#brokencraycn

“You know, it pains me to have to do this.” He was lying, of course. ‘God of lies’ was one of his titles, after all. His fingers delicately caressed the cables that jacked into Tony’s half-open reactor, tugging lightly, just enough to threaten the idea that it might be pulled out. Loki wouldn’t; he wasn’t about to jeopardise his own plans, but his captive would not know that.

The god of mischief had brought him here, in this hall set in the far mountains of Asgard that ‘Odin’ had claimed as his private domain with which to prepare for any further threats to the kingdom. Only Skurge was permitted to venture here, and only at ‘Odin’s’ behest. The work itself was done by Loki alone, with the unwitting assistance of those skilled enough on Asgard to do favours for Odin in crafting components they could not see as a whole. Sooner or later he would likely need his prisoner’s brain, but he did not expect knowledge to be forthcoming.

“When the sceptre could not conquer you, I knew there was something special about that heart of yours. Some connection with the Tesseract. Last time I needed the sceptre to open a portal, but with you I believe we can do so without its influence. I need you to understand that I am not doing this to bring forth another army. I have no interest in ruling Earth. There is a War coming and I intend to stop it before it can begin, before it can raze both our realms. You can help me achieve that, Stark. Won’t that be exciting?”

Loki let the wires fall slack and leant upon the re-purposed medical bed where Tony lay, strapped down, a muzzle clamped around his mouth just like the one the god of mischief had worn the last time they had laid eyes on one another.

“I suppose things are getting a little bit one-sided,” he remarked, and deactivated the muzzle.

“Tony? Tony, let me in!”

This had possibly been the stupidest risk he’d taken since the outbreak. As time had passed and chaos descended with all predictability, a small, dysfunctional band of friends had managed to establish a relatively safe base within New York’s limits. It was something of a miracle to Thor, but he had put their fortunes down to the diverse skill ranges within the small team.

That team had not included Loki. That his brother was missing had nagged at Thor since they had first settled, an anxiety which only continued to grow with every passing day. All means of communication were dead; the lack of knowledge ate away at him until it could no longer be denied. Against all advice otherwise, he had squeezed out from the barricade and disappeared in search of his sibling – or at least proof to their fate or whereabouts.

Stephen had been watching the 'Avengers Civil War' for quite a while now, Wong was deeply interested in all their drama but he kept threatening Stephen that if it got worse he was going to have to step in. Apparently as the Sorcerer Supreme that meant he had a slight jurisdiction over Ms. Maximoff and the fact she wasn't using her powers in the most friendly of ways. He was trying very hard to be polite since the girl was still young.

Stephen wanted to tell him that it really wasn't any of his concern what the girl did with her powers but if she became a threat to Earth than he realized he very much would have to step in. At the very center of all of this was apparently Stark, the man was playing Devil's Advocate more or less for whatever the 'Accords' were and Captain America's very late midlife crisis. He wanted to help and save everyone so they could all get alone and as... noble as that all sounded it just really wasn't going to work.

Stephen could see clear as day how the good Captain was just shut down. He had one direction on his mind and nowhere was that with Stark and the Accords, it was with whomever the metal armed man was.

And it all just kept getting worse. The more the engineer pushed the more Captain America pulled away—they had their huge fight where the 'bad guys' were listed as the Rogue Avengers and how Stark ever crawled out of that pile of cars was beyond him.

❝Stephen, as much as this isn't a Mystical Threat—do you think we should really stick to just watching?❞

It wasn't their problem, it had nothing to do with them but the Avengers fighting did make Earth weaker to anyone that just wanted to pop in and murder a few humans. On top of that he was a bit worried, no one had seen from or heard from Tony Stark in quite a while according to the media. They've been circling his house like vultures and pressing the CEO of Stark Industries for comments on the situation. It was a circus show honestly.

❝The only person in this whose actually sane and that we could talk to his currently running around who knows where.❞ Stephen rolled his eyes and turned to Wong expectantly. ❝What am I supposed to do? Break into his Tower? Steal his underwear and run a portal to stalk him down?❞

He had been joking so why the hell he was currently standing in the middle of Tony Stark's Tower was beyond even Stephen. He'd pissed the A.I off, she had threatened to shoot him and had already called the police. Though that wasn't his greatest concern it was mildly alarming in the off chance that she could actually work one of the suits.

He had attempted to reason with her but she apparently didn't have a setting built in for that.

In a huge tower trying to find Stark's room proved to be a lot harder than it seemed and the longer he wasted time the more pissed off he got. Eventually he reached the point where if he didn't find something he could use now he'd end up arrested and Stephen settled for breaking into the lab downstairs and searching there since that had to be his personal space and therefore have something connected to him.

He didn't expect to find the Arc Reactors, honestly, and he wasn't looking for them it was just all rather conveniently laid out.

F.R.I.D.A.Y was really pissed.

❝I promise I'll return it--❞ more alarms, that was probably bad. Focus Stephen.

Opting to turn her out instead Stephen used the Reactor as a honing for his portal, twisting the weaving the spell to locate where Stark had run off too. The snowstorm that blew into the lab the second the portal landed reminded him far to much of his own adventure in the mountains with the Ancient One. He grabbed the reactor just as a safe measure, if the portal was wrong or Stark happened to need it and made his way through. It snapped shut behind him and cut off the sound of the alarms.

The portal had landed him not to far from what looked like a research facility. The door had already been broken down and he assumed it happened recently rather than whenever this place was built. As he made his way inside he could already feel the chill breaking through his clothes, pushing a dull ache through his trembling hands. He clutched the reactor just the slightest bit tighter hoping he wouldn't drop it.

The scene that he stumbled in upon definitely made him glad that he had listened to Wong. A fight had broken out in the main room, there was parts of the wall missing where someone had been smashed into it and marks scattering the floors. He moved further in a bit and nearly stepped on a piece of red metal, drawing his attention to it and the trail that it left.

Finding Stark at the end of it made him wondered how much of a murder scene he was about to stumble upon. Thankfully the closer it got the more it looked like he was breathing if not on the verge of hypothermia.

Glancing back at the Cloak of Levitation he motioned it off and the garment took the hint to fly across the room and cover Tony's body from the chill.

“Come on, Tony, I can be a great hero. Remember that time that I saved you? I was great and I’ve come a long way with my projects. I’m so passed potato guns Come on, I’m the perfect choice for a junior Iron Man.”

[text: Stark] Which do you want it to be? 

[text: Stark] Is that an invitation? 

“Tony, have you seen my red pair of heels anywhere? I thought I placed them in the closet with the rest, but they’re not there.”