"This is gonna sound bad but, a hostage crisis, seriously? Doesn't S.H.I.E.L.D. have people to deal with that? People that aren't us?"
Tony looked over the floor plan of the captured building as Clint piloted the Quinjet to its destination. A disapproving sigh alerted him to Steve, who was watching him.
"You're right, that did sound bad. I get that you're worried; but Loki can take care of himself, and Fury said it was a pretty standard mission. He just wants us because of the importance of the diplomates taken hostage, so that nothing goes wrong."
"Oh, yeah, because nothing ever goes wrong when we're involved."
Steve fell quiet, nothing but the whirr of the Quinjet filled the air.
It was Bruce who broke the silence.
"I'm addressing the elephant in the room. What was the explosion we heard and why, Thor, is your hand burnt? And where is Loki?"
Shifting uncomfortably in his seat, Tony looked to Thor for back-up.
The god picked up the slack.
"I shall attempt to… paraphrase; however it may be more appropriate to speak on this when we can all give our full attention. It is rather… well, truthfully, I have not fully grasped the situation yet either."
Quiet surprise rippled through the group at Thor's hesitant uncertainty. From that surprise came an utterly attentive flight, as the team listened to Thor carefully tell what he knew about both the Infinity Gems and the probable effects of the Mind Gem.
Tony watched as the team reacted to the news.
From Steve turning away, beginning to pace the short stretch of the Quinjet, to Natasha's closed eyes and dipped head, to Clint; sitting in the pilot's seat, but whose shoulders were obviously tensed. Bruce put his head in his hands.
A long silence smothered the jet as Thor finished. Tony broke it, speaking bluntly.
"So, you can see why we weren't exactly thrilled to go on some random mission right now."
Still pacing, Steve acknowledged him.
"We still need to do this mission, people's lives are at stake. But- yes, we'll definitely have to deal with this… somehow."
Clint's voice cut in from the front of the jet.
"We're above the drop location, Cap."
The team focused on Steve as he shook his head and stopped pacing, drawing in a breath.
"Alright, team, let's get this done quick and easy. Bruce; you stay up here with Clint, monitor the situation, only come down if things are going sideways. Tony, Thor; you saw the possible hostage locations Fury gave us, hit them there first and secure the hostages. Nat and I will parachute down and take out any other hostiles. The whole city is on lockdown, if any hostiles attempt to escape; S.H.I.E.L.D. is waiting just outside the perimeter of the embassy."
Tony nodded and looked to Thor, who returned the gesture.
"I'll take the room in the top floor, you get the basement."
Leaning back in his chair, Tony tapped out the suit protocol code onto the chair's control panel and braced himself as the chair began to shift backwards. His suit came over him and he ejected from the plane, letting himself fall without propulsion to avoid detection from below.
As Tony watched the darkened building, surrounded by blockades and what he had to assume were S.H.I.E.L.D. vehicles, approach, he saw the figure of Thor fly past him.
He engaged his propulsors and spun to land on his feet, bracing to crash through the ceiling of the embassy.
Concrete crumbled around him as shocked exclamations sprung out of everyone in the room.
His targeting system quickly identifying those holding guns, Tony fired off stunning shots, taking down the hijackers before they could even raise their weapons.
"Everybody stay calm. Your white knight is here."
Tony eyed the small group of shocked diplomats. He swiftly made his way to uncuff them. And, in turn, grouped the unconscious invaders together with the same cuffs, welding the cuffs together with his repulsors.
"Don't worry, everything is under control."
Distant gunshots spooked the newly freed diplomats, a few of whom whimpered.
Moving to the window, Tony focused on the dark figure of Natasha taking down someone with her Widow Bites.
Reassured, Tony turned his attention inwards, speaking only to Jarvis.
"Did you take care of the window situation back at the tower?"
"To the best of my abilities, sir."
"You're a lifesaver, Jarvis. I can't say that enough."
"It's simply my job, sir."
00000
Much to the relief of the team; the mission finished without a hitch and they were able to skirt around Director Fury's prying questions, though they all agreed he'd have to know at some point, once they knew more.
Unfortunately, that didn't seem like it was going to be any time soon. All of their attempts over the past week at manipulating the orb around the gem resulted in Tony having to build and fortify a containment area around the orb to avoid blowing something up every time they tried to fiddle with it. They made sure to be careful not to spend too much time around it to avoid being influenced by its presence.
An incomplete blueprint sat in front of Tony. He stared tiredly at the rough sketches and glanced at the pile of crumpled failed blueprints. Nothing he tried worked, it wasn't a welcome phenomenon.
The week-long absence of an unstable Loki weighed heavily on his mind. On one hand; Tony held out hope that perhaps Loki had come to his senses and maybe gone to "detox" himself from the gem's influence. On the other hand; Tony knew that was a long shot, Loki had seemed pretty close to jumping right off the deep end head first the last time they'd spoke.
Tony just wished Loki had left them some idea of where he-
"Son of a bitch, I'm a dumbass."
He sprung from his seat, startling Bruce, who whipped around to look at him; almost losing his glasses.
"What?!"
Tony shook his head, silently berating himself.
"I've been ignoring- stay here I'm gonna get Thor."
Minutes later Tony and the blonde god exited the elevator to Loki's floor.
"Thor, why can't you talk to Hel, she's less likely to… I don't know- smite you, or something."
"She would not smite you, that's very disrespectful. And she has deemed you someone worth speaking to on previous occasions, so…"
"You're just scared to talk to her."
Thor threw him an offended look as the door to Loki's room slid open.
"I am not-"
Tony flung his arm out to alert Thor to the unexpected figure of Loki lounging on his bed, engrossed in a book.
A mix of relief and apprehension flowed over Tony as he slowly stepped towards the dark haired god, who had either not noticed them, or was purposely ignoring them. Suddenly unsure of what to do, Tony stumbled over his words.
"Uhh… hey, Loki? We- um-"
Loki looked up from his book, he snapped it shut and held a finger to quiet Tony.
"Just a minute, I'm… busy."
"What? This isn't-"
A shimmer of green light cut Tony off as a second Loki appeared in the room, tucking something into the neck of his loose flowing shirt. The Loki on the bed flickered out of existence with a strange blue glow. The book fell to the bed.
The remaining Loki grinned at them.
"Hello."
Much to Tony's surprise; Loki's exhaustion seemed to have vanished along with his hunched posture. Though his right hand still tapped against his thigh arrhythmically.
Just as Tony opened his mouth to retort; Thor barreled past him.
To avoid his larger brother, Loki stepped to the side.
Quickly. Too quickly.
The simple movement unsettled Tony. He tried to shake it off, blaming it on him blinking weird, but the feeling didn't leave, even as Thor began to berate Loki.
"Brother, where have you been! And that gem, do you have any idea what you are dealing with?! Keeping that thing a secret from us was incredibly reckless!"
Loki took another step away, this time nothing felt strange about it to Tony, and held his hands up defensively. Tony watched suspiciously as Loki glanced, warily, between his furious brother and the encapsulated golden gem.
"What is wrong with you? I am allowed to do as I please, I wasn't aware I had to report my every action to you. Although... "
The dark haired god paused, his shifting gaze settling on Thor, his voice now curious.
"... what am I dealing with; exactly, dear brother? Do tell."
Taking initiative, Tony stepped in between the gods.
"How about; we talk about this not in the vicinity of that gem."
Loki rolled his eyes, but consented without argument. Much to Tony's surprise.
Seconds later Loki's hand was on his shoulder and Tony's vision dissolved.
Tony heard the startled yelps of his friends before he could see again. When he could, he pulled away from Loki, shuddering.
"Next time; warn me when you're going to rearrange my organs."
He got no response from Loki, who swept silently to an open lounger, ignoring the concerned murmurs of the others. Loki's intense eyes hardly left Thor, impatient curiosity blazing deep within them. His slim fingers tapped impatiently against his crossed arms.
When no one spoke; Loki sighed, beginning to tap his foot to the same rhythm as his fingers.
"Whatever it is you wished to tell me was clearly of great urgency. To loosen your tongues, I'll tell you all where I was the last week. Once you tell me what exactly that gem is, of course."
Reigning in an annoyed grumble, Tony moved to sprawl across a couch, knowing they weren't going to get anything out of the stubborn Trickster until they met his request.
"Let me call Bruce up here first."
What followed was a few minutes of dropped topics as Loki ignored any questions sent his way, his intense green eyes watching Thor's every move. Statue-esque save for his constantly moving fingers. When, at last, Bruce entered and hurriedly found a seat, Thor started speaking. Though Tony noticed some hesitation in his voice.
"If you had only told us earlier, I could have told you what it is long before any negative side effects manifested… It's something called the "Mind Gem", one of six-"
"-Infinity Gems."
Loki cut his brother off, much to the surprise of Thor, and closed his eyes, face unreadable.
"I had suspected as much within the first few weeks. And, yes, brother, I do have some knowledge of the elusive Gems… You don't spend a year in the void between worlds and not learn of their existence from someone. You can skip the explanation of what they are,I know that and I know the Mind Gem can manipulate lesser minds-."
Anger rose in Tony's chest and he straightened in his seat.
"You knew how dangerous that thing was and only told me part of it? You put that on me, you dick! For months I worried about you killing yourself with that thing, or going crazy, or disappearing forever, but I thought "maybe I'm overreacting", good to know I wasn't. You lied to me, to the people who care about you, because you were too selfish to give this new power up."
In response to his scathing words; Loki stood in single a fluid motion, eyes now open and filled with defensive anger.
"I told you I had limited understanding of the gem, which was true! How could I know if you would reasonably react the knowledge of what it was! I-"
"Don't give me that bullshit about "protecting us" again! We try trust you, you should try to trust us, that's what a team does!"
Propelled by his building emotions, Tony lept up and approached the god, who, as he did, fell into a stone cold expression, his voice settling into an almost monotone.
"Fine, you want me to trust you? I'll place the Mind Gem in a safe place of your choosing, it'll stay there indefinitely. I just want to know more about it. How does that sound?"
Processing Loki's words, Tony stopped mid stride.
"Wha- Just like that?"
"If it will get you to stop accusing me like this, yes."
Loki turned away curtly from Tony and looked back to Thor.
"So please, Thor, go on."
00000
After Thor''s subsequent explanation and some deliberation, the team decided the Gem was safest in the hands of someone it couldn't manipulate. It would be placed on one of the unused floors, which could be sealed off by Jarvis. Monitored by scanners and protected by a less volatile form of Loki's protective bubble.
Natasha had brought up something else too, much to the ire of Loki.
A rudimentary tracker bracelet, to be worn by the god.
"Look, Loki, a week ago you wouldn't part with the thing. It's just a precaution, I know you don't want to but work with us."
"Ridiculous…"
"C'mon, we already have the tech and something fitted for you that should do the job- Tony'll just need to modify it so it won't shock you when you try to move."
"Excuse me?"
Natasha had waved her hand dismissively.
"It's from a while ago, I just kept it… better to be safe than sorry, right? Don't take it personally."
The modification had been easy for Tony, though he had some qualms about the morality of its original intention. It had taken less than an hour to strip and re-assemble the bracelet.
Now, as they lounged around, a weight lifted from the group as the Gem was securely stored away, Loki absent-mindedly twisted the tight contraption around his wrist. Tony noticed how it pulled at the god's skin.
"I can loosen that thing, if you want."
Loki didn't reply immediately, it was only after Tony snapped his fingers in front of the god's face that he responded, annoyance in his voice.
"Oh no, it's fine."
"…Suit yourself."
Taking advantage of this lapse of silence, Steve cleared his throat and spoke.
"Alright Loki, you said you'd tell us what you were doing for the last week."
Frustration flashed across Loki's face and he took a deep breath.
"I took a break from the Gem, a personal vacation of sorts."
Clint threw a skeptical look at the dark haired god.
"Just like that? You can't stand to part from the thing and you suddenly just… take a break?"
"I had an outside opinion on the matter."
Loki spoke quickly and curtly, staring forward.
"Okay… sure… but where did you go?"
"A few of my favorite meditation spots."
The uncooperative nature of Loki's answers didn't inspire much confidence in Tony and he could tell the other's felt the same. He could feel that this wasn't over, something was going to come back to bite them, something always did.
Tony just had to attempt to believe that it wouldn't be the silent Trickster sitting to his left.
AN: Time moves fast, this took a while. It'll probably take a while for the next chapter to come out as well, now that college is in full swing. Leave feedback if you want, it helps.