Chapter 6
Loki let go the moment Peter’s eyes fluttered open, collapsing back into his seat feeling more than exhausted.
It showed on his eerily blue tinted skin and general disheveled appearance.
But that was something to think about later. Right now, all Tony could focus on was the surge of worry the moment Peter tried to sit up on the hard table he was now laying on without the Asgardian magic surrounding him.
He winced, biting back a bark of pain against the too sudden movement.
“Peter!” Tony was up and ready to latch on to Peter’s arm before the teen nearly fell off of the table.
“Wha-”
Peter's terrified wide eyes raced from point to point.
Bruce could practically feel the pain rolling off Tony as he struggled to calm the teen down.
And out of nowhere, the words died on his lips and his eyes fluttered shut as he slumped unconscious against Tony who looked more than a little startled.
“His heart was beating far too fast for his injured state.” Loki answered quietly, removing his hand once more from Peter's limp wrist.
“I didn't hurt him. He's just asleep” Loki sat back in his seat, obviously spent if the small tremors were anything to go by.
Tony wasn't sure if he believed the man or not.
But the again, if he wanted Peter hurt he wouldn't have put in all of the effort…
People change. He dismissed the whispered thought.
One good couldn't possibly account for all of the bad.
Not so quickly. And certainly not so soon.
But to say he wasn't conflicted would be a lie.
Thor cut through Tony’s internal storm cloud of thoughts and emotions as he strode back into the room in surprising silence.
“We cannot stay much longer.” he rested a hand on Loki’s slumped black clad shoulder, looking suspiciously apologetic.
Loki didn't even blink as he straightened himself up off of the chair, wobbling slightly at the sudden change of position. He took one last blank glance at the sleeping teen before flicking his eyes onto the ground, jaw tensing as did the muscles in his neck.
Bruce saw it before Tony did, eyes widening as he jolted out of his seat, hand outstretched in worry.
He didn't even see Loki’s hand coming up to block the doctor from trying to get his hands on the web of blackened veins appearing on his neck like ink splattered on paper.
“Doctor Banner, I must warn you against touching that.” Thor stated, glancing worriedly at Loki who put his hand down.
“What is It?” Bruce took a step back falling into step with Tony.
“You should get something for that.” tony nodded towards the growing web.
“Benedryll or something.”
There was a flicker of a bitter smile across the trickster's face.
“It's permanent.”
“You sure? I'm positive that wasn't there ten minutes ago.” Tony quirked a brow.
“It's a warning.” Thor answered gravely.
“We are running out of time.”
“Won't lie, weird clock. But you do you I guess.” the sarcasm couldn't hide the worry from Tony’s voice.
And without another word, the two disappeared in a flash of color and light leaving the rest in eerie silence.
----
It was another hour before Peter woke up, considerably less panicked and in pain.
Not that he would have been able to tell from the surprisingly tight but gentle hug Tony enveloped him in the moment he woke up with a start.
It was bizarre to say the least.
“Are you okay? Are you in pain? Can you see me? Can you hear me? Actually don't answer that. Stupid question” Tony held him at arm's length, looking to make sure Peter was 100% alive and not… not what he was a few hours ago…
Even the thought of the word dead left a bad taste in his mouth.
“I'm fine, Mr. Stark- I mean tony!”
“You better be!”
“Why wouldn't I be?”
“I was so wo-” Tony froze, thought process derailing in a blink of an eye.
“What do you mean ...why?”
“Did something.. happen?” Peter gazed in wide eyed worry at the man in front of him.
There was a stifling beat of silence before Bruce broke in.
“You got hurt mid mission.” his words and tone were measured but he was definitely worried.
Peter's face scrunched up in confusion as he tried his best to remember.
“You don't remember anything? What do you remember last?” Tony shot Bruce a worried glance.
“I-I remember us getting the green light to jump off the plane.”
Bruce nodded.
“And then everything else is just black. I don't remember anything after that... “
“That's not… abnormal I guess? Your injury certainly warrants a bit of amnesia.” Bruce directed the prognosis more to Tony than to Peter, mainly because Tony looked like he was going to drop dead from a heart attack any moment.
“Was it bad? I mean I kind of do feel sore..”
Tony took a seat, scrubbing a hand over his tired eyes.
“It was.” he stated a matter of factly.
“And if you ever do anything like that again, I'll-” Tony frowned before narrowing his eyes.
“I can't think of anything that could possibly cover the extent of psychological trauma you've unleashed on me, but when I do I'll make sure to double it.”
Peter's eyes widened as he glanced over to Banner in shock.
“It was that bad?”
Bruce nodded gravely.
“Y-you technically died.”
It took a moment for Peter to digest the sudden twist.
“Died? Like died died?”
“You fell out of the helicopter.”
“What?!”
Tony closed his eyes, breathing in and out trying to calm his racing heart.
It was definitely too early to be reliving that memory.
“But I don't feel dead.”
Bruce shot Tony a worried look before turning back to Peter who looked close to where Tony was in terms of proximity to a breakdown.
“Loki saved you.”
Peter's has dropped open. This was a joke. It had to be.
“Wasn't he that guy who tried to take over New York?”
Bruce nodded. “He's… changed.”
“I don't-i don't remember seeing him.”
“You got a glimpse. But you were definitely out of it. Probably can't remember seeing him. He was here an hour ago.” Tony answered, not taking his eyes off of the very alive Peter.
“He left?”
Bruce nodded.
“And we should be getting ready to go too.” he nodded to Tony.
“As long as you're feeling okay.” he turned his attention back to Peter who hopped off of the table, much to Tony’s chagrin.
“Careful! Christ ,Peter. You just woke up like five minutes ago.” Tony looked more than ready to shove Peter back onto a seat or anything nearby. But he held on, agreeing internally on getting involved the moment Peter even looked close to flagging. Which he didn't.
The teen took a few steps around, stretching out his sore muscles.
“You're awake!” Clint stated, surprise coloring his voice as he stood leaning on the door frame. He leaned back marginally to stick his head out of the frame.
“Guys, he'd awake!”
Tony could have sworn he only heard one pair of steps before the three others arrived from upstairs.
“Are his organs Ok?” Nat looked to Bruce for answers.
“He looks fine. Nothing else wrong.”
Cap let out a sigh of relief.
“What happened to your head?” Peter's brow scrunched in worry as Nat’s guazzed bandage came into view.
“Got hit by the helicopter shrapnel.”
“Helicopter shrapnel?”
“The one we were on.”
Peter looked to Cap for confirmation.
“You don't remember?” Rogers asked worriedly.
Peter looked away, fidgeting with his suit in discomfort.
“He says he doesn't remember anything after we first rode into the mission.” Bruce answered.
“Is that normal?”
“Could be. I'd like to get him to a real hospital before I say anything though.”
Rogers nodded, taking out his phone to call for backup.
“Is everyone set to go? They'll be here in ten minutes.” cap returned, shoving his phone in one of his jacket pockets.
“Didn't know SHIELD had people stationed so close…?” Nat quirked a brow.
Cap shrugged.
“Better early than late.”
“True.”
The team lapsed back to silence rummaging to pack up whatever they brought back from the mission.
“Is it just me or is there sparks happening right now?” Peter watched wide eyed as the sparks became bigger and bigger, expanding outward into a full on portal.
“Stark.”
“You're kidding…”
Strange just stared, mouth drawn into a taut line. The picture of bemusement.
“Is everyone ready?”
“Since when were you the SHIELD backup team?” Tony quirked a brow.
“Fury has been standing outside the new York sanctum yelling since eleven.”
It made sense. Hoodie and all. He looked beyond grumpy.
He gestured for Barton and Widow to step through, returning Cap’s nod of greeting as he stepped through.
Bruce went next, motioning for Peter to follow.
Peter followed, staring in wide eyed amazement at the portal opener.
“Woah. Are you like a wizard?” he looked excitedly over at Tony.
“Is he like Loki? Does that mean he's an alien or something?”
Tony smirked.
“He's a doctor, Peter.”
“Like, a doctor doctor? Like hospital scrubs and horrible handwriting type doctor?”
Tony and Strange shared a look of tired amusement.
“He's a Neurosurgeon.”
Peter’s eyes widened further in amazement.
“So you're like a genius. Are all of your friends geniuses? I mean Mr. Wayne seemed like a genius too. And he's super rich.”
“We're all in a secret genius billionaire club.”
Strange rolled his eyes.
“And we'll be late for said club if we don't hurry this up.”
Peter almost tripped in his haste to get through the portal.
Tony followed not far behind.
“You look like shit.” Tony didn't even bother with a sarcastic answer.
“He fell out of the helicopter.”
Strange’s brows furrowed in concern.
“Technically died. Loki brought him back with some sort of weird alien magic.”
“The ex terrorist tried to take over New York Loki? That one?”
Tony patted Strange on the shoulder.
“I'll buy you a drink. It's been a weird fucking couple of hours and honestly at this point, I don't know…”
“Sounds...good..?” And with one last flourish he closed the portal, leaving the sanctum in darkness.