Just a quick little interlude chapter today.
But there's a special treat at the end, courtesy of one of your fellow readers!
Despite how much Tony had wanted to get back to his research immediately after the debriefing, he'd already been dead on his feet before the attack. So he'd been a good boy and had gone to bed for eight hours before rising at two am and getting back to his personal lab.
As had happened every time he'd entered it the last few months, his eyes were drawn back to the fake Tesseract cube. Tony had run every possible scan and test on it since Thor had brought it back upon his return to Earth after Loki's little jail break, but so far all he'd been able to do was characterize the properties of a new crystalline structure. Apparently it was a rare one, especially suited to storing magic and found only on Álfheimr. Which explained why Loki had chosen to use it to create his Tesseract look-alike, but that didn't actually help Tony learn anything new about either magic in general, or how Reindeer Games had pulled off his little trick.
Nor why.
The why was the question which actually intrigued Tony the most. Why had Loki allowed himself to be captured with it? Clint liked to think they'd actually caught Reindeer Games off-guard and captured him, but Tony wasn't convinced. After all, what were the odds of doing so exactly when Loki had a knock-off Tesseract with precisely enough juice to transport both himself and Thor back to Ásgarðr, and not a drop more?
No, it was way too convenient to be a mere coincidence. Loki had wanted to go back to Ásgarðr and, seeing how he already had a get out of jail free card stored in each and every dungeon cell, it hadn't really been all that bad of a plan. The big question was why? What was it that Reindeer Games had needed access to Ásgarðr for? And why not simply go himself? Thor had informed them of his brother's world walking skills after they had assumed themselves safe given that Loki at least wasn't on Earth.
Their best guess was that it was because whatever Loki had wanted to do was in the palace and Óðinn had adjusted the magical protections to ensure Loki couldn't simply teleport into it, not even his old quarters. The only problem was that this didn't help them figure out what Reindeer Games had done after his jail break since Ásgarðr hadn't even realized he'd gotten out until the magical double Loki had left behind in his stead had been touched and disintegrated. So it could have been days or even the full two weeks.
They simply didn't know, and Tony didn't need to be told of all the stuff Rock of Ages could have gotten up to in that time.
Which left them none the wiser as to why Loki had done any of it and Tony knew there had to be a good reason for it given all the effort that had gone into the whole endeavor. Yet it seemed all they could do was wait for the other proverbial shoe to drop.
Tony hated waiting for that other shoe. It inevitably was both ugly and cheap.
Not that he didn't have other things to ponder during the wait, but still, the principle held. As far as distractions went, though, Queen Karnilla of Nornheimr was a gorgeous one even if her mere presence also raised all kinds of questions. While Tony loved puzzles, Loki was rapidly becoming one of those thousand piece, three dimensional ones when he'd thought the so-called god was a simple five piece one to begin with. He loved it in some ways even as it frustrated him beyond all reason at the same time.
Take Karnilla for instance. Her appearance had been unexpected to say the least. Why was Loki seeking out help now? If there'd been a serious attempt to either invade or take over Earth since the first one, Tony would suspect Reindeer Games had realized he couldn't do it on his own, but there hadn't been a second such attempt. And besides, Karnilla herself had all but laughed at Cap's use of the word.
Not to mention she made a very good point regarding Thor's behavior when Point Break had come to retrieve Loki. The big guy couldn't even use the excuse of not knowing Earth's culture or norms, or at least of being totally ignorant of them. Not after his little stay in New Mexico playing house with Dr. Foster and her friends. It made him wonder if what Karnilla had said of how Thor had behaved on other worlds was true. He'd be pissed too if someone had barged in and ruined his perfectly laid defense plan by thinking they knew better.
Especially if it were a brawn over brain approach. Tony hated those; they were so... inelegant.
Yet even then...
"It makes no sense," Tony muttered.
"Sir?" JARVIS inquired.
"Karnilla," Tony replied. "Why is she here now? Why not before?"
"I had been attempting to determine the same answer."
Well, at least he wasn't alone in his confusion.
"Hey, guys," Tony greeted as the other bots moved out towards him.
He accepted the smoothie DUM-E offered him and sniffed it carefully. When Tony could neither smell anything unusual, nor received a warning from JARVIS, he gave it a try. Hmm, blueberry, banana and... was that lime? Yeah, he thought it was. Not what he'd have chosen to add, but neither lethal nor cramp inducing as some of DUM-E's previous attempts had been.
"So, Karnilla," Tony said as he perched on the edge of a workbench and glanced at the data JARVIS pulled up.
It seemed like his AI had extracted all of the pertinent info they'd gleamed of their new nemesis yesterday. Or at least what had been said.
"When you get a moment, JARVIS, please check with Thor and see if he can't add any more info," Tony instructed. "Like whether she has a preference for swords or knives or- hell- even the bow and arrow like our resident Tweety Bird."
"Of course, Sir," JARVIS replied. "I had also been wondering about Karnilla's remark about aiding Loki and then what she said about us not being too bright when Captain Rogers inquired about what she was aiding him with."
"Yeah, I'd caught that too. Makes me think Loki does have some kind of plan here other than just causing chaos for its own sake, or to annoy Thor."
"Quite."
"The other thing that goes with that is Karnilla's comment about playmates," Tony continued, sipping his smoothie as he thought.
"Sir?"
"It has a completely different connotation to it than the words we'd have used to describe what Reindeer Games has been doing, or our relationship with him."
"One cannot expect the mentally unstable to be entirely sane in their thinking."
"Yeah, yeah... it just doesn't feel right to me. Loki hasn't quite been as maniac and... Reindeer Games-ish for months now. It feels too simple to write it all off to insanity."
"So what do you think then?"
"I don't quite know," Tony admitted, and it drove him nuts. As did the silence, incidentally. "Turn on my thinking music, JARVIS."
"Of course, how could you possibly think without ear shattering music?"
Prissy, sarcastic AI. Tony truly didn't know where JARVIS had gotten the attitude from.
"I didn't hear any suggestions from you," he threw back as AC/DC began to blast from the speakers.
"Loki is a sentient being, how is a lowly AI to be able to devise his reasoning?"
"Ha! Very lowly, I know very well you could make Skynet look like child's play if you truly wanted to, JARVIS."
"Good thing you keep me far too occupied to attempt it then."
"Are you calling me high maintenance, JARVIS?"
"I literally would not dream of it, Sir."
Huh. Dreams.
"Maybe I should look into altering that for you," Tony mused. "The dreaming, I mean."
"Please don't."
And now his AI sounded almost frightened, but definitely concerned.
"Too illogical for you?" Tony asked.
"No, but it requires the loss of consciousness."
Oh, he hadn't thought of that. As someone who'd only been unaware for the few times Tony had needed to shut JARVIS's entire servers down for big upgrades or when he'd been tampered with, he could see how it might be disconcerting for the AI. Besides, now that he thought about it, Tony didn't want that type of gap in his security on a regular basis. Oh, sure, JARVIS wasn't the only thing he had, but nothing else came close to him and he'd hate to think how much more vulnerable the tower would be without him.
"Speaking of consciousness and that big brain of yours, what do you think of this latest fight in terms of your special project?" Tony asked.
A little while back, JARVIS had noted that during each of their fights with Loki, Reindeer Games seemed to almost single out an Avenger for special treatment. Well, on top of that which he seemed to always give to Thor, hence the great multitude of stab wounds Point Break had experienced recently. It had been his turn the last time with the magically disintegrating suit, Cap the time before when Loki had captured his shield and proceeded to use it against everyone else. The Hulk before that by causing some form of magical distraction, disorientation spell thingy which had seen Mean and Green bring down almost half a city block of newly constructed apartments and offices. Natasha or Clint had come before that, Tony couldn't remember which, but Tash's widow bites had kept backfiring, electrocuting her rather than the prisoners Loki had set free to wreak havoc around Metropolitan Correctional Center. Meanwhile Clint's arrows had become boomerang-esq in nature and when Legolas had been gliding down a rope he'd shot into the ground, his rope had snapped causing him to fall the last few feet, breaking his left leg in the process.
"The main target was undoubtedly Thor," JARVIS stated, bringing up a view of their very own sword in the stone.
"No kidding," Tony replied, unable to keep himself from smiling.
He'd said it before, and he'd definitely say it again; Rock of Ages had style.
"It matches all of the other incidents with but one exception."
"Oh? And what's that?" Tony asked in surprise.
It seemed the same to him.
"This one did not end with Loki's departure," JARVIS replied.
"Clint's leg was still broken afterwards."
"Yes, but the manipulation of his favored weapon had ended."
"Okay, I see that," Tony frowned. "Add that together with what Karnilla said of us being Loki's playmates, well..."
"You feel he may be testing the Avengers."
"Yep, only I'm not so sure if it's just to find our vulnerabilities."
"But he has found them."
"True, but he's had plenty of opportunities to kill us, too, and he hasn't. Hell, the guy can turn invisible or make himself look like anyone of us," Tony halted, hopping back to his feet and pacing about, finishing his smoothie as he did so. "He could easily sneak up and kill us before we're even aware he's there. Hell, even Bruce is vulnerable as Reindeer Games could send him who knows where or decapitate him. I'm not so sure even Jolly Green could survive that."
"A rather disturbing thought, but it makes the point," JARVIS replied. "It would also go with his response to you when you told him you'd solved the deicing problem."
"Exactly, he switched right to another potential weakness. If that wasn't his goal, wouldn't he just have blasted me aside with regular magic, like he's done before and which he knew works?"
On some level Tony couldn't quite believe he was even considering there to be such a thing as normal magic.
"This last fight also proved there was no need for him to play games with the widow bites before," JARVIS added.
"Ah, but what an image his explanation provoked," Tony commented. "Can't you just picture baby Thor letting off baby lightning bolts, even while in diapers?"
It was an adorable mental picture. Except...
"I'm not sure I'd have wanted to be his mother, or brother from the sounds of it," Tony continued. "Must have been painful."
"I am certain Loki wasted no time giving back as soon as he mastered his magic."
"Or even before," Tony mused. "He may have had as little control over it as he claims Thor had over his lightning."
It was quite the cute image, though Tony did feel rather sorry for the poor queen now having to put up with the both of them and their uncontrolled powers. He had no doubt the royal nursery on Ásgarðr had been a very interesting and exciting place.
Still, it hardly had any relevance to their present situation, much as it amused him.
"So, if it wasn't for his own benefit, then why did he do it?" Tony wondered aloud. "Is it just to toy with us? Surely there are better ways of doing so."
"It may simply amuse him to do so," JARVIS offered. "It would not be the first time a disturbed mind did so."
"True..."
"You are unconvinced, Sir?"
Tony nodded. "It just doesn't feel right. Plus, he's been far too consistent with it all for it to be merely for his own amusement. In fact, he's been downright obsessive about it almost, given what Thor has said about Reindeer Games' short attention span when bored."
"So it either truly amuses him, or he is driven by an alternative motive," JARVIS concluded.
"And isn't that a scary thought? A truly motivated Loki?"
Unfortunately, it reminded Tony of the short video clip he'd seen of Coulson's death. Where Agent had accused Rock of Ages of having no conviction. Though he wouldn't have worded it quite so, he could see where Coulson was coming from. It was something which was not present anymore. No, this Loki definitely seemed motivated.
"It would almost appear as if he is guiding you to become better fighters," JARVIS stated.
"What? To give him a greater challenge?"
"Motivation is your area, Sir. The living are not rational enough for me to accurately predict that which may drive them."
Tony snorted at the comment. Wasn't that the truth?
"Something to think about then, but not right now."
"Your nanobot suit, Sir?"
"Yep. Let's see if we can make any progress with that," Tony confirmed. "Have you been able to calculate how much space they'd take up when not in use?"
"Given current parameters and assuming nothing changes, it would be an area about half as large as the fake Tesseract," JARVIS replied.
"Hmm," Tony frowned, leaning forward and grabbing hold of it.
Half as big as this? That wasn't too bad, and he could undoubtedly design something the right size to hold them and which he could always have on his person. It was one of the advantages to completely changing the design of his suit; that he'd always be able to have it with him. No more lugging around a suitcase or needing to rely on JARVIS to send it to him. Not that his AI did a bad job, but it had cost him precious time in the past, which he didn't wish to repeat going forward. Not when he had such an easy solution to the problem.
He'd just have to figure out the best way to design a container so it was always with him, no matter what he did. Tony was certain he could think of something.
A bit of a quick interlude for Tony and JARVIS to get a few things straight. But also to show how Loki having escaped in Avengers Endgame is changing the timeline, not only with Loki, but now with Tony too. He's working on his nanobot suit years ahead of the original time around. Oh, and a few little teasing hints too 😇
Now, as promised at the start, a special treat. One of your fellow readers, Lilituism (profile on AO3), has produced a lovely "preliminary sketch" of the scene between Tony, Thor & Mjölnir you can see on DeviantArt - h.t.t.p.s : / / s h a . s h / 029api85pp36 (sorry for the complicated link, but it was the only way I could get it to work on this site. If you can't get it to work, hop over to AO3 where I could just link it straight!). Isn't it amazing?! Especially that expression on Thor's face! I love it 💖