Tony felt as though he was working through a fog. His deductions, observations, and even his own internal snarky monologues were… off, somehow. Slower, harder to think of, harder to bring to mind. Whatever decisions he made – be it about a cup of coffee, or an all-important rune suggestion – it took him several moments to voice his statement. Nothing was working quite as it should.
Tony wondered whether he was having some sort of delayed hangover – but unless he was totally and completely out of it, his memory was telling him he'd actually drank less in recent times than usual. He'd been so damn busy he hadn't had a chance to get a glass into his hand.
So then what the hell was wrong with him?
Whatever it was, stewing about it wasn't going to help matters. He threw himself wholeheartedly – if half-mindedly – into the runes. They were very close to a breakthrough. Even someone as lost in mind-fog as Tony was could see that.
Hermione managed to find rough translations at last. There were twenty individual runes, combined in different ways to create separate spells. Hermione was able to translate every rune set within the main rings. But there were two runes set apart on the edges of each cuff – Hermione couldn't find a thing in her book that looked even vaguely similar, but guessed that their purpose was to bind everything together, keep the spells contained within the shackles.
"But those aren't important now," Hermione said, brushing Tony away as he ran his scanner over the larger runes. "We have the translations. This rune here –" She said, directing Tony's attention at a particularly spiked rune, "Translates to 'block.' It's combined with 'bind'… and 'contain', here."
The Asgardian magicians sure weren't wordy.
"That's it?" Tony said, eyebrows raised. "A few verbs thrown together with some glowing ink, and presto, magic's blocked?"
"Contained," Hermione corrected. "These spells were crafted to keep all manner of magic contained within a set boundary… in this case, the shackles. Now that spell, of course, is useless. We want to use our magic, not nullify it."
"But we don't have to use their spells, do we? The runes to build our own are there. That 'block' rune sounds like it might come in handy," Tony said.
"It most certainly will," Hermione said slowly. She gave Tony a concerned glance before turning back to the runes. It was not the first of those looks he'd received tonight.
Now that the runes were deciphered, it was time to find out whether they could be recreated and still hold their power. Hermione decided to engrave them with her wand – creating magic with magic seemed like a good idea.
But first they had to decide which runes to combine. As Tony had so brilliantly determined, 'block' was their number one choice – but they weren't sure what others, if any should be added with it.
More hours passed. Hermione's eyes were so bloodshot and circled she looked like a drunk raccoon – but she still worked tirelessly, looking up alternate combinations and adding new runes from her book. Tony absentmindedly scratched at his chest as he reviewed the latest combination of spells. The symbols made more sense to him now than they had an hour ago. Things were finally becoming unstuck in his brain – his hangover or whatever seemed to be finally letting go.
… The hangover that had started directly after Loki had jinxed him.
That bastard.
Free from the fog's influence at last, Tony could see it for exactly what it was – not fog, not a hangover, but a spell. He'd known the green tendrils had ferreted around in his body, finding all the shrapnel pieces, but apparently that wasn't all they'd done. No wonder he'd felt so out of it – some of the god's twisted magic had taken up residence in his brain!
That explained some things.
The god knew Tony well enough to know he'd definitely reject any advances made – hell, complete strangers could make that assumption. So he cast a spell, fogged up Tony's brain, and had his way with him. If Hermione hadn't come knocking, no question things would have advanced far past what had happened.
And Tony didn't even realize the trick until hours after the fact.
What the ****ing hell.
No one pulled crap like that and got away with it. God or not, he was going to pay.
But at least it explained why he had been running at the speed of a normal person for the past few hours. Hermione would certainly be relieved – now that he could think properly again, her concerned looks clearly said she was worried that Tony was going stupid. He was going to have to come up with a few brilliant somethings soon to prove that assumption wrong.
But there was something to take care of first.
He dropped his stylus with a clatter, grabbing the clear glass remote off the table in the same motion. He wasn't stupid, not anymore – if any lessons were going to be taught to the god, he was going to need his suit.
"Where are you going?" Hermione cried as Tony strode to the door.
"You'll probably hear it in a few minutes," Tony said in answer as the door swung shut. Any revenges he had planned for Loki definitely weren't going to be quiet.
Tony woke up his suit and had it wait for him at the level before Loki's. No need to cut it too close. Even with his brain newly unfogged, he had no clue why Loki had kissed him.
But if his goal had been to screw with Tony's head, he'd definitely succeeded. Talk about a curveball.
"Tony!"
Tony suppressed a growl as he turned around. Hermione had great timing with her interruptions – Harry, not so much. "Checked out for another ten minutes, sorry. Come and find me later." He made it a statement, not a question, but Harry's hand snapped out and stopped Tony from advancing any farther down the hallway. Tony flinched back from the touch – he didn't know if he trusted any magic users now. He really didn't think Harry was up to anything, but… still.
"This can't wait." Harry's expression was incredibly serious. Ron hovered behind him, looking equally disturbed. "Things just got a lot worse."
Tony resisted throwing his hands up in his air. "A lot worse? What the hell could possibly have gotten worse? I thought we'd bottomed out awhile ago."
Harry didn't just look serious – he looked worried, confused… even a little scared. Uh oh. If they boy wizard was scared, it had to be bad. "It's worse," Harry said gravely.
Great.
Harry glanced from side to side, but said nothing. "I don't think standing and staring around is going to help matters," Tony pointed out when Harry didn't move or speak.
"I only want to say this once," Harry said finally. "We need to call everyone together again. Where's Hermione?"
"In my workshop," Tony replied. "She –" But Harry and Ron had already taken off down the hallway. Tony watched them go. "Living room this time!" He called after their retreating figures.
Tony sighed and cast his gaze longingly down to the lower level – but the retribution would have to wait.
"JARVIS, please tell me you have your voice back," He called to his AI, turning back towards the living room and powering down his suit.
My vocal capabilities have been restored, sir.
Tony wondered whether the spell had worn off around when his had faded – or whether Loki just got tired of it and lifted it himself. Didn't really matter – he was still going to punch the god out, voiceless butler or not. He was happy that JARVIS was back to normal, though - made his work easier.
"JARVIS, wake everybody back up. The wizards have a new emergency for us to deal with."
With Tony heading the meeting this time, everyone ended up in the living room. It was clear the meeting had taken most of them by surprise. Thor had clearly just been dragged out of bed – he was wearing nothing but boxer shorts and a t-shirt. The most humorous part of his attire, however, was his hair – it exuded static as it flared in every direction. Mjolnir was wonderful in many ways – but the electrifying hammer certainly didn't do his hair any favors.
The Captain looked awake enough, if worried. Natasha looked the same as always - but then Tony noticed one curl, slightly out of place. Perhaps that meant she just might have been sleeping. Or relaxing, or maybe doing something other than observing everyone in her usual 100% alert fashion.
Clint, on the other hand, was asleep on the couch.
Bruce came wandering in a few minutes later, a stack of papers in one hand and a mug in the other. His eyes were as bloodshot as Hermione's. Another midnight oil burner – no surprises there.
"What's this about, Tony?" Steve asked. He fidgeted with the leather arm of the sofa, clearly nervous.
"No idea," Tony said with a shrug. "Harry said things are worse. Wonderful, eh?"
"Just spectacular," Bruce echoed with equal sarcasm. The look they shared, however, was more than a little worried. Things couldn't get much worse… unless Voldemort had finally figured out the Tesseract. That scenario definitely landed in the 'worse' category.
Luckily, the wizards didn't keep them waiting long. Only a few minutes had passed before the trio wandered in, deep in a heated conversation.
"This isn't about believing anymore, Hermione," Harry was saying as he walked through the door. "You-Know-Who has it now. Whether it's the Elder wand or not, it's powerful. Or he believes it is, anyway." Harry trailed off as he looked at the Avengers assembled in the living room. To Tony's great relief, the god of mischief had decided not to attend. A quick check with JARVIS confirmed he was skulking around on his level somewhere. Tony definitely wanted to see the god, no question about that – but not when he was surrounded by people who might object to his less-than-polite plans for the god. Sure, they hated him too, but they couldn't deny his usefulness now. With things so dire, it wouldn't be a good idea to pulverize him to tiny bits.
Not a good idea, it was true – but that didn't stop Tony from wanting to do it anyway.
"So, what's gone wrong this time?" Tony asked, sprawled in one of the better armchairs. If their days were numbered, Tony figured he might as well get comfortable in the time he had left.
"Please tell me Voldy didn't figure out the Tesseract. Or if he did, tell me quick – there are some things I'd like to do before the world explodes," Bruce said from the couch, from where he was sandwiched between Thor and Steve.
Harry glanced around, then settled in one of the unoccupied couches. Ron and Hermione sat down on either side of him. Tony noticed with some trepidation that they all had their wands out.
"He hasn't figured out the Tesseract," Harry said to Bruce. "Or not yet, anyway."
"Then what's happened?" Natasha said bluntly. She elbowed Clint roughly to get him awake - he awakened with a squawk, looking around wildly, his hands wrapped around an invisible bow. What he was planning on shooting with air, Tony didn't know, but the image was definitely a funny one – and rife with mocking opportunities as well.
Clint slowly lowered his hands as he saw everyone staring at him. "Next time, just say my name, all right?" Clint muttered to Natasha, rubbing his ribs and scowling heavily. Tony could have sworn he saw Natasha grin.
It was a good thing they were getting enjoyment now; because Tony had a feeling they wouldn't have much to smile about soon.
"Before the Tesseract was found, You-know-who was looking for something else.. .an all-powerful wand, to truly make him invincible."
"There was no reason to believe it even existed," Hermione interjected quickly. "It was - and still could be - the stuff of legend, of people making their powers out to be more than they are."
Harry shot her an exasperated look. It was the first time Tony had seen the wizards bickering. Hermione clearly didn't believe in whatever they were talking about - if Harry's look was any indication, Harry did.
And apparently, so did Voldemort. This was not shaping up to be good news.
"You can give us background later," Bruce interjected. "Just tell us what's happened."
"You-Know-Who found it," Harry said bluntly. "He found it, took it. He has it now."
Silence.
"Well, we're F**ked," Clint said into the silence. For once, Tony completely agreed with the archer. So Voldemort had an all-powerful wand now. As if magic and the Tesseract wasn't enough! Now an unbeatable wand on top of everything else?
They were screwed even before this whole new mess - now they were so incredibly behind, it wasn't even funny. They might as well just go enjoy life to the fullest, because there wasn't going to be much left of it.
"How do you know this?"
Natasha's cold voice sliced through the room. She directed her words at Harry, her tone flat and vicious. Everybody turned and stared at the abrupt change in tone.
Now that Widow had mentioned it, that was a very good question. Did Voldy have a cell phone, texting all his various triumphs to the boy wizard? How the hell did Harry know about all this? Tony had never questioned it before, but now that he was thinking about it, it seemed mighty suspicious. Unless Harry was tapped into the mad villain hotline, something was up.
Harry looked uneasily around the room. "There isn't time for secrets," Harry said, more to himself than anyone else. With a quick glance at Ron and Hermione, he pulled back his bangs, exposing the livid lightning-shaped scar.
"This isn't a normal scar," Harry said. "When you-know-who tried to kill me, and the curse rebounded, it created a sort of... bond," Harry's face twisted as he used the word bond, clearly showing his distaste for the description. "Sometimes, because of it, I can... see things. See what he's doing, what he's thinking. I saw him take the wand."
"It's not something I can control," He said, as Bruce, Steve, and Tony all opened their mouths to speak. "The... visions, if you want to call them that, come on their own. I don't have a choice in what they show."
So Harry had front-row tickets to the inside of Voldy's head. Well, that was handy... and creepy.
"You-know-who thinks he has the world's strongest wand," Hermione suddenly piped up, "But the wand is only as powerful as the wizard." She studiously ignored Harry's glare. "There's no proof it's anything more than a normal wand."
"I think we're going to need another crash-course in wandlore here, wizards," Tony said, looking back and forth between the feuding wizard and witch.
"Now's not the time," Harry said. "It's powerful, possibly all powerful. For now, that's all you need to know. He's going to turn his attention to the Tesseract now, try to unravel its secrets with the new wand... which is why we have to find the horcruxes, now more than ever."
'For now, that's all you need to know?' Tony echoed. "I'm sorry, are we in grade school here? When did you decide what we 'need' to know?" Perhaps Tony's temper was heightened because of the whole Loki incident, but he'd about had it with all the withholding of information crap.
Harry's tone stayed calm. "I'm not keeping it from you... there's just something more important to tend to first. We think we know where another Horcrux is."
Oh. Well, fine then. Tony eased off. "Next time we have one of these little meetings, you might want to start out with that little nugget of information first.
"Bad delivery aside, just where do you think this soul shard is located?" Tony asked, expecting the answer to be somewhere in Antarctica or somewhere similar.
"Gringotts," Harry said. Of course, that was of absolutely no significance to anyone in the room. He continued. "It's the main wizards bank, run by goblins. We think one of the Horcruxes is in Bellatrix Lestrange's vault."
Antarctica might have been a better answer. Even normal, human-run banks were incredibly difficult to break into - a magical one run by goblins and gremlins was bound to be a great deal harder.
"Our only hope is to destroy his horcruxes," Harry repeated. Meeting the eyes of every Avenger in the room, he said quietly, "We need to break into that vault."
Natasha must have been appeased by Harry's earlier explanation about his scar, for she was the first volunteer her services. "I have experience with banks," She said. "A few strategies that might be useful."
Harry seemed to be looking for a more official acknowledgement, but Tony wasn't having it. "We're trying to prevent the world's premature destruction here, Merlin. If we need to break a bank to do it, fine. Let's get started."
Despite the enormity of the current situation, there was a part of Tony that wanted nothing more than to stop down to Loki's detainment level and have a little chat with the god of lies. Tony did not take kindly to being jinxed and used against his will - and communicating that (preferably via a few repulsor blasts) was something Tony wanted to do sooner as opposed to later. But there was a mad sorcerer still on the loose, armed with magic, the tesseract, and an all-powerful wand. For now, that would have to be his focus. Gremlins, goblins, magic, who-knows-what else, all protecting a bit of Voldy's slimy soul. And they had to somehow get past all of them and survive.
Well, Tony thought as he poured himself a glass of scotch, if he survived, he was going to have one hell of a story to tell when all this was over. To Fury, most likely, which took some of the fun out of it, but still…
This was going to be interesting.
Yesss the Avengers are going to Gringotts. Oh, I have been looking forward to this. X3
I originally didn't plan on laying Loki's spell on so thick, but I wanted it to be obvious he wasn't quite acting under his own will. Hope that's clear now. As always, suggestions in PM or review are welcomed :)
And there's going to be a bigger part with the Elder wand... they have bigger fish to fry atm, but there will be another, longer chat about the implications and definition of the wand soon. :)
