Hello again! Thanks for all the favorites and follows! I powered through this chapter and I'm actually very happy with it. It's pretty long so I apologize ahead of time for all the mistakes that are probably all over. A special thanks to those who reviewed, arthemys, DC-Mythology-Lover, Dame-Of-The-Living-Dead, and Teamleo316, you guys are all awesome. I love getting feedback :D
I do not own any Marvel characters or movies. All rights go to Disney and Marvel.
***here we goooo***
Tony rolled his neck and rubbed a sore shoulder, he probably shouldn't have made the crack about Thor's cape being a drape—but he couldn't help it. Elli had recently been introduced to plays and Shakespeare was fresh in his mind. Her favorite was Twelfth Night. She had gone as Viola for Halloween last year.
A wince accompanied a gasp of pain as he rolled his shoulder. It had been a pretty epic scuffle. He would have to show his daughter the surveillance Jarvis got from the suit, seeing Captain America challenge a Norse God would make her day. Speaking of the Capsicle, he would have to figure out how to get him to meet Elli. Maybe he could pass her off as one of his worker's kids—not that he didn't trust the man to keep a secret…well that was a lie. It was kind of impossible to like much less trust the man that indirectly ruined his childhood. He would try to not hold it against the man, it wasn't exactly his fault and he couldn't put his personal feeling in the way of Elli meeting her idol.
"Need some ice?" Coulson came up behind him with an eyebrow raised, while Phil teased the genius about his daughter's crush, the two had become good friends over the past two years.
"Nah, it isn't that bad. Mostly my pride is bruised." The agent snorted, he had watched the video before debriefing with Fury. Thor had thrown the billionaire like a rag doll a few times.
"You'll be fine." Tony nodded as they continued to where the other's were gathered.
"So," Coulson glanced at Tony who saw wearing a seductive grin on his face, "you ever gonna ask Pepper out?"
"I don't think Elli would appreciate it," a dusting of pink across his cheek bones was the only hint at Coulson's feelings for the CEO.
"She'll be fine. Besides I think she slowly moving on from you. She keeps mentioning some kid named Peter at her school," for the past two months, Elli had been attending Midtown Elementary as a third grader having skipped kindergarten, first, and second. She had tested higher than that, but Pepper had insisted she stay somewhat near her age group. Tony had been beaming with pride after she had been tested—even if they weren't blood related, she was a Stark.
They had all thought she would have to be homeschooled until she was old enough to wear contacts, but Tony was able to use science to fix all of their problems. And Pepper doubted his abilities. For a week, Tony tinkered with holographic cloaking technology that he had originally come up with for SHEILD. After upgrading her bracelet and mechanical limbs to house the right parts, they now had the same cloaking ability that SHEILD spies used in the field. When in use, she looked a lot like him actually, dark brown hair and chocolate eyes. The disguise allowed Elli to be enrolled in a local elementary with Happy acting as her "father" and Tony using his own version of the cloaking device to pose as her pale blonde Uncle at family events.
"Ouch. I'm a little hurt," Tony snorts as the man smirks just the tiniest bit, "you're surprisingly calm about it."
"Pepper told me I can't get him transferred."
"Ah."
The two men were outside the door now, just in time to hear Banner speak.
"Iridium, what did they need the Iridium for?"
"It's a stabilizing agent," Tony looked back at Coulson, not wanting to drop the whole Ask Pepper out already, you chicken-shit thing so quickly, "She has a meeting next week in Hong Kong, I'll fly you there. Keep the love alive," Coulson only stares blankly at him but Tony can tell he is considering it before turning back to the rest of the room.
"Means the portal won't collapse on itself, like it did at SHIELD," Tony walks towards the table but pauses next to Thor, patting his bicep so he can check to see if they are real, "No hard feelings, Point Break. You've got a mean swing. Also, it means the portal can open as wide, and stay open as long, as Loki wants."
Continuing to the railing, Tony looks over the crew deck before blinking in irritation.
"Uh, raise the mid-mast, ship the top sails. That man is playing GALAGA! Thought we wouldn't notice. But we did," served the asshole right, who plays a videogame when they are supposed to be working to stop a worldwide crisis? Thinking of his favorite pirate, Tony covers one of his eyes with a hand, "How does Fury do this?"
"He turns," a woman Tony recognizes as Maria Hill glares daggers at him before walking briskly away. Taking the opportunity, Tony sticks a hacking bug to the bottom of the monitor. While the man no doubt had a level of fondness for Elli (and, although he would die before he admitted it, Tony himself), the billionaire knew not to count on Fury for telling them the full story. He would have to find out for himself.
"Well, that sounds exhausting. The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. Only major component he still needs is a power source. A high energy density, something to kick start the cube."
"When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?"
"Last night," Tony rolls his eyes at the woman, she barely tolerated the man and constantly questioned his inputs on everything. He found her whole attitude slightly unprofessional—not that he could really talk, "The packet, Selvig's notes, the Extraction Theory papers. Am I the only one who did the reading?"
"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?"
Sneaking a glance at Captain America, Tony internally groans at the look of disapproval the man is giving him from his seat at the table. He just knew that America's Golden Boy was going to be a Royal stick in the mud. If he wanted the man to meet Elli, he would actually have to try to behave. Boring.
"He's got to heat the cube to a hundred and twenty million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier," the scientist known as Bruce Banner answered for him. It took all of Tony's self-control to not rush the man with question about his work. It had some aspects that could run parallel with Elli's energy so he had read all of his published works pretty recently. Needless to say, he was a big fan.
"Unless, Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect."
"Well, if he could do that he could achieve Heavy Ion Fusion at any reactor on the planet."
"Finally," Tony throws his hands up in the air before going to shake Bruce's hand, "someone who speaks English."
"Is that what just happened?"
"It's good to meet you, Dr. Banner," he tries not to babble but he can't help himself, "You're work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster."
"Thanks," the man's tone is flat, but his smile reaches his eyes.
"Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube. I was hoping you might join him," Fury stood on the side of the table opposite Tony.
"Let's start with that stick of his. It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon."
"I don't know about that, but it is powered by the cube," Fury addresses the Captain before looking at Tony and Bruce, "And I'd like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys."
"Monkeys? I do not understand," Tony almost jumps at Thor's voice, he had forgotten the God of flowing golden hair was standing behind him.
"I do! I understood that reference," Tony rolls his eyes but has to admit that Cap looking so proud of himself is kind of cute.
"Shall we play, doctor?"
"Let's play some," the two scientists stroll out, but stop as Fury calls out to Tony.
"And Stark, I want those files I asked for already," confused for a second, Tony makes a face before realization dawns on him and he begins tapping on his phone. He had forgotten to send out Elli's school pictures. After sending the "files," Tony practically sprints to the lab with Bruce struggling to keep up. Midtown Elementary was performing the musical Annie this Friday. Elli had been cast as Sandy—the dog. She had followed after Deedee on all fours, practicing her lines and becoming one with the dog. When Tony found out that parents were responsible for costumes, they had spent all of last week making the best dog costume the world had ever seen, no way in Hell was he going to miss it.
**break break**
"That's the guy my dad never shut up about? Wondering if they shouldn't have kept him on ice," yeah no, not meeting Elli. The guy was a total jerk. What was the saying? Don't meet you heroes? Definitely applied here.
"The guy's not wrong about Loki. He does have the jump on us."
"What he's got is an ACME dynamite kit," Walking over to look at what the man was working on, Tony offered a blueberry to the Doctor, he had started carrying snacks with him when working as a result of his daughter ignoring him for a day the last time he passed out in the lab, "It's gonna blow up in his face, and I'm gonna be there when it does."
"And I'll read all about it," taking a handful, Bruce pops a few blueberries in his mouth.
"Uh-huh," Tony pauses as he devours a few more fruits, "Or you'll be suiting up like the rest of us."
"Ah, see. I don't get a suit of armor. I'm exposed, like a nerve. It's a nightmare," Tony could practically see the man's insecurities spilling out of him. If Elli was here she would probably do all she could to force the man out of his shell. She had a thing for adopting shy people. For the munchkin's honor he had to at least try to make the man open up a little more.
"You know, I've got a cluster of shrapnel, trying every second to crawl its way into my heart," he taps the arc reactor shining through his shirt causing a little ping to sound, "This stops it. This little circle of light. It's part of me now, not just armor. It's a... terrible privilege."
"But you can control it," the man didn't seem very impressed.
"Because I learned how," if he hadn't he wouldn't
"It's different," Bruce hides behind the computer screen before Tony moves it out of the way.
"Hey, I've read all about your accident. That much gamma exposure should have killed you," the man was kind of like Elli, both were impossibilities.
"So you're saying that the Hulk... the other guy... saved my life?"
Tony only hums an affirmative before turning back to his computer.
"That's nice. It's a nice sentiment," Bruce shakes his head at the idea, "Saved it for what?"
"I guess we'll find out."
"You might not like that," Bruce knew the man would turn away eventually—everyone did.
"You just might," Tony truly believed that Bruce feared the Hulk, feared himself, only because he didn't understand himself, didn't know himself. He hoped the man one day would.
****break break break****
"Big man in a suit of armor. Take that off, what are you?"
Tony glared at his childhood hero, the man had had something against him since the minute he stepped on this damn ship. Even when he was right about Fury hiding something, the man still had to question and belittle Tony. The genius felt the sarcasm he usually held for pesky reporters creep up his throat.
"Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist," well three out of the four things on that list were still correct.
"I know guys with none of that worth ten of you. Yeah, I've seen the footage," the man laughs, actually fucking laughs in Tony's face before continuing to tear the billionaire apart, "The only thing you really fight for is yourself. You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you."
"I think I would just cut the wire," this man knew nothing about him. He knew nothing of what he has been through, what he had had to give up. The guilt he felt twice a year when Elli was resized for her prosthetics, this man had no clue.
"Always a way out... You know, you may not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be a hero," Steve sneered at Howard's son. How had his friend raised such a brat?
"A hero? Like you? You're a lab rat, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle," he knew he wasn't perfect, but he was trying. He was trying to be the hero his daughter thought him to be.
******break break******
"Was he married?"
"No, but he had someone he cared for," Tony hung his head in shame. How was he going to tell Elli and Pepper?
"I'm sorry. He seemed like a good man," Steve wanted to comfort the man, despite their earlier dispute.
"He was an idiot," the man had died before he even got the chance to tell Pepper how he felt about her.
"Why? For believing?"
"For taking on Loki alone," Tony clenched his fists. While Coulson had been a spy—and a really good one at that—he was no match for a God.
"He was doing his job," the Captain became slightly irritated at the genius's behavior.
"He was out of his league. He should have waited. He should have..."
"Sometimes there isn't a way out, Tony," of course the man was lecturing him right now. He didn't need this.
"Right," Tony leaves the cell, Steve following close behind, "How did that work for him?"
"Is this the first time you've lost a soldier?"
"WE ARE NOT SOLDIERS!"
Steve can only look at Tony before sighing.
"Look, it is obvious we don't get along. But, right now we've got to put aside our differences and get this done. Now Loki needs a power source, if we can put together a list..."
"He made it personal," Coulson's dried blood on the wall stares Tony down.
"That's not the point," Steve shakes his head.
"That is the point. That's Loki's point. He hit us all right where we live. Why?"
"To tear us apart," Tony nods in approval.
"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 us and he wants to be seen doing it. He wants an audience," his mind was racing, he had to figure this out.
"Right, I caught his act at Stuttengard."
"Yeah. That's just a preview, this is opening night. Loki's a full-tilt diva. He wants flowers, he wants parades, he wants a monument built in the skies with his name plastered..."
Oh, shit. His phone was ringing before he even realized he had hit dial. No answer.
"Sonofabitch!" Tony could only hope that Pepper and Elli hadn't gotten home yet.
***breakkkk***
"Who're you?"
Loki whips around to see a small girl standing on the other side of the balcony. He hadn't even sensed her presence. She had unruly dark brown hair and large chocolate colored eyes. The spitting image of Stark. He thought back to the information Barton had given him—he had never mentioned the billionaire having a child.
"Now, I believe the right question, my dear, is who are you?"
Elli scrunched her nose, she had asked first. She hated when people didn't answer her questions. It was rude.
"I don't think I can tell you that," her daddy always told her not to talk to strangers. This man was on their balcony though, maybe he was waiting for daddy.
"Oh?" He certainly hadn't expected her to say that. Loki raises his eyebrows at the girl while he starts to stalk toward her, "And why would that be?"
"Daddy might not want you here," Elli was struggling to look up at the man who was towering over her. A shiver ran down her back when the man began to laugh.
"Oh, I assure you my dear, I am most definitely where I am supposed to be," he studies the girl now that he is closer.
His eyes see through the disguise casted by Stark's technology causing his interest to grow even more. A frightened yelp escapes the child as he grabs one of her wrists and lifts her up to eye level. Blinking, Loki is astounded as his magic reveals yet another secret the girl is holding. He stills her thrashing by gripping her chin tightly.
"Well aren't you just the oddity. I thought your kind was extinct," to think he would encounter one, and on Midgard of all places. He doubted she even knew what she is.
"Let me go!" The girl squirmed in his tight grip, tears threatening to spill. She couldn't reach her bracelet to release her powers.
"Or what?" Loki walks back inside, not bothering to release the child who had started kicking him.
"Or my daddy will kick your ass!" Pepper had said never to repeat that word but her daddy had told her it was meant for only the meanest people. And this guy was really, really mean.
"I would like to see him try," Loki chuckles darkly and drops the girl on her butt. Elli rubs her bottom, trying not to cry as she glares up at the dark haired man.
A thump outside causes both of them to look toward the balcony where her daddy had just landed. Elli takes the chance to run behind the bar and Loki lets her. He could get her later, anyways.
Tony swears to himself when he spots Elli inside. Where the hell was Pepper? He doesn't want to take off the suit—not with Elli in there, but he need to switch it out if he was going to fight Loki. The Mack VI was in no shape to confront a God.
"Please tell me you're going to appeal to my humanity," Loki grinned as the man presented himself without any protection.
"Uh...actually, I'm planning to threaten you," looking for Elli, Tony spotted her peaking out from behind the bar. That was his girl.
"You should have left your armor on for that."
"Yeah, it's seen a bit of mileage. You've got the blue stick of destiny," Tony wanders toward the bar, the Mack VII bracelets were over there and he needed to check on Elli, assure her it was okay, "Would you like a drink?"
"Stalling me won't change anything."
"No, no, no! Threatening," Elli hugs her daddy's leg as he joins her behind the bar.
"Ah, yes," Loki watches as Tony's eyes flash below the bar, "Your daughter is very unique, do you even know what she really is?"
"No drink," Tony's throat swells, but he does his best to ignore the man's attempt to rile him, "You sure? I'm having one."
"She would make a great heir, her kind are rumored to be extremely powerful," Loki muses to himself as Tony resists the urge to whip his glass at the God, "The Chitauri are coming, nothing will change that. What have I to fear?"
"The Avengers, it's what we call ourselves, sort of like a team. `EARTH'S MIGHTIEST HEROES' type of thing," slipping on the bracelets, Tony steps out from behind the bar with a small gesture towards Elli telling her to stay put.
"Yes, I've met them," the trickster smile turns even more confident.
"Yeah," Tony smiles right back at him, "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 demi-God; a super soldier, a living legend who kind of lives up to the legend; a man with breath-taking anger management issues; a couple of master assassins, and you, big fella, you've managed to piss off every single one of them."
"That was the plan."
"Not a great plan. When they come, and they will, they'll come for you," Loki starts toward where Tony is standing.
"I have an army."
"We have a hulk."
"I thought the beast had wandered off."
"You're missing the point," Tony steps back with each step Loki comes closer to him, "There's no throne, there is no version of this, where you come out on top. Maybe your army comes and maybe it's too much for us, but it's all on you. Because if we can't protect the Earth, you can be damned well sure we'll avenge it."
"How will your friends have time for me," Loki jumps forward when Tony runs out of floor space, grabbing the man's shirt and bringing the scepter up, "when they're so busy fighting you?"
Elli peaks out from behind the bar as the bad man taps the arc reactor with a glowing stick, resulting in a ping! echoing through the room. She watches confused as the two men stare at each other before man taps it again in frustration.
"It should work."
"Well, performance issues. You know?"
Tony curses his big mouth as Loki picks him up by the throat and throws him across the room. What is with Norse gods and throwing him?
"Jarvis," Tony rolls over in pain as Loki stomps toward him, "Anytime now."
Loki grabs Tony by the throat again, bringing him so close Tony can feel his breath.
"You will all fall before me," Elli's eyes widen as the man throws her daddy out the window. A scream of anguish makes Loki turn just as blue ball of energy hits him. A small spark of fear grips Loki as he lifts himself to see the child of the man he just threw out the window standing over him, no longer looking human but a form of flaming energy.
"And there's one other person you pissed off," Iron Man flies up in the window, "Her name is Elli."
Loki doesn't get a chance to respond as father and daughter blast him with blue and white energy, sending him crashing through a wall.
***break break break***
Pepper and Elli were sitting in a safe room below Stark tower. When Selvig had powered up the portal the CEO had been in the elevator going between her floor and Tony's. It was only after Elli had calmed down from their encounter with Loki that Tony could hear her yelling for help. Standing guard at the entrance to the stairwell, Tony had only left to go fight the Chitauri after Pepper had sent him a text that they were secure in the bunker.
They had been watching the fight on Pepper's laptop, neither noticing Pepper's phone ringing. When Tony had flown up into the wormhole with a nuke strapped to his back, Elli's eyes changed color and her body started to glow. It was only when the Hulk caught the Iron Man suit out of the sky that the light show died down. Pepper let out a breath of relief, both because Tony was safe and because she really didn't want to find out if Elli could teleport.
***wooop***
A few days later, after sending Thor and Loki back to Asgard, a press conference was being held with the Avengers to inquire about the Chitauri and what was now being call the Battle of New York. When Fury had informed the team, Stark had cut the man off.
"Sorry Fury, gonna have to make a hard pass. Got a date that night," Steve had only looked at Tony with disgust, the man was so irresponsible he couldn't take it. Natasha had only shaken her head, while Barton and Banner looked unconcerned. Fury had given the man a good long look, before nodding and turning to Steve.
"Rogers, you're going to have to take lead on this one," even Natasha had looked a little shocked at that one.
And so, Steve was being swarmed by reporters while on the other side of New York a blonde haired Tony Stark watched his daughter play the best damned dog he had ever seen.
****TA DA****
Ok so Avengers is done. Next few chapters are going to be the main plot and then I might venture into Age of Ultron and/or other marvel movies depending on where it goes. In case any of you were wondering about Deedee, she had been living with Happy while the last of the construction of Stark tower was being finished.
Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed!
