Utter Darkness

He paced up and down the room muttering to himself. “Reckless, foolish, idiotic, moronic…” He paused and stared at the ceiling, “Wonderful, erotic…” he sighed heavily as he began to pace again, “And yet not nearly satisfying enough to have come so close to being caught.” His hands clenched into fists, he continued to grumble and mutter enough to wake the room’s sole occupant.

“Wha, what whadduyowant?” Tony Stark sat up sharply. He squinted and rubbed his eyes. “Loki? What the hell, what are you doing in here? JARVIS, lights.” Tony studied the god before him, Loki looked manic. Tony did a quick review… no windows, it was an interior room. Mental sigh of relief. “Okay, we need to seriously talk about boundaries. It’s what… 3 a.m. That’s too damn early…” Loki still hadn’t responded, the god seemed to be wrapped up in whatever drama was going on in his own head. “Hey! Rudolph! What’s going on?” Loki’s head popped up. He looked frantic and frankly, that had Tony more than a little worried. “What’s the crisis?” Tony snapped his fingers at Loki. “A little input would be helpful here.”

“I am a bigger fool than I ever believed Thor to be.”

“Shit. What the hell did you do?” Tony asked it had only been a few hours since he had seen the god last. Loki had been present (though invisible to everyone but Tony), at the long meeting between the Avengers.

“I followed Thor to Darcy’s room after the meeting ended this evening.” Loki sat heavily on the chair across from Tony’s bed.

Tony’s eyes narrowed, he leaned over and reached into his bedside table and sat up. On his arm was a gauntlet from the Iron Man suit. Loki finally looked up and seemed to be aware of his surroundings when the gauntlet began to hum. Tony’s face was deadly serious. “What The Hell Happened?” he demanded.

“I have done a terrible disservice to Darcy. I have overstepped a boundary and I fear I may have done something she might find unforgivable.”

Tony crossed the room and held the gauntlet’s repulsor inches from the god’s temple. “You better clarify right now, or we’ll see just how immortal you are without a head.”

“She is unharmed.” Loki looked unsure of how to continue. “But I… she… she decided to follow your advice and watched the security footage you edited.”

“I’m still not seeing how that has anything to do with you doing something unforgivable.” Tony growled.

“After she watched that, she also watched part of the footage of my last few hours here with her.” Loki stood, ignoring the repulsor still pointed at him and began to pace.

“And?” Tony prompted impatiently.

Loki scrubbed at his face. “And she was… inspired… and I… I watched.”

Tony cocked his head as he processed the information. “She…?” Loki nodded. “And you watched?” Again, the god nodded. Tony began to laugh as the repulsor powered down. “Damn, that’s what got you all freaked out? You watched the woman you love, get off watching a video of you two having sex. Why would you think that’s unforgivable?”

Loki looked aghast, “I invaded her privacy.”

Tony rolled his eyes. “Did she catch you?”

“Of course not!”

Tony sat heavily on the end of his bed. “You woke me at 3 in the damn morning, and you didn’t get caught? Unless you plan on telling her, I’d say you’re in the clear. And I’m going back to sleep.”

“Stark, this is not something that should be so lightly dismissed. I have erred and I find myself at a loss as to how I should make recompense.”

Tony scrubbed at his face with his bare hand. “Okay, quick little culture lesson to the Asgardian. Humans sometimes get horny and relieve themselves, and sometimes they even let their lovers watch. It’s a little kinky but fun. I got a feeling that if Darcy had her memories she would have absolutely no problem doing exactly that. She’s not real happy with you right now but there’s nothing to say that after you figure out how to fix her memories she won’t gladly run back into your waiting arms.” Tony huffed. “This is ridiculous. I should not be the one you go to for relationship advice.” He stood, removed the gauntlet from the Iron Man suit from his arm, walked over to a cabinet beside his bed, and pulled out a bottle of scotch. “I think I need brain bleach. That was way more about Darcy than I ever wanted to know. Want a drink?”

Loki nodded. “I value your input. You are the closet to family Darcy has here and I am glad she has your support.”

Tony poured them both a drink and they sat quietly for a while contemplating their glasses. Loki still looked sullen and for lack of a better option, Tony decided to change the subject. “So will Thor’s plan work?”

Loki looked up, nonplussed at Tony’s abrupt statement. “No, I do not believe it will be sufficient. Thanos cannot be brought down so simply. The Gauntlet I gave you is the only option. It is the only weapon capable of bringing him down.”

“I still don’t quite get how all that works. So I tell Cap that it’s Stark tech, and that it can read his bioelectrical signature aka it can read his mind and he can control it? How does it really work? I have to be able to give Steve a believable explanation for this. And how the hell am I supposed to hide it from Thor, and yet still use it in the battle?”

Loki took a deep breath, “Many of the weapons and other seemingly simple things from Asgard as labeled as magic by those here on Midgard… Earth. The technology is so far beyond your comprehension that it is simpler explained as such. But I shall endeavor to enlighten you. It is called the Infinity Gauntlet. There are six stones of power that fit onto the gauntlet.
The blue gem is the Mind Gem, it gives the user the power to greatly strengthen and enhance mental and psionic powers and access the thoughts and dreams of other beings.
The purple gem is the Space Gem, it allows the user to exist in any or all locations, move any object anywhere throughout reality and warp or rearrange space.
The yellow gem is the Reality Gem, it allows the user to fulfill wishes, even if the wish is in direct contradiction with scientific laws.
The red gem is the Power Gem, it accesses all power and energy that ever has or will exist.
The green gem is the Soul Gem, it allows the user to steal, control, manipulate, and alter souls, living or dead.
The orange gem is the Time Gem; it allows the user total control over the past, present and future. Also, it enables time travel; it can age and de-age beings.
In combination, the six Infinity Gems and the Infinity Gauntlet can make the bearer unassailable, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. In short… a true god.”

Tony sat quietly as Loki stood to pace.

“It was the weapon of Thanos, eons ago. Odin’s grandfather Buri, barely managed to seize it from Thanos before he was able to use it. Buri separated the gems from the gauntlet, placed the gauntlet in Asgard’s weapons vault, and cast the gems throughout the universe. Buri then cast a seemingly powerless Thanos into an abyss so vast that he would never be found, would never escape, and would never be remembered. Thanos lie moldering, plotting in that abyss for millennia. Unfortunately, a great fool came across that abyss and found Thanos, and the Mad Titan was not as powerless as Buri had believed. The fool was so mad for power, for vengeance that he freed Thanos. In return for his deed, the fool was made less than a slave to the Mad Titan’s whims.”

Loki walked back to his chair picked up the still mostly full glass of scotch. He downed the rest in one swallow. “In my lifetime, I have acquired three of the gems, and of course the gauntlet itself. It is highly probable that Thanos has found the other three.”

“Whoa, wait, so which three do we have?” Tony interrupted.

Loki gave him a dirty look for the interruption but answered anyway. “The Mind Gem, the Space Gem, and the Reality Gem.”

A sudden thought occurred to Tony, “The Reality Gem is the yellow one… Shit! That was the stone my mom left for me! How the hell did she get a hold…”

“Focus please, Tony. The Mad Titan is capable of using the gems without the gauntlet. We are not so fortunate. The Gauntlet is unruly; it desires ever to return to the hand of its master. The good Captain is the only one noble enough to be able to bring it to heel without being seduced by...”

“If you think so highly of Steve then why you did you douse him with hot coffee and push him down into the mud today?” Tony quirked an eyebrow. “A bit childish don’t ya think?”

Loki bristled. “He should not attempt to woo my…” he stuttered, “…Darcy.” He stalked over to the bottle of scotch, poured himself another glass and downed in one go. “Again, we are off subject, there other things of more importance we should discuss.”

“Like how you almost got me tased in the balls because you couldn’t keep your hands to yourself?” Tony smirked.

Loki’s jaw twitched, and he fairly growled, “Like how we should set about to saving your world, so that I may repair the damage to Darcy’s memory and therefore touch her as freely as I please.”

Tony shook his head and downed his own glass of scotch. “Alright, I brought those details on myself,” he muttered. “Okay so Thor’s hit ‘em with everything we got plan is out, what can we do?”

“Thor’s plan is not wrong, it simply needs adjusting.” Loki rolled his eyes and together they began to formulate a viable plan.

*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*

The week following the test, leading to the actual first run of the Einstein-Rosen Bridge Machine was crazy busy. Darcy had mounds of data to input following the test run. Jane was split between spending time with Thor and micro managing the final plans for the first run.
Thor was about as subtle as a freight train, he kept asking Darcy how she was doing, and it took every ounce of her will power not to slap him for it. She’d probably only end up with a sore hand anyway. After about the 50th time she begged Tony to call Thor off.

There were a flurry of Avenger meetings and so for a few days the guys were hardly seen around the labs. In some ways, it was a relief in some ways not so much…

“Darcy, have you seen the hardcopy of the spreadsheet on the particle data from the second dry run?” Jane looked almost frantic.

“Yes, it’s in the file cabinet under ‘Second Dry Run’, I put it back there this morning after the last time you looked it over.” Darcy rolled her eyes. Jane had become slightly obsessed with an anomaly that she and Erik had previously dismissed. Darcy took off her glasses, and scrubbed at her face in frustration. The first full run was scheduled to happen in less than 18 hours, they had all been up for the last 36 hours working on the final preparations, and Darcy was pretty sure that unless Thor came and physically dragged Jane to bed, nobody was sleeping until this was over.

“Hey, when’s the last time you left the lab?” Tony’s voice startled Darcy.

She slipped her glasses back on and scowled. “Um, yesterday afternoon? Maybe, I don’t know.”

Tony looked over a Jane. “Okay so is there anything else that really needs to be done, or is she just overanalyzing?”

Darcy thought about it, “Well, from what both Erik and Jane have said, there could be some valid concerns about this anomaly, but for my part, I’d say you’re a freakin genius and you’ve been over this with a fine tooth comb, and if you say it’ll run right, then it’ll run right.”

“Aww, your confidence in me gives me goose-bumpy feels, Kiddo.” He ruffled her hair.

“Dammit Tony!” she growled as she tried to straighten her messed up hair.

“Okay, people, we’re gonna call it a wrap for today. The run is scheduled for 10 am tomorrow, so we need everyone there by seven. Everybody go home and get a good night’s sleep so we’re all bright-eyed in the morning.” Tony announced loudly.

Jane began to protest but Tony would hear none of it. “Look, if these people don’t rest before we run the machine there are going to be mistakes. And with something this big we really can’t afford mistakes.”

The lab techs and interns hurried out while Tony and Jane argued. “But there was an anomaly in the second…”

“Yes, in the second dry run and in all the data that followed. We’ve gone over this, you had to accommodate for the alignment of Ursa Major. It’s going to be fine. You signed off on that detail two months ago, and since then so have a dozen other brilliant scientists, myself included. It’s going to be fine.” The billionaire reasoned, both Tony and Darcy could see Jane’s resolve weakening.

“Jane, are you free to dine with me this evening?” Thor stood in the doorway, a bright hopeful smile on his face. Darcy chuckled, ‘and the blonde god hits it straight outta the park!’

Jane turned a soft smile to Thor and left without any further protest.

Darcy slumped in her chair. “Thanks Tony. I am so tired; I think we all needed an intervention.”

“A little birdy told me that she’d been slave-driving you all for almost 36 hours straight.”

“I know she means well, she’s just anxious that this goes off without a hitch.”

“That’s not going to happen. According to Thor, the big bad that Loki warned us about is definitely coming.” Tony stared at his hands, “I don’t want you there tomorrow.”

Darcy sat up straighter. “No way, you don’t get to say that. I am going to be there tomorrow.”

“Technically I’m your boss and I can make you stay here.” Tony spoke to her as though she were a child that was protesting bedtime.

“Um, no you can’t, and you won’t! I deserve to be there just as much as Jane and all of the rest of you!” Darcy faltered.

Tony took a deep breath, “I didn’t want to say this, but really you’re not needed there, you’ll likely only get in the way…”

Whatever else he was going to say was cut off as she slapped him… hard. “Hell no! I’m gonna stop you right there with your ‘I’m the man and I have to protect you’ bullshit. You are not going to insult me and belittle me to make me not want to be there or feel like I don’t deserve to be there just you can keep me safe. I can take care of myself thank you very much!”

Tony stood up, working his jaw as he growled, “This isn’t a mugger that you can take down with your measly little taser Darcy. This guy that’s coming, his sole purpose is to kill, there’s no reasoning with him, there’s no running from him or hiding from him. There’s a strong likelihood that none of us on the front lines will survive. He’s coming whether we want him to or not, we’re simply hoping to control the devastation, by controlling the when and where.” Tony was in her face, angrier than she’d ever seen, “You can take care of yourself? As if,” he snorted. “Because you did such a great job when Loki decided to rape you and take your memories.”

Darcy paled, “Wow Stark, that was a low blow, even for an asshole like you.” She shook her head, “I already told you, I’m going to be there tomorrow, and there’s not a damn thing you can say or do about it.” She turned to leave, and though her back was turned, Tony could hear the catch in her voice. “I know you’re trying to protect me, but you got a shitty way of doing it.” She left the lab without looking back.

Tony sat heavily in her chair. “I knew that wouldn’t work. She’s too damn stubborn.”

Loki materialized beside him. “It matters not. I shall see to her safety. All of the preparations have been made. We are as ready as we ever shall be. On the morrow there shall be war.”

Notes

So we're coming towards the end. Next week I will post chapter 21- 23 three days in a row because they all have big cliffhangers and I don't want to torture everyone too much.

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