Chapter Text
Tony breathed as he steadied himself for what was coming. He looked up at the gray SHIELD logo on the door. The other side of the door was Loki in his maximum-security prison cell. Come on, you can do this, he thought to himself. This was it, what came after this conversation would determine Loki’s punishment. He pushed the door open and walked in.
A few weeks prior…
Tony was in his lab, fixing up his Iron Man suit. The damage from the battle of New York to his suit was substantial, not to mention he needed to basically build his faceplate all over again from Thor ripping it off faceplate getting ripped off. There was a lot he needed to fix, on top of supervising the rebuilding of the city. It was a long and difficult process. He had his few surviving suits helping with the rubble clean up.
“Sir? There is something that came to my attention you might want to look over,” JARVIS’s voice said over the music blasting through the speakers.
He had created the AI to help him around the house, and with the company. J.A.R.V.I.S. or Just A Rather Very Intelligent System. Anyone that just heard of it might think it’s just him trying to be funny and name the most intricate and advanced AI system as a clever acronym. That would be what public Tony would do actually. If you dug deeper, far deeper, you would find that his butler’s name was Jarvis, Edwin Jarvis. The same butler that died in the car crash. Tony didn’t find out till later, the body was crushed beyond recognition and the news crew didn’t think it was necessary to talk about a chauffeur instead of the richest couple in the world. Tony did control his emotions when he heard the news he was also dead, but he mourned inside, slowly tearing his soul apart. Maria, Jarvis, and Yinsen were all dead because he wasn’t strong enough or wasn’t there to save their own. Charles… was lucky. Tony saved him in time, but he had killed him. Death did love him.
“Yes, Jarvis. What is it?” He said, turning the music down a little.
“I was reviewing the footage from your conversation with Loki as well as any other interaction with him and the footage of his capture and there appears to be a difference in him between then and his surrender,” Jarvis said.
“You are being a little vague Jarvis, pull up the footage would you?” Tony said, putting down the pliers and looking up.
“Yes sir,” Jarvis said as the huge screen he had flickered to life and footage of Loki started showing. “As you see from the people he took over-”
“Their eyes are blue, yes,” He said, interrupting the AI.
“Yes sir, and from the footage, I have looked through it appears Loki’s eyes-”
“Are also blue! The same color, is it his actual eye color? I can’t remember, does whoever he control take over his eye color or is it that he is being controlled by someone else, or- ”
“Sir!” Jarvis said, knocking Tony out of his rambling mind. “I believe that Loki was also being controlled as after you guys captured him-” He pulled up the footage of after the battle, “his eyes turned emerald green which I am being led to believe that is his actual eye color.”
“Oh my god, does that mean he’s innocent?” Tony asked breathlessly staring at the footage.
“Yes, sir… I believe so,” Jarvis replied hesitantly. “But you have to-”
“I don’t care what I have to do or can’t do, I have to at least try. No one, ever, should have to endure something from what others think about them. I- Jarvis, arrange a meeting with Loki. Contact Fury, hack into the server, I don’t care what you do, just do it and give me the time,” Tony said, mind whirling. He turned back to his work, “Oh and Jarvis? Organize a folder with all the evidence and if you need to, show it to Fury to convince him, and pull up a copy of it when you're done.”
He smiled, this was his chance. To do something that hopefully meant something.
Now,
“Have you come to gloat Stark?” Loki sneered, staring right at him. That hit him hard, no he would never, he would never, now. It almost made him turn around and leave, but he forced himself to face the god.
“No, I have a few questions for you,” he said to the god.
“And what makes you think I will answer?” Loki asked, coming forward to rest his head on the glass separating them. Tony sucked in a breath. God the god was beautiful, with his long, pitch-black hair, his graceful pose, and those eyes… He shook himself out of his daze. This was not the time to be admiring the god.
Here, I’ll promise you only three questions and if you behave, this… might benefit you. Oh, but you can’t lie,” He said, trying to pull back his focus.
Loki cocked his head. “Go on.”
“You have to tell me you won’t lie,” Tony said.
“If my word means anything to you Stark, I promise I won’t lie, to you.” He added that last part after a moment's hesitation.
Tony nodded, satisfied “Is that your natural eye color?” Tony asked first, pointing to his eyes.
“What kind of question is that?” Loki smirked, but Tony saw that brief caution flash in his expression before it returned to the haughty grin. He stared at Loki, hard. “Fine, I guess it is. No, Stark this isn’t my natural eye color,” Loki looked at him to see his reaction. It was quite funny, that little panicked expression before he regained his composure. Loki smiled.
“T-then what is?” Tony said after a moment, cursing inwardly at his stutter. Loki smiled at it too, again. Tony stared at his mouth, noticing his little dimples and rosy lips, damn if he wanted to kiss them. That bastard, Tony pouted, it was so unfair to be that hot. This was really the first time after the battle that he’d seen Loki and he was starting to realize the charm of the god. He was magnificent. He shook his head again to concentrate again. Fuck him for getting distracted. Loki tricked him into using another question, he didn’t have time to be distracted.
“That is none of your business, Stark,” He spat out, expression turning cold. He looked so… cold at that moment it scared him. What made it so that he would say that?
“Um, ok,” Tony said slowly, processing the information. That meant that Loki was actually being controlled, good. Well, not really, but he was innocent. He had to choose his next question carefully, he only had one question left.“How?” He finally asked. The question was vague enough that to anyone else it would be nonsense. To someone that knew though, it would notify them that Tony knew what happened.
He watched as Loki’s expression flickered from frozen to confused. Tony held his breath, was he wrong? Then Loki gasped, taking an instinctive step back from him, fear shining clear in his eyes. He paled and Tony smiled. He was right.