Nine Lives 19
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A/N: *crickets a-chirpin'* So, uh. Been a while, hasn't it? Sorry, guys, but Real Life has been crazy. I've gotten a few fantastic long-term commissions as a freelance illustrator that have eaten up all the time usually reserved for writing. Now that I've gotten past the craziest deadlines, though, I promise I will make time for this story again. Because Nine Lives has never been far from my thoughts, no matter how busy I've been.
As for this chapter, I was kind of stuck as to how to go about it for the longest time, mostly because, well... I know next to nothing about Doom, haaaa. ^__^;; So I apologize if he's out of character. I made the best inferences I could based on fragments of information, so, uh, just go with it?
Shit's gonna hit the fan next chappie, so hold onto your pants.
Stark Relief (hur-hur, get it?)
It was a lesson in patience, watching the earth go by beneath him, centimeter by crawling centimeter. From this height, the buildings were toys, the people ants, like a cardboard diorama he could crunch with his foot.
Tony wondered if this was what Loki and Thor saw whenever they looked at Midgard, people and places so tiny, so fragile, and so damn insignificant. He blew out a shaky breath and decided not to think about it.
Then again, he could use a distraction, and even the quinjet was moving too goddamn slow. His hands were clammy inside his iron suit, making his gauntlets stick and slide against his skin in uncomfortable ways.
Thank God for autopilot. Tony was altogether far too jittery to drive in a straight line, let alone fly this damned thing all the way to Europe.
He flexed his fingers, stretched and shifted in his seat until he realized that Thor was watching him.
“What is that?” Thor asked. Tony followed his line of sight and realized that he was indicating the canister strapped to Tony's side.
“A precaution,” Tony said, quirking his lips in a grim smile. “Let's hope we don't need it.”
Thor's brow furrowed, but he nodded. “I thank you for this, you know,” he said. His voice seemed loud over the hum of the engine.
“Hmn?”
“For telling me that my brother is in danger and for accompanying me.” Thor's soft smile turned grim as he added, “Our brothers-in-arms are not always so understanding when it comes to Loki.”
Tony nodded, mostly because he had no idea how to respond to that. He wondered how Thor would react if he knew that Tony had slept with his little brother. Tony gulped and decided that what Thor didn't know couldn't make him murderously angry.
Tony assumed the conversation was over and turned to stare back out the window. He still felt the weight of Thor's stare, however, and turned reluctantly back. Thor was watching him now with a measuring, almost calculating glance that Tony was certain he must have picked up from Loki.
“You're not just coming for my benefit, are you?” the god asked, his voice as soft as Tony had ever heard it. “Did something happen between you two?”
Tony swallowed and turned to stare back out at the horizon. “I'm just trying to make things right, Thor,” he murmured.
Thor watched him a moment longer but asked no more questions.
Tony hoped he wasn't too late.
Thor hefted Mjolnir and, for all intents and purposes, looked ready to storm the castle of Doomstadt head-on. Tony's sigh echoed inside his helmet, and he grabbed Thor by the elbow.
“Thor,” he said. “No.”
The hulking blonde warrior blinked at him like a confused puppy. “No?”
“No.” Dear Lord, if this was Thor's idea of diplomacy, then Tony could understand why Loki kept going off the deep-end. “Doom may be an evil psycho, but he's an evil psycho who happens to be king of Latveria. Much as I would love to just waltz in there and smash his metal face in, we need to at least try to avoid starting a war.”
Thor blinked in thought but nodded and lowered Mjolnir. “So what do you advise?”
“I dunno. I guess we just sneak in through a window or something.” He really should have thought this through.
Thor's face tightened in a scowl. “The coward's way.”
Tony glared at the god but knew he couldn't see it behind his mask. “I believe the word you are looking for is 'efficient'.”
Thor sighed but said nothing.
“Anyway, Jarvis pulled up the schematics of the building for us. The laboratory is in the basement, and knowing Doom, that's, uh, probably where we will find Loki.”
Tony clenched his teeth and pretended not to notice Thor bristle. Don't think about it, he told himself. Just pretend like you have no idea what that means.
“Alright then,” he said just to dispel the loaded silence, “vamonos!”
Thor blinked. “What?”
“Va... let's go.”
Within five minutes, Tony and Thor had their first stare-down with a Doombot.
And a stare-down it was. The robot eyed them hollowly across the marble floor, and Thor eyed it back with a hand on Mjolnir. Tony held his breath and eyed them both.
After a long moment of intense nothingness, Thor licked his lips and leaned towards Tony. “It's not attacking,” he said. The crease between his brows deepened, but he kept his eye on the Doombot and his hand on Mjolnir.
Yes, wonderful observation, Thor. “America's at peace with Latveria,” Tony reminded him. “I doubt the Doombots would threaten that peace without Doom's orders.” He shrugged and smiled shakily. “Should make things easier for us, hopefully.”
“And kidnapping Loki is not an act of war?” Thor growled, leveling another glare at the nearest Doombot.
“Loki's not American.”
Thor blinked. “Neither am I,” he said.
“You weren't,” Tony corrected. “Since you've joined the Avengers, you've become an official American citizen. Mazel tov.”
Thor blinked again. Twice. The robot continued to stare, menacingly motionless.
“Okay, just... just remember that Loki is the priority, here. We can deal with Doom later.”
Thor's scowl deepened, but he nodded. Tony let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and readjusted the canister at his side.
“Okay, big guy,” he said with bravado he didn't feel. “Time for a lesson in coolness.” Tony patted the god's arm, and Thor gave him a sidelong glance. “Act like you're meant to be here, and everyone will assume you are.” Tony squared his shoulders and sauntered past the Doombot without so much as a second glance. Tony just hoped this theory worked on murderous robots as well.
Thor sighed and shook his head but followed without comment. The robot's stare followed them, but the robot itself did not.
So far so good.
Stealth was definitely not one of Thor's strong suits, but somehow they made it to Doom's laboratory with minimal difficulty. Thor seemed rather pleased with this accomplishment, but Tony knew that nothing was ever that simple. He had a feeling the shit was about to hit the fan.
The soft exhalation of “Gods!” next to him was his first clue that something was amiss. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Tony wondered why the gods would use themselves for their oaths but then decided that that was a question for another time.
Tony glanced at Thor's stricken expression and then followed his line of sight.
Tony almost didn't see him in the mess of tubing and wires, but there was Loki, dwarfed by machinery and laid out in a mockery of sleep. A tube down his throat was pumping oxygen into his lungs, and the shadows under his eyes were dark against pale, almost-translucent skin.
Somewhere inside his helmet, Jarvis reminded Tony to breathe.
“Brother.” More of a gasp than a word or a whisper.
Tony looked at Thor and waited for the carnage to begin. Instead Mjolnir slipped from the god's hand to the floor with a thunk, and Thor hovered over Loki, hands outstretched over his brother but failing to land, blue eyes wide and open and lost, like a child's.
Tony crept to his side and waited.
“By Yggdrasil, brother,” Thor murmured. “What did that fiend do to you?”
Still Tony waited and...
There.
Thor's eyes narrowed, glittering blue and fierce as his hands clenched into fists. He hefted Mjolnir.
“Thor.”
“I will kill him!”
“Thor.”
The god glanced at Tony.
“Loki is the priority,” Tony reminded him. “We need to get him out of here and get him some medical attention. Doom can wait.”
Killing Doom was incredibly tempting, but more than anything, in that moment, Tony wanted to tear off the wiring and tubing that stuck out of Loki like alien appendages. More than anything, he wanted to see those eyes open, to have Loki scoff and call him an idiot, to tell him that this was all another prank.
That he was okay.
Oh God, please let him be okay.
Thor looked at Tony, eyes pained and helpless as he nodded and stepped back. Tony leaned over Loki in his place and tried to work out how best to extricate his - to extricate Loki from this mess, but it would help if he could remember how to think.
“Shit,” he murmured, cradling one delicate, long-fingered hand in his and plucking the needles from Loki's veins one at a time, cursing himself for the way his fingers shook. It felt disconcertingly intimate, seeing Loki like this, frail and fragile, eyelashes long, dark, and still against too-pale cheeks. Tony felt something between an ache and a spreading warmth in the vicinity of his arc reactor as he watched Loki's face, smooth, still, and young in a way that it never was in wakefulness, and he could understand Thor's tenderness and protectiveness towards his troublesome brother in that moment. He didn't notice the way his hand lingered a touch too long on Loki's or the way his thumb rubbed soothing circles along Loki's knuckles.
Tony reached for Loki's other hand and made to pull out the next batch of needles, when -
“That might not be the best idea. Unless, of course, you want to kill him.”
The voice was dark and cultured and decidedly Not Thor's.
Tony closed his eyes and bit back a groan. He released Loki's hand and turned with clenched fists to glare at Victor von Doom, who stood now in the doorway, body clad in iron and a green cloak and tunic - really, what was it with self-professed super-villains and the color green? - and stared back at Tony, from one armored mask to another. Next to and behind him, dead-eyed robots stood in silent vigil.
“What did you do?” Thor asked through grit teeth, his knuckles white around Mjolnir.
“Yeah,” Tony spat, surprised by the depth of his own anger, “isn't it time for the villain's exposition?”
“Villain?” Doom echoed, sounding somewhere between offended and amused. “Aren't you the ones skulking about and breaking into my home?”
“You're the one who kidnapped my brother!” Thor all but roared.
“Kidnapped?” Doom laughed. “Your brother came here of his own volition. I'd hardly call that 'kidnapping'.”
“It is if you can't leave,” Tony muttered.
Doom scrutinized them both in silence for a long moment. “Then take him,” he said blithely. “I have what I need, and while I enjoyed the silence, the world is a much... duller place without Loki. I will not stop you.”
Tony and Thor exchanged sidelong glances.
“Unfortunately, “ Doom continued, “those machines are all that is keeping Loki alive so long as the Horseman is siphoning off his magic. A shame, really.”
Tony swallowed and straightened. “Right,” he said. “Then where is the Horseman?” Doom tilted his head, and Tony felt more than saw his eyes upon him.
“Oh, somewhere in the building, I imagine, Mr. Stark,” Doom answered. “But that brings up another interesting point. I was prepared for his anger.” Doom indicated Thor with a wave of his gauntleted hand. “But not yours.”
Tony felt his mouth go dry. “And?” he ground out.
“Oh, nothing,” Doom replied. “I am merely... intrigued, is all, considering you risked creating quite the diplomatic mess for the sake of someone I thought was your enemy. Are you really willing to risk World War III for his sake?”
Tony said nothing, but he could feel Thor's stare, blue eyes spelling the same questions Doom was tiptoeing around.
Seeing no answer forthcoming, Doom chuckled and turned to go. “I'll leave you to it, then,” he called over his shoulder. “Happy hunting.”
The Doombots followed in his wake, metal feet clanking against stone floor. Eventually, their footsteps faded, and the only sound was the mechanical whirr of the machine breathing for Loki.
“Jarvis,” Tony said into the stillness. “Locate the Horseman.”
“Of course, sir,” came the automated reply. A layout of the castle overlaid his vision, while Thor watched him and waited.
“Third floor,” Tony told him after a moment, his expression grim under his metal mask. He unhooked the canister from his belt, forcing himself not to look at Loki again or to acknowledge the concern he felt over leaving him alone. “Time to kick some Horseman ass.”
Footnote: I think I know why this chapter wouldn't cooperate. Loki's too much of a diva to have such a minimal part even for one chapter. He'll be up and wreaking havoc again soon, though, so worry not! ;)
A/N: *crickets a-chirpin'* So, uh. Been a while, hasn't it? Sorry, guys, but Real Life has been crazy. I've gotten a few fantastic long-term commissions as a freelance illustrator that have eaten up all the time usually reserved for writing. Now that I've gotten past the craziest deadlines, though, I promise I will make time for this story again. Because Nine Lives has never been far from my thoughts, no matter how busy I've been.
As for this chapter, I was kind of stuck as to how to go about it for the longest time, mostly because, well... I know next to nothing about Doom, haaaa. ^__^;; So I apologize if he's out of character. I made the best inferences I could based on fragments of information, so, uh, just go with it?
Shit's gonna hit the fan next chappie, so hold onto your pants.
Stark Relief (hur-hur, get it?)
It was a lesson in patience, watching the earth go by beneath him, centimeter by crawling centimeter. From this height, the buildings were toys, the people ants, like a cardboard diorama he could crunch with his foot.
Tony wondered if this was what Loki and Thor saw whenever they looked at Midgard, people and places so tiny, so fragile, and so damn insignificant. He blew out a shaky breath and decided not to think about it.
Then again, he could use a distraction, and even the quinjet was moving too goddamn slow. His hands were clammy inside his iron suit, making his gauntlets stick and slide against his skin in uncomfortable ways.
Thank God for autopilot. Tony was altogether far too jittery to drive in a straight line, let alone fly this damned thing all the way to Europe.
He flexed his fingers, stretched and shifted in his seat until he realized that Thor was watching him.
“What is that?” Thor asked. Tony followed his line of sight and realized that he was indicating the canister strapped to Tony's side.
“A precaution,” Tony said, quirking his lips in a grim smile. “Let's hope we don't need it.”
Thor's brow furrowed, but he nodded. “I thank you for this, you know,” he said. His voice seemed loud over the hum of the engine.
“Hmn?”
“For telling me that my brother is in danger and for accompanying me.” Thor's soft smile turned grim as he added, “Our brothers-in-arms are not always so understanding when it comes to Loki.”
Tony nodded, mostly because he had no idea how to respond to that. He wondered how Thor would react if he knew that Tony had slept with his little brother. Tony gulped and decided that what Thor didn't know couldn't make him murderously angry.
Tony assumed the conversation was over and turned to stare back out the window. He still felt the weight of Thor's stare, however, and turned reluctantly back. Thor was watching him now with a measuring, almost calculating glance that Tony was certain he must have picked up from Loki.
“You're not just coming for my benefit, are you?” the god asked, his voice as soft as Tony had ever heard it. “Did something happen between you two?”
Tony swallowed and turned to stare back out at the horizon. “I'm just trying to make things right, Thor,” he murmured.
Thor watched him a moment longer but asked no more questions.
Tony hoped he wasn't too late.
Thor hefted Mjolnir and, for all intents and purposes, looked ready to storm the castle of Doomstadt head-on. Tony's sigh echoed inside his helmet, and he grabbed Thor by the elbow.
“Thor,” he said. “No.”
The hulking blonde warrior blinked at him like a confused puppy. “No?”
“No.” Dear Lord, if this was Thor's idea of diplomacy, then Tony could understand why Loki kept going off the deep-end. “Doom may be an evil psycho, but he's an evil psycho who happens to be king of Latveria. Much as I would love to just waltz in there and smash his metal face in, we need to at least try to avoid starting a war.”
Thor blinked in thought but nodded and lowered Mjolnir. “So what do you advise?”
“I dunno. I guess we just sneak in through a window or something.” He really should have thought this through.
Thor's face tightened in a scowl. “The coward's way.”
Tony glared at the god but knew he couldn't see it behind his mask. “I believe the word you are looking for is 'efficient'.”
Thor sighed but said nothing.
“Anyway, Jarvis pulled up the schematics of the building for us. The laboratory is in the basement, and knowing Doom, that's, uh, probably where we will find Loki.”
Tony clenched his teeth and pretended not to notice Thor bristle. Don't think about it, he told himself. Just pretend like you have no idea what that means.
“Alright then,” he said just to dispel the loaded silence, “vamonos!”
Thor blinked. “What?”
“Va... let's go.”
Within five minutes, Tony and Thor had their first stare-down with a Doombot.
And a stare-down it was. The robot eyed them hollowly across the marble floor, and Thor eyed it back with a hand on Mjolnir. Tony held his breath and eyed them both.
After a long moment of intense nothingness, Thor licked his lips and leaned towards Tony. “It's not attacking,” he said. The crease between his brows deepened, but he kept his eye on the Doombot and his hand on Mjolnir.
Yes, wonderful observation, Thor. “America's at peace with Latveria,” Tony reminded him. “I doubt the Doombots would threaten that peace without Doom's orders.” He shrugged and smiled shakily. “Should make things easier for us, hopefully.”
“And kidnapping Loki is not an act of war?” Thor growled, leveling another glare at the nearest Doombot.
“Loki's not American.”
Thor blinked. “Neither am I,” he said.
“You weren't,” Tony corrected. “Since you've joined the Avengers, you've become an official American citizen. Mazel tov.”
Thor blinked again. Twice. The robot continued to stare, menacingly motionless.
“Okay, just... just remember that Loki is the priority, here. We can deal with Doom later.”
Thor's scowl deepened, but he nodded. Tony let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and readjusted the canister at his side.
“Okay, big guy,” he said with bravado he didn't feel. “Time for a lesson in coolness.” Tony patted the god's arm, and Thor gave him a sidelong glance. “Act like you're meant to be here, and everyone will assume you are.” Tony squared his shoulders and sauntered past the Doombot without so much as a second glance. Tony just hoped this theory worked on murderous robots as well.
Thor sighed and shook his head but followed without comment. The robot's stare followed them, but the robot itself did not.
So far so good.
Stealth was definitely not one of Thor's strong suits, but somehow they made it to Doom's laboratory with minimal difficulty. Thor seemed rather pleased with this accomplishment, but Tony knew that nothing was ever that simple. He had a feeling the shit was about to hit the fan.
The soft exhalation of “Gods!” next to him was his first clue that something was amiss. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Tony wondered why the gods would use themselves for their oaths but then decided that that was a question for another time.
Tony glanced at Thor's stricken expression and then followed his line of sight.
Tony almost didn't see him in the mess of tubing and wires, but there was Loki, dwarfed by machinery and laid out in a mockery of sleep. A tube down his throat was pumping oxygen into his lungs, and the shadows under his eyes were dark against pale, almost-translucent skin.
Somewhere inside his helmet, Jarvis reminded Tony to breathe.
“Brother.” More of a gasp than a word or a whisper.
Tony looked at Thor and waited for the carnage to begin. Instead Mjolnir slipped from the god's hand to the floor with a thunk, and Thor hovered over Loki, hands outstretched over his brother but failing to land, blue eyes wide and open and lost, like a child's.
Tony crept to his side and waited.
“By Yggdrasil, brother,” Thor murmured. “What did that fiend do to you?”
Still Tony waited and...
There.
Thor's eyes narrowed, glittering blue and fierce as his hands clenched into fists. He hefted Mjolnir.
“Thor.”
“I will kill him!”
“Thor.”
The god glanced at Tony.
“Loki is the priority,” Tony reminded him. “We need to get him out of here and get him some medical attention. Doom can wait.”
Killing Doom was incredibly tempting, but more than anything, in that moment, Tony wanted to tear off the wiring and tubing that stuck out of Loki like alien appendages. More than anything, he wanted to see those eyes open, to have Loki scoff and call him an idiot, to tell him that this was all another prank.
That he was okay.
Oh God, please let him be okay.
Thor looked at Tony, eyes pained and helpless as he nodded and stepped back. Tony leaned over Loki in his place and tried to work out how best to extricate his - to extricate Loki from this mess, but it would help if he could remember how to think.
“Shit,” he murmured, cradling one delicate, long-fingered hand in his and plucking the needles from Loki's veins one at a time, cursing himself for the way his fingers shook. It felt disconcertingly intimate, seeing Loki like this, frail and fragile, eyelashes long, dark, and still against too-pale cheeks. Tony felt something between an ache and a spreading warmth in the vicinity of his arc reactor as he watched Loki's face, smooth, still, and young in a way that it never was in wakefulness, and he could understand Thor's tenderness and protectiveness towards his troublesome brother in that moment. He didn't notice the way his hand lingered a touch too long on Loki's or the way his thumb rubbed soothing circles along Loki's knuckles.
Tony reached for Loki's other hand and made to pull out the next batch of needles, when -
“That might not be the best idea. Unless, of course, you want to kill him.”
The voice was dark and cultured and decidedly Not Thor's.
Tony closed his eyes and bit back a groan. He released Loki's hand and turned with clenched fists to glare at Victor von Doom, who stood now in the doorway, body clad in iron and a green cloak and tunic - really, what was it with self-professed super-villains and the color green? - and stared back at Tony, from one armored mask to another. Next to and behind him, dead-eyed robots stood in silent vigil.
“What did you do?” Thor asked through grit teeth, his knuckles white around Mjolnir.
“Yeah,” Tony spat, surprised by the depth of his own anger, “isn't it time for the villain's exposition?”
“Villain?” Doom echoed, sounding somewhere between offended and amused. “Aren't you the ones skulking about and breaking into my home?”
“You're the one who kidnapped my brother!” Thor all but roared.
“Kidnapped?” Doom laughed. “Your brother came here of his own volition. I'd hardly call that 'kidnapping'.”
“It is if you can't leave,” Tony muttered.
Doom scrutinized them both in silence for a long moment. “Then take him,” he said blithely. “I have what I need, and while I enjoyed the silence, the world is a much... duller place without Loki. I will not stop you.”
Tony and Thor exchanged sidelong glances.
“Unfortunately, “ Doom continued, “those machines are all that is keeping Loki alive so long as the Horseman is siphoning off his magic. A shame, really.”
Tony swallowed and straightened. “Right,” he said. “Then where is the Horseman?” Doom tilted his head, and Tony felt more than saw his eyes upon him.
“Oh, somewhere in the building, I imagine, Mr. Stark,” Doom answered. “But that brings up another interesting point. I was prepared for his anger.” Doom indicated Thor with a wave of his gauntleted hand. “But not yours.”
Tony felt his mouth go dry. “And?” he ground out.
“Oh, nothing,” Doom replied. “I am merely... intrigued, is all, considering you risked creating quite the diplomatic mess for the sake of someone I thought was your enemy. Are you really willing to risk World War III for his sake?”
Tony said nothing, but he could feel Thor's stare, blue eyes spelling the same questions Doom was tiptoeing around.
Seeing no answer forthcoming, Doom chuckled and turned to go. “I'll leave you to it, then,” he called over his shoulder. “Happy hunting.”
The Doombots followed in his wake, metal feet clanking against stone floor. Eventually, their footsteps faded, and the only sound was the mechanical whirr of the machine breathing for Loki.
“Jarvis,” Tony said into the stillness. “Locate the Horseman.”
“Of course, sir,” came the automated reply. A layout of the castle overlaid his vision, while Thor watched him and waited.
“Third floor,” Tony told him after a moment, his expression grim under his metal mask. He unhooked the canister from his belt, forcing himself not to look at Loki again or to acknowledge the concern he felt over leaving him alone. “Time to kick some Horseman ass.”
Footnote: I think I know why this chapter wouldn't cooperate. Loki's too much of a diva to have such a minimal part even for one chapter. He'll be up and wreaking havoc again soon, though, so worry not! ;)