Chapter 2
A moment later, there were voices in the hallway. Stark cursed. “Some of my employees must be trying to work overtime,” he said. After a few more seconds, Stark identified the voices: Natasha, Fury, and Agent Barton. Apparently, they’d taken so long in the building that Natasha had been worried and called Fury. The now-free Barton must have tagged along with the director. Steve and Loki looked at each other frantically before shifting back. Steve only finished just before Fury opened the door.
“What is going on?” he demanded.
“Loki is no longer a threat,” Thor said, his first words after hearing Steve’s story. Loki tried to look as innocent as possible as Fury gave him the side eye.
“I can see that,” he said doubtfully. “Why is Rodgers shirtless and in pants a few sizes too small for him?”
Steve looked down at himself, surprised. Apparently, he’d grown when he’d transformed into a Jotun before changing back to a human. Stark just smiled. “It’s one of those don’t ask, don’t tell situations,” he said.
“Well I’m asking, so tell me,” Fury said.
All four of them just looked at him silently.
“Ooh-kay. We’ll be discussing this back in the helicarrier,” Fury commanded.
“Why are we going to the helicarrier?” Steve asked politely, grabbing a large stack of toast and a napkin.
“Because I said so. Now move!” Fury commanded again.
They just looked at each other and shrugged. On his way out the door, Stark commanded Jarvis to delete the security recordings for this floor since they arrived on it. Jarvis did so, scouring every backup of every trace of its presence.
The silence beyond the crunching of toast on the Quinjet was overwhelming. Fury was switching between staring at Loki and giving a look to Stark. Steve and Thor didn’t seem to rank highly on Fury’s blacklist at the moment. He seemed to be trying to think of something to say that would make them confess all that had happened. He got a crafty look in his eye and opened his mouth to say something. Unfortunately for Fury, he was interrupted by Steve swaying a little where he stood and paling drastically, dropping the last pieces of toast on the nearest seat. Stark grabbed his shield for him - which Fury only now noticed no longer had any arm straps - and Thor grabbed Steve’s arms to steady him.
“Ready for round two?” Steve asked, smiling a little painfully at Loki. Loki just nodded and flared his magic a little, letting it play around his hands. Fury pulled out his gun and trained it on Loki.
“Drop the magic,” he commanded.
The other four ignored him, seeming to be prepared for something to happen to Steve. Clint swiveled around in his pilot seat to watch what was going to happen. Natasha just kept flying the plane, steadfastly ignoring the antics of those in the back. When Steve coughed the first time, the plane dipped a little at Natasha’s shock. It was a horrible, wet rattling sound that spoke about someone incredibly ill. She could see Clint’s concerned profile out of the corner of her eye, which worried her more than anything. As the coughing intensified and she heard Loki start to mutter in a strange language, Natasha just focused on flying the plane as steadily and quickly as possible. The sooner they got to the med bay of the helicarrier, the sooner they could get Steve some help.
The sludge seemed more reluctant to come out this time. Loki started out vanishing as much of it as he could as soon as he saw it. It just kept coming and coming though, and Steve got weaker and weaker. Loki hated watching his son struggle to even stand when he so easily could blame himself for Steve’s sickness. He didn’t have time for that though, especially when the scar on his chest broke open and began bleeding black. Loki grabbed his son’s hands and pushed cleansing cold into him. Steve’s body relaxed a little. A few moments later, he dropped limply into unconsciousness.
Thor eased his nephew to the floor, then looked frantically at Loki. “We need to get this out of him now,” he said urgently.
Loki nodded and threw up an illusion that blocked Director Fury’s sight and any sounds that might otherwise escape.
“It will be best if I do this to his natural form. Stark, please talk about something so that Steve can hear you and focus on that if his mind is close enough to the surface to understand what’s happening.”
Tony nodded, grateful to have something to do. He knelt by Steve’s head, still holding the shield, and began talking about the project he was currently working on: Mark 7. He was only startled a little when black liquid started flowing into the shield. He could see what looked like Steve’s insides through his skin out of the corner of his eye, which he figured was a spell of Loki’s. Blue or not, Tony knew the black lingering around his heart and lungs could not be healthy. He kept talking as the shield got heavier and heavier.
“I’ve gotten everything out that I can. He’ll likely bleed a little more out of the scar, but that should be it,” Loki said, then shifted Steve back into his human form and got rid of the poison carefully. Tony sighed in relief at the good news.
They were met with a furious Director Fury when Loki dropped his illusionary barrier.
“Just what do you think you’re doing?” He asked furiously.
“Pulling out the rest of the illness,” Loki replied calmly.
“We’ve arrived at the Helicarrier,” Natasha said, pulling into a hanger on the underbelly of the vast machine and cutting off whatever reply Fury was going to make. It was apparently not a good day for Fury’s chances of actually being able to say what he planned to.
Stark pushed by Fury, almost knocking him over in his haste to get out of the Quinjet. Fury got out of the Asgardians’ way before they could actually run him over. Loki had picked Steve up and was following Stark, visibly unconcerned about the fact that the director was looking angrier and angrier by the second. Fury also looked surprised at Loki being able to pick up the much larger man. Natasha and Clint rushed after the four, falling in behind Thor as they left the hanger.
“Guess I no longer get a say on where people go in my own ship or who goes on my ship,” Fury muttered and headed to the bridge. He figured he could watch the sick bay for Rodgers’ progress and get some work done at the same time.
“This isn’t the way to the med bay,” Natasha said after a few turns made it glaringly clear they were not, in fact, heading to medical help.
“No,” Stark said calmly, leading the group on. Loki and Thor didn’t falter at that pronouncement because they trusted Stark would take them where they needed to go. If Stark wasn’t leading them to this ‘med bay’, it must not be the best place for Steve to go.
“He needs medical attention, the kind only the med bay can give him,” Natasha replied, a little more worry in her voice.
“We’re going someplace better: my lab,” Stark replied.
“Oh, so you’re a medical professional now? And we’re just ignoring the fact that the guy that took over my mind is with us, suffering no consequences?” Barton asked angrily.
“My brother has trained in healing as well as war over the past few hundred years and can help the Captain more than any of your mortal doctors can,” Thore replied.
“You ignored the whole mind-control thing,” Natasha pointed out.
“My brother was also under their control. Besides, he has suffered enough.”
Natasha really wanted to know the story behind that.
Stark stopped in front of a door and opened it, strolling casually into the room.
“Hey Bruce,” he said, “would you mind clearing off a table?”
Bruce looked up, obviously confused, then paled a few shades last white. “What is he doing here?” he said, pointing at Loki.
“Exactly my point,” muttered Barton.
If it was possible, Bruce paled even further when he saw Steve.
“What happened to him?”
“The table is ready,” Thor said. He’d clearly off a side table when it was clear Banner wasn’t going to do it any time soon. Loki set Steve down carefully and conjured a pillow to place under his head. Stark pulled out his phone and began typing on it. The door suddenly locked, the blinds closed all the way, the lights shut off completely except for the emergency light above the door, and, most importantly, the cameras turned off. Everyone blinked a few times at the sudden darkness.
“Sir, Tony Stark’s lab just had a power failure,” Agen Hill told Director Fury.
“Send some men to contain the Hulk, should it try to escape,” Fury replied.
“Fury has no idea we’re in here,” Stark said, pleased with himself. “Now work your magic.” This directive came with a finger pointed straight at Loki. Loki rolled his eyes but did as directed, starting with a full body scan that showed Steve’s muscles and organs through his skin. The scar was a peculiar silver color, backlit by the spell and looking far older than it had any right to.
Before Loki could do much more than scan, Steve’s back suddenly arched up off the table, his body tensing and eyes shining a deep, malevolent purple.
”The Other is trying to take over his mind!” Loki shouted. Stark ran over to his suit and took off the helmet. He came back over to Loki and held it out.
“The copper in this should block incoming signals,” Stark said urgently.
“Worth a try,” Loki replied after a moment. Stark quickly but carefully put the helmet on Steve’s head. It adjusted to fit the size nicely. After a few moments, Steve’s body relaxed and Loki put his hands on the metal above Steve’s temples. He fell through the meditation and into Steve’s mind almost instantaneously, carefully controlling his magic to ensure the room stayed the same temperature.
A terrible glass thing stood in the middle. Loki would have called it a tree, but trees don’t try to capture people inside them or look like they’re grabbing hungrily for more and more land while tearing up what they already had. Steve was suspended in mid-air, trapped by a thick almost-root that had him by the waist. He’d been about to be forced into the tree when Stark had stopped the mental signal.
“I never quite learned mental protection,” Steve said sheepishly.
“That’s okay, Stevie. Mine had already been torn down, so it didn’t matter when they got me. We’ll have to build the protection back up together, huh?” Loki said as he walked over to the root that held his son. At Loki’s touch the root melted a little and bent down to put Steve back in the ground. The evil tree lookalike began to melt in on itself until it folded down imperceptibly small and disappeared with a small pop. Steve casually walked around his mind and fixed the cracks. Something seemed to come to Steve, because he suddenly looked panicked.
“I’m keeping you human,” Loki reassured instantly. Steve’s face relaxed.
“Natasha and Clint are both super-spies, and I don’t know about Bruce yet. Thank you, Father,” Steve said. Loki just smiled in response.
“You ready to wake up?” Steve asked Loki.
“Let’s freak them out a bit. By the way, you’re wearing Stark’s helmet. It’s what stopped the attack.”
Steve mulled this over, then nodded. Loki began to count down on his fingers from three… two… one…
Both Steve and Loki jerked all the way upright. Natasha, Clint, and Bruce all jumped a little, while Thor just looked slightly amused and Tony just dramatically clutched at his heart.
“Give a guy some warning, will ya?” he asked. Steve and Loki kept a straight face, doing their level best to not laugh. Tony’s helmet was pretty tight on Steve’s head, but the man appeared to have made it adjustable.
“Thank you, Stark,” Steve said, lowering himself back onto the table. Loki bent over him, looking for the sickness again and putting it in the shield carefully whenever he found any. Loki was doing his best not to hurt Steve, but he couldn’t help it sometimes; Steve was trying to hold still, but couldn’t help flinching occasionally.
Tony paused slightly, fidgeting with a wrench, before responding, “No problem. Hey, do we just tell Fury to mind his own business or…”
“No, you don’t,” Fury said, stepping into the room. “You explain to Fury why exactly you didn’t go to the med bay and why Captain America is wearing Iron Man’s helmet.” He enjoyed their stunned silence for a moment before saying, “Come on, people. I don’t have all day.”
Fury had been on the bridge still when the team he’d sent had reported that something strange was going on inside the lab, but they couldn’t see inside because the blinds were closed and the door was locked. Intrigued, Fury had walked down to the lab and used his master key to open the door just in time to hear Stark’s flippant remark. Needless to say, he was less than pleased to hear that remark and to discover Rodgers in the lab. He was intrigued as to why the man was wearing Stark’s helmet.
Stark was the first to recover. “Well, it really isn’t your business. Unless you’ve bugged my lab illegally and are spying on me, also illegally, in order to steal my inventions, which is illegal, and are here to inquire about the state of those illegal cameras and illegal microphones, nothing that goes on in this lab is your business.”
“This is my ship,” Fury said, completely ignoring the very valid points the billionaire had made.
“I am not under your command. As a matter of fact, Captain Rodgers and I are only here as a favor to you. I am also sure that the president would be less than pleased to discover that two visiting dignitaries had been illegally recorded.”
“Loki is a threat, not a visiting dignitary,” Fury stated.
“I am no more a threat than the others in this room,” Loki interjected quietly. “I am also the heir to a planet and the secondary heir to another. If I am not a dignitary, who is?”
“Your brother,” Fury shot back after a moment of sputtering.
“Okay gentlemen, let’s break it up,” Clint said as he stepped between Fury and Loki.
“The threat to Earth from Loki is no longer. I am going to return to New York and get back to my life,” Steve said. He brushed past an astonished Fury, closely followed by Loki and Thor.
“What he said,” Tony said, following after a moment. He popped back into the room for a moment to say, “Feel free to call me never!”
Fury took a moment to just stare in shock at the door and shared a glance with the three remaining people in the room before striding after them. He got to the hangar just in time to see a mostly-suited Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America, still in that ridiculous helmet, disappear outstretched hand first from the space that must have been Loki. Fury took a moment to wonder why Loki was teleporting now when he wasn’t before but then quickly rationalized that Loki would have used that skill if he hadn’t been ‘neutralized’ - whatever that meant - as quickly. He headed back to the lab to interrogate Barton and Natasha.
“Loki performed a spell that showed Rodgers’ insides. There didn’t appear to be any more sickness. Then Rodgers started convulsing and his eyes shone purple. Loki said something about ‘The Other’ taking over his mind, and Stark provided his helmet to stop the signal,” Natasha said.
“So that’s why he was wearing the helmet. Continue,” Fury directed.
“Loki put his fingers on the metal over Rodgers’ temples and slumped over. After a while, both of them shot up. He did the spell thing again and pulled out whatever he could see into the shield. He vanished the liquid and took the shield with them. Shortly after they woke up, you walked in,” Natasha supplied smoothly.
“Is there a chance Rodgers could be under Loki’s control?” Fury asked.
“I don’t think so,” Barton said. “He acted more or less in accordance with his profile. Besides, I would know if he was. I know everyone who was under his control.”
“What if he took control of Rodgers after he disconnected from all of you?” Natasha asked.
“I’m guessing that Stark and Thor would object to Rodgers being taken over, so Loki probably isn’t controlling him at the moment,” Agent Hill added, almost managing to startle the super spies with her appearance. Almost. She internally cursed the non-jump and determined to do better next time.
“Romanov, Barton, I need you two to go to New York and monitor the situation there. Report back every evening with any detail, no matter how small. Get as close as you can to Stark Tower, no matter the cost,” Fury commanded.
The two nodded and walked out. Clint was a little annoyed at being told to report every detail, as that’s what they already always did, but he shoved it aside. Natasha led the way to the jet, carefully hiding her emotions. Even Clint couldn’t read her all the time.
Once the four appeared in Stark Tower, Steve cleared his throat. “I may have lied about having a life to go back to,” he said. “Also, rent these days is ridiculous.”
“You’re welcome to stay here, all of you,” Tony said to the others. He’d picked up on the not-so-subtle hint Steve had dropped. There was a general agreement from the other three. Tony directed the others to guest rooms. He tried not to think about the fact that he’d placed Steve closest to his own room. It definitely didn’t mean anything at all.
The next morning found Steve up early, working out and testing the changes to his body. After a while, he noticed his father watching him.
“I was wondering if you wanted to start the mental training? You can’t wear Stark’s helmet all the time,” Loki said. And indeed, Steve was still wearing the helmet the mortal had created and used to block the attack.
“Will you tell me about this Other after?” Steve asked.
“Certainly,” came the reply, “though it would be best to have some mental protection before discussing him and possibly calling the attention of the Other and, consequently, his master.”
Stark walked in on the two casually levitating and casually walked right back out. Apparently, seeing the muscles of your supersoldier house guest in motion was too much to ask. He stopped Thor in the hallway and redirected him to the kitchen to show him the wonder of Poptarts. Stark mourned the loss of his now smoking-from-lightning-bolt toaster and decided he would just have to eat his Poptarts cold that morning. Couldn’t have evil toasters surprise attacking visiting gods, now could he?