The Stark Siblings Distraction
Chapter 6: The Stark Siblings Distraction
Evelyn and Steve walked purposefully through Hangar Bay 6 with Natasha and Clint flanking them on either side; all of them were in their combat suits, designated weapons in hand. They strode up the ramp and into the only remaining Quinjet still capable of flight, the mechanic performing maintenance just behind the cockpit looking up at the sight of them.
“Hey, you guys aren’t authorized to be in here.” He said nervously, getting to his feet and looking at the four suited heroes.
“Son, just don’t.” Steve said with a sigh, stepping past him.
“B-But-” The mechanic stammered helplessly.
“Tyler, we need to borrow the Quinjet so we can stop Loki.” Evelyn said as Clint and Natasha took the pilot and co-pilot seats respectively. She gently ushered the mechanic, Tyler, off the jet. “We promise to do everything humanly possible to keep it in one piece.”
“That doesn’t make me feel better.” Tyler said bluntly, stepping off the ramp and moving back.
“I know.” Evelyn sighed, pressing a button on the side and closing the doors.
Clint fired up the engines and launched them out of the Hangar Bay. The alert of their unauthorized departure echoed through the speakers that still linked them to the Helicarrier despite the communications still being down. In front of them, Tony flew in his Iron Man armor, the metal sparking as the power levels decreased; the genius had only had enough time to patch the suit up enough to get him to the tower.
“Evy, you ready?” Steve asked, looking at the pregnant redhead in front of him.
“As I’ll ever be.” Evelyn replied honestly.
“Good luck.” Natasha called, as Steve opened the loading bay doors.
Evelyn leapt out of the jet and gathered the air currents beneath her feet, shooting through the air. She quickly caught up with Tony as they arched up towards the roof of Stark Tower where Dr. Selvig was working on a machine to open a portal into space powered by the Tesseract and the building’s Arc Reactor.
“Sir, Ma’am, I’ve turned off the Arc Reactor, but the device is already self-sustaining.” JARVIS informed them as they stopped and hovered above the Tower.
“Shut off the device, please, Dr. Selvig.” Evelyn ordered.
“It’s too late!” Dr. Selvig exclaimed brightly. His clothes were rumpled in evidence of wearing them for several days, his face unshaved as a rough stubble spread across his jaw and cheeks while his eyes where a bright, unnatural blue. The blue color of his eyes was the exact same color as the Tesseract. “She can’t stop now. She wants to show us something! A new universe.”
“Okay.” Tony muttered, aiming his repulsor beams at the device. “Eves, stay back.”
“What are you going to do?” Evelyn asked, doing as she was told and floating several feet to the side.
Instead of answering, Tony fired the beams at the device, only for an impenetrable shield to form around it before the blast could hit. An explosion resulted from the energy of the forcefield mixing with the repulsor beams, hitting Tony in the chest and sending him flying back while the mild concussion wave knocked Dr. Selvig out. Evelyn shook her head exasperatedly and gathered the air currents around Tony, supporting him until he was able to regain his bearings and reignite the thrusters.
“The barrier is pure energy.” JARVIS said. “It’s unbreachable.”
“It’s powered by the Tesseract.” Evelyn added. “I’d have warned you if you told me what you were planning. Your suit can’t take much more of a beating!” She gestured to the battered suit he was wearing, covered with scratches and tears not only from his fight with Thor but also from when he had attempted to fix the Helicarrier’s damaged turbine and was nearly torn to shreds when the propellers were reactivated.
“Then it’s time for Plan B.” Tony said, looking down.
Evelyn followed his gaze and saw Loki standing on the veranda, looking up at them with a smug smirk on his face.
“Sir, the Mark 7 is not ready for deployment.” JARVIS warned.
“Then skip the spinning rims, we’re on the clock.” Tony said. He landed on the landing pad with a quiet thud and JARVIS began the process of removing the suit as he walked towards the doors. Evelyn followed behind him, quietly entering the Tower as Loki entered from the other door.
“Please tell me you’re going to appeal to my humanity.” The Trickster said, walking towards the siblings.
“Actually, Tony is planning on threatening you.” Evelyn said, wincing and breathing slowly through a wave of Braxton-Hicks contractions. “Ow.” She groaned, rubbing her back.
“He should have left his armor on for that.” Loki said silkily, running his eyes over Evelyn’s form and lingering on her protruding belly.
“It’s seen a bit of mileage.” Tony commented dismissively walking towards the bar. “And you’ve got the glow stick of destiny.” He waved his hand at the Scepter and Loki smirked, glancing at it. “Would you like a drink?”
Loki chuckled. “Stalling me won’t change anything.” He warned.
“Loki, I told you. Tony’s threatening you, not stalling you.” Evelyn said with an exasperated sigh.
“No drink? You sure?” Tony asked, grabbing a decanter and a glass. “Eves, what about you?”
“Pregnant!” Evelyn called, rolling her large eyes. “I can’t drink!”
“Sorry!” Tony apologized sheepishly.
Evelyn looked at Loki, seeing him eye her rounded stomach with a knowing look in his gaze. “You know who the father is.” She stated rather than asked.
“My brother, Thor.” Loki replied. “It had admittedly taken some time for me to work out why the lifeforces of your young seemed so familiar while at the same time being foreign to me. The familiarity comes from them being Thor’s children while the foreign energy comes from you.” He frowned slightly. “Though, I do not know how he could be as he was on Asgard at what I’m assuming was the time of conception.”
“I was surgically impregnated.” Evelyn informed him honestly. “The last thing I remember is 6 months ago, I went to a nearby pub after work and the next thing I know, I am waking up in a motel room the next morning with no memory after my first drink.”
“You can die giving birth to these children.” Loki said bluntly. “They are Asgardian offspring. It is no easy feat for a mortal to bear even a single Asgardian child let alone two.”
“I know.” Evelyn said softly, her hands on her rounded belly, feeling the fluttering movements of the twins beneath her palms.
“Do you not desire vengeance against those who have filled you with child without your consent?” He asked silkily, making use of his silver tongue. “Against those who have all but sealed your fate and that of your children? After all, for what other purpose would those people desire Asgardian offspring other than to mold them to whatever they desire?”
“Your silver tongue will not work on me, Trickster.” Evelyn told him with a raised eyebrow, a small smile playing on her lips. Loki shrugged unconcernedly, smirking back at her. Her smile faded and she became serious as she continued, “And anyways, what good would it do to attack an entire race for the actions of a few idiots? If I ever meet the ones who impregnated me and learn what their intentions towards these children are, then I will decide whether or not to fight them in defence of my family. However, I assure you, I will give them a good smack regardless for what they are putting both our families through.”
Loki looked at her for a moment, seeing the fire of determination and protection swirling within her emerald orbs while she absently rubbed her protruding belly. He had no doubt, this woman would fight The Mad Titan himself in the defence of her loved ones; by her own admission, she would ‘smack’ the ones who had impregnated her, not for filling her with child without her consent, but for what it meant for their families and for Thor. He wouldn’t be surprised that, if she and Thor were to survive the Chitauri’s pending attack and she survived the birth of the children, his brother would eventually fall in love with her. This woman was beautiful, smart, determined and fiercely protective of those she loved.
Loki pushed these thoughts away, instead turning away and looking out at the skyline through the floor-to-ceiling windows. “The Chitauri are coming.” He said, bringing them all back on topic. “Nothing will change that.” He faced the siblings once again. “What have I to fear?”
“The Avengers.” Tony replied loftily. Loki frowned, looking between the siblings in confusion. “It’s what we call ourselves. We’re sort of like a team. ‘Earth’s Mightiest Heroes’-type thing.”
Behind the mask of flippancy, however, he was worried for Evelyn and the babies. First Thor had expressed the risk the pregnancy posed and now Loki did, though the latter was much more blunt with what could happen to the redhead. He hoped, prayed to a God he had long since stopped believing in, that Thor would be able to help Evelyn and the babies, that all three of them would survive the birth with the aid of the Asgardian healers.
“Yes, I’ve met them.” Loki said with a smirk, drawing Tony out of his worry-filled thoughts.
“All right, I’ll admit, it takes us some time to get any form of traction.” Evelyn admitted reluctantly. “We are, after all, very different individuals with our own personalities.”
“But let’s do a headcount, here.” Tony said. “My sister, the element-wielder who’s also carrying your brother, the demigod’s, babies.” He discreetly reached down and slipped a pair of Colantotte Bracelets on his wrists as he continued to speak, “A super soldier, a living legend who kinda lives up to the legend. A man with breathtaking anger-management issues, a couple of master assassins, and you, big fella, you’ve managed to piss off every single one of them.”
“That was the plan.” Loki said, smirking.
“Well, it was certainly a terrible plan.” Evelyn said incredulously. “When we assemble, and we will, of that I can assure you, we will come for you.”
“I have an army.” Loki said unconcerned.
“We have a Hulk.” Tony said, walking around the bar.
“I thought the beast had wandered off.” Loki said in mock concern.
“You’re missing the point.” Tony said, walking across the room towards the Trickster. “There is no throne. There is no version of this where you come out on top. Maybe your army comes and maybe it’s too much for us, but it’s all on you.”
“If we can’t protect the Earth, you can be damn well certain we’ll avenge it.” Evelyn declared, rising to her feet and looking at Loki with determination swirling within her emerald orbs.
“Tell me, dear Lady, how will you and your friends have time for me when you are all so busy fighting your brother?” Loki asked Evelyn, stalking towards Tony. The Trickster raised his Scepter and pressed it against Tony’s chest, directly where the arc reactor rested as it worked to keep the billionaire alive. Loki frowned in confusion and pressed the Scepter against Tony’s chest again. “This usually works.” He said softly.
“Well, performance issues, it’s not uncommon.” Tony said flippantly. “One out of five-” He was cut off by Loki grabbing him by the throat and tossing him across the room.
“Tony!” Evelyn cried, running to him.
“I’m okay.” Tony gasped. “JARVIS, anytime now.” He muttered, slowly getting to his feet.
Loki aimed his Scepter at Evelyn and fired an energy blast at her, keeping her from reaching Tony and instead prompting her to create a wall of fire around herself to prevent being hit. While the pregnant woman shielded herself from the lethal blast, the Trackster crossed the room towards Tony and grabbed the billionaire by the throat once more.
“Deploy!” Tony shouted.
“You will all fall before me.” Loki hissed angrily.
“Deploy!” Tony rasped as he was lifted a foot off the ground by the God of Mischief.
He screamed as the Trickster threw him through the window and out of the Tower. Evelyn formed a fireball in her hands and threw it at Loki, not waiting to see if it hit as she dove out of the shattered window after her brother. She gathered the air currents beneath his falling form, slowing his descent as JARVIS deployed the Mark 7 armor that locked onto the signal emitting from Tony’s bracelets.
As the armor formed around Tony, Evelyn began dispersing the air currents and he fired up his thrusters once he was completely encased. The civilians below ducked as the siblings shot back up through the air, flying towards the Tower’s penthouse level.
“Oh, and there is one other person that you have pissed off.” Evelyn told Loki, hovering outside the window beside Tony and glaring furiously at the Trickster; Loki looked slightly singed around the edges, evidence of her fireball hitting its mark.
“His name was Phil.” Tony said.
Loki raised his Scepter and pointed it at the siblings. Tony aimed his repulsor at the Trickster and fired the beam just as Evelyn created a fireball in her palm and threw it at him. Both attacks hit true and Loki was thrown backwards several feet, landing on his back with a groan.