Chapter Text
Tony remembered being in the bullpen and going over a case on the big TV when Abby took over their TV. Gibbs had been less than impressed and glared at her, but she'd shown no signs of contrition and just pointed at the TV as an explanation. Tony had wondered if this would remove Abby from Gibbs' favor.
"You have to see this, Gibbs." Abby insisted.
"We're in the middle of the case."
"Pretty sure this is more important."
"Nothing is more important than getting justice for the good men and women who defend our country."
Tony watched this back and forth in concern. They all knew how Gibbs felt. What the hell was going on? Had Abby lost it?
"What about the good men and women defending our world from an alien invasion?"
"What?" Gibbs barked.
Abby gestured at the TV. "See for yourself."
Tony blinked a few times and glanced at the TV. Alien invasion? What the hell was she talking about?
"This has to be fake news," Tim muttered in shock.
Tony didn't blame him at all. Aliens? He glanced at Gibbs to see what he thought, but the man seemed to just be glowering at Abby.
"Nope. It's real. New York sent out an APB to all law enforcement agencies advising them of this invasion and asking people to send what support they could. We're still trying to find out if we should be expecting attacks anywhere else."
It was at that point that Director Vance appeared and growled, "Gibbs, Sciuto, my office now."
Tony glanced at Ziva. She'd been quiet so far, but it appeared she was messaging her contacts to find out what was going on as well. Tony leant back in his seat and stared at the TV that was displaying the live footage of New York. Superheroes? Aliens? When had the world turned into a god damn actual movie?
He kept staring at the screen and eventually the leader of the alien army appeared and felt a jolt go through him. He didn't know how he knew, but he just knew that was his sentinel. He'd never heard of anyone identifying their sentinel or guide through a TV screen, but he couldn't shake the conviction that this one was his.
He had no idea how to feel about his sentinel being the leader of an alien army. What kind of fucked up destiny did he have for him to get paired with someone who was trying to take over the fucking world? Only he would have this kind of bad luck. Senior would be even more glad he disowned Tony once he found out.
He was still reeling from the realization that he knew who his sentinel was when Abby and Gibbs returned. Gibbs had a thunder cloud over his head, so obviously the discussion hadn't gone well. Abby looked contrite as well and Tony briefly spared a bit of brain cells to consider what exactly could have happened in that meeting.
"Tony, Ziva. Find the fastest route to New York. You've been tasked with helping our men in blue as much as you can."
Tony gulped and glanced at Ziva, who nodded in determination.
"It will be done, Gibbs," Ziva agreed.
Great. Now, he'd actually be in proximity to his sentinel and have to make sure not to start a bond. The guy was probably going to be taken back to wherever he came from once the battle was over, well unless Earth lost which didn't bear thinking about.
"DiNozzo." Gibbs barked. "Get a move on."
Tony jolted and jumped out of his seat. "Right, boss."
He followed Ziva to the motor pool as she argued over which car they could take to New York. He simply flashed his badge and signed out whatever vehicle she wanted. Normally, he would have insisted on driving, but his mind was a thousand miles away right now.
The team didn't even know that he was a guide. He had learned growing up how to shield himself into invisibility so that even other guides couldn't sense he was one. His father had made sure of that. After all, DiNozzos’ were only allowed to be sentinels if they weren't mundane.
"You are quiet," Ziva announced, startling Tony out of his reverie.
"I'm fine, Ziva."
"What is going on with you? You have not been behaving normally."
"I said I'm fine."
"I don't believe you."
"Tough." Tony glared, hoping to shut her up. There was no way he was going into the fact he was a guide let alone that his sentinel was the one attacking New York.
Unfortunately, Ziva was like a dog with a bone when she spotted a sore spot or a secret. She was not about to let up and they still had hours of their drive to go. Tony would have to think up something to throw her off the scent.
"You're not scared of some aliens, are you?" Ziva sneered.
Well no, that wasn't really the issue, but his experience undercover led him to know that the best way to throw someone off was to run with what they already thought. "Yeah, kinda. I mean they’re aliens, right? We know nothing about them and you saw the amount of damage they were doing, the same as I did."
Ziva shot him a look, but dropped it.
Tony breathed a silent sigh of relief and hoped that they would arrive soon. They stopped for food once, but otherwise continued straight through to where the action was. Gibbs had messaged him the gathering point for supporters and Tony started navigating for Ziva as they got closer.
Ziva slid to a stop, tires screeching as they spotted the encampment that had been set up. Once the car was stopped, they hopped out and Tony introduced himself and Ziva and gave a brief overview of their skills to the coordinator. He had no idea how this operation was being run, but was thankful that wasn't his job.
"Do you want to be paired together? Your skillsets are quite different and I would normally split you up."
"I do not need Tony's protection," Ziva insisted.
Tony rolled his eyes, but nodded his agreement to being split up. It would probably be for the best. He should probably tell someone that the damn alien overlord was his sentinel so that they could start working through the repercussions of that if there were any. He still wasn't sure if he actually wanted to bond with the guy.
His first meeting with Loki was after the Avengers defeated him and he was chained and ready to be sent back to Asgard. Apparently, there was an entire realm that they had no access to, but could come visit them whenever they wanted once their rainbow bridge was fixed or with the tesseract which is how Loki arrived in the first place.
Loki had been muzzled, which rubbed Tony in all the wrong ways, but apparently the guy had a way with words and actual magic if the words weren't enough. He was half tempted to break the guy out, even if he still didn't know if he wanted to bond with him. Simply because he didn't think anyone should be treated that way.
He'd gotten briefed on the Avengers and SHIELD and knew that while SHIELD had some guides and sentinels they were rare. SHIELD was a bit too anything goes for most guides and sentinels to be comfortable in that organization. None of the avengers had the standard sentinel and guide package either. They all had their own abilities, but none that matched the more well known sentinel and guide abilities.
Deciding to take a chance and see if there was any hope for them, Tony opened a small pinprick in his normal shields and reached out to Loki. The alien mage flinched back and glared at him. Tony could almost hear the "stop that" that the other man probably wanted to utter.
Being careful not to go too deep, Tony just let his mind slide against the others to get a sense of what he was feeling. Tony was the one who recoiled this time. He'd only ever felt such pure terror once and it had been from someone who he'd helped rescue from their torturer during one of their cases. The victim had been tortured for over twenty years and his fear went bone deep.
Tony wanted to know what the hell had happened to his powerful as fuck sentinel to give him the exact same mind feel, but now wasn't the time to bring it up. Stepping back, he nodded to Loki and then turned around and headed to talk to someone who could start orchestrating his sentinel's relief.
There was no doubt in Tony's mind that his sentinel was not the leader behind this attack and they would need to be prepared for the next attack. Not to mention, his guide senses were screaming for him to wrap Loki in fur and cuddle him until he was no longer scared. On the other hand, his rational mind was telling him that if it scared his sentinel this badly that Tony would stand no chance against it.