Hello, it's time for a new chapter. Sorry if it's a bit of a shorter one. I promise things will ramp up soon. I'll see you at the end.
When the call to assemble went out, every member of the team scrambled to get ready. Despite the fact that they knew it was just Loki fucking with them, they needed to be prepared for anything. So, a plan was made and soon enough the team were heading out to Central Park to stop Loki and his hoard of walking trees. As the Avengers arrived at the scene that saw Loki sitting on top of a rock laughing as people scrambled about around him.
"Brother! Stop this madness!" commanded Thor as he charged forward.
"Yeah Reindeer Games, this is starting to get annoying." Quipped Tony and Steve shot him a dirty look as the two of them began fighting off the trees with the others while Thor tried to contain Loki.
Taking down the trees wasn't actually a very hard job all things considered. All they had to do was get them back into the ground than they would turn back into normal trees. The problem lay in the fact that full-grown trees are fucking huge and really only Tony and Hulk had the capacity to lift them without problems. So, in order to stop the trees, Tony and Hulk wrangled them while Steve used his shield as a makeshift shovel to make the holes a little bit bigger. Clint and Natasha worked on helping civilians and Thor struggled with Loki.
When Loki started to run out of trees to animate, he moved on to flowers and shrubs. The team was quick to act but Loki had succeeded in separating them. Steve and Clint had been surrounded by shrubbery, Natasha was trying to wade through the tide of flowers, and Thor was helping Hulk out with the last few trees. Unfortunately, that left Tony to deal with Loki.
Going toe to toe with Loki wasn't anything new for Tony. In most of their fights, Loki tried to single him out. The team figured that Loki had this weird infatuation with Tony because Tony had confronted him alone without the suit during the Battle of New York. Loki had always seemed more gleeful when he was fighting Tony and it honestly freaked everyone else out, Tony included.
But this fight, the one they were currently in, it felt different. Loki was actively trying to get Tony alone and separated from the others.
"Guys, I've got a lock on Loki. Some backup would be nice." Announced Tony over the coms as he stalked closer to Loki.
"We're a little preoccupied right now Stark. Do you think you can hold him until we can get there?" asked Natasha over the coms and Tony sighed. He so very rarely got back up when he asked for it and yet was expected to help everyone else even if he wasn't able to.
"Yeah yeah, I've got it. I'll keep Gandalf busy for a bit."
As Tony got closer to Loki, the god got up from his perch and actually walked closer to Tony. That should have been red flag number one that Loki was up to something nefarious. Loki never got close to any of the Avengers if he could help it. The fact that he was voluntarily getting closer to Tony was a big no-no.
"What are you playing at here Reindeer Games?" snarked Tony. Loki just laughed and got closer.
"I've been watching you Stark." Smirked Loki as he came face to face with Tony.
"Well, that's not creepy at all."
"Oh Stark, if only these foolish mortals could see you the same way I do. We're alike, you and I. Beings with many masks yet so broken inside. I can't wait to see all the brokenness unfold. I can't wait to see the world fall apart beneath your feet. You'll be in ruins when the world finds out that the Stark they know isn't the real one. If I take you down the other will follow."
Tony didn't even have time to respond before Loki raised his hand and shot Tony back in a blast of green light. Tony screamed in pain as his body felt like it was alight with fire. It was a deep ache all the way down in his bones. Tony could faintly hear shouting over the coms. He couldn't make out what it was. Some of it sounded like Steve yelling, but it was all faint and fuzzy like all the yelling was happening two rooms over from where he was.
Because of all the pain, Tony couldn't get control over his suit. He flew through the air only to hit his head against a large rock and blackout. The suit would have protected him from cracking his skull, but Tony was definitely not walking away from this without a concussion.
With Tony down and everyone else free from the plants holding them back, everyone rushed over to their fallen teammate while Thor went to go secure Loki. Securing Loki was surprisingly easy. It was almost like he wanted to be caught.
So, while Thor locked Loki's hands together, the others were quick to get to Tony's prone body. Steve kneeled at his side while Natasha tried to calm down Bruce. They didn't know if Tony would need a doctor or not. Nobody knew what Loki did and they wanted to be prepared.
"Stark! Can you hear me? Are you alright?" asked Steve as he got down on the ground.
"Cap, I think we need to get the suit off. He's not responding." Supplied Clint and Steve nodded.
The two got to work on removing the suit and they quickly realized that something was very wrong. They started with Tony's legs because that's where the easiest latches were. They noticed that Tony's pants were sitting a little bit looser and that he was looking a little bit shorter. Steve was quick to realize that Loki had done something and with Clint's help they removed the rest of the armour as fast as possible but were careful to avoid injury.
When they finally pulled the helmet off everyone sat in shock over what they saw. On the ground before them was Tony Stark they were sure of that. But it wasn't their Tony. On the ground and currently unconscious was a Tony Stark that looked exactly like he did back from 1988.
What happened to Tony. Well, good old 2012 Loki tropes happened. Drop a comment and tell me what you think. I'll see you soon. -Shadows.
