Whoops, had to re-upload this shit again cause I was too excited that my internet came back on to edit my doc before uploading straight away :-x So there you have it, Chapter 7 guize! :*
- Chapter 7 -
Don't Dream It's Over
It had been a few days since Tony's return and already he had bored his fellow members crazy with his oft-repeated tales of travel.
"Did I tell you about the Geishas? Huh Bruce, did I?"
Bruce sighed. Tony had only him left to bug, which all in all, was not an entirely pleasant idea. The rest had gotten tired of him or worse, impatient, and Steve was always so busy, it was up to Bruce to entertain Tony. And frankly, he wasn't sure how long he could keep it up before his twin started taking over. He had a feeling it would be very soon. Then perhaps he can finally bash Tony's head into the wooden floor, watching dispassionately as the force of it would almost certainly send Tony hurtling towards the ground floor and finally relieve some of this -
Hold your horses, Bruce. He had spent about a year taking anger management classes and he readily decided he didn't want to be back again so soon. Calming himself down ('Release your chakra with a slow exhaled breathe...that's right, let your power animal guide you through all the nine doors of the soul.', his mentor's voice whispered in his head.), he put his book down in order to face Tony.
"Yes, you did, Tony"" Bruce said with an air of infinite patience. "You know Tony, if I really wanted to know that much about Kyoto, I would've bought myself a guidebook." If the Avengers didn't get some work soon...
As usual, Tony wasn't paying attention to anything but the sound of his own voice. "Oh, but did I also mention -"
And on and on and on it went. It was impossible to stop Tony. He was like a bullet train, picking up speed as he went along, until it reached his station or Bruce's demise, whichever came first. These days, Tony was uncharacteristically cheerful. Almost too cheerful, like he was concealing something. Bruce was sure Tony had a few ghosts in the closet that he didn't want to talk about. But that was okay, who didn't?
Still, even this excessively cheerful self was better than that brooding drunkard cum sex fiend a few weeks back. Japan. Must be a magical place to have changed Tony so much in so few days.
Maybe he should pay Kyoto a visit soon, Bruce thought.
Tony couldn't sleep. The nights were restless and he was like a hyperactive puppy by day.
His thoughts about Loki was consuming him. Loki kept appearing in his head during inopportune moments of the day. Most notably during meetings with Fury.
"Stark, are you listening? Somebody check that man. Has he been bewitched?"
Tony had been imagining a naked Loki walking around the conference room, a smirk on his lips, teasingly inviting him to follow.
He could feel Steve's cool hand over his forehead, and he swatted it off, annoyed because the hand had reminded him of Loki's touch.
It had been a casual enough patrol around the city when the radio came in.
"All available agents, I repeat, all available agents, please proceed to Central Park now. Now. That means you, Avengers." Fury's voice boomed over the static-filled speaker in his helmet.
Finally. Something interesting.
"Okie dokie," Tony, as Iron Man, looped a few flashy circles in the air before swooping towards Central Park at top speed.
He liked flying in the suit. It had been far too long since he was last in this suit and he had forgotten what it felt like to be Iron Man, to feel the wind gliding beneath him, so powerful, and -
Holy mother of god. Tony watched, his pupils dilated behind his Iron man's helmet, as a black burst of thunderclouds proceeded rapidly in his direction. Swooping lower to escape the boiling storm, he yelled into the intercom.
"Avengers do you hear me? Code red, I repeat, code red, guys! There's a motherfucking thunderstorm in here,"
What could have caused that, he thought. It was definitely synthetic. There was just too much intent to destroy in it to be real. Maybe it was another of Doctor Doom's poisonous cloud of toxins or something. Tony belatedly hoped he hadn't breathed in too much of the fumes.
"Jarvis, give me a sweep of the surroundings. Also, gather a composite of the storm cloud and figure out its components. Somehow, it doesn't feel right to me. It smells somewhat...unnatural."
"Already done sir."
"I do wish you wouldn't get so ahead of yourself next time, Jarvis, but never mind, results?"
"Detected strange energy source coming from the direction of Central park, sir. Unknown composites of thunderclouds, but I'm almost 100% certain that it is not natural. In fact, it doesn't contain the usual hydrogen and oxygen compounds. Elements unknown, but it has the same energy signal as that which was coming from Central park."
"Unknown huh...thanks Jarvis."
"No problem sir. Allow me to point out also that the visible energy signal from Central park is rapidly disappearing with every word that's being exchanged between us?"
Shit.
"You could have warned me faster! Transfer all power source to rocket boosters now, top speed Jarvis!"
"I didn't think it was my place to comment on the suitability of your actions, sir."
Ouch. So apparently Jarvis bore grudges. Those were Tony's exact comments directed at Jarvis during a search and destroy mission regarding some of Doom's missiles. Mentally, he filed this piece of information in his brain. No need to get on the bad side of this British dude.
Tony was already soaring through the air, and soon Central park was in sight.
"Come in Iron man, come in, do you copy?" Rogers' voice sounded in his helmet.
"What's up capt?" Even in the helmet Tony couldn't help grinning at the sound of Steve's voice.
"All units heading to Central park, over. We all caught sight of your thunderclouds, seeing as it had spread across all of New york city, it would be impossible not to do so."
So the situation was that bad.
"No need to get your panties in a twist yet, captain. Our guy's attempting to escape, but I'm already on my way. He's not going to get out of this bind."
I hope, Tony added silently. The criminal must be a new guy around here since Jarvis had identified the energy signal as foreign. Great. Another addition to the party that never ends in NYC. Maybe he should start a Rogues Gallery and rename himself Batman.
Still, to be able to conjure a thunderstorm of such scale meant that he was worth his weight in villainy. This was a strong one and would come with much resistance. Tony could smell the other man's defiance in the thunderclouds.
"Jarvis give me a lock-on on our boy's signal."
"Energy signal rapidly disappearing sir. Losing all contact in 5, 4, 3 -"
Tony bent his body down, almost like a rocket. He thought he probably looked like Astro boy in that cheesy Japanese cartoon. No matter. He had to reach him before his signature disappeared. He told Steve he would.
"- 2, 1. Sir, lock-on disengaged due to the lack of data present. He has completely evaporated sir."
Just as his feet touched the ground. Damn. The spicy stench of sulphur prickles his nostrils. It smells just like burning hair. What just happened?
Tony removed his helmet and what he saw stunned him.
He had been concentrating too hard on flying fast that he had failed to assess the damage done to the park. Now he truly took it in the first time.
Jagged ice sculptures stood up from the ground, which was unleveled in some areas, and uprooted trees lay like corpses over park benches and lampposts. Broken underground pipes meant that water gushed out non-stop and had already converted the area into a swampy enclave. Victims, many of them crying or groaning in pain, were strewn around the landscape like rag dolls, their faces muddied and bleeding from the multitudes of scratches and cuts. What made it worse was that the entire park was decked out in darkness, steeped in shadows that blanketed the entire capital as well.
"Jarvis."
"Perimeter sweep commencing. Just to confirm sir, still no sign of energy trace within the next 100 miles."
It could be annoying, but overall Tony decided that it was a good thing that Jarvis could read his mind.
"Could you also assess the damage while you're at it?"
He left the A.I. to it while he walked over to a frightened mother clutching her son to her chest. With a click, his faceplate opened, revealing the man behind it.
"You alright mam?"
"I saw him. He tried, he tried to kill us, he really did. His eyes, they were ghostly, they didn't belong here. He wanted to kill my son, yes, he wanted to. And I stopped him."
"Calm yourself mam." She was in a state of hysteria, and he didn't want to do this but he had to. Like oysters, memories were best plucked fresh.
"Could you describe him for me?"
"He was tall, about your height. Fair, pale as the moon. He had black hair. Wearing a green sweater and brown pants. I have never seen a more devilish person!"
Tony cocked an eyebrow, and addressed Jarvis.
"Did you get all of that?"
"Word for word, sir."
"Run it through our database then. See if there's a match." He didn't think there would be, it was obvious that their man was a newbie. Even if he was formidable. He had seemingly appeared out of nowhere.
"What happened here?"
"He threatened us, he was holding that boy hostage," An old man had spoken up and was pointing at the cowering child in his mother's arms. "Then, he waved his hands and electricity surged out of him and created that." His accusing finger pointed upwards towards the black sky.
Tony had doubled up with laughter. He couldn't help it. Magic, mojo and mumble jumbo? Sorry, but that was so childhood and all that.
The old man seemed affronted and huffed his chest. "It is true what I tell you!"
"I'm sorry, do you mind if I asked someone probably a lot less...senile?" Tony was wiping tears out of his eyes. That did it. The old man stalked off angrily, and Tony resumed interviewing the victims.
Except that all of them gave an account similar to the old man's. Granted, there were some variations, but the main storyline ran through.
"...and I was like, wow, cool hair dude, when he suddenly freezes the entire lake into ice, see those sculptures there? Kinda Monet huh?"
"Actually Monet was more famous for his paintings -"
"Dude chill. Do you wanna hear the story or not? As I was saying - where was I?"
Tony could feel an aneurysm coming.
"Water turned to ice?" he said painfully through gritted teeth to the teenager dressed in board shorts that exposed two long hairy legs. It was freezing out there, but the teenager appeared not to notice, stuffing his hands in his pockets and occasionally adjusting the visor on his beach blonde hair.
"Oh, right, right. So he waves his hands, and the water turned to ice. I wasn't looking right about there, but then," he leans in closer in a conspiratorial whisper. "I have some pretty reliable sources say he is the son of the devil because he waves his hands again and conjures up this magic storm."
"I don't think I would care to trust the account of someone who regards his granny as a 'pretty reliable source'. Still, thanks for your help," Tony added, staring into the teenager's poor, confused eyes.
"You're welcome, dude. Although there's one part I don't get. You see, him stopping the water actually saved some lives. Then why would he create such a monstrous storm then? Also, he actually quit making the storm right after a while?"
"Yeah me neither." That was a valid point, even Tony had to concede that. Why save people then turn around and kill them and then save them again?
But the idea of magic being involved was just preposterous. Yet every single one of his eyewitness' accounts had led up to that, at one point or another.
Because he refused to believe in the existence of magic, Tony began searching for the technology that had created the thunderclouds when the rest of the avengers arrived.
"How's it hanging bro?" Clint's cheeky smile greeted the half-crazed Tony.
"All out and dangling. It's incredible the kind of bullshit around here. I highly suspect a hypnotist, with a penchant for mass brain washing."
"But that still does not explain the dark clouds." observed Bruce. He had arrived without changing into the Hulk, hitching a ride in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s massive helicopter. Agents began pouring out of the vehicle and did what they do best. Civilian control. Somehow, the organization's strengths lay in reactionary, not precautionary measures.
"Here, guys. Take a long at this." Steve's serious tone had drawn their attention successfully and the Avengers gathered around him. His hand was placed on one of the crystal structures.
The ice was blue, the shade of colored diamonds, glittering on the various cracked ridges in the park. Central park looked like a winter wonderland...in Hell.
"The ice, it is cold,"
"No shit, captain."
"Hawkeye, it is not just cold. It is freezing and it stings. Ouch." Pulling back his bare hand, the group was shocked to see that the once smooth palm was now bright red and raw.
"Special ice huh...Jarvis, I want a sample of this waiting for me in the lab when I get back. Also, it doesn't seem to melt..." The whole thing was getting stranger and stranger.
"Hello? Can anyone maybe fill me in?" Natasha looked pointedly at Tony.
And so he did, repeating the various eyewitness' accounts.
"Magic?" Bruce snorted, and Tony's heart lifted at this little sign of disbelief. Good ol' doctor. Tony did always have a soft spot in his heart for Bruce.
Suddenly, a tiny figure tottered over. It was the boy, the child of the hysterical mother.
"Excuse me, Mr Iron Man?"
The rest of the team left him to it and began their discussion elsewhere. Fan greetings were a part of superhero stardom. Tony smiled and bent down on one foot to be on eye level with the child.
'Yes, kiddo?'
'Ummm, I just wanted to say that he is innocent,' The boy's wide, honey colored eyes pleaded with Tony. 'Please don't punish him,' He added.
'Bad guys have to be punished, that's how they know that they have done something wrong. Don't you get punished when you do something wrong too?'
'But mummy doesn't punish me when I do something right! He saved me. He hasn't done anything bad!' The boy was positively wailing now, his plantitive expression full of hurt.
As Tony was contemplating the finer implications that this would bring, he was interrupted by Jarvis' voice.
"May I interrupt this captivating moment with the news that I have once again picked up the route of the rouge energy source. It would seem that this time, it is coming from the direction of Stark Towers."
"I'm on my way," Tony was already off the ground before Jarvis' transmission was complete. "And may I add that you have indeed not made me regret my decision to construct you, all those years ago."
"Thank you for your earnest flattery sir."
Steve's voice came through the speakers in his helmet. "What's wrong Tony, why have you taken off -"
"No time to explain, Steve. Just gather everyone and recon at Stark Towers." and then he added with a grin.
"We got our man."
It had taken them two days, Asgardian time, to sort out the Bifrost. Apparently Loki had jammed it with a curse when he used it, intending to stall for time. Well, it had worked. Two days were equivalent to two weeks down in Midgard, and it took as long for a team of the most highly skilled magicians to remove the curse. As no sorcerer in the 9 realms had power comparable to that which Loki held, Thor couldn't blame them.
After its reparation, Fandral had insisted on following Thor to Midgard.
"Father has given no one permission but me, Fandral. I'm sorry, my friend. No, my brother," Thor said as he pulled Fandral closer for a hug. Thor told himself he had only imagined the glint of resentment in Fandral's eyes. "I know you have suffered at the hands of my younger brother, and on his behalf, I offer you apologies. I will hunt him down and make him realize his follies. And then, I will bring him home to Asgard. Father has no wish to disown him, as of yet." Fandral sniffed and nodded his head.
Thor had never been as good with words as Loki, and more or less repeated the same speech he had given Fandral to Sif, who was waiting for him near the gates of the Bifrost with the same request as Fandral. He then added more chirpily, "Loki must be truly lucky to be so loved by his friends. He would be happy once I tell him."
"Do not tell him, Thor!" Sif pleaded, biting the corner of her lip, a habit she had when she was nervous.
Thor shook his head in confusion. "But why?" By then, Sif looked so conflicted and agonized that he just sat her down and stroked her hair and told her not to cry and that she must be brave.
In the end, he said "I must go," and she whispered, "I will miss you, my brother." before enveloping him into a hug.
They were of course, not siblings in bloodline, but some ties are thicker than blood and stronger than lineage.
Their farewell was tearful and sad, but somehow Thor was glad that Sif had been there to send him off. Taking a deep breath, he braced himself for Midgard. He would find Loki, and Loki would return, for his dear brother's sake.
Oh, he would, wouldn't he?
Loki had used the last drops of his magic to apparate to where the magical connection was strongest. It was causing his head to whizz right now, his breathing labored and choked. Silently, he awaited the arrival of his brother. Perhaps he could take Thor out with one, clean burst of magical energy.
Meanwhile, it would do him no harm to survey his surroundings for a bit.
Looking around, he noticed for the first time where he was at. Loki was perched on the roof of a highly sophisticated steel tower. In the overcast sky, it's multiple satellites were giving off pinpoints of red lights, blinking like eyes in the darkness. The whole building seemed to be constructed entirely of steel and glass windows, which offered a generous view of its inner workings. Inside was a long table, more like a workbench than anything. Loki's sensitive ears soon picked up the gentle tell-tale hum of security cameras. Whrrrr.
The wind was picking up. Loki clutched his arms around himself and pulled the sweater closer to his body. He did not have much magic left, not even enough to keep his body warm in these freezing circumstances. Perhaps now was not such a good time to kill Thor.
Mumbling a curse, he rubbed his arms with more vigor and stared at the glowing billboard underneath his feet. It was right in front of him, fronting the building in loud, blue neon obnoxious letters.
He froze.
The words shouted 'Stark Industries' for miles to see.
Loki laughed. It was too much of a coincidence to be true. Yet Stark didn't sound like a common last name to have. Could they be the same person? That loud-mouthed, brash man he had slept with was really a business tycoon? And one with a few secrets too many, it seemed.
Then Loki stopped thinking because Thor had arrived on the roof with a crash.
Thor had entered the Bifrost full of courage and hope in finding his brother, but he was wondering, perhaps that had been a little misplaced? The trips was gut-wrenching, to say the least, traveling through a magical hydraulic tube full of iridescent blue lights were not Thor's way of spending a quiet morning.
Or evening, as it would seem on Migard.
He had tumbled roughly from where the Bifrost had spat him out. It had been programmed to dump Thor where Loki, presumably, was in the vicinity of. Giddy and looking like he was thrown off the deep end of the pool, Thor climbed to his feet and shook the dizziness out of his head.
Drawing a deep breath, he bellowed.
"Brother!"
Loki had slipped into the shadows as soon as he heard the noise. Now he was fully invisible due to a spell. Thor wouldn't be able to tell where he was.
On the downside, he had completely drained his magic and probably couldn't teleport to safety if needed. He was trapped.
Loki peered out from his hiding place beside the ventilator shaft and looked at Thor, who had just arrived fresh from the Bifrost. The last traces of blue energy surrounded him and it took a while for them to dissipate. The princes of Asgard found it hard to shake off the familiar smell of home that lingered in the air like a ghostly waft.
His first sight of Thor was his cape, red and billowing around him like a parachute and his steel armor, which gleamed from numerous loving polishes by Thor. It was not exactly Midgardian steel, like the material of Stark towers. This was dwarven steel, crafted to perfection and made to last an eternity. As always, Thor's tousled blonde locks which framed his squarish jaw in a way that must have made his eyes hurt. It was long and messy, like a wavy curtain of gold. Loki did not understand how anyone could stand to have messy fringes. Personally, he liked his dark hair slicked and combed back stylishly.
Of course, seeing his brother always brought about mixed feelings. Chief among his emotions were bitterness at seeing his dearest rival standing so close, without even a shadow of a doubt that he was here to rescue Loki and bring him back. Loki didn't need rescuing. He ground his teeth together unhappily. Japan was a distant memory now, a dreamscape that Loki wasn't even sure existed. He had been known to tear dimensional holes in which to escape a current unpleasant situation or fate. When he was 12, he had ripped a hole in the Asgardian space time dimension which almost caused the destabilizing of the entire 9 realms.
All the events of the previous days receded until all that were left to think about was the incident on Asgard with Fandral. It all came back with a flash, the lynch mob, Fandral's smirk, Thor's disbelief...
That's right. Thor didn't believe him, so why had he come here for? If he thought he was going to bring Loki back for punishment, then he was sorry to say that his brother was dead wrong. There was no way the trickster was going back without a fight.
"Brother!" Thor wailed. Loki couldn't help but roll his eyes. Sometimes his brother was just so dramatic.
"Where are you? It is I, your brother, Thor!"
The edges of Loki's mouth twitched and threatened to turn into a full-blown grimace. If Thor didn't stop shouting soon, all of New York would come and investigate. He was pretty sure the owner of this tower would.
Life was so unfair. Thor had everything he ever wanted, power, prestige, popularity. In a way, Thor was the man Loki never was. Thor, his elder brother, used to be his idol, the man he looked up to and wanted to be when he grew up. Except that he was denied of the same opportunities as his brother.
He hated his brother, hated him for everything he had that Loki didn't and nobody had realized that he needed as well. That was the sad fate of being second best.
A fire had started blooming in his stomach, and unlike the warm sensation that has consumed him during his night of passion with Tony Stark, this one was consuming, searing through his flesh and he felt as if he was torn over multiple times. When Loki peered at Thor from his hiding place, his green eyes had taken on an intense shade of emerald.
Clearly in anguish, Thor let out a full "Arghhh!" and pointed Mjolnir heavenward. A crackle of thunder reached out a fiery tendril, making contact with Mjolnir even as the heavy smell of lightning pervaded Loki's nostrils. Thor was angry and agitated now, and Loki decided that being around him was not exactly the best place to be.
Before he even reached his tower and his house, Tony Stark could already see a gigantic flash of light. Except it didn't make sense because the holographic light shone directly down from the dark sky, infusing its surroundings with a sea of blue. And then, it was gone as abruptly as it had began.
"Jarvis, did you manage to capture that?"
"Of course sir."
"Good. Because lately things have been strange. Blue light, burning ice, flash floods. Jesus."
As Iron Man flew closer to the roof, (because evidently that was where the party was happening), he could just about make out a vague figure pointing something at the sky. Maybe that was the device that was triggering all these changes. Oh, what he would do to have that in his grasp. Tony prided himself on being a mad genius and his reputation at inventing meant that he was automatically intrigued by any new discoveries. Especially one that seemed bent on overtaking his creative genius.
Just as he said "Jarvis, give me a close up," a huge lightning bolt crackled across the sky and connected with the mystery man, flowing through his entire body.
A human conductor? Tony was almost bursting with excitement. Possibilities swam through his mind. A lab experiment gone awry perhaps, or the injection of any lethal combination of fluids that should have taken out the man but instead gave him the power of a hydroelectric dam? Or even more horrifying and intriguing...perhaps another suit modeled upon his own? A suit that gave you special immunity against lightning? What else could explain why the guy was still standing after what had to be 3 million volts? Tony didn't like plagiarism but hey, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery after all.
"Iron Man, do you copy?"
"Hey, I missed you too, Capt."
"We're on our way. Anything of interest?"
"Only if you wanna catch our criminal." Tony couldn't help the smile that was spreading across his face. Soon, very soon, he would be face to face with the guy, and would debunk all of those magic mambo jambo. Finally, science would take its rightful place amongst the natural laws of the world.
He couldn't wait.