Before Thanos's influence was revealed, Tony had wondered about Loki's motives.
Why was the alleged god of mischief and deceit doing something so ostentatious—so obvious—when there was no real reward waiting for him at the end of it all?
Because really, even if Loki had killed so many people before they caught him in Stuttgart, until that army of his could pass through the hypothetical portal, he was just another suicide bomber with one hand on a trigger. He'd had no real leverage and his motive was flimsy—so much so that he had to repeat it over and over again, like he was forcing them to focus on that part of the situation. And while Tony never could do something so monotonous, the whole thing still hadn't made a lick of sense to him until Anna-girl had come and put Thanos on the equation board.
And when the Thanos thing was exposed? Damn, but that's when Tony found the fun part of it all. Because holy shit, the guy is a nutty genius! A real live Machiavellian bastard with a mind-blowing plan that was more than Tony had ever expected or encountered before. The only real flaw was Thanos's need to see the plan through himself, otherwise they would've been none the wiser about everything. There was really only one question left to find.
What had Thanos wanted on Asgard?
Moot point now though—Thanos was dead.
And so was Anna.
For the first time in a long time, Tony finds himself floundering. Because despite all the precautions he'd taken, the one person he had tried so hard to save was still lying in Loki's arms, dead as a fucking doornail, and his brain seems incapable of accepting it, still going through the all angles of how he could've missed this.
He thinks that Fury must've gotten to Barton before he gave the laptop to Coulson. That was the only way… Coulson wouldn't…
Tony had trusted him.
Fuck. Why had he done that? Coulson was Fury's Number-fucking-Two-Guy—why had he trusted the bastard?
And Loki. Fuck, but he wasn't lying. Tony had paid close attention to everything the demigod had said, and quote-unquote: "The magic used to bring her here to our time was passed from the source to the Lady Anna, which she then passed to me in order to free me from Thanos's control," and, "That source appears to be myself, or at least my future self." Combined and dissected, that means that future-Loki turned Anna-girl into storage unit for his magic and sent her back through time, where Anna-girl then gave Loki the magic his future-self put in her. Thus, future-Loki's magic plus present-Loki's magic equals a much magically-stronger Loki. And Loki was already pretty damn strong, magically speaking.
So this whole thing about not being able to resurrect the dead? It shouldn't be impossible—not for a powerhouse like Loki.
But ever since they'd met, Tony noticed that the bastard was careful with his words. He was the supposed god of mischief and deceit, so to be that kind of god then of course he had to be good with words—he had to be good at talking himself out of trouble, after all. And yeah, he may have magic, but that obviously wasn't his trade or else he'd be called the god of mischief and magic. No, no. Deceit implies dishonesty, and Loki played his tricks primarily with words, not magic. The magic—if Tony's assessment of Loki was right and Tony knows he's right—was the backup plan, a 'just in case they don't buy my bullshit' way of getting out of harm's way.
Loki doesn't outright lie.
So when he says he can't bring her back…
Fuck.
Fuck!
"Why not?" he finds himself asking aloud, drawing everyone's attention to him. "Why can't you—? You have to bring her back!"
"There is no spell for this!" Loki screams at him, completely losing his cool.
Instead of getting stunned into silence, Loki's now-visible anger seems to stroke his own ire. "Then make one up if you have to!" he snarls. "Just get her back!"
"He cannot," Thor tells him morosely, falling back on his ass and slumping his shoulders in defeat. "Souls are immediately taken to either Valhalla or Niflheim. Even if Loki casts such a spell, it will only raise her body, not provide her with her soul."
"I can't accept that," Tony declares, because if he does, then the one person who'd given him the chance to put all the tiny intricate pieces together—the one person who hadn't deserved to—had just died right in front of them. Had been killed by one of them.
And Barton… Jesus, the man looks destroyed. Sometime ago, he'd sunk to his knees, staring at the woman he'd been ordered to kill. Tony wants to hate him for what he'd done, but…
So that's the plan, Thanos had said, looking at Barton. You used the magic of Yggdrasil to command your lover to do your bidding.
Anna had apologized to the archer, giving him a heartbreaking look. I needed one last favor, she'd said.
Which meant that whatever had just happened? It was apparently all part of Anna-girl's plan. Whatever the magic of Yggdrasil was, she'd used it to make Coulson miss the warning, make Fury give the order to Barton, and make Barton fire the killshot.
It was all so disgustingly tragic, because even after going beyond what duty she owed to the world, Anna still paid the ultimate sacrifice, still sacrificed herself to save the whole planet. And although it was very noble and honorable of her to do so, Tony just can't let it go, can't let her stay dead.
But to do that, he'll need a plan. Thor said that a soul went to either Valhalla or Niflheim. What if he goes in, grabs her soul—?
But no. He'd have to find her soul first, and since they were supposedly where every soul went, then those places had to be huge, and who the hell knew where Anna-girl's soul would be? And besides, how the hell would he get there in the first—
The Tesseract glows silently in her chest, looking like a parody of his arc reactor as it mocks him from where it lay.
It's not that Tony doesn't think about what he's doing—his body just processes his subconscious thoughts and reasonings faster than his conscious mind can thoroughly dissect them. So when he gracelessly and abruptly yanks the arrow free to get it out of his way and reaches for the Tesseract, he doesn't do it unthinkingly, and as the yells of his new teammates reach his ears and the blue-white light sears into his retinas, Tony has one last thought:
'I am so dead when Pepper gets home.'
Loki smiled deviously. "You are going to change everything."
Anna raised an eyebrow. "Change everything…what?" she asked. "What's everything? What does that even—" She stopped talking when it all abruptly clicked together. "Wait," she murmured, "are you… Son of a bitch, are you talking about history?"
"Indeed, I am," Loki confirmed, and her mind raced with the infinite possibilities now available to her.
Her father was her first thought. She could save his life, get to know him, finally have a dad to grow up with. Her mother wouldn't be a sad widow who sacrificed her relationship with her daughter in favor of clinging to her dead husband via his Fortune 500 company.
She could save Uncle Rhodey. Keeping him alive would mean that the Avengers would never disband the way they did after his death. Uncle Bruce would stay, wouldn't get Uncle Rhodey killed, and then Uncle Steve wouldn't have to follow after Uncle Bruce when he hulks out and decimates a few South American towns.
She could even save Aunt Tasha—get to know the woman who was supposed to be her godmother. Maybe then Clint wouldn't have left the Avengers after she died, and she would've grown up with him as her uncle, not her mentor-slash-crush.
She could make life better—make the world a place where the Avengers hadn't faded into the history books.
"What do I have to do?" she asked, because now that she had this option, she wasn't fucking going to say no to it.
Loki shifted, tilting his head at her. "You are willing?" he asked back.
Of course I'm willing, motherfucker! she wanted to yell. "I am," she said instead, feigning calm.
"Then you will first listen to my tale," Loki replied, "for there is much you do not know, Lady Anna."
"I've heard the stories, Loki. I already know everything I have to," she argued, wanting to get it over with.
He clucked his tongue. "Then you know the price you must pay to travel to the past?"
"I don't care what it is!" she finally screamed, stepping right up to him. "I already fucking said I'll do it! So go on! Magic away! Like, now would be nice—!"
"You will never exist again." She breathed heavily as she looked up at him, stunned into silence at his words. Loki looked down his nose at her. "That is the price you pay."
She reared back, stunned. "Bullshit," she called after swallowing heavily.
"I know what you think of doing," Loki said softly, his eyes kinder despite the bright red hue. "You wish to save those you know—those you've lost in your young life. You think to fix your life."
Hearing it emphasized like that sent shame through her. There was an army of alien terrorists razing New York to the ground, and what she wanted to do was make sure her family would be alive and complete to see it.
Yeah, that was pretty fucking selfish of her.
"I can tell you now that you will fail in that regard," he added, "as in my understanding, most of those events happened because of you."
Anna staggered back, turning around to keep Loki from seeing the truth leak out of her eyes.
He's right. Anna knew that. She knew that her father and godmother had died protecting the hospital she was being born in. She knew Clint had left because Natasha Romanoff had died and it hurt him to look at Anna and know that she carried her godmother's name while being the reason for Natasha's unexpected end.
She remembered vividly that Uncle Bruce and Aunt Betty had taken her out for ice cream because she'd asked them to, and then those people attacked them and the other Avengers came to defend them, only for Uncle Rhodey to take a lethal hit aimed at a very distracted, very human Uncle Bruce because he was protecting her from getting hurt.
She remembered Uncle Steve telling her mother that he'd been tasked with finding Uncle Bruce after he left to find his kidnapped girlfriend, because the Hulk had been spotted destroying several small towns in Argentina and he probably wouldn't be back any time soon. And he never did come back or send a postcard at all.
She remembered her and her mother suddenly living alone in what was once a loud, lively home.
It was all on her. Her dad's death, her godmother's death, her Uncle Rhodey's death, Aunt Betty's kidnapping, Uncle Bruce's leaving, Uncle Steve's following, her mom giving her away because poor little Anna Stark wasn't strong enough to deal with a couple of rapists and had to be saved by Uncle Thor two weeks later, and the expression on Uncle Thor's face when he heard—
God. God, that was all on her—
It was all her fault—
She's the one who…
She's the one who needs to change things.
To change everything.
If the price of going back was to never exist again, then Loki definitely couldn't do it. He was a god, and…and he had a family to think of.
And Anna? Well, that's why Loki chose her. Her family had been torn apart because she'd been born. Without her to screw that up? Her father and godmother would be alive, Clint wouldn't have run away, Uncle Rhodey wouldn't have died and Uncle Bruce and Uncle Steve wouldn't have left. And Uncle Thor…
Anna knew that he'd suffered the most because of her. Not only had he lost his friends one by one, he'd had to retreat to Asgard to bury himself in princely obligations and pretend that it was okay to take her in, that it wasn't her fault he had to save her from rapists while the man-made Bifrost prototype overloaded and killed Aunt Jane and her team and everyone else inside the blast radius, including her well-meaning and desperate Aunt Darcy, who'd only been there in the first place to send Thor to find Anna.
God, more than fifty men and women died because Uncle Thor went off to save one careless, un-alert and damaged fifteen-year-old girl who didn't even deserve to live. Not after all the pain and death and suffering she'd single-handedly caused.
It was all her fault. Without her—if she'd never existed, never been born—the Avengers would be alive and whole. Aunt Darcy and Aunt Jane would be alive, Uncle Thor wouldn't have suffered through so much, Clint wouldn't be so angry all the time, and her mother wouldn't be so sad.
"What do I have to do?" she asked once more, sniffling, and only then did she realize she was crying.
"Look at me." She wiped her face before turning around to face him, and Loki pressed his blue lips together, as if forcing himself to keep from commenting on her tears. "Will you hear my tale?" She sniffled again and nodded, folding her legs underneath her as she sat down on the sandy ground. "Thank you," Loki said.
And then he starts the story.
She knew most of it already—that he fell off the Bifrost bridge, reappeared on Earth, tried to take over and got beat back by the new group called The Avengers, then was taken back to Asgard to face his punishment.
What she hadn't known was that he'd been possessed for most of it.
"Thanos," he told her, "was a Titan warlord once beloved by Death Incarnate. He fancies himself her avatar, her harbinger, and indeed, he has slain many a body to offer their souls to her cause. In the beginning of my acquaintanceship with Thanos, I was a slighted man, intent on causing the same hurt I felt when I found out I was not a true son of Odin, but part of a race of creatures that most Æsir feared. But as the days passed, I recognized my folly. My father had disapproved of many actions done by my hand, but he had always forgiven me and reminded me simply that I was his son."
"Aw," Anna cooed.
Loki raised an eyebrow. "Quite," he simply commented. "And so I appeared to Thanos and gave him my farewell."
"And he wasn't happy about it."
"Actually, he was deeply amused," Loki told her, frowning. "That's when he took me—torturing my mind and body until I was pliable enough to be controlled."
Anna hissed. "Motherfucker."
"…quite," Loki decided to say. "After he had gained control of my body, he proceeded with his plans to acquire the Tesseract. Using my magic, he was able to pass into Midgard and use me to implement the plan. At first, I believed his intentions were to simply harness the cube's power to attain godhood and join Death in her cause. However, he didn't have me bring him the Tesseract once I had it in my possession. Instead, he opened a portal to allow his army to come and decimate what they could. Nevertheless, his goals—as you know—were thwarted by my brother and his friends, and my body and the Tesseract were returned here to Asgard, whereupon my body was chained down here to atone for my crimes against both Jötunheim and Midgard."
"Wow," she breathed. "That's not cool. You never told anyone about this?"
"I couldn't," he replied with a tight expression on his face. "Thanos had silenced me rather effectively. He did not wish for anyone to learn of him or his plans until it was too late." Loki sighed. "And so now you know the truth. Do you still wish to continue?"
"Hell yeah!" she snapped, making him jerk a little in surprise. "It's not right—you being under mind-control and punished for something you didn't do. And Thanos definitely needs to be stopped."
Loki seemed to turn bluer, but he shook his head quickly and cleared his throat. "Then let us continue," he said. "As you can see, I remained here below the palace for well over twenty years. It was only quite recently that I discovered why Thanos allowed my body to be captured and brought to Asgard."
Anna caught on. "Not for the Tesseract?"
"Not just," he emphasized. "There is an artifact in the weapons vault called the Gauntlet of Infinity, which grants its wearer the ability to manipulate reality. That is what Thanos wishes to have."
She pieced it all together rapidly. "So he used the Tesseract to make it look like you were just gonna use it to open a portal and send in your alien army for the purpose of invading and subjugating Earth, when in fact, it was all just a ploy so that when Thor came to Earth, he didn't suspect anything else going on. And then when you 'lost,'" she quoted, "the battle for Earth, Thor took you back here, not knowing that Thanos was using you as a spy to see how he can get to the Gauntlet of Infinity, which was the real prize all along. Oh, man," she sighed, feeling a little tingle run through her at how incredibly diabolical the plan was. "That's kind of brilliant."
"Indeed," Loki nodded. "And so to truly thwart Thanos, you must return to a point in time just before the Chitauri's invasion and free me from his control."
Anna snorted. "Yeah, sure. I'll just snap my fingers and…" she trailed off as Loki gave her a look. "Seriously? How the hell am I supposed to do that?"The answer was obvious of course, but her mind was just blown at the realization that holy motherfucker, but Loki was pretty fucking powerful shit, man. "Your magic can do that?"
"I am holding you in limbo right now," he reminded her.
Anna gave a low, impressed whistle. "Damn."
Loki shifted, turning bluer once again and what the hell, was he blushing? "I shall pass my magic onto you," he continued gruffly, "in order for you to release me from Thanos's hold."
Anna debated whether or not to call him out on the blushing thing, but decided that she could just give his younger self hell about it later. Heh. "And then abracadabra, you're free to go?" she asked instead.
Loki raised both eyebrows, but apparently got the gist of it since he said, "In a manner of speaking, yes."
Anna frowned at his choice of words. "Okay, what aren't you telling me about this little magic spell?" she asked, folding her arms together.
He might've looked sheepish—Anna couldn't tell with the blue face. "In order to pass the spell on, it would have to be done with a kiss."
She narrowed her eyes at him. "What. The fuck?"
Loki sighed. "Most spells that deal with magical transference are triggered by touch and guided by breath. This is one of them."
Her teeth gnashed together as she growled. "I'm. Not. Kissing you."
"Then we are doomed," he deadpanned. Anna snorted, feeling oddly amused by the entire thing. Must be shock or something—she was still dying after all.
She sighed. "No tongue, right?"
"No tongue?" Loki echoed, looking a little lost before realization bloomed in his eyes. "No, no. Just a press of lips will do."
"Good. Fine," she agreed, relieved. "Weird, but fine."
Suddenly, Loki's face turned expressionless. "Is it because I am in this form?" he asked her.
"What? No!" Anna answered, confused at his reaction. "It's because you're sort of my uncle. I was adopted by your brother, remember?"
Loki's expression softened. "I see," he said. "I…I suppose haven't quite reconciled the fact that you are indeed a part of…my family."
"Ditto," she shrugged. "It's not like we see each other all the time. How can it sink in, right?"
"Indeed."
They shared a long, awkward moment of silence.
"Right," Anna said, shaking her head. "Anything else?"
"Two more things," Loki nodded. "There are rules to time-traveling, especially to the past. The first is," he started, "tell no mortal of their future. Not even a hint. You, and you alone, will drop the ripples in their ponds. Should anyone else know of what's to come for them, we may end up with the same unfortunate events as our current present."
She blinked, turning that over in her head. "What, like a self-fulfilling prophecy?"
He smiled. "Precisely."
"So," she nodded, tapping her fingers on her knee. "No to telling people about what's gonna happen to them. Check. Wait," she tacked on as a thought occurs to her. "Does that mean I can't tell them anything about their future or is there something they can know? Like, my family, for instance," she added hopefully. "Can my parents know they're my parents?"
"No," Loki answered abruptly. "You must never tell them your true name, nor should you speak of the lineage you come from. This is the second rule."
"True name?" she echoed, focusing on that part instead of the 'no' part, because hell, she'd really been looking forward to getting to know the younger version of her parents—especially her dad. "What, like my birth name? That's fine," she added before he can say anything potentially snarky. "No one uses it anymore unless I'm in trouble. It's too freaking long. Why do you think they call me Anna?"
"Very good, then," Loki nodded. "Is there anything else you would like to know?"
"Yes," she's saying before she can really think about it. Anna swallowed and looked to the floor. "When I die…" she paused, thinking about it. "Will it hurt?" Because she's done the hurt part of it—rebar and crushed knees, anyone?
"…no," Loki said quietly.
Anna willingly swallowed the lie. "That's it."
Loki nodded. "Then let us begin," he said. "Lady Thorsdóttir—"
"Seriously, don't call me that."
"—do you accept the task of returning to the past to change all that has happened now?"
Anna sobered up, suddenly feeling the solemnity of the question. "I do accept."
"Do you accept the price—" Loki asked her softly, "of the loss your existence in the future to be—which shall be made true the moment you arrive in the past?"
Her mouth dried, because holy fuck, that soon? Her entire existence, all her accomplishments, all the memories and relationships—gone before her parents can even conceive her?
God. Fuck. God, but she's no hero, and hearing it said like that makes her tempted to say no.
Loki was no hero either, and for all the flowery words he'd weaved, a part of her had always been aware—ever since he made his offer—that he's only doing this because it'll get him his revenge.
And because she's no hero, Anna knew that if she was in his shoes, she'd do anything—anything—to take her revenge too.
And god, but was that still even an option anymore? Because really, she knew that if she didn't do this, she'll going to lose the last four members of her broken mortal family to Thanos's latest invasion, and not even Loki's golden immortal brother can defeat Thanos on his own.
The world—her world—needed to be avenged, and who better to do it than the full set of Earth's Mightiest Heroes?
So— "I accept," she croaked, feeling awful and sick as she sealed her fate to save the world.
"Then when you are ready," Loki told her, "we shall perform the transference of magic that will release me from Thanos's hold, and then I shall cast the spell that will bring you through time. You shall arrive at SHIELD's floating ship, and there, you must gather your bearings. Once you have, you'll find me caged in their detention level. Get close, transfer my magic, and the spell will do the rest."
"Okay," she nodded, swallowing as she jerkily stood up. "Let's do this." She jumped, startled when a mist of gold and green coalesced beside her, forming a Loki that wasn't blue, red-eyed or naked. Anna's suddenly grateful for the darkness. It was dim enough that her eyes aren't constantly pulled to his man-parts, because ogling her sort-of-uncle wouldn't help the daddy issues she clearly had. Her attraction to Clint was bad enough—
"Oh my god, Clint!"
"Pardon?" he and the doppelganger asked together.
"Clint!" she exclaimed. "If I go to that particular time in the past, he'll still be mind-controlled by Thanos too!"
"I am not quite sure I know this 'Clint'—"
"He's the arrow-guy," Anna told him absently, waving a hand.
"Ah, him," the Lokis nodded. "Yes, well, I recall that he had joined my brother and his friends during the invasion, yes?"
"Yeah, but isn't there a way to you know, un-mind-control him earlier too?"
"I'm not sure," they frowned. "Perhaps the scepter can undo the magic it cast on those controlled, but I am not certain of this. Thanos never allowed me such knowledge."
Anna tried not to look eager. "So…I can't kiss him?"
"No!" both Lokis protested loudly, their voices echoing through the sealed cave. "Should you pass on my magic to anyone but me, then they will die! No other body will be able to contain power such as mine."
"Oh," she said weakly, now horrified that she'd entertained the thought at all. "Okay then. Good to know."
Loki considered her reaction. "You…are concerned? Why?" And then his eyebrows rise high. "You like him!"
To her chagrin, Anna full-on blushed, and she tilted the torch away so that neither Loki couldn't see it so easily. "Shut up—no, I don't!" she denied badly, too flummoxed to properly lie.
"Isn't he your father's age?" they pushed. "I was led to believe that such attractions were…"
"What?" Anna demanded defensively. "Abnormal? Yeah, trust me," she scoffed, "I know that."
"But you cannot help feeling what you do," they concluded, both sounding too wise for the conversation.
Oddly enough, that's exactly what Anna needed to hear to back down. "Yeah," she sighed, hiding her face behind her free hand. "It's sick and wrong and in another life, he could've been another uncle to me. Hell, he's so hung up on the Black Widow that he's never even considered dating anyone in the last twenty years!" she added morosely. "And I can't even blame him for it because this whole attraction thing is just all on me. All he's ever done is be his normal, bastard self."
Both Lokis looked like they'd give anything to get out of the conversation, but they still considerately gave their input. "Well, perhaps it isn't all on you," they said. "From what I recall of Tony Stark, he was a…what's the term? Asshole?" Anna snorted, but jerked her head in a nod. "Yes. Well, from what I remember of your Clint, he was also one such man. Perhaps you are projecting—"
"Oh, hell no," Anna snapped. "You are not saying that I want to fuck my own…" She shuddered in disgust, not even able to complete the sentence. "Look, I know all about Electra complexes and having daddy issues. I've read all the books about it, and I know it's weird. I just…can't help it." She huffed, frazzled at the insinuation that she wanted to sleep with her dead father. "Can we move on now?"
"You're the one who brought it up," Loki grumbled, his doppelganger echoing his words. "But I digress," he added quickly when she opened her mouth. "Are you ready then, Lady Anna?" The not-blue-skinned Loki-double stepped into her personal space, and Anna leaned back because fuck, Loki was tall.
She nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, I think so."
He chuckled darkly, green eyes glinting knowingly down at her. "Liar," he murmured, pressing his lips against hers.
Their lips literally spark, and Anna tried to pull back in alarm but Loki moved his hand up to keep them together. His lips are cool and soft and Anna kind of wanted to nibble them after a few moments have passed, but then she just felt weird about it because hello—uncle!
Oh god, she already has a daddy complex, she didn't need an uncle complex too.
Forever seemed to pass until his hand was pulled away, and by then, the doppelganger looked like it was fading out.
And then—as if things weren't fucking freaky enough already—both Lokis started chanting.
While they chanted, Anna's body began to glow. She lifted her hands up to get a closer look, but that triggered an ache in her muscles that hadn't been there before. She grunted when her skin began to prickle irritably, then groaned when her bones suddenly felt like they were melting.
And then something latched tightly onto her arm and pulled—
Tony falls back on his ass, fumbles to lift his face-plate, and twists to the side to retch. Having been too busy putting the Thanos puzzle together, he hadn't had much to eat over the past day, so nothing but a few crushed blueberries comes out of his mouth.
Which was good. It was bad enough form that he was apparently trying to puke in front of his new teammates—no need for him to bring out the buffet.
"Stark, are you okay?" he hears Steve's voice say from somewhere above him.
No, he wants to say. No, he's not okay. He just watched his little girl trade her existence in exchange for the safety of the whole world.
How the hell could he ever be okay again?
Trembling, he pushes himself off the ground and reaches for Anna, pulling her gently from Loki's grip. Without another word to his protesting companions, Tony launches himself off the roof, his dead daughter in his arms.
"Gently, Jarvis," he tells his AI, and the thrusters allows him to land as softly as possible.
"Shall I call Miss Potts, sir?" Jarvis asks him as sensitively as Tony had enabled him to.
Tony has to swallow the sob that lodged itself in his throat before answering. "No. No, Pepper…she doesn't have to know."
"Sir, I strongly advise that you reconsider," Jarvis replies. "This is a great secret to keep from her. Should she find out—"
"I didn't say I wouldn't tell her," Tony snaps irately as he put Anna down on the couch. "Just…not yet."
That seems to placate Jarvis. "Very wellllll, sirrrrr…"
Tony stiffens at the sudden distortion in Jarvis's voice, straightening up to scan the room. He's forced to lift his faceplate up when the Heads-Up Display inside his helmet suddenly fizzles out, and he automatically turns to check on Anna—
His heart stops at the sight of a strangely dressed woman hovering over Anna.
"Who the fuck are you?" he spits out, struggling to move and cursing harshly when the suit didn't respond to him.
The woman glances up at him—dark hair, pale skin, luminous eyes—briefly before turning her attention back to Anna, her hand reaching up to grip Anna's shoulder.
"Let go of her," Tony yells when the air around them starts to waver, and his scream of "No!" echoes through the room as the woman disappears, taking his daughter with her. "Anna!"
Notes:
Flashback: The Anna part was an extension of the prologue, and it focuses on what Anna and Loki discussed prior to sending her to the past. And Tony, if you didn't get it, sees the memory of that moment when he touched the Tesseract. How and why? Well, you're just gonna have to read on to find out!
Heads-Up Display: My source is the Iron Man 2008 movie. Tony really does call it Heads-Up Display.
