A/N: Time to check in on Peggy.
-x-X-x-
"Hey there, gorgeous. Penny Carter, right?"
Peggy finds herself very grateful for the briefings that Stark had given her, even as a hand falls upon her shoulder and turns her around. She has to let the man actually turn her, because he's not nearly strong enough to do so if she didn't want him to. Likewise, she has to hold back from the urge to break his hand right then and there, especially given just who the malcontent harassing her IS.
Brock Rumlow, the STRIKE Team's Field Commander. Now also the Commander of the Iron Legion. Basically, he was the best of the best that SHIELD had to offer, so good at what he did that he was put in charge of SHIELD's other best agents so they could take care of the tougher missions that came up.
Only, he was also a member of HYDRA… as was ever other member of the STRIKE Team according to Tony. Peggy had seen the evidence of course. She believed what Tony had told her. Didn't make it any less… disappointing.
Once she's fully turned around to face him, Rumlow makes a show of looking her up and down and wolf whistling before giving her what he probably thinks is a charming smile.
"I'd ask if all of Stark's Personal Assistants are built like you, but I know where Agent Romanoff has spent the last few years so I suppose I already have my answer. Still… damn."
Peggy would love to kill this man right here and right now… but as Tony had told her, they needed Rumlow for now. It was all part of Tony's plan to infiltrate and destroy HYDRA from the inside. Peggy might have been more inclined to break from Tony and try and work with SHIELD… if HYDRA hadn't in turn already infiltrated and all but destroyed the other organization from the inside.
Rumlow was direct evidence of that. Even if Director Fury was a good man, he was also a fool who had allowed HYDRA to lead him around by the nose for quite a long time now. The sort of man who thought he had all the answers, but apparently wouldn't know the truth if it was constantly smacking him in the face with its DICK.
… Okay, that was rather unusually crass of Peggy, even in the privacy of her own thoughts. She mulls over why that might be, before deciding it was simply because parts of her were still reacting to waking up from the ice. The truth was, ever since she'd been dosed with the Super Soldier Serum, she'd had a much more active sex drive than ever before. Something, Peggy was irritated to find, her counterpart in this world didn't share.
The Steve Rogers in this world didn't seem to know what sex was. HER Steve, while frail and sickly, had at least known how to get from Point A to Point B. Once she'd shown him how it was done, the two of them had done the horizontal tango with gusto pretty much every night using some experimental drugs that Howard had whipped up for them.
Alas, her Steve was long gone now. Not just seventy years in the past, but also in another dimension entirely. Peggy was all alone and she'd already decided that she wasn't about to jump this dimension's Steve. He just… really didn't seem like her type. Especially since he seemed more inclined to protect Barnes from his own mind than to protect the world from an alien invasion.
That didn't mean Peggy was inclined to fuck Rumlow either though. A girl had to have standards and HYDRA scum definitely didn't meet them. Actually, she was a little confused at how strong Rumlow was coming onto her in the first place. He might be a HYDRA douchebag, and Stark had made a point of letting her know he could be both impulsive and reckless in his briefing of the man… but Rumlow still had a reputation to keep. He was still supposed to be the ruggedly handsome but squeaky clean SHIELD Agent, after all.
"I'm sorry sir, but I have orders from Mr. Stark to carry out."
Peggy moves to gently tug her shoulder from Rumlow's grasp… but he clings onto her, still grinning.
"Oh come on now. Stark and I are good friends. I'm sure he'd want you to make sure I'm nice and comfortable. Besides, I figure we've got hours to kill before him and Banner make any progress."
Seriously, where was this coming from? Fortunately for her sanity, Rumlow reveals his thought process a moment later.
"Thought you seemed familiar when I first laid eyes on you. And then Fury just came out and said it. You're some kind of android, yeah? And apparently you look exactly like a young Peggy Carter. Damn, if Director Carter was this hot back in the day, I only wish I'd been alive during World War 2."
Peggy's lips thin out at that, but fortunately Rumlow doesn't notice. He's too busy staring at her tits. Still, at least she understood now. He thought she was a damnable robot, just like Fury did. It was such a stupid idea that it was honestly kind of brilliant, Peggy had been forced to acknowledge. Putting her in a suit of armor would have been one way to hide her true identity, but if the armor had been damaged and her face had been revealed, Stark would have been forced to answer uncomfortable questions. The armor would have made it clear he was hiding something about her.
But by brazenly walking her right onto the bridge of the Helicarrier, parading her around half of SHIELD and it's Director besides, and allowing Fury to come to his own conclusions about her inhuman strength… Stark had let them decide she was a fucking robot. Peggy hadn't been convinced it would work right until the moment that the words, albeit filled with disbelief and outrage, had left Director Fury's mouth.
Still, as much as she'd come to appreciate Stark's plan, this altercation with Rumlow was rapidly beginning to sour her to the idea. Especially since the man was only getting handsy.
"Now then, Stark has to have some way to make you more compliant and docile. How exactly do I go about turning you on…"
One hand is still on her shoulder, but the other is reaching for places that will leave Peggy no choice but to respond. If he actually tries to touch her, she can't be held responsible for what happens nex-
"Agent Rumlow."
Like he's just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar, Rumlow draws back, looking away from Peggy for a moment and giving a big bright smile to Commander Maria Hill as she approaches down the hill.
"Commander Hill. Just figured I'd see if Stark's PA knew anything juicy, working with Stark and all."
The look on Maria's face is one of confusion. She, Peggy knows, is not HYDRA. She also doesn't know that Rumlow is a scum fuck. Already, Peggy can see the other woman making excuses in her own mind for what she thinks she just walked up on. It's both funny and sad how often Peggy has seen that look on a woman's face, where she tries to justify the actions of a man she thinks is her friend towards another woman. It's enough to make Peggy sick, to be honest.
"Director Fury tasked me with asking Carter some questions. You should make sure the rest of the Iron Legion are ready to move out. You'll be deployed the moment Stark and Banner have found the Cube."
"Right. Of course. A pleasure meeting you, Carter."
Rumlow is all smiles as he holds out a hand for Peggy to shake. Smiling right back, Peggy takes advantage of the HYDRA infiltrator's mistake, grabbing his hand fast and squeezing it even harder than she squeezed Fury's. She doesn't quite break Rumlow's hand… but she does make sure to purposefully grind the bones together, causing him to gasp and buckle a bit as she beams down at him.
"A pleasure to meet you too, Agent Rumlow."
When she lets go of his hand, he just laughs it off, shaking out his no doubt tingling fingers and commenting on her strong grip. Then, he leaves them there, with Commander Hill watching him go for a moment with a strange look on her face. Then, she looks back to Peggy.
"Agent Carter."
A clear attempt to trip her up. Fortunately, Agent hasn't been her designation for a long time. It's Captain Carter, though obviously she can't correct Hill with that. Instead, Peggy just smiles blandly, playing her role to a T. It's not hard… she had plenty of experience at playing the vapid secretary back before she was dosed with the serum.
"I'm sorry, Commander Hill? I'm no Agent. I'm Mr. Stark's Personal Assistant, Penny Carter."
Maria presses her lips together tightly.
"… Right. Except that's not quite the truth, is it? We know Tony Stark likes to make Artificial Intelligences. We know he has more than one. And we know what you are. What we don't know is just how much you're based on your template. How much of you is Stark's AI… and how much of you is Peggy Carter, the woman who helped found SHIELD?"
Director Fury must have put Maria up to this. Perhaps because he thought that Peggy would appreciate a friendly female face. It's a pretty basic attempt at manipulation, but to be fair if they think she's a newborn AI in an android body, they might be trying to keep things simple for her sake. Still, this is a little ridiculous. Had Tony known this would happen when he'd gone with this strategy? Had he known he'd have the few remaining actual SHIELD agents running around like chickens with their heads cut off over her?
Tony had assured her that he had the situation with Loki and this would-be Chitauri Invasion completely under control… and so far, Peggy had no reason not to believe him. But this was still such a waste of time. Unfortunately, she couldn't tell Maria that. No matter how much she wanted to take the other woman by the shoulders, shake some sense into her, and tell her to get back to work.
"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about, Commander Hill. Even if I resemble this other woman, I am not her. I am Penny Carter, Personal Assistant to Tony Stark."
Huffing, Maria shakes her head… and then changes tactics all of the sudden.
"Has… has Mr. Stark ever made demands of you? Has he or his wife ever had you do anything you didn't want to do? Look… Penny. If anything untoward has happened, SHIELD can help you and-!"
Jesus fucking Christ. Rumlow was a hairs breadth away from assaulting her… or rather, from suffering a few broken bones from ATTEMPTING to assault her, and not only had Maria completely glossed over that fact, she was now accusing Tony Stark of sexual malfeasance instead! Peggy had just found that she could in fact reach the end of her rope. Fortunately, she had enough self-control to rein in just how badly she was going to snap.
Reaching out, she places a hand on Maria's shoulder, applying just enough strength to make the other woman freeze in place as she leans forward.
"Is this relevant to either of our work, Commander Hill? There is an alien invader aboard this spaceship and yet you seem more concerned with Mr. Stark, the man who invented the technology that made it possible for that alien invader to be captured. Perhaps you have your priorities out of order, Commander."
"I-!"
"Good day, Commander."
Then, giving Maria Hill a perfect robotic smile, Peggy lets go of the other woman's shoulder and spins on her heels, walking away. She'd asked for this, she reminds herself. She wanted to be on the ground floor, she wanted to be in a position to help. Tony had tried to tell her how stupid the people he had to rely on could be, but she hadn't believed him.
Ugh, the worst part was, while no part of her wanted anything to do with Rumlow… Hill's insinuation that she might be engaging in sexual acts with Tony and his wife had put the mental image in her head and now Peggy couldn't get it out. Stupid overactive sex drive. Stupid SHIELD. Stupid Tony Stark. Stupid fucking alternate universe.
… She better have something to punch sometime real fucking soon…
-x-X-x-
His technopathy combined with the numerous backdoors he and J have into SHIELD's systems at this point means Tony sees everything that happens on the Helicarrier, and around it at all times. Even as his physical body is hard at work in the lab helping Bruce set up his detection network for the Tesseract, Tony is also multitasking, watching Thor and Sif talk about Loki, and Rumlow and Hill both make fools of themselves with Peggy.
Fury also goes to talk with Loki himself instead of sending Natasha, either because he thinks Natasha is compromised or because he thinks she's not the best fit this time around since Loki is a woman.
Either way, it doesn't go very well for him. Luckily for Fury, Tony has taken the liberty of derailing some of Loki's plan. The scepter is not being held in the same room as him and Brucie doing their work, and thanks to the drug Bruce is on, it'll take an actual direct threat to his life to get him to Hulk out. Now to be fair, the attack on the Helicarrier might still do it, but Tony is willing to take that risk.
Of course, just as he's thinking that… he gets a call from someone he's been expecting for a while now. Pulling a modicum of his focus back to his physical body, Tony gives Bruce a smile.
"Sorry Bruce, that'll be the Secretary of the World Security Council. Have to take this one."
"Oh! No problem… should I leave?"
"No, no, don't mind me. Just keep working."
Then, because Tony can be a little extra at times but he thinks Bruce has gotten to a headspace where he really doesn't mind… he turns and lets his 'holograms' out to play, turning them into hardlight that covers him up like a cocoon or an ominous pyramid and gives him total and complete soundproofing. Well, one way soundproofing. He still hears Bruce quietly say 'holy shit', which brings a grin to his face even as he finally answers Pierce's call.
"Mr. Secretary."
"Tony, I'm hearing some concerning things."
"Well, we've apprehended Loki and are currently hunting down the Tesseract, so I'd say everything is going pretty good, Mr. Secretary."
"Tony…"
At the warning in Pierce's voice, Tony sighs and changes tone.
"What's got you concerned, sir? Is it the personal suit of armor or the Life-Model Decoy?"
There's a telling beat of silence on the other end at that.
"… So your new PA is actually an android based on Peggy Carter?!"
"Look, Mr. Secretary. Everything I'm doing has a purpose. Keeping Fury off balance by flying out in my own suit and bringing 'Penny' into the mix is by design. Because I'm going to let Loki escape."
And just like that, Pierce is sufficiently distracted.
"Excuse me?!"
"Think about it, sir! Sure, I could lock Loki up tighter than Fort Knox. I could make sure every attempt she made at getting off this Helicarrier failed. Hell, I could go down to her cell and kill her myself right now, giving us all the time in the world to find and secure the Tesseract. But I'm not going to do that… because we need this to be an actual invasion, sir."
"Explain, Stark."
"So far, we've got an incursion. Loki is one crazy bitch who's managed to mind control a few dozen people with a glowing stick. At the moment, this isn't any more desperate or destructive than the New Mexico incident a couple years back. The rest of the Council is still sitting on its hands regarding Project Insight, but consider this… how fast will they sign off on building those six Helicarriers if New York itself is attacked by an alien army?"
There's a long pause at that as Pierce considers everything Tony has just said. In the end, he asks the obvious.
"… How do you know it's going to be New York?"
Tony rolls his eyes at that, knowing full well Pierce can't see him.
"Because sir, she's going to want to use my Tower. She doesn't like me very much. But more than that, Stark Tower is powered by the same limitless energy source as all of my Repulsor Technology as well as the Iron Legion. It's the perfect place for her to open the portal. Anywhere else and she's not going to have the sort of spectacle she wants."
"And that you want, Stark. While I agree that this would certainly light a fire under the World Security Council's ass… I'm not sure it's worth the risk. We don't know how strong the enemy army truly is. Can we even guarantee that we can close the portal once its open?"
Tony smiles. He knows exactly how strong the Chitauri are, as well as their main weakness. He also knows exactly how to close the portal precisely when he wants to. That all said…
"No sir, but that's even more reason to open the portal. First, we let Loki start her invasion in earnest and allow some of her army to come on through. Then, you manipulate the WSC into launching a nuclear missile at New York that I'll make sure gets delivered right to the alien fleet's doorstep. Two birds with one stone. The people who matter will see just what sort of threats from beyond the stars that we're dealing with, and Loki's army will get blown to kingdom come."
Reluctant silence fills the air, which is amusing because Pierce and the rest of the WSC had signed off on the nuke the first time around. Still, Tony supposes the situation isn't quite so dire yet. No Chitauri have made it to Earth so far after all.
"Launching a nuke at New York City would be… career ending, Tony."
That gets a scoff from Tony before he can really help himself. In the end, he just has to roll with the instinctive reaction.
"That's why I suggested you manipulate the Council, not suggest it outright sir. Surely there's someone on the Council who you'd rather wasn't there. And surely someone of your skill can fool them into thinking the nuke is their plan when the time comes. All you have to do is have the missile on standby for me."
This time around, rather than falling silent, Pierce hums consideringly. And in that moment, Tony knows he has the older man.
"… It's not a bad plan, Tony. Though there's quite a lot of room for error, and that error could lead to catastrophe."
"You don't have to tell me twice, sir. I'll be right there in the city itself, fighting and protecting New York and my Tower. I already told you I'm ready to fly that missile through the portal personally. I swear to you, if you have my back on this, I can destroy the enemy and deliver a performance worthy of the funding we need for Project Insight. New York itself will have been attacked… people will be stumbling over themselves to make sure it never happens again."
"Heh… you're damn right, Tony. You're damn right. Well done my boy. Go forth with my blessing. And not to worry… I'll have your back."
Tony sure hopes so. Because if at any point Pierce gets cold feet, Tony is more than ready to kill him and the entire Council if he has to, at which point JARVIS can take over, pretending to be the World Security Council for as long as Tony needs the charade to last.
But… no. It probably won't come to that. Yet.
Just as Tony opens his mouth to speak, he receives a ping from JARVIS. Barton and Loki's other mind controlled servants are on their way and closing fast with the Helicarrier.
"Thank you sir. Loki's escape just began so I'm going to have to let you go."
"… Godspeed, Stark. Godspeed."
With that, Tony ends the call and releases himself from his hardlight cocoon. Bruce looks over at him and smiles, which Tony returns with a big, wide grin.
Then, the entire ship rocks and Bruce's smile drops from his face as Barton and Company's assault begins. Show time.
-x-X-x-
A/N: So nice of Pierce to be so helpful and supportive of Tony's plans.
Is everything still going according to Loki's plans? Well, SHE thinks it is.
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A/N: The attack on the Helicarrier begins. Some things different, some things stay the same.
-x-X-x-
For a moment, Tony is a little worried because… well, he might have made his side too strong. It's one thing to let Pierce in on his plans, but if he'd had to tell Rumlow and the rest of the Iron Legion to sandbag so Loki could escape, then they might have questions… as well as demands later on. Fortunately, Clint Barton is an exceptional strategist, even while brainwashed.
In the original timeline, knowing about Tony's Iron Man Armor, the Archer had attacked one of the Helicarrier's four turbines on their way in so that Tony would be forced to focus solely on making sure that the flying aircraft carrier didn't plummet out of the sky. This time around, Barton takes the Iron Legion into account and attacks TWO of the Helicarrier's four turbines on the way in, immediately causing the ship to begin careening sideways.
Tony doesn't hesitate to tap into the Iron Legion's comms, putting a finger to his empty ear more for Bruce's benefit than anything else.
"Rumlow! Legion! Get suited up and get out there. Keep the Helicarrier in the sky at all costs!"
He gets an affirmative response to that and even as Tony pretends to stagger his way across the laboratory to where Bruce has caught himself, he can feel the STRIKE Team hopping into their Iron Legion Suits and racing out to the broken turbines. Slowly, the Helicarrier is righted as a majority of the Iron Legion is forced to anchor themselves and use their Repulsor Boots to mimic the wrecked turbines, while the rest begin working on repairs.
Those repairs don't last long before mind controlled agents begin firing on them and disrupting their efforts at both turbines however, starting quite the little fire fight. A prelude of things to come between HYDRA and SHIELD, Tony finds himself morbidly noting internally.
Outwardly, he reaches Bruce and grabs him by the shoulders.
"Dr. Banner? Are you alright?"
Shaken but in seemingly no danger of turning green, Bruce looks around wildly. It's obvious his heartrate is way up… but it's equally obvious that the medicine he managed to develop is working. Unless he takes enough physical damage to endanger his life, he's not going to transform like he did last time.
"… Y-Yeah… yeah, I'm okay! What… what's happening?!"
As the floor stops sloping thanks to the Iron Legion's efforts, Tony sighs and pulls Bruce all the way to his feet and out of the corner where he'd caught himself.
"The Helicarrier is under attack. Loki's people have come to break her out, I assume. Can't have their world conquest plan without their Queen, after all."
At Tony's dry tone, Bruce bites his lower lip.
"Should we… I mean, we should stop her right?"
Shaking his head, Tony points a finger at Bruce.
"You don't need to do anything, Dr. Banner. You're not a soldier, you're a civilian scientist. This isn't your fight."
Grimacing, Bruce looks to the side.
"I mean… we developed that counteragent for a reason, didn't we? I have some on me in an injector… just in case. I could take it if you think you need the Hulk."
Tony grins a little at that. On the one hand, he was glad that Bruce was even entertaining the idea. Before the other man had ever even known it was Tony, they'd exchanged numerous long emails about the Hulk and Bruce's relationship with the big green killing machine in his head. Tony had done his best to try and help Bruce view the Hulk as a potential help instead of a hindrance, but in the end he'd also made sure to facilitate the creation of the drugs that allowed Bruce to suppress his alter-ego. Because at the end of the day, while Tony liked the Hulk… Bruce was his friend.
That said, he shakes his head at Bruce's suggestion.
"Think about it for a second, Bruce. The Hulk is a bomb and Loki's goons already set two of those off on their way in. The Helicarrier is already struggling… we don't need to add Big Green to the mix. I appreciate the offer, really I do… but I think it'd be better if you suited up and got to safety."
Bruce blinks at that last bit, only to startle when Tony snaps his fingers and Sneaky appears just a few feet away from them. He doesn't need to snap his fingers of course… but it is cool. As the armored suit opens up, Tony steps aside and gives Bruce a little push towards it.
"You… you're trusting me with one of your suits, Tony?"
Letting out a laugh at that, Tony just shakes his head.
"Don't be ridiculous, Bruce. I'm not trusting you with one of my suits, I'm trusting JARVIS with your safety. You're far more valuable than any one of my armors. Hell, I'd say you were the most valuable person on this Helicarrier… but eh, I'm here."
That gets a rueful grin from Bruce, even as JARVIS pipes up from Sneaky's frame.
"Please mind your step, Dr. Banner. I will be your flying assistant today."
Bruce carefully steps forward, turning around and backing up into the suit, which envelopes around him. Before the helmet can engage however, he gives Tony a concerned look.
"Wait, what about you Tony? You're not exactly a soldier either. Where's your suit to fly you to safety?"
Tony chuckles and shakes his head.
"You don't have to worry about me, Brucie-bear. I haven't been a civilian since Afghanistan."
Then, because he's scrubbing the footage of this moment from SHIELD's servers in real time and because he's a sucker for a worried friend apparently, Tony brings down his sunglasses and gives Bruce a wink while allowing his eyes to glow Extremis Orange for a second. Bruce's eyes widen and then Sneaky's faceplate engages. After a moment of receiving instruction from JARVIS, Bruce manages to make the suit nod its head in Tony's direction, before stomping towards the nearest exit.
After which, Tony connects himself to Natasha's earpiece. Once he's made sure the line is completely secure, he speaks.
"Natasha. This might be your opportunity."
The former Black Widow pauses where she's at in the hallway, frowning.
"Stark? What do you mean?"
"Loki is going to get away. It's part of the plan. But if you want to 'die' valiantly while fighting her… you could trick her into throwing you off of the Helicarrier. Your 'remains' would be unrecognizable."
He sees Natasha considering the offer for a long moment. He can tell she's weighing her options and how badly she wants to go for it. He can easily make sure she slots into Coulson's place in this little production, Tony figures. But in the end…
"Barton's on the Helicarrier, isn't he? Right now?"
Tony smiles ruefully, having been half-expecting this.
"… Yeah. Want directions?"
"Please. And sorry for making this difficult."
Tony shakes his head, even as he rattles off some instructions that will see Natasha running right into Clint.
"Don't worry about it. There will be other opportunities soon enough. As for Barton… JARVIS thinks that manual cognitive recalibration might be your best bet for freeing him from Loki's control. Meaning… hit him really hard in the head. Just try not to overdo it."
Natasha blinks before looking up to the ceiling and giving the nearest camera a nod.
"Thanks, Stark."
Using Technopathy to continue being the eyes in the sky, Tony is able to confirm that JARVIS is directing Bruce on a route that will not lead him into harm's way even as Natasha makes her way towards Barton. Loki's original plan of unleashing the Hulk on all of them is officially kaput and she'll soon have lost her most valuable asset outside of Selvig, same as last time. At the same time, the Iron Legion is still busy with the two damaged turbines and Loki's goons trying to stop them from enacting repairs.
Thor, meanwhile, has gone down to stop Loki's escape just like last time, but he's brought Sif with him. Tony's lips purse for a moment because if Loki manages to trap both Thor and Sif inside of the cage and then drop them, he's going to have to intervene. Thor can survive due to his frankly god-like constitution and the ability to fly using the Hammer to slow his fall right before impact. Sif, while she does have the body of an Asgardian, isn't nearly as tough as her Prince.
… Fortunately, Tony doesn't have to figure out a solution because while Thor falls for the same trick Loki pulled last time, Sif hangs back, even trying to call out to Thor at the last second before the gambit is complete and Thor finds himself smashing through a copy of Loki that's not really there.
Loki drops Thor just like she did the last time around, with Sif engaging her this time. However, Tony quickly realizes that while Sif didn't fall for the first layer of Loki's trap… she did fall for the second. The Asgardian woman is engaged with yet another copy and as the facsimile of the Trickster Goddess dodges, ducks, and weaves out of Sif's attacks its clear to Tony that the real Loki has slipped away.
Eventually, Sif will figure out she's been had, but by then it will be too late. Of course, where the real Loki is, Tony doesn't know. Her magic means she's hidden from SHIELD's cameras. He knows where she's going to be however… which is when he finally finds the snag in Loki's escape plan… and his scheme to let her get away.
Peggy Carter was busy assisting the Iron Legion in clearing Loki's men from the hallways near the damaged turbines, Fury and Hill were busy doing damage control on the bridge… ah, and there was Loki, revealing herself in order to snatch the Scepter from where Tony had SHIELD tuck it away this time so it wasn't just out in the open.
As she steps back out into the hallway, Tony also sees Agent Phil Coulson getting his hands on the massive weapon that SHIELD had managed to make out of the remains of The Destroyer Automaton they'd collected two years ago. While Loki is met by some of her goons who lead her towards their stolen quinjet so she can escape, Tony can tell Phil is on a collision course with the Goddess, just like last time.
Tony knows, of course, that Phil Coulson will survive today no matter what. Fury won't let the man die. He's clingy like that. But he also knows that the way Coulson comes back is no small amount of damaging to the poor man. So… why not change the future once more?
Making his way out of the laboratory at long last, Tony moves through the Helicarrier with purpose. Bruce finds an exit and is off the Helicarrier, flying away with JARVIS' assistance as Tony's baby boy gets his science bro out of harm's way. Natasha encounters Barton and thanks to the ES3 flowing through her veins, takes him down with ease before breaking him free of Loki's mind control and knocking him out in one fell swoop.
Sif finally figures out she's fighting a copy of Loki when the Silvertongue finally gets far enough away to drop the illusion, while at the same time producing a new illusion for the upcoming encounter with Coulson. Peggy manages to take down the last of Loki's goons at the turbines, allowing the Iron Legion to finally start finishing up their repairs.
Finally, Phil confronts Loki and they have their little chat before Loki stabs the SHIELD Agent through the back. After leaving him for dead, Phil manages to get his fancy prototype weapon focused on Loki and even blasts her with it, but her remaining goons just pull her onto the quinjet so they can fly away.
The stolen quinjet disappears from the Helicarrier's sensors shortly after, making it clear that Loki had used her magic to erase their trail once more. Even as the Iron Legion finishes the patch job on the Helicarrier's turbines to keep the damn thing in the air for a little while longer, they find themselves with no one to chase after.
Tony, meanwhile, arrives at Coulson's side as the Agent lies dying, blood dripping from his lips. Fury is only a couple minutes away, having started running from the bridge the moment he was alerted to what Loki had done to his agent. Alas… you snooze, you lose.
"Ah-ah, Agent. You don't get to die on me today."
Tony had come prepared for this eventuality. Pulling an innocuous injector out of his pocket, he kneels down and slams it into the side of Phil's neck. The SHIELD Agent's eyes widen as he gets what is admittedly a low dosage of Extremis… nothing too powerful and nothing permanent either. Instead, it could be likened to something like a stimpack from a video game, rapidly increasing regeneration for a set amount of time, about thirty seconds to be exact.
It's more than enough to reverse Coulson's injuries though, taking him from death's door to hale and heart in the span of those thirty seconds. Just as Fury arrives at the doorway, Tony is grabbing Coulson by the hand and pulling the healed Agent to his feet.
"Stark… what did you just inject my Agent with?"
Tony grins, his eyes twinkling as he tosses the spent injector to Fury.
"Newest product from Stark Industries, coming soon to an ambulance near you. Rapid healing in a single press of the button. What do you think Coulson? Like it?"
Looking down at the hole in his shirt where Loki had stabbed him all the way through, Coulson touches the now blemish free skin visible there before sighing and giving the blandest response imaginable.
"I certainly like not being dead, I suppose."
"Stark…"
Fury's angry growl would be more impressive if… Tony didn't completely have the SHIELD Director's number. As it is, Tony just raises an eyebrow at the one-eyed man.
"We have more important things to worry about right now then having another dick measuring contest, Fury. Especially when you'll just lose this one like all the others. Let's table this discussion for the time being and focus on stopping Loki, yeah?"
Rather than capitulating, Fury grinds his teeth.
"We'd need to find her first and someone just sent the man who could locate the Tesseract on a joyride."
Tony scoffs at that.
"I removed a ticking time bomb from your already failing Helicarrier Fury. You're welcome. Besides, I know where Loki is going. Remember what Bruce said? With the tools she has now, she can make her portal at any reactor on the planet."
Fury scowls furiously but still nods.
"I don't see how that narrows it down, Stark."
Smirking, Tony raises a hand.
"Ah! But she's not going to use just any reactor on the planet, Fury. She wants a spectacle. She wants to put on the performance of a lifetime, to say that she's faced Earth's best and brought us low so that her conquest of our planet is indisputable."
Fury's one visible eye widens.
"Your Tower. She's going to use your tower."
Tony nods, pointing at Fury triumphantly.
"Knew you'd get there Nicky. Yeah, she's going to use my tower. And we're going to stop her."
For a long moment, Nick Fury's incredible dislike for Tony wars against his need to do his duty. Finally, he manages to wrestle the former under control and focus on the latter.
"Coulson?"
"Fit as a fiddle, sir."
"Alright then. Let's go stop a megalomaniac alien who thinks she's a goddess."
As the two men stomp off, Tony can't help grinning. However, his grin grows even bigger when JARVIS whispers in his mind through their ever-present connection.
Sir… I experienced a breakthrough during that last encounter with Loki. I can now see through her illusions. Her magic is no longer impermeable to me.
Trust his baby boy to figure out the impossible. Heh, this was going to be fun.
-x-X-x-
A/N: Deus Ex JARVIS strikes again! Poor Loki is about to get goosed.
Next up, a much more manufactured Battle of New York. Tony's been preparing for this, after all.
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