Chapter 13
Fury gathers Lee, Tony, and Steve back into the briefing room, where everyone there looked as if in a daze. A look of numb shock is on their devastated faces, and Lee quietly sat down.
“These were in Phil Coulson's jacket. Guess he never did get you to sign them.” Fury throws Coulson's Captain America trading cards on the table towards Steve. Steve picks them up, and they’re stained with blood. Fury turned to the entire group. “We're dead in the air up here. Our communications, location of the cube, Banner, Thor. I got nothing for you. Lost my one good eye. Maybe I had that coming.” He paused a moment. “Yes, we were going to build an arsenal with the Tesseract. I never put all my chips on that number though, because I was playing something even riskier. There was an idea, Agent Leigh and Stark knows this, called the Avengers Initiative. The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people, see if they could become something more. See if they could work together when we needed them to, to fight the battles that we never could. Phil Coulson died still believing in that idea, in heroes.” Tony leaves, Fury watching him go. “Well, it's an old fashioned notion.”
Steve and Lee found Tony staring at the empty cell container, which once held Loki. He stands there, not saying a word.
Steve finally broke the silence. “I'm sorry. He seemed like a good man.”
Tony closed his eyes. “He was an idiot.”
“Why? For believing?”
“For taking on Loki alone.” Lee walked over and put a hand on Tony’s shoulder.
“He was doing his job.”
“He was out of his league. He should have waited. He should have…”
Lee spoke up this time. “Sometimes there isn't a way out, Tony.” Tony rolled his eyes, sarcastic.
“Right. How did that work for him?”
Steve walked closer. “Is this the first time you've lost a soldier?”
Tony turned around sharply. “WE ARE NOT SOLDIERS! I am not under Fury’s command!”
“Neither am I! Not anymore. He's got the same blood on his hands as Loki does. Right now we've got to put that aside and get this done.” Steve began pacing. “Now Loki needs a power source, if we can put together a list…”
Tony stared at the wall, blood still staining it. “He made it personal.”
Steve’s voice sounded firmer, more authoritative. “That's not the point-” Lee interrupted him, catching on to Tony.
“No, Steve, I think that is the point.”
Lee and Tony stared at each other, connecting the dots. “That's Loki's point. He hit us all right where we live. Why?” Tony asked.
“To tear us apart?” Steve started to feel lost, with Lee and Tony formulating faster than him.
Tony started pacing around the room himself. “He had to conquer his greed, but he knows he has to take us out to win, right? That's what he wants. He wants to beat us and he wants to be seen doing it. He wants an audience.”
“Right, I caught his act at Stuttengard.”
“Stuttgart,” Lee corrected.
“Yeah. That's just a preview, this is opening night. Loki's a full-tilt diva. He wants flowers, he wants parades, he wants a monument built in the skies with his name plastered…” Tony paused, everything clicking into place in his mind.“Sonofabitch!”
०००
Lee walks into Natasha’s quarters, followed by Steve, and Natasha was sitting at a table, looking at paperwork. She looked up, surprised, and Steve gestured for her to follow them. “Time to go.”
Natasha got up from her seat. “Go where?”
“I'll tell you on the way. Can you fly one of those jets?” Clint walks out of the bathroom attached to the quarters.
“I can.” Steve looks at Natasha and she nods her head. Clint’s on their side. Steve turns to Clint.
“You got a suit?” Clint nodded. “Then suit up.”
०००
Tony met the team at Stark Tower, where Loki had already set up his energy device, with Selvig’s help. In the Quinjet, Steve turned to Lee.
“I’m not letting Stark go in there alone. Lee, join him, and watch his back. I don’t trust this.” Lee nodded, and prepared for a landing on Tony’s penthouse balcony.
Tony spoke up, hovering outside the Quinjet. “Lee knows the passcodes, he’s been in here before. I can take care of this, you guys prepare for the fallout for after I take care of this.” Lee jumped off the Quinjet, landing in a roll on Tony’s balcony, while Tony landed next to him. The Quinjet flies off, to lower levels, monitoring the area.
Selvig turns, noticing the two on the balcony. He held the Tesseract in his hands, preparing to put it into the energy machine, whatever it’s called. Lee engaged his armor, gloves buzzing.
“Shut it down, Dr. Selvig,” Tony called out. Selvig looked like a true mad scientist, eyes glowing and wild, smile on his face.
“It's too late! It can't stop now. He wants to show us something! A new universe.”
“Okay.” Tony aims his hands toward the machine and fires. The energy from his boosters shatters with a deafening crack. Selvig fell backwards, fumbling. The machine was fine, not even a scratch. Tony cursed, and Jarvis sounded through this balcony.
“The barrier is pure energy. It's unbreachable.”
Tony unsuits himself, and Loki walks into view. Loki regards them both, and Lee crouches in a defensive stance. Tony walks past him, walking towards the penthouse, so Lee follows, every muscle in his body tense.
“Keep your guard up, Tony,” Lee murmured, and Tony nodded.
Loki walks in, holding the scepter. Tony casually walks down the steps, towards the bar. Lee circled the room, watching Loki like a hawk.
“Please tell me you're going to appeal to my humanity,” Loki said, amused.
Tony began to pour himself a drink. “Uh...actually, I'm planning to threaten you. Lee, you want anything? No?”
“You should have left your armor on for that.”
Tony shrugged. “Yeah, it's seen a bit of mileage. You've got the blue stick of destiny. Would you like a drink?”
“Stalling me won't change anything,” Loki said, now watching Lee. Lee met his eyes, that were a cold blue, and cocked an eyebrow.
Tony stayed casual, taking a sip of his drink. “No, no, no! Threatening. No drink? You sure? I'm having one.”
“The Chitauri are coming, nothing will change that. What have I to fear?”
Lee spoke up. “You’re not scared of us. The only time I’ve seen you get out of your composure is when Thor was around. So why bring fear into it? What did your brother do to make you turn to this?” Loki looked a little nervous, with his motivations hit so close.
“My brother,” he spat, “has nothing to do with this.”
“Then who is it?” Lee pressed. “There’s another party in this. You’re just the figurehead, aren’t you?” Tony piped up.
“I noticed that, before, with Thor. He seems naively faithful to you. I also read up a little on Norse gods, where’s Odin?” Loki broke then, screaming in rage, and he went to charge Tony. Lee blocked him, sending a huge volt of electricity into Loki’s body, electrifying him. Loki convulsed, but still struggled against Lee, so he body-slammed him onto the floor, his head cracking the marble floor.
“Lee, that’s my floor! Dude!”
“Sorry, Tones.” Lee got up, and Loki’s unconscious body laid there, on the floor. Lee grabbed the scepter from Loki’s limp hand, and cuffed him. “I doubt that’s going to hold him.”
Tony walked over to Loki’s limp body. “Call Steve, get them in here. When he wakes up we’ll be ready.”
०००
Loki opened his eyes, strapped to a chair, cuffed, and wrapped in electrical cables. Lee held the ends of the cables in his hands, while Steve stood in front of Loki, Tony to his left, repulsors engaged, and Clint and Natasha on Steve’s right, arrow nocked and fists ready, respectively. Thor clapped his hands on Loki’s shoulders, and leaned in close.
“Hello, brother.”
Loki began to struggle then, and Lee engaged his gloves, sending a small wave of energy through the cables wrapped around Loki, effectively shocking him. He cried out in pain, and Thor winced.
“You make a wrong move, Agent Leigh here zaps you,” Tony says. “Tell us the truth.”
“Loki, how do we destroy your machine.” Steve spoke plainly and full of authority.
“You can’t.” More cries of pain. Lee shocked him for about five seconds, then stopped. Loki’s breath came out hard through his clenched teeth.
“If you can’t cooperate then we can’t help you. Answer my question.”
“I can’t.”
“Lee.” He turned it up a notch, shocking him for five seconds only. Loki’s eyes formed tears, and he struggled not to cry out.
“I c-can’t!” Lee stopped, stared into those glowing blue eyes. Something wasn’t right.
“Thor, what color are Loki’s eyes normally?” Thor snapped his head over to Lee’s in confusion.
“Why, green. Why do you ask?”
“They’re blue now, but when I was shocking him, they flickered to green.” Thor looked extremely interested then, turning to face Loki. He turned his head this way and that, and confirmed it.
“Enough,” Steve interrupted. “Again. Loki.”
“I can’t!”
Steve gave Lee a quick look. Lee turned the power up two more notches, then shocked Loki again. Loki screamed, eyes blazing green, and Lee didn’t stop this time. His chest clenched in tension, hearing Loki scream, but he couldn’t stop, not yet.
“Lee, enough. Lee. LEE.” Lee finally stopped, and Loki slumped forward, curling into himself. He started making weird noises, almost like a gurgling sound.
Thor got closer. “Loki-” Loki’s head flew upwards, eyes blazing blue, and he screamed again, eyes flickering from blue to green back to blue.
“He’s fighting it! Come on, Loki, snap out of it!” Lee kneeled down to his eye level, and tried to think of a way to help.
Steve put a hand on his shoulder. “Move.”
Lee scrambled out of the way, and Steve reeled his arm back, and socked Loki right in the face. Loki’s head flew backwards, where he finally stilled.
Everything stopped, nobody moved. They waited a moment, until Loki’s head lifted up, and he opened his eyes.
Green.
Thor let out a cheer, which startled the whole room, including Loki, who looked terrified, back to the face of a victim like Lee had seen before.
“Please don’t hurt me anymore! I’ve been controlled by another, it’s me, I’m not doing this!” Loki’s breath rushed out, and he scrambled to explain himself.
Steve silenced him with a hand. “How do we know this isn’t a trick?”
“Selvig can stop it, the army is coming! Hurry!” Lee’d forgotten about Selvig, who was still working on the machine outside. Steve turned towards the balcony, and Tony followed, before they heard a huge BOOM. They all ran outside, where the machine had opened a huge portal, and a huge pillar of energy was shooting into the air, holding it open.
Chitauri soldiers riding what looked like flying chariots flew out of the hole in the sky, and chaos erupted. Steve sprinted with Natasha to the Quinjet, taking off, and already shooting at the soldiers flying through the air. Lee ran back inside, where Thor still held on to Loki, and rushed up to Loki, in his face.
“How do we stop them!” Loki sputtered and stumbled over his words. “Loki, we need to stop them! How do we stop them!”
“I-I, we have to shut down the portal! Selvig can do it!” He repeated, and Lee rushed back to the balcony, where Selvig was being held up by his shirt, Tony in his suit easily holding him up.
Lee turned to Clint. “How did Nat get you out of Loki’s control?”
Clint looked almost smug. “Cranial recalibration.”
“Meaning?”
“He got hit in the head really hard,” Tony replied, and reeled his fist back. He punched Selvig full on in the face, knocking him out cold.
“TONY, we needed him conscious!” Lee yelled, and marched over to him, still holding Selvig’s now limp body up. “Set him down,” he ordered, and Tony set him down onto the floor.
Lee engaged his gloves, and gently pressed a finger into Selvig’s neck, and sent out a light shock. Selvig gasped and shot up in, pain, eyes no longer blue. “Dr. Selvig, sir, are you aware- sir-”
“I’m free! Thank you, young man, we must end this, here, come with me.” Lee helped Selvig get up, and they rushed to the machine. Lee turned back to Clint and Tony.
“Alright, we know the plan. Clint, Tony, get on the Quinjet, try to keep civilians safe. Keep me updated, we’ll try to end this.” He pressed a button on his comm. “Steve, we got Selvig back, we’re getting this machine destroyed as soon as we con. Thor,” he called out into the comm. “Keep Loki tied up, try to question him more. Don’t. Let him. Get away.”
“Got it.”
“Aye.”
“Right,” he said, and turned back to Selvig and his machine.