"Kneel before me!"
"I said…"
Bam!
"Kneel!"
The crowd knelt, heads low.
"Is this not simpler? Is this not your natural state? It's the unspoken truth of humanity. You crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power, for identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel—"
Clap! Clap! Clap!
All of a sudden, thunderous claps resounded from all sides. Loki and the crowd became aware and looked towards the sky. The roaring of a rocket resounded soon, and the multiple lights emerged descending, a total of six that made a circle around the entire premise.
"Iron Man!" Someone from the crowd shouted.
"A mortal hiding beneath a garb of steel? That won't save you!" Loki roared and waved his staff.
Boom!
Tony easily dodged the energy attack and resumed clapping his metallic hands. The Iron Guardians followed his actions. "Kneel? Wow, reaching a little high there, reindeer games. What is this, the Bronze Age? Wait, hang on… I'm picking up a faint whiff of daddy issues."
"As always, your groundlings never cease until you're shown your place," Loki growled and shot the beams again and again.
Tony easily dodged them and made the Iron Guardians respond back. There was only one Loki, after all.
Bam!
Bam!
Loki had to jump around to dodge the attacks. His illusions were no good when it came to real fighting in that scenario.
"Haaaaa!" Captain America came out of nowhere just then and slammed his shield right into Loki's side. "You know, in history, every time someone tried to do what you're doing—they always failed."
"Those were mortals!" Loki proclaimed and stood back up. "I am… a God—Ah!"
Tony rammed into Loki's body and dragged him across the floor. It wasn't even him but just one of the Iron Guardians. It easily disarmed Loki's staff and placed cuffs on his wrists. It was a standard function for the Iron Guardians.
By then, Tony and the other four Iron Guardians surrounded Loki with all their weapon systems aimed. "Make a move and I'll cut you a one-way ticket to Valhalla."
"I had him." Captain America walked beside Tony.
Tony chuckled and judged the man's attire, slowly looking up and down. The suit was a bit too tight and old-fashioned. "Remind me to send you my stylist."
Captain looked down and sighed. Even he felt out of place. "Maybe later."
Quickly after, Natasha landed the Quinjet and they took off with Loki as their prisoner. It was nighttime and cloudy, but they still rushed as much as they could to reach the Helicarrier.
"Hey, Natalie Rushman~" Tony waved at Natasha, a cheeky grin on his face. He still teased her by her spy name from back then. "Been pretty busy lately, huh? Still waiting on that burger."
"You two close?" Steve asked.
Tony shrugged and took a seat on the side, still in his armor. "Oh, it's a little more than that—she infiltrated my company to spy on me once. Well, at least I had a hot secretary for a while."
"It was to assess you, Mr. Stark. I wasn't there to spy or steal anything."
"Sure, and I eat burgers without the patties and cheese," Tony sarcastically replied and looked at Loki. "And he didn't steal the Tesseract, just borrowed it. Isn't that right?"
Boom!
Loki suddenly looked up.
Tony did the same and looked out of the window. "Well, look who's late to the party…"
"What do you mean?" Steve asked.
"His brother," Tony muttered, squinting up at the sky. "You know, Thor—blonde, big hammer, red cape. Kind of a viking with a God complex... or just a viking."
Bam!
A thud resounded on the plane's roof.
"Here he comes." Tony sighed and punched the button to open the back door.
"LOKI!"
"Yep, it's him." Tony recognized that voice.
"Where is the Tesseract, Loki?!" Thor jumped into the plane, angrily interrogating.
Tony stepped forward. "Calm down, buddy. We all want the same thing."
"Stay out of this, my metal friend. Loki is my brother, and he shall face Asgard's justice!" Thor proclaimed and gripped Loki by the neck. "I thought you dead."
"Did you mourn?" Loki sneered back.
"We all did! Our father—"
"Your father."
"We were raised together. We played together, we fought together. Do you remember none of that?"
Loki scoffed at Thor's face. "I remember a shadow. Living in the shade of your greatness. I remember you tossing me into an abyss. I, who was, and should be, king!"
"Called it. Daddy issues." Tony chimed in from the sidelines. "I mean, isn't he the God of Tricks? Whatever he's saying, it's probably just another one of his elaborate pranks."
Thor released Loki. "Tell me, where is the Tesseract, Loki? Tell me, or Father will descend upon Midgard himself!"
"I'll wait for his visit then. And I've sent the cube off, I know not where."
"You!" Thor was about to punch Loki.
"Calm down, we're all after the same thing." Tony interrupted them. "You can shout at him until your voice cracks, but trust me, he's not gonna fold. Look at that smug face—He's stalling us, saving time for…"
"Invasion." Thor blurted, looking tensely back at Tony.
"He has an army called the Chitauri. They're not of Asgard, nor any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the Earth, in return, I suspect, for the Tesseract."
"An army? From outer space?" Steve exclaimed. The world had changed a little too much, it felt.
But Tony was silent at that moment. His snarky response didn't come for a long time.
"Thanos?" Tony blurted out of nowhere, at Thor. "Does that ring a bell?"
"Why do you know that name?" Thor responded loudly.
Steve and Natasha both silently looked at them, but they didn't fail to notice Loki's slight flinch.
Tony continued. "Some time ago, I found a hidden spaceship in orbit—It belonged to the Kree. I did a little digging and deconstructed the thing. And guess what? The database mentioned that the Chitauri is an army commanded by Thanos."
"Kree?" Thor seemed alarmed by that. "What are they doing here?"
"Earth's had its fair share of visitors, buddy. You're gonna need to get in line," Tony quipped and continued. "I've cracked the whole database, but when it comes to Thanos and the Chitauri? Just one line."
Thor turned his gaze sharply to Loki, a storm brewing in his eyes. "Is this truly your choice, brother? Have you allied yourself with Thanos? For what gain? A mere planet to rule?"
"Who is this Thanos?" Steve inquired impatiently. "How big of a threat is he?"
"Thanos is a genocidal warlord of immense power. He delights in subjugating entire planets, erasing half their population as if he's some twisted savior—believing he's sparing them from their own doom. At times, he wipes them all out and sells the planet for profit. They call him the Mad Titan for good reason! You do not want him setting his sights on Midgard. No, you are ill-prepared for the horrors of this higher warfare."
"And the Kree?" Tony asked further.
"More or less the same—The Kree, those wretched blue-skinned humanoids from the planet Hala, are a militaristic race steeped in arrogance! They possess immense technological prowess! A galactic Empire, they claim dominion over at least a thousand worlds—Midgard is nothing before them."
"So… space Nazis?" Steve commented with a tired sigh.
"Feeling like the old days, Cap?" Tony jokingly commented before sitting down again. "Chitauri or Kree, we're about as prepared for an alien invasion as a cat in a dog park. Our only shot now is to track down the Tesseract before this edgy problem child invites his blue army."
"That is correct. We must find it before the portal is opened," Thor agreed.
"Alright, let's get moving," Tony muttered and focused on things within his Iron Man helmet. He didn't allow his voice to go out anymore and chatted with Jarvis. "Quick, whip up a dossier on everything from the SHIELD facility to now. Make sure to highlight the alien threat part. Send it over to Xavier, and let him know I'll call soon. If Loki won't spill, I'll just have to squeeze it out of his head."
"Understood, Sir."
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