Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Loki is back”

Tony abruptly stopped in front of the elevator. “Sorry, what?” he said, slowly turning around to face Fury again.

“Three months ago, our scientific base in Antarctica has detected exactly the same type of astronomical anomaly studied by Doctor Foster in Puente Antiguo. Once the research team has reached the spot, there was our dear wannabe planet king unconscious at the center of a crater” explained Fury, handing a tablet to Tony with several pictures of the scene he was describing. Tony took the device and studied the pictures with a frown.

“And why didn’t you start our conversation with this twenty minutes ago?” said Tony, raising his eyebrows. Then he resumed studying the photos, swiping rapidly and zooming on the figure laying on the ice face down at the center of the crater.

“So you’re trying to get the team to assemble again? What, he sneaked out and now you need the Avengers to capture him again?”

“Oh no, not at all. In this exact moment Loki is in a highly supervised cell in a laboratory of the Amundsen-Scott scientific base, in Antarctica. Truth be told, he’s been very cooperative, maybe too much so, considering the past. As weird as it sounds, I’m not here because I’m worried about him trying to escape” said Fury, crossing his arms on his chest.

Tony put down the tablet and studied Fury suspiciously. “Hmm, I bet that during the last three months Reindeer Games hasn’t speak to you a single word, has he? What, you hope that seeing an unfriendly face may prompt him to perform an evil villain's monologue?”

“Actually it’s quite the opposite Stark, he definitely speaks too much, the thing is…” said Fury, taking the tablet and browsing trough it for a while, then playing an audio file “… that we don’t understand him”

Tony immediately recognized Loki’s voice, judging on the tone alone he may had guessed that the god was mad for some reason, but other than that he didn’t understand a single word, assuming that the series of sound that he was listening to in that moment were actually words. All the more curious, Tony suddenly took the tablet from Fury’s hands and listened to the audio file again.

“Are you sure that he’s not messing with you? I mean, he’s not listing the best space Viking’s traditional recipes in Klingon, or something like that, isn’t he?”

Fury let out a frustrated sigh “No… I’d say this really probable option considering the guy is been excluded early on. The real issue is that it seems he can’t understand us either”

Tony eyed Fury with a distrustful glare “I take a wild guess and say that I don’t want to know how you reach that conclusion”

Fury pursed his lips and looked away “I’m not here for Iron Man. I’m here for Tony Stark and his brain. We have a team of the bests linguist experts, interpreters and polyglots of the entire planet and during this three months we made no progress. Maybe what we need isn’t someone, but something: an artificial mind, an AI, a software capable of analyze and process hours and hours of audio recordings and provide a simultaneous translation, so we can ask that bastard of a Norse god what the hell is he doing here on Earth and more importantly, understand his answer”

Tony walked towards the coffee table near the couch without taking his eyes off the tablet. He reached out to take the cup of coffee he had previously abandoned and sipped the now lukewarm liquid, studying the photos of the unconscious man at the center of the crater with his face buried in the ice and his long limbs bent at uncomfortable and unnatural-looking angles.

“I want to see him”

“No, there’s no need, all the audio files that yours machine will need are already in there” said Fury, pointing with his index finger towards the tablet

“My machine, as you call it, needs to see him. Surely at least someone of your team of linguistic luminaries has explained to you that during a communication the non-verbal elements are as important as the verbal ones. To get what you want, I’ll need to be able to analyze facial expressions, hand gestures, posture, as well as the words themselves, and if you want the result to be achieved as soon as possible, I need to work on site”

Fury put his hands on his hips and looked at Tony with an irritated look. "Stark, that being literally throw you out of the window of your penthouse after a scarce five minutes of conversation with you"

"There are no penthouses with panoramic windows in Antarctica, right?" Tony answered coming closer. Arriving in front of the man, he pushed the tablet on his chest with little grace.

“I work on site. This is my condition, take it or leave it. Ah, and I'm bringing my trusted expert in computer programming with me” he concluded, crossing his arms over his chest.

Fury swore, snorting and eyeing Tony in exasperated frustration. Stark raised his eyebrows and shrugged.

“I'm sending a team to pick you up tomorrow morning at zero seven hundred hours. Bring warm clothes” said Fury defeated, walking towards the elevator.

"Yes, dad” Tony replied smiling as he sat down on the sofa and finished sipping his now very cold cup of coffee. He made a disgusted grimace.

"I need a copy of the identity card of this computer expert of yours, I'll try to get a security pass for him too” said Fury as he headed for the elevator.

"Oh, there's no need, he already has a security pass, you know him. A little shy and introverted guy, but when he gets angry it's a real sight, he gets very big. And green” Tony replied with a smile.

Fury glare at him as the elevator doors closed.

"So you are telling me that during these last three months Loki hasn't tried to escape even once?" Bruce asked, absently leafing through the documents contained in the file he was holding.

“Oh no, of course he tried” Fury replied “several times. He just didn't succeed. His attempts have been a bit… weak. He is stubborn and decidedly clever, a couple of times he even managed to actually get out of the perimeter of the base, but we caught him shortly after. The second time I think he even waited to be found, he was sitting quietly on the snow with his legs crossed and when he saw the snowmobiles approaching, he peacefully let himself being led back inside the base. Perhaps he finally understood that he is at the center of a deserted and inhospitable continent”

Bruce made a nod of assent and adjusted his eyeglasses over his nose. Stark, sitting next to him, looked thoughtfully at Fury

“Aren’t we talking about a wizard from the space Viking’s reign? What, Severus Snape lost his wand?”

"Looks like it. We have no way to prove it with absolute certainty of course, but he hasn't attempted to do anything, er, supernatural let's say. Plus it's not just his escape attempts that have been ineffective, it's he himself who seems to be less physically strong. I mean, he seems more… human” Fury replied, crossing his legs.

"Interesting," Bruce muttered, going back to studying his file.

“Has anyone tried to ask Thor for help? Probably what Loki is speaking is his mother tongue, if there is anyone who should know it, it’s him” he continued, nodding to a picture of Thor contained inside the file he held open in his hands.

“Wow, you're right, I can't believe any of the eighty brains at the base thought of asking his older brother for help. Quick, tell me Thor's phone number, I'll call him right away” Fury replied with an ironically surprised and enthusiastic tone. Tony made an amused noise that he tried to mask by clearing his throat when he noticed the embarrassed look that Bruce had assumed.

"I just meant that..." Bruce tried to justify himself, but Fury cut him off

"I know what you meant, Banner, and no: we seriously don't have a way to contact the only other being we know of who can possibly translate this language because right now he is probably billions of light years away and we at most can send a message to Mars with a twenty minutes lag. Focus on designing your software: I assure you that we have already discarded all the other simpler options” concluded Fury with a sigh.

A sudden jolt made the Quinjet cabin on which the three men were standing tremble for a few seconds. A few sheets slipped from the file opened onto Bruce's legs as he instinctively grabbed the end of his seat with an iron grip. Tony turned to the scientist.

"I'm fine, alright..." Bruce said with a tense half laugh, he started to bend down to pick up the fallen sheets but a subsequent shock more violent than the previous one made him resume the previous position and squint his eyes. The watch on his wrist began to emit frequent high-pitched beeps. Tony raised his eyebrows.

"Seriously? You fought an alien army that broke into Manhattan from a portal in the universe and are afraid of a bit of turbulence on a plane?" Tony asked

"Banner, if after all I've been through I have to die here because your green friend wants to get off the plane I swear to God I will find a way to kill you" added Fury.

"Calm down, don't worry, it's almost over..." Bruce said looking at his watch and starting to take long, deep breaths. After a few moments the watch went silent and Bruce closed his eyes, letting out a last sigh. He finally recovered the documents from the ground and began to rearrange them within the file.

“Well, since the refreshment service on this plane leaves a lot to be desired, I’ll take a nap. Wake me up when we're about to land” Tony said as he unfastened his seat belt and slumped against his luggage on the seat to his left.

"This is Dr. Fairbank, she heads the team of linguists and interpreters" Fury said, waving his hand to the woman next to him.

“Good morning, Nicole Fairbank. I hope you had a good trip” the woman said as she offered the two scientists a handshake.

"Long, extremely boring and uneventful, so I suppose not" Tony replied, taking a seat in one of the chairs around the conference room table. Bruce took a seat next to him, while Dr. Fairbank and Fury chose two chairs on the opposite side.

"So, you will find all the data, studies and progress we have made so far in the files that the director has already provided you of course, but I suppose a small summary may be useful" starts the doctor.

"We assume that the language spoken by Loki is his mother tongue, so we refer to it as 'asgardian'. Let's start with what we know: the asgardian is both an oral and a written language, as far as the spoken language is concerned the phonological system seems to be extremely different from English, or from any other language currently spoken on Earth for what it's worth. For this reason, we almost immediately abandoned the idea of learning to speak Asgardian, it seems too complicated if not impossible for us to try to reproduce the sounds faithfully enough to be understandable, not in a reasonable amount of time anyway. So we focused on the written language: the writing system is alphabetical, composed of thirty-three transliterations of as many phonetic values, visually the symbols are similar to the runes used by the ancient Germanic populations. From a grammatical point of view it’s... "the woman sighed, leaning her elbow on the table, raised her eyeglasses on her head and rubbed her eyes with one hand

"… A nightmare. It is extremely complex: it has three genders, masculine, feminine and neuter; three numbers, singular, plural and dual; four cases used in nine declensions. considering also the different alphabet, we estimated that even to learn the written form and master it well enough to be able to communicate efficiently, it would take years of study. And here you guys come in: not being able to have the necessary time at our disposal, we need someone, or rather, something, capable of processing the data collected, studying the language and mastering it in a tenth of the time it would take a human. Do you think you can manage to program a similar artificial intelligence?"

Tony, who until then had listened with sincere curiosity, frowned, puzzled: "Um, sure doctor, we can and we will, but I have a better question: why don't we teach English to Rock of Ages instead?" he asked, crossing his legs and absently tapping the table with the fingers of his right hand

"It’s a valid objection, if his mother tongue is so complex it is probably easier and faster to teach him ours, undoubtedly more elementary from every point of view" Bruce added crossing his arms on the edge of the table.

Dr. Fairbank smirked and turned to look at Fury with an expression of veiled anger and contempt. “I'm pleasantly surprised, this shows that you don't need to be an expert in the field of languages and communication to arrive at the most obvious solution. Director, can you explain why we are not taking the easiest and least tiring path for everyone? " she said narrowing her gaze.

Fury sighed, then looked at Stark and replied in a slightly irritated tone. “Loki is considered a terrorist for the US government. We have the advantage of communicating with each other without being understandable to the enemy. We don't want this situation to change, we want to be able to understand Loki without him being able to understand us"

“Which is absolutely ridiculous since you established early on that this Loki is nowhere near the threat posed by the Loki responsible for the invasion of New York. He does not have the scepter, he does not have the Tesseract, he no longer has magical powers, his physical strength is comparable to that of a very regular man, not even a really fit one, he no longer speaks our language for heaven's sake- "

“And I remind you, doctor, that until we are certain of all these things you mentioned, Loki will be considered a threat by our government. What you can do to help him since you care so much is to do your job as best as you can without ignoring or contesting the orders and limits that are imposed on you” Fury said, interrupting the doctor's protests. The two frowned angrily at each other for a few seconds.

“Um, okay, I definitely hit a nerve. No English for our Asgardian Mussolini, copy that" Tony said, imitating a lazy military salute, bringing the fingers of his right hand to his eyebrow.

"I guess it's time to meet the rock star for a selfie and some autographs, what do you say Banner?" he continued, getting up and going toward the door.

"I'll take the equipment" murmured Bruce following Tony

After the third double door with retinal scanner opening and the fourth personal and equipment bags search, Bruce was beginning to be decidedly irritated. Tony, on the other hand, had the same degree of patience and respect for the rules as a boy queuing for rides at the carnival, so the "decidedly irritated" level had long since passed.

“Yes, these are not just sunglasses. Yes, they contain an electronic component used to host Jarvis, my AI. No, I don't need them to get out top secret data, I don't aspire to become a whistleblower. No, I have no intention of passing confidential information hypothetically contained within to the detainee. Yes, Director Fury is aware of this and has approved all of our equipment. Yes, I have already told this to your three previous colleagues who communicated with the director who confirmed everything I reported. Can we skip this whole part and move on to the moment you finally open that door?" said Tony to the soldier who was examining him with the metal detector for the umpteenth time while keeping his arms and legs open. Bruce rolled his eyes as he fastened his belt and got ready to put on his shoes again.

When they finally walked through the last door, the room didn't look at all like the cell that Tony had imagined. Loki was inside a transparent glass cube which in addition to him housed a single mattress placed directly on the ground with a sheet and a pillow, a sink and a toilet. Loki, who had turned towards them hearing the door open, wore a simple light blue scrub, the same kind that a nurse or a doctor would wear in a hospital, and simple white canvas shoes without laces. The black hair was a few inches longer than Tony remembered and fell to the sides of his face and shoulders in messy frizzy waves. but what struck Tony the most was his general appearance: the absolutely pale complexion of his face contrasted extremely with the prominent purple circles he sported around his green eyes, he had definitely lost more than a few pounds and the wrong size of the oversized scrub certainly did not help to mask the impression of a leaner and weaker build.

“Wow, ok, good morning Clarice. All this absurd security systems and then they lock him in a glass cube?" Tony murmured, tilting his head slightly towards Bruce's ear without taking his eyes off Loki

“That’s not just glass. It’s a special metal glass alloy 90% composed of palladium, the only material theoretically capable of even scratching it is diamond. It was written in the file, haven't you read it?" Bruce answered in a whisper. Tony glanced at him over the top of his sunglasses which he had lowered to the base of his nose raising an eyebrow.

"Stark" Loki's intrigued call brought the two scientists' attention back to him, and they approached the transparent prison, stopping in front of the red line drawn with tape that ran around the entire perimeter of the cube at about six foot of distance.

"Banner" Loki continued, looking first at one, then at the other, with a surprised expression.

“Hey, Reindeer Games. How is it going?" Tony said tilting his head to one side and crossing his arms across his chest. Loki returned a confused frown, then looked at Bruce

"Þór?" While the two scientists' names had been spelled correctly with a perfect English accent, it took Bruce a few seconds to realize that the word that had just left Loki's lips in little more than a whisper was his older brother's name. The 'o' was more closed and the rolled 'r' decidedly more present and hard, but all in all it was understandable. Evidently, the proper names in Asgard also had a different pronunciation.

"No, I'm… I'm sorry, Thor isn't here with us" Bruce replied with a shrug. Loki frowned, abandoning his almost hopeful expression, continuing to fidget nervously with his fingers in front of him.

Bruce shook his head “No. I'm sorry” he added again. Loki sighed lowering his head and closed his eyes for a moment, leaving his hands at his sides.

Meanwhile, Tony had mounted the video camera on the tripod pointing the lens in the direction of the Asgardian, he had brought a boom microphone to the transparent wall of the cell, mounting it on a pole that he placed in Bruce's hands. Bruce glanced sideways at him and rolled his eyes.

Then they both looked at Loki, who crossed his arms over his chest and frowned, quickly alternating his gaze from one man to the other. Tony brought his left hand near his head, then with his palm facing Loki he touched with his thumb the other closed fingers of his hand a couple of times, in a clear invitation to speak. Loki rolled his eyes, sat cross-legged on the floor and agreed to the silent request.

The tone went from irritation, to anger, to resignation that became almost sadness before becoming completely sterile and empty, to then turn towards something unequivocally threatening. The facial expressions and the direction of the gaze mimicked the moods that already transpired from the tone, he made a few longer pauses here and there. When Tony thought he had enough material to work with, he stopped him by clearing his throat and holding the palm of his left hand open in front of him, in a gesture he hoped was universal.

Luckily Loki seemed to understand, he remained silent to observe the two scientists as they muttered to each other, pointing at something on the computer screen from time to time.

Then Tony handed the laptop to Bruce and walked over to an abandoned bag on the floor nearby, pulling out a small rectangular white board and a black marker. He started to approach the serving hatch of the glass cell but the soldier guarding the door stopped him before he could get there.

"What, are you afraid that he will draw us to death? It's a children's slate, what do you think he could possibly do with it?" Tony snapped. The soldier did not answer but looked hard at Tony and he heard him explain the situation to his superior on the transceiver as he walked back towards the door.

Tony slightly shook his head in disbelief and turned back to the serving hatch with his hand ready to open the door, only to suddenly realize that Loki, on the other side of the glass surface, was standing with his nose and palms pressed against the glass, a few inches from Tony's face, who, startled by the immediate and unexpected proximity, stepped back cursing. The corners of Loki's lips turned up in a sinister grin.

“Ha, ha, ha. Very funny. Come on, take this" Tony said, approaching the serving hatch again, he opened it and put the slate and marker inside, then closed it and waited for the other to carry out the instruction with his arms crossed and a sulky expression. Loki opened the door, then looked inside for a moment with a raised eyebrow. He retrieved the content and then closed the door, he positioned himself again sitting cross-legged in the center of the cell, then looked in the direction of the two scientists. Bruce joined the index and thumb of his right hand, drawing imaginary squiggles in the air, hoping to make Loki understand that he could’ve start writing.

 And he did. But when he turned the slate and held it on his chest to show them his work with an amused defiant smile printed on his face what they saw were not singular alien symbols, but a drawing: in a typical cartoon style, Loki had drawn the Hulk and Iron Man, both on the ground, dead, with two ‘x’ in lieu of their eyes, a pool of blood on the ground and a dagger on their back, behind them he had drawn himself, with the ridiculous horned gold helmet and a satisfied expression on his smug face.

"Oh look at that, Bruce, how sweet, it’s us" said Tony who looked at Loki with narrowed eyes and his lips pursed in an expression of ironic indifference. Bruce sighed and reached a hand to massage his forehead. But before either of them could protest and try to get Loki to collaborate and write something actually useful, a short, high-pitched sound rang in the room. The amused smile died instantly on Loki’s lips, he jumped up leaving the slate and the marker and began to look tense toward the door of the room.

Confused, Tony watched his reaction and then he too checked behind him, looking at the door of the room, imitated by Bruce. But nothing happened. Absolutely nothing. When they both turned back to Loki they found him sitting on the ground, quickly erasing his drawing with the back of his hand.

Afterwards, there was no need for any kind of conviction, as a good diligent pupil Loki filled and erased several times only to refill once again the slate with runes and symbols, turning it each time towards them and the camera when he had no more space to continue.

He never stopped throwing suspicious and strained glances towards the entrance door.

Chapter Text

Hours became days and days became weeks. Every day Tony and Bruce went down to the most remote room on the lowest level of the base, gathering as much data as possible from Loki by communicating elementary instructions in a singular mix of charades and pictionary, with no points or winners and losers. Sometimes they went down with Dr. Fairbank, often they did it by themselves.

Loki changed his moods with the same frequency as a person blinks. They found him angry, annoyed, cheerful, bored, enthusiastic, curious, irritated, exhausted, full of energy, sometimes from one day to the next, other times from moment to moment. Most of the time, however, Tony found him simply disappointed, bitter, apathetic, unmotivated, surrendered. Broken.

But despite the mood swings and a couple of episodes where they couldn't even get him to stick his head out from under his sheet, he was incredibly cooperative and soon Tony thought it was time to test the first beta of their software.

They had decided to call it AXEL, in honor of Otto Lidenbrock's nephew, who, in the famous Jules Verne’s novel, decodes the runic message written on the parchment found by his uncle. Tony sincerely hoped that the fruit of their translation work would not lead them to descend into the crater of the Yökull of Snæffels before the kalends of July. He already had his fair share of caves experience in his life.

"Come on AXEL, your moment has come, don't disappoint dad" Tony said as he configured the final parameters on the laptop. He decided to start with something basic, writing 'Bruce walks'. AXEL returned the runic translation into Asgardian and transmitted it to the large LCD screen facing Loki. He looked at the symbols appeared on the screen with a frown. Tony pointed to Bruce, who paced around the room in circles looking at Loki waiting for confirmation, but the confusion on his face only increased. When Bruce stopped his aimless march, Loki shook his head, pointed first at the screen, then at Banner, and finally started jumping up and down in place. Tony and Bruce looked at each other, a little confused and a little disappointed.

Subsequent attempts were not much more promising, it was clear that AXEL was destined to misunderstand, both from English to Asgardian and vice versa. When Bruce finally wrote 'Tony eats' and the runes appeared on the screen Loki couldn't even wait for Tony to start miming the action before bursting into a genuine and exaggerated laugh, as if what he had just read was the most hilarious thing in the world.

Tony, grim, watched as he doubled over and tried to regain control of himself without much success, wiping the tears from the corners of his eyes.

"Ok, that's enough, bad AXEL, don't make fun of dad in front of the enemy" he said as he prepared to collect all the equipment. Loki couldn't stop laughing even once the two scientists were out of the room.

"Don't you too find yourself thinking that he is making fun of us right from the start just for the sake of seeing us go crazy?" Bruce said walking down the hall next to Tony towards their lab. He made a sound in agreement.

"Of course. That's why I told Jarvis to take a look at the files that Fury and SHIELD don't want to show us" he answered lowering his voice as they passed a couple of people heading in the opposite direction.

"You told Jarvis to-, Tony, did you hack the SHIELD data center?" Bruce hissed taking the man by the arm to force him to stop walking and turn towards him. Tony rolled his eyes and looking around opened the first door he found on the right. He stuck his head in the crack to make sure the room was empty, then pushed Bruce in and closed the door behind them.

“I didn't hack the SHIELD data center. Jarvis did it. Besides, he didn't even touch the SHIELD one, he allowed me access to the CIA one" murmured Tony.

"The CIA-" Bruce yelled, putting his hands in his hair, but was promptly silenced by a hiss from Tony who took him by the arm and for good measure pushed him a few more steps away from the door of the room.

“The CIA one?! Why?! Tony, are you out of your mind, people had to disappear from the country for much less, do you want to be forced to live in Russia? I don't want to live in Russia, it's cold"

“Stop it, it's not the first time I've done this. Aren't you curious? Don't you ask me why I decided to dig a little deeper into this whole situation?" Tony looked at him with raised eyebrows and crossed arms. Bruce looked back at him, waiting. But Tony just continued looking at him.

"Oh, it wasn't a rhetorical question, you really want me to ask you"

"Well you should want to ask me, I mean, you're a scientist, curiosity-"

"You’re impossible, okay: why did you decide to poke your nose into secret CIA documents, Tony?" Bruce asked, raising his arms in exasperation. Tony gave him a smirk.

“Because, Bruce, I quickly realized two things: this base is full of CIA agents, more than there are SHIELD’s, and Loki did not arrive here three months ago, but five"

“Five?”

"Yeah. You know the very first photo they showed us, the one in which Reindeer Games is passed out in the crater, probably evaluating the life choices that led him to find himself with his face smashed in the snow on the planet he tried to conquer? Good. Strange streaks are clearly visible on the surface of the ice. Initially I thought they were just shadows on the ice, but comparing the shot with other photos of the crater taken later on, I realized that the streaks were gone. Disappeared. Puff. So then I understood what it really was: the reflection of the southern aurora on the white snow. Guess when the southern aurora appeared the last time in this area?"

"Five months ago, not three" Bruce replied thoughtfully

"Exactly. So the questions that arose to me then were these: why did they lie to us and what did they do to Rock of Ages in these two months gap?"

"What do you mean 'what did they do' to him?"

“Come on, don't tell me you haven't noticed some of his exaggerated reactions to completely harmless sounds or words. Plus they are all so sure that he no longer has any superhuman abilities or that he no longer understands a word of English. Fury telling us he is considered a terrorist. It doesn't take a genius mind to put two and two together” Tony said, looking away

"So you think he was-"

"Er ... sorry, I'm sorry to interrupt, but this is the women's restroom"

Tony and Bruce turned at the same time toward the door of the room, apparently the women's bathroom, to stare wide-eyed at Dr. Fairbank.

“Um… sure. We were just leaving, sorry” Bruce replied, chuckling and grabbing Tony by the arm and dragging him to the door to exit the bathroom, passing an astonished Nicole Fairbank.

"We might as well tried to use Google translate" Nicole sighed at the umpteenth shake of the head by Loki. Tony inhaled loudly, widening his eyes and placing a hand on his heart

"There is no need to turn to insults, doctor. I feel personally offended"

"Well she’s kinda right, Tony" said Bruce taking off his glasses and rubbing his eyes "we won’t get anywhere this way"

Tony was reflecting on the problem as he absently observed Loki fiddling with the whiteboard marker, when he saw him narrow his gaze in the direction of the cover of the book that Dr. Fairbank was lazily leafing through and literally saw him have an epiphany: he stopped suddenly, with wide eyes and slightly frowned eyebrows, seemed to think for a few seconds, then began to write frantically on the white board.

"Uhm, doctor, I think you don't want to miss this" Tony murmured, placing a hand on the pages of the book to cover the text Nicole was holding and gain her attention, then pointed to Loki.

“What’s that?" Bruce asked curiously, approaching the other two and the glass of the cell.

Loki also came closer to allow all three of them to observe his work: he had written some runes, undoubtedly, but this time instead of being all in a line to form words and phrases he had intertwined them together, connecting them with lines and points more or less thick, to form a sort of circular design.

"Um, his next tattoo?" Tony said absently scratching his beard. Loki pointed first to his drawing, then to the book Nicole still held open in her hands. Bruce took the first half of the pages between his fingers and closed the volume, all three looked at the cover for a few seconds, on which was printed a design not so different from the one produced by Loki.

"Of course!" Nicole said, with an exclamation of accomplishment mixed with enthusiasm

"Personally I prefer something less 'tribal', you have to keep that stuff on you for the rest of your life"

Nicole threw an exasperated glare at the engineer. “No, Stark, I mean maybe Loki has come up with a solution! This is the Vegvisir, an ancient symbol also known as the 'Viking compass', it was drawn on the ships before they sailed as a good omen because it had a meaning of guidance for people who lose their way" said Nicole, pointing to the symbol printed on the cover of the book.

"Apparently the asgardian has more than one writing system, not just the linear alphabetic one that Loki has been trying to teach us so far. This seems to be a semasiographic system, a method of written communication that does not correspond to the phonetics of the spoken language, is not linked to grammar or syntax rules for the construction of a sentence, it simply expresses concepts through images! The Viking people must have seen it and taken inspiration from it for their symbols!" she concluded with a spark of enthusiasm in her eyes

"Does this mean that this type of writing could be easier and more intuitive for AXEL to learn?" Bruce asked with a hopeful note in his voice

“I really think so. Loki you’re a genius!" Nicole exclaimed with a smile as she took the camera to take pictures of the slate that Loki still held in front of him

"Yay, we have to start over!" Tony exclaimed with false enthusiasm, sighing.

And that's exactly what they did, they started over. Loki filled the slate countless times with symbols and drawings, they filled several hard drives with new photographs and fed them to ALEX, adapting the software configuration from time to time. After 72 hours of work, interrupted only by short breaks for basic needs and a few quick naps, they tried yet another test. Bruce wrote 'Tony eats an apple' and after a few seconds, ALEX produced a circular weave of runes and lines which was projected onto the LCD screen.

Loki, who was battling the urge to sleep in a semi-recumbent position on the floor, suddenly straightened his back and looked first at the TV screen, then at Tony. And finally he nodded, initially hesitant, almost incredulous, then with more vehemence, standing up and approaching almost in a run the glass of the cell.

Bruce and Dr. Fairbanks looked at each other for a moment, incredulous too, then burst into excited shrieks at the same time.

"What's going on? What am I missing?" Tony asked, suddenly getting up from the chair he had collapsed into and dropping the apple he was absently munching.

"It works! Tony, it works, look!" Bruce repeated pointing to the computer screen. Tony looked at the screen first, then the abandoned apple and then Loki, who had pressed his hands on the glass of the cell to get as close to the group as possible and continued to nod with a crooked smile on his face.

"Good boy, ALEX, way to go!" He then exclaimed with a smile, stroking the laptop monitor

"I absolutely have to update my team, bring them all the material, this is something revolutionary" Nicole said, quickly gathering all her belongings, ready to rush into her lab.

"We have to double check ALEX's parameters and keep loading the rest of the symbols we've collected into his memory, plus I think I speak for everyone when I say I need a long night's rest and an even longer shower" Bruce said closing the last suitcase and walking towards the door too

"Let’s say we'll see you guys back here in, um, 48 hours?" Tony asked as he motioned for the soldier on guard to open the door and glanced at his watch

A loud thud made them all stop in place and quickly turn to the glass cube. Loki had a fist pressed to the transparent surface and a hurt, hesitant look on his face. Nobody moved and he slammed his fist hard on the glass again, the look on his face turned into one of pure anger.

"What the hell does he want?" Bruce asked in a worried and confused tone.

"What would you wish to do after five months of being unable to communicate with anyone other than yourself?" Tony answered in a whisper, with a grim expression

"Communicate" Nicole replied resolutely.

"Bruce, you know the side job I assigned Jarvis? He found a series of videos that he thinks we should watch" Tony said, observing the scientist from above the laptop monitor

Bruce put the glass of water he was drinking on top of the lab table and took a seat on a stool next to the one Tony occupied so he could get a better view of the computer screen.

Tony chose the first video in chronological order.

***

It showed a man kneeling on the floor, with a black hood on his head and his arms tied behind his back. A soldier with a face covered with a black ski mask approached him and took off his hood, long raven hair fell on his shoulders in messy waves, partially concealing his facial features, but nevertheless they recognized Loki without a doubt.

The man watched him in silence for a moment, then asked "Why did you come back?"

Loki raised his head and looked back at him, but remained silent, even when he received a slap on his left cheek. The question was repeated to him, and Loki hissed a sentence in asgardian, in an angry tone that was clearly heard by the soldier, because he grabbed him with both hands by the collar of the orange shirt he was wearing and forced him to get up. Once on his feet the soldier let go, only to give him a second backhand slap on the abdomen this time.

After a few moments they heard him ask another question: "What is your purpose on Earth?" Loki once again just stared at the man with a hard expression and slightly labored breathing. When the soldier realized he wasn't getting an answer, he simply turned his back on Loki and stepped out of the camera's field of view. For a few seconds nothing else seemed to happen, then they heard a sharp and powerful 'beep', and they saw two soldiers with covered faces approaching Loki, carrying with them a kind of large rectangular metal container, they put it down on the ground and opened it. One of the two soldiers took Loki by the arm, made him kneel again and put his black hood back on, took off his handcuffs and then both of them pushed him forcibly inside the container, evidently too small to contain his body in any other position than the fetal one, and they closed the door, securing it with a padlock.

Tony fast forwarded the video as soon as the two soldiers disappeared from camera view, but nothing else happened.

"Did you notice the time in the lower right corner? They left him in there for hours" murmured Bruce.

Tony swallowed, then moved on to the next videos. The situation only got worse: they saw Loki being repeatedly slapped, grabbed by the shoulders and violently slammed against a wall with a towel rolled around his neck to protect his cervical and prevent it from breaking, being stripped and drowned in cold water with a fire hydrant, they saw him trying to hold back noises of protest and pain, but not always succeeding. Each time they always and only told him the same words, the same two requests: why did you come back? What is your purpose on Earth?

No matter how Loki attempted to communicate his inability to understand their questions to the two jailers: speaking in asgardian, through hand gestures in those rare moments when he had them free from constraints, frantically shaking his head. He wasn't giving them the only two answers they were interested in; therefore the tortures, because that’s the only way the actions that the two scientists were witnessing could be defined, continued. Each time, just before using a technique that would take a long waiting time for the jailers, the high-pitched 'beep' sounded in the room and each time they watched Loki, who had evidently learned to recognize the damn sound, become more and more terrified of what he would have to endure.

He was placed standing about five feet in front of a wall and ordered to lean and touch the surface of the wall only with his fingers, he was forced to hold the position for almost an hour, the muscles of his legs and arms crossed by uncontrolled spasms from the effort. He was handcuffed to the wall with his arms stretched above his head to a height that did not allow him to stand or sit on the ground and was left like that for nearly 56 consecutive hours, forced to listen to the Blues Brothers’ 'Rawhide' over and over at a deafening volume. By the time he reached the 50th hour he started humming too, muttering "rolling, rolling, rolling" and laughing hysterically. After another two hours they watched him sobbing desperately, mumbling in asgardian

"I -... I can't, I have to... go out for a moment," Bruce stammered, taking a series of deep breaths and checking his watch, before rushing out of the room.

Tony went on for a while longer, but when it came the time for waterboarding he was forced to stop too. He watched his enemy being tied in a supine position to an inclined table with his feet higher than his head, he saw him slowly drown, while water was poured over his nose and mouth covered with a cloth, he saw him cough and spit and try to move his head to one side or the other without success, as one of the soldiers held it steady with his hands resting on either side at ear level. Tony slammed his laptop shut, almost throwing it to the ground with the urge to get up and go outside, hoping that a little bit of the unsustainable cold of Antarctica would distract him from the anxiety he felt growing in his chest.

***

He grabbed his thermal snow jacket they'd provided him upon arrival at the base and headed for the roof, running up the steps two by two. Once he climbed the last flight of stairs he realized that the panic door was already wide open, he went through it and saw Bruce not far away, with his face turned towards the sky and his arms outstretched.

"Heimdall! Heimdall! HEIMDALL" he kept screaming at the dark sky full of stars

"Wasn't the Enterprise's chief engineer called Scotty?" Tony said, approaching

Bruce looked at him with a sigh "I remembered that Thor screams this name when it's time to go back to Asgard, he should be some kind of guardian. I thought... well, I don't know what I was thinking" he said scratching his forehead with one hand covered by the heavy snow glove and adjusting the hood on his head better to protect himself from the cold with the other.

Tony looked at him for a moment, then lifted his face to the sky and put both hands cupped around his mouth: "HEIMDALL! HEY, HEIMDALL CAN YOU HEAR US?"

Bruce looked at him initially surprised, then began to imitate him, screaming loudly.

"Heimdall... tell Thor to come and get his little brother back" Tony finally whispered, hoarsely.

Chapter Text

As soon as Fury was informed of the progress made, the first official conversation was immediately scheduled. In the room that contained the glass cell, in addition to Nicole Fairbank, Bruce and Tony, there were also Fury and Michael Brennan, the director of the CIA, and Loki of course, who had tried to comb his hair back for the occasion simply using water and his hands, having no other products available, probably to make himself as presentable as possible, but obtaining the opposite result, thought Tony, observing the halo of curly, frizzy strands around his head with a slightly raised eyebrow.

Loki seemed to read his mind because he frowned at him and then started running his hands through his raven waves in an attempt to fix them.

“If everything is ready I would start with the first question. Ask him the reason for his return to Earth” said Brennan

Tony swallowed the sudden wave of nausea that had assailed him and ventured to throw an angry look in the director's way. It went unnoticed. Focusing on the laptop screen, he typed the question and while AXEL composed the translation and sent it to the big screen facing the cell, Tony looked Loki straight in the eye and said slowly, articulating the words well in a strong and clear voice, pointing at the screen with his index finger and his whole arm: "Why did you come back?"

Loki looked at him as if Tony had just hit him with his repulsors. He covered his mouth with a shaking hand, frantically alternating his gaze from Tony to the screen with the runic symbol. A sob passed the barrier of his hand and he quickly brought the other one to press on his mouth as well.

"Tony, what are you doing?" Bruce whispered, angry and incredulous.

“I make sure he finally understands why he was tortured. We owe him at least that, Bruce” Tony murmured without taking his eyes off Loki.

"What's wrong with him?" Fury asked, confused.

Tony turned to the director, ready to unload all his anger and disgust on him when he felt Bruce's hand rest on his shoulder and saw him widen his eyes and shake his head. Tony bit the inside of his cheek, pursed his lips and exhaled strongly from his nostrils, bringing his attention back to Loki, who in the meantime had bent down to retrieve his slate and marker and had begun to draw his answer, pausing from time to time to rub his fingers on his cheekbones and forcefully wipe away the tears that had begun to run down his cheeks. After a few seconds he sniffed and turned the board.

The camera recorded the newly drawn symbol and ALEX gave them a translation after a few seconds.

"Loki banished from Asgard, Odin's punishment" Dr. Fairbank read aloud.

"When will that being stop treating our planet as a prison colony for his own?" sighed Fury, squeezing the base of his nose between his index finger and thumb.

“Ok, let's go ahead. We need to know what this means to us and what his intentions are” Brennan added

Bruce typed the question to AXEL, then imitating what Tony had done earlier he looked at Loki and said, "What is your purpose on Earth?". He couldn't stop a grimace of self-disgust from crossing his face as he watched Loki close his eyes and inhale deeply, ignoring two more involuntary tears that flowed undisturbed to his chin, he nodded slowly.

"Loki wants a deal" Bruce read once he got the translation in response.

“Unbelivable, now he wants to strike a deal, the bastard. And pray tell, what does he think we should give him?" Brennan said in a mocking tone

Tony typed in the question and Loki gave the answer much quicker than usual, drawing on the board with quick, frantic gestures.

"Freedom" Tony announced, reading.

"Oh, does your majesty want anything else? He’s got a hell of a nerve, what does he have to offer that makes him so arrogant?" Brennan spat, pointing an accusing finger in Loki's direction.

'Knowledge' was his response, and when Fury wanted to ask for more information about what kind of knowledge, ALEX returned the following translation:

"Loki offers Death threat to Earth"

Oh no. Bad choice of words man, Tony thought.

"He said 'knowledge'"

"He said 'death threat'"

"And don't you think that if he had a way to threaten the survival of the entire planet he wouldn't have already used it in his favor alredy?" Tony said narrowing his gaze and crossing his arms over his chest.

"I don't care, I don't intend to waste any more time reflecting on the hypothetical different meanings of an already clear enough sentence" Brennan replied, altered, straightening his shoulders and placing his hands on his hips.

“We have to go back in there and ask for explanations. Make sure we have not misunderstood- "Dr. Fairbank tried to intervene, but was soon interrupted by Brennan.

"Absolutely not, the authorization to interact in any way with the detainee is revoked for each of you three. Loki is now more than ever considered a terrorist and will be transferred to a maximum security military facility as soon as possible. Gentlemen, doctor, your work here is finished, thank you for your sevice” concluded the director, lifting his chin and leaving the room without waiting for an answer.

“Oh no. No, no, no. If he thinks I'll let the opportunity to further study an alien language slip away…” Nicole muttered, gathering her personal effects and marching out the door to chase Brennan with determined steps.

"Sir, this is absurd, our work has only just begun" Bruce said to Fury, rubbing his forehead with his right hand to combat the impending headache.

“Your job was to create an AI to allow us to communicate with Loki, and that's exactly what you did. The content of the communications never concerned you. Great job, ALEX works and will continue to be used by us and the CIA to speak with Loki, now you can finally go home, aren't you happy?" Fury answered, spreading his arms.

"Bullshit. I can guess pretty well what 'methods of communication' the intelligence agencies will employ with Loki and ALEX is certainly not in the repertoire. You want my toy? Then let me go back in there” Tony hissed, pointing a finger at the closed door behind him.

“Stark, don't piss me off. I'm not a fan of the idea either, but the decision come from above, higher than me and even Brennan, if you know what I mean" he said, glancing between Tony and Bruce with raised eyebrows, "My hands are tied" he added then crossing his arms over his chest, with a more docile tone, as if to apologize.

Bruce sighed taking off his eyeglasses to rub his eyes, Tony turned his back to the two men absently scratching his goatee.

"You better gather all your belongings and go get ready for departure" concluded Fury with a last sigh, leaving the room.

"Jarvis, start the protocol for the 'Tim Jenkin' operation" said Tony putting on his sunglasses and walking resolutely towards the exit.

"What are you up to?" Bruce asked, reaching the man

“No Bruce, what are we up to. We will prepare for departure” Tony replied turning to the scientist with a grin on his face.

“Tony, this is madness. Just a level above hugging a nuclear warhead to divert it into a portal to the universe” Bruce whispered, putting his mouth near Tony's ear as they watched the platoon of soldiers surrounding on each side Loki, handcuffed to the wrists and ankles, to escort him through the hangar towards the Quinjet entrance

"Shh. Let me think” Tony cut him short, observing Loki carefully. He returned the gaze with an intensity that would have made Bruce decidedly uncomfortable. Maybe even a little scared.

“Now you want to think? I thought you already had a plan! " Bruce hissed nervously watching the platoon approach and flank them a few meters away. Tony began to trot towards the head of the platoon and Bruce followed him, despite the bad feeling the whole situation was giving him.

“I thought I made myself clear, Stark. Get away” said Brennan without stopping and without looking at him

“Oh very clear. Crystalline. I was just hoping to be able to talk for a moment about the rights to use ALEX granted to the agency by Stark Industries at the time of signing the contract" said Tony, turning and starting to walk backwards to be able to look at Brennan.

"This is not the time to talk, it will have to wait" replied the director, without returning Tony's gaze and continuing to stare at the open tailgate of the Quinjet "And what do you want?" Brennan asked Bruce, looking at him for a moment with perplexity.

“I-, um… I'm… undecided. Sir.” Bruce stammered back, glancing between Brennan and Tony. The latter rolled his eyes

"I'd like to discuss adding a clause-" Tony began, but was suddenly interrupted by what happened next.

Bruce was under the impression that the events immediately following had happened extremely quickly and in slow motion at the same time. During his brief speech he caught Tony throwing quick glances in the direction of Loki, who, at the umpteenth intersection of glances, took advantage of the narrow window of space that their arrival had opened between the first two soldiers, he reached out and grabbed the collar of Tony's shirt with both hands constrained by the cuffs, pushed him hard and pressed his lips to Tony’s.

In a moment the brief contact was interrupted by the two soldiers behind Loki who grabbed him by the forearms and yanked him backwards, while the other two soldiers on the right side took Tony to push him away in the opposite direction.

Loki laughed heartily as he was pushed to the floor in a prone position by the two soldiers, one of them planted a knee on his lower back to prevent him from moving, while Tony and Bruce were pushed back several feet by another couple of soldiers and by Brennan

"I'm fine, really, I’m all right, calm down guys" Tony kept repeating, keeping his hands in sight and his arms raised

"Search them, all three!" Brennan ordered his men, who hurried to execute.

"Stark, out. Now. The matter is closed, if you want to discuss contracts and rights have the agency's public relations department called by your legal department!" He said once the searches were over, pointing a finger at Tony's chest. He replied with a murmur of assent while continuing to keep his hands raised in front of him.

With a final glare at Tony, Brennan returned to the lead of the escort team who in the meanwhile had picked up the inmate with little grace after the search and resumed his march towards the Quinjet. Loki didn't stop laughing until he was forcibly loaded into the plane.

Tony saw him disappear from sight once the hatch was closed, at which point he turned around and exited the hangar with quick determined strides.

"What the hell... did he just kissed you?!" Bruce exclaimed as he ran over to Tony

"He didn't kiss me" Tony replied, continuing along the corridor, with an incredulous tone, as if Bruce hadn't just witnessed the scene and had suggested an absurdity.

"He gave me this" he added then, bringing a hand to his mouth and slipping two fingers under his tongue. Then he opened his palm to show Bruce the smallest microchip the scientist had ever seen.

"Jarvis, start phase two" said Tony turning to his smartphone after inserting the microchip in a slot on the side of the device.

"Tony, talk to me" Bruce said placing a hand on the engineer’s shoulder to prevent him from continuing to walk and forcing him to turn towards him "what's going on?"

Tony sighed, rolling his eyes, then invited Bruce to follow him with a nod. They wandered in silence through the labyrinth of corridors of the base, then Tony stopped in front of a door, opened it and with a wave of his arm signaled Bruce to enter the room. This time Bruce recognized the entrance to the women's bathroom and hesitated, looking at him with a raised eyebrow, but Tony took him by the arm and pushed him inside.

"We agreed that we should ask Reindeer Games for further explanations and clarify any misunderstandings, right?" Tony began. Bruce nodded.

“Well, we can't do that if they move him, I don't know, to Guantanamo or somewhere like that. Our chance would evaporate the moment he would have left this base in the custody of the intelligence. So the solution is simple: we have to help him escape"

“You already told me exactly that about four hours ago, right after you told me you had a plan. I don't need a summary of the previous episodes, I need to understand what this plan of yours is"

“I was getting there, relax! So, the simplest way is to act during the transport, which as you have seen is taking place by air and consists of an escort of eight soldiers on a Quinjet. The plan is to hijack the aforementioned vehicle, disable the GPS, block any communication entering or leaving the base, have it land in a safe place, reach it with my Mark VII, force the soldiers to abandon the prisoner and the Quinjet, enter and take control of it to fly to the nearest of my properties not directly linked to either me or Stark Industries. Phase one is over, successfully I would add, leaving out the final making out session of course, although I must admit that it was a brilliant move on his part and I can't explain why but all in all I didn't even mind that much... " Tony concluded with an absent and thoughtful look.

"Hey!" exclaimed Bruce snapping his fingers in front of Tony's face "Focus and get back to the point! what’s that thing that Loki give to you?”

Tony looked at him narrowing his gaze “The authorization credentials for the Quinjet autopilot command. Unfortunately, even Jarvis is unable to bypass that level of security, so it was crucial to get hold of it. I did not know where they are usually kept, but I had read in the internal intelligence documents provided by Jarvis that they are entrusted to the highest-ranking soldier of the Quinjet crew, of Loki's escort team in this case. I told Loki to steal them for me” he concluded, shrugging

“You said-, when-, how? How did you tell Loki to steal a microchip and give it to you? Thor doesn't even know what a computer is” Bruce asked, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Okay, I didn't tell him, technically ALEX told him. During the official meeting, just before unplugging everything, I told ALEX to tell Rock of Ages to steal the microchip for me if he wanted freedom. And of course I didn't ask him for a 'microchip', I asked him 'the tiny gray square on the chief soldier's necklace' " Tony replied as if he were explaining something obvious to a particularly obtuse child

Bruce couldn't help but laugh. "Next time you should also specify how he will have to give it to you" he added shaking his head.

"Yeah, definitely" Tony sighed, letting go a half laugh.

“So now phase two begins. You put on your suit, reach the Quinjet, take out eight elite intelligence agents and take Loki to a safe place. What am I supposed to do? Watch some TV and eating pop corn?” Bruce asked putting his hands on his hips

“Oh no. You, my friend, are the diversion” Tony replied with a grin

Bruce swallowed. "Absolutely not. What sense did all this have had if you then have to come and free me from Guantanamo?"

“Oh please. A little more faith in your big green friend” Tony exclaimed as he came out of the bathroom.

"I guess it went well" Tony said as he pulled on a clean shirt.

"Sure. The Hulk has practically razed the entire science base to the ground, Loki literally attempted to stab you in the back the exact moment you released him from the handcuffs and forced you to shoot him in the head with one of your repulsive beams to make him unconscious and in this moment we are the three highest priority wanted individuals on the list of all government and intelligence agencies of every nation on Earth. Peachy” Bruce replied continuing to wipe his damp hair with a towel

“The three of us are here in the safe place, right? Look on the bright side” Tony said

A grunt of pain from the sofa distracted Bruce from the argument.

"He's waking up" the scientist announced, approaching the source. Tony followed him.

“Hey Sleeping Beauty. How are we doing? Here, drink. We need to talk" Tony said, handing Loki a glass of water. He stood up, assuming a sitting position on the sofa and glanced at the glass first, then at Tony and Bruce.

Tony rolled his eyes and took a small sip of water. "See? It's safe” he added, placing the glass on the coffee table in front of Loki. Bruce placed a plate with a few slices of bread and scrambled eggs next to his glass, after imitating Tony and eating some to prove to Loki that even the food hadn't been tampered with.

Loki hesitated for just another second, then greedily drank the glass of water and pounced on the meal with animalistic enthusiasm.

“So, let's start where we left off. 'Does Loki offer knowledge about a death threat to Earth?' "Tony said, typing the words on his tablet and showing the AXEL translation symbol to Loki. He frowned at him as he chewed the huge bite of bread, then roughly wiped his right hand on his pants and opening his palm in front of him made a gesture with his fingers to get Tony to give him the tablet. Once the object was obtained, he began to draw his symbol-answer, which AXEL translated simply as 'Death'

“Yeah, here we go again. See, here is the problem, why does he keep telling us only 'death'? maybe there is something wrong with AXEL" sighed Tony shaking his head. Loki just seemed even more confused about their confusion.

Bruce took the tablet and simply typed 'death?', Then showed it to Loki who, puzzled, shook his head and finally abandoning his plate with food drew another symbol and handed the tablet back to Bruce. AXEL kept returning 'Death' as translation. The two scientists stared at the screen for a while, frowning.

"Wait... Tony, look, the symbol drawn by Loki is slightly different from the AXEL one, which in fact continues to give us the same translation, but with a small difference: the initial capital letter. I think it's a proper name" Bruce said bringing the tablet near his face to better observe Loki's drawings.

Tony looked at him for a moment, then took the tablet and wrote 'spelling?' Pointing with his finger at the last symbol drawn by Loki, then handing the tablet to the Asgardian. Loki waited for the translation, once obtained he looked confused at the two scientists. Then he shrugged and began to write one letter at a time using the linear runic alphabet.

"Th-a-n-o-s?" Bruce said reading the individual letters interspersed with a hyphen and translated by ALEX into the English alphabet.

"Þánós" murmured Loki looking at Bruce and actually shuddering.

"Thanos?" he tried to repeat, and a strange tremor crossed Loki's face as he nodded once and looked away.

"It must be someone's name, Tony. 'Thanos' in ancient Greek means 'death', it probably has the same meaning in his language too, which is why AXEL kept translating it" said Bruce, turning to the engineer.

Tony looked back for a moment, then slowly walked over to the coffee table in front of the sofa, pushed aside the forgotten scrambled eggs and empty glass and sat down so that he could position himself exactly in front of Loki, rested his elbows on his knees and he folded his hands in front of him

"And who is this Thanos?" he murmured then slowly, looking Loki in the eye.

A sudden flash of lightning in an evening sky otherwise clear and serene lit the room almost to daylight, followed shortly after by a powerful and deafening thunder that made the glass left on the table next to Tony tremble.

Loki's gaze, which a moment earlier hinted at a kind of fearful insecurity, followed the source of the noise as he watched the unnatural storm clouds approach outside the window. When he turned back to Tony and Bruce all trace of concern was gone from his face and he was now sporting a lopsided grin, his eyes gleaming with mischievous joy.

“bróðir”