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A month had passed since the arrival of Derek and Isaac, and the disastrous reveal of the supernatural to Tony Stark and Aunt Pepper. Well, disastrous might be overstating it, since Alpha Richards had shown up, taken over the explanations, and gotten everyone onto the same page. Still, it had been stressful enough to qualify, as far as Stiles was concerned.
He had finally finished healing up, and he and the rest of the pack were doing quite well. The three betas were training with the Richards pack in how to werewolf, but also in how to hide from mundanes, and how to be good packmates and betas. Derek was in his own lessons in how to alpha, and Stiles had noticed marked improvement in how he and the betas interacted. Of course, Derek had been a changed man ever since he arrived in New York. It was like a huge weight had lifted off his shoulders, and he smiled and joked a lot more. Stiles hadn't realized how bad Beacon Hills had been for the older man, but it was obvious when seeing the difference now. Stiles was addicted to seeing those bright smiles that Derek gave more freely, though he buried those thoughts deep down, where he wouldn't accidentally blurt them out.
Peter had even strolled into town two weeks ago, having taken care of the loose ends in Beacon Hills. And not even in the mafia "take care of it" kind of way. Well, maybe in that way. No one had told him what happened to Gerard, only assured Stiles that the man would never hurt him again. But mostly it sounded like Peter had just talked to people.
Peter had gotten in touch with the next closest Alpha — a woman named Satomi — and asked her to take in Scott. She had been watching over the territory for Laura all this time, so it was no hardship for her to continue to do so, and to absorb one wayward beta into her pack in the process. Having learned a bit about her, Stiles had high hopes that she would appeal to Scott's love of his mother and willingness to obey a maternal figure, unlike the Hale men, who seemed to have dredged up all of his hatred for his father. She also seemed like a strong enough task master to keep him on track, once she got his respect. It sounded like the best possible situation for Scott, and Stiles hoped things would work out now for his best — former? — friend.
He'd also pointed Lydia in Satomi's direction, since she had experience with banshees, and that's apparently what Lydia was. With the promise of more knowledge and learning how to control her heritage, Lydia was going to be a willing pupil, and Stiles had hope that at least some things would work out for those left behind in Beacon Hills.
Once that was done, Peter had made his own way to New York, and was recovering and reconnecting with the rest of the family there. There ended up being a bit of a kerfuffle when Peter and Tony met for the first time, as it turned out not to be the first time. They had apparently known each other from the rich boy LA club scene back in the day, and from the smirks they traded, they weren't just hanging out together playing Super Mario.
Derek just sighed a long-suffering sigh and said he didn't want any details about whatever had previously or may now happen. Since Tony was with Aunt Pepper, he assured the group that nothing new was going to happen, but he did tease that if any of the others wanted details, he wasn't the kind to kiss and tell.
Peter looked like he didn't follow the same philosophy, and Aunt Pepper had quickly changed the subject, much to Derek's and the boys' relief. Erica pouted, but Stiles was pretty sure it was for show, given that she was with Boyd, and very happy about it.
Aside from that first dinner with Peter, they didn't see the older wolf much, and Stiles wasn't sure if that was because Peter was giving Derek space, or if he was just busy getting his life back after being in a coma for six years. Probably a bit of both, he eventually decided. Since Stiles was the only other one to have really dealt with crazy alpha Peter, he appreciated the space himself, even if he enjoyed snarking with the much more sane version.
He also brought an update on Jackson.
The other boy was settling in well into being a wolf, though after all the ruckus that year, his parents were talking about moving him to London. He had fought and pleaded, and eventually convinced them that New York was a much better choice for his future college prospects, while still getting him away from all the 'bad seeds' in Beacon Hills. Of course, his parents had no idea that most of those 'bad seeds' were also in New York at the moment, but it meant that Jackson would be rolling into town in a few weeks.
He too would be scheduled with training time with the Richards pack, and Stiles just hoped that his version of the "how to werewolf" lessons included "how to not be a giant douche" lessons too. Stiles and Jackson had been friends once — back before Stiles's mom died, before Jackson's overnight transformation into a raging jackass — and he wouldn't mind seeing if his old friend was buried somewhere deep beneath the entitlement and locker-shoving.
Stiles was running low on friends right now, and could use another one. Which wasn't to say that the pack wasn't great. He got along really well with Erica and Boyd, but he was afraid that eventually their shared trauma and road trip shenanigans wouldn't be enough to hold that friendship together. Isaac was still standoffish, and though Derek was doing better, he had the entire pack to look after. Stiles missed having someone he could hang out and play video games with, or even chat about lacrosse with!
At least his own training with the Richards pack was going well. His magical studies had been coming along great; once Aunt Pepper knew the truth they were able to be a lot more open with things. Since his recovery he'd had several meetings with the Richards pack's emissary, Clarissa. It turned out that Stiles was a Spark: the highest order of magical users. In simple terms it meant that he had enough power to bend reality to his will without needing the crutches of rituals or magic-imbued objects. If he could believe it, he could do it.
Of course, there was more to it than that. Stiles had to learn how to tap into his magic when he wanted, and how to keep it at bay when he didn't intend to use it. Just because he wanted to know the answers on a test didn't mean his magic should whip up a copy of the answer key, after all.
All in all, it was going well, however, and Stiles's mentor was very pleased with his progress. Every so often Stiles would wish that he could share what he was doing with his dad or Scott — the thought springing into his mind before he could help himself. Scott had been his friend for so long and despite how upset with him Stiles was, it was still his first instinct to share good news with the other boy.
As for his dad, Stiles had spent years bringing home report cards and other accomplishments for his dad to admire. It might take a week for his dad to notice what was taped to the fridge, but he always did eventually, and told Stiles how proud he was. So it was hard to remember some days that his dad didn't want him anymore.
He could share with Aunt Pepper however, during the brief moments they had. Ever since it had been revealed that he was running a supernatural rehab center under her nose, she had made it a point to book at least an hour, several days a week, for Aunt-Nephew bonding time. She was just as proud of his progress as Stiles could hope, and had been awed by some of the smaller tricks he had learned.
He had mastered conjuring small balls of light, fire, water, air, and earth out of nothing and making them zoom around the room. It wasn't that practical, but it was a real show stopper. Now that he had mastered each of those elements and could conjure them without thinking about it, he was learning ways to incorporate them into bigger magics. For example, once he had mastered fire, it was simple for him to do more with it, conjuring, making it dance to his whims, putting it out, all possible because of his new in depth knowledge of how that element felt.
Stiles was also enjoying watching sci-fi and fantasy shows and movies to get ideas. His mentor Clarissa had confirmed that portals were a real thing that magic users could accomplish, and after watching a few episodes of Stargate, he was fairly certain he could create a wormhole to use to travel between New York and Beacon Hills. He hadn't tested it yet, but since his Spark relied on belief, imagining himself performing the deed was almost more important than seeing another magic user accomplish it or having them talk him through the process. Stiles understood the science and math behind the particles of the universe, so using his magic to open the threads between those particles should be a piece of cake. Clarissa had asked him to hold off until he had a few more tricks under his belt, so he was continuing to watch movies for inspiration, but so far all of the smaller tricks he'd tried had worked perfectly. Still, Stiles was willing to listen to the expert and wait until he had a bit better handle on things before trying to bend the laws of time and space to his will.
Of course, when he told her that during their bonding night, Aunt Pepper had joked that she wouldn't mind it if he could do a little bending, at least enough to create the real life equivalent of a time turner. The official opening of Stark Tower had been pushed back a month because of delays. They had, of course, left wiggle room in the timeframe for those kinds of problems to pop up, but Tony was getting impatient about opening up his Tower sooner rather than later.
Stiles had commiserated and promised to do his best — he already had plans to put up protective runes around Tony and Aunt Pepper's living space and that of the pack, wherever they ended up. Just because Stiles didn't need to use crutches like runes didn't mean that they weren't useful. He was simply able to push more power into them than the runes themselves could evoke. His protections would be more powerful than Clarissa's, and he wouldn't have to drain himself dry to protect a space as big as the Tower penthouse in one go.
In the meantime, things were slowly but surely progressing at the Tower. Interior designers had been through, and most of the office spaces were complete. Tony's private floors were still under construction, since they were deemed unnecessary for the official opening, and thus de-prioritized.
Surprisingly to Stiles, Roscoe was now tucked away in the completed private garage at Stark Tower, next to Tony's fancy sports cars and classic hot rods. The engineer had literally wept when he saw the duct tape holding Roscoe together underneath the hood, cooed over the jeep, and promised to teach Stiles how to care for it properly. Stiles knew Tony was a very busy man, so he didn't actually expect the lessons to happen, but he appreciated the gesture nonetheless.
And now finally, here they were. The entire pack minus Jackson were gathered with Aunt Pepper in the finally furnished penthouse entertainment floor, waiting for Tony to finish disconnecting them from the power grid. It was about to either go wonderfully, or horribly, and Stiles and Peter had money on which way it went.
"Like Christmas, but with more… me," Tony said, and he could hear the children whooping in the background. This wasn't the way he'd intended for his move to New York to go — adopting a werewolf pack in the process — but he'd been rolling with the punches all his life, and compared to flying around in a suit of armor, werewolfism wasn't all that strange. Especially with word about some of the other things out there going bump in the night, like the Hulk that had destroyed Harlem. Now that was a conservation of mass issue that he'd like to study!
Not that the wolves here had let him study them, but he was slowly but surely working them around to the idea.
"Pay up!" came Stiles's distinct voice through the coms, and Pepper chuckled.
"We've got to go wider on the public awareness campaign: you need to do some press," Pepper said, easily cutting through the background noise. "I'm in DC tomorrow; I'm working on the zoning for the next three buildings—"
"Pepper, you're killing me. The moment, remember? Enjoy the moment."
"Yeah, take a moment and celebrate with us!" Stiles cheered from close to her headset.
"You'd better get back in here," Pepper said, voice light with laughter, as Tony came in for a landing. Through the window he could see Stiles hugging Pepper while the others mingled near the couches.
"Sir, Agent Coulson of SHIELD is on the line," JARVIS said as the suit disassembler took over.
"I'm not in," Tony said immediately. "I'm actually out."
"Sir, I'm afraid he's insisting."
"Grow a spine, JARVIS," Tony waved him off. He'd been pulling back from SHIELD ever since he saw their bogus assessment and realized exactly how badly they were attempting to manipulate him, but he'd gone radio silent once he met the wolves and had his world upended. He didn't want SHIELD anywhere near any of these kids.
As Tony reached the display table, he found Stiles still wrapped around Pepper. "Levels are holding steady," he said, pointing at the correct place on the display.
"Of course they are; I was directly involved," Tony said, prompting laughter from the teens.
"Sir, the elevator. I'm afraid my protocols are being overridden." JARVIS interrupted. "In 35 seconds Agent Coulson will be in the penthouse."
"Hide," Tony snapped.
The wolves immediately scattered, heading towards the bedrooms hidden beneath the stairs. Derek grabbed Stiles and followed, with Peter bringing up the rear.
By the time the elevator doors opened, Tony and Pepper were alone, looking at the projections of the reactor's input/output model.
"Mister Stark, we need to talk," Coulson said as soon as he stepped out of the elevator.
Tony blanked his face. "You have reached the life model decoy of Tony Stark—"
"I don't have time for this, Mister Stark, this is urgent," Coulson said, striding over to him. He was carrying one of Tony's convertible tablets under his arm, and Tony knew Stiles would be salivating over the technology.
"Then say it urgently," Tony shot back.
"Phil, come on in!" Pepper said cheerfully, ignoring Tony's muttered "Security Breach!" He couldn't tell if she was actually glad to see the agent, or was just acting normally so that he wouldn't get suspicious. Tony realized he needed to act like normal too, lest Coulson suspect they were hiding something. He was already going to need the two older wolves to go over the room and elevator once he left, to look for bugs. They'd found dozens in his space since Derek had revealed FRIDAY, and had been using the opportunity to teach the newly bitten gang how to detect them as well.
"Phil?" Tony said, pulling up his best, most uncooperative attitude. "His first name is Agent."
Coulson ignored him and turned to Pepper. "I can't stay."
"Come on in, we're celebrating," Pepper said.
"Which is why he can't stay," Tony muttered, even though the celebration he was hoping for hadn't begun yet, and wouldn't until the kids were back in their own hotel rooms.
"We need you to look this over as soon as possible," Coulson said, thrusting the tablet towards him.
"I don't like being handed things," Tony said, resisting the urge to fold his hands over his chest. It struck him suddenly that, after his initial declaration, none of the wolves or Stiles had attempted to hand him anything. Meanwhile SHIELD's minions had been warned repeatedly and still insisted on trying to force things into his hands.
"That's fine, because I love to be handed things," Pepper said, accepting the tablet and passing it on to Tony after a moment's hesitation.
Tony accepted it with a sigh and went over to the table to hook it up to his projectors, wanting to see what was so urgent that SHIELD was bothering him when they didn't even like him. He ignored Pepper and Phil chatting in the background — something about a cellist — and logged in with his SHIELD ID, then flicked the information up to where he could see it better.
The Hulk, Rogers, the Asgardian wonder twins, it all flickered to life before his eyes. "Huh. Is this about the Avengers? Because, I'm just a consultant," he pointed out.
"This isn't a consultation," Coulson replied evenly. "You have a lot of homework to do." It was hard to tell, but he sounded smug.
Pepper finished her gracious hostess routine and finally got Coulson out of the penthouse, then went to the bedroom where the wolves were hiding. Derek and Peter followed her out and immediately removed a bug from the floor near the couch. Once JARVIS returned with the elevator, they stepped inside, removing three more bugs.
With each one crushed with super werewolf strength, Pepper opened the door fully and allowed the rest of the teens out.
"It's safe to talk," Derek said, and they immediately began babbling. Peter and Stiles made right for the projections that Tony was looking at.
"Is that the monster that attacked Harlem?" Stiles asked, looking at the Hulk's screen in awe.
"Of course you know all about something the military and SHIELD tried desperately to cover up," Tony said brightly, looking at the representation of his dad's old tesseract. Stiles was a kid after his own hacker heart.
"I've got a friend who found the footage," Stiles admitted, moving to the next set of projections, which showed Rogers in all his glory. "He showed me in exchange for help in Chem."
"So, darling, do tell. What are the Avengers?" Peter asked, studying the titan that had done its best to wipe out a corner of New Mexico.
"That's top secret," Tony said, even though he knew he'd tell them anyway. It was Phil's fault for showing up uninvited and hacking JARVIS after all.
"Then tell it secretly," Stiles parroted with a gleam in his eye, proving that the wolves had told him everything that had happened earlier. Seriously, a kid after his own heart.
"Well, this is what we know so far," Tony began, shuffling through the files to pull up the first one on the tesseract.
Pepper sank back into the seat of the towncar and tried to relax. She had dropped the three kids back at the hotel — they now had enough key cards for everyone — and was now on her way to the airport. They'd been forced to read in Happy on the subject of the supernatural when he had entered the gym — JARVIS was rebooting after a firewall upgrade and thus unable to warn anyone — and seen two of the wolves sparring in full beta shift form.
He'd taken the information well, taking to the pack like an older uncle, and had even taught them some sparring moves. He was also grateful, from a security perspective, to know about the things that went bump in the night that he hadn't known he needed to protect them from.
Derek and Peter had been wary about sharing the secret with another person, but Tony and Pepper trusted Happy unconditionally, and they convinced them of the necessity.
It was also a good thing, as Happy was needed to drive the group back and forth between the hotel and the tower, and it would have been suspicious for a pack of kids to be staying there otherwise.
Pepper was concerned, of course.
"To the airport now?" Happy asked, settling down into the driver's seat.
"Yes please," Pepper replied. She was trying not to worry about whatever homework Phil had brought by for Tony. She had never seen him look so rattled — for a spy, that is — and what little she had seen of the information was concerning. She felt a bit better knowing that Stiles and Peter were there for Tony to bounce information off of, and figured the three brilliant minds were better than one. Derek was no slouch himself, though he tended to play the tall, dark, and silent role more often than not.
Still, it was clear that he was gone on Stiles, and would do anything to protect him. She was grateful that her nephew had a man like Derek at his side. Even if they hadn't acknowledged anything yet.
The ride to the airport wasn't bad this time of night, and before long she and Happy were settling into their seats on the plane. Pepper tried to put SHIELD, the Avengers, and her worries out of her mind and focus on getting some sleep. She had meetings first thing in the morning through the rest of the day tomorrow — make that today — and she needed to find time to speak to PR about scheduling Tony for a couple of interviews.
She didn't have time to worry about whatever SHIELD was involved in, and had to hope that Tony and the others would be able to take care of it without anyone getting hurt.
Early the next morning found Stiles sprawled on the couch, tossing a fidget ball over his head repeatedly. "So this Loki guy has magic," he recapped, "and he's here to conquer the planet. But we don't know why, especially since he had his chance before and didn't say a thing to that effect."
"That pretty much sums it up," Tony agreed, skipping back to the beginning of the video where he arrived on Earth. Aunt Pepper had taken the rest of the pack back to the hotel, then taken an early flight down to DC, but Peter and Stiles had stayed to look through the files, and Derek had stayed to guard them.
They all watched Loki arriving a second time.
"Is it just me or is he seriously damaged?" Stiles wondered.
"It isn't just you," Peter said. "He appears to be healing a broken back, possibly several ribs as well."
And huh, it made sense that a wolf would know what it looked like to walk around with bones knitting themselves together, didn't it? Stiles realized. One look at Tony showed that he was looking at Peter contemplatively, like he wanted to test or experiment with their wolf healing, but that Agent guy —Coulson — had been right; they had a lot of homework to do right now. Supernatural experimentation could happen later, once this Loki guy was out of the picture. Speaking of…
"So are we thinking that maybe he was coerced? Like he doesn't want to be here conquering us?" Stiles asked.
"J, pull up side by side shots of Loki two years ago and today," Tony instructed. "Get close ups on his face as well as an analysis of his posture."
JARVIS complied easily, throwing the images up on another wall. Stiles bounced to his feet and joined them as they looked between the two.
Suddenly Tony snapped his fingers. "Look at his eyes." JARVIS obligingly zoomed in on his eyes, showing clearly that they had been green in the past, but were blue now. Not quite glowing like Peter's eyes, but not quite not.
"JARVIS, can you please show us the clips of him turning the other agents — particularly their eyes?" Peter asked.
JARVIS did so, helpfully including the three men's security photos with their original eye color.
"So it's brainwashing blue," Stiles muttered. "He's not the leader, he's one of the puppets."
"We need to let someone know," Peter said.
"Yeah, but who?" Stiles asked. As far as SHIELD knew, none of them but Tony were supposed to have this information, and they didn't even seem to like him. Not to mention he didn't want a group like that getting anywhere near his pack — even Peter. The longer they could keep creepy covert government agencies from knowing about the supernatural world, the better, in Stiles' opinion. But right now, that left them with very few options.
Tony frowned. SHIELD had access to the same information, and could easily have come up with this theory themselves. Hell, Coulson had been involved in that New Mexico fiasco two years ago, and had seen Loki with his own eyes. A super spy like him should have noticed the difference. That they didn't? Meant they likely didn't care. If Rhodey was here, he could reach out to the military, see if they had a position on brainwashed supervillains. Not to mention it would be nice to have him by his side when coming face to face with the apparently alive Rogers.
"I wish Rhodey was here," Tony muttered aloud without realizing it.
"Colonel Rhodes?" Stiles perked up. "Where is he?"
"In the Middle East, tracking down some shipments of Stark weapons sold on the black market," Tony said with a sigh. "Even if he could get permission to come here, he likely wouldn't make it in time."
Stiles grinned.
"Stiles, no." Derek said immediately.
"I might have a way around that," Stiles said, ignoring the wolf.
"You said it was only a theory," Derek pointed out.
"Tell us about your theory," Tony prompted.
"I can theoretically make a portal using wormhole physics," Stiles said. "I know that they're possible, and I've made tiny ones that send a book back and forth across the room; I just haven't made a person sized one before. But we literally just saw one on screen, so we know it's possible. I know I can do it now. I just need a picture of where Colonel Rhodes is, and clear space here to let him through."
"We'll test with something inanimate first," Peter immediately said, raising a throw pillow in demonstration.
"Sure," Stiles agreed easily. Tony glanced at Derek, who still looked dubious, but was no longer objecting.
"We test first," Tony agreed, not wanting to risk Rhodey any more than he had to. "JARVIS, call Rhodey. Tell him the basics and see if he can get permission for an emergency mission. Stiles, let me see this small one you've been doing."
"Yes sir," JARVIS replied.
"You got it," Stiles added.
A moment later, he held up his hands, and a blue portal opened up between them. Another portal opened up across the room. They were both about two feet in diameter, and cackled lightly around the edges with electricity. Peter moved around behind Stiles, then gently tossed the throw pillow between his arms. It came out the other end, flopping down onto the ground.
"Does it work both ways?" Tony asked, mind spinning with the possibilities. Peter crossed the room, picked up the pillow, and gently lobbed it back through, where it smacked Stiles in the face.
Stiles grinned at his accomplishment, then brought his hands back together in a slow clap, closing both portals. Once the magic had vanished from the air, he chucked the pillow at the older wolf, who dodged easily with a lazy grin.
"Try it on something living first, like a plant," Derek suggested suddenly.
"And make sure you can make one big enough for the suit," Tony added.
"Test your ability to connect to a location you've only seen in pictures, such as the next floor down," was Peter's contribution.
"You'll need to shift the location of the second portal so Rhodey doesn't land in your lap," Tony said as JARVIS started creating a list on a previously empty projection screen.
Stiles wiggled his fingers, grinning in triumph. "Piece of cake," he said confidently.
Two hours later, the sun was just beginning to peak over the horizon, and Stiles was conked out in the closest room, Derek watching over him. They'd done all the tests they could think of while Rhodey got permission to come, and then Stiles had opened the portal in front of him without a hitch. Rhodey had been able to step through without problem, and was now looking over the data SHIELD had turned over. Stiles hadn't shown any weakness when conjuring the portals in testing, but he'd looked a little pale after holding the last, big one open for so long, so he'd easily conceded the need for a nap with only a minimum of grumbling.
Peter was now poking around the kitchen, looking for supplies for breakfast for them all.
Rhodey was on the phone with his superiors, passing on the rest of the information now that he could see it for himself. Wherever Loki ended up next, they were going to need to be on alert and able to put boots on the ground as soon as possible. SHIELD had clearly hidden this information, handing it over only to Tony, but that wasn't how Rhodey did things. Every country in the world needed to be alerted to the possibility of an attack — at least until they figured out what Loki was after.
Tony walked back over to the projection of the tesseract, wondering why SHIELD had it when he could so clearly remember his father tinkering with it over the years. He snorted at his own naivete. Hell, they'd probably just walked in and taken it at some point, since they had a tendency to do whatever they wanted with SI and Tony's homes. But the big question remained: what were they doing with it?
"Colonel Rhodes, what a surprise," Fury greeted them as they landed on the helicarrier. For all that he had a good poker face, Tony could tell that it wasn't a pleasant surprise for the spy, and the thought warmed him inside.
"Well when my superiors heard about the potential alien invasion, they pulled me off of the mission I was on and deployed me to this team," Rhodey said easily
"And I wonder who told them," Fury said, glaring at Tony.
"Was I not supposed to do that?" Tony asked, the picture of innocence. "Coulson gave me very few instructions last night — more like no instructions — and I figured, the more the merrier, right?"
"Right," Fury bit out.
"Anyway, two armored badasses are better than one, isn't that the saying?" Tony continued blithely. "I'm sure that's the phrase. Remind me to have that put on a t-shirt or something."
"The point being," Rhodey overroad his chatter, since it wasn't working to distract Fury anyway, "that Loki easily surrendered even though he didn't have to. I shouldn't have to tell you that that's suspicious as fuck. Not to mention the issue with his eye color. The Chiefs want a full report."
"Eye color?" It was hard to tell, but Fury sounded genuinely confused.
"Don't tell me your techs didn't pick up on it," Tony said smugly.
"Pick up on what?" Coulson asked, leaving the cellblock — if one airlocked cell could be called a 'block' — and joining them.
"No, you're right. We should share with the whole class," Tony said, striding past Fury before he could stop him. "Everyone should hear this part."
"Stark!" Fury yelled after him, but Tony didn't even pause.
"Nope! You had me do the homework, Fury. Now I've got to show my answers."
Rhodey just sighed and followed him, with Fury and Coulson exchanging a quick non-verbal communication before doing the same.
"Any idea what he's talking about?" Coulson asked, apparently aiming for light conversation.
"Perhaps," Rhodey said, just as Tony reached the bridge. He had faith that Rhodey wouldn't spoil the surprise, so he focused on the others who had gathered around. Rogers was there, as was Banner. Thor he could do without, but the man did deserve to know that his brother was probably here under duress, so Tony wasn't going to complain. Even if he had tried to steal his prisoner, and electrify his suit, and generally make a nuisance of himself.
Natashalie was lurking as well, and Hill appeared to be focusing on the crew more than the supposed superheroes littered around the conference table. Why there was a conference table on the bridge of the ship instead of tucked away inside a private room, Tony didn't know. But he wasn't going to point out their own folly to them: if they wanted their bridge crew privy to all their secrets, that was their prerogative.
"So what were you saying earlier?" Fury asked, as soon as the dawdlers joined them. Tony tossed a portable projection chip onto the center of the table, and JARVIS helpfully pulled up a picture of Loki from New Mexico two years ago.
"Two years ago, that's Loki right?" he asked rhetorically. "Green eyed and bushy tailed. Still with the lanky hair, but not altogether crazy pants, yes?"
"My brother does not have a tail in this form," Thor said with a frown.
"Figure of speech," Tony waved off his concern. "My point is, this is the guy. Your brother. The way you're used to seeing him."
"Yes."
"And this is the guy that arrived in SHIELD's New Mexico facility last night," Tony said as JARVIS played the second queued up clip. "Broken ribs, injured back, bruises around the throat… not unlike a torture victim, yes? I mean, he's been missing for two years, right? This is not a guy who spent those years at a spa."
"You did not tell me he was so injured," Thor said, turning to look at Fury with menace.
"When would I have a chance to tell you anything? Before or after you stole our prisoner, fought our people, and destroyed a mile of forest?" Fury blustered.
"So you're saying someone tortured Loki into leading this invasion?" Rogers spoke up, sounding wary, but on the side of believing them.
"Not just tortured," Tony said. "J?"
JARVIS played the close up images of the eye color change happening in the three brainwashing victims, then displayed all four — including Loki — together.
"What is this?" Thor asked, clenching his fist.
"Not the same eye color as two years ago, huh?" Tony pointed out. "Almost, dare I say it, the same color of brainwashed blue as the other three, no?"
"My brother is being controlled?" Thor asked desperately.
"That's our best guess," Tony said with a shrug.
"It fits the evidence," Banner added.
"And it means that, whatever we do to extract this brainwashing must be done on all four of them," Rhodey added.
"Now hang on a minute," Fury piped up predictably. "We have no proof—"
"Proof stands before you!" Thor boomed. "His eye color has changed. I have known Loki all of his life, and his eyes have always been green. Now he appears to have blue eyes in your recordings? That is not my brother."
As the two of them began to debate — with Natashalie tossing in her own commentary — Tony took the chance to wander around and plant his connector to JARVIS, then introduced himself to Banner.
"It's good to meet you, Dr. Banner. Your work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster."
"Thanks." Banner said wryly.
"Hey now!" Rogers protested.
"Son, let them work it out," Rhodey said firmly.
Rogers instantly tensed. "And who are you?" he glared.
"Air Force Colonel James Rhodes, Captain," Rhodey said pointedly. To Tony's delight, Rogers deflated considerably, though he didn't apologize or salute.
"That's enough!" Fury finally declared. "Dcotor Banner, you're here to track the tesseract. We have a lab set up for you and Stark to work in, if that's alright with you?"
"That's fine," Banner agreed mildly.
"C'mon Brucie, I know where it is," Tony said cheerfully, directing the scientist down the hall. Behind him, Rogers began to speak, and Tony was grateful Rhodey was there to keep the others in check. For now, however, he had a new scientist to play with, and a tesseract to find. Not to mention whatever new secrets of Fury's that JARVIS dug up.
"Stiles, wake up," Derek said urgently, shaking Stiles' shoulder.
"Whazzat?" Stiles mumbled as he slowly crawled back into the land of consciousness. He was wrapped in Derek's warm arms — something that was right out of his wildest dreams — and he didn't want to wake up and find himself cold and alone.
"My apologies for waking you both, but there's something suspicious happening on the roof," JARVIS reported quietly.
"You need to evacuate back to the hotel," Derek said quickly. "Peter already returned to watch over the other betas when Tony and Colonel Rhodes left, but we didn't want to disturb you. It's too dangerous now and you need to go."
"No, we need to go investigate," Stiles countered.
"Stiles, no."
"Stiles yes."
"The suspicious person has been identified as Dr. Eric Selvig, brainwashing victim," JARVIS interrupted them. "He appears to be constructing a device on the roof, purpose unknown."
"Okay, now we have to go," Stiles said. "This is the perfect chance to see if I can remove the brainwashing."
"Shouldn't you wait and talk to Claissa about that before you go poking around someone's mind?" Derek pointed out like a reasonable person.
Stiles sighed. "Fine. Can I knock him out, at least?"
Derek considered it for a moment, and then finally agreed. "If you can do it from a safe distance."
"On it," Stiles pumped his fist.
They entered the elevator, and JARVIS took them silently up to the roof. Quiet as a mouse — which really, should a wolf be that stealthy? — Derek crept out the door and behind a duct, remaining between Stiles and Selvig the entire time.
Once they were hidden, Stiles popped his head up for a moment to study the man. He was muttering and pacing around a strange device, and Stiles could see the tesseract inside it. That was seriously not good.
Stiles concentrated on his magic, on the idea of making someone go to sleep for a few hours, and sent a wave of sleepy time energy towards the scientist. It hit him, and for a moment nothing changed. Then he yawned and knelt down, before toppling over, curled up and snoring.
"Note to self, different phrasing for an instant knock out," Stiles muttered.
"Are you sure he's asleep?" Derek hissed.
"Pretty dang sure," Stiles replied, waving a hand at the unconscious, snoring man. "I mean do you hear that?"
"JARVIS, do you have any zipties or anything like that?" Derek asked.
"We do. Dum-E is bringing them up in the elevator as we speak," JARVIS replied through the speakers on the roof.
In short order, Dum-E had arrived. Derek trussed up Selvig while Stiles cooed over the robot, which seemed to preen under his attention, if the way it kept dipping its claw was any indication.
Finally, Derek came back over to them, the unconscious scientist slung over his shoulder. "JARIVS, is there anywhere we can put him?"
"Like where, a cell?" Stiles snarked.
"There is a spare bedroom that I can lock from the outside," JARVIS replied.
"Perfect."
In short order, they piled into the elevator and JARVIS let them out on one of the unfinished floors. Derek gently placed Selvig in the room JARVIS indicated, and once they had left he locked the door with a resounding click. Stiles and Derek returned to the penthouse to hang out and wait for Tony and Colonel Rhodes to return.
"The device on the roof has powered up," JARVIS suddenly interrupted their movie.
"What?" Stiles yelped.
"I did not realize it was connected to the building's power supply," JARVIS explained. "It appears to have been charging since then, and it has now powered up."
"JARVIS, take us back up to the roof; we've got to unplug that thing," Stiles demanded, as they both dove towards the elevator. Derek didn't argue with his inclusion this time, which Stiles appreciated.
When they got to the roof, they found the device shooting a beam up into the sky. Stiles tried to conjure a wall of air above it, but the beam cut right through like he wasn't even trying. A block of earth had the same result. "This isn't working," Stiles warned.
Derek had been examining the device, and he finally found the power cord. "Got it!" He said triumphantly. It only took a moment for him to rip the cord out of the panel where it had been jacked into the tower.
The beam didn't vanish.
The beacon appears to be self-sustaining now, thanks to the tesseract," JARVIS announced. Far above them, clouds massed, and a giant portal opened. Several apparent aliens zoomed out of it.
"Well fuck," Stiles ran a hand over his head. "Now what?"
Derek reached for the tesseract, but his hand was rebuffed by some kind of forcefield.
"Can you use magic to remove it?" He asked, shaking out his hand.
"I'll try." Stiles concentrated on creating two helping hands that could phase through the barrier. He stretched his own hands out, mimicking the action he wanted, and his "hands" did indeed slide through, though sparks flew off of the barrier where they intersected.
Stiles wrapped his phantom hands around the tesseract, imagined them as solid, and yanked with all his might. The tesseract jolted, but didn't come loose entirely. Stiles lined up and tried it again, this time with better success. The beam in the sky faltered.
"Incoming hostiles," JARVIS warned them. Derek snarled and transformed. Stiles tried one more time to yank the tesseract free, and this time it worked, breaking the support strut that had held it in place and flying three feet away before crashing down onto the roof.
Stiles wobbled with the effort of staying upright, but the beam was gone, and the scary cloud mass that had been gathered above them was beginning to dissipate.
"Sir is inbound. May I suggest returning inside and taking cover," JARVIS said.
Derek immediately grabbed Stiles and swung him up into a bridal carry, then hustled back into the elevator, even as the hostiles — whatever they were — streaked closer to the roof. Even though it was draining him, Stiles used his magic hands to carry the tesseract along with them, not wanting to leave it where it could be easily replaced. A blast hit the roof just as the elevator doors closed.
Panting, Stiles let the tesseract drop to the floor.
"Reports show that the tesseract can cause damage when directly touched," JARVIS informed them quickly. "Gloves or tongs are recommended."
"Right, no touching the glowy cube of death," Stiles agreed. "Does Tony have salad tongs in that kitchenette?"
"No," JARVIS almost sounded amused, "But he does have welding tongs downstairs. Dum-E will bring them from the lab to the elevator."
Sure enough, the doors opened on the lab floor — though neither of them had the clearance to enter it — and Dum-E was waiting, holding a pair of worn metal togs. Derek put Stiles down, and he managed to stay on his feet, though he did sway with the effort.
"U is providing a containment unit in just a moment," JARVIS informed them.
"Great," Stiles managed, even as Derek took the tongs and used them to gently pick up the tesseract.
A moment later, as promised, a second robot emerged from the lab, holding what appeared to be a lead lined box. Derek opened the lid, then carefully placed the tesseract inside. He closed the lid and traded the box for the tongs, making the robot beep happily.
"Thanks JARVIS, Dum-E, and U," Stiles said tiredly. Both bots trilled at him, making him smile.
"Thank you for your assistance," JARVIS replied. "May I suggest the box be locked in another room, until Sir can examine it?"
"Good idea, JARVIS, thank you," Derek agreed. The elevator whisked them to another unfinished floor — no sense in locking up the crazy person and the thing he needed in the same place — and it was quickly locked up in an empty room.
Stiles wavered on his feet again, and Derek scooped him up. "Alright, back to bed with you," he declared. "You've done a lot of new magic today, and you need to rest until Clarissa arrives."
Stiles intended to argue, but was caught out by a huge yawn instead. Deciding not to fight the inevitable, he snuggled up against his wolf instead, and allowed himself to be carried back to the bedroom they'd been napping in before.
Wait. His wolf?
Oh.
Oh no.
Stiles was so screwed.
Tony scowled as they reconvened around the conference table. Thor had attempted to talk his brother down, hoping to break him out of the brainwashing, and had been stabbed for his troubles. Of course, he reassured everyone that he was used to being stabbed by Loki, and they had to take his word for it.
Coulson has blasted Loki with a SHIELD megaweapon — and oh, they were not off the hook for talking about those "phase two" weapons yet — and he was back in the glass Hulk cage, healing slowly.
Tony and Rhodey had fixed the turbine quickly, and kept the helicarrier afloat while Natashalie and Rogers failed to talk down the Hulk. They had managed to bash Barton on the head and return him to the land of the free minded — apparently — but Bruce was in the wind.
And now they were sitting around, trying to figure out what Loki's next step was supposed to be. With Barton unaware and Loki unconscious, they had no idea where to find Selvig or the tesseract.
"Sir, you and Colonel Rhodes need to come back home," JARVIS suddenly interrupted his thoughts. "Stiles and Derek encountered some trouble while you were away."
Tony exchanged a look with Rhodey before they both dashed for their suits. "Son of a bitch."
Stiles woke up the same way he'd gone to sleep: wrapped in Derek's arms. He snuggled in, prepared to relish this for a few more moments, when he realized he had a hard on. Cheeks flaming, he tried to pull away, but Derek's arms tightened around him.
"Don't worry about it; it's natural," Derek murmured.
"Still, it isn't like you asked for it," Stiles mumbled into his wonderful chest.
"You think I haven't smelled the lust on you before?" Derek chuckled. "Wolves learn to tune that kind of thing out. I don't mind, as long as it doesn't go any further until you're 18."
"Wait, what?" That in no way was what Stiles was expecting. "You'd actually want to… go further… with me?"
Derek sighed, but squeezed Stiles a little tighter. That pressed his legs closer to Stiles too, and he willed himself not to rut against the older man. "How far have you gotten in your werewolf studies?" Derek asked.
"Uh, I've finished the introductory text Clarissa gave me. Peter promised me some more in depth resources, but they have to wait until he goes back to Beacon Hills and raids your family vault."
"Have you gotten anything about werewolf mates?"
Stiles thought back over everything he'd read. "It was briefly mentioned, but not talked about in depth. Something about mating bites and it being the equivalent of a marriage. The book was focused on what to know when dealing with a foreign pack, mostly, so there was advice about not provoking the alpha by being rude to their mate… stuff like that."
"Not much at all then," Derek sighed again. "Every werewolf has one mate. One perfect person for them. You can liken it to stories about soulmates. We know our mate as soon as we smell them, and they know us as well. Obviously fellow wolves can smell each other, but magical humans are supposed to get some kind of feeling about it as well. With humans it's often described as an instant attraction that quickly deepens into affection and love."
Well that sounded scarily familiar. Still, Derek couldn't possibly be leading where Stiles thought he was, could he?
"I knew the moment we first met that you were my mate, but you were only sixteen, so I had to wai—"
"I'm seventeen," Stiles blurted out, still processing the rest of the sentence.
"I— what? But you're a sophomore."
"Yeah, I got held back a year after my mom died. I'm seventeen. Erica is too, because she missed so many classes when she was sick. The others are sixteen though, like you assumed."
Derek blew out a long breath. "I didn't realize— I thought we had much longer to wait. When's—"
"September. I'll be 18 in September," Stiles said quickly.
"Just three more months," Derek said wonderingly.
"So, uh, tell me more," Stiles prodded.
"Well, in three months — if you want — we can start dating. Wolves also follow a courting process, which I'm sure will be in the books that Peter brings you. If you accept my courting overtures, we'd decide to get mated. Then yes, I would bite you, and you as a magic user could bite me back."
"It wouldn't turn me, would it?"
"No. We have to use intent when we turn. This would be intended as a mating bite, and magic knows the difference. Both of our mate bites would scar nearly instantly, showing the world that we're taken. No wolf would attack an alpha's mate unless they're suicidal. Or feral," he added as an afterthought.
"I bet no one would mess with a spark's mate either," Stiles said tentatively. He still couldn't quite believe that Derek liked him back, and that he might actually get to have this… this thing between them. And especially in just three short months.
Derek chuckled, the sound resonating under Stiles's ear. "No, I bet not."
"So in the meantime, would it be okay if we kissed and stuff? Maybe making out a little?" Stiles asked. Because now that he knew it was a possibility, he really wanted to know how Derek tasted.
After a long moment, Derek said, "I think we can agree to that." Then he released Stiles, only to pull him back, tilt his chin up, and kiss him.
Wow Stiles would have said if he'd had the breath for it. But that would require ending this kiss, and nothing — not even aliens — would make him do that.
Tony arrived back at the tower, expecting to find mayhem and destruction, but all was quiet. There were a handful of aliens flying around, but between himself and Rhodey they were able to take them out before any real destruction occurred, so they carefully proceeded to land on the party deck.
A moment later, Derek emerged from the room Tony had sent him and Stiles to earlier.
"Selvig is knocked out, zip tied, and locked in a room downstairs," Derek informed him mildly. "The tesseract is in a containment box locked up on a different floor. He tried to open a portal on the roof, but Stiles managed to stop it in time."
"Stiles did?" Rhodey repeated.
Derek scowled slightly. "He did. He wasn't able to stop the beam itself, but he was able to reach through the forcefield and yank the tesseract free. It shut down after that."
"Go back to the part about Selvig?" Tony said.
"We captured him first; Stiles knocked him unconscious," Derek explained. "But we didn't realize the device was still hooked up to the power source until it had activated."
"So that's it, we're done?" Tony asked.
"As far as we know," Derek shrugged.
"Great, let's take a load off," Tony declared.
"We still need to find a way to clear the brainwashing from Loki and Selvig," Rhodey — ever the voice of reason — pointed out.
"Not Barton?" Derek questioned.
"Nah, they hit him in the head, and that apparently reset him," Tony shrugged.
"Apparently," Derek repeated.
"Yeah, I don't exactly trust it either," Rhodey agreed.
"We… have someone who might be able to help with that," Derek said, looking between Tony and Rhodey cautiously. "She was delayed by the hostiles outside, but she was on her way before that."
"Right," Tony had forgotten that Rhodey didn't know anything about wolves or magic. And they didn't want to tip off SHIELD to the supernatural either. "Right right right. Okay, we can handle this. Your associate will come in and hit Selvig in the head," Tony wiggled his fingers for magical effect. "We'll see if Thor has any thoughts about Loki, and we'll play Barton by ear?"
"I'm clearly missing something," Rhodey said, looking between them suspiciously. Tony gave him the puppy eyes of doom, and he sighed. "Fine, apparently I don't want to know. I'm going to go call my superiors and ignore anything else you lot get up to."
"Why are we talking around the magic thing?" Stiles piped up from behind Derek. "I literally used a portal to get Colonel Rhodes here earlier. Not to mention the magic we used to stop Selvig in the first place and yoink the tesseract."
"Not everyone appreciates exposure the way you do," Derek growled, making Stiles turn pink. Well that was an interesting development.
"So we don't name names or show faces, but it isn't like the Colonel doesn't already know what's going on," Stiles shrugged.
"He's not wrong," Rhodey pointed out. Tony was blaming his staying up all night for the second night in a row for him forgetting that they had already inadvertently spilled the beans about magic to Rhodey.
"Okay, yes, we did do that. Alright, we've got a better trained magic user coming, and they're going to take a look at Selvig," Tony admitted. "Meanwhile, I'm going to look at the tesseract, see if we can't get some readings off of it. Run some scans, maybe take a sample."
"I'm going back to bed," Stiles declared around another yawn. "Coming sourwolf?"
Derek ducked his head shyly, but obediently followed the younger man. Oh, very interesting developments indeed, Tony chuckled to himself.
"Want to science with me Platypus?" Tony asked.
"Of course," Rhodey grinned.
"Oh, and JARVIS, let me know when Bruce shows up, will you?"
"Yes Sir. What of the other Avengers?"
"Yeah, them too, I suppose."
Clarissa and the rest of the pack arrived before the so-called Avengers, and they managed to slip into the tower without anyone the wiser. Tony was quite sure it was Clarissa's magic at play, while Stiles had seen enough stealthy wolves to assume it was something she picked up from them.
"What did I tell you about making portals before you were ready?" Clarissa demanded of Stiles as soon as she entered the penthouse.
"There was an emergency!" Stiles yelped. "Aliens trying to conquer the world kind of stuff! And we tested it first!"
Clarissa sighed and shook her head. "I shouldn't be surprised. Most students think they can run before they can walk."
Stiles clutched his chest as though wounded, but before he could make a big production of it, Clarissa huffed. "Show me this portal, then. The small version."
Everyone gathered around, fascinated, as Stiles opened up a portal between Peter and Tony. Tony tossed one of the throw pillows through it, and Peter easily caught it. "Ta da!" he couldn't help but make some jazz hands, enjoying the way the betas' eyes lit up at how cool his magic was.
Clarissa harumphed, but didn't give Stiles any more grief over it. "Now, what else did you do?"
Stiles and Derek quickly recapped their afternoon, with only a few interruptions from the other teens. When they were finished, Clarissa led Stiles downstairs to where Selvig was contained. She easily healed Selvig and then modified Stiles's indefinite sleep spell so that he would wake up fully rested the next morning, allowing Stiles to shadow her in the process.
By the time they finished, he understood that kind of magic much better, and was eager to practice some more. Not that he wanted more people to be brainwashed! But this kind of mental work was good for helping deprogram cult members and deal with trauma, Clarissa had explained. It was why people who were strong with this skill often became therapists, so they could add a little extra oomph to their job.
When they were finished, and alone save for JARVIS, Clarissa put her hand on Stile's shoulder before he could head for the elevator. "What's up?"
"You did well today, Stiles," she said gravely, "but you have to take it easy for the next week. And, barring life threatening emergencies, don't try anything for the first time on your own again."
Stiles wanted to protest, but she squeezed his shoulder gently. "Magic is a muscle, and you need to exercise yours safely, not run a marathon before you're ready, which is what you did today. I agree that you had no choice, and that much worse things could have happened if you hadn't acted each time, but I also wouldn't be surprised if you woke up tomorrow feeling like you've caught a bad flu. You're still riding the adrenaline now, but it is going to hit you like a freight train soon, you understand?"
Stiles nodded solemnly. "I understand." He'd even do his best to obey. Though from the sounds of it he was not looking forward to tomorrow.
She let him go and gave his shoulder a comforting pat. "Good, then let's rejoin the others."
They entered the penthouse just in time for an update. The local police had done a good job of quarantining the aliens that Tony and Colonel Rhodes shot down, and now the latter was supervising the national guard as they cleared away the bodies. The pack had had a heated debate about the existence of Area 51, and whether the bodies were going there, before Tony had chimed in.
"Area 51's pretty boring, actually. Their firewalls are just so so, and half of their so-called aliens are just mutated animals," he said offhandedly.
"Say what now?" Erica all but pounced onto him. "You've been to Area 51?"
Tony scoffed. "No, I hacked them. They weren't exciting enough for an in person visit."
"You said most of their so-called aliens are fakes. Does that mean that some are real?" Isaac asked.
Derek rolled his eyes, but didn't comment, despite being on the anti-alien side. "Of course," Tony replied. "This isn't our first go around with aliens, and it probably won't be our last. Most of them get stopped before anyone's the wiser, though, if SHIELD's reports are to be believed."
"I can't believe it," Erica said excitedly. "SHIELD are like the real life MIB!"
"The alien response division is, yeah." Tony seemed to consider that. "In fact, they might have released that movie as a form of plausible deniability."
"Like Wormhole X-treme!" Stiles chimed in.
Tony pointed at him while the others just looked confused. "Exactly. Stir the pot with a fictitious version of yourself, and anyone who connects the dots looks like a conspiracy theorist or an overinvolved fan."
"We're living in a conspiracy theory right now," Isaac said, eyes gleaming.
"You do remember that you're all werewolves, right?" Derek pointed out.
"That means you're living in two conspiracy theories," Boyd added.
"Sir, Trouble incoming," JARVIS announced.
"What kind of trouble now?" Stiles asked as Tony pulled up the feed on his tablet.
"Avengers trouble," he said with a sour look. "Barton, Natashalie, and Rogers are all downstairs making a fuss about getting up here."
"Not Thor?"
Tony smirked. "Well it turns out he's not with the others. He's waiting on the roof with his brother."
"Can you keep the others downstairs from hacking your elevator like Coulson did last night?" Derek asked.
"Oh yeah, I threw in some upgrades last night while we were studying," Tony waved a negligent hand. "We'll be fine for now."
"Then maybe you should deal with Thor first and get Loki out of here."
"Good plan," Tony agreed. And not just because it let him put off talking to Rogers. The sooner Thor was off the planet, taking Loki, the scepter, and the tesseract with him, the happier Tony would be.
A moment later, the others had been shuffled into the spare bedroom to hide, and JARVIS was opening the elevator doors for Thor and Loki. Loki was in shackles, with a metal gag over his mouth, but his eyes were still blue. Thor had the scepter in one hand and the leash to the shackles in the other. His hammer was tucked into his belt.
"Friend Tony!" he boomed.
"Hey Point Break," Tony greeted him. "I see you haven't cleared the brainwashing from your brother yet."
"It is beyond my limited skill with seidr," Thor admitted, looking despondent. "I wish to take him home as soon as possible so that my mother may examine him."
"What do you need from me?" Tony asked.
"I was hoping you could continue your and Doctor Banner's work tracking down the tesseract. It is a powerful enough energy source to transport myself and Loki back home."
"Well you're in luck, big guy," Tony said, leading them back towards the elevator. "We just so happen to have obtained it when we were foiling Loki's plot. Right this way."
He led them down to the unused floor where Stiles and Derek had stashed the tesseract. After JARVIS opened the door, Tony opened the lead box they had contained it in. Thor looked eager to see it, while Loki was indifferent. Thor shifted his brother's leash to the hand holding the scepter, then pulled a small device out of his pocket. It quickly expanded into what appeared to be a glass capsule with two handles on the end.
Tony wondered if it was made of nanites, or the alien equivalent.
Thor easily opened the device and scooped up the tesseract with it, then screwed the lid back on. "With your leave, Friend Tony."
"Of course," Tony agreed. He led the Asgardian duo back to the elevator, where JARVIS brought them to the roof. Thor forced his brother to accept one handle of the device, then twisted the other. A moment later, they disappeared into blue particles and shot up into the sky.
Tony watched them for a moment, then returned to the elevator. "Status?" he asked.
"Miss Richards and Stiles have snuck downstairs," JARIVS reported.
"Say what now?"
"They plan to cleanse the brainwashing from Agent Barton without him realizing it."
"Oh," Tony paused. "Alright. What do they need from me?"
"A distraction."
Tony grinned. "That I can do. So what do they want, J?"
"They are determined to stop Loki's plot and defeat the alien armada."
"The one we've already stopped."
"That would be the one, Sir."
"Did you tell them that?"
"I did."
"But they didn't believe you."
"And I'm usually considered quite trustworthy."
"Alright, I can work with this," Tony decided. He pulled a pair of sunglasses out of his pocket and slipped them on. Not only was it likely to piss off Rogers, but it would hide the shadows growing under his eyes. He really needed some sleep: he was apparently getting too old to pull double all nighters in a row.
He arrived in the lobby — evacuated when they had first heard Loki's plot was headed here — and found the trio standing there, looking defiant. "You guys missed a hell of a party," Tony greeted them with a shit eating grin.
"The party hasn't started yet, Stark," Rogers said condescendingly. "Fury said you need to get ready to get off the bench."
"Fury didn't bench me," Tony snapped back, then reigned himself in. "And again, the party's over. Look out there!" He walked past them towards the doors, ensuring that they were turned away from the elevator. As soon as all three were looking at him, the doors opened and Clarissa and Stiles snuck out, hiding behind the front desk. "Rhodey and I killed the aliens, and the national guard's already sweeping up the debris. I'm sure if SHIELD asks nicely, they'll get to keep a few specimens."
That pissed off Natashalie and Barton, looks like he'd already gotten the hat trick!
"You don't know Loki's aim here," she said sharply. "This was just a scouting party; a warning shot fired across our bow. More will be coming."
"And do tell, how will they accomplish that?" Tony asked, tipping down his sunglasses slightly and looking down his nose at her.
"There's a device; Selvig was making it," Barton said uneasily. "If he powers it up, it'll open another portal the likes of which you can't even imagine."
"Correction, there was a device," Tony said smugly.
"What."
"Yeah, it's in pieces up on the roof. Or maybe the bots have cleaned it up by now, I'm not sure. Either way, they're excited to play with the spare parts." Tony shrugged.
Natashalie looked as shocked as she ever got. Barton's jaw actually dropped.
"Are you saying you stopped them?" Rogers questioned huffily, like Tony was incapable of doing that. Okay true, it had been Derek and Stiles, but Tony could have done it if he'd been here!
"Right in their tracks; you're welcome," Tony said. "Oh, I also gave Selvig a whack on the head; he'll be fine just like Barton here once he wakes up."
"You caught Selvig?" Rogers looked even more surprised.
Time for a little Stark arrogance; see if he could make the blonde lose his temper. "Of course. Couldn't let him run around making more messes on my property."
"And you just stopped his portal opening device," Natashalie crossed her arms.
"What, like it's hard?" Tony joked. The corner of Barton's mouth twitched.
Behind the trio, Clarissa popped up from behind the desk and gave him a thumbs up. Then she and Stiles crept back into the elevator.
"Let's cut to the chase," Tony said. "Rhodey and I did the job. Just like we did the job in Stuttgart. The rest of the so-called Avengers weren't needed then, and they aren't needed now. Go back to destroying heavy bags and seducing innocent CEOs and whatever the hell Barton was up to."
"Babysitting scientists," he said with a weak grin.
Tony snapped his fingers. "Yeah, that."
"The National Guard has the alien bodies under control, and Rhodey has the National Guard under control. You'll get Selvig back when he wakes up, unless you wanna drag his unconscious ass out of here right now. And if that's everything, we're done here."
"What about the tesseract, the scepter?" Natashalie said quickly as Tony turned to leave.
"Thor took 'em both, and good riddance," Tony replied.
"Really? Thought you'd wanna study them," Rogers said tightly.
"Sure," Tony admitted with a shrug. "In a perfect world with working containment and someone like Thor to get rid of them if they became a problem, I wouldn't mind poking around with them under certain conditions. But we can't meet those conditions right now, so I'd rather they be somewhere safe, like Asgard." Most importantly, they didn't need those kinds of weapons lying around where SHIELD could poke at them. They'd already proven untrustworthy with their "phase two" project.
Besides, he'd managed to get some interesting scans of both before Thor had gone, and between what they'd gotten from the scepter on the helicarrier, and what Howard had gotten with the tesseract before, Tony would be happily wallowing in data and simulations for months to come.
"That's remarkably mature of you, Stark," Natashalie said cuttingly.
"And yet you're the only one that's surprised, Natashalie," Tony snapped back.
"Sir," Jarvis gave him the all clear that the elevator was empty.
"What's up, J?"
"Miss Potts is calling for you," he said, and Tony wasn't sure if that was just the cover, or if she was actually on the phone. "Put her through," Tony said, turning away from the others and striding towards the elevator. "And while you're at it, see if Rhodey can get the National Guard to get rid of the riffraff in the lobby, since Security had to be evacuated."
"Yes Sir," JARVIS replied a little smugly as the elevator doors closed. A moment later, something slammed against them — probably a super soldier's fist, if Tony had to guess.
"And bill SHIELD for that repair," Tony added.
"How are all of you?" Aunt Pepper's voice came through JARVIS's speakers. A projection popped up on one wall, showing her sitting in what appeared to be the SI jet, looking anxious.
"We're fine Aunt Pepper," Stiles reassured her quickly. "Clarissa, Peter, Derek, and Tony are with us, and Colonel Rhodes is right outside with the National Guard. We've got plenty of adult supervision."
"And what about earlier, when you didn't?" she asked knowingly.
"How did she know that?" Erica whispered.
Stiles facepalmed. "Well if she didn't before, she does now," he muttered as Aunt Pepper chuckled.
"Don't worry about the pups; I had them well in hand," Peter spoke up nonchalantly.
"And I never let Stiles out of my sight," Derek added.
"He sure didn't," Erica said knowingly.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Stiles bristled. Derek hadn't actually let him out of his sight, except to use the bathroom earlier (Derek had guarded the door).
"Only that you might want to cover up those hickies before your Aunt gets back," Erica said with a fierce smile.
Stiles's hand slapped up against his neck, even though he knew everyone had already seen them.
Luckily Aunt Pepper just laughed again. Then she sobered up. "And you're all really alright?"
"We're just fine; the bad guys never even touched us," Stiles reassured her.
"I'm fine too, thanks for asking," Tony announced as the elevator opened.
"JARVIS told me all about what you were up to," Aunt Pepper said with a grin.
"Tattletale," Tony muttered.
"You fought aliens, Sir," JARIVS said dryly.
"And came out of it without a scratch!" Tony protested.
"Alright, they've lifted the air travel restrictions, so I'll be back home soon," Aunt Pepper said. "Keep taking care of each other. And Derek and Stiles?"
Stiles gulped, while Derek looked stoic as ever.
Aunt Pepper grinned widely. "Contratualtions."
Then the call ended. Stiles let out a long breath. That was a far cry from what he'd imagined introducing a significant other to his family would go like. (It didn't involve any of his dad's many weapons, or any threats of wolfsbane at all!)
"So, how'd it go?" Tony asked. "Not the you two getting together; I know how that went," he gestured at his collar. "But Barton."
Stiles knew he must be beet red. Fortunately, Clarissa took pity on him and answered Tony.
"We were able to use our magic on Barton while awake just fine," she said. "So there was no need for plan B." Plan B had been to shoot him with the sleep mojo and let Tony take on the other two while they healed him. Stiles was incredibly grateful that Clarissa had been right and Plan A had worked perfectly.
"He'll probably have a headache for a little while longer, and then it will just fade away, and he'll never realize he had a more thorough, medical cleaning upstairs."
"Great," Tony said, clapping his hands. "Well unfortunately, Rogers threw the other brainwashing victims off of the helicarrier while he was trying to talk down Bruce, along with a bunch of mercenaries, so Selvig and Barton are the only two we need to worry about. We don't have to try to sneak you into SHIELD headquarters."
"Thank goodness for that," Clarissa said with a shudder, which Stiles echoed. After the way their files had talked about Dr. Banner, Stiles was in no hurry to get on their radar any time soon.
When no one responded for a minute, Isaac cleared his throat. "So, with all that out of the way, tell us about the flying base!"
Pepper sighed as the call ended, and stretched briefly before picking her phone back up. She wasn't particularly looking forward to this call, knowing the truth about Stiles that she couldn't share, but Noah had rightly called her in a panic earlier after receiving the BOLO on Loki that was given to all law enforcement. Pepper had put him off with her assurance that Stiles would certainly be fine, but now that they'd both seen the news reports of the (albeit minor) alien attack in New York, and now that she'd spoken to Stiles herself, Pepper owed it to Noah to call back.
The phone only rang once before Noah picked up. "Gin?"
"He's fine," she said, and her brother let out a huge breath. "I'm about to take off from DC, but I just spoke to him on the phone and he's fine. We even facetimed, so I know he wasn't hiding anything."
Using JARIVS wasn't exactly facetime, but it was close enough for Noah. Pepper felt a little disingenuous mentioning Stiles hiding things, since he no longer had to hide from her — her judicious choice not to mention his boyfriend at this point was a different matter entirely — but it was currently one of Noah's biggest concerns, so she made sure to emphasize it.
"Good, that's good," Noah sighed again. "Does he want to come home?"
"Because of this? Of course not, nothing really happened," Pepper said easily. She couldn't say whether Stiles actually wanted to go home for good — she suspected that the draw of Derek and the pack, not to mention his magic tutor, might be stronger than the draw to his dad, and there was no need to hurt Noah with that realization. But if he thought Stiles wasn't safe in New York, after specifically sending him there for that reason, Noah wouldn't hesitate.
"Was the tower damaged? Can you still move in?"
"No damage at all, according to JARVIS," Pepper said. "We got lucky." They had Stiles's protection runes, she couldn't say. While the other buildings in the immediate vicinity had some minor damage — mostly cosmetic, not structural — Stark tower had come out without a scratch on it. Well, until a super soldier tried to put his fist through the elevator, at least. But JARVIS had already left a message for their supplier, so that would be repaired as soon as the National Guard allowed civilians back into the area.
Come to think of it, she didn't know how the pack had gotten back to the tower, since she'd escorted them to the hotel last night, but she suspected that 'werewolf sneakiness' would be her only answer.
"That's good," Noah said. "And you still want Stiles? You'll be able to put him to work? It won't be a hardship to get him an apartment?"
They had already talked about the logistics of this once, but Pepper knew he was simply looking for reassurances right now. "Of course I still want Stiles," Pepper said with a little bit of snap to her tone that she tried her best to suppress. She wasn't going to give up on him like Noah had.
No, that was disingenuous of her. She hadn't spent years raising Stiles, and she hadn't gone through everything Noah had recently.
Pepper took a calming breath. "I've already spoken to Tony, and he's positive that we can give Stiles a job in the tower. They've actually talked, and I think Tony might hire him as a lab assistant instead of sending him down to the mail room."
Noah chuckled, and Pepper congratulated herself for making him feel better about this situation. "As for the apartment, I have my own set of rooms in Stark Tower, despite the fact I'm living with Tony. Stiles isn't putting anyone out but me, and I'll just make Tony sleep on the couch if I need some space from him for some reason."
"Okay, I get it," Noah said, sounding a little choked up. "You've got everything under control, like always."
"Well one of us has to be in control at all times, right?" Pepper tossed back the familiar tease from their childhood. To say that she and Noah both had control freak tendencies was understating it somewhat. It's what made them good at wrangling a town and a Tony, respectively. Until Noah's need for control ran up against Stiles's need to protect him.
Pepper sighed. "I'll make sure Stiles calls you as soon as I get there, if it hasn't already," she promised. "You know he's probably glued to the news reports, coming up with a hundred conspiracy theories right now."
"I'm sure," Noah chuckled wetly. "He already told me he was fine, I just… I couldn't believe him, you know? I know he was hiding injuries from me when he left. I kept expecting him to come clean, rather than drive all that way. I was so afraid he'd have an accident… I just—"
"I know," Pepper said soothingly. "But he's doing better here, and I promise the worst thing he's hiding right now is a little bruise or two." Let Noah think she was talking about his accident-prone tendencies, not hickeys from his boyfriend. Acid churned in Pepper's stomach at the knowledge that she was lying to her big brother, but she persisted. Stiles needed her right now, and until she figured out how to get Noah read in on the supernatural without him freaking out, she needed to be on Stiles's side. Even if that meant she was against Noah.
"Ma'am?" the pilot poked his head out of the cockpit.
"Noah, I've got to go; we're ready to take off," Pepper told him.
"Got it. I'll let you go." Noah cleared his throat. "I love you Gin."
"I love you too, Noah."
"Give Stiles a hug for me?"
"Of course."
It was a surprisingly boisterous group that was gearing up to head to the local shawarma joint Tony had noticed the other day. Even the threat of an alien attack couldn't keep this pack of kids down for long, and it seemed that Stiles had recovered his energy sufficiently to participate. Though it might be that that had more to do with his boyfriend than with the naps he had taken.
They all headed towards the elevator, talking cheerfully, and teasing their illustrious leader about the hickeys on Stiles's neck, and Tony couldn't help but smile. He tried to imagine standing here with the Avengers instead. With Rogers' holier than thou attitude, Natashalie's hidden barbs, Thor's grandiose proclamations… they would probably drown out the quieter members like Bruce and Barton.
He tried to picture it, and found he would much prefer the company of the pack over his fellow so-called superheroes.
Peter leaned into his space, nuzzling at Tony's neck affectionately. They both knew there was nothing behind it — Tony was firmly and happily committed to Pepper — but Peter, like all the wolves, was fairly tactile. "Stop thinking so loudly," Peter murmured, barely audible under the raucous laughter that came from the kids as they tumbled out into the lobby. "Relax and enjoy the moment."
Tony chuckled at the reminder of what he had said to Pepper last night. Had it only been last night? Still, it was good advice, and Tony would take it. He stopped worrying about the Avengers, at least for a little while, and did his best to focus on the moment.
"Alright," he called out to the kids. "Let's get us some shawarma. I don't know what it is, but I wanna try it."