cuttingremark: (Default)
cuttingremark ([personal profile] cuttingremark) wrote2021-11-10 05:17 pm

For starkingenuity

The continued saga of these two dumbasses. Started Here
starkingenuity: (listen - frown confused annoyed)

[personal profile] starkingenuity 2021-11-17 05:26 pm (UTC)(link)
Opening and closing his mouth, Tony leans back on both hands as Loki's wings make an appearance. And in shades of gold that match his Mark III armor. "I'm sorry, you grew wings?!"

He and Loki are close, but there's a great deal about the other that Tony just hasn't had the time to figure out yet. Like his flying cloak ownership. And his shapeshifting abilities.

As Loki moves out of sight, Tony sighs and bends over the ruined armor. "Time to make the Mark IV," he mutters to himself. "Still with me, J?" No answer. He'll have to wait until he's at a server to uplink again. He really does need to make smaller devices to carry J with him.

And to give to Loki. Then they'll always be connected. He really likes that thought.

Just as Loki returns, a new quinjet will just be touching down with Rogers riding the end of the opened bird. Tony tilts his head at him. "Took you long enough."
starkingenuity: (reactor - remove shirt)

[personal profile] starkingenuity 2021-11-17 06:37 pm (UTC)(link)
Though a regular person might not notice, Tony does lean somewhat back towards Loki, turning his shoulders to acknowledge his presence. Steve does notice, just like he notices almost everything, but he keeps his mouth shut. This part isn't his business. Does he trust Loki? No. He's been involved in helping resettle people, tending to the injured, but he is still grateful for the intel he'd brought. It makes Steve more accepting than tolerant.

"We're all right. Armor's shot," Tony says. He's already mostly pulled himself together and while his shirt is ripped, there's enough fabric to cover his chest and the reactor. "Got any of those sweet SHIELD hoodies in there?"

"Matter of fact, we do," Natasha calls from the ramp, tossing a white and black shirt in Tony's direction. It's much too big, and Steve frowns visibly enough for the assassin to smirk. "It's all right, handsome. We'll get you another. Can we give you boys a lift?"

Tony rolls up the arms of the sweatshirt and gestures for Steve to grab the armor. "Bring that with you? Great, thanks," he says, and moves with Loki towards the rescuing quinjet.
starkingenuity: (worried - defensive arms up)

[personal profile] starkingenuity 2021-11-17 08:12 pm (UTC)(link)
“Some idea,” is the redhead’s response, eyes shifting over Loki. The lack of trust is mutual on their parts and she should be forgiven for fantasizing about snapping his neck on the odd occasion. Arms cross loosely over her chest as Tony tries to play off how stiff and pained he is. “The signature given off by your reactor is unique, and you haven’t really tried to keep it private.”

Which is true. Anyone with a bit of tech can scan the frequency Tony gives off when he’s nearby.

“We also caught some movement out of the air as we flew in.” That would be Rogers, putting down the bulk of the Iron Man armor carefully by the back netting. “They jammed our scanners as soon as we got close.”

“Not great but it gives us some sense of where they’re headed. We have STRIKE in position. It looks like they’re headed for the tunnels under Baltimore.”
starkingenuity: (walk - swagger reactor science city)

[personal profile] starkingenuity 2021-11-17 10:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Tony knows why they’re not being sent to help. Loki’s magic is strong and while Iron Man might be out for the count, he’s notoriously resourceful. The problem comes with the whole huge population of civilians thing, and honestly, Tony doesn’t have his heart in it for a fight right now.

He’s still got those memories floating around his head and they’re bright enough for him not to have grasped just yet that it’s what it must have been like for Loki for that year. Falling through nothing for two minutes had nearly destroyed him.

When it does become clear, they’re headed towards the elevators at the DC office for SHIELD and Tony reaches out to grasp at Loki’s hand. He doesn’t let go either. It’s not just one squeeze. Tony radiates worry and lingering fear and sorrow for Loki to have experienced what he did.
starkingenuity: (listening - eye roll puppy frown)

[personal profile] starkingenuity 2021-11-17 11:21 pm (UTC)(link)
“Later,” is all Tony says, though that doesn’t mean he makes a move to take his hand back. During the entire briefing, and then debriefing, Tony holds onto Loki’s hand as if his life depends upon it. It’s noted by everyone in the room, including Fury and whoever the blond is that Fury reports to. Tony doesn’t notice his name. He doesn’t care that much to deal with more than one person at a time.

The whole of it comes and goes and then Tony and Loki by default are shown to the debris that had been collected from the dead Chitauri that had been left on this side of the portal, their connection to their ships severed.

Once they’re alone, Tony picks through the piles as if it’s just junk. He’d only just released Loki’s hand. His thoughts are elsewhere.

“Hey. Not to rehash bad memories. But I think when I died to saw what you did when you fell from the Bifrost.” He’s under no assumption that he hadn’t died back there, though it’s not quite accurate.

starkingenuity: (sad - tears eyes weep upset)

[personal profile] starkingenuity 2021-11-18 11:17 am (UTC)(link)
Had anyone else asked this, Tony would have played the entire thing off. He would have rolled his eyes, changed the subject, gotten to work. It’s hard to hide from your feelings when someone else is feeling the whispering edges of them too, though, and when you feel theirs in return. Tony squares his jaw and pulls their once again joined hands up to the bump of the reactor in his chest, just faintly visible beneath the white oversized sweatshirt.

“I’ve been good about not believing in anything. You die and that’s it. There’s nothing. And that was a comfort, you know?” His eyes turn away, downward. He’s not ashamed, though he does feel blindsided by the reality of it. “I felt myself go crazy. You saved me in seconds but it felt like years. And you... I understand why all of that happened. Maybe a little pettiness with Thor and anger over the lies but I would have done anything anyone asked if I was stuck there that long.”
starkingenuity: (hug - woman)

[personal profile] starkingenuity 2021-11-18 04:30 pm (UTC)(link)
Standing beside Captain America and Black Widow, Fury frowns as they watch the feed on the large screens in front of them. Tony’s arms move around Loki’s narrow waist, hands smoothing out over the back of his suit and cloak. “I’ll be damned.”

This isn’t the Tony Stark he nor Widow have come to know. This vulnerable man, clinging to an enemy, looks almost human.

“This is going to be a problem. Get Rumlow in here as soon as he gets back from the tunnel crawl.” STRIKE hasn’t found anyone yet. It’s worrying.

Tony, though, soaks in the comfort. “Don’t hold this against me,” he tells Loki, “but I’m starting to see the appeal of this soulmate shit.”
starkingenuity: (Default)

[personal profile] starkingenuity 2021-11-18 06:57 pm (UTC)(link)
For a moment, Tony thinks about fighting Loki for a longer embrace but that would be a childish and needy and he’s already been vulnerable enough today. Besides, looking at Loki’s chaoticly charming face has a proven track record of calming him down. So, without too much of a fuss, Tony let’s himself be pushed back—

Only to have Loki glance at once of the less obvious cameras in the room.

Shit.

His hands drop immediately and he slips his hands into his pockets. Rookie mistake. “I’d hate to think I was almost killed for nothing,” Tony chips in.

“It’s on its way,” Steve’s voice comes through. He feels bad for the spying but Tony’s relationship with Loki is... absolutely deeper than the last time he’d been with them.
starkingenuity: (Default)

[personal profile] starkingenuity 2021-11-18 10:36 pm (UTC)(link)
“Hey now,” Fury grunts. “We would have just picked you both up if this was a set up. It’s not. You’re genuinely here to help out. But we also genuinely don’t trust you.”

Tony glances up at Loki. “I mean, you did try to take over Earth,” he says with a grin. “And they know that they can’t hold us either with that sweet Asgardian teleporting magic.” His eyes slide up to yet another hidden camera. “Right?”

Steve’s hands rest on his hips as he laughs. “Checks and balances. Natasha and I are just waiting for STRIKE to report. We’ll come and help you when they do.”

“How many degrees in physics and mechanics do you have, Cap?” Tony asks. There’s silence for a moment.

“Point taken. But I can bend things?”
starkingenuity: (Default)

[personal profile] starkingenuity 2021-11-19 12:00 am (UTC)(link)
Tony makes a small hand gesture for Loki to repeat the last few words, and more slowly, but he gets it on the second go around. His own reply is a little awkward and poorly conjugated but he’s only been at this language for two weeks. That’s an incredibly quick time to pick it up.

People weirdly acting.” Loki isn’t the only one whose noticed. “All right,” and back to English. “Let’s get cracking.”

The pieces of debris dragged in are very similar to the missiles that were sent at them. Tony frowns.
starkingenuity: (Default)

Gosh this is one of those days :(

[personal profile] starkingenuity 2021-11-19 05:43 pm (UTC)(link)
"It's not some mind language, if that's what you're worried about," Tony says. "But I'm a private person and you haven't given me a choice."

Tony can't even get the words out before Fury starts to laugh, almost as if that was the most amusing thing he'd ever heard. Honestly, that's pretty fair. Tony hasn't really been the sort of person to stay quiet in his shell. His first act as Iron Man, after saving the day of course, was to announce himself as Iron Man.

He has no intention of being anything else.

Banter aside, they get to work on the tech they've found. It's pretty standard fair, but still leaps and bounds beyond Earth technology. Luckily, none of it seems to have a power source. Tony, still the cutting edge of that sort of thing, can;t help but feel better at that. They really don't need legions of cobbled Chitauri tech starting new wars.
starkingenuity: (work - wires science)

Re: Same here :(

[personal profile] starkingenuity 2021-11-21 03:47 am (UTC)(link)
“Pretty sure that was a glowy staff thing. Which Thor brought back to you guys so...” Tony isn’t impressed and doesn’t spend another second looking at Brock Rumlow. It’s not important to him to get to know all of these people. At the start of this Boy Band, he hadn’t wanted to get to know anyone and sure, he is desperate for friendship in ways he refuses to admit, it he has enough between Banner and Loki.

The rest are fine, it’s just that he knows they’re not really thrilled with him or his fate chosen life partner.

There’s a really bad vibe coming off of Rumlow, though. It’s more than just ex military turned SHIELD agent. There’s something deeper. He stinks of secrets.
starkingenuity: (work - beckon science come here)

[personal profile] starkingenuity 2021-11-22 02:55 pm (UTC)(link)
“What if we back trace it?” Tony asks, running short fingernails over the smooth pieces of debris to find a slotted opening or some way to get at the inner workings of the weapon. He’s genuinely surprised to find a push plate, considering it somewhat low tech for the rest of what he’s seen, but the wiring is utterly foreign.

He’s immediately excited, the hair on the back of his neck raised in genuine pleasure.

“I’m going to need a stand,” he says, pulling his phone out of his pocket so JARVIS can emit a 3D Projection around the room for him to manipulate. “Unless one of you wants to hold this for me the entire time? No? And I need the room cleared. And I need it electronic free. You’ll have to watch through the door. Anything else will interfere with frequencies and ruin what I’m doing.”

No one really seems that apt to want to leave them to it, so Tony gives Steve a little glance and the blond is left sighing and acting like a cattle herder.

Tony owes him and he knows it. He’ll make good with Cap one day.

(no subject)

[personal profile] starkingenuity - 2021-11-23 03:43 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] starkingenuity - 2021-11-23 14:53 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] starkingenuity - 2021-11-24 11:58 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] starkingenuity - 2021-11-24 14:45 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] starkingenuity - 2021-11-24 15:05 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] starkingenuity - 2021-12-17 15:39 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] starkingenuity - 2021-12-17 19:36 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] starkingenuity - 2021-12-19 01:23 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] starkingenuity - 2021-12-20 01:18 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] starkingenuity - 2021-12-21 15:03 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] starkingenuity - 2021-12-22 00:02 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] starkingenuity - 2021-12-22 02:16 (UTC) - Expand