Chapter 1 - Loose Ends
Tony Stark paced the ruins of his tower as he gestured avidly whilst talking into a bluetooth headset.
'I mean it, take a vacation, when was the last time you had one. Go now before someone else tries to take over the world.'
'I can't Tony, you need me here, you are going to have so much press on top of everything else after what happened' Pepper's voice crackled on the other end.
'I can handle it, you, on the other hand cannot.'
'What do you mean by that?'
Tony's eyes wandered over his tower apartment and swallowed. Pepper had managed so dilligently to help him repair it, but she became so distant, so quiet now everytime she stepped foot in here. He understood why, he felt the same thing as he wandered about. The air was tainted in this city with the acrid tang of death, especially in this area, and it permeated the walls and floors of the building. Tony had not noticed it at first, he was just happy to be alive. But then days become weeks and it became hard to breathe sometimes, flashbacks would run through his mind and his chest would tighten. Thanks to constant meetings, Pepper spent alot of time away and he had been able to avoid letting her see. But because of that he was distancing himself from her and was at a loss to how to stop himself.
'Tony? Are you still there?'
'Mmm, oh yeah sorry, I was miles away.'
'I'm not going on vacation.'
'Baby, please.' He could hear the weakness in his voice and he didn't like it.
'Tony don't.'
'Don't what.'
'Don't call me that and act like this.'
'Act like what?'
'You know very well Tony, I think it is you who needs the vacation.'
'No, I am fine, but I hate seeing you here, where it all happened, I know what it does to you.'
'Me?' She sounded exasperated. 'What about you? Tony you nearly died there, you need a break.'
'So do you.'
'Then lets take a break together, at the very least.'
'No.' He said a little too quickly. 'I mean...'
Pepper's voice went cold. 'What's happening to us?'
'Nothing, I mean, I don't know, what?'
'Tony stop it, listen, if you want some time alone I understand, but please just talk to me.'
'I can't honey, I just can't.'
'I see. I hate seeing you like this Tony, you need time to heal, I'm not coming home until you figure this one out, please, take a break. Call me when you're ready to talk.'
'Pepper I love-' But she had already hung up.
He sighed and let his arms fall loosely to his sides, what on earth was he doing. He went over to the bar and gripped the sides, he could feel it coming, his arms were shaking, his knuckles white. His chest constricted like a snake was coiled around his lungs and heart. A snake with a green cape and a stupid helmet. He laughed at the thought, but it came out a gasping sob and he felt his knees start to buckle. He shut his eyes tight and begged anyone, anything, to not let him have an attack.
'Jarvis, do something, talk to me quick.' He shouted. No answer.
'Jarvis? Ahh!' He clutched at his reactor embedded in his chest. 'Oh god oh god oh god.'
'Yes?' Came a soft, purring voice from across the room and Tony stopped breathing. He sucked in his breath and buried his head into the wood of the bar. 'Oh god please, it's not real it's not real.'
'I assure you, it is real.'
The voice was closer now and Tony felt himself sliding off the bar, he tried to grab hold of it but his hands didn't respond. His legs buckled and he fell.
Something caught his arm, a cold hand tightened around him and lifted him onto his feet with inhuman strength.
'Still think you are imagining things, Iron Man?' The voice was like sharp flint and Tony felt the breath leave his body as he was slammed back into the wall.
'You do not look so good mortal.' Hard eyes bored into his and his breathing became rapid, he could feel his heart slamming against his ribcage and he struggled to speak as he grabbed at the wrist pinning him up by his neck.
'You don't look so hot yourself Rocky Horror.' He almost cried out as he spoke.
'Ever the comedian, even now. I wonder how long that pretty little heart of yours would last against my magic.'
'Jarvis!' He spat the words out past the constricting of his throat.
'Your technology cannot help you now, I have disabled it.'
'How.'
'Magic, dear mortal.'
He felt the grip around his throat slacken and then he was sliding to the floor. He rubbed the skin around his neck and took a deep breath as his head swam and his eyes blurred from lack of oxygen.
He suddenly felt a tingling sensation come over his body, like sea water on a hot day lapping at you on the beach. The tightness in his chest disappeared.
He looked up at Loki and saw him smile.
'What did you do?' He coughed.
'I have need of you, metal man, so cannot have your anxiety stop me from my purpose.'
'You need, what?'
Loki twirled his fingers and the pain on Tony's neck receded and his mind became clearer.
'If you 'have need of me', why did you just try to strangle me.'
'A small revenge on my part.' He smirked and walked away from Tony and took a glass delicately off the bar behind him. He placed it down and unstoppered the glass bottle of whiskey, pouring a small amout into it. He pressed his fingers against the glass and frowned, then a pulse of light shimmered down his fingers and onto the glass. Ice crawled down the glass and and then he picked it up. He handed it to Tony, who was too bewildered to refuse, and as he looked at Loki he could have sworn his eyes were red.
He took a quick sip and shuddered.
'Christ that's cold.'
'Drink.' He stated icily before picking up another glass, he repeated the procedure before turning to Tony, bringing the glass to his lips and ignoring the ice climbing down it.
Tony took another small sip and tried to pull himself up shakily, he had to attempt twice before his legs held. Loki pulled the glass from his grip and waited, before returning it to him and walking away.
Tony stared after him and tried to think of something to say, when nothing witty came to him he opted for the obvious.
'Why are you here?'
'Like I said, I have need of you.' Loki continued to face away from him and drink.
'Yeah we American's are a little on the slow side so would you mind not being so cryptic?'
Loki sighed as if it was causing him a large amount of effort to be polite and turned to him.
'You are I are about to be united in a common cause.'
'We are?' Tony raised an eyebrow.
'Unfortunately, yes, after you decided to detonate a nuclear weapon upon my army I had hoped I would be free of The Other and his kind, but-'
'Hold up, explain?'
Another sigh, Loki pinched the bridge of his nose slightly. Tony thought he looked thinner than when they last met, and tired.
'The Other was who I was using to get the Tesseract, he gave me the army I unleashed here on Midgard. I had hoped you and your 'Avengers',' he smirked at the word, 'would destroy him for me so I would not have too, but there was no such luck.'
'Destroy him? But he gave you an army?'
'Yes, against my will.'
Tony had to stopped himself cocking his head like a confused puppy, he busied himself with his drink instead, which had not even warmed up fractionally.
'When I fell from the Bifrost,' he paused.
'Oh yeah I know what that is, your sparkly ga- rainbow bridge.'
Loki narrowed his eyes, but continued.
'When I fell, I expected to meet my untimely end, but instead I found myself trapped and alone on a distant world. My magic helped me to travel, I saw things no god should ever see. I was regularly brutally attacked, tortured and had to flee from many places I tried to rest at. Finally I was found by them, too weak to fight back. They wanted to kill me, but The Other stopped them, he knew I was an Aesir, an Asgardian, and when he found out exactly who I was he gave me an offer. They wanted a galaxy to rule and had found the perfect one. They were connected to Midgard through the Tesseract, but they needed someone to lead them, someone who knew Midgard, who could hold off its forces. If I would lead their army, I could have my revenge on the Aesir, on my brother, and rule Midgard. If I would not, they would kill me. What choice did I have, I was too weak to use my magic or fight them, I had no weapons. I was desperate.'
'Don't you mean unhinged?'
Loki shot him a venomous glare.
'But you wanted to fight, you wanted this, to cause your brother pain.'
'No, Midgard does not interest me like it does my brother. What I wanted was revenge on the Aesir, on Odin Allfather. I wanted Asgard, and I realised that if I brought the Chitauri to Midgard, the Aesir would respond. What I had not planned on were the bunch of misfits your Director Fury decided to bring into the equation, I would have thought Odin would have brought a force down to here, but instead he sent the oaf Thor to go blundering about and ruining everything.'
'So this whole thing, all the lives lost, all the fighting, it was all just so you could get back to your planet?!' Tony tried to hold ithe anger from his voice.
Loki studied his nails as if bored. 'Yes, what on earth would I want with your pitiful planet. It was just a bit of fun. Collateral Damage and all that.'
'A bit of fun! Hundreds of people lost their lives!'
'Don't exaggerate.'
'You call Hulk the monster, but the only monster I see is you.' Toni kept his voice calm, stated it as if it were a regular fact.
There was a crack as Loki crushed the glass in his hand, the shards scattering on the floor.
'I am a God! And you would do well to learn your place mortal!' He spun and advanced on Tony who felt his chest tighten again.
'Oh no, not this time mortal.' Loki waved his hand at Tony's chest as he covered the space between them in long legged strides. He was alot taller than Tony, and though Tony was broader, the man's presence made Tony's own quail in comparison.
'Touch a nerve did I?' Tony wasn't about to let Loki frighten him again, he had had enough sleepless nights to last him a lifetime.
Loki stopped, almost as if he sensed a change in him, and smiled, a predatory, chiding smile.
'How easy it would be to kill you,' he purred and brought a hand to Tony's neck, mimicking crushing it, the way Loki spoke was mesmerizing, even when he was threatening someone. He was like a lion, majestic, sure of himself and his power, dangerous but captivating, you want to run when it starts to growl, but you stay to hear the roar. His words were like that of someone trying to seduce you, regardless of what context they spoke. What was it Thor had called him once? 'Silver tongued', accurate, Tony's thought trailed off as Loki took his eyes away from his own, 'though, I fear it would be a shame to destroy you before I can use you.'
His hand trailed down to the arc reactor in Tony's chest, fingers hovering a few centimetres away. He stared at it for a moment.
'My sceptre was the most powerful object on your pitiful planet, laced with my magic and the energy of the Tesseract. Yet faced with your blue heart it was useless, why?' He looked up at Stark, eyes blazing, demanding an answer.
'Oh no, you still have not told me what you want.'
'Isn't it obvious?'
Tony considered the information he had been given, then it came to him.
'They want to kill you, don't they?'
Loki gritted his teeth, but did not answer.
'And now, even though they didn't want Earth, that was your thing, because we pissed them off they want to destroy us too?'
'Your powers of deduction are incredulous.'
'Why thank you, never refuse a compliment, sarcasm or no I always say.'
Loki almost smirked at that.
Tony knew the chances of getting anymore information before Loki spoke again where slim, so changed subjects until he could think of a way to get him to spill.
'How did you get here? And don't just say magic Harry Potter because it is getting old.'
'Harry Potter?' Loki seemed amused.
'Yeah, Harry the teen wizard who fights bad guys and stuff with magic. Great book series, you'd love it. They have this bad guy, Voldemort, real creepy, you'd like him. Oh and this crazy freaky chick, err, Bellatrix yeah, you'd totally hit that she might be more nuts than y-'
Loki silenced him with a glare.
'Ok geez, you keep coming to my planet remember? Either get the references or get out. Are you not meant to be in prison? Chained up, locked away somewhere deep and dark never to see the sun again?'
'I was, but I escaped easily enough, the old man was foolish enough to believe I could not escape so was not overly cautious, it was always his downfall. They have not even noticed I am gone.'
'So no big brother swooping in to save me then, shame I was looking forward to being scooped up in his big strong arms.' There he went again, deliberately poking the bristling creature infront of him. How did Bruce put up with him?!
'Thankfully no, not yet. I shall leave you and your Avengers to get him. Now, do we understand each other?'
'Not exactly, let me see. You fucked up, fell out of sparkleland and ended up captured and who knows what. You lead said captors to us for a party, you fuck up AGAIN and end up in jail, only to be pursued by your captors who are really pissed off at you, and at us, so, you come to the one place they'll also be coming too instead of skedaddling outta there.'
'There is nowhere I can run to escape them, I have tried.' He drew himself up to Stark and pierced his gaze with his eyes. 'I do not wish to run anymore.'
Tony suddenly became sidetracked.
'Your little glowstick, did it make your eyes go blue? Because they are very very green now.'
Loki faltered before replying, just what was this man doing. He couldn't tell if he was an genius masquerading as a idiot or the other way round, or just an idiot. 'Yes, the Tesseract could control people's minds, but in doing so had to connect to the one seeking control. It was, difficult.' He looked away.
'So that's why you looked like shit?' Tony threw his hands up in mock salute. 'I mean, not that you do now, um, little thinner maybe, little tired, but, not like you're hopped up on meth at least, your hairs longer, it's a good look.' He spluttered out quickly, trying not to snark a would be Tony murderer.
Loki growled, actually growled Jesus Christ thought Tony.
'It was straining my mind to keep control instead of letting it control me, but by the time we met in battle I had gotten over that particular issue. I think the Chitauri were hoping to gain me as a pawn by indirectly damaging my mind.'
'Too late for that.' Tony coughed into his hand and Loki's head snapped up to him, eyes burning.
'Right back on target,' Tony clapped his hands and sidestepped Loki before he could decide to just kill him and be done with it. 'So, the Chitauri are coming to Earth to kill us, you don't want to die so have come here to warn us?'
'Without the fine details,' he glowered as if he meant 'no you're completely wrong, but I am sick of talking to you, 'now can we stop going in circles?'
'Don't answer a question with another question it is rude, one thing still bothers me though. We, I nuked your army, I nuked the mothership and every one of them dropped dead. Surely they need to recon and get some forces first.'
'Finally an intelligent question, naive and foolish, but intelligent none the less. You really thought you could destroy their army, even with a weapon such as that? I was given a mere handful, an expendable resource for my take over. You could not even begin to imagine the forces The Other has behind him, Chitauri and many, many more. You had but scratched the surface with your gallant attempt at self sacrifice.'
Tony's eyes widened, but the fear that usually constricts his chest could no longer manifest. He looked down to his heart.
'I left a trace of the magic on you, I would like to stay alive and that means I need your mind to be clear.'
'Darling, I didn't think you cared.' Tony held his hand in his heart in what he hoped was a lovestruck, girlish impression.
Loki sneered and stepped away from him. He picked Tony's drink up from the bar and downed it as though it were water, making Tony's throat tighten, smooth bastard, and then turned to him.
'I will return once I gather more information, speak to your Avengers.' He said, without a hint of malice Tony was waiting for. Before he could reply Loki was gone, just empty air and the failing light. Tony slumped down where he stood and stared at the spot. Wondering what the hell just happened, and what the hell he was supposed to do about it...
'Jarvis, talk to me baby are you back yet?'
'Sir, yes, I think so, I feel strange.'
'That would be magic, what happened?'
'I felt a change in the air pressure, recognising it as the same pressure that came when the criminal Loki Laufeyson took over Stark Tower, as I went to warn you my systems just disappeared. I could do nothing but watch on. Now I know how a security camera feels.'
Tony smiled at the slight comedic tone to Jarvis's voice, if he were real he was sure they would be best friends.
'Ok powderpuff, if your headache is better could you please get me Director Fury?'
'Already patching you through sir.'
'Good dog.'
He pushed himself up and grabbed his tablet off the coffee table and tapped the screen. There was the face of Nick Fury staring back at him, looking exactly the same as always, like a disgruntled goat.
'Stark, what do you want.'
'I just got probed by an alien.'
'Stark, what, is that a handprint on your neck?'
'Possibly, I haven't checked, it was alot worse though.'
'What is going on?'
Tony began to explain and had Jarvis send the video surveillance footage, thankfully part of the system that could exist withoug. Jarvis and was not connected to him, he could just access them. By the end Fury had turned from goat to bear and was screaming at people around him to contact the others.
'How do we get to Thor?'
'We can't but I know someone who can, only problem is she and I do not get on and she likes to threaten my agents.'
'She?'
'Dr Jane Foster, Dr Selveig's once companion and Thor's, how do I put this, girlfriend? Dr Selveig is on temporary leave to recover and I am not thinking it would be a good idea to call him back yet.'
'Is she the girl Thor was pestering you about?'
'The very same.'
'Ok, I see where this is going, I guess I could drop in on her. Where is she right now?'
'London, England.'
'England?! Oh jeez come on can't you phone her?'
'We tried Stark, or I wouldn't be asking.'
'You're not asking, you are heavily implying, hinting, to me, to make me say it and think it was my idea so you don't have to ask and make it look like you are relying on others.'
'Just find the girl Stark, Jarvis will have her file now.'
'You son of a, Jarvis?'
'It is transferring onto my system as we speak sir, they are getting better at getting close to my system.'
'Problematic, hmm, ok Fury, I'll get the girl. You do the rest.'
The screen went blank without so much as a goodbye and Tony put it down.
'Well, I am not going to sleep now and a flight to England seems to be in order, what do you say Jarvis? Shall we go visit the Queen?'
'I am sure she would be delighted sir, I hear she is a fan.'
'Shut up, sometimes I think I made you too smart.' He grinned before running to the elevator and hitting the button for the workshop.
