"Alright, here we are. Jarvis did a pretty good job, as usual. Bed's made, bathroom seems usable. You should've seen it before Jarv had it fixed. Trust me, it's better." Stark assured me, likely in response to how wary I was in taking in my surroundings. There were questions that needed to be answered before I even sought after the idea of resting in that room.
I battled against the aching desire to throw myself at the bed awaiting me, and forced myself to interact with the mortal. "Dare I ask what caused the room to fall into disarray?" I asked, relying on the doorframe beside me for support. Stark let out an amused chuckle that had only added to my never ending questions. If someone were to destroy my property in such a way, it would not have been a fond memory to look upon.
"Well, my science bro spent the night for a collaboration on a project we were working on downstairs. I guess he got a phone call that worked him up, and the other guy came out to play. He 'Hulk smashed' everything in there." I could feel the last remains of pigment slip from my face at Stark's answer. The savage green beast had been housed in the very room I was to stay in. Memories of being tossed about with little control of my own flailing limbs had washed through my mind in a violent stampede.
Stark noticed the blind terror his words had caused and he rushed over to rest a hand upon my shoulder. "Easy there, Reindeer Games. I guess I forgot about your guys's little play date from earlier." he apologized. How could he have forgotten? As we walked through the many halls of his tower, I had immediately recognized the exact spot where it had taken place. The massive crater that my body left behind was still as I'd left it. It was almost as though he'd kept it as a trophy of having defeated my intentions. The old scorn I'd felt towards the man threatened to spill forth at the notion.
I fought my stubborn nature for a brief moment and fell limp against the man standing beside me. He was far less painful than the wooden surface that had dug its way into the bruising against my ribs. Fortunately, he didn't seem to mind.
"Alright, let's sit you down before you pass out." Stark offered, leading me to the bed and sitting me down on its edge. I was rather frightened at the idea of him leaving me there. It was a childish fear, though I was almost certain that the instant the door shut behind him, I would be swiped away by my former captors.
My head dropped to where my posture nearly settled it in my lap, and I let out a deep breath as I tried to calm my new feelings of absolute terror. "And what of the voice in the walls? You call him Jarvis...what relevance does he hold in your home?" I asked.
"Oh, Jarv? He's my A.I. that I created." Stark explained, his eyes gleaming with a sense of pride. My eyes narrowed with skepticism.
"You create men to do your bidding?" I asked. The mortal let out a chuckle and shook his head.
"I guess you can say that, sure. He's not really a man, though. He just acts like one...I get why you'd think that." he said. "He's a computer system."
The more attempts at explaining he offered me, the more lost I had become.
"So you're a wielder of magic?" I asked. It was the only logical explanation I could manage.
"Nope. Science." Stark corrected. I could feel my face rise in temperature as my frustrations took hold.
"I hardly see the difference." I grumbled under my breath.
"Oh there's a huge difference, trust me. Science requires formulas, theory, hard work...years of hard work." Stark explained. I was insulted, and it wasn't just at his blatant ignorance at just how much difficulty was met in learning how to use my magic. Somewhere, I'd felt an excitement at the possibility of meeting a fellow user of magic. It was not common, and I was found weak by Asgardian standards.
"I will not even begin to explain the time it takes to train oneself in magic, Stark. Perhaps it's not as different as you claim it to be." I objected. Stark simply shrugged his shoulders and smiled.
"Well maybe we can let each other in on how the other works sometime when you're not about to die of exhaustion and mental trauma." Stark suggested. My sore and tortured lips fought to twitch into a small smirk. "Perhaps." I answered.
"Cool. Well, if you need anything, I'll be down in my lab, tinkering around. If you're too afraid of getting lost-" I cut him off with a huff of breath. "I shall not get lost." I argued.
"Hey, I'm not calling you stupid or anything. I'm just saying, the halls get dark. I've had to back track a couple times myself." he explained. He must have been truly desperate to reassure me if he was willing to admit his fault in direction in his own tower.
"Anyway, if you don't want to leave your room, Jarvis will be more than happy to help." he finished as he absentmindedly picked away flakes of drying blood from his nails.
"I have no need for your pitiful little creation." I said. I could see the thinning patience flicker in his eyes.
"Alright, your call. Get some sleep, and we'll talk tomorrow." he said as he made his way towards he door. I lept up and swallowed the yelp that wished to escape at the sudden jolt of motion. I would not have the light shut off for me as though I were a child. I bid him good night and shut the door behind him, switching off the light and stumbling blindly for the bed I'd left.
I'd almost fallen asleep the moment I'd crawled beneath the covers. A bed was a luxury that had been foreign to me for quite a long time. I sighed as the soft fabric caressed the bruising and the bandaging that Stark had tied around my many injuries before bringing me to my room.
"I know you probably don't want me to touch you, but those sheets are pretty expensive. It'd be kind of a pain if you bled all over them." his voice slipped to the front of my memory. Even in my thoughts, his tone still assured me that it was all in jest...likely to ease the uncomfortable nature of the situation for the both of us.
I let my eyes close and made it a point not to let my lips touch the pillow as my body shut down for a much needed rest.
"Bruce, hey. Do you have a second?"
I waited while my buddy on the other end of the line woke up enough to answer me. I almost felt bad for waking the guy up, but this couldn't wait.
"Tony?" he asked. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. No one else calls me this late." he mumbled. I pressed the phone to my ear as close as I could. The guy's quiet enough as it is. That, combined with his drowsy slurring, was like trying to listen to Ozzy talk through a jet engine. What'd just happened was a pretty big deal, and I'd take what I could get.
"Yeah, it's me. I have a few questions, mind helping me out?" I asked, putting my nervous need to move around to good use and picking up my tools I'd used on Frosty earlier.
"At three in the morning, Tony?" Bruce asked. I rolled my eyes and ran the tools under some water. When the blood wouldn't budge, I shrugged and dumped them in the sink. I didn't have the patience for that.
"Well...yeah. I mean, you're okay with that, right?" I asked. I could already tell that this was going to be a pain in the ass. There were some things I just couldn't tell the guy. Half of New York would be gone in a matter of hours, and I wasn't willing to explain that to SHIELD.
"Depends on the nature of what you're about to ask me." Bruce mumbled. I shoved a hand in my pocket and let my eyes wander the ceiling. So I let a power hungry god chill in my tower for however long he wants, but he's been tortured to a complete shell of his former self, so it's cool right?
No, Tony. Not okay. I'd have to play this off to where Loki wasn't a part of it, or SHIELD would be at my front door in minutes. As much as I trusted the guy, I wasn't so sure he would take the news so well. I would be able to cut Loki out of the equation, easily. I just hoped that I wouldn't sound like a complete idiot doing it.
"Okay, so...say someone's mouth was sewn shut." I started.
"Tony." Bruce warned. I sighed and closed my eyes. Alright, so the idiot thing was out the window. I'd gone way too far. There was no backing out after that.
"No, listen for a second. This is serious. Say someone's mouth was sewn shut...and you cut everything and clean the wounds. How do you get it to heal? Maybe the person tried opening their mouth with it and tore themselves up pretty bad. I figure bandaging someone's mouth would be a pain in the ass for them if they wanted to talk." I rambled, digging a deeper hole for myself.
"Tony, what are you talking about?" he asked. My little question seemed to wake him up, and I could hear his concern. Suddenly, I missed the sleep-drunk Ozzy I'd been talking to earlier. I was able to work with that version of Bruce...he didn't have enough energy to be suspicious.
"I'm talking about medical situations that I don't know a thing about. Pepper usually patched me up when I tore myself up crime fighting with you guys. There's some stuff I'm pretty curious about. It'd really help." At that point, I kind of wished Pepper was there. It probably wouldn't do me any good. She'd take one look at Loki and run to Patchy, just like everyone else. I mean...he was the world's most hated criminal. They wouldn't exactly be nice about it.
"Couldn't you ask Jarvis to look it up for you?" he asked.
Well shit, that would've been a good idea. As usual, I'd been too worked up to think up other options. That would have been a hell of a lot easier, and I wouldn't have to explain anything to Jarvis. Part of me probably wanted somebody to know. I was never really a man intent on keeping things to himself. I was kind of forced to learn and use that trait somewhere along the road...that didn't mean I was any good at it.
"Jarv's running some updates." I lied. I heard Bruce sigh as he sat up from wherever he'd been sleeping. Probably at his desk. When it came to his research, he was a total insomniac, just like me. It's what made us the perfect team.
"Ah." he answered. "Where'd this question come up, anyway?" I tried to swallow as I thought up an answer.
"I was watching SAW, and it occured to me." I lied again. Man, this was getting old. I'd have to apologize to him later when this was all sorted out.
"You don't even like that series." I heard the accusation in that drowsy tone of his, and I didn't like it.
"Yeah, but the stuff he's got rigged up is pretty interesting." At least that bit was true. The way the traps were engineered gave me some pretty genius ideas for designs. "Look, we're seriously getting off track here. Can you help me out?" I asked.
"You'll need something to hold the skin together, and some antiseptic. Just...medical common sense, Tony. You'd need to keep an eye on it and keep it clean, but otherwise, that's it." he explained. I was losing him, I could tell. I snatched up a blue print and scribbled his advice on the back.
"You're the best, buddy. Try to get in an actual bed before checking out again, alright?" I suggested, grateful that he entertained me with an actual answer instead of the usual song and dance of 'Tony, you're drunk'.
"Sure." I heard him grumble before the line went dead.
"Jarvis." I called out as I shoved the phone in my pocket.
"Still awake, Sir?" he asked.
"Don't start with me. I already got that same talk from Bruce." I warned. As usual, Jarvis was quick to respond. He was pretty flawless. I could see why Frosty'd think he was fabricated by magic.
"Of course, Sir. Terribly sorry. Ms. Potts had made it of great importance that I remind you of your lack of sleep when updating me last." he apologized. Suddenly, any optimistic feelings I had left plummeted into absolute depression. How long ago was that? Probably way too long, and I wasn't about to ask Jarvis. That kind of thing needed to stay in the past, just like every other tragedy in my life.
"Don't worry about it. Is Loki still asleep?" I asked as I gathered the first aid from the table. I dug around inside the box and nodded in satisfaction as I found the items Bruce instructed me to use.
"It seems he is still sound asleep, Sir. Shall I wake him?" he asked. My eyes widened and I held my hand up to stop him.
"No! I need the guy to be out cold. Is there any chance he'd wake up?" I asked. I needed to be sure that the exact opposite would happen. Messing around with a traumatized god's face in the middle of the night would be hard enough of a task on its own.
"I'm sure you'll find that Mr. Laufeyson is in a complete state of rest. If you don't go through great lengths to disturb him, you should be alright." Jarvis answered.
"Thanks, Jarv." I said as I made my way up to Loki's room. I stopped as a realization hit me, and I called on Jarvis one last time.
"Jarvis."
"Yes, Sir?" he answered.
"Don't mention Pepper again." I ordered.
"My apologies, Master Stark. It shan't happen again." I felt a weight lift off my shoulders as I approached the door to Loki's room.
Update: Alright, first of all, I'd like to apologize with how long it's been taking me to put the next chapter up. Things've been kind of busy lately, but I assure you, I have been working on it! All I ask is your patience! Thank you, and again, terribly sorry!