Beautiful Chaos

{part one | chapter eight}

"Jarvis, screen the live footage from roof cams three and four," Lilith told the AI. A holographic screen flicked on and Lilith watched as her father approached the hypnotized astrophysicist.

"Shut it down, Dr.Selvig," Tony called over the whir of machinery.

"It's too late! It can't stop now."

"Okay," Tony raised his hands to the machine, fired up the energy repulsors on his palms and shot at it. A deafening crack rang through the air, Lilith flinched from her seat in the penthouse. 

"The barrier is pure energy, sir," Jarvis explained to Tony, "It's unbreakable. The Mark seven is not ready to be deployed."

"Shit."

Lilith's head snapped up from the security feed when she heard the sound of footsteps approaching. 

"Long time no see, little one."

"Why are you back here? What do you want with me? I thought you said you didn't need me anymore, you said-"

"I know very well what I said," Loki sneered, "You should've known it was a lie."

"So what do you want?" He didn't answer he immediately. He paused for a moment, contemplating.

 "I am here, because I need to chat with your father, little one. You are going to bring him to me."

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"Dad," Lilith's voice rang through the speakers in Tony's helmet, "Um, I need you to come back down. Ah!" She winced as Loki pushed the tip of his spear into her back, "Hurry."

Tony sped to the balcony once more. He let the bots he had built remove the suit as he walked into the tower. He tried to be as nonchalant as possible as he walked to the bar and poured himself a drink. Loki pressed the tip of the spear against Lilith's back again and she sucked in a breath, hissing at the pain. 

"You want to uh, let my kid go now?" Loki shoved Lilith away.

"I don't suppose you're going to appeal to my humanity."

"No, actually, I was planning on threatening you."

"You should've left your armor on for that," Loki jeered.

"Yeah. It's seen a bit of mileage. You've got the blue stick of destiny anyways, so. Would you like a drink?" 

"Stalling me won't change anything."

"No, no, no," Tony took a sip of his drink, "Threatening. You sure you don't want a drink? I'm having one."

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

"The Avengers," The two men turned to look at Lilith as she stood from where she had been shoved to the floor. Loki looked confused.

"It's what we call ourselves," Tony explained, "Sort of a team. 'Earth's mightiest heroes' type of thing."

"Yes, I've met them."

" 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 piss off every single one of them."

"That was his plan though, wasn't it?" Lilith's smile was smug.

"Not a great plan. When they come, and they will, they'll come for you," Tony said, casually pulling on two metal wrist bands.

"I have an army," Loki said confidently.

"We have a hulk," Lilith countered.

"I thought the beast had wandered off."

"You're missing the point," Tony said, "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."

Loki sauntered towards Tony with an evil smirk on his face, "How will your friends have time for me, when they'll be so busy fighting you?" Ping. The sharp tip of the scepter clinked against the reactor implanted in Tony's chest. Lilith held her breath.

"This should be working."

"Well. Performance issues, you know?" 

Loki picked Tony up by the throat and threw him to the ground a few feet away from Lilith.

"Jarvis, anytime now." 

"Dad!" The girl's warning was too late as Loki lifted her father off of the ground by his neck and dragged him to the balcony. Lilith rushed to follow, clawing at Loki's arms and shoulders, trying to force him to let go.

"You stand so tall for someone so fragile. So weak. So... mortal," he said the word 'mortal' like an it was an insult, "You stand so tall, up in your tower, casting your magnificent shadow over the world. You stand in the face of those who command you to kneel, and your stance never wavers. But mark my words, Stark. You will fall before me." He dropped Tony over the edge of the balcony, and Lilith screamed. The sound was so horrible that it could've made the bravest soul shake with fear. 

"There's one more person you pissed off," Tony said as he rose back up to the level of the balcony, "His name was Phil." Was. So Phil hadn't survived. A pang of sadness mixed with the relief of seeing that the Mark VII had caught her father, "Lilith, you might want to step back." She moved just in time as Tony's repulsors blasted the god to the ground.

Thunder rumbled and the sound of something exploding filled the air. An enormous purple cloud had formed and... things were flying out of it. A humungous, grotesque, creature the size of at least ten blue whales swam out of the cloud. The cloud was a portal.

"Dad?" Lilith's skin prickled with goose bumps and a knot had tied itself tightly in her stomach. Tony looked back at his daughter as another huge monster emerged from the vortex.

"Right. Army," Tony said surprisingly calmly. Loki launched himself off of the terrace and landed on one of his alien soldiers' hovering vehicle. Before flying after him, Tony turned to his daughter, "Lilith, stay here, don't move, don't do anything stupid." With that, he stepped back into the suit and flew off the help the rest of the group. Lilith watched in horror as the creatures swam through the sides of buildings, crushing beams and windows and anyone inside.

"Loki," she whispered, her voice dripping with terror, "What have you done?"