"Pure Insanity" 5/?
Title: "Pure Insanity" 5/?
Author: Lena
Fandom: Marvel
Warnings: Foul language, some violence, and I don't know what else. I'll update this as the story spews forth.
Rating: R (The version of Tony Stark in this story is RIDICULOUSLY foul mouthed.)
Disclaimer: Marvel is god, I'm just a lowly worshiper, blah, blah, blah.
Summary: A man insists that he's Loki of Asgard, and ends up in a mental institution. Was he really sent here as punishment for his misdeeds in New York as he insists, or is he just a sadly deranged soul? Your guess is as good as mine.
Beta'd By: Just me tonight, kids. Feel free to correct anything you see. My grammar sucks balls.
Chapter Five:
Stark had said that his sister lived nearby, but he hadn’t known exactly how close it was. However, he claimed that his sister had picked the hospital because it was so close to their home. It only took the two of them two days to get to the grounds of the ‘Gooden’ estate, and Loki at least thought that was a short time. Stark had complained the entire time.
“Fuck me, man, I think my blisters have blisters,” Stark complained as they walked up to the home. Stark had told Loki that there would be no one home, as his sister worked at the family’s company during the day. From what Stark had jabbered on about since Loki had arrived at the hospital, it sounded like his family history was much the same. He was the genius son of another genius who had founded a company, his parents had died in a car wreck when Stark was in his twenties, and he and his sister Lauren had ran the company together until his ‘mental breakdown’ that Loki was starting to suspect was entirely manufactured. He wasn’t sure if this world was a construct or if everyone but he and seemingly Stark were playing along with an act, but he would know soon. Now his sister ran the company, and she spent much of her time working at it.
“Then we need to find you better shoes,” Loki explained. Thankfully, Stark knew where a key to the home was hidden, so they had been able to get inside with ease. The house seemed empty, which surprised Loki a little, as he had expected the ‘Gooden’ family to have an army of servants or something.
“Or we could just steal one of the cars here. I have tons,” Stark explained, leading Loki up to his suite of rooms. “I don’t think I have anything that would really fit you. You’re tall and kind of lanky, while I’m...neither. I don’t know, maybe we can cobble something together.”
Loki sat on the man’s bed and looked around. This place was made with the most expense that could be thrown at it, it seemed. Not that he minded. Loki was a prince, after all. He was used to living in luxury. He also did not expect Stark to live any other way, whether with his real memories or not. “I can continue wearing these clothes if you do not have anything,” Loki told him. “It matters not.”
“You’re shabby looking now. Of course it matters,” Stark told him, opening up his closet and starting to pull out clothes. Stark had likely not been here in months, but it seemed that nothing had been moved around since he was last around. He knew where everything was, after all. “If we’re escaping, we’re going to do it in style. Besides, if I don’t have anything here, I’ll just buy you something. I’ve got money stashed all over the place. No more hiding in the woods for us!”
Loki wanted to protest that they should keep a low profile during their escape, but he knew that he didn’t relish the idea of spending another night in the woods, either.
“Well, I’m going to shower. Spending two days in the woods isn’t exactly good for the skin,” Stark said with a grin. "You should have one after me. You smell." Stark managed to dodge a pillow that Loki grabbed and threw at him. "Hey! Don't get mad because I'm telling you the truth, oh God of Lies! You smell as if you've been camping, which we kind of have been doing, but it doesn't smell nice. Enjoy the awesome showers and be grateful." With that, he disappeared into the bathroom, and Loki lay back onto the bed, making himself comfortable.
He had to admit to himself that he wasn’t quite sure what to do next. He knew that they were near New York City, and, if they really did take one of the cars like Stark suggested, they could get their easily. He supposed that they could get a hotel room while he figured out a way to restore Stark’s memories fully. Loki knew why he had likely been sentenced to this...drudgery of a life, although he wasn’t sure how long he had been at this until he had seen through it, but why had Stark? He was in the insane asylum along with him, so he must have done something, but Loki couldn’t think for the life of him what Stark would have done. Hadn’t he ‘saved the day’ and all? Is this what they did with their heroes? On the other hand, were there still things that even Loki himself wasn’t remembering? He didn’t feel any gaps in his memory, but that didn’t mean that they weren’t there. Odin was a powerful magic weaver himself. Loki would do the same spell to himself just in case.
By the time Stark was done with his shower, Loki had managed to find some clothing in the stack that Stark had pulled out that would fit him. Despite them being almost a foot difference in height, he amazingly had some pants that were long enough to do. As Stark said, he could always buy better ones later. Stark smiled when he came out of the shower, towel wrapped around his waist. “Help yourself, Loki. Still got plenty of hot water in there.”
Grabbing the clothing he had picked out, Loki headed into the bathroom, nearly knocked back by the amount of steam in the room. Once he adjusted, though, the room wasn’t that bad, and soon Loki was in the shower, relishing at the feeling of hot water over his skin. He took longer than needed, finally coming out dressed, the still wet tips of his hair soaking the back of the shirt that he had put on. He really needed to cut the hair soon. It was starting to get in the way of everything.
Loki was amazed to find that Stark wasn’t in the room when he came out, although he heard voices coming from downstairs. One of them was female, although he didn’t recognize it immediately. It was only when he poked his head out of the bedroom door that he got to see who it was, and he was very surprised.
He could see Stark arguing with a red headed woman quite loudly, and he realized that Stark’s ‘sister’ here was none other than Pepper Potts, whom, if he remembered correctly, had been his girlfriend before. That almost seemed like a mistake, unless there was something that he wasn’t remembering. Loki stayed back for now, simply listening to the argument as it took place.
“What are you even doing here, Louis?” Potts yelled. "You're supposed to be at the hospital! How did you even leave?"
Stark waved his arms around. “It doesn’t matter how I got out! I don’t need to be there, anyway! Why are you so damn insistent on locking me away, anyway! I know you hate running the company, so it can’t be that!”
“I want you to stay there because it’s for your own good!” Potts told him, her eyes pleading for him to listen. “You’re not well. You’re sick!”
“I’m not fucking sick! I had a situation, I rested, and now I’m better!” Stark snapped back at her. “Why the ever loving fuck are you so persistent on this, Pepper?”
It seemed that Stark didn’t even realize that he had called his sister by the wrong name right away, but Potts certainly had. She froze, completely caught off guard for a second before snapping back. “It’s Laura, Louis! If you’re calling me the wrong name, then you really need to be back at the clinic.”
Stark’s mouth dropped when he seemed to realize what he had called her. “No it’s not...your name is Pepper...well, Virginia, but I’ve never actually called you that...” Stark grabbed at his hair, pulling on it. “Fuck! What the hell is going on, Pep? Why the hell is this happening?”
Pepper covered her mouth, looking like she wanted to cry, although Loki wasn’t sure if she was still acting or if it was because she had been caught in a lie. “We’re only doing this for your own good,” she half said, half sobbed.
“Yeah, I keep hearing that, but sometimes I wonder if it’s my best interests being taken into account here or if something else is going on,” Stark snapped, turned and heading back up the stairs. “I swear to god, if you call that hospital I’ll never talk to you again.”
Loki managed to duck back into the room just before Stark came up, storming into the room and tearing things apart as if he were looking for something. Sure enough, Stark pulled out two large bags, one empty, and one full of such a large quantity of cash that Loki couldn’t even count it off hand.
Loki stayed silent while Stark moved about the room, grabbing clothing and such and shoving them into the empty bag. “You know, for being the God of Lies, I’m pretty sure that you’re the only one that hasn’t lied to me about anything,” Stark said under his breath.
“Sometimes the truth can do more damage than a lie,” Loki said quietly. “The best know which to use in which situation.”
“I’d still rather know the truth,” Stark said, zipping up the bags and tossing one to Loki and putting the other over his shoulder. “Yeah yeah, truth hurts, but being lied to feels like shit. I’m starting to wonder just who I really am.”
“As do I, sometimes,” Loki admitted as he followed Stark, who opened the bedroom door and walked out of the room. He had his moments in the asylum where he honestly wondered if he were just the crazy young man that the doctors claimed he was. Now he thought that it had something to do with the medication that was occasionally shoved inside of him. Whether it made him sane or clouded his mind, though, well, they would all see soon enough.
OoOoOoOo
Loki wasn’t sure where Ms. Potts was, but the home was empty when they came back out and left, Tony grabbing one of the many cars in the garage before pulling out and leaving with Loki in the passenger seat, their bags in the trunk. “So, where are we heading?” Stark asked him as he drove at speeds that would make most people very nervous. Loki even felt his stomach move in odd ways when Stark too curves too sharply.
“New York City, somewhere that we can disappear into without being easily found,” Loki said, watching as the trees moved in a blur outside his window.
“Who is she?” Stark asked him. “Laura...Pepper...whatever her name is. Who is she, really?”
“Last I knew, she was your girlfriend,” Loki explained. “The idea that she’s posing as your sister is...disturbing.”
“I thought you gods were into the incest thing,” Stark said, a slight smirk playing over his features.
Loki glared, his eyes narrowed into slits. “Do I look Greek to you?” he asked.
“Nah, you’re way too pale to be Greek,” Stark continued to blather. “But I don’t get those feelings from her. Yeah, I know, memory can’t be trusted right now, but I still don’t really get those feelings either way. Maybe something changed?”
“Obviously a lot changed, Stark,” Loki pointed out, staring back out the window. “I’m personally curious as to why you were locked up with me, and not another doctor or something ridiculous in that place.”
Stark just smiled. “Maybe I’ve been a naughty boy,” he said, laughing. “I’ve never been all that good at following rules, after all. Maybe I decided to have some fun with our resident God of Mischief.”
Loki rolled his eyes, but the thought had occurred to him. Had Stark helped him in some way? He had no memory of it, but he was becoming more and more sure that his memory had been tampered with as well.
OoOoOoOo
They had disposed of the car when they got into the city, as Stark of all people thought that it might have a tracking device on it somewhere. He really was sounding more and more like the Tony Stark that Loki had known of before. He doubted that the babbling madman he had first met would have thought of something like that. Tracking devices in his shoes, maybe, but not something that logical. They had eventually settled on some motel room, not quite up to Stark’s standards, but Loki had to remind him that, if people were looking for them, the first places that they would check would be the nicer hotels in the city.
Loki had made a short trip out, both to get them food, and to get ingredients for the spell that he knew of that would allow for him to check for altered or hidden memories and release them. It hadn’t taken him long to find what he needed. He realized that he was familiar with the area that they currently resided. There had to be memories that were hidden from him as well. His ‘alter-ego’ wasn’t even familiar with this area, so he couldn’t even blame it on that.
When he returned to the motel room, he found Stark sitting on the bed, watching the television. “Well, we’re not on the news, so that’s a good sign,” Stark said, watching Loki as he shut and locked the door behind him. “You sure you know what you’re doing with this magic stuff? You’re not accidentally going to turn me into a butterfly or make me think that I’m a dog?”
“I’ve been doing this since before you were born, Stark,” Loki explained with a sigh, pulling out the implements and ingredients that he needed. “I think I know what I’m doing.”
“Famous last words,” Stark explained. “Or should I say ‘arf arf’?”
Loki shook his head, but he was inwardly worried, since he was doing this to himself and not just Stark. There was just as much chance that he could do harm to himself as he could to the other man. However, if he thought on this too hard, it might stay his hand, and he didn’t want that. He wanted to have a full understanding of what was going on.
He got Stark to sit down on the floor with him, candles lit and spread out in a circle around them. He handed a piece of paper to Stark with words spells out phonetically for him to say. It would be Loki’s magic doing the spell, but Stark had to be a part of it, too. He was doing a spell for two, so it was best for Stark to help out as well, even in this small part.
As they spoke, Loki reached over and took Stark’s hand, holding it. He could feel the magic flowing between him and to Stark, and, by the way the other man’s eyes were widening, he could feel it, too. He had expected to feel something like electricity, but instead it was a soothing feeling, and, before he knew it, Loki was slumping toward the floor as the last few words left his lips. Through his half-lidded eyes, he could see Stark had drifted off as well, falling over beside him. Loki’s eyes widened as he met Stark’s, as suddenly he was remembering what had happened, what had happened after he had failed to take New York over. This wasn’t his punishment for doing that. Oh no, he had done something much more dastardly, in the eyes of others. He had converted one of their own to his side as well. He’d gotten their metal man to fly for him of his own free will.
Moreover, from the look he could see on Stark’s face, he could see that he now remembered as well.
Author: Lena
Fandom: Marvel
Warnings: Foul language, some violence, and I don't know what else. I'll update this as the story spews forth.
Rating: R (The version of Tony Stark in this story is RIDICULOUSLY foul mouthed.)
Disclaimer: Marvel is god, I'm just a lowly worshiper, blah, blah, blah.
Summary: A man insists that he's Loki of Asgard, and ends up in a mental institution. Was he really sent here as punishment for his misdeeds in New York as he insists, or is he just a sadly deranged soul? Your guess is as good as mine.
Beta'd By: Just me tonight, kids. Feel free to correct anything you see. My grammar sucks balls.
Chapter Five:
Stark had said that his sister lived nearby, but he hadn’t known exactly how close it was. However, he claimed that his sister had picked the hospital because it was so close to their home. It only took the two of them two days to get to the grounds of the ‘Gooden’ estate, and Loki at least thought that was a short time. Stark had complained the entire time.
“Fuck me, man, I think my blisters have blisters,” Stark complained as they walked up to the home. Stark had told Loki that there would be no one home, as his sister worked at the family’s company during the day. From what Stark had jabbered on about since Loki had arrived at the hospital, it sounded like his family history was much the same. He was the genius son of another genius who had founded a company, his parents had died in a car wreck when Stark was in his twenties, and he and his sister Lauren had ran the company together until his ‘mental breakdown’ that Loki was starting to suspect was entirely manufactured. He wasn’t sure if this world was a construct or if everyone but he and seemingly Stark were playing along with an act, but he would know soon. Now his sister ran the company, and she spent much of her time working at it.
“Then we need to find you better shoes,” Loki explained. Thankfully, Stark knew where a key to the home was hidden, so they had been able to get inside with ease. The house seemed empty, which surprised Loki a little, as he had expected the ‘Gooden’ family to have an army of servants or something.
“Or we could just steal one of the cars here. I have tons,” Stark explained, leading Loki up to his suite of rooms. “I don’t think I have anything that would really fit you. You’re tall and kind of lanky, while I’m...neither. I don’t know, maybe we can cobble something together.”
Loki sat on the man’s bed and looked around. This place was made with the most expense that could be thrown at it, it seemed. Not that he minded. Loki was a prince, after all. He was used to living in luxury. He also did not expect Stark to live any other way, whether with his real memories or not. “I can continue wearing these clothes if you do not have anything,” Loki told him. “It matters not.”
“You’re shabby looking now. Of course it matters,” Stark told him, opening up his closet and starting to pull out clothes. Stark had likely not been here in months, but it seemed that nothing had been moved around since he was last around. He knew where everything was, after all. “If we’re escaping, we’re going to do it in style. Besides, if I don’t have anything here, I’ll just buy you something. I’ve got money stashed all over the place. No more hiding in the woods for us!”
Loki wanted to protest that they should keep a low profile during their escape, but he knew that he didn’t relish the idea of spending another night in the woods, either.
“Well, I’m going to shower. Spending two days in the woods isn’t exactly good for the skin,” Stark said with a grin. "You should have one after me. You smell." Stark managed to dodge a pillow that Loki grabbed and threw at him. "Hey! Don't get mad because I'm telling you the truth, oh God of Lies! You smell as if you've been camping, which we kind of have been doing, but it doesn't smell nice. Enjoy the awesome showers and be grateful." With that, he disappeared into the bathroom, and Loki lay back onto the bed, making himself comfortable.
He had to admit to himself that he wasn’t quite sure what to do next. He knew that they were near New York City, and, if they really did take one of the cars like Stark suggested, they could get their easily. He supposed that they could get a hotel room while he figured out a way to restore Stark’s memories fully. Loki knew why he had likely been sentenced to this...drudgery of a life, although he wasn’t sure how long he had been at this until he had seen through it, but why had Stark? He was in the insane asylum along with him, so he must have done something, but Loki couldn’t think for the life of him what Stark would have done. Hadn’t he ‘saved the day’ and all? Is this what they did with their heroes? On the other hand, were there still things that even Loki himself wasn’t remembering? He didn’t feel any gaps in his memory, but that didn’t mean that they weren’t there. Odin was a powerful magic weaver himself. Loki would do the same spell to himself just in case.
By the time Stark was done with his shower, Loki had managed to find some clothing in the stack that Stark had pulled out that would fit him. Despite them being almost a foot difference in height, he amazingly had some pants that were long enough to do. As Stark said, he could always buy better ones later. Stark smiled when he came out of the shower, towel wrapped around his waist. “Help yourself, Loki. Still got plenty of hot water in there.”
Grabbing the clothing he had picked out, Loki headed into the bathroom, nearly knocked back by the amount of steam in the room. Once he adjusted, though, the room wasn’t that bad, and soon Loki was in the shower, relishing at the feeling of hot water over his skin. He took longer than needed, finally coming out dressed, the still wet tips of his hair soaking the back of the shirt that he had put on. He really needed to cut the hair soon. It was starting to get in the way of everything.
Loki was amazed to find that Stark wasn’t in the room when he came out, although he heard voices coming from downstairs. One of them was female, although he didn’t recognize it immediately. It was only when he poked his head out of the bedroom door that he got to see who it was, and he was very surprised.
He could see Stark arguing with a red headed woman quite loudly, and he realized that Stark’s ‘sister’ here was none other than Pepper Potts, whom, if he remembered correctly, had been his girlfriend before. That almost seemed like a mistake, unless there was something that he wasn’t remembering. Loki stayed back for now, simply listening to the argument as it took place.
“What are you even doing here, Louis?” Potts yelled. "You're supposed to be at the hospital! How did you even leave?"
Stark waved his arms around. “It doesn’t matter how I got out! I don’t need to be there, anyway! Why are you so damn insistent on locking me away, anyway! I know you hate running the company, so it can’t be that!”
“I want you to stay there because it’s for your own good!” Potts told him, her eyes pleading for him to listen. “You’re not well. You’re sick!”
“I’m not fucking sick! I had a situation, I rested, and now I’m better!” Stark snapped back at her. “Why the ever loving fuck are you so persistent on this, Pepper?”
It seemed that Stark didn’t even realize that he had called his sister by the wrong name right away, but Potts certainly had. She froze, completely caught off guard for a second before snapping back. “It’s Laura, Louis! If you’re calling me the wrong name, then you really need to be back at the clinic.”
Stark’s mouth dropped when he seemed to realize what he had called her. “No it’s not...your name is Pepper...well, Virginia, but I’ve never actually called you that...” Stark grabbed at his hair, pulling on it. “Fuck! What the hell is going on, Pep? Why the hell is this happening?”
Pepper covered her mouth, looking like she wanted to cry, although Loki wasn’t sure if she was still acting or if it was because she had been caught in a lie. “We’re only doing this for your own good,” she half said, half sobbed.
“Yeah, I keep hearing that, but sometimes I wonder if it’s my best interests being taken into account here or if something else is going on,” Stark snapped, turned and heading back up the stairs. “I swear to god, if you call that hospital I’ll never talk to you again.”
Loki managed to duck back into the room just before Stark came up, storming into the room and tearing things apart as if he were looking for something. Sure enough, Stark pulled out two large bags, one empty, and one full of such a large quantity of cash that Loki couldn’t even count it off hand.
Loki stayed silent while Stark moved about the room, grabbing clothing and such and shoving them into the empty bag. “You know, for being the God of Lies, I’m pretty sure that you’re the only one that hasn’t lied to me about anything,” Stark said under his breath.
“Sometimes the truth can do more damage than a lie,” Loki said quietly. “The best know which to use in which situation.”
“I’d still rather know the truth,” Stark said, zipping up the bags and tossing one to Loki and putting the other over his shoulder. “Yeah yeah, truth hurts, but being lied to feels like shit. I’m starting to wonder just who I really am.”
“As do I, sometimes,” Loki admitted as he followed Stark, who opened the bedroom door and walked out of the room. He had his moments in the asylum where he honestly wondered if he were just the crazy young man that the doctors claimed he was. Now he thought that it had something to do with the medication that was occasionally shoved inside of him. Whether it made him sane or clouded his mind, though, well, they would all see soon enough.
OoOoOoOo
Loki wasn’t sure where Ms. Potts was, but the home was empty when they came back out and left, Tony grabbing one of the many cars in the garage before pulling out and leaving with Loki in the passenger seat, their bags in the trunk. “So, where are we heading?” Stark asked him as he drove at speeds that would make most people very nervous. Loki even felt his stomach move in odd ways when Stark too curves too sharply.
“New York City, somewhere that we can disappear into without being easily found,” Loki said, watching as the trees moved in a blur outside his window.
“Who is she?” Stark asked him. “Laura...Pepper...whatever her name is. Who is she, really?”
“Last I knew, she was your girlfriend,” Loki explained. “The idea that she’s posing as your sister is...disturbing.”
“I thought you gods were into the incest thing,” Stark said, a slight smirk playing over his features.
Loki glared, his eyes narrowed into slits. “Do I look Greek to you?” he asked.
“Nah, you’re way too pale to be Greek,” Stark continued to blather. “But I don’t get those feelings from her. Yeah, I know, memory can’t be trusted right now, but I still don’t really get those feelings either way. Maybe something changed?”
“Obviously a lot changed, Stark,” Loki pointed out, staring back out the window. “I’m personally curious as to why you were locked up with me, and not another doctor or something ridiculous in that place.”
Stark just smiled. “Maybe I’ve been a naughty boy,” he said, laughing. “I’ve never been all that good at following rules, after all. Maybe I decided to have some fun with our resident God of Mischief.”
Loki rolled his eyes, but the thought had occurred to him. Had Stark helped him in some way? He had no memory of it, but he was becoming more and more sure that his memory had been tampered with as well.
OoOoOoOo
They had disposed of the car when they got into the city, as Stark of all people thought that it might have a tracking device on it somewhere. He really was sounding more and more like the Tony Stark that Loki had known of before. He doubted that the babbling madman he had first met would have thought of something like that. Tracking devices in his shoes, maybe, but not something that logical. They had eventually settled on some motel room, not quite up to Stark’s standards, but Loki had to remind him that, if people were looking for them, the first places that they would check would be the nicer hotels in the city.
Loki had made a short trip out, both to get them food, and to get ingredients for the spell that he knew of that would allow for him to check for altered or hidden memories and release them. It hadn’t taken him long to find what he needed. He realized that he was familiar with the area that they currently resided. There had to be memories that were hidden from him as well. His ‘alter-ego’ wasn’t even familiar with this area, so he couldn’t even blame it on that.
When he returned to the motel room, he found Stark sitting on the bed, watching the television. “Well, we’re not on the news, so that’s a good sign,” Stark said, watching Loki as he shut and locked the door behind him. “You sure you know what you’re doing with this magic stuff? You’re not accidentally going to turn me into a butterfly or make me think that I’m a dog?”
“I’ve been doing this since before you were born, Stark,” Loki explained with a sigh, pulling out the implements and ingredients that he needed. “I think I know what I’m doing.”
“Famous last words,” Stark explained. “Or should I say ‘arf arf’?”
Loki shook his head, but he was inwardly worried, since he was doing this to himself and not just Stark. There was just as much chance that he could do harm to himself as he could to the other man. However, if he thought on this too hard, it might stay his hand, and he didn’t want that. He wanted to have a full understanding of what was going on.
He got Stark to sit down on the floor with him, candles lit and spread out in a circle around them. He handed a piece of paper to Stark with words spells out phonetically for him to say. It would be Loki’s magic doing the spell, but Stark had to be a part of it, too. He was doing a spell for two, so it was best for Stark to help out as well, even in this small part.
As they spoke, Loki reached over and took Stark’s hand, holding it. He could feel the magic flowing between him and to Stark, and, by the way the other man’s eyes were widening, he could feel it, too. He had expected to feel something like electricity, but instead it was a soothing feeling, and, before he knew it, Loki was slumping toward the floor as the last few words left his lips. Through his half-lidded eyes, he could see Stark had drifted off as well, falling over beside him. Loki’s eyes widened as he met Stark’s, as suddenly he was remembering what had happened, what had happened after he had failed to take New York over. This wasn’t his punishment for doing that. Oh no, he had done something much more dastardly, in the eyes of others. He had converted one of their own to his side as well. He’d gotten their metal man to fly for him of his own free will.
Moreover, from the look he could see on Stark’s face, he could see that he now remembered as well.