tony shook his head. "You are the nicest group of mass murderers I ever met." he stated.
"You're part of that group." Loki pointed out.
"Yeah that's the joke." Tony picked up a piece of material, squinting one eye to look over it with the other. "Geesh, maybe we all deserve to be in prison." he muttered.
Loki smirked grimly. "Perhaps." he stated. "You made me a promise though. Tony Stark, let it be known. I never fail to fulfill my promises." he glanced at the small pile. "And I do expect that courtesy to be returned."
"What else am I going to do?" Tony asked in a sigh.
Kila looked from one the other then he looked up. "Man." he breathed. "We might actually be able to make it." he seemed to realize.