Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Footsteps echoed down the hallways of SHIELD. Agents wearing more subtle weaponry co-mingled with guards fully equipped with arms that could do some damage against those opposing them. A group of two such guards waltzed down the corridor towards a conference room.

Two guards were already standing on either side of the door and the pair already there exchanged a glance. The new guards stood a few feet from the original pair and one of them spoke up.

“We just got a message from command, we’re to replace you, code hyacintho caelum vale .”

At the utterance of that code the two guards stood at a higher attention and relinquished the position to the two newcomers, who posted themselves outside of the room and glanced at each other for confirmation. They held the large weapons in ready mode and faced away from the room, watching the original guards walk away.

After standing at attention for at least ten minutes, the door to the conference room activated, moving into the wall and allowing the rooms occupants out.

Out came the Avengers: Steve Rogers, Clint Barton, Natasha Romanoff, Bruce Banner, Tony Stark, and Thor (recently returned for a short time from Asgard).

The two guards fell into step with the Avengers and escorted them towards the waiting Quinjet. As the Avengers bantered and found seats around the jet the two guards walked to the front and entered the cockpit, taking the two seats next to the controls and setting their weapons aside.

Taking the controls, the one guard, now pilot, took off from the landing platform and the jet soured into the sky. Unbeknownst to the Avengers, the jet was not heading back to the tower.

Flying West rather than towards New York, the Avengers remained oblivious.

That is, until a certain hero tried to get into contact with his AI. Shooting a frantic look at the other Avengers, Stark stood up and began to pace, uttering code words that would cause the AI to respond in all conditions except complete restriction between JARVIS and his creator.

Summoning his suit around him, the red and gold medal flew through the air and clicked into place. Everyone else in the Quinjet stood up in alarm at Tony’s sudden actions. Stark, ignoring the frantic questions that his teammates were asking while they were grabbing weapons as well, stepped towards the door to the jet, waiting for it to open upon his command.

It didn’t.

He turned around to look at the other Avengers, who, by now, had grabbed all of their weapons. Natasha glanced at the cockpit and advanced with her guns raised. She shook the handle of the door and discovered that it had been locked. Aiming her gun at the handle, she prepared to shoot, it but was stopped by the jet jolting suddenly to the side and the sound of the jet landing, accompanied by a loud clang.

The ramp of the jet opened and lowered towards the ground. Sending a glance towards the cockpit door, the Avengers slowly crept out of the jet, weapons raised, into a huge, empty (except for the jet), gray room.

Before they could do anything, Tony shouted out in shock as his armor came clattering down around him and he was left standing in a pile of what had been the Iron Man armor. The genius looked down wide eyed with his hands spread out before him. A choking noise sounded from his open mouth. The Avengers all stared at him until Steve spoke up.

“I thought you said no one else but you could manipulate the armor.”

The genius looked up at Steve and the supersoldier noticed a slight glimmer of fear in Tony’s eyes that was usually not present.

Swallowing, he replied, “I thought I was the only one who could manipulate it.”

Thor swung his hammer, Clint raised his bow, Steve took his shield off of where it sat on his back, Natasha added more bullets into her gun, and Bruce backed up to stand next to Tony, who was still frozen amidst the remains of his armor.

A whining sound echoed around the room and became increasingly loud until suddenly, all of the Avengers’ weaponry, including Thor's hammer, were pulled by some magnetic force to the wall.

There they stuck, quivering against the gray surface, when the door to the cockpit swung open and the two guards stepped out. As they walked forward, Bruce whispered to Tony, as the other Avengers got into fighting stances.

“Tony, I can’t transform.”

The genius looked at him in shock but was unable to respond before one of the two guards spoke up, a voice modifier in place.

“Do not worry, Dr. Banner. The beast will be unable to return for a short while, enough for us to get what we came for.”

Steve straightened up. “You’ll never get anything from us.”

The other guard chuckled and Natasha's eye twitched. She recognized the laugh from somewhere but couldn’t pinpoint where she had heard it before.

Whacking the guard lightly on the shoulder, the one who had done all the speaking continued, “We do not require anything physical to ‘get’, as you so put it. We only require information from Thor as to the location of a certain artifact.”

The Asgardian roared and charged the two guards with a cry of “You will never get anything from me!”

Without moving an inch, the guard that had not spoken threw two pieces of gleaming metal at the Asgardian. The metal quickly formed into two bands that wrapped around Thor's arms and legs and pinned him to the wall in the same manner that their weapons had been bound.

The metal moved with Thor's struggles to escape and trapped him. Blue light flickered around the edges and Natasha glanced between it and the light that remained embedded in the chest of one of her teammates.

The spy inhaled quickly and gave unspoken direction towards Clint, who responded with a gaze. The two spies started to approach subtly as Steve made his own advances towards the two masked figures, Tony and Bruce heading over to try and dismantle Thor’s bonds.

The silent figure threw the same things at Steve as he had at Thor while the figure who had spoken the most grabbed Clint’s fist as it made its way towards their helmet.

While he was busy restraining Steve, Natasha had advanced on the second figure. Before she could do anything, Clint vaulted upwards and kicked the mask off of the person who had spoken the whole time. His actions resulted in a scream of rage and a flash of green magic pining the archer to the wall as the trickster god himself was revealed.

Thor screamed out loud in astonishment at the view of his brother, who looked… older than he had when Thor had seen him last.

Using the distraction, Natasha aimed a a kick at the second masked figure. Seeing her attack coming he grabbed her leg and she felt the metal bands that he had flung at Steve and Thor form around her own leg.

Before it could fully form, she whipped both of her legs around his neck in a chokehold and did a backflip off. Natasha fell down to the ground and the metal pulled her towards the wall, pinning her upwards next to Clint, Steve, and Thor. Tony and Bruce paused in their work to look in astonishment at the second figure.

Natasha’s actions had caused his helmet to fall off. Loki gazed at the other in what looked like concern as he straightened up and smirked at the Avengers.

The person standing in front of them, though obviously older (as the… graying hair indicated) and working with a supervillain, was unmistakable.

Tony Stark.  

Chapter Text

Ash coated his hands as the sun glared from above. He turned away from its light and gazed at the destruction around him.

He was on an alien planet.

His... son died on an alien planet.

He had none of his son to bring home except the ash coating his hand.

He clenched his fist and yelled in anger, kicking a piece of scrap metal that lay near him.

It went flying into the distance, the sound echoing all over. Disturbing the silence.

The blue alien inspected him with a gaze that he couldn’t interpret. She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could, a sound began to form to their right and a bright green portal appeared a few feet off the ground.

Nebula and Tony both raised their armaments and pointed them at the portal.

The sound of someone screaming gradually became louder and louder, until suddenly, the god of mischief himself fell out of the portal and onto the ground.

The portal disappeared and he got up from the ground, dusting himself off.

He gazed around at the two warriors and the location.

Sighing, he began to speak. “It seems I’m too late then.”

Tony narrowed his eyes. “Too late for what?”

Loki returned the gaze. “Too late to kill the mad Titan where he stood.”

Nebula interjected, “He won, it’s too late to stop him. Both of us would love to have killed him but neither of us were able to. What makes you think that you would be able to do it and not us?”

Loki’s gaze rested on Tony. “What did he do to make a hero believe in murder?”

“I was never a hero, and he killed my son.”

“Ah, love, it makes all of us do things that would go against our nature.”

“I’ve murdered before. Have you not read my resume?”

“Your weapons murdered people, you didn’t pull the trigger.”

“I’ve killed people with my weapons.”

“Ah, and who would they be?”

“Terrorists, villains, whoever seeks to do harm.”

“You murdered in defense of others. This time it would be revenge, would it not?”

“I’m fine with some revenge.”

Loki grinned at the hero. “Don’t worry. I have a way to make it where you can do some preventative murder along with some revenge.”

Tony sighed, “Well thanks for telling me that after you made me go dark there.”

The hero coughed and grabbed his side, doubling over. Loki ran forward and caught him before he could hit the ground.

The sorcerer lifted the hero’s hand from where it sat and gazed down at the wound in his side.

“Now now, Stark, I can’t have you dying right before we enact this plan.”

The sorcerer's green magic dusted itself over the wound decorating Tony’s side and began to knit it together, leaving Tony with a sore side but no mortal wounds.

He patted his side and hummed. “Since you just saved my life, I think you can call me Tony now.”

Loki tilted his head. “You seem quite trusting of someone who tried to kill you once.”

“Oh, I figured out you were mind controlled a while ago. Was it Thanos? Is that why you want to kill him?”

“...”

“Oh whoops. Was the mind control to stay on the down low? Don’t worry, emo Gandalf, your secret is safe with me. Everyone else still thinks you were the real villain behind the invasion.”

“What did you just call me?”

Tony grinned and opened his mouth to repeat the nickname, but Nebula interjected before the banter could continue.

“I don’t believe this is necessary. Loki, what exactly is your plan that you keep mentioning?”

The sorcerer reached under his attire and pulled out a small stone circle with runes on it that was attached to a leather cord. When it caught the sunlight, golden light seemed to skim over it momentarily before disappearing.

He raised it up for the other two to see and began to speak.

“This amulet was formed through the influence of the Time Stone before the stone in question was sent to Midgard. I grabbed it from Asgard’s vault right before it was destroyed. My… my mother taught me how to use it once. With it we would be able to travel through time and kill Thanos before he can kill those we love.”

Tony narrowed his eyes. “Can you control it?”

“Probably.”

“What’d you mean, probably ?”

“It may take a few tries to get precision correct. It should not be a problem if the odds are ever in our favor.”

Tony started to smile until he suddenly turned pale and looked back at the ground.

Loki gazed at the hero, who continued to open and close his hand while inspecting the dirt on the ground below them.

“Stark. What ails you?’

Tony looked up and sent the god of mischief a sad smile.

“You just accidentally made a reference to something from Earth. My… son. Peter. He referenced things all the time. It’s my fault he was here. He should have been home. God. He was going on a field trip right before all this! The kid was so excited. Then… then he had to try and do the right thing. He had to help out.”

Nebula began to speak. “Gamora. She was the same. A hero.”

Loki smiled. “Look at this. We all deny being heros but the ones we… care about happen to be such. This seems rather apt.”

Tony frowned. “Hey. I have a question. If we’re travelling back in time to kill Thanos, wouldn’t that create a paradox?”

“Oh.”

“Good thing I watch too much Doctor Who.”

“I don’t see what this has to do with the situation.”

“It’s a show back on Earth. The premise is that there’s an alien known as the Doctor who travels time and space. It gets into paradoxes a lot and they all get miraculously saved from them because of good, sometimes bad, writing.”

“What does this have to do with our plan?”

“I just figured out how to do this without ruining the known universe. How long could one of us theoretically use the Infinity Gauntlet?”

“Theoretically? Without magical intervention, maybe a minute before going insane.”

“How would we get magical intervention?”

Nebula and Tony both looked at Loki while the mage pondered the question.

“There’s a… possibility that an artifact could help us in the situation. The only time I’ve heard the possible location of it would be when Thor was ordered to hide it. Why Mother would have him hide it is beyond me! It ended up disappearing…”

“What?”

“It disappeared.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“Mother wasn’t upset… that means it was used to fulfill its purpose.”

Tony grinned. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

“We would need to steal it.”

“I always wanted to be in a heist.”

Chapter Text

Silence reigned throughout the room as everyone stared at Tony, who flickered his gaze at all of them until resting upon Loki. To the surprise of the Avengers, the trickster god mouthed “are you okay” at the genius, who nodded in confirmation.

The older Tony spoke to Loki. “Now that our disguises are no longer useful, could you please get rid of this disgusting uniform?”

Loki smirked, “Why, Tony, I knew you would ask me to take your clothes off eventually, but I never expected it to be in front of your colleagues.”

Clint choked on the air that he was breathing as everyone stared wide eyed at the exchange.

Tony smirked, “It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve had an audience.”

A very quiet “oh God please no” came from where Clint was held.

Loki rolled his eyes and waved his hand. His generic green and black armor appeared while Tony’s SHIELD uniform melted away to reveal a battered running suit that had a new style of arc reactor attached to the front of it and a massive gouge in the side that appeared to be soaked in dried blood.

Thor was the first to speak. Seemingly forgetting about his restraints, he choked out a sentence.

“Brother… Man of Iron… what is this? Why have you brought us here?”

Loki glanced at Tony and raised an eyebrow. The genius sighed and turned to speak to Thor. “We’re here for exactly what Loki said earlier. What is the location of  the Helm of Awe?”

Thor gasped and went silent, eyes flickering between the two standing in front of him. Steve took the opportunity to speak, his eyes showing betrayal.

“Tony… why… why are you doing this?”

The genius looked away from the supersoldier and subconsciously placed his hand over the arc reactor. “It’s the only way, Rogers.”

Natasha broke into the conversation. “Only way to do what?”

Before the older Tony could reply, the one that was standing next to Bruce raised his hand and interrupted.

“Can I just interject for a hot sec? All right, so, hi… me. This is really weird. Four questions and one comment. Comment one is: see, Steve, I did tell you I was the only one who could manipulate the armor. Question one is: is this a Iron Man by Black Sabbath situation? I just want to know so I can prep. Question two: what happen to your… our?... side, you look like you got kebabed. Question three: The hair… I thought we promised that we’d never let it start to gray without taking precautions. Finally, question four: why are you working with reindeer games of all people?”

Everyone rolled their eyes at Tony’s rambling while also being intrigued as to what the answers would be. Loki raised an eyebrow.

“Reindeer games?”

Natasha interrupted. “Are you trying to tell me that the Tony you seem to be working with hasn’t regaled you with reference based nicknames?”

The Tony standing next to Loki flinched and placed a hand on Loki’s shoulder to stop the Asgardian from answering.

He directed his gaze at his younger self and grinned a tiny bit. “This is… moderately a Black Sabbath situation, yes. It looks like I got kebabed because I did. The hair is not my fault and it was bound to happen eventually with… never mind. I’m with Loki because we are both working towards the same goal.”

The younger Tony nodded enthusiastically, “All right then. What time are you from?”

Steve frowned. “Wait, when did we get to time travel?”

Both Tonys looked at Steve and responded at the same time. “Iron Man by Black Sabbath.”

The others looked in shock at the two Tonys. The younger one grinning and the older one with a slight upwards trend of his mouth.

Clint gasped. “Wait. Does this mean that your whole ‘I am Iron Man’ speech was just you quoting a song?”

The younger Tony turned towards the archer and grinned.

Clint rolled his eyes.

Natasha searched the older Tony’s face and asked a question. “If we’re basing our information off of that song, who did you come to kill?”

The smile dropped off of Tony's face as he gazed absently at the empty wall. Loki, seeing that Tony would not be responding, decided to answer for him.

“The Mad Titan. He is a scourge upon this universe and we seek to stop him before he can… do the things that he did.”

Clint, not caring about the melancholy state that the two time travelers had fallen into, decided to speak up. “What’d he do?”

The two went silent. Loki crossed his arms as Tony shuffled back and forth. Bruce injected quietly. “What’d he do?”

Loki and Tony looked at each other and seemed to have a silent conversation that the Avengers couldn’t understand. Tony nodded and the trickster sighed.

Loki glared at the archer. “Not only did he invade my mind and force me to fall farther into insanity than the void had, but he also killed off… people I had sworn to protect. As to what he did to Anthony, I cannot answer.”

Everyone turned to look at Tony who continued to stare at the wall with glassy eyes. His hand twitched. Knowing he had to answer, he took a deep breath and whispered,

“He turned half of the universe to dust and he killed… he killed my kid. I held him in my arms as he turned to ash and was blown away by the wind on an alien planet.”

Silence reigned once again and everyone either watched the older Tony closely or exchanged startled glances with each other.

The younger Tony began to speak. “I… I have a kid?”

The older Tony directed a sad smile at himself and sniffed. “We do indeed, and what a kid he is… was. Peter. Smart kid. Never knew when to stop talking and was constantly spouting references left and right. I was training him to take over for me with Iron Man and with the company. He would have been so good at it too.”

Loki placed a hand on Tony’s shoulder. “Anthony, we will get him back.”

Tony smiled sadly. “Thanks, Lokes.”

Thor looked around at the situation and decided to chime in.

“Man of Iron. I am truly sorry for your loss The Mad Titan has no care for his actions.” Turning towards Loki, he continued, “Brother, may I ask? Who were the people that you swore to protect?”

A loud beeping interrupted the interaction and the older Tony pulled out what looked like a very advanced phone. Reading the screen for a second, he tapped some buttons on the screen and the ceiling of the large room opened up, allowing a spacecraft to land next to the jet. The ramp opened up and a blue female with lots of weapons on her, and what looked like technology embedded in her body, walked out.

Her black eyes flickered around the room, inspecting the state of things, and she sauntered over to where Tony and Loki were standing.

Tony smiled and waved at her while Loki nodded. “Hey Nebula! Welcome to the party.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Do you have the information yet?”

Tony slide the phone back into his pocket. “Not yet, no.”

Nebula slide a knife out of where it rested at her side and stared menacingly at the Avengers. “I can make them talk.”

The genius sighed as Loki began to chuckle. “Nebula, no, we talked about this. Torture is a big no.”

She looked over at the Avengers and turned to look at Tony in confusion. “I thought you said that these were the people who betrayed you? Why would you not wish for them to suffer?”

Tony threw his hands up in the air as the Avengers turned to look at him in shock. Steve shot a hardened look at Nebula. “We would never betray him, he’s our friend.”

The older Tony placed his hands on his knees and bent over. To everyone's surprise, the man began to giggle madly.

Nebula narrowed her eyes and glanced between the laughing Tony and the confused Steve. “Stark. Stark, is this not the man who left you for dead after protecting your parents’ murderer?”

The younger Tony interrupted. “Wait, excuse me, what?”

The older Tony continued to laugh. Loki began to smirk at the chaos of emotions that was going through each Avenger. Nebula sheathed her knife and stood with her arms crossed.

Finally, Tony stood up completely and patted Loki on the shoulder. “I’m good now. Sorry, that was just too good.”

Steve frowned. “Tony…”

“No no, you don’t get to talk to me.”

Steve looked taken aback and Natasha shot a calculating glance at the group. In the silence, Thor decided to speak up.

“Brother… before the arrival of your and the Man of Iron’s… friend, I asked you a question. Who was it you swore to protect?”

The trickster god looked at Tony who nodded. Sighing he crossed his arms and mumbled. Looking up at Thor, he closed his eyes for a second and took a deep breath. “The surviving Asgardians.”

Thor smiled at his Brother with tears beginning to glisten in his eyes. “It is good to see you back, Brother. You’ll find the Helm hidden on Asgard where you stabbed me when we were 8.”

Loki smiled at his brother as the other Avengers (except for Tony) looked at the Asgardian in shock. Nebula sighed, realizing that she wouldn’t get the the chance to… extract information.

Natasha was the first to recover. “Now that you have the information, what’s going to happen to us? I can’t imagine you just leaving this paradox to sit here.”

Tony smiled at the spy as Loki summoned his green magic to swirl around his hands.

“Now… you forget.”

The Avengers were enveloped in green.

A Quinjet was returned to the SHIELD facility and two guards reported that the Avengers had been successfully returned to the tower with no incidents on route.

That night, Tony dreamed of armies in the sky and woke up with tears running down his face and a hand clenched to his chest.

Chapter Text

The Milano touched down in a clearing deep within Asgard’s forests. Nebula sat in the pilot’s seat while Tony struggled to hold Loki up as the trickster bent over in pain.

Tony stared at the Loki with fear and concern in his eyes.

“Are you okay?”

Loki growled and batted Tony’s hand away from him.

“Of course I’m okay.”

Tony frowned. “Well, you don’t seem okay. What’s up, Snape?”

Loki turned to glare at the mortal. “It is none of your business. Why should you care about an enemy anyways?”

Tony snorted. “Really? This argument again? I thought we already hashed this one out? I’m really getting mixed messages here, Lokes. You’re stuck with me and Nebula. Honestly, I think I’m probably a better person for the whole heart to heart even though I fully admit that I’m the emotionally constipated one.”

Loki stared at the walls of the ship in silence. Tony watched him for a good minute before throwing his arms up in the air, muttering under his breath, and walking out of the room to go join Nebula where she was prepping for the excursion.

Once he was alone in the room, Loki fished out the amulet that allowed them to travel through time.

Cracks were spread out across the stone and the golden light had disappeared from half of the stone. While inspecting the amulet, Loki began to speak quietly to himself.

“One more trip.”

The trickster closed his eyes and took a deep breath before straightening up and checking his magic supply. It had lashed out at him moments before after traveling from the incident with the Avengers team to Asgard many years before. He still had his reserves available but they were being depleted by the use of the amulet.

Surprisingly, his magic seemed to be… discontent. Frowning, Loki dug deeper and discovered that the source revolved around his latest interaction with Stark. Cursing, the trickster lashed out away from his center and grimaced, determined to not acknowledge the discomfort.

His magic always seemed to get attached to those that would not be beneficial for prolonged interaction.

Muttering under his breath, the trickster wandered into the room where Nebula and Stark were preparing their weapons.

Nebula had equipped herself with multiple blasters and Stark had replenished the nanoparticles in his suit. Nebula was sitting on a crate sharpening a blade, while Stark rambled on about some Midgardian show.

“So then the whole question was, wait a minute, how can we change the future without creating a paradox? The answer was that the act of changing the future was null because their future selves had already fixed it. They just had to go through the same course of action in order to keep everything the same. So that’s why my plan, to make our past selves think that everything happened, will keep the cycle of us fixing the future going.”

Nebula stared at him while placing the knife in her thigh holster. “This seems too complicated.”

Tony waved his finger at her. “It may be complicated but the fact that we’re here right now means that the plan will work.”

Loki interrupted from where he was leaning against the wall. “I think you’re overthinking this, Stark.”

Tony frowned and placed his hands on his hips. “Oh yeah? What’s your brilliant plan?”

Loki sighed, “I have already told you. We get the Helm of Awe and then we take the Infinity Gauntlet. I will wield the gauntlet and fix all of this.”

Tony and Nebula immediately erupted into cries (at least for Tony) of “No!” and “Oh hell no!”

Loki raised an eyebrow. “Why such extreme reaction? I am the only one who could resist the gauntlet’s power.”

Nebula narrowed her eyes. “I trust neither of you.”

Tony snorted. “Thanks.”

Silence reigned in the ship as the three gave each other assessing glances. Loki sighed.

“Alright. We can argue about the gauntlet later. For now, we need to get the Helm of Awe.”

Tony raised his hand. “Wait. Is this another horny helmet?”

Loki sighed. “No. It’s not a helmet, it’s a symbol. It’s been engraved on a magic infused stone.”

Tony and Nebula looked at each other before nodding and gesturing for Loki to continue.

The trickster used his magic to pull up a diagram of the castle.

“Here’s the plan. I will use my magic to cloak all of us in the disguise of a guard. We will take this route through the palace.”

A green line scrawled its way through the picture.

“This route will decrease the chance of us running into anyone who could see through the disguise. Once there, we will enter into… Thor’s room. The Helm should be concealed somewhere on the balcony.”

Tony stared at Loki. “We’re breaking into Thor’s room?”

“Yes.”

“Great.”

“In the chance that we are caught, whoever is closest to the Helm will grab it and make their way to the ship. I have cloaked the Milano so Heimdall will not be able to see it. If the others are captured, whoever makes it back to the ship is to give it three days before going along with the plan.”

Tony spluttered, “Wait. We’re just going to leave each other? I thought we were a team?”

Nebula turned to look at Tony. “I would gladly abandon both of you.”

Tony placed his head in his hands and sighed. Loki rolled his eyes. “Three days to let the others escape. Fine?”

Nebula nodded at the trickster. Having her affirmation, Loki looked at Tony.

“Stark?”

“... fine.”

Having come to an agreement about the plan, the three left the ship and Loki waved his hand. Green magic crept over the group and in their place were three nondescript guards.

Tony looked down and gasped, patting his body. “Oh, that’s weird. I can’t feel any of this and I know I’m still wearing the armor, but wow, this looks real.”

The genius looked up at Loki with a spark in his eye. “Lokes, I have to run tests on this! When we get home…”

Tony stopped, suddenly realizing what he had said.

Nebula rolled her eyes and started walking towards the city. Loki paused, searching Tony with his eyes.

Tony floundered for a bit. “I mean… what I meant was…”

Loki gave him a tiny smile. “Understood.”

The two went quiet and then ran forward to catch up to Nebula.

The golden city rose up before them.

The three walked through the sprawling neighborhoods and shopping centers. Tony’s gaze wandered around, soaking in all of the information that was presented before him.

Nebula glanced at the genius and whacked his arm, drawing his attention to the fact that they were supposed to be Asgardian guards, not tourists.

After making their way through the city, they approached the gates to the palace.

Loki had informed Nebula and Tony beforehand that because of the magic soaked into the gates, they could not lie as to what their intentions inside the castle were. The trickster had assured the two that he had it well under control.

They came to attention under the golden gates and a guard approached them.

The guard narrowed his eyes. “What is your business this day?”

Loki responded, “We are under orders to retrieve an artifact for one of the princes.”

Looking at Loki curiously, the guard nodded and allowed the three to pass.

Unbeknownst to them, another pair of eyes watched their entrance. Those eyes narrowed and the person they belonged to began to sneak behind the group.

Making their way through the castle, the three came up upon a large set of golden doors.

Pausing in front of them, Tony snorted. “This is the entrance to Thor’s room? I can only imagine the inside.”

Loki looked at the doors in apprehension. “We can only hope that he’s not in his rooms. Mother shielded it so I cannot confirm or deny his presence.”

Glancing between the two, Nebula decided to act. “There’s only one way to find out.”

She pushed the doors open and ran in.

Tony and Loki went in after her.

Gold. Gold everywhere.

Tony made gagging noises as the metal gleamed across almost every surface.

“This is disgusting.”

Loki nodded and led the other two towards the balcony.

The view was spectacular.

If it wasn’t for all of the gold.

Loki walked over to one of the banisters and scanned it with his magic.

There.

“It’s right underneath the banister, resting in a cutout within the wood.”

Nebula nodded and began to search for the Helm.

A crash sounded behind them.

“Stop! Desist and surrender, enemies of Asgard!”

Tony and Loki whipped around to face none other than Lady Sif and a whole regiment of guards.

Loki sighed and snapped his fingers. The guard illusion disappeared off of the three.

Nebula and Tony looked just like they always did, with their weapons in full view.

Loki, to Tony’s surprise, didn’t look like Loki. With brown hair, brown eyes, and a slightly different face shape, he was hardly recognizable.

Nodding to himself, Tony whispered under his breath, “Shapeshifter, right.”

Loki grinned at him in response.

Lady Sif pulled out her sword and the guards shifted back to point their spears towards the group.

Tony readied his repulsors and Loki pulled out his knives.

Nebula… Nebula found the Helm. Pulling the stone with the strange symbols drawn on it out from where it had been stashed, she held it up for the other two to see.

Lady Sif charged at the group.

Nebula grinned. “Three days.”

Much to Tony’s surprise, she then proceeded to backflip off of the balcony, leaving Loki and Tony to fend for themselves.

They turned towards the approaching guards and began to fight.

Blades clashed.

Repulsors shot.

Battle cries were shouted.

Tony and Loki stood back to back, fending off the guards in a hail of swords and energy shot from the Iron Man armor. They fought seamlessly, swapping sides whenever it became necessary. Grins were exchanged in the process as the two became caught up in the adrenaline of the fight.

Lightning flashed.

Sif shouted in triumph.

Loki and Tony looked towards each other in a panic as the god of thunder landed on the balcony.

Recognizing neither Tony nor Loki, due to never having met Tony at this point and Loki being shape shifted, Thor bellowed loudly and raised Mjolnir high.

More lighting.

Screaming.

Darkness.

Chapter Text

The first thing Tony noticed was that his body seemed to be laying on a stone floor, but his head was elevated and on…

He opened his eyes and sat up from where his head had been laying in Loki’s lap.

He blinked a few times and ignored Loki’s smirk, opting to scan the surroundings instead of noting where his face had been moments before.

They seemed to be in some kind of cell with an transparent yellow barrier at the front. He looked down and noticed that the arc reactor, with the nanotech armor, was still attached to his chest. Loki, still shapeshifted, continued to have most of his weapons on him.

Tony frowned. “Why haven’t our weapons been confiscated?”

Loki sighed and leaned his head back against the wall. “They are arrogant and believe that we will not be able to escape.”

“Will we?”

“It is possible.”

“We only have three days.”

Loki chuckled darkly. “Oh no, Stark, time moves differently here. What is three days out there will seem like weeks in here.”

Tony nodded, glancing at the barrier, and sat down next to Loki.

“What’s up with the yellow thing?”

Loki raised an eyebrow. “That ‘yellow thing’ prevents my magic from moving outside this cell.”

“Well there goes an escape plan.”

“Your astuteness is truly astounding.”

“So people keep telling me.”

The two lapsed into silence. Both leaning up against the wall, they stared at the yellow barrier, watching a fight go on in one of the cells across the hallway.

Loki watched Tony as he shuffled around and began to tap his hands on the ground to the rhythm of one of his heavy metal songs.

Loki sighed, “Must you do that?”

“Absolutely.”

Loki sighed again as Tony started to hum along with his infernal tapping. The trickster glared at him until the billionaire looked up and smiled.

“You do realize that with you shapeshifted, the glare isn’t as terrifying, right?”

In response to Tony’s comment, Loki waved his hand and shifted back into himself.

“There. Now only you can see this form.”

Tony smiled. “Okey dokey. Or shall I say… Loki dokey. Ha. See what I did there?”

“You are worse than normal.”

“Point Break’s zapping increased the power in the arc reactor so now I have a lot of pent up energy.”

“Can’t you just take a nap or something?”

The smile dropped off of Tony’s face. “I’d rather not.”

Loki leaned forward to look at the engineer. His eyes focused on the barrier in front of them, distant.

“And why, pray tell, would you rather not?”

Tony murmured something under his breath.

“What?”

The engineer whipped his head around and looked Loki directly in the eyes.

“Nightmares! That’s why! It’s either going to be Afghanistan, your goddamn portal, or Steve Roger’s fucking pity in his eyes as he tries to kill me! Ooo! Or maybe the new one will be watching the closest person I had to a son turn to dust in my arms!”

Loki reeled backwards at the pure emotion in Tony’s eyes. The engineer had told Nebula and Loki the general breakdown of everything that had happened leading up to Thanos attack when they first entered the Milano, but he hadn’t shared the effect it had had on him. Guilt churned inside Loki and his magic gave him a nudge.

He scooted closer to Tony and, much to the engineer’s surprise, pulled him into an awkward hug.

“I’m sorry.”

Tony frowned but returned the embrace, sinking in closer to the mage.

“What for?”

“Your nightmares of the portal. It is my fault and for that I am sorry.”

Tony closed his eyes.

“We both know that it wasn’t really your fault.”

Loki inhaled sharply and closed his eyes as well.

“Thank you.”

They remained in that position for a bit longer before awkwardly separating and glancing at anything that wasn’t the person in front of them.

Tony drew a pattern on the ground.

“Err let’s see. You got a girlfriend? Boyfriend? Significant other?”

Loki raised an eyebrow. “Such a change in topic. No. I do not. Last I heard, you were with the Lady Potts. Are you still a,” he waved his hand in the air, “a thing?”

Tony laughed. “No. We broke up right after the battle of New York. We’re just friends now.”

“Ah.”

“So…”

“I do not care what gender my lovers are.”

“Me neither.”

“Great.”

“Good.”

They lapsed into silence again.

Tony sighed and began pacing the cell, inspecting the barrier.

Loki closed his eyes and focused on his magic, which was slowly rebuilding its strength.

That was how they passed the time. The silence was broken every once in a while by heartfelt conversations and others that were… less heartfelt.

The guards passed by on occasion, jeering at them through the barrier and passing food through every once in a while.

They began waking each other up when the nightmares became too much, resolutely ignoring the screams and the tears rolling down their faces. They both knew that the other had seen them but neither admitted to the weakness much more than a silent nod.

The time difference between the magically infused dungeons and the outside world caused them to be stuck in the vicious cycle of silence, nightmares, and conversation for what felt like a week.

They found themselves leaning up against each other to remind themselves that they weren’t alone.

That was how they were found. Resting their heads against each other with their eyes closed.

Footsteps rang down the hallway. The sound of the armored guards coming to attention echoed down the hall and the two opened their eyes, sat up, and peered at the barrier in front of them.

A woman dressed in golden robes appeared before their cell and, while casting a surprised look at the two’s position, looked at Loki with pity in her eyes.

“Your illusion does not trick me, my son. Remember who taught you magic?”

Loki’s voice cracked as he dropped the illusion. “Mother.”

“Loki. You seem to be in the wrong time. Who is your friend?”

Tony waved and Loki began the introductions. “This is… Anthony Stark, otherwise known as the Man of Iron. One of Midgard’s heroes. We came here on a quest from the future.”

Frigga smiled warmly at the two. “I know why you are here. Why else do you think I taught you how to use the amulet? I see you only have one trip left though. You’d best use it wisely.”

Tony looked at Loki in alarm, but the look in the trickster’s eyes said that it would be best left for later.

Frigga traced the outline of the barrier before looking back at the two with a twinkle in her eyes.

“You’d best get going. Your colleague is preparing to give up on the two of you.”

Loki stood up, pulling Tony with him. Taking a breath, they stepped through the barrier and came to rest in front of the Queen. The guards seemed to not notice them.

Frigga looked Tony up and down before winking at him.

“Take care of my son.”

The genius smirked. “Yes, ma’am.”

Frigga turned her gaze back to Loki but her speech was interrupted by the trickster enveloping her in a hug. She closed her eyes and returned the embrace.

“Oh, Loki.”

“I missed you.”

“I will always be here for you.”

Loki sniffed and released his Mother from his grip. She placed her hands on his shoulders and gave him a kiss on the forehead.

“You boys best get going before Thor finds out that the thieves have disappeared from Asgard's inescapable dungeon.”

“Won’t Odin know you helped us escape?”

“I know how to handle your father. He may be the king, but we all know who’s really in charge.”

Loki backed away. Giving Frigga one more smile, he grabbed Tony’s arm and teleported the two to the location of the Milano.

They appeared in the forest. Loki sniffed one last time and Tony looked over at him with humor in his eyes.

“So. Do I have the rights to call you momma’s boy?”

“Do shut up.”

Before Tony could respond, Nebula exited the craft with her arms folded.

“It took you too long to get back. We have to go.”

Loki and Tony shared a glance and nodded, climbing on to the ship.

Once they were all in the craft, Nebula revved up the engines and took off, typing in the coordinates for the spot they wanted to be in for the next time jump.

The two were left in the main room and watched as Asgard faded into the distance and the views of space showed up through the window.

Without looking, their hands gravitated towards each other and they clasped together. A small smile appeared on Tony face as he looked down towards their hands.

Tony opened his mouth and began to ramble as Loki put his finger under Tony’s chin and lifted it so that they were facing each other.

“Um so… I’m not really sure this is a good idea I mean like you’re Thor’s brother and I feel like he would be either really happy about this or really mad about this and he’s kinda like a puppy you know? But like you’re really hot and you’re moving our faces closer and oh my gosh I really want to just dive straight into this and…”

“Anthony.”

“Yes?”

“Do shut up.”

Loki and Tony both surged forward and their lips connected. Their hands searched each other as Loki hummed, he had recognized the inevitability of the kiss and his feelings for the engineer as soon as his magic became worked up over Anthony. The mortal’s skill however, that was just a bonus, one which Loki was not afraid to match. His magic curled in happiness within him.

After a time, they came up for breath, eyes searching the other’s.

They smiled, leaned against each other, and watched space pass by through the windows.

Chapter Text

The three stood around a table in the middle of the Milano. The amulet Loki used to travel through time, cracked and glowing, sat on the table next to the stone with the Helm of Awe engraved on it.

Nebula stood with her arms crossed, glaring at Loki, who shifted slightly closer to Tony.

She tracked him with her eyes. “So there’s only one trip left on this?”

“Unfortunately, yes.”

“Nice job.”

“I’ll have you know…”

Tony waved his hands in the air. “Hey! Kids! Settle down. We have to work with what we have. Does anyone have a plan?”

No one said anything. Nebula and Loki opted to cross their arms and look pointedly away from each other.

Tony sighed and ran a hand down his face before bracing himself against the table.

“Okay. I’m getting no responses so that means that I’m going to start to talk out loud.”

Nebula nodded and Loki sniffed in acknowledgement.

“The original plan was to get a hold on the gauntlet and replace it so that Thanos would have the wrong one. We would then use the Helm to give us enough endurance to be able to use the gauntlet long enough to make our past selves think that everyone died, therefore going on this space jaunt of ours. That plan would be two trips. We only have one. That means we need to show up a lot closer to events of Titan, somehow manage to get the gauntlet when in close proximity of Thanos, and then alter reality for our past selves.”

Nebula tilted her head. “Why don’t we grab the gauntlet on Titan? The mage could do what he did to the humans earlier. Make them forget we were there.”

Tony turned to look at Loki. “Could you do that?”

The trickster nodded slowly, staring at the amulet on the table.

Tony frowned. “What’s up, Lokes?”

“We still have not answered the question of which of us will wield the gantlet. I propose myself.”

Nebula and Tony both opened their mouths to argue but Loki raised his hand in a placating manner.

“I am the only one here with the physiology to withstand the gauntlet. Having the Helm will make it so I could last even longer. If either of you attempted to use it, I’m afraid that it would be too much.”

With the last statement, Loki had turned his gaze the Tony, green eyes meeting brown. The engineer nodded and reached a hand out to give his support to the Asgardian.

Nebula glanced between the two. “So I see that captivity helped get rid of the sexual tension.”

Loki and Tony both grinned, nodding at her statement.

She nodded and then gestured to the amulet sitting on the table.

“Well. Light it up. Let’s go finish this.”

Loki leaned forward and grabbed the amulet. Putting it around his neck, he took a deep breath in.

He looked down and fidgeted with it in his grasp. Suddenly letting go, it thumped down to rest on his chest.

“Would it be possible for me to speak to Anthony privately for a moment?”

Nebula sighed and walked away, mumbling about feelings under her breath.

The two were left alone.

Loki grasped both of Tony’s hands and looked into his eyes.

“Anthony. I know that all this has been rather… sudden, but I would like to know. If I somehow manage to not fall to the gauntlet, what will become of us?”

Tony looked up with a sad smile. “Lokes. I know that you have a life out here, but I would love to be able to bring you home. Screw what everyone thinks about you. I’ve done worse.”

The trickster chuckled as Tony continued.

“Even if the gauntlet is too strong, I believe that you can do this. We’ve both been through so much and some bejeweled glove isn’t going to stop us. Remember what’s important and you can make it through anything.”

Loki closed his eyes and leaned forward, touching their foreheads together as Tony embraced him.

“Thank you, Anthony.”

“Usually I would insist upon the name Tony, but I guess I can make an exception for you, Lokes.”

“Well then, Anthony, shall we?”

Mantis directed all of her powers into the Titan.

Thanos struggled against it.

Peter Quill walked forward while Tony and Peter Parker worked to get the gauntlet off.

“Not so strong now, huh? Where is…”

Before Quill could ask about Gamora’s locations, a red and gold streak flew past, grabbing the Guardian while simultaneously knocking him out and placing him on a rock a distance away from the fight.

Peter and Tony stared in shock at the Iron Man suit as it rushed by them.

“Mr. Stark? What?”

A second Nebula ran forward, pausing for a second to look at herself, before running over to the two humans, grabbing onto the gauntlet, and pulling.

“Don’t ask questions.”

“But…”

Tony interrupted, “Not the time, kid.”

As the three of them pulled, trying to get the gauntlet off, the Iron Man suit landed in front of Thanos, weapons extended and pointed at the Titan.

The helmet retracted and the brown eyes of none other than Tony Stark locked onto Peter. The teen stilled. “Mr. Stark?”

The Tony next to Peter looked up and shook his head. “I’m not going to even question at this point.”

The Tony in front of Thanos smirked. “Best not to.”

Mantis groaned, “I don’t think I can hold him much longer!”

With that, Nebula yanked on the gauntlet and it came flying off. Clutching it in her hand, she turned to Tony.

“Where’s your boyfriend?”

Loki appeared next to him. “Here.”

While Peter and Tony stared in shock at none other than Loki claiming to be Tony’s boyfriend, Nebula threw the gauntlet at the trickster.

Right as he caught it, Thanos, with a roar, dislodged Mantis, throwing her into the air where she fell and hit the ground with a crunch.

He lunged forward, slamming Tony into the ground before throwing him into the distance not unlike what he had just done to Mantis. Tony bounced, armor screeching across the ground, blood pooling from the reopened stab wound that Loki had partially healed earlier. He didn’t move.

Loki screamed before fumbling for the gauntlet.

Thanos began to walk forward with a smirk on his face.

“Little trickster. I thought I killed you.”

Without deigning to respond, Loki made eye contact with the Titan and slid the gauntlet onto his hand, the Helm of Awe clutched in the other.

The last thing he saw was Thanos’s shocked face with Tony’s body lying in the distance, and the last thing he felt was his hands beginning to burn.

Chapter Text

There is a certain feeling that one receives from their body’s nervous system that can be attributed to a near death experience.

It feels like every part of you is on edge. Heart racing. Lungs heaving. Adrenaline coursing through your blood.

And then there is a stage of relief.

A stage when you are glad to be alive. Focusing solely on yourself.

But then.

Then you remember who you left behind.

The collateral damage.

Loki opened his eyes to a feeling of calm, and the panicked alarm of Tony’s still body crashing to the ground.

Nowhere to be seen.

Instead, he was somewhere that he had never trodden before.

All the colors that could be imagined gleamed together in a perfect watercolor painting.

He looked down to see the sky reflected in a pane of water that his feet rested just above, the liquid lapping at the soles of his boots.

A structure rested ahead.

An arch of some type that he had seen before, in a distant memory of his younger years.

A figure stood underneath it.

Loki began to walk towards them, ripples spreading with every step.

Of the multitude of colors present, the red and gold seemed to catch in the edge of his sight, reminding him of someone he left behind.

The figure came into better view.

The colors seemed to twist around her, the light emanating from behind the structure throwing her dark figure into perfect view.

A small child with green skin that contrasted the bright colors of fire and sunsets surrounding their location.

She looked up at him with deep eyes, eyes that had seen the entire universe and knew too much.

Eyes that no child should have.

Eyes that he knew too well.

He paused in front of her.

Neither said anything.

She cocked her head.

“You do not have much time. I know what you want.”

The trickster bowed his head.

“For our past selves to believe that…”

“No.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“That’s not what you wish.”

Loki fell silent and she stepped forward.

She looked up into his eyes, and before he could respond, she changed.

No longer was a child standing in front of him.

Peering into his soul with deep brown eyes.

Loki reached his hand out and touched Tony’s face.

The mortal smiled.

“We know what you really want, Lokes.”

“And what is that?”

“I want you to say it.”

The trickster shuddered and Tony grabbed Loki’s hand while gazing with pitying eyes.

“I want… Norns. I wish that we had made it to Earth. I wish that Thor would keep throwing things at me to make sure that I was still there. I wish that… I wish that you… that Anthony would have one less subject for nightmares. I wish that none of this had happened.”

Tony smiled, “So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”

Loki narrowed his eyes. “Did you just make a reference?”

“Lord of the Rings. Yeah.”

Loki laughed.

A sharp pain.

He dropped to his knees.

A burning sensation wracked his body.

Tony followed him down, arms curled around him.

“You do not have much time.”

The trickster coughed and drops of blood landed on the water below them. Spreading and twirling through the multi colored liquid, now more red than any other color.

He closed his eyes.

“What price?”

Silence.

The trickster untangled himself from Tony, looking forward at the engineer, who sat back, still on his knees.

The red and gold seemed to shine as it twisted around them. The red started to look more like blood every minute that passed.

Tony looked back at the trickster and locked eyes. The deep brown faded away and was replaced with a shine that Loki reeled back from.

The Infinity Stone in the form of Tony Stark leaned forward with a pitying smile.

“A great cost.”

The burning sensation jolted through Loki’s body and he fell to the ground, twitching amidst the red water.

A hand stroked through his hair and made quiet shushing noises.

“Do not worry, Loki Laufeyson. It shall pass.”

With one last scream, Loki flailed outwards, green magic soaking into the red wave of power that centered around the trickster.

It blasted out across the area, water rippling, colors blending.

Red and gold standing out, green twisting through it.

The darkness began to encroach.

Loki closed his eyes.

Closed his eyes with the strange feeling that something was missing.

Something had been forgotten.

Someone...

Chapter Text

Loki walked down the corridor to join Thor in the pseudo-throne room that they had created in the ship.

Valkyrie yelled at him from down the hallway where she was walking with Bruce.

“Oi. Magic man. Did you get the official summons too?”

The trickster turned on point and stopped, eyebrow raised and his hands clasped behind his back.

“Yes. It appears that a dignitary from Earth is being sent up to assess our threat level. Thor simply likes to order everyone around.”

Valkyrie snorted and raised her drink up to her lips while Bruce nodded in greeting.

“Loki.”

The trickster grinned predatorily and Bruce took a slight step back.

“Dr. Banner.”

Opting to continue walking instead of scaring the physicist even more, Loki started to meander down the hall, Valkyrie and Bruce trailing after him.

Upon entering the throne room, the three walked up to Thor, who was standing at the windows, looking down at Earth. Loki joined Thor next to the window while Valkyrie went and sat in the throne, Bruce fidgeting next to her.

Thor looked up with a blinding smile on his face. “Brother! Friends! Greetings!”

Loki snorted and half listened to Thor begin to ramble about how happy he was that Midgard was taking their pleas for help seriously.

The trickster stared down at the blue and green planet, eyes narrowed in concentration.

Thor turned to look at him in concern. “Brother? Is something amiss?”

Loki shook his head. “No… I just-- I have this feeling that, for some reason, we were not supposed to make it this far.”

Thor clasped his hand on his brother’s shoulder. His brother promptly whacked it off.

“I completely understand the feeling. Our story is certainly extraordinary.”

Loki turned away from the window and nodded, not deigning to reply. Valkyrie, Bruce, and Thor began to engage in a conversation about Midgardian alcohol while the trickster looked up, his magic sensing a presence entering the ship.

Guards walked into the room escorting a mortal wearing garishly colored armor and a wide smirk.

Bruce and Thor looked up with smiles, while Valkyrie and Loki stood back, analyzing the scene.

“Tony!”

“Man of Iron!”

The mortal strutted forward. “Well if it isn’t Point Break and Green Bean. Long time, no see.”

Thor rushed forward and hugged the billionaire, lifting him into the air before placing Tony back onto the ground.

Tony tried to suck air back into his lungs as he cautiously embraced Bruce, patting him on the back.

The physicist smiled, “How’s everybody? I really missed the Avengers!”

The smile dropped off of Tony face and Bruce faltered, a frown slipping into place.

Tony’s eyes unfocused.

“A lot has happened. I’ll have to cover it when we go over the plan for the Asgardians’ entrance onto the planet.”

Valkyrie and Loki approached from behind and Thor gestured to them. “Ah! My friend, let me introduce Brunnhilde, the last of the Valkyries, everyone calls her Valkyrie. You have met my brother before.”

Tony nodded and Valkyrie shook her drink. “You have any good alcohol on Midgard?”

The billionaire smirked. “The best.”

The warrior nodded and sauntered off to stand next to Bruce, leaving Loki in Tony’s eye line.

The billionaire walked forward and extended his hand.

“Well, if it isn’t emo Gandalf. The last time I saw you I got thrown out of a window.”

Loki’s eyebrows shot up as he accepted the handshake.

“What did you just call me?”

“What? Didn’t like it? Alright. How about Reindeer games? No. Lokes? How about Lokes?”

“What?”

“Sounds great, Lokes.”

“If you insist, Anthony.”

Tony opened his mouth to respond, smirks etched onto both of their faces, before one of the three observers cleared their throat.

Loki tracked Tony’s movement as he turned away from the trickster and addressed the other three, Thor in particular, about the United Nations and the actions pertaining to the Asgardian refugees.

His magic, for some unknown reason, churned inside him whenever the engineer glanced to look at him.

After a few hours of briefing, Tony got up to leave. He was due back at the UN for a meeting. As the Iron Man suit, equipped with space capabilities, closed around him, he turned to look at Loki.

“So. Once you guys are down on the planet, come find me. I owe you a drink.”

Nodding in assent, the trickster stepped back and let the engineer leave out of the airlock.

Loki turned to walk away, heading for the nearest window.

Thor followed, a smile on his face.

The trickster stopped to watch as Tony flew back towards the planet.

A red and gold gleam outlined against the void.

A new feeling spiraling inside of him.

Maybe Midgard would not be so bad after all.