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This was not, to say the least, a conversation Tony had been looking forward to having. Actually, it was one he’d been actively dreading, and trying to think how to handle, off and on, for a while. Because he’d figured that Thor was coming back sooner or later - he hadn’t let himself really consider that might not be the case - and knew that when he came back he’d talk to Loki, and Loki…
Well, he doubted Loki was going to give him a very fair shake in his version of what had gone down. Steve might. Maybe. But last time they’d seen each other he’d been pretty damn pissed.
And Tony had seen what had happened to the last person who’d captured and imprisoned Loki when Thor got to him. Or, well, hadn’t seen, because whatever remained after Thor finished killing him had been buried under an entire castle’s worth of rubble.
So, yeah. Hadn’t been looking forward to this one.
But now Thor was here, standing in front of him wearing a new eyepatch (seriously, what was the story there? did he get to ask?), and Tony couldn’t help but feel like it was a good thing that things were going to shit because it meant Thor probably wouldn’t break any bones.
“So,” Tony said. “Welcome back to Planet Earth, I guess. Belatedly.”
Thor’s expression remained cold. “I am not here to make small talk.”
“Not even a little?”
Thor said nothing. It occurred to Tony that he had never, not really, been on the wrong end of Thor’s anger. Not even at their first meeting, when Thor had been trying to pound him into the ground with Mjolnir - that had been different. A fit of pique. This was…
If he was in the business of quailing, he thought he would be quailing.
“Right,” Tony said. “Okay. I’m guessing there are some things you want to say.”
“I would rather hear what you have to say, first.”
“Are you going to listen?”
“Yes,” Thor said. “I will listen.” His voice was flat and final, though.
So, what, you’ve already made up your mind? he thought bitterly. You know everything already, is that it? Just walk in after vanishing off the face of the Earth and decide everything’s my fault-
Tony’s jaw clenched.
“You weren’t here,” he said. “You don’t know what it was like. Ross already knew Loki was here, did they tell you that? He had footage from his and Barnes’ revenge rampage, showed him taking me out and then him and Steve getting cozy. He said we either turned the two of them over and signed the damn papers or - or nothing. Or else. It wasn’t like we had a lot of bargaining room.”
Thor still said nothing.
“Then someone went and blew up a bomb, made it look like Barnes did it. Steve went off the reservation and dragged a bunch of the others off after him. We were going to talk things through but then Ross interrupted and things went south - I had to do something, all right? People were going to die. Loki was going to kill people. That would’ve made everything worse. As it was - yeah, I knew Loki was going to get locked up but I figured that was better than dead.”
Still nothing. Jesus. What was Thor thinking? It seemed like he should be able to tell - Thor wasn’t exactly subtle, generally speaking - but he was having a devil of a time right now.
“Are you going to say something?”
“I thought you wanted me to listen.”
Jesus fuck. “Yeah, that doesn’t mean I want you to just stand there staring at me. Thor-”
“Where does Victor von Doom’s technology come into this?”
Oh, great. Yeah. That. It had seemed like a good idea at the time - it still seemed like a good idea, honestly. They’d needed a way to contain Loki. To control him. And it wasn’t like anyone else had found one.
No one else seemed to see it that way.
Big surprise.
“What about it?”
“When did you begin researching ways of cutting Loki off from his magic?”
Tony gritted his teeth. “I was being careful. And turns out that there’s a backdoor in his brain that Thanos can get through, so seems like maybe I was right.”
“Be careful, Stark,” Thor said, his voice dropping even lower. Tony tensed, some deep instinctive part of him telling him to hide in the grass until the big predator went away.
“It’s not like it hurts him,” Tony said, valiantly holding his ground.
“You are right,” Thor said after a moment. “It doesn’t cause him pain as you or I would reckon it. But it is a violation. It is a theft of something intrinsic to every part of Loki’s being. It is-” Thor inhaled through his nose. “It is,” he said, voice brutally, viciously flat, “a kind of rape.”
Tony recoiled. “That’s not-”
“Would you know?” Thor asked. “Are you so certain? Are you so familiar with magic, and how it works, and what it means, that you would understand?”
He felt sick. “I…”
“Then there is the matter of his imprisonment,” Thor said. “You say, better locked up than dead. But I am given to understand that this man, this General Ross - that death is the outcome he desired. And he was the one who had Loki in his hands. Not you. Is that correct?”
The research potential, Tony remembered Ross saying. “He wouldn’t’ve dared. Not with you out there. I made sure he knew that.”
“You believed that the hypothetical of a future threat might sway him,” Thor said.
Yeah. You’re a pretty big threat, especially considering what happened to Doom. But he’d wondered since then, hadn’t he? If Ross might not’ve considered it worth taking the chance, or if he just thought he could control Thor if it came down to it. He would’ve been wrong, but he might’ve been that stupid. “You’re a pretty big threat,” he said aloud.
“That is a great deal of confidence on which to stake another’s life.”
“I’m a confident kind of guy,” Tony said, because he was an idiot. The look Thor leveled at him could’ve killed a small mammal. Maybe a medium mammal.
“Then,” Thor went on, “you say that you acted because Loki would have killed people. I would say that you are wrong there, as well.”
Tony blinked. “Again,” he said, “you weren’t there. You didn’t see what was happening. I know you love your brother, Thor, you want to think the best of him, obviously, but it was a fight and he could’ve killed everyone on that field-”
“You aren’t wrong,” Thor said. “He could have. Easily, even, excepting the Vision. And if he had intended to do so, he would have done it quickly, before anyone he cared about was at risk of being hurt.” His eye bored into Tony, cold and implacable. “That is how he has always been. I might have drawn battles out for the sake of the glory, or because I enjoyed the struggle. Loki’s preference was always to end things quickly, efficiently, and completely. No mercy, and no quarter.”
All the air seemed to have left Tony’s lungs. He thought of the HYDRA bases they’d seen after Barnes and Loki had been through them. No mercy, and no quarter.
“I didn’t have a choice,” Tony said. His voice sounded very weak.
“Did you not? It seems Steve chose differently. That would suggest there was one.”
It seemed like a good idea at the time. Yeah, he wasn’t going to try that one.
“And what about the part where he’s a brain hack waiting to happen,” Tony said.
“Do not tell me that is your rationale. You were working on a means to cripple Loki well before you knew that was a possibility.”
“Because he’s dangerous, Thor,” Tony burst out. “God, it’s like - he might be doing better but he’s still unstable as hell, and violent, and way fucking stronger than most of the rest of us-”
“You are correct,” Thor said, “in your assessment that my brother is dangerous. He is. So am I.”
“You don’t have a history of trying to conquer planets.”
“My father did. My sister did. I had a lack of opportunity.”
Sister? Okay, probably not the time to ask. Tony wanted to sit down. Or put a piece of furniture between himself and Thor. He held his ground. “What do you want me to say?”
“I want you to apologize,” Thor said. “And I want you to swear that you will never act to cause my brother harm again. Or I cannot promise I will confine myself to words.”
“Thor,” Tony said, “we’re friends.”
“I believed we were,” Thor said. “That is why I am confining myself to words. That, and the fact that Steve asked me to do as much. Because even after what you have done, Steve does not wish harm to come to you. Steve is, as I have always known, a more tolerant man than I.”
Fuck, Tony thought. Fuck. He felt like Thor had just taken his trademark hammer to Tony’s chest. He took a deep breath. How could he promise that, how could he promise when Loki still might turn on them, even if it wasn’t his fault, or what if Thanos threatened Steve, or, or, or.
His shoulders slumped. Realistically, Tony...something goes wrong, you’re not going to be the one to stop it. You’re going to be the first one in the firing line. He’d seen how Loki was looking at him. Like Tony was a mouse and Loki was a cat crouched and watching, waiting.
I will get out of here, sooner or later. You had best hope I am in a forgiving mood when I do.
Tony didn’t think Loki had forgiving moods.
“I’m sorry,” he said heavily. It seemed like the only thing he could say. “I know...this isn’t how I wanted it to go.”
Some of the cold anger eased a little. For a moment he thought Thor looked tired, too. They all were, weren’t they? Worn out, and here they were facing the biggest fight of their lives so far, and at each others’ throats.
“I do not believe you are an evil man,” Thor said.
“Well,” Tony said, with a weak, fake smile. “That’s a relief.”
“And it isn’t me to whom you owe an apology.”
God. Tony wanted to have that conversation even less. He pressed his hands into his eyes. “Guess you’re the only one,” he said unhappily.
“Your oath,” Thor said. Tony found a chair and sat down in it, feeling utterly defeated.
“Yeah,” he said. “All right. Fine. I won’t hurt your baby brother.” The words were bitter. He felt bitter, too.
“Thank you.”
Thor didn’t leave immediately. Tony stayed where he was. He wanted to go home, or call Pepper, or…
“Things went bad so fast. I thought I could keep them under control.”
“For you,” Thor said. “For your friends. But from what I hear...any security you found was never going to be for Loki, or for James Barnes.”
How often had Tony turned that around in his head? Trying to figure out if maybe there’d been some way out, something he could’ve done that would’ve meant keeping the murder twins away from Ross, safe but contained. He’d never come up with anything.
Uncontrollable weaponry is rather your specialty.
The bastard really got in your head, didn’t he? Sucked when he was fucking right. He'd tried to do the right thing, tried to fix what he’d broken, and everything got a whole the fuck lot worse.
“I am glad you are well,” Thor said. “And we will fight together for the same ends now. But I will say this. Unless and until Loki forgives you, I will not consider you a friend of mine. And Loki has a very long memory.” He inclined his head. “I imagine we will speak later, when the others arrive. Good day, Tony Stark.”
He turned and walked away. Tony didn’t call after him. He felt like he’d swallowed a mouthful of rocks.
How do you do it, asshole, he thought bitterly. How do you get people, good people, to care about you that much? To have that kind of loyalty? You don’t deserve it. Cold-blooded, snake-hearted bastard.
Steve’s husband, now. That must’ve been some wedding.
God, but he suddenly felt very, very, lonely.