Chapter 11: Game Time Part 1
It was in the early hours of the morning - that time of the night when, if you're were still awake, there was nothing of quality on television, the only available food for delivery was nasty take-out, and it was against social etiquette to call someone for a friendly chat - that JARVIS blared throughout the now coined Avengers Tower a way-too-loud distress alarm.
For once Tony Stark had actually retired for the night at a decent hour, although now after his AI's starling wake-up call, he was sourly regretting it. It took a few seconds for the billionaire to control his heart rate and flailing limbs to compose himself enough to respond to his AI sirening like it was at Def-Con 1.
"JARVIS! What in holy hell is going on?"
The computer's eloquent response was way too calm and collected considering the circumstances, "An attack Sir, I have already prepared your suit for departure."
Tony choked, "Attack, here! Have you alerted the others?"
"Yes sir, and to clarify , the attack is not occurring here."
"Where then?" Tony asked, already jumping from his bed with ego-driven red and gold coloured silk sheets, heading for the door. Thankfully, Pepper was in DC for the night on business and he didn't have to deal with what would have certainly been an unsettled lover right now.
"New York SHIELD headquarters" JARVIS evenly replied.
It was remarkable how comfortably adjusted everyone had become to their new residency in Stark Tower, well, Avengers Tower, in a span of a couple of weeks. Tony didn't appreciate the new name being so readily adopted, but despite his protests, considering the Tower now housed all of earth's mightiest heroes, those inhabiting earth at least, and had even been renovated to accommodate the team's individual living necessities - Bruce's containment area, reinforced gym for Cap, archery room for Clint, hanger for the quinjet, to name a few - it was a futile attempt by Tony to deny it any longer. Mi Tower es su Tower.
In impressive reaction time by military standards, Clint, Natasha and Steve were suited up and departing towards SHIELD headquarters in the quinjet, followed closely by the fire blazing streaks that was the invincible iron man.
"I knew it has been too quiet lately!" Clint groaned to the other members of the team in the quinjet, and Tony whom he knew was listening in, as he always did, gripping tightly as Natasha pushed the thrusters of the jet to maximum speed.
"Speak for yourself, mister lounge around doing fuck all." Natasha shot back eyeing Clint who was seated beside her in the cockpit.
Clint sighed, "C'mon Nat. Even you have to admit taking out Gadahn was child's play." Clint's remark wasn't far from the truth, intercepting and preventing impending terrorist attacks was a walk in the park for the external SHIELD assassin.
"True." Natasha smiled momentarily before resuming her professional focus-on-the-mission icy expression, "Any further intel as to what we are heading into?"
"None." Steve answered from the passenger seating, "JARVIS received the distress signal from SHIELD's security system at precisely 2.13am. Communications must be down because all our attempts at contacting the base have failed."
"Fury know what's going on?" Clint asked while examining his bow.
"He knows of the attack but nothing to add. The Helicarrier is on route but it won't arrive for at least two hours."
"Great." Clint snorted. "Looks like we are going in blind, with no lube."
"Don't be too sure of that." Tony's voice sounded through the jet's communications.
"What do you mean?" Steve questioned cutting off Clint who was about to make a joke about Tony always finding the lube. The archer decided to save his joke for later, right now, it was game time.
"Let's just say when I told Fury I had removed JARVIS' connection to SHIELD's central mainframes after that whole the-return-of-the-Loki incident, I lied."
Steve's eyes shot wide, "Tony! You've been hacking them all this time! I cannot begin to -"
"Shut it Cap." Tony interrupted preventing the looming ethics lecture, "Not the first time I've done it and it won't be the last, plus, the ends justify the means. JARVIS, patch through to the surveillance system and stream it through my HUD."
"He's got a point Cap." Clint added ignoring the glare from the Captain. Steve hated the distrust and manipulation, but he didn't persist further. This may be the way of the world now, but that did not mean that he had to like it.
After a few silent seconds Tony's voice once again drifted through the jet's speakers, only now it lacked the cocky confidence that seemed to forever reside in the billionaire, "Uh guys, I think I know why communications are down."
"Loki, may I enter?"
Despite Frigga's voice being soft in volume and gently toned, Loki still found himself flinch slightly at its presence. Not from fright, but because after the weeks of avoiding his parents, no, the King and Queens of Asgard, he really didn't expect either of them to confront him before it was, well, too late.
"Of course." Loki replied back nonchalantly ignoring the quickening pace of his heartbeat.
Frigga entered her son's chambers with a loving and warm smile, eyeing him like a mother did her beloved child as she walked across the room and joined Loki upon his bed. Loki had his nose buried in an old book of the magical variety, but he quickly discarded it away underneath his pillow upon his adoptive mother's entrance.
"My son, how are you fairing?"
Loki held back an eye-roll, "Adequately" came the detached reply.
Though the space between them was no more than an arm's length, Frigga could feel the vast distance that now separated her and Loki. She recalled holding him as an infant, and although not of her blood, she loved him as though he was nothing other than hers and hers alone. How much things had changed from when he was a boy, the cruelty of the time that had passed transforming Loki from her son to this stranger before her.
"Loki, my dear..." Frigga said moving her smooth hand to rest upon his, "so much time has passed since your fall, and even more since you have returned to Asgard. I have missed your company my son, and your continued absence is a pain I can accept no longer." A lesser woman would have begun weeping at the confession and raw emotion.
Loki's first inclination in that brief moment when his eyes met Frigga's and he saw that they bore no lie, was to wrap his arms around her and hold her tight, comforting away the grief and the pain that dwelled within both of them. Instead, the darker part of him took hold and he recoiled inwardly at his weakness, snapping his hand away from the woman's touch.
Loki looked upon Frigga with his chin held high, "Your ails is not something by which I can remedy, my Queen. Your son departed long ago. I am no longer the man you once knew."
Frigga shook her head, "I do not believe that Loki. No matter who you are, or who you think you are, you are my son."
Loki's glare turned dark, "I was never your son."
"You are blinded by your own self loathing Loki. Do you not see that you are the only one detesting you for what you are."
"And what am I mother?" Loki challenged, his frown deepening and tone dangerous.
Frigga was a perceptive woman, and it did not escape her attention that her son's body temperature had begun to drop, the familiar aura of magic rising within him. She glanced downward, seeing his hands gripping the bed and the tips of his fingers beginning to turn a dark shade of blue. Her son was letting his emotions overtake him once more, and she would not have it, she was not her husband and would not let this conversation steer into a verbal spat of bitter false hatred
Frigga rose from the bed, her fierce stare at her son that of someone who had the confidence of someone with eons of wisdom and clarity, "What are you?" forceful and stern, "You are Loki, price of Asgard. You are my son. You are son of the Allfather and brother of Thor. We are your kin, your family, and nothing will ever change that. You may deny us Loki, but we will never forsake you." she sighed, "You are strong Loki, stronger than you know, and if there is anything I am sure of, is that you can overcome any adversary... but not alone my dear. Not this time. "
Loki looked up at his mother with widened eyes. He wanted to chastise her words, vow that he would prove her wrong that nothing could change how his kin looked upon him, or that he needed anyone, especially his so named kin. Even thinking of them as such left a bitter taste in his mouth. For the moment, Loki contemplated, his face emotionless as all the spite and hatred rested on the tip of his tongue.
In silence they gazed at each other, and as Loki rose from his bed and stood before Frigga, she could not tell through the cold expression of his face whether he was preparing to verbally castrate her, or embrace her. Her heart prayed for the latter.
The shock come so sudden that both Loki and Frigga stumbled almost losing their footing. Something powerful had struck the city they knew, and the moment between them had been lost.
Frigga's expression turned to concern as she looked upon her son. Loki's however, for a brief moment, held that of perceptive surety. He knew what this was the beginning of and despite himself he couldn't help but let out a devious smile before he masked his emotions once more. Whether Frigga noticed this or not, Loki did not know.
"Guards!" Loki called out to the golden armoured soldiers normally positioned in the outer corridors of his chambers, but no response came.
Another blast shook the ground, this one less powerful than the first, suggesting that the second had exploded a further distance away. Obviously, Loki contemplated, the first blast had caught Asgard off guard and had hit the city much closer.
It was game time, Loki knew it, and for this plan to work he had to now play his part. Turning to Frigga, he grasped her shoulders tightly demanding, "Stay here, my Queen, where it is safe. I must go and help, barricade the door behind me."
Frigga nodded her consent and watched as Loki ran out of the room, his golden battle armour and helmet materialising around him as he left.
Loki ran through the deserted corridors of the palace following the distinct sound of battle; the screams of warriors and the rumble of an approaching enemy emanating in the distance. The absence of any external interference was welcomed as Loki considered his options. He could act now before anyone knew the better, but surely his absence from the battle would be suspicious. Odin and Thor would undoubtedly already be at the forefront of the conflict. This could jeopardise everything if they were to turn their attentions towards him now. No, patience was needed. So Loki set out on finding Odin and Thor.
"Are they dead?" Clint asked as Natasha crouched down pressing her fingers into the neck of the body closest to her. Tony meanwhile was taking advantage of his suit - efficiently scanning the other four bodies in their vicinity. The base was silent and the lights were currently out so everyone had a torch in hand, except for Iron Man of course, night vision being another perk of the suit.
They were at the main entrance corridors to the SHIELD base when they happened upon what would likely be their first of many visions of destruction, if the carnage in the corridor alone was anything to go by. It was obvious that whatever infiltrated SHIELD did not come in from the outside. No, the position of the SHIELD agents in the corridors indicated they were attacking something coming from within.
"Looks like it." Natasha replied morbidly at the same time Tony responded, "No."
Natasha looked at Tony with a surprised expression, "Which one?" to which Iron Man responded, "All of them."
Natasha turned back to re-examine her subject. The SHIELD agent had deep red-raw gashes across his chest and stomach, in sets of three, that tore through the standard grade uniform straight into his flesh. There was a shallow pool of blood underneath him, though now the body had stopped bleeding, and he felt cold to the touch. Nothing before her indicated this guy could still be alive, not to mention Natasha's attempt at finding a pulse had been unsuccessful.
"Tony," snapping her head around in sheer bewilderment, "this guy is dead."
Tony initiated another scan run across the area, because despite what information was being displayed on his HUD, even Tony was finding it hard to believe the slashed up bodies in front of them were not dead.
"Scans are accurate," Tony affirmed, "these poor bastards are alive."
"How is that possible?" Clint posed looking over the body of the agent Natasha was crouched beside.
Steve had now joined the spies in examining the body, eyeing something quite peculiar on the edges of one of the agent's wounds, "What is that?" the Captain questioned moving his index finger towards the small splatter of grey liquid.
"Don't touch that!" Natasha piped slapping his hand away.
"She's right," Tony informed, "It's toxic. Preliminary scans suggest it is a paralysing agent, but I won't know more until I get it back to the lab."
"Guys, you better get over here!" Clint yelled from around the bend of the corridor, the three other Avengers just realising now that the archer had wandered off while they were examining the weird toxin. Tony swiftly pulled out a glass tube from behind the left arm plating of his suit, taking a sample of the grey liquid, and joining the others who were making their way to Clint.
Tony, Natasha and Steve turned the corridor and were greeted with the sight of Clint who was poking an alien corpse with one of his arrows. The alien was covered in bullet holes and was lying on a substantial pool of blue blood.
"This one is dead right?" Clint asked, to which Tony nodded.
"Chitauri?" Steve posed.
"It looks different." Natasha said earning nods from her male comrades. The thing had a face similar to a Chitauri, but unlike the humanoid alien soldiers, this creature look more savage with its sharp three fingered hand-claws, unnaturally long arms and hunched postures. The alien was also lacking in armor or weapons, so it was logical it used its claws as its weapons.
"And look at what is dripping from its claws." Tony deadpanned at the recognisable grey liquid. Everyone in the room was able to promptly put two and two together: Alien creature that slices and dices with claws that secrete a paralysing toxin. Excellent.
"Holy fuck," Clint managed gripping his bow tighter, "Seriously, fuck aliens." Well, hard to argue with that one. A few silent seconds passed between the team as they gathered up the nerves to press forward into the dark abyss of the base.
"C'mon guys." Steve urged. "Let's see if we can get the lights back up."
"Down into the depths of hell we go." Clint muttered following Steve down the dark corridors. "Please tell me you have JARVIS through the surveillance system?"
Iron Man shook his head, "All I could get from JARVIS was the footage before the power went down, which isn't much. Just a bunch of our friends here tearing up the place."
Clint moaned, "Great. Fucking great."
"How could they have caught us unaware?" Thor yelled across at the squad leader who was assembling his warriors at the kingdom's rear gates leading to the grassy fields and eternal springs.
"We do not know your Highness." Came the reply.
"Well, where is Heimdell?"
"Missing."
Thor swallowed uneasily at the information. It was no ordinary assailant that is able to move beyond Heimdell's gaze, or challenge the sentry. Only once had Thor encountered one who was able to block Heimdell's sensory powers.
"Brother!" Loki yelled, jolting Thor from his thoughts.
"Loki" the thunder god greeted. Perhaps it was the anxiety of the impending battle, but Loki could sense unease in his brother, which was peculiar, as Thor was always the more confident of the two when it came to such physical conflicts.
"What is the plan?" Loki asked waiting in earnest for an answer. Thor paused, eyeing his brother, the uncertainties burning inside of him. Deciding to ignore them for the preposterous thoughts that they were, he pushed them aside, and gripped his brother's shoulder.
"The enemy has surrounded the gates but do not enter. Their ships send fire across our walls, which our sorcerers are deflecting. Their armies are converging in the fields and we are preparing to meet them in battle."
Loki nodded, "And where is father?"
"Preparing our ships to engage. "
"Good," Loki said, his golden battle staff materialising into his hand and a wicked smile stretching across his face, "shall we show these fools the might of Asgard then."
Thor gave his brother an approving smile, "Ay!"
Loki stood and watched as Thor honed the forces of Asgard to prepare for the upcoming battle. It was almost impressive, Loki reflected, the level of confidence and presence the thunder god held over the size of warriors before him.
"My friends, defenders of Asgard! Our foes dare march upon our kingdom's gates, threatening our people, threatening our home. On this day they have declared war, and we shall thus meet them on the battlefield. If our enemies yield, we will show them mercy, if not, then they shall know our wrath and we shall deliver to them the glory of death!"
The passionate cries of the warriors was almost deafening. Loki knew if he had said something similar to the warrior crowd, he would not have received the same reaction. Even before his misdeeds, he never commanded the respect or affection of Asgard that Thor did, the beloved son of Odin, the heir to the throne. How he hated the ease to which his brother received such admiration and loyalty, yet never truly comprehended their irreplaceable value and worth.
"Ready brother." Thor smiled.
Loki gave the thunderer a heartening grin, "Indeed. For Asgard!" he bellowed lifting his staff into the air, masking all the bitterness and jealousy, pushing them back into the dark pits of his mind.
Loki moved aside to let Thor take the lead as the gates to Asgard opened to reveal the fields and hills covered with swarms of armoured sword bearing warriors, their faces covered by leather masks strapped tightly around their skulls.
Thor yelled out to the vast army before him, holding mjolnir high above him as he spoke, commending the sky to crackle with thunder, "This is your last chance. Leave this realm... or perish on its lands." A sea of bellows broke out amongst the alien horde who began rushing towards the Asgard warriors.
"So be it then." Thor stated as he hurled bolts of lighting towards the horde, leading his army into the charge.
"Hurry up Tony," Clint groaned, twitching nerviously at all the dark corners of the control room.
"Don't get your panties in a bunch Robin Hood." Tony remarked sarcastically, "I'm working as fast as I can. As you can see, not easy working on a computer with its monitor all slashed up to bits."
Iron Man was presently redirecting the mainframe computer through a cord connected from the command centre to his HUD in an effort to get the power back on. Someone, or something, had been successful in entering the control room and bringing the power down before slashing up all the hardware. Luckily, JARVIS was programmed to send a distress signal to the Avengers should anything like this ever happen - an emergency protocol in SHIELD's computers Tony was happy to assist with - since it meant that he had a direct link to SHIELD databases with the sleeper program, although he told Fury it was a simple base alarm. That may have been a lie.
The members of the Avengers all breathed a heavy sigh of relief when the lights flickered back to life, except Tony, who was relishing in the fact that his brilliance had once again proved to be irreplaceably valuable, "Am I good, or am I good?" he bragged.
"About time." Clint muttered.
"I'd like to see you do better, you medieval relic. Shouldn't you be off scouting a fellowship or something."
Clint drew breath to retort the crack remark but was stunned silent when he noticed Iron Man raising his palm repulsors towards him.
"Whoa Tony, take it easy!" Clint shrieked, instantly moving to grab an arrow from his quiver, realising just too late as Steve shouted across at him, "Clint! Look out!" that Iron Man was not aiming for him.
It all happened so quickly. Clint was tackled from behind, his body falling to the ground in an ungraceful heap. Normally, he would of simply rolled away despite the feeling of sharp claws digging into his back, but not this time, this time his body betrayed him and although his mind willed his limbs to move, his body did not. Then everything began to get very dark and all he could sense were the disturbing sounds of weapons blasting, and screaming.
At the outset of the engagement, Loki and Thor stayed in close proximity as they hammered and sliced through the enemy lines. Bodies were beginning to pile up before them and soon their own armour and weapons were dripping with the blue blood of the slain.
"Getting tired brother?" Loki mocked to the thunder god mere metres from him as he retracted his staff from the chest of another slaughtered foe. Thor was busy recalling mjolnir back to his opened palm - the hammer returning after knocking down a dozen of the aliens - and dodging a dagger which was unsuccessfully hurled at his face, still the god cracked a mischievous smile replying, "Thor Odinson, tired? Dear brother, tis the time of Ragnarok when such a thing is shalt occur!" as he grabbed his bulky weapon and swung it to smash the jaw of a charging alien attempting to tackle the god.
Loki coughed a chuckle, for a hot-head Thor was still delightfully entertaining.
The battle raged on, and although the Asgard army was defeating the enemy three fold each fighter, the invaders were many in numbers and still growing. The enemy vessels in the horizon were still pouring out more soldiers and eventually Thor knew numbers alone were going to overtake their defences.
Then, as if prays alones had answered him, from within the golden kingdom came the Asgard's fleet of ships to intercept the invaders, the fleet's shadows moving across the battling armies and out over the fields towards the enemy ships.
The Asgard ships were different from the alien crafts, more wood than metal and resembling boats rather than spaceships, designed to only move across the neighbouring realms of Asgard, but despite their primitive form, the fleet was aided with the power of magic which evened the playing field. Thor knew that Odin would be leading the charge and he had the utmost confidence in his father's skills in war.
Amid fighting, Thor watched Odin's fleet engaged the enemy's, blasts of magic energy flying back and forth between them, neither taking many hits as the Asgard fleet's sorcerers onboard deflected the incoming fire, and the alien crafts shields doing the same. Seeing the Asgard fleet manoeuvring to flank, he knew his father would soon command his forces to breach the enemy ships. Unfortunately the enemy must of realised this too, as before the Asgard fleet reached the required position the enemy ships opened their hulls realising from their depths enormous whale-like creatures to cut off the approaching assault.
Thor's eyes shot up in astonishment at the sight before him. He recognised those creatures instantly and he turned to the closest enemy in his vicinity swinging his hammer violently knocking the legs out from under the alien sending it tumbling to land heavily on its back. The god reached down, gripping the alien's throat and in one fierce swoop ripped the leather mask off its face.
"Chitauri." Thor hissed, throwing the dead corpse angrily back to the ground.
Looking out across the battlefield Thor bellowed, "Loki!" but there was no answer, no sign of his brother.
Loki saw his opportunity the moment the Asgard fleet emerged from the kingdom. Thor and Odin would be adequately distracted, and the armies of Asgard along with them, that he could slip through the palace to the vault. Keeping to the shadows, Loki soon found himself to the stairs leading to the vault, where to his surprise he was greeted with the comment, "Hello Loki."
"Heimdell." Loki replied, "I am surprised to find you here." It was not a lie.
"Are you?" Heimdell coughed, "You think I would not suspect this siege to be your doing? You must think I am a fool to be taken by the same trick twice."
Loki smiled. He had underestimated Odin's guard dog assuming that he would not sense the same magic to shield the Chitauri ships as he had once used to sneak out of Asgard. "Impressive," he grinned deviously, "but it makes no difference" raising his staff and approaching the bulky guardian. This was really wasting valuable time that Loki did not have, but there was no other choice in the matter.
"You will not be entering the vault Loki. Not on this day." Heimdell threatened raising his sword.
"Now who is underestimating who?" Loki taunted charging towards Heimdell, his staff clashing against the large sword. Loki twisted, aiming his staff for the guardians legs, but his move was countered by Heimdell plunging his sword down to block. Loki then leaped backwards, channelling magic in the palm of his free hand and hurling it at Heimdell. The green mist swirled around his face disorientating and confusing the golden god, but it was not enough to disarm him as Loki hurled himself towards him, staff first, but again Heimdell blocked the move with his sword.
Loki stumbled to the side, dodging a fist from Heimdell, and realising his vulnerable position cloned himself into six Lokis to surround the golden god.
The six Loki's began laughing at the guardian who was twisting frantically to pinpoint the real Loki against the effects of the green haze of magic surrounding his eyes. Focusing his sensory powers, Heimdell paused, took a breath, and lunged at one of the clones gripping it forcefully around the neck. Loki choked, then instantly, all the clones faded to green mist and disappeared.
"You think mere tricks can defeat me!" Heimdell bellowed angrily at the prince in his vice, lifting him off his feet into the air to bring him face to face with him, Loki now dropping his staff and gripping Heimdell's wrist.
"No," Loki managed to mumble as the hand around his throat tightened, "but this will."
Heimdell looked down to Loki's hands upon his wrist, realising that the prince's palms were bright aglow green and now the veins running up his arms were also.
Shocked, Heimdell dropped Loki to the ground and stumbled backwards.
"What... what have you done to me?" the guardian choked.
"A powerful paralysing spell. Not meant for you. But you left me no choice." Loki replied as he watched Heimdell fall backwards, a loud thump as he hit the floor, and stayed motionless as if dead at the vault's entry.
Loki sighed. He felt drained after using that spell on Heimdell. For a moment, backing out was a serious consideration. He knew he couldn't use that spell again anytime soon, and it was his ace up the sleeve, so to speak, should things go awry. He hesitated before finally resolving he had come too far to back out now.
Loki moved quickly, opening the large golden doors to the vault and rushing inside.
Across the kingdom of Asgard upon the leading Asgard ship, Odin stiffened in dread. "Loki... no." He whispered to himself.
"Clint! Clint can you hear me?" Natasha yelled at the man in her arms, but the Avenger did not move. His eyes were wide open, but glassed over and unresponsive.
Tony and Steve had finished taking out the alien who ambushed Clint, its hiding place had been behind a nearby desk where it was shielded in shadows. Once the lights came on, it knew it would have been spotted easily enough, so it made its move against the closest person in its vicinity.
Tony rushed over to Clint, pulling the archer onto his side and scanning the puncture wounds in his back. "Same as the others," Iron Man confirmed, "He's been injected with the toxin."
"How do we wake him up?" Natasha asked far too calm yet expected from the trained unemotional assassin that she was. Although her emotions were withheld, Tony could see in those eyes the intense fear that she was holding back, eyes that betrayed the ice and held back the words, please, help him, I just got him back.
Iron Man shook his head, "I don't know."
Steve gave Tony a worried look before Iron Man suggested, "It's best if we finish up here and get him back to the lab. Bruce and I can run tests, see if we can find an antidote."
Steve nodded adding, "There could be more of these things here. Tony you are the most protected, you should do a sweep. I'll check in with Fury and give him an update."
"Gotcha Cap." Tony responded already heading out the control centre, "JARVIS, by-pass all security protocols, let's go find us some aliens."
"Natasha," Steve said gently couching down beside the assassin, "let's get him to the jet." Natasha nodded, letting Captain America lift up the archer in his arms as she drew her guns to provide the two an escort. She would not be caught off-guard again.
It was twenty minutes later when Tony had finished his sweep that he opened up his comm to update his team. "Can you guys hear me?"
"Loud and clear." Steve and Natasha.
"Found nothing in here apart from more SHIELD stiffs. If there were any more aliens they are long gone."
"Affirmative, meet you at the jet." Steve replied.
Tony made his way to the jet at the front of the base which was now the backdrop to an informal briefing.
"Director, agent Hill." Iron Man greeted as he approached the discussion circle consisting of the two current SHIELD members, Natasha and Steve. Above them Tony could see the behemoth that was the Helicarrier and a swarm of SHIELD agent preparing to enter the New York base.
Steve looked at Tony with hesitation plastered across on his face, which only meant one thing, the Captain knew something Tony didn't know and when Tony found out he wasn't going to like it.
"Give it to me straight." Tony said directly to the Director.
Fury sighed, "We were able to run a full security diagnostic in the base once the power was back up, thank you for that by the way."
"You're welcome." Tony deadpanned.
"Until we retrieve the security footage in our more, classified areas, we won't know how they got in, but we know what they were after. Well," the Director groaned, "what they got."
"And what did they get." Tony enquired, tone low with a suggestive hint of distrust.
"Loki's staff."
Tony felt his blood boil. That two faced sonavubitch!
"Loki's behind this," Iron Man fumed through gritted teeth, "Thor!" he screamed into the sky, the people around him giving his outburst worried looks.
"Thor! You get your Norse ass down here right now!" as loud as Tony could muster before he looked back to his audience. "Don't look at me like that!" he barked, "I'm not crazy. He can hear me loud and clear, well some guardian can hear me, it's all very magical and confusing but that's how it works."
"Well before you go pointing fingers," Natasha posed, "we should at least confirm it really was Loki."
Tony scoffed, "Confirm? Put two and two together Nat. Those alien slasher hounds didn't just knock on the front door. No, they were Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo-ed into the base and then proceeded to tear apart a small squad of the world's best trained agents." the Avenger's theatrical display now involving over dramatic arm flailing. "Who else do we know who can do that? And are we forgetting Loki's unexplained disappearance for two weeks, in which he miraculously returned, covered in scratch marks. So it looks pretty obvious that that asshole was off playing dog whisperer to get back his glowing stick of destiny and I will not let mine be his casualties of war!"
Natasha frowned bitterly, "I care about him too Tony! Don't dare think that I don't, but let's look at all the information first."
"You do that." Tony replied derisively engaging his thrusters. "In the meantime I will be at the lab trying to develop an antidote to the paralysis toxin."
Iron Man flew off into the night heading for Avengers Tower, the hint of the sun rising in the horizon, and he took advantage of the flight time to mentally vent his frustration. He really should of known that blue bastard was up to something the moment he set foot in his tower beseeching forgiveness. The snake probably was on a short leash in Asgard and wanted to use that as an excuse to scout out his staff. Now who knows what he plans on doing with it now that he has it.
Then there was SHIELD, who once again have been caught with their hand in the proverbial cookie jar. No guess what they were doing down in their rabbit hole with Loki's staff; experiments in alien technology, reverse engineering the mind control abilities.
Power mongering liars.
So now Tony had a friend down and an antidote to produce, which on that note made him recall that when Loki had returned to earth, slashed to pieces, Thor had healed his brother with those weird-ass god stones.
Tony really hoped that if he wasn't able to develop an antidote, that Thor was able to pay Earth another visit.
A/N
Hi guys. Well this one took a lot longer than I wanted to put up, but here it is in all its glory! This part of the story is the reason I began writing it, and I hope it has lived up to the promise I said it would. I originally wanted it to be one chapter, but it's just gotten so long that I've split it into two, and it also helps to have it in 2 parts as in the next one I want to do some flashbacks so it will help with the timelines.
Please review and let me know what you all thought, it means a lot to me if you can take the time to add a comment, even if it's just a one line. Again, thank you to my followers and messengers, your constant support keeps me going :)