A/N: So I'm so incredibly sorry for the late update for I had been planning on updating this story last Tuesday, but my Ipad crashed and deleted this chapter which bummed be out and caused me to rewrite the entire chapter. Therefore, I don't know if I would exactly consider Chapters Eleven and Twelve my best work, but I hope you all like them nonetheless. Also, I'm not sure whether I want to pair Steve up with anybody, and if you think he should have a significant other in this fic, please let me know who, and I will go about it based on popular demand. As always I own nothing, and please enjoy, read, and review!
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30 hours.
It had been just over 30 hours since Loki's departure, and Tony was almost convinced he was going crazy. He hadn't had any alcohol since before Loki's torture and his body was starting to go through withdrawal. But he couldn't drink now - he had to be 100% alert and focused should there be any word on Loki's whereabouts. But man could he use some whisky...
He currently stood with his palms pressed against his work table, surrounded by screens showing live feeds from around the world. AC/DC must blared over the speakers, drowning out the sounds of any interruptions while Jarvis worked and Tony tried not to panic. He hated waiting around - patience wasn't exactly his forte.
Truth be told, Tony had no idea where the god might have teleported to. Thor would surely have informed him if Loki appeared back on Asgard, or anywhere in the ultimate galaxy for that matter. But the Herculean god still hadn't come back to Earth, and Tony was starting to get worried. Okay, scratch that, he was beyond worried. Petrified was the more appropriate term. But he couldn't let his emotions take him over, he had a job to do, and only a few hours left to do it in.
"Sir, Ms. Potts is on the line."
"I'm busy."
"She says it's urgent."
"Does it involve Loki?"
"It's regarding Agent Barton."
"Is he still under Loki's power?"
"Not quite, sir...but Agent Barton is insisting that he knows where Loki might be hiding."
Tony paused at that.
"Why didn't he tell us this sooner?"
"He says he didn't want Director Fury finding out before you knew, sir. He wanted to wait until Fury was gone."
"What the hell?" Tony wondered, quickly leaving the lab. "Let me know if you find Loki."
XXXX
Right before Tony entered the medical room, it seemed that Pepper and Clint had been conversing for when Tony opened the door they both jumped a little and grew quiet.
"Well? What's this about you knowing where Loki is?" Tony demanded, crossing his arms.
"He might not even be there now, but when I was under his control, he had a secret lair of sorts where he planned his attacks. It's here on Earth, and if his teleportation skills are limited to only teleporting somewhere on this planet, then that's probably where he would go. Plus it's not too far from here, so to speak."
"How come Jarvis hasn't picked up his scent on any of the scanners then?"
"Because the hideout is hidden by magic that diverts any tech scanners."
"But Jarvis is tracing for any magic -"
"Look, I don't know how he does it, but he does. Thor could probably enlighten you more on it, but this is all I got. Now are you going to listen to what I have to say and go help your boy toy or should I relay this information to Fury, who will probably welcome Loki a lot worse than I ever could," Clint cut in.
"Why do you want me to rescue him?" Tony asked after a pause.
"Because..." Clint started, glancing at Pepper. "I want to make amends for what I did. It wasn't right of me, no matter what I told myself otherwise. And I..."
"Go on," Pepper encouraged, her face a mask.
Clint swallowed before replying, "I want to see him help people for his crimes instead of suffering for them. If Loki is indeed as smart as you give him credit for then let's put his mind to use where it can do some good for this planet rather than evil...and stuff..."
Pepper sat back against her chair, looking rather pleased with herself. Tony looked from her smug and content face to Clint's defeated one and finally to Bruce's back where the scientist was trying to look busy checking Clint's blood content.
"And where exactly is this lair?"
"New Mexico...under the Organ Mountains. I'd give you a map on how to get there but my memories are still a bit cloudy. I remember seeing road signs though and I recognized the mountains from pictures of the terrain in Coulson's files from when Thor first arrived."
"What else do you remember?" Tony asked, leaning towards the bed.
"Only that. I had flashbacks of it when Doc here shocked me. But that's about it," Clint admitted.
Tony nodded and began to leave when Pepper's voice suddenly said, "Tony, wait."
Tony paused at the door, refusing to turn around.
"Whatever happens, you can't blame Loki."
"I don't," Tony replied curtly before leaving.
XXXX
"Got anything yet Jarvis?"
"No sir."
"Figures," Tony muttered as he flew through the air.
They had been searching for well over an hour but there was no sign of any kind of magical lair.
"Start tracing for high signs of gold, cobalt, and iridium mixtures," Tony ordered as he changed paths, swerving to his right and continuing on. "Let me know when you find anything."
"Iridium, sir?"
"Loki's bracelet," Tony explained. "Iridium is incredibly hard to work with, and somewhat difficult to destroy, and if I was going to pour that much time and effort into a gift for a prisoner, I wanted to make sure it wouldn't break...especially if Barton found it."
"Sir, I've found something. I'm bringing the visual to you."
"Gotcha."
XXXX
"Well with Tony on a rescue mission and you taken care of, looks like I should be returning to my job," Pepper smiled as she lifted her purse and left the room.
"She's kind of frightening when it comes to matters dealing with Stark…isn't she?" Clint asked, lying back down against the bed.
Bruce chuckled as he finished drawing a blood sample and put a bandage over the needle mark. "What did you expect? She still cares an awful lot for him, even if it's in more of a sisterly kind of way than anything romantic."
"Still kind of scary," Clint muttered as he looked up at Bruce. "It's no wonder I let her in to see Loki when I was being controlled. Mind telling me something, doc?"
"What's up?"
Clint frowned as he asked, "What exactly happened to me before the magic transference? I kind of remember begging you to kill me but the last time I checked, I thought you were going to Hulk out and I was going to die."
"I knocked you out to keep you from going bonkers and I believe the tesseract's magic somehow managed to keep me from changing, or at least, that's what I'm telling myself," Bruce whispered the last part more so to himself as he finished running tests on Clint. "All done here. I'd say stick around for a little while and I'll be back to check on you in a bit. I have some things I need to take care of."
But as Bruce turned to take off his lab coat, Clint reached out and grabbed his wrist, the same way he had done to keep Bruce from Hulking out. Bruce turned around sharply, his eyes meeting the archer's, but Clint didn't remove his hand or loosen his grip.
"Don't go yet…please?"
"Natasha should be back soon –"
"I don't want to see her. When it came down to it she wasn't the one who saw the truth about the tesseract's hold on me. I know you probably have way more important things to do than babysitting me but when the tesseract had its hold on me, it felt like I was alone…I can't be trusted to be alone right now, Doctor."
Bruce immediately understood what Clint was talking about and what the archer was afraid of doing to himself to try and make amends. Slowly Bruce sat down on the edge of the bed and replied, "Then I won't leave you alone. But you do need to rest…doctor's orders."
Clint let out a small smile at that as he said quietly, "I'm still mad at Loki for everything he did. He's still a murderer no matter what Stark or anybody else says. But aren't we all in some way? If he actually does want to go along with Stark's idea of having Loki help him build things to better mankind then I can't belittle Loki but I still can't trust him. I don't even know if I can trust myself anymore. What if there are still traces of the tesseract's magic in me?"
"Then we'll find a way to remove them," Bruce reassured him. "You have to trust Stark's technology and my methods to cure you and return you to normal."
"And what exactly is normal for someone like me?" Clint whispered as his hand released Bruce's wrist. "Stark was right…I'm no better than Loki when it comes down to it."
Bruce rested his hand on top of Clint's for a moment as he responded softly, "Tony seems to believe Loki's a changed god…changed for the better. Perhaps you're changed for the better as well. Don't beat yourself up. If you spend the rest of your days questioning everything you've done, you'll turn into a real monster…"
"You're not a monster," Clint argued quickly but Bruce shook his head.
"Just…don't do anything rash, okay? You have an incredible amount of skills, and it would be a waste for you to throw your talents away by killing yourself or worse…okay?"
Clint gave a curt nod and Bruce smiled as he stood up.
"I'm going to give Fury an update of your situation, so I'm only stepping out for a minute. Don't do anything stupid while I'm gone, okay? I'm right outside the door if you need anything. I'll be back in a minute."
As Bruce stepped outside of the room, Clint looked down at the hand that had been resting under Bruce's a minute ago.
Maybe he wasn't alone in knowing what it felt like to lose control to someone else.
XXXX
"And you're sure this is where the door to Loki's hideout is?"
"You can check the scanner's results yourself, sir."
"Later. Right now we got a god to free."
Just as Tony prepared to fire on the invisible door to Loki's lair, the ground beneath him opened up, dropping him down a series of tunnels and into an open lab room. As Tony groaned and raised himself to his knees, suddenly the hole he had fallen through was replaced by a sliding ceiling that had a giant magnet attached to it. Instantly Tony's suit was sucked up and stuck to the magnet, causing Tony to be plastered against the electromagnetic magnet spread-eagle. As he struggled to free himself, the magnet moved along the ceiling to the opposite wall, where it slid down the wall and to the center of the room, raising Tony up like a sacrificial lamb on a raised, magnetic platform.
"So this is the infamous Anthony Stark, hmm? The source of all my troubles, and one of the reasons why my precious servant failed me…I must say, I'm not that impressed."
"You shouldn't underestimate those you haven't directly fought against," Tony replied as he managed to turn his head slightly to the left to see a figure entering the room.
Tony had never seen this guy before. He looked like a cross-breed between Thor and the Hulk with his broadly built body and beady little eyes. He wore golden armor and his skin color certainly wasn't that of a normal human's.
"I highly doubt I am in any position to underestimate anyone," the mysterious newcomer answered as he smirked and crossed his arms, flexing his muscles. "You must be wondering who I am."
"I was wondering if I had met you before. I certainly don't remember bedding you…do you have a sister? Or a girlfriend?"
The man's smirk grew as he said, "We have never met before, but I have certainly been keeping my eyes on the actions of you and your…teammates. In other worlds I am known as Thanos, but you may refer to me as Master."
"Umm thanks but no thanks. I don't really do the whole S&M scene. You said before that your precious servant failed you – I guess you were the one behind Loki's attack on Midgard or whatever you spacey beings call it then?"
"Loki is my puppet, yes," Thanos nodded as he moved closer to the table so that he could peer down at Tony. "And he has proven quite helpful in informing me about your weakness."
Tony tried to not let the fear in his eyes show as he asked, "Is Loki still under the tesseract's magic or do you have him held captive somewhere?"
"Why don't you ask him yourself?" Thanos gestured.
Tony's head fought against the tug of the magnet to turn and gaze to his right, arc reactor pulsing slightly at what he saw.
Loki was resting cautiously against the wall, arms crossed and scepter in hand. He wore his golden helmet and green cape, but his gaze was darkened so Tony couldn't see his eyes. The bracelet was either hidden under his shirt over his bicep, or was missing completely. Tony held back a sigh of relief. Loki may still be under the tesseract's power, but at least he was alive and the knife wounds looked gone or completely healed thanks to the magic.
"Loki?" Tony called out, but he got no response. Figures.
"I would kill you myself but I think it wouldn't have as much of an effect unless Loki here did it for me."
Tony watched as Thanos nodded to Loki, who stepped forward, resting a hand over Tony's arc reactor. Tony's body shivered violently at the god's touch, but before he could try to struggle, he caught Loki's eye color and stilled.
Just then Loki's hand roughly pulled the arc reactor from its spot in Tony's chest.
As Tony began going into cardiac arrest, Jarvis proclaiming warnings, Thanos smirked and left the room, calling over his shoulder, "Make sure he dies this time. I'm off to take care of other pesky business."
When the door had closed behind the villain, Loki carefully but quickly put the arc reactor back into Tony's chest, cupping Tony's face in his hand while the scientist struggled to calm down his racing heartbeat.
"Jarvis, reconnect!"
"I am, sir. Give the arc reactor a few minutes, and Mr. Loki, please don't touch Mr. Stark's body while he is recovering."
Loki jumped away as if he had been shocked and quickly shut off the magnetic machine. Tony's hand quickly flew to his chest, making sure the arc reactor was secured. After a few moments of silence, Tony let his body go lax as he took a deep breath.
"You didn't happen to get hold of any booze did you? I haven't had a drink in days…"
Loki only stared at the man with wide eyes and hesitated on approaching.
"Are you…not going to die then?"
"Not this time, Reindeer Games," Tony grinned as he slowly sat up on the magnetic. "Who built this thing anyway?"
"You did. It was stolen from a junk yard you built it for a few months ago and brought here should you ever decide to...stop by."
"Ah, well that explains why it works so well," Tony replied as he swung his legs over the side of the magnetic in order to have a better look at Loki. "You okay?"
Loki didn't answer right away. He stood there with his lips pursed, arms at his sides, while he just stared at Tony, a mixture of emotions running across his face.
"Hey, you there pri-"
Tony was cut off as suddenly he had an armful of Loki. Loki's arms were wrapped tightly around the back of Tony's neck as the god pressed his face into the crook of Tony's neck. Gingerly Tony wrapped his arms around Loki's waist, clenching his fists into the fabric of Loki's cape as he breathed in the god's scent. He felt his eyes closing as the arc reactor pulsed between them.
Loki's voice was strained as he pulled back long enough to rasp out, "I'm sorry. For everything I have caused you, I am so sorry. You shouldn't have come for me, you should have let me die in that cell – I'm not worth all of the trouble you have gone through to save me! I'm not worth it – Stark you need to escape here. I'll hold him off but you need to go back and warn the others. Please Stark, I can't keep putting everyone through this hell when I –"
Tony cut the god off as he ripped off the god's helmet to run his fingers through Loki's hair.
"I'm not leaving without you. And to be honest I've had it with almost being killed because of you or almost seeing you killed. The only place you're going is back to Stark Tower with me to clear this whole mess up and stop Ugly from trying to tear us apart."
"Stark -"
"Stop it Loki. You're not winning this argument," Tony deadpanned as Loki pulled apart from him, Tony's hand sliding from the back of the god's head to cup his cheek. "I'm not leaving here without you no matter what you say."
"I can hold off Thanos –"
"He knows you're not under the tesseract's power anymore, I could see it in his eyes. If you stay here any longer he will kill you, and I'm not letting that happen."
"Stark –"
"Tony," Tony corrected him, sliding off the magnet to stand before the god. "You're still wearing the bracelet, correct?"
"Yes," Loki replied, squeezing his bicep. "The tesseract forced me to teleport here, where Thanos was waiting for me, but as soon as I got here the bracelet removed all of the tesseract's magic from my system. Something in me teleporting here caused the bracelet to actually work."
"Must have something to do with the magic shield over this place," Tony replied as he looked up at the ceiling. "Ready to bust out of here princess?"
Loki snapped the scepter in half and threw it to the ground next to his helmet, quickly wrapping his arms around Tony and nodding.
"Beam us up Starky."
Tony grinned at the science trivia he had once spent hours explaining to Loki and flew them out of there.