Chapter Twelve
The crowd screamed as Loki lifted the man by his neck and threw him onto the stone table, taking Barton's advice and sticking the optical torture devise into the man's face. He smirked at their terror, watching the chaos he had caused. Once his earpiece told him the scan was complete, Loki let the eye roll to the floor, strutting away through the parted crowd. On the way out he swung his cane like a gold club, knocking a man to the floor just for the hell of it. He remembered to look up towards the camera on the street light ahead, informing SHIELD's facial recognition software he was there. He smiled, knowing it was another of their systems that had been perfected by Stark. He figured he had about ten minutes before their agents got here. Now... How to fill it?
Asgardian battle armour formed around him and the charm faded from his sceptre in a gold glow as Loki came to stand on all seven pillars surrounding the square of terrified civilians. This, this was power.
"Kneel before me." Pathetic, the mortals were too terrified to follow such a simple task. Pity. "I said, KNEEL!" Ah, there we go. The crowd obeyed, falling to their knees. A few of the women were sobbing. Mewling quims. "Is this not simpler? Is this not your natural state? It is the unspoken truth of humanity, that you crave subjugation." Loki though of Tony tied up beneath him and smirked further. "The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power, for identity. You were made to be rules. In the end, you will always kneel!"
Loki gave a threatening smile, pleased with his speech. Until he saw an old frail looking man stand from the crowd in front of him. "Not to men like you."
Loki smirked with a tilt of his head. "There are no men like me."
The man shook his head, but kept his defiant gaze trained in Loki. "There are always men like you." Loki admired his spunk; there were not many mortals who dared to stand up to him, but little to none of those lived to tell the tale.
"Look to your elder people." Loki said, raising his sceptre to point at the elderly man, who's eyebrows rose in shock slightly. "Let him be an example."
Before he had a chance to shoot the poor man, a flash of red and blue came in front of him and deflected the attack with a round shield.
"You know, the last time I was in Germany and I saw a man standing above everyone else, we ended up disagreeing." A man, Captain America Loki presumed given his spangly outfit and amount of purity and honour in his general aura, said. Steve lowered his shield and took a few steps toward Loki as he spoke.
"The soldier." Loki all but spat. He fixed a glare on the man who was now a few paces from him. "The man out of time."
"I'm not the one who's out of time." Steve said in a way that really annoyed Loki for some reason. He was about to answer back, when a SHIELD quinjet flew to a stop over head, aimed it's guns on him, and the voice of a woman said through the speakers,
"Loki, drop the weapon and stand down."
Loki grimaced, but he knew this was all part of his plan, and then turned to Steve. He had no intention of giving up just yet.
He ran forward, staff outstretched, until he was close enough to Steve to attack him. He swung it at the side, hoping to slice the hideous outfit with the sceptres blade, but let out an annoyed growl when the man used his shield to block.
Loki put the butt of the sceptre on the ground and swung round on it, kicking the shield and sending Steve flying backwards. Yes, Loki knew how to pole dance thank you very much. Just as Loki was about to use his staff to break the irritating man's nose, familiar music reached his ears and he looked up to see red and gold coming his way. Stark.
The man came down quickly on Loki, blasting him with the repulsors and sending him flying backwards onto the ground. Before he had a chance to say anything, Tony brought out all of the weapons in his suit and aimed them at Loki.
"Make a move, Reindeer Games." He said, his voice changed and face hidden by the metallic face plate.
Loki hid his smile at seeing Tony with what was supposed to look like a mischievous smirk, but had a softer edge to it. His horns and battle armour faded to what Tony called Loki's 'casual' Asgardian leather, and he raised his hands in surrender.
"Good move." He said, glad that his face plate was hiding the massive grin that was now plastering his face. Once he'd made his mind up, he knew he was going to fly straight to Loki's location, regardless of wherever it was. He was shocked to learn it was Stuttgart, and his slightly perverted mind couldn't help but think back to the night they'd spent here. When Loki had handcuffed him to the bed and- he quickly shook those thoughts from his head as he noticed Captain America, or Steve Rogers, moving closer to him.
"Mr. Stark." He said, keeping his eyes in Loki but nodding in Tony's direction.
"Captain." Tony said back, his eyes never leaving Loki's either. He was still smiling, feeling happy to actually see the god again. Although at the sight of the blue eyes in person, he began to feel a little worried.
-Page Break-
Loki agreed to accompany them to the quinjet as per their request and to their suspicious surprise. Loki heard Barton tell him that they had obtained the iridium just before he squashed the earpiece under his foot. Stark was looking well, Loki noticed from his seat a little way from the Avengers. Well, three of them. Loki suspected he and the woman that managed his life were back together again. Not for long if he could help it. Although Loki sat back with an amused smile on his face and was looking up while Tony spoke to the obscenely dressed captain, he could see Tony through the reflective surface of the opposing window and wasn't taking his eyes off of him.
Tony felt the burn of the intense gaze on his back but refused to look back. He knew that once he looked properly at the god, there would be little in him that would stop him from climbing on Loki's lap and passionately bringing their faces closer. He also wanted to speak to him, talk, ask what the hell was going on, but the Captain was being both annoying and entertainingly boring at the same time.
"Fury didn't tell me he was calling you in." Steve said, hands hooked on his belt, sounding a little annoyed at Tony, which he was.
"Yeah, there's a lot of things Fury doesn't tell you." He glanced away casually, and glanced over at Loki, turning back to face Steve the moment he saw the look Loki was giving him and cursing himself for blushing slightly.
There was a clash of thunder and they both turned round to see Loki sit upright, looking genuinely petrified.
"What's the matter, scared of a little lightening?" Steve asked him as he and Tony looked at him in confusion. Tony's eyebrow rose at him, thinking he might know the reason why he was acting like this.
"I'm not overly fond of what follows." Steve followed his gaze out the back of the jet, and while he was looking away, Loki shared a glance with Tony, giving him a sad half smile before something outside attracted Loki's attention. Before Tony knew what was happening, a giant blonde oaf in a cape had flown in and stolen Loki away. Nobody touched Tony's stuff.
Tony didn't even realise he was growling as he put his helmet on and flew out the quinjet after them, before Steve or Natasha could even say a thing in protest.
-Page break-
The side of Loki's face hit the rock, followed by his shoulder, sending a sharp pain through his body from the speed of impact. He got up, dusting himself off dramatically and pretending like it hadn't hurt. Thor never quite got the hang of landing.
"Loki, where is the Tesseract?!" Thor demanded, narrowing his eyes as he watched Loki stand, taking note that he took longer than usual to get back up properly.
"Did you miss me?"
Thor's anger subsided momentarily and was replaced with a look of confusion. "Of course I did. We all thought you dead. Our mother, our father, our friends-"
"Your parents and friends." Loki spat back, folding his arms and raising an eyebrow as he said Thor glance sadly to the ground. "I see he told you about me then."
Thor shook his head defiantly then looked up and took a step closer to his once brother. "That matters not to me; we were raised together, played together, fought together! Do you remember none of that?" He asked hopefully with an equivalent look to go with it.
"It means nothing." Loki almost felt bad for Thor, this really wasn't his fault. His time in the void had allowed him to reflect, and in hindsight, he knew he had overreacted. But he couldn't allow himself to pity Thor, at least not to show it. It would completely ruin his plan. "Now why would I tell you where I hid the Tesseract?" There was another flash of read and the Thor wasn't standing in from of him anymore. "I'm listening..."
As soon as Tony had spotted the blonde god, he decided it was a good idea to tackle him off the cliff and into a clearing in the forest. His face plate flipped up as he watched Thor stand, both glaring at the other.
"Do not touch me again." Thor growled warningly. Tony rolled his eyes and placed his hands on his hips.
"Then don't touch my stuff."
"Your stuff?" Thor asked incredulously. He chuckled lightly and shook his head. "And what would make a foolish mortal like yourself think you would own my brother?" He paused and cocked his head. "Tell me your name, mortal."
"Tony Stark, I'm sure you must've heard of me." Tony said smugly, ignoring the first question aimed at him.
"Stark? An...thony Stark?"
Tony nodded unsurely, not certain where this was going. He glanced back to the cliff and narrowed his eyes suspiciously when he noticed Loki making himself comfortable, as if he meant to watch them. As soon as he had nodded, Thor growled and lunged for him, giving Tony no time to be able to defend himself.
"YOU ARE THE ONE WHO HAS DEFILED MY BROTHER?!" Thor shouted, grabbing the front of the suit and holding Tony up. It was more of an accusation than a question.
"...what?" Tony asked, unsure whether to laugh at those words or actually correct him. "Actually Point Break, I think he was the one doing the defiling if you know what I mean." Tony wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. He realised that last comment was a bad idea when he saw Thor's eyes fill with rage before Tony was thrown into a tree.
Mjolnir was raised high into the air, causing a bolt of lightning to crash down onto Tony.
"Power at four hundred percent sir."
"How 'bout that?" Tony said, powering the thrusters and raising into the air.
The two flew towards the other, Thor with a look of anger and rage evident on his features, and Tony with a bored but slightly concerned expression hidden behind the mask. Tony's arm had retracted back so that when he met Thor, he was able to knock him away into a tree. Thor's face darkened with anger as he ran back and grabbed Tony's arm, beginning to crush the gold titanium alloy armour as Tony saw red warnings flash inside his helmet.
Before the god could do anymore damage, Tony charge as much energy as he could into the palm repulsor and shot the energy directly into the blonde god's face.
Thor fell back from him, giving Tony a moment to check his armour over before leaning closer and head butting Thor. Which was a bad move, as the god stared at him for a moment then head butted him back with more force, sending Tony flying across the clearing and into a tree himself.
"Shit! Come on, I don't see why this upsets you? Surely your brother can choose who he wants to fuck without your say so or input? What's the problem with me?" Tony asked as he carefully got back up, opening his face plate so he could converse easier. He made a mental note to patch up his suit once this fight was over, if he managed to survive, as Thor started to walk closer to him.
"Loki was upset and his judgement was questionable. You took advantage of him. Normally my brother would not lay with a mortal as you. You're tiny."
"Excuse me for having small genes in my family tree." He grumbled then raised an eyebrow. "Wait, when was he upset?"
"He did not tell you of his adoption?" Thor looked confused. Loki told him as they fought when the Bifröst was destroyed that Tony was the only one who could accept his true heritage.
"Oh that..." Tony nodded as he remembered then shrugged. "I only told the truth that you and his adoptive family kept from him. And for your information, he was fucking me weeks before that happened."
"You took my banishment as an opportunity to take advantage of my younger brother?!" Thor launched Mjolnir at Tony who powered up the unibeam. Just as they were about to meet, Steve appeared out of nowhere and threw his shield into the mix. There was a flash of light that left cap standing in the middle with his shield and Thor and Tony laying on their backs, thrown back by the blast.
"That's enough!" The Soldier shouted with an authoritive tone, as Thor and Tony sent a glare to one another. "Now, I don't know what you plan on doing here but-"
"I've come to put an end to Loki's schemes." Thor interrupted him, and sent a glare over to Tony again then gave him a look which said they'd settle this later. Tony gulped but said nothing, not wanting to discuss his past relations with Loki in front of Cap.
"Then prove it! Put the hammer down." Steve said, again, in his authorative tone. Tony grimaced then shook his head slightly.
"Um, yeah, no! Bad call! He loves his ham-" Tony grunted and was cut off as Thor suddenly backhanded him with the hammer, sending him back into the tree again.
"YOU WANT ME TO PUT THE HAMMER DOWN?!" Thor lost what little tolerance he had left in him and leapt high into the air, with the intent of landing on Steve. Steve reacted quickly, and brought his shield above him while he crouched to absorb the impact shock better. As the two weapons collided, a light exploded from the point of collision, and the two equal forced repelled to send Thor flying back, and Steve to get caught in the making of a small crater. Tony held a hand up to shield his eyes as he watched the two fly apart, then slowly stood up as Thor and Steve did the same.
They all looked around, at the damage to the forest they had all caused, With no one daring to attack the others.
"Are we done here?" Steve asked, sounding slightly breathless. Tony and Thor glanced towards the other and glared slightly but then looked away and nodded.
Tony then remembered the reason they were fighting in the first place and glanced up to the cliff to see that Loki was still there, watching them with a mischievous smirk on his face. 'What's he up to?" Tony thought with a frown, wondering why Loki hadn't left while they settled their differences.