starkingenuity | The Darkside Has Cookies

It was supposed to be an easy fix. Sit back, let Loki do the work, clean up after. He didn’t understand how things could go so downhill, so fast. The Hulk was out and about, Thor was occupied, Black Widow-- She was a joke. The so-called X-Men were still trying to find their really terrible costumes and get to New York to help. Spider-man was cracking jokes somewhere—

Easy. It should have been so easy!

But nooooo. No, Loki had to take invasion a little too seriously and get in over his idiot head. Fury turned away from the console and glanced at the brooding blond to his left. “Suit up. Take the team. Help out with the Chitauri if you have to, but focus on the scepter. I’m not ready to welcome our alien overloads just yet, Rogers.”

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From:

starspangledspandex

"Yes Sir," he canted his head in a nod and went to do just that, as quickly as possible. They were in trouble and he didn't have any time to waste. If Loki won... he couldn't even imagine that world. He didn't want to. The god needed stopped and now.

He boarded the jet after a typical speech about how they needed to get this done and if they didn't bad things were going to happen. Same old, same old. The only difference now was this wasn't his Howling Commandos. There was no telling if this was going to work. He hoped so. He hoped so dearly.

Steve was on the ground within minutes. "Anyone have eyes on Loki?"

From:

starkingenuity

"Seriously? Still don't trust me, Frozen Cappucino? Yeah. Got eyes. He's hanging out with his brother so I'm going to hang back. Don't see the scepter-- nope. Lied. Man why are they using my Tower? That stuff costs money!"

Technically, most of that was Hydra money but Stark had to keep up appearances. He was just a mid level inventor without as much talent as his dad, according to public record. He spent his time getting girls pregnant and partying. No one thought he was anything but a spoiled brat.

And that suited him just fine indeed.

"I'm leaving this one up to you." No one knew he was Iron Man but that didn't mean he wanted the suit to get the spotlight either.

From:

starspangledspandex

Maybe he didn't trust him because of the nicknames. It was all about respect and Anthony Stark didn't seem to have an ounce to his name, particularly when it came to the appointed captain of the Avengers. He didn't know his team nearly as well as he would like before going off to war with them but they were needed now. They couldn't wait for this to sort itself out.

His gaze raised to the Tower and he frowned, "How about a ride?"

From:

starkingenuity

"Do I look like a jet plane to you? A set of wings? Fine. But you owe me. It's a drop off, not a pick up. King Kong your way down." Tony turned tail and headed back to the rendezvous point. Most of Steve's new men and women, all of whom were classified as inhuman, had already wandered off to take the Chitauri down.

"Incoming!" There were very few people in the world that knew his identity. Fury. Cap. Probably Whitehall and the rest of the higher ups of HYDRA hidden within SHIELD. Maybe not even then. He didn't give Steve much of a chance to prepare before he grabbed him.

From:

starspangledspandex

"How about I promise to help clean up?" He responded, but it wasn't like he wouldn't have helped anyway. If they made a mess, they should probably help with it. "Didn't put stairs in your building? Seems like that's a little bit of a design oversight."

Steve wasn't terribly fond of dangling this high off the ground with nothing but Tony to keep him from smashing into it. He would live but after the whole crashing the plane in the ice thing he would rather not relive the fall. Being a bit sassy helped him take his mind off it.

Steve knew his identity but he didn't, obviously, know about Hydra or they would have a serious issue. It started and ended with the fact they were Captain Amerixa's worst enemy.

From:

starkingenuity

And that was so funny because it was HYDRA that made it possible for SHIELD to even find him. It was HYDRA agents that did the locating, safely stuck under the guise of SHIELD. And all thanks to Fury.

"You're not putting your muddy boots on my floors. You can climb down," Tony grunted as he carefully let their primary asset down on the rooftop. "Hey Cap? Winter is coming."

Yeah. That was his decision for trigger words. Sue him? Go ahead. He had lots of lawyers. And Martin was HYDRA anyhow.

From:

starspangledspandex

"My boots aren't muddy," he retorted, blue eyes amused as he scans where he's been put down on the tower. Sometimes Steve just can't help himself. "Since I had such a helpful jet plane."

His attention flicks toward Tony at the 'hey Cap' so the older man gets the treat of seeing the trigger words activate. His eyes go blank, Steve melting away to be replaced by the Soldier, a living weapon. His whole stance changes subtly and he glances down at himself, frowning at the Stars & Stripes. Apparently, they let Steve start out today.

Flat, firm eyes moved back up to Tony. Any hint of Steve Rogers was gone. There was only a near silent, extremely deadly, assassin in his place. "Mission?" he asked in Russian. Same as always.

From:

starkingenuity

It was a good thing that Tony Stark was a genius. Not that anyone had any idea outside of HYDRA. One day, when the time was right, they'd all know.

At least the Soldier wasn't as annoyingly chatty as Captain America. Tony liked to be the only annoyingly chatty guy okay?

"Get the scepter out of that device to close the vortex. Don't die. Don't let me die. Make sure you answer to Cap if it comes up. I'm going to see what the hell Shwarma is. Saw a place on Sixth advertising it. Be back in a bit."

From:

starspangledspandex

"Acknowledged," he nodded, hands deftly checking his pockets. The Captain never carried anything interesting or terribly deadly. He would have to find something besides the shield on his back. It just wouldn't suite his purpose.

He turned as Tony rocketed off and scanned the Tower again, looking for enemies. It was quiet but that was likely to change. Loki was here only a moment ago. The Soldier moved for the device containing the scepter, taking down a guard or two effortlessly on his way and claiming their weapons for his own.

Much better.

From:

starkingenuity

Tony more or less kept himself busy. He picked up some transmissions from SHIELD, directed towards him or the Captain, and he more or less complied. SHIELD was never sure what side Iron Man was on and Tony liked that.

His orders from Fury were to play nice for awhile and then play victim and be sure he was caught on TV fending something off. He'd have to be out of the suit for that. He'd have to send it away too. He didn't like it but he did what he was told, more or less, when it came to HYDRA.

So he flew into his living room, sent the suit on autopilot, and went to make himself a drink when Loki slipped out of the shadows.

He'd seen. He knew. Shit. Where was the Soldier when you needed him?

From:

starspangledspandex

The soldier was doing as he was ordered and answering calls for the Captain's help on his comms, while trying to reason out how to free the scepter. He didn't pretend to know anything about Asgard and his first attempt to grab it blasted him back against the wall. Ow.

It made him angry and he growled as he got back to his feet. He prowled around it, inspecting the wiring and yanked some of it free. Not helping.

"Cap, Loki has a civilian hostage. Get to it," he was told over the radio and it wasn't his mission, but considering the god's location, he probably wasn't as civilian as they thought. His secondary orders were not to let the man die. So he needed to move. The scepter had just become secondary.

He took the short way down, rappelling down from the hook on his belt and smashing through the window to roll neatly into the room. Tony, as he expected. Someone need the Soldier?

From:

starkingenuity

Know what? It was seriously about time! Tony didn't really like being choked out be a demigod that wasn't going to do a damned thing for his erection afterward. Loki was spouting something about the whole world turning if they only knew (like he even knew what he was talking about. Sheesh) when the Soldier arrived, Chitauri weapon in hand.

Tony would have loved to say something but you know, the words were difficult to form when your throat was squeezed shut. He was going to have the worst bruises!

Held up by just one hand, Tony dangled as Loki turned to smirk at the newly arrived Avenger. "And what do you want?"

From:

starspangledspandex

His eyes scanned the room, then the god holding his captive and the Soldier frowned deeply. Tony got himself into the most interesting situations. This was going to be a serious problem. Loki was volatile and unpredictable. Those were both things the Soldier didn't appreciate about an enemy.

"Put him down," he responded flatly.

From:

starkingenuity

"I don't think I will," Loki grinned, looking less hollow and sunken in than he had been previously the first time SHIELD detected him. "I think I rather like the idea of strangling the life out of him."

Tony did not like that idea and he dug his nails into leather gauntlets. Little help that did.

From:

starspangledspandex

The Soldier didn't particularly approve of this plan either. His orders were clear. He stood shifting slightly as he eyed Loki and his gaze flicked to Tony. Something needed to be done unfortunately it might hurt a little.

He charged, sliding a small metal disc from his belt and tossing it as he did. It would give Loki--and by extension, Tony--a nice zap. It should be enough to get the god to let him go.

From:

starkingenuity

Hey, you know what Tony didn't like about this plan? Everything! What part of demigod didn't the Soldier get during the mission briefing? Or had he not been paying attention to Steve's side of things again? Fuck. Maybe he just liked messing with him. Honestly, Tony liked messing with the Soldier too, but not in a way that would leave him twitching on the ground, nearly pissing himself.

Loki, however, did let his quarry go. He muttered something and shook out his hand but took the shock far better than Tony. Tony wasn't going to be grateful though. Even if he kind of saw the benefit to the Soldier's decision now that the convulsions stopped.

Loki turned his attention to the Soldier. He was unarmed but still strong-- he just wasn't stronger than the Soldier. "You'll pay for that."

From:

starspangledspandex

The Soldier was not as aware when Steve was in control as most people seemed to think. Sure he picked up buts and pieces but there were still things that were lost. Tony should know this by now. If the team was going to need the Soldier, it was better to orchestrate a meeting directly with him instead of Steve.

Still, it accomplished what he wanted to happen. Loki dropped Tony and the other man wouldn't be strangled to death. There really wasn't another way he could guarantee it.

The Soldier said nothing as Loki turned toward him, silent as ever. He had warned the god. He simply stood ready to see what Loki would do now.

From:

starkingenuity

Tony was always going to think less of everyone that wasn't himself. He was always going to forget important details. Like his social security number for instance. And maybe he'd start forgetting his birthday to defy getting older because man, man it made falling and being shocked more miserable than it might have at twenty-five!

He had decided to try to pick himself up, not watching as Loki grabbed for the Soldier to toss him from the window. Likely bad move there but he did have a knife.

From:

starspangledspandex

The Soldier didn't have personal vendettas. He didn't play tricks on people. He wasn't anything but a weapon. Another thing Tony should know and didn't, but it was unlikely to change anytime soon.

He wasn't an easy person to get ahold of either. The Soldier was fast but he was also strong, enough to be a match for the god and he used his bodyweight against him. He grabbed Loki in return and shoved off the ground, flipping them both in an aim to smash Loki into the floor of the tower.

From:

starkingenuity

It was obvious that Loki wasn't ready for Steve. Why? He had gotten as much information as SHIELD supposedly had when he took over. Who had been holding back on him? The god hit the floor hard and Tony actually grinned as he propped himself up on his elbows.

"Make sure he can't talk."

Were the tongues of gods as immortal as they were suppose to be?

From:

starspangledspandex

The Soldier rolled back to his feet and gave Tony a silent questioning look. The order made enough sense but it wasn't logical either. Any vendetta against Loki really wasn't his concern. He was supposed to follow orders and he would if that was decided, but he was also an objective viewpoint.

"He may have information we need," the Soldier said as he crouched next to Loki. "I need a secondary confirmation."

From:

starkingenuity

Sometimes he could really hate the Soldier. "He saw m-- J?"

The AI responded with an immediate 'yes sir,' before Tony told him to get him a secure line directly to Fury, Iron Man protocol 17-Alpha. It was important.

Loki was already starting to stir however. Tony pointed to the god in annoyance as he was patched in to Fury securely. "Yes Iron Man?"

"Target knows," he grunted. "He'll blow the cover. Soldier needs a second vocal confirmation to do something about that. My suggestion would be tongue removal. He can still write. Slowly."

From:

starspangledspandex

No, what Tony really hated was the Soldier's training. It was strict, without much leeway for interpretation and it needed to be. He was the most dangerous assassin on the planet and basically superhuman besides. They didn't need that running amok blindly or being twisted by his handlers.

They could almost hear Fury frowning beyond the radio. They didn't intend to keep Loki as a prisoner of war and with Thor not around, well, accidents happen. "Leave it," Fury said finally. "Get what information you can and end him. As long as he's alive he's a liability."

Fury hated to lose that source of information but there was always a way to convey information and if he knew, he needed to go.

From:

starkingenuity

"Get him to the vault," Tony commanded the Soldier. If it could hold Banner when he was having bad days, lined with vibranium, it could hold Loki. "We'll begin interrogation after we stop the invasion."

That shouldn't need a second vocal acknowledgement.

"I'm going to scurry down to the street now looking bruised and bloody and scared. You should put Thor on scepter duty. I'll join you in an hour or so. Get what you can from him."

The Iron Man armor was already running interference on the roof any way.

From:

starspangledspandex

Loki might have been stirring but the Soldier smacked his head hard against the floor to put him out again and nodded, "Confirmed."

He threw the God over his shoulder without any difficulty and immediately stalked out to do just that. The rest of the orders were relayed to the team, clipped and firm. They needed to finish this. After he locked Loki away, he returned to the battlefield and scaled the building to find Thor at the top with the scepter.

"I can close it," he said, twisting toward the Soldier.

"Do it," he responded, eyes raising to the portal. There would still be cleanup to do but at least there wouldn't be anymore coming through it.