Unseen, Not Untrue.

Chapter Five

It didn't, not really. 

He'd finished the renovation plans for the Tower when Agent Coulson came into the elevator. He let them pretend they'd hacked JARVIS, because JARVIS was smarter than that. He wouldn't let some sneaky organization get into his files unless he wanted them to.

So, he spent the next few hours re-reading the files on the candidate's slash recruits for the Avengers Initiative. Natasha Romanov, Clint Barton, Steve Rogers- wait. No, don't think about its fine, Howard was wrong. The Captain (who really wasn't a captain at all, he never passed 'Private') was- is a good man. Bruce Banner- Oooohh! Science buddy! Fellow nerd! Also, Hulk, but science bro!

Tony will forever deny that he squealed like a teenage girl getting asked out by her crush when he found out about Banner joining them. JARVIS, however, will not. Traitor.

~~~

Blasting his way to Germany after JARVIS telling him that's where Loki, this month's villain of choice, was. Apparently, he stole someone's eyeball and was making a big show of 'Kneel before my feet.'

Hacking into the Quinjet's PA system to cause a distraction (and because it was funny) he fired his repulsor beams and knocked the supposed God of Mischief back onto the steps a few meters away. A blast like that would probably have killed any normal human, but the god only seemed a bit winded.

The newly dubbed 'Reindeer Games' was quick to surrender when faced with many of the suit's weapons pointed at his face, his armor magicking away in a green-gold light. Tony tried his best not to look at the 'Captain', unwilling to trigger any memories from his childhood.

They cuffed and led Loki back onto the quinjet and were soon making their way back to the Helicarrier. Tony ignored the Captains attempts to talk to him for now and instead studied their prisoner intently. He tuned out the world around him and zeroed in on Loki, focusing on reading his emotions and nothing else. The god stared back unflinchingly with sickly blue iris', looking slightly bemused at the apparent staring contest Tony had inadvertently started.

It took a lot of concentration, but he managed to get a read on the Trickster across from him and was confused by what he felt. It was strange. It was possible to feel a mixture of emotions at one time, because that's just how emotions worked, but this was different. Each emotion was fighting for dominance constantly. A battle between indifference and fear. Anger and hatred. Amusement and pain. They were mixing and strangling each other, constantly at war. Most people would account this to an alien brain, but not Tony, who knew how emotions worked intimately. Something was wrong with Loki, it was like he was fighting himself. Or someone else.

He was pulled abruptly from his thoughts when Steve shoved his armored shoulder to get his attention. Tony flinched and turned to look at the blond, who was sporting an irritated expression.

"Have you been paying attention at all, Stark?" He huffed hauntingly. Tony had to force himself not to react to the tone. It had been many years, he was past this.

"No, I haven't. I was a bit busy." He responded curtly, gaze already drifting back to the dark-haired god.

"Busy? You call staring off into space busy?" Steve exclaimed, incredulous.

"Yes." He replied simply, lazily inclining his head towards Captain-stick-up-his-ass. "There's this thing people do called thinking. I'm not sure if you would have heard of it, doing time as a Capsicle." He remarked dryly.

Steve's face went red, anger and irritation steadily growing. Tony suppressed a wince and carefully blocked him out while still allowing his senses to roam. A few minutes later thunder rumbled and Loki began to look visibly uneasy.