A/N: So I apologize for last chapter's fillerness it was a rushed update… :/ But hope this chapter makes up. I realized later last chapter was actually very necessary to the plot. So hope you pick up on that.
Tony hung up the phone, "Could Fury be any more... furious with us right now?" He smiled at his own failed joke. Several of the Avengers were gathered in Tony's living room, a forgotten program on the television and all eyes on Tony. Some irises held traces of anger, others of nonchalance.
"Cut the crap Stark," said a certain man with bird related nickname. "How do you lose a super villain?"
"I don't know, how do you not like schwarma?" he asked.
"God da-" he was cut off by Banner, who may or may not have looked slightly green around the gills.
"Hey! Calm down, will you? So we lost Loki, sure that's bad, but perhaps it'd be better to focus on finding him? You, know… before he vaporizes the planet?" Bruce suggested, in a rather not-calm manner despite his own suggestion. His irises flecked with little sparks of lime.
"My brother would do no such thing!" Thor interrupted; voice booming and Tony thought he saw Mjolnir spark.
"Listen here, you overgrown Pikachu, I'm pretty sure your brother nearly did just that to snow-cone-heim not too long ago." Tony said.
Thor looked dumbfounded as to what Pikachu or a snow-cone were, but he felt sure they were insults.
Steve stepped in while the Black Widow escorted Thor to one side of the room to explain what a Pikachu was and that snow cones were treats.
"Alright, alright!" the Captain yelled, "Calm down and listen. We need to find Loki, so Banner, head to the lab to run traces, Thor…" He noticed that Widow was saying something about how Pikachus are fictional creatures and, considering that he didn't even understand the matter himself, decided to leave them be, "never mind. Hawkeye, call Fury back and explain that we've got this under control. I'm going with Banner so we can assess how much damage Loki's in position to bring.
"What about me, Spangles?" Tony asked with his smirk, "Didn't forget me did ya?"
"Couldn't if I tried," Steve mumbled. "Go work on your suit, check on Pepper, twiddle your thumbs." The captain gave Tony a sly smile, "Or you can finish explaining to Thor."
"What about you, wouldn't you like to be enlightened on the Poké-world?" Tony teased.
"No." he said, but the light pitchy-ness of his voice showed his confusion. Before the Iron Man could retort, the Captain marched off down the hall.
"Well, that was rude," Stark feigned hurt and other such emotions at Rogers' swift exit.
"So these creatures, they produce electricity much like Mjolnir?" Thor asked, ignoring Tony.
Natasha sighed and started over.
Banner sat in the elaborate room, a physicist's paradise. It was filled with machines, computers and random automatons doing simple tasks that make one's life easier whilst occupying Stark Tower's laboratory. He was leaning over a holographic screen, cursing as the program denied his action sequences. When he finally typed in the correct frequency, little green horizontal lines began to float down the screen. Purple blips appeared on the screen and he smiled lightly, not Hulk's 'smash' smile, but Banners 'I'm a beast' smile. He printed off the locations and the energy readings' charts, and they were promptly delivered to him by 'Dummy'; a particularly hated robot by Tony that had been demoted from the workshop to the lab after several miscalls with a fire extinguisher.
"Steve, I think we've got his location. He appears to be in a rural part of the Texas panhandle. Then again, it could be coming from another villain with magic that has same exact similarities to the Tessaract, but it's doubtful."
"You said rural, right?" Steve asked, curious as to the safety of the people in the area. He was now doing a crime search for the area, to see if there'd been any suspicious happenings he should take into account. All that seems to have happened was a woman knocked out another in a very brief bar fight last night, and today Advil and goldfish had been stolen from a local Walgreens. Nothing that said; 'Loki was here.'
"No major crimes, or disturbance reports, think he's laying low?"
"My brother in no fool," Thor said, followed by Romanoff as they entered the room. "Brash perhaps, but mostly just misunderstood." They all looked at him sympathetically; it must be hard to accept your brother, your childhood best friend, is the enemy.
"Thor, we've been over this." Natasha started, but Banner cut her off with a look, one that said 'let's not start this right now'. She nodded in acknowledgment.
"Banner found the coordinates of Loki's assumed whereabouts. Perhaps we should inform Fury and head that way." Steve offered, hoping to cut through eerie fog that surrounded the group in a usual awkwardness. Despite the fact that they worked together, they weren't quite used to each other.
Thor spoke up, "Perhaps I should go alone. I've fought my brother many a time and know his tricks. Also, perhaps he will listen better if he feels less threatened by our joined presence."
"Look, Thor, I know you want to believe your brother is not at fault here," this time when the female agent attempted to speak with the Odinson she was not cut off, "but you need to face the facts, Loki isn't the good guy here, he's not even the innocent bystander, he's the villain. We have to stop him."
"Friends, I don't think your plan wise. Loki will more likely listen if he doesn't feel threatened." Thor said once more.
"Sorry, Thor, but that's the only way." Tony said from the doorframe, he'd stood there unnoticed for a rather long time. Much longer than he liked to go unnoticed.
"And, we're all going. You can approach him first, but we'll be close because I wouldn't put it past Loki to just magic you and half the panhandle into ash."
Thor's eyes were dark; he was beginning to know he would have to accept it. While he was still firm in his belief Loki was just in pain and that's why he had attacked earth, he also knew whatever the reasons for his actions, his brother was a villain because of them.
Loki wet his face in the water. It smelled like the earth and he thought he could almost see the little minerals in the liquid. Water was so impure on Midgard. He slumped against the cabinet as he tried to recall the actions that led him to this moment. As he was going through the more recent events, he became aware of the woman's body pressed against the wood. The wood creaked slightly under her weight, an imperceptible sound to any mortal. He waited for her to speak, completely silencing himself, so he could hear her breaths. The uneven and frightened rhythm of her exhalations became his primary focus. It slowed, as she began to listen for him as well. He could almost hear her thoughts. She was frightened because she was realizing how risky it'd been to pick up a man off the side of the road. She was nervous at his sudden outburst. She was worried because she could no longer hear him and wondered if he was okay.
Finally a light whisper pierced the silence, shattering the evaluation of one another's existence in the small space. Quite close, but unable to hear or perceive one another, but all the same knowing they were there.
"Tony?" she breathed, her emotions lacing the words. He'd been so caught up in that moment he nearly forgot that he was 'Tony' and not 'Loki' to the young woman.
"Yes, Darcy?" he asked. He heard the sounds of her pushing off the door with her palms, the light noise as she retreated from the door a few steps.
"Are you alright?" she asked, her voice more full now, the grogginess seeming to return as her previous feelings faded.
"Quite fine." He replied, of course he was. She was the ill one. What could have brought her to think hewas not well?
He could hear her airways catch, like she was unsure how to say the next few words. "Tony, I have to head back to my home now. While you were gone I called the front desk and got directions back, and then booked the room for one more night so you could plan your own route to… wherever you're going." Darcy's words were soft, like she was trying not to anger him. For a moment he also detected fear behind her words.
"You're heading back to your home?" he wasn't sure why he asked, she'd just said that, but as his plan began to fall apart he wasn't sure what to do.
"Yeah," she said, confusion now laced her tone. "I mean, you knew I would eventually, right?" she added. She pondered why it seemed weird to him. I mean, they weren't friends, she had just helped him get somewhere and now she'd go.
He opened the door and his eyes were icy. "Then be on your way mortal," he whisked a hand and she was sent to her car, belongings flashing with her moments later.