A/N: Yeah, this chapter happened.
I don't own The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, Thor, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head.
Tony's muscles were tense as he flew through the air. "I think I found him," Naiden's voice came through the helmet. Tony looked at the HUD and turned towards Naiden's position.
"In Germany?" Tony frowned a little.
"I said I think," Naiden responded. "It was a very weak energy, but I think this is it." The man sat down on one of the benches and took a breath. He hadn't used much of his magic except around Loki, and that was years ago. Naiden had opened his mouth to tell Tony something else when a familiarly infuriating voice interrupted.
"Stark, I need you in Stuttgart," Tony tensed a little at the demand. He glanced at the map that JARVIS had brought up and was a little proud of Naiden. Kid had gotten it in one.
"Already on my way," Tony bit out, cutting the line. "Naiden, keep your eyes open. I'll be there in fifteen minutes." Naiden nodded and pushed himself up from the bench. He was happy that no one had been around, but the only teleportation spell he knew was rather taxing on his unhoned magic.
He watched the square carefully, but only the few pedestrians walked by. Until he heard the screams. The people started to file out of the building and Naiden ran from the bench to the middle of the square, trying to push past the people. He felt his breath catch when he saw Loki walking out, his clothes changing to full battle armor.
"Tony," he choked out, but wasn't sure that the man had heard him over the screaming. He saw Loki's mouth move, but was pushed back with the crowd as more images of Loki appeared around them.
"I said Kneel!" Loki shouted and everything went silent. It didn't take long for the frightened people to move at once, getting down. Naiden was pulled down by some of the people around him, to scared to be caught around him. Loki smirked as he started to move through the crowd. "Is not this simpler? Is this not your natural state?"
This wasn't Loki, not the Loki that Tony and he knew. He was within reach, if only Naiden had the room to move his arm away from the people. He didn't hear what Loki was saying, only focused on his one goal.
"Look to your elder, people," Loki looked around and Naiden caught sight of his eyes. Bright, swirling, blue. "Let him be an example." Naiden reached out as someone suddenly landed in front of the man that had spoken to Loki, saving his life. His hand had grazed over Loki's jacket as the people started to run, pushing him away.
It was the loud music that announced his arrival, and had thrown off the battle below him. Tony landed, his arm outstretched towards the man, the same man that he had fought with for 15 years. Tony was thankful that JARVIS had taken over most of his motions. "Make a move, Reindeer Games." Tony's eyes glanced over and spotted Naiden standing off to the side.
Loki raised his arms from the ground, armour disappearing. His wrists were devoid of any silver bracelets. "Stark." The voice to his side brought Tony back to reality.
"Captain," Tony responded. The jet with Natasha in it landed and Captain America moved forward to secure Loki's hands. Naiden ran over to Tony as he took his helmet off.
"That's not Loki," Naiden said quietly. "His eyes are wrong, it can't be him," he whispered desperately. Tony watched as Loki was led to the jet and he placed a hand on Naiden's back.
"Come on," Tony said, moving on autopilot. "Let's get this sorted out.
Naiden sat out in the hall, his knees pulled up to his chest as Tony walked past him and into the room. If Tony seemed tense, Naiden couldn't blame him. He had just come from a debriefing with Fury. He settled for listening to the conversation he feared hearing.
Tony walked in and circled around the cell until Loki was looking at him. He couldn't deny the wrongness of his glowing blue eyes. The eyes he knew were an emerald green, and they shone whenever he had looked at a younger Naiden, or whenever Tony had said something stupid that shouldn't have been funny.
"Loki," Tony called out, his voice stronger than he thought.
The god looked Tony up and down and something registered in his mind before it disappeared. "I'm impressed that such a weak mortal forced my hand into a defeat," Loki growled out, not moving from his position. "But without your suit you are not much of a force."
"What happened to you?" Tony took a step closer to the cell. "Even when I met you, your weren't full of this hatred."
Loki snorted and turned his head a little. "You can not hope to wish to know the inner workings of my mind. You deign to claim knowledge of my actions? How pathetic."
"Pathetic?" Tony's eyes narrowed slightly. He was mad at Fury, and he knew it, but he couldn't help the anger seeping out. "I wasn't pathetic enough to save your life! I wasn't pathetic enough for you to save mine! You have no idea what I went through for you." Tony's hands tightened into fists, skin turning white. "You left us alone!"
"You left me there to die!" Loki shouted back and Tony took a step back from the outburst.
"Don't you dare," Tony growled out. "There was a plan, and you knew it! You didn't grab my hand!" Tony's arms were starting to shake. "Why? Why didn't you just take my hand?" Tony thought he saw a flash of green in the gods' eyes.
Until Loki started to laugh. "Pathetic," he breathed out. Tony clenched his jaw and turned, leaving the room quickly. Naiden looked up sadly and watched Tony storm past, only to be stopped by Fury.
"What the hell was that, Stark?" Naiden stood up as Tony shot daggers with his eyes at Fury.
"That's something that I don't think I want you knowing about," Tony growled out.
"I've got a war criminal locked up in my base, and you're in there confessing your glowing heart in there, I think that makes me a little in the need to know," Fury shot back at him, not backing down.
"This is a path you don't want to continue down," Naiden said softly behind Tony.
"No, he wants to know so bad, let him keep going," Tony said, never taking his eyes off of the Director. "He can't stand not knowing all the information, so he should know. Do you want to know every detail?" Tony stepped up and the two humans were standing chest to chest. "Do you want to know what happened before SHIELD decided to start watching me?"
"Tony," Naiden put a hand on his arm but the inventor shrugged it off. "It's not worth it Tony." This time Naiden pushed himself between Tony and Fury, looking at the man he'd grown up with all his life. Tony looked at Naiden and his gaze softened slightly, his jaw tightened as he tried to reign in his wayward emotions.
"I'll be in the lab with Banner," Tony said shortly and brushed past Fury. Naiden walked back to his spot on the floor by the door, leaning his arms on his knees. It may not be the Loki they remembered, but he wouldn't leave him alone, wouldn't stray from his side.
"The next time you try that," Naiden looked up as Fury turned to leave the hallway, "you had better be prepared."
"Is that a threat?" Fury asked, eyebrow arched.
"If you knew what you were embarking on, you wouldn't have to ask that question." Naiden looked back towards the steel door.
Naiden had watched Natasha walked into the room, though she probably thought him asleep. He also watched when she walked out, her pace much faster this time. He sat up a little and frowned. Naiden closed his eyes again and stretched his sense out across the Hellicarrier. He could sense Tony, sense the tension that was suddenly in the room, could sense the movement below on the main deck, and could sense the utter stillness of Loki. Naiden still wasn't able to pinpoint what had changed Loki, but knew it had something to do with his eyes.
His eyes shot open when he sensed several others approaching from outside, all with the same strange energies as Loki. Naiden scrambled to his feet quickly and started running down the hall. A sudden explosion rocked the carrier and Naiden fell against the wall. He grabbed in his pocket for the communicator Tony had slipped him earlier and could hear yelling between the Agents.
There was running down the hall and Naiden ducked into the closest room, not sure if they were SHIELD or intruders. "Stark! We're losing altitude!"
"Working on it dear!" Tony's voice came over the comm as Naiden could feel the carrier starting to tilt a little.
"If we lose another engine-" That was Agent Hill's voice and Naiden held his breath when he heard talking. A sudden roar reverberated through the aircraft and Naiden froze. Shit was going down, and they were packed up nice and neat in a handbasket being carried by Hel herself.
"Naiden?" Tony's voice came through the comm and he could tell it was a private chat. JARVIS was amazing.
"I'm fine, I'm safe," Naiden replied quietly.
"Then why are you whispering?" Tony knew him too well.
"There are people running back and forth, and I'm not sure if they're friend or foe," he admitted.
"Don't do anything that I would," Tony warned him. "They've taken down two engines, managed to get Banner to Hulk out, and who knows what else they could do." I can't lose you, too.
"Don't worry," Naiden told him. "Just get this floating prison back upright." He saw Thor run by when looked out the door and the comm went back to the chaos of multiple voices. It wasn't until he saw Coulson walk back that he decided he needed to know what was happening in the room.
Slipping out the room and keeping against the wall he headed for the door. Until he saw Loki walking past, the strange staff in his hands. He ran into the room and saw Loki pulling his arm back, the staff aimed for Coulson's back.
"Loki!" Loki turned his head, the staff piercing Coulson's shoulder, the clone of Loki in front of him disappearing, Thor yelling from inside the cell. Someone grabbed Naiden's arms from behind, pulling him back as Loki turned to look at him, eyes narrowed.
Loki stood in front of him, eyeing him up and down. "Take him with us," Loki told the man holding him. "It will hurt Stark even more." He reached up and pulled the communicator from Naiden's ear before turning back and walking over the controls for the cell.
"Loki! Don't do this!" Naiden struggled against the arms, trying to keep buried memories of the Yar. He was pulled from the room, not before he saw the cell with Thor rush down towards the ground.
"Agent Coulson is down." Tony looked up and over at Steve at the statement.
"Paramedic's are on their way-"
"They're here," Fury stated. Tony's fists clenched a little "Stark, he took Naiden." Tony froze and Steve jumped down closer to Tony.
"Tony?" Steve asked quietly, watching the billionaire. Tony didn't say anything and walked back inside, the Captain right behind him.
Tony had shed the rest of his suit and found Fury and Steve up on the main deck around the table. Fury locked eyes with him and Tony knew this wasn't going to be pleasant. He saw some bloodied Captain America cards on the table. "I need to know everything you know about Loki, you no longer have a choice."
Steve turned to look at Tony. "You knew Loki before this?"
Tony grit his teeth but didn't look away from the Director. "I knew a completely different person, that is not the same man."
"I don't care if he turns out not be a man!" Fury growled out. "I need to know what the hell happened!"
"You wanna know so bad? You wanna know what Hell we went through?" Tony's fingers fisted so tight they turned white. "I knew him for 15 years, I fought for my life next to him. We fought to keep Naiden alive for 5 of those years." Tony could feel a deep tingling in his bones that he hadn't felt since he and Naiden arrived back on Earth. "We fought because we Had to!"
Steve's eyes were wide. Fury didn't even blink.
"That place doesn't have a name, it also doesn't have a time flow."
"What does it have?" Steve asked hesitantly.
"It has fighting, and death. That's it." Tony bit out. He grit his teeth and shut his eyes as he started to roll his shoulders through a sudden discomfort. He reached a hand towards his neck.
"What the hell is that, Stark?" Tony knew they could see the armour.
"Something that will never let me forget," he muttered. He told them both everything, told them about the battles, about Naiden as a child, about his parents. He didn't tell them about the private moments that he and Loki shared, the raw vulnerability that no one else, not even Pepper or Frigga, had ever seen from the two men. No, that he wouldn't tell them.
Steve wanted to comfort Tony, had realized that he was wrong about Tony, everything he'd said and thought was wrong.
"You know Loki," Tony's head snapped up to look at Fury. "Where would he go? Would he kill Nai-"
"No," Tony stopped him. "No, he wouldn't. I don't care who he is now, he's never hurt Naiden."
"I hope your're right, Stark." Fury reached to his belt and pulled off a bag that had been behind his jacket. He threw it on the table and it slid towards Tony. "He left you a present." Tony grabbed the bag and opened it, pulling out one of his gauntlets. One of the gauntlets that had saved his life, that he had left behind. Tony felt a pit in his stomach.
Naiden stepped onto the roof of Stark Tower behind Loki, his hands bound in front of him. He saw the device with the Tesseract and frowned a little. He had noticed that the cube had just been placed, he still had time. As they walked closer and Loki and Dr Selvig talked Naiden looked around, then saw the main power cords.
Naiden placed a foot over the connectors and started to roll it, slowly loosening the cords. He stopped when a hand suddenly gripped between his shoulder and his neck. "I would not do that if I were you," Loki's voice hissed in his ear.
"I have to," Naiden responded. "I can't let you do this, not to this world."
"You would defend this world? Loki's grip had loosened slightly. "This world so full of weak creatures? You have potential inside of you." Loki's hand grew warm and Naiden felt a tingle travel through his body.
"This place gave me freedom, you sent me here." He grit his teeth and pushed down on his foot, pulling the cords apart. He could heard the machine powering down and he was suddenly pulled back and forcefully turned around. "JARVIS! Cut power to top 10 levels! Call-" He inhaled sharply when Loki's hand wrapped around his neck.
"I can not let you stop this," Loki growled and threw him to the ground. There was crackling sound and Loki pulled out of the small communicator he had taken earlier.
"Naiden? Naiden, can you hear me!" Tony's voice could barely be heard and Loki looked at Naiden with a slow grin, his scepter starting to glow.
"The portal has been powered down, sir," JARVIS informed Tony as he flew towards the Tower. "Master Naiden has ordered power to be cut from the top levels of the of the building, also. I can not communicate with him now."
"That's my boy," Tony whispered to himself, righting himself as one of the boots shorted again. As the Tower came into view he saw Loki standing on the balcony, waiting for him. Tony swallowed and landed on the balcony, the dismantling station working on its own power to remove the suit from him. Tony and Loki kept eye contact as they both moved inside.
"Anthony Stark, it surely has been a while," Loki spoke as Tony moved behind the bar. He reached for a glass, slipping a couple of bracelets on his wrists.
"So, now you feel like talking?" Tony glanced up as he poured an amber liquid into the glass. "Because, I thought you wanted to yell at me back when we were 30,000 feet in the air."
"I am nothing if not civilized, you should know this," Loki responded as he watched Tony drain the glass. "Also, I feel that I will have your undivided attention." He motioned to the couch and Tony looked over, feeling the glass slip from his fingers to the bar. Tony almost ran over to Naiden, sliding to his knees to see that blue flecks shimmered through his gold eyes.
"Naiden? Naiden, come on kid," Tony shook his arms but the younger Stark didn't move.
"He is unharmed," Loki spoke and Tony stood up quickly, facing him. "I merely needed your attention, and your co-operation."
"This isn't you, Loki," Tony walked towards the God. "What happened to you?"
Loki's eyes narrowed and his lip pulled up slightly in a sneer. "Another ten years left to carry out Your debt," Loki hissed. Tony's eyes widened slightly. "You're debt for trying to save my life! With you gone they took it from me."
Tony reached a hand up towards Loki's face but the taller man grabbed his wrist and laughed. "Such a delicate balance, the thin veil that holds things together." Loki reached up with his scepter, placing the point of it on his arc reactor. "Allow me to break that for you."
Tony gasped when he felt something travel through the reactor, vibrating through his very being. He could feel something pulling, could feel it in his bones, and he arched his back against the pain. He wheezed in a breath and felt his knees start to wobble. An arm wrapped around his waist, holding him up. "Someone has been dying to see you again." Loki's lips moved against Tony's ears.
Loki moved from his sight, arm still holding him up. The glow of the scepter and arc reactor died down and Tony's eyes widened.
"Anthony Edward Stark. A most interesting mortal. I was never able to show you to my Mistress." A feral grin crossed the face of the Titan Thanos.
