Heroes Rise {𝟝} | Marvel √

10

New York City
Stark Tower

Iron Man arrived at Stark Tower where Erik activated the CMS device, holding the Tesseract.

"Sir, I took off the arc reactor. The device is already self-sustained."

"Shut it down, Dr. Selvig," Tony said and Erik looked back at him.

"It's too late! It can't stop now. He wants to show us something! A new universe," Erik said.

"Okay," Iron Man said before he aimed his hands toward the CMS and fired. The energy from his boosters shattered with a deafening crack. Erik fell backwards. Iron Man stared in disbelief at the CMS, unharmed.

"The barrier is pure energy. It's unbreachable. The Mark VII is not ready to be deployed."

"Skip the spinning rims. We're on the clock," Tony said before he landed his suit and went through the gauntlet, which unsuited him, then started to walk into the penthouse.

Stark Penthouse

Tony casually walked in down the steps, to see Emma in the middle of the room, sitting in a chair, guarded by Loki and Lidianna, who smirked at the father. "Come to save your daughter?" Loki asked, while Tony looked at Emma, who stared at him in concern. Tony then stepped towards the bar, the three eyeing him.

"Please tell me you're going to appeal to my humanity," Loki said.

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

"You should have left your armor on for that," Loki said.

"Yeah, it's seen a bit of mileage. You've got the blue stick of destiny. Would you like a drink?" Tony asked.

"Stalling me won't change anything," Loki said.

"No, no, no! Threatening. No drink? You sure? I'm having one," Tony said.

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

"The Avengers," Tony said and Loki, Lidianna and Emma looked at him confused. "It's what we call ourselves, sort of like a team. Earth's Mightiest Heroes, type of thing."

"Yes, I've met them," Loki said and Tony smiled.

"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 and nephew, the demi-Gods; two super soldiers, living legends who kind of live 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 piss off every single one of them...by taking her," Tony explained as Lidianna stayed closer to Emma, protectively.

"That was the plan," Loki said.

"Not a great plan. When they come, and they will, they'll come for you and your daughter," Tony said, and from underneath the bar table, Tony pulled on colantotte bracelets, a honing device.

"We have an army," Loki said.

"We have a Hulk," Tony said.

"I thought the beast had wandered off," Loki said.

"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 damned well sure we'll avenge it," Tony said and Emma smiled a little. Loki slowly walked up to Tony, raising the scepter.

"How will your friends have time for me, when they're so busy fighting you?" Loki asked before he tapped Tony on the chest with his scepter.

PING!