Yes...Yes I am still alive. I apologize for my long absence. Here's what I was doing in the meantime:
1)Not writing
2)Spending agonizing months job searching because, graduation
3)Finally getting a job
It was about then that I finally felt relaxed enough to write. So! Now you get a new chapter. I've also been working on this chapter FOREVER. I don't know if you notice...but it's long. Very long. So hopefully that makes up for my absence. I'm also going to be looking back over at Poison, so maybe I'll get that finished up soon too!
As always, read, review, and enjoy!
There comes a day when their relationship is discovered by S.H.I.E.L.D. Loki doesn't pick fights often anymore, at least not where Tony can help, but when he does, Tony can always discreetly fly out to help him, should he need it. It's not the same for Loki. The Avengers' fights are monitored by S.H.I.E.L.D and civilians alike, so Loki is always cautious about how much help he provides. Typically, his help is not needed.
This is not a typical situation.
Thor promised to control his deranged-stalker girlfriend, but Enchantress has made Earth allies, ones that know the team's weaknesses. Loki knows they've all been working together for awhile now, because he's been focusing on keeping Tony safe while Tony has been fighting to keep his company safe from the sudden increase in hackings and slander cases. Twice, Loki has felt a drain on the shields he keeps around Tony.
This time there is no drain, because the shields have been banished; the device that they are tied to, to make them self-sufficient during moments of rest, is not working. The arc reactor is black.
The suit is not supposed to be effected by EMP devices. The arc reactor is definitely not supposed to be effected by EMPs. Yet the arc reactor is dark and the suit is dead and Tony is falling down, down, down (just like his dream, except this energy is not his, he did not train Enchantress to do this, to destroy what is his).
Yet Tony hits the ground. Loki waits, barely breathing. Finally, finally, a hand that struggles to move hits a manual release and the suit breaks away. Tony pulls himself out but can't get further than a sitting position before the lack of the arc reactor takes hold. Loki strains to help, to feed energy into the device, but he is too far away. He wants to move closer, but he has to be careful. His presence could do more harm than good.
He breaths a small sigh of relief when Natasha drops down beside Tony. She drags him to his feet, despite her own injuries, and begins to lead him away from the heat of the battle. They almost break into the treeline, into safety, before Enchantress flies down. She takes out Natasha first, a quick blast that tears her away from Tony. Her wrist snaps seconds before her head slams against the ground. Enchantress turns her look to Tony, eyes blazing in anger. He sees Tony's mouth move, knows it's something sarcastic, and knows Enchantress will not react well. Seconds later, Tony is picked up and slammed into a tree. He barely recovers before she's throwing him into another tree.
Tony once described his anger as something hot, something that burns through his veins until all he wants to do is watch the world burn with him. This is not Loki's anger. His is cold, freezing everything in its path. His thoughts, quicksilver with worry only seconds ago, slow under the intense cold until there is only one thought left—protect what is mine.
In his dream, he tries to move, to save Tony, but cannot. In the waking world, Loki does not remember even thinking about moving, but his vision is suddenly filled with the female sorceress. He hears her release Tony from her grip, sees him drop to the ground out of the corner of his eye. He doesn't move, but the arc reactor flickers back on as Loki unconsciously pours power into it.
"Loki," Enchantress purrs. "You've finally come to join us."
Loki remains silent as he stares at her, his anger taking in the situation, trying to decide what will be the best way to kill her. Cold flames of anger lick at him and he knows his form shifts between his Asgardian white skin and his Jötunn blue form. She watches him cautiously; having been his student once, she knows his anger, was there when his children were banished.
"Look around, my once great teacher," she says quietly. Seductively. "You can reclaim your greatness. Destroy those who thought to destroy you."
Loki's anger flares at her words. "You are mistaken," Loki says finally. He can feel S.H.I.E.L.D's agents move in, ready to take them both down. He pays them no mind.
"How so?" She's still confident that he is on her side, that his anger burns against the Avengers—against Tony—against what is his, his, his—rather than for them.
"It is not them that shall be destroyed this day," he says, gathering his power around him. He sees the realization in her eyes, a second too late. "It is you." He lets go of the power he's been gathering like a lightning strike, and her hastily constructed shield shatters on impact. He leaps forward, giving her no time to recover, one hand gripping the still forming scepter, even as he moves it in an arch. It materializes just seconds before he slams it into her head. She cries out and she falls, just barely catching herself.
"You have aligned yourself with these disgraceful mortals?" Enchantress snarls, all rage now. "For what? Him?" she asks, pointing a finger at Tony's prone body while she glares up at him. He is not really there though, and appears behind her, grabbing the wrist and snapping it easily in his grip. He elbows her face, feeling a cheekbone crack beneath his force, before he uses her arm to throw her to the ground.
"You do not know what you trifle with," Loki growls as he follows her down in controlled flight. "You are a child." He reaches for a knife, but she darts out from underneath him at the last second, coming up behind him with a knife of her own. He allows his skin to turn blue, freezing her skin where she touches him. She throws herself back, allowing her power to heal the wounds he's inflicted, but she's been fighting longer than him this day and he has always been more powerful. Before the healing can even finish, Loki is moving again, grabbing her wrist. She unleashes her raw power on him, but he grabs onto it and pulls in into his own body, steadily draining her of power. She tries to pull back, but he latches on tightly. He's only read about this technique, never actually used it, but where it seemed hard in his reading, it comes easily to him in practice. The key is to have the same anger he does now, still a wave of coolness that spreads out around him, ready to attack anyone who dares to get close to his love.
Enchantress begins to sink next to him, unable to hold enough power to keep herself aloft. Her injuries reappear as he drains the power out of them. Loki breaks off his spell at the last second, long after she has used her reserves, until the little bit of power he leaves her is the only thing keeping her alive.
Now Loki can break her.
He uses his grip to once again throw her to the ground, where she crashes and only struggles exhaustively to move. She doesn't get anywhere before Loki is on her, one arm crushing her windpipe and pinning her to the ground, while his other hand holds a knife up to her face. He draws a cut down her cheek, making sure to dig the knife in deeper over her broken cheekbone.
"How will you control your pretty faces without that precious tongue?" Loki hisses, pressing his knife deeper into her skin. She tries to strain underneath him, but she's so weak now, completely drained of power.
"Loki," Thor's powerful voice is quiet and Loki freezes. "Let the agents take her away. You have other things to see to."
Loki suppresses the growl that is deep in his throat. They should not think to even touch her, because she is his to break, to show everyone what happens when they think to take what is his.
Someone shifts behind him, daring to move close to Tony, and Loki reacts without thinking, sending tendrils of shocking power to whoever would think they could touch Tony. It's only Thor's quick thinking that saves the agent's life, as he steps in front of the man and raises the hammer. Loki's power is absorbed and deflected by it.
"No!" Thor shouts as the agents move into a defensive formation and get ready to attack. "Take Enchantress. Loki means no harm," Thor says, and manhandles the sorceress out from underneath Loki. He snarls at Thor, but Thor grew up with him, has dealt with everything from temper tantrums to heartbreaks and knows to ignore Loki. He knows that, even if Loki were to retaliate, he won't harm him, not since he discovered stability again. "See to Tony, brother," Thor demands as he hands over the barely breathing woman.
Loki turns with a snap, taking in Tony's prone form. Blood drips from his mouth in steady drops, and rivers of blood run down the back of his neck and his forehead. Loki kneels beside his lover and brushes a hand across Tony's cheek before he feels something stick into his neck.
"No!" Steve is suddenly somewhere behind him, but Loki's having a hard time focusing on anything. He tries to bring up his healing powers, to direct them to Tony, but his power slips out of his grasp every time he calls it, despite how much is coursing through his veins. "Damn it!"
Loki only has a second to think that Tony would be laughing at Captain America swearing before he collapses, his last sight the still body of his boyfriend.
o.O
"This seems eerily familiar," Fury says as he paces. Clint and Natasha, wrist braced securely but looking no less formidable, stand guard at the door, for him or Fury, he isn't sure. Natasha is always hard to read, much harder than Clint, but even Loki can see the worry on her face. He wishes he could push his magic out around the shields of the room. They are young by his standard, 40 or 50 years old maybe, but they will not yield to him. Whoever created them did an excellent job. "I don't know what you think you can accomplish by getting yourself on this boat again, but defending the team isn't going to put you in my good graces. Do you really expect me to believe that you've changed sides?"
"I expect you to believe nothing," Loki says, a false calm extending into his voice. Clint gives a barely perceptible shake of his head and Natasha's lips tighten. So they are here to guard him from Fury. He forces himself to relax.
"What I believe is that you are trying to get my team killed. What I believe is that you're working with the others. What I believe is that I have one injured Avenger that might not make it through the night," Fury says.
Natasha moves at the same time Loki does, shoving Fury out of the way and holding up the knife Loki stored with protective magic. Luckily he is able to pull some of the power back, because the knife was not made for such strong attacks. The knife shatters as Loki's strength overwhelms the defenses on it.
"Jarvis, now!" Clint says, moving forward.
"He's still alive," Natasha says, her eyes steady with Loki's. "But the sooner we get you to him, the safer he'll be."
"What the hell is going on here?" Fury demands. "You've taken control of my agents, haven't you?"
Natasha forces him back when he goes to take a step towards Loki and Loki bristles in response. "He hasn't," Natasha says. "They're…Tony and Loki…it's complicated."
"Lockdown complete," Jarvis' voice says over the sound system. "Dr. Banner has cleared out Mr. Stark's room. The hallways are clear."
Clint hurries forward and unlocks the useless cuffs. Loki laments the fact that they will know they do not restrain his magic, but he is far more eager to get to Tony. He pictures him, the blood still dripping from his mouth and head, his breath rattling in his chest. In his dream, he had been helpless to save him. He refuses to watch him die again. "Let's go. Tasha will deal with Fury." Loki does not question Clint, but leads the way out instead.
"How is he?" Loki asks. Agents watch them, some cautiously, some angrily, through the doorways as the pair runs by.
"It'…it's not good Loki. He's bleeding into his brain. It was unlikely he would be the same person if we let them do surgery. They've been trying to sedate him and give him pain medications, but their bags kept going missing. We know you like to work without drugs in the system."
It's not that he likes to work drug-free, but that he needs the body to be drug free. Otherwise the body reacts in ways that he can't anticipate. He tries to separate Tony from the person he will be working on, but Tony's face keeps flashing into his mind's eye.
Steve is standing outside of Tony's hospital room, his eyes alert for anyone that made it past Jarvis' lockdown, despite the slowly healing cuts and broken bones that litter his body. When they pass him, Steve's eyes are desperate, pleading. It does not ease Loki. Clint opens the door for him.
Tony lies completely still on the bed (too still, too still). Red-tinged bandages cover his head and his exposed chest. A tube leads out of his abdomen and another tube is down his throat. There are broken bones and cuts all over his body. Loki swallows loudly.
"I cannot-I cannot heal them all," Loki says, even though he feels like vomiting.
"I'll clean up whatever injuries you can't heal," Dr. Banner says from his spot beside Tony, his hand clamped around Tony's wrist, constantly feeling for a pulse.
"I'm going to go help Tasha and Steve," Clint says abruptly, and makes a hasty retreat from the hospital room. Bruce gives Loki a shaky smile.
"I think he's positive that this room will eat him if he stays here too long," he tries to joke, but it falls weak. Loki half expects Tony to wake up just to call the doctor on his terrible joke. He remains quiet.
"I will need to be in close contact," Loki says, forcing his feet to move forward. He loathes to touch Tony right now, to spark his healing powers up and to feel Tony's pain as Tony feels it, to know what his love has suffered because he couldn't get there in time.
"I'll help lift him up so that you can sit at the top of the bed. There's no drugs in his system, but Loki, you'll have to act quick. He's not far from falling into a coma. If he does, I don't know if you'll be able to bring him back out of it. And you'd best be prepared—he's in a lot of pain."
It doesn't relieve Loki at all to hear these things, but it does make him more determined. He will not lose Tony to a realm that he is rarely allowed to walk. Bruce helps sit Tony up, who moans and instinctively tries to curl closer to Loki. He gets up on the bed quickly and helps Bruce lower Tony's head into his lap. He brings his forehead down to touch Tony's.
"I'm coming for you love," he whispers. "Hold on."
He reaches for the steady thrum that is usually Tony's life energy, but it is dull, barely singing its song of life. Loki must move quickly, before the song dies completely. The head wounds must be healed first, or he'll lose Tony to eternal sleep. He finds the injuries that are leaking precious blood into his brain. He forces the blood out, can feel where it drips against his legs, but focuses on closing the wounds. They close quickly, willingly, and it should make Loki breathe easier, but it does not. The human body does not willing repair itself like that; it's against its very nature to allow healing to happen so quickly.
Loki keeps a careful ear to Tony's life energy, listening for any changes in it. Suddenly, it sparks up with life, but not with Tony's life. He recognizes the energy, knows where it comes from.
"No!" he calls out, mentally or physically, he is unsure, and desperately he flings energy into Tony's body. Darkness covers his vision as he grabs after Tony's retreating spirit.
"Let me in," Fury demands of Clint. Clint stands confidently in front of the door to Tony's hospital room.
"No," he says simply. Fury turns his eyes to Steve.
"You're really going to let him do this?" Fury asks, trying to appeal to Steve's military raising.
"I asked him to," Steve says. "If he didn't want to be here, he wouldn't be. But it wouldn't matter, because you're not going into this room."
"You honestly expect me to believe that the two of them have a consensual relationship?" Fury barks. "Right now it looks like Loki has taken complete control of my entire team! Give me one good reason why I shouldn't call every agent on base to this spot right now and arrest each of you."
"Because Loki is Tony's only chance to survive. Because we will fight them until we're sure that Tony is alive and safe," Clint answers. "Because even if you manage to capture us, we will escape and remove both of them if we need to. We'd rather not move Tony, but we will if you force us to."
"And may I mention that you're not allowed in Stark tower without Tony, Pepper, or Steve's permission?" Natasha asks with a grim smile. "Or Jarvis will be forced to protect the house and its inhabitants."
"You won't be getting permission from me," Steve says, raising his chin defiantly.
"And I can promise you won't get it from Pepper," Bruce says, stepping from around the doorway. "Pepper thinks Loki is the best thing that ever happened to Tony. Besides Director. Do you really want to try and contain the Hulk on this ship again? It didn't work so well the first time and he wasn't even fighting to protect anyone then," Bruce says mildly. Fury gives away nothing, but they can tell he's double thinking his plan. "We have a problem," Bruce says into the silence that follows his threat. Everyone's head turns to him, despite the fact that Fury is still standing there, ready to take them all down. "Tony slipped into a coma."
"Damn it," Clint mutters.
"What about Loki? Do we need to worry that he'll lose control?" Natasha asks, her hands automatically searching out weapons on her body.
"That's part of the problem," Bruce says. "Loki followed him. I don't know where 'followed' takes him, but he's in as close to a coma as an Asgardian can get I think. If we find Thor, he might be able to tell us."
"Good, then we can separate the two of them and solve whatever creepy obsession Loki has with Stark," Fury says, making to move past the team.
"No," Bruce says, and his eyes flash green before turning back to their brown color. "If you separate them now, we might lose them both. It's a chance neither myself nor the other guy are willing to take. I'm banning everyone except team members from entering this room. Understood Jarvis?"
"Understood Dr. Banner. Shall I unlock the rest of the rooms?"
"None of them have broken out yet?" Fury asks in disbelief.
"I was very thorough sir," Jarvis says politely. "A few of your technicians attempted to hack into my control center, but they were largely unsuccessful."
"And by largely unsuccessful you mean?" Natasha asks, worried that they might have gotten something from Jarvis before they were shut down. Tony would kill them if any information was leaked.
"I mean that they were isolated and led around a dummy system. I will release them when instructed."
"Well, that command depends," Steve says, eyeing Fury.
"Comrades!" Thor calls from down the hall. "I apologize for arriving late, but Enchantress proved to need medical attention that the mortal doctors could not give without my help."
"You fixed her?" Clint asks.
"Aye, but only enough that she would live," Thor says grimly. "Loki nearly killed her when he drained her power. She will live, but it will be a long time before she has enough power to do anything." Thor takes a moment to notice the tension in the hallway. "Where is the Man of Iron and my brother?"
"I'm hoping you can tell us Thor," Bruce says, opening the door for him. Steve, Clint, and Natasha keep their eyes peeled to Fury for any sign of movement. "Your brother was healing Tony when he slipped into a coma."
"A coma?" Thor asks, his face slightly ashen in the dim light as he takes in the two forms on the bed. Tony, utterly still, breathing only because a machine does it for him, and Loki, curled over Tony's head, bloodstained hands gripping Tony's head intensely.
"It's what happens when the body starts shutting down. Basically, he's deeply unconsciousness. Sometimes people wake up from comas. Sometimes they don't," Bruce says, looking away from the pair.
"And Tony? What do you think of his…coma?"
Bruce sighs. "I doubt he'll wake up from it without help. As near as I can tell, Loki slipped into something like a coma seconds after Tony did. But I have no idea what that means for your people."
Thor moved closer to the pair, a hand drifting over Loki's arm, but not touching it. "The only time I have spent in the healing houses is when I needed healing myself. However, between that and both Loki and my mother, I have learned some things. Many times, when our bodies appear as Loki's does, our consciousness can travel worlds. I do not know if it is the same for your people."
"It's unlikely, but most coma patients don't remember anything like time passing. Many think it's the same day they went into the coma when they wake up."
"Be that as it may, I do not need any knowledge of healing to know where they are right now—I recognize the energy that covers these two, for it is very familiar to both Loki and myself." Thor looks up, and Bruce tries to read the emotions there, but there are a lot and they seem to contradict each other. "They are with Loki's daughter Hel, in her domain."
"So you're one of Loki's kids, huh?" Tony says. The girl in front of him—because really, she doesn't look more than 20—looks the most normal of all of his lover's kids. She has a humanoid shape, although she looks like she's been eternally sad. Sometimes, something flashes across her face and Tony see a blackness that takes over her skin. After all of the shit he's seen though, it's really not the weirdest thing out there.
"I am Hel," she says, and even with the smile on her face, she still looks sad. "And you are Anthony Stark. Welcome to the Underworld."
"I thought you guarded just Hell," Tony says. "Unless something went terribly wrong…"
"I guard the entrance to Hel, yes. But it has always been a habit of my people to fall in love with those who are not Asgardian. When their loved ones die, they come here, to a special corner of the Underworld where we may visit our lovers throughout time. This is where you shall stay," she says kindly.
"Yeah, as fun as that sounds, I'd really rather not die. So if it's all the same to you, I think I'll stay on this side of the gate,"
Loki can hear them talking as his form solidifies and his heart freezes for a second. He has always wondered if Tony would like to meet his children, but he did not mean in this way.
"I am afraid going back is not an option. Your mortal body has sustained much damage."
"I'm sure I've survived worse," Tony brushes off and looks around, but the world is mostly dark and there is nothing to see except himself, Hel, and the gate between the living and the dead. "Besides, I have a feeling I'm just waiting for someone."
There is a large part of Loki that breathes a sigh of relief at Tony's refusal to follow Hel, but he hides it as he emerges from the shadows. "You would be correct," he says.
"Lover!" Tony says with a blinding smile. It's the one he gives when he's not sure what's going on, but wants to give the illusion that he's still in control.
"Father," Hel says, bending her head a little bit.
"Hello Hel," Loki says, taking her into his arms. It's been too long since he's been here to visit her. Permission to visit has gotten a little harder to receive since he escaped Odin's cells.
"You cannot linger long," Hel says, her eyes shifting to the dark shadow forest that lies behind them. "Grandfather has spies everywhere. I saw one of the ravens flying through yesterday."
"Wait. Odin has ravens…that can fly through the Underworld?" Tony asks. Loki rolls his eyes. Of course that would be what catches his attention. "I want one."
"Best not," Loki says to Tony, kissing Hel on the forehead. "I will try to come visit you again soon. If you see your brothers, give them my greetings and love," Loki instructs.
"Of course father," Hel says, then steps back into the gateway, the smoke of her domain clouding her from even his vision.
"We must leave quickly," Loki says, steering Tony away from the entrance, towards the mist that contorts to form a semblance of a forest. The trees remain intangible until one touches them, forming to whatever feeling the one touching them remembers from their living life. Loki learned long ago the secrets of the Underworld.
"Thanks for the visit!" Tony calls over his shoulder with a short wave. Loki is torn between exasperation and amusement.
"Getting into the Underworld is easy," Loki says. He needs to find a quiet place where they will be uninterrupted for a few minutes. "Getting out is harder." He finds what looks to be something like a cave. A small pulse of magic informs him that currently, there is nothing inhabiting it. He pulls Tony in with him. "Returning to your realm will not be easy. You will most likely wake up briefly," Loki says hesitantly. He's unsure of how much to tell him. Luckily, Tony gets the point. He gazes out at the misty forest. Now that they've entered the forest, it becomes more defined. "Should you chose, we can return to Hel," Loki adds.
"I'm guessing from the fact that I'm here, things didn't go too well with…Enchantress, right? That's who we were fighting."
Remembering is a good sign. The healing that he accomplished may be enough to tether Tony's spirit to his body. "As well as Doom and Justin Hammer, but yes, it was Enchantress who caused your injuries."
Tony continues his watch in silence before turning back to Loki. He has a twisted half smile on his face, one that Loki has learned means Tony is most likely about to pull a stupid, heroic act that will end in pain for him. "Yeah, well it would be pretty lame if you didn't get to come visit me all the time. I've gotten kind of used to it." Tony's position shifts into a less stiff posture, and real humor flickers into his eyes. "Plus, I'm a little scared that if Nat found out that I had the chance to return to life and I didn't, she would personally hunt me down, bring me back to life, and kill me again, Norse underworld or not."
Loki gives a slight smile back, though he grieves at what he must do. "I fear you would be right." He holds his hands out and Tony easily slips his into his grip. "If you should wake, I will spell you into an enchanted sleep immediately," Loki tries to assure.
"I know," Tony says. He has a cocky air to him, one that is rooted in assurance but not, surprisingly, in himself. "I trust you."
He believes in Loki. Knows he will save him. Trusts him in the living world, the Underworld, and the world between. This is something Loki has never experienced before. Loki takes a second longer to lean forward and kiss Tony.
"Are you ready?" Loki asks quietly. Tony's eyes shift to the cave opening again and he swallows heavily.
"No time like the present," he answers with that twisted half-smile again. Loki reaches back for the ties to his physical form, listens for the music that is his life energy and quickly latches onto it. Once he is grounded, he reaches for Tony's physical form. This is the tricky part. The song is so quiet Loki can barely hear it, tied to Tony's physical form only because the body still breathes and the heart still pulses, thanks most likely to Dr. Banner. Finally he gets a steady enough grip on it to merge it with Tony's spiritual energy.
The transition is jarring, but because Loki is a little more used to it, he wakes seconds before Tony; long enough to prepare. When Tony does wake, it's abrupt and violent as the spirit and the body try to adjust to being connected again. Tony's eyes open and his jaw works as it tries to draw air in around the tube that Dr. Banner had placed down his throat. Loki brings the spell forward quickly, crafting it to make Tony's sleep deep and dreamless. In another second, Tony is asleep. Loki monitors Tony's energy, and while it's not strong, it's not likely to drift back to Hel soon, so he looks up to see who is in the room. He finds Dr. Banner with a hand hovering near Tony's arm, eyes wide, breaths deep and controlled, and realizes that he most likely almost triggered a change. To his other side, Thor is leaning against a wall, where he had been watching the pair calmly, but now he moves forward quickly.
"Brother-" Thor starts. Loki cuts him off by turning to look back at Dr. Banner.
"I will commence healing again. He will live," Loki says, then sinks back into his healing trance. Beside him, Bruce finally takes in one last breath and feels the urge to change disappear with the good news.
"Thor, I have to work on healing—I mean fixing—what I can while Loki works, now that we know he's going to live. Will you tell the team?" he asks. Thor looks back at Loki once more, head again bowed over Tony's, magic glowing on his hands, and then nods.
"I will spread the joyous news," Thor says quietly. Outside the door, the rest of the team is still standing off against Fury. Now, Hill and a few other agents have joined Fury. No one moves. As Thor slips through the door, everyone turns to look at him. "Loki and Tony have returned from the Underworld. Loki has assured Dr. Banner and myself that Tony will live."
A breath of relief sweeps through the team and even a couple of the agents waiting with Fury. Fury's eye darkens.
"Good, then we can separate the two," Fury says, taking a step forward. The tension floods back into the team in a nanosecond. Thor frowns and steps forward.
"I would advise that you rethink your actions," Thor warns. "Though the Man of Iron will live, it does not mean he is healed. There is still much damage that must be fixed yet. Separating my brother from Tony will only result in his death and an outburst when Loki finds out. You have not yet seen the extent of my brother's skills."
"Are you threatening me?" Fury asks, his one eyebrow rising. Thor doesn't back down.
"Only if it is needed."
"We told you Director," Steve says. He's pretty much healed now, though he's excessively tired. He won't let it show though. "You won't be interfering. As soon as Tony is stable enough to move, we'll be taking him home, where we can all rest without watching our backs."
Fury eyed each individual team member before shaking his head. "I don't know what magic he used to wrap each of you around his fingers, but the second he, or any of you, make a wrong move, we will bring you down," Fury promises. If he hopes it'll change the mind of any of the Avengers, he's sorely mistaken. Instead, each of them bristle at the accusation and the threat. "Hill, I want at least two agents out here at all times. If they make any threatening move," Fury pauses to look back over at the team. If Tony were here right now, he'd be rolling his eyes at Fury's dramatics. Clint does it in his place. "Shoot them."
o.0
Tony wakes slowly and painfully. Everything aches. Awareness comes first.
He's lying down. Definitely strapped to machines, but no restraints so he's probably safe. There's heavy breathing on his right that sounds suspiciously like Bruce. Something's underneath his head and upper body. From the blessed coolness coming off it, it's less a something and more a someone. Tony opens his eyes and tilts his head back. It's worth the pain that shoots through his entire body to see Loki lying there, deeply asleep, alive and unharmed.
"He's been asleep from almost two days now," a voice to his left says. Tony can hear the spike in his heartbeat on the machine that monitors it.
"Jesus Steve," Tony says. He forces tense muscles to relax.
"Sorry," Steve answers, looking so shamefaced Tony actually feels guilty for saying anything. Steve looks back at Loki. "Thor said it's natural for Loki to sleep this deeply after using so much energy."
"He's right," Tony mumbles, and tries to shift to a more comfortable position, but it doesn't help. Loki shifts underneath him, but the state of his sleep remains the same. "What's been happening?"
"Do you remember…"
"Dying?" Tony puts in when it's apparent that Steve doesn't want to say it. "Yeah, I remember that."
He remembers waking too. He remembers fire running through his veins, pinpricks dotting here and there throughout his body that felt like he was being impaled. He also remembers the icy shock of Loki's sleeping spell as it eased the fires of agony in his body, leading him into the comforting blackness.
"Well, once Loki wakes up and says it's safe to move you, we're moving to the tower. Things have been…tense. When Fury found out about you two, he was, well, furious. He had Loki arrested and Natasha and Clint had to stage a break out right in front of Fury."
Tony snorts, then winces. "Where are the two love animals? Didn't want to weep over my-"
"Outside," Steve says, cutting Tony off. The kicked puppy look comes back full force. Right. He had died. Probably should avoid the death jokes, especially in front of the team. Especially in front of Loki. "Once we broke Loki out, we kicked all of S.H.I.E.L.D's people out and haven't allowed anyone in. Fury posted his own guards to watch us. Natasha and Clint are watching them."
Tony blinks, trying to get over his shock. He had expected things to go terribly, terribly wrong when Fury found out—and he knew Fury would find out one day. He hadn't expected the team to put everything on the line for him though. "So when you say Fury's pissed…," he says.
"He means Fury threatened to kill us if we didn't let him inadvertently kill you when he possibly killed Loki," Bruce says, unfolding himself from his chair and beginning to worry over Tony. Tony can fill in the blanks. He'd known, as soon as he woke up in the Norse underworld, that human medicine didn't stand a chance. And leaving Loki unchained in S.H.I.E.L.D's base of operations? Definitely not what Fury wanted, and what Fury wanted, Fury usually got. The only reason Loki even got the chance to save his life was because of his team. He was going to spend a long time making it up to them.
"In his defense," Loki's voice tiredly murmurs as he shifts underneath Tony, "I think he still hates me." When Loki settles back again, he's slightly propped up against the back of the bed. He begins carefully maneuvering Tony up as well, so his back rests against Loki's chest. It feels better; not quite so vulnerable.
"In his defense, you did almost kill Enchantress in a display of rage," Steve says, and Tony sees just a little bit of fear in his eyes. Loki, too busy checking Tony's injuries with his magic, doesn't notice thankfully. Tony would hate to give his boyfriend something to exploit.
"Stop that," Tony diverts, and tries to smack Loki, but he's so weak he can barely lift his hand. He settles for nudging Loki's leg. "That tickles."
"Better it tickle than hurt," Loki retorts, but he relaxes back against the bed.
"I'm going to go get Natasha and Clint," Steve says, moving to the door. He only opens it enough to slip through.
"He looks like he's in the middle of a panic attack," Tony says, allowing Bruce to buzz around him, unhooking him from most of the machines.
"We've all been having one big panic attack since we got here, Tony," Bruce says, ever patient with him. "You died, and Fury and the entirety of S.H.I.E.L.D wanted to lock Loki away, despite the fact you would have undoubtedly remained dead without him."
"I would have killed them all, had they tried to separate us," Loki says pleasantly.
"Revenge is nice, but Tony still would've been dead," Bruce says drily. "It's going to get even worse now that you're awake. We're expecting Fury to make his move at any time. Just…try to be easy on Steve, okay? He hasn't lost a teammate in a long time. It shook him up."
"Tony!" Clint yells, throwing the door open. His tone is not a pleasant "I'm so happy to see you" tone. Natasha and Steve follow him in, though Steve is quick to shut the door and stand in front of it. Natasha follows Clint, quietly seething. Tony starts thinking it might have been a better choice to stay with Hel. "We need to talk buddy," Clint says as he situates himself at the end of the bed.
"I'd really rather we didn't," Tony says.
"Too bad," Natasha says unsympathetically.
"Don't we have places to go?" Tony's whining now.
"You still need at least a day until Loki feels safe enough to transport you," Bruce says with a pat on the shoulder before he's suddenly busy with something else. Tony doesn't think he's even actually doing anything useful, leaving him to the not-so-tender mercies of Clint and Natasha.
"Next time you feel like being suicidal, let one of us know," Clint says, bringing a hand down on a very bruised leg. Tony shoots him a glare and tries not flinch away, but from Clint's superior look, he felt the leg jump under the pressure.
"Would anyone care to explain how being hit with an EMP, plummeting to the ground, and then getting singled out by Enchantress is, in any way, shape, or form, my fault?" Tony says, trying to relax back into Loki even though the tense looks of his teammates, all focused on him, are making him fidgety.
"If you would learn to keep your mouth shut…" Natasha says.
"You weren't even awake for that!" Tony protests.
"Tony, remember that one time I told you that your life was predictable?" Clint asks.
"Yeah?"
"You will always make smart ass comments to each and every villain we meet. Predictable."
"It's not my fault if they can't control their anger!" Tony tries again. A hand tilts his chin up to meet Loki's trying-not-to-be-amused eyes.
"Love, coming from one who was formerly titled as 'villain'-"
"Formerly?" Clint mutters from the end of the bed. Tony tries to kick him, but only ends up nudging him due to the unnatural weakness that apparently resides in every muscle in his body.
"-villains can never control their temper. It is best not to try their patience, especially when one is without an arc reactor," Loki says, lightly tapping fingers against the arc reactor. The room seems to collectively hold their breath, but Tony is completely unaffected. Instead he huffs and pouts.
"What else was I supposed to do? Anything I did would've pissed her off."
"True," Loki says thoughtfully. "However, most likely not to the degree that she attacked you with."
"What did you say to her?" Clint asks.
Tony tries to think back to the moments before his memory gets hazy with pain. "I told her that even her old boytoy was more competent help than Hammer. At least Skurge could hit, even if he couldn't think." The rest of the team rolls their eyes. "Honestly, it wasn't even that good. I was kind of under a lot of pressure!"
"Yes, because Enchantress has always thought rationally when it comes to Skurge," Bruce says. "You should sleep more Tony. You're exhausted."
"I've slept forever Bruce," Tony whines. It seems to relax everyone in the room and Tony thinks about calling them out on where they got the belief that a whiny Tony is a normal Tony, but figures he probably doesn't want the answer. "I'm not even tired anymore."
He feels Loki shift under him and tenses. "If it would help, I could assist-"
"Nope, I'm good. I'll just lay here in quiet misery until I fall asleep," Tony says quickly. The last thing he wants is another spell that will send him to sleep for far longer than he intends. Loki narrows his eyes suspiciously but settles back in.
"I require another brief rest before we make any decisions," Loki says, and his arms tighten around Tony possessively. Tony tilts his head back at him.
"Something wrong?" he asks, giving him the wide, innocent, confused eyes.
"No," Loki responds, just as innocently, and before Tony can protest, he feels Loki's magic sink into his skin once again, luring his body and mind to sleep.
Loki is far too suspicious.
o.0.o
The next day while Steve is standing guard, the door slams open. Everyone in the room, minus the two in the bed, jumps to attention, grabbing for weapons. Tony just smirks because, really, he was expecting this yesterday.
Sure enough, a lithe red storm comes storming in, heels clacking out Pepper Potts' anger in her silence. Everyone sort of relaxes, because they're used to seeing her this mad, but they always fear the day when that anger is turned on them.
"You," she says, pointing a finger at Tony. Her voice comes out as more of growl and Tony tries not to flinch back into Loki, but he's not entirely positive he succeeds.
"Me?" he asks.
"Good luck man," Clint says as he and Natasha make a hasty retreat. Natasha stops to put a reassuring hand on Pepper's shoulder. He always knew she was a traitor.
"How dare you go and do something like this! You died on public television!" she cries. He half expects a slap across the face but while Pepper has her angry side, she's never very violent. Instead, she smacks his arm, managing to find one of the less colorful bruises, as only Pepper could do.
"Sorry?" Tony responds. He's not sure what he could possibly do to get himself out of this one.
"Do you know what happened to the stocks? They plummeted! Investors were fully prepared to pull out, despite my reassurances that you would pull through and be fine. I had to bring Steve to a board meeting and make him promise that you would live!"
"I'm beginning to feel like I'm not really valued for the right reasons here," Tony says, but he doubts she hears it as she goes on about how the last few days have been hell. Not like they weren't, he's sure. His investor were pretty stupid sometimes.
"And what about me?" She suddenly turns the conversation in a different direction and Tony instantly perks up, because he recognizes that voice and that's the voice of Pepper about to cry. He hates it when Pepper cries. "Did you ever stop and think how I'd feel?"
"Pepper-" he starts, but he's not really sure where to go. He tried his best but sometimes his best wasn't enough? They always knew this was a possibility? The first sounded hollow and the second cold-hearted. "I'm sorry," he goes with instead, because if there's anything he's learned over the years, it's that apologizing is always a good first step. Especially if it's his fault. Which is usually is.
She just stands there for a minute, staring at him, eyes watery but not actually crying. The smile she gives him is weak, but it's the start to a real smile, a good first step. "Just-thank god you're okay," she whispers, then leans down and kisses him on the cheek. When she straightens back up, she's all business again. "Now I need you to sign these papers. Maybe then the investors will believe me."
"Nah, they know you learned to forge my signature a long time ago," he says as Pepper and Loki help situate him so he can sign the papers without hurting himself anymore. While he signs, she turns to Loki.
"Thank you for saving him. Again," she says with a smile, then gives him a kiss on the cheek too. "If you ever need a break from him, Stark Industries owns some very nice vacation resorts. Very isolated too."
And just like that, things are back to normal. No one's looking at him like he's about to break or keel over in the next second and succumb to death again. They joke and laugh loudly. Tony notices the looks out of the corner of their eyes, or how sometimes their gazes linger a second too long, but he doesn't say anything. Recovery doesn't happen in a day.
They move out that night. Bruce checks all of his vitals one last time before unhooking him from all of the machines and IV's. Loki transports him first while Steve sets off to do the whole "leader" thing and inform Fury that they're moving back home. Once Loki gets Tony set up in the living room, because Tony's tired of beds and having people cramped into an area only meant for a few people, he goes back to move the rest of the team home. They wait in tense silence for a few minutes before Loki reappears one last time with Steve.
They spend the night in the living room. Jarvis welcomes them home by ordering pizza and Tony's pretty sure he could marry the A.I. Sure, Fury fed them while they were on the helicarrier, but the food was barely a step above hospital food. In the end, Loki has to end up moving the pizza out of eye range because Tony refuses to stop eating it.
The next day, Tony tries walking. It's ungraceful at best. His legs wobble from the strain of movement and disuse, but it still feels good to get up and move around. It feels less good when Loki wakes up from a nap, sees Clint helping Tony around the living room, and knocks Tony out with a sleeping spell. He's not sure what Loki did to Clint, but the archer refuses to help him off the couch after that, so he turns to Natasha instead. She learns from Clint's mistake and sets up traps that will alert them to Loki's awakening.
By the next day, Tony can walk short distances by himself, but he knows he needs to make his move soon.
"I need a drink," he states calmly, and wobbles his way to a standing position. Natasha is sitting on the other end of the couch, book in hand. She looks up at him with the barest hint of a frown.
"For claiming to have such an entertaining personality, your jokes are terrible," she says, but her eyes follow him as he moves, whether because she doesn't know if he's joking or because she still thinks he's going to fall flat on his ass, he's not sure.
"Haha!" he says as he starts towards the kitchen. Loki, sleeping off all of the healing and transportation spells on the chair beside his couch, doesn't stir. "You can't catch me!" he declares. In two seconds, Natasha is at his side because, yes, he's walking, but he's not walking fast. Even a toddler could outpace him right now. She stays silent though, and he thinks she's onto him. When they arrive safely in the kitchen, Natasha corners him.
"What do you really want?" she asks quietly.
"Get me to Fury without Loki finding out. He'll still be sleeping for another day," Tony says when Natasha's eyes widen.
"So you are suicidal."
"This little stalemate can't go on. I can solve all of this, if I can just talk to Fury. Privately."
"So you want me to somehow sneak you out of the tower without Loki finding out, get you to Fury without getting arrested, and then not even know what you say to him?"
"Yeah, pretty much."
Natasha stares at him, picking apart his soul like she always does when he asks questions. Finally she looks back at the doorway. "We're going to need help," she mutters.
That's how he finds himself in jet on their way to the helicarrier, sandwiched between Clint and Natasha.
"This is stupid, even for you," Clint says helpfully. "You can barely walk across the room without help and you want to confront Fury in his own house?"
"What kind of blackmail do you have that can make Fury go along with this?" Natasha asks. She always asks the right questions.
"It loses its effectiveness if you two know," he says. "And it's not like Loki would ever let me do this. My body is just going to have to suck it up." He leans back and forces tense muscles to relax. If there was one thing he was good at, it was putting on a show. "Come on, it's going to be fun. We'll rustle Fury's feathers a little bit and then we'll run home and no one will ever know otherwise."
"Is now a bad time to mention that you're plans never work as expected?"
Tony patted Clint on the back. "It's far too late to turn back now bird-brain."
Turns out sneaking onto the helicarrier is way easier than it should be. Tony makes a note to raise that point with Fury as Natasha allows him to lean on her while Clint creates a distraction. They have a small window of opportunity to get to Fury, primarily when Agent Hill isn't going to be around either, although Tony isn't exactly opposed to her being there. He's pretty sure she knows what he knows, but he's not sure he wants to take the chance.
In the end, he doesn't get a choice. Clint's distraction was superb, and Tony makes another note to make him some more of the laughing gas arrows, but the havoc he causes isn't enough to draw Hill away from Fury's office.
"Great, you're all here," he says, strolling into the office like he wasn't dead a weak ago or just started walking yesterday. When they barely react, Tony can't say he's surprised. Something had to give eventually, and Clint's distractions are probably pretty well documented. "Thanks for the ride Tasha. I'll see you at home," he says with a blinding smile. She hesitates, but in the end they both know that there's no way they'd make it home before Loki woke up anyway and once Loki knew where they went, well, pretty much nothing would stop him. He shuts the door and takes his seat, looking at Fury expectantly. "Well? You gonna let this go or am I going to have to convince you?"
"I would love to hear how you could possibly convince me to be okay with this," Fury drawls in his arrogant way while Hill shifts almost silently beside him. Tony wonders if it's a sign that she doesn't want to know.
"See, in one of my many trips beyond your firewall, I found this little project. At first, I was offended that you didn't ask me in on the project. I'm kind of the leading name in advanced robotics," he says easily, even as his blood boils underneath his skin. Hill can't contain her flinch and even Fury looks uneasy. "And then I started looking deeper into the project and do you know what I discovered? You're creating these advanced robots, pretty beautiful ones, by the way, but there's still a few flaws I could've tweaked, and then you're putting a human consciousness in them. One that, say, you could have captured through a certain magical device when a person dies, and then I realized that you were trying to play God over here."
Tony gives them a moment to take it all in. He almost wishes they would try to defend themselves, but Fury gave up trying to do that a long time ago to him. Steve? Yes. Tony? Not so much.
"Well, I was still pretty intrigued on how deep this went, so I looked even deeper. And you know whose consciousness was the first one to ever be transferred? Agent Coulson."
Hill sucks in her breath, but it's not in the manner of someone who just found something out. Tony thinks it's closer to someone whose just been caught doing something they never even wanted a part in, and he can't really blame her at all.
"So let me get this straight," Fury says. His voice is quiet, in the tone of a man who knows he's about to be cornered. "If I refuse to allow Loki to remain on Earth-"
"And work with the team," Tony throws in offhandedly.
"-you'll tell the world about a project that could allow families and friends to have more time with their loved ones?"
It's a weak excuse and Fury knows it, but it would certainly have a lot of draw on the public. "No," Tony says, giving his "I'm totally in control" smile. "I don't give a damn about what the public thinks of this little project. I'll tell the team. And I'll tell them that, not only is a form of Coulson still up and working, but that he has been for a while. I bet that you told him that Clint and Natasha at least know, because I can't see Coulson being okay with keeping this a secret, especially from Clint, so while I'm at it, I'll tell him that you lied to him. Besides that, I'll tell Coulson what you really did to him." Fury's eyes go hard and Tony knows that he's really got him cornered now. "I read the doctor's notes. Coulson just thought he had been revived, healed, and allowed time to rest. He has no idea that the whole 'vacation' thing was a simulation." Now was the time to extend the little white flag, before he pushed Fury too far. "Besides, I'll sweeten the deal a little more," he says. "I'll even waive my consultation fee and open my hours to you whenever you need me. I'd make up your mind quick, too. Loki isn't going to be asleep much longer."
"You aren't really giving me a choice, are you?"
"Not unless you want a superhero civil war on your hands," Tony says leaning back in the chair, clasping his hands behind his head. It's a drain on weak arm muscles, but he keeps them up to disguise the weakness. "Time's up, by the way."
As soon as he finishes the sentence, there's a slight pop to the air. Usually, Loki's transportations are silent, but when he's particularly angry…
"You're sparking, dearest," Tony says calmly, as he tips the chair back so he can look at Loki. The god in question grabs the chair and forcefully pushes the front two legs back to the floor. Tony grunts as his whole body is jarred.
"What, exactly, were you hoping to accomplish by this trip?" Loki snarls. Tony calmly looks back to Fury and Hill, both of whom had "discreetly" gone for their weapons.
"I don't know," Tony says lazily. "That's completely up to Director Fury over here."
Loki looks up, like he's just noticing that they aren't alone in the room.
"Director. Agent," Loki greets cautiously. The hand moves from the back of the chair to Tony's shoulder. He can feel Loki's pent-up energy pulse into his body, but the arc reactor greedily sucks it up. He wonders if he's about to watch the room blow up.
"Loki." Fury's voice is forced calm, everything about it giving an air of someone who is being forced to restrain themselves. "I hear we have…things to discuss." Fury's eyes flick to Tony, then back to Loki. "But perhaps at a later time."
"That would be for the best," Loki says, ever the political prince. "If you would excuse us?"
He doesn't wait for Fury's approval. Energy shoots through Tony, the air darkens and compresses around him, and for a second, he can't even see the light of the arc reactor. Then surroundings appear around them again; the setting for epic fight number thirty million appears to be their bedroom.
"There are many who call me the Mad King on Asgard," Loki starts, his voice dangerous and soft. Still, his hands are gentle as he helps an aching and sore Tony onto the bed. "But clearly they have never met you." As soon as Tony is well situated, Loki's hands are on his forehead, magic searching Tony's body for renewed injuries.
"Loks, I'm fine," he insists. "And you would have to be mad if you thought I'd just sit around and wait for Fury to make his move. Not when I could ease everybody's anxiety."
"And how, exactly, did you convince him not to arrest either of us?" Loki asks, finally reassuring himself that Tony is there, in one piece. When he woke up and discovered that Tony was nowhere in the house, his mind had immediately run through all of the impossible scenarios—Hel had come to retrieve her prize. Odin had discovered his interference and had taken care of Tony himself. Fury had somehow managed to kidnap Tony to use him against Loki. When Jarvis had informed him where Tony had gone—and his own location spell had confirmed the A.I.'s response—Loki had been completely floored in relief.
And then he got pissed.
"Oh, a little blackmail here, a little incentive there. The usual things," Tony answered. Now that he was out of that little stress zone they called the helicarrier, the exhaustion was catching up quickly with him. He closed his eyes and leaned back against the pillows.
"You play a dangerous game, love," Loki says, but the words lack the same fire behind them. Tony has no doubt that he's still pissed, but for now, he's willing to let it go. Which is good, because he doesn't predict being able to stay awake much longer.
"Wouldn't do it if he didn't make me," Tony mumbles. There's pressure on the bed beside him, and then arms wrap around him, moving him to lean against Loki's chest.
"Go to sleep love. We can argue later," Loki says, part angry, part content, and all exasperation. Still, Tony smirks against Loki's chest. For being the God of Lies, he's awfully honest.