Sorry this is a few days later than usual. I've not caught up with the written chapters (that's getting ever further away as I've been quite inspired for this fic lately!), but the Loki finale distracted me on Wednesday and last night I was just knackered.
Anyway, here's the latest chapter, I hope you enjoy it and the weekend!
The call came at dawn and, for that alone, Tony could have cursed Loki. Unfortunately, he was far too busy trying to wake up again, since he had only just fallen into a deep sleep after a night in the lab.
He had finally started to make progress on incorporating nanotechnology into his Iron Man suits and had wanted to work nonstop but JARVIS's nagging (at Pepper's insistence) had finally gotten him to call it quits at four am.
He should've stayed up because then, at least, he'd have been far more awake than he was now. And far warmer, as he was freezing.
"What have we got this time?" Tony questioned as he stumbled into the hanger bay where the Quinjet was kept.
He had taken to storing at least one suit there since it allowed for a far faster deployment.
"Loki and Karnilla have been spotted at Luna Park on Coney Island," Steve replied.
"Luna Park? What the hell are they doing there?" Clint demanded, grabbing his bow and arrows. "Is there even anyone there at this time?"
"Park employees," Steve replied. "Also, Loki and Karnilla seem to be activating all of the rides and blowing things up."
No matter how hard Tony tried, he could not figure Reindeer Games out. Why on earth would he activate the rides? Did he want to try them?
"JARVIS, call the port authorities, get all of the ferries to that area of Coney Island rerouted or cancelled," Tony ordered. "And let's hope to hell neither Rock of Ages nor Queenie find the house of mirrors if there is one."
"Oh God, no," Natasha breathed. "One of them is more than enough."
Not to mention it would hopelessly ruin any stealthy approach of theirs.
"What is a House of Mirrors?" Thor inquired.
"Exactly what it sounds like," Banner replied. "I'll explain on the way."
On the way? Oh, right, Point Break couldn't fly without his hammer. This way going to take some adjusting to.
"Remind me to make you a sword or something," Tony said.
"My thanks, Man of Iron," Thor replied. "Alas, I am uncertain any of your metals other than Captain Rogers' shield would stand up to my brother's staff."
Huh, good point.
"Take my shock sticks," Natasha suggested. "They may work on Karnilla, and I can use the Widow Bites instead."
"My thanks, Lady Natasha."
"I'll meet you guys there," Tony stated, putting on his suit.
"Just be careful and do not engage them unless you have to," Cap ordered.
"No, of course not," Tony replied, leaping off the tower and switching to the comms. "I'll just see if I can figure out why they chose Luna Park."
Yeah, because an amusement park? Had Loki learned what it was called and decided to have a little fun? It would kinda fit his MO.
"Do we know anything else, JARVIS?" Tony asked once he'd turned off the comm.
"Their presence has been confirmed from further sources, all of which indicate they appear to be focusing on the rides of the amusement park," JARVIS replied.
"Anyone in it?"
"No, and the local police will intercept any further employees as they show up."
Good. If they could keep Loki and Karnilla from gaining any hostages that would be best. Though, if they'd really wanted any hostages, they would already have them.
So what was their advantage here? Was it simply another training session? If so, who would they focus on this time?
"Have the closest ferries been diverted away from there?" Tony asked.
"Yes, Sir," JARVIS confirmed.
All too quickly, Coney Island came into view and the amusement park lights stood out all the more clearly in the early morning light.
No, really, what on earth was Reindeer Games thinking?
"You got anything yet, Stark?" Clint questioned over the comm.
Tony switched his back on.
"The rides and the rest of the park have definitely been switched on," Tony informed them as he flew in a wide circle around it.
He scanned the area carefully, looking for any signs of life. For anyone else it might have been difficult, as the movement from all of the rides would provide a lot of distractions, but he had JARVIS to aid him in doing so quickly and efficiently.
"What about Loki and Karnilla?" Cap asked.
"Uh, believe it or not, but they are actually riding the Electro Spin," Tony replied, not quite believing his own eyes.
"Which one is that?"
"One of the new thriller rides."
"Oh."
"My brother is truly riding one of those mechanical beasts?" Thor demanded.
Mechanical beasts? They had to get Thor on a rollercoaster once they were done here, clearly.
"Yep, and I'm pretty sure he's eating cotton candy too," Tony added.
Which, of course, the bastard was. Why not after all? He was only spinning in circles at speed. How could that possibly interfere with eating?
Aliens.
Viking aliens.
Nah, space Vikings, that sounded even better. Maybe they could add that to the Avengers toy line they had coming out soon.
"I hope he chokes and pukes," Clint muttered. "We're almost there."
A quick glance back the way he'd come showed Tony the Quinjet was visible, though when he looked back at Luna Park he swore.
"What is it?" Bruce questioned at once.
"Uh, we now have dozens of Lokis and Karnillas," Tony replied, scanners desperately trying to tell the difference between them and failing. "They're everywhere."
"We're almost there," Natasha stated. "We'll land on the beach for ease of access."
Which didn't help with their current situation any but, try as Tony might, he could not determine which of the many figures was either the real Rock of Ages or Queenie.
This was going to be a long day if the two were going to make them touch all of the illusions in order to dissipate them. At least he no longer had to worry that any of the team were going to be killed, even if he was the only one who seemed to believe it.
"Uh, Bruce?" Tony began.
"I know, I know, not the most ideal place for the Other Guy," Bruce replied.
Yeah, really not so much with all of the flashing lights, mechanical equipment and loud noises.
"I wonder if this place was chosen deliberately for that," Natasha pondered. "It loses us one of our heavy hitters."
"Normally I'd also say it minimizes the impact of Thor's hammer, but that's less of an issue just now," Tony added. "Speaking of which, has Point Break been given the quick and dirty on amusement parks?"
"Briefly," Bruce stated.
"I have never heard of such a place, though I see why it might attract Loki's attention," Thor said. "It sounds chaotic."
"When fully open it is," Tony replied. "But at the moment? It's pretty deserted other than all of the illusions or clones. Any idea why he might choose now of all times to attack it?"
"Nay."
"We're coming into visual range now," Steve informed him and Tony glanced over to watch the Quinjet land.
"Any bright ideas?" Tony asked. "'Cause I sure as hell can't tell them apart from the real one."
If there were just a few like Tony had seen before, it wouldn't be so much of a problem, but now there were hundreds of Lokis and Karnillas running about. Every ride had at least three of each, and several had many more. Then there were also Reindeer Games and Queenies on the benches, waiting in line, eating junk food or looking at maps.
Maybe the point here was to make them give up.
"Jesus Christ," Clint muttered. "How many doubles can Loki actually control?"
"I do not know, but I have never seen him have so many before," Thor said. "Particularly not when they are all acting differently. I had not thought him powerful enough for it."
"Power boost from the Tesseract, perhaps?" Bruce offered.
"Mayhap."
"I suppose there is nothing for it but to start eliminating them," Steve declared. "Bruce, can you see if you can't find someone to cut the power to all of the rides?"
"Of course."
"Stark, can you get Barton up high so he can begin to target some of the illusions on the elevated rides, before doing so yourself?"
"Sure."
"Natasha, Thor, we can start on the ground," Steve continued. "Which I'm guessing is where the real Loki and Karnilla might be."
"It would give Karnilla in particular far more room to maneuver," Thor agreed. "Especially if friend Bruce is able to halt the rides. Loki would not be thus constrained."
No, of course not. Not with his freaking magic.
That magic detector was going to be Tony's next project, just as soon as he had a nanotech suit.
And his operation.
Tony hated to admit it, but Rock of Ages' little visit at the charity fundraiser had been the last straw. He had put off having the shrapnel removed due to the risks involved, but if it was going to become the focus of some of their enemies...
Pepper had already set up an appointment with the best surgeon in the US, who just so happened to be in New York. It was only a pity that Dr. Strange was such an arrogant, self-important bastard. Still, he wouldn't have anyone else, not with his reputation.
"Heads up, Legolas," Tony warned, approaching the Quinjet.
Luckily, they had done this often enough by now that Clint knew the best way to position himself for Tony to swoop down and grab him without needing to do more than slow down.
"Where do you want to be placed?" Tony asked.
"Over there, on the Cyclone," Clint replied. "It's high and central."
"Not much room for a quick escape, if necessary, though."
"Then don't go too far."
Pretty certain of Loki's end goal or not, Tony had no intention of venturing too far from some form of catching himself should Thor be wrong and Reindeer Games decided to disable his suit once more. Not when he had absolutely no idea where the little bastard was.
As Tony had expected, the first few minutes after their arrival were spent simply eliminating illusions and, while it was rather fun to watch so many of them go up in green or purple sparks, it wasn't really accomplishing all that much.
"Loki!" Thor thundered rather predictably from where he stood on the ground.
"Aye?"
It was like hearing the answer in the surround sound of a good cinema. Though not every Loki clone had responded, Tony guessed about half of them had.
"Stop this at once and face me directly!" Thor demanded.
"What?" some of the Karnillas questioned. "Six versus two? So much for Thor Óðinnson's vaunted courage!"
"Thor-" Steve began, but was cut off by Point Break's roar of anger.
Rather predictably, Thor went after each and every Queenie he could see with Natasha's shock sticks.
"Missing a hammer, are we?" some of the Lokis inquired innocently. "Rather limiting, is it not?"
"This isn't working, Cap," Tony stated, dangling the string of lights he'd co-opted through a train full of duplicates.
He'd found that a simple touch with anything was enough to disrupt them.
"Unfortunately, Stark's right," Clint said. "I've seen more illusions forming about as fast as we disperse them."
"Bruce?" Steve questioned.
"A few more minutes," Bruce replied.
"Loki!" Thor cried out, again. "Why are you doing this, Brother!"
Tony winced.
"I am not your brother!" all of the Lokis shouted.
Only this time, it did not end there and Thor was suddenly pelted from all sides by objects, even as half of the Reindeer Gameses swirled out of existence.
"Uh, what just happened?" Tony questioned.
"It takes far more energy to have duplicates wield solid materials," Thor explained, brushing sweets and popcorn from his hair.
"Wait? They can manipulate solid matter?" Steve demanded. "Why did you never tell us this before?"
"Because Óðinnson does not think and never has," a few Karnillas stated. "That they would be able to harm you has not occurred to him. Or that you would assume they could not."
Unfortunately, that sounded only far too accurate but, before anyone could respond to it, the rides, lights and noise all abruptly died and a rather eerie silence descended over them instead.
"Well, that was rather anticlimactic," Rock of Ages declared.
Tony had hardly realized it had been only one voice, before all but one of the Lokis vanished. Then Queenie followed suit a moment later until there was but one Karnilla. She sat on a Go-Kart car while Loki was on one of the Steeplechase horses, lifted halfway off the ground. An arrow whizzed right for him, but Reindeer Games deflected it with a wave of his hand, sending it at Natasha who had to fling herself aside just before it exploded.
"Nat!" Clint cried out.
"Will you never learn?" Rock of Ages inquired, sounding bored.
"What do you want here, Loki?" Cap demanded.
"Me?" Loki questioned, arching a brow. "I was simply amusing myself. 'Tis the point of this... park, is it not?"
"It was not yet open."
"Would you have preferred I had waited until it was?"
Okay, Tony had to hand it to Thor's little brother, he had Steve there.
"Surrender now and we can allow Karnilla to go, if she promises to leave Earth and never return," Capsicle offered.
"You will allow me to?" Queenie demanded, haughtily. "And who are you, little mortal, to do any such thing? Do you think yourself equal to Nornheimr's queen?"
"I don't know anything about Nornheimr, Ma'am, but this is America, where all men and women are created equal."
Oh, it was almost painful how earnest Steve was being. Tony really didn't know what to do with it. He wasn't sure there was anything which could be done for Capsicle. It was, no doubt, terminal.
"How quaint," Karnilla sneered.
The effect was rather ruined by her still sitting in a Go-Kart, but Tony doubted anyone else could pull it off nearly as well as she did.
Loki, meanwhile, had leaned back on his horse and raised a foot to steady himself on the back of its head, looking as if he didn't have a care in the world. Tony really wished he could look so effortlessly elegant and unaffected.
"I fail to see how such an offer is meant to tempt me," Reindeer Games drawled.
"She is your friend," Steve tried.
"The word you are looking for is lover, Captain, surely you can say it."
Tony's eyes nearly popped right out of his skull. Was Loki seriously trolling Steve?
"J, are you getting this?" he whispered.
"Yes, Sir," JARVIS confirmed.
"Fine, lover," Steve accepted, face coloring.
"I take it Thor has not yet regaled you with tales of his numerous conquests then?" Reindeer Games inquired. "I fear you may not have survived."
"Loki!" Thor exclaimed.
"What? You used to not keep quiet about the charms of the lady of the lake on Vanaheimr."
"I have changed."
Rock of Ages gave Point Break an unimpressed look before turning his attention back to Capsicle.
"You have still failed to explain how I might be tempted by your offer," Loki stated.
"But... do you not care for her?" Steve questioned, confused.
"Ah, sentiment."
Clearly, there was meaning there as Thor's shoulders visibly drooped at that.
"How insulting," Karnilla spoke up. "To think he would take such matters into consideration after having come to a deal with me."
And now Cap was being called out on sexism. Where was his popcorn?
"Why are we not fighting?" Clint demanded.
"You haven't told us why you're here," Steve tried again, looking at Karnilla.
"Actually, I believe Loki did, though why we should answer to you has yet to be clarified," she replied.
"Where's the lesson here?" Tony inquired. "How to tell clones apart? To think creatively?"
"Stark, will you stop it already with the lesson nonsense?" Natasha exclaimed.
"Enough!" Queenie called out. "Loki, 'tis clear these mortals cannot be taught. Mayhap we need to take them back a few centuries."
What a snap of her fingers two new Karnilla clones appeared and grabbed hold of Natasha.
"Nat!" Clint cried out.
"Karnilla, nay!" Loki called out.
Despite that, Queenie muttered under her breath as purple magic swirled between her fingers. Several more clones appeared to occupy Thor and Cap and, though Tony had dived as soon as Natasha had been grabbed, he knew he'd never make it.
Karnilla shot her spell at Black Widow and Tony could only watch in horror as it flew towards her. Then there was a flash of green and Loki stood before Natasha. The purple magic hit with a blinding flash of light and JARVIS had to take control to keep Tony from crashing.
"Natasha!" Steve exclaimed.
"I'm fine," Natasha replied, immediately. "It didn't hit me."
Wait, if it didn't hit her, then...
"Loki!" Thor cried out just as Tony's vision returned.
He glanced over to find a large amount of green fabric and leather pooled around where Reindeer Games had been, along with a fallen scepter and what, at first, appeared to be Loki's horned helmet floating above it all.
"Oops," Queenie said with false innocence so bad it would have fooled no one.
It took Tony a moment longer to realize that Rock of Ages had not, in fact, vanished without his clothes, but rather he was still there, in the middle of said clothes.
Several centuries younger.
Ta da!
It took a few chapters, but we're finally at the kid Loki bit of the fic, after which the whole thing is titled. I hope you liked the chapter, I definitely had fun poking around various websites to get a good feel for Luna Park.
And, yes, yes, I know, Dr. Strange was a neurosurgeon, but I couldn't help myself. Not when he's right there in NYC and still practicing at this point in time! Besides, he's not going to have more than a little cameo, so I ran with it 😛