Prequel Chapter 54

Loki made a face and pushed his plate away. "That’s disgusting." He replied. Getting up Loki abandoned his plate and left.
Tony tried not to laugh as Loki walked off. He finished his dinner and wipes his mouth.
“Don’t do that Tony.”
“What?” He gave his friend a smug grin and set his plate in the sink.
Bruce shook his head and stood. “You know what I’m talking about.” He set his plate in the sink then headed to his room.
Tony stood there a moment then went over to Loki’s room and knocked on the door. “You wanted to talk?”
"Come in." Loki replied. He was sitting on his bed playing a game of chess with Jarvis. "We'll continue when I'm done." He said.
"Of course Sir."
Tony walked into the room and smiled a bit at Loki. “Sorry about earlier. I forget my table manners sometimes.” He sat down. “So, what’s up? You want to paint your room?”
"No I do not wish to paint my room." Loki replied. "Stark whatever feelings you have for me are foolish ones." He said. "I am no good for anyone, you'd only end up hurting yourself and I would be the crook that allowed it to happen if I don't put an end to it now."
Tony’s smile fell immediately. He looked at Loki then away. “It’s a crush Loki. A fleeting crush because you’re someone I can’t have. I chased Pepper the same way, I chased Natasha and even Rogers. I even tried to get Bruce to date me for a while. And after a few months, it stopped because I have commitment issues.” He shrugged and stood. “This’ll be over in a few months. So you can’t relax.”
Loki hummed. "I am telling you this for your benefit rather than mine." Loki said. Loki liked Stark. At least in a friendly way he liked him.
“You can save it.” Tony looked at the god. “I already know the feeling isn’t going to last and it isn’t mutual. So let’s just forget it.”
Loki nodded. "I hope this will not change our friendship." he said.
Tony shrugged. “I don’t think it will.” He offered Loki a little smile. “Thanks for dinner by the way. It was good.”
Loki nodded. "Next time keep it in your mouth."
Tony snorted a bit and nodded. “All right, all right.” He walked out of the room, feeling an odd weight on his chest. He went to his lab and turned on his music.
Loki turned back to Jarvis and asked for him to bring the game up once more.
“Not the best liar, are you Sir?”
“Don’t start Jarvis. I’m not in the mood to talk about it.” Tony worked on his suit, putting the gloves together and testing them.
"It's for the best." Jarvis added before going silent.
Tony sighed quietly and turned his music up loud as he worked.
It wasn’t until very late that night that he finally went to bed. And it was minutes after that Fury called.
“Stark, we’ve got a situation.”
Tony groaned but got up, rubbing his face.
“Another portal?”
“We didn’t expect this one. There wasn’t any activity before it opened.”
“Where is it?”
“Downtown.”
Tony’s eyes widened slightly. So close? There hadn’t been any activity near New York. He quickly put on his suit and went over to Loki.
“Wake up Reindeer Games, we got another open portal.”
Loki snapped himself awake and nodded. Getting up he quickly tried to get dressed and get whatever feed he could from Jarvis.
Bruce was already up and this time he didn't even bother putting on a shirt.
Tony had his suit on and stayed behind a moment.
“Jarvis, keep Loki briefed.” He looked at the god. “Jarvis will be the one communicating with you directly, all right?”
Bruce looked at Loki then at Tony. “Where are we going?”
“Downtown.” Tony flipped on his visor and took off with Bruce.
Jarvis reminded Loki to use his cloaking device so he wouldn't be seen. The god could feel his magic returning to him as he waited.
"Sir now would be a wise time to go." Jarvis instructed.
"Not yet." He said.
He wasn’t sure what was coming through, but it clearly don’t want to go back through the portal. The creature shrieked and attacked everything, having already killed a few civilians. It appeared so suddenly, there was no time to evacuate the area.
Tony blasted at the creature though he wasn’t doing much damage.
“God damn it. Jarvis!”
“It will take too much energy to pierce the skin Sir. Your suit will power down before you scratch its skin.”
“Great, thanks.” Tony dodged as the thing swung a massive arm towards him.
The Hulk growled and lunged, clutching onto the monster and punching it hard.
From overhead Loki frowned at what he was looking at. The beast he'd fought once before with Thor, Sif, and the warrior's three. It had been no picnic for them and he'd hated every minute of the recovery time after wards.
“Shit, shit!” Tony barely dodged another blow from the beast. He fired a few more rockets into its face, hoping to blind the thing at least. It swung its head and howled angrily.
“Anybody got any ideas?” Steve asked from the sidelines.
“We’re not exactly experts with this stuff Cap!” Natasha replied from the other side of the battle field.
Thinking Loki tried to remember how they brought it down last time.
"Fire." He said. "Stark I need you and the others to wear it down as much as you can. If you can do that I can destroy it." He said.
“All right, we can do that. Be careful.” Tony charged his blaster and fired at the thing again, zooming straight for it. The beast swung up but missed Tony with each move.
“Guys, we need to get it tired!” He spoke to the others. “It’s too fired up to be pushed back!”
Steve nodded and threw his shield at the thing. He hit it in the eye and beast howled angrily. The Hulk howled in response and jumped on the thing, clinging to its fur and beating it.
Loki dug into his boots. He found what he was looking for and smiled. Fire spells were a little more complicated for him since he was a Jotun and now he it made sense for him. With the burning stone in his hand he started to fly around in a constant circle around the creature and start the spell for a ring of fire.
The beast growled out and finally threw the Hulk off its body. The Hulk went flying and landed on a few cars.
Tony glanced back, yelping as he was hit. That was just his luck; the second he turned away was when the monster decided to hit him. The blow sent him flying into the water and he groaned.
“Stats.”
“All is well Sir, though water did get between the plates of your suit. I would suggest dismantling it before you walk into the tower.”
Tony flew up out of the water and blasted at the thing again.
"Get everyone to back away from it." Loki ordered. "Everyone needs to get back."
Tony nodded and flew towards the others. “Guys, back up!”
“Why?” Steve asked though he moved back as told. The others moved back as well, though they were unsure why.
“I thought we had to get this thing tired?”
A red ring broke out around the creature and slowly flames started to grow from it tall and strong which only seemed to make the beast crazier. But it could not escape.
The beast howled, angry and afraid. It threw itself about, trying to escape the fire.
Tony’s eyes widened as he watched and he flipped his visor back. The others all watched in complete shock.
“Stark, did you do that?” Steve looked at Tony surprised.
Tony looked at the captain then away and nodded just slightly. Steve nodded back in understanding, trying to see if he could find where Loki was.
Finally the flames started to burn the creature's fur and the smoke slowly started to choke it.
Everyone started coughing and gagging at the smell of burning fur and flesh. They quickly covered their mouths and noses and Tony replaced his visor. He opened the communication channel to Loki.
“You okay?”
Loki couldn't answer Stark on the account that he was still keeping up with the spell to make sure the beast burned to a cinder.
Tony tensed a bit when he didn’t get an answer. He looked up then ran a quiet scan to look for Loki’s energy. That wasn’t exactly possible however, since the god was still wearing the cloaking device. Tony scoffed. Sometimes he was a little too good at what he did.
“He is all right Sir. But spells this powerful require focus.”
“How do you know that?”
“Mr. Laufeyson told me.”
Before too long the beast fell dead and the flames were angry enough to continue on without Loki's help.
The Avengers all watched the blaze. They couldn’t explain what it was, but the fire seemed almost alive. It danced and burned so brightly, turning the massive beast to cinder.
Tony watched then gave a half smile. “Loki?”
"I'm alright. I'll see you back at the tower." Loki told him.
Tony nodded. “All right.” He flipped up his visor again and looked at the others.