Chapter 33
Tony exhaled irritably at the implication he might need scolding and made his way around the room. Eventually he managed to sidle up to the two brothers without anyone seeming to take notice.
“Pointbreak, Banner’s got a surprise for you over at the bar,” he lied casually.
Thor smiled wide at the prospect of more alcohol, “finally he sees reason, I shall return, brother,” he clapped Loki on the shoulder and strode happily off towards the bar.
“Stark,” Loki said with a polite nod.
“Penny Dreadful, you’re looking well—not a scar or trace of where you got Hulk smashed.” Tony goaded lightly.
Loki huffed a short laugh, “Luckily no, my people heal quite quickly…”
“Lucky for you… not everyone walked away from that day quite so free and easy,” Tony said pointedly.
Loki looked slightly chagrined, “I am sorry about that, but you seemed relatively unscathed by the window—”
“I’m not talking about me—” Tony’s voice held unmistakable hostility but Loki chose to rise above the anger.
Loki opened his mouth to reply but closed it with a small hum as he looked away.
Tony sensed something behind Loki’s veneer of civility, it was the same thing he’d felt the first time they’d spoken. Something he knew was dangerous, if only he could provoke it to the surface. He tried another route.
“That gal of yours is turning heads,” he said casually sipping at his drink and watching Sylvie laugh with Natasha by the bar.
Loki turned to watch as well and a small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
“Her name is Sylvie…” he said softly, “she’s why I’m here, why I chose to try…”
“She’s a looker, sure, but you really expect me to believe she’s got you housebroken?” Tony baited him, tone even as he watched Loki from the corner of his eye.
Loki’s eye twitched for a fraction of a second, but Tony caught it and felt vindicated.
“People change, Stark,” Loki said coolly.
Tony tilted his head back and forth pretending to weigh the idea then making a sort of clicking sound with the corner of his mouth, “yeah, I dunno… ‘cause while I may have done some bad things in my past, I never killed anyone in cold blood,” he turned to face Loki, tone cold and intense, “and for all this talk about you having ‘changed’ and being a ‘new man’, I’m not sure how much time in the sack could turn someone like that around, even with her—”
Loki’s eyes flashed dangerously, his pulse quickening as he faced Tony, “I would take care, with how you speak of her…”
Tony smiled with false joy, “there he is…”
Loki glared at him, “I don’t care what game you think this is, Stark… I won’t allow—”
“Oh ‘allow’… you’re allowing now? You think you still have control here, but I know the truth about you—”
“And what truth is that, Stark? Tell me what exactly it is you think you know,” Loki stared him down, anger rising in his voice.
“I know you’re a coward.” His voice dropped any pretense of civility, “You talk tough with an army behind you, but when the chips are down you come skulking back looking for your big brother—and some blonde piece of ass isn’t gonna chang—”
Loki lifted Tony off the ground by the throat, “I warned you… to take care… how you speak of her,” he grit out dangerously as the man scrabbled at his own wrist to control his AI.
“Fri-Friday,” he struggled to contact his intelligence system.
“That’s enough,” Steve stepped forward boldly having crossed the room at the sound of raised voices. His tone was firm and authoritative and Loki suddenly paled at the coldness of his tone.
Loki dropped Tony easily and backed up in a daze before storming off to cool down. Thor moved to follow but Sylvie stopped him with her hand on his chest, “let me,” she said softly.
Sylvie followed Loki, her heels clicking on the floor. Thor watched with concern, wanting to follow but stopping when Natasha rested a supportive hand on his shoulder.
Steve held out a hand for Tony, “That went well, did you get what you were looking for?”
Tony took his arm and allowed Steve to help him up, “in a manner of speaking,” Tony coughed, “he’s still got the anger…”
Steve looked skeptical, “Oh who here doesn’t, Tony? We’ve all got issues, what exactly were you trying to prove?”
Tony scoffed, “just wanted to see how far that rage goes,” he said irritably.
“And?” Steve sighed wearily.
Tony shrugged, “Seems the only thing that really sets him off now is her…”
Steve laughed humorlessly, “and you’re different? You’re telling me you wouldn’t react poorly if someone threatened Pepper?”
Tony looked annoyed, “We’re not talking about me.”
“Aren’t you always,” Steve said tiredly.
Bruce walked over cautiously, “Steve has a point, whether it was his intention or not…”
Tony looked at his hulking friend unsure when he’d become the bad guy.
“For all your doubts, I think the real reason you don’t trust Loki is because he reminds you of yourself,” Bruce said sympathetically.
Tony laughed bitterly, “Come on, don’t psychoanalyze me, Doc.”
“I know you don’t like it, but it’s true… you had a pretty bad reputation back in the day… what was it they called you? The Merchant of Death?”
“Stop.” Tony said coldly.
“My point is just that you changed, a lot, became a better person… and I know Loki did things way worse than you ever did…”
“—but that doesn’t mean he’s past redemption,” Steve added gently.
Tony breathed heavily, fighting an overwhelming feeling they might be right.
“I need a drink…” Tony said irritably and headed for the bar.
“I’ll talk to him,” Bruce said to Steve and followed Tony to the bar.
Bruce walked over slowly, gauging his friend’s state of mind. He watched as Tony hastily poured two fingers of the finest scotch into his glass and took a large drink, setting it down on the counter a little harder than was necessary.
“Tony, we all saw tonight as a good chance to get to know them better, maybe establish some trust, get some answers… but I think you know you pushed too hard,” Bruce said gently.
Tony turned his head looking betrayed.
“Well I might not have needed to if you’d just given him a couple hundred milligrams of sodium amytal like I asked,” Tony muttered irritably.
“You can’t just drug dinner guests Tony!” Bruce threw up his hands in exasperation.
“Clearly you can’t…” he grumbled.
“Tony really, I know you’re scared, and you wanna keep your family safe, but—”
“But nothing Bruce, last time Loki came to New York people died—I almost died—” Tony was pointing in the direction Loki had walked off, “I almost died, and I can’t afford to check out right now, man, not now,” he dropped his arm looking shaken.
Bruce heaved a sympathetic sigh, “I know… you’ve got a lot more on the line… but that’s exactly why we need to try… if we’re gonna make it through this alive, we gotta take all the help we can get.”
Tony stared at Bruce, still rattled but knowing his friend was right.
“I just couldn’t live with Morgan or Pepper being put in danger…” Tony said quietly.
“I know, I get it…” Bruce gave him a kind yet weary smile, “that’s why you gotta make this right. We got a chance to make the world a whole lot better for Morgan and every other kid out there, we just need to take a chance here and hope for the the best.”
Tony tilted his head, “when’d you turn into the big Loki advocate? I thought he had you all shook up after your little field trip to outer space?”
Bruce heaved a quiet laugh, “I know, it seems crazy… but I guess there’s a part of me that needs to believe people can change… and, I trust Nat’s instincts… she’s got the best bullshit detector I’ve ever seen and she says he checks out.”
“Oh, well if Natasha says,” Tony said sarcastically.
Bruce leveled him with a look of annoyed conviction.
“Oh alright!” Tony huffed, “you’re right! Fine! Cap says he’s changed, the super spy is onboard, and Thor obviously vouches for him, I guess it just seemed too easy, and I didn’t want us to get caught with our pants down.”
Bruce shrugged, “if we go down pantsless, at least we’ll all go down together.”
Tony pulled a face, “That isn’t as comforting as you seem to think it is.”