Tony Stark (cutsthewire) wrote in thedisplaced, @ 2018-07-22 21:05:00 |
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Entry tags: | !log/thread, loki odinson (mcu), tony stark / iron man (mcu) |
WHO: Tony Stark (MCU) & Loki Odinson (MCU)
WHAT: Tony and Loki discuss the place where magic and science meet
WHEN: backdated to July 6 or so
WHERE: Fort Neill Resettlement Bureau
WARNINGS: Talk of Infinity Stones
STATUS: Complete in gdocs
When Loki ventured to the military base, it was to find himself. Indeed, Loki had become one of Loki’s favorite people. It helped that he could sow a little chaos in the world by leaving everyone to wonder if he was mad, speaking philosophically, or referring to his alternate self when he said such things. Frankly, there were days when he was jealous of himself. The younger-looking Loki had in some ways lived more and lived better than his counterpart. That made it all the more interesting when the two of them spent time together. Loki - the elder, or at least the one who looked it and hadn’t been reborn in a new body lately - had no idea if he’d find his little brother on base today, but it had been a good excuse to pass the time. He was restless, his classes already finished for the day and his administrative work as a professor completed. That left him bored. Just as Loki was about to give up the cause as lost and return home to plot some sort of mischief facilitated by Hugin and Munin, his sharp ears caught an interesting sound. Someone working. No, not just someone. Tony Stark. Loki stole a peak at the inventor’s work and frowned. Though their last in-person conversation had gone less than well, curiosity prompted the god to ask, “What in the Nine Realms are you up to, Stark?” Tony was working in the portal room, having sent the poor bored sap on guard duty on an impromptu break while he worked, wanting neither the annoyance nor the distraction of another person in the room while he worked. He was seated at a Stark console he brought with him to access the Bureau's ancient mainframe and was typing furiously into the keyboard while one of his bots, U, fumbled with what looked like a security camera it was trying to fasten to the wall. Tony's bots were horribly antiquated and could have, probably should have, been replaced with something more up-to-date. But they were a labor of love, and Dum-E was one of the first things he had created as an engineer in his father's lab, his first A.I. He could probably work faster without the bot, but he had made a few upgrades to U to make him more portable. Seemed as good a time as any to take him out for a test drive. "Come on, man," he chided the bot without looking up from his transparent screen. "You break it, you buy it." From the corner of his eye, he saw someone enter the room and assumed it was the guard returning early. He was about to berate the guy when the intruder spoke. Tony looked up from his console and rolled his eyes. "Nothing that would be of interest to you." Untrue, of course. He was in the process of updating the sensors in the portal room to detect magic from Julia's universe, a precaution that was deemed necessary after one of her own received a memory dump. But Tony hoped if he did not engage, Loki would get bored and slink back to wherever he came from. Alas, poor Tony, but Loki was already bored and therefore disinclined to slink anywhere that might lead him away from potential fun. He didn’t have Einar with him, nor any of his other animals, and he had no ambitions in that instant to express his regret for New York. He’d already done that. No, Tony was about to get a crash course in why having Loki for a brother kept one on one’s toes. “I’m interested,” Loki declared, stepping fully into the room. “You’re fiddling with machines. That makes you a point of interest.” He smiled, one of the bright, mischievous smiles that made him look disarming and like a boat load of trouble all at once. “In fact, I think you’re trying to do something with those circuits that they weren’t built to do.” He deftly held out one hand and cast a spell that spared the security camera from an untimely end when Tony’s bot fumbled it again. Loki didn’t even look over his shoulder at the camera as he used is magic to hold it in position for the machine. “Since when?” Tony could not recall Loki expressing any particular interest in his work before. With a smile like that, he anticipated Loki’s only interest was in getting under Tony’s skin. He was about to call Loki’s observation into question, when the Asgardian cast his spell. The magic might have produced a negative reaction from Tony when he first arrived here, but months of living among the displaced, striking up a relationship with a hedgewitch, and becoming one himself for a week had supplanted much of his anxiety associated with how magic had been used against him in the past. His only surprise came from Loki appearing to be helpful. U “looked” at Tony and then back at the sensor receiver that was being suspended by magic. “What, you need him to mount it for you too?” Tony complained at the bot. He turned his attention to Loki. “I’d hardly let that stop me. Besides, most of the tech in this place was new when the Internet was too. Everything could use an overhaul.” Loki shrugged, as though he weren’t holding sensitive equipment steadily in place for Tony’s machine to secure. “Since now. My class this morning proved uneventful, and my brother ought to be allowed some time with his Valkyrie alone.” The god moved closer to Tony’s work and eyed the circuits more critically. “Primitive,” he announced, “though I suppose your internet is rather old these days by human standards. You’re lucky these pick up on any portal activity at all. You’d be better off trusting Heimdall, were he here.” Loki was careful to mask any emotion when he voiced the watchman’s name. He’d been fond of him, once upon a time, and the loss on the Statesman still troubled him. “You’re not looking for ordinary energy signatures, are you?” "One thing at a time," Tony grumbled. If they were back home, he would have overhauled this entire place immediately after they got here. But as it was, he had to do everything piecemeal. Assuming he got the green light from the Natasha and Peggy. Assuming he even asked. "Even this old junk can identify energy signatures. Magical energy signatures are something else entirely." Back when Julia asked him to have a crack at her wards, Tony had discovered that the far superior sensors on his suit and in his workshop could identify the energy signature of her magic. His sensors had not known exactly what they were looking at, but they knew they were looking at something. It had been simple enough to write a program recreating the signature to identify it. In addition to outfitting the portal room with sensors capable of detecting this particular brand of magic, he was installing an alert system that would be initiated if the energy signature was detected around a new arrival. “Perhaps,” Loki allowed, “if the energy isn’t shielded from detection, and if it’s recognizable to your science and machines as energy at all.” He released the spell that held the camera as soon as U had it sufficiently secured. The twist of his hand, as though he were snapping a cord, was mostly out of habit rather than need. Loki enjoyed the showmanship. He always had, no matter how often his so-called tricks went unnoticed and unmentioned until they made someone sufficiently irritated. He frowned as he examined the technology. “Did Strange put you up to this?” “My science and machines, yes,” Tony replied haughtily, quickly completing a few more keystrokes on the console in front of him, then leaned back in his chair with his hands clasped behind his head. “And now the Bureau’s too.” An alarm sounded in the room, and the monitor at the control station flashed the message, “Magical Energy Signature Detected.” He rose from the chair and crossed the room to the control station and pressed a few keys. The alarm stopped. It had been triggered by the key Julia had given him, which he carried in his pocket, but he kept that to himself. Tony turned and arched an eyebrow at Loki’s suggestion that Stephen Strange had anything to do with this. “As a matter of fact, this was my idea.” If Tony had hoped to get a start out of the god, he would be disappointed. Loki rolled his eyes. “Yes, wonderfully impressive. Your machine made a noise.” He crossed his arms, head tilted in consideration. “Detection can only do so much. You’ll need more if someone truly hostile or frightened for their life begins casting. You’re clever, but you’re no sorcerer, Tony Stark. Do you truly intend to face magic with science alone?” “Isn’t that what we have portal guards for?” Unprovoked, Tony began dismantling his work station. “Besides, the portal’s power dampening abilities make your scenario improbable. Detection, on the other hand, is essential to guard against, say, a user of a particular flavor of magic masquerading as someone else.” He was intentionally vague, as it was not his doomsday scenario to tell. “An alert goes out to the former inhabitants of that universe and the newcomer is dealt with at their discretion.” Tony paused in his work for a moment to give Loki a smug look. “I’m not as woefully ignorant of magic as you think, O mighty sorcerer.” The level of sarcasm was masterfully high. Loki outright laughed. “Someone pretending to be someone else? Like me?” Though Tony had missed that whole charade, entertaining as it had been - up until Thor gained a rather awkward set of memories that had sent Loki running to get as far away from his brother as possible. It had been nice being freely welcomed in the guise of Odin while it had lasted. To illustrate his point (but mostly just for fun), Loki flicked his wrist. Still, the god had his own concerns. Brow creased in thought, and no small amount of worry, he asked, “Can it detect the Infinity Stones?” Tony had heard about the Odin disguise, but had forgotten about it until that moment. “Actually, yes, now that you mention it,” he replied before a familiar sensation overtook his body. He glared at Loki with a face that felt much different than his own. He looked down at his body to discover his fingernails were painted with blue polish and he was wearing some sort of metallic bathrobe and sandals. He brought a polished hand up to his face and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Why?” His tone was more quiet exasperation than fear or anger. It was evident that this was not his first shapeshifting rodeo. Mention of the Infinity Stones made his strange new body stiffen. “The two that I’ve encountered, yes.” He cleared his throat. His voice was not his own. “Each one gives off a very different energy signature, though at a molecular level, there are similarities.” “You don’t see the resemblance? Ostentatious, wealthy, entirely too clever for his own good?” The trickster god made a show of stepping back to more fully consider the picture Tony made. “Though I suppose you’ve never had the pleasure of the Grandmaster’s company. Did Bruce tell you about him? Or Thor? I’ll admit the man’s outdone you when it comes to hedonism by virtue of time alone, and you do have better taste in architecture.” Loki’s fingers tapped restlessly against his elbows as he stood with his arms crossed loosely in front of him. “If you had assistance, do you believe you could make adjustments? To detect the Infinity Stones, I mean.” Tony had heard of the Grandmaster in a general sense from both Bruce and Thor, and he was not flattered by the comparison. “Neat trick, but not wholly original. When Tumbleweed crossed over into the Twilight Zone a few weeks back, someone thought it would be worthwhile to turn me into a peacock.” While it had not exactly been funny at the time, the impermanence of the transformation made it easy to make light of now. At Loki’s comment about the Grandmaster's hedonism, Tony reached up to adjust the high collar of his ridiculous robe as he rolled his shoulders. “Something to aspire to, then.” He expected Loki's little game was intended to earn a reaction out of Tony. He was determined not to give him one. Tony raised his well-groomed eyebrows. “I do,” he replied without a hint of emotion. “Then someone had good taste.” One dark eyebrow lifted, a fresh smile of amusement tugging at Loki’s lips. He didn’t much care how Tony reacted, so long as he himself was amused by the transformation. Loki hadn’t turned anyone into anything else in ages. Note to self: Thor was overdue for some mischief. Surely the Avengers wouldn’t hold that against Loki. With a careless wave of his hand, the god let the changes to face and body go, leaving Tony looking like himself, but clad in the Grandmaster’s finery. “Hmm, no. That’s actually disturbing,” he remarked, and dissolved the remainder of the spell. “As to the stones … ” Here, he grew serious again. The tapping of his fingers returned, borne out of nerves rather than boredom. “I suspect it would be wise to have measures in place. No one needs those set loose in this world. I doubt you would trust me, but I urge you to find someone you can tolerate. For all of our sakes.” "Depends on your constitution. I believe Rhodes used the words 'what nightmares are made of' to describe my appearance." Tony shrugged. "Guess animal-human hybrids aren't to everyone's taste." Back to himself, Tony resumed packing up his gear, ignoring the way his body tingled slightly, like a limb that had fallen asleep. "I am open to suggestions, " he replied without looking up from his work. Bruce was an obvious choice. Maybe Shuri. She had apparently had a good look at the Mind Stone in Wakanda. Strange, of course. And Loki, who had wielded two of the stones himself. “Please tell me there are pictures.” Loki conjured a swift illusion, a web of deep red that writhed in the air, ebbing and flowing with no seeming direction in mind. “The Reality Stone,” he supplied. “I am also well acquainted with the Space Stone, which I expect you know. As to the Mind Stone … ” The god’s expression darkened, his shoulders tense at the recollection of painful memories. “That, I would rather not discuss. Perhaps you have sufficient knowledge from your own unfortunate encounters to manage. But what I know of the others I will gladly share if it provides us all with some warning. You had best inquire with Strange as well, and whomever else you deem worth drawing into the development of your detection system.” “You might ask your brother.” Tony had sent several gratuitous selfies to the other Avengers for their amusement or, in the case of Rhodey, nightmare fuel. He stopped and looked at Loki then, his jaw clenching slightly as the god spoke and the illusion swirled between them. Tony had been doing his best to keep his thoughts off of the Stones and the future that awaited him. He had spent countless hours attempting to find a way to reach back through the portal to his time, his universe, to warn himself of what was to come. When he’d failed to find a way, scientific or magical, he had taken it hard. He had been forced to turn his attention to other pursuits to keep his brain occupied by other concerns. But it was always there, never completely out of mind. His concerns had been with home. It had not occurred to him to be worried about here. What did that say about him? A blind spot? A lack of loyalty to this place? Fear of failing against Thanos for a second time? He didn’t much care for the answer. “Let me see what I can come up with.” Tony’s mouth was dry. He reached down and threw the last of his equipment into the case he brought with him. He was suddenly very eager to leave. Loki nodded, filing away the suggestion to ask Thor, and banishing the illusion of the Aether as though it had never been there. How foolish he’d been to hope that the Collector would keep the artifact safe from Thanos in a place like Knowhere. “As you wish.” He inclined his head, possibly the first respectful gesture he’d ever granted Tony, and it wasn’t the gesture of a prince dismissing a lesser being. It was true gratitude, the most sincere expression of it Loki could offer in the moment. “You know how to find me when you are ready to entertain further discussion.” He glanced again at the space where Tony had been tinkering and added, “It is fine work, Stark.” Loki turned to go, intent on finding his counterpart. He hadn’t meant for things to take such a turn, and he could use a little cheering up. Tony nodded slowly. “I’ll be in touch.” A statement with intent behind it rather than a brush off. He watched the Asgardian go, his mind a flurry of plans, questions, anxieties. He had no memories of Thanos of his own to go by, just second-hand information. Events, the terrible outcome of which, he still seemed strangely detached from. But there could be little mistaking the god’s worry. Fear even. And that was more alarming than anything Bruce had told him. He would be seeing Loki again sooner rather than later. |