Loki's Pain

Chapter Twenty-Five- Straining for Hope

Strange found Tony first, walking into his office as the young-looking woman walked out, and informed him of Ash's condition. The expression on Tony's face was complex, a mix of relief, suspicion, cautious hope, and reservation. Strange himself was concerned by the mild scent of alcohol rolling off of him, but he decided to ignore it for the moment.

"I'll need your help. He is himself again for the moment, as I said, but the other is still inside him. You'll need to do some research about computer programs. He said it is most similar to a "bot"...." Strange told him after explaining the circumstances, "So it is like possession, but by a computer program..."

"Huh... malware, a computer virus with a built in AI..." Tony added, his head nodding as his mind began to work on the problem.

"Yes, and it needs to be removed before he can be released. But I highly doubt the usual methods would work in this case, and might even prove dangerous to him and his mind." Strange responded, despite how distracted Tony had become, "So we need to become as familiar with them as possible. If you can research how best to erase such a program, one that can probably fight back, it could prove invaluable."

Tony nodded his acknowledgement, already having opened several holo-screens in front of himself, while cursing about not being in his lab instead. Turning his back on the Sorcerer, he shoved a bunch of papers off of the nearby desk to make room for this new project. But before he could dig himself in too deep, Strange walked up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Before that...go see him." Strange said, his voice gentle, "I can see how hard this has been for you. You obviously care a great deal for the boy, ...so go see him. Then get busy saving him."

Tony didn't turn around to look at him, and stood there stiffly, uncomfortable with the near-stranger's touch. Still, after a few seconds he did grant him a stiff nod of acknowledgement at the advice. Strange, for his part, let him go and walked out of the room.

Tony waited a few minutes, allowing himself time to calm down, but he did take Strange's advice.

Ash was startled when he heard the door to the cell complex open. Despite what Strange had said, he hadn't expected many visitors. Not too many had shown up while he'd been down here the last couple of months, but he forgot that it hadn't really been him down here then, and that they might have been just as tormented to see him being tortured by the Bot.

So when Tony Stark walked in he just went back to staring at the ceiling, thinking he was down there to do some work, like tweaking the power grid or testing the strength of the power suppression device used to inhibit his teleportation.

When Tony stepped up to the glass and stayed there, he was pleasantly surprised. "Ash..." He said softly, a bit of a rasp due to his struggle not to cry. Ash sat up quickly, looking at Tony more closely and gasping when he saw how bad he looked. He had dark rings around his eyes, his hair was rumpled all over, he had lost weight, and he clearly hadn't bathed or shaved in days.

"Mr. Stark--" Ash started, only to be interrupted. "I've told you and told you, call me Tony. Mr. Stark was my father, not me. Besides, you are family..." He said, choking up a bit on the last word. His eyes welled up, but he didn't quite cry, "You, of all people, don't need to be so formal...."

"Tony.... I'm sorry. I had no idea..." Ash spoke softly, interrupting him a bit and feeling guilty for not noticing how hard he was taking things over the last few months. He had only been paying attention to Loki. Tony had been forgotten.

"Don't you dare apologize. This is on Thanos and Maw, not you." Tony brushed off Ash's apology with a small smile, "But I will admit it is good to see you back to yourself somewhat. I'm going to be helping Gandolf with some research, so we will be sure to figure out a way to fix all this. You stay strong, okay?"