CHAPTER NINE

"BREAKING NEWS: A riot breaks out in a court room in New York City today at the trial of infamous alien terrorist Loki Laufeyson. What started off as a peaceful scene…"

"…the judge, in a surprising turn of events, reinstated the previously set death sentence for the god…"

"…the question remains: where will Loki be handed over to and where are they currently keeping him?…"

"…and did you see his brother! Protecting that manic and almost getting arrested himself! I mean, this is the Avengers we're talking about. How could they defend…"

"…several court spectators are injured after what seemed to be a riot between the agents of the organization called SHIELD and the officers positioned in the room. According to the defendant's own defense attorney…"

"You need to stop watching the news."

Tony didn't need to turn around to know Natasha was leaning on the door frame. He grabbed the remote from the coffee table and muted the volume, his gaze never leaving the screen.

"If you're here to lecture me, I don't want to hear it. If you're here to check on me, I'm fine."

Natasha scoffed. "Sure." When Tony didn't answer she took a seat on the couch across from him.

"If you want to mope by yourself all night that's fine by me but it's not going to do you or Loki, for that matter, any good. If he saved both you and Steve like you said he did, we need to make sure we return the favor."

She stood up. "We're in the lab if you feel like doing something more productive about the situation."

Without another word, she headed out the doorway and down the hall.


"There's not much we can do until we know his play."

"And do we just leave Loki to fend for himself against this guy? I think we at least go get him!"

"Even if we broke Loki out now, Thanos still has the upper hand. Who's to say he won't take over the minds of other innocent people!"

"Are we planning a prison break?" Natasha asked, walking into the shouting match occurring in the lab.

Thor was silently standing in the corner watching as the others stood around Bruce's desk fighting over their next move. Well, almost everyone was standing. Steve was seated in an office chair hunched over with his elbows on his knees and one arm steadily pressed against his abdomen. Although he wouldn't admit it, Steve still wasn't one hundred percent following his encounter with Thanos.

"How's Tony?" Steve asked.

"He's having a moment but he'll be fine."

The super soldier sighed, saying nothing more. Meanwhile, Bruce pulled out his tablet and placed it on the table.

"Let's figure out how we even got here." He turned to Steve, "What happened back at the courtroom?"

"Like I said before, I don't know!" He replied. "I was there, minutes later Tony was there, we noticed the muzzle on Loki, I figured something was wrong—"

Thor interrupted from his corner. "That mask or 'muzzle,' as you call it; I saw it up close. The origin is Asgardian but I did not present it to SHIELD. The only thing I had brought back from my realm were the chains to contain my brother's magic when all this began."

"So where did it come from?" Clint asked.

"I do not know."

"Okay," Bruce started taking notes, "so we know that somehow Thanos, probably, came to be in possession of the muzzle to stop Loki from warning us. What happened in the court room when Thanos appeared?"

"Well, what happened with you guys?" Steve asked. "One minute we were with Thanos and the next you were all there."

"We were knocking but we couldn't get in." Natasha explained. "When Thor finally pried the door open, you both were passed out on the floor. So was the judge and the defense attorney."

Steve raised his brow. "So you didn't see the red light in the room."

"Red light?" Clint seemed confused.

"Yeah," Steve shifted to sit up straight which only caused him to grimace in pain. "it was almost like a red energy was surrounding the whole room." Suddenly remembering, he turned to Thor. "Your brother said something about things not being real… or that the light made his torture not real? I'm not entirely sure."

A wave of realization swept over Thor as his face melted into a look of worry. "We have this all wrong. Thanos isn't just coming to take the Earth." A wind-like sound echoed through the room as Mjolnir flew into it's owner's outstretched hand. Thor pointed it to the ceiling.

"Heimdall!"

Nothing happened. Even after Thor yelled for the gate keeper again, no sign from the other realm appeared. Thor faced the others.

"I fear that Thanos has already made his way through the nine realms which explains what happened today."

"Are you trying to summon crop circles in my tower? I told you already- if you're going to do that, take it outside!"

Thor turned to see Tony walking in with a look of feigned annoyance. The genius, who still looked as though he had seen better days, squeezed in between Clint and Bruce. "So you were saying you think we're the last stop on Thanos' grand tour of the universe."

"You're certain that the courtroom was covered by a 'red energy'?" Thor asked, glancing between both Tony and Steve.

"Yes?" Tony sounded unconvinced by his own answer. "Honestly, there was so much going on I'm still not fully convinced that I didn't just hallucinate the whole encounter."

"You did not." Thor assured him before turning to Bruce. "Do you have any paper and a pen?"

"I can do you one better." Bruce pressed a few commands on the tablet and suddenly the large screen in the lab came to life. Handing Thor a stylus, he quickly explained how the technology worked before handing Thor the tablet as well. The god immediately started scribbling circles which transferred onto the wall in real time.

"My brother mentioned Thanos was looking for infinity stones. I did not originally find this to be worrisome because these six stones are impossible to find, let alone control. Many have gone seeking for them before but have failed. As you may remember, my brother shared that SHIELD is possibly in the possession of two; the tesseract and the scepter."

"The Red Skull was searching for the tesseract back then." Steve added. "Maybe he was also after the remaining five, as well."

Thor nodded as he continued to draw on the tablet. "My father grandfather, Bor, destroyed the dark elf, Malekith, in pursuit of the reality stone which we refer to in our stories as the Aether*. The other stones control time, space, power, the mind, and the soul. I have seen them only in drawings but they are believed…" with a final swipe of his pen, Thor placed the tablet down to look at the screen hanging above them, "… to look like this."

The team looked up to find a sketch of six shapes, which they presumed were the stones, all connected by beams which Thor clarified to be energy. Behind the stones was another faint outline though the picture was hard to make out.

"What's behind the stones there?" Bruce asked.

"I do not know. The drawings we have in our archives do not show what these stones rest on. However, it is said that all of them together can make any individual powerful enough to hold them invincible." Thor grabbed the stylus once more, circling a stone that seemed to be less circular and more amoeba in appearance. "This is the reality stone which, after your encounter in the courtroom, I believe is in Thanos' possession. This is how he was able to confront you in without harming anyone else. He managed to alter your perception of reality."

"Well, shit." Tony responded as he dug the heels of his hands into his eyes.

"So now we have to assume he has some, if not all, of these stones other than the ones being kept at the SHIELD facilities." Clint looked uneasy even as he said it.

"Yes." Thor said.

Natasha headed for the door. "We need to alert Fury about doubling security—"

She didn't make it far before she ran into the man in question who stumbled back slightly on impact. Fury seemed unfazed as he address the team. "SHIELD has been breached and the organization is compromised."

"What do you mean? And how the hell did you even get in here?" Tony asked as the director made his way to the group.

"You're talking to a master spy. You might want to install in some real security, Stark." Fury responded with a smirk. "You don't want people just walking in when they please."

Tony narrowed his eyes. "I'll take that into consideration, boss."

"I just got word from the Sandbox." Fury continued. "Some agents went through and cleared out our highest secured vaults. There seems to be no motive and the perpetrators did not even try to cover their tracks. We think they are acting against their wills and…" he sighed with a look of defeat "…we have a big problem on our hands."

He didn't need to explain the situation any further. They were too late.

"You've got to be shitting me." Steve muttered under his breath. He quickly glanced at Tony out of habit, expecting a dramatic remark but was surprised to see him staring at the floor in contemplation. Thor looked at Bruce for an answer of any sort but the doctor seemed equally perplexed at their current situation.

"What's our next move?" Natasha asked.

"The good news is, we have Loki back in custody so he is safe in his cell." Fury shared. "Our next priority is locating the stolen items: the tesseract and Loki's scepter."

Bruce shook his head in disbelief. "How the hell are we going to fight Thanos who, we're assuming, already has all of the stones?"

"There's got to be a way to stop him." Steve looked hopefully at Thor, but the god seemed to be at a loss.

"I do not know if we will be able to stop him if he is in possession of all that power. Our battle with Loki was difficult, to say the least, and he only had one." Thor admitted. "Also, the fact that I cannot contact Heimdall or the bifrost leads me to believe that we are on our own in defeating him." He paused for a moment before saying, "Either we stand by and let Thanos destroy this planet or we take arms and possibly perish trying to protect it."

No one said a word in response.

Only after some time did Fury cleared his throat. "What is our plan? If what you're saying is true, that Thanos has all these infinity stones, then what—"

"He doesn't have them all."

Everyone turned to look at Tony, who was still standing with his gaze on the floor.

"What are you talking about?" The genius looked up to find Fury looking as irritated as he sounded. "I just said he's been in our vaults. He's raided our compound—"

"Well, he doesn't have the tesseract," Tony snapped back, "because I do."

Bruce looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"I took it." Seeing the looks of bewilderment on his team mates, Tony kept pushing on. "About a week before this all went down, I had the tesseract transferred from the base to this tower. I wanted to examine it and see what power it possessed."

"You wanted to make weapons."

"Now, hold on, Steve—"

Steve forced himself through gritted teeth to stand. "Isn't that what you said you wanted to do that night of the final trial? You said you wanted to try and harness its energy!"

"Well, that was then and this is now! Look," Tony pinched the bridge of his nose, "regardless of what my intentions were before, it's currently not in Thanos' possession which is a good thing, right?"

"I love how you are turning this into a win for yourself."

"Back off, Natasha!"

"Actually, I think she's right." Fury, who had grabbed Bruce's tablet at some point, swiped on the device to share the schematics for what seemed to be the body of a robot on the big screen. "Seems like Bruce wasn't the only one running tests on secret servers."

Steve pointed to the screen. "What is the 'Ultron Program*'?"

"It's run on energy that he was planning on taking from the scepter!" Thor answered, reading the blueprint.

"It doesn't run on anything, Thor, because it doesn't exist!" Tony groaned. "It was an idea for better securing the world from greater alien threats like, oh I don't know, Thanos? Perhaps?"

"I told you, Tony!" Steve was yelling. "You don't know what you're dealing with here!"

"And you do?" Bruce shot back towards the captain. It was a measly attempt to back Tony up but the genius knew that Bruce knew better than to get too worked up.

Before Steve could retort back, Tony pointed his finger towards him to shut him up. "Don't talk to me like I am crazy. You didn't go through that portal back in May. Even so, you were there at the courthouse with me. We are far out of our league and out of resources. I saw a chance to do something about that, I took the damn thing, and I stand by my decision!"

Steve was out the door before anyone could stop him. Thor glanced to Natasha who seemed stunned by the whole encounter. Beside her, Bruce looked as though he couldn't decide whether to run after Steve, comfort Tony who was cursing the other man out from under his breath, or hulk out.

"Where is it now?" Fury asked.

Tony tore his eyes from where Steve had disappeared to the director. "Huh?"

"The tesseract." He repeated. "Where is it?"

Tony blinked for a moment before dropping into his usual carefree bravado. "Tell me, Fury," He made his way past teammates, who were confused by his change in tone, towards his section of the lab, "how did you know where to find those Ultron files?"

Without hesitation, Fury answered, "I saw them during our last meeting. You know you can't sneak anything past me."

"Interesting theory." Tony's hand reached into the top drawer and clasped around a piece of metal. "However, you might want to get your memory checked, Nick, because…" Tony felt the ends of a bracelet lock around his wrist, "from what I can remember, you've never stepped foot in this room, let alone had access to our secret servers."

The next few seconds occurred as if in slow motion. Natasha dove for Fury as Bruce slowly began to turn green where he stood. Mjolnir went flying through the air, carefully dodging the Iron Man suit pieces as they flew into place on Tony's body. The director tried to run for the door but was stopped as a green fist wrapped around his waist. The Hulk, roaring in anger, tossed Fury into the large screen where he broke the monitor and fell onto the concrete floor. Even so, Fury, shaking his head to recalibrate, stood back up and made another run for the exit.

Fury dodged the green fist flying at him but was thrown back over the table by a blast of light. Tony brought down his hand and flew over to capture the imposter. However, out of the dust and debris came a metal chair that sent Tony careening to the right.

"We need to hit him hard with something so we can snap him out of the trance!" Natasha yelled as Fury charged towards her. As he reached for the gun in his holster, Natasha jumped off of the nearest chair and in one smooth maneuver, took the gun from Fury's hand while dodging two of his bullets and brought him to the floor. The impact was not enough as Fury scrambled once again to his feet and, seeing an opportunity, bolted to the door. Mjolnir came rushing at him but Fury missed the piece of flying metal with ease. Tony, seeing Fury rush the exit to round the corner, was about to fire a round of rockets when the sound of clashing metal rang through the room.

Fury's body collapsed back through the door frame. Stepping over him was Steve with his shield in hand.

"I think that did the trick."

Natasha ran over to the unconscious director and dropped to her knees, searching desperately for a pulse. Finding it, she sighed and gave a nod to the team. The Hulk gave one more deafening roar before his figure seemed to shrink. The big guy stumbled into a corner, a sign that Bruce was coming back and someone was going to have to get him some clothes.

"Please tell me that this is the end of this mind controlling business." Thor complained as he began anxiously swinging Mjolnir in small circles by his side.

Natasha turned to Tony, bewildered. "How the hell did you know it wasn't him?"

"When he came in, he was way too cocky." Tony admitted. "I'm not a spy, but I have a pretty good sense when someone isn't themselves."

"And the tesseract?" Steve seemed less angry than before but his tone was still quite serious.

"Look," Tony turned to face everyone, "I'm sorry. I never intended to make any of you angry but, yes. I do have it."

"So what did Thanos just steal?" Bruce was slowly walking towards the group with a clear look of embarrassment from having to wear the only thing he could find in his work area- an ironman bathrobe the scientist had gotten as a joke for his birthday. On any other day, the situation would have been hilarious.

"A very well crafted 3D copy. Which is probably why he had Fury come here. Thanos knows he was given a fake."

Tony turned to Steve to personally apologize only to find the super soldier already looking at him. He was wearing a look that Tony couldn't quite pinpoint but was relieved that Steve wasn't using his disappointment face which, Tony had to admit, was depressing to be on the receiving end of.

"For our safety and the safety of the stone, don't tell us where it is." Steve ordered which Tony nodded to in agreement. "We're going to need to check that none of us are possessed but for now," he turned to Thor, "you take Bruce to grab new clothes. Natasha and I can throw Fury in the Hulk chamber while Tony…"

The genius looked at Steve whose features seemed to soften into something that was somewhat a smile. "Well, you're the genius here. Figure out how to best protect the tesseract."

Tony put out a hand. "No hard feelings, buddy?"

"No," Steve took his hand and shook it. "None at all."

The two smiled, ignoring Bruce who whispered 'get a room' which got a stifled laugh from Natasha. Steve rolled his eyes as he reached down to move Fury. Following suit, the others began to leave as well.

"Wait a second!"

The team turned around to find Natasha looking at them in confusion.

"Whats wrong?" Steve asked.

"Where the hell did Clint go?"

They looked at one another and upon inspection realized that the archer was nowhere to be seen and they couldn't quite pin point the last time they had seen him. Fearing the worst, the team ran out of the room while Tony began engaging his lost person's protocols.

"JARVIS, find where the hell that idiot went and please tell me he's not with Thanos. I might lose my mind if I have to see that psychopath for a second time today."

'Clint Barton is not with Thanos. However, we may have another issue on our hands…'


* Reference to Thor: The Dark World (dir. Alan Taylor, 2013)

* Reference to Avengers: Age of Ultron (dir. Joss Whedon, 2015)