Chapter 12
It was a bright, sunny and fresh day, and Tony Stark stopped in his tracks, his grip tight around the handle of a secured, long case.
He was about to commit theft.
He took a second to breathe deeply, and assure himself of the quality of the replica in the case. He had spent days hunched over the prototype of the fake Chitauri scepter, sometimes with Thor patrolling the tower, sometimes heavily poked by Loki´s "good natured advice", that he knew every inch by heart.
In the end, it was identical down to the last detail, according to Loki, who thankfully enough had given up on wearing the bandana when he was present.
The last touch had been… Poetic. An inspiration, a soft detail, albeit a much needed one.
-
"I need you to give it some magic."
Loki had raised an eyebrow, disbelieving."I thought I had been clear enough, Stark. My magic is completely different to that which powers the scepter…" And he had stopped, when Tony had curled his lips into a smile.
"I know that. You know that. Now Thor knows that." He had gestured to the blond he´d brought to the meeting. "But S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn´t. And they won´t have a clue until they hire a magic specialist. But that time, I expect us to have finished the research and returned it."
At this, Thor had leaned forward, clearing his throat.
"I must let you know how strongly I disagree with this act, my friend. I´m sure the Son of Coul would let us get the scepter out if you asked honorably, instead of recurring to cheating like…"
"Well, Thor… Some do battle, some do tricks." Loki had interrupted him, voice cold, but a hint of amusement in his eyes. Thor had stared at him in disbelief, and let out a hearty laugh.
"You said it, brother." And his gaze had turned to Tony. "This is why I´m here, I assume?"
The human had nodded."Can you do it, Loks? If Thor gives you the power?"
The god in question had huffed. "Trust me, Stark. You haven´t seen anything."
-
Now, the false scepter glowed softly on its own, and Tony had a God of Lies approved excuse for checking the heavily guarded original.
"Everything is calmed, my friend. You may proceed." Thor´s voice boomed in his ear, through the hidden earphone. "… I must thank you profusely, Anthony, for what you have risked for my brother. You are a true friend, know that"
Tony smiled, rolling his eyes. "It´s ok, big guy. Loki is a pain in the ass, but watch him frustrated and powerless is hilarious."
"You are one mischievous human being, my friend."
Tony chuckled in the microphone, and presented his identification card to the lector in the automatic door.
The metal plate slid soundlessly to the side, and he stepped inside. And froze.
A thousand curses ran through his head, as Steve´s eyes widened with surprise when he spotted him.
"Tony? What are you doing here?"
Feeling his muscles pull like wire, he forced a smile to counter the blond´s.
"They´re finally letting me check the scepter. I wouldn´t waste the chance."
Steve´s eyebrows rose. "Really? Coulson said it´s still guarded…"
"It is." Tony shook his head. "I´ll never know how Pepper does it. I swear I think she´s selling the company without me noticing."
Steve laughed. "Careful, then." And he patted Tony´s shoulder, before leaving. Tony let out his breath, relieved.
Being who he was, Tony had rarely ever needed to lie. Instead, he had perfected the art of looking like he was exactly where he was supposed to be.
Because really, a babysitter will only believe the "My toy car rolled into the elevator and then into dad´s lab" so many times.
But if Howard Stark had said he needed his son to wait for him there, and Tony was completely, positively, absolutely sure that that had been the order, then down to the lab he went, thank you very much.
This is why, when exposing his best smile, and greeting everyone with an enthusiastic nod, there was no doubt that Tony had somehow earned the chance of a lifetime, and was on his very much authorized way to have some fun time with the alien scepter.
He let the façade drop as the door slid back into place, his target lying silent and taunting before him.
The room was being checked on via live fed security cameras, he knew that, so he stayed on his spot, staring at the scepter as if lost in awe, until he saw the slightest flicker of lights.
He held back a smile, imagining Thor sticking a finger into some random socket at the roof, using the hammer with the free hand and trying not to accidentally fry the building.
The lights flickered once more, and then, just like that, they turned off.
The room was completely dark, with the exception of the eerie blue glow coming from the center of it. Tony moved fast, before the backup energy generator kicked in, and threw the case open, along with the cover to the hidden compartment that held the replica. When the lights came back, he was breathing hard, having run back to his previous spot after closing the case again.
-
The next few hours were torture.
He was good at faking interest (One does not go too far into high society without that ability), but having to go over and over his handmade fake scepter and pretending to be fascinated was too much.
Eventually, he let go of the thing, carefully rearranging his features to reveal frustrated disappointment, and turned back to exit the room.
It wasn´t a surprise to find Coulson waiting for him right outside, inspecting him with an amused stare.
"Had fun, Mr. Stark?"
"Do I look like it, Phil?" Tony countered with a tired voice. The corners of Coulson´s lips curled slightly upwards.
"So you infiltrated a secret government facility and illegally messed up with a confidential item, just to find nothing of interest? What a waste of time, I´m sorry to say."
Tony shrugged. "You don´t sound too mad about the whole infiltration thing."
"To be honest, we were expecting it." He cleared his throat. "Are you sure you found nothing, Mr. Stark? I find that hard to believe."
"It´s not… What I thought it´d be." Tony explained, his mind going to the rehearsals he had gone through. "Damned thing works entirely on magic, I could do nothing."
Coulson nodded. "Also expected, but disappointing all the same. Thank you, Mr Stark." And he turned to leave, stopping just before turning around a corner. "However, I feel compelled to warn you that, were you to try this little stunt again, whatever the reason might be, measures would have to be taken."
"Nice measures?" Tony smirked.
"Miss Potts would suddenly find herself the owner of twelve percent of your fortune, and that´s all I´m allowed to say."
"Got it!" Tony´s answer was received by an empty hallway. The billionaire chuckled once, and proceeded to calmly walk back to the exit, even daring to whistle a cheery tune. Even for him, this had been quite a feat.
-
Once outside, he tapped on his radio, calling Thor.
"I got it, big guy. Someone owes me the pleasure of burning that bandana to ashes."
Thor´s laughter through the line was as lighthearted as he felt.
"Good luck with that, my friend. I´m afraid no bet will get my brother to stop mortifying you with his garments."
Tony grinned, and cut the call. He´d drop the damned case in the car, and maybe go pick up some shwarma before going back to the apartment. He had a new toy to take apart, and nothing would stand in his way.
Except perhaps a 70 years old super-soldier.
"Glad to see you so happy." Steve stared down at him, no smile lightening his features. "What exactly did you get, Tony?"
Tony swallowed loudly, forcing out another grin. He was sure none of Thor´s words had been overheard, but he was out of luck in everything else.
"Well, I checked the magic stick. I lied before, I didn´t really have permission, and Thor was betting I´d get caught before I got to it."
"I´m not fond of liars. And you´re not making it any better." Steve sentenced. "What´s in the case?"
"Tools." The answer came immediately, and entirely too fast.
"Really, now?"
Tony looked into Steve´s eyes, and he knew for sure he wasn´t going anywhere without spilling the beans. It was useless. Steve wouldn´t believe any of his half-assed lies, and without the suit (He needed to stop going out without the stupid suit), he was in no state to overpower him.
"Let me call someone." He didn´t wait for the blond´s nod before hooking up Thor in the line again. "Hey mate…"
"Something wrong, Anthony? Weren´t we supposed to meet at the apartment?"
"Yeah… Can you make up some excuse and meet me at the tower instead? Something came up."
On his side of the line, Thor hesitated for a second. "Of course, my friend. I´ll see you there."
Tony hung up, and looked back at Steve, gesturing for the car parked a bit further.
"Well, come on, Cap."