CHAPTER EIGHT
It wasn't until the fifth ring that Tony reached over to pick up his cellphone. Even then, he barely lifted his head from his pillow as he accepted the call, his voice still groggy from sleep.
"Hello?"
"Tony," It was Pepper, sounding more frantic than usual, "I've been trying to get a hold of you for hours! Where are you?"
He lifted his head to find he was on his bed still wearing what he had been wearing the night before. However, there was a pinging sensation growing from his temple to behind his eye that Tony could only assume was tequila related.
"The tower, why?" He responded, rubbing his forehead with his knuckle.
"There was a call for an emergency trial early this morning. Loki's trial is happening right now!"
"What do you mean right—"
Tony's phone began ringing once more. Pulling his phone back, he saw no caller ID which could only be one person. He put the phone back to his ear.
"Hang on, Pepper." He switched lines before Pepper could answer back. "Fury, what the hell is going on?"
"I don't know what happened but they called an emergency trial under our noses." Fury virtually sounded the same as always, but Tony could tell the man was fuming under his composure. "I'm heading over from the base as we speak. How long before you can get there?"
Tony was already out of bed throwing off his old shirt and grabbing the nearest one from out of his closet. "I'm on my way." He hung up the call, bringing Pepper back on the phone. "Pepper, I'm heading over there now. I'll let you know what happens."
In a matter of minutes, Tony was heading out the door as he instructed JARVIS to wake and alert all team members on what was happening.
"Yes. And sir?"
"Yes, J?"
"There's a cup of coffee waiting for you on the counter. I imagine the aftermath of the tequila is proving to be quite irritating."
Tony stopped and turned to see Dum-E in the kitchen holding an empty pitcher. How he got there from the lab, Tony didn't even want to know, but on the counter next to him was a travel mug with steam rising from the top. The genius couldn't help but smile.
"JARVIS, Have I told you recently how much I love you?" Tony grabbed the mug and patted Dum-E on what he had decided was his head before running out the door.
The trial was already well on its way when he slid in next to Steve, the only other Avenger sitting behind the defendant's side.
Once he was situated, Tony leaned over. "How did you get here so fast?"
"Pepper called and I happened to already be awake." Steve whispered back. "Who called the jury in today?"
"No idea." Tony admitted. "How long have you been here?"
"Not long- about fifteen minutes."
Tony looked around the room. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The jury was the same people who had been serving during the previous trials, the judge was also the same. Looking to the stand, he expected to see Loki as he had always been before but something new caught his eye.
"Steve, why is Loki in a muzzle?"
The soldier looked over at the stand, his eye widening as he registered the metal contraption for the first time. "I didn't even see that!"
Loki seemed to feel their gazes on him as he looked over at the two. Even with the chains and the metal muzzle covering the entire lower part of his face, they could see Loki freeze. His eyes started darting around the room as if he was looking for something but couldn't find it.
"Something is not right." Steve muttered under his breath.
"Pardon me," the man SHIELD had hired as Loki's defense attorney stood up to address the judge, "There seems to be something wrong with the defendant. He seems to be having a bad response to the two Avengers in the room."
Tony and Steve looked at each other in confusion. The man, who the team had met briefly on the day they had decided to free Loki, hadn't even turned around once to see they were there. Tony looked back at Loki to see him with wide eyes, shaking his head side to side in disagreement.
The judge, only now recognizing the two Avengers sitting in her court, seemed equally confused by the statement. "This has never been a problem before. Also, need I remind you that you said the Avengers were the ones who called for this trial to occur days before your given date."
Tony stood up without thinking. "Excuse me, it seems to me that there has been a misunderstanding here."
The defense attorney turned around and glared at Tony with sparkling blue eyes, a color Tony knew for certain was not his own. Steve must have caught on too because he shot up to his feet.
"If you knew what was best for you and the world you so desperately wish to protect, Tony Stark, you would take a seat and stay out of my way." His voice was cold and hallow, sending chills down Tony's spine.
"Is that a threat?" Steve asked, leaning forward. "Because we don't take threats lightly."
"Captain Rogers, stand down! There will be no fighting here." The judge was standing now, the gavel in her hand. "Order in the court." When Steve and the DA did not budge, she lifted the her arm, "I said, order in the court!"
She brought down the gavel and a pulse of energy blasted out throughout the room. The judge was thrown back onto the floor as were Steve and Tony who flipped over the bench into the next row. As they clamored back to their feet, a red light began to wash across the walls and the floors of the court room. Everyone else- the spectators, the media, and the jury- seemed to be frozen in place and unaware of what was going on.
"Are you okay?" Steve pulled Tony up to his feet.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Brushing out his shirt, he looked over to the defense attorney to find him sprawled out on the floor and unconscious. "What the hell is going on!?"
Steve looked up to check on Loki but found the stand empty. "Did he just… escape?"
Tony growled. "I swear, if that prick went and did all this to free himself, I'm going to find him and—"
"Kill him?" Another voiced answered, "That's what I was trying to do before you so rudely interrupted my plan."
The voice seemed to come from all around the room. It was deep and created a reverb off the walls. Another chill ran through Tony as Steve reached under the bench they had been previously sitting on to grab his shield. Tony followed suit and press the button on his watch. In a few seconds, he was clad in the Iron Man suit and following Steve out onto the court room floor.
"Show yourself!" Steve demanded, looking around the red lit room for the culprit.
"You are in no position to be demanding anything of me, Captain."
An uneasy look flashed across Steve's face. As quickly as it came, it went and Steve took a few steps closer to the stands.
"What have you done with Loki?"
"Nothing, yet. Though why you would align yourself with someone who destroyed your city remains quite a mystery to me."
Tony's face plate lifted as he turned to look at where the judge had been sitting. "Thanos."
As if on que, the alien in question appeared, seated in the chair that seemed hilariously small in the presence of the giant. Steve took a number of steps back as Tony stood in shock at the sight.
"Our meeting was inevitable. The only difference is I had hoped that when we did meet, it would be for your surrender."
Steve raised his shield, "Our surrender to you? I don't think so."
"Where is Loki?" Tony asked. "And what have you done to everyone here?"
"Oh, the others here will be fine. No harm will come to them unless you refuse to give me what I want. As for the frost giant…"
A snap of his fingers and Loki came falling from the air, hitting the floor with a cracking sound. Steve fell to the knees immediately. The muzzle seemed to have disappeared but the god looked terrified as Steve checked for injuries. As he went to turn him on his back, Loki grabbed Steve's wrist and whispered urgently, "You cannot trust anything he says. Whatever he does to me in this state," gesturing with his head to the red light surrounding them, "is not real. It's an illusion. Do not trust him."
This encounter when unnoticed by Thanos as Tony asked, "What is it you want? Because Earth is not for sale."
"But you of all people should know that there is a profit to be made off of human life." Thanos replied with a cynical smile. "Creating weapons of mass destruction certain made you the success you are today, did it not?"
Tony placed his hand over the reactor instinctively. "Is that what you're planning to do? Nuke our planet because we won't let you do that."
"I am not interested in your primitive forms of warfare, Stark. I am more interested in creating peace across the universe."
Tony scoffed, "Peace?"
"Yes," Thanos rose to his feet, his height casting a shadow over the room. "I am the savior of the universe. And I will not tolerate anyone who stands in my way," his gaze turned to Loki who was now standing behind Steve in solidarity, "or those who fail me."
Thanos extended his arm and Loki fell to the ground in screaming pain. Beads of sweat immediately began to form on his face while his eyes closed in agony. Steve threw his shield towards Thanos but the sphere ricochet back before it could make contact. Tony lifted his hand, prompting his blaster to fire up. A knocking could be heard from somewhere in the distance but he ignored it for the time being, keeping his focus on Thanos.
"Whatever you are planning, we will be there to stop you."
"Ah, yes. The Avengers- Earth's mightiest heroes, correct?" Thanos smirked, his hand moving to face Tony. "How will you all be able to fight me when you're too busy being dead?"
The red light in the room grew in intensity. Steve ran to shield Tony as the genius brought down his face plate in preparation. However, a beam of gold light suddenly illuminated the room, hitting Thanos in the chest and toppling him over. Tony and Steve barely had a chance to look over and see Loki doubled over in pain while using his magic before the red light evaporated and room faded to black.
"Tony… Tony wake up!"
"Are you sure he's not dead."
"Not yet, anyway." Tony mumbled in response before opening his eyes. If his head had been in pain this morning, the sensation had grown into a full blown migraine as his vision cleared. He could see Bruce and Clint hovering above him and, past them, he could make out the wooden beams of the court room ceilings. Even stranger was the realization that he was no longer in the Iron Man suit as he flexed his fingers.
So they were back where they had left off.
As the memory of their encounter with Thanos flooded his brain, Tony scrambled to a seated position, his head pulsing with pain in retaliation. Bruce slowed him down by grabbing onto Tony's shoulders.
"You're all right. Just breathe."
"Steve?" Tony desperately asked.
Bruce kept his voice calm. "He's okay. He's a little frazzled like you."
"What the hell happened to you two?" Natasha asked, crouching by Steve's side with a plastic bag in hand. Tony only needed to look at Steve once to tell he wasn't doing so well. He painfully turned to see Fury helping SHIELD agents who were surrounding both the judge, who looked furious, and the attorney who was shaking in his seat, his eyes having turned back to their normal brown coloring.
"We had an unexpected visit from Thanos." Tony admitted.
No one had time to respond to that information before the judge took the stand. "Who was responsible for this? Does anyone have any information?"
Tony tried to rise to his feet but was overcome by dizziness. Bruce called an agent aside and requested for water. Steve placed his head in between his legs as his hand grabbed onto Natasha's arm for support.
Through the murmuring and the chatter that had broken out among the media and jury who were confused on what had transpired, a shaky voice rang out.
"It was Loki."
The room felt as though all oxygen had rushed out at once as the room fell into silence. All eyes fell onto the same defense attorney, now covered in a blanket but still shaking from head to toe.
"He tricked us! He took over my mind. He's been mind-controlling the Avengers, as well!" He said, his voice gaining confidence. Bruce stood up in protest, as did Clint. "Think about it, we've given him access the the most secure bases and most high-ranking officials from the CIA, the United Nations, and SHIELD. That's what he's wanted all along. Information so he could destroy us from the inside!"
"That is not true!" Thor shouted. Tony hadn't noticed him before but the god was standing on the stand next to his brother who, annoyingly enough, looked physically fine. However, Loki's face looked traumatized, even under the muzzle that had reappeared on his face.
"How would you know if you had or hadn't been played?" The attorney turned to face the judge, "He is guilty of everything he did before and for all that transpired today!"
"Do you have substantial evidence for this claim?" The judge pressed.
"He told me, while I was under his control. He confessed to everything. He also threatened to kill me if I got in his way."
Steve snapped his head up to look at Tony. They both recognized the phrase but it wasn't one that Loki had used.
"Your honor," Tony interrupted as he used Bruce's arm for leverage to bring him to his feet. "He may have been mind controlled but it wasn't by Loki. It was by Thanos, who we told you about previously."
Natasha and Clint glanced at one another in disbelief while Bruce swore under his breath.
The air suddenly seemed to stir, causing the hair on everyone's arms and necks to rise. Loki turned to his brother with wide eyes, trying desperately to shake the chains off his hands and feet though Thor could not understand why.
Bruce walked over to Tony. "Something's wrong."
"Like I said, Stark…"
The Avengers turned to see the judge standing tall with her gavel in hand and a pair of shining blue eyes that looked at each one of them. Tony's heart dropped into his stomach.
"You should have stayed out of my way."
The judge, wearing a devious smile that seemed extremely out of her character, turned to address the room who were confused as to what was going on.
"I find the defendant to be guilty on all charges of mind-control and reinstate his previous sentence. He will be handed over to be properly dealt with."
The gavel hit the desk.
Tony moved forward to speak but his grievances were swallowed by the sound of reporters shouting questions towards anyone who would listen. Agents of SHIELD were pushed aside as security officers forced their way towards the stand, escorting the judge from the room. Amid the chaos, Bruce turned to argue the jury but found them sporting the same cold, blue piercing stares as they silently exited the stand.
"We've be compromised." Fury said as he walked up to the team. "I need to make sure my agents are safe and no one has been put under this spell."
Bruce nodded frantically, trying his hardest to keep his composure. "And Loki?"
The two turned to find officers forcing Thor away from the stand as his brother, who was fighting back for the first time in public, tried to escape from the grips of the officers pulling him out of the room. Reporters rushed forward to capture a photo of the moment but were met with agents instructing them to clear area for their safety. The whole room was a riot in the making.
"We can't act now." Fury concluded, "Not with the camera's and media around. They'll put you in jail too."
"To hell with jail, we can't just let Thanos… win…" Steve grunted as he tried to stand up. Natasha put his arm over her shoulder as he did.
"Fury's right- civilians are going to get hurt if we engage." Clint added. "And we don't know what Thanos will do if we try to get Loki back now." He turned to Natasha and gestured his head towards the door. She nodded in response and dragged Steve toward the exit. Clint volunteered to get Thor while Bruce followed the others out, his hands over his ears as a green tint began to form around his neck.
When Clint had finally grabbed Thor by the arm and struggled to pull him away from the officers trying to place him under arrest, the archer looked back to see Tony still standing where they had been.
"Tony," Clint grabbed his shoulder, "we've got to go."
"I think…" his voice was small and shrouded in despair, "I think we just lost."
Clint nodded, walking him out as he failed to hide his own disappointment.
"Yeah, I think we just did."
