ACATALEPSY ➺ loki

33 , in the darkness

I was resting in my room with the book I had decided to nab from Tony's collection for the time being, when Friday's voice suddenly rung out around my room, making me jump, not having expected her to start speaking in that moment. "Miss Devoe, I have been informed that you are requested to speak with Mr. Stark through his holographic long distance communicator in the communications room with Mr. Laufeyson. He will be calling within the next few minutes." I frowned, confused as to what Tony needed from us as I told Friday I was on my way there—placing a bookmark in my unfinished chapter hastily.

I knocked on Loki's room door once I had stepped out of mine, and the man joined me in the lift going down two floors till we reached the level the communications room was on. Walking in and standing in front of the device Tony was meant to be calling us on, I realised that I'd never actually used it before—Tony having only finished working on it a few days before the avengers had to leave for Wakanda, not really giving him enough time to teach its workings to any of us. But thankfully Friday said she could take control of it, and turned it on for us just in time for me to pick up Tony's call. "Hey kid, its good to see you."

I smiled, seeing Tony standing in what looked like some sort of lab similar to his back here at the compound, through the huge screen in front of me. The first thing I noticed about him was that the man looked... tired, and it was quite clear that he had not been getting nearly enough sleep—once again. But then that was just Tony Stack after all, right? What concerned me more was how agitated his voice sounded, and even through the slightly distorted audio I could tell something was bothering him. "Hey Tony, its great to see you too." I started as I saw Loki walk up to stand beside me out of the corner of my eye. "What's been going on over there? Everything alright with you lot? Don't get me wrong—I'm well glad to catch up with you, but... did something happen?"

I could see the smile on Tony's face fade away as he realised we had to talk about whatever was going on so soon, which only made me even more scared to hear what he had to say. But before speaking at all, the man held up a small round container like thing, and I gasped, realising immediately what it was. "Yeah, we managed to get it out of Vision just a few hours ago, actually. Thankfully there wasn't much trouble—the stone didn't cause any issues, and thanks to the young genius Vision is perfectly fine. Which means... it's time for you and Reindeer Games to get working on whatever you have to do to get the four other infinity stones to the purple creep. You two sure you're ready for getting meddled with all this stuff?"

I looked over to Loki instinctually, who was now standing almost slightly in front of me—and immediately realised he was looking at me as well. But instead of getting all flustered as I probably would have if we weren't on call or something, I just tilted my head slightly, a clear question in my eyes to him. Loki looked down for a second, as if he was deciding something, before turned back to look and me and nodding ever so slightly, but it had been enough of a movement for me to understand. He was ready—and I trusted him, so I would be as well. "Yeah, Tony, we're ready. We have to be. This... this is the endgame now, there's no other option. But, once we're done with all of this—it'll be over. We've gotta stay positive about all this, remember. It's all going to work out in the end. Loki and I'll get working on whatever has to be done on our end., so don't worry about that. We will inform you as soon as Thanos has position over the stones and then make our way over to Wakanda as soon as possible. Sound alright?" I wasn't sure why I'd taken the lead in a conversation where both other members knew a lot more about the situation that I did, but there was no going back now, so instead I just looked down awkwardly once I was done speaking.

Thankfully, neither Tony nor Loki seemed to have found my speaking strange, going on normally. "Yes, that sounds fine. Just try to stay in contact with us over here as much as you can, alright? And... ask Pep to stay away from the compound for the time being if she can manage that, will you? I don't need her getting into any more danger than necessary—and if you two are going to be paying a visit to Thanos, I... I don't want her around the place. I have to go now, as we're starting to work on the defenses around Wakanda and keeping the Mind stone as safe as possible for now—I'll talk to you both later, hopefully in person. But if you need anything, just ask Friday to put me on the line and we can talk about whatever's needed, alright? Good luck, you two. And I hope Rock of Ages here knows that if he gets either of you two hurt during this little mission, I will kill him personally. Even if he's already dead."