Saving Grace

Twenty Two

~~~~

Everyone suits up, including Agent Barton. No one's told Fury anything.

His shield in hand, Cap goes to find Tony, and he finds him alone, in the Iron Man suit, talking to somebody through a phone of some sort. He can't hear the person on the other end. "Hey, sweetheart. How are you?" He's talking in a gentle voice, and it sounds as if he might be smiling. There's a pause. "Good, that's good. Listen, I..." Another pause. "Yeah. They did. Coulson, he, uh..." A sigh. "Coulson is gone, sweetheart." A longer pause. "I don't know. But I love you, okay?" He chuckles a little. "Come on, at least tell your old man you love him..." Another pause as Steve reflects on the phrase "old man." "I'm gonna do everything I can to get back to you, but... sometimes that's not enough..." Another pause, another sigh. "I know. I'm sorry... I love you, sweetheart... Bye."

Cap steps into the room softly, causing Tony to look at him. "...I didn't know you had a kid."

The helmet on Tony's suit pops up. "Yeah, well, I try to make sure next to no one does."

"Why?"

Tony looks at him as if it's obvious. "Her safety."

Steve nods in understanding, that answer giving him a whole new view of Tony. "What's her name?" he asks.

Tony hesitates, then says, "Grace."

Cap smiles a little. "So, not after her grandmother, then?" He never actually knew the woman, but he'd certainly heard of her, and he didn't know what to else to say.

Tony nods. "Yeah, actually. It's-It's her middle name."

"Oh."

Tony steps toward him. "You're one of the very few people in this world that know that."

Steve nods once. "And I'll keep it that way."

"I know," Tony replies. "That's why I told you."

~~~~

Loki, standing in Stark Tower, watches Tony make a drink behind a bar. He says, "Please tell me you're going to appeal to my humanity."

Tony grimaces. "Uh, actually, I'm planning to threaten you."

Loki raises a brow. "You should have left your armor on for that."

Tony sucks in air through his teeth. "Yeah, it's seen a bit of mileage." He gestures to the scepter in Loki's hand. "You've got the blue stick of destiny. Would you like a drink?"

Loki rolls his eyes. "Stalling me won't change anything."

"Oh, no, no, no! Threatening," Tony corrects. "So, no drink? You sure? I'm having one."

"The Chitauri are coming, nothing will change that. What have I to fear?"

"The Avengers," Tony replies. Loki's brows furrow, so Tony continues. "It's what we call ourselves, sort of like a team. 'Earth's mightiest heroes,' type of thing."

"Yes, I've met them."

Tony smiles. "Yeah, takes us a while to get any traction, I'll give you that one. But, let's do a head count here: Your brother, the demi-God, a super soldier, a living legend who kind of lives up to the legend, a man with breath-taking anger management issues, a couple of master assassins, and you, big fella, you've managed to tick off every single one of them."

Loki smiles. "That was the plan."

"Not a great plan. When they come — and they will — they'll come for you." Discreetly, he pulls bracelets out from under the bar, putting them on.

"I have an army."

"We have a Hulk."

Loki's brows furrow. "I thought the beast had wandered off."

Tony walks around the bar. "You're missing the point. There's no throne, there is no version of this, where you come out on top. Maybe your army comes and maybe it's too much for us, but it's all on you. Because if we can't protect the Earth, you can be absolutely sure we'll avenge it."

Loki walks toward him, raising the scepter. "How will your friends have time for me, when they're so busy fighting you?" He touches the arc reactor with the scepter. Nothing happens. He tries again. Still nothing. "It should work."

Tony shrugs. "Well, you know the saying: The best way to a man's heart is his stomach." He grimaces. "Wait, no, forget I said that. Don't wanna give you any ideas-" Angered, Loki grabs Tony's throat and throws him across the room. Tony coughs. "Jarvis, any time now."

Loki grabs Tony's throat again. "You will all fall before me." He throws him out the window. Behind Loki, the elevator opens, and a red pod flies out, pointing lasers at the bracelets Tony put on. The pod turns into the Iron Man suit, going onto Tony. Tony flies up, facing Loki. "And there's one other person you ticked off! His name was Phil."

With that, he blasts Loki, sending him flying backwards.