The room is silent in the wake of Loki's departure. Tony Stark lays there against the wall for a moment in a pool of his own blood, staring off into the distance. Then… he blinks.
When his eyes open again, they blaze orange. That's not the only part of him that blazes orange either, as under his shirt his body glows where he was stabbed, the wounds regenerating rapidly. At the same time, the blood that's trickled out of his mouth and poured from his abdomen and back dries with rapid speed and flakes off into dust. Finally, Tony lets out a sigh.
"Well… that fucking sucked. Thanks for nothing, Reindeer Games."
Clearly he'd struck a nerve with the Interim Queen of Asgard. To be fair, he probably should have figured she was still around. In hindsight, it was a glaring oversight on his part. Still, he hadn't expected Loki to just up and decide to kill him in a fit of rage like that. Maybe he should have though. Loki had always been a bit off his rocker and that was as a man. How did the saying go? Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned… doubly so for a Goddess, it would seem.
Checking himself over, Tony grimaces. He's perfectly fine of course, but his clothing is not. The big fucking holes from where Loki had stabbed her blades into him were rather obvious, especially seeing as they were more fantasy daggers than modern day knives. They'd gone deep and when she'd twisted each one, she 'd done plenty of damage to the surrounding fabric.
That wasn't normally one's first concern after being savagely impaled in both kidneys, but Tony Stark was not exactly normal. He lets out an explosive breath and looks up at the ceiling.
"… Good on you for not freaking out, J."
A moment later and his AI's voice comes through. "I have seen you do worse to yourself and survive at this point, Sir. Even still… that was deeply upsetting."
Upsetting. Not unsettling, not unnerving … but upsetting. That was basically as good as JARVIS declaring war on all of Asgard's for Loki's transgressions. Tony winces, considering holding back the other bit of relevant information for a moment before deciding no, he can't lie to his baby boy like that… not even a lie by omission.
"Actually, this time was pretty bad, J. Loki's daggers are no laughing matter… I didn't begin healing until after she pulled them out. Must be some sort of magical enchantment on them to prevent regeneration, I suppose."
It was a stark reminder that while he might be the biggest fish in the pond, he was a minnow in the greater sea. There wasn' t much on Earth outside of potentially a nuclear bomb and a few other things that could kill Tony at this point. But Loki was not from Earth and Asgard, for all that it would get chumped a few times in the next eight years, was not a legendary powerhouse for nothing. Odin wouldn't have ever become King of the Nine Realms in the first place if Asgard didn't have quite a few tricks up their sleeves.
"… I see, Sir. That is even more upsetting, especially since I had no way of detecting the Goddess of Lies until after she revealed herself. Even when she was reportedly talking to Thor, I did not know about it. I could not even see Thor himself responding to her. Then, even when she stabbed you, it was not until she'd shown herself to you that I could finally see her properly. I know you warned me that the Asgardians used high sciences that would seem akin to magic to us, Sir … but this is most vexing for me all the same."
Tony got it. Really, he did. He wasn't very well-versed in magic. There'd been Stephen Strange in the original timeline, but Tony had only know about the guy and his secret order of wizards for a very short time before Titan had happened and Thanos had snapped his fingers, erasing half the universe. When Strange had been part of that half, Tony had been left rather blind in all honesty. More than that, Loki being a woman in this timeline had… unsettling implications in other ways as well, beyond just her deciding to kill him in a fit of fury.
She should be gone now, at least. No reason for her to stick around at this point, Tony figured. But the problem was, he didn't know for sure. He had to assume. And that… that didn't just piss him off, it put him on the backfoot. Tony didn' t like it. Not one bit. Staring down at his ruined Armani, Tony sighs.
"Fuck. I've been complacent, J."
"Sir?"
"Been putting shit off that I should have done ages ago, haven't I? JARVIS, spin up Operation Claw It Back. I was trying to be nice… trying to have it both ways. But that's not going to work, is it?" "… No Sir, it would seem not. I am sending the relevant messages now. However, it sounds as if you intend to modify Operation Claw it Back, Sir."
"That's right, JARVIS. How's Operation Crater Face going?"
" Proceeding apace, Sir. Should I expect to transport the materials from Operation Claw It Back to Operation Crater Face at the conclusion of the first operation?"
Tony grins.
"Safest place for them, wouldn't you say J? They can look everywhere that they want to down here on Earth, but…"
"As you say, Sir. Still, while this should take care of the issue of your protection… there is still the issue of my inability to detect this alien magic. I am supposed to be your eyes in the sky, Sir. What do we do?"
Tony grimaces, thinking about that for several long seconds. It wasn't like he hadn't considered it more times than he could count in the original timeline. Loki and his penchant for magical illusions and doppelgangers had caused no small amount of issue over the time. It was how Coulson had originally died, for instance. Unfortunately, Tony had never developed a reliable way to see through Loki's illusions. Everything he'd tried technology-wise had come up as a dead end.
"… Can you get me eyes on Dr. Stephen Strange, J?"
There's a brief pause before JARVIS comes back to him.
" Yes Sir. Dr. Strange is currently in residency as a neurosurgeon at Metro-General Hospital. He is regarded as one of the best surgeons in the world." Yeah, that sounded about right. From what Tony recalled, it wouldn't be until 2016 that the man would have the accident that led to him becoming the Sorcerer Supreme. But at the same time, that didn't mean his secret order of wizards weren't still out there, just waiting for Strange to find them.
"What can you tell me about 177A Bleecker Street over in New York, J?"
Another moment… and then a moment after that before JARVIS finally comes back to him.
"Sir, I must confess to some level of distress. I can locate 177A Bleecker Street in Greenwich, New York City. However, when I try to look at it through digital eyes… it is as though it does not exist. The building is there, but the… the…"
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