Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters, they belong to Marvel (and Norse mythology :D). I am very sad about this, but I have borrowed them to write my own story.
Song for the day: 'Addicted' by Kelly Clarkson.
Quote for the day:
Loki: "Is it madness? Is it? IS IT? I don't know what happened on Earth to make you so soft! Don't tell me it was that woman?... Oh, it was. Well maybe, when we're done here, I'll pay her a visit myself! "
Chapter Five – Our Solemn Hour.
It seemed Agent Coulson was harder to get a hold of than the metals he had used to create his latest model of the IronMan suit and so after his fifth unsuccessful attempt to reach the bloke Tony had finally grown bored and asked JARVIS to skim through S.H.I.E.L.D.'s surface data to find their current location. It wasn't something he indulged in often and if JARVIS stayed within their first two secure layers then they couldn't sense the hacking.
While his A.I. searched through their files Tony prepared himself for what he could possibly face. What he'd read still worried him, but his main concern obviously had to be this so called god intent on taking over the world. Something JARVIS had found caught his attention and he scrolled back through the images on the holographic screen he was observing. Apparently they had a lock on the bad guy and were sending the very patriotic looking Captain America into Germany. He groaned as he rubbed a hand over his head, to him that really didn't sound like such a brilliant idea.
"JARVIS ready the suit and get me the co-ordinates for this Loki Laufeyson," he snapped.
"Yes sir," the A.I. answered even as a soft whir told Tony the suit was ready to go. In barely seconds he was in the air and heading to Germany.
"JARVIS keep an eye on all energy levels," Tony stated, "I really do not fancy a dip in the Atlantic."
"Of course Sir," the A.I. sounded almost put out that he thought it capable of allowing such a thing and Tony snorted as he reached the atmosphere limit that meant he could take the most direct route.
"Sorry JARVIS, I would never doubt you, after all I built you." Tony wondered when his A.I. had developed a sense of humour as dry as his own even as he adjusted his flight path. The A.I. kept him updated with S.H.I.E.L.D. intel and he pushed the suit to maximum when the A.I. also fed him live feed from the German news channel. Apparently this Loki person was a bit mad, also Germany's police force seemed to be doing nothing. It would be up to Captain America then. He swore as the live feed showed Loki Laufeyson exiting a white marble building, chaos surrounding him.
Eyes wide Tony nearly lost control of the suit for the first time since he had made a name for himself in it as the Asgardian pointed the sceptre at an old man who decided to stand up to him. He didn't need JARVIS to tell him that the man was a survivor of the war and found himself becoming very angry at the so called god threatening him.
Even adding a boost to his suit wouldn't get him there in time and he was pleased to see the Captain drop in front of the man to deflect the beam of power. The beeping in his ear warned him it was not a good idea to hold his breath, even when in the suit and he managed to draw in enough oxygen to realise the world had been mildly covered with hazy spots only moments before. "Thanks JARVIS."
The A.I. merely sighed sounding disturbingly like Pepper as the live news feed cut out and Tony got his first hand view of the plaza. Madness had erupted around the Captain and Laufeyson, with the Captain giving nearly as good as he got, but Tony could tell even the super soldier was surprised at the intensity the Asgardian was fighting with. Apparently his fellow American had forgotten that there were others out there who could give him a run in the fitness department. Tony noticed the old man who had defied Loki was staring at the two fighting, lips darkening to blue and a hand on his chest. Eyes wide he had JARVIS hack into the intercoms of the emergency services who had finally arrived. He raised a disbelieving eyebrow at that, seriously he had flown all the way from New York and had gotten there at the same time as them.
"JARVIS I need you to tell them that there is an elderly gentleman caught by the fighting who is suffering a heart attack. If they move slowly they will avoid drawing attention to themselves, but they are to get him out of danger and medical assistance like yesterday. He was the only one who stood up to the current lunatic." He kept a careful eye on the duo fighting as the A.I. managed to relay his instructions to the watching forces.
The Asgardian's pale-blue eyes flickered onto the old man and Tony felt rather than saw the rescue forces freeze in place. His attention was taken fully by the pale-skinned brunette though and he saw the calculated gaze flicker over the frozen humans and the man who still met his eyes in defiance. He felt his eyes widen as Laufeyson deliberately turned his back on the stricken human and engaged the Captain again. "JARVIS, make them move." Tony found himself snapping, "Make them move now!"
Even with the armour he had found himself admiring the Asgardian's grace and power, and for once was annoyed at himself. This was definitely not the time to be thinking of pretty eyes in a face with bone structure so fine any other situation would have had his fellow humans singing praises about the angels. Shaking himself Tony watched as the Captain hit the ground hard and repressed a sigh as the so-called god managed to avoid the weapons from the aircraft that was no doubt piloted by Agent Romanoff.
Loki had felt himself aim the blast of killing energy at the defiant human, had known his aim was true, and believe that Midgard had no true warriors to defend it. So when one of their own, dressed in skin tight armour and baring a brilliantly coloured, round shield landed in front to deflect the blast he had allowed his eyes to widen in surprise. Clint had apparently underestimated the morality of this one. He'd also apparently underestimated the strength of the magic that had poured from the sceptre and groaned as he hit the floor.
"You know the last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everybody else we ended up disagreeing." Loki pushed to his feet slowly as the tall, for a human, male spoke clearly and concisely. If he were going to face off against a warrior he had always preferred it to be one with brains. This human may be the closest they had to Thor's build down here, but he was out of time and still managing to live.
So ignoring the humans who had found enough courage to start to rise or shift away he focused all his attention on the one who stood before him. "Ah! The soldier! A man out of time." Loki chuckled to himself, mentally making a note that S.H.I.E.L.D. had definitely not informed Clint of all the information he could make use of.
The human before him merely tilted his head, "I am not the one out of time."
So this human had brains, but wasn't above acting the fool. Interesting. As he dodged the shield thrown at him Loki decided to focus on this fight, after all he needed to be functioning to full distract the S.H.I.E.L.D. organization.
His head snapped to one side with the force of the human's blow and they both stared at each other in measured confusion. While Loki was actually feeling a shred of worry that a simple mortal could hit so hard that it hurt, the mortal was looking at him in disbelief that he wasn't on the floor. Obviously his employers (Loki was aware he worked for S.H.I.E.L.D. especially as the flying carriage had fired energy at him only moments before) had failed to inform him of Loki's extra strength. Bad move on their part, but he knew he had but moments to take advantage of the fact.
As he landed a blow that should have broken the mortal's rib cage and also sent him flying Loki was mentally wondering how he could turn this to his advantage. The distraction of his thoughts meant he was left cursing as he had to use the sceptre to deflect the thrown shield and found himself staring into the hard grey eyes of a very determined and not visibly wounded soldier. The fight that followed would be forever remembered by Loki as one of the hardest he had had to endure. With no time available between attacks to focus enough to call on his own magic, the human moving fast enough to avoid his blows, or merely rolling with them when they did connect he did not risk using the magic of the sceptre (and that was ignoring the swooning sickness that flooded through him when he over used the gift's power), Loki was finding himself in a purely physical fight. It was a situation he did not like.
Even so cautious movement caught his attention and he watched as several human's in uniform froze in their attempts to reach the old male who had defied him earlier. His eyes widened as he took in the still dignified gaze, the hand clenched on his chest and the bluish lips. He could not deny such a worthy opponent medical treatment and so turned his back to those attempting to rescue him and took a blow to the stomach for his troubles. This human soldier was fast becoming dangerous and as he was still not fully recovered from his travel through the worm hole Loki knew he had to find a way to end this fight quickly.
Suddenly a loud, almost music like voice filled the air and Loki found himself distracted by the source. The flying, weaponised carriage seemed to almost droop and his opponent also looked around distracted. Readying himself to land a blow to end the fight Loki was taken by surprise when he was hit in the chest by a light of extreme force. He had realised the human's controlled any magic. Stars filled his vision for a few moments, followed dangerously by black patches as he fought to stay consciousness. When he finally pulled himself into a seated position on the steps he had landed on and looked up he was confronted by a humanoid metal form pointing what were obviously weapons at him, as he watched and tried to get his scattered thoughts back together the human soldier joined it, shield firmly in place.
"Make your move Reindeer Games." Okay so the humans had created golems out of metal that could talk.
Loki mentally swore as he realised not only was his brain still not working from his hit with that blast of power, but his limbs felt wobbly and the sceptre was lying too far away to even contemplating reaching. Apparently his distraction was going to be that he was taken prisoner.
Left with little logical choice he let his armour fade until he was in his traditional Asgardrian garb and raised his hands.
"Good move." The action seemed to pacify the golem which sheathed its weapons and took one step back. A glance at the soldier proved that the human member of the team was not taking any chances. The jaw remained set and the eyes were hard as they observed him. Loki mentally swore, remembering Clint's dialogue on just what the soldier had been created for.
Tony had JARVIS take control of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s fighter craft when it was obvious Romanoff would be attempting another shot at the so-called god, regardless of whether Captain America was in the way. He ran a metal hand over his helmed head as he realised he was actually going to have to play nicely with S.H.I.E.L.D. the tune his A.I. had decided to blast through any speaker his system could hack into made him smile slightly, he had always loved a bit of AC/DC and Shoot to Thrill was a personal favourite. It had added bonus of distracting everyone and so shooting off a saucy comment to Agent Romanoff Tony lowered himself into the vision of the two combatants and let loose with two medium powered energy repulsors at Laufeyson. He blinked as the Asgardrian was thrown to land on steps, okay so while bullets couldn't touch the dude, simple energy could. With the threat down for a few moments he hauled the Captain to his feet and stood with weapons raised waiting for the so-called god to focus.
The easy surrender had not been expected, but as he took in Captain America's steely gaze he suspected he wasn't the only one not fooled. Taking a chance with the Asgardrian looking rather shaken Tony turned back to JARVIS as the S.H.I.E.L.D. craft landed and Loki was taken into custody. His A.I. confirmed his suspicions that the sceptre which had flown from Laufeyson's grasp was emitting not only a small amount of Gamma radiation but a different form of energy alongside it. The look in the Asgardrian's eyes had Tony waiting for approval from Agent Romanoff before collecting the sceptre he had been examining, the longer he could keep the god thinking he was a controlled construct the longer they had the chance of using IronMan as a backup if things went as wrong as his instincts were telling him were going to happen.
A glance into the craft showed Tony Laufeyson's gaze was firmly fixed on the red-haired, Russian agent and so he grabbed Captain America's elbow. Grey eyes fixed on the mask and widened at the silent question Tony had wondered if the other could sense.
"Don't worry Stark, I will keep an eye on him." It was only thanks to the advanced hearing of his suit Tony caught those words and so he forced himself to remain still until he was called upon the air-craft by the soldier. It was going to be a long ride back to S.H.I.E.L.D.
AN: Leave me a review please. I would love to know what you think.