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Tony gestured at the door. “He’s through there.”
Tony slipped into the room behind Thor. He hadn’t volunteered to be the god’s guide for nothing. Thor had asked to speak with Loki, claiming that he could reason with the locked up god and they both would leave Midgard – presumably Earth - without any more damage to this place.
Fury had been less than pleased with the suggestion, but he didn’t have much of a choice for all the care Thor had even given the director. The god had just walked past Fury and expected someone to open the doors for him when he stood in front of them.
Tony didn’t know how different Loki was. All the avengers had done was grab Loki from Germany and back from Thor and lock him up. They hadn’t spoken to him much, or even acknowledged that he existed. Hell, they had barely acknowledged that their fellow team members existed!
“I wondered when you’d turn up,” Loki said, opening his eyes for the first time since they had put him in containment. “Convenient timing much?”
Thor rolled his eyes. “The mortals have agreed to release you, so long as you vow to take us back to Asgard.”
Loki scoffs. “You can’t be serious.”
He said it as a statement, not even a hint of incredulity in his tone. Thor smiled slightly, his blue eyes gleaming with power. Tony hadn’t met the self-proclaimed gods before, but looking at them now, he could certainly see why they were called that.
“I’m always serious, Loki.” Thor said as if talking to a child. “Besides, I’m sure father would understand.”
Tony took in a breath, cautiously. These creatures, for they couldn’t be human in any way, they were toying with the rest of the group. Fury might have decided that Thor was benevolent, and Loki was a hostile. But there was no convincing Tony that they were by any means tame.
Loki rolled his eyes, and much to Tony’s surprise, he smiled.
“Odin gives no care to what I say or do. You only came here to join in on the fun.” Loki said, and Thor scowled in return.
There was a loud rumble of thunder from outside, and Tony was sure he felt the helicarrier tilt precariously. Thor’s eyes were bright, difficult to look at. His presence was oppressing. The hair on Tony’s arms stood up, and he could feel the electric charge in the air. The smell of ozone permeated the place, and Tony resisted the urge to cower in fear.
Thor was causing this.
Thor was causing this with no care for the humans here.
Loki tilted his head back and he laughed. Tony saw how his expression displayed his glee, how utterly entertaining he found this. Loki didn’t care that this place was going to be blown up by lightning. If they were struck, the helicarriers would go up in flame. Maybe that’s what Loki wanted?
“Oh please, as if I want this place to blow up with me in it,” Loki commented, gesturing randomly. His smile was still firmly in place, which didn’t encourage Tony to trust him.
Loki sighed dramatically.
“Thor.” He called, dragging his voice out, exaggerating on the pronunciation. “Your poor mortals are going to be fried in a few minutes.”
Indeed, Tony could feel the heat from Thor’s latest tantrum.
Thor took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He opened his eyes. And the storm ceased.
The smell of ozone disappeared.
The electric charge that made the hair on his arms stand up, vanished.
From one second to the next, the helicarrier went from being toasted to being perfectly safe.
Loki didn’t bother sparing another glance for Tony. But Tony had to wonder how the god knew about his thoughts. If Loki could mind read, then they were all in major trouble. It would be much better for Tony himself to just remain in denial.
“You think you could let me out now?” Loki asked. His question was clearly addressed to Thor, who looked annoyed.
“Get out yourself, Loki. I’ll be waiting in the main room.”
Thor turned and walked towards Tony, towards the exit. Loki slumped slightly, leaning against the wall of his cage. Tony was glad that it worked on him, even as the doubt niggled at the back of his mind. He had the urge to just pack up his things, refuse to join Fury’s merry little gang, and run back to his tower. This situation wasn’t going to end well.
The main room had a tense atmosphere.
Natasha was lurking in a corner of the room, face emotionless and eyes sharp. On the other side of the room, Coulson stood, still fangirling the Captain while still maintaining his vigil on the rest of the room’s occupants. Banner was checking out something on an iPad and Rogers looked extremely uncomfortable at being the center of attention for Coulson.
As soon as they entered the room, all eyes snapped to them.
“How did it go?” Rogers asked, earnest and hopeful. “Did he agree to take the vow.”
Tony opened his mouth to answer, but was beat to it by Thor.
“My brother has decided to take some time to think about the offer.” Thor said, nonchalant. He wasn’t like the god Tony had seen less than five minutes ago. “I’m sure he’ll come around to our way of thinking soon.”
Thor even managed to seem innocent – sad and afraid that something bad would happen to his precious little brother. He hadn’t even seemed concerned that his brother was locked up when they had been speaking.
The others nodded. They had no reason to suspect Thor, and Tony, for all the reasons he did have, wasn’t going to confront the god. The two were undoubtedly powerful and Tony didn’t know how much he would be able to withstand before he died. Even with his suit, he was still human.
“I did come around to your way of thinking.” Loki said, stepping out from the shadows. Tony didn’t move an inch, afraid of being in the line of shooting. “It seems like something interesting is going to happen today. It’s not another one of Odin’s feast days, is it?”
The last question was for Thor, who shrugged. “Would it matter to you?”
Loki didn’t bother answering, turning to the multiple weapons raised against him. “Aw… you’ve got such nice little friends, Thor. They’re all pointing their flimsy weapons at me.”
Thor laughed, a booming laugh that managed to encompass the room.
“That’s because you’re the bad guy again,” Thor said, cheerfully, as though this was all a game.
Loki looked downright irritated. His eyes flashed, quite literally, the green turning a pale grey and something green slithered about his fingers. “Dammit, you big oaf! It was one of your friends – what’s his name – the elf… it was his turn to be the bad guy!”
Tony frowned in confusion, as did most of the others in the room. This seemed to be a game for the two brothers. Thor was grinning even wider somehow, still sitting down casually, while Loki looked like he would strangle Thor if given the chance.
Loki calmed down. “You know what, I’ll be the villain again. Let me just grab the scepter and we can continue our game.”
“That seems fair.”
“Any location limits?”
Thor turned to them then. “What’s your little city called, the one with the Man of Iron’s tower?”
Tony didn’t ask how he knew that, just answered the question before any of the others could. “New York.”
Tony didn’t understand what was going on, but he was certain that if anyone shot at either of the gods, Thor wouldn’t hesitate to kill them. He’d seen what they were capable of, and he didn’t want to be on their bad side.
“My team comprises of this wonderful group of people here,” Thor was saying. “I hope you don’t mind if we beat you.”
Loki smirked, sly and eager. “Once again, I look forward to it. I’ll even make it easy for them, being first timers and all.”
Loki grabbed the scepter, with none of the others moving. He turned back to them, “Good luck!”
With that he disappeared.
Tony blinked.
“What happened?” Rogers asked, confusion evident on his face. “I thought Loki was here, but he isn’t.”
Coulson looked suspicious. “I heard his voice, yes, but I’m certain it was a figment of our imagination. Excuse me, I need to go and check on the prisoner.”
Tony turned to Thor, eyes wide and panicky. “Thor, what’s going on? H-How on Earth… what just happened?”
Thor smiled and stood up. “So, you do remember. The game is afoot, my friend. We better get started.”
Thor patted him on the back and walked out of the room. Tony had no idea what he had just done, what had happened, but all he wanted to do was hide out for the rest of the year.
Coulson’s yell of ‘The prisoner has escaped!’ did not help matters.