STARK TOWER, MANHATTAN.
It was well past three o'clock in the morning when Pepper Potts finally finished cleaning up the robotics lab.
She collapsed into a desk chair, letting out a puff of breath. No more than thirty seconds later her cellphone buzzed. She pulled it out of her pocket and glared at the ID.
Agent Phil Coulson.
Pepper grimaced. Just what did he want? And why would he call her instead of...
Pepper set her lips in a thin line. Of course he would call her; She was the only person he could reach. With a sigh, she answered.
"Phil? What's up?" She greeted. She didn't bother with the formalities; she considered Phil to be a good friend.
"Hey, I can't get through to Tony, is he... around?" Coulson sounded flustered.
Pepper hesitated. "I think he's in his study." She answered carefully.
"Would you mind getting him for me? It's kind of important." Coulson asked. At this point, Pepper doubted she was going to be able to go to sleep tonight. She wanted to demand an explanation, but instead agreed, and, hanging up, walked out of the robotics lab and into the hallway. She stopped when she had reached Stark's study.
Pepper bit her lip, pausing outside the door. She hoped Tony wouldn't react too harshly towards her. Even as she hoped, she knew in the back of her mind that it was all in vain.
She knocked on the door loudly.
There was no response.
She knocked louder, hoping that he wasn't passed out drunk.
"Tony?" Pepper called. There was a low, audible groan from inside.
"Tony, could you come out for a second?" Pepper asked.
"The doors unlocked." Tony's voice said.
Pepper let out a shaky breath. She grasped the doorknob and turned it, pushing as she did so. The reek of alcohol and filth met her nostrils, so strong that she cringed.
The study was dark; the only light coming from the glare of a laptop. Even in that dim lighting Pepper could see the room was a disaster; furniture was strewn everywhere, old dishware was stacked on collapsed, ruined dressers. In the corner of the room, on the floor with a laptop on his lap, was Tony Stark.
He was looking at Pepper with a cold, angry glare. He was in what appeared to be pajamas. There were deep bags under his eyes and his hair was frizzed up like some sort of mad scientist.
Pepper stepped into the room.
"What is it?" Tony barked.
"Agent Coulson wants to talk to you," Pepper reported, rubbing her arm. "He just called me."
"And you answered him?" Tony spat. He closed his laptop with a slam and set it on the floor. Then he stood up, his gaze never leaving Pepper.
"I'm sorry sir," Pepper said quickly, beginning to sweat.
Tony rolled his eyes, turning his head to look at a lamp laying on the floor a few feet away. He laughed a little, the sound bearing more anger than amusement.
"You're sorry, huh?" He said with a grin, walking over to the lamp and snatching it up. "So Coulson doesn't know how an answering machine works?"
Pepper jumped as Tony hurled the lamp across the room, it hit the ground and crashed to pieces. She started shaking when Tony once again looked towards her. He walked over to her.
It took all of Pepper''s strength to hold her ground, despite all the warning alarms going off in her head, telling her to turn and run.
"You know Pepper, this has really pissed me off." Tony murmured. His hand closed around Pepper's neck.
"Oh I'll get to Coulson, soon enough." He said, his grip tightening as he spoke. Pepper shut her eyes, fighting back tears. "But first I have to get all this annoyance out of my system."
"Mr. Stark," A voice from behind Pepper said. Immediately the grip on her neck ceased, and Tony looked towards the owner of the voice.
"How the hell did you get in here?" Tony demanded.
"I'm a SHIELD agent, Mr. Stark; I have ways." Pepper recognized the voice as Phil Coulson.
"What were you just doing?" Coulson asked.
Tony grimaced. "She had a mark on her neck. But what... why the fuck are you even here?!"
Pepper turned to look at Coulson, who was standing in the doorway, dressed formally. He had a black case in his hands.
He made brief eye contact with her, then looked at Tony.
"The Tesseract has been stolen." He announced.
Pepper frowned. She didn't know much about the Tesseract, only bits and pieces of information she had managed to scrape together.
Upon hearing the news, Tony brushed past Coulson and walked out of the room. Coulson followed him, and Pepper tagged along.
Tony went directly to the kitchen and began brewing himself a pot of coffee.
"I thought SHIELD was supposed to have the best security systems." Tony said tauntingly
"I know, we use ADT and everything." Coulson agreed.
Tony crossed his arms. In the bright kitchen lighting he looked far worse. He probably hadn't showered in days.
"Why would anyone to steal that anyway? It's not like they could make any money from it." Tony said thoughtfully.
"I'm sure there a lot of people who would pay a pretty penny for a blue radioactive glowing cube." Coulson said, and Pepper was unsure if he was being sarcastic or not. "But I doubt it was stolen for money. You are aware that the Tesseract is a powerful object, right?"
Tony licked his lips. "Yeah, sort of powerful I guess. SHIELD had it because they wanted to go green, right?"
"That's besides the fact. Also, forgot to mention, the P.E.G.A.S.U.S. Facility has been destroyed." Coulson said.
"Pegasuses aren't real, Coulson." Tony eyed Coulson. "You're not a brony, are you?"
"The Facility that the Tesseract was in!" Coulson shouted. "The Tesseract was masturbating and gave birth to a Norse God who stole it!"
There was a long silence. Pepper wondered if this was a prank from Coulson. If it was; he had a good poker face. But his story was ridiculous.
"Okay, so, I'm drunk." Tony said. "And that all sounds crazy. I'm not sure if I heard you wrong or you're stoned right now."
"Why does everyone think that—nevermind." Coulson shook his head. "This Norse God's name is Loki, and he's Thor's brother I believe... anyway he said he wants to rule the world."
"I'm confused." Tony admitted.
"Why is this so hard to believe?" Coulson looked at Pepper. "What do you think?"
"Uh…" Pepper refrained from answering.
"Go ahead Pepper, tell him what you think." Tony gave her a warning glare that sent chills up her spine.
"...He said he wants to rule the world? Did he say anything else?" Pepper stuttered.
"Yeah, a whole bunch of other stuff apparently. Something about porpoises and kingly stuff." Coulson replied thoughtfully.
He held out the slim black case towards Tony, who waved a hand towards Pepper.
"I don't like being handed stuff." He said.
"I like being handed stuff." Pepper forced out. In truth, she hated being handed things. There were too many dark memories in those actions.
But she took the case without complaint. It was very lightweight.
"Give me that," Tony snatched the case out of her hands and opened it. He tapped the device a couple times and then several holographic screens popped up.
"I told you guys, holographic screens are shit. How the hell am I supposed to watch good-quality furry porn without everyone looking?" Tony spat.
"That's oddly specific." Coulson remarked. "But I agree."
"What is this about?" Pepper ventured to ask.
Coulson started to say something but Tony cut in; "It appears to be videos of all these other super heroes who aren't as good as me."
"Fury's starting the Avengers Initiative." Coulson explained
"I thought that was scrapped?" Tony asked in disbelief.
"It is. He's doing it anyway." Coulson informed. "He wants you and Pepper at the Helicarrier tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?" Tony demanded. "Listen Coulson, you can't just make me—"
"—Fury said if you don't come he'll blackmail you." Coulson grinned.
"Fine. Tomorrow." Tony grunted, throwing a glare at Pepper.
"Good sir." Coulson smiled again. "See you tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?" Tony repeated.
"Yes, Tomorrow." Coulson nodded.
"Tommorow as in, later today?" Tony pressed. "Cause it's three now."
Coulson looked confused, then nodded again. "Yeah."
"So today?" Tony asked.
"What?" Coulson frowned. "Yes, today."
"Not tomorrow?" Tony asked.
"Be there by eight o'clock." Coulson waved a hand and walked away. Tony set the black case down and opened the refrigerator. Pepper walked over to the case and began reading through the files on the screens.
She sighed; It looked like she wasn't going to go to sleep tonight after all.
SHIELD HELICARRIER LANDING STRIP
8:00 PM.
"Alright sir, I just don't see why we couldn't have just done all our research at HeadQuarters." Steve Rogers was saying.
Natasha raised an eyebrow. She had just met the super soldier, and he was just as she imagined him to be; hot, yet completely naive.
And there was something sexy about that.
But what he had just said bore a hint of intelligence in him: Seriously. They were better equipped at the HeadQuarters; more security, no chance of falling out of the sky, and if they ran out of a certain food they could always send someone to the nearest supermarket.
"But I want to show off the camouflage on the Helicarrier." Coulson explained. "And this way it'll be like a big family road trip. Except there's no family and it's in the sky and we're trying to stop an alien."
Natasha snorted. She'd arrived at HeadQuarters earlier today, only to be whisked over to the Helicarrier.
But she was not tired; with the power of memes and caffeine she had the power to stay up for weeks on end. Coulson had briefed her on what had happened, and as it turned out he wasn't high last night after all. There really was an alien dude with a chainsaw.
And she knew that if she was confused and perplexed by that, she could only imagine how the Captain felt.
Natasha heard the sound of footsteps approaching and looked over her shoulder. Walking towards them was Tony Stark and Pepper Potts.
"You managed to get him to come over? Wow." Natasha looked towards Coulson.
"It took some convincing." Coulson said, looking uncomfortable.
"Hey Natalie, or whatever you name is" Tony greeted her briefly.
"Mr. Stark, glad you could make it." Coulson said. He gestured to Rogers. "I'd like you to meet Steve Rogers, your father's favorite son."
"What?" Tony asked.
Coulson shook his head "Nothing. He's Captain America. Steve Rogers, this is Tony Stark, also known as—"
"—Iron Man," Rogers nodded, extending his hand out to Stark. "I've read about you."
Stark looked at Rogers's hand for a moment, then muttered. "Yeah, well, who doesn't?"
Natasha rolled her eyes. Tony Stark was the definition of egomaniac, and it annoyed her to no avail.
"Hey Pepper." Natasha greeted the strawberry-blonde haired woman. Her right eye was bruised badly. "What happened to your eye?"
"Nat, it's good to see you again," Pepper grinned. "And I ran into a... wall."
Natasha frowned, puzzled by that explanation. Before she could query, however, a deep rumbling struck the air. The ground began to vibrate. Then they began moving upwards.
She quickly looked towards Rogers as the vessel rose up out of the water; Rogers's jaw had dropped. His eyeballs were nearly popping out of his head. It was indeed, a humorous sight to behold. Natasha smiled to herself. No matter what mission she was on, she was always sure to find something to laugh at.
Over the edge, one of the four rising lift fans was visible. For a brief moment Natasha was curious as to what would happen if someone fell into one of those. Then she made a mental note to try it on someone at some point.
"We'd better get inside." Coulson announced, grabbing Rogers's arm. "Let's go."
Coulson led the supersoldier away.
"I think he has a crush." Stark announced.
"You think?" Natasha raised an eyebrow. Coulson had been making goo goo eyes at Rogers the whole time she had been there, and probably before that, too.
Stark grinned, but it faded fast. "Where's Doctor Banner?"
"Oh, change of plans, we decided we didn't need him." Natasha said quickly.
"Oh." Stark nodded. Natasha felt the wind getting stronger, so she turned and headed inside.
UNDERGROUND BASE.
"What are you doing, Mr. Loki?" Barton asked merrily.
Loki ignored him, not having the energy to waste on dealing with Midgardian idiots. He was in the kitchen, looking through the cabinets absently. He had barely gotten any sleep last night, and as a result felt even worse than before.
Loki snatched down a can from a high shelf and examined it. Judging from the words, it was a medley of chicken and rice. After grabbing himself a fork, he opened the can up.
It smelled like anything but appealing. But Loki was starving, and did not care much.
The food was bland and flavourless and had a soft texture to it. It was not pleasant, but Loki had tasted worse things.
He had finished half the can when Barton suddenly spoke up;
"That's dog food Mr. Loki."
Loki stared at him, a look of horror crossing over his face. He looked down at the can in dull realization.
He had just eaten dog food.
He; Loki of Asgard, the rightful king, had just eaten substance meant for an animal to consume.
Had it not been so typical of himself, and had he not been feeling so terrible, Loki might have laughed.
Instead, he felt a wide array of emotions overflow his system, beginning in disbelief and ending in rage.
Loki screeched in a voice that was so high pitched that it hurt his own ears, and then he threw the can at a nearby zombified agent who was getting a drink of water. It hit the agent on the crotch and he screamed and collapsed.
"I know how to make french toast," Barton spoke again, unphased by Loki's actions. "Do you like french toast Mr. Loki?"
Loki felt his face heat up from embarrassment, and he stormed out of the kitchen, keeping his head down until he reached the room he had slept in. He shut the door and pressed his head against it.
What was wrong with him?
He shut his eyes, willing himself to keep it together.
He was just tired, Loki told himself. Tired and starving. It was a simple mistake anyone could make.
When Loki opened his eyes only darkness met them. He looked around in confusion; when he had entered the room it was well-lit, and there had been no indication that the power had gone out.
As his eyes adjusted he recognized where he was, and he felt his insides knot. He looked around for a door, a way out, something.
As he dreaded, there was no way out, he was trapped. He forced himself to remain calm, and as soon as he did, he became aware of a figure standing next to him. Loki already knew who it was.
"The Chitauri grow restless…" The figure spoke.
Loki glared at the Other. He was an ugly, gross alien who had an equally disgusting voice. He had red teeth for some reason, and he probably had never had an original thought in his head. He was nothing but a minion.
"I haven't even been on Midgard for a day, tell them to drink some tea and rest." Loki waved a hand.
The Other hissed at him like some sort of cat.
"Time is of essence, Asgardian." The Other croaked. "You wouldn't want to keep him waiting now, would you?"
Loki couldn't help but grin. "He's been waiting all this time. Surely he can wait a few days—"
The Other hissed at him once again, beginning to pace around Loki. "You would be dead if it was not for him. You would have died as the miserable, pathetic child that you are now."
"I am not pathetic. Miserable, maybe, but pathetic?" Loki crossed his arms. "I'll have you know I was king of Asgard for a significant amount of time." He shook his head. "And soon, I will reclaim that title."
All while Loki was talking the Other had been wearing a creepy smile.
"My, what glorious plans you have." The Other mocked.. "Conquering meager Earth, and then Asgard? How diabolical. We higher beings have bigger plans for the Tesseract, bigger than you could even imagine."
"I can imagine a lot of things, my ugly friend." Loki said. "And besides, you don't have the Tesseract yet."
The Other hissed yet again and rushed towards Loki, stopping inches from his face.
"Please don't kiss me, your lips are disgusting." Loki begged. The Other grabbed Loki's jaw, his cold, clammy hand made him shudder.
"Mark my words, Asgardian, if you keep the Tesseract from us… from him…" The Other bared his red teeth. Up close, Loki realized, the being was really quite nightmarish. "...There will be nowhere to hide."
"Could I hide on Knowhere?" Loki asked.
"No." The Other said curtly.
"What if I made myself invisible?" Loki asked.
"We would still find you." The Other replied.
"How?" Loki pressed. The Other's grip tightened. "Enough of your foolery. Do you think you know what pain is? You don't—"
"—I do actually." Loki cut in. "But are we talking about emotional pain? Or pain from injuries? I'm familiar with both."
"Shut up," The Other ordered. "Like I said, if we do not receive the Tesseract soon, he will find you, and he will break you, in a thousand different ways he will torture you." The Other said.
"Stop emphasizing on the word 'he.' It's making you sound foolish." Loki remarked.
The Other let go of him. "I'd throw you to the pits now, but it has been foreseen that soon you will be encountering a… a good friend of yours."
Loki looked in confusion as the Other smiled.
"What do you mean?" Loki asked.
"You'll see." The Other said, his smile widening. Loki was about to demand an explanation, but then the dim lighting went out.
When the lights came back on, Loki was back in the underground base, standing in the room he had been in.
He sat down on the floor and pondered over the Other's words. Childhood friend? That was nonsense; he didn't have any friends as a child.
Come to think of it, he didn't have friends even now.
He shook his head. Perhaps the Other was just trying to sound menacing.
Loki wasn't at all intimidated by the Other. No, he was not the one Loki was afraid of.
Before Loki could think anymore there was a loud knock on the door.
"Come in," Loki called. Perhaps it was Selvig, coming to thank him again for possessing him ad allowing him to analyze the Tesseract. He'd already thanked him three times since they had arrived here.
But the figure who entered the door was Clint Barton, with a plate in his hands.
Loki groaned in annoyance at the sight of him. Barton simply didn't seem to have anything better to do then bother him.
"What do you want?" Loki growled.
"I made you some french toast." Barton offered the plate out. Loki hesitated, but decided there was no harm in eating it. Besides, the dog food hadn't filled him at all. With a murmur of gratitude, Loki took the plate.
ASGARD
"Heimdall, sir, The Allfather wishes to know how Midgard is doing,"
Heimdall looked at the royal messenger uneasily. He was a terrible liar. Even worse when under pressure.
"Why does he wish to know that? The King should concern himself with more important matters." Heimdall said.
"I do not know." The messenger frowned. "But my orders were to ask you how Midgard fares."
"Then tell him it fares well." Heimdall said coldly. The messenger eyed Heimdall.
Heimdall looked down to conceal a smile. He wondered how the old King would react if he was told that his psychotic son had returned from the dead.
He was too intrigued by that thought to keep up his ruse of pretending that Midgard was okay.
Just as the messenger had turned to leave Heimdall called after him; "Wait! Tell the Allfather that Loki has returned!"
The messenger turned in surprise. "What?"
"He is on Midgard!" Heimdall announced. The messenger tackled Heimdall, who fell to the ground. Heimdall opened his mouth and screamed for help.
Eeek! I'm late! This chapter took awhile to edit for some reason, I hope you all like it.
Also, I have a tumblr, there is not much on it at the moment, however I will be posting some art on there in the not so distant future, so if you're interested my blog's name is Xx_PseudoPsycho_xX because I am an edgy person.
If you liked this chapter, go ahead and review! I'm all ears for some criticism!
Arrighty, see you next week, folks.