Beautiful Chaos

{part one | chapter seven}

Lilith woke up in some sort of warehouse. Her head was throbbing. She put a hand up to where her wound had been and found bandages covering the gash. She sat up, slowly, wondering where the hell she was.

"Hello?"

"Lilith," She turned to face the speaker, too quickly. She held her head and groaned in pain, "Careful. You hit you're head hard."

"Loki," she said, "Where are we?"

"Abandoned warehouse. The details aren't important. We're at my headquarters."

"Please," Lilith felt the newly-formed tears fall from her eyes, "please take me back. Loki, my father, please I want to go back to my dad..." Her voice cracked. She cried. Loki refused to meet her eyes with his own.

"I can't."

"Why?"

"The heroes. They need... motivation. Get some rest, little one," he shook his head, "Lilith. You need sleep. I'll bring you food soon. Rest."

"I want to go home, Loki. Please." He finally forced himself to make eye contact.

"Soon, Lilith. Soon you can go home."

🥀🥀🥀

Tony paced back and forth across the lab, mumbling to himself.

"No, no, no, no..."

"Tony, we'll get her back, she's with Loki, we know that much. And we have Barton now. So he can tell us where Loki is," Nat elbowed Clint lightly from where she stood beside him, "right?"

Clint was silent for a moment, "I don't - I don't know where he is. But he's gonna make his play soon. Today."

"But what about my daughter?" Tony raked his fingers through his hair. He could lose everything: His money, his business, his fame, you name it. But not her. Not Lilith. That monster was going to pay for taking his little girl away from him. 

"We've got to stop him."

"Yeah, but who's 'we'?" 

"Whoever's left," Nat mumbled. 

"I for one," Clint said, "would love to put an arrow through Loki's eye socket."

"I say we fight. Lilith is god knows where, and Loki is on the loose doing god knows what. He made it personal."

" That's not the point-" Steve tried to interject but Tony continued to speak over him.

"That is the point. That's Loki's point. He hit us all right where we live. Why?"

"To tear us apart," Steve answered.

"He had to conquer his greed, but he knows he has to take us out, hurt us, to win. Right? That's what he wants. He want's to beat us and he wants to be seen doing it. He wants an audience. Stuttgart was just a preview, this is opening night. Loki's a full-tilt diva. He wants flowers, he wants parades, he wants a monument built in the skies with his name plastered... son of a bitch."

"What?"

"Suit up, now."

"Where are we going?"

"To kick that royal, green, prick's ass. And then we're going to get my daughter back."

🥀🥀🥀

"Lilith," Loki spoke from the door way of her tiny room. She sat up slowly, staring at him with eyes wide as dinner plates. 

"What do you want?" Her voice trembled and her body shook. She was cold and tired and scared and she just wanted to go home.

"Come with me, it's time to go."

"Where are you taking me?"

"Home." Her heart skipped a beat when she head the word. She let herself feel hopeful for a moment, but the feeling dissipated as quickly as it had come. 

"Liar," She spat. His straight-faced, serious, expression faltered slightly. He looked hurt, but it was only for a fleeting second before he resumed his previous, unsmiling look. 

"I'm not lying. I swear to you, I am taking you home. You were only a pawn, the Avengers needed a push. You're not needed anymore." She looked him up and down, trying to decide if he was really telling the truth. Finally, she stood. 

"Let's go."

He hadn't lied. They arrived at Stark tower and Loki left her there as soon as she stepped through the doors of the balcony where he had dropped her off. She had turned around to say something, a thank you, maybe, for letting her go. But he was already gone before she had opened her mouth.

She sat on the couch in the living room, with her legs folded over one another like a pretzel, "Jarvis," she rasped, "Call my dad. Please." She should be happy. She was home, she was safe. Why was she on the verge of tears? Why did her chest ache and her eyes burn? 

"Lilith?" Tony's voice rang through the penthouse. 

"Dad?" 

"It's okay, Lee Lee, we're on our way, you're going to be alright."

"Dad, Dad, I'm- I'm at home. Loki took me home I'm safe, okay? Just... just be careful. Please, please, please be careful."

"I know Lils, I promise, it'll all be okay." 

"Kick some ass, Dad."

"Will do, kiddo. But first..." Lilith heard the sound of metal and machinery behind her as the Iron Man suit retracted and Tony stepped out. She leaped off the couch and into her father's arms, breathing in the comforting scent of his freshly washed t-shirt. He hugged her hard, afraid to let go and she hugged him back just as tight. 

"Kid, you're gonna be the death of me. You nearly gave me a heart attack."

"I'm sorry," she sobbed, "I'm s-so s-s-sorry..." 

"It's not your fault, Lee Lee. It's not your fault at all." He kissed the top of her head before dropping the embrace. 

"Go to bed, Munchkin. Get some rest, and stay out of trouble."

"You stay out of trouble too."

"I will," he said hugging her one more time, "I love you, kid."

"I love you too, dad," she mumbled into his shirt. Tony stepped back into the suit and flew to the roof of the tower where Dr.Selvig was operating some kind of machine.

A machine that was being powered by a glowing, blue, cube. 

The Tesseract.