Chapter Fourteen

Tony didn't see Loki again until the moment after he tried to stop Selvig from opening the portal. He had been correct in assuming this was Loki's plan, or at least, what he'd been ordered to do. He only realised, perhaps too late, that it was being built on the top of his tower.

Tony felt it was his fault- that he should've figured this sooner so that the other mind-hostages didn't attack the ship, Loki wouldn't have been forced to kill Coulson (or maybe that wasn't forced? Tony didn't know, but he hoped that it was).

After Loki had made his escape with what other minions remained, trading for Clint who had been snapped out of his trance by a blow to the head, Tony had figured out the rest of the plan while talking to Steve. They quickly discussed how to go about stopping Loki, or at least Steve tried to. Tony, as soon as he could, was in his suit and putting all the energy into the thrusters to get to Loki faster. He knew Cap, Nat and Clint were going to follow him, and somehow they'd contact Bruce and Thor who were god knows where at this moment.

As his tower came closer, he flew up to the roof where Eric Selvig was trying to open the portal.

"Sir, I've shut down the Arc Reactor, but the device is already self-sustaining" JARVIS said through the suit, Tony nodded then hovered above the roof where the man was, his suit cutting out for a split moment every few seconds; he needed to replace it and fast.

"Shut it down, Dr. Selvig."

Selvig turned and gave Tony the creepiest happy smile he had ever seen- worse than Coulson's, and that was saying something.

"It's too late! She can't stop now. She wants to show us something! A
new universe."

"OK." Tony said simply, rolling his eyes then blasting the device, which defended itself with a barrier. Selvig got blasted into a wall and hit his head, falling momentarily unconscious as the barrier pushed Tony back

"The barrier is pure energy. It's unbreachable." Jarvis said.

"Yeah I got that JARVIS - Plan B."

Tony turned to face the landing pad and saw Loki smiling up at him. He gulped nervously as he lowered himself into the landing pad, thinking that he needed to find a way to break the guy behind the scene's hold on Loki for good before the worse could happen.

"Sir, the Mark VII is not ready for deployment."

"Then skip the spinning rims! We're on the clock!"

Tony landed and walked in as the armour around him was removed. He glanced over and saw Loki walking inside the penthouse too, both of them retaining eye contact as they walked inside.

"Miss me already Stark, or am I just that much of a dreamboat that you couldn't stay away?" Loki teased.

Tony chuckled. "I should be saying that to you, this is my tower after all." He quirked an eyebrow.

"I understand you had to restructure to get the whole tower running off the arc reactor. I'm impressed. It works well."

"Thanks. I did do all the heavy lifting. Literally, I lifted the heavy things. And while it was being built, my private elevator was teeming with sweaty workmen. Which, of course, was nice for Pepper and me to watch." He flashed Loki a grin then started to walk over to his ensuite bar. "But uh, yeah, it seems to be working so far, nothing's gone wrong except for that portal being assembled on the roof which probably isn't going to do it any good. You want a drink? I'm having one."

Loki shook his head and smiled. He really had missed this strange man and his ramblings. "Aren't you going to try and stop me? It won't be long until my brother and that irritating one with the righteous voice and that highly impractical outfit arrives."

"I think we've already proved that I'm no match for you strength." He said as he poured himself a scotch, shivering slightly as he remembered that first time when Loki had used his strength to force him to bottom, not that he minded in the end though. "Plus, I'm kind of compromised, so I'm just stalling you. No drink? You sure?"

"If you don't return to Malibu and leave New York, I will be forced to make you." He gave Tony a chance to respond before placing the scepters tip where he knew the arc reactor to be. Nothing happened. "This usually works."

"Was that supposed to do something?" Tony asked, a little amused by how confused Loki looked. "Well, performance issues are not uncommon... You know, one out of five-"

Loki picked him up by the neck and through him out the window. He hoped Tony had finished his way of calling the suit to him, but hoped he may end up at least injured enough to have to be sent home. Tony's stubbornness told him that was not likely.

Something red and gold flew past him and shot through the air towards Tony, opening up to reveal the suit which attached itself to Tony from some recognition bracelets he wore. He had almost forgotten to call for them as Loki threw him, as he wasn't expecting Loki to do that in the slightest. 'Here I though he wanted to save me from pain...' Tony thought bitterly as the thrusters kicked in at the last possible second and he shot back up to the penthouse.

He hovered by the smashed window and glared at Loki, even though the god himself couldn't see it. "Now that was uncalled for. I know my humour can be a little distasteful at time, but..." He raised his hands quickly and shot a blast at Loki before he could dodge it, causing him to fall backwards onto the ground.

"Oooh, I do love it when you take control, Stark." Loki ran at him before skidding along the floor and dropping out the window, caught by a Chitauri on a flying moped. Tony had been two distracted by Loki to see the portal opening and the first of the things coming through.

"Tony, you seeing this?" He heard Clint asking over the comm. line.

"Hm?" He asked, then heard a low grumbling noise from above and looked to see the portal had now opening. "Right. Army." He said to no one in particular, already making calculations on how to approach this. Chasing Loki would have to wait.

-Page Break-

Mjolnir hit the wall next to Loki's head, grabbing his attention. He turned around to see Thor already the summoning the hammer. Loki took the opportunity to swipe at Thor's legs with his sceptre

Thor managed to jump out if the way, and with Mjolnir in hand, he struck down on Loki, who stumbled out of range. They rushed at each other, they and their weapons colliding.

"Look at this! Look around you! You think this madness will end with your rule?" Thor asked as they continued trying to land a hit on the other.

"Well, yes." Loki said, stepping out of the range of Thor's fists, then jabbing the butt of the sceptre into Thor's abs.

Thor groaned but grabbed the sceptre and used it to twist Loki around and slam him into a wall. "And what of your human? The man of Iron? He's fighting these creatures you bought and pushing himself probably to his limits, as are all the Midgardian Avengers... We can stop this, together!" He said, giving Loki a hopeful smile.

"It's too late."

"Loki, it's not too late..." Thor placed his hands on Loki's shoulders, leaving him completely vulnerable for an attack, while he attempted to persuade Loki into helping his and Tony's side of the fight.

Loki's dagger lodged between Thor's ribs and he escaped. He needed to keep Thor fighting the Chitauri.

A few minutes after that, he caught an arrow that Hawkeye had shot at him. He didn't blame the man for wanting to shoot him, as to him it looked like he was wilfully leading the attacking army, but he gave him a look anyway which said 'really?' The man just smirked in reply and pressed a button, causing Loki to look back at the arrow just as it exploded in his hand.

An explosion such as that would do nothing to kill him, and he was sure that Clint should know that, but it was still annoying as it damaged him ride and caused him to fly back onto Stark tower. He had mere moments to recover from the fall before the mindless beast jumped up to join him and threw him through the very same window he had thrown Tony out of earlier.

"ENOUGH! GET YOUR HANDS OFF ME!" Of all the avengers, this one Loki actually feared. Only a little. "I am a God you dull creature, and I will not be bullied by-!" The Hulk grinned as he picked Loki up by the feet with one hand and proceeded to throw him against the floor like a rag doll, leaving him in a Loki shaped hole in the floor.

"Puny god." He said, leaping out the window and onto a neighbouring building.

Loki lay on the smashed up floor, staring up at the ceiling with wide and shocked eyes, which had now faded from the unnatural blue back to his usual mischievous green. He let out a pathetic mewl but otherwise didn't move.

-Page break-

Tony was beginning to tire. No, scratch that. He already was, long ago, but he kept pushing on, the only thought in his mind was that defeating these things would get their leader out of hiding, and then Tony could get at them to make sure they paid for what they did to Loki. Although there wasn't only his physical tiredness that was beginning to take its toll, but the suit was also beginning to loose power too.

As he was fighting off a bunch of the aliens that had swarmed around him on the ground, he heard Fury talk to him over the comms. "Stark, you hearing me? We have a missile headed straight for the city."

Tony's eyes widened, but he kept on fighting, elbowing a Chitauri that made a grab for his face plate. "How long?"

"Three minutes, at best." Fury answered, sounding a little worried which was weirdly out of character. "Stay low and wipe out the missile."

As the line closed, Tony started to think up a plan to get rid of the nuke as quickly as he could without it going off. Seeing as he was probably the most knowledgeable about bombs in the team, he figured he was alone in solving this. He glanced up momentarily as saw more creatures coming through the portal. As he looked, he caught a brief glimpse of the ships on the other side, giving him the ideal location to re-aim the bomb.

"Jarvis, put everything we got into the thrusters!" He shouted, even though there wasn't any need to. He had just under three minutes, he could make it, right? Though the chances were that it was more than likely to be a one way trip... He shook his head and ignored that. He had to put the safety of New York and Loki before himself.

"I just did." Jarvis informed him, and as soon as he did, he left the streets and flew straight up into the sky, pushing off a Chitauri soldier that clung to his leg before he shot off at high speeds to where the nuke was coming from.

As he flew closer, he heard Natasha's voice over the comms. "I can close it! Can anybody hear me? I can shut the portal down!"

Tony was about to answer, telling her to wait a minute but before he could, Steve cut in.

"Do it!"

"No, wait!" Tony answered almost immediately. He could almost picture the look of confusion and doubt on Steve's face.

"Stark, these things are still coming!"

Tony rolled his eyes, although sighed and thought that if not for the bomb, then it would obviously be the right thing to do. "I got a nuke coming in, it's gonna blow in less than a minute. And I know just where to put it."

He finally caught up to it, having to about face so he came at the missile from behind. The missile sped on, so Tony grabbed onto it and gripped it tightly. He started to angle it off course, plotting the correct angles and timings for him to hit the portal perfectly as he flew on.

"Stark, you know that's a one-way trip?" Steve asked, but Tony didn't answer him, instead, speaking to Jarvis.

"Save the rest for return, J." He said, then closed the Avenger lines and focused on his ascent.

As he flew up, he remembered the only one who didn't know of his plan was Loki, and was the only one he really cared about leaving behind. With a sigh, he asked Jarvis where Loki currently was.

"He's currently lying conscious on the floor of your penthouse. Shall I patch a call through?"

"Yeah, please." Tony said, and prayed Loki would answer him. There was only one thing he had to say to him, and it was important he said it before he left, in case he could never say it again. He breathed a sigh of relief as his call connected. "Loki? You there?!"

There was no reply on the line.

"Okay then, Jarvis, make sure this gets left as a message for him then." He knew Loki was listening in to him speaking, but he at least wanted to hear Loki's voice one last time before...

"I don't have much time, and I need to say this now before I..." He paused and swallowed. The portal was so close, and now wasn't the time for nerves to get the better of him, so he continued before Loki could interrupt him. "You're one of the best people in my life, and I honest to god-gods- think I'm falling for you. I know we were only together for like two or three months, but this time apart has told me something that I thought I'd never get to say to you because you'd gone. And I realised, I've never said this to you before. Ever. So now I have one chance to say it, I need to tell you before I go through this portal in case I don't make it back... Loki, I love y-" and the line went dead.

"TONY, YOU GET THE FUCK BACK HERE! JARVIS, JARVIS MAKE HIM COME BACK!"

"I have lost communications with sir. The suit was a prototype, not build to sustain an internal atmosphere in a vacuum." Jarvis replied to him straight away, sounding a little sad in his tone. Loki thought quickly, unsure what to say or do, until he glanced up at the portal again and saw a little dot falling from the sky as it closed behind it.

Tony had slipped unconscious while in space the other side, so wasn't able to slow down his descent back to earth. Thor swung Mjölnir around quickly in the attempt to catch him, but before he could, the Hulk jumped off a building and caught him, then used himself as a landing pad for Tony to crash on.

Thor, Steve and the Hulk all stood around Tony's body as he lay there unmoving and even more worryingly, not breathing.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAH"

"GAHHh!" Tony shouted, gasping for breath as he was shocked back into consciousness. "What just happened? Please tell me nobody kissed me..."

Thor and Steve smiled at his wording, and had both breathed out a sigh of relief too when Tony opening his eyes.

"We won." Steve said tiredly. They all looked pretty beat up, and Tony thought that Clint and Natasha would look the same, if not Loki too.

It took him a few moments to remember what just happened for himself, replaying the events in his head as he then sighed a breath of relief, realising he was safe back on earth. When he remembered his last words to Loki on that call he blushed hard and groaned inwardly. 'Oh fuck, why did I tell him that?' He thought with embarrassment. Luckily, the others were too tired to notice his red face.

"Alright, yeah, well done everyone... Uh... Great job." Tony said encouragingly as he sat up. He was still slightly in shock, high on adrenaline also, but he managed to stand up with the others as Natasha and Clint came to join them. "So... What now?"

"Fury will have us on the clean up assignment to beat all clean up assignments."

"I think we could all use a break first. SHIELD can handle this for a bit."

"What about Loki?" Clint asked. "Last I saw of him, Bruce gave him quite a beating in the tower so..."

Tony tried not to flinch at that, wondering how badly damaged Loki was from that. 'Wait, but if he was unconscious, then that means he hasn't heard my message and I can delete it before he hears it!' Tony thought while also thinking that either way, Loki would know what he did and would kill him for it.

"I will take him back to Asgard to atone for his crimes." Thor said, crossing his arms and looking around for arguments. There were none from the others, except Tony who just glanced away from Thor and shrugged. He didn't want Loki to get taken away.

"Alright, well let's go and catch him before he escaped then." Steve said, to which they all nodded at before returning to the tower, Tony walking slightly slower than the rest.

AN: Some revelation in the next chapter... That's a clue to what happens next ;)