Chapter Text
The first time Loki appeared in Tony’s living room, his first reaction was a few moments of stunned disbelief. In his defense, he had been extremely distracted by thrust and vector calculations related to the Mark 39, so it took him a moment to realize he was no longer alone. The second moment was taken up by the dawning realization that the figure in front of him was not the product of a lack of sleep and shitty dreams. In the third moment Tony almost killed himself by leaping over the back of his couch, getting as far from Loki as possible while still keeping the bastard in sight.
“JARVIS!”
“A suit is inbound, sir.” Tony started edging towards the stairs leading down to his laboratory. A guy lets his guard down for one second in the privacy of his enormous seaside mansion, and look what happens.
“Calm yourself, Stark. I mean you no harm. I am here to talk,” Loki said, holding his hands up and away from his body. He was wearing simple dark green shirt with his leather duster, only the barest glint of metal at his throat. No armor or weapons in sight, but Tony knew well how fast that could change.
“Fuck that! The last time we had a conversation I almost ended up a gooey stain on a New York sidewalk. JARVIS, notify SHIELD that I have an intruder.”
Loki scowled at the ceiling, trying to pinpoint just who or what Tony was talking to. “I do wish you wouldn’t.”
“Well, no one cares what you want, Professor Snape. You’re supposed to be in Asgard, anyway, so why are you here? Did they let you out early? Couldn’t have been for good behavior.” Tony finally heard the dulcet tones of one his autonomous suits stomping up the stairs. “Hear that? If you really want to talk, Loki, do it fast. Or do it slow, I don’t care, that will give me chance to kick your ass myself. As soon as my suit finally gets here. Move your tin plated ass already!” He shouted towards the stairs. “My stellar wit and conversational skills aren’t going to keep him distracted much longer.”
“I am here to ask for your help.”
Tony started to laugh but trailed off when he saw the seriousness written in the grim line of Loki’s mouth. The moment was surreal: a picturesque but not terribly warming fire was burning in the fireplace (it was SoCal, after all, even at Christmas it was T-shirt weather), stockings for no particular person were hanging from the mantle, and a supervillain was asking for help in his living room. He pinched himself to make extra sure he wasn't dreaming. “Nope. Whatever it is, no, no way.”
“Even if it has to do with the safety of your precious realm?”
“So far, you have been the biggest danger to the safety of my precious realm,” Tony pointed out. “You and your overrated army. Oh good, you’re finally here. Guard position, Loki of Asgard.” Mark 36 took position next to Tony, gears whirring as he suddenly bristled with armaments. “Good boy,” he said with a silent sigh of relief, praying that Loki hadn’t noticed that his hands had been shaking.
“That army is precisely the threat I’m here to discuss. Keep the…automaton, call off your dogs, and we can talk.”
“Automaton? Look, the only one of those that is going to happen is that I am keeping the suit. There are a dozen more just like it waiting for one wrong move. JARVIS, how long until backup arrives?”
“Unfortunately, sir, the closest SHIELD operatives are in New Mexico, so it will be some hours before they arrive. I could call the police, if you wish.”
Loki smirked. Tony thought about shooting him on principle but he had just finished decorating for the holidays, even though it was just a tree and some stockings and he'd actually paid someone to do it it for him. “Fine. Talk if that’s really what you came here to do, then get the hell out of here. Better yet, just skip ahead to getting the hell out of here, because I’m not going to help you. Besides, the Chitauri were defeated. They all dropped dead when I blew up their mothership. Or maybe you didn’t know that, since that was right around the time the Hulk was using you to remodel my floor.” Tony took pleasure at the sour look that replaced the smirk.
“You are a fool if you believe that is the end of the matter. The Chitauri are locusts. They were created for war, and like locusts, the death of a few will do nothing to deter the rest. They are a weapon that was pointed at Earth for a purpose.” Loki turned his gaze from Tony to study the rest of the room, apparently unconcerned about turning his back the Iron Man suit that was tracking his movements with enough firepower to destroy a small city. “That purpose was not fulfilled nor eliminated by my defeat. They will return, and this time, in greater numbers.”
Tony’s palms began to sweat. “Yeah? Why should I believe you?”
Loki looked back at him, his gaze knowing. “You already believe me. You went through the portal, you saw them. Your night terrors are not memories, but premonitions.”
Tony went cold. “What do you know about my nightmares?”
“Your troubles are written on your face for all to see, Stark. It takes no particular genius to see that you sleep but poorly, and instead spend your time building new and better weapons.” Loki gestured to the suit. "You fear the Chitauri's return as well."
"What would the Chitauri want from Earth so badly that they’d come back after we destroyed them the first time?”
“The Tesseract. My staff. And me.”
“You?” Tony barked out a laugh. “Not to impressed with your performance, eh? So what do you think I can do about it?”
The intensity in Loki's eyes was at odds with Loki’s carefully nonthreatening posture. “You defeated the Chitauri once. Help me do it again.”
For the second time that night Tony was speechless. Into this sudden silence came the mundane sound of the doorbell. It was so unexpected that Tony didn’t recognize it until JARVIS said, “Sir, the police are at the door.”
“What? Why? I didn’t tell you to call the police.” He didn’t want to take his eyes off Loki for a second because he had a feeling that he would disappear as soon as he looked away, but the pounding on the door was sounding pretty insistent. “Goddammit, I’m coming!”
Tony threw open the door and scowled at the men in uniform. “I’m fine, false alarm, you can go now,” and slammed it shut again, but it was too late. Loki was gone. “Fuck. “ With a sigh, he opened the door again on the two startled cops. “I’m sorry for being so rude, gentlemen. Is there anything else I can do for you?” A selfie and two autographs later, Tony closed the door again.
“JARVIS, pull up all the research you can find on the Chitauri.” After filling up a mug with a solid four fingers of whiskey topped off by stale coffee, he sat down at his desk as information began scrolling across his computer screen. He had a feeling that sleep was not on the agenda tonight.
______________________________________
Tony spent the next three days holed up in his lab, reviewing all of the existing research on the Chitauri and conducting his own on a few pieces of technology he managed to get his hands on. On the fourth day, JARVIS turned off his power and refused to turn it back on until he showered, ate something that didn’t come out of a bag, and went outside. They negotiated on sleeping, since every time Tony drifted off he always woke up sweating from nightmares.
After his shower, Tony flipped through the stack of invites by the door and found a party happening that night, some kind of Hollywood thing. Perfect. They usually served food at these shindigs, right? That would count as a real meal.
Six hours later, as Tony was stumbling home with a beautiful lady on each arm, his only defense that he tried to consume as many canapes as alcoholic beverages, but the hors d’ouevres were so small, and the drinks so strong. He was the victim in all of this, really.
“JARVIS! Open the door!” Tony shouted. One of the girls giggled. “I don’t even know if I have a key for this place.” He peered vaguely at his key ring before realizing hey, it was really hard to see his keys. Was the power out? He was struggling to think why that was such a weird idea when the door finally opened.
“After you, ladies,” Tony gestured, leaning against the open door frame so he didn’t fall over. “JARVIS! Lights! What the hell?”
“Your machine objected to my presence, so I silenced it.” The low voice from the shadows of his living room made his blood run cold, chasing away the pleasant alcohol-induced warmth.
“Oh shit. Uh, ladies, party canceled, time to head home. Here, have the Ferrari.” Tony shoved the girls outside, tossing one of them the keys and slamming the door behind them.
“What the fuck, Loki? Business hours are 9 to 5 and by appointment only.” The room suddenly grew bright enough to see, a gold-tinged light that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere. Loki was standing by the wall of windows that faced out onto the Pacific, apparently watching the reflection of the moon on the waves. Tony closed one eye, trying to focus on the figure in his living room.
“Have you considered my proposal?”
“Now is really a bad time. If you could come back later…” Tony really wanted a cup of coffee but was afraid to try to walk across the room lest he betray how very inebriated he was. Was there a point to getting the suit? Trying to operate deadly machinery seemed like a bad idea and Loki seemed to be on his best behavior. For now.
“No. If you will not assist me, I am going to have to move ahead with other plans. Decide, Stark.”
“Uh...” Tony tried to concentrate and keep the room from spinning. “First turn JARVIS back on, and he better be running normally because nobody, but nobody, fucks with my AI.”
“Very well.” Loki made a small gesture with one hand and the gold light was replaced by the familiar glow of electricity.
“Sir, should I contact-“
“Don’t worry about it, JARVIS. Probably wouldn’t do any good anyway.” Tony made his way carefully to the couch and sat down gratefully, firing up his tablet. He scrolled through his notes to give himself time to think, but he already knew there wasn’t much there. Most of what he’d uncovered was interesting from a scientific perspective but did nothing to really corroborate Loki’s argument that the Chitauri were still a threat.
Tony jumped when he felt a whisper of air across his neck and found Loki suddenly behind him, peering over his shoulder. “Hey! Personal space, please. Also, wear a fucking bell, Christ.” Tony tried not to show how much having Loki behind him made his back crawl.
“Stark. You are inebriated.”
“Maybe a little, but –“ He barely had time to register the feel of two cool fingers pressed against his temple before they were gone again, leaving behind a cool tingle that gave Tony goosebumps. Tony spun around swinging. “Hey, hands off!”
Loki backed away with his hands up. “Calm yourself, Stark. I have no intention of killing you, now or in the foreseeable future.”
“Pardon me if I have a hard time believing that.” Tony forced himself to put the tablet down gently instead of throwing it at Loki. “JARVIS, start some coffee please." Now that the room wasn't spinning anymore, Tony noticed that 'Asguardian Casual' was the theme of Loki's attire again today, with another dark green tunic over dark pants and tall black boots. "So why do you care if the Chitauri come back to invade Earth? Hell, why wouldn’t you be helping them? For that matter, how do I know you’re not helping them?” Tony peeled off his suit jacket and set it on the couch beside him, then ran his hands over his face. The transition from spinning drunk to stone cold sober was disorienting, but the lack of nausea was a plus.
Loki crossed his arms and leaned against the mantle, eyeing Stark thoughtfully. “Tell me this, Stark. The men who held you captive, are they alive today?” At Loki's movement, Tony's gaze was drawn to the open neck of Loki's shirt. The smooth skin of his chest that was revealed there made Tony's heart beat a little faster.
“How did you – oh right, Barton.” Tony forced his eyes up to meet Loki’s uncomfortably sharp gaze. “No, no they are not.”
“Did you kill them?”
“Some of them. Someone else killed the rest of them. Why?”
“Are you glad they are dead?”
“I mean…well, I know I am supposed to say that I wish they could have been reformed, made a better life for themselves, blah blah, but yeah, I am glad they are dead.” Tony walked to the bar to pour himself some coffee to give himself something to do besides stand there and be flayed alive by Loki’s gaze. Five years later and he still hated talking about the Ten Rings, and hated that he hated it.
“Why?”
“So I can sleep at night. So they can’t hurt anyone else. Because – well, just because.” Tony caught himself running a hand over his arc reactor, and forced his hand down to pick up his coffee. “So are you going to answer my question or not? Because if this is a tit-for-tat thing, you owe me a lot of questions.”
“I did answer your question.”
“But –“ Loki just raised an eyebrow, so Tony just filed the information away for later. “Fine, whatever. So why me? The Hulk kicked a lot of Chitauri ass, too. Or Steve. We all had a pretty high body count.”
“You’ve been through the portal. The Chitauri operate in the cold airlessness of space. Shall we send in your good Captain or the Black Widow, perhaps, and watch them asphyxiate? As for your ‘Hulk,’ I need more than just brute strength to defeat the Chitauri and their master.” Loki pushed off the mantle and began idly pacing, turning to study one of Tony's abstract sculptures.
At the mention of the portal Tony had to close his eyes and concentrate on breathing normally to avoid the panic attack he could feel coming. He suddenly craved the burn of alcohol with a ferocity that scared him. Instead he took a sip of coffee and tried to slow the pounding of his heart. “’Their master’? I thought you were their master,” he forced out with as normal a voice as he could manage.
“No. There is another,” Loki bit out.
“More powerful than you?” Tony asked, just be an ass. Sure enough, Loki turned another glare on him, and his fingers twitched before tightening into a fist.
“More powerful than I was,” Loki countered. “Shall I demonstrate?” Green light began to coalesce in one palm.
“Chill out, hotshot. So what’s your big plan?” The sudden adrenaline rush of the panic attack drained away as quickly as it came, leaving Tony exhausted. He poured himself another cup of coffee and tilted the pot towards Loki. “Want some? You look tired.”
Loki waved the offer off impatiently. “Without the Tesseract it will take the Chitauri quite some time to find another way to this part of the universe. Years. Perhaps even more than a decade. But I wish to destroy them before they ever get here.”
It took Tony a moment to process that. “You are going to steal the Tesseract – again – and attack them?” He said incredulously. “You and what army?”
“You, Stark. You are the army. As you saw, the Chitauri have a rather significant weakness. If we strike quickly, we can exploit that weakness.”
Tony took a sip as his mind raced. He was suspicious at how simple the plan sounded. Open a portal, fly through, destroy a bunch of motherships, come home. “And what will you be doing while I fight an army of Chitauri?”
“I will be eliminating the Chitauri’s masters.”
“Right, those guys. Who are…?”
“One is Thanos, known as the Mad Titan. I never learned the name of the other. Thanos must die to preserve the safety of these realms. The other…well. He must die, and it will not be a pleasant death.” The edge in Loki’s voice was a little bit terrifying.
Tony was quiet for a moment, staring into his cup. “There’s this story my mom told me a long time ago, it’s a fable or parable or something. So there’s this scorpion and a mouse or a frog or maybe even a turtle, I don’t remember which. Anyway, they have to cross this river and the scorpion can’t swim, right? So he asks the other guy for a ride. The frog or whatever hesitates, because it’s a scorpion, and the scorpion says, ‘Don’t worry, if I sting you we will both drown, right? And that would be stupid.’ So they get halfway across and sure enough, the scorpion stings him, and when the frog asks why, the scorpion says, ‘it is my nature,’ and they both die.” He drained his cup and set it down. “So what I am asking is, why should I trust you?”
Loki’s gaze was steady. “We also have a parable. A father is advising his son before he goes into battle, and the father says, ‘my son, how would you fight if you knew you were destined to be killed?’ The son says, ‘I would take as many enemies as possible with me as I fall.’ The father then says, ‘how would you fight if you knew that you would not be killed?’ To which the son answers, ‘Then I would not hesitate, but would always be where the fighting is thickest.’ The father says, ‘In every battle, one of two things will happen: you will either fall, or you will not. Therefore you should be bold, because nothing can kill a man if it is not time for him to die, and nothing will save a man if his time has come. To die in flight is the worst death of all.’”
Tony sighed. “Are you constitutionally unable to answer a question directly, or is it just a hobby?”
“I have answered all of your questions, Stark,” Loki said with a smile. “That you do not like the form that my answers take is no fault of mine."
“Then why do I feel as if there’s something you’re not telling me?”
Loki shrugged, an eloquent gesture that said both I don't know and I don't care. “What is your answer?”
There was a long quiet after that. Finally, Tony rubbed his eyes and scrubbed his hands through his hair. “I am so going to regret this. Fine, yes, I’m in. But for fuck’s sake, don’t stab me in the back, ok? If I’m going to die because of poor decision-making, I’d rather it be in a drunken orgy. Also, I’m not going to help you steal the Tesseract,” He added, pointing at Loki for emphasis.
A slow grin curved Loki’s mouth. “You would be of no use anyway.” That smile made Tony stare, because it was probably the first time he’d seen genuine amusement on Loki’s features. It was a good look.
“If you say so. Hey, before you vanish again-” But it was too late, Loki was already gone. Tony scowled. "We are going to have to talk about this disappearing act you do. It's like being hung up on, but in person," he said to the empty room.
"Sir, I feel I must caution you-"
"I know, JARVIS. Keep this on the down low, for now. If there is the slightest chance that Loki is telling the truth I have to do this."
That night, Tony spent a long time thinking about this plan of Loki’s, trying to figure out all of the ways Loki could be setting him up. He also updated his will and dictated a "If I disappear, here's what probably happened" email to JARVIS. But every time he tried to concentrate the image of the Chitauri mothership exploding kept playing itself over and over in his head. Tonight, for the first time since New York, Tony didn’t dream.