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He saw Loki again.
And again, and again. Tony started off with good intentions each time, which rapidly withered away in the face of Loki's wit and smirking charm.
Loki taught him an Asgardian drinking game, where one person got the other to copy a pattern of hand movements, and the punishment for getting it wrong was drinking. The more drinks, the more mistakes began to be made. It was brutally effective and the sex that followed left Tony blissed out and dazed.
Loki was dangerous when he was charming, but he was more dangerous when he was focused, trying to lure Tony to his side. He murmured close to Tony's ear about how frustrating the world was, how much Tony could improve it, if he would just take power. More power, because as Loki pointed out, Tony already ruled in part.
"Isn't this what you want?" Loki asked him in honeyed tones. "You stopped making weapons for others, but made better weapons for yourself. You don't disbelieve in force... you just think that you should be in charge of it. You know best. Think of all the good you could do if you stopped holding yourself back."
"As if you care about 'doing good'," Tony said shakily. "You just want the power for yourself."
"Our rule would benefit this realm, you can't deny that. Look around at the poverty, starvation, war. All of it, you could stop. If you chose to."
"No, I can't," Tony insisted, even as his mind pictured it, pictured just making everyone do what he wanted, just fixing it. "People don't work like that."
"I think you know the truth," Loki said to him. Tony kissed him to shut him up, and they wound up in bed, panting into each other's mouths.
--
Tony had a meeting with some senator he didn't care about. It was a lot of small talk and dancing around the real issue, which boiled down to three sentences.
"I just want to tell you how much I, we, all appreciate your generous donations," the guy said.
"And I'm sure you appreciate our concerns over this potential legislation," Tony said. "I know we can count on your vote against it."
"Of course, of course," the senator said, smiling, and Tony's job was done.
He left not long after that, knowing what Loki would say about the whole exchange. The accusation that Tony partly ruled already, but from the shadows and slantwise. That he could accomplish so much more if he'd just step up and take it.
Not for the first time, Tony wondered.
--
There was a battle. Loki had been tracked to an abandoned office complex, a safe place with no bystanders, and Tony knew Loki had allowed it to happen.
Especially when the team got separated and as soon as Tony was alone Loki appeared before him, smiling and eyes gleaming.
"You're not returning my calls," Loki said.
"I don't have your number," Tony pointed out.
"Well, it's been a while."
"You can literally appear in my penthouse any time you like." Tony bit his tongue so he didn't say something like, why don't you just kill the Avengers in their sleep? He didn't want to put the idea in Loki's head if he hadn't already thought of it, and he didn't want to hear the answer if he had.
Loki reached out and pulled the helmet off, carefully, giving time for Tony to stop him if he wanted. Instead Tony flicked his eyes to the part of the HUD that would open the catches, releasing the helmet for Loki to remove.
"There you are," Loki said, smiling at him.
"What's the plan, Loki?" Tony asked. "I know you lured us here."
"Lured," Loki repeated, rolling the word in his mouth. He made it sound dirty. "Is that what I did?"
"You know you did," Tony said. Like this, he was more equal to Loki in height, the armor giving him a boost. He told himself he wasn't going to kiss Loki during a battle, but he didn't fight when Loki leaned forward and kissed him.
Loki backed him against the wall, mouth eager on his. Tony closed his eyes. He knew he shouldn't be doing this but he couldn't make himself want to stop.
"Tony?" It was Steve's voice, horrified and shocked.
Loki pulled back, snarling, a knife in each hand. Tony thrust his armored arm out, hastily getting in between them. "No!"
Steve hefted his shield, a look of determination on his face. "Move, Tony."
Tony swallowed, a horrible pit in his stomach. "No," he said again.
The look Steve gave him made his blood run cold.
"Well. I can tell when I'm not wanted," Loki said from behind him.
Tony swallowed again. He could tell from the way Steve's stance changed that Loki had disappeared.
"Tony," Steve said in a low voice. "You'd better have one hell of an explanation."
--
They took Tony to the helicarrier, told him to step out of the armor and into a cell. Tony cooperated because he didn't want to think about how badly this would escalate if he didn't. He didn't want to fight these people.
Bruce was the worst. The disappointment and betrayal in his eyes broke Tony's heart.
Fury handled the interrogation. How long had this been going on. Had Tony passed team or state secrets to Loki. Was he giving Loki aid, material or otherwise. Tony answered all the questions without meeting Fury's eyes, staring instead at the line where the wall met the floor.
--
Eventually, they left him alone to stew. Tony kept staring at that line, counting the minutes. It wasn't long before a pair of black boots walked into his field of vision.
"Look at you," Loki said scornfully.
"You shouldn't be here," Tony said, without much enthusiasm.
"Neither should you," Loki told him, walking closer. He touched Tony's forehead, slid his fingertips into Tony's hair. "These people are beneath you."
"They're my friends," Tony said softly.
Loki looked pointedly around the cell. "Are they?"
Tony swallowed and didn't answer that. It wasn't the team's fault he'd betrayed them. But he didn't think his pride would let him stay here long. And with Loki here to tempt him further...
"Can they see you?" he asked, eyes flickering to the security camera.
"Of course not," Loki said. "What do you take me for?"
Tony closed his eyes briefly. His skin was warm where Loki was touching him. Even now, he wanted.
"I fucked up," he said. "I told you we couldn't do... this. I should have..."
"Should have denied yourself, should have endured that solitary and pitiful existence?" Loki brushed his fingers down Tony's cheek. "When you could have someone who understands you? Who makes you smile?"
"Who literally wants to rule my planet," Tony pointed out.
"Is that so bad?" Loki asked. "I didn't think you were one to shy away from a little ambition."
Tony gave a hollow laugh because he had to, because he didn't know how else to respond. He just wanted to go with Loki, away from here. He knew that was what Loki wanted too.
"They will never accept you, after this," Loki murmured. "They will not forgive you."
"I guess you're the expert on doing unforgivable things," Tony said, and regretted it immediately.
Loki sighed. "Are you really going to go through with this charade? Let them put you on trial, imprison you, think themselves better than you?"
"What should I do instead, huh?" Tony demanded. "Fight them? Kill them? It'll never end, Loki, they'll hunt me to the ends of the Earth."
"Then we shall go to the stars," Loki said, clasping his hands.
"Even for you, that was smooth." Tony managed to laugh a little, then turned serious. "I can't just leave, Loki."
"Why not?" Loki asked, and Tony didn't have an answer for that.
--
Fury came back and interrogated him some more, all the same questions. They obviously didn't believe the answers. Tony was tired but they didn't let him sleep. If they tried to dunk his head in a bucket of water he was going to let Loki go nuclear on this place, to hell with it all.
The same questions. What was Loki planning. What had Tony given him, told him. They wouldn't believe that it hadn't been about that.
Who would have thought someone would have trouble believing that Tony Stark had been led purely by his dick?
Tony stood against the wall, bleary-eyed. Whenever he tried to sit or lay down, SHIELD agents with batons came in and forced him back to his feet. So, he didn't try anymore.
There were discordant sounds coming from the speakers, sounds that spiked suddenly at random intervals, making him jump and startling him out of any doze he managed to achieve.
It wasn't until Fury threatened to mess with the arc reactor that he really started to get angry.
He'd saved the world, saved all of their asses more than once and this was how they were treating him. Tony tried to tell himself that he hadn't left them any choice but he didn't believe that. They had a choice. They'd chosen this.
The next time he was alone, a blur of black in his vision. Loki, voice cool and soothing. "Anthony. Look at you..."
"So... what. Are you here to break me out?" Tony finally asked.
Loki smiled at him, with a kind of dark pride. "I don't need to, do I?"
They'd taken Tony's watch, belt and shoelaces, but they hadn't taken the reactor. Tony took it from his chest long enough to pry a piece of the casing free. He crossed the cell and worked the piece of metal into the seam between the door and the electronic panel there.
Once he was in the panel, he had everything he needed to short-circuit the security on the cell and open the door. He hit one guard in the gut, grabbed his gun and shot the other. The first guard tried to punch him; Tony deflected the blow and flipped the guy over his hip, then shot him in the chest.
Tony grabbed the helmet off the guard's body and put it over his head. He helped himself to the second guard's gun as well. "This way," he said grimly.
SHIELD wanted a fight? They'd got one.
--
The Iron Man armor was right where Tony had thought it would be; locked up in the armory, as if electronic locks posed any kind of hindrance to him. He climbed back into it with relief, exchanging the SHIELD helmet for the much sleeker helmet that Loki passed to him.
"What do you think?" he asked Loki, spreading his arms.
Loki's mouth curved with satisfaction, eyes gleaming. "I think SHIELD are about to find they have made a grievous miscalculation."
Tony charged up the repulsors, listening to the sound. It felt strangely familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. He felt... distant from himself. Detached.
"Yeah," he said. "They have."
Side-by-side, he and Loki strode out of the armory. SHIELD's reinforcements had had time to arrive, guns drawn and shouting at Tony to stand down.
"You stand down," Tony retorted. "This doesn't have to go this way."
Bullets pinged off the armor. Tony lowered his head.
"I gave you a chance," he told them. Then fired, repulsors cutting a swathe through SHIELD's ranks. Those that still stood called for a retreat.
"This way," Tony said, and turned away. He wasn't interested in unnecessary bloodshed, just in getting out of here. He made his way up a couple of levels, shooting when he had to and only when he had to.
At the last door, Fury stepped into his path, holding a gun but not pointing it at him. "You don't want to do this, Stark," he said.
"You're right," Tony said. "I don't." He shot.
They stepped out on the deck. Loki didn't seem to have any trouble with the thin air. "Do you have a way to fly, or are we stealing a jet?" Tony asked.
Loki cocked his head and said, "Why don't I meet you there?" He stepped out of Tony's line of sight, and when Tony turned, he was gone.
"Drama queen," Tony muttered, and took off for home.
--
He walked the gantry, letting it strip the Iron Man armor from his body while Loki watched with knowing eyes. It reminded Tony of that first battle, the charge he'd felt even then.
Inside the penthouse, he said, "Now what?"
"Now," Loki said, touching his hair, "you need rest. Fear not; I will guard your sleep. None will get near you."
Tony believed him. He just wasn't sure he could sleep, after what he'd done. It was a far cry from the soldiers in the Humvee. Still his weapons, though.
"Come," Loki murmured softly, and led him to the bedroom. Loki lay him down and tucked him in and Tony felt the ridiculous urge to ask for chicken soup.
He should blame Loki. None of this would ever have happened if Loki hadn't lost his mind when Tony had gotten sick.
"Thank you," he said instead.
Loki bent down and kissed him and said, "Rest. You're safe now."
--
Tony dreamed of glaring lights and discordant noise, but when he woke up he wasn't in the cell. He was in his own home, in his own bed. Loki had pulled in a barstool and was sitting beside him, reading something on one of Tony's pads.
"What time is it?" Tony said, voice rough.
"Nearly six," Loki told him. "I'll prepare some food."
Tony's stomach ached, now that he thought about it. Food would be good. Then more sleep. He climbed out of bed and followed Loki into the main room. "What now?"
"Now?" Loki glanced at him with sharp eyes. "We will have to discuss what you want to do. But, tell me... do you still insist that it's better to let people make their own foolish choices? That it's better not to simply step in and tell them?"
"You let me make my choices," Tony pointed out.
Loki raised his eyebrow in a way that said, 'Look where those choices led you.' What he said was, "You and I are different. We have the vision that others lack. Do you deny it?"
"What are you cooking?" Tony asked weakly.
"It depends what you have," Loki said, and then, "What is this?"
"Frozen stir-fry," Tony said. "You take it out of the packet before you cook it."
Loki gave him a scathing look and said, "I was aware of that much, thank you."
"Well, I wasn't sure. Thor--" Tony winced at the look Loki shot him. "But you're not Thor, of course."
"Of course," Loki echoed sarcastically. He rummaged around the kitchenette some more, finding cooking oil and implements, and Tony showed him where the frying pan was.
Tony often worked standing up, but the session on the helicarrier had left his legs aching. He sat on a barstool to watch Loki cook, ignoring the surreality of it all.
"We shouldn't stay here," he realized. "They'll come looking--"
"They will not," Loki told him. "A simple enchantment to divert attention."
Tony blinked. The utility of something like that-- "Could you do that all along?" No wonder they'd had so much trouble tracking Loki, but also the times that they had, that meant--
"It's not exactly hard," Loki said. "Something that I found necessary very early in life, unfortunately. The Gatekeeper's vision ranges far and wide."
"Huh," Tony said, mentally reviewing previous battles and realizing yes, yes, all those had been times when Loki had wanted their attention.
He mused on that while Loki cooked, because it was something to think about that wasn't his current predicament. Eventually it was time to show Loki where the plates and cutlery were kept, and then they moved to the sofa to eat. Tony sank into it gratefully.
They ate in relative silence, except for a moment when Loki cautioned Tony against eating too fast. Tony tried to slow down, but his instinct was to wolf the food. He had to keep forcing himself to stop and chew.
Finally, they finished, and put the dishes in the dishwasher. Tony leaned heavily on the bench, hung his head, and closed his eyes. Loki put a hand on the back of his shoulders and let it rest there.
"I didn't want it to get to this," Tony murmured.
"It was always going to end up here," Loki said.
Tony swallowed and headed for the bedroom, Loki following. "They'll have frozen all my assets. I've still got a few things I can access, but I don't know how much use I'll be to you--"
"Firstly," Loki said, a little sharply, "you don't need to be of 'use'. Secondly if you think your wealth lies in anything but your intellect you are sorely misled."
Tony smiled a little and this time changed into sleep clothes. Loki was right, in a way. It was always going to end up here. If it hadn't been Loki, he would have locked horns with SHIELD over something else. They didn't trust him and he didn't trust them. One way or another, he'd have wound up in that cell with the blaring lights and the grating noises.
It hurt, a little. He hadn't realized he was still so naïve.
"Do you have a plan?" he asked softly. Part of him didn't want to hear the answer.
Loki curled up alongside him, nuzzling at the nape of his neck. "Of course."
Tony closed his eyes, feeling a little sick. "Okay," he said. "Okay."
"Just like that?" Loki asked him.
Tony gave a low, bitter laugh. "I learned a long time ago that sometimes I have to do unpleasant things to protect myself."
"It's a hard lesson," Loki agreed. "But you have me now."
"Yeah," Tony breathed.
The rest of the world better watch out.
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