XXXX
Tony and Fury stood glaring at each other outside of the medical ward. Inside, Jarvis was running scans on Clint's unconscious body while the doctor also checked up on Loki. Steve stood at one end of the hall, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, while Natasha stood at the other end of the hall, mirroring his stance. Coulson and Thor both sat against the wall opposite Steve while Pepper tried to read Natasha's expression.
"Looks like one of both our guys wound up in medical, and I would like to know how," Tony said, taking over the business-man persona as he looked into Fury's eye. "Well we know how Loki got there, but why is Legolas still under the power of the tesseract? I thought you did scans and everything on him. How could he have escaped your watch?"
"I had suspicion Agent Barton was still being affected by the tesseract, but I couldn't be sure. I had to catch him in the act so to speak before I could make my move. After seeing what he did to Loki, I thought maybe I could use Clint as a weapon against terrorism. With that much power and built-up anger combined with the power of the tesseract, I thought perhaps he could be used to SHIELD's advantage."
"So basically, you knew he was still afflicted and didn't do anything," Tony summarized as he glanced over at Natasha. "And you knew this too?"
"I knew he wasn't himself, I just didn't know he still had remnants of the tesseract's magic in him," Natasha replied, her voice colder than anyone had ever heard it before. She refused to look at Fury, but instead kept her gaze resting on the floor.
"Can Barton be cured of it?" Steve asked from where he stood.
"I'm sure Bruce and Jarvis are running tests on him now," Pepper chimed in. As Natasha's eyes flickered to Pepper, the strawberry-blonde offered her a genuine smile. "They're doing their best."
"But will it be enough?" Steve persisted. "No offense to either of them, but they aren't actually trained in the power of the tesseract."
"Send me in," Thor said after a moment.
"What?"
"I can check on Loki's power level and reassure Tony as to whether whatever he did to help my brother is actually going to work or not. And I can investigate the tesseract's power over Agent Barton and relay the information to Odin. He can tell me if there is any remedy for the situation."
"Worth a shot," Tony agreed as he looked at Fury.
"I'm starting to be sick of magic," Fury muttered as he waved a hand in consent to the god.
"Should of thought of that before you permitted the torture of a magic-user," Tony quipped as the door opened up long enough to allow Thor to slip into the room.
XXXX
Life was a disaster for Tony at the moment. They were standing around, doing nothing, while they waited for Thor to return from Asgard, which would probably be never. Tony was half-tempted to go hole himself up in his lab, but he worried Fury might try to do something to Loki while he was gone. Not like the director could get into medical without Tony's permission, but it wasn't worth the struggle. Instead, Tony opted to slide down in a sitting position beside Pepper as Fury took a spot across from Coulson.
"So you and Coulson, huh? Can't say I'm surprised," Tony started, running a hand through his hair and attempting to break the unbearable silence in the hallway. Everyone was still suited up, except for Fury, Coulson, and Pepper of course. "You always were interested in boring guys before we dated. I mean, look at Happy."
"You know I can hear you, right?" Coulson asked but the others ignored him.
"Is now really the time to be discussing relationships?" Pepper asked, pointedly turning her gaze to the medical door.
"Point taken," Tony noted as he looked around at the others. "So what are you going to do now that your boyfriend's still possessed?" He called out to Natasha.
"Wait for Thor's status report," she replied.
"Aren't you worried at all? What if he can't be cured? What if he's possessed for like...ever?"
"Tony -" Pepper began warningly but Natasha cut her off.
"And what if whatever Bruce has done to help Loki doesn't help? What if he doesn't make it?"
Tony scratched his goatee at that.
"Well, that's the thing about loneliness, Pleather. Once you've spent enough time in it, a return to it doesn't really come unexpected."
Natasha pierced her lips at that and Fury asked nobody in particular, "Does he ever stop talking?"
"No, sir," Steve smirked as he readjusted his position. "Stark has the uncanny ability to get under everyone's skin, which explains why he's still single."
"Oh like you're one to talk," Tony retorted, even sprouting a pout. "When's the last time you got any action? 1945?"
"The sad part is he's actually fairly accurate," Coulson couldn't help but smile as he looked over at Pepper and met her eyes. Something in Coulson's look made Pepper turn a shade brighter, which Tony didn't fail to see.
"How come you two never got together?" Tony asked, gesturing between Coulson and Steve.
Coulson instantly got flustered, which was to be expected, but Tony was surprised to see the blush creep up Steve's face.
"Who says they didn't?" Natasha's voice startled all of them, but they could see the faint trace of humor in her eyes. However, the majority of her was still brooding and Tony sighed dramatically.
"What's taking him so long? Jarvis, get Bruce. Patch him through on the intercom."
"Right away sir."
The sound of scuffling could be heard before a voice announced, "Loki's stable, whatever you hid in that bracelet seems to have done the trick. Barton's still unconscious thankfully, but his magic-readings are off the charts. They're pretty much on par to what Loki's were before the god got himself wounded and lost most of his magic. Beyond that, we can do nothing but wait for Thor to return so you better not be calling me every five minutes."
"Hey I got a crazy idea," Tony began, standing up. "What if you could do a magic-transfusion from Barton to Loki? Then when Loki's infused with the power of the tesseract, somehow flip-flop the magic around so it's good magic and magic that's not trying to kill us?"
"Is something like that even possible?" Coulson asked.
Tony shrugged. He had no idea.
"Jarvis, can we get a message through to Asgard?"
"We can't sir, but Director Fury has the means to contact Asgard."
Tony's gaze turned to Fury. "Can you do it?"
Fury hesitated. If there was even the slightest chance that Loki could be filled with the magic of the tesseract, they would risk undergoing the same problem as last time.
Tony seemed to guess his thoughts as he quickly said, "I can configure the bracelet I gave Loki to act as a suppressant to the tesseract's magic until the magic can be turned from bad to good."
"And how did you learn how to do that?" Fury shot back.
"Wait if you can suppress the tesseract's magic on Loki, why can't you do it on Barton?" Steve asked.
"Good point," Tony responded, turning towards the door. "Bruce, let me in!"
"Are you crazy? It was bad enough letting Thor in here for a minute!"
"I gotta have the bracelet back to work with," Tony begged.
"I'll give it to you. There's no way you're getting in here with both Loki and Clint on the verge of death!"
"Fine, but give me the bracelet!"
There was a beat of silence before the door slid open just enough so that Bruce's face appeared, blocking everything else from view. Quickly he handed the bracelet to Tony and shut the door. Tony could override his system, but he had a job to do and time was precious. Quickly making his way down the hall, Tony called over his shoulder, "I'm going to the lab. Contact me if Thor shows up."
"I'm going with you," Coulson added quickly. Turning to Fury he explained, "I'll make sure he doesn't build anything that can kill Barton."
Fury nodded him to go, and the two men quickly took off down the hall.
XXXX
Clint's body spazzed as his fists clenched and unclenched. Bruce quickly rushed to his side.
"Barton, can you hear me? Clint...Clint!"
"What...what the hell happened to me?"
His eyes were clouded and unfocused - Bruce treaded lightly.
"Clint can you remember anything that happened to you in the last 48 hours?"
"I remember fighting with Tash...Tash! How is she? I didn't hurt her did I?"
"No, no Natasha's fine. She's...not too far away actually. What else can you remember?"
"It happened again, didn't it?" Clint's eyes locked with Bruce's and the scientist saw a trace of fear in those chocolate orbs. "Loki mind-controlled me again, didn't he?"
"No, he didn't. Turns out you weren't fully rid of his magic to begin with. Your anger towards him for taking over your mind in the first place was infused with the power of the tesseract's hold over you and made you...turn into a weapon of…destruction."
"How many dead?"
"None...yet," Bruce said, purposefully blocking Loki's body from Clint's view.
However, the archer looked around him and saw the green-glowing body lying on the table.
"What..."
"Clint, calm down. Your body needs time to recover. I gave you some sedatives and Thor gave you a good hit so you need to rest!"
But Clint's heartbeat was off the scales as his body writhed and stretched against the confinements. Clint cried out in pain as his eyes went from brown to blue to brown again like strobe lights.
"Clint, relax!" Bruce shouted, quickly wrapping his hands around Clint's fists and trying to hold the man steady.
"Bruce do you need us?" Natasha's voice called out over the intercom.
"No, I got this!" Bruce shouted, trying to keep his own heartbeat steady. He kept his gaze focused on Clint's face so he wouldn't see the green tinge his own skin was getting.
"Kill me," Clint choked out as a scream suddenly burst from his lips.
"No!" Bruce shouted as he let go of Clint long enough to punch the archer square in the face.
As Clint's body went limp, Bruce struggled to remember how to breathe and remain calm.
"No no no no no you can't come out, not now," Bruce pleaded as his skin began turning greener.
Suddenly a hand gripped his and Bruce's eyes shot open.
Looking down, he saw that Clint's hand firmly but reassuringly held his own. Bruce kept his eyes trained on the archer's closed eyes and slowly his breathing and pulse returned to normal.
…What the hell?
XXXX
Tony worked in relative silence, ignoring Coulson's presence in order to focus on his work. Loki's life was at stake here and with Odin knows how much time left, Tony had to work quickly and effectively. And it was for this reason that Coulson left Tony alone while he worked.
But when Coulson saw Tony lifting the finished bracelet up to his eyes, he couldn't keep silent any longer.
"Is it finished?"
"As finished as it will be," Tony replied confidently but to be honest, the arc reactor was pulsing. The suit was off his body, replaced by a tank top underneath a long-sleeved black t-shit that helped hide the light of the arc reactor. This way Coulson wouldn't be able to see how truly nervous Tony was. If the bracelet didn't work...
No, it had to. Tony had no reason to doubt his invention. Quickly the two men left the lab and when they reached medical, Director Fury asked, "Well?"
Tony nodded and announced, "Jarvis, Bruce, let me in. I got it."
The door slid open and Tony disappeared inside.
Merely glancing at Bruce, Tony gestured for Bruce to move Barton's bed next to Loki's.
"You look a little green there, doc."
"Almost had an episode, but it recessed. Clint woke up for a bit but I knocked him out."
"They both unconscious?"
"For the time being."
"Perfect."
Once the beds were next to each other, Tony took a breath before sliding the bracelet onto Clint's wrist. Instantly the bracelet began humming as blue sparks danced along Clint's body towards the bracelet.
"What's happening?"
"The bracelet is literally sucking the tesseract's magic out of Clint's body. Bruce I'm going to need you to have a defibrillator on standby in case things get ugly."
"Like they haven't already," Bruce replied, but he did as he was told.
As the bracelet retrieved the last few blue drops, Clint's body began convulsing.
"Bruce, take care of him!"
"Aye, Captain!"
As Bruce cleared Clint of his shirt, Tony quickly unclasped the bracelet and clasped it onto Loki's wrist.
"Please work," Tony whispered. "Please..."
Suddenly Loki's body went from being covered in a green veil of light to blue. Tony watched as Loki's eyes suddenly shot open, green orbs shining blue. Loki's heart monitor began beeping and whirring wildly as Tony heard Bruce shout, "Clear!"
As Clint's body was shocked, Tony looked around. He didn't have another defibrillator and he needed something as the tesseract's power filled Loki. Suddenly Loki's body vanished and reappeared in the center of the room, a ball of green and glowing light.
"Loki, no!" Tony shouted as he watched the god's clothing change from tattered prisoner's clothes into a green flowing cape and golden helmet.
"Clear!" Bruce's voice could be heard off to the side.
"Stark, what's going on?" Fury's voice roared from outside the door.
Tony could only stare in horror and awe as Loki's eyes glowed with the power of the tesseract as the very air began manipulating under Loki's control. Various medical supplies were thrown about the room by the force of the magic ball that had consumed the god.
"Stark attack him!"
"I can't, if I blast him while he's in this state, I could kill him!"
Tony didn't know what to do. If he didn't stop Loki or somehow counter the tesseract's magic in time, Loki would be consumed by the tesseract's power...for good.
Suddenly Tony noticed Clint's quiver sitting in the corner of the room.
The arrows.
Making a dive for the quiver, Tony quickly nocked one of Clint's "special arrows". Aiming and firing, Tony watched as the arrow hit the magic ball and seemed to freeze in the air right before it hit Loki. As Loki's head warily turned towards the arrow, an explosion erupted, and Tony was thrown to the floor. As dirt and debris fell from the ceiling, Tony coughed and struggled to sit up.
"Bruce, are you and Clint okay?"
"Yeah, we're good. You?"
"Yeah," Tony replied as he looked around.
Loki was gone.
The door of the medical ward slid open and a very pissed off Director Fury appeared.
"You let him get away?"
"I didn't let him get away; I hit him with an arrow!" Tony shot back as he called out, "Jarvis locate Loki."
"I'm sorry sir, but there are no readings of the god's whereabouts anywhere to be found."
"Dammit," Fury cursed as he pointed a finger at Stark. "If you let him escape and he's running around out there in the open city, I swear -"
"We'll take him down when he pops up on the readings," Steve put in quickly, looking between Fury and Tony.
Natasha however, ran to Clint's side.
"How is he?"
Bruce looked down at the archer as a pair of chocolate eyes slowly opened. The all-too familiar smile was there as Clint whispered out, "Tasha."
Before anyone could react, Natasha punched Clint in the face, practically breaking his nose as the archer went limp again. Bruce looked at her with wide eyes but she merely shrugged.
"Just to be sure."
Fury on the other hand, wasn't pleased.
"I'll have a team come in to retrieve Agent Barton. Bruce, Natasha, keep an eye on him. Run some tests, make sure he's back to himself, then take him home to rest and recover. Coulson, you will help them in keeping an eye on Clint and making sure he reaches a full recovery."
"What about Loki?"
Fury turned his gaze from Coulson to Stark.
"Stark, you wanted full responsibility of Loki, now you got it. You got 74 hours to figure out where he is, track him down, and take him in under your custody or I'm taking control of Loki again, and I can assure you that I will turn him into my own personal lab rat if he's possessed by the tesseract's magic."
"Understood," Tony gritted out.
"You better get going," Steve whispered.
Giving the room and its inhabitants one last look, Tony turned and left the medical ward.