The team, the so-called avengers was in pieces, hulk or banner was AWOL. No one was sure where about he landed. The lab was destroyed any data which had been found on the tesseract location had vanished with the destruction. Thor was missing having been thrown out of ship in a glass cage. Despite Cecilia best efforts agent Coulson had not survived and passed into the realms of the dead, if the director was to be believed. The lady herself had been taken by Loki in his escape. Leaving tony, Steve, Natasha and a recovering clint on the, dead in the air, on the hellicarrier.

Which lead up to this moment.

Tony standing looking at the empty space where the cell had been and the red stain mark on the wall – a pair of broken dark shades in his hand. Steve walking in a moment later. "Did he have a wife?" he asked used to the tales of a widow from his time in war.

"No. There was a cellist, I think"

"I'm sorry. He seemed like a good man" Steve tried to helped the grieving male.

"He was an idiot" Tony stated bluntly. While Steve glanced at him in confusion.

"Why? For believing?"

"For taking on Loki alone?"

"He didn't, Cecilia was there. He was doing his job"

"She had already stated that she wasn't a fighter, what good would Downton do? He was out of his league. Should have waited. He should have..." his voice drifted off.

"Sometimes there isn't a way out, tony" Steve tried to reason with the upset man.

"Right. How did that work for him?" tony commented sarcastically.

"Is this the first time you lost a soldier?"

Tony snapped towards him; anger written on his face. "We are not soldiers! I am not marching to fury's fife!"

"Neither I am" he's got the same blood on his hands as Loki does. Right now, we've got to put that aside and get this done." Steve stated getting back to the point. "Now Loki need a power source, if we can put together a list..."

He stopped talking watching as tony looked back towards the blood stain. You could hear the gears whirling in his head. As sometime seem to click, "He made it personal"

"That's not the point"

"That is the point. That's Loki's point. Hit us all right where we live. Why?"

"To tear us apart" Steve said slowly gaining the understanding that tony was after.

"He had to conquer his greed. But he knows he has to take us out to win right? That's what he wants. He wants to beat and he wants to be seen doing it. He wants an audience"

"Right, I caught his act at Stuttengard"

"Yeah, that's just a preview, with a Trojan act like Downton said. She knows what happened before we did. That's way she gone as its now the opening night. Loki's a full-tilt diva. He wants flower, he wants parades, he wants a monument built in the skies with his name plastered..." tony paused, Steve glancing at the genius who had a dawning of understanding appear on his face.

"SON OF A BITCH!"

~~Elsewhere on Midgard~~

Cecilia, drifting awake from a moment to feel a hand run though strains of her dark hair in a smoothing pattern. It felt like her head was filled with water – words unclears and sight blurry. Her physical state was appalling – if she could think clearly the lady would have been disappointed. And if her family could see her now... There was a mumble of words that her brain was unable to make out, followed by a warm sensation of tingling though her body. The pain pulsating thought her body lessen slightly as once again she was dragged back down into the depts of dark void once more.

When she awoke again, her state of mind was much clearer that previously. She didn't move - didn't change her breathing. Fainting sleep still as her wisps updated her on the situation. It was strange that pain previously found in her body was almost non-existed... though she had no doubt the moment she moved her limbs would be stiff like she hadn't moved them in days.

Not that it helped that she was laying on an expensive sofa in the high-powered tower belonging to that of tony stark.

The wisps of shadows whisper their knowledge – useful and useless into her ears as steps echoed thought-out the open floor room. As the man of the hour walked out onto balcony to view the city he was going to destroy.

Looks like the final battle would soon begin.

Hopefully she wouldn't have to wait long.

Tony stark had just landed on his platform – the metal circle whirring around him as it took off the batter and broken ironman suit. He came eye contact with the god, as Loki himself began to make his way inside the building.

He stepped inside the building – brown hues locking onto the still form of Cecilia spread out on his sofa. A sigh of relief was release as he saw her chest rise and fall in a soft pattern. She was alive then, good. He had Javis run a scan on the women as Loki spoke up. "Please tell me you're going to appeal to my humanity"

"Uh. Actually, I'm planning to threaten you"

Loki smirked, "you should have left your armour on for that"

"Yeah," tony agreed making his way down the steps pausing by the back of the sofa peering down at the still women. "Good to see your alive Downton" he stated tapped the back of the chair discreetly dropping the ear piece into her dark strands as the genius continued to speak. "it's seen a bit of mileage. You've got the blue stick of destiny. Would you like a drink?"

"Stalling me won't change anything" Loki face didn't change as the male walked toward the bar.

"No, no, no! Not stalling. Threatening. No drink? You sure? I'm having one."

Loki scowled at the man's actions turning away towards the window as tony grabbed a glass. "The Chitauri are coming, nothing will change that." Spinning on his heels, cloak flaring out dramatically behind him. He turned back towards the man. "What have I to fear?"

Tony opened a glass bottled and without missing a heartbeat, or even looking at the god, responded. "The avengers." Loki gave the man confused look – had he in desperation loss his mind? "it's what we call ourselves, sort of like a team. 'earth's mightiest heroes' type of thing" tony explained seeing Loki expression while pouring his drink.

Loki smile smugly realising who the world's 'mightiest' heroes were. "Ah yes, I'm met them."

Tony sent the god a smile "yeah, takes us a while to get any traction. I'll give you that one. But, let's do a head count here. Your brother, the god;" Loki grimaced at the mention of his brother, tony continued placing the metal bands around his wrist that were hidden by the bar "a super solider, a living legend who kind of lives up to the legend; a man with breath-taking anger management issues; a couple of master assassin, old English over there; who I will figure out, and you, big fella, you've managed to piss off every single one of them."

"That was the plan" Loki smiled smugly never noticing Tony's new Jewlery.

"Not a great plan" Tony comment glass in hand as he made his way back around the bar. "When they come, and they will, they'll come for you."

"I have an army"

"We have a hulk" tony countered.

Loki's grip shifted on his spectre, "I thought the beast had wandered off."

"You missing the point." Tony spoke, his feet take him close to the god with each step, "there's no throne, there is no version of this, where you come out on top." he stopped a few feet away from the god, taking a quick glance at the still women, "maybe your army comes and maybe it's too much or us, but it's all on you. Because if we can't protect the earth, you can be damn well sure we'll avenge it."

Loki slowing walked towards the man, his steps menacing as he spoke in a dangerous voice raising the sceptre as he did so. "How will your friends have time for me, when they're so busy fighting you?"

Ping!

Loki looks confused, as did tony when nothing happened. He tried again, tapping the man chest. The spectre innocently hitting the rector in Tony's chest. Loki tried again growling in annoying, "this should work"

Tony couldn't help the comment fall from his tongue at the man annoyance, "well, performance issues you know, it's not uncomm-"

Loki griped the man's throat tightly flinging his body across the floor not letting the genius finish his sentence. "Anytime now Javis" tony choked out as he got to his feet only to be gripped by his throat once more. "You will all fall before me" Loki snarled fighting his grip.

"Deploy!" tony yelled as his is throw thought his glass window and out of the tower.

Loki dodged to the ground as a mental rocket shoots pass him – following Tony's decent in a race to see who gets there first.

Loki got to his feet as tony re-emerged, his rusting roaring as his voice was carried over via this system, "and there was one other people you pissed off" Loki glares at ironman raising his spectre, "this name was phil"

Tony finished, firing at the tricker god. Loki let go of the sceptre flying backwards due to the blast. While high above them a door to another place opened up in the skies above.

"Right... Army" tony muttered to himself. His eyes flickered towards the sofa only to find it empty.

"Nice speech Mr stark" the smooth voice of Cecilia echoed over the coms.

"Thanks for the help, Downton" tony responded sarcastically.

"To do nothing is often the best course of action. Alas history was not made by doing nothing."

Tony looked around spotting the female sitting on his landing pad, but instead of the sunglasses which was usually donned on her face – pale skin was covered by a black thick veil. That covered her face. That wasn't the only thing that changed. Her finger tips were black – it seemed to spread up her arms like a corruption before disappearing behind the shadows of her sleeves. He couldn't tell if it was her shadows acting like a second skin or whether her skin had turned actually black.

There was a flash of gold snapping him out of his thinking "nice change"

"You might want to get a move on, if not you may get caught in my shadows" Cecilia responded letting the magic rise threatening around her the shadows on the ground shifting ever so slightly. "We have company, and I.." want bloodshed, was left unsaid.

Tony nodded, thrusting upwards into the skies towards the aliens invading New York.

To be continued...