It must be a dream, he thought, feeling the icicles of unconsciousness melt bit by bit. He did not open his eyes. Instead, he simply allowed himself to feel.
The world inside of him, usually prone to riotous thoughts and shifting turns, appeared too quiet, too at ease. His insides tingled with something old, yet changed. More settled, but less familiar. His mind was clear, a feeling he hardly remembered. His skin prickled both ice cold and fiery hot as his armor touched his chest, his boot squeezed his calf, a soft shape cushioned his cheek and the back of his head. He could not feel restraints, neither physical nor magical, and he felt no injuries, no need for healing. A delicious warmth pressed into the skin of his wrist and along his left side. It tempted his attention, but he fought to keep his eyes closed as his memories surfaced. Of Gamora. Of Thanos. Of Thor. Of Heimdall.
Where was Heimdall?
He remained still, taking the deep breaths of one still sleeping, and reached out his senses. There were two others here with him, one several steps away, awake, and one at his side, sleeping. Neither were Heimdall. The slight hissing of machinery and the fuzzy static at the back of his eyes drew his focus and reminded him of something. Of small devices pointed at him. Capturing his image, his declarations, outside an art house and while he flew through a burning metropolis.
He tried to slow his breathing further if only to calm the race of his pulse. He now knew exactly where he was.
Midgard.
He opened his eyes, and his body tensed. His brain catalogued the single door, the distance across the room, the devices at each corner of the ceiling watching him, the heartbeats just outside – three – and finally, the man sitting on a pair of cots pushed together. If Loki held any doubts about being on Midgard, this sight dispelled them quickly. The man crossed one red and gold armored leg over his knee and raised a finger to his lips, eyes locked on Loki but darting to the space over his shoulder.
Avengers.
Loki remained calm in the face of Tony Stark, helmetless but highly armed based on the soft whirring noises filling the space between them. It had been a lifetime since they traded insults or blows. Stark's eyes continued to flicker from Loki and away again, to just behind him. With effort, Loki turned his eyes away from Stark toward the warmth on his left, and thought, words, breath all failed him.
Her.
"Jane." The single word was a prayer.
"Hey," Stark whispered. "Shhh." He pushed off the cot, boots echoing with each careful step. "She needs rest, and you're coming with me."
Loki heard none of Stark's agitated words, though the threat of them sucked the oxygen from the room. Jane slept on, a strand of hair lying across her cheek, her forehead free from the creases she wore so frequently while awake. Creases for which he was often the cause. He lifted his free hand to push her hair back, just to touch her skin for a heartbeat, but his wrist was stayed by a glove and a hissed warning.
"Not a chance, blue boy. Last request, because I really don't want to wake her up."
Loki turned his eyes back to Stark, and the slithering voice in his head, quieter than normal but still very much alive, reminded him how easy it would be to start a fire of blazing magic inside that suit and watch the man burn from the inside out. To laugh as the flesh melted from that arrogant face and dropped in chunks to the cold stone floor at his feet. So easy. So very satisfying.
But that would wake Jane. That would hurt Jane.
He blinked and focused on the wrist that Stark held. On the pale, blue skin. His skin. Disgust shot through him as he remembered so many years before when the Casket of Ancient Winters froze Heimdall in place. Loki's skin, his real skin, had shown itself then but faded to his false Aesir coloring. As Loki examined his wrist all these years later, the new tint remained.
He looked back to Jane's peaceful face and let his confusion about his skin, his heritage, his calm insides go for the moment. As he watched, she snuggled further into his bicep and sighed softly, the warmth of her breath raising goosebumps along his neck. The dark shadows under her eyes had not existed the last time he saw her. Small and broken in that enormous hospital bed after destroying her own lab in undiluted anger at the very sight of him. Before Odin's death and Hela's arrival and Thor's…
He whispered to Stark, voice a harsh rasp, but he could not take his eyes from Jane Foster's face. "Where is Heimdall?"
"We're not talking here," Tony said, his fist squeezing Loki's wrist a little tighter with every word. "Get up. You have about five people on your side right now. The rest of us want you gone in some pretty painful ways."
He again pulled his attention from Jane to stare at Stark. "Thanos is coming."
Tony jerked his chin toward the door.
It pained Loki to move from Jane's side, the absence of her warmth an immediate physical ache. He tried to stand on his own, but his legs were useless. Stark caught his fall with a scowl, gritting his teeth hard enough to set out a pulsing vein at his temple.
Loki did not turn for a last look at the woman on the cot as he and Stark moved across the room. He could not. If he looked back, he would not leave her alone. Ever. But there were more urgent issues here than the desires of his own heart.
As the door closed behind them, Stark shoved Loki down several sterile hallways and into a large, undecorated room before stepping away. The others filed in. Loki lowered his head as Natasha Romanoff, Steve Rogers, and an inquisitive, dark-skinned man surveyed him like a rare specimen in a cage. None of them moved toward him, but each kept knees bent and hands poised.
"Was he blue before?" Natasha asked Steve Rogers.
Loki sighed and spoke at the same moment as Tony Stark.
"Where is Heimdall?"
"He should be locked up, no key."
The unfamiliar man stepped to Loki, and his black suit shimmered with streaks of plum.
"Who is this Heimdall? Your companion?"
There was a specific authority to the softly accented words. Loki bowed his head further, royalty recognizing royalty. "Yes. I brought him with me when I was transported to this realm. He is…he was not…"
"He is alive, but only just. I am King T'Challa of Wakanda. You are in my kingdom and under my protection. This is not a thing I grant lightly."
Loki nodded. Tony Stark mumbled from the other side of the room, and both Natasha Romanoff and Captain America sighed heavily.
Loki ignored them. "King T'Challa, I come here to warn of a great danger."
"Thanos," Steve Rogers said, stepping closer with arms crossed over his chest. "We've heard."
"From Jane?" Loki's body flooded with heat just speaking her name.
Captain America nodded. "And Bruce Banner."
Loki's eyes widened. "Banner? He is here?"
"Sure is. Banner's back and singing your praises. I don't know what you did to him or to Jane, but I swear to God if you have her under some kind of magic schmagic spell gone wrong, I-"
"I do not," Loki sneered. "I would never hurt her."
Tony rolled his eyes. "Like I believe anything that comes out of your mouth."
"This is not productive," T'Challa spoke with finality. He turned to Loki. "Your companion is in good hands. We are researching ways to revive him, but his wound is severe."
"Thank you. He is the one who sent me here. I have many questions for him."
Natasha Romanoff spoke up. "What about Thor? Why isn't he here too?"
If not for the steadying hand of the King, Loki would have slid to the floor at the mention of his brother. He could so vividly see the hole in Thor's chest. The life leaving his eyes. Loki tried to swallow, but his throat was too dry.
"I did not have enough power to bring them both. I left Thor's body-" Loki hissed and leaned heavily into the wall. "I left Thor with trusted allies." He needed to say more, needed to explain about these allies and the stones and Thanos and so many things, but a slicing pain deep in his chest stopped his words.
Silence thick as the metal walls met him. Even Tony couldn't break the tension of exactly what Loki had not said. Those gathered saw, if only for a single second, nothing more than a simple, heartbroken younger brother, pitiful and weak in his grief. Not the monstrous, horned conqueror from only a few years before. But as quickly as the sympathy rose, it was replaced with the images of a devastated city, and the hearts of Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, and Natasha Romanov hardened once again.
Only the King spoke. Softly, as to a small child. "You must continue."
Loki nodded. "My apologies. My allies are on a mission to retrieve the Reality Stone from its hiding place on a world called Knowhere. They will bring my brother and the stone here afterward."
"Whoa whoa whoa," Tony said, a pointed finger raised in Loki's face. "Reality Stone? Like the thing inside Jane?"
"Yes," Loki said, eyes on the floor. "The stone and the Aether are one. Jane has but a piece, a residue, from the Aether's time in her body. It reacts…badly at times, I know."
"Understatement," Tony mumbled. "She completely destroyed her apartment and all my tech when you sent her your intergalactic message." He waved a dismissive hand toward Steve. "Then she called this one to send his motley crew to rescue her."
"Tony," both Steve and Natasha warned.
"Her apartment?" Loki said, eyes now laser-focused on Tony Stark. "I did not appear to her in her apartment. It was her lab. She was in the medical facility for only a few days after that. I saw her my-"
Tony's eyebrows raised. "What?" He stepped closer. "Wait. The lab? That was you? That was YOU? I was worried sick about that kid. After she got out of that hospital bed, she was despondent, barely ate for months." He grabbed at the leather lapel of Loki's armor. "What did you do to her?!"
Hands were on them in seconds. T'Challa and Steve, both pulling at Tony as Loki stood his ground, trying to piece together exactly what he was hearing as a gun dug into the side of his neck courtesy of Romanov.
"You said her apartment, Stark," Loki said, voice cracking. "Not her lab. What happened to her at the apartment?"
Steve Rogers wrestled Tony back. "Stop. Tony, stop!" He got an elbow to the gut for his trouble and allowed T'Challa to pull Tony out the door, still yelling at Loki. With the slam of the door came silence but no less tension. The gun had not moved.
Steve stood toe to toe with the God of Lies. "You have no room to make demands. Got it? I understand there's a bigger threat, but I have very little reason to believe or trust you." He exchanged a look with Natasha, and the feel of the gun barrel left his neck though Loki saw the raised weapon in his periphery. "Jane called me three days ago after she destroyed her apartment. She said she'd seen something. You, Thor, purple fire, space. She was rambling. But the vision, or whatever you sent, pulled her out of deep sleep, and she said the Aether surged on its own. The blast took out a chunk of the tower. She-"
Loki's breath came in short pants. "Was she-"
"No," Steve said, raising his palm. "She wasn't hurt. At all actually. I don't know anything about the lab incident or what happened with that. Tony and I…" Steve sighed. "We didn't discuss it. But Jane arrived here shortly before you. Her vitals haven't been checked yet. She's been a bit, well, she's been-"
The door burst open, and Tony stormed back in, T'Challa on his heels. "She's been possessed by that red thing inside her. Flying around with black eyes and stopping reality completely. Oh, and then being all fragile and lovesick because of whatever you've done to her." Tony marched across the room and slumped into the seat furthest from the group. "And I'm the only one worried about her! But, whatever, Bagheera just grounded me, so you and me can have a bit of a rematch later." He jumped back to his feet, energy restored. "This is super fun, reunions all around, reunions none of us want to have, so yeah, I'll let the Jane thing go," he looked directly at T'Challa, "for now" then back to Loki "so we can get to the big questions like when are your pals showing up with that stone? Before or after Thanos? And what's in it for you? Why are you even here? And why are you blue now?"
Anger rolled though Loki. "I told you, Stark. I have done nothing to Jane. I would not hurt her for all the world. I could not. Your arrogance blinds you if you think me here to trade blows again with you and your colleagues. To what end? To be put into my place once more? To be bested a second time so thoroughly after watching my brother, the brother who I never properly honored or respected or-" His voice disappeared. He swallowed. "I am here, because after his own sword punctured his heart, Heimdall spoke in my mind and told me to bring us and Thor to Midgard, to the place I am most hated, to find the Avengers. And Jane. Until and if Heimdall wakes, I do not know my purpose. Only that Thanos is gathering the Infinity Stones, and we must stop him else the universe is damned." He stepped toward Stark without realizing it until the metal of Romanov's gun dug into his cheek. He ignored it as his voice rose with each word. "Does that satisfy you, Stark? To know I have no idea why I am here. That my brother was murdered in front of my eyes. That I left him with strangers, because I did not have enough power to bring him here with me. Does it satisfy you to know that I have no way to know if they will follow through or if I will ever see him again or if the stone is safe. That all I can do is hope that there is some way to restore my brother so I can make amends if and only if he will even accept me. Does all of that satisfy your questions?"
Agitation throughout Loki's speech pushed Tony Stark to pace, closer and closer to Loki as his words bit into the still air in the room. His metal finger poked into Loki's chest with enough force that he stumbled back one step. "Nothing you say will satisfy me. Ever. I think you're lying. I think you love to lie. I think you're lying about Thor. I think you're lying about Jane and about these special pals of yours." His finger poked again and again into Loki's chest, harder with each sentence. "You want to know what I think? You want to know what I really think is happening here? Hmm? I think you're the one gathering the Infinity Stones. I think this Thanos guy is your red herring, and you're the real threat here. I think this devoted love shit is an act and you want to just rip that red stuff out of Jane's chest and leave her for dead. And I still think you should be locked up, torn apart, and never see daylight again. That's what would satisfy me, oh great Prince Loki of Asgard. And nothing will change my mind."
"I will have to challenge that statement, Mr. Stark."
Loki hissed, stumbling backward and clawing at the smooth wall as he tried to escape. The presence of the Mind Stone was not something he would ever in his existence forget, and as the man walked calmly into the room, the stone in his forehead sparkling, Loki remembered the jagged rocks of the cliffside, the punishments by Thanos and his minions, the blood running from his eyes, his mouth, the disease spreading through his mind, the glow of that damnable scepter, his mind crying out to Jane over and over. And as those images invaded his mind, rage sizzled along his skin as it darkened to the blue of a night sky, symbols like tattoos spreading, pulsing, rising. Sharpened canines jutted into his lower lip, and he bared them like a wounded dog, panting at the pulses of power spreading through the room. No escape. No way out. The Avengers were arming themselves, weapons of all kinds pointed at him, hands raised in warning, everyone yelling, everyone low in fighting stances. Except for the one carrying the Mind Stone. He stopped and stared at Loki, his head tilted minutely, confusion in his eyes as he raised his arm only slightly to stop a small red-headed woman from following him fully into the room. Knives of pure ice jutted from Loki's hands, and he crouched.
"I do not know who you are, but I will not be controlled again." He spoke low, evenly, shining ruby eyes never leaving the stone, fearing nothing in this room, on this planet, or throughout the entire universe as much as losing his will once more. "I will not."
Static crackled. "Steve, we might have a problem." No one spoke as the comm at Steve Rogers' belt came to life. "It's Dr. Foster."
"Jane," Loki breathed.
.
.
She gasped as consciousness jolted her like an electric shock.
"Loki," she whispered, heart pounding as his terrified voice echoed through her head like so many times before. She scrambled from the cot and raced to the door, jiggling the handle, beating a fist against the cold metal, yelling to be let out, begging for the door to open.
A speaker screeched. "Doctor Foster, Jane, I can't let you out. You know that."
Jane quieted, though her fist still pounded into the door. "James?" she asked, pressing her forehead into the door. "Is that you?"
Bucky rushed to the door, and after a moment of silence, his muffled voice came to her. "Yeah. It's me. You gotta stop, Jane. You're going to hurt yourself."
She nodded, her eyes squeezed shut. "James, Loki is calling me. He's in trouble, and I have to get to him. Please," she said, holding the door handle with a white knuckled grip. "Please open the door."
"Jane, come on. I can't." He was pleading. "But I can check on him. Steve won't let anything happen, I promise."
She tapped her forehead against the door three times. "No, James. No. Steve and the Avengers hate Loki. Rightfully. But they don't understand him like I do." She jiggled the handle again with more force. "Let me out. Please don't make me give up control. James, please."
She heard his metal fist thud against the outside of the door. "Don't, Jane. Listen. I'll…I'll take care of this. Okay? I'm calling Steve."
"James," she said, resigned. "I can't wait."
She reached deep inside her, finding the Aether waiting. She had known she would pay for taking control. She had stupidly thought she could handle anything without the Aether's help. She had lived for over thirty years without her alien roommate, but it was so easy to give up, so easy to let reality shift at her whim to get exactly what she needed, so easy to be protected and protect the people she cared for the most. She finally understood the benefits to working together with the Aether, not just once but for everything.
Punish me if you have to, but please, help Loki, she thought and willingly fell to the background of her mind as her body burned in the savage flames of the Aether. And she thrilled at the weightless feeling that cocooned her. No punishment. No revenge. Just welcoming arms.
I will find your Prince, Jane Foster. No harm will come to him or to you. We shall never be parted.
A blinding slice of red cut down the center of the door, and the two sides ripped apart in an ear-splitting screech of metal.
"Jane!" Bucky yelled before he slammed the alarm and aimed his guns at the new opening as Jane came into view, ablaze with power.
"She is unharmed, James Barnes. We are grateful for your intention, but time is precious."
She disappeared through the corridor like lightning, leaving him still crouching against the control panel, gun raised and eyes wide, before he tore off after her. Why had he hesitated? Why did the sight of some random scientist possessed so completely with the need to protect a villain stun him to the point of paralysis? What was so different about her from all the other insane things he'd seen in his long life?
But he knew. He just hated to admit it. What was different about Jane Foster?
God damn everything.
.
.
"Was that Barnes?!" Tony screamed as the voice on Steve's comm was silenced. He forgot Loki completely and pushed Steve against the opposite wall. "You assigned the Winter Soldier to watch over Jane? What, just replacing one murderer with another? Are you insane?!"
"Tony, calm down!" Steve fumbled for the comm. "Bucky, what is it?"
The only answer was the alarm blaring all around them, and heads flew to King T'Challa as he rushed from the room, Tony and Steve Rogers following close behind.
Loki could feel Jane, her fear, her anger, her worry, and he realized too late his call to her had not been a memory. She was coming for him, and she was using the Aether. Liberally. The tang of it was so strong in his mouth, paired with the Mind Stone's sharp taste, that he nearly gagged and pushed further away and into a corner, crouching almost to his knees under the pressure of two Infinity Stones, his magic swirling around him, unfamiliar turquoise flames fanning from his icy hands as the holder of the Mind Stone and the woman behind him watched, silent and contemplating, but with no judgment in their eyes.
The man stepped toward Loki, his head bowed and his palms up. "She will arrive soon. All will be well." His soothing words did not calm Loki, but they did not further agitate. An Infinity Stone would feel another stone, and Loki's studies of these stones during his time posing as the Allfather had revealed to him that the stones themselves had no need to lie. Only the wielders of the stones could manipulate, and the God of Lies could sense a lie better than any other. He sensed no deception now, but he waited, confused, helpless, knowing any reaction would label him further the enemy.
Shouts from outside the room stole his attention, as Romanov's gun moved from him and toward the door as she crept toward it and exited. Only the man and the red-haired woman remained with him, without fearless, completely relaxed, as the shouts rose in a crescendo and then stopped as though cut off by a conductor. Then Jane crossed the threshold, hovering a foot off the floor, eyes black and body bathed in flames.
She was a goddess.
"Loki."
He shuddered at that voice, the deep shades of the Aether, as his memory returned to a prison cell on Asgard. To a stolen moment in the dead of night, her breath on his skin, that same voice begging for a touch, a kiss. And he shivered under the weight of the icy knives protruding from his fists as he let them go, as the deep indigo faded from his skin to leave it the same pale, sickly blue, and he sank to the floor before Jane Foster as her toes touched the ground in front of him.
He raised a hand toward her, hesitated, pulled it back to his chest as he hanged his head further, but could not resist reaching for her again. He wrapped his fingers behind her knee, his breath labored as he relished the actual feel of her, having so few memories of being near her in person. His other hand shook as he pulled at the hem of her torn flannel shirt, and he crawled to her, eyes stinging as she rescued him once more.
"Jane," he breathed, pressing his forehead to her stomach and wrapping her in his embrace, surrendering everything he had been and could be to this woman. Her slight hands gently stroked his hair, calming him further, as faintly, sound returned and the room was filled again. More people, the same and different, weapons raised, shouting orders but keeping a distance. He understood none of it as he attempted to hold back his tears, as he shook against this woman and let her heal him as she had done so many times before.
And the assembled group watched, reactions ranging from disgust to jealousy to fear to confusion to understanding, voices dying at the quiet sight of a fallen god bowing to a tiny mortal woman, both more powerful than most of those gathered and neither paying attention to anything but each other.
Jane raised Loki's face to hers. "I feel your fear, Prince. It called to my host so violently that she surrendered control to me." She caressed his face. "Your fear controls you more than the Mind Stone ever could. Use that fear to your advantage. Rise. Strategize. Defeat the titan." She knelt and took his face in her hands. "You, Jane Foster, these Avengers. You are inevitable."
His cold hands wrapped around her wrists as his gaze burned into her black eyes. "Inevitable."
She nodded.
"Those are Heimdall's words."
"Yes," her fingers moved slowly along his jaw. "I hear them in your mind. Neither you nor Jane Foster know the depth of your connection. It surprises even me for I have not seen anything like it before." She looked over her shoulder. "But we can speak more of that later. Now, you must face your fear. My brother wishes to explain what he knows."
"Your brother?"
"Yes. The Mind Stone. We are a family of six, Prince, siblings that both compliment and contradict. We are connected, not by blood, but by purpose, by desire, by need. As are so many. Come."
They rose as one, Loki's head tilting downward as he reached his full height towering over her. "You will not grant Jane control?"
She shook her head. "Not yet. I know more about the stones than she. But do not worry for her. You will have her back in time, Prince. I promise."
He nodded, resigned, and looked to the man who possessed the Mind Stone. Loki bit down the flash of fear and stepped forward, weapons all around him stiffening again, even Tony Stark remaining silent in this unpredictable moment. The Avengers trusted this man. They did not fear him or fear for him, not even after seeing Loki's monstrous change. Loki bowed his head low and started at the slight pressure on his wrist as Jane's fingers circled it.
"I will be with you." He nodded. "She will too. Always."
He swallowed and pressed his eyes closed for but a moment, then faced the man. "I am Prince Loki of Asgard."
The man bowed slightly. "My name is Vision. We have much to discuss, but time is short." He offered his hand, slowly, palm up. Loki stared at it, his face pinched, and he felt Jane squeeze his wrist slightly, her warmth relaxing the tension in his shoulders. He inhaled deeply and grasped the man's forearm.
The room around him disappeared in a field of white. Then images, scenes, time screamed past his eyes as he learned this man's origin, a humanoid machine build for a nefarious purpose, set free by the lightning of Thor's hammer. Loki saw the time before the Mind Stone when this man existed only as a disembodied servant to Tony Stark with access to all of Stark's secrets, and after his physical creation, how Vision married that information with the endless knowledge of the Mind Stone. This creation held innumerable secrets to the universe, information that he could use to rule any realm, every realm, and yet, he wanted only…
Love?
He watched the memories of this man as he felt a new pull, an unfamiliar connection that his circuitry could not understand, something he was not created to feel. Sentiment, a Loki from years ago would have spat out to any listening. This man, Vision, his entire world changed because of the slight woman standing to his right. And in Vision's mind, Loki saw the power behind this woman, this Wanda, touched as he had been by the Mind Stone but so differently. She had wielded it too, but as its master. Not its prisoner. He shuddered at her strength. If Vision could rule the realms, Wanda Maximoff could destroy existence. This quiet pair, subdued and fearless, connected by the Mind Stone but devoted to each other by purpose and desire and need.
Eventually, the memories became familiar. He saw a gray room, a cot, himself, Jane, and he watched from Vision's eyes as Wanda knelt beside the cot.
"Wanda," Vision spoke softly, and Loki felt the woman's delicate hand join Vision's around his forearm. Powerful visions pushed him to one knee, visions inside his own mind and its gruesome webs of dripping black, of dilapidated memories that this witch of sorts cleared out using his own magic. His own Jotun magic mixed with the beautiful spell craft his mother had taught and encouraged in him from his boyhood days. His eyes opened wider as he saw his magic dance, combine, grow stronger, and fly through his entire being to devour Thanos' control.
The hands lifted from him. Colors and shapes reentered his sight once more. But words did not come as he raised his eyes to the pair. His mind was too occupied, too busy trying to understand all of this new knowledge, to form words. But he felt Jane kneeling beside him, her hand steady on his wrist, and he cleared his throat in an attempt to speak.
"I am in your debt."
The woman, Wanda, smiled, and Vision offered his hand once more. "Speak not of debts. There is too much to do. Two stones exist on this planet, as well as that which resides in Ms. Foster, and I fear Thanos will arrive himself to collect them once he learns his minions have failed."
Loki took the offered hand and stood. "You have met them."
"Sure have," a new voice rang through the room. Jane sucked in a delighted breath, and Loki snarled.
"I know you, wizard."
Stephen Strange waved a dismissive hand. "Flattered." He sighed. "From what Vision's told me, you're an asset right now. I'm thrilled to work with you." His disdain was so like Tony Stark's that Loki looked to Stark to confirm they were not one and the same. "My people took care of one of those aliens, and Romanov and Captain America beat the shit out of the other."
"Language," Steve grumbled.
"Not sorry. We're still trying to find them. I expect they'll show up here eventually along with their boss. In the meantime," Strange flicked his hands in front of him and encircled an amulet around his neck. The bauble shifted, spun, and a stunning green light illuminated his face. Jane drifted closer to Strange, eyes locked on the stone around his neck, and Loki resisted the urge to pull her back to his side. "We have the Time Stone and a library full of knowledge about it. Between you, me, Vision, and," he held a hand toward Jane as she approached, "the incandescent Dr. Foster, we know enough about the stones to form a plan. Maybe. Hopefully. To save the world. Because that's kind of what we do. Even you, now, apparently. God, this is confusing."
Loki stepped toward Strange, his hand unconsciously landing on the small of Jane's back to keep her close. "The Time Stone? Of course. Can it-"
"Okay. So, I've been nice and quiet in my corner for a long time, but I'm done. Jane?" Stark said, pulling her elbow to draw her away from Loki and Strange. "What are you doing? This isn't you."
Jane shrugged away from him. "Tony Stark. I am not Jane Foster. I know your need to protect her is strong, but you and your feelings toward Prince Loki and many others here are a cancer to the coming fight." She stepped close to him and rested a hand over his heart. "You must let it go. All of it. Have faith in me, in my knowledge, in my history. Have faith in the Prince, in Vision, in this Stephen Strange, in James Barnes, the Captain, and in this entire team. Work with us, even without full understanding, with an open heart and open mind. You foster an incomparable mind and have a wealth of compassion for those you love."
He leaned forward to whisper to her. "Listen to me. I can't, okay? I just can't look at those eyes and believe anything you say, because I think you're taking over Jane and influencing this…whatever it is…with the evil brother over there. I-"
His words dissolved as the red flames of the Aether surrounded them, choking Tony Stark as his eyes widened.
"I want you beside Jane Foster when this war erupts, Tony Stark. I know her heart, and it is incredibly generous. She has love and respect for you, but you are not honoring that love and respect properly. If you continue down this path of mistrust, I will take you out of this fight completely. That is a promise, and I am the only one here who will do it. As I said, I am not Jane Foster. I will do what must be done. And that includes silencing you if necessary. Do you understand me?"
Tony's purpling face nodded jerkily.
Jane stepped back as Stark crumpled to the floor, breathing heavily. Natasha Romanov knelt by him and touched his shoulder. He held up a hand, his eyes eventually raising to Jane.
"Well." He stood, shaky, Natasha by his side. "I think I need a minute." He backed away from Jane, turned, took a deep breath, and walked out the door without a single word.
Strange turned back to Loki with a raised eyebrow. "I like her." At Loki's stony expression, he continued. "So, can the Time Stone what? Because, the answer is probably yes."
"You have used the stone in the past?"
"Uh huh."
"And are you able to direct its use to a single entity or event instead of the universe at large?"
Crossing his arms over his chest. "Sure. What's your point?"
Loki looked to Vision first, who was nodding slowly in dawning understanding, and both turned to King T'Challa with renewed energy. "Please, King, we need to see Heimdall immediately."