Ensoulment
by Valerie Vancollie
valeriev84 at hotmail dot com
Notes: A shorter chapter today unfortunately, but we are back to Tony. This is the last chapter from his pov, though, so I hope you enjoy it!
Earth, 2018 A.D.
"Have you completely lost your mind, Stark?" Romanov demanded and Tony sighed.
It wasn't like he'd expected a good reaction from her regarding his theory, despite all of the visible evidence. Even ignoring all of the animosity which lay between them now, she and Barton had always been close.
"Nope, I'm just following the evidence like a good little scientist," Tony replied as he glanced at the others to see what they thought.
Rogers looked skeptical, but that was no surprise. Not only were they also at odds, but Captain America was first and foremost a soldier and in war things were often black and white. Or at least they would have been while fighting Nazis and HYDRA. He did hold hope Rogers might yet come around as he gave Loki's bad tactical decisions some more thought. They just made no sense, not for a trained... warrior.
Bruce, Rhodey, Okoye and Strange looked thoughtful as he'd hoped they would as they were either more removed from the invasion (Okoye), more open to logical arguments (Bruce) or both (Rhodey & Strange).
"You really want us to believe Loki was coerced into attacking Earth?" Romanov replied.
"See exhibit A," Tony retorted, indicating the images FRIDAY had up.
"Perhaps he was merely exhausted from getting here."
"Those are not the signs of magical exhaustion," Thor interjected. "Those I know well. Nor would Loki be able to so readily enslave Hawkeye if it were."
"Thor is correct," Strange said. "The type of magic required to enslave someone like that, it is not easy."
Well at least that was good to know.
"Those are the signs of heat exhaustion," Okoye spoke up.
Heh, that was one thing she would be quite familiar with given Wakanda's climate.
"He was exposed to extreme heat and more traditional forms of torture," Nebula stated from where she leaned against the wall at the back of the room.
Torture. The word was still enough to make Tony shudder and to cause what he himself had been subjected to in Afghanistan to flash before his eyes, but he did his best to push it all aside.
"You know of this?" Thor demanded darkly.
"Of course, The Other's pet was not kept secret, nor could he keep his inability to control him quiet," Nebula smiled viciously. "Thanos was most displeased with him when they realized precisely what your brother had done despite the compulsion placed directly into his mind with the Mind Stone."
"Wait, Loki was enslaved too?" Tony questioned, startled.
"Not as you mean, no. It did not work on him when Thanos tried it, he was most displeased as they needed his unique skills for the invasion to work as planned."
"Skills? What skill?" Rhodey questioned.
"The world walking."
"World walking?" Tony repeated dumbly.
What the hell was that? Why couldn't anyone speak plainly?
"You mean sky walking," Thor breathed, eyes wide. "Nay, that is merely a myt- Norns, of course Loki would find a way to do it and not inform anyone."
The awe and resignation which crossed the big guy's face told Tony that whatever this world or sky walking was, it was huge. He'd heard the terms before, when he'd been researching both Loki and Norse mythology, but neither he nor first JARVIS and then FRIDAY had been able to figure out what it meant. Surely being able to step up into the sky wasn't all that amazing given that Thor could practically fly with how he used his hammer.
"What is world or sky walking?" Bandit demanded.
"It is like teleporting, but between Realms instead of within one," Thor replied.
"Teleporting?" Bruce repeated in shock and Tony knew exactly how his science bro felt.
"If he can, eh, sky walk between Realms, does that mean he can teleport within one?" Tony demanded, casting aside everything else he wanted to ask and the denial he felt bubbling up within him.
People could notjust disappear from one world and reappear on another!
The sheer number of physics laws that would break was... well quite frankly even he wasn't sure how many of them it would be, but it was high, that was for sure!
If Loki had indeed pulled yet another Daniel Jackson, then he was so locking the god up in his lab until he figured out exactly how that damned magic of his worked! There had to be a reasonable explanation for it which didn't involve treating the laws of the universe as if they were mere suggestions instead of, well, laws of the universe. Damn it!
"Aye, of course," Thor said, looking at him in surprise. "Were you not aware of this?"
"Aware of it? How the hell would we be aware of it?" Tony questioned before a new thought occurred to him. "Oh, God, this just proves my theory."
"How do you figure that, Stark?" Romanov scowled.
"Because if he can teleport than what reason other than playing possum would he have had to remain in the Hulk cage on the Helicarrier? Or on the Quinjet before that?"
The shocked look which crossed Romanov's face, even making her mouth drop open a little, gratified Tony far more than it really should and he made a mental note to get FRIDAY to gif it for him.
"What do possums have to do with it?" Bandit growled, fur suddenly standing on end as he sprang to his feet.
"Huh?" Tony replied.
"I've been called a possum more than once!"
"Possum? But you're a racoon."
"Racoon!" Rocket roared. "If someone doesn't explain what that is, I'l-"
"FRIDAY, back wall, information, video and images of racoons," Tony ordered, already turning back to Thor and glancing at Strange as well. "I'm right, aren't I? He could have gotten out of that cage whenever he wanted."
"You did not ward it against teleportation?" Thor frowned.
"We didn't know that was even possible!"
"Oh, then aye, Loki could have left it whenever he so wished."
"I can't believe this," Bruce said, dropping into a seat as he rubbed his forehead. "He really was playing us the whole time."
"But if he can teleport then why didn't he just get the iridium himself?" Rogers wondered. "Why the whole show in Stuttgart?"
"Because he wanted to be captured," Tony replied. "Obviously."
"Tony," Rhodey warned stepping forward. "Why did Loki want to be captured? Did he get anything off the Helicarrier?"
"Uh, no, I don't think so," Rogers said, glancing over at Romanov.
"I never heard of anything which was stolen," she replied. "Well other than the scepter."
So if Loki hadn't done it to gain something, then what?
"Us," Tony realized. "By doing what he did, he brought all of the Avengers together in one place."
"Of course," Bruce agreed. "It proves what you were saying earlier, of him wanting to incite us. If he hadn't pulled that stunt in Stuttgart, we'd still have been dispersed, but by allowing himself to be captured and then rescued, he gave us a rallying point. Not to mention it bought him time if he truly was being monitored."
"He was," Nebula confirmed. "And you're right, The Other would not have accepted ordinary delays, but one caused by a capture in the pursuit of a necessary part of the plan? While he'd have been furious at it, it would not have aroused his suspicions."
"Wouldn't he just have expected Loki to teleport out of the cage?" Rhodey inquired.
"He probably assumed we knew about the teleportation," Tony countered. "Or Loki pretended he couldn't for some reason."
"He may have pleaded exhaustion or depletion due to his injuries," Thor spoke up.
"Loki might also have had another reason to be captured," Bruce said, looking at him. "By not just stealing the iridium quietly, we knew it was missing and so were able to work out why he might want it."
"Thus alerting us to what he'd need to do next," Tony agreed.
"So you feel we should trust Loki now?" Okoye questioned.
"Well I somehow highly doubt Thanos would have been forgiving of his failure to obtain the Space Stone even before he tried to kill him."
"No, he would not," Nebula replied darkly, before she bared her teeth. "Father was particularly furious that Loki lost him the Mind Stone in the process."
Oh, he hadn't even thought of that! Now Tony really wanted a chance to pick Loki's brains as the number of different plans, motives and outcomes he'd been juggling was indicative of a near genius level intellect. Particularly if he'd been monitored and suffering the effects of severe torture the whole time. And this compulsion Nebula had mentioned. And speaking of which...
"I wonder if the Hulk smashing Loki into my floor might actually have been planned too," he mused.
"What? Why would you think that?" Bruce questioned, eyes wide.
"Well, cognitive recalibration seemed to be the best way to knock the Mind Stone's influence off of both Legolas and Selvig. Perhaps he thought it would help with the compulsion planted in his own mind?"
"I could have killed him!"
"Nay, there was no danger of that," Thor denied. "The jötnar are a very hardy people, even more so than the æsir in that particular regard. While it could have inflicted more grievous injury than it did, his life was in no danger."
In no danger? Damn, Tony wanted a suit as hardy as a jötnar. Jötunn? He'd watched the footage of that particular Hulk smash countless times and he still had to wince each and every time, despite knowing Loki would be able to crawl his way out of the crater and even manage to walk within the hour.
An outraged shout from across the room drew Tony's attention back to their enhanced racoon.
"Trash panda!" Bandit was shouting, little fists clenched.
"Problem?" he asked, causing the alien to whirl around to face them once more.
"Peter called me a trash panda saying it was better than being called a racoon!"
Ah. Perhaps he would have rather liked this other Peter if he'd met him in better circumstances. It was a pity he might never have that chance now.
I'd meant to mention this in the last chapter, but the name Sága comes from Norse mythology and she was a goddess associated with the wisdom Sökkvabekkr ("sunken bank", "sunken bench", or "treasure bank"). Sága is also generally held to be a seer as her name is connected to the Old Norse verb sjá, meaning "to see". Also, the bit I couldn't resist, there are some who believe Sága is another name for Frigg, on whom Frigga is based. So a full circle.
Next chapter: our very own God of Mischief.