I am going to warn you now Loki might be OOC. For some reason I find it really hard to write him, don't kill me. Also children will be slapped in this chapter if this bothers you do not read, you have been warned!
A big shout out to Dreamer558750 for helping me come up with some of Toni's memories. Go read her stories, follow and favourite her!
Previously…
All the avengers whirled round, "Loki?" Thor said
Loki stepped out from the shadow that a large red curtain was casting, Clint and Natasha instantly took their fighting stance. Bruce had started growling, which generally wasn't good. Steve was trying to calm Bruce down whilst sending Loki hateful glances. Toni was still chained to the chair and couldn't see what was going on so she was yelling at Natasha to tell her what was happening. Thor was just staring at Loki, confusion, happiness and sadness dancing across his face. "How can this be brother? I watched you die in my arms." Thor whispered sadly, looking over Loki's body and noticing that he looked a lot healthier than he had for many years. Loki smirked, not hatefully, more fond exasperation,
"Did you truly believe me dead brother, you forget it is my daughter that rules over Helheim", Loki reminded Thor.
"But why are you here Loki?" Thor asked, "Why have you transported us to this place"
"Wait Loki's here!" Toni yelled when she heard Thor say his name, when he heard this Loki smiled
"Yes Stark I am here" he stated magically rotating the chair around by flicking his fingers so that Toni could now see him, "and she is the reason I am here Thor" Loki stated pointing at Toni.
"What the hell do I have to do with any of this?" Toni squawked indignantly, pulling against the chains that fastened her to the balloon like chair.
"An excellent question my dear" Loki said walking forward for no apparent reason, "the other day I was watching the comings and goings of you avengers, and I witnessed a rather intriguing argument between Stark and the blond soldier over there" he said nodding at Steve. "Naturally I was curious as to what made the woman of iron's past so horrific, so I went through her memories. I hope you don't mind" he added glancing over at Toni.
"you did what!" Toni screeched "who gave you permission to look inside my head!" she yelled, panicking about what he may have seen, as she was doing this the balloon chair suddenly lit up with red lights and Toni felt herself calm down. She looked down at the chair in confusion, her brown hair flopping over her head as she did. Loki watched her with a smirk on his pale face.
"do you like it? It is enchanted to stop the user from experiencing panic" he said while summoning red arm chairs that sat facing the ginormous screen that was resting on the wall. "now if you will all be seated, I intend to share my findings with you" he said calmly gesturing to all the others to take a seat.
"WHAT! Hell no, you are not allowed to show anyone here any of my memories!" Toni screamed desperately at Loki who smiled sadly,
"I hate to point this out… but you don't have a choice. You may not believe me," he said sitting down in his own chair, "but this will actually benefit you" he finished turning her chair around so it was facing the screen again. The other avengers still hadn't moved and were all staring at Loki warily. "I will not transport you back to your world until you have watched all of them" he stated matter of factly. Steve, seeing no immediate danger, nodded to the team to indicate that they should do as he says. Bruce was the first to move and took a seat that was positioned right next to Toni's, sensing that she might need support while watching this. Clint and Natasha moved next electing to sit curled up together on a love seat directly in front of Toni's chair, Steve took the seat next to Clint and Natasha and Thor sat on the other side of Toni. Loki nodded satisfied with the seating plan,
"the films will stop every time you speak, this is so you don't miss a thing" Loki said smirking, "as I have already viewed these I will remain mostly silent, we'll start with her childhood, enjoy" he said as the formally beige coloured screen turned white.
Then an image of a middle aged Howard Stark pacing worriedly up and down the hallway of what looked to be a hospital.
"Relax Howard" said a female voice as the image shifted to a younger woman with chestnut hair and chocolate eyes sitting calmly in a faded pink plastic chair, smiling up at Howard.
"Peggy" Steve and Toni breathed at the same time then looked at each other in surprise.
"Maria will be fine, she'll pull through" Peggy said soothingly obviously trying to calm Howard down. As soon as she finished a doctor came out of the room holding a small baby wrapped in white linen,
"Congratulations Mr Stark you are now the father of a beautiful baby girl" he said passing the bundle over to Howard. Howard took the bundle and looked disgustedly at the baby in his arms as the doctor disappeared back into the hospital room.
"Why does he look so disgusted at you?" Bruce asked Toni confused. She just sighed, "You'll see in a second probably" she said stiffly, refusing to look at Steve.
"A girl…" Howard said staring at baby Toni, "no it can't be a girl, how can it be like Steve if it's a girl" he said passing the baby to Peggy while staring disbelievingly at the floor,
"Why does she have to be like Steve?" Peggy asked sharply, rocking baby Toni gently but glaring at Howard.
"Because Steve was perfect and everything I could ever want in a child" Howard said obsessively with a manic glint in his eyes.
"Steve is in the ocean Howard" Peggy said severely looking down at Toni, "he's not coming back" she added sadly, tears filling her eyes. Howard looked down at Peggy and his newborn child and sighed,
"I guess I'll just have to make do until I find Steve then" he said
The screen faded back to its original beige colour as all the avengers minus Toni stared at the screen shocked at the obvious disdain Howard Stark had had for Toni. Steve looked the most shaken,
"Was I…" he started but was quickly cut off by Toni,
"The reason me and my dad never got on? Yeah" she said then tried to turn to face Loki, when she couldn't she settled for looking directly sideways, "If these are my memories, why are they not from my perspective?" she asked, "god dammit! I can't glare at him from here" she complained, "Bruce glare for me" she commanded. Bruce just looked at her with eyebrows raised.
"I thought it would be more interactive if it was a third person view" Loki answered smiling in amusement at Starks attempts to glare at him.
"Friend Toni, who is this Peggy woman?" Thor asked staring at the screen where the film had been played with a quizzical look that made him look like a toddler trying to figure out where his nose went. Toni hesitated, trying to figure out how much to tell them,
"Peggy was a close friend of Howard's and the closest thing I ever got to a mother figure. She took care of me until she got dementia." Toni said looking down at her lap to hide the tears starting to fill her eyes.
"Toni I'm sorry" Bruce said putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. The two assassins on the love seat watched Steve, who had a single tear run down his face.
"Whilst this is all very touching, I would like to play the next memory" Loki drawled looking at the team with raised eyebrows. Everyone, minus Toni, just looked at him in mild curiosity. Then turned back to the screen, which was once again glowing white.
The white was replaced by an image of a huge Christmas tree in the lounge room of a house with six presents sitting under it. Suddenly an excited little girl, around four years old, ran into the room and sat down in front of the tree, staring at the presents intently. She had shoulder length brown hair and was wearing a red Santa's little helper T- shirt with green shorts. "Come on aunty Peggy!" she yelled behind her as she fiddled excitedly.
"Is that you Toni?" Clint asked pointing at the hyperactive toddler on the screen.
"Yeah, that's me" she smiled at the mini her on the screen.
"I'm coming Toni, just be patient" said Peggy as she came on screen wearing her Christmas tree pyjamas, and smiling lovingly at Toni. "So" she said kneeling down in front of Toni, "which one do you want to open first?" she asked, clapping her hands together and grinning mischievously at Toni who was giggling happily.
"That one" Toni said pointing at one with red wrapping and a golden bow tied around it. She grabbed the present and tore the wrapping paper off and gave a happy squeal. "The Captain America trading cards I wanted!" she exclaimed, eyes wide, "do you think when daddy finds him, he'll sign them for me?" she asked Peggy, with a hopeful expression on her little face.
"Wait, you, Toni Stark, used to be a Captain America fan girl?!" Clint asked in astonishment. Steve too looked shocked at this revelation.
"Yes I used to be, I got over that phase quickly" Toni said darkly, death staring the mini her.
At that, Peggy looked sad, if your daddy ever finds Steve I'm sure he'll be happy to sign your cards Toni" she said carefully. Toni looking pleased with this answer started to go through the cards happily.
"That's why daddy couldn't spend Christmas with us" Toni said brightly, "he said that finding Steve is more important than a silly holiday." Toni quoted, Peggy looked frustrated by this.
"Well you'll always have me Toni" Peggy said pulling the child onto her lap. The image froze and once again faded to beige.
"Howard spent Christmas looking for me" Steve choked out, guilt starting to run through his veins like poison. The other avengers looked equally shaken by this interesting information. Bruce was watching Toni closely, she was now refusing to look at the screen at all.
"Could you please un-chain me" she asked through gritted teeth. Loki looked at her as if trying to figure out if she would try to kill him if he set her free, apparently satisfied with his safety, the metal chains binding her to the chair faded into thin air. "Thanks" she said turning to face him, the team was staring open mouthed at the exchange between the former enemies.
"What the bloody hell just happened?" Clint asked shouting, "he threw you out of a window, plus he is now showing us your private memories and you say thanks!" he yelled whilst pointing at Loki with a deranged look in his eyes. Loki just looked at him with his eyebrows raised,
"It's terribly rude to point agent Barton" Loki drawled in his British accent. That set Clint off, he tried to get close to Loki to take a swing at him but was restrained by Natasha and Steve.
"Calm down Clint" Toni said slightly concerned about the state he was in. "uh, Natasha, do some magic girlfriend stuff that calms guys down" Toni said walking to stand next to Loki, this statement earned a glare from Nat but she did whisper something in his ear that made him deflate a little bit. "I don't think reindeer games here means harm, sure I'm not particularly happy about the memory thing but I can't really do anything about it, can I" she said looking down at Loki who seemed amused by this conversation. He looked up at Toni and smirked,
"No, no you can't" he said calmly gesturing back to the screen which was once again glowing white. Everyone sat back down reluctantly and looked at the screen.
The white faded to a five year old Toni with her long brown hair flying behind her as she ran down a brightly lit corridor clutching a Captain America plushie to her chest, grinning widely as she arrived at a big oaken door.
Steve frowned at the sight of Toni carrying a doll of him, what had happened that made her hate him so much. Toni paled, if she was correct about what this was, well she didn't want to think about it. She really wished that she had Pepper here with her to snuggle with during the bad memories.
Young Toni stood up on her tip-toes to turn the golden knob opening the door. She rushed inside to find Howard sitting at a desk completely covered in maps, he was running his fingers through his dark brown hair in frustration, not seeing his young daughter behind him. Toni walked up to him and tugged on his shirt, Howard looked at her with unfocused eyes. "What you doin 'ere" he slurred grabbing a glass of brown liquid and downing it in one gulp. Toni seemed undeterred,
"I wanted to show you this Stevie doll that Auntie Peggy got me" she said in an adorable voice, holding the doll out in front of her.
"Stevie doll" Clint snorted, "I am going to bring that up at everything" he sniggered.
"Please don't" Toni said in a hollow voice that had everyone looking at her concernedly, she refused to look at them keeping her eyes on her younger self.
Howard's drunken eyes glinted dangerously when Toni said 'Stevie'. "What did you call him" he said dangerously glaring at his daughter.
"St…Stevie" she stuttered looking worried. "That's what Auntie Peggy calls him" she said drawing the doll back into her chest. Howard stood threateningly above her.
"Don't ever call him that" he growled, his voice shaking with anger. "Steve Rodgers was a great man, he was a hero" he shouted. "Do you think that you are worthy to call him 'Stevie'" he said mockingly. Toni backed up against the wall in fear. "He was perfect, he was more my child than you ever will be" he spat as he slapped her across the face. Toni fell to the floor clutching her face. Howard kicked her in the stomach three times. "You are a worthless piece of filth" he said and stumbled out of the room. Young Toni sat up clutching her stomach, she looked at the doll that she had dropped and picked it up. "This is all your fault" she screamed down at it and ripped it to shreds. When it was nothing but fluff and scraps of fabric, she started to sob as she curled up into a ball and the screen faded.
"Shit" Toni muttered.
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