Chapter Text
Loki was exhausted in every sense of the word: physically, emotionally, psychologically, and however else! The mischievous god was still healing from his round of being the green monster's personal punching bag. At least the beating had forced Thanos and the Other out of his head, so his mind was his own once again.
Yet, he was not feeling relief or any sort of happiness. Why should he, especially with Thor’s unwavering, strong grasp on his shoulder? He was a prisoner of these “Avengers” and would soon be locked away in Asgard's dungeons. Of this, he was certain: Odin would have no mercy on a Jotun runt that he had no more use for.
For a brief moment, Loki thought about telling the truth about recent events. He dismissed the idea almost immediately. Who would believe him, the God of Lies, about the torture and mind manipulation he had endured?
So, Loki kept silent with his green eyes cast downward. He vaguely heard the Man of Iron complaining while his broken armor was removed from his fragile, mortal body. Norns, did that man ever shut up?!
The spies were the closest to Loki and Thor. Hawkeye was standing near the Black Widow, and both were engaged in conversation. No surprise there. The Captain was on some communication device, which was pressed to his ear. He was on the other side of the penthouse, as though that somehow afforded him privacy. The green beast was standing a little ways off, closer to the spies than anyone else. Loki sighed and tried to keep his expression blank before the familiar voice of Dr. Selvig got his attention.
“Uhh… where should I put this?”
Loki's eyes tiredly flicked up to see the scientist holding the silver briefcase. The Tesseract. The Space Stone. And suddenly, Loki’s will to survive, his desire to escape his certain future Hel, flooded his body with a vengeance.
For once, the youngest Asgardian Prince did not have a well laid plan. If he succeeded, he could use the Space Stone to get away. If not, well, he wouldn't be any worse off than he already was.
Before any of the Avengers could reply to Selvig's query, Loki quickly lifted his foot and brought it down with great prejudice on top of Thor’s toes. The Thunderer let out a surprised shout, inadvertently released his death grip on his younger brother's shoulder, and turned away to reach for his injury.
The God of Mischief used the brief second of the Avengers’ confusion to grab the Little Hawk by the shirt and shove him bodily into his fellow spy. Both mortals were sent a good distance backwards before the hulking monster caught them as carefully as he could. That eliminated the immediate threats.
Loki's gaze quickly found Dr. Selvig, who now looked absolutely terrified. The god vaguely heard the Man of Iron calling for his armor. He had to hurry if he wanted this to work.
The mage charged straight for Dr. Selvig, but the mortal had a bit more defiance in him than Loki originally guessed. The scientist tried to make a sharp retreat and slammed straight through one of the windows that had somehow not been broken during the earlier fight. Captain America finally ran over and pulled the extremely dazed Dr. Selvig back from the ledge.
All Loki had eyes for, though, was that silver briefcase. When the desperate mortal had crashed through the window, he dropped the Tesseract over the ledge in his confusion.
Loki's only hope for freedom was now free falling down the side of the building. The god made another split second decision. He leapt from the fractured window and dove after the Space Stone.
The god kept his body straight to increase his speed as he zeroed in on the briefcase. It felt like an eternity as the air blew violently against his body. The ground was rapidly approaching.
Finally, he was able to reach out and grab his prize. Loki ripped open the metal and yanked the Tesseract from inside. He let out a strained laugh at this victory.
Using what little strength and sieder reserves he had left, the god activated the Space Stone. Something strong wrapped around Loki’s lower legs from behind. It felt like a pair of arms. Before the mage could really notice or question why there was an iron grip around his legs, the Tesseract activated. From one second to the next, Loki was teleported out of New York City just before he would have hit the pavement.
The god didn't realize, however, that he had inadvertently taken Iron Man with him.
Tony Stark could not believe this shit storm of a day! First, he had to keep that damn helicarrier from plummeting. Next, Pepper broke up with him over the following phone call because his “reckless need to put himself into the action” finally broke their already tenuous relationship. Then, the invasion and following battle left him with enough nightmare fuel to power his PTSD into his old age. Well, if he lived that long, since his previous and current lifestyles definitely didn't give hope to living a long life. Wait, not the point!
The inventor was exhausted and had been relieved when the battle was finally over. He could finally get back to his life, even if it was a hot mess. At least there shouldn't be any more excitement for a while.
But, no…! All because Reindeer Games apparently still had some fight in him. Tony had only just gotten out of his battle damaged suit when the psycho god had made his move. The new Iron Man armor took precious seconds to attach to Tony and, during that time, Loki had already jumped out the damn window.
Tony hadn't thought about it. The inventor had powered up his thrusters. Then, he dove after his insane enemy. He couldn’t let the god get his hands on the Tesseract.
He flew with all possible speed. Finally, he was close enough and wrapped his arms around Loki’s legs, intending to pull them both back up before they hit the street and sidewalk below. Before he could, however, the Tesseract's blue light wrapped around them both and teleported them away.